Forest succession and climate variability interacted to control fire activity over the last four centuries in an Alaskan boreal landscape

Context

The boreal forest is globally important for its influence on Earth’s energy balance, and its sensitivity to climate change. Ecosystem functioning in boreal forests is shaped by fire activity, so anticipating the impacts of climate change requires understanding the precedence for, and consequences of, climatically induced changes in fire regimes. Long-term records of climate, fire, and vegetation are critical for gaining this understanding.

Objectives

We investigated the relative importance of climate and landscape flammability as drivers of fire activity in boreal forests by developing high-resolution records of fire history, and characterizing their centennial-scale relationships to temperature and vegetation dynamics.

Methods

We reconstructed the timing of fire activity in interior Alaska, USA, using seven lake-sediment charcoal records spanning CE 1550–2015. We developed individual and composite records of fire activity, and used correlations and qualitative comparisons to assess relationships with existing records of vegetation and climate.

Results

Our records document a dynamic relationship between climate and fire. Fire activity and temperature showed stronger coupling after ca. 1900 than in the preceding 350 yr. Biomass burning and temperatures increased concurrently during the second half of the twentieth century, to their highest point in the record. Fire activity followed pulses in black spruce establishment.

Conclusions

Fire activity was facilitated by warm temperatures and landscape-scale dominance of highly flammable mature black spruce, with a notable increase in temperature and fire activity during the twenty-first century. The results suggest that widespread burning at landscape scales is controlled by a combination of climate and vegetation dynamics that together drive flammability.

     

Journal of Soils and Sediments: the first 20 years

Journal of Soils and Sediments -     

Holding wild Snow crab,Chionoecetes opilio: effects of stocking density and feeding on survival and injury

In this study the effects of different stocking densities on survival, injury and weight of captive male snow crab were examined. The first experiment (I) was carried out in square plastic tanks (700 L) with stocking densities of 100 (L), 150 (M) and 200 kg m^?3 (H) for 30 days. In a second experiment (II) snow crabs were kept at a stocking density of 50 kg m^?3 and were either fed (F) or not fed (S) for the same period of 35 days. The last experiment (III), was carried out with stocking densities of 25 kg m^?3 for 21 days with two groups, one with inactivated claw and one without rubber bands, with three replicates per treatment. In the first experiment mortality (H = 27, M = 26 and L = 36%) and occurrence of injuries (H = 27, M = 20 and L = 16%) were high in all groups. The weight loss during the experimental period was; H = 15.3, M = 10.9 and L = 15.5 g, and was not significant different between the groups. In experiment II the mortality (F = 13% and S = 14%) and injuries were lower (F = 12% and S = 17%). The average weight increased in the fed treatment and decreased in the starved treatments. In the last experiment there was no mortality in any of the groups and the levels of injury were low (5% and 7%). The results show that adult male snow crab cannot be stored at densities equal to or higher than 25 kg m^?3 for 3 weeks without risk of mortality.     

Fine‐scale habitat partitioning of Chilean and Peale's dolphins and their overlap with aquaculture

1. Predictive species distribution models (SDMs) have become powerful tools to determine habitat use patterns of mobile marine predators and their spatial overlap with potentially impacting anthropogenic activities.
2. This study used SDMs to investigate fine‐scale habitat use patterns of two poorly known and broadly sympatric coastal delphinids, Chilean dolphins (Cephalorhynchus eutropia) and Peale's dolphins (Lagenorhynchus australis), and their spatial interactions with intense aquaculture farming activities in the Chiloé archipelago, southern Chile.
3. A long‐term dataset (2002–2012) of boat‐based dolphin sightings and concurrently in situ collected environmental and anthropogenic variables was analysed using binomial Generalized Additive Models to investigate ecological drivers of each species' fine‐scale distribution and to predict dolphin occurrence spatially.
4. Chilean dolphins preferred shallow (<30 m deep), turbid waters, close to shore (<500 m) and river mouths which often placed them in sheltered bays and channels used intensively by shellfish farms. Peale's dolphins were also found in shallow waters but occurred over a wider range of conditions along more open or exposed coastlines. Both species had to navigate extensive salmon and shellfish farming sites to transit between areas of important habitat.
5. Sightings and predicted occurrence maps showed a clear pattern of spatial habitat partitioning between species, which remained stable across the 11 year study period. The identification of important habitat for Chilean dolphins warrants the consideration of spatially explicit conservation measures to limit the potential effects of overlapping salmon and shellfish farming.
6. The observed differences in ecological plasticity of the two sympatric species should be considered when evaluating and mitigating the effects of environmental change and ongoing anthropogenic pressures on their nearshore habitat. The estimated species–environment relationships could also be used to predict where dolphin habitat and anthropogenic activities are most likely to overlap in other parts of the species' ranges.

     

Use of reflex indicators for measuring vitality and mortality of the snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in captivity

The snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) is one of the most important commercial crabs in the world; it is heavily exploited in Atlantic Canada, Alaska, the Sea of Japan and the Barents Sea. Catches in the Barents Sea north of Norway have increased dramatically in the last decade. Most of the world's catch is processed, frozen and exported overseas. However, recently there has been considerable interest in exporting live snow crab, particularly in Norway. The stress of capture and live transport can result in significant mortalities. In order to establish a live export industry for snow crab, the welfare of the animal must be monitored throughout all the steps of the live transport process. In this study the reactions of snow crabs exposed to increasing periods of air exposure were measured in terms of reflex indicators, incidence of mortality, blood lactate levels and blood protein and haemocyanin. Although this is not a specific live holding or live transport process the aim was to test the suitability of reflex indicators to reflect vitality (stress) and not just to predict mortality. This would be compared with traditional blood biochemistry techniques for measuring crustacean stress. The study demonstrated that the reflex index score (RIS) is suitable to assess the vitality of snow crab. Longer air exposure periods render higher mortality rates and less vital individuals. The authors believe using vitality reflex indicators would be a suitable way of measuring crab welfare during the live holding and transport process.     

Turbine entrainment and passage of potadromous fish through hydropower dams: Developing conceptual frameworks and metrics for moving beyond turbine passage mortality

Potadromous fishes are vulnerable to involuntary entrainment through hydropower turbines. However, turbines can also provide a downstream passage route for potadromous fish. Here, we review evidence for turbine entrainment and passage in potadromous fish, and evaluate the effects of these processes on upstream and downstream populations. We develop conceptual frameworks and metrics to quantify vulnerability to turbine entrainment removals, and to quantify the efficiency of turbines as a downstream passage route. We highlight factors that influence these processes and provide case‐studies demonstrating their applicability. We found that juvenile potadromous fish are being entrained through turbines at rates high enough to impact upstream populations. Given that juvenile passage survival is often high, we argue that turbines provide an important downstream passage route for potadromous fish. We show that entrainment vulnerability is likely a function of interactions between in‐reservoir fish behaviour, habitat configuration and operations and thus not well captured by passage mortality estimates. Similarly, we show that while passage mortality can limit downstream passage efficiency, passage success is also dependent on reservoir and forebay navigation, along with survival and fitness in the downstream river. We advocate for a shift in focus away from estimates of passage mortality and injury, which have previously accounted for the majority of turbine passage research. Instead, we recommend an approach that focusses on quantification of the factors that influence downstream passage efficiency and entrainment vulnerability. Moreover, we highlight the need to better understand the broader scale impacts of these events on upstream and downstream populations.     

A quantitative method for measuring regional economic resilience to the great recession

Regional economic resilience can be defined as an economy’s ability to withstand and recover quickly from shocks. The ability to measure resilience is necessary to developing our understanding of what influences resilience. In this paper, we develop a new, two‐dimensional quantitative measure of resilience using observed differences between expected and actual employment in a region following a shock and distinguish the response to the shock from random variation. We demonstrate one application of this metric to US county‐level employment data to compare county responses to the 2007–2009 national recession and discuss how different regions of the United States responded to the shock of the Great Recession in terms of resilience.     

Measuring density effects on growth and survival of two size classes of juvenile sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) held in sea‐based holding systems and impacts on holding system design and management

Assessing density in intensive sea urchin culture systems by measuring the percentage coverage of available surface area is an effective means of calculating the available space within a holding system, the proximity of the animals in the system to each other and the probable effects of the stocking density. The results of this study show that density plays a critical role in regard to both somatic growth (increase in test diameter measured in millimetres) as well as mortality of juvenile sea urchins ranging in size from 5 mm to 26 mm test diameter (the size range tested in the current experiments). These effects appear to be greater for smaller urchins. The critical percentage coverage densities are in the order of 50%‐60% coverage for juvenile sea urchins, and the authors advise farmers growing Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis to maintain stocking densities below this point and to reduce the stocking densities as and when stocks reach these critical density points. Percentage cover must be constantly monitored as the results from this study indicate that the growth rates of juvenile urchins can alter percentage coverage rapidly and reductions in density may be required as frequently as every 3‐4 months at the early juvenile stage. Holding system design should take these factors into account and incorporate a method of rapidly reducing stocking densities with minimal stress and handling of sea urchin stocks.