Community Spatial Distribution Research Articles

Sustainable urban planning within the framework of evaluating the basic design of the new city of Anah

The new city of Anah has served as a shining example of a civilized metropolis since its founding. Whereas in this study, the reality of sustainable urban planning was examined and evaluated following the basic design of the new Anah city. In order to demonstrate the degree to which planning standards are applied in the creation of the new Anah city and whether the city was built according to a future vision or arbitrarily. It was discovered that the new city of Anah was entirely planned and implemented under a future development vision. The nature of the target population group for housing in the city was taken into account through the criteria of comfort, ease of access, and spatial distribution of community and baseline services. Also, the mechanism of granting and acquiring housing units comfortably for the residents.

Diversity in Ancestral Caddo Vessel Forms in East Texas Archaeological Sites

Ceramic vessels from ancestral Caddo sites in East Texas are diverse in form, size, manufacture, and decoration, both spatially and temporally. Variation in these attributes, including vessel form, also “is connected with particular local and regional traditions." In this study, I am concerned with defining the character and formal identification of Caddo vessel forms on sites in the region. To both appreciate and understand the meaning of vessel form diversity in Caddo vessel assemblages in East Texas— or any other part of the much larger southern Caddo area—the consistent identification of different vessel forms and vessel shapes is crucial. The formal identification of the diverse vessel forms and vessel shapes, in conjunction with other vessel attributes, most notably decorative motifs and elements, present in Caddo vessel assemblages should contribute to delimiting the existence and spatial distribution of communities of Caddo potters that were sharing or not sharing ceramic practices and traditions in both short-term and long-term spatial scales, and illuminating small or expansive networks of social groups tied together through regional interaction.

Distribution patterns of spontaneous vegetation and pollution at a former decantation basin in southern Québec, Canada

After industrial activities shut down, the brownfields remaining on abandoned sites are often left to revegetate naturally, a process that reflects the site's biotic and abiotic characteristics, including spatial pollutant distribution. The soil of a former decantation basin in Varennes (southern Québec, Canada) was systematically sampled and described in terms of concentration of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), PHs (petroleum hydrocarbons C10–C50), various trace metals as well as ruderal plant abundance and diversity. Partial redundancy analysis was used to investigate the effect of heterogeneous pollution on the plant community's spatial distribution. Up to 61% of variance in spontaneous plant distribution was explained by the pollutant dispersion pattern on the study site. These findings provide guidelines for the design of site-specific and within-site remediation or rehabilitation promoting natural processes that are already in progress. They also suggest using local vegetation and a greater diversity of plant species when conditions are conducive as this may have many associated benefits. The resulting design, which promotes development of the local plant community, can be a more cost effective and environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional plant-based remediation approaches.

The Classification of Late Caddo Period Utility Ware Jars from Sites in the Big Cypress Creek Basin of East Texas

Much of the decorated utility wares found in Titus phase mortuary vessel assemblages in the Big Cypress Creek basin of East Texas has been typologically identified over the years as "Miscellaneous Fulton Aspect [Late Caddo] Utility Pottery," which has hindered the full appreciation of the stylistic, temporal, and stylistic diversity that exists among theses sites in the region, or to the extra-local region. The diversity apparent in the decorated utility wares from Titus phase sites has a considerable potential to she light on the existence and spatial distribution of communities of Caddo potters sharing or not sharing utility ware decorative practices and traditions from both short-term and long-term temporal scales, if only more useful classification of the decorative elements found on these wares can be devised.

Connecting landscape structure and patterns in body size distributions

Understanding the interaction between community structure and landscape structure represents a pressing theoretical challenge of great applied importance considering the increasing structural modification of ecosystems through habitat loss and fragmentation. Dispersal ability and energetic demands coupled to body size determine the landscape structure experienced by an organism, which could essentially be fragmented for small individuals but continuous for large ones. Although discontinuities in species assemblages have been predicted and detected, no explicit association between habitat structure and body size distributions has been demonstrated. In this contribution, we propose that body size structure in local communities should reflect such different perceptions of landscape structure. To this end, we explore this association in a simple metacommunity located in the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile. Using graph theory we found that species of different size and trophic position (carnivores and herbivores) perceive the landscape at contrasting spatial scales. In each community (n = 31) we determined the observed and the expected body size distributions – in a random sample from the metacommunity of 18 727 individuals –, which allowed us to identify the body sizes at which an overrepresentation or underrepresentation of individuals occur. Such aggregations and discontinuities in body sizes were related, for carnivores, to patch location within the landscape, and to the internal banded vegetation pattern within patches for herbivores. Our study shows, for the first time, an empirical connection between the spatial distribution of communities, their local attributes, and the existence and locations of discontinuities and aggregations in body size distributions.

Синтаксономическое разнообразие растительности устьевой области Днепра. І. Классы Scorzonero—Juncetea gerardii Golub et al. 2001, Festuco-Puccinellietea Soó 1968, Molinio-Arrhenatheretea R. Tx. 1937

The revealed syntaxonomic diversity of meadow vegetation of the Dnieper mouth area comprises 12 associations subordinated to 7 alliances, 5 orders, and 3 classes: Scorzonero—Juncetea gerardii, Festuco-Puccinellietea and Molinio-Arrhenatheretea. For each class, the phytosociological tables are presented together with the summarizing vegetation syntaxa prodromus and the ecological-phytocoenological portraits of the associations described. Meadow commu­nities of the study area have been proved to bear peculiar features of their structure and composition. The spatial distribution of communities is mainly governed by the inundation regime and the degree of soil salinity. The results of the floristic analysis have pointed out notable numbers of rare and endangered plants participating in the community composition. These facts, together with the increasing anthropogenic impact on the vegetation, prompt us to discuss the problems of meadow vegetation conservation.

Relationship between structural and functional aspects of microbial and macrofaunal communities in different areas of the North Sea

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 282:13-31 (2004) - doi:10.3354/meps282013 Relationship between structural and functional aspects of microbial and macrofaunal communities in different areas of the North Sea Ingrid Kröncke1,*, Thorsten Stoeck1, Gunther Wieking1, Ansa Palojärvi2 1Senckenberg Institute, Department for Marine Research, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany 2MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Soils and Environment, 31600 Jokioinen, Finland *Email: ingrid.kroencke@senckenberg.de ABSTRACT: Spatial similarities of structural and functional (trophic) aspects of microbial and macrofaunal community patterns were studied in relation to sediment parameters in the German Bight, the Oyster Ground, the Dogger Bank, eastern North Sea, the Skagerrak, and northern Kattegat in May and September 1999 and 2000. Spatial patterns of microbial and macrofaunal communities were congruent. Differences in spatial distribution of communities were caused by utilisation of the different food sources available in the different areas. In the German Bight, the communities were correlated significantly with chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations in the sediments, an indicator of fresh nitrogen-rich organic matter. In contrast, communities in the Skagerrak and Kattegat were correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) and mud concentrations, indicating the presence of more refractory organic matter for the microbial and macrofaunal organisms. For the communities in the Oyster Ground, the eastern North Sea and the Dogger Bank, no such significant correlations were found. The community in the Oyster Ground was characterised by the ophiurid Amphiura filiformis foraging on relatively refractory macrofloculate organic matter from the benthic boundary layer. Preferred substrates of the microbial communities in this area were macrofaunal excretion products. The Skagerrak and Kattegat stations were also characterised by the A. filiformis community, indicating lower food supply than in the German Bight. Although microbial community patterns were similar to those in the German Bight, lower chl a concentrations also suggested the presence of relatively refractory organic matter. Reflected by the dominance of sand-licking species, macrofaunal communities at the Dogger Bank and in parts of the eastern North Sea seem to rely on benthic primary production. Here, microbial communities were adapted to hydrodynamically induced stress, sediment disturbance and limited food supply. Our results revealed that in areas with high food supply such as the German Bight, no competition for food between microorganisms and macrofauna occurs. But in areas with less or limited food supply from the water column, macrofauna provides the microorganisms with organic matter or microorganisms utilise macrofaunal excretion products and are physiologically adapted to the exposed environment. KEY WORDS: Microorganisms · Macrofauna · Community structure · Trophic relationships · Food availability · Phytopigments · North Sea Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 282. Online publication date: November 16, 2004 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2004 Inter-Research.

Spatial Distribution of Biochemical Parameters Indicating Biomass and Community Composition of Microbial Assemblies In Estuarine Mud Flat Sediments

The spatial distribution of communities was examined in estuarine mud flat sediments by the biochemical analysis of the lipids and lipid components extracted from the sediments. Total phospholipid was used as a measure of total biomass, and fatty acids were used as indicators of community composition. Comparisons were made among 2- by 2-m (location) and 0.2- by 0.2-m (cluster) sampling plots by using a nested analysis of variance to design an optimal sampling strategy to define the microbial content of a large, relatively homogenous area. At two of the three stations, a 2- by 2-m plot was representative of the station, but 0.2- by 0.2-m areas were in no case representative of the station. The biomass measured by the extractable phospholipid and the total lipid palmitic acid showed excellent correlation with the fatty acid "signatures" characteristic of bacteria, but showed a lower correlation with the long-chain polyenoic fatty acids characteristic of the microfauna.