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Upper Canopy (upper + canopy)
Selected AbstractsStructural and floristic characteristics of some monodominant and adjacent mixed rainforests in New CaledoniaJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2000J. Read Abstract Nothofagus spp. dominate the upper canopy of some rainforests on ultramafic soils in New Caledonia. These monodominant forests typically occur within, or contiguous with, larger areas of mixed-canopy rainforest. In this study the structure, diversity and composition of six Nothofagus -dominated plots were investigated, and comparisons were made with three adjacent mixed rainforest plots. Stand density and basal area (all stems , 1.3 m high) in the Nothofagus plots were in the range 16,056,27,550 stems/ha and 43.1,69.9 m2/ha, respectively. There was no significant difference (P , 0.05) in total stand density or basal area between the paired Nothofagus and mixed rainforests, but there were consistently fewer trees and less basal area of trees , 40 cm d.b.h. in the Nothofagus forests. Species richness, species diversity (Shannon-Wiener, based on basal area) and equitability (based on basal area) of trees , 20 cm d.b.h. on 0.1 ha Nothofagus plots were in the range 4,17, 0.96,3.76 and 0.45,0.87, respectively. No significant differences (P , 0.05) were recorded in these three parameters between the paired Nothofagus and mixed rainforests, although species diversity was consistently lower in the paired Nothofagus forests. Comparison of dominance by density and basal area indicated that although the uppermost canopy of the Nothofagus forests was dominated by Nothofagus (70,95%), the basal area and density contribution was , 55% except at Col de Yaté (, 85%). Analysis of similarity indicated no significant difference in stand composition of trees , 20 cm d.b.h. (following removal of Nothofagus from the data set) between Nothofagus and mixed rainforests using basal area, density or presence-absence data. It is concluded that the Nothofagus -dominated forests differ from the adjacent mixed rainforests mainly by (1) dominance of the uppermost canopy, without necessarily dominance of the stand by basal area or density, and (2) the smaller basal area contributed by large trees (all species). [source] Observations of predation by corvids at a Marbled Murrelet nestJOURNAL OF FIELD ORNITHOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Percy N. Hébert ABSTRACT Unlike other alcids, Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) typically nest solitarily on large platforms in the upper canopy of old-growth coniferous trees. Although Marbled Murrelets exhibit characteristics that minimize the risk of predation, habitat fragmentation has likely increased the risk of nest predation by corvids. Using a video camera at a nest in northern California, we observed nest fates for 4 yr (2002,2005). These recordings revealed two cases of egg predation by a Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) and a Common Raven (Corvus corax), respectively. In both instances, the egg was carried from the nest site, leaving no evidence that nesting had occurred. Our observations revealed (1) the need to be conservative in estimates of nesting attempts and nesting success of Marbled Murrelets based only on the presence or absence of eggshell fragments or feces, (2) that not all predation attempts were successful, and (3) that murrelets may be more susceptible to predation early in the incubation period when adults may be less attentive to eggs and, after hatching, when young are less than 14 d old. We encourage efforts to minimize anthropogenic activities that may increase local corvid densities or disturb murrelets during the early incubation period. SINOPSIS Contrario a otros álcidos, la uria (Brachyramphus marmoratus), anida comunmente, de forma solitaria en grandes plataformas en el docel de bosques maduros de coníferos. Aunque estas aves exhiben características que minimizan el riesgo de depredación, la fragmentación de habitat ha incrementado el mismo, particularmente por parte de córvidos. Utilizando una cámara de video en un nido en el norte de California,observamos el fracaso de nidos por cuatro años (2002,2005). Las grabaciones revelaron dos casos de depredación de huevos por parte de Cyanocitta stelleri y Corvus corax, respectivamente. En ambos casos, los huevos fueron cargados, y no se dejo evidencia de depredación. Nuestras observaciones revelan: (1) la necesidad de ser conservador cuando hace estimados de intentos de anidamiento y éxito de anidamiento de urias basado en la presencia o ausencia de fragmentos de cascarones o heces fecales, (2) que no todos los intentos de depredación fueron exitosos, y (3) que el ave estudiada pudiera ser más suceptibles a la depredación temprano en el periodo de incubación, cuando los adultos pudieran darle menor atención a los huevos, y luego del eclosionamiento, cuando los pichones tienen menos de 14 días. Fomentamos los esfuerzos para minimizar actividades antropogénicas que puedan incrementar las densidades locales de córvidos o el disturbio de urias durante las etapas tempranas de incubación. [source] Height-related growth declines in ponderosa pine are not due to carbon limitationPLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2009ANNA SALA ABSTRACT Decreased gas exchange as trees grow tall has been proposed to explain age-related growth declines in trees. We examined changes of mobile carbon stores (starch, sugars and lipids) with tree height in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) at two sites differing in water availability, and tested the following hypotheses: (1) carbon supply does not become increasingly limited as trees grow tall; rather, the concentration of mobile carbon compounds increases with tree height reflecting greater reductions of carbon sink activities relative to carbon assimilation; and (2) increases of stored mobile carbon compounds with tree height are greater in drier sites. Height-related growth reductions were associated with significant increases of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) and lipid concentrations in all tissues in the upper canopy and of NSC in the bole. Lipid concentrations in the bole decreased with tree height, but such decrease is not necessarily inconsistent with non-limiting carbon supply in tall trees. Furthermore, we found stronger increases of mobile carbon stores with tree height at the dry site relative to the moist site. Our results provide first direct evidence that carbon supply does not limit growth in tall trees and that decreases of water availability might negatively impact growth processes more than net-photosynthesis. [source] Photosynthesis, light and nitrogen relationships in a young deciduous forest canopy under open-air CO2 enrichmentPLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 12 2001Y. Takeuchi Abstract Leaf photosynthesis (Ps), nitrogen (N) and light environment were measured on Populus tremuloides trees in a developing canopy under free-air CO2 enrichment in Wisconsin, USA. After 2 years of growth, the trees averaged 1·5 and 1·6 m tall under ambient and elevated CO2, respectively, at the beginning of the study period in 1999. They grew to 2·6 and 2·9 m, respectively, by the end of the 1999 growing season. Daily integrated photon flux from cloud-free days (PPFDday,sat) around the lowermost branches was 16·8 ± 0·8 and 8·7 ± 0·2% of values at the top for the ambient and elevated CO2 canopies, respectively. Elevated CO2 significantly decreased leaf N on a mass, but not on an area, basis. N per unit leaf area was related linearly to PPFDday,sat throughout the canopies, and elevated CO2 did not affect that relationship. Leaf Ps light-response curves responded differently to elevated CO2, depending upon canopy position. Elevated CO2 increased Pssat only in the upper (unshaded) canopy, whereas characteristics that would favour photosynthesis in shade were unaffected by elevated CO2. Consequently, estimated daily integrated Ps on cloud-free days (Psday,sat) was stimulated by elevated CO2 only in the upper canopy. Psday,sat of the lowermost branches was actually lower with elevated CO2 because of the darker light environment. The lack of CO2 stimulation at the mid- and lower canopy was probably related to significant down-regulation of photosynthetic capacity; there was no down-regulation of Ps in the upper canopy. The relationship between Psday,sat and leaf N indicated that N was not optimally allocated within the canopy in a manner that would maximize whole-canopy Ps or photosynthetic N use efficiency. Elevated CO2 had no effect on the optimization of canopy N allocation. [source] Flow over a hill covered with a plant canopyTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 596 2004J. J. Finnigan Abstract We develop an analytical model for atmospheric boundary-layer flow over a hill that is covered with a vegetation canopy. The slope of the hill is assumed to be small enough that the flow above the canopy can be treated within the linear framework of Hunt. Perturbations to the flow within the canopy are driven by the pressure gradient associated with the flow over the hill. In the upper canopy this pressure gradient is balanced by downwards turbulent transport of momentum and the canopy drag. The flow there can be calculated from linearized dynamics, which show that the maximum streamwise winds are where the perturbation pressure is at a minimum, i.e. near the crest of the hill. Deep within the canopy the pressure gradient associated with the flow over the hill is balanced by the canopy drag, here the nonlinear canopy drag. This nonlinear balance shows how the streamwise winds are largest where the perturbation pressure gradient is largest, i.e. on the upwind slope of the hill. In the lee of the hill this nonlinear solution shows how the pressure gradient decelerates the wind deep within the canopy, leading to separation with a region of reversed flow when the canopy is sufficiently deep. Coupling between the out-of-phase flows within and above the canopy means that the maximum velocity is further upwind of the hill crest than in flow over a rough hill, while the extra turbulent mixing caused by the canopy significantly reduces the magnitude of the velocity speed-up over the hill. Finally, we find that there is no formal limit process where the solutions with a canopy yield the well-known solutions for flow over a rough hill. This finding calls into question the very use of a roughness length in accelerating or decelerating turbulent boundary layers. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society [source] The relative importance of birds and bees in the pollination of Metrosideros excelsa (Myrtaceae)AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2009GABRIELE SCHMIDT-ADAM Abstract Exclusion experiments were used to assess the effect of different pollinator groups on outcrossing and seed production in Metrosideros excelsa. The main study site was Little Barrier Island, New Zealand where indigenous bird and native solitary bees are the main flower visitors. Our results showed that native birds were more important pollinators of M. excelsa than native bees. Seed production was much higher in open pollination than in two exclusion experiments where either birds were excluded and native bees only had access to flowers, or where all pollinators had been excluded. The number of fertile seeds per capsule was 45% higher after open pollination than in treatments with bee visitation only and 28% higher than in treatments where all flower visitors were excluded. Estimated outcrossing rates were significantly higher (tm = 0.71) for open pollination in the upper canopy (>4 m above-ground level) where bird visitation is presumed to be more frequent than for a treatment with native bee access only (tm = 0.40). Our results also suggest that a large proportion of seeds (66%) arise from autonomous self-pollination when all pollinators are excluded. In four trees of a modified mainland population with predominantly introduced birds and a mixture of introduced and native bees there was no decrease in seed production for the treatment allowing bee access only, indicating that , in contrast to native bees , honeybees may be more efficient pollinators of M. excelsa. Observation of the foraging behaviour of both groups of bees showed that native bees contact the stigma of flowers less frequently than honeybees. This is likely to be a consequence of their smaller body size relative to honeybees. [source] A long-term record of Nothofagus dominance in the southern Andes, ChileAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2005William Pollmann Abstract The general model of regeneration dynamics in Nothofagus forests of southern South America could have value in community ecology if predictive relationships between disturbance history, functional traits and site attributes could be identified. Examined here is the proposal that on favourable sites shade-intolerant Nothofagus are likely not to survive in competition with shade-tolerant, broad-leaved evergreen taxa of temperate rain forests, and persistence, thus, is dependent on periodic coarse-scale disturbance. Comparison of stand dynamics of three old-growth Nothofagus forests at different elevations in the southern Andes, Chile where deciduous Nothofagus alpina dominates the upper canopy, and examination of the life history trade-offs of this variation were made. Stem density of all stems ,5.0 cm d.b.h. was 233,303 stems per hectare, and basal area was 123.9,171.0 m2ha,1. Maximum lifespan of N. alpina was found to be greater than ca 640 years, exceeding all previously reported ages for this species in the region. Forests had a stable canopy composition for this long-term, but some appeared to lack effective regeneration of N. alpina in recent years. Regeneration of N. alpina was generally greater in disturbed stands and higher elevation than in undisturbed stands and at lower elevation. Recruitment emerged to be strongly affected by competitive over- and understorey associates. There was a gradient of increasing dependence of N. alpina on disturbance towards the more productive end of the environment gradients, and hence less dependence of N. alpina on disturbance for its regeneration towards higher elevation. The study confirms that changes in forest composition may be explained by processes occurring in accordance with the predictions of the existing model of Nothofagus regeneration dynamics, providing stronger evidence specifically directed at mid-tolerant N. alpina, and by factoring out regeneration dynamics on favourable sites. Thus, for N. alpina, trait differences probably contribute to the competitive advantage over its associates in productive habitats, and may be linked to small-to-intermediate-sized disturbances which inevitably occur as older trees die, enabling N. alpina to persist in forests and therefore maintain species coexistence for the long-term. [source] | ||||||||||