Plant Succession, Landscape Management, and the Ecology of Frugivorous Birds in Abandoned Amazonian Pastures

From towers constructed at the interface between second-growth forest and an active and an abandoned pasture, we observed inter-habitat movements of fruit-eating birds in eastern Amazônia. The abandoned pasture was composed of grasses and forbs with a scattering of shrubs and small trees. The active pasture contained a low, uniform bed of grass. A total of 47 frugivorous bird species was recorded in the second-growth forest. We observed that 18 of these species frequented the adjacent abandoned pasture but only 3 were found in the adjacent active pasture. Fruit-eating birds flying from second-growth forest typically spent only a few minutes in the abandoned pasture, and their movements were generally restricted to a pasture belt of 1–80 m along the border with the second-growth forest. Most inter-habitat movement occurred during the rainy season, which coincided with a peak in fruit availability in the abandoned pasture. Just three bird species, Ramphocelus carbo, Tachyphonus rufus , and Thraupis episcopus , accounted for an estimated 70% of the total movement of frugivores between the second-growth forest and the abandoned pasture. All three species spent most of their time in the abandoned pasture foraging on shrubs and trees but exhibited differences in their preference for specific habitat elements and in their seed-defecation habits. An understanding of bird behaviors in altered landscapes provides important information to planners and policy makers concerned with protecting regional biodiversity and maintaining landscape integrity. This research provides a rationale for placing limits on the size of clearings in the Brazilian Amazon.     

Wireless charging and shared autonomous battery electric vehicles (W+SABEV): synergies that accelerate sustainable mobility and greenhouse gas emission reduction

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - Emerging technologies play important roles in shaping future mobility systems and impacting sustainability performance of the transportation...     

Influence of Restoration Age and Riparian Vegetation on Reach‐Scale Nutrient Retention in Restored Urban Streams

In urban watersheds, stormwater inputs largely bypass the buffering capacity of riparian zones through direct inputs of drainage pipes and lowered groundwater tables. However, vegetation near the stream can still influence instream nutrient transformations via maintenance of streambank stability, input of woody debris, modulation of organic matter sources, and temperature regulation. Stream restoration seeks to mimic many of these functions by engineering channel complexity, grading stream banks to reconnect incised channels, and replanting lost riparian vegetation. The goal of this study was to quantify these effects by measuring nitrate and phosphate uptake in five restored streams in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, with a range of restoration ages. Using nutrient spiraling methods, uptake velocity of nitrate (0.02‐3.56 mm/min) and phosphate (0.14‐19.1 mm/min) was similar to other urban restored streams and higher than unimpacted forested streams with variability influenced by restoration age and geomorphology. Using a multiple linear regression approach, reach‐scale phosphate uptake was greater in newly restored sites, which was attributed to assimilation by algal biofilms, whereas nitrate uptake was highest in older sites potentially due to greater channel stability and establishment of microbial communities. The patterns we observed highlight the influence of riparian vegetation on energy inputs (e.g., heat, organic matter) and thereby on nutrient retention.     

Adapting the bioblitz to meet conservation needs

When conservation strategies require new, field‐based information, practitioners must find the best ways to rapidly deliver high‐quality survey data. To address this challenge, several rapid‐assessment approaches have been developed since the early 1990s. These typically involve large areas, take many months to complete, and are not appropriate when conservation‐relevant survey data are urgently needed for a specific locale. In contrast, bioblitzes are designed for quick collection of site‐specific survey data. Although bioblitzes are commonly used to achieve educational or public‐engagement goals, conservation practitioners are increasingly using a modified bioblitz approach to generate conservation‐relevant data while simultaneously enhancing research capacity and building working partnerships focused on conservation concerns. We term these modified events expert bioblitzes. Several expert bioblitzes have taken place on lands of conservation concern in Southern California and have involved collaborative efforts of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, botanic gardens, museums, and universities. The results of expert bioblitzes directly informed on‐the‐ground conservation and decision‐making; increased capacity for rapid deployment of expert bioblitzes in the future; and fostered collaboration and communication among taxonomically and institutionally diverse experts. As research and conservation funding becomes increasingly scarce, expert bioblitzes can play an increasingly important role in biodiversity conservation.     

Fuzzy Decision Analysis for Integrated Environmental Vulnerability Assessment of the Mid-Atlantic Region1

A fuzzy decision analysis method for integrating ecological indicators was developed. This was a combination of a fuzzy ranking method and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The method was capable of ranking ecosystems in terms of environmental conditions and suggesting cumulative impacts across a large region. Using data on land cover, population, roads, streams, air pollution, and topography of the Mid-Atlantic region, we were able to point out areas that were in relatively poor condition and/or vulnerable to future deterioration. The method offered an easy and comprehensive way to combine the strengths of fuzzy set theory and the AHP for ecological assessment. Furthermore, the suggested method can serve as a building block for the evaluation of environmental policies.     

GENERAL-CIRCULATION-MODEL SIMULATIONS OF FUTURE SNOWPACK IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES1

ABSTRACT: April 1 snowpack accumulations measured at 311 snow courses in the western United States (U.S.) are grouped using a correlation-based cluster analysis. A conceptual snow accumulation and melt model and monthly temperature and precipitation for each cluster are used to estimate cluster-average April 1 snowpack. The conceptual snow model is subsequently used to estimate future snowpack by using changes in monthly temperature and precipitation simulated by the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis (CCC) and the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research (HADLEY) general circulation models (GCMs). Results for the CCC model indicate that although winter precipitation is estimated to increase in the future, increases in temperatures will result in large decreases in April 1 snowpack for the entire western U.S. Results for the HADLEY model also indicate large decreases in April 1 snowpack for most of the western US, but the decreases are not as severe as those estimated using the CCC simulations. Although snowpack conditions are estimated to decrease for most areas of the western US, both GCMs estimate a general increase in winter precipitation toward the latter half of the next century. Thus, water quantity may be increased in the western US; however, the timing of runoff will be altered because precipitation will more frequently occur as rain rather than as snow.     

EFFECTS OF CONTROLLED DRAINAGE ON STORM EVENT HYDROLOGY IN A LOBLOLLY PINE PLANTATION1

ABSTRACT: A paired watershed approach was utilized to study the effects of three water management regimes on storm event hydrology in three experimental watersheds in a drained loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation in eastern North Carolina. The regimes were: (1) conventional drainage, (2) controlled drainage (CD) to reduce outflows during spring fish recruitment, and (3) controlled drainage to reduce outflows and conserve water during the growing season. Data from two pit‐treatment years and three years of CD treatment with raised weirs at the watershed outlet are presented. CD treatment resulted in rises in water table elevations during the summer. But the rises were small and short‐lived due to increased evapotranspiration (ET) rates as compared to the spring treatment with lower ET demands. CD treatment had no effect on water tables deeper than 1.3 m. CD treatments, however, significantly (α= 0.05) reduced the stoning outflows for all events, and peak outflow rates for most of the events depending upon the outlet weir level. In some events, flows did not occur at all in watersheds with CD. When event outflows occurred, duration of the event was sharply reduced because of reduced effective ditch depth. Water table depth at the start of an event influenced the effect of CD treatment on storm event hydrology.     

Tradition without social learning: scent-mark-based communal roost formation in a Neotropical harvestman (Prionostemma sp.)

Most models of habitat selection assume that individual animals choose and either reuse or abandon sites based on a constant reassessment of site quality. When survival is a function of the presence of conspecifics, however, the benefits of returning to traditional sites may override resource assessment. Many animals form roosting aggregations at what appear to be traditional sites. At our study site in Nicaragua, the harvestman Prionostemma sp. forms diurnal roosting aggregations on a small subset of the available spiny palm trees. With respect to physical characteristics and microclimate, the spiny palms used by the harvestmen resembled a random sample of those available, yet the same subset of trees was used in two different years (2001, 2003). This suggests that the location of aggregation sites is traditional, not a product of habitat limitation. Individual harvestmen were not faithful to particular roost sites, however, which raises the question of how the tradition could be maintained over time. In this paper, we present evidence, derived from a series of small-scale field experiments, that the harvestmen mark roosting sites chemically and enter marked sites preferentially when searching for places to roost. We also show that the harvestmen are sensitive to changes in site quality (the presence of spines) but will continue to use degraded traditional sites when no intact spiny palms are nearby. This system provides an example of how animal traditions could be maintained over multiple generations without learning. Site-labeling can be viewed as an external form of social memory.