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Sist, P., & Brown, N. (2004). Silvicultural intensification for tropical forest conservation: a response to Fredericksen and Putz. Biodiversity and Conservation, 13(12), 2381–2385. |
Sist, P., Blanc, L., Mazzei, L., Baraloto, C., & Aussenac, R. (2012). Current knowledge on overall post-logging biomass dynamics in Northern Amazonian forests. Bois Forets Tropiques, 66(314), 41–49.
Abstract: This article presents the effects of logging on the dynamics of above-ground biomass from the results of the post-logging study within two forests: Cikel in Eastern Pará, Brazil and Paracou in French Guiana. The main objective is to compare the impact of commercial logging on the regeneration of the aboveground biomass in these forests whose characteristics differ in terms of structure and growth. In both sites, the intensity of exploitation is a key factor in determining the loss of biomass and the time required for its regeneration. In Paracou, the regeneration of biomass lost during conventional logging of 10 trees per hectare takes 45 years and more than 100 years when operating with higher intensity (21 trees/ha ). In Cikel the forest biomass regenerates after 49 years harvesting 6 trees/ha and that takes 87 years after removal of 8 trees/ha. This regeneration needs similar time on both sites but with lower logging intensity at Cikel, in which felled trees are larger with a greater biomass than those of Paracou. This post-logging study has established a direct correlation of the dynamics of the biomass with the initial structure of the forest, as well as with the parameters of forest dynamics: mortality, growth and recruitment. The accumulation of biomass by the tree growth of the two remaining stands is a key parameter for the net carbon storage, while the contribution of recruitment in Paracou becomes significant only after 10 years after felling. Therefore in view to improve the growth of residual trees, it is compulsory to apply adequate silvicultural treatments such as selective thinning or removal of vines. While the two forests are geographically close enough, their regenerative abilities differ and because of the significant difference in size of the trees, the forest could tolerate more intensive harvesting in French Guiana.
Keywords: Above ground-biomass; Amazonian rainforests; Logging impact; Silviculture
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Sierra, J., Daudin, D., Domenach, A. M., Nygren, P., & Desfontaines, L. (2007). Nitrogen transfer from a legume tree to the associated grass estimated by the isotopic signature of tree root exudates: A comparison of the N-15 leaf feeding and natural N-15 abundance methods. Eur. J. Agron., 27(2-4), 178–186.
Abstract: Nitrogen (N) transfer from legume trees to associated crops is a key factor for the N economy of low-input agroforestry systems. In this work, we presented a new approach to estimate N transfer based on the N-15 content of root exudates and N released by root turnover of the donor plant (Gliricidia sepium) and the temporal change of the N-15 content of the receiver plant (Dichanthium aristatum). The study was carried out in greenhouse using two isotopic methods: N-15 leaf feeding (LF) and the natural N-15 abundance (NA). Measurements of exudate N-15 were made at several dates before and after tree pruning. A time-dependent box model was devised to quantify N transfer in time and to make comparisons between the isotopic methods. In NA, although tree roots and exudates presented a similar N-15 signature before tree pruning, exudates were strongly depleted in N-15 after pruning. In LF, exudates were always depleted in N-15 in relation to tree roots. Hence, the current assumption used in N transfer studies concerning the equal N-15/N-14 distribution in tissues of the donor plant and in its excreted N was not confirmed in our study. Before pruning, N transfer functioned as a two-N-source system (soil N and exudates N) and both isotopic methods provided similar estimates: 11-12% for LF and 10-15% for NA. Calculations per-formed with the model indicated that N transfer occurred with small or nil fractionation of N-15 in exudates. After pruning, there was a third N source associated with N released from tree root turnover. During this period, the isotopic signature of the receiver plant showed a transient state due to the progressive decrease of N-15 content of that N source. The amount of N derived from the tree represented 65% of the total N content of the. grass at the end of the experiments. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: agroforestry; box model; gliricidia sepium; N-15 fractionation; root turnover; tree pruning
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Siefert, A., Violle, C., Chalmandrier, L., Albert, C. H., Taudiere, A., Fajardo, A., et al. (2015). A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities. Ecology Letters, 18(12), 1406–1419.
Abstract: Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait-based community and ecosystem studies. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.
Keywords: Community ecology; Functional diversity; Interspecific variation; Intraspecific variability; Leaf trait; Plant functional trait; Trait-based ecology
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Siebicke, L., Steinfeld, G., & Foken, T. (2011). CO2-gradient measurements using a parallel multi-analyzer setup. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4(3), 409–423.
Abstract: Accurate CO2 concentration gradient measurements are needed for the computation of advective flux terms, which are part of the full Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) budget equation. A typical draw back of current gradient measurement designs in advection research is the inadequate sampling of complex flow phenomena using too few observation points in space and time. To overcome this draw back, a new measurement design is presented which allows the parallel measurement of several sampling points at a high frequency. Due to the multi-analyzer nature of the design, inter-instrument bias becomes more of a concern compared to conventional setups. Therefore a statistical approach is presented which allows for accurate observations of concentration gradients, which are typically small in relation to analyzer accuracy, to be obtained. This bias correction approach applies a conditional, time dependent signal correction. The correction depends on a mixing index based on cross correlation analysis, which characterizes the degree of mixing of the atmosphere between individual sample points. The approach assumes statistical properties of probability density functions (pdf) of concentration differences between a sample point and the field average which are common to the pdf's from several sample points. The applicability of the assumptions made was tested by Large Eddy Simulation (LES) using the model PALM and could be verified for a test case of well mixed conditions. The study presents concentration time series before and after correction, measured at a 2 m height in the sub-canopy at the FLUXNET spruce forest site Waldstein-Weidenbrunnen (DE-Bay), analyzes the dependence of statistical parameters of pdf's from atmospheric parameters such as stratification, quantifies the errors and evaluates the performance of the bias correction approach. The improvements that are achieved by applying the bias correction approach are one order of magnitude larger than possible errors associated with it, which is a strong incentive to use the correction approach. In conclusion, the presented bias correction approach is well suited for – but not limited to – horizontal gradient measurements in a multi-analyzer setup, which would not have been reliable without this approach. Finally, possible future improvements of the bias correction approach are outlined and further fields of application indicated.
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Siebicke, L., Hunner, M., & Foken, T. (2012). Aspects of CO 2 advection measurements. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 109(1-2), 109–131.
Abstract: Observations of vegetation-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide (CO 2) by the eddy covariance (EC) technique are limited by difficult conditions such as nighttime and heterogeneous terrain. Thus, advective flux components are included into the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) budget. However, advection measurements are experimentally challenging and do not always help to solve the night flux problem of the EC technique. This study investigates alternative methods for the observation of horizontal advection, in particular horizontal concentration gradients, as well as different approaches to coordinate rotation and vertical advection. Continuous high-frequency measurements of the horizontal CO 2 concentration field are employed and compared to the often used discontinuous sequential sampling. Significant differences were found in the case of 30-min mean concentration values between the conventional discontinuous sampling approach and the complete observation of the time series by continuous sampling. Estimates of vertical advection rely on accurate estimates of vertical wind velocity (W). Therefore, different approaches to the planar fit coordinate rotation have been investigated. Sector-wise rotation was able to eliminate directional dependencies of mean W. Furthermore, the effect of the data set length used for rotation (window length) was investigated and was found to have significant impact on estimates of vertical advection, with larger window lengths yielding about 50% larger vertical advection. A sequential planar fit with controlled window length is proposed to give reproducible results. The different approaches to the measurement and calculation of horizontal and vertical advection presented are applied to data obtained during the exchange processes in mountainous region experiment at the FLUXNET site Waldstein-Weidenbrunnen (DE-Bay). Estimates of NEE including advection are compared to NEE from turbulent and storage flux alone without advection. NEE including vertical advection with sector-wise planar fit rotation and controlled window length and including horizontal advection from continuous gradient measurements, which were comprehensively bias corrected by a new approach, did compare well with the expected night flux error, with meteorological drivers of the fluxes and with soil chamber measurements. Unrealistically large and noisy values of horizontal advection from the conventional discontinuous sampling approach, which lead to unrealistic values of NEE, could be eliminated by the alternative approaches presented. We therefore suggest the further testing of those approaches at other sites in order to improve the accuracy of advection measurements and, subsequently, estimates of NEE. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.
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Shipley, B., Timothy Paine, C. E., & Baraloto, C. (2012). Quantifying the importance of local niche-based and stochastic processes to tropical tree community assembly. Ecology, 93(4), 760–769.
Abstract: Although niche-based and stochastic processes, including dispersal limitation and demographic stochasticity, can each contribute to community assembly, it is difficult to quantify the relative importance of each process in natural vegetation. Here, we extend Shipley's maxent model (Community Assembly by Trait Selection, CATS) for the prediction of relative abundances to incorporate both trait-based filtering and dispersal limitation from the larger landscape and develop a statistical decomposition of the proportions of the total information content of relative abundances in local communities that are attributable to traitbased filtering, dispersal limitation, and demographic stochasticity. We apply the method to tree communities in a mature, species-rich, tropical forest in French Guiana at 1-, 0.25-and 0.04-ha scales. Trait data consisted of species' means of 17 functional traits measured over both the entire meta-community and separately in each of nine 1-ha plots. Trait means calculated separately for each site always gave better predictions. There was clear evidence of trait-based filtering at all spatial scales. Trait-based filtering was the most important process at the 1-ha scale (34%), whereas demographic stochasticity was the most important at smaller scales (37-53%). Dispersal limitation from the meta-community was less important and approximately constant across scales (∼9%), and there was also an unresolved association between site-specific traits and meta-community relative abundances. Our method allows one to quantify the relative importance of local niche-based and meta-community processes and demographic stochasticity during community assembly across spatial and temporal scales. © 2012 by the Ecological Society of America.
Keywords: Community Assembly by Trait Selection, CATS; Demographic stochasticity; Dispersal limitation; Environmental filtering; French Guiana; Functional traits; Maxent; Neutral assembly; Tropical forests
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Shepard, W. D., Clavier, S., & Cerdan, A. (2020). A generic key to the known larval elmidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) of French Guiana. Pap. Avulsos Zool., 60(Special), e202060.
Abstract: An identification key is provided for 21 larval types of Elmidae (riffle beetles) known to occur in French Guiana. Not all elmid genera known to occur in French Guiana are known in the larval stage. Nor are all the known larval types assigned to known elmid genera. © 2020, Universidade de Sao Paulo. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Biodiversity; Identification; Immatures; Neotropical; Survey
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Sharma, K., Degen, B., Von Wuehlisch, G., & Singh, N. B. (2002). Allozyme variation in eight natural populations of Pinus roxburghii Sarg. in India. Silvae Genet., 51(5-6), 246–253.
Abstract: Seeds collected from eight populations of Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii SARG.) from the natural distribution range of the species in Himachal Himalayas in India were analysed isozymatically at 11 enzyme systems. For the enzyme systems studied, 25 gene loci were identified out of which 18 were polymorphic. The observed mean values for genetic variation were slightly lower than mean values reported for Pinus species (number of alleles: 1.65 compared to 2.36; effective number of alleles: 1.13 compared to 1.26; observed heterozygosity: 0.153 compared to 0.179). A small differentiation among populations and large variation within populations were reflected by small value of GST (0.04): Considering the different genetic parameters three populations seem favourable for gene conservation measures.
Keywords: Allozymes; Differentiation; Genetic distance; Multilocus diversity; Pinus roxburghii; Variation; Enzymes; Forestry; Genes; Allozyme variations; Genetic engineering; Enzymes; Genes; Genetic Engineering; Pinus Roxburghii; Embryophyta; Pinus roxburghii
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Seymour, R. S., White, C. R., & Gibernau, M. (2009). Endothermy of dynastine scarab beetles (Cyclocephala colasi) associated with pollination biology of a thermogenic arum lily (Philodendron solimoesense). J. Exp. Biol., 212(18), 2960–2968.
Abstract: Cyclocephala colasi beetles are facultative endotherms that spend most of their adult lives inside the inflorescences of Philodendron solimoesense, where ambient temperature (T-a) averages about 28 degrees C due to floral thermogenesis. Measurements of respiration within a range of T-a showed that active beetles became spontaneously endothermic at T-a below 28 degrees C but were rarely endothermic above it. There was no evidence of endothermy within the inflorescences, indicating that activities in the floral chamber can occur without the high energy expense of endothermy. Bouts of endothermy occurred at lower T-a in respirometer chambers mainly in the evening, when the insects normally fly from one inflorescence to another, and during the night, when they normally eat and mate within the inflorescence. Patterns of endothermy in individual episodes were studied in non-flying beetles with respirometry and infrared thermal imaging. Heat was generated in the thorax by oscillatory waves of respiration that were coupled with thoracic temperature (T-th) increases. Stationary beetles could regulate T-th at about 33 degrees C independently of T-a between 16 and 29 degrees C. At T-a=20 degrees C, this represents a 116-fold increase in metabolic rate over resting, ectothermic values. Endothermy was clearly a requirement for flight, and beetles departing inflorescences warmed to about 30 degrees C before take-off. During flight, T-th was dependent on T-a, decreasing from 37 to 28 degrees C at T-a of 37 to 20 degrees C, respectively. The lowest T-a at which flight could occur was about 20 degrees C. Thermal conductance of stationary, endothermic beetles increased at higher metabolic rates, probably because of increased ventilatory heat loss.
Keywords: beetle; endothermy; pollination biology; Cyclocephala; Philodendron
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