No description available.

A 7.09 m lacustrine sediment core was taken from Mariana Lake, Alberta (55º57'N, 112º01'W) to determine if the regional vegetational complex had been affected by the mid-Holocene Hypsithermal. Dating control was provided by 6 radiocarbon dates, with a second degree polynomial fitted to the dates to give an age to depth curve. The basal date of the core is 11 300 ± 110 yr BP. Fossil pollen analysis of the core revealed five distinct pollen zones. Between 11 856 and 10 434 yr BP the study site supported a sparse herb dominated vegetation. A spruce and shrub birch assemblage followed, from 10 434 to 9 100 yr BP, with increased vegetation density. The climate was likely similar to today. This was replaced by a paper birch and spruce complex from 9 100 to 7 638 yr BP likely as a result of warming climate. A mild Hypsithermal effect is recorded between 7 638 and 5 623 yr BP. A forest of decreased crown density was created, with spruce, paper birch and poplar being the major vegetational components. Modern conditions have existed at the site from 5 623 yr BP onwards, though it is hypothesised the regional water budget may have increased slightly around 2 228 yr BP; increased peat development appears to have occurred at this time. Through the use of difference diagrams the site is compared to three other published sites which, along with Mariana Lake, form a north-south transect from the southern Boreal Forest to the northern Alberta Boreal Forest. The hypsithermal vegetation changes varies with distance to the Parkland-Boreal Forest ecotone boundary. It is concluded the parkland did not reach Mariana Lake during the mid-Holocene, though conditions at the site became similar to those at the southern edge of the Boreal Forest that is proximal to the parkland. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

No description available.

This study analyzes the structure and biophysical correlates of density of two whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) populations in the northern Rocky Mountains. Whitebark pine is a keystone species and an important component of treeline ecosystem dynamics; however, subalpine populations have declined nearly rangewide in recent decades. Though declines in subalpine forests have been well documented in the literature, few studies have assessed population structure and habitat requirements at treeline. Various disturbances have combined to impact whitebark pine populations across its range, but the primary threat at treeline sites in the northern Rocky Mountains is white pine blister rust, caused by the exotic fungal pathogen Cronartium ribicola. In this study, I aim to: 1) assess population structure and regeneration within two geographically different treelines experiencing contrasting levels of infection, and 2) examine associations among several biophysical variables and whitebark pine density to better understand treeline habitat variability and regeneration patterns. I used density-diameter curves and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare population structure between sites, and developed generalized linear mixed models to assess correlations between whitebark pine density and biophysical site variables. The results demonstrate that despite very different ecosystems and blister rust infection rates, our two study sites have similar population structure. Our model results highlight marked differences between populations in terms of biophysical correlates of density. While correlations are similar within site, seedlings and saplings have stronger correlations with biophysical variables than established trees. / Master of Science

How and why species’ ranges shift has long been a focus of ecology but is now becoming increasingly important given the current rate of climatic and environmental change. In response to global warming, species will need to migrate northward or upward to stay within their climatic tolerances. The ability of species to migrate will determine their fate and affect the community compositions of the future. However, to more accurately predict the future extent of species, we must identify and understand their responses to past and current climatic and environmental changes. The first place change is expected to occur is within ecotones where the ranges of many species converge and individuals exist at the limits of their environmental tolerances. In montane regions, these boundaries are compressed, creating a situation in which even relatively small changes in conditions can lead to shifts in the elevational ranges of species. In this dissertation, I examine the responses of forests in the Green Mountains of Vermont to recent climatic and environmental change in an attempt to understand how future climate change will affect their location and composition. I focus on the Boreal-Deciduous Ecotone (BDE), where the high elevation spruce-fir forests converge with the lower elevation northern hardwoods. In addition to investigating adult trees within the BDE, I also examine the responses of understory herbs and tree seedlings to changes in environmental and climatic factors. Factors considered in these investigations include temperature, soil environment, light environment, invasive species, competition, disturbance and many others. I will examine the complex range of responses in forest species that results from prolonged exposure to these forces alone and in combination. I have attempted to identify the responses of forest species to environmental changes by resurveying historic vegetation plots (Chapter 2), experimentally manipulating the growing environment of tree seedlings (Chapter 3) and performing dendrochronological analyses on tree rings (Chapter 4). Through my resurvey of historic vegetation plots, I determined the degree to which understory species have shifted as individuals or as groups. I also identified a set of novel understory communities that have developed since the 1960's in response to recent climate change, acid deposition and invasive species (Chapter 2). By transplanting and artificially warming tree seedlings, I identified factors responsible for limiting the growth and survival of northern hardwood species above the BDE. Temperature was the primary factor limiting sugar maple (Acer saccharum) at high elevations, while yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) was limited almost exclusively by light (Chapter 3). Dendrochronological studies of sugar maples indicated that prolonged exposure to acidified soils has only recently caused growth declines and has altered their relationship to climate (Chapter 4). Together, these studies have produced a cohesive picture of how northeastern montane forests have responded to recent climate change and other anthropogenic impacts. These findings can be used to help predict future species' ranges and identify species that may not be capable of migrating fast enough on their own to keep pace with changes in climatic conditions.

O noroeste de São Paulo, transição entre a Floresta Atlântica e o Cerrado, é uma das regiões mais fragmentadas do estado. Investigando a regeneração natural de remanescentes florestais é possível compreender como a diversidade de espécies e os processos ecológicos são mantidos nessas paisagens agrícolas muito fragmentadas, gerando subsídios para ações de conservação e restauração. Nesse sentido, as perguntas norteadoras deste estudo foram: 1) o conhecimento do componente regenerante de remanescentes florestais inseridos em matrizes agrícolas muito fragmentadas permite avaliar a perpetuação dos mesmos ao longo do tempo? 2) quais fatores, de qualidade de hábitat ou de estrutura da paisagem, exercem maior influência sobre composição, densidade e riqueza de espécies no componente regenerante desses remanescentes florestais? Para isso, foi comparada a riqueza, diversidade e composição de espécies entre o componente regenerante (altura >1,0 m e DAS< 5 cm) e arbóreo (DAS> 5 cm) de 18 fragmentos de florestas nativas do noroeste de São Paulo. Em seguida, foi analisada a relação entre a qualidade do hábitat (soma de bases do solo, teor de argila do solo e frequência de incêndio) e estrutura da paisagem (conectividade, isolamento e tamanho total do fragmento) com os valores descritivos do componente regenerante. Foram registrados no componente regenerante 5.989 indivíduos e 207 espécies, o que equivale a uma média de 4968±3584 ind.ha-1 e 33±14 espécies por fragmento. As famílias mais ricas foram Fabaceae (28 espécies), Myrtaceae (25), Rubiaceae (21) e os gêneros foram Eugenia (12), Ocotea (6), Campomanesia (5) e Psychotria (5). Comparado ao componente arbóreo, o componente regenerante apresentou significativamente menor riqueza e diversidade &alpha;, pois 71% das espécies do componente arbóreo não foram registradas na regeneração natural. Porém, ambos componentes apresentaram composição florística significativamente correlacionada. Com relação à diversidade &beta;, em média, o componente regenerante apresentou valor significativamente maior entre os fragmentos. A qualidade de habitat foi mais importante para explicar a estrutura e riqueza da comunidade regenerante. Frequência de incêndio contribuiu negativamente para a densidade total comunidade e de indivíduos zoocóricos, clímaces de sub-bosque e de dossel, assim como para a riqueza de espécies zoocóricas, pioneiras e colonizadoras. A riqueza de especialistas de florestas apresentou relação positiva com a soma de bases enquanto para a riqueza e densidade de generalistas a relação foi negativa. Soma de bases e teor de argila no solo foram as variáveis mais relacionadas com a composição florística da comunidade regenerante. Dentre as variáveis de paisagem, conectividade relacionou-se negativamente com a densidade de espécies generalistas enquanto área do fragmento apresentou relação positiva com a densidade de zoocóricas com propágulos de tamanho médio. Portanto, a regeneração natural representou um subconjunto de espécies do componente arbóreo com menor diversidade, riqueza e número de espécies compartilhadas entre os fragmentos e por isso seriam necessárias ações de manejo adaptativo para garantir a perpetuação dos remanescentes florestais nessas paisagens muito fragmentadas. Frequência de incêndios foi o principal fator comprometedor da perpetuação da biodiversidade e a importância do gradiente edáfico para composição de espécies dos remanescentes florestais da região foi confirmada. / The northwestern São Paulo, a transition area between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, is one of the most fragmented region of the state. Investigating the sapling community of forest communities would be possible understanding how species diversity and ecological processes are maintained in this kind of landscape and therefore it would help creating subsides for forest restoration. For this reason, the questions of this research were: 1) Does the survey of sapling community of forest remnants in highly fragmented agricultural landscape allows assessing their self-perpetuating capacity? 2) Which factors of habitat quality or landscape structure exerts greater influence on the species composition, density and species-richness of the sapling community of these forest remnants? Thus, it was assessed the sapling community (height >one, 0 m and DSH< 5,0 cm) density and compared the observed and the relative species-richness of functional groups, &alpha; and &beta; diversity and species composition to the tree community (DSH> 5,0 cm) in the same forest remnant. After that, was assessed the influence of habitat quality (soil sum of bases, soil clay content, fire frequency) and landscape structure (functional connectivity, isolation and total size of these forest remnants) on the descriptive values of sapling communities. Overall, the sapling community showed 5.989 individuals and 207 species that represent on average 4968±3584 ind.ha-1 and 33±14 species for forest fragments. The botanic families with higher species-richness were Fabaceae (28 species), Myrtaceae (25), Rubiaceae (21) and genera were Eugenia (12), Ocotea (6), Campomanesia (5) e Psychotria (5).Compared to the tree community, the sapling community had significantly smaller species-richness (observed and estimated) and &alpha; diversity, because 71 % of species from the tree community did not occur in sapling community. However, both communities had species composition significantly correlated, the sapling communities showed significantly higher &beta; diversity than trees communities. The habitat quality were more important to explain the density, species-richness and species composition of the sapling communities. Fire frequency contributed negatively to species-richness of zoochorous species, pioneer species and colonizers group (species found only at sapling community) and to the sapling density of zoochorous species, shade-tolerant canopy species and shade-tolerant understory species. The species-richness of forest-specialist species was positively related to the soil sum of bases but to the sapling density and species-richness of generalist species was found the opposite relation. Similarly, sum of base and clay content were the variables most related to the species composition of sapling community. Functional connectivity and the total area of the forests fragments explained only the density of generalist and zoochorous medium-seeded species, but with relatively smaller importance than the habitat quality variables. Thus, the sapling community of these forest remnants represented a subset of the tree community but with significant smaller diversity, species richness and number of common species among fragments and then adaptive management efforts is needed to assist long-term biodiversity persistence in forests fragments in highly fragmented agricultural landscape. Frequent fires was the main factor affecting negatively the biodiversity perpetuation and the importance of an edaphic gradient to species composition of forests remnants in the region was validated.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis deals with the phenomenon of ecological recovery of ecotone backyard, a specific phenomenon in rural areas of the Czech Republic, focusing on the one hand synchronously, partly diachronic. Theoretically, based on the scientific literature discusses the topic first as a phenomenon in itself, then focuses on the description of the possibilities that may be related to the maintenance or revitalization of the ecotone recover or regain, both in the dimension of eco-environmentalist, and in the dimension of socio-ethnographic.

Submitted by Biblioteca de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica BGQ (bgq@ndc.uff.br) on 2018-02-26T17:22:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação_Rodrigo_Rodrigues_2006.pdf: 2335723 bytes, checksum: ff6e057e0bc5f8512d4df6672939f6dc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-26T17:22:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação_Rodrigo_Rodrigues_2006.pdf: 2335723 bytes, checksum: ff6e057e0bc5f8512d4df6672939f6dc (MD5) / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Química. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica, Niterói, RJ / A utilização de indicadores (ou marcadores) biogeoquímicos na reconstrução paleoambiental na região de Humaitá (AM) possibilita estimar a freqüência e a magnitude dos paleoincêndios; e que, através da análise do fluxo de material biogênico e das análises isotópicas e radiocarbônicas, foi possível reconstituir (em parte) as condições paleoclimáticas e o cenário ambiental da região de Humaitá (AM) no Holoceno, nos últimos 4800 anos. A interpretação temporal à cerca das transformações do material biogênico em função de possíveis intervalos climáticos diferenciados indicou cinco fases climáticas sendo elas: 1- Fase seca com alta ocorrência de incêndios (4800 a 4600 anos A.P.); 2- Fase úmida (4600 a 4250 anos A.P.) com pouca ocorrência de incêndios; 3- Fase úmida de transição de intensa atividade erosiva com pouca ocorrência de incêndios (4250 a 3500 anos A.P.), 4- Fase seca com pouca ocorrência de incêndios (3500 a 400 anos A.P.), 5- Fase úmida com alta ocorrência de incêndios (últimos 400 anos A.P.). Nos registros do testemunho HUM 97/5 (Humaitá - AM), caracterizado por uma transição de vegetação de floresta para “savana arbórea” e campos inundados, encontrou-se uma fase de principal ocorrência dos incêndios a 300 anos A.P.; com fluxo de 78.700 partículas cm-2 ano1; e uma segunda fase marcada por baixas concentrações de carvões: 700 partículas cm-2 ano-1 em 1000 anos A.P.; 1.300 partículas cm-2 ano-1 em 1400 anos AP; 2.300 partículas cm-2 ano1 em 3850 anos A.P., sendo detectados maiores valores no topo e na seção basal do testemunho analisado. Os elevados níveis de COT apresentaram valores equivalentes aos aportes de microcarvões e também ao desenvolvimento de uma biomassa nas fases úmidas. Entretanto, os valores de 13C obtidos nos dois perfis sedimentares analisados (HUM 97/4 & HUM 97/5), indicaram mudanças do tipo de vegetação no período estudado, sugerindo que o limite floresta-cerrado e campo deva ter sofrido alterações durante a transição do Holoceno Médio para o Holoceno Superior. Neste caso, o cenário paleoclimático dos últimos 4800 anos A.P., (aponta para um ecótono de paleovegetação predominantemente herbácea e arbustiva), intercalados com fragmentos de floresta em função dos fatores edáficos (do solo), além de prováveis oscilações climáticas e uma consequente elevação no regime pluviométrico sazonal, próximo do mosaico climático atual. / The utilization of biogeochemical indicators on paleoenvironmental reconstruction at the Humaitá region (AM) helps estimate the frequency and magnitude of paleofires. Analysis of biogenic material flow, isotopes and radiocarbon allowed us to reconstruct (partially) the paleoclimatic conditions and the environmental scenario of the Humaitá region (AM) during the Holocene, the last years. The temporal interpretation regarding the changes biogenic material due to possible different climates indicated five climatic phases such as: 1- Dry phase with high fire frequency (4800 to 4600 years B.P.); 2- Wet phase (4600 to 4250 years B.P.); 3- Wet phase with high erosive activity and transition to dry phase (4250 to 3500 years B.P.), 4- Dry phase with low fire frequency (3500 to 400 years B.P.), and 5- Wet phase with high fire frequency (last 400 years B.P.). On the sediment core HUM 97/5 (Humaitá - AM), characterized by a presence of Rain Forest, Savanna and Wetland, we found high incidence of fires 300 years B.P.; with 78.700 particles flow cm-2 year1; and a second phase marked by low charcoal concentrations: 700 particles cm-2 year-1 in 1000 B.P.; 1.300 particles cm-2 year-1 in 1400 B.P.; 2.300 particles cm-2 year1 in 3850 years B.P. Higher values were detected on the top and the basal section of the core analyzed. The high levels of TOC showed values equivalent to the microcharcoal inputs and also the development of a biomass during the wet phase. However, the 13C values obtained on the sedimentary profiles analyzed (HUM 97/4 & HUM 97/5), indicated vegetation changes during the studied period, suggesting that the forest-savanna limit and the wetland might have suffered alterations during the Mid-Holocene to the Late-Holocene transition. In this case, the paleoclimatic scenario of the last 4800 years shows a paleovegetation ecotone predominantly herbaceous and arboreal, intermingled with Forest fragments due to edaphic factors, plus probable climate changes and resulting higher precipitation levels close to the recent climate mosaic