Land Use and Land Right Dynamics—Determinants for Resource Management Options in Eastern Burkina Faso

The paper first examines established theories on the population-environmental nexus. Farmers' options in responding to declining soil fertility or shortage of land vary from village to village and even household to household. Responses are conditioned by social relations with neighboring villages and the labor availability of individual households. The example from the Boulgou Province in Burkina Faso shows that some farmers have been able to expand their acreage in other villages' territories on a virtually permanent basis, thereby compensating for increased population pressure and for land degradation. Currently, labor availability, social relations, and distance to the land seem to be the main constraints on land expansion. However, the pattern of land use changes is expected to be increasingly influenced by the existence of more formally established rights than at present. In the light of the empirical findings, the relevance of the Gestion des Terroir Villagois concept as a tool for planning for sustainable natural resource management at the village level is discussed. This approach seems imperfectly suited to address a reality in which social and physical environments are superimposed in a spatially complex way.     

Land�CWater interactions in the amazon

Biogeochemistry is hosting this special thematic issue devoted to studies of land?Cwater interactions, as part of the Large-scale Biosphere?CAtmosphere Experiment in Amazônia (LBA). This compilation of papers covers a broad range of topics with a common theme of coupling land and water processes, across pristine and impacted systems. Findings highlighted that hydrologic flowpaths are clearly important across basin size and structure in determining how water and solutes reach streams. Land-use changes have pronounced impacts on flowpaths, and subsequently, on stream chemistry, from small streams to large rivers. Carbon is produced and transformed across a broad array of fluvial environments and wetlands. Surface waters are not only driven by, but provide feedback to, the atmosphere.     

Ecological Footprint Policy? Land Use as an Environmental Indicator

This article argues that policies aimed at sustainability need to address the spatial dimensions of environmental problems and their solutions. In particular, spatial configurations of economic activities deserve attention, which means addressing land use, infrastructure, trade, and transport. Unfortunately, good theory and indicators to support the analysis and design of spatial‐environmental policies are not fully developed. One approach that has become very popular in the last decade is the ecological footprint (EF). It is both an environmental accounting tool and aggregate indicator, which is used by scientists, environmental organizations, and popular media. Despite criticisms of the EF method in the past, its popularity has only increased. In fact, an increasing number of publications with an application of the EF appear in scientific journals. We review the EF approach from indicator‐methodology and welfare angles and assess its policy relevance. Our conclusion is that it does not offer any meaningful information for public policy.     

Zur überwindung der biologischen Grenze Meer—Land durch Mollusken

Zusammenfassung Je höher marine Gastropoden ins Supralitoral vordringen, umso größer wird ihre Salinitätstoleranz. Das äußert sich im Überleben auf extremen Salinitäten, in der Waschstumsgeschwindigkeit und in der Fortpflanzungsrate.Die toleranz wird bei den drei großen Gastropodengruppen—Opisthobranchier (Limapontia depressa)—Prosobranchier (Assiminea grayana)—Pulmonaten (Ovatella myosotis)—im niedrigsalzigen Bereich durch Entwicklung einer Hypertonieregulation und bei hoher Salinität durch Poikilosmotie ermöglicht. Während adulte Schnecken des Supralitorals große Schwankungen im Salzgehalt ertragen, sind die Eier dagegen sehr empfindlich; Embryonen entwickeln sich bevorzugt bei Salinitäten, bei denen die Gelege von den Adulten produziet wurden.

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The emigration of Gastropods from the seaII. Studies on Limatpontia capitata, L. depressa und Assiminea grayana

Summary The higher marine Gastropods live on the shore the more their salinity tolerance increases. This is expressed in the animals' survival, their growth rate, and their reproduction rate on extreme salinity concentrations. In all the three gastropod groups—Opisthobranchia (Limapontia depressa), Prosobranchia (Assiminea grayana), Pulmonata (Ovatella myosotis)—a more or less effective hyperosmotic regulation has evolved which enables the animals to live with low salinity concentrations in their surrounding. In high salinities they are poikilosmotic. Adult supralittoral Gastopods can stand considerable salinity changes. The eggs are more delicate: The embryos develop best when the eggs stay on the salinity where they were produced even if the concentrations are extremely high or low.

     

Zur Überwindung der biologischen Grenze Meer—Land durch Mollusken

Zusammenfassung Die Überwindung der biologischen Grenze zwischen Meer und Land durch Mollusken ist bisher nur wenig im Hinblick auf physiologische Umstellungen untersucht worden. Unter diesem Aspekt wurden Experimente durchgeführt an Alderia modesta, einem amphibisch lebenden Opisthobranchier des unteren Supralitorals, und an Ovatella myosotis, einer Pulmonate, die im oberen Supralitoral vorkommt. Alderia zeigt eine relativ enge Salinitätstoleranz. Zu hohe und zu niedrige Salzgehalte hemmen die Entwicklung, führen zu Mißbildungen bei der Embryonalentwicklung und lassen adulte tiere rasch eingehen. In Beziehung zu der Salinität der angrenzenden Gewässer (Brackwasser der Ostsee und der Ästuare, Meerwasser der Nordsee) existieren verschiedene Biotypen, die auf Aussüßung und hohe Salzkonzentration unterschiedlich reagieren.Die weiter ins Supralitoral vorgedrungene Ovatella myositis hat eine wesentlich breitere Salinitätstoleranz. Schädigungen der Adulten treten auf Süßwasser nicht, auf Salzwasser erst oberhalb von 55 auf. Durch schrittweise Adaptation können höhere Konzentrationen ertragen werden. Der Toleranzunterschied zwischen den untersuchten Populationen ist genetisch bedingt. Eiablage, Embryonalentwicklung und Wachstum erfolgen im Bereich zwischen 5 und mindestens 50 Substratsalinität.Physiologisch wird diese große Salinitätstoleranz durch ein fast durchgehendes poikilosmotisches Verhalten ermöglicht. Auf sehr ausgesüßtem Substrat sind die Schnecken stark hypertonisch (auf Süßwasser hat das Binnenmedium auf 7), im ganzen übrigen Bereich weniger stark (3–4 über der Substratsalinität). Im oberen Extrembereich vermögen die Tiere diese Hypertonie offenbar nur schwer aufrechtzuerhalten (vgl. S. 149).Die Veränderungen von Gastropoden auf dem Wege vom Meer über das Supralitoral zum Land werden diskutiert; im Gebiet der Salzwiesen läßt sich ein günstigeres Schema zu dieser Frage aufstellen als bei den bisher meist zitierten Littorinen.

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On the emigration of gastropodes from the sea: Studies on Alderia modesta and Ovatella myosotis

Summary Up to now little attention has been paid to the phylogenetic emigration of gastropods from the sea: almost nothing is known about the physiological changes which enable snails to live in terrestrial habitats. To help solve this question, experiments were carried out on Alderia modesta, an opisthobranch slug of the lower supralittoral, and Ovatella myositis, a primitive pulmonate snail of the upper supralittoral. In each case two subspecies were studied.North Sea Alderias differ from their Baltic counterparts in size and salinitytolerance. The difference in size between Ovatella of the Mediterranean and of the Baltic is very slight. There is a marked difference, however, in the salinity-tolerance. Alderia modesta survives in a comparatively narrow range of different salinities. The optimum is between 10 and 20 for Baltic specimens and between 15 and 35 for those of the North Sea. The results are the same in and out of water. Ovatella can live on a freshwater substratum as well as on 55. Specimens of the Mediterranean can even become adapted to 90. Flooded with water of differrent salinities the tolerated range becomes markedly smaller. Eggs are produced between 5 and 50 (Baltic specimens) or 5 and 65 (Mediterranean specimens). All eggs develop without being damaged between 5 and 40 and 10 and 45 respectively. The optimal salinity-concentration for growth and egg-production is 10. Salinity-concentrations below and above these marks disturb the development. In one spawn-mass some eggs cleave normally, others become deformed, and again others do not cleave at all. This heterogeneous reaction points to the existence of something like a physiological polymorphism in regard to salinity-tolerance. The salinity-concentration of the blood of Ovatella was measured after a long-term acclimatisation. Ovatella is poikilosmotic and slightly hypertonic (3–4) throughout almost the whole range of salinities it tolerates. On extremely low concentrations it becomes more hypertonie; on extremely high concentrations it becomes nearly isotonic.

     

Climate–ecosystem modelling made easy: The Land Sites Platform

Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) provide a state-of-the-art process-based approach to study the complex interplay between vegetation and its physical environment. For example, they help to predict how terrestrial plants interact with climate, soils, disturbance and competition for resources. We argue that there is untapped potential for the use of DGVMs in ecological and ecophysiological research. One fundamental barrier to realize this potential is that many researchers with relevant expertize (ecology, plant physiology, soil science, etc.) lack access to the technical resources or awareness of the research potential of DGVMs. Here we present the Land Sites Platform (LSP): new software that facilitates single-site simulations with the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator, an advanced DGVM coupled with the Community Land Model. The LSP includes a Graphical User Interface and an Application Programming Interface, which improve the user experience and lower the technical thresholds for installing these model architectures and setting up model experiments. The software is distributed via version-controlled containers; researchers and students can run simulations directly on their personal computers or servers, with relatively low hardware requirements, and on different operating systems. Version 1.0 of the LSP supports site-level simulations. We provide input data for 20 established geo-ecological observation sites in Norway and workflows to add generic sites from public global datasets. The LSP makes standard model experiments with default data easily achievable (e.g., for educational or introductory purposes) while retaining flexibility for more advanced scientific uses. We further provide tools to visualize the model input and output, including simple examples to relate predictions to local observations. The LSP improves access to land surface and DGVM modelling as a building block of community cyberinfrastructure that may inspire new avenues for mechanistic ecosystem research across disciplines.     

Holocene Adélie penguin diet in Victoria Land,Antarctica

Ornithogenic soils (N = 97) dated up to 7000 Before Present (bp) were sampled in 16 relict and modern breeding colonies of Adélie penguin along the Victoria Land coast (Ross Sea, Antarctica). Taxonomic identification of fish otoliths (N = 677) recovered in these soils allowed to identify the Antarctic silverfish as the most eaten prey (90.1%) throughout the investigated period. A morphometric analysis of the otoliths revealed that the Adélie penguin primarily selected prey averaging 67.23 ± 23 mm of standard length. Temporal distribution of Pleuragramma antarcticum showed a peak between 2,000 and 4,000 years bp, a period corresponding to the maximum spread of Adélie penguin in the Victoria Land. Possible explanations of the variations of the abundance of the fish prey in the diet are discussed in the context of the paleoclimatic events and as possible consequences of dietary shifts due to the temporal variation of prey availability in the Ross Sea ecosystem.     

What's new about old fields? Land abandonment and ecosystem assembly

Environmental and socio-economic changes are leading to increased levels of land abandonment worldwide. The assembly of plant communities on old fields has informed much ecological theory, which in turn has facilitated efforts at ecological restoration. The interaction of the cultivation legacy with inherent soil and vegetation characteristics will determine the dynamics of plant community assembly on old fields and indicate the level of effort required to restore historical vegetation states. The abandonment of traditional agricultural lands in some areas will create old fields that require limited or no restoration. Yet intensification of agriculture and rapid environmental change will lead to increasing numbers of old fields that show little recovery towards an historic vegetation state. The restoration of these old fields will pose significant scientific and policy challenges.     

Land–Ocean Coupling of Carbon and Nitrogen Fluxes on Sandy Beaches

Rivers link oceans with the land, creating global hot spots of carbon processing in coastal seas. Coastlines around the world are dominated by sandy beaches, but beaches are unusual in that they are thought to rely almost exclusively on marine imports for food. No significant connections to terrestrial production having been demonstrated. By contrast, we isotopically traced carbon and nitrogen pathways leading to clams (Donax deltoides) on beaches. Clams from areas influenced by river plumes had significantly different isotope signatures (δ¹³C: −18.5 to −20.2‰; δ¹⁵N: 8.3–10.0‰) compared with clams remote from plumes (δ¹³C: −17.5 to −19.5‰; δ¹⁵N: 7.6–8.7‰), showing that terrestrial carbon and sewage, both delivered in river plumes, penetrate beach food webs. This is a novel mechanism of trophic subsidy in marine intertidal systems, linking the world’s largest shore ecosystem to continental watersheds. The same clams also carry pollution signatures of sewage discharged into rivers, demonstrating that coastal rivers connect ecosystems in unexpected ways and transfer contaminants across the land–ocean boundary. The links we demonstrate between terrigenous matter and the largest of all marine intertidal ecosystems are significant given the immense social, cultural, and economic values of beaches to humans and the predicted consequences of altered river discharge to coastal seas caused by global climate change.     

Sea Swallowers and Land Devourers: Can Shark Lore Facilitate Conservation?

Polynesians’ detailed observations of shark behaviour encompass the notion of a divinity, the fleeting image of a sky god, as well as potential source of food and valued tools. Due to prevailing cosmogony, sharks benefited from being a taboo species, historically limiting their exploitation. We examine how the reputedly fierce warriors of ‘Anaa (an atoll in Tuamotu archipelago, French Polynesia) came to be symbolically identified with a marine predator, being called “Parata,” the vernacular name of the oceanic whitetip shark Carcharinus longimanus. Both sharks and indigenous cultures are currently under threat in the East Pacific and we propose that an understanding of these sacred relationships could be used to help protect them.     

Ecosystem Properties of Urban Land Covers at the Aboveground–Belowground Interface

Understanding of ecological differences among urban land covers can guide the sustainable management of urbanized landscapes for conservation of ecosystem services. The objective of our study was to compare ecosystem properties at the aboveground–belowground interface of three land-cover types commonly found in residential landscapes: lawns, bark mulch, and gravel mulch. Using unmowed vegetation as a reference land cover, we measured surface soil variables (to 5 cm depth), CO₂ fluxes, and ground temperatures in experimental field plots within 3 years after their creation. Each land cover had a distinctive set of ecosystem properties. Mulched plots had significantly warmer soil and surface temperatures, wetter soils and faster surface litter decomposition than vegetated plots. Variables associated with soil C and earthworm numbers were consistently lowest in gravel-covered soils, whereas bark mulch plots had highest earthworm abundances, lowest soil bulk density, and temporally variable soil organic matter dynamics. Compared to unmowed plots, lawns had higher soil carbon, CO₂ fluxes, and temperatures but lower earthworm abundances especially during 2005 drought conditions. We conclude that ecosystem properties of the land covers were influenced by the composition, density, and arrangement of materials comprising their aboveground habitat structures. We discuss our results within an ecosystem services framework and suggest that interpretations of our findings depend on in situ urban environmental contexts and landscape management objectives. Future studies of urban land covers, their ecosystem properties and associated ecosystem services are needed to help provide a scientific basis for sustainable urban landscape management. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Loren B. Byrne conceived of the study, performed research, and analyzed data. Loren B. Byrne, M. A. Bruns and K. C. Kim designed the study and wrote the article.     

Ancient DNA gives green light to Galápagos Land Iguana repatriation

Land Iguanas, Conolophus subcristatus,were extirpated from Isla Baltra, GalápagosArchipelago in the 1940s. Historical recordsindicate that some Baltra iguanas weretranslocated to nearby Isla Seymour Norte inthe 1930s. Plans to repatriate iguanas toBaltra were suspended when evidence suggestedthat iguanas on Seymour Norte may not beentirely of Baltra origin. Comparison of DNAfrom century-old museum specimens with extantiguanas has identified those individuals ofunambiguous Baltra origin on Seymour Norte. These results provide scientific criteria forthe ecological restoration of these endangeredreptiles.     

The picoplankton in Antarctic lakes of northern Victoria Land during summer 1989–1990

Summary Photoautotrophic picoplankton is reported from some lakes located near the Italian Antarctic station of Terra Nova. Observations, carried out by both flow cytometry on water samples and electron microscopy on micro-organisms in cultures from each lake, have confirmed the occurrence in all the environments studied of this fraction accounting, in several cases, for more than the 50% of the phytoplankton, measured as chlorophyll. Cultures of the picoplankton fraction from these waters contained known prokaryotic (Synechococcus) and eukaryotic (Chlorella) genera as well as two unidentified entities, possibly prochlorophytes.