Prediction of grain protein in spring malting barley grown in northern Europe

The ability to predict grain protein concentration at harvest (CP) in Swedish malting barley (Hordeum distichum) from observations of soil conditions, sowing day, fertilisation rate, remote sensing at early stem elongation and the temperature sum during grain filling, was tested for two cultivars; Astoria (Secobra, France) and Wikingett (Svalöf-Weibulls, Sweden) in 16 fertilisation trials in southern Sweden, encompassing 3 years (2001–2003). Fertilisation was applied either as a single dose at sowing, or as both a starting application and an application at early stem elongation. The highest total application rate was 160 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹. The soil was analysed for phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium in the layer 0–0.3 m, and mineral N down to 0.6 m. Canopy reflectance observations at BBCH 32 was used to calculate a vegetation index (TCARI(32)) to reflect the canopy (leaf and straw) chlorophyll concentration. Harvested grain CP correlated only marginally with the observed soil variables. It was, however, for a specific cultivar, possible to make a prediction of grain CP based on day of sowing and TCARI(32) with . Part of the sowing day effect might be due to thermal stress during grain filling, as the risk for high temperatures during this phase was higher when sowing was late. This might also explain why the introduction of accumulated temperature during grain filling, into a model already including sowing day and TCARI(32) as independent variables, did not improve the predictability of grain CP.     

Estimating floristic integrity in tallgrass prairie

Indices are needed in habitat conservation and restoration to provide repeatable measures relevant to conservation goals. A monitoring and research program was established at Nachusa Grasslands in north-central Illinois (USA) to assess progress in tallgrass prairie restoration and reconstruction efforts and evaluate the effectiveness of indices used to measure community-level properties related to vegetation integrity. Indices selected for comparison included standard diversity measures (e.g., Shannon-Weiner Index, Evenness, Species Richness) and indices developed specifically to estimate vegetation integrity. These latter indices included two unweighted diversity indices, the Species Richness Index and Native Richness Index, and two indices weighted by characteristics of species composition, the Floristic Quality Index (FQI) and its component Mean Coefficient of Conservatism (Mean C). A coefficient of conservatism (CC) is an integer ranging from 0 to 10 assigned a priori to each taxon in a regional flora that estimates the fidelity of a species to natural areas (non-native and most ruderal species are assigned 0 or low values, respectively; species known primarily from natural areas are assigned higher values). All indices compared in this study were calculated using vegetation data collected from equal-sized sampling grids stratified across seven prairie units. The units included remnants and plantings representing a wide range of habitat quality. The FQI and Mean C explained the most variation among sites and were most effective at distinguishing recognized qualitative differences indicating they can be more informative than traditional species-diversity measures in assessing floristic integrity within community types. The FQI and Mean C are applicable to both quantitative ecological monitoring and plotless survey methods.     

Turloughs - Ireland’s unique wetland habitat

Turloughs are karst wetland ecosystems that are virtually unique to Ireland. Flooding annually in autumn through springs and fissures in the underlying limestone and draining in the springtime, often through the same fissures or swallow-holes, they have been described as ‘temporal ecotones’. Over 300 have been documented. They are priority habitats in the EU Habitats Directive and support a variety of wet grassland and fen type vegetation. Though the vegetation has been recorded and mapped for over 80 turloughs, records for invertebrates are more sporadic. Characteristic species include some aquatic species-often benefiting from the absence of fish-, and many wetland terrestrial species, including carabid beetles that are rare on a European scale. Due to their shallow nature and the full vegetation cover of the basin, turloughs can host internationally significant numbers of visiting winter wildfowl, particularly whooper swans. The variety of plant and invertebrate communities between turloughs is primarily due to different hydrogeomorphological characteristics, but also depends on the range of grazing practices on turloughs. Since these often vary within a turlough basin, this helps maintain within-turlough biodiversity. The main threat to turloughs in the past was drainage, but pollution by nutrients is also now potentially detrimental. However, a more recent and important threat may be the cessation of farming within turloughs. As potentially threatened wetlands of European importance, turloughs require a full inventory of their biodiversity and the factors affecting it. The collation here of all literature concerning turloughs will provide a basis for an integrated approach to future research on turloughs that is essential for a full understanding of these complex ecosystems.     

Does forest type and vegetation patchiness influence horizontal distribution of soil Collembola in two neighbouring forest sites?

The influence of forest type and heterogeneity of understory vegetation on the horizontal distribution of soil living Collembola was studied in two neighbouring mountain forest sites—a 180-year old beech forest and a 70-year old natural spruce forest. Four homogenous patches with different understory vegetation were chosen within each forest site and sampled 12 times between 1997 and 1998. A total of 56 collembolan species were identified, 51 in the beech forest and 48 in the spruce site. Twenty-three species were rare—they were recorded with low constancy and density. Although both forest sites differed in soil type, humus form and soil chemical parameters, the species composition of their collembolan communities was quite similar (77% shared species). Nevertheless, soil collembolan communities of both forest sites were clearly delimited on both qualitative (presence–absence) and quantitative (in density of individual species) levels as well as in terms of total collembolan density. Mean collembolan density reached 26 650–44 030 ind/m² in the beech patches compared to 44 470–68 050 ind/m² found in the spruce patches. Considerably higher densities of several species in one forest site may indicate more suitable habitat. In spite of similar species composition and minor differences in qualitative parameters among different vegetation patches within one forest site, there was clear variation in density of individual species, particularly between patches with and without herb vegetation. This could reflect different microclimatic conditions, additional litter supply from herbs or indirect interactions of Collembola with their roots.     

Short-term survival and dispersal of translocated European wild rabbits. Improving the release protocol

Translocation of European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus L. is one of the most frequent management tools to increase rabbit density in Spain, both as prey of several predators that are threatened with extinction and for sport hunting. Nevertheless the elevated short-term mortality by predation makes translocations unsuccessful and increases their biological cost. Information on the factors affecting the short-term survival and dispersal of translocated rabbits is required to improve release management and increase performance of translocated rabbits, and to avoid the use of non-selective lethal methods for predator control. In this study we tested electric fencing and night-shooting as alternative to traditional release protocols, and the effects of vegetation cover and warren fencing on short-term survival and dispersal of rabbits. Night shooting performed during the first nights after release increased significantly the survival of rabbits, by hindering the activity of carnivores in the release area. The use of an electric fence enclosure also increased the performance of rabbits, but was not efficient to constraint rabbit dispersal. Rabbits released in areas with low vegetation cover showed higher mortality and dispersal distances than rabbits released in high cover areas. Warren fencing decreased both the dispersal of rabbits and the adverse impact of predation in low cover areas, but had no effect in high cover areas. Selection of high cover areas or warren fencing in low cover areas seem to be the most advantageous release conditions to decrease the short-term predation impact, reducing the biological cost of rabbit translocations and the risks for endangered predators derived from the use of traditional predator control practices during translocations.     

Short- and long-term effects of thinning and prescribed fire on carbon stocks in ponderosa pine stands in northern Arizona

Euro-American logging practices, intensive grazing, and fire suppression have increased the amount of carbon that is stored in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. Ex Laws) forests in the southwestern United States. Current stand conditions leave these forests prone to high-intensity wildfire, which releases a pulse of carbon emissions and shifts carbon storage from live trees to standing dead trees and woody debris. Thinning and prescribed burning are commonly used to reduce the risk of intense wildfire, but also reduce on-site carbon stocks and release carbon to the atmosphere. This study quantified the impact of thinning on the carbon budgets of five ponderosa pine stands in northern Arizona, including the fossil fuels consumed during logging operations. We used the pre- and post-treatment data on carbon stocks and the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FEE-FVS) to simulate the long-term effects of intense wildfire, thinning, and repeated prescribed burning on stand carbon storage.The mean total pre-treatment carbon stock, including above-ground live and dead trees, below-ground live and dead trees, and surface fuels across five sites was 74.58 Mg C ha⁻¹ and the post-treatment mean was 50.65 Mg C ha⁻¹ in the first post-treatment year. The mean total carbon release from slash burning, fossil fuels, and logs removed was 21.92 Mg C ha⁻¹. FEE-FVS simulations showed that thinning increased the mean canopy base height, decreased the mean crown bulk density, and increased the mean crowning index, and thus reduced the risk of high-intensity wildfire at all sites. Untreated stands that incurred wildfire once within the next 100 years or once within the next 50 years had greater mean net carbon storage after 100 years compared to treated stands that experienced prescribed fire every 10 years or every 20 years. Treated stands released greater amounts of carbon overall due to repeated prescribed fires, slash burning, and 100% of harvested logs being counted as carbon emissions because they were used for short-lived products. However, after 100 years treated stands stored more carbon in live trees and less carbon in dead trees and surface fuels than untreated stands burned by intense wildfire. The long-term net carbon storage of treated stands was similar or greater than untreated wildfire-burned stands only when a distinction was made between carbon stored in live and dead trees, carbon in logs was stored in long-lived products, and energy in logging slash substituted for fossil fuels.     

Soil carbon and nutrient pools in Douglas-fir plantations 5 years after manipulating biomass and competing vegetation in the Pacific Northwest

We assessed changes in mineral soil total carbon (C) and nutrient (exchangeable Ca, K, Mg, and total N) pools to 60 cm depth 5 years after manipulating biomass and competing vegetation at two contrasting Douglas-fir plantations (Matlock, WA, and Molalla, OR). Biomass treatments included whole-tree (WT) and bole-only (BO) harvest, and competing vegetation control (VC) treatments were applied as either initial or annual herbicide applications. There were main effects of biomass removal and VC on the absolute change in soil pools of some elements at both sites, but significant effects were more prevalent at the lower soil quality Matlock site than the Molalla site, and were generally confined to the top 15 cm of soil. In all cases, treatment effects were associated with increases in C and nutrients following BO and initial VC treatments combined with little change in soil pools following WT and annual VC treatments. At the Matlock site, total soil pools (0-60 cm) of C, N, and Ca significantly increased in the BO and initial VC treatments, and Mg increased and K decreased regardless of treatment. At the Molalla site, soil C and nutrient pools did not change in response to treatments, but total soil Mg increased in all treatments during the study period. Correlation analyses indicated little influence of soil nutrient pools on early growth at Matlock likely because soil water is more limiting than nutrient availability at that site, but vegetation growth was correlated to nutrient pools at Molalla indicating changes in pools associated with harvesting and treatment could influence crop development in the future. These early results indicate low potential for intensive management practices to reduce mineral soil pools of C and nutrients, but there is uncertainty on the long-term growth response because treatments may have influenced nutrient storage in pools other than mineral soil.     

Short-term responses of soil decomposer and plant communities to stump harvesting in boreal forests

Recently, in addition to logging residues, stumps have become an important component in energy production since there is growing global interest in the use of renewable energy sources in order to decrease anthropogenic carbon emissions. Harvesting of stumps influences the forest floor by changing vegetation and soil organic layers and exposing mineral soil across large areas. We studied whether stump harvesting after clear felling poses further short-term changes in boreal forest soil decomposer community (microbes and mesofauna) and vegetation when compared to the traditional site preparation practice (mounding). In general, stump harvesting caused decline in enchytraeid abundance but did not induce further major changes in decomposer community otherwise nor in vegetation of each soil micro-habitat (intact soil and exposed mineral soil). However, the abundances of almost all decomposer animals were lower in the exposed mineral soil than in the intact soil. Stump removal increased the area of exposed mineral soil in the clear felled areas, leading to lower amount of high quality habitat for most decomposer organisms. Hence, it is obvious that there are (or will be) differences in the decomposer community dynamics between the treatments at the forest stand level. Both species richness and coverage of plants benefitted from large-scale exposure of mineral soil. Because the stump removal procedure disturbs soil organic layers and negatively affects the decomposer community, it has the potential to alter nutrient dynamics in forests.     

不同森林植被类型蛾类群落结构及其多样性研究

为揭示不同森林植被类型鳞翅目蛾类昆虫群落的结构状态和功能,评价不同植物群落的生态稳定性,于2007～2008年对紫金山主要植被类型蛾类昆虫种类、种群密度、分布及发生规律进行了调查;对不同植被类型、不同季节、整体时间动态的蛾类昆虫进行了多样性方面的分析研究.结果表明:紫金山共有蛾类13总科28科355属494种,阔叶林蛾...