Search results for "117"
showing 10 items of 539 documents
Convergences and divergences between scientific and Indigenous and Local Knowledge contribute to inform carnivore conservation
2021
There is increasing recognition that diverse knowledge systems can work in mutually enriching ways and that Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) can enhance biodiversity conservation. However, studies using scientific knowledge and ILK in a complementary manner, and acknowledging convergent and especially divergent insights have remained limited. In this study, we contrasted proxies of abundances and trends of threatened and conflict-prone carnivores (caracal, cheetah, jackal, lion, leopard, spotted hyaena, striped hyaena) derived separately from scientific knowledge and ILK. We conducted camera trapping, track surveys and semi-structured interviews with local pastoralists from northern Ken…
New and poorly known Holarctic species of Boletina Staeger, 1840 (Diptera, Mycetophilidae)
2016
The genus Boletina is a species rich group of fungus gnats. Members of the genus are mainly known from temperate, boreal and arctic biomes. Phylogeny of the genus is still poorly resolved, dozens of species are insufficiently described and undescribed species are often discovered, especially from samples taken from the boreal zone. Four new species are described. Boletina valteri Salmela sp.n. (Finland), Boletina kullervoi Salmela sp.n. (Finland), B. hyperborea Salmela sp.n. (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada) and B. nuortti Salmela sp.n. (Finland). Boletina arctica Holmgren is redescribed and reported for the first time from the Canadian high arctic zone. Boletina borealis Zetterstedt and B.…
The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2
2020
The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60% from 4826 to…
Biogeochemical cycling and ecological thresholds in a High Arctic lake (Svalbard)
2019
Lakes are a dominant feature of the Arctic landscape and a focal point of regional and global biogeochemical cycling. We collected a sediment core from a High Arctic Lake in southwestern Svalbard for multiproxy paleolimnological analysis. The aim was to find linkages between the terrestrial and aquatic environments in the context of climate change to understand centennial-long Arctic biogeochemical cycling and environmental dynamics. Two significant thresholds in elemental cycling were found based on sediment physical and biogeochemical proxies that were associated with the end of the cold Little Ice Age and the recent warming. We found major shifts in diatom, chironomid and cladoceran comm…
Diet Quality Limits Summer Growth of Field Vole Populations
2014
Marked variation occurs in both seasonal and multiannual population density peaks of northern European small mammal species, including voles. The availability of dietary proteins is a key factor limiting the population growth of herbivore species. The objective of this study is to investigate the degree to which protein availability influences the growth of increasing vole populations. We hypothesise that the summer growth of folivorous vole populations is positively associated with dietary protein availability. A field experiment was conducted over a summer reproductive period in 18 vegetated enclosures. Populations of field voles (Microtus agrestis) were randomised amongst three treatment…
Impact of drainage and hydrological restoration on vegetation structure in boreal spruce swamp forests
2014
Drainage to increase timber production is a major cause of degradation of boreal peatlands in Europe. As a consequence of the forestry drainage, the area of pristine spruce swamp forests has declined drastically in northern Europe over the past century. In restoration by rewetting, drainage ditches are blocked to restore the pre-disturbance hydrological regime and, ultimately, the biodiversity values and ecosystem functions of pristine spruce swamp forests. In this study, we quantify vegetation recovery and examine mechanisms behind the changes in plant community composition. For this, we surveyed the understorey vegetation of 9 undrained, 9 drained and 18 rewetted spruce swamp forest sites…
Unexpected increases in rotifer resting egg abundances during the period of contamination of Lake Orta
2016
<p>Despite their ecological importance and rapid response to environmental changes, rotifers are rarely included in palaeolimnological studies. Here, we describe changes in abundance (ABD) and morphotype (MTs) diversity of rotifer resting eggs in the sediments of deep subalpine Lake Orta, Italy, covering a period prior to (pre-) 1926, during long-term ammonia and metal pollution from a rayon factory, and subsequent recovery of water quality. Following the pollution and bacterial oxidation of the ammonia, Lake Orta became the largest and deepest acid lake in Europe. Recovery of water quality followed both a ban on the discharge of industrial wastes, and a liming intervention in 1989 an…
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) differ in their suitability as hosts for the endangered freshwater pearl mussel (Margari…
2017
European populations of the freshwater pearl mussel (FPM, Margaritifera margaritifera) have collapsed across much of the species’ geographic range and, despite many types of conservation intervention, the number of successful restoration efforts has been low. The goal of this study was to determine whether there were population-specific differences in the suitability of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (S. trutta) as hosts for the parasitic glochidium larvae of FPM. We predicted that such differences would depend on the historical occurrence of these salmonid species in FPM habitats. We studied the potential host specificity both in the field and in laboratory by exposing salmo…
Can green infrastructure help to conserve biodiversity?
2017
The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for the conservation of ecosystems in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Green infrastructure has been defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. We surveyed Finnish experts' perceptions on the development of green infrastructure within the existing policy framework. Our results show that improving the implementation of existing conservation policy instruments needs to be an integral part of developing green infr…
Positive impacts of important bird and biodiversity areas on wintering waterbirds under changing temperatures throughout Europe and North Africa
2020
Clausen, Preben/0000-0001-8986-294X WOS: 000536149100018 Migratory waterbirds require an effectively conserved cohesive network of wetland areas throughout their range and life-cycle. Under rapid climate change, protected area (PA) networks need to be able to accommodate climate-driven range shifts in wildlife if they are to continue to be effective in the future. Thus, we investigated geographical variation in the relationship between local temperature anomaly and the abundance of 61 waterbird species during the wintering season across Europe and North Africa during 1990-2015. We also compared the spatio-temporal effects on abundance of sites designated as PAs, Important Bird and Biodivers…