Desertification: The time for action

Summary Following the severe droughts in the Sahel and Ethiopia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which focused the world’s attention on drought and desertification, the United Nations system organized and held the UN Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) in Nairobi in 1977. The principal outcome of the Conference was a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), containing 28 major recommendations. The follow-up and coordination of implementation of the PACD was entrusted to UNEP, which created a Desertification Branch in 1978 to undertake the task. Desertification Branch UNEP     

Using Wildlife Communities to Improve Vegetation Classification for Conserving Biodiversity

Determining which vegetation types organisms perceive similarly and classifying these types into groups that function as similar habitats are necessary steps toward expanding the focus of conservation strategies from single species to ecosystems. Therefore, the methods used to determine these habitat classifications are crucial to the successful design and implementation of these conservation strategies. Typically, this process has been accomplished through best professional judgement. We used quantitative techniques to group vegetation types into habitats based on the occurrence of breeding wildlife species ( n = 420) in Oregon. After calculating faunal similarities among all regional vegetation types ( n = 130), we used cluster analysis to group vegetation types into wildlife habitats. We classified the original 130 vegetation types into 30 wildlife habitat types that we believe function similarly. We tested this classification to assess whether vegetation types could be correctly classified into habitat types based on wildlife species composition. Discriminant analysis correctly classified 95% of the vegetation types into their wildlife habitat types, strengthening our confidence in this approach. This approach for classifying habitat types allows consistent development of conservation strategies at coarse resolutions and aids in identifying vegetation types where additional biodiversity surveys are needed. Finally, this approach can be refined continuously as the precision of vegetation mapping and our understanding of organism-habitat associations improve.     

Underemployment among recent business college graduates

This article explores an increasingly salient employment issue, namely, underemployment of recent college graduates. Using a sample of 283 recent business college graduates, the paper examines the consequences of underemployment on individuals' attitudes towards their jobs, their careers, and their lives in general. It explores, as well, how recent college graduates cope with underemployment and the impact of those coping strategies on individuals' psychological well-being. The paper concludes with directions for future research on underemployment among recent graduates in terms of theory development, research methodology, and public policy formulation.     

The Steubenville Comprehensive Air Monitoring Program (SCAMP): analysis of short-term and episodic variations in PM2.5 concentrations using hourly air monitoring data

One-hour average ambient concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 microm (PM2.5) were determined in Steubenville, OH, between June 2000 and May 2002 with a tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM). Hourly average gaseous copollutant [carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and ozone (O3)] concentrations and meteorological conditions also were measured. Although 75% of the 14,682 hourly PM2.5 concentrations measured during this period were < or = 17 microg/m3, concentrations > 65 microg/m3 were observed 76 times. On average, PM2.5 concentrations at Steubenville exhibited a diurnal pattern of higher early morning concentrations and lower afternoon concentrations, similar to the diurnal profiles of CO and NO(x). This pattern was highly variable; however, PM2.5 concentrations > 65 microg/m3 were never observed during the mid-afternoon between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST. Twenty-two episodes centered on one or more of these elevated concentrations were identified. Five episodes occurred during the months June through August; the maximum PM2.5 concentration during these episodes was 76.6 microg/m3. Episodes occurring during climatologically cooler months often featured higher peak concentrations (five had maximum concentrations between 95.0 and 139.6 microg/m3), and many exhibited strong covariation between PM2.5 and CO, NO(x), or SO2. Case studies suggested that nocturnal surface-based temperature inversions were influential in driving high nighttime concentrations of these species during several cool season episodes, which typically had dramatically lower afternoon concentrations. These findings provide insights that may be useful in the development of PM2.5 reduction strategies for Steubenville, and suggest that studies assessing possible health effects of PM2.5 should carefully consider exposure issues related to the intraday timing of PM2.5 episodes, as well as the potential for toxicological interactions among PM2.5, and primary gaseous pollutants.     

The allometry of plant spacing that regulates food intake rate in mammalian herbivores

The distance that mammalian herbivores can travel without interrupting food processing corresponds to a distance threshold (d*) in plant spacing where change occurs in the mechanisms regulating the functional response. The instantaneous rate of food consumption is controlled by food encounter rate when plant spacing exceeds d*. Below this threshold, food processing in the mouth controls instantaneous intake rate. The distance threshold provides a mechanistic definition of the scale of heterogeneity of the food resource. Recent work indicates that d* should scale positively with the body mass of mammalian herbivores. Here I evaluated the empirical evidence for this positive scaling by investigating (1) herbivores consuming only alfalfa (Medicago sativa), (2) grazers, and (3) herbivores consuming any kind of vegetation. Overall, I found greater evidence for a negative than for a positive scaling of d*. Out of the three groups, only herbivores consuming alfalfa could yield a positive covariation between d* and body mass. However, even this positive scaling became negative when herbivores consumed bites of alfalfa that were only a fraction of their maximum size. Finally, d* also scaled negatively among herbivores foraging in similar food patches. Overall, differences in foraging decisions among mammalian herbivores seem more likely to have been shaped by a negative than a positive scaling of d*.     

Adding infection to injury: synergistic effects of predation and parasitism on amphibian malformations

We explored the importance of interactions between parasite infection and predation in driving an emerging phenomenon of conservation importance: amphibian limb malformations. We suggest that injury resulting from intraspecific predation in combination with trematode infection contributes to the frequency and severity of malformations in salamanders. By integrating field surveys and experiments, we evaluated the individual and combined effects of conspecific attack and parasite (Ribeiroia ondatrae) infection on limb development of long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum). In the absence of Ribeiroia, abnormalities involved missing digits, feet, or limbs and were similar to those produced by cannibalistic attack in experimental trials. At field sites that supported Ribeiroia, malformations were dominated by extra limbs and digits. Correspondingly, laboratory exposure of larval salamanders to Ribeiroia cercariae over a 30-day period induced high frequencies of malformations, including extra digits, extra limbs, cutaneous fusion, and micromelia. However, salamander limbs exposed to both injury and infection exhibited 3-5 times more abnormalities than those exposed to either factor alone. Infection also caused significant delays in limb regeneration and time-to-metamorphosis. Taken together, these results help to explain malformation patterns observed in natural salamander populations while emphasizing the importance of interactions between parasitism and predation in driving disease.     

Forest dynamics after successive spruce budworm outbreaks in mixedwood forests

In order to assess the long-term spatiotemporal influence of the spruce budworm in sub-boreal mixedwood forests, we studied the effect of three successive outbreaks in a region of western Quebec, Canada. We used dendrochronology to detect past outbreaks in three areas (111-185 ha), based on the recruitment age of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and on growth patterns of white spruce (Picea glauca), the two main host species of this defoliating insect. We also used a series of aerial photographs taken between 1935 and 2003 to evaluate overstory mortality and post-outbreak succession patterns in these same areas. Individual outbreaks had a spatially homogenous impact on host species throughout the region, but successive outbreaks differed in intensity: the two outbreaks around 1910 and 1980 caused widespread mortality in the overstory, but an outbreak around 1945 had little impact, probably because the forest mosaic had not yet recuperated from the 1910 outbreak. No clear outbreak was detected in the later part of the 19th century. In portions of the study areas where the 1910 outbreak had a major impact, between 36% and 50% of the stands were reoccupied by balsam fir stands in the period up to the 1980 outbreak (cyclic succession), the rest being at least partly replaced by nonhost species such as Betula spp. Changes in forest composition after the 1910 outbreak were mostly associated with upper-slope positions in all study areas. The 1980 outbreak also had a higher impact than earlier outbreaks in lower-slope positions dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana)-balsam fir mixtures. These results suggest that, at the regional scale, the abundance of mature or over-mature balsam fir stands does not determine the outbreak cycle. When an outbreak occurs, however, its impact will be strongly constrained by forest characteristics such as stand composition and structure, which are themselves influenced by previous disturbances and slope position.     

Dining on disease: how interactions between infection and environment affect predation risk

Despite growing interest in ecological interactions between predators and pathogens, few studies have experimentally examined the consequences of infection for host predation risk or how environmental conditions affect this relationship. Here we combined mesocosm experiments, in situ foraging data, and broad-scale lake surveys to evaluate (1) the effects of chytrid infection (Polycaryum laeve) on susceptibility of Daphnia to fish predators and (2) how environmental characteristics moderate the strength of this interaction. In mesocosms, bluegill preferred infected Daphnia 2-5 times over uninfected individuals. Among infected Daphnia, infection intensity was a positive predictor of predation risk, whereas carapace size and fecundity increased predation on uninfected individuals. Wild-caught yellow perch and bluegill from in situ foraging trials exhibited strong selectivity for infected Daphnia (3-10 times over uninfected individuals). In mesocosms containing water high in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), however, selective predation on infected Daphnia was eliminated. Correspondingly, lakes that supported chytrid infections had higher DOC levels and lower light penetration. Our results emphasize the strength of interactions between parasitism and predation while highlighting the moderating influence of water color. P. laeve increases the conspicuousness and predation risk of Daphnia; as a result, infected Daphnia occur predominantly in environments with characteristics that conceal their elevated visibility.     

Contrasting structure and composition of the understory in species-rich tropical rain forests

In large samples of trees > or = 1 cm dbh (more than 1 million trees and 3000 species), in six lowland tropical forests on three continents, we assigned species with >30 individuals to one of six classes of stature at maturity (SAM). We then compared the proportional representation of understory trees (1-2 cm dbh) among these classes. The understory of the three Asian sites was predominantly composed of the saplings of large-canopy trees whereas the African and American sites were more richly stocked with trees of the smaller SAM classes. Differences in class representation were related to taxonomic families that were present exclusively in one continent or another. Families found in the Asian plots but not in the American plot (e.g., Dipterocarpaceae, Fagaceae) were predominantly species of the largest SAM classes, whereas families exclusive to the American plots (e.g., Melastomataceae sensu stricto, Piperaceae, and Malvaceae [Bombacacoidea]) were predominantly species of small classes. The African plot was similar to Asia in the absence of those American families rich in understory species, while similar to America in lacking the Asian families rich in canopy species. The numerous understory species of Africa were chiefly derived from families shared with Asia and/or America. The ratio of saplings (1-2 cm dbh) to conspecific canopy trees (>40 cm dbh) was lower in American plots than in the Asian plots. Possible explanations for these differences include phenology, moisture and soil fertility regimes, phyletic constraints, and the role of early successional plants in forest development. These results demonstrate that tropical forests that appear similar in tree number, basal area, and the family taxonomy of canopy trees nonetheless differ in ecological structure in ways that may impact the ecology of pollinators, dispersers, and herbivores and might reflect fundamental differences in canopy tree regeneration.