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Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Deficit in community species richness as explained by area and isolation of sites

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 3 2000
Hans Henrik Bruun
Abstract .,The potential community species richness was predicted for 85 patches of seminatural grassland in an agricultural landscape in Denmark. The basis of the prediction was a very large dataset on the vegetation, soil pH and topography in Danish grasslands and related communities. Species were inserted into potential species pools according to their preferences regarding soil acidity and water availability (expressed as potential solar irradiation), and to the ranges in these two factors observed in each grassland patch. The difference between the predicted and the observed patch-level species richness, community richness deficit, varied considerably among patches. Community richness deficit exhibited a negative relationship with patch area, and for small patches a positive relationship with patch isolation. [source]

Ecological gradients, subdivisions and terminology of north-west European mires

JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2000
B. D. Wheeler
Summary 1,The historical development of mire ecology and terminology is reviewed in relation to evolving concepts and perceptions, and the diverse schools and traditions of vegetation and habitat description and research. 2,Most ecological and floristic variation within north-west European mire vegetation is accounted for by three ecological gradients: the acid base-poor vs. neutral, base- and bicarbonate-rich gradient; the gradient in fertility related to availability of the limiting nutrient elements N and P; and the water level gradient. Effects of salinity and the spring,flush,fen gradients are of more local significance, usually easily recognized. Land use is an important additional factor. 3,The mineral-soil-water limit between ombrotrophic and minerotrophically influenced sites is not sharp, and cannot be related to consistent differences in either vegetation or water chemistry. It should be abandoned as a general main division within mires. 4,The most important natural division is between ,bog', with pH generally < 5.0, low Ca2+, and Cl, and SO42, as the main inorganic anions, typically dominated by sphagna, ericoids and calcifuge Cyperaceae, and ,fen', with pH generally > 6.0, high Ca2+ and HCO3,, vegetation rich in dicotyledonous herbs and ,brown mosses'. This division is reflected in a bimodal distribution of pH. 5,The terms oligotrophic, mesotrophic and eutrophic should refer only to nutrient richness (fertility, mainly N and P), not to base richness (metallic cations and pH). 6,It is recommended that ,mire' should embrace both wetlands on peat and related communities on mineral soils, that ,bog' (unqualified) should encompass both ombrotrophic and weakly minerotrophic mires, including ,bog woodland', and that ,fen' should be restricted to base-rich mires but include both herbaceous and wooded vegetation (,fen carr'). 7,Definitions are given for a range of broadly defined categories that should cover most vegetation types commonly encountered. The relation of these to British national vegetation classification types and to major units in European phytosociology is outlined. [source]

TELYCHIAN (LLANDOVERY, SILURIAN) BIVALVES FROM SPAIN

PALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 3 2005

Abstract:, Twenty species of bivalves (14 new) and 14 genera (six new) are described from two localities in the Silurian, upper Telychian, Oktavites spiralis Biozone of Spain: Cardavia cathleenae gen. et sp. nov., C. hafi sp. nov., C. stefani sp. nov.; Copenychia franta gen. et sp. nov., C. pristina sp. nov.; Stolidotus marco sp. nov.; Telycardia malinka gen. et sp. nov.; Silurinka vetula gen. et sp. nov.; Bolsopteria lentilka gen. et sp. nov.; Nennapteria ibericola gen. et sp. nov., N. ollicula sp. nov.; Actinopteria dakryodes sp. nov., A. isabelae sp. nov. and Dceruska hispanica sp. nov. They comprise two closely related communities, the Copenychia-Cardavia-Actinopteria Community and the Dceruska-Copenychia-Stolidotus Community, which belong to the Snoopyia Community Group. The occurrence of Dceruska Barrande, 1881, Dualina Barrande, 1881, Patrocardia Barrande, 1881, Silurinka, gen. nov., Slava Barrande, 1881 and Stolidotus Hede, 1915 in the Telychian of the Central Iberian Domain, Spain, supports palaeogeographical relationships with other Lower Silurian regions of north Gondwanan and Perunican Europe: the Carnic Alps (Austria), the Montagne Noire (France), Sardinia (Italy) and the Prague Basin (Bohemia), and also to Avalonia: the Welsh Borderland (Great Britain) and Baltica,Skåne (Sweden). These genera together with the new genera Cardavia, Copenychia (the earliest known representatives of the Silurian family Cardiolidae), Telycardia (the oldest known representative of the family Praecardiidae) and Silurinka belong to a Bohemian type of bivalve. Bolsopteria lentilka is closely related to Bolsopteria elliptica (Hind, 1910) from the Aeronian (middle Llandovery) of Scotland. [source]

Community cooperation with natural flood management: a case study in the Scottish Borders

AREA, Issue 3 2009
Olivia Ruth Howgate
The cooperation of communities and landowners in the upper catchment is vital for the successful implementation of natural flood management (NFM) projects as few incentives are in place to reward them to host such projects. The aim of this paper is to initiate an exploration of the issues that affect a community's decision to cooperate. The results of a case study in Scotland show that willingness to cooperate is affected by concern about alternative flood management techniques, a sense of responsibility to help connected communities at risk of flooding and the expectation of beneficial impacts from the project. Indeed, these issues appeared to over-ride the hostility generated towards the project as a result of poor communication and engagement with the community from organisations associated with the proposed project. The results of the research suggest that if NFM projects are to proliferate, close attention must be paid to community attitudes towards flood management and related communities at risk, and that NFM projects must be developed and implemented according to well-established principles of public participation. [source]