Adaptive Management Practices Research Articles

An effective accuracy assessment indicator for credible land use change modelling: Insights from hypothetical and real landscape analyses

Land use change (LUC) modelling has been widely used to inform landscape planning and adaptive management practices. The validation of LUC modelling results is critical for justifying the usability of LUC models. Along this line, global-level accuracy assessments with the kappa and error matrix approach are accepted as the common method for the validation of LUC models. However, high global-level accuracy does not always guarantee good model performance and high accuracy in characterizing the local LUC. It is necessary to develop indicators to exactly assess the accuracy of land use modelling in characterizing the detailed land use change. In this study, both hypothetical and real landscapes are used to analyze the differences between global-level and local accuracy assessments, and all possible simulation scenarios are considered in the hypothetical landscape by exhaustive methods. The results derived from the hypothetical landscape show that the local accuracy tends to increase with the increase in the proportion of the regional area showing land use transitions throughout the landscape. A real landscape simulation by the Dyna-CLUE model in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin (M-HRB) in China also showed a similar trend, where the land use transition from 2000 to 2015 accounted for approximately 10% of the total area. The simulation results showed high global-level accuracies of 97.17% (2010) and 85.01% (2015). The local accuracies for regions with little land use transition were 98.45% (2010) and 96.56% (2015), but the local accuracies for regions with significant land use transitions were only 0.99% and 6.08% in 2010 and 2015, respectively. According to the global-level accuracy, LUC simulations are reliable, but they do not correctly reflect the local changes in regions with significant land use transitions. Therefore, both global-level accuracy and local accuracy should be used to avoid possible misleading LUC modelling results. An effective simulation and accuracy assessment procedure was proposed in this study to increase the credibility of LUC modelling.

Mangrove Rehabilitation and Restoration as Experimental Adaptive Management

Rehabilitated and restored mangrove ecosystems have important ecological, economic, and social values for coastal communities. Although a sine qua non of successful mangrove rehabilitation or restoration projects is accurate attention to local hydrology and basic biology of mangrove trees and their associated fauna, their long-term success depends on far more axes, each with their own challenges. Rehabilitation projects: are planned, designed, executed, and managed by people with diverse backgrounds and different scientific and socio-political agendas; need to be responsive to these multiple stakeholders and agents who hold different values; are often influenced by laws and treaties spanning local to international scales; and must be able to adapt and evolve both geomorphologically and socioeconomically over decades-to-centuries in the context of a rapidly changing climate. We view these challenges as opportunities for innovative approaches to rehabilitation and restoration that engage new and larger constituencies. Restored mangrove ecosystems can be deliberately designed and engineered to provide valuable ecosystem services, be adaptable to climatic changes, and to develop platforms for educating nonspecialists about both the successes and failures of restored mangrove ecosystems. When mangrove rehabilitation or restoration projects are developed as experiments, then can be used as case-studies and more general models to inform policy- and decision-makers and guide future restoration efforts. Achieving this vision will require new investment and dedication to research and adaptive management practices. These ideas are illustrated with examples from mangrove restoration and rehabilitation projects in the Indo-West Pacific and Caribbean regions, the two hotspots of mangrove biodiversity and its ongoing loss and degradation.

Will heat stress take its toll on milk production in China?

There are clear signs that milk production growth is leveling off, and recently even declining, in China. Heat stress is one of the main reasons for the recent reduction in milk production. In this study, we computed the change in milk production as a result of heat stress in major milk production areas in China. We constructed a temperature–humidity index (THI) spatial layer to understand the monthly distribution of heat and moisture. We documented specific areas in northern China where cattle were at high risk to heat stress in specific months. THI values exceeded the threshold above which milk production declines during months of June, July, and August. Especially during July, the THI value was higher than the production threshold in recent years (2008 to 2016) and in projected future scenarios (2050 and 2070). THI-based milk yield losses were up from 0.7 to about 4 kg per cow per day in July 2016. These losses are projected to increase from 1.5 to 6.5 kg in 2050 and 2 to 7.2 kg in 2070 (representing production losses between 15 and 50%). These results suggest that climate change will have significant consequences for the dairy sector in major milk-producing areas in China. Our results are useful in identifying areas susceptible to heat stress where adaptive livestock management practices are needed to prevent significant production decreases.

Strategies to improve implementation of adaptive management practices for restoration in coastal Louisiana

Natural resources of coastal Louisiana support the economies of Louisiana and the whole of the United States. However, future conditions of coastal Louisiana are highly uncertain due to the dynamic processes of the Mississippi River delta, unpredictable storm events, subsidence, sea level rise, increasing temperatures, and extensive historic management actions that have altered natural coastal processes. To address these concerns, a centralized state agency was formed to coordinate coastal protection and restoration effort, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). This promoted knowledge centralization and supported informal adaptive management for restoration efforts, at that time mostly funded through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). Since the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010 and the subsequent settlement, the majority of restoration funding for the next 15 years will come through one of the DWH mechanisms; Natural Resource and Damage Assessment (NRDA), the RESTORE Council, or National Fish and Wildlife Foundation –Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (NFWF-GEBF). This has greatly increased restoration effort and increased governance complexity associated with project funding, implementation, and reporting. As a result, there is enhanced impetus to formalize and unify adaptive management processes for coastal restoration in Louisiana. Through synthesis of input from local coastal managers, historical and current processes for project and programmatic implementation and adaptive management were summarized. Key gaps and needs to specifically increase implementation of adaptive management within the Louisiana coastal restoration community were identified and developed into eight tangible and specific recommendations. These were to streamline governance through increased coordination amongst implementing entities, develop a discoverable and practical lessons learned and decision database, coordinate ecosystem reporting, identify commonality of restoration goals, develop a common cross-agency adaptive management handbook for all personnel, improve communication (both in-reach and outreach), have a common repository and clearing house for numerical models used for restoration planning and assessment, and expand approaches for two-way stakeholder engagement throughout the restoration process. A common vision and maximizing synergies between entities can improve adaptive management implementation to maximize ecosystem and community benefits of restoration effort in coastal Louisiana. This work adds to current knowledge by providing specific strategies and recommendations, based upon extensive engagement with restoration practitioners from multiple state and federal agencies. Addressing these practitioner-identified gaps and needs will improve engagement in adaptive management in coastal Louisiana, a large geographic area with high restoration implementation within a complex governance framework.

The Observatory on LAkes (OLA) database: Sixty years of environmental data accessible to the public

Lakes are essential ecosystems that provide a large number of ecosystem services whose quality is strongly impacted by human pressures. Optimal uses of lakes require adapted management practices which in turn rely on physico-chemical and biological monitoring. Long-term ecological monitoring provides large sets of environmental data. When such data are available, they have to be associated to metadata and to be stored properly to be accessible and useable by the scientific community. We present a data informatics system accessible to anyone who requests it. Maintained online since 2014 (https://si-ola.inrae.fr), it is originated from the Observatory on LAkes (OLA). It contains long-term data from 4 peri-alpine lakes (Lakes Aiguebelette, Annecy, Bourget, Geneva/Léman) and 24 high-altitude lakes of the northern French Alps. We describe the generated long-term data series, the data type, the methodologies and quality control procedures, and the information system where data are made accessible. Data use is allowed under the condition of providing reference to the original source. We show here how such a platform clearly enhances data sharing and scientific collaboration. Various studies referring to these data are regularly published in peer-reviewed journals; providing in fine a better understanding of lakes’ ecosystems functioning under local and global pressures.

Identifying Ways to Narrow Maize Yield Gaps Based on Plant Density Experiments

Exploring the maximum grain yields (GYs) and GY gaps in maize (Zea mays L.) can be beneficial for farmer to identify the GY-limiting factors and take adaptive management practices for a higher GY. The objective of this work was to identify the optimum maize plant density range and the ways to narrow maize GY gaps based on the variation of the GYs, dry matter (DM) accumulation and remobilization with changes in plant density. Field experiments were performed at the 71 Group and Qitai Farm in Xinjiang, China. Two modern cultivars, ZhengDan958 and ZhongDan909, were planted at 12 densities, ranging from 1.5 to 18 plants m−2. With increased plant density, single plant DM decreased exponentially, whereas population-level DM at the pre- (DMBS) and post- (DMAS) silking stages increased, and the amount of DM remobilization (ARDM) increased exponentially. Further analysis showed that plants were divided four density ranges: range I (<6.97 plants m−2), in which no DM remobilization occurred, DMBS and DMAS correlated significantly with GY; range II (6.97–9.54 plants m−2), in which the correlations of DMBS, DMAS, and ARDM with GY were significant; range III (9.54–10.67 plants m−2), in which GY and DMAS were not affected by density, DMBS increased significantly, and only the correlation of DMAS with GY was significant; and range IV (>10.67 plants m−2), in which the correlations of DMBS and ARDM with GY decreased significantly, while that of DMAS increased significantly. Therefore, ranges I and II were considered to be DM-dependent ranges, and a higher GY could be obtained by increasing the population-level DMAS, DMAS, and ARDM. Range III was considered the GY-stable range, increasing population-level DMBS, as well as preventing the loss of harvest index were the best way to enhance maize production. Range IV was interpreted as the GY-loss range, and a higher GY could be obtained by preventing the loss of HI and population-level DMAS.

Evaluating how we evaluate success: Monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management in Payments for Watershed Services programs

Payments for Watershed Services (PWS) programs have become an increasingly popular policy mechanism both in the U.S. and abroad. These programs are used to meet a variety of objectives, including improving the quality and quantity of water supplies, protecting endangered species, and advancing rural livelihoods. Monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management are important for filling fundamental knowledge gaps and improving the efficacy of PWS on the ground. However, relatively little work has evaluated how programs themselves monitor and evaluate their impacts and whether adaptive management is utilized. Here, we seek to improve understanding of the factors that contribute to the adoption of monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management practices through a literature review and a survey of PWS programs. Based on qualitative and logistic regression analyses, financial, technical and institutional capacity and leveraging broad stakeholder coalitions emerged as important factors contributing to systematic PWS monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management. This research underscores the importance of investing additional resources to support such capacity and coalition- building in PWS to ensure programs can meet their desired objectives.

Impact of climate on Spot Blotch (Bipolaris sorokiniana) severity on wheat (Triticum aestivum) crop over Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of India


 Spot blotch (SB) in wheat crop is caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana, become an epidemic in warm and humid regions. The climate influences the incidence and severity of the crop diseases. The present study is an attempt to assess the role of climatic parameters on the SB of wheat. The experiment was conducted on susceptible wheat varieties grown under timely and late sown conditions at Varanasi for three consecutive years (2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17). The Multi Liner Regression (MLR) model revealed that the R2 for disease severity was 0.74 and 0.72, for timely and late sown conditions, respectively. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models were evaluated to predict the SB severity. Out of eight ARIMA models, ARIMA (1, 0, 1) was the best fit to predict the disease severity. The R2 and RMSE were 0.88 and 7.61, respectively for the timely sown condition. For the late sown, R2 was 0.86 and RMSE 5.48. It was noted that the disease incidence and severity increased rapidly during 8th to 13th SMW that follows after the heading. The risk of SB increased after heading in those areas characterized by average maximum temperature >30 °C with high relative humidity >50%. The outbreaks of SB were recorded during this period. This study will help wheat growers of the EGP for timely adaptation of management practices and breeder for the screening of SB resistant germplasms. 

Designing multi‐scale hierarchical monitoring frameworks for wildlife to support management: a sage‐grouse case study

AbstractPopulation monitoring is integral to the conservation and management of wildlife; yet, analyses of population demographic data rarely consider processes occurring across spatial scales, potentially limiting the effectiveness of adaptive management. Therefore, we developed a method to identify hierarchical levels of organization (i.e., populations) to define multiple spatial scales, specifically intended to help guide appropriate conservation and management actions. This approach can support mobile species with high site fidelity where surveys occur on birthing/breeding grounds or migratory stopovers. Our approach used a graph‐based clustering algorithm (Spatial K'luster Analysis by Tree Edge Removal) that explicitly included habitat selection information at multiple scales and further refined with constraint‐based rules. We applied these concepts to greater sage‐grouse leks (breeding grounds), a species of conservation concern, in two different ecological contexts (Nevada and Wyoming, USA). The constraint‐based rules accounted for inter‐lek movement distances based on literature and field studies in Nevada from 2012 to 2016, included methods to support a spatially balanced monitoring design, and identified barriers to movements among leks based on resistance surfaces. We evaluated the performance of our hierarchical clusters in Nevada using independent data from radio‐marked sage‐grouse, and we found the finest‐scaled cluster level captured ~90% of sage‐grouse movements and mid‐level scales captured ~97–99% of movements. We expected comparable performance for Wyoming, where we lacked radio‐marked sage‐grouse for an evaluation, because genetic studies estimate similar dispersal distances to our ~15 km inter‐lek movement distance in Nevada. For sage‐grouse and other mobile species with high site fidelity, our approach to defining these frameworks could prove valuable for conservation and management applications, such as improving estimation of scale‐dependent population trends and guiding the prescription of management actions at spatial scales that align with identified threats. Specific to sage‐grouse, our analysis sets the stage for designing a monitoring framework that relies on comparison of short‐ and long‐term population trends across our defined spatial scales and identifies and disentangles factors driving local (e.g., habitat quality) and regional (e.g., climate) population changes, thereby supporting scale‐dependent management and research needs for adaptive management practices.

Yields and resilience outcomes of organic, cover crop, and conventional practices in a Mediterranean climate

Adaptive management practices that maximize yields while improving yield resilience are required in the face of resource variability and climate change. Ecological intensification such as organic farming and cover cropping are lauded in some studies for fostering yield resilience, but subject to criticism in others for their low productivity. We implemented a quantitative framework to assess yield resilience, emphasizing four aspects of yield dynamics: yield, yield stability, yield resistance (i.e., the ability of systems to avoid crop failure under stressful growing conditions), and maximum yield potential. We compared the resilience of maize-tomato rotation systems after 24 years of irrigated organic, cover cropped, and conventional management in a Mediterranean climate, and identified crop-specific resilience responses of tomato and maize to three management systems. Organic management maintained tomato yields comparable to those under conventional management, while increasing yield stability and resistance. However, organic and cover cropped system resulted in 36.1% and 35.8% lower maize yields and reduced yield stability and resistance than the conventional system. Our analyses suggest that investments in ecological intensification approaches could potentially contribute to long-term yield resilience, however, these approaches need to be tailored for individual crops and systems to maximize their benefits, rather than employing one-size-fits-all approaches.

АДАПТИВНИЙ МОНІТОРИНГ СТРАТЕГІЙ ФОРМУВАННЯ АНТИКРИЗОВОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ

The paper covers the current issues of counteraction to constantly arising crisis phenomena in the process of using the enterprise potential. For about 15 years the efforts to comply with legislation have been steadily rising, and more and more emphasis is paid to various aspects of corporate social responsibility. There is a wide range of activities, such as increasing employee awareness, creating a management system to prevent abrupt changeover, a solid corporate structure and timely disclosure of information, as well as managing the organization as an integration of its potentials. Adaptive monitoring is viewed as a critical component in finding and controlling the reserves for further utilization of enterprise resources in the context of developing its long-term strategies. Building the subsystems for change management strategies can form the basis for creating anti-crisis potential. However, there is another barrier to the process of adaptation which is a vulnerable internal environment. Apparently, the goals of the chosen strategies in each of the business areas are not always announced, and this can increase the entropy level within the enterprise, creating threats and hazards that give rise to crisis phenomena. From a dynamic perception, adaptive management concept involves the construction of a decomposition of its possible implementation scenarios subject to the type of threats to enterprise performance and characteristics of its potentials. The search for the development models that can retain the enterprise resources is a fundamental challenge for its operation in the future. It is about facilitating the transition from product economy to the system economy, from a dissipative approach to resources to an adaptive management practices, to a cultural leap towards economic and environmental sustainability that should affect the entire society, from strengthening of the territory and cooperation among all stakeholders to gain the resource utilization efficiency beyond renewable energy, starting with raw materials and local waste management to create an integrated technology network and from a number of integrated technologies, from deindustrialized territories reconstruction towards new relationships between agriculture, industry and academia, conducting local case studies to test the effects of innovations, thus boosting the process of transforming the research results into new pilot projects.

Observations and models to support the first Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO)

Assessments of the status and trends of habitats, species and ecosystems are needed for effective ecosystem-based management in marine ecosystems. Knowledge on imminent ecosystem changes (climate change impacts) set in train by existing climate forcings are needed for adapting management practices to achieve conservation and sustainability targets into the future. Here, we describe a process for enabling a marine ecosystem assessment (MEA) by the broader scientific community to support managers in this way, using a MEA for the Southern Ocean (MEASO) as an example. We develop a framework and undertake an audit to support a MEASO, involving three parts. First, we review available syntheses and assessments of the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its parts, paying special attention to building on the SCAR Antarctic Climate Change and Environment report and the SCAR Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. Second, we audit available field observations of habitats and densities and/or abundances of taxa, using the literature as well as a survey of scientists as to their current and recent activities. Third, we audit available system models that can form a nested ensemble for making, with available data, circumpolar assessments of habitats, species and food webs. We conclude that there is sufficient data and models to undertake, at least, a circumpolar assessment of the krill-based system. The auditing framework provides the basis for the first MEASO but also provides a repository (www.SOKI.aq/display/MEASO) for easily amending the audit for future MEASOs. We note that an important outcome of the first MEASO will not only be the assessment but also to advise on priorities in observations and models for improving subsequent MEASOs.

Large Losses in Glacier Area and Water Availability by the End of Twenty-First Century under High Emission Scenario, Satluj Basin, Himalaya

Glaciers in the Satluj river basin are likely to lose 53% and 81% of area by the end of the century, if climate change followed RCP 8.5 scenario of CNRMCM5 and GFDL-CM3 models respectively. The large variability in area loss can be due to difference in temperature and precipitation projections. Presently, Satluj basin has approximately 2000 glaciers, 1426 sq. km glacier area and 62.3 Gt glacier stored water. The current mean specific mass balance is –0.40 m.w.e. a–1. This will change to –0.42 and – 1.1 m.w.e. a–1 by 2090, if climate data of CNRM-CM5 and GFDL-CM3 are used respectively. We have used an extreme scenario of GFDL-CM3 model to assess the changes in the contribution of glacier melt to the Bhakra reservoir. Mass balance model suggests that glaciers are contributing 2 km3 a–1 out of 14 km3 of water. This will increase to 2.2 km3 a–1 by 2050, and then reduce to 1.5 km3 a–1 by the end of the century. In addition, loss in glacier area by the end of century, will also increase the vulnerability of mountain communities, suggesting need for better adaptation and water management practices.

Economics of climate adaptive water management practices in Nepal

This study analyses costs and benefits of the selected climate adaptive and equitable water management practices and strategies (CAEWMPS) in Dhulikhel Municipality and Dharan Sub-metropolitan city of Nepal. The CAEWMPS adopted the construction of water recharge pit at household level in Dharan and recharge ponds at community level in Dhulikhel. The results of household survey reveal that households have employed different coping strategies including minimizing consumption, purchasing from market, harvesting rain water and installing equipment for storing and pumping in both cities. In Dhulikhel, a significant number of households (18.56%) minimize consumption during the dry season but this is not the case in Dharan. Rather, around one-fifth (19.27%) of the households harvest rainwater in Dharan. In addition, households are forced to give-up their regular activities in order to implement coping strategies such as household chores, leisure time, meeting and gardening. The average estimated annual coping cost in Dharan (USD 87.5) is eight times higher than in Dhulikhel (USD 11.05); however, per unit coping cost is nearly equal in both the cities. In terms of benefit-cost ration, the community level recharge ponds in Dhulikhel (5.15) were found to be cost effective compared to the household level recharge pits of Dharan (1.72). These results provide policy makers with a comparative basis for adopting appropriate strategies to tackle problems related to water shortage under city-specific contexts.

Standing genomic variation within coding and regulatory regions contributes to the adaptive capacity to climate in a foundation tree species.

Global climate is rapidly changing, and the ability for tree species to adapt is dependent on standing genomic variation; however, the distribution and abundance of functional and adaptive variants are poorly understood in natural systems. We test key hypotheses regarding the genetics of adaptive variation in a foundation tree: genomic variation is associated with climate, and genomic variation is more likely to be associated with temperature than precipitation or aridity. To test these hypotheses, we used 9,593 independent, genomic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 270 individuals sampled from Corymbia calophylla's entire distribution in south-western Western Australia, spanning orthogonal temperature and precipitation gradients. Environmental association analyses returned 537 unique SNPs putatively adaptive to climate. We identified SNPs associated with climatic variation (i.e., temperature [458], precipitation [75] and aridity [78]) across the landscape. Of these, 78 SNPs were nonsynonymous (NS), while 26 SNPs were found within gene regulatory regions. The NS and regulatory candidate SNPs associated with temperature explained more deviance (27.35%) than precipitation (5.93%) and aridity (4.77%), suggesting that temperature provides stronger adaptive signals than precipitation. Genes associated with adaptive variants include functions important in stress responses to temperature and precipitation. Patterns of allelic turnover of NS and regulatory SNPs show small patterns of change through climate space with the exception of an aldehyde dehydrogenase gene variant with 80% allelic turnover with temperature. Together, these findings provide evidence for the presence of adaptive variation to climate in a foundation species and provide critical information to guide adaptive management practices.

Site- and tree-related factors affecting colonization of cork oaks Quercus suber L. by ambrosia beetles in Tunisia

Ambrosia beetles are emerging globally as important agents of tree death and decline. In this work, we observed highly variable attack intensity by ambrosia beetles in cork oak stands in Tunisia. A correlation between the proportion of infested trees and average temperature was found. Tree diameter and tree phytosanitary variables further contribute to the attack densities of ambrosia beetles. Results can be relevant for preventive measures aiming to conserve this natural forest heritage. Cork oak woodlands comprise a unique Mediterranean ecosystem supporting rich biological diversity and providing multiple services. A decline of cork oak forests has been observed in several regions of the Mediterranean Basin in the last four decades, which can be related to climate change, novel biotic agents, and changes in management practices. The ambrosia beetles have been one of the major biotic agents associated with cork oak decline, mostly in the western Mediterranean. Assess the presence and attack densities of ambrosia beetles in cork oak Tunisian forests. A total of 15 sites located in North Western of Tunisia, comprising 729 sample trees were evaluated. Using generalized linear models, the presence and density of ambrosia beetles’ holes were related to tree and site variables. Variables related to climate, tree (dendrometric parameters, debarking intensity) and biotic agents were examined. The proportion of trees attacked per site varied from 0 to 100%; in four sites, it exceeded 50%. At the site level, the average temperature and tree diameter were the main variables explaining the proportion of attacked trees. Sites with warmer climates showed higher incidence of ambrosia beetles. At the tree level, the presence of attacks increased with tree diameter and concomitantly with intensity of debarking, as well as the presence of tree trunk cavities. The presence and density of insect attacks were related to tree diameter, area of debarking, and phytosanitary conditions. However, 19% of the trees attacked by ambrosia beetles had no signs of other biotic agents or decline. At the site level, attack rates increased with temperature and tree diameter. A warmer climate may change insect behavior from that of a non-aggressive pest to that of an aggressive bark beetle. Adaptive forest management practices are needed to reduce infestations.

Global mismatches in aboveground and belowground biodiversity.

Human activities are accelerating global biodiversity change and have resulted in severely threatened ecosystem services. A large proportion of terrestrial biodiversity is harbored by soil, but soil biodiversity has been omitted from many global biodiversity assessments and conservation actions, and understanding of global patterns of soil biodiversity remains limited. In particular, the extent to which hotspots and coldspots of aboveground and soil biodiversity overlap is not clear. We examined global patterns of these overlaps by mapping indices of aboveground (mammals, birds, amphibians, vascular plants) and soil (bacteria, fungi, macrofauna) biodiversity that we created using previously published data on species richness. Areas of mismatch between aboveground and soil biodiversity covered 27% of Earth's terrestrial surface. The temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome had the highest proportion of grid cells with high aboveground biodiversity but low soil biodiversity, whereas the boreal and tundra biomes had intermediate soil biodiversity but low aboveground biodiversity. While more data on soil biodiversity are needed, both to cover geographic gaps and to include additional taxa, our results suggest that protecting aboveground biodiversity may not sufficiently reduce threats to soil biodiversity. Given the functional importance of soil biodiversity and the role of soils in human well-being, soil biodiversity should be considered further in policy agendas and conservation actions by adapting management practices to sustain soil biodiversity and considering soil biodiversity when designing protected areas.

Winter grazing does not affect soybean yield despite lower soil water content in a subtropical crop-livestock system

Commercial-scale integrated crop-livestock systems intensify land use by combining complementary agricultural enterprises and leveraging synergistic ecosystem services to achieve both productive and environmental outcomes. Although widely implemented in southern Brazil as an annual beef/soybean rotation, tradeoffs such as competing soil water use between pasture and crop phases may result from seasonal grazing in this system. We compared soil water and plant physiological variables in the crop phase of an integrated annual beef-soybean system managed with no-till and best grazing practices with those of an ungrazed cover crop control as part of a long-term experiment in southern Brazil. A mixed black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pasture was either grazed by beef cattle to 20-cm sward height or left as an ungrazed cover crop in the winter, and direct-planted to soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) in the summer. Although soybean yields did not differ between grazed and ungrazed treatments, soil matric potential was on average 25% lower across depths and growth stages in plots that had been grazed during winter. Soybeans in grazed plots also exhibited up to 34% lower light-use efficiency and a 2-week slower time to physiological maturation than soybeans in plots that had not been previously grazed. These results describe for the first time the differential crop growing conditions and crop physiological responses created after 16 years of integration with grazing animals. As integrated crop-livestock systems grow in importance in commercial production settings, this research can inform adaptive management practices to ensure the sustainability of these systems into the future and under a variety of environmental conditions.

Normative Management and Diversity in International Non-government Organizations

To accomplish their goals, International Non-government Organizations (INGOs) manage a network of internal and external stakeholders across national boundaries while having limited authority under demanding circumstances. Consequently, INGOs often rely on normative management practices aimed at influencing discretionary behavior. Unfortunately, normative management can be difficult when INGO stakeholders perceive little common ground due to large functional, cultural, socioeconomic, and power differences. These dynamics raise an important question: How can INGOs manage internal and external stakeholders in a normative fashion when these stakeholders are remarkably diverse and may perceive little or no similarity among themselves? In response to this difficulty, we argue that effective diversity management is a key contributor of effective normative management, and we develop social cognitive theory aimed at managing the salience and meaning of social distinctions. We also provide initial guidance on adapting management practices when differences are large and when individual identities are exclusive.

Divergent responses to climate change and disturbance drive recruitment patterns underlying latitudinal shifts of tree species

Abstract Climate change is expected to result in a reorganization of the continental distribution of tree species. Recent shifts in distribution patterns have been reported, but it is not always clear how climate change influences these patterns locally, especially in relation to other disturbances. We investigated latitudinal shifts of four ecologically important tree species between 1970 and 2014 within a study area that encompasses their northernmost range limit in northeastern North America (Quebec, Canada; ~761,000 km2). Changes in latitudinal limits were defined in relation to changes in tree saplings’ occurrence patterns within forest plots resampled over two time periods (1970–1977 and 2003–2014). By examining changes in the frequency of occurrences in different portions of the study area along a latitudinal gradient, we were able to identify spatially explicit patterns of loss or gain (sapling recruitment) resulting in the shifts observed. We then estimated the probability of observing a recruitment event in response to changes in climate, disturbance and their interaction, using a multimodel selection approach. Latitudinal limits of all four species shifted northward, but these shifts resulted from different patterns of plot occurrence changes, depending on the species and the location examined. Greater recruitment at northern locations than at southern ones drove shifts for Acer saccharum Marsh., Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. and Acer rubrum L., but less so for Betula alleghaniensis Britt. Climate variables indicating changes in early or late growing season conditions were most often selected in models. Warming tended to reduce recruitment probability in the south but increase it in the north, leading to divergent responses for a given species across the study area. Disturbance effects were generally less important than climate change effects, as was their interaction. Synthesis. Spatially explicit and divergent responses to climate change and disturbance drive recruitment patterns underlying latitudinal shifts of tree species. The importance of early‐ or late‐season climate variables points towards biological processes being affected at critical stages of the life cycle. Understanding the factors that influence species’ migration capacity in a changing climate is crucial to inform adaptive management and conservation practices.