Reflecting the real beau monde of Restoration London, the treatment of women in the comedy of manners was the best and most unusual characteristic of this dramatic type. With the first gay reaction against the past, the independent ladies demanded complete equality with men; intellectually, they gained that equality. To the gay belles, no less than to the beaux, wit was the passport to society. The truewit had everything; the witwould was social refuse, marked for that worst of all punishment--ridicule.

Invasive woody shrubs are a problem when they displace native species and threaten habitats, especially those that harbor rare or endangered species. They not only compete with native plants, but also alter habitat and food that many organisms depend upon. Invasive plants undergo a release from their specialist predators in the nonnative range, providing them advantages over native species. Because modes and pathways of how invasive species spread are not fully understood, predicting spread and implementing restoration ecological controls remain inexact. Due to the lack of comparative studies on woody shrubs, especially invasive privets, we understand very little about conditions affecting their invasiveness. A study was conducted near Dallas, Texas to determine if privet has allelopathic properties that influences growth of native plants. Soil nutrients and other analyses were made and compared between field plots supporting privet, plots in which privet has been removed, and plots where privet has not been observed. In some field plots, natives were planted under the three previously mentioned conditions, and their survival and condition were monitored to evaluate effects of privet on their establishment and growth. It was found that Chinese privet did hinder seed germination in red mulberry, soapberry and beautyberry and root formation in beautyberry cuttings. The soil in the sites were found to be normal for bottomland forests that endured two flooding events within one year.

Bayou St. John is a degraded water-body located within the City of New Orleans and is the focus of restoration efforts. I tested the ability of reintroduced red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) to survive in this system and assessed their habitat use and behavior. I tracked 29 red drum fitted with external acoustic radio transmitters to determine if they could survive the degraded habitats and determine their general dispersion within the Bayou. All 29 tagged red drum exhibited post-stocking movement (i.e., survival) and occurred primarily in the northern section of the Bayou (nearest Lake Pontchartrain). To assess habitat use and behavior on a finer scale, a second group of 19 red drum were internally tagged with VEMCO transmitters and movements monitored by four remote receivers. These fish exhibited behavior similar to red drum in natural habitats. Monthly movements changed as temperatures changed but were not influenced by diurnal differences, salinity, or conductivity.

<p>Wetland ecosystems provide many valuable ecosystem services, including carbon (C) storage and improvement of water quality. Yet, restored and managed wetlands are not frequently evaluated for their capacity to function in order to deliver on these values. Specific restoration or management practices designed to meet one set of criteria may yield unrecognized biogeochemical costs or co-benefits. The goal of this dissertation is to improve scientific understanding of how wetland restoration practices and waterfowl habitat management affect critical wetland biogeochemical processes related to greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient cycling. I met this goal through field and laboratory research experiments in which I tested for relationships between management factors and the biogeochemical responses of wetland soil, water, plants and trace gas emissions. Specifically, I quantified: (1) the effect of organic matter amendments on the carbon balance of a restored wetland; (2) the effectiveness of two static chamber designs in measuring methane (CH4) emissions from wetlands; (3) the impact of waterfowl herbivory on the oxygen-sensitive processes of methane emission and coupled nitrification-denitrification; and (4) nitrogen (N) exports caused by prescribed draw down of a waterfowl impoundment.</p><p>The potency of CH4 emissions from wetlands raises the concern that widespread restoration and/or creation of freshwater wetlands may present a radiative forcing hazard. Yet data on greenhouse gas emissions from restored wetlands are sparse and there has been little investigation into the greenhouse gas effects of amending wetland soils with organic matter, a recent practice used to improve function of mitigation wetlands in the Eastern United States. I measured trace gas emissions across an organic matter gradient at a restored wetland in the coastal plain of Virginia to test the hypothesis that added C substrate would increase the emission of CH4. I found soils heavily loaded with organic matter emitted significantly more carbon dioxide than those that have received little or no organic matter. CH4 emissions from the wetland were low compared to reference wetlands and contrary to my hypothesis, showed no relationship with the loading rate of added organic matter or total soil C. The addition of moderate amounts of organic matter (< 11.2 kg m-2) to the wetland did not greatly increase greenhouse gas emissions, while the addition of high amounts produced additional carbon dioxide, but not CH4. </p><p>I found that the static chambers I used for sampling CH4 in wetlands were highly sensitive to soil disturbance. Temporary compression around chambers during sampling inflated the initial chamber CH4 headspace concentration and/or lead to generation of nonlinear, unreliable flux estimates that had to be discarded. I tested an often-used rubber-gasket sealed static chamber against a water-filled-gutter seal chamber I designed that could be set up and sampled from a distance of 2 m with a remote rod sampling system to reduce soil disturbance. Compared to the conventional design, the remotely-sampled static chambers reduced the chance of detecting inflated initial CH4 concentrations from 66 to 6%, and nearly doubled the proportion of robust linear regressions from 45 to 86%. The new system I developed allows for more accurate and reliable CH4 sampling without costly boardwalk construction. </p><p>I explored the relationship between CH4 emissions and aquatic herbivores, which are recognized for imposing top-down control on the structure of wetland ecosystems. The biogeochemical consequences of herbivore-driven disruption of plant growth, and in turn, mediated oxygen transport into wetland sediments, were not previously known. Two growing seasons of herbivore exclusion experiments in a major waterfowl overwintering wetland in the Southeastern U.S. demonstrate that waterfowl herbivory had a strong impact on the oxygen-sensitive processes of CH4 emission and nitrification. Denudation by herbivorous birds increased cumulative CH4 flux by 233% (a mean of 63 g CH4 m-2 y-1) and inhibited coupled nitrification-denitrification, as indicated by nitrate availability and emissions of nitrous oxide. The recognition that large populations of aquatic herbivores may influence the capacity for wetlands to emit greenhouse gases and cycle nitrogen is particularly salient in the context of climate change and nutrient pollution mitigation goals. For example, our results suggest that annual emissions of 23 Gg of CH4 y-1 from ~55,000 ha of publicly owned waterfowl impoundments in the Southeastern U.S. could be tripled by overgrazing. </p><p>Hydrologically controlled moist-soil impoundment wetlands provide critical habitat for high densities of migratory bird populations, thus their potential to export nitrogen (N) to downstream waters may contribute to the eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. To investigate the relative importance of N export from these built and managed habitats, I conducted a field study at an impoundment wetland that drains into hypereutrophic Lake Mattamuskeet. I found that prescribed hydrologic drawdowns of the impoundment exported roughly the same amount of N (14 to 22 kg ha-1) as adjacent fertilized agricultural fields (16 to 31 kg ha-1), and contributed approximately one-fifth of total N load (~45 Mg N y-1) to Lake Mattamuskeet. Ironically, the prescribed drawdown regime, designed to maximize waterfowl production in impoundments, may be exacerbating the degradation of habitat quality in the downstream lake. Few studies of wetland N dynamics have targeted impoundments managed to provide wildlife habitat, but a similar phenomenon may occur in some of the 36,000 ha of similarly-managed moist-soil impoundments on National Wildlife Refuges in the southeastern U.S. I suggest early drawdown as a potential method to mitigate impoundment N pollution and estimate it could reduce N export from our study impoundment by more than 70%.</p><p>In this dissertation research I found direct relationships between wetland restoration and impoundment management practices, and biogeochemical responses of greenhouse gas emission and nutrient cycling. Elevated soil C at a restored wetland increased CO2 losses even ten years after the organic matter was originally added and intensive herbivory impact on emergent aquatic vegetation resulted in a ~230% increase in CH4 emissions and impaired N cycling and removal. These findings have important implications for the basic understanding of the biogeochemical functioning of wetlands and practical importance for wetland restoration and impoundment management in the face of pressure to mitigate the environmental challenges of global warming and aquatic eutrophication.</p> / Dissertation

Orientador: Renata Cristina Batista Fonseca / Banca: Wilson Uieda / Banca: Elza Maria Guimarães Santos / Resumo: Atualmente no Brasil milhares de hectares estão sendo utilizados para o plantio de eucalipto e consequentemente essas áreas sofrem corte raso de tempos em tempos para alimentar a produção fabril. De modo geral como medida mitigatória o setor florestal conserva, em meio a monocultura, fragmentos de vegetação nativa, respeitando a legislação ambiental nacional e seguindo os preceitos das certificadoras florestais, formando extensas áreas cobertas por um mosaico vegetacional de eucalipto e vegetação nativa. O conhecimento da fauna presente nesses mosaicos e o que ocorre com ela após o corte raso de parte do plantio é de extrema importância para a conservação da biodiversidade e os morcegos são uma ótima ferramenta em estudos que abordam esse tema, visto serem a segunda maior ordem de mamíferos em número de espécies e podem representar até 50% da fauna de mamíferos em florestais tropicais. O presente estudo foi realizado na Fazenda Rio Claro, interior do estado de São Paulo, na cidade de Lençóis Paulista, em mosaico vegetacional formado por fragmentos de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual e em plantio de eucalipto, objetivando caracterizar a fauna de morcegos presente nessa paisagem e analisar o que ocorre com essa comunidade após o corte raso de parte do plantio. O trabalho de campo ocorreu entre outubro de 2007 e julho de 2010, com sessões de capturas em vegetação nativa e em plantio de eucalipto. O esforço amostral foi de 42 noites de captura utilizando 40 redes de 12 metros de ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Presently in Brazil thousands of hectares are occupied by eucalyptus plantations and those areas are completely deforested in a timely manner in order to supply the production chain. Generally as mitigation measure the forestry industry preserves native forest fragments among monoculture patches respecting the national environmental laws and the sustainable forestry certification guidelines, which creates large areas covered by a vegetation mosaic of eucalyptus and native forest. Assessing the fauna in these mosaic areas and consequences after partial harvest is extremely important for biodiversity conservation. Bats are a great tool for studying this topic since they represent the second largest mammalian order regarding number of species and up to 50% of mammalian fauna in tropical forests. The present study was developed at Fazenda Rio Claro, São Paulo state countryside, in Lençóis Paulista city, in a vegetation mosaic of Seasonal Semideciduous Forest and Eucalyptus sp plantation, and its aim was to assess bat fauna in the landscape and analyze changes within this community after partial harvest. Fieldwork was carried out between October 2007 and July 2010 with capture sessions in native vegetation and eucalyptus plantation. Sampling effort comprised 42 capture nights using 40 12m-length by 2.5m-height mist nets exposed for 12 hours each night, being 24 nets set along the subcanopy and 16 set on the canopy. After 21 capture nights part of the eucalyptus plantation areas th... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

O objetivo neste trabalho foi avaliar a influência da variação do tempo de fotopolimerização para diferentes cores (I, B1, B3 e C4) de uma resina composta (FiltekTM Z250, da 3M ESPE), sobre a taxa de desgaste abrasivo através do método do disco retificado. Cada espécime de resina composta fotopolimerizada estava contido numa cavidade semicircular localizada na periferia de um disco constituído por polimetilmetacrilato (PMMA), denominado disco estático, sendo que a superfície curva da resina no disco sofria desgaste por um rebolo de porcelana, denominado tecnicamente de disco dinâmico, sob carga padronizada e velocidade controlada, criando no espécime uma cavidade de aspecto semicircular. O deslocamento vertical do disco estático, ao ser desgastado, era detectado por um palpador, o qual transferia estes dados a um computador e criava os arquivos de desgaste, em função do tempo. Os dados obtidos foram tratados estatisticamente. Pôde-se concluir que 1) a resistência à abrasão do PMMA foi a maior de todas e 2) a resina de cor C4, a mais resistente de todas. / The aim at this study was estimate the influence of light-curing time variation of different colors (I, B1, B3 and C4) of composite resin (FiltekTM Z250, 3M ESPE), upon abrasive wear through the retified disc method. The porcelain existent in the named dynamic disc promoted a wear of each resin specimen located in the polimethylmetacrylate (PMMA) static disc, under a standardized charge and with controlled velocity. Vertical displacement of static disc was detected by a sensor that send data to a computer where wear arquives were plotted in function of time. After data statistical analysis, it could be concluded that: 1) PMMA resistance was greater than anyone of resins and 2) C4 was more resistant than all the other colors.

Dentre as atividades envolvidas no processo de mudança do uso da terra, está a mineração de bauxita, cuja atividade leva à constante perda de hábitat. Uma forma de reparar a degradação antrópica à diversidade e ao funcionamento dos ecossistemas naturais é utilizar o processo de restauração ecológica. Este trabalho utilizou armadilhas-de-queda para estudar o efeito da restauração florestal após a mineração de bauxita na abundância de anuros de serapilheira. Os pontos amostrais encontram-se em um mosaico vegetacional no planalto de Poços de Caldas, MG, sendo dois locais em processo de reabilitação, cinco em processo de restauração e dois locais em remanescentes secundários de Floresta Estacional Semidecidual Montana. Foram coletados dados referentes a características da vegetação (área basal; densidade; abertura do dossel e espessura da serapilheira) e a altitude em cada ponto amostral. O Critério de Informação de Akaike corrigido (AICc) foi usado para avaliar a eficácia de nove modelos construídos a priori na predição da abundância das duas espécies coletadas que apresentaram suficiência amostral, separadamente. A abundância de Rhinella pombali foi inversamente relacionada com a densidade da vegetação e com a altitude. O modelo com a abertura do dossel influenciou positivamente a abundância de Ischnocnema juipoca. A restauração florestal possibilitou a recolonização por duas espécies de anuros - E. juipoca e R. pombali, evidenciando a importância dessa atividade na reconstrução de habitats para a biodiversidade nativa. / Bauxite mining is one of the activities involved in land-use change that leads to total habitat loss. The process of ecological restoration is a way to repair anthropic damages to biodiversity and to natural ecosystems functioning. In this work, pitfall traps with drift fences were used to verify the influence of restoration of forest areas priorly submitted to bauxite mining on the abundance of leaf litter anurans. Sample sites were located in vegetation patches on the plateau of Poços de Caldas-MG, Brazil: two in areas under rehabilitation process, five in areas under restoration process and two in secondary fragments of Montane Semideciduous Seasonal Forest. Data concerning characteristics of vegetation (basal area, density, canopy openness and litter thickness) and height were collected in each sample site. The corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) was used to evaluate the efficiency of nine models constructed a priori to predict abundance of two species collected that presented sampling sufficiency, analysed as separate groups. Abundance of Rhinella pombali was inversely related to height and vegetation density. The canopy openness model positively influenced abundance of Ischnocnema juipoca. Recolonization by two anuran species E. juipoca and R. pombali was possible due to forest restoration, which shows the importance of this process in reconstructing habitats for native biodiversity.

The Jedlový Potok is a tributary of the Teplá Vltava River and is situated in the Upper Vltava Floodplain in the Šumava National Park. Part of the Jedlový Potok has been restored in 2015. The aim of the thesis was to record the flora on permanent plots in the Jedlový potok floodplain in the third year after its restoration. Four type of habitats were distinguished in the Jedlový potok floodplain. An extensively mown wet Cirsium meadow and Phalaris arundinacea marsh occurred in the riparian zone with a more fluctuating water table while a short-sedge fen and an Eriophorum vaginatum mire formed a peatland zone further away from the watercourse. Phytosociological relevés were recorded and groundwater table level was measured on two permanent plots within each habitat. Eighty plant species were recorded on the permanent plots. A total of 124 vascular plants was identified in the whole area of interest in the Jedlový Potok floodplain, 17 endangered species included. The botanical survey confirmed the spatial pattern of biotopes typical in the Teplá Vltava River floodplain and a high richness of the floodplain flora.

This study created an ecological spatial model, using a geographic information system, to visualize the influence of hydrochory on restoration of the three dominant wetland communities of broadleaf marsh, wetland shrub, and wet prairie across the floodplain of the Kissimmee River. Primary parameters incorporated into the model included floodplain hydrology, seed characteristics of buoyancy and dispersal rates, and species flood tolerance. S²rensen's similarity index, comparing spatial agreement among model output and observed community data, resulted in values of BLM-BB = 0.10, BLM = 0.07, WS = 0.21, and WP = 0.36. The significant discrepancies between modeled and observed community spatial coverage indicated a need for incorporation of more stochastic variables of climatic disturbances, nutrient availability, and soil characteristics. More research on species flood tolerance across smaller spatial scales is also needed, and base data incorporated into the model should also be reliable and consistent if accuracy is to be achieved. / by Stevee Kennard. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

O bioma Cerrado sofre cada vez mais com os desmatamentos sem controle, que acabam por causar o desequilíbrio ambiental. Com isso gera a necessidade de realizar um desenvolvimento sustentável associando o social, ambiental e financeiro. Surgindo também a importância de se reestruturar paisagens que foram degradados ambientalmente aumentando a demanda por pesquisas voltadas a produção de mudas nativas. A Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. é uma espécie que tem se destacado, por ter propriedades medicinais, além de ser adaptável a diferentes fisionomias do Cerrado. Assim, a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo explanar as principais características da espécie Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. além de avaliar o desenvolvimento e a qualidade de mudas desta espécie sob níveis de sombreamento em condições de Cerrado e o monitoramento de mudas em campo em uma área de recuperação de áreas degradadas. Pode-se concluir que as mudas de Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. quando submetidas a condição de luminosidade diferenciada em viveiros possuem um melhor desenvolvimento a pleno sol, e ao serem monitoradas em condições de campo, as plantas demostraram crescimento lento, atingindo 72 cm de altura aos 3,5 anos e 50% de sobrevivência a partir de 1,4 anos. / The Cerrado biome suffers more and more with the uncontrolled deforestation that end up causing the environmental imbalance. With this, it generates the need to carry out a sustainable development involving the social, environmental and financial. Soon, the importance of restructuring landscapes that were degraded environmentally, increasing the demand for research on the production of native seedlings. The Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. is a species that has stood out because it has medicinal properties, besides being adaptable to different physiognomies of the Cerrado. Thus, the present research aims to explain the main characteristics of the species Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. in addition to evaluating the development and quality of seedlings of this species under shade levels under Cerrado conditions and the monitoring of field seedlings in a degraded area recovery area. It can be concluded that the seedlings of Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. when submitted to conditions of differentiated luminosity in nurseries have a better development in full sun, and when monitored under field conditions, plants showed slow growth, reaching 72 cm in height at 1302 days and 50% survival from 520 days . However, resistance to different landscapes concludes that this species appears as a promising alternative in the process of recovery of degraded areas