Search results for "Unit"
showing 10 items of 10124 documents
Forest Fragmentation and Selective Logging Have Inconsistent Effects on Multiple Animal-Mediated Ecosystem Processes in a Tropical Forest
2011
Forest fragmentation and selective logging are two main drivers of global environmental change and modify biodiversity and environmental conditions in many tropical forests. The consequences of these changes for the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems have rarely been explored in a comprehensive approach. In a Kenyan rainforest, we studied six animal-mediated ecosystem processes and recorded species richness and community composition of all animal taxa involved in these processes. We used linear models and a formal meta-analysis to test whether forest fragmentation and selective logging affected ecosystem processes and biodiversity and used structural equation models to disentangle di…
Meiofauna associated with vermetid reefs: the role of macroalgae in increasing habitat size and complexity
2018
We present the first dataset of meiofauna associated with vermetid reefs (biogenic constructions of Mediterranean intertidal habitat) in two areas along the northern coast of Sicily, Italy. The vermetid reefs are characterized by a horizontal extension from the shore towards the open sea and can be divided into three zones (the inner margin, the cuvette zone and the outer margin) which differ in hydrodynamic features. We studied the spatial distribution of meiofauna along the horizontal axis of the vermetid reefs, investigating the communities inhabiting the sediment inside cuvettes (shallow pools inside the “cuvette zone”) located between the inner and the outer margins of the reefs. We ob…
Beta diversity of stream insects differs between boreal and subtropical regions, but land use does not generally cause biotic homogenization
2021
Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:17:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-03-01 Previous studies have found mixed results regarding the relationship between beta diversity and latitude. In addition, by influencing local environmental heterogeneity, land use maymodify spatial taxonomic and functional variability among communities causing biotic differentiation or homogenization. We tested 1) whether taxonomic and functional beta diversities among streams within watersheds differ between subtropical and boreal regions and 2) whether land use is related to taxonomic and functional beta diversities in both regions.Wesampled aquatic insects in 100 subtropical (Brazil…
Assessing the potential of marine Natura 2000 sites to produce ecosystem‐wide effects in rocky reefs: A case study from Sardinia Island (Italy)
2019
A number of policy measures have been adopted to cope with ongoing ocean degradation. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among them. MPAs and their coverage have increased worldwide, including in EU waters. Natura 2000 (Nat2000) sites are at the core of the EU biodiversity conservation strategy and have been established to protect habitats and species included in two EU directives. Besides their specific objectives, their potential to contribute to an ecosystem-wide conservation and their complementarity with other national and supranational initiatives (e.g. nationally established MPA networks, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Convention on Biological Diversity Ecosystem-Based A…
Long-Term Phytoplankton Dynamics in a Complex Temporal Realm
2019
AbstractFaced with an environment of accelerated change, the long-term dynamics of biotic communities can be approached to build a consistent and causal picture of the communities’ life. We have undertaken a 25-year monthly-sampling study on the phytoplankton of a meso-oligotrophic lake, paying attention to controlling factors of overall biomass (TB) and taxonomical group biomass (TGBs). Long-term series included decreased trends of TB and TGBs, and multi-scale periodicity. A decadal TB periodicity emerged related to nitrogen concentration and Cryptophytes. Annual periodicities were mainly related to air and water temperature controlling the abundance of Chlorophytes or Dinoflagellates. Int…
sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open‐access, global dataset of vegetation plots
2021
Datos disponibles en https://github.com/fmsabatini/sPlotOpen_Code
Biotope Determinants of EPT Assamblages Structure – Târnava Watershed (Transylvania, Romania) Case Study
2015
Abstract This study aims to analyze the biotopic factors affecting the EPT assemblage diversity in the rivers of the Târnava Watershed. Our research revealed that the high diversity of the Plecoptera communities is associated with river reaches with boulder and cobble lithological substrate, accentuated slope and natural bank dynamics, and also it is directly correlated with dissolved oxygen and inversely correlated with chemical and biochemical oxygen demand, total hardness, nitrates and total nitrogen in the water. The high diversity of the Trichoptera communities is associated with water which presents moderate quantities of nutrients (total phosphorus, phosphates) and with river reaches…
Specialist butterflies benefit most from the ecological restoration of mires
2016
Abstract Anthropogenic disturbances cause biotic homogenization through the replacement of specialist species with generalists. Restoration has the potential to counteract these negative effects. Recently, restoration in the peatlands of Northern Europe has started to show positive effects on biodiversity. However, seldom have studies evaluated the response of insects to restoration by comparing populations prior to restoration to those thereafter with a Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) design. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the restoration actions taken were appropriate to facilitate the successful recolonization of mire butterflies and plants. We found that, generally, dr…
Effects of stand-level and landscape factors on understorey plant community traits in broad-leaved forest of the boreo-nemoral zone in Latvia
2019
Abstract Knowledge of the limiting processes shaping the composition of plant communities of woodland is important in conservation of biological diversity. The aim of our study was to examine the effect of stand-level factors (soil and canopy composition, age and area) and landscape factors (fragmentation of broad-leaved forest, distance to a historical manor house, and past history) on plant community trait composition in broad-leaved forest. We hypothesized that the plant functional community is shaped by both dispersal filtering due to landscape factors and by environmental characteristics. We recorded all vascular plants, described canopy composition and estimated soil characteristics i…
Evaluating structural and compositional canopy characteristics to predict the light-demand signature of the forest understorey in mixed, semi-natural…
2020
Questions: Light availability at the forest floor affects many forest ecosystem processes, and is often quantified indirectly through easy-to-measure stand characteristics. We investigated how three such characteristics, basal area, canopy cover and canopy closure, were related to each other in structurally complex mixed forests. We also asked how well they can predict the light-demand signature of the forest understorey (estimated as the mean Ellenberg indicator value for light [“EIVLIGHT”] and the proportion of “forest specialists” [“%FS”] within the plots). Furthermore, we asked whether accounting for the shade-casting ability of individual canopy species could improve predictions of EIV…