Does Soil Acidification Affect Spruce Needle Chemical Composition and Tree Growth?

In 1994, a large survey of soil chemistry was undertaken in thecounty of Värmland in central Sweden (Lundström et al., 1998).The southern part of the county was affected by soilacidification whereas there were no such indications in thenorthern part. To investigate the influence of soil chemistryon the trees at the specific sites, the survey was continued byan analysis of needle chemistry (Norway spruce) which wasundertaken at 150 of the 180 sites, and of tree growth at 65 ofthe 180 sites. Growth was expressed as a ratio between expectedgrowth, estimated with a national, empirical growth model, andthe growth observed in the field. In statistical analyses,using rank correlation, PCA and PLS, there were only weakindications of an influence of soil chemistry on needlechemistry and on tree growth. A moderate correlation betweennitrogen and sulphur in needles was found, which wasinterpreted as an effect of deposition and of processes in thetree canopy. No obvious regional pattern of the growth ratiowas found, in contrast to the clear pattern of soilacidification. The statistical analysis could not with anycertainty point out any of the soil chemistry variables asespecially important for the tree growth ratio.     

Spatial scaling of avian population dynamics: population abundance, growth rate, and variability

Synchrony in population fluctuations has been identified as an important component of population dynamics. In a previous study, we determined that local-scale (<15-km) spatial synchrony of bird populations in New England was correlated with synchronous fluctuations in lepidopteran larvae abundance and with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Here we address five questions that extend the scope of our earlier study using North American Breeding Bird Survey data. First, do bird populations in eastern North America exhibit spatial synchrony in abundances at scales beyond those we have documented previously? Second, does spatial synchrony depend on what population metric is analyzed (e.g., abundance, growth rate, or variability)? Third, is there geographic concordance in where species exhibit synchrony? Fourth, for those species that exhibit significant geographic concordance, are there landscape and habitat variables that contribute to the observed patterns? Fifth, is spatial synchrony affected by a species' life history traits? Significant spatial synchrony was common and its magnitude was dependent on the population metric analyzed. Twenty-four of 29 species examined exhibited significant synchrony in population abundance: mean local autocorrelation (rho)= 0.15; mean spatial extent (mean distance where rho=0) = 420.7 km. Five of the 29 species exhibited significant synchrony in annual population growth rate (mean local autocorrelation = 0.06, mean distance = 457.8 km). Ten of the 29 species exhibited significant synchrony in population abundance variability (mean local autocorrelation = 0.49, mean distance = 413.8 km). Analyses of landscape structure indicated that habitat variables were infrequent contributors to spatial synchrony. Likewise, we detected no effects of life history traits on synchrony in population abundance or growth rate. However, short-distance migrants exhibited more spatially extensive synchrony in population variability than either year-round residents or long-distance migrants. The dissimilarity of the spatial extent of synchrony across species suggests that most populations are not regulated at similar spatial scales. The spatial scale of the population synchrony patterns we describe is likely larger than the actual scale of population regulation, and in turn, the scale of population regulation is undoubtedly larger than the scale of individual ecological requirements.     

Multi-trophic invasion resistance in Hawaii: bioacoustics, field surveys, and airborne remote sensing

We used airborne imaging spectroscopy and scanning light detection and ranging (LiDAR), along with bioacoustic recordings, to determine how a plant species invasion affects avian abundance and community composition across a range of Hawaiian submontane ecosystems. Total avian abundance and the ratio of native to exotic avifauna were highest in habitats with the highest canopy cover and height. Comparing biophysically equivalent sites, stands dominated by native Metrosideros polymorpha trees hosted larger native avian communities than did mixed stands of Metrosideros and the invasive tree Morella faya. A multi-trophic analysis strongly suggests that native avifauna provide biotic resistance against the invasion of Morella trees and exotic birds, thus slowing invasion "meltdowns" that disrupt the functioning of native Hawaiian ecosystems.     

Hierarchical priority setting for restoration in a watershed in NE Spain, based on assessments of soil erosion and ecosystem services

Maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services through the restoration of degraded ecosystems have become an important biodiversity conservation strategy. Deciding where to restore ecosystems for the attainment of multiple services is a key issue for future planning, management, and human well-being. Most restoration projects usually entail a small number of actions in a local area and do not consider the potential benefits of planning restoration at broad regional scales. We developed a hierarchical priority setting approach to evaluate the performance of restoration measures in a semiarid basin in NE Spain (the Martín River Basin, 2,112 km²). Our analysis utilized a combination of erosion (a key driver of degradation in this Mediterranean region) and six spatially explicit ecosystem services data layers (five of these maps plotted surrogates for soil retention and accumulation, water supply and regulation, and carbon storage, and one plotted a cultural service, ecotourism). Hierarchical maps were generated using a geographic information system that combined areas important for providing a bundle of ecosystem services, as state variables, with erosion maps, as the disturbance or regulatory variable. This was performed for multiple scales, thereby identifying the most adequate scale of analysis and establishing a spatial hierarchy of restoration actions based on the combination of the evaluation of erosion rates and the provision of ecosystem services. Our approach provides managers with a straightforward method for determining the spatial distribution of values for a set of ecosystem services in relation to ecological degradation thresholds and for allocating efforts and resources for restoration projects in complex landscapes.     

Park isolation in anthropogenic landscapes: land change and livelihoods at park boundaries in the African Albertine Rift

Regional Environmental Change - Landscapes are changing rapidly in regions where rural people live adjacent to protected parks and reserves. This is the case in highland East Africa, where many...     

Future Climate in the Yellowstone National Park Region and Its Potential Impact on Vegetation

Biotic responses to future changes in global climate are difficult to project for a particular region because the responses involve processes that operate at many spatial scales. This difficulty is exacerbated in mountainous regions, where future vegetation changes are often portrayed as simple upward displacements of vegetation zones in response to warming. We examine the scope of future responses that may occur in a mountainous area by illustrating the potential distributions of selected tree taxa in the region of Yellowstone National Park. The output of a coarse-resolution climate model that incorporated a doubling of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere was interpolated onto a 5-minute grid of topographically adjusted climate data. The output was also used as input into statistical relationships between the occurrence of individual taxa and climate. The simulated vegetation changes include a combination of elevational and directional range adjustments. The range of high-elevation species decreases, and some species become regionally extirpated. The new communities have no analogue in the present-day vegetation because they mix low-elevation montane species currently in the region with extralocal species from the northern and central Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. The projected climate changes within the Yellowstone region and the individualism displayed by species in their potential range adjustments are equal or greater than the changes seen in the paleoecologic record during previous warming intervals. Although the results support conservation strategies that include habitat connectivity, the magnitude of the changes may exceed the ability of species to adjust their ranges. The predicted patterns call into question the adequacy of current management objectives to cope with the scope of future changes.     

Predicting Extinction Times from Environmental Stochasticity and Carrying Capacity

Managers of small populations often need to estimate the expected time to extinction T_e of their charges. Useful models for extinction times must be ecologically realistic and depend on measurable parameters. Many populations become extinct due to environmental stochasticity, even when the carrying capacity K is stable and the expected growth rate is positive. A model is proposed that gives T_e by diffusion analysis of the log population size n_t (= log_e N_t). The model population grows according to the equation N_t+1 = R_tN_t, with K as a ceiling. Application of the model requires estimation of the parameters k = logK, r_d = the expected change in n, v_r = Variance(log R), and ϱ the autocorrelation of the r_t. These are readily calculable from annual census data (r_d is trickiest to estimate). General formulas for T_e are derived. As a special case, when environmental fluctuations overwhelm expected growth (that is r_d 0), T_e = 2n_o(k - n_o/2)/v_r. If the r_t are autocorrelated, then the effective variance is v_re v_r (1 + ϱ)/(1 - ϱ). The theory is applied to populations of checkerspot butterfly, grizzly bear, wolf, and mountain lion.     

Prenatal tests for Sanfilippo disease type B in four pregnancies

We report the prenatal diagnosis of two fetuses with Sanfilippo disease type B. In both pregnancies there were excessive amounts of heparan sulphate in amniotic fluid and the activity of N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminidase was undetectable in cultured amniotic fluid cells. The predictions were confirmed by enzyme assay of cultured skin fibroblasts from the aborted fetus or the affected infant. The disorder was excluded for two other pregnancies at risk and the predictions are considered to be correct because of the normal progress of the healthy children.     

Submersible observations of the New England Seamounts

Plate tectonics has established the relationship of volcanism to constructional plate margins such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, to consuming plate boundaries such as the subduction zones comprising the Pacific “ring of fire,” and to leakage of magma along transform faults like St. Paul's Fracture Zone; however, mid-plate volcanism, which produces many oceanic islands and seamounts, is largely unexplained by plate tectonics. Studies of mid-plate volcanism have been mainly confined to oceanic islands which may be generically different from seamounts. To extend our knowledge of global tectonics and the nature of the underlying mantle source of mid-plate volcanism, we must direct our most advanced techniques to the study of seamounts and their lineaments. Herein we describe the first reported visual observations of the morphology and lithology of volcanoes comprising one such chain—the New England Seamounts.