Terrestrial Ecological Systems Research Articles

Indigenous Peoples‐related environmental research within the basin of the Laurentian Great Lakes: A systematic map protocol

Abstract The North American Great Lakes Basin is the homeland for many First Nations, Métis and Native American Tribes. The terrestrial and aquatic ecological systems within this multinational region, which is of spiritual, cultural and subsistence significance to a diversity of Indigenous Peoples, are facing several natural and anthropogenic pressures. While there are many current and past research efforts and projects to address those pressures, the nature and range of environment‐related projects involving Indigenous Peoples or organizations remains unknown. This gap in knowledge presents a unique opportunity to identify and map past and current environmental and ecological research within the Great Lakes involving Indigenous Peoples. A systematic search strategy will be applied to identify and capture peer‐reviewed publications that pertain to past and current environmental research within the Great Lakes basin that involve or are connected to Indigenous Peoples, following the procedures outlined in this systematic mapping protocol. Publications that pertain to environmental and ecological research with, for and by Indigenous Peoples within the Great Lakes, as determined by the use of suitable keywords, will be retrieved from four proposed online bibliographic platforms and databases. Searches will only include peer‐reviewed publications in the English language. Final captures of the search results will be screened in two stages to identify potentially relevant papers. This will take place through (1) title and abstract screening and (2) full‐text analysis. Following the completion of the screening process, remaining papers will be coded and analysed through a narrative synthesis approach and descriptive statistics will be conducted. Environmental research captured through this systematic protocol will be geospatially mapped using the ArcGIS mapping software. It is anticipated that the information obtained from the resulting systematic map will be beneficial for identifying gaps in environmental research to support and inform future initiatives for environmental research planning, policy and decision‐making with, for and by Indigenous Communities within the Great Lakes basin.

A new technique for stain-marking of seeds with safranine to track seed dispersal and seed bank dynamics.

Accurate tracking of seed dispersal is critical for understanding gene flow and seed bank dynamics, and for predicting population distributions and spread. Available seed-tracking techniques are limited due to environmental and safety issues or requirements for expensive and specialized equipment. Furthermore, few techniques can be applied to studies of water-dispersed seeds. Here we introduce a new seed-tracking method using safranine to stain seeds/fruits by immersing in (ex situ) or spraying with (in situ) staining solution. The hue difference value between pre- and post-stained seeds/fruits was compared using the HSV color model to assess the effect of staining. A total of 181 kinds of seeds/fruits out of 233 tested species of farmland weeds, invasive alien herbaceous plants and trees could be effectively stained magenta to red in hue (320–360°) from generally yellowish appearance (30–70°), in which the other 39 ineffectively-stained species were distinguishable by the naked eye from pre-stained seeds. The most effectively stained seeds/fruits were those with fluffy pericarps, episperm, or appendages. Safranine staining was not found to affect seed weight or germination ability regardless of whether seeds were stained ex situ or in situ. For 44 of 48 buried species, the magenta color of stained seeds clearly remained recognizable for more than 5 months after seeds were buried in soil. Tracking experiments using four species (Beckmannia syzigachne, Oryza sativa f. spontanea, Solidago Canadensis, and Acer buergerianum), representing two noxious agricultural weeds, an alien invasive plant, and a tree, respectively, showed that the safranine staining technique can be widely applied for studying plant seed dispersal. Identifying and counting the stained seeds/fruits can be executed by specially complied Python-based program, based on OpenCV library for image processing and Numpy for data handling. From the above results, we conclude that staining with safranine is a cheap, reliable, easily recognized, automatically counted, persistent, environmentally safe, and user–friendly tracking-seed method. This technique may be widely applied to staining most of the seed plant species and the study of seed dispersal in arable land and in disturbed and natural terrestrial or hydrophytic ecological systems.

Tipping points and multiple drivers in changing aquatic ecosystems: A review of experimental studies

AbstractNatural ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented rates of change due to anthropogenic activities and global change, leading to either gradual changes in a given response or tipping points. While the tipping point concept has been tested in an array of habitats since the 1960s, the spatiotemporal superposition of multiple drivers in different ecosystems needs to be considered when investigating the response of species, communities, populations, and ecosystems along environmental gradients. Here, we (1) develop a historical and current perspective of tipping point studies in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecological systems; (2) portray the research effort in different freshwater and marine habitats; and (3) explore the results of experimental studies focusing on tipping points measured at the individual, communities, ecosystem level, as well as ecosystem functions and services in a context of single and multiple stressors. The number of studies mentioning the concept of tipping points increases every year, but very few studies have specific objective to identify them. Even fewer studies consider how the addition of another stressor into an ecosystem may alter a tipping point. In addition, many studies investigated multiple responses, but only one‐fourth (7 out of 28) of them concentrate their effort on multiple biological or ecological levels of complexity. This review allowed us to identify shortcomings in this research field and propose ways to make this ecological concept anew.

Collembola (Hexapoda) as Biological Drivers between Land and Sea

Simple SummaryCollembola also represent one of the most abundant and important taxa of soil invertebrates inhabiting tundra soils. We focused on the structure and distribution patterns of the collembolan communities along the environmental gradient from costal tundra to live macroalgae and aged macroalgae debris deposited across the sub-Arctic coastline. Our results imply that environmental filtering influences collembolan species distributions across the gradient studied and the sorting of species according to their respective functional traits, including dispersal ability. We also suggest that the competition—colonisation trade-off mechanism, which affected the relative importance of competition and environmental filtering, probably determined Collembola community composition over the examined gradient. We believe that our results may become the basis for further study explaining the importance of Collembola as biological drivers of connectivity between land and sea.Macroalgae debris accumulated onshore function as points of interaction between marine and terrestrial ecological systems, but knowledge of the importance of detritivores facilitating the introduction of organic matter via the detritus pathway into neighbouring ecosystems, is still poorly understood. In particular, not much is known about biodiversity patterns and the colonisation of macroalgal debris by terrestrial, detritivorous soil microarthropods in the harsh environmental conditions in the subpolar Arctic region. We hypothesised that (i) soil microarthropods of the coastal tundra, including Collembola, can cross the ecosystem boundary and colonise decaying and freshly exposed macroalgae; and (ii) various inundation regimes by sea water, microhabitat stability and decaying of macroalgae drive distribution patterns of collembolan species. Our results suggest that environmental filtering influences collembolan species’ distributions across the examined gradient and induces sorting of species according to their functional traits, including dispersal ability, resistance to disturbance and environmental tolerance.

Transcriptomics and metabolomics reveal Ca2+ overload and osmotic imbalance-induced neurotoxicity in earthworms (Eisenia fetida) under tri-n-butyl phosphate exposure

Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TNBP) is mass-produced and widely utilized in many products, which has increasingly drawn concern about its potential environmental risks. However, little is known about the toxic mechanism on soil-dwelling organisms caused by TNBP. In this study, earthworms (Eisenia fetida) were exposed to environmentally relevant or higher concentrations of TNBP (0, 0.1, 1, and 10 mg/kg) in artificial soil for 14 days. Our results showed that TNBP accumulated in earthworm nervous tissue (cerebral ganglions). In addition, the content of glutamate in cerebral ganglions decreased compared to the control (p < 0.05). The concentration of Ca2+ in earthworm cerebral ganglions increased. However, both Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase activities were significantly reduced compared to the control (p < 0.05), which led to neurotoxicity in earthworm nervous tissue. Furthermore, the transcriptome and metabolomics revealed the toxic mechanism in earthworm nervous tissue caused by TNBP. Results indicated that the main neurotoxicity mechanisms induced by TNBP were an osmotic imbalance and Ca2+ overload in cerebral ganglions. Our findings fill a gap in the literature on neurotoxicity mechanisms of earthworm response to TNBP exposure and contribute to a better understanding of the adverse effects of TNBP on soil-dwelling organisms in terrestrial ecological systems.

Coastal Belt Linked Classification (CBLC): A System for Characterizing the Interface between Land and Sea Based on Large Marine Ecosystems, Coastal Ecological Sequences, and Terrestrial Ecoregions

Finkl, C.W. and Makowski, C., 2020. Coastal Belt Linked Classification (CBLC): A system for characterizing the interface between land and sea based on large marine ecosystems, coastal ecological sequences, and terrestrial ecoregions. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(4), 677–693. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The Coastal Belt Linked Classification (CBLC) is a novel approach based on interpretation of satellite images and assimilation of collateral data to characterize coastal belt segments that function as discrete interfaces between land and sea. This method is based on the formulation of concepts derived from the Biophysical Cross-shore Classification System (BCCS), the worldwide and regional-scale Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) classification, and the global distribution of terrestrial Ecoregions (ER). The coastal belt, a zone that extends across the shore from marine environments to inland terrestrial habitats, has recently been described in terms of cross-shore catenary sequences based on biophysical attributes of geomorphology and ecology. The CBLC formulates a cross-shore coastal classification by conjoining the Dominant Catenary Sequences (DCS) and Coastal Ecological Sequences (CES) with marine (LME) and terrestrial (ER) ecological systems; thus, a linkage is now provided between marine and terrestrial areas across coastal belts that function as transitional succession zones. This study proposes to combine the traditionally separated tripartite marine, coastal, and terrestrial delineations by melding them into a single descriptive code sequence that can be ascertained from interpretation of Google Earth satellite imagery and accessing collateral data via interactive LME and ER online platforms. Development of the CBLC is facilitated by the fact that LME and ER units are codified by numerals that are easily added to the formulated CES as prefixes and suffixes. The resulting combined alphanumeric code brings together a trove of information at different levels of investigation (Levels I – IV) that was heretofore not easily assimilated. This linkage of DCS and CES catenas with marine LME and terrestrial ER units brings added advantage to the interpretation of satellite imagery of the world's coasts, as it allows coastal belts to be viewed within the context of transitional interfaces between connected marine and terrestrial parameters. Recognition of coastal belts as interfacial bridges linking terrestrial and marine ecosystems into one codified descriptor sequence allows for cross-shore transects to be defined in the form of the Coastal Belt Linked Classification (CBLC) and provides an opportunity to fully comprehend the dynamic nature of coastal zones around the world.

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Algae of bromeliad phytotelmata in the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden, Chiang Mai, Thailand&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Inhabiting of bromeliad tanks by algae and other organisms is a very interesting phenomenon. Although the conditions in these water tanks are challenging, the occurrence of different algae and cyanobacteria in such specific ecological niches may suggest wide adaptive abilities among these organisms. This work presents the first report of algae in microhabitat of bromeliads in Thailand. In this study, the diversity of algae in small water bodies within bromeliad phytotelmata from the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden was investigated. We presented both LM and SEM documentation of the taxa identified during the study. We also provided basic physical-chemical data of water gathered in the studied tanks. The results illustrated that 118 taxa classified to eight major lineages including Chlorophyta (35 taxa), Euglenophyceae (31 taxa), Cyanobacteria (18 taxa), Bacillariophyceae (17 taxa), Zygnematophyceae (13 taxa), Cryptophyceae (2 taxa), Synurophyceae (1), and Xanthophyceae (1). Among the algae, Ankistrodesmus fusiformis, Oedogonium sp., Mougeotia parvula, and species belonging to diatoms (Eunotia spp., Gomphonema spp., Pinnularia spp.) were found to be the dominant taxa. This study is the first inventory of the phytotelmata in Thailand and contributes to the understanding of the geographic distribution of taxa. Most taxa recorded are first records for Chiang Mai Province, and 8 species, Aphanothece conferta, Aph. elabens, Astasia comma, Gyropaigne ukrainica, Kirchneriella obtusa, Mougeotia parvula, Nephrochlamys subsolitaria and Oedogonium curvum, are new records for Thailand. The results indicate that botanical gardens provide relatively constant conditions in microhabitats and play an important role in biodiversity and terrestrial ecological systems. The microscale of bromeliad tanks may be repeatable in macroscale (lakes, ponds, reservoirs).

Концептуальні засади фізичної макроекономіки для сталого розвитку: проблеми та перспективи

A new concept of forming physical macroeconomics for sustainable development has been suggested, which broadens the coordinates system of economics, as it takes into account the physical parameters of terrestrial biosphere in economic development. The object of study in physical macroeconomics is complex ecological and socio-economic systems (ESES), the core of which is made up by terrestrial ecological systems characterized by definite amount of soil productivity. Physical macroeconomics analyzes balance models of biophysical and cost estimates on the way to forming sustainable economy of ESES. The article also suggests a physical and economic paradigm of forming sustainable economy, which, unlike the current ones, takes into account natural sources of the first enrichment period in economy. It gives grounds for methodological changes in the theory of value and creating a breakthrough model of monetary economy to solve sustainability problems. Such up-to-date physical economy is an integral (synthesizing) science which uses a transdisciplinary approach to studying cause-and-effect relations in complex stationary ecological and socio-economic systems of various hierarchy levels. Its new conceptual models are based on a synthesis of physical, biological, geobotanic, geochemical, landscape science, biophysical and economic laws. A physical and economic model for sustainable development has been substantiated, which is based on the function method of the environmental offer of the Earth. This function determines the best possible natural capital volume of the Earth, which can be obtained having its targeted volume and the area of a given terrestrial ecological system. Due to the information given above, the author of the article has managed to substantiate and determine new physical and economic sustainable development indicators of ESES.

Effects of urbanization on productivity of terrestrial ecological systems based on linear fitting: a case study in Jiangsu, eastern China

The terrestrial ecosystem productivity and foundation of regional ecosystem services have been significantly influenced by recent urbanization processes. This study assesses the changes in terrestrial ecosystem productivity in Jiangsu from the years of 2000 to 2015 in response to the urbanization. A linear model that incorporates the traditional equalization method is proposed to improve the estimation accuracy of net primary productivity (NPP) loss. Results revealed that the land area of urban construction expanded rapidly during the research period to encompass an area of 8672.8 km2. The rate of expansion was highest during 2005–2010. Additionally, the expansion rate of urban construction land was considerably higher in southern Jiangsu compared to the northern areas. The NPP exhibited a rising tendency from the year of 2000 to 2015, and varied from 33.30 to 40.23 Tg C/y. It was higher in the central parts, which include the cities of Yancheng and Nantong. The increase in urban construction land has resulted in a significant reduction in the terrestrial ecosystem productivity, i.e. a cumulative NPP loss of 2.55–2.88 Tg C during the research period. The NPP losses due to the conversion from cropland to constrction land were the highest, followed by the wetland. The work in this paper indicates that the rate of future productivity losses in terrestrial ecosystem in northern Jiangsu would be faster than the southern areas.

The fungal ecology of seabird nesting sites in the Falkland Islands indicates a niche for mycoparasites

Abstract Soil fungal communities are complex and heterogeneous, possessing important functions in most terrestrial ecological systems. Their study has been advanced due to the development of high-throughput sequencing, which allow for complex fungal communities to be described with techniques such as metabarcoding. The Falkland Islands contain large populations of breeding seabirds; one such internationally recognised area is Saunders Island, located off the coast of the West Falkland. It contains breeding populations of gentoo penguins ( Pygoscelis papua ), Magellanic penguins ( Spheniscus magellanicus ), black-browed albatross ( Thalassarche melanophris ), king penguins ( Aptenodytes patagonicus ) and western rockhopper penguins ( Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome ). The fungal communities of these sites were investigated using a fungal metabarcode approach. We found these sites contain a large spatial heterogeneity, with communities that are dominated by saprotrophic fungi. However, we noticed that the most abundant species tended to be known mycoparasites. We hypothesise the fungal communities in system undergo a ‘boom-bust’ cycle of varying alpha diversity which is dependent upon the breeding populations, and driven by highly competitive mycoparasitic fungi.

Prediction of vegetation anomalies over an inland river basin in north‐western China

AbstractVegetation cover plays an important role in linking the atmosphere, water, and land and is deemed as a key indicator in the terrestrial ecological system. Therefore, it is of great importance to monitor vegetation dynamics and understand the mechanisms of vegetation change, including that driven by climate change. This study examines (a) the evolution of vegetation dynamics over the Heihe River Basin in the typical arid zone in north‐western China using nonparametric Mann–Kendall test and Thiel Sen's slope; (b) the relationships between remotely sensed vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI] and enhanced vegetation index [EVI]) and hydroclimatic variables based on correlation analysis; and (c) the prediction of vegetation anomalies using a multiple linear regression model. For the analysis, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer NDVI/EVI product and the gridded daily meteorological data at a spatial resolution of 0.125° over the period 2001–2010 are considered. The results indicate that vegetation cover improved over a large proportion during 2001–2010, with a significant trend towards warm and wet, characterized by an increase in average annual temperature and precipitation by 0.042 °C/year and 5.8 mm/year, respectively. We test the feasibility of NDVI and EVI in quantifying the responses of vegetation anomaly to climate change and develop a statistical model to predict vegetation dynamics in the basin. The NDVI‐based model is found to be more reliable than the EVI‐based model, partly due to the vegetation characteristics and geomorphologic properties of the study region. The proposed model performs well when there is no lag time between meteorological factors and vegetation indices for grassland and cropland, whereas 1‐month lead time prediction is found to be best for forest. The soil water content is introduced as an extra explanatory variable, which effectively improves the prediction accuracy for different land use types. In general, the predictive ability of the proposed model is stable and satisfactory, and the model can provide useful early warning information for regional water resources management under changing climate.

Ecological-hydrological processes in arid environment: Past, present and future

Ecohydrology, aiming to study the interactions between terrestrial ecological systems and hydrological cycles as well as their impacts on water management, has been an emerging interdisciplinary research field since the 20th century. It hosts both natural and human regulated processes that are potentially coupled in complex ways. Understanding the ecological-hydrological processes, the fundamental mechanisms and the connections between them is critical since these processes are not isolated but integrated to impact basin- scale hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a larger river system, especially in arid environment where water resources are considered to be the source of life. Thus, research on ecological-hydrological processes in arid environment is not only a scientific focus area but also important to sustainable development. Research projects and initiatives involved in observation, measurement, modeling and data assimilation have been well-developed for those purposes over the past 20 years. This review summarizes the historical development of ecohydrology science in China and the state-of-the-art tools available in the research framework. Five grand scientific challenges are listed as prospects and exciting opportunities for the scientific community. To advance the current ecological-hydrological processes research, scientists from multidisciplinary backgrounds (such as geography, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, geochemistry and ecology), need to unite to tackle the many open problems in new dimensions.

Plant fossils from the Lower Jurassic coal-bearing formation of central Inner Mongolia of China and their implications for palaeoclimate

The plant macrofossils from the Lower Jurassic coal-bearing Hongqi Formation in the Xilinhot Basin, central Inner Mongolia of North China, are systematically documented for the first time. The flora contains 40 species of 21 genera, belonging to horsetails, ferns, Cycadopsida, Ginkgopsida, conifers, and isolated seeds of unknown affinity. The Filicopsida, predominant in the flora, are characterized by high species diversity of form genus Cladophlebis (with 12 species), abundant Hausmannia (Protorhipis) of the Dipteridaceae, and existence of Coniopteris and Eboracia of the Dicksoniaceae. Among the gymnosperm group, the Ginkgopsida rank the second of the flora, with nine species representing Ginkgoites, Sphenobaiera of ginkgoales and Phoenicopsis, Czekanowskia of czekanowskiales. The Cycadopsida consist of six species, four of which belong to genera Anomozamites, Pterophyllum, Nilssoniopteris, and Ptilophyllum of bennettitales and the other two to Nilssonia and Ctenis of cycadaleans. Conifers, with a relatively smaller number of species, are characterized by long and broad leaves, including genera Podozamites, Elatocladus, and Pityophyllum. Based on the stratigraphical ranges of the known species, the existence of Coniopteris and Eboracia, and the abundance of Hausmannia and Cladophlebis, the age of the studied flora can be determined as late Early Jurassic and possibly the Toarcian. The existence of climate sensitive elements, particularly the thermophilous plants such as the dipteridaceous fern Hausmannia, bennettitales Ptilophyllum, further demonstrates that the climate of Xilinhot area during the late Early Jurassic was warm and humid, but could be hot and even arid as in the subtropic zone at short intervals. It was warmer than during both the early Early Jurassic and early Middle Jurassic, indicating a temperature rising event occurred in the late Early Jurassic. Palaeobotanical and sedimentary data also support the conclusion that a warming and somewhat arid climatic event occurred in the terrestrial area of North China. This climate change event was coincided possibly with the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE), and could be the response of the terrestrial ecological system to the great and rapid change of palaeoenvironment in the marine ecosystem.

Towards understanding the organisation of metacommunities in highly dynamic ecological systems

Community ecology recognises today that local biological communities are not only affected by local biotic interactions and abiotic environmental conditions, but also by regional processes (e.g. dispersal). While much is known about how metacommunities are organised in space in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecological systems, their temporal variations remain poorly studied. Here, we address the question of the dynamics of metacommunities in highly variable systems, using intermittent rivers (IRs), those rivers which temporarily stop flowing or dry up, as a model system. We first review how habitat heterogeneity in space and time influences metacommunity organisation. Second, we compare the metacommunities in IRs to those in perennial rivers (PRs) and develop the idea that IRs could undergo highly dynamic shifts due to the temporal variability in local and regional community processes. Third, we develop the idea that in IRs, metacommunities of the wet and dry phases of IRs are closely intertwined, thereby increasing even more their respective temporal dynamics. Last, we provide a roadmap to stimulate further conceptual and empirical developments of metacommunity research and identify possible applications for improving the management of IRs and other highly dynamic ecological systems.SynthesisExtensive research has examined the importance of local biotic interactions, environmental filtering, and regional processes on community assembly. Movement of organisms between sites, i.e. dispersal, is a major set of processes within this framework. However, subsequent metacommunity organisation also varies over time in ecosystems because habitat characteristics such as configuration and composition continuously shift. Intermittent rivers are an ideal set of systems to examine these ideas because these freshwater systems temporarily cease flowing thereby limiting dispersal events. We proposed the hypothesis that metacommunities in dynamic ecosystems will undergo frequent shifts in structure and composition in response to the temporal variability in environmental filtering and dispersal. In addition to providing a roadmap for developing a more dynamic perspective for community ecology, these framework provides direct insights for the management of intermittent rivers.

Climate change implications in the northern coastal temperate rainforest of North America

We synthesized an expert review of climate change implications for hydroecological and terrestrial ecological systems in the northern coastal temperate rainforest of North America. Our synthesis is based on an analysis of projected temperature, precipitation, and snowfall stratified by eight biogeoclimatic provinces and three vegetation zones. Five IPCC CMIP5 global climate models (GCMs) and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) are the basis for projections of mean annual temperature increasing from a current average (1961–1990) of 3.2 °C to 4.9–6.9 °C (5 GCM range; RCP4.5 scenario) or 6.4–8.7 °C (RCP8.5), mean annual precipitation increasing from 3130 mm to 3210–3400 mm (3–9 % increase) or 3320–3690 mm (6–18 % increase), and total precipitation as snow decreasing from 1200 mm to 940–720 mm (22–40 % decrease) or 720–500 mm (40–58 % decrease) by the 2080s (2071–2100; 30-year normal period). These projected changes are anticipated to result in a cascade of ecosystem-level effects including: increased frequency of flooding and rain-on-snow events; an elevated snowline and reduced snowpack; changes in the timing and magnitude of stream flow, freshwater thermal regimes, and riverine nutrient exports; shrinking alpine habitats; altitudinal and latitudinal expansion of lowland and subalpine forest types; shifts in suitable habitat boundaries for vegetation and wildlife communities; adverse effects on species with rare ecological niches or limited dispersibility; and shifts in anadromous salmon distribution and productivity. Our collaborative synthesis of potential impacts highlights the coupling of social and ecological systems that characterize the region as well as a number of major information gaps to help guide assessments of future conditions and adaptive capacity.

Long-range transport of giant particles in Asian dust identified by physical, mineralogical, and meteorological analysis

Abstract. Giant particles transported over long distances are generally of limited concern in atmospheric studies due to their low number concentrations in mineral dust and possible local origin. However, they can play an important role in regional circulation of earth materials due to their enormous volume concentration. Asian dust laden with giant particles was observed in Korea on 31 March 2012, after a migration of about 2000 km across the Yellow Sea from the Gobi Desert. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that 20% of the particles exceeded 10 μm in equivalent sphere diameter, with a maximum of 60 μm. The median diameter from the number distribution was 5.7 μm, which was larger than the diameters recorded of 2.5 and 2.9 μm in Asian dust storms in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and was consistent with independent optical particle counter data. Giant particles (&gt;10 μm) contributed about 89% of the volume of the dust in the 2012 storm. Illite–smectite series clay minerals were the major mineral group followed by quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and calcite. The total phyllosilicate content was ~52%. The direct long-range transport of giant particles was confirmed by calcite nanofibers closely associated with clays in a submicron scale identified by high-resolution SEM and transmission electron microscopy. Since giant particles consisted of clay agglomerates and clay-coated quartz, feldspars, and micas, the mineral composition varied little throughout the fine (&lt;5 μm), coarse (5–10 μm), giant-S (10–20 μm), and giant-L (&gt;20 μm) size bins. Analysis of the synoptic conditions of the 2012 dust event and its migration indicated that the mid-tropospheric strong wind belt directly stretching to Korea induced rapid transport of the dust, delivering giant particles. Giant dust particles with high settling velocity would be the major input into the terrestrial and marine sedimentary and ecological systems of East Asia and the western Pacific. Analysis of ancient aeolian deposits in Korea suggested the common deposition of giant particles from Asian dust through the late Quaternary Period. The roles of giant particles should be reviewed with regard to regional circulation of mineral particles and nutrients.

Calculation of Terrestrial Carbon Sink Capacity in Dongying City, Shandong Province

Based on the reality of Dongying City, combined with relevant statistical data, the carbon sink capacity of the forest ecosystem, wetland ecosystem, landscaping ecosystem and farmland ecosystem in Dongying City was calculated systematically by using the empirical coefficient method. The results showed that the carbon sink capacity of terrestrial ecological system in Dongying City was about 596.72×104 t CO2 in 2009, and wetland ecosystem, whose carbon sink capacity accounted for 84.82% of the total terrestrial carbon sink, was the major terrestrial carbon sink of Dongying City. The research results have important significance for Dongying City in rapid transition to low carbon ecological development, mitigating and avoiding the environmental crisis resulted from high carbon development as well as resources crisis caused by energy excessive consumption, and realizing sustainable development.

Plant and animal endemism in the eastern Andean slope: challenges to conservation.

BackgroundThe Andes-Amazon basin of Peru and Bolivia is one of the most data-poor, biologically rich, and rapidly changing areas of the world. Conservation scientists agree that this area hosts extremely high endemism, perhaps the highest in the world, yet we know little about the geographic distributions of these species and ecosystems within country boundaries. To address this need, we have developed conservation data on endemic biodiversity (~800 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, and plants) and terrestrial ecological systems (~90; groups of vegetation communities resulting from the action of ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients) with which we conduct a fine scale conservation prioritization across the Amazon watershed of Peru and Bolivia. We modelled the geographic distributions of 435 endemic plants and all 347 endemic vertebrate species, from existing museum and herbaria specimens at a regional conservation practitioner's scale (1:250,000-1:1,000,000), based on the best available tools and geographic data. We mapped ecological systems, endemic species concentrations, and irreplaceable areas with respect to national level protected areas.ResultsWe found that sizes of endemic species distributions ranged widely (< 20 km2 to > 200,000 km2) across the study area. Bird and mammal endemic species richness was greatest within a narrow 2500-3000 m elevation band along the length of the Andes Mountains. Endemic amphibian richness was highest at 1000-1500 m elevation and concentrated in the southern half of the study area. Geographical distribution of plant endemism was highly taxon-dependent. Irreplaceable areas, defined as locations with the highest number of species with narrow ranges, overlapped slightly with areas of high endemism, yet generally exhibited unique patterns across the study area by species group. We found that many endemic species and ecological systems are lacking national-level protection; a third of endemic species have distributions completely outside of national protected areas. Protected areas cover only 20% of areas of high endemism and 20% of irreplaceable areas. Almost 40% of the 91 ecological systems are in serious need of protection (= < 2% of their ranges protected).ConclusionsWe identify for the first time, areas of high endemic species concentrations and high irreplaceability that have only been roughly indicated in the past at the continental scale. We conclude that new complementary protected areas are needed to safeguard these endemics and ecosystems. An expansion in protected areas will be challenged by geographically isolated micro-endemics, varied endemic patterns among taxa, increasing deforestation, resource extraction, and changes in climate. Relying on pre-existing collections, publically accessible datasets and tools, this working framework is exportable to other regions plagued by incomplete conservation data.

Central Interior Ecoregional Assessment: Terrestrial Representation in Regional Conservation Plannning

This article describes the approach used to incorporate terrestrial ecological systems into regional conservation planning as part of the ecoregional assessment completed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada for the Central Interior of British Columbia, a vast area of 25.7 million ha. The goal of our assessment was to develop a suite of conservation areas that, once protected or managed for conservation, would represent all of the biodiversity and ecosystem functions of the Central Interior. The process involved several teams focussed on different areas (aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; plant, and animal species).This article describes the efforts of the terrestrial coarse-scale ecological systems team. We developed an ecological systems classification to be used as coarse-filter argets, created an ecoregion-wide map of distribution, and modelled distributions of riparian ecosystems and fine-scale ecological land units to capture elevation and micro-topographic slope and aspect diversity. We also developed minimum dynamic area criteria for large-scale forest ecosystems. The final set of prioritized potential conservation areas covers 7.7 million ha (30%) of the Central Interior. We also integrated climate adaptive strategies into a plan that included large, enduring landscapes with topographic diversity, which allows for species movement or migration and populations of species at the northern limit of their range within the Central Interior.

Recent aspects of chemical ecology: Natural toxins, coral communities, and symbiotic relationships

Abstract The discovery of new ecologically active compounds often triggers the development of basic scientific concepts in the field of biological sciences, since such compounds have direct physiological and behavioral effects on other living organisms. We have focused on the identification of natural key compounds that control biologically and physiologically intriguing phenomena. We describe three recent aspects of chemical ecology that we have investigated: natural toxins, coral communities, and symbiotic relationships. Blarina toxin (BLTX) is a lethal mammalian venom that was isolated from the short-tailed shrew. Duck-billed platypus venom shows potent Ca2+ influx in neuroblastoma cells. The venom of the solitary wasp contains arginine kinase-like protein and is used to paralyze its prey to feed its larva. The ecological behaviors of corals are controlled by combinations of small molecules. The polyol compound symbiodinolide may serve as a defense substance for symbiotic dinoflagellates to prevent digestion of their host animals. These compounds reveal the wonder of nature, in both terrestrial and marine ecological systems.