Impending Recovery of Kirtland's Warbler: Case Study in the Effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act

Dendroica kirtlandii ). This particular recovery program actually began before passage of the federal ESA, when biologists alerted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources of the perilously low population of this bird, which only breeds under jack pine (Pinus banksiana) trees in Michigan. By the time an ESA Recovery Team was formed for this bird in 1975 (the first such team created under the ESA), a legacy of consensus and interagency cooperation was well established. This has led to successful efforts at habitat management and control of its nest parasite, the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). While the Kirtland's warbler is not yet recovered, its population is near an all-time high, and its recovery is possible within the next decade. When (and if) this happens, it will be clearly attributable to this successful model of federalism for natural resources management.     

Concentrations of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in needles of Masson pine (Pinus massoniana L.) growing nearby di erent industrial sources

Emissions from industrial activities pose a serious threat to human health and impose the need for monitoring both inorganic and organic pollutants in industrial areas.We selected Masson pine (Pinus massoniana L.) as potential biomonitor and collected the current (C) and previous year (C+1) needles from three industrial sites dominated by petrochemical, ceramics manufacturing, and iron and steel smelting plants and one remote site to determine heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni and Co) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in unwashed and water-washed needles. Both unwashed and washed C+1 needles showed generally higher concentrations of heavy metals and PAHs than C needles, although the washed needles more clearly spotlighted the accumulation e ect of PAHs over exposure time. Water-washing resulted in a significant decrease in needle PAH concentrations with more significant e ects shown in C needles. By contrast, needle heavy metal concentrations were much less a ected by washing. Although heavy metals and PAHs might di er in adsorption and uptake strategies, their higher concentrations in the needles at the industrial sites indicated conspicuous contamination due to industrial emissions there. The PAH distribution patterns in pine needles accorded with the real types of energy consumption in the study sites and were e ciently used for pinpointing local pollutant sources.     

Removal of congo red and basic violet 1 by chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) sawdust,a saw mill waste: batch and column studies

The efficiency of chir pine sawdust (CPS) for adsorptive removal of the dyes, congo red (CR) and basic violet 1 (BV), from aqueous solution was evaluated using batch and column studies. The equilibrium was attained in 60 min for CR and 45 min for BV. The adsorption of BV obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model while the Freundlich isotherm fitted the equilibrium data of CR adsorption. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacities (Q_o) of CPS for BV and CR were 11.3 and 5.8 g kg^?1, respectively. The kinetic data for CR were best fitted to the Lagergren pseudo-first-order model and for BV to the pseudo-second-order model. The intra-particle diffusion was found to be the rate-controlling step for CR adsorption, while the adsorption kinetics of BV were controlled by both intra-particle and liquid-film diffusion. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The adsorption activation energy (E_a) for CR (124 kJ mol^?1) implied chemical adsorption while that for BV (5.4 kJ mol^?1) indicated physical adsorption. An increase in the Thomas model constant (K_Th) with increasing flow indicated that for both dyes the mass transport resistance decreased during adsorption. Thus, CPS may be an efficient low-cost adsorbent for decolorization of dye-containing wastewaters.     

Development of a hydrothermal time seed germination model which uses the Weibull distribution to describe base water potential

Seed germination has been modelled extensively using hydrothermal time (HTT) models, that predict time to germination as a function of the extent to which seedbed temperature, T, and water potential, Ψ, exceed the base temperature, T_b, and base water potential, Ψ_b, of each seed percentile, g. Within a seed population the variation in time to germination arises from variation in Ψ_b(g) modelled by a normal distribution. We tested the assumption of normality in the distribution of Ψ_b(g) by germinating seed of two unrelated species with non-dormant seed (Buddleja davidii (Franch.) and Pinus radiata D. Don) across a range of constant Ψ at sub-optimal T. When incorporated into a HTT model the Weibull distribution more accurately described both the right skewed distribution of Ψ_b(g) and germination time course over sub-optimal T than the HTT based on the normal distribution, for both species. Given the flexibility of the Weibull distribution this model not only provides a useful method for predicting germination but also a means of determining the distribution of Ψ_b(g).     

Made in conflict. Local residents' construction of a local environmental problem

The aim of this paper is to understand how local residents participate in the construction of local environmental problems and to evaluate a particular analytical approach in environmental sociology to study this phenomenon. The paper is based on an interview study with a sample of local residents. The analysis demonstrates how the local residents attempt to construct a local environmental problem. In particular, the study focuses on how involved actors are positioned, how different sorts of knowledge claims are used, and how the neglect the residents perceive from the authorities affects the attempt to construct a local environmental problem. The study shows that the local residents play a central role in the construction of the situation and that the evaluated model could be very helpful as an analytical tool in the investigation of local residents' participation in the construction of environmental problems.     

Climate changes in the past century and radial increment of pine in the Southern Ural steppe

Changes in the main climatic factors (air temperature and total precipitation) and their effect on the radial increment of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) over the period from 1933 to 2002 were studied in an insular pine forest growing in the steppe zone of the Southern Urals. Evidence for a significant increase in the amount of precipitation and air temperature in the second half of this period was obtained. Functions of response of radial increment indices to climatic parameters were analyzed. Relative contributions of air temperature and precipitation to variation in the radial increment of pine in different time intervals proved to differ in relation to climate changes during the past century.     

松毛虫遗传多样性研究中AFLP反应体系的建立

以油松毛虫为材料,对T4 DNA连接酶不同用量、预扩增中的Mg~(2+)浓度、dNTP浓度、引物浓度以及选择性扩增巾的预扩增产物稀释倍数、Mg2~(2+) 浓度、dNTP浓度、引物浓度和Taq酶浓度进行了比较分析.最终建立了适合松毛虫的AFLP反应体系.用优化的AFLP反应体系,以油松毛虫、赤松毛虫和马尾松毛虫为材料筛选引物,从81对引物组合中筛选出10对多态性高的引物组合.图9参17     

Combining a generic process-based productivity model and a statistical classification method to predict the presence and absence of tree species in the Pacific Northwest,U.S.A.

Although long-lived tree species experience considerable environmental variation over their life spans, their geographical distributions reflect sensitivity mainly to mean monthly climatic conditions. We introduce an approach that incorporates a physiologically based growth model to illustrate how a half-dozen tree species differ in their responses to monthly variation in four climatic-related variables: water availability, deviations from an optimum temperature, atmospheric humidity deficits, and the frequency of frost. Rather than use climatic data directly to correlate with a species’ distribution, we assess the relative constraints of each of the four variables as they affect predicted monthly photosynthesis for Douglas-fir, the most widely distributed species in the region. We apply an automated regression-tree analysis to create a suite of rules, which differentially rank the relative importance of the four climatic modifiers for each species, and provide a basis for predicting a species’ presence or absence on 3737 uniformly distributed U.S. Forest Services’ Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) field survey plots. Results of this generalized rule-based approach were encouraging, with weighted accuracy, which combines the correct prediction of both presence and absence on FIA survey plots, averaging 87%. A wider sampling of climatic conditions throughout the full range of a species’ distribution should improve the basis for creating rules and the possibility of predicting future shifts in the geographic distribution of species.     

The Dynamics of Species Composition and Abundance of Wasps from the Families Pompilidae, Sphecidae, and Vespidae (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) in Successional Pine Biogeocenoses of the Berezinskii Biosphere Reserve

The data on the dynamics of population size and species composition of wasps from the families Pompilidae, Sphecidae, and Vespidae were obtained in the course of long-term studies carried out in successional pine forests of the Berezinskii Biosphere Reserve. The abundance and species diversity of wasps were significantly higher in a polewood forest (40 years) than in a young forest (20 years) and mature moss forest (70 years). In an overgrown ride in the moss pine forest, the composition of dominant wasp species remained relatively stable during the seven-year period of observations, although the number of species and their abundance varied significantly from year to year, depending on the weather.     

An Approach for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Various Ozone Air Quality Standards for Protecting Trees

We demonstrate an approach for evaluating the level of protection attained using a variety of forms and levels of past, current, and proposed Air Quality Standards (AQSs). The U.S. Clean Air Act requires the establishment of ambient air quality standards to protect health and public welfare. However, determination of attainment of these standards is based on ambient pollutant concentrations rather than prevention of adverse effects. To determine if a given AQS protected against adverse effects on vegetation, hourly ozone concentrations were adjusted to create exposure levels that “just attain” a given standard. These exposures were used in combination with a physiologically-based tree growth model to account for the interactions of climate and ozone. In the evaluation, we used ozone concentrations from two 6-year time periods from the San Bernardino Mountains in California. There were clear differences in the level of vegetation protection achieved with the various AQSs. Based on modeled plant growth, the most effective standards were the California 8-hr average maximum of 70 ppb and a seasonal, cumulative, concentration-weighted index (SUM06), which if attained, resulted in annual growth reductions of 1% or less. Least effective was the 1-hr maximum of 120 ppb which resulted in a 7% annual reduction. We conclude that combining climate, exposure scenarios, and a process-based plant growth simulator was a useful approach for evaluating effectiveness of current or proposed air quality standards, or evaluating the form and/or level of a standard based on preventing adverse growth effects.