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High-elevation Sites (high-elevation + site)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Toward Quantifying the Relative Importance of Invertebrate Consumption and Bioturbation in Puerto Rican Streams

BIOTROPICA, Issue 4 2008
Wyatt.
ABSTRACT Although many tropical stream consumers have large effects on resource quantity and quality, little is known about the relative importance of consumption versus bioturbation. We quantified egestion rates of freshwater shrimps (Atya spp. and Xiphocaris elongata) and mayflies (Leptophlebiidae) in two forest streams within the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Consumer body size was a strong predictor of egestion rates, with mass-specific egestion rates declining with body size and per-individual egestion rates increasing with body size. We used these egestion rates, together with published rates of epilithon removal by consumers and epilithon accrual by particle deposition and periphytic growth (i.e., with and without consumer access), to estimate the importance of consumption and bioturbation after storm events and during base-flow conditions. Our estimates suggest that direct consumption of epilithon can only account for a minor proportion (< 5%) of material removed following storm events, with most removal likely resulting from bioturbation. During base-flow conditions, we found that consumers (largely shrimps) may be capable of consuming a significant proportion of the material that would otherwise accrue on benthic substrata, but this result was limited to one high-elevation site. Our study suggests that bioturbation is the dominant process that redistributes and entrains fine particles after storm events, and that a variable fraction of deposited and accrued benthic material may be consumed during base-flow conditions. Our results underscore the importance of tropical stream animals in altering the benthic environment through both consumption and bioturbation, and suggest that consumer-mediated material cycling is likely to be context dependent. RESUMEN A pesar de que muchos de los consumidores en ríos tropicales tienen grandes efectos en la cantidad y calidad de los recursos, se sabe poco sobre la importancia relativa del consumo y los biodisturbios. Por ello, cuantificamos las tasas de egestión de los camarones (Atya spp. y Xiphocaris elongata) y los efemerópteros (Leptophlebiidae) en dos quebradas dentro del Bosque Experimental de Luquillo, Puerto Rico. El tamaño corporal de los consumidores fue un buen indicador de las tasas de egestión, y las tasas de egestión por masa disminuyeron con el tamaño corporal y las por individuo aumentaron con el tamaño corporal. Usamos estas tasas de egestión, junto con tasa publicadas de remoción de perifiton por los consumidores y acumulación de epiliton por la deposición y el crecimiento de perifiton (ej. con y sin consumidores), para estimar la importancia del consumo y los biodisturbios luego de tormentas y durante condiciones de flujo basal. Nuestros resultados sugieren que el consumo directo de epiliton representa una proporción menor (< 5%) del material removido luego de las tormentas, la mayor parte de la remoción es probablemente el resultado de los biodisturbios. Durante condiciones de flujo basal, encontramos que los consumidores (mayormente camarones) pueden ser capaces de consumir una proporción importante del material que de otra forma se acumularía sobre el substrato béntico, pero este resultado se limita a uno solo de los sitios. Nuestro estudio sugiere que los biodisturbios son el proceso que predomina en la redistribución y mueve partículas luego de las tormentas, y que una fracción variable del material béntico depositado y acumulado puede ser consumida durante condiciones de flujo basal. Nuestros resultados enfatizan la importancia de los animales en alterar el ambiente béntico de los ríos tropicales a través del consumo y los biodisturbios, y sugiere que el reciclaje de los materiales por los consumidores es un proceso que probablemente depende del contexto. [source]

Blister rust and western forest biodiversity: ecology, values and outlook for white pines

FOREST PATHOLOGY, Issue 3-4 2010
D. F. Tomback
Summary Eight white pine species are widely distributed among the forests of western Canada and the United States. The different forest communities with these species contribute biodiversity to the western landscape. The trees themselves provide various ecosystem services, including wildlife habitat and watershed protection. White pine communities range in elevation from lower to upper treeline, in successional stage from seral to climax, and in stand type from krummholz to closed-canopy forest. Many white pine species are moderately to strongly fire-dependent for regeneration; several species are extreme stress tolerators and persistent on harsh sites. Among the white pines are the oldest-living trees, the world's largest pines, species dependent on birds for seed dispersal, species important for grizzly bear habitat and species of high commercial timber value. The principal threats to white pine populations are blister rust (Cronartium ribicola, pathogen), fire suppression, succession, mountain pine beetle and climate change. Severe population declines in several white pine species are attributed to losses caused by these factors acting either alone or together, and sometimes in concert with logging and other land-use changes. The importance and particular interactions of these threats vary by region and species. For example, many northern and western populations of whitebark pine are seriously declining from a combination of mountain pine beetle outbreaks and severe blister rust infestations. As whitebark pines provide many keystone services on high-elevation sites, their loss would impact forest composition and structure, succession, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Although there are serious challenges to science-based management and conservation (especially in remote American wilderness areas), prompt and effective intervention promoting regeneration of blister rust-resistant white pines could mitigate these severe impacts. [source]

Breeding in high-elevation habitat results in shift to slower life-history strategy within a single species

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
H. Bears
Summary 1Elevational gradients create environmental variation that is hypothesized to promote variation in life-history strategies. We tested whether differences in life-history strategies were associated with elevation in a songbird, the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis; Aves; A.O.U. 1998). 2We monitored birds in four replicated sites per elevation, at 2000 m a.s.l. (high elevation) and 1000 m a.s.l. (low elevation), in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. 3Over 5 years, we measured the following traits and vital rates: egg-laying schedules, morphological indicators of reproductive stage, seasonal reproductive success, indicators of competitive class (age, size, arrival time), and survival rates. 4We found two main patterns: with an increase in breeding elevation, dark-eyed juncos delayed the development of structures necessary for reproduction (e.g. cloacal protuberance in males) and reduced the duration of their reproductive period to less than half of the time used by low-elevation birds; and 5Juncos at high-elevation sites had 55,61% lower annual reproductive success and 15 to 20% higher survival rates. While adult juncos at high elevations produced fewer offspring, those offspring were in better condition. Proportions of age and size classes in high- compared to low-elevation populations were similar, suggesting that a life-history trade-off is present, rather than competition forcing inferior competitors to breed in a peripheral habitat. The apparent trade-off between reproduction and survival corresponded to a shorter period of favourable weather and available food in high- compared to low-elevation habitats. 6Thus, elevation had a strong influence on life-history characteristics of a single species over a short spatial distance, suggesting a shift in life history from a high reproductive strategy at lower elevations to a high survivor strategy at high elevations. 7This is the first paper to show a shift in avian life-history strategies along an elevational gradient (in both genders, of multiple age classes) when region (latitude) and phylogenetic histories are controlled for. [source]

Late Pleistocene and Holocene glaciation of the Fish Lake valley, northeastern Alaska Range, Alaska,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 7 2009
Nicolás E. Young
Abstract We reconstructed a chronology of glaciation spanning from the Late Pleistocene through the late Holocene for Fish Lake valley in the north-eastern Alaska Range using 10Be surface exposure dating and lichenometry. After it attained its maximum late Wisconsin extent, the Fish Lake valley glacier began to retreat ca. 16.5,ka, and then experienced a readvance or standstill at 11.6,±,0.3,ka. Evidence of the earliest Holocene glacial activity in the valley is a moraine immediately in front of Little Ice Age (LIA) moraines and is dated to 3.3,3.0,ka. A subsequent advance culminated at ca. AD 610,900 and several LIA moraine crests date to AD 1290, 1640, 1860 and 1910. Our results indicate that 10Be dating from high-elevation sites can be used to help constrain late Holocene glacial histories in Alaska, even when other dating techniques are unavailable. Close agreement between 10Be and lichenometric ages reveal that 10Be ages on late Holocene moraines may be as accurate as other dating methods. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]