Grassy Field Research Articles

The potential conservation value of unmowed powerline strips for native bees

The land area covered by powerline easements in the United States exceeds the area of almost all national parks, including Yellowstone. In parts of Europe and the US, electric companies have altered their land management practices from periodic mowing to extraction of tall vegetation combined with the use of selective herbicides. To investigate whether this alternate management practice might produce higher quality habitat for native bees, we compared the bee fauna collected in unmowed powerline corridors and in nearby mowed grassy fields at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (MD). Powerline sites had more spatially and numerically rare species and a richer bee community than the grassy fields, although the difference was less pronounced than we expected. Powerline sites also had more parasitic species and more cavity-nesting bees. Bee communities changed progressively through the season, but differences between the site types were persistent. The surrounding, non-grassland landscape likely has a strong influence on the bee species collected at the grassland sites, as some bees may be foraging in the grasslands but nesting elsewhere. Improving habitat for native bees will help ameliorate the loss of pollination services caused by the collapse of wild and managed honeybee populations. This study suggests that powerline strips have the potential to provide five million acres of bee-friendly habitat in the US if utilities more generally adopt appropriate management practices.

Comparison of Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus <inline-formula><math display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mo>(</mo><mi>ETM</mi><mo>+</mo><mo>)</mo></math></inline-formula> and Earth Observing One (EO-1) Advanced Land Imager

We compare images from the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor on Landsat-7 and the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) instrument on Earth Observing One (EO-1) over a test site in Rochester, New York. The site contains a variety of features, ranging from water of varying depths, deciduous/coniferous forest, grass fields, to urban areas. Nearly coincident cloud-free images were collected one minute apart on 25 August 2001. We also compare images of a forest site near Howland, Maine, that were collected on 7 September 2001. We atmospherically corrected each pair of images with the Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) atmosphere model, using aerosol optical thickness and water vapor column density measured by in situ Cimel sun photometers within the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), along with ozone density derived from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on the Earth Probe satellite. We present true-color composites from each instrument that show excellent qualitative agreement between the multispectral sensors, along with gray-scale images that demonstrate a significantly improved ALI panchromatic band. We quantitatively compare ALI and ETM+ reflectance spectra of a grassy field in Rochester and find 6% differences in the visible/near infrared and ~2% differences in the short-wave infrared. Spectral comparisons of forest sites in Rochester and Howland yield similar percentage agreement except for band 1, which has very low reflectance. Principal component analyses and comparison of normalized difference vegetation index histograms for each sensor indicate that the ALI is able to reproduce the information content in the ETM+ but with superior signal-to-noise performance due to its increased 12-bit quantization.

MehrjäHrige vergleichende untersuchungen zu laufkäfergemeinschaften (Coleoptera; Carabidae) eines grossflächigen feldes und eines feldrains: Four-year comparative studies of ground beetle communities (Coleoptera; Carabidae) of a large field and a field margin

Investigations were lead through in the years 1992 to 1995 at Halle (Saale) on a stand 24 ha in size and on a grassy field margin by using pitfall traps. Aim of the investigations was to record and estimate the ground beetle communities in a large field and a field margin over several years with regard to species spectra, dominance structure, body size classification and faunal exchanges between the habitats. Throughout the 4 years the number of species in the margin was higher than in the field. The number of individuals in the field margin was mostly less than in the field. In the winter period the activity-density in the field margin was higher than in the field. With the exception of 1993 the dominance structures in the field margin were more balanced than in the field. In the field margin the appearance of the ground beetles could be recognized earlier in comparison to the field. The immigration-processes were clearly found by A. dorsalis and M. minutulus. The distribution of the species into five body size-classes showed that large species and individuals are richer in the field than in the field margin. In the field predominant xerophilic species could mostly be found. Regarding the overwintering types the differences were little between the habitats. In the year 1993 the field margin and the adjacent area were damaged through construction works. Therefore the number of species decreased heavily in this year. In the following year the number of species exceeded that of the first year.

Habitat characteristics of harvest mouse nests on arable farmland

The suitability of both arable field margins and beetle banks as nesting habitat for the harvest mouse Micromys minutus was investigated. The proportion of robust stemmed herbaceous plants and grasses at nest sites in beetle banks was greater relative to the comparison sites. The main nest supporting species in field margins were bramble Rubus fruticosus and thorns Crataegus monogyna and Prunus spinosa. Nests were constructed where the vertical structure of the vegetation was significantly denser than average. Nest density was greater in the beetle banks than in field margins. The creation of beetle banks and grassy field margins on arable farmland clearly provided suitable nesting sites for harvest mice. The current management practices seemed to provide the structural vegetation necessary for nesting harvest mice.

A GIS-based Decision Support System for Neighbourhood Greening

A prototype decision support tool is described which provides options for the management of existing green spaces and for the establishment of new green space in suburban neighbourhoods. Suggested neighbourhood greening techniques include the naturalization of existing parks and increased foliage along streets and rights of way. The naturalization approach involves less frequent cutting in grassy fields, the introduction of native species, and the cessation of pesticide and herbicide applications. Increased plantings along streets and boulevards would improve the aesthetics of neighbourhoods, and may provide some relief from climatic extremes and urban heat island effects. The creation of new green space in already-built suburban neighbourhoods provides a longer term challenge to neighbourhood planners. Potential strategies include the introduction of small pocket parks and community gardens in vacant lots and school yards. Modelled outcomes from such neighbourhood greening strategies could be used in public meetings both to incorporate attitudes of the impacted community and to demonstrate benefits to a wider community. In particular, strategies should take into account issues of safety and perceived safety that commonly arise with the greater use of naturalization in green space management. The developed prototype decision support tool has been coded as an ArcView GIS extension and provides the opportunity to model and evaluate future scenarios better aligned to principles of sustainable community development. Three applications of this tool are discussed to illustrate some of the benefits of undertaking a range of neighbourhood greening strategies.

Gaps between the rich and the poor: The widening differences in wealth, life expectancy, public health infrastructure and perception of threats, and the consequences for global security

Gaps between the rich and the poor: The widening differences in wealth, life expectancy, public health infrastructure and perception of threats, and the consequences for global security

FOOTBALL UNIFORMS AND UNCOMPENSABLE HEAT STRESS, EXPRESSED AS WET BULB GLOBE TEMPERATURE

Heat stroke cases during pre-season football practice are an annual rite of summer in the United States. Previous work (Kulka, T. J., and W.L Kenney. Heat Balance Limits in Football Uniforms. Phys. Sportsmed. 30:29–39, 2002) examined esophageal temperature during treadmill walking in an environmental chamber at 35% of VO2 max. Subjects wore a full football uniform or a full football uniform with shorts instead of padded pants. Results were expressed as a series of dry bulb temperatures (T) and associated relative humidities (RH) at which the exercising subjects could no longer maintain thermal balance. Translation of these limiting conditions into Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) could help to standardize environmental guidelines for football. PURPOSE To express these uncompensable environmental conditions as WBGT. METHODS The exercise study graphs were digitally sampled to provide data points. Each uncompensable pair of T and RH was used to calculate an equivalent wet bulb temperature (WB). A general relationship between black globe temperature (GT) and T was calculated using summertime data from a grassy field and from a grandstand. 7266 pairs of GT and T were utilized, with the relationship between GT and T being GT = 0.9411T+23.665 (r = 0.69, mean error = 0 ± 6.7°F). [In °C, GT = 0.9411T + 12.1]. A GT was then calculated for each exercise study T, and each set of WB, GT and T values was used to calculate a WBGT for each data point using the formula WBGT = 0.7WB+0.2GT+0.1T. RESULTS WBGT limits for uncompensable heat stress were as follows: Full uniform 76.5 to 83.1°F (24.7–28.4°C); partial uniform 82.4–85.2°F (28–29.6°C); T-shirt and shorts 88.8–91.5°F (31.6–33.1°C). (These values are stated as ranges due to interactions between T and RH.) CONCLUSION These findings suggest that exercise in a football uniform can lead to uncompensable heat stress in conditions commonly found in late summer in the US. Use of a WBGT monitoring instrument could provide a convenient method for adjusting football workout protocol in light of practice field environmental conditions.

Effects of landscape context on herbivory and parasitism at different spatial scales

Local community structure and interactions have been shown to depend partly on landscape context. In this paper we tested the hypothesis that the spatial scale experienced by an organism depends on its trophic level. We analyzed plant‐herbivore and herbivore‐parasitoid interactions in 15 agricultural landscapes differing in structural complexity using the rape pollen beetle (Meligethes aeneus), an important pest on oilseed rape (Brassica napus), and its parasitoids. In the very center of each landscape a patch of potted rape plants was placed in a grassy field margin strip for standardized measurement. Percent non‐crop area of landscapes was negatively related to plant damage caused by herbivory and positively to the herbivores’ larval mortality resulting from parasitism. In a geographic scale analysis, we quantified the structure of the 15 landscapes for eight circular sectors ranging from 0.5 to 6 km diameter. Correlations between parasitism and non‐crop areas as well as between herbivory and non‐crop area were strongest at a scale of 1.5 km, thereby not supporting the view that higher trophic levels experience the world at a larger spatial scale. However, the predictive power of non‐crop area changed only slightly for herbivory, but greatly with respect to parasitism as scales from 0.5 to 1.5 km and from 1.5 to 6 km diameter increased. Furthermore, the effect of non‐crop area tended to be stronger in parasitism than herbivory suggesting a greater effect of changes in landscape context on parasitoids. This is in support of the general idea that higher trophic levels should be more susceptible to disturbance.

To fly or not to fly?

On one of my first scene flights as a flight paramedic, we were dispatched to a single-car motor accident with a possible ejection. We landed in a grassy field 10 miles outside of town near a county highway and were directed to half a dozen first responders gathered in a circle around the patient. Fifty feet behind us was a mid-sized blue car, resting on its top in the ditch. It was late January in rural Iowa, so what I remember most about this flight was the cold. It was bone-chilling, finger-numbing, freeze-the-IV-tubing cold, with a biting wind and a light dusting of snow on the ground.

SCALE-DEPENDENT EFFECTS OF LANDSCAPE CONTEXT ON THREE POLLINATOR GUILDS

Most ecological processes and interactions depend on scales much larger than a single habitat, and therefore it is important to link spatial patterns and ecological processes at a landscape scale. Here, we analyzed the effects of landscape context on the distribution of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) at multiple spatial scales with respect to the following hypotheses: (1) Local abundance and diversity of bees increase with increasing proportion of the surrounding seminatural habitats. (2) Solitary wild bees, bumble bees, and honey bees respond to landscape context at different spatial scales. We selected 15 landscape sectors and determined the percentage of seminatural habitats and the diversity of habitat types at eight spatial scales (radius 250-3000 m) by field inspections and analyses of vegetation maps using two Geographic Information Systems. The percentage of semi- natural habitats varied between 1.4% and 28%. In the center of each landscape sector a patch of potted flowering plants (four perennial and two annual species) was placed in the same habitat type, a grassy field margin adjacent to cereal fields. In all, 865 wild bee individuals and 467 honey bees were observed and an additional 475 individuals were caught for species identification. Species richness and abundance of solitary wild bees showed a close positive correlation with the percentage of seminatural habitats at small scales up to 750 m, whereas bumble bees and honey bees did not respond to landscape context at these scales. In contrast, honey bees were correlated with landscape context at large scales. The densities of flower-visiting honey bees even increased with decreasing proportion of seminatural habitats at a radius of 3000 m. We are not aware of any empirical studies showing contrasting foraging patterns related to landscape context at different spatial scales. We conclude (1) that local landscape destruction affects solitary wild bees more than social bees, possibly changing mutualistic plant-pollinator and competitive wild bees- honey bees interactions and (2) that only analyses of multiple spatial scales may detect the importance of the landscape context for local pollinator communities.

Planning open spaces for wildlife: I. Selecting focal species using a Delphi survey approach

In a world being transformed by human population growth, conservation biology has emerged as one discipline focused on preventing, mitigating, and reversing the loss of species, ecosystems, and landscapes. Because of the need to act quickly with incomplete information, conservation biologists have developed shortcuts that rely on identifying key species to be focused on during planning efforts. We describe a process that can be used to select those species, using a suburbanizing region in the United States as an example. The Triangle region of North Carolina, USA—Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill and surroundings—is undergoing rapid suburbanization, resulting in land-use changes that will alter wildlife communities and might result in the loss of some species. We are developing a wildlife conservation plan for the region based on a combination of landscape and focal species approaches. The objective of the research described in this paper was to identify focal species to be used for conservation planning in the region; our effort focused on amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. In theory, habitat conserved by planning for a few carefully chosen focal species is expected to encompass habitat for many other species with similar requirements. To identify focal species, we used a three-part Delphi survey, administered to a panel of experts. The panel identified six landscape types and nine associated focal species: extensive undisturbed habitat (bobcat, eastern box turtle); riparian and bottomland forest (barred owl, beaver); upland forest (ovenbird, broad-winged hawk); mature forest (pileated woodpecker); pastures and grassy fields (loggerhead shrike); and open and early successional forest (northern bobwhite). The panelists generally agreed that a combined landscape—focal species approach was reasonable, but noted a number of problems to be expected during the planning phase. The most critical of these problems are that the approach has not been well tested, required data are often unavailable, and implementation will be difficult in the face of extreme economic pressures to develop land. Administering the Delphi survey was more labor-intensive, and took longer, than we anticipated; it might have been more effective had it been completed more quickly. Nevertheless, we believe this process can be applied to a broad range of conservation problems, which are often characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and the need to act quickly.

Predation on Artificial Nests in Small Grassland Patches in East-Central Illinois

We measured predation on artificial ground nests in 11 grassy fields ranging from 0.8–12.6 ha. We set out 12 nests in each field baited with two Japanese quail eggs at different distances (<10 m, 25 m, 50 m) from woody edges in early June, and another 12 nests baited with one quail and one zebra finch egg in each field in mid-July. Nests were monitored at 3-d intervals for 15 d. The proportion of nests in which quail eggs were depredated was 33% in June and 38% in July. Including predation on finch eggs raised the proportion of nests depredated to 78% in July, indicating that small-mouthed nest predators such as mice or shrews could account for a substantial amount of predation on nests of small passerine birds. Predation on nests was negatively related to area of field only for quail eggs in July (P = 0.04). We did not detect significant relationships between numbers of nests depredated or daily predation rates and distance to woody edges. The small size of fields in our study, which are typical of grassland patches in this region, may be below a threshold at which nests in the interior of patches experience reduced predation. Alternatively, highly fragmented natural habitats in an agricultural landscape may support high densities of predators, making edge and area effects difficult to detect.

Influence of hedgerow and grassy field borders on ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) activity in fields of corn

Agricultural landscapes may be manipulated in ways that benefit predatory invertebrates by providing alternate food sources, overwintering sites, and refuge from farming activities. Ecological theory predicts that complex plant communities should support a richer community of natural enemies of pest insects than a simple plant community. A study was conducted in Iowa, USA to investigate the influence of the vegetative diversity of field boarders on the activity, species richness, and community similarities of predatory beetles occurring in corn fields. Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) populations were compared among corn fields bounded by either complex hedges or simple grass edges. Directional pitfall traps were used to investigate activity patterns of beetles between border types and their adjacent corn fields. Beetles were trapped during four seasonal periods, based on the growth stage of corn. During corn emergence (May–June) when fields are barren, carabids were more active and species richness was higher in the corn fields bordered by woody hedges. The carabid species Scarites quadriceps, Scarites subterraneus, and Harpalus pensylvanicus, were more dominant in hedge sites as compared to grass sites at this time. Following corn–canopy closure, carabids were now more active in fields bordered by grassy edges, but beetle activity also remained high in the fields adjacent to woody hedges. Further analysis of the carabid communities by Bray–Curtis Similarity Index showed no difference among field edge types at any time of the season. Results indicate that both complex and simple field border habitats support abundant and diverse populations of carabids during most of the growing season. However, during the early growing season hedges appear to be more important than grass edges in supplying carabid beetles to corn fields. Woody hedges may serve as very important overwintering sites and as an early season refuge for predatory beetles in corn.

RESOURCE PARTITIONING OF SPIDER HOSTS (ARACHNIDA, ARANEAE) BY TWO MANTISPID SPECIES (NEUROPTERA, MANTISPIDAE) IN AN ILLINOIS WOODLAND

Two spider-boarding mantispids, Mantispa uhleri Banks 1943 and Climaciella brunnea (Say 1824), were found to be partitioning available spider egg resources in an Illinois woods based on vertical stratification. Mantispa uhleri was found to be phoretic on the philodromid Philodromus vulgaris (Hentz 1847), the salticid Metacyrba undata (De Geer 1867) and the anyphaenid Aysha gracilis (Hentz 1847) at levels of 75%, 26%, and 27% respectively. All of these spiders were collected from areas above the forest floor. In contrast, C. brunnea was collected from 19% of leaf litter-inhabiting lycosids of the genus Schizocosa. There was no host range overlap within the woods, but in a grassy field without appreciable stratification of vegetation adjacent to the woods, both M. uhleri and C. brunnea were found aboard the lycosid Rabidosa punctulata (Walckenaer 1837) at levels of 2% and 7% respectively. A single larva of Mantispa pulchella (Banks 1912) associated with an anyphaenid from the woodland sample was also collected in this study. Mantispids are far more common than has been previously supposed and are likely an important factor in spider population dynamics and the evolution of spider behavior.

Arthropods in grassy field margins in the Wieringermeer: Scope, population development and possible consequences for farm practice

The potential for nature conservation value of unsprayed field margins in intensive arable areas is attracting much attention. The research on this compares the presence of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates in unsprayed and regularly sprayed crop margins. Little is known about the opportunities that grassy field margins offer for nature enhancement in agricultural areas. We present the scope of a research project and some results on the population development of arthropods, mainly insects, in grassy field margins in the Wieringermeer, the Netherlands, paying attention to the implications for farming practice.

Production of Gas From Tight Naturally Fractured Reservoirs With Active Water

Abstract There are numerous examples of tight naturally fractured gas reservoirs with active water in the foothills of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Examples include the Pincher Creek field in Alberta and the Bucking Horse, Pocketknife, Sikanni and Grassy fields in British Columbia. Recovery factor is typically low from this type of reservoir due to water production. The problem is frequently attributed to coning, but coning may actually playa minor role. In fact, the gas/water contact in the fracture system may be relatively flat Initial gas recovery com.. prises gas displaced from fractures plus pressure depletion from the matrix. The amount of pressure depletion in the matrix is a function of structural relief above the original gas/water contact Subsequent gas recovery is an imbibition process, which may be very slow. Laboratory work, conducted at the TIPM Laboratory on behalf of Husky, demonstrates that water will continue to imbibe into tight matrix rock submerged under water for months. This work implies that the best operating strategy may be to produce the wells at the highest rates possible until water breakthrough, followed by a shut-in period of perhaps several years to allow gas to re-accumulate. Introduction Significant gas reserves are contained in structured Mississippian-age reservoirs along the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Equivalent formation names include Livingstone, Turner Valley and Debolt (from southern Alberta through northeastern British Columbia). Matrix permeability in these reservoirs is often insufficient to support commercial production rates. Fortunately, natural fracturing enhances reservoir permeability, and many foothills gas reservoirs are intensely fractured. Fracturing results from post-depositional thrusting. Prolific wells can be drilled where fracture intensity is greatest, usually along the hinge of a folded structure. In most cases, these reservoirs overlie inactive aquifers. Recovery is simply a function of abandonment pressure, which is in turn a function of the minimum economic production rate. Recovery is typically greater than 80% of original gas-in-place. Aquifer influx can have a devastating influence on recovery, however. Recovery from a reservoir overlying an active aquifer may be less than 20% of the original gas-in-place. Wells may waterout very abruptly. The problem is often blamed on coning or channelling. Fractures are mistakenly seen as preferential conduits, or "pipelines" into the water leg. With this view, gel treatments, rate restrictions, and plug-backs may be implemented to reduce water production; almost always unsuccessfully. Our premise is that the problem is not caused by coning or channelling. Fractures are planar; not tubular. Even in a vertical fracture, horizontal permeability along the plane of the fracture is approximately equal to vertical permeability. Fractures are not preferential conduits into the water leg. Furthermore, the viscosity of gas is typically two orders of magnitude less than the viscosity of water, and the density of gas at reservoir conditions may be an order of magnitude lower than the density of water. Therefore, extremely high pressure gradients would be required to generate a small cone in a permeable fracture system. Rather, in most cases, gas is efficiently displaced from the fractures as the free gas/water contact rises uniformly across the pool.

Declining Survival of Ring-Necked Pheasant Chicks in Illinois during the Late 1900s

Previous studies indicated that survival of ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) chicks during the first 6 weeks of life declined from the early 1950s through early 1980s in Illinois with the expansion of corn and soybean production and associated clean farming practices. From the early 1980s through mid-1990s intensive row-crop production was moderated by farm programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and annual set-aside, which diverted millions of hectares of cropland from production. We evaluated the survival of pheasant chicks in Illinois in relation to these recent land-use practices. Specifically, our objectives were to determine if there were changes in chick survival during the 1980s and 1990s, and if there wer regional differences in chick survival related to land-use practices. We observed 574 broods along transect roa routes on the Sibley Study Area (SSA) in eastcentral Illinois, and 964 broods on routes throughout the pheasant range in Illinois. In spite of the increase in potential brood habitat on set-aside farmland, chick survival remained low from 1982 to 1996. For example, there was a 5-fold increase in the amount of forage legumes and small grains on the SSA from 1987-91 compared to 1975-81, with the average number of chicks per brood at 4.3 (1987-91) and 4.2 (1975-81). For survey routes throughout the Illinois pheasant range, the number of grassy fields (primarily narrow, linear tracts) in 1990 was positively correlated (r 2 = 0.15, P < 0.02, n = 37) with chicks per brood, but this relation explained only 15% of the variation. The lack of improvement in chick survival in recent decades relates to the pervasive clean farming practices in the Illinois pheasant range. More-over, most of the set-aside land in the Illinois pheasant range was under annual contract and seeded late to monotypic oats, which is cover of marginal value to foraging pheasant chicks.

Development of a soil ecotoxicology method: preparation and soil degradation of [formula omitted]-labeled grass

A simple method for assessing the effects of a chemical on the degradation of 14 C -labeled grass tissue was developed for future ecotoxicology studies. Grass was grown for several weeks in a simple soil microcosm amended with 14 C -glucose to generate a 14 CO 2 atmosphere. The resulting grass tissue (4 μCi g −1) was placed in two soils (Cohoctah loam from a grassy field and Pipestone sand from a pine woods) within specialized biometer flasks. Production of 14 CO 2 was 47.1% ( s = 2.3%) after 4 weeks, and was similar for both soils sampled in April and July. Production of 14 CO 2 in Cohoctah soil amended with 3,5-dichlorophenol showed a hormesis response curve with slight stimulation at 80 mg kg −1, followed by inhibition at 400 mg kg −1. Finally, when 14 C -grass tissue stored frozen for a year was added to soil stored refrigerated for 10 months, 14 CO 2 production was nearly identical to experiments with fresh materials. Our technique combines the sensitivity and accuracy of 14C methods with simplicity, low cost, and a minimum of 14C waste to allow evaluation of a chemical on the soil's litter degradation system.

Neural network‐based classification of scenes from SAR images using spectral information: An empirical study

The use of a feed‐forward artificial neural network (FANN) in classifying scenes from a SAR image, acquired over the KUREX test sites, is presented. Three different types of scenes (river, forest, and grassy fields) are located on the SAR image using an optical image and a ground map. For each type of scene, one hundred segments are located with each segment consisting of 16 x 16 pixels. The texture information of each segment of the image is obtained by computing the spectrum of its intensity distribution, after removing the mean intensity from the individual pixel intensities. A feature vector is then obtained for each segment using 64 samples of the spectrum and the mean value of the intensity distribution of the image segment. Ten different feature vectors from each type or class of scene are used to train a FANN, and the performance of the network is tested using the feature vectors that are not used during the training process. Different types of network architectures are considered in a search for ...

New Species of Diplusodon (Lythraceae) from Brazil

Eight new species and two new varieties from five Brazilian states are described and illustrated: Diplusodon argyrophyllus and D. ulei var. ciliatus, from Bahia; D. alatus, D. ciliatiflorus, D. oblongus var. angustifolius, D. plumbeus, and D. pygmaeus from Goiis; D. aggregatifolius, from Minas Gerais; D. trigintus, from Tocantins; and D. mattogrossensis, from Mato Grosso. Since 1985, expeditions in Brazil have been undertaken to increase knowledge of the Brazilian Lythraceae (Cavalcanti, 1987, 1988, 1990; Ramos et al., 1992) and as a basis for revising the genus Diplusodon (Cavalcanti, 1995). These efforts resulted in the collection of many interesting plants in the family, some representing rare and endemic species. In addition to new species of Cuphea, some of them already published (Cavalcanti, 1989, 1991), ten taxa of Diplusodon were confirmed to be undescribed. Diplusodon is a genus of about 65 species ranging throughout the continuous area of the Brazilian cerrado, with just 1 species occurring in the cerrado of Bolivia (Cavalcanti & Graham, 1996). The species occur different habitats, including gallery forest borders, grassy fields (campo limpo) with sandy soil, closed cerrado (cerrado denso) with trees and high shrubs, open cerrados (campo sujo), and fields with outcropping rocks (campo rupestre). In general, Diplusodon is characterized by opposite leaves, regular, hexamerous, perigynous flowers with a floral tube, two bracteoles (prophylls), and an epicalyx of six appendages. The gynoecium is bicarpellate and unilocular with an incomplete septum. The androecium can be diplostemonous, polystemonous, or rarely haplostemonous. The fruit is a septicidal capsule with winged seeds. The species of Diplusodon were first studied in detail by Koehne (1903). The most recent work, that of Lourteig (1989), described 18 new species, mainly from Minas Gerais and Goids. The new species described here further expand the diversification of the genus both in vegetative and floral characters. The etymology of the genus refers to the sepals of the calyx and the epicalyx of the flowers (diplus = double; odon = teeth). Diplusodon aggregatifolius T. Cavalcanti, sp. nov. TYPE: Brazil. Minas Gerais: Grao-Mogol, as margens do c6rrego na saida da cidade, na estrada para o Rio Ventania, 25 Feb. 1986, Cavalcanti et al. (CFCR) 9596 (holotype, SPF; isotypes, CEN, K, MBM, NY, UEC). Figure 1. Habitu, amplitudine formaque foliorum et numero staminum D. ulei appropinquat, sed hypanthio oblongo et planta omnino trichomatibus foliis evidenter ad apicem ramorum facile distinguitur. Subshrub 0.4-2.0 m, branchlets sparse, quadrangular to subquadrangular, reddish to wine-colored, pubescent; internodes 0.5-3 cm long. Leaves petiolate, petioles 3-7 mm long; venation eucamptodromous; blades chartaceous to subcoriaceous, elliptic to obovate, rarely orbicular, 0.9-3 x 0.41.2 cm, apex obtuse, margin plane to rarely slightly revolute; adaxial surface pubescent, with lateral veins inconspicuous; abaxial surface pubescent, with lateral veins 2-3, visible. Inflorescences bracteose to frondose-bracteose, diplobotrys to pleiobotrys, sometimes with accessory branches; pedicels 1-2.5 mm long; bracteoles 5-7 mm long, elliptic to obovate, with base narrow and decurrent, at the apex of pedicel, reaching to the midpoint of the floral tube. Floral tube 4-5 mm long, campanulate, pubescent; sepals wine-colored, pubescent, 2-2.5 mm long; appendages cylindrical to flattened, 22.5 mm long, spreading, slightly reflexed; corolla 2.5-3 cm diam., petals pink, 9-12 x 6-7 mm; stamens (10-)12, exserted; ovary glabrous, rounded to obconic, 2-2.8 x 1.9-2 mm; style rose, 12-19 mm long; ovules 6-14. Capsules rounded; seeds 4-6, 3-3.2 X 2-2.2 mm. Phenology. Flowering January to May; collected in fruit in April and June. Distribution. Known only from the municipio of Grao-Mogol and surroundings, in the state of Minas Gerais. Occurring in campo rupestre vegetation between 900 and 1250 m, and in cerrado vegetation at 830 m. NovoN 8: 337-351. 1998. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.158 on Fri, 18 Nov 2016 04:21:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms