Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Botany, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-30)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-268). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-13T14:50:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-03-12Bitstream added on 2014-08-13T18:01:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 schlichting_ms_me_sjrp.pdf: 519957 bytes, checksum: 3b288d63a039ace912bbc97fba9d3984 (MD5) / A Floresta com Araucária sofreu intensa exploração madeireira e, este fato ocasionou o processo de fragmentação florestal. O desequilíbrio ocasionado por este processo atua de diferentes maneiras sobre espécies, grupos funcionais e também sobre a diversidade funcional de aves. Com o objetivo de verificar os efeitos da fragmentação florestal sobre as espécies e os grupos funcionais e como este processo afeta a diversidade funcional de aves, foi realizada uma compilação de trabalhos realizados em remanescentes de Floresta com Araucária e testado (i) como as espécies ou grupos funcionais influenciam no agrupamento entre os remanescentes e, (ii) como processos como a substituição de espécies é capaz de manter traços funcionais em comunidades. Os resultados apontam que existem grupos funcionais atuando diretamente no agrupamento entre os remanescentes e que o processo de substituição de espécies é muito importante para a manutenção de traços funcionais dentro da comunidade. Este trabalho também ressalta a importância de espécies, grupos e traços funcionais para manter a estabilidade do ecossistema / The Araucaria Forest suffered intense logging, and this fact led to the process of forest fragmentation. The imbalance caused by this process acts in different ways on species, functional groups and also on the functional diversity of birds. With the objective of evaluate the effects of forest fragmentation on species and functional groups and how this process affects the functional diversity of birds, we performed a compilation of works done in remnants of Araucaria Forest and tested (i) how species or functional groups influences the coupling between the remnants and, (ii) how processes such as the replacement of species is capable of maintaining functional traits communities. The results indicate that there are functional groups acting directly on the coupling between the remnants and that the process of species replacement is very important for the maintenance of functional traits within the community. This work also highlights the importance of species traits and functional groups to maintain the stability of the ecosystem

The hemlock-silverbell (Tsuga canadensis-Halesia tetraptera) forest type is known to exist in only two places, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) and the Joyce Kilmer National Memorial Forest. The hemlock component of this forest type is currently threatened by the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelgis tsugae), an invasive aphid-like insect native to Japan. This current status has given rise to the need to investigate the ecological resources of this rare forest type before the hemlock component dies out. The objectives of this study were to determine the nature of the plant/environment and plant/plant associations within this forest type. Within this forest type hemlock was negatively related to protection, aspect, and slope steepness and silverbell was positively related to aspect and slope steepness. This study also identified some interspecific associations such as the negative relationship in the understory between hemlock and striped maple, and provided evidence that understory stems are exhibiting a growth response to hemlock decline in these stands. The information obtained from this study characterizing the plant/environment interactions and even the structural and species components of this forest type will serve as a baseline of data from which to measure change and will provide insight into the mechanisms of species distribution and perhaps into short term scenarios of forest response to hemlock decline and mortality.

Covering 30% of the land surface and storing 45% of terrestrial carbon, forest ecosystems play a major role in global biogeochemical cycles and climate. Despite the importance of forests, responses and feedbacks of forests to global change agents remain among the least understood processes in predicting future global change scenarios. We use the temperate forests biome of the eastern US as a case study to ask several general questions about tree physiology and ecology to inform key knowledge gaps relevant to predicting how forests will respond to future global change. Trees invest significant amounts of carbon into support tissues, defense, and storage. To begin, we examine the process of tree carbon storage, as measured by nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) by evaluating the extent that NSCs vary as a function of tree life history strategy, physical traits, and phylogeny. We find that NSCs vary largely at broad taxonomic scales, and across study sites. This suggests that a broad-based approach to studying NSCs is needed if they are to effectively inform ecosystem models. Next, we use annual tree ring increments to determine the spatial scales controlling variation in tree growth. We find that individual variability is the largest control on growth, explaining 27% of variability – and primarily explained by tree size, canopy position, and species. Regional-scale variability is the next most dominant, explaining 13% of variability – half of which is explained by changes in species composition across the region. Growth and mortality are important demographic processes responsible for large, and potentially rapid, changes to the terrestrial carbon cycle. In the last chapter, we explore the extent that NSCs explain growth and mortality. We find that stressed trees have significantly lower NSC concentrations than living trees and dead trees have the lowest concentrations. We also find that the strength and direction of the NSC – growth relationship varies greatly by species This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the processes driving tree growth and NSC storage dynamics, as well as the extent to which NSCs drive tree demographic processes across eastern US forests.

This PhD by Publication traces through 13 of my publications on economic incentives for forest management and conservation in tropical countries (with a regional bias towards Latin America), including several papers focused on participatory forest management or community-based conservation. The papers show how my thinking has evolved from a focus on market and nonmarket incentives, to an increasing emphasis on governance and regulatory incentives in explaining stakeholder behaviour to the forest resource, as well as the equity impacts. They reveal that positive incentives and win-win (environmental and poverty reduction) outcomes will only emerge when the underlying market, policy and institutional failures are tackled. Because of their public good values, the survival of tropical forests is contingent on the actions of the international community and governments. Sustainable forestry, therefore, depends on a combination of domestic governance progress to control illegal logging and the rent-seeking powers of vested interest groups, global governance regulations which create markets for environmental services, secure property rights for resident stakeholders and extra-sectoral policies that moderate land use opportunity costs. The current main hope for tropical forests is 'avoided deforestation' since this will need to tackle the forest governance problems and underlying multi-sectoral drivers of deforestation if it is to be successful. It represents a balanced market (payments for ecosystem services) and supply-side (improved governance) response to what is essentially a 'public goods' management problem, but will need to overcome some major political economy challenges.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-06T17:42:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PGPV14DA004.pdf: 1910619 bytes, checksum: ba6e387b7801abd091a6f52702bea205 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-29 / This study was inspired by the work concept from the Research Group on Conservation and Use of Forest Resources, which considers that due to the complexity of the Araucaria Forest (FOM), there is a need for conducting population ecology research that comprises this vegetation type. Thus, the species, Podocarpus lambertii, appears in high frequency in community studies, besides being one of the two native gymnosperms. In order to investigate the ecology of this species, whose common name is pinheiro-bravo (literal translation: wild pine), the research and results were organized into four phases. First phase included studies at the community level, to identify floristic similarities between the study sites in Planalto Serrano (Bom Jardim da Serra, Lages (locality Coxilha Rica) and São José do Cerrito), as well as between sections, (forest to field transitions - FOM/CAM, forest to marsh transitions FOM/BAN and interior forest fragment - FOM), which apparently compose the characteristic clumps of this vegetation type. Phase two was the description of the population structures and environmental variables that influence the populations, in all development stages. The third phase identified the preferred environmental conditions for regeneration entry and survival. The fourth and final stage was the description of phenological 16 17 events observed in adult individuals. In order to carry out this research three permanent 50x50m plots, divided into subplots of 10x10m were established in each location, where all the pinheiro-bravo individuals were marked and evaluated in 2011, and the regeneration was re-evaluated in 2013. Reproductive aspects were investigated in ten female plants and ten male plants. First, the observed results concluded that there are floristic differences between the study locations. The local floristic composition of the transition sections FOM/CAM and FOM/BAN are similar. The indicator species for each location do not coincide. Secondly, the results showed that all populations assumed an inverted J diametric pattern, the same was observed for all plots, with aggregated distribution only occurring within one plot. The regeneration was focused mainly on plot edges in environments with greater steepness and stoniness. The adults are concentrated in lowland soils, which are more humid and deep. Third result shows that the preferred environment for the regeneration is a slope superior to 7.8%, where soils are deeper (PR>24 cm), more humid and have better drainage since they are sloped, the soils are less resistant to penetration and have an organic matter content lower than 6.65%; Lastly, the fourth result shows that the differentiation of male strobili begins in November of one year and the pollen liberation occurs in the following year, and these are found present throughout the year in development. The female strobili differentiation begins in November, in the interior terminal bud, synchronously with the release of the pollen. Seed dispersal occurs in April, when the fleshly stalk shows dark coloring / Esta pesquisa foi inspirada na concepção de trabalho do Grupo de Pesquisa em Uso e Conservação de Recursos Florestais, o qual considera que devido à complexidade da Floresta Ombrófila Mista (FOM), há necessidade da condução de pesquisas acerca da ecologia das populações que compõem essa fitofisionomia. Nesse sentido, Podocarpus lambertii Klotzsch (pinheiro-bravo) é uma espécie que aparece em alta frequência nos estudos de comunidades, além de ser uma das duas gimnospermas nativas no Sul do Brasil. Para entendimento da ecologia do pinheiro-bravo, a pesquisa e os resultados foram organizados em quatro etapas: I - estudos em nível de comunidade, visando identificar similaridades florísticas entre os locais de estudo do Planalto Serrano: Bom Jardim da Serra, Lages (localidade de Coxilha Rica) e São José do Cerrito, bem como, entre setores (transição floresta e campo - FOM/CAM, transição floresta e banhado FOM/BAN e interior do fragmento de floresta - FOM) que, aparentemente, compõe os capões característicos dessa fitofisionomia; II - descrição da estrutura dessas populações e das variáveis ambientais com influências sobre as mesmas, em todas as classes de desenvolvimento; III - identificação de condições ambientais preferenciais ao ingresso e sobrevivência da regeneração e IV - descrição de eventos fenológicos observados em indivíduos adultos. Para tal foram alocadas três parcelas permanentes de 50x50m, divididas em subparcelas de 10x10m em cada local, nas quais todos os indivíduos de pinheiro-bravo foram marcados e avaliados em 2011, sendo a regeneração reavaliada em 2013. Aspectos reprodutivos foram investigados em 10 plantas femininas e 10 plantas masculinas. Os resultados observados permitiram concluir que: i. Ocorre diferença florística entre os locais de estudo. Dentro dos locais a composição florística dos setores de transição FOM/CAM e FOM/BAN é similar. As espécies indicadoras dos setores, para cada local, não coincidem; ii. todas as populações assumiram o padrão diamétrico de J invertido e o mesmo foi observado dentro de todas as parcelas, com distribuição agregada somente em uma parcela. Sendo que a regeneração se concentrou principalmente nas bordas das parcelas, em ambientes de maior declividade e pedregosidade. Os adultos se concentram em solos de baixada, mais úmidos e profundos; iii. o ambiente preferencial para a regeneração demonstrou ser aqueles com declividade superior a 7,8%, onde os solos são mais profundos (PR>24 cm), mais úmidos e de melhor drenagem porque estão em encosta, menos resistentes à penetração e com teor de matéria orgânica inferior a 6,65%; e iv. a diferenciação dos estróbilos masculinos inicia-se em novembro de um ano e a liberação do pólen ocorre em novembro do ano seguinte, sendo que os mesmos estão presentes ao longo de todo o ano em desenvolvimento; a diferenciação dos estróbilos femininos inicia-se, em novembro, no interior da brotação terminal, de forma sincronizada com a liberação do pólen. A dispersão das sementes ocorre em abril, quando o pedúnculo carnoso apresenta-se com coloração escura