Comparison of blood aminotransferase methods for assessment of myopathy and hepatopathy in Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

Muscle injury is common in Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST) is frequently used to assess muscular damage in capture myopathy and traumatic injury. Therefore, accurate measurement of AST and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is important in managed, free-ranging animals, as well as in those rehabilitating from injury. Activities of these enzymes, however, are usually not increased in manatees with either acute or chronic muscle damage, despite marked increases in plasma creatine kinase activity. It is hypothesized that this absence of response is due to apoenzymes in the blood not detected by commonly used veterinary assays. Addition of coenzyme pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P or vitamin B6) should, therefore, result in higher measured enzyme activities. The objective of this study was to determine the most accurate, precise, and diagnostically useful method for aminotransferase measurement in manatees that can be used in veterinary practices and diagnostic laboratories. Additionally, appropriate collection and storage techniques were assessed. The use of an optimized commercial wet chemical assay with 100 micromol P5P resulted in a positive bias of measured enzyme activities in a healthy population of animals. However, AST and ALT were still much lower than that typically observed in domestic animals and should not be used alone in the assessment of capture myopathy and muscular trauma. Additionally, the dry chemistry analyzer, typically used in clinics, reported significantly higher and less precise AST and ALT activities with poor correlation to those measured with wet chemical methods found in diagnostic laboratories. Therefore, these results cannot be clinically compared. Overall, the optimized wet chemical method was the most precise and diagnostically useful measurement of aminotransferase in samples. Additionally, there was a statistically significant difference between paired serum and plasma measurement, indicating that separate reference intervals should be established for serum and plasma. Finally, storage of these enzymes at -70 degrees C for 1 mo resulted in up to a 25% decrease in enzymatic activity in manatee plasma.     

The North American long-term soil productivity experiment: Findings from the first decade of research

First decade findings on the impacts of organic matter removal and soil compaction are reported for the 26 oldest installations in the nation-wide network of long-term soil productivity sites. Complete removal of surface organic matter led to declines in soil C concentration to 20 cm depth and to reduced nutrient availability. The effect is attributed mainly to the loss of the forest floor. Soil C storage seemed undiminished, but could be explained by bulk density changes following disturbance and to decomposition inputs of organic C from roots remaining from the harvested forest. Biomass removal during harvesting had no influence on forest growth through 10 years. Soil compaction effects depended upon initial bulk density. Soils with densities greater than 1.4 Mg m⁻³ resisted compaction. Density recovery was slow, particularly on soils with frigid temperature regimes. Forest productivity response to soil compaction depended both on soil texture and the degree of understory competition. Production declined on compacted clay soils, increased on sands, and generally was unaffected if an understory was absent.     

Diversity of Glomale Mycorrhizal Fungi in Maize/Sesbania Intercrops and Maize Monocrop Systems in Southern Malawi

The study investigated diversity and frequency of occurrence of glomale (Arbuscular- or Vesicular Arbuscular-) mycorrhizal fungi on three farming systems in a drought prone and nitrogen deficiency site in southern Malawi. The farming systems comprised of two agroforestry systems of Sesbania sesban (L) Merr intercropped with maize and Sesbania macrantha E Phillips & Hutch. intercropped with maize and a maize monocrop systems without fertilizer, with nitrogen, phosphorus and a combination of nitrogen and phosphorus. Species diversity and species frequency of occurrence were examined in soil samples obtained in the dry and wet seasons. Twelve glomale mycorrhizal species were recorded, four species being in the genus Acaulospora, four in Glomus, two in Gigaspora and two in Scutellospora. Species diversity in the two agroforestry systems were not significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different but had lower species diversity than maize monocrop with only Sesbania macrantha intercropped with maize significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lower. Species diversity was significantly increased by the inorganic nitrogen fertilizer. Inorganic phosphorus fertilizer had no effect. The study shows that the occurrence and persistence of glomale species are influenced by agroforestry combinations, and that the spores of most species are tolerant to dry conditions. Only four species responded to fertilizer application with the occurrence of spores of some species high and some low. Management practices have great implication in the persistence of spore propagules of glomale species. The order Glomale was revised in 2001 and upgraded to a phylum Glomeromycota.     

Annualized diameter and height growth equations for Pacific Northwest plantation-grown Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and red alder

Simulating the influence of intensive management and annual weather fluctuations on tree growth requires a shorter time step than currently employed by most regional growth models. High-quality data sets are available for several plantation species in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, but the growth periods ranged from 2 to 12 years in length. Measurement periods of varying length complicate efforts to fit growth models because observed growth rates must be interpolated to a common length growth period or those growth periods longer or shorter than the desired model time step must be discarded. A variation of the iterative technique suggested by Cao [Cao, Q.V., 2000. Prediction of annual diameter growth and survival for individual trees from periodic measurements. Forest Sci. 46, 127–131] was applied to estimate annualized diameter and height growth equations for pure plantations of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and red alder. Using this technique, fits were significantly improved for all three species by embedding a multi-level nonlinear mixed-effects framework (likelihood ratio test: p < 0.0001). The final models were consistent with expected biological behavior of diameter and height growth over tree, stand, and site variables. The random effects showed some correlation with key physiographic variables such as slope and aspect for Douglas-fir and red alder, but these relationships were not observed for western hemlock. Further, the random effects were more correlated with physiographic variables than actual climate or soils information. Long-term simulations (12–16 years) on an independent dataset using these annualized equations showed that the multi-level mixed effects models were more accurate and precise than those fitted without random effects as mean square error (MSE) was reduced by 13 and 21% for diameter and height growth prediction, respectively. The level of prediction error was also smaller than an existing similar growth model with a longer time step (ORGANON v8) as the annualized equations reduced MSE by 17 and 38% for diameter and height growth prediction, respectively. These models will prove to be quite useful for understanding the interaction of weather and silviculture in the Pacific Northwest and refining the precision of future growth model projections.     

中国赢得美国木制品市场份额

木材资源国际公司(WRI)是一家位于美国华盛顿州的咨询公司，提供全球木材市场的信息和研究服务。1987年以来，公司已经完成了35个国家的170余个咨询项目。WRI已经同中国木业国际网(China Wood International)共同开展了许多有关木材和木材制品的市场调研项目。我们感到高兴的是中国木业国际网已在从事这个杂志的经营，并且愿意致力于一个定期的栏目，讨论有关中国木材制品的国际贸易方面令人感兴趣的这些问题。这次讨论重点是中国在美国的市场份额持续增长的重要性。     

Phenological patterns in a southern Amazonian tropical forest: implications for sustainable management

Phenological transects were employed to assess monthly leaf, flower, unripe fruit and ripe fruit abundance for a total of 1732 individual plants within five tropical forest habitats at the ‘Lago Caiman Research Camp’, Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, northeastern Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia. Fruit surveys along trails were conducted concomitantly to assess fruit availability for the resident terrestrial frugivore community. The results of the two methodologies are compared and discussed with respect to wildlife and forest management in the region. Phenological transects revealed that Cerrado forest, tall forest, low vine forest, Sartenejal (swamp) forest, and pied mont (premontane) forest, showed seasonal variations in flower, unripe fruit and ripe fruit abundance, however, the broad temporal patterns were significantly different across habitats. Seasonal variation in overall foliage abundance was only marked for Cerrado forest. Ripe fruit production within the study site was not significantly different across months, with different habitats peaking asynchronously in abundance. From a frugivory perspective, overall ripe fleshy fruit abundance also varied considerably between habitats, and again showed asynchronous peaks in habitat production. However, both methodologies revealed the early dry season (June–July) as a period of ripe fleshy fruit scarcity throughout the study area. This period represents a resource ‘bottleneck’ for the resident frugivore community and phenological results allowed the identification of a number of keystone fruit resources for the region. Furthermore, fruit resources which are super-abundant in the early–mid wet season (November–February) might also be considered keystone resources for the region, given that they are available in an otherwise fruit scarce forest. The dynamic spatial patterning of fruit availability at Lago Caiman suggests that certain habitats might be considered keystone habitats, since they provide the majority of fruit resources on a seasonal basis. Finally, the potential of phenological information in tropical forest management plans is discussed and underlined by the observation that rainfall in itself fails to predict fruit availability in the dominant habitats at Lago Caiman.     

Vegetation structure, floristic composition and growth characteristics of Aucoumea klaineana Pierre stands as influenced by stand age and thinning

The coastal forest of Gabon abounds in monospecific secondary Aucoumea klaineana stands derived from natural regeneration after shifting cultivation. This paper aims to describe the changes in the structure and dynamics of these stands with age. It then assesses the impact of selective thinning in the upper storey on both structural and dynamic parameters.

The experiment consisted of 34 Permanent Plots in stands from establishment to more mature stages (ca. 50 years old). Thirteen plots (17–45 years old) were thinned. More than 80% of the removal came from supernumerary dominant A. klaineana.

A. klaineana represented 60% of the total density in stands ca. 15 years old but >90% of the dominant trees in older stands. The changes with age in the floristic composition of the unthinned stands showed three successional stages during which pioneer species associated with A. klaineana (from establishment to ca. 15 years) were progressively replaced by mature forest species.

Basal area increased and density decreased with age before reaching stable values at ca. 40–45 years. Mortality was very high in young stands but decreased in the older ones. Mortality generally affected small diameter individuals in the dominated storey. Diameter and basal area increments showed that the stand growth resulted from the growth of dominant A. klaineana. Diameter increments of A. klaineana were elevated during the first years of colonisation (1.9 cm/year) and were still ca. 0.7 cm/year for 50-year-old dominant trees.

Thinning did not increase the mortality of the dominant population. It favoured the individual growth of A. klaineana. The gain was substantial for dominated trees and small dominant trees (from 60 to 100%) but was lower for large dominant trees (ca. 25–30%). Therefore, stimulation of individual growth did not compensate for the loss of basal area at the stand level.     

Linking wolves to willows via risk-sensitive foraging by ungulates in the northern Yellowstone ecosystem

After an absence of approximately 70 years, gray wolves (Canis lupus) were re-introduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. We studied the potential influence of wolf/ungulate interactions upon willow (Salix spp.) growth in the valleys of the Gallatin and Lamar Rivers, as well as Slough and Soda Butte Creeks, in the northern Yellowstone ecosystem. When we compared willow heights from photographs taken prior to 1998 (willows <2 m tall) with those taken in 2004, we found an increase in willow height for 22 of 42 sites within the study area. Based on comparisons of the chronosequence photos, since wolf introduction none of the 16 upland riparian sites showed an increase in willow height, while 22 of 26 of the valley-bottom riparian sites had willow height increases. In 2004, willow height exhibited a strong inverse relationship with the percentage of browsed stems (r = −0.81, p < 0.01, n = 42). Results of regressions for valley-bottom sites indicated that view distance, impediment distance, and the number of bison (Bison bison) flops were inversely related to willow height (p ≤ 0.02). Increased willow heights were not significantly (p = 0.18) related to patterns of moisture availability. Willow height increases documented in this study appear to have been at least partially due to behaviorally mediated trophic cascades involving wolves and ungulates, via a mechanism of predation risk. While willow release (i.e., increased height growth) within the study area is in a very early stage, results suggest potentially important indirect effects of a top carnivore in a terrestrial food chain that may aid in the restoration of riparian species and the preservation of biodiversity.