Understanding variation in key functional traits across gradients in high diversity systems and the ecology of community changes along gradients in these systems is crucial in light of conservation and climate change. We examined inter- and intraspecific variation in leaf mass per area (LMA) of sun and shade leaves along a 3330-m elevation gradient in Peru, and in sun leaves across a forest-savanna vegetation gradient in Brazil. We also compared LMA variance ratios (T-statistics metrics) to null models to explore internal (i.e., abiotic) and environmental filtering on community structure along the gradients. Community- weighted LMA increased with decreasing forest cover in Brazil, likely due to increased light availability and water stress, and increased with elevation in Peru, consistent with the leaf economic spectrum strategy expected in colder, less productive environments. A very high species turnover was observed along both environmental gradients, and consequently, the first source of variation in LMA was species turnover. Variation in LMA at the genus or family levels was greater in Peru than in Brazil. Using dominant trees to examine possible filters on community assembly, we found that in Brazil, internal filtering was strongest in the forest, while environmental filtering was observed in the dry savanna. In Peru, internal filtering was observed along 80% of the gradient, perhaps due to variation in taxa or interspecific competition. Environmental filtering was observed at cloud zone edges and in lowlands, possibly due to water and nutrient availability, respectively. These results related to variation in LMA indicate that biodiversity in species rich tropical assemblages may be structured by differential niche-based processes. In the future, specific mechanisms generating these patterns of variation in leaf functional traits across tropical environmental gradients should be explored.

Submitted by Deyse Queiroz (deysequeirozz@hotmail.com) on 2018-05-29T11:46:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EDNALDO DA ROCHA ARNAUD - - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGSA PROFISSIONAL 2014..pdf: 1990272 bytes, checksum: b17fb5961aee7de0c8875e63fdd95bba (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-29T11:46:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EDNALDO DA ROCHA ARNAUD - - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGSA PROFISSIONAL 2014..pdf: 1990272 bytes, checksum: b17fb5961aee7de0c8875e63fdd95bba (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / O uso de espécies espontâneas da caatinga representa uma opção de fertilização orgânica para os agricultores familiares que labutam na produção de hortaliças, sendo a florde-seda, espécie de grande ocorrência na região de estudo, além de ser encontrado em diversas localidades da região nordeste do país em condições edáficas diferentes. Um experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Experimental Rafael Fernandes, localizada no distrito de Alagoinha, zona rural de Mossoró-RN, no período de outubro de 2010 a fevereiro de 2011, com o objetivo de avaliar a viabilidade agroeconômica da aplicação da flor-de-seda (Calotropis procera) na cultura da beterraba em cultivo solteiro. O delineamento experimental usado foi o de blocos completos casualizados com os tratamentos arranjados em esquema fatorial 5 x 4, com três repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram da combinação de quatro quantidades de flor-de-seda (0; 0,7; 1,4; 2,1 e 2,8 kg m-2 de canteiro em base seca), com quatro períodos de incorporação (0; 14; 28 e 42 dias antes do plantio). A cultivar de beterraba plantada foi a Early Wonder. As características avaliadas foram: altura de plantas, rendimentos de massa fresca e seca da parte aérea, produtividade comercial de raízes e produtividade de massa seca de raízes. Também foram utilizados alguns indicadores econômicos, tais como: renda bruta e custo de produção, renda líquida, taxa de retorno e índice de lucratividade, as quais foram utilizadas para verificar a viabilidade econômica. Não se observou interação entre os fatores estudados. O melhor desempenho produtivo da beterraba foi observado na quantidade 2,3 kg m-2 de canteiro de flor-de-seda incorporada ao solo, com valor médio de 2,44 kg m-2 de canteiro de beterraba, com rentabilidade de liquida de 4.040,00 R$, taxa de retorno da ordem de 2,65 R$ e índice de lucratividade de 62,3%. Em relação aos períodos de incorporação, 0 dia foi o que promoveu a maior produtividade comercial de beterraba com valor médio de 2,2 kg m-2 de canteiro de beterraba, com rentabilidade liquida de 3.500,00 R$, taxa de retorno da ordem de 2,43 R$ e índice de lucratividade de 58,9%. O cultivo da beterraba adubado com flor-de-seda constitui em uma alternativa viável para o produtor. / - The use of spontaneous species of the caatinga represents an option of organic fertilizer for farmers who labor in the production of vegetables, been the silk flower, species of large occurrence in the study area, and it is found in various locations the northeast region of the country in different soil conditions. An experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm Rafael Fernandes, located in Alagoinha district, a rural area of Mossoró-RN, from October 2010 to February 2011, in order to evaluate the agricultural economic viability of the application of the silk flower (Calotropis procera) in beet cultivation in monocrop. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with treatments arranged in a factorial 5 x 4 with three replications. The treatments were a combination of four amounts of silk flower (0, 0.7, 1.4, 2.1 and 2.8 kg m-2 site on a dry basis), with four periods of incorporation (0 , 14, 28 and 42 days before planting). The planted cultivar of beet was the Early Wonder. The characteristics evaluated were: plant height, fresh weight yields and shoot dry, commercial root yield and dry matter yield of roots. They were also used some economic indicators such as gross income and cost of production, net income, rate of return and profitability index, which were used to verify the economic viability. There was no interaction between treatments. The best beet production performance was observed in the amount 2.3 kg m-2 site of silk flower incorporated into the soil, with an average value of 2.44 kg m-2 beet site, with net profitability 4040.00 £, rate of return of around £ 2.65 and 62.3% profitability index. For periods of incorporation, 0 days was what promoted the highest commercial yields of beet with a mean value of 2.2 kg m-2 beet site, with net profit of R $ 3,500.00, rate of return order 2.43 R $ and 58.9% profitability index. The cultivation of beet fertilized with silk-flower constitutes a viable alternative to the producer.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The experiment was carried out to evaluate the herbage production, sward structure, stocking rate, weight gain per area and nutritive value of forage as grazed in alexandergrass (Urochloa plantaginea (Link) Hitch) pasture fertilized with nitrogen (N). The experimental design was completely randomized following a repeated measurements arrangement. The treatments were 0; 100; 200 or 300 kg/ha of N. The experimental animals were Angus heifers with initial age and body weight of 15 month and 241.5±5 kg, respectively. The grazing method was continuous stocking with variable number of animals. The N utilization regardless of the amount increases 25% the daily herbage accumulate rate. The N fertilization increases 23% the weight gain per area. The quantity of 97.2 kg/ha of N allows greater leaf mass and increases in 20% the leaf:steam ratio. The alterations in sward structure changes the nutritive value of forage as grazed. The utilization of 112.7 kg/ha of N allows higher stocking rate (2049.8 kg/ha of BW) equivalent to 7.5 heifers per hectare. / Objetivou-se estudar a produção de forragem, estrutura do dossel, taxa de lotação, ganho de peso por área e o valor nutritivo da forragem aparentemente consumida por bezerras de corte em pastagem de papuã (Urochloa plantaginea (Link) Hitch) adubada com nitrogênio (N). O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, com medidas repetidas no tempo. Os tratamentos foram 0; 100; 200 ou 300 kg/ha de N. Os animais experimentais foram bezerras da raça Angus com idade e peso iniciais de 15 meses e 241±5 kg, respectivamente. O método de pastejo foi contínuo, com número variável de animais. A utilização de N, independente da quantidade, aumentou em 25% a taxa de acúmulo de forragem. A adubação com N proporciona aumento de 23% no ganho de peso por área. A dose de 97,2 kg/ha de N proporciona maior massa de lâminas foliares e aumento de 20% na razão folha:colmo. As alterações na estrutura do dossel modificam o valor nutritivo da forragem aparentemente colhida pelas bezerras. A dose de 112,7 kg/ha de N permite a manutenção da maior taxa de lotação (2049,8 kg/ha de PC), equivalendo a 7,5 bezerras por hectare.

Exotic species alter the streamside plant community by changing the resources available to the stream food web, causing cascading changes throughout the entire aquatic ecosystem. To better understand the impacts of exotic litter species on stream communities, investigations were made at global and local levels. A meta-analysis was performed to understand which environmental and litter quality factors impact native and exotic litter decay rates on the global scale. It was found that exotic species are likely to decay faster than native species at larger mesh sizes, and in warm temperature environments because high quality exotic leaves have a lower C:N ratio than native leaves. An urban litter decay experiment in Victoria, B.C. streams contrasting Alnus rubra, Salix sitchensis, Hedera sp., Rubus armeniacus and plastic trash found that trash decays more slowly than leaf litter, but leaf species all decay at the same rate, and stream invertebrates colonize all litter types equally. Significant differences in litter decay rates and invertebrate community alpha and Shannon diversities were also observed across the four different streams. The more that is learned about the impacts of exotic leaf litter, the better we are able to respond to keep streams as healthy and as biodiverse as possible. / Graduate / 2017-08-10 / 0329 / 0793 / kimkenn@uvic.ca

Trifft herabfallender Regen auf Waldflächen, so wird dieser Niederschlag umverteilt zu Interzeption, Stammabfluss, durchfallenden und abtropfenden Niederschlag. Besonders hohe Stammablaufmengen im Kronenzentrum und markante Abtropfstellen am Kronenrand einzelner Baumarten lassen sich zudem nur erklären, wenn am jeweiligen Messplatz unter Baumkronen eine weitere Niederschlagskomponente zugelassen wird, mit der laterale Wasserbewegungen innerhalb der expliziten Einzelbaumkrone beschrieben und bilanziert werden (lateraler [Zu- oder Ab-]Fluss). Ziel dieser Arbeit war es deshalb, der niederschlagsabhängigen und kleinräumigen Dynamik dieser Umverteilung im Wald am Beispiel der Baumarten Buche (Fagus sylvatica L.) und Fichte (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) durch Aufnahmen und Auswertungen in zwei Mischbeständen beider Baumarten nachzugehen. Wiederholende Niederschlagsaufzeichnungen einzelner Regenereignisse wurden hierzu in Relation zur jeweiligen Freilandniederschlagsmenge, zur Art der Messplatzüberschirmung im Kronendach und zur Distanz des Messplatzes zum ihn dominierenden Baum varianz- und regressionsanalytisch untersucht und um Ergebnisse aus Stammablaufanalysen und Streumodellen ergänzt. Auf dieser Basis konnten Kausalmodelle zur Schätzung des Unterkronenniederschlages mit hoher Güte hergeleitet werden, die im Detail ein baumartspezifisches räumliches Verhalten der einzelnen Niederschlagskomponenten beim Passieren der Baumkrone belegen. Neben den Besonderheiten, die sich bei Messungen in Bestandeslücken einstellen, ergeben sich so z.B. in der Vegetationsperiode je nach Messplatzposition und Freilandniederschlagsmenge Unterschiede im Niederschlag unter beiden Baumartenkronen von bis zu 35 % des Freilandniederschlages je Einzelereignis und zwar stets zugunsten der Buchenüberschirmung. Am Stammfuss von Buchen kann darüber hinaus zusätzliches Wasser durch den Stammabfluss eingetragen werden. Hierfür notwenige Wassermengen können plausibel aus dem nachgewiesenen lateralen Wasserabfluss im inneren Kronendrittel von Buchen gedeckt werden. Über ein räumlich konkretes Interzeptionsmodell, kombiniert mit Blattflächenschätzungen für Einzelbäume konkreter Dimension, konnte ein räumliches LAI-Modell für Buchen abgeleitet werden, dass höchste LAI-Werte im Kronenzentrum annimmt. Da der Bestandesniederschlag hinsichtlich Niederschlagsmenge, Bestockung, Belaubungszustand und zum räumlich konkreten Messplatz unter der einzelnen Baumkrone veränderlich ist, wird die gewissenhaftere Berücksichtigung dieser Einflussvariablen angeregt und der bisher häufig praktizierten pauschalen Aufteilung des Niederschlages in einzelne Niederschlagskomponenten auf Basis von Flächen- und Messphasendurchschnittswerten widersprochen. / Forests redistribute the precipitation falling on their canopy into interception, stemflow, drip or direct throughfall. Extremely high amounts of stemflow in the centre of the crown and distinct drip points along the crown edge of certain tree species can only be explained by admitting an additional precipitation component at these measurement locations that describes and captures the lateral movement of water within the individual tree crown (lateral in- or outflow). The aim of this study was therefore to analyse these precipitation-dependent, small-scale dynamics of precipitation redistribution in forests using field-measurements from two mixed stands of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Periodic measurements of individual precipitation events were examined in relation to the respective gross precipitation, the type of canopy above a plot and the distance of a plot to its dominant sheltering canopy tree using variance and regression analysis, and complemented with stemflow analyses and litterfall models. Using this dataset, causal models for the high-precision estimation of throughfall were derived, showing tree species-specific pathways of the individual precipitation components through the tree crown. Apart from the particularities of measurements in canopy gaps, differences in throughfall between spruce and beech during the vegetation period amount to up to 35 % of gross precipitation per event, in favour of the beech canopy and depending on plot location. At the stem base of beech trees additional water can reach the forest floor via stemflow. The amount of water required to generate this stemflow can plausibly be explained by means of the verified lateral water flow in the inner third of beech crowns. Using a spatially explicit interception model combined with LAI estimates for specific individual trees, a spatial LAI model was developed for beech, showing maximal LAI values in the crown centre. As the net forest precipitation is sensitive with respect to precipitation amount, stand type, foliage status and the spatially explicit plot location below an individual tree crown, this study recommends the consideration of these influential factors and contradicts the commonly practiced blanket partitioning of precipitation into individual components based on spatial and temporal averages.

Trifft herabfallender Regen auf Waldflächen, so wird dieser Niederschlag umverteilt zu Interzeption, Stammabfluss, durchfallenden und abtropfenden Niederschlag. Besonders hohe Stammablaufmengen im Kronenzentrum und markante Abtropfstellen am Kronenrand einzelner Baumarten lassen sich zudem nur erklären, wenn am jeweiligen Messplatz unter Baumkronen eine weitere Niederschlagskomponente zugelassen wird, mit der laterale Wasserbewegungen innerhalb der expliziten Einzelbaumkrone beschrieben und bilanziert werden (lateraler [Zu- oder Ab-]Fluss). Ziel dieser Arbeit war es deshalb, der niederschlagsabhängigen und kleinräumigen Dynamik dieser Umverteilung im Wald am Beispiel der Baumarten Buche (Fagus sylvatica L.) und Fichte (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) durch Aufnahmen und Auswertungen in zwei Mischbeständen beider Baumarten nachzugehen. Wiederholende Niederschlagsaufzeichnungen einzelner Regenereignisse wurden hierzu in Relation zur jeweiligen Freilandniederschlagsmenge, zur Art der Messplatzüberschirmung im Kronendach und zur Distanz des Messplatzes zum ihn dominierenden Baum varianz- und regressionsanalytisch untersucht und um Ergebnisse aus Stammablaufanalysen und Streumodellen ergänzt. Auf dieser Basis konnten Kausalmodelle zur Schätzung des Unterkronenniederschlages mit hoher Güte hergeleitet werden, die im Detail ein baumartspezifisches räumliches Verhalten der einzelnen Niederschlagskomponenten beim Passieren der Baumkrone belegen. Neben den Besonderheiten, die sich bei Messungen in Bestandeslücken einstellen, ergeben sich so z.B. in der Vegetationsperiode je nach Messplatzposition und Freilandniederschlagsmenge Unterschiede im Niederschlag unter beiden Baumartenkronen von bis zu 35 % des Freilandniederschlages je Einzelereignis und zwar stets zugunsten der Buchenüberschirmung. Am Stammfuss von Buchen kann darüber hinaus zusätzliches Wasser durch den Stammabfluss eingetragen werden. Hierfür notwenige Wassermengen können plausibel aus dem nachgewiesenen lateralen Wasserabfluss im inneren Kronendrittel von Buchen gedeckt werden. Über ein räumlich konkretes Interzeptionsmodell, kombiniert mit Blattflächenschätzungen für Einzelbäume konkreter Dimension, konnte ein räumliches LAI-Modell für Buchen abgeleitet werden, dass höchste LAI-Werte im Kronenzentrum annimmt. Da der Bestandesniederschlag hinsichtlich Niederschlagsmenge, Bestockung, Belaubungszustand und zum räumlich konkreten Messplatz unter der einzelnen Baumkrone veränderlich ist, wird die gewissenhaftere Berücksichtigung dieser Einflussvariablen angeregt und der bisher häufig praktizierten pauschalen Aufteilung des Niederschlages in einzelne Niederschlagskomponenten auf Basis von Flächen- und Messphasendurchschnittswerten widersprochen. / Forests redistribute the precipitation falling on their canopy into interception, stemflow, drip or direct throughfall. Extremely high amounts of stemflow in the centre of the crown and distinct drip points along the crown edge of certain tree species can only be explained by admitting an additional precipitation component at these measurement locations that describes and captures the lateral movement of water within the individual tree crown (lateral in- or outflow). The aim of this study was therefore to analyse these precipitation-dependent, small-scale dynamics of precipitation redistribution in forests using field-measurements from two mixed stands of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Periodic measurements of individual precipitation events were examined in relation to the respective gross precipitation, the type of canopy above a plot and the distance of a plot to its dominant sheltering canopy tree using variance and regression analysis, and complemented with stemflow analyses and litterfall models. Using this dataset, causal models for the high-precision estimation of throughfall were derived, showing tree species-specific pathways of the individual precipitation components through the tree crown. Apart from the particularities of measurements in canopy gaps, differences in throughfall between spruce and beech during the vegetation period amount to up to 35 % of gross precipitation per event, in favour of the beech canopy and depending on plot location. At the stem base of beech trees additional water can reach the forest floor via stemflow. The amount of water required to generate this stemflow can plausibly be explained by means of the verified lateral water flow in the inner third of beech crowns. Using a spatially explicit interception model combined with LAI estimates for specific individual trees, a spatial LAI model was developed for beech, showing maximal LAI values in the crown centre. As the net forest precipitation is sensitive with respect to precipitation amount, stand type, foliage status and the spatially explicit plot location below an individual tree crown, this study recommends the consideration of these influential factors and contradicts the commonly practiced blanket partitioning of precipitation into individual components based on spatial and temporal averages.