There is limited knowledge and understanding of the role of nutrients and effect of herbivore grazing on epilithon production in Australian upland rivers. Before investigating these processes, a method was required that will allow the study of factors (physical, chemical and biological) that affect epilithon abundance and distribution in lotic systems. The Thredbo River, Kosciusko National Park, New South Wales, provided an opportunity to conduct this investigation because it: is relatively undisturbed; has been intensely studied; is easily accessed; and is of appropriate width and depth to conduct in-stream experiments. The specific goals of this research were the: (1) validation of the nutrient-diffusing substrate method for investigating epilithon responses to nutrients; (2) development of experimental channels in which to investigate nutrient/epilithon dynamics in an upland stream; (3) development of a method to inhibit macroinvertebrate grazing from in situ experimental channels, so that epilithon responses to nutrients with and without grazing pressure can be studied; and (4) assessment of the ecological implications of nutrient/ epilithon/macroinvertebrate interactions assessed from in-stream experiments. Major achievements of my research, that advance the study of stream ecology, are as follows: · The investigation of the features of nutrient release from terracotta nutrientdiffusing substrates showed that phosphorus does not readily diffuse through terracotta clay, probably because terracotta contains known binding agents for phosphorus, such as iron, and because pores are easily blocked. I concluded that this type of substrate is inappropriate for studying nutrient dynamics and epilithon responses to the nutrient(s) limiting growth. The outcomes of this research has implications for future research using nutrient-diffusing substrates, and of how nutrient limitation information is interpreted from past research using terracotta nutrient-diffusing substrates. · I designed and tested in-stream experimental channels that were functional and provided near natural conditions for studying the interactions between nutrients/ epilithon/macroinvertebrates, without affecting physical variables not tested for. The in situ method developed was successful in simulating 'real world' complexities. Clay paving bricks were used as standardized common surface for community development because their colour, size and surface texture are similar to those of natural stones. · I developed a technique for successfully inhibiting macroinvertebrate grazing from designated areas, using electricity, without affecting flow and light. This technique will enable in-stream herbivory studies to assess the effects of macroinvertebrate grazing pressure on epilithon under natural conditions, including variability in flow, temperature, light and nutrients. It will allow the vexed question of whether epilithon biomass is controlled by bottom-up or top-down processes to be objectively addressed. The construction of in situ experimental channels that simulate natural conditions, combined with the non-intrusive methods of macroinvertebrate exclusion and nutrient addition, resulted in a study design that will facilitate the investigation of biotic responses to nutrients in Australian upland streams. Using the method developed, I showed that variable flows in the upper Thredbo River appear high enough to slough epilithon, but not high enough to dislodge macroinvertebrates. This may mean that in systems such as the Thredbo River that experience frequent low level disturbance, the epilithon is unable to reach equilibrium. There is strong top-down control of epilithon in this stream, with nutrients, temperature and light playing a secondary role. I concluded that natural variability may be more important than previously considered and perhaps this, rather than constancy, should be studied. This thesis adds support to the continuance of multiple factor investigations, and advocates that such studies be conducted under natural conditions so that the results are more relevant to natural systems than from studies conducted in controlled laboratory and outdoor artificial streams. Clearly, the in-stream channels, developed as part of the current research, will allow research that contributes to our understanding of community responses to the physical, chemical and biological processes operating in lotic environments.

No description available.

Methane fluxes were calculated from measurements carried out at a temperate upland forest in Central Ontario using the eddy covariance method over five months in the summer and fall seasons of 2011. Measurements were made by an off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer Fast Greenhouse Gas Analyzer (FGGA) which simultaneously measured methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water at 10 Hz sampling rates. Observed methane fluxes showed net uptake of methane over the measurement period with an average uptake flux value (±standard deviation of the mean) of -2.7±0.13 nmol m-2 s-1. Methane fluxes showed a diurnal pattern of increased uptake during the day and increasing uptake with seasonal progression. There was also a significant correlation in methane fluxes with soil water content and wind speed. Comparison of the FGGA measurements to those using a static chamber method and canister sampling showed close agreement in flux and mixing ratio values respectively.

Methane fluxes were calculated from measurements carried out at a temperate upland forest in Central Ontario using the eddy covariance method over five months in the summer and fall seasons of 2011. Measurements were made by an off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer Fast Greenhouse Gas Analyzer (FGGA) which simultaneously measured methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water at 10 Hz sampling rates. Observed methane fluxes showed net uptake of methane over the measurement period with an average uptake flux value (±standard deviation of the mean) of -2.7±0.13 nmol m-2 s-1. Methane fluxes showed a diurnal pattern of increased uptake during the day and increasing uptake with seasonal progression. There was also a significant correlation in methane fluxes with soil water content and wind speed. Comparison of the FGGA measurements to those using a static chamber method and canister sampling showed close agreement in flux and mixing ratio values respectively.

Upland environments are important sources of mercury (Hg) to downstream wetlands and water bodies. Hydrology is instrumental in facilitating Hg transport within, and export from watersheds. Two complementary studies were conducted to assess the role hydrological processes play in controlling Hg mobility and transport in forested uplands. A field study compared runoff and Hg fluxes from three, replicate hillslope plots during two contrasting spring snowmelt periods, in terms of snowpack depth and timing. Hillslope Hg fluxes were predominately flow-driven. The melting of soil frost significantly delayed a large portion of the Hg flux later into the spring following a winter with minimal snow accumulation. A microcosm laboratory study using a stable Hg isotope tracer applied to intact soil cores investigated the relative controls of soil moisture and precipitation on Hg mobility. Both hydrologic factors control the mobility of contemporary Hg; with greatest Hg flushing from dry soils under high-flow conditions.

Upland grasslands comprise a large proportion of the UK’s land area and are primarily used to graze sheep. These grasslands store large quantities of carbon (C). Changes in land use or climate could affect the ability of these soils to store C and the fluxes of other greenhouse gases associated with agricultural soils, nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Grazing substantially changes the cycling of C and nitrogen in grassland ecosystems, particularly through the deposition of rapidly degrading excreta, both dung and urine, on the soil. The major non-enteric greenhouse gas emissions associated with this type of extensive farming of ruminants are the emission of N2O and CH4 from soils affected by the animal’s excreta. This PhD project has investigated the cycling of sheep dung in two upland soils of different management regimes to investigate the effects imposed by the plant community. Dung incorporation was measured by capitalising on the natural difference in natural 13C abundance (δ13C ratios) between maize and native British vegetation, which permitted maize-derived sheep dung to be used as a 13C tracer of dung incorporation into soil. A physical and chemical soil fractionation methodology was used to isolate the distinct soil organic carbon (SOC) pools and ascertain the location of the dung C. There were differences between soils in dung C cycling, with more dung C being measured in semi-improved soils at experiment’s end. Throughout the one year timeframe of this experiment, most of the dung C was recovered in the particulate organic matter fraction. Changing the plant community did not have a measurable effect on dung C cycling within the experimental period. Urine patches in grazed pastures represent a major source of agriculture’s N2O emissions. The N2O, CH4 and CO2 fluxes from chambers treated with synthetic urine, synthetic urine and dung, or dung, and an untreated control in randomised block design at two sites were measured over one year. Relevant soil parameters were also measured at each sampling point. From this data N2O emission factors for sheep excreta at these sites were calculated. N2O emission factors were significantly different between sites, were different for dung and urine, and in all cases were less than the current default value used by countries utilising a Tier 1 methodology, according to the IPCC, to inventory N2O emissions derived from grazing livestock. Dietary manipulation has been proposed to increase certain components in urine that are thought to inhibit N2O emission with the aim of reducing livestock greenhouse gas emissions. One such urinary component is hippuric acid. Soil to which synthetic urine with incrementally increased quantities of hippuric acid were added were incubated, as were soils to which dung only and dung and synthetic urine had been added, as well as an untreated control. No significant effect of hippuric acid concentration was observed. N2O emissions from the dung only and dung and urine treatments were unusually high and surpassed those of the urine only treatments. This has been hypothesised to be due to fungal denitrification in the dung treatments or suppression of microbial activity due to ammonia toxicity in the urine-treated soils. The key conclusions from this PhD work are that the effect of dung deposition on SOC cycling may be quite small and appears to result in substitution of native SOC with dung C, rather than an increase in SOC; N2O emissions from sheep dung and urine deposition in semi-improved grasslands is likely to be very low and much lower than the current IPCC default value; and that in our incubation experiment there was no discernible impact of hippuric acid on N2O emissions, but it is possible that this is an experimental artefact.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-09-03Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:46:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_mrr_dr_ilha.pdf: 1608387 bytes, checksum: 1a7a08a72b66b63f3bd70928d1038445 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O arroz é uma das culturas que mais se destaca na produção mundial, responde ao uso de tecnologias, porém seu cultivo em terras altas apresenta problema de acamamento, dificultando ou impossibilitando a colheita mecânica. O objetivo do trabalho foi estudar o efeito do regulador de crescimento etil-trinexapac e diferentes densidades de semeadura do arroz de terras altas, cultivar BRS Primavera, nos municípios de Fernandópolis – SP e Selvíria – MS, visando reduzir a altura e diminuir o acamamento das plantas de arroz. O experimento foi conduzido no ano agrícola 2008/09, na Fazenda de Ensino e Pesquisa da Universidade Camilo Castelo Branco, Campus de Fernandópolis – SP, e na Fazenda de Ensino e Pesquisa da Faculdade de Engenharia, Campus Ilha Solteira - UNESP, localizada no município de Selvíria – MS. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi blocos ao acaso, disposto em esquema fatorial 5 x 2, com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos foram constituídos por cinco densidades de semeadura (100, 150, 200, 250 e 300 sementes viáveis por metro quadrado), com e sem aplicação de regulador de crescimento. O aumento da densidade de semeadura interferiu negativamente na produtividade de grãos de arroz apenas para a primeira semeadura em Selvíria – MS. A aplicação do etil-trinexapac resultou em plantas com menor altura e acamamento e, reduziu a produtividade de grãos da cultura do arroz para as duas localidades. Apesar da aplicação de etil-trinexapac reduzir a produtividade de grãos, seu uso em cultivares com tendência ao acamamento é interessante por possibilitar a colheita mecanizada, o que não é possível em áreas com plantas acamadas. O etil-trinexapac constitui uma ferramenta importante no manejo da cultura do arroz de terras altas, mas que ainda influencia nos componentes vegetativos e na produtividade e, não interfere no rendimento industrial do cultivar BRS Primavera / Rice crop is highlighted around the world production, its responds to technology. However its cultivation in uplands presents problems of lodging, making it difficult or almost impossible the mechanical harvest. The goal of this research was to study the effect of growth regulators ethyl-trinexapac on sowing densities on upland rice, growing BRS Primavera, in Fernandópolis – SP and Selvíria – MS, aiming to reduce plant height and to prevent possible lodging of the rice plants. The experiment started in the agricultural year of 2008/2009, on the Experimental Farm of Camilo Castelo Branco University, Campus of Fernandópolis, SP, and on the Experimental Farm of Engineering College, Campus of Iha Solteira (UNESP), located in the municipal district of Selvíria, MS. The experimental design used was randomized blocks with treatments in factorial arrangement 5 x 2. There were four repetitions. The treatments were made of five combination of sowing densities (100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 seeds per square meter), with and without the use of growth regulator ethyltrinexapac. Increased seeding rate had a negative influence on grain yield of rice only for the first sowing in Selvíria, MS. The application of ethyl-trinexapac resulted in plants with reduced height and lodging and reduced grain yield of rice for both locations. Despite the application of ethyl-trinexapac reduce grain yield, its use in cultivars prone to lodging is interesting because they allow mechanized harvesting, which is not possible in areas with lodged plants. Ethyl-trinexapac is an important tool in the management of upland rice culture, but it still influences the vegetative components and productivity, and it does not interfere with the performance of industrial BRS Primavera

abstract: The introduction of livestock to the vast majority of public lands may be used to simulate the conditions provided by herbivorous grazers in the past, however little data has been collected on the effects of livestock grazing in Sonoran desert habitats. Vegetative species that are characteristic of the Arizona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran desert did not evolve with extensive grazing by large ungulate populations, and therefore the response to livestock grazing is of particular interest. Four historic Parker 3-step clusters in south-central Arizona were sampled in three cohorts between 1953 and 2016 to interpret changes in rangeland health using soil coverage data, species richness and frequency, and long-term photo point comparisons. Cattle grazing was active across the allotment until 1984, allowing approximately 30 years of rest before the third and final cohort was measured. Over the entirety of this study, there was a 66.67% increase in perennial basal hits, a 56.29% increase in rock, and a 44.55% increase of forage basal hits. Decreases were seen in litter (-57.69%) and bare soil hits (-8.76%). Cluster 3 consistently had a lower percent of cover across all classes of vegetation in the 2014 cohort (-81.61%), however the average percent of cover increased by 63.16% (40 hits) across the allotment. Available species richness data from 1971 and 2014 cohorts indicates a 112% increase in unique species; however, species richness increases in the 2014 cohort are largely based on recruitment of non-palatable species (71%). Although the status of some species were undetermined, all individuals identified to species in the invader class (non-palatable) were determined to be native to the study site. Perennial grass frequency became less abundant over the duration of this study, while growth was predominantly observed in shrubs. Increases in species frequency was detected on two of the four clusters measured in the 2014 cohort; the growth was primarily observed in jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), oak (Quercus spp.), and catclaw acacia (Senegalia greggii) in C4, and hopseed bush (Dodonaea viscosa) in C2. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Biological Sciences 2018

The impact of outdoor cattle overwintering husbandry on soil fungal community at upland pastures was investigated. Soils with different intensity of cattle impact were surveyed and the fungal communities were studied by combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent microbiological methods. These analyses showed the substantial shift in biomass, functions, and species composition of fungal communities caused by cattle overwintering.

O arroz é considerado o alimento mais importante para a segurança alimentar da população, sendo cultivado em várias localidades e diferentes condições climáticas ao redor do mundo. No Brasil, a maior parte do arroz é proveniente da produção no sistema inundado. Devido ao aumento da demanda por esse alimento e aos problemas sócio-ambientais causados pelo uso excessivo da água nesse sistema de produção, tem havido o interesse de se expandir a produção de arroz para outras regiões do país. Nas regiões Centro-Oeste, Norte e Nordeste, onde o arroz é produzido principalmente no sistema de terras altas, ou seja, de sequeiro, o principal fator limitante é o déficit hídrico. A fim de se minimizar os riscos climáticos associados à cultura do arroz de terras altas e maximizar os lucros, agricultores e órgãos governamentais devem buscar estratégias para identificar as melhores épocas de semeadura. Nesse contexto, as tomadas de decisão, podem ser auxiliadas pelo uso de modelos de simulação de culturas, os quais são ferramentas muito úteis, podendo predizer a variabilidade da produtividade, auxiliando na definição das épocas preferenciais de semeadura. Com base nisso, o presente estudo teve como objetivos: 1) calibrar e avaliar o desempenho do modelo ORYZA-DSSAT para simular o desenvolvimento e a produtividade do arroz de terras altas no Estado de Goiás; 2) aplicar o modelo calibrado e testado para determinar as épocas preferenciais de semeadura, juntamente com o índice de satisfação da necessidade de água (ISNA) de todas as fases da cultura e o custo de produção, e compará-las com as épocas propostas pelo Ministério da Agricultura (MAPA), através do zoneamento de risco climático; e 3) indicar as melhores regiões do Estado de Goiás para produção do arroz de terras altas, por meio de mapas, de modo a subsidiar a recomendação de cultivares e a adoção de políticas públicas. Para a calibração do modelo foram utilizados dados de um experimento conduzido no período de 2010-2011, em Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO. Para avaliar o modelo, dados de dois experimentos independentes foram utilizados, sendo um em Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO no período de 2008-2009, e outro em Porangatu, GO, no período de 2009-2010. Já a avaliação das épocas preferenciais de semeadura empregou dados meteorológicos e dos solos de 26 localidades para séries históricas que variaram de 15 a 30 anos. A cultivar utilizada foi a BRS-Primavera, de ciclo médio. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que o modelo simulou satisfatoriamente o desenvolvimento e a produtividade do arroz de terras altas para as condições de Goiás. Foram encontradas diferenças entre as épocas preferenciais de semeadura obtidos neste estudo e as recomendadas pelo MAPA. O modelo mostrou-se eficiente em simular a produtividade potencial e atingível do arroz de terras altas em Goiás em função da variação temporal e espacial das condições climáticas, possibilitando gerar mapas para subsidiar a expansão da cultura no estado de GO, a alocação de cultivares e avaliar o risco climático de diferentes épocas de semeadura. / Rice is the most important crop for food security, growing in many locations and different climate conditions around the world. In Brazil, rice is grown mainly under flood conditions. Due the increase of rice demand and social and environmental problems caused by the excessive use of water in the flood production system, there has been interest of expanding rice production to other regions of Brazil. In these regions, where rice production system is under rainfed conditions (upland rice), the main factor limiting rice yield is the water stress. To minimize the climatic risks and maximize profits, farmers and government agencies should find out strategies to identify the best sowing dates for upland rice. In such context, the decisions can be done based on crop simulation models, which are very useful tools to predict the variability of yield, defining the best sowing dates. Based on that, the objectives of the present study were: 1) to calibrate and evaluate ORYZA-DSSAT model to estimate the development and yield of upland rice in the State of Goiás, Brazil; 2) to apply the model for determining the best sowing dates, together with the crop water requirement satisfaction index (ISNA) for all phenological phases and production costs, and to compare these dates with those recommended by the Climatic Risk Zoning of Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA); and 3) to determine the best regions of Goiás State to grown upland rice, thtough yield maps, in order to support the recommendation of rice cultivars and adoption of public policies. To calibrate the model, data from one field experiment carried out in Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO during 2010-2011 season was used. To evaluate the model data from two other independent field experiments were used, with the first carried out in Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO, during 2008-2009 season, and the second in Porangatu, GO, during 2009-2010 season. The upland Brazilian rice cultivar BRS-Primavera (normal season) was the one used in these experiments. The results showed that the model was able to estimate development and yield of upland rice in Goiás State. Differences were found among the best sowing dates determined by this study and those recommended by MAPA. The model ORYZA-DSSAT was efficient for simulating the upland rice potential and attainable upland rice yields in the state of Goiás, in function of temporal and spatial climate variability, making possible to generate maps to subsidize the crop expansion in the state, to allocate the best cultivars to each region and to evaluate the climatic risk of the different sowing dates.