| 1. |
- Abrahamsson, Markus, et al.
(author)
-
Saproxylic beetle assemblages in artificially created high-stumps of spruce (Picea abies) and birch (Betula pendula/pubescens) – does the surrounding landscape matter?
- 2009
-
In: Insect Conservation and Diversity. - : Wiley. - 1752-458X .- 1752-4598. ; 2, s. 284-294
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract. 1. To create high-stumps (snags) is a common conservation action during final felling in Swedish production forests. However, many wood-living beetle species are only found in certain areas with higher overall biodiversity, so called hotspots. It has been argued that it is efficient to concentrate conservation efforts to hotspots. 2. The saproxylic beetle fauna was sampled on ten clearcuts inside hotspots and ten clearcuts outside the hotspots. They were collected with window traps mounted on 2- and 4-year-old spruce and birch high-stumps. We also used environmental data (e.g. tree species composition) to confirm differences between the surroundings of two, the clearcut types. 3. High-stumps on the hotspot clearcuts did not attract more saproxylic beetle species, or red-listed species, than high-stumps outside the hotspots. The environmental data showed that the clearcuts differed in several important aspects, for instance, were there a higher proportion of broadleaved trees around the hotspot compared with the clearcuts outside the hotspots. In a Canonical Correspondence Analysis, the proportion of coniferous and broadleaved forest was an important explanatory variables. The hotspot variable did contribute significantly in explaining the beetle composition on the birch high-stumps, but not on the spruce high-stumps. 4. In general, the study suggests that concentrating high-stumps to hotspot areas will not benefit more species. However, the result indicates birch high-stumps could be prioritised in a biologically rich landscape. The hotspot effect may be more noticeable in the future as the high-stumps decay and their importance for late successional species increase
|
|
| 2. |
- Adelsköld, Göran
(author)
-
Basin characteristics and nutrient losses: the EUROHARP catchment network perspective
- 2009
-
In: Journal of Environmental Monitoring. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1464-0325 .- 1464-0333. ; 11, s. 515-525
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The EC-funded EUROHARP project studies the harmonisation of modelling tools to quantify nutrient losses from diffuse sources. This paper describes a set of study areas used in the project from geographical conditions, to land use and land management, geological and hydro-geological perspectives. The status of data availability throughout Europe in relation to the modelling requirements is presented. The relationships between the catchment characteristics and the nutrient export are investigated, using simple data available for all the catchments. In addition, this study also analyses the hydrological representativity of the time series utilised in the EUROHARP project.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Adomas, Aleksandra, et al.
(author)
-
WS-5995 B, an antifungal agent inducing differential gene expression in the conifer pathogen Heterobasidion annosum but not in Heterobasidion abietinum
- 2009
-
In: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0175-7598 .- 1432-0614. ; 85, s. 347-358
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The mycorrhization helper bacterium Streptomyces sp. AcH 505 inhibits Norway spruce root infection and colonisation by the root and butt rot fungus Heterobasidion annosum 005 but not by the congeneric strain Heterobasidion abietinum 331 because of higher sensitivity of H. annosum 005 towards the AcH 505-derived naphthoquinone antibiotic WS-5995 B. Differences in antibiotic sensitivity between two isolates belonging to two species, H. annosum 005 and H. abietinum 331, were investigated by comparative gene expression analysis using macroarrays and quantitative RT-PCR after WS-5995 B, structurally related mollisin and unrelated cycloheximide application. Treatment with 25 A mu M WS-5995 B for 2 h resulted in a significant up-regulation of expression of inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase and GTPase genes, while the expression of genes encoding for thioredoxin and glutathione dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase was down-regulated in the sensitive fungal strain. No differential expression in the tolerant strain was detected. Application of WS-5995 B at higher concentrations over a time course experiment revealed that H. annosum 005 and H. abietinum 331 responded differently to WS-5995 B. The fungal gene expression levels depended on both the concentration of WS-5995 B and the duration of its application. The WS-5995 B-unrelated cycloheximide caused highly specific changes in patterns of gene expression. Our findings indicate considerable variations in response to bacterial metabolites by the isolates of the conifer pathogen.
|
|
| 5. |
- Adrian, Rita, et al.
(author)
-
Lakes as sentinels of climate change
- 2009
-
In: Limnology and Oceanography. - : Wiley. - 0024-3590 .- 1939-5590. ; 54:6(2), s. 2283-2297
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While there is a general sense that lakes can act as sentinels of climate change, their efficacy has not been thoroughly analyzed. We identified the key response variables within a lake that act as indicators of the effects of climate change on both the lake and the catchment. These variables reflect a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological responses to climate. However, the efficacy of the different indicators is affected by regional response to climate change, characteristics of the catchment, and lake mixing regimes. Thus, particular indicators or combinations of indicators are more effective for different lake types and geographic regions. The extraction of climate signals can be further complicated by the influence of other environmental changes, such as eutrophication or acidification, and the equivalent reverse phenomena, in addition to other land-use influences. In many cases, however, confounding factors can be addressed through analytical tools such as detrending or filtering. Lakes are effective sentinels for climate change because they are sensitive to climate, respond rapidly to change, and integrate information about changes in the catchment.
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Agostini, Francesco
(author)
-
Procedure to control hydraulic potential variation in soil microcosms
- 2009
-
In: International Agrophysics. - 0236-8722 .- 2300-8725. ; 23, s. 215-227
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study we designed and tested a methodology to minimize the variation of soil matric potential due to changes in soil water content, thus achieving a close control over the water regime in a microcosm, used to study the biocontrol of Pythium sp. infection of seeds by antagonistic bacteria. The variation of volumetric water content and matric potential were monitored at different depths during an average experimental period of 14 days in soil, contained in replicate 1 315 cm(3) microcosms, each sown with 16 sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) seeds and placed in a phytotron. Several experiments with target soil matric potentials of -10, -100 and -300 kPa were performed. It was found possible to maintain a matric potential of about -10 kPa in soil with minimum water content gradients between different parts of the microcosm by watering uniformly at each depth. With all appropriate watering and sampling procedure it was also possible to control psi(m) between -150 and -50 kPa, with a target value around -100 kPa; and to control psi(m) the range between -250 and -375 kPa for a target value of -300 kPa. In all experiments spatial and temporal variability of matric potential was larger at the top than in the Middle and in the bottom of microcosms. Variability in matric potential between replicate microcosms within each experiments was attributed to slight variation in packing, soil texture and drying rate, initial VWC.
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
- Ahlén, Ingemar
(author)
-
Behavior of Scandinavian bats during migration and foraging at sea
- 2009
-
In: Journal of Mammalogy. - 0022-2372 .- 1545-1542. ; 90, s. 1318-1323
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We studied bats migrating and foraging over the sea by direct observations and automatic acoustic recording We recorded 11 species (of a community of 18 species) flying over the ocean up to 14 km from the shore. All bats used sonar during migration flights at sea, often with slightly lower frequencies and longer pulse intervals compared to those used over land. The altitude used for migration flight was most often < 10 m above sea level. Bats must use other sensory systems for long-distance navigation, but they probably use echoes from the water surface to orient to the immediate surroundings. Both migrant and resident bats foraged over the sea in areas with an abundance of insects in the air and crustaceans in the surface waters. When hunting insects near vertical objects such as lighthouses and wind turbines, bats rapidly changed altitude, for example, to forage around turbine blades. The findings illustrate why and how bats might be exposed to additional mortality by offshore wind power.
|
|
