Lowland Landscapes Research Articles

Położenie małych miast na tle środowiska przyrodniczego dna pradoliny warszawsko-berlińskiej

Pradolina warszawsko-berlińska jest ważnym elementem w krajobrazie Polski Środkowej. Forma ta ma złożoną budowę geologiczną i mozaikowy układ siedlisk. Dno pradoliny jest szerokie (1,2–5 km) i zbudowane z dwóch powierzchni: fragmentów terasy piaszczystej i równiny zalewowej (namuły). W dwóch odcinkach pradoliny duże powierzchnie zajmują torfowiska. Takie warunki miały wpływ na rozwój osadnictwa. Artykuł przedstawia środowiskowe uwarunkowania lokalizacji małych miast w dnie pradoliny. Przeanalizowano położenie topograficzne dziesięciu miast. Analiza różnych elementów środowiska przyrodniczego wskazuje, że głównym czynnikiem decydującym o lokalizacji miast były walory geomorfologiczne i hydrologiczne. Większość miast została ulokowana na wysokim stoku pradoliny, a tylko jedno miasto zostało zbudowane na obydwu brzegach rzeki. Środowisko przyrodnicze dna pradoliny jest barierą w rozwoju przestrzennym miast. W dnie pradoliny zachowało się cenne środowisko przyrodnicze, dlatego przedstawiono położenie miast na tle obszarów chronionych (park krajobrazowy, obszar Natura 2000). Małe miasta i środowisko przyrodnicze dna pradoliny tworzą harmonijny krajobraz.

A gridded global data set of soil, intact regolith, and sedimentary deposit thicknesses for regional and global land surface modeling

AbstractEarth's terrestrial near‐subsurface environment can be divided into relatively porous layers of soil, intact regolith, and sedimentary deposits above unweathered bedrock. Variations in the thicknesses of these layers control the hydrologic and biogeochemical responses of landscapes. Currently, Earth System Models approximate the thickness of these relatively permeable layers above bedrock as uniform globally, despite the fact that their thicknesses vary systematically with topography, climate, and geology. To meet the need for more realistic input data for models, we developed a high‐resolution gridded global data set of the average thicknesses of soil, intact regolith, and sedimentary deposits within each 30 arcsec (∼1 km) pixel using the best available data for topography, climate, and geology as input. Our data set partitions the global land surface into upland hillslope, upland valley bottom, and lowland landscape components and uses models optimized for each landform type to estimate the thicknesses of each subsurface layer. On hillslopes, the data set is calibrated and validated using independent data sets of measured soil thicknesses from the U.S. and Europe and on lowlands using depth to bedrock observations from groundwater wells in the U.S. We anticipate that the data set will prove useful as an input to regional and global hydrological and ecosystems models.

River Dikes in Agricultural Landscapes: The Importance of Secondary Habitats in Maintaining Landscape-Scale Diversity

Lowland rivers and their floodplains have changed markedly over the last centuries. River dikes have become among the most extensive secondary habitats of former floodplains. Our main question was, what role do secondary habitats on river dikes play in harbouring plant species and maintaining plant diversity of lowland landscapes dominated by agricultural areas? We compared historical maps and current habitat maps to understand the effects of landscape changes on the vegetation pattern of the study region, in southern Hungary. Dikes and primary vegetation of the landscape were selected for intensive vegetation sampling. We compared the floristic similarity and the Shannon diversity of the vegetation types. We used ordinations to visualize relationships among the vegetation types and among dike vegetation and environmental variables. Our results indicated that profound changes have been brought about in the vegetation during the last 150 years, resulting in a transition from marshland to agricultural land. The species composition and pattern of dike vegetation strongly depended on their relative position to the river and their aspect. We conclude that dikes can harbour many vascular plants that are absent or rare in the surrounding habitats and therefore play a decisive role in maintaining plant diversity in agricultural landscapes.

Conserving biodiversity in New Zealand’s lowland landscapes: does forest cover or pest control have a greater effect on native birds?

Conserving biodiversity in New Zealand’s lowland landscapes: does forest cover or pest control have a greater effect on native birds?

Flood, drought and the inter-annual variation to the number and size of ponds and small wetlands in an English lowland landscape over three years of weather extremes

Ponds are biodiversity hotspots, but pond conservation is hampered by problems auditing these small, often temporary, habitats. Data on temporal changes to the number of ponds in response to weather variations are lacking. Annual and seasonal changes to the numbers and area of wetted ponds in a lowland farm in England were surveyed by field walks between November 2010 and November 2013. Plant communities were recorded to identify variations in pond type between land-uses. The study period coincided with severe drought up until April 2012 followed by record breaking precipitation. The wetted areas of ponds in wetlands and dune slacks showed the strongest relationship with rainfall over the preceding 4–6 months, whilst the areas of ponds in arable or pasture fields varied more with rainfall in the previous month. Ponds from different land-uses supported different plant communities and all types added to the overall total site biodiversity. Plant communities of ponds in arable fields benefitted from the extreme wet summer of 2012. The results show that the number and area of ponds varied significantly between years and seasons and that different pond types in different land-uses may vary in their response to extreme weather.

Plasmodial Slime Molds of a Tropical Karst Forest, Quezon National Park, the Philippines

Karst forest represents a distinct landscape with highly alkaline soil and limestone rocks. This specialized topography supports many unique species of plants and animals. Thus, documenting species in this area is important for any biodiversity research. In this study, a field survey was conducted to assess abundance, diversity, and distribution of myxomycetes in a karst forest within Quezon National Park, Philippines. Fruiting bodies were collected in addition to decaying substrates (e.g., aerial leaves and ground leaf litter) and twigs for culture in moist chambers. A total of 35 species from 16 genera was identified. The majority of these species occurred only rarely. Myxomycete communities between aerial and ground litter had the highest level of similarity based on their species composition and corresponding relative abundance. This study documented diversity of myxomycetes from the lowland karst landscape in the Philippines and now serves as baseline information for investigating plasmodial slime molds in Quezon National Park.

Needle in a Haystack: Predicting the Occurrence of Wetland Invertebrates on the Basis of Simple Geographical Data. A Case Study on Two Threatened Micro-Mollusc Species (Gastropoda: Vertiginidae) from Poland

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether simple geographical data can be used to predict the probability of the presence of two threatened snail species: Vertigo angustior and V. moulinsiana, occurring within wetland areas across their central European range. Our research was based on data from 226 localities across Poland fitting with the species requirements according to the current literature. We used Canonical Variance Analysis with variance partitioning and tree classifications to model relationships between the species presence/absence and rough geographic features describing each locality (landscape and geomorphological types and hydrography). Our results have shown that the localities of the studied species are related to particular types of landform and landscape and are not distributed uniformly. Both species occur predominantly in young postglacial lowland landscapes and are usually associated with particular succession stages of lakes, with V. moulinsiana occurring in earlier phases of habitat evolution. Results from modelling show that cost- and time effectiveness of surveying for these species could be substantially increased by avoiding particular location types. The prediction models presented will be a useful tool for planning future surveys of the vertiginids and in studies on their ecology and distribution.

Impacts of extractive forest uses on bird assemblages vary with landscape context in lowland Nepal

Forest use practices such as logging, lopping of tree branches for fodder, and grazing do not reduce forest area but disturb forest structure and impact biodiversity. Although such forest disturbances can be key determinants of the biota occupying a site, rarely is the interaction between disturbance intensity and landscape context considered, despite its relevance to conservation management. We investigated the influence of site-and landscape-level habitat characteristics on birds, and explored whether the effects of site-level disturbance on bird richness varied with forest extent in lowland landscapes in Nepal. While extractive uses reduced forest structural complexity and altered the avifaunal community of a site, the intensity of such effects depended on the extent of forest in the surrounding landscape (19.6km2). The extent of forest, large tree density, and tree canopy cover were important predictors for all bird response groups. However, the effect of forest extent on bird richness was stronger for sites with greater disturbance intensity. Managing and restoring landscapes to support greater forest cover may not only have a positive direct effect on bird conservation, but may also help to compensate for site-level disturbance, such as characterises multiple-use forests worldwide.

Montane bias in lowland Amazonian peatlands: Plant assembly on heterogeneous landscapes and potential significance to palynological inference

Abstract Past temperature changes in tropical mountain regions are commonly inferred from vertical elevational shifts of montane indicator taxa in the palynological record. However temperature is one of several abiotic factors driving the low-elevational limits of species and many montane taxa can occur in warmer lowlands by tracking appropriate habitat types, especially highly flooded wetlands. In this paper we explore ways in which lowland habitat heterogeneity might introduce error into paleo-temperature reconstructions, based on field data of seven modern peatland vegetation communities in the southern Peruvian Amazon (~ 200 masl). Peat-rich substrates are common edaphic transitions in pollen cores and provide detailed records of past vegetation change. The data show that indicators of modern peatlands include genera with montane as well as lowland distributions, while indicators of surrounding forests on mineral substrates have predominantly lowland distributions. Based on family-level analyses we find that modern peatland vegetation communities have taxonomic compositions appearing to be 389 m to 1557 m (mean = 1050 ± 391 m) above their actual elevations due to a high abundance and number of families with high elevation optima. We interpret the relatively higher prevalence of montane elements in modern peatlands as habitat tracking of a conserved montane niche on heterogeneous lowland landscapes. We suggest that both high moisture availability and stressful edaphic conditions of peatland habitat may explain the montane bias observed. To the extent that fossilization provides a better record of past vegetation that occurred proximate to the site of deposition, we suggest that habitat tracking of montane elements may introduce a cool bias in lowland paleo-temperature reconstructions based on pollen proxies.

A staged geogenetic approach to underwater archaeological prospection in the Port of Rotterdam (Yangtzehaven, Maasvlakte, The Netherlands): A geological and palaeoenvironmental case study for local mapping of Mesolithic lowland landscapes

This study presents the geogenetic approach to detect presently drowned archaeological sites in the transgressive palaeoenvironment of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta. A staged and practical approach is advocated in which subsurface archaeological predictions are based on geological mapping and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the underwater location. The study area is located in the Maasvlakte harbour extension of the Port of Rotterdam, formerly a part of the southern North Sea. Prior to construction works, it was suggested that dredging of the new harbour (Yangtzehaven) would disturb the subsurface stratigraphy to around −21 m below present mean sea level, a zone which is known to contain archaeological remains. The staged approach makes use of geological data starting from a conceptual model that indicates the depths of layers that could be rich in Upper Palaeolithic/early Mesolithic artefacts. This initial model is used to determine the strategy of the subsequent phases of investigation, such as whether to proceed with dredging as part of the engineering work, down to 17 m water depth, to remove the upper (younger) sands and thereby improve the opportunities for underwater survey of fluvio-deltaic layers of Mesolithic age. Following the development of the initial site model, a full-area investigation was carried out using geophysics and coring, the latter providing material for palaeoenvironmental analysis. This allowed the reconstruction of the long-drowned former landscape, which included inland dune areas and local drainage systems and provided the physiographic context for the geoprospection of Mesolithic archeology. This predictive modeling identified two areas in the harbour for detailed investigation, again employing geophysics and coring at higher resolutions, allowing fine tuning of the palaeolandscape models at the localities of presumed highest archeological potential. Cores from one of the selected areas, an inland dune area within the Early Holocene wetland region, yielded in-situ evidence of Mesolithic occupation of this site in what is now the southern North Sea. These finds and the palaeolandscape context created with the data from the prospection phases were critical in the decision to undertake an underwater archaeological excavation using a large, boat-mounted grab sampling system. This paper provides an account of the geological and palaeoenvironmental work undertaken in the prospective phases leading up to the discovery of the site, highlighting the importance of the staged geogenetic approach for informing sampling strategies and securing high-quality information on landscape contexts, which in turn, informed archaeological decision-making and geoprospection strategies. Such an approach has wider generic application for palaeolandscape reconstruction and mapping at regional scales.

Three new mites of the genus Pseudolaelaps Berlese, 1916 (Acari: Mesostigmata, Pseudolaelapidae) from Iran, with an updated key to known species

Three new gamasid mites belonging to the genus Pseudolaelaps Berlese, 1916 are described from Guilan Province, Iran. The descriptions of Pseudolaelaps laevidorsatus sp. n., Pseudolaelaps semiduplicans sp. n. and Pseudolaelaps venustulus sp. n. are based on females collected from different kinds of soil substrate and decomposed plant detritus in deciduous forests and some non-woodland habitats in cultivated lowland landscapes. An updated key to 15 species of the genus Pseudolaelaps, widely distributed mainly in Europe, is presented.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C0C644A4-0EBF-4EAA-8054-B97F7B4E9558

Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo‘orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach

Archaeology’s ability to generate long-term datasets of natural and human landscape change positions the discipline as an inter-disciplinary bridge between the social and natural sciences. Using a multi-proxy approach combining archaeological data with palaeoenvironmental indicators embedded in coastal sediments, we outline millennial timescales of lowland landscape evolution in the Society Islands. Geomorphic and cultural histories for four coastal zones on Mo‘orea are reconstructed based on stratigraphic records, sedimentology, pollen analysis, and radiocarbon determinations from mid- to late Holocene contexts. Prehuman records of the island’s flora and fauna are described utilizing landsnail, insect, and botanical data, providing a palaeo-backdrop for later anthropogenic change. Several environmental processes, including sea level change, island subsidence, and anthropogenic alterations, leading to changes in sedimentary budget have operated on Mo‘orea coastlines from c. 4600 to 200 BP. We document significant transformation of littoral and lowland zones which obscured earlier human activities and created significant changes in vegetation and other biota. Beginning as early as 440 BP (1416–1490 cal. ad), a major phase of sedimentary deposition commenced which can only be attributed to anthropogenic effects. At several sites, between 1.8 and 3.0 m of terrigenous sediments accumulated within a span of two to three centuries due to active slope erosion and deposition on the coastal flats. This phase correlates with the period of major inland expansion of Polynesian occupation and intensive agriculture on the island, indicated by the presence of charcoal throughout the sediments, including wood charcoal from several economically important tree species.

Conserving freshwater biodiversity: The value, status and management of high quality ditch systems

Freshwater biodiversity is globally threatened and while most conservation efforts are focussed on natural and larger freshwater systems such as rivers and lakes, in many lowland agricultural landscapes artificial water bodies including ditches may be equally important as habitats for freshwater species. Ditches occur across the agricultural landscape but in particular, those associated with coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, have high conservation value. The importance of this habitat for rare and threatened species afforded priority status under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan is explored. The characteristics of ditches that have high conservation value are described and a set of targets against which such ditches can be assessed are presented. An analysis of the current condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the wider coastal and floodplain grazing marsh habitat demonstrates the range of pressures affecting these sites and highlights that alongside generic freshwater issues such as eutrophication and non-native species, these sites have a unique set of pressures associated with their ongoing management and the vulnerable location of many sites at the coast. Wider conservation strategies for freshwater biodiversity in lowland landscapes across Europe need to factor in the different management requirements of artificial habitats such as ditches alongside more ambitious restoration projects for natural waterbodies. In low lying coastal areas the threat of coastal squeeze for many important grazing marshes will require a strategic approach to allow upstream migration of important biodiversity.

Fine-scale vertical position as an indicator of vegetation in alkali grasslands – Case study based on remotely sensed data

Vertical position is an important driver of vegetation zonation at multiple scales, via determining abiotic environmental parameters, such as climate, soil properties and water balance. In inland alkali landscapes, elevation is a key factor for understanding patterns of salt accumulation and water table which is therefore considered a good indicator of alkali vegetation types. Remote sensing techniques offer viable solutions for linking elevation data to vegetation patterns by providing an elevation model of extended areas. Our goal was to test the relationships between fine-scale differences in vertical position and vegetation patterns in inland alkali landscapes by vegetation data collected in the field and elevation data generated using airborne laser scanning (ALS). We studied whether vertical position influences vegetation patterns at the level of main vegetation groups (based on alliances) or even at the level of associations. Our study sites were situated in a lowland alkali landscape in Hortobágy National Park (East-Hungary). We grouped the associations into four main vegetation groups: loess grasslands, alkali steppes, open alkali swards and alkali meadows. Even though we detected a very limited range (121cm) in the vertical position of the main vegetation groups, they were well separated by their vertical positions. At the level of associations, a more detailed elevation-based distinction was also possible in many cases. The revealed elevation–vegetation correlations show that high-resolution mapping based on ALS remote sensing techniques is an ideal solution in complex lowland areas, such as alkali landscapes. Our findings suggest that in other types of lowland landscapes, characterised by elevation differences, the applied method might hold a great potential as a supporting tool for vegetation mapping.

Evaluation of a general ecosystem state indicator based on farmland birds

The comparison analysis and assessment of certain landscapes and landscape units is an effective tool for the decision makers for meeting appropriate land use decision. In our analysis we compared various groups of indices applicable for ecological landscape assessment applying them on three lowland landscape units. The assessed indices characterize the landscape from the point of view of vegetation (vegetation-based natural capital index) and birds (diversity of birds species of agricultural areas). The vegetation-based natural capital index values have been derived from the META database collected between 2003 and 2008. The ornithological survey was carried out in the spring of 2011 by modified Danish point counting system. Our sample areas were the geographical micro-regions Csepeli- sik, Hortobagy and Nagyberek, which are landscapes dominated by agricultural lands and grasslands. The major question was whether different naturalness indicators characterize basically similar but differently used landscape areas in a similar way. We found that while a higher NCI value corresponds to a higher abundance of birds, it also corresponds to a lower diversity of bird species. This contraintuitive effect partially might be explained by the variance of the large-scale landscape structure of the assessed landscape areas.

Fitting upland, steppe, and desert into a ‘big picture’ perspective: a case study from northern Jordan

Across the Levant a strong dichotomy exists between lowland valley landscapes, often characterized as cultural and economic hubs, and regions of perceived economic, social, and cultural marginality (e.g. uplands, steppes, and deserts). Despite the growing number of surveys and excavations being carried out within these regions there have been few attempts to collate this work into a broader landscape study. This study will demonstrate the potential of using new technologies, alongside traditional survey techniques and the collation of existing literature, to understand how past populations may have exploited regions we now consider inhospitable, bleak, or at least not worth exploiting. Focusing on a broad geographical area, stretching across the north of Jordan, we will consider how human groups interacted with, within and beyond, their landscapes during the 4th millennium bc and the role these regions may have played within wider developments taking place across the entire Levant during the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age.

Microfossil-determined provenance of clay building materials at Burrough Hill Iron Age hill fort, Leicestershire, England

The Iron Age hill fort at Burrough Hill, Leicestershire, eastern England, lies in a lowland landscape of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks comprising mudstones with thin limestone units, sandstones and ironstones, which are blanketed by Pleistocene till. During the late Iron Age the hill fort was an important central place; permanent occupation probably began in Early–Middle Iron Age and continued into the Roman period. A variety of materials in archaeological contexts from the site, including clay rampart bonding and the clay linings of storage pits and floors, are found to yield characteristically mixed microfossil assemblages of Early to Late Jurassic ostracods and foraminifera, together with foraminifera from the Late Cretaceous. These provide a unique microfossil signature that indicate provenance from the local till. Microfossils can also be recovered from Middle to Late Iron Age potsherds at Burrough Hill, and these too suggest a local glacial source for the clay. Our analysis demonstrates the power of microfossils to provenance clay materials used for construction and manufactures at an Iron Age site, where a detailed baseline understanding of the local geology is firmly established.

Patterns of root decomposition in response to soil moisture best explain high soil organic carbon heterogeneity within a mesic, restored prairie

Spatially heterogeneous patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC) are related to topographically-defined soil moisture levels within Midwestern tallgrass prairies. While roots are regarded as the main contributor to SOC formation, relatively little is known about how fine root dynamics respond to landscape-level changes in soil moisture, and thus the mechanisms promoting spatial heterogeneity of SOC remain uncertain. We evaluated SOC, fine root (≤2mm) biomass, production, decomposition, and vertical rooting distributions among landscape positions varying in soil moisture within 25+ year old restored tallgrass prairies in Wisconsin, USA. We hypothesized that SOC, root biomass, and root production would increase, while root decomposition would decline with increasing soil moisture. Additionally, we hypothesized that relative root biomass and production distributions would become shallower as soils became wetter. We found no relationship between soil moisture and root biomass, production, or their vertical distributions, but decomposition decreased and SOC increased as expected with increasing soil moisture. However, we also observed a strong relationship between soil moisture and species assemblages, suggesting that community composition changed in response to soil moisture. Our findings indicate that SOC was highest in seasonally wet, lowland landscape positions due to greatly reduced root decomposition, not due to changes in root production or relative distributions. We suggest that species turnover may have reduced the effect of soil moisture on root biomass and production, thereby maintaining similar root production under notably disparate soil moisture conditions. Considering continued interest in monoculture biofuel plantings and their potential to sequester C in roots and soils, additional research is necessary at the landscape scale to elucidate the importance of species spatial heterogeneity on grassland belowground C dynamics.

Comparing small mammal faunas based on barn owl (Tyto alba) pellets collected in two different lowland landscapes

The composition of small mammal assemblages was analysed in two lowland landscapes (Drava floodplain, Győr basin) and was evaluated on three different spatial scales (meso-, microregions and local scale), based on barn owl pellets collected between 2006 and 2009. Altogether 273 pellet samples were collected from 41 settlements of the two regions during the four years of monitoring. The analysed 6978 pellets contained 17214 small mammal individuals. The distribution of the relative abundance of small mammal taxa was evaluated as well as the correlation of frequency order on a meso- and microregional scale in the comparison of the two lowland areas. The food niche parameters of barn owl were calculated on a local scale, regarding the breeding pairs. We investigated three null hypotheses: the distribution of species frequency values is homogeneous between two landscape areas (H01); there are no significant differences in the rank of frequencies (H02) in meso- and microregional scale; and niche parameters of the barn owl do not show difference between two landscapes (H03). The first null hypothesis had to be rejected in several cases of small mammal taxa. The rank correlation of species frequency and the homogeneity test of total species pool of two investigated landscapes showed that the composition of small mammal fauna of the compared landscapes is basically the same, but the distribution of abundance was different between landscapes on both meso- and microregional scales. The statistical analysis of the niche parameters showed that the barn owl’s niche breadth did not differ between the Drava floodplain and the Győr basin. However, the niche overlap within each of the two mesoregions was higher than between them, and thus we rejected the third null hypothesis. This provides a further evidence that besides the species-specific hunting strategy, the regional differences of the quantitative relations of small mammals is also reflected in the dietary composition of the barn owl.

Quantifying landscape change in an arctic coastal lowland using repeat airborne LiDAR

Increases in air, permafrost, and sea surface temperature, loss of sea ice, the potential for increased wave energy, and higher river discharge may all be interacting to escalate erosion of arctic coastal lowland landscapes. Here we use airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired in 2006 and 2010 to detect landscape change in a 100 km2 study area on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain of northern Alaska. We detected statistically significant change (99% confidence interval), defined as contiguous areas (>10 m2) that had changed in height by at least 0.55 m, in 0.3% of the study region. Erosional features indicative of ice-rich permafrost degradation were associated with ice-bonded coastal, river, and lake bluffs, frost mounds, ice wedges, and thermo-erosional gullies. These features accounted for about half of the area where vertical change was detected. Inferred thermo-denudation and thermo-abrasion of coastal and river bluffs likely accounted for the dominant permafrost-related degradational processes with respect to area (42%) and volume (51%). More than 300 thermokarst pits significantly subsided during the study period, likely as a result of storm surge flooding of low-lying tundra (<1.4 m asl) as well as the lasting impact of warm summers in the late-1980s and mid-1990s. Our results indicate that repeat airborne LiDAR can be used to detect landscape change in arctic coastal lowland regions at large spatial scales over sub-decadal time periods.