Denitrification potential and organic matter as affected by vegetation community, wetland age, and plant introduction in created wetlands

Denitrification potential (DP) and organic matter (OM) in soils were compared in three different vegetation communities-emergent macrophyte, open water, and forested edge-in two 10-yr-old created riverine wetlands. Organic matter, cold water-extractable organic matter (CWEOM), anaerobic mineralizable carbon (AnMC), and DP varied significantly (P<0.05) among vegetation communities. The surface (0 to 9 cm) soils in the emergent macrophyte community (EMC) showed highest DP (0.07+/-0.01 mg N h-1 kg-1), OM (84.90+/-5.60 g kg-1), CWEOM (1.12+/-0.20 g kg-1), and AnMC (1.50+/-0.10 mg C h-1 kg-1). In the deeper layer (9 to 18 cm), DP and CWEOM (0.04+/-0.01 mg N h-1 kg-1 and 1.13+/-0.20 g kg-1, respectively) were significantly higher in the open water community (OWC) than in the emergent macrophyte and forested edge communities. Plant introduction did not affect DP or OM content and characteristics. After 10 yr of wetland development, mean DP increased 25-fold in the surface layer (from 0.002 to 0.053 mg N h-1 kg-1); OM content more than doubled to 90.80+/-19.22 g kg-1, and CWEOM and HWEOM increased 2.5 and 2.7 times respectively from 1993 (prewetland conditions) to 2004. Humic acids were the most abundant form of OM in 2004 and 1993 samples. Significant (P<0.05) positive relationships between DP and OM, CWEOM, and AnMC were found in the surface layer; in the 9- to 18-cm layer, significant positive relationships were found between DP and CWEOM and AnMC.     

Biological aspects of metal waste reclamation with biosolids

Smelter waste deposits pose an environmental threat worldwide. Biosolids are potentialy useful in reclamation of such sites. Biological aspects of revegetation of Zn and Pb smelter wastelands using biosolids are discussed in this report. The goal of the studies was to assess to what extent biosolid treatment would support ecosystem functioning as measured by biological indicators such as enzyme activities of revegetated metal waste or plant growth. Another crucial aspect was related to the assessment of metal transfer to the ecosystem which could affect the health of local fauna and also create a food chain risk. A field experiment was conducted on a smelter waste deposit in Piekary Slaskie, Silesia, Poland, with two separate fields - established on wastes from the Welz and Doerschel smelting processes. The tested methods allowed revegetation of the fields - application of municipal biosolid at the rate 300 dry t ha(-1) combined with the incorporation of commercial lime in a mixed oxide and carbonate form at the rate of 1.5 and 30 t for Welz waste or use of a 30 cm by-product lime cap followed by incorporation of biosolid at a rate of 300 t ha(-1) for the more acidic Doerschel waste. Studies on biological activities demonstrated that the reclamation methods used are an effective way to establish new, fully-functioning ecosystems that support plant growth. They also provided strong evidence that forage crops grown on Zn, Cd and Pb contaminated sites reclaimed using lime and biosolids do not pose identified risk for wildlife and food safety.     

Tie them up tight: wrapping by Philoponella vicina spiders breaks, compresses and sometimes kills their prey

We show that uloborid spiders, which lack the poison glands typical of nearly all other spiders, employ thousands of wrapping movements with their hind legs and up to hundreds of meters of silk line to make a shroud that applies substantial compressive force to their prey. Shrouds sometimes break the prey’s legs, buckle its compound eyes inward, or kill it outright. The compressive force apparently results from the summation of small tensions on sticky lines as they are applied to the prey package. Behavioral details indicate that wrapping is designed to compact prey; in turn, compaction probably functions to facilitate these spiders’ unusual method of feeding. This is the first demonstration that prey wrapping by spiders compacts and physically damages their prey, rather than simply restraining them.     

Using survival analysis to study translocation success in the Gila topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis).

Translocation, the intentional release of captive-propagated and/or wild-caught animals into the wild in an attempt to establish, reestablish, or augment a population, is a commonly used approach to species conservation. Despite the frequent mention of translocation as an aid in threatened or endangered species recovery plans, translocations have resulted in the establishment of few sustainable populations. To improve the effectiveness of translocation efforts, it is essential to identify and adopt features that contribute to successful translocations. This study analyzed 148 translocations of the endangered Gila topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis) to identify various factors that have significantly influenced translocation success. We quantified success as the "persistence time" of translocated populations and used survival analysis to interpret the role of several factors. The following factors affected persistence times of translocated populations: season in which the fish were translocated, habitat type of the translocation site, and genetic origin of the fish stocked. In general, factors associated with stocking, the population stocked, and the site of translocation can significantly affect the persistence of translocated populations and thus increase the probability of translocation success. For Gila topminnow, future translocations should be undertaken in late summer or fall (not early summer), should occur into ponds (not streams, wells, or tanks), and should generally utilize individuals from genetic lineages other than Monkey Spring. For other species, a key lesson emerging from this work is that life history attributes for each translocated species need to be considered carefully.     

Accumulation of weathered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by plant and earthworm species

Experiments were conducted to assess the bioavailability of polyclycic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil from a Manufactured Gas Plant site. Three plant species were cultivated for four consecutive growing cycles (28 days each) in soil contaminated with 36.3 microg/g total PAH. During the first growth period, Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo (zucchini) tissues contained significantly greater quantities of PAHs than did Cucumis sativus (cucumber) and Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera (squash). During the first growth cycle, zucchini plants accumulated up to 5.47 times more total PAH than did the other plants, including up to three orders of magnitude greater levels of the six ring PAHs. Over growth cycles 2-4, PAH accumulation by zucchini decreased by 85%, whereas the uptake of the contaminants by cucumber and squash remained relatively constant. Over all four growth cycles, the removal of PAHs by zucchini was still twice that of the other species. Two earthworm species accumulated significantly different amounts of PAH from the soil; Eisenia foetida and Lumbricus terrestris contained 0.204 and 0.084 microg/g total PAH, respectively, but neither species accumulated measurable quantities 5 or 6 ring PAHs. Lastly, in abiotic desorption experiments with an aqueous phase of synthetically prepared organic acid solutions, the release of 3 and 4 ring PAHs from soil was unaffected by the treatments but the desorption of 5-6 ring constituents was increased by up to two orders of magnitude. The data show that not only is the accumulation of weathered PAHs species-specific but also that the bioavailability of individual PAH constituents is highly variable.     

Conflicting demands on detoxification pathways influence how common brushtail possums choose their diets

Most herbivores eat more and survive better when they have access to a variety of foods. One explanation involves the detoxification of plant secondary metabolites (PSMs). By feeding from a variety of plants that contain different classes of PSMs, animals can use multiple detoxification pathways and presumably consume more food. Although popular, this theory is difficult to test because it requires knowledge of the detoxification pathways of each PSM in the diet. We established that common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) use various combinations of oxidation, hydrolysis, and conjugation with glucuronic acid (GA) or glycine to detoxify six PSMs. Compared to their ingestion of a single PSM, possums ate more when offered a choice between two diets containing PSMs that require apparently independent detoxification pathways (benzoate and 1,8-cineole, benzoate and p-cymene, benzoate and orcinol, benzoate and salicin, or orcinol and 1,8-cineole). However, possums still did not eat as much of these diets as they did of a basal diet free of PSMs. This suggests that detoxification pathways are never independent, but are separated instead by degrees. In contrast, possums offered a choice of two PSMs that require competing detoxification pathways (1,8-cineole and p-cymene, 1,8-cineole and salicin, or orcinol and salicin) ate no more than when offered diets containing one of the compounds. There was an exception: even though both rutin and orcinol are detoxified via conjugation with GA, the feeding behavior of possums did not suggest competition for detoxification pathways. This implies that the supply of GA is not limiting. This study provides the first convincing evidence that herbivorous mammals can eat more by selecting mixed diets with a diversity of PSMs that make full use of their detoxification potential. It also emphasizes that other behavioral and physiological factors, such as transient food aversions, influence feeding behavior.     

Nutrient cycling by fish supports relatively more primary production as lake productivity increases

Animals can be important in nutrient cycling in particular ecosystems, but few studies have examined how this importance varies along environmental gradients. In this study we quantified the nutrient cycling role of an abundant detritivorous fish species, the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), in reservoir ecosystems along a gradient of ecosystem productivity. Gizzard shad feed mostly on sediment detritus and excrete sediment-derived nutrients into the water column, thereby mediating a cross-habitat translocation of nutrients to phytoplankton. We quantified nitrogen and phosphorus cycling (excretion) rates of gizzard shad, as well as nutrient demand by phytoplankton, in seven lakes over a four-year period (16 lake-years). The lakes span a gradient of watershed land use (the relative amounts of land used for agriculture vs. forest) and productivity. As the watersheds of these lakes became increasingly dominated by agricultural land, primary production rates, lake trophic state indicators (total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations), and nutrient flux through gizzard shad populations all increased. Nutrient cycling by gizzard shad supported a substantial proportion of primary production in these ecosystems, and this proportion increased as watershed agriculture (and ecosystem productivity) increased. In the four productive lakes with agricultural watersheds (>78% agricultural land), gizzard shad supported on average 51% of phytoplankton primary production (range 27-67%). In contrast, in the three relatively unproductive lakes in forested or mixed-land-use watersheds (>47% forest, <52% agricultural land), gizzard shad supported 18% of primary production (range 14-23%). Thus, along a gradient of forested to agricultural landscapes, both watershed nutrient inputs and nutrient translocation by gizzard shad increase, but our data indicate that the importance of nutrient translocation by gizzard shad increases more rapidly. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that watersheds and gizzard shad jointly regulate primary production in reservoir ecosystems.     

Effects of El Niño on distribution and reproductive performance of Black Brant

Climate in low-latitude wintering areas may influence temperate and high-latitude breeding populations of birds, but demonstrations of such relationships have been rare because of difficulties in linking wintering with breeding populations. We used long-term aerial surveys in Mexican wintering areas and breeding areas in Alaska, USA, to assess numbers of Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans; hereafter brant) on their principal wintering and breeding area in El Ni?o and non-El Ni?o years. We used Pollock's robust design to directly estimate probability of breeding and apparent annual survival of individually marked brant at the Tutakoke River (TR) colony, Alaska, in each year between 1988 and 2001. Fewer brant wintered in Mexico during every El Ni?o event since 1965. Fewer brant were observed on the principal breeding area following each El Ni?o since surveys began in 1985. Probability of breeding was negatively related to January sea surface temperature along the subtropical coast of North America during the preceding winter. Between 23% (five-year-olds or older) and 30% (three-year-olds) fewer brant nested in 1998 following the strong El Ni?o event in the winter of 1997-1998 than in non-El Ni?o years. This finding is consistent with life history theory, which predicts that longer-lived species preserve adult survival at the expense of reproduction. Oceanographic conditions off Baja California, apparently by their effect on Zostera marina (eelgrass), strongly influence winter distribution of brant geese and their reproduction (but not survival), which in turn affects ecosystem dynamics in Alaska.