The effects of fire-driven succession and rainfall on small mammals in spinifex grassland at Uluru National Park, Northern Territory

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 803 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Masters

Fire-driven succession and a period of high rainfall had a pronounced effect on the distribution and abundance of small mammals inhabiting spinifex grassland in Uluzu National Park from 1987 to 1990. Species richness and abundance were generally higher on sites burnt in 1976, where six species (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis, Pseudomys desertor, Mus domesticus, Dasycercus cristicauda, Ningaui ridei and Sminthopsis youngsoni) were caught more frequently. Two species (Notomys alexis and Sminthopsis hirtipes) were more abundant on sites burnt in 1986. Murid rodent numbers fluctuated substantially following high rainfall. The number of individuals increased 100-fold, and species richness increased from two to four when P. desertor and M. domesticus appeared in the second year of the study. In contrast, captures of dasyurid marsupials increased only slightly over the three years, with the most dramatic increase occurring for D. cristicauda. This study highlights the importance of fire as a management tool. Patch burning within spinifex grasslands maximises species diversity of small mammals by ensuring that suitable successional states are present at all times. This is particularly important for species that are restricted in their distribution, such as D. cristicauda

2000 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 1699-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E O'Dell ◽  
Joseph F Ammirati ◽  
Edward G Schreiner

Sporocarps of epigeous ectomycorrhizal fungi and vegetation data were collected from eight Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. - Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco stands along a wet to dry gradient in Olympic National Park, Washington, U.S.A. One hundred and fifty species of ectomycorrhizal fungi were collected from a total sample area of 2.08 ha. Over 2 years, fungal species richness ranged from 19 to 67 taxa per stand. Sporocarp standing crop ranged from 0 to 3.8 kg/ha, averaging 0.58 kg/ha, 0.06 kg/ha in spring and 0.97 kg/ha in fall. Sporocarp standing crop and fungal species richness were correlated with precipitation. These results demonstrated that ectomycorrhizal fungal sporocarp abundance and species richness can be partly explained in terms of an environmental gradient.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Francis Lado ◽  
David Gwolo Phanuel Mogga ◽  
Richard Angelo Lado Benjamin

The study was carried out to determine patterns of birds’ species richness, alpha and beta diversities; and abundance in Badingilo national park using a 10 m fixed-radius point count method. A total of 2670 individuals were recorded from 182 points in the park. The highest expected number of species (Jack1 estimator) was observed in the Riverine habitat and least was in the Agriculture and Human settlement habitat type. The total number of species observed in the park was 63; however Jack1 estimator indicated that there were 68 species in the park. The majority of the birds observed during the study were resident species, few migratory and Palaearctic bird species. Few birds observed in the park were abundant. The most abundant species was the village weaver (381 individuals), and the rarest species were black-bellied bustard, barn owl, black scimitar bill and tree pipit (one individual each).


2010 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Isabel Diaz-Forero ◽  
Ave Liivamägi ◽  
Valdo Kuusemets ◽  
Jaan Luig

Pollinator richness and abundance in Northeast Estonia: bumblebees, butterflies and day-flying moths We studied diversity and abundance of three groups of pollinators: bumblebees, butterflies and day-flying moths, in Ida-Viru County, Estonia. The field work was done during the summers of 2008 and 2009, in 22 semi-natural meadows located across Northeast Estonia. In total, we found 22 species of bumblebees (gen. Bombus), including 5 species of cuckoo bumblebees, 56 species of butterflies and 42 species of day-flying moths. We recorded 597 individuals of bumblebees, 768 individuals of butterflies and 330 individuals of day-flying moths in our study sites. We analysed differences between years (2008 and 2009) for the species richness and abundance of bumblebees, butterflies and day-flying moths; the relationships between insect species richness and area of meadow, the total number of species per meadow and the local abundance of each species separately. We found significant differences between bumblebee richness and abundance in 2008 and 2009, and between butterfly abundance at the same years. These differences may be due to more favourable conditions: warmer and dryer weather in the second year. We found no significant relationships between area of meadow and species richness of bumblebees, butterflies and day-flying moths; however, when we analysed the abundance of each species separately, we found that two species of bumblebees, i.e. B. pascuorum and B. schrencki, and one species of day-flying moths, i.e. Chiasmia clathrata, were negatively related with area of meadow. Although, Northeast Estonia is a region that has been environmentally affected by mining activities and the presence of power plants, it could be considered an important area that supports a significant richness and abundance of pollinators across its territory.


Author(s):  
John S. Gray ◽  
Michael Elliott

In the previous chapter we covered ways of describing samples of benthos, but specifically did not include diversity. We can talk of primary community variables, such as abundance (A), species richness (S) and biomass (B), and derived variables from these such as true diversity indices, evenness indices, and ratios indicating the relationship between species richness and abundance (A/S, the abundance ratio or the average abundance per species) and between biomass and abundance (B/A, the biomass ratio or the mean biomass per individual). Diversity is not just simply about the number of species found in a sample or area, but also uses data on the abundances of individuals among the species and the way those abundances are distributed among the species within the assemblage. There are many ways of describing diversity. Here we give a summary of the most important ones and reference sources of recent literature on the subject (see also the data analysis summary in Chapter 11). In the following section we consider simple indices (univariate) as measures of diversity; multivariate methods of analysing patterns will be covered in Chapter 7 on the effects of disturbance. The simplest way to measure diversity is the number of species found in a sample, called the species richness (S or SR). Yet diversity is not just about numbers of species; it is also concerned with the distribution of numbers of individuals per species. For example, if one assemblage has 50 individuals of each of 2 species A and B whereas another assemblage has 99 individuals of species A and 1 individual of species B, then both have the same species richness but the first assemblage is the more diverse. Thus a measure of diversity (an index) must take into account not only the number of species, but also the number of individuals per species. To distinguish this from species richness, the combination of individuals per species and number of species is called heterogeneity diversity. In fact there are a large number of diversity indices, and we do not propose to consider them all here (Magurran 2004 gives an excellent and detailed account and others are mentioned in the summary in Chapter 11).


2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kenfack ◽  
Moses N. Sainge ◽  
George B. Chuyong ◽  
Duncan W. Thomas

Background and aims – Cola, the second largest genus of the Malvaceae-Sterculioideae comprises 100–135 small to large tree species confined in nature to African forests, though cultivated elsewhere. Current species distribution ranges show that the genus is highly diverse in the seasonally wet forests along the Nigeria-Cameroon border, including the Korup National Park (KNP). In this paper we examine the diversity and abundance of Cola in KNP compared to other forests for which comparable data are available. We also describe two novelties in the genus.Methods – We used inventory data from a 50-ha permanent plot in southern KNP where all Cola trees and saplings down to 1 cm in diameter were tagged, mapped and identified. Additional collections of the genus came from the 11 km trail leading to the plot. Classic herbarium techniques and field observations were used for the morphological identification and description of specimens at MO and YA and from our personal collections. Cola species richness and abundance was estimated from the plot data and compared to other African forest sites for which comparable data are available. The evaluation of the conservation status of the two new species described in this paper followed the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Key results – Twenty-five species of Cola were identified in the southern part of the KNP, including four undescribed species, raising the total number of Cola species in Cameroon to 46. The abundance of the genus in KNP was three orders of magnitude higher than in the Rabi forest in southwestern Gabon or in the Ituri forest in eastern D.R. Congo. This high species richness and abundance suggests that KNP is part of the center of diversity of the genus. Two new species, Cola zemagoana Kenfack & D.W.Thomas and C. mamboana Kenfack & Sainge are described and illustrated. Both species are only known from the lowland rainforest of southwestern Cameroon. Cola zemagoana is narrow endemic of southern KNP and its conservation status is assessed as Endangered. Cola mamboana is confined to the lowland forests of southwestern Cameroon, is locally very abundant in protected areas and is also assigned the conservation status Endangered.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binoj Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Dharma Raj Dangol

This research investigated the invasion of the alien plant Mikania micrantha H.B.K. and its impact on plant species richness and abundance in Chitwan National Park (CNP) forest. Stratified sampling technique was used to collect the information using the nested quadrats in the Mikania invaded and not invaded sites in July 2011. The study revealed that the invasion highly related with the vegetation structure of the habitat; higher the tree crown cover lower the invasion. On the other hand, the invasion in terms of cover percent of Mikania irrespective of the biomass (fresh weight) decreased plant species richness. Species richness showed unimodal response to the Mikania cover percent with the decrease after 35% of Mikania cover. Journal of Institute of Science and Technology, 2014, 19(2): 30-36


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 824
Author(s):  
Inari Sosa-Aranda ◽  
Luis Zambrano

One of the consequences of increased turbidity in lakes is the modification of the structure of the benthic macroinvertebrate community. To understand this relationship, we evaluated 13 lakes in the Montebello Lakes National Park in Chiapas. The lakes have been affected by gradual eutrophication over decades, producing variable transparency values among lakes. Macroinvertebrates were sampled from each lake in the rainy and dry seasons, and species richness and abundance were calculated and related to Secchi disc transparency. Cluster analysis showed that community composition was similar in pristine and semitransparent lakes, in contrast with turbid lakes. Considering macroinvertebrate groups, hyalellids were dominant in pristine and semiturbid lakes, whereas chironomids were dominant in turbid lakes. A significant quadratic relationship between richness and Secchi disc depth values was found, which is consistent with the intermediate production hypothesis. This study shows how a gradual change in Secchi disc depth can markedly modify benthic communities.


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