scholarly journals Impacts of Nonnative Species on the Health of Natural and Planted Forests

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Qinfeng Guo ◽  
Kevin M. Potter ◽  
Frank H. Koch ◽  
Kurt H. Riitters
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Propagule Pressure ◽  
Forest Health ◽  
Nonnative Species ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Planted Forests ◽  
Habitat Invasibility ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Invasion Impacts

Despite conservation efforts, most forest ecosystems worldwide are affected by biotic invasions; however, the specific impacts vary across different geographic regions and forest types. The relative contributions of the main drivers such as propagule pressure (e.g., due to human population, travel, and trade), climate, land use, and habitat invasibility remain uncertain. The special issue “Impacts of Nonnative Species on the Health of Natural and Planted Forests” was organized to facilitate timely communications among scientists and managers in different regions and to assist in attempts to improve forest health and maintain long-term sustainability. The special issue addresses broad issues related to forest invasions, including the impacts of nonnative species in various forest ecosystems (e.g., natural vs. urban) and the contributions of land use (e.g., fragmentation), human activity, and climate change to invasion. The new findings include identifying hotspots of potential invasion impacts and their causes, which can help inform policy makers as they develop effective strategies for prevention, early detection or eradication, and forest management.

Land Use History Mediates Soil Biogeochemical Responses to Drought in Temperate Forest Ecosystems

Ecosystems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest D. Osburn ◽  
Julia S. Simpson ◽  
Brian D. Strahm ◽  
J. E. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Land Use History

Mountain Ash

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lindenmayer ◽  
David Blair ◽  
Lachlan McBurney ◽  
Sam Banks
Keyword(s):  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Dynamics ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Fire Environment ◽  
Arboreal Marsupials ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Mountain Ash ◽  
Old Trees ◽  
Very High

Mountain Ash draws together exciting new findings on the effects of fire and on post-fire ecological dynamics following the 2009 wildfires in the Mountain Ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria. The book integrates data on forests, carbon, fire dynamics and other factors, building on 6 years of high-quality, multi-faceted research coupled with 25 years of pre-fire insights. Topics include: the unexpected effects of fires of varying severity on populations of large old trees and their implications for the dynamics of forest ecosystems; relationships between forest structure, condition and age and their impacts on fire severity; relationships between logging and fire severity; the unexpectedly low level of carbon stock losses from burned forests, including those burned at very high severity; impacts of fire at the site and landscape levels on arboreal marsupials; persistence of small mammals and birds on burned sites, including areas subject to high-severity fire, and its implications for understanding how species in this group exhibit post-fire recovery patterns. With spectacular images of the post-fire environment, Mountain Ash will be an important reference for scientists and students with interests in biodiversity, forests and fire.

scholarly journals Forest, Foods, and Nutrition

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1182
Author(s):  
Alessandra Durazzo ◽  
Massimo Lucarini ◽  
Massimo Zaccardelli ◽  
Antonello Santini
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Rich Food ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
Forest Foods

Forest ecosystems are an important biodiversity environment resource for many species. Forests and trees play a key role in food production and have relevant impact also on nutrition. Plants and animals in the forests make available nutrient-rich food sources, and can give an important contributions to dietary diversity, quality, and quantity. In this context, the Special Issue, entitled “Forest, Food and Nutrition”, is focused on the understanding of the intersection and linking existing between forests, food, and nutrition.

scholarly journals Embryo–Maternal Interactions Underlying Reproduction in Mammals

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4872
Author(s):  
Stefan Bauersachs ◽  
Carmen Almiñana
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
New Findings ◽  
As Stress ◽  
The Impact

This Special Issue, “Embryo-Maternal Interactions Underlying Reproduction in Mammals”, gathers a collection of 23 articles, 16 original research articles and 7 up-to-date reviews, providing new findings or summarizing current knowledge on embryo–maternal interactions in seven different mammalian species including humans. Considering the different players involved in these embryo-maternal interactions, articles are mainly focused on one of these different players: the oviduct, the uterus, the embryo or the emergent extracellular vesicles. Additionally, a few articles bring up the impact of reproductive, but also non-reproductive, diseases, as well as stress factors, on the establishment of pregnancy. We hope the readers enjoy this collection of articles and that the knowledge assembled here will support and inspire current and future research investigations. We would like to thank all authors for their contributions to this Special Issue.

scholarly journals Catchment effects of a future Nordic bioeconomy: From land use to water resources

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1697-1709
Author(s):  
Eva Skarbøvik ◽  
Philip Jordan ◽  
Ahti Lepistö ◽  
Brian Kronvang ◽  
Marc I. Stutter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Water Quantity ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Renewable Biomass ◽  
The World ◽  
Biomass Resources

Abstract In the future, the world is expected to rely increasingly on renewable biomass resources for food, fodder, fibre and fuel. The sustainability of this transition to bioeconomy for our water systems depends to a large extent on how we manage our land resources. Changes in land use together with climate change will affect water quantity and quality, which again will have implications for the ecosystem services provided by water resources. These are the main topics of this Ambio special issue on “Environmental effects of a green bio-economy”. This paper offers a summary of the eleven papers included in this issue and, at the same time, outlines an approach to quantify and mitigate the impacts of bioeconomy on water resources and their ecosystem services, with indications of useful tools and knowledge needs.

scholarly journals Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of leaves, litter, and soils of various ecosystems along an elevational and land-use gradient at Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Gerschlauer ◽  
Gustavo Saiz ◽  
David Schellenberger Costa ◽  
Michael Kleyer ◽  
Michael Dannenmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Nitrogen ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Enrichment Factors ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Mount Kilimanjaro ◽  
Intensively Managed ◽  
Soil Δ15n

Abstract. Variations in the stable isotopic composition of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) of fresh leaves, litter, and topsoils were used to characterize soil organic matter dynamics of 12 tropical ecosystems in the Mount Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. We studied a total of 60 sites distributed along five individual elevational transects (860–4550 m a.s.l.), which define a strong climatic and land-use gradient encompassing semi-natural and managed ecosystems. The combined effects of contrasting environmental conditions, vegetation, soil, and management practices had a strong impact on the δ13C and δ15N values observed in the different ecosystems. The relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants greatly determined the δ13C of a given ecosystem. In contrast, δ15N values were largely controlled by land-use intensification and climatic conditions. The large δ13C enrichment factors (δ13Clitter − δ13Csoil) and low soil C∕N ratios observed in managed and disturbed systems agree well with the notion of altered SOM dynamics. Besides the systematic removal of the plant biomass characteristic of agricultural systems, annual litterfall patterns may also explain the comparatively lower contents of C and N observed in the topsoils of these intensively managed sites. Both δ15N values and calculated δ15N-based enrichment factors (δ15Nlitter − δ15Nsoil) suggest the tightest nitrogen cycling at high-elevation (> 3000 m a.s.l.) ecosystems and more open nitrogen cycling both in grass-dominated and intensively managed cropping systems. However, claims about the nature of the N cycle (i.e. open or closed) should not be made solely on the basis of soil δ15N as other processes that barely discriminate against 15N (i.e. soil nitrate leaching) have been shown to be quite significant in Mount Kilimanjaro's forest ecosystems. The negative correlation of δ15N values with soil nitrogen content and the positive correlation with mean annual temperature suggest reduced mineralization rates and thus limited nitrogen availability, at least in high-elevation ecosystems. By contrast, intensively managed systems are characterized by lower soil nitrogen contents and warmer conditions, leading together with nitrogen fertilizer inputs to lower nitrogen retention and thus significantly higher soil δ15N values. A simple function driven by soil nitrogen content and mean annual temperature explained 68 % of the variability in soil δ15N values across all sites. Based on our results, we suggest that in addition to land-use intensification, increasing temperatures in a changing climate may promote soil carbon and nitrogen losses, thus altering the otherwise stable soil organic matter dynamics of Mount Kilimanjaro's forest ecosystems.

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