Relation between environmental variables and aquatic megafauna in a first order stream of the Atlantic Forest, southern Brazil

The study was done in a first order stream in the southern portion of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. Samples of the aquatic megafauna (amphibians, crustaceans and fishes) were taken with the aim of describing spatial (longitudinal) and temporal (seasonal) patterns in species composition and abundance. Thirty four structural and limnological variables at macro and mesoscales from three sampling reaches were analysed. The spatio-temporal analysis of species richness and diversity indicated a gradient in which values increased in an upstream–downstream direction, independently of the season of the year. The results showed a strong influence of structural environmental variables on community structure. Furthermore, they revealed a hierarchical relation between macroscale and mesoscale variables and their influence on community abundance and composition in the various spatio-temporal sampling units analysed. The spatial distribution of species richness and diversity in the Carvão creek was strongly influenced by the presence of waterfalls, being progressively richer and more diverse downstream. Waterfalls seem to function as selective filters more than as absolute barriers, presenting different efficiencies for different species.     

The ecological reference framework for Québec: a useful tool for forest sites evaluation

Quebec ecologists have divised, for more than 25 years, an integrated landform-soil—vegetation approach to landscape typology and mapping. Basic concepts and principles of this approach are briefly described and illustrated. In spite of the huge areas already mapped, attempts to integrate such an information in the forestry practice have thus far proven inconclusive.     

Forest-level analysis of stability under exploitation: depensation responses and catastrophe theory

Stability analysis of whole forests is proposed as a qualitative tool for the study of forest responses to partial or patchy harvests or mortality. Instead of modeling every tree or stand, aggregate tree biomass is modeled. In order to aggregate stands, spatial effects must be incorporated. It is shown that depensation growth responses (reduced growth at low biomass) are common because forests often modify harch environments to be more suitable for their growth. Depensation can result from thinning, partial mortality, patchy cutting, or clearcutting, depending on forest type and abiotic factors. Examples of these types of behaviors are given. Stability analysis of different growth regimes under exploitation are related to catastrophe theory and to optimal harvesting policies. Such qualitative analysis is shown to be applicable to data-poor regions such as the tropics where there is great concern over responses of forests to exploitation.     

Small habitat islands are inferior breeding habitats but are used by some great tits – competition or ignorance?

Great tit breeding performance in small habitat islands in an agricultural landscape was compared to that in large deciduous woods. Clutch size was similar in both habitats, but more nestlings starved and fledgling weight was lower in the small habitat islands. The area of wooded habitat in the territories of tits breeding in the small habitat islands was less than what is common to encounter in optimum habitat, deciduous woods. I suggest that this may be responsible, ultimately or proximately, for the poor performance in the small habitat islands. Two possible mechanisms for this effect are discussed. It is possible that the small habitat islands were perceived as inferior by the tits and used by competitively inferior individuals that also were less successful in raising a brood. However, the results were obtained even when female age and weight were controlled for. Therefore, the competitive ability (and probably also young raising competence) may be the same for tits breeding in small habitat islands as for those breeding in optimum habitat. Such a pattern is conceivable if tits have been selected for maintaining a large territory as a response to the close presence of other tits and not as a means of securing a large feeding area. Historically, territories large enough to reduce predation or mate competition (or any cause of territoriality) may always have contained ample food. The presence of small islands, without close neighbours but with insufficient food, may be evolutionarily new. It is probably typical of modern agricultural landscape.     

Monitoring seed dispersal at isolated standing trees in tropical pastures: consequences for local species availability

The tropical rain forest landscape has been transformed to a mosaic composed of patches of crops, secondary vegetation and remnant forest fragments of different shapes and sizes. Isolation of patches and fragments is a critical issue in the maintenance of local species diversity. In this study we focus on the dispersal of propagules by birds to understant the movement of plants between landscape components. Seed deposition and the behavior of frugivorous birds were monitored at four isolated fig trees (Ficus yoponensis and F. aurea) in man-made pastures. Seed deposition was measured by trapping seeds under canopy trees for six months and by direct observation of bird visits to the four trees for one year. Seed deposition densities were 465, 614, 632 and 1097 seeds/m² accumulated over six months under each of the four trees. We recorded 8268 seeds of 107 species under the trees, among them, 6726 seeds (81%) were of 56 species dispersed by vertebrate frugivores. Seeds of tree species accounted for 26% of the total species. Seventy-three species of birds perched in the observed trees, and 3344 visits were made by 47 species of frugivores. Frugivorous birds occurred in two groups: resident species nesting in the pastures and resident species nesting elsewhere. Propagule exchange between landscape components is clearly influenced by the behavior of these two groups. Structure and dynamics of the landscape depend on plant species availability within the mosaic. This availability is high and suggests possibilities for the management of the local species diversity of tropical rain forests.     

Rare canopy species in communities within the Atlantic Coastal Forest in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Rare species are one of the principal components of the species richness and diversity encountered in Dense Ombrophilous Tropical Forests. This study sought to analyze the rare canopy species within the Atlantic Coastal Forest in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Six different communities were examined: Dense Ombrophilous alluvial Forest; Dense sub-montane Ombrophilous Forest; Dense Montane Ombrophilous in Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira. In each area the vegetation was sampled within forty 10 × 25 m plots alternately distributed along a linear transect. All trees with DBH (1.3 m above ground level) ≥5 cm were sampled. The canopy was characterized using the allometric relationship between diameter and height, and included all trees with BDH ≥10 cm and height ≥10 m. A total of 64 families, 206 genera, and 542 species were sampled, of which 297 (54.8%) represented rare species (less than one individual per hectare). The percentage of rare species varied from 34 to 50% in each of the different communities sampled. A majority of these rare trees belonged to the Rosidae, and a smaller proportion to the Dilleniidae. It was concluded that there was no apparent pattern to rarity among families, that rarity was probably derived from a number of processes (such as gap formation), and that a great majority of the rare species sampled were consistently rare. This indicates that the restricted geographic distribution and high degree of endemism of many arboreal taxa justifies the conservation of even small fragments of Atlantic Forest.     

Anthecology and reproductive system of Mourera fluviatilis (Podostemaceae): Pollination by bees and xenogamy in a predominantly anemophilous and autogamous family?

The Podostemaceae are sessile hydrophytes restricted to habitats with waterfalls and seasonal flow variability. Mourera fluviatilis belongs to the family and has a disjunct distribution in the Amazon and northeastern Brazil. The following hypotheses were tested: (i) both autogamy and anemophily act on the pollination system of M. fluviatilis, and (ii) the highest reproductive success is achieved by cross-pollination. Natural populations were monitored in the rivers Pirangi and Ipojuca, northeastern Brazil. Floral visitors are the polylectic bees Apis mellifera, Trigona spinipes (Apidae), Augochlora sp. and Augochloropsis sp. (Halictidae), though only the latter three are effective pollinators. In experiments on the reproductive system and pollination there was a high percentage of fruit formation (>86%), both in treatment and control plants. Although the index of self-incompatibility is 0.86, there was a significant difference in the number of seeds produced among reproductive system treatments, and xenogamy produced more seeds. There was no significant difference in the number of penetrated ovules between control and manual cross-pollination (xenogamy) treatments, 24 h after pollination. However, there were differences among treatments, 48 h after pollination, except for the control and xenogamy treatments. The pollen tubes from cross-pollination treatments usually penetrate the micropyle in shorter time and in higher quantity. We found differences among pollination experiments, except for the control and non-emasculated treatments, and between emasculated treatments. In spite of the ambiguity of floral attributes (pedicel, filaments and anthers colors, sweet odor, reduced perianth, absence of nectar, small and dry pollen grains), wind pollination is less important for this species; what predominates instead are first allogamy mediated by bees and second self-pollination at the end of anthesis.     

Untangling associations between chironomid taxa in Neotropical streams using local and landscape filters

1. Analyses of species association have major implications for selecting indicators for freshwater biomonitoring and conservation, because they allow for the elimination of redundant information and focus on taxa that can be easily handled and identified. These analyses are particularly relevant in the debate about using speciose groups (such as the Chironomidae) as indicators in the tropics, because they require difficult and time‐consuming analysis, and their responses to environmental gradients, including anthropogenic stressors, are poorly known. 2. Our objective was to show whether chironomid assemblages in Neotropical streams include clear associations of taxa and, if so, how well these associations could be explained by a set of models containing information from different spatial scales. For this, we formulated a priori models that allowed for the influence of local, landscape and spatial factors on chironomid taxon associations (CTA). These models represented biological hypotheses capable of explaining associations between chironomid taxa. For instance, CTA could be best explained by local variables (e.g. pH, conductivity and water temperature) or by processes acting at wider landscape scales (e.g. percentage of forest cover). 3. Biological data were taken from 61 streams in Southeastern Brazil, 47 of which were in well‐preserved regions, and 14 of which drained areas severely affected by anthropogenic activities. We adopted a model selection procedure using Akaike’s information criterion to determine the most parsimonious models for explaining CTA. 4. Applying Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, seven genera (Tanytarsus/Caladomyia, Ablabesmyia, Parametriocnemus, Pentaneura, Nanocladius, Polypedilum and Rheotanytarsus) were identified as associated taxa. The best‐supported model explained 42.6% of the total variance in the abundance of associated taxa. This model combined local and landscape environmental filters and spatial variables (which were derived from eigenfunction analysis). However, the model with local filters and spatial variables also had a good chance of being selected as the best model. 5. Standardised partial regression coefficients of local and landscape filters, including spatial variables, derived from model averaging allowed an estimation of which variables were best correlated with the abundance of associated taxa. In general, the abundance of the associated genera tended to be lower in streams characterised by a high percentage of forest cover (landscape scale), lower proportion of muddy substrata and high values of pH and conductivity (local scale). 6. Overall, our main result adds to the increasing number of studies that have indicated the importance of local and landscape variables, as well as the spatial relationships among sampling sites, for explaining aquatic insect community patterns in streams. Furthermore, our findings open new possibilities for the elimination of redundant data in the assessment of anthropogenic impacts on tropical streams.     

A landscape perspective of the Hawaiian rain forest dieback

Abstract. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s there was a rapid decline and canopy dieback in the Metrosideros polymorpha dominated rain forest of Hawai'i. An analysis of air photo sets from 1954, 1965, and 1972, covering the windward slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, gave support for an alien disease hypothesis. A total demise of the native forest was predicted for the early 1990s. This prediction as well as the disease hypothesis proved to be wrong. Various searches for a single climatic cause also failed to explain the dieback. The spatial dynamics of the dieback phenomenon were newly analyzed with an additional air photo set from 1977 and by using GIS with spatial statistics. Two juxtaposed and climatically similar landscape matrix samples of ca. 200 km², one each on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, were subjected to an analysis of landform heterogeneity and superimposed dieback patterns. The Mauna Loa matrix displays up to 15 000 yr old lava flows, while the Mauna Kea matrix displays up to 250 000 yr old substrates. Initiation of dieback occurred simultaneously on both mountains and was highly correlated with poorly-drained sites. The progression of dieback, however, followed a gradient of decreasing soil moisture, which often terminated at clearly recognizable substrate boundaries in the Mauna Loa matrix and moved over well-drained hill sites in the Mauna Kea matrix. Metrosideros dieback spread across the entire spectrum of volcanic substrates and habitat moisture regimes and developed from a smaller into a larger patch mosaic. By 1977, ca. 50 % of the forest area in both sample matrices had gone into dieback. Thereafter, the dieback came to a halt. The domino-type collapse, which frequently came to a halt at volcanic substrate boundaries, indicates that stands in better drained sites were also predisposed to die. Stands on adjoining substrates often survived. Substrates with dieback stands displayed no other obvious vigor-reducing stresses. The canopy trees on such substrates may have a common history, such as a major disturbance (including dieback) that synchronized stand development in the past. Subsequent weather disturbances and other abiotic/endogenous stresses associated with stand maturation, such as nutrient limitations and stand-level senescence, may reinforce a rhythmic synchrony over several generations of canopy cohorts.     

景观规划：概念、起源与发展

对目前地理学、景观生态学等领域中所存在的关于景观概念的多种不同解释进行了分析和总结,并将景观与土地、环境和风景等经常引起混乱的概念术语也做了分析对比．在此基础上,讨论了景观规划的概念内涵和它所基于的景观概念,并通过对景观规划的起源与发展过程的总结和分析,将景观规划的起源与发展归纳为３个阶段：１９世纪中后期到２０世纪初期的的起源阶段;５０、６０年代景观规划领域的形成阶段和７０年代以后的景观规划与景观生态学融合发展阶段     

Distribution and abundance of arboreal species in the atlantic ombrophilous dense forest in Southeastern Brazil*

The relative densities of arboreal species of 17 surveys carried out in the Atlantic Ombrophilous Dense Forest of São Paulo state, SE Brazil, were compared by means of multivariate analysis (cluster, TWINSPAN, PCA, DCA and CCA) to assess floristic and structural variation. The arboreal flora of this vegetation formation is heterogeneous: out of the 771 specific binomials cited, 478 were recorded only once. As the results were similar whether these 478 species were included or not, they were therefore excluded from subsequent analyses. The cluster analysis and TWINSPAN recognised two floristic-structural groups: Coastal Province and Atlantic Plateau. The DCA resulted in a gradient related to distance from the sea, from the Coastal Province towards the Atlantic Plateau (₁=0.6944). The CCA confirmed this separation on the first axis (₁=0.6944; 12.7% of total variance; p<0.01) and showed this gradient to be associated with altitude and latitude on one hand and temperature and precipitation on the other. The influence of latitude and longitude was weak. Although surveys used different criteria, only the minimum individual size adopted in sampling showed a weak influence on the second axis on the CCA (₂=0.4437; 8% of total variance), and sampling method showed no influence. A positive relationship between geographical distance and floristic-structural dissimilarity was detected by the Mantel test (Z _obs=0.320; Z _ave=0.300; p<0.001). The predominance of arboreal species of restricted distribution and the great spatial variation of abundance would appear to indicate narrow niches. The occurrence of complex and non-linear gradients suggests the importance of several other abiotic features in the spatial distribution and abundance of arboreal species in the Atlantic Ombrophilous Dense Forest in the state of São Paulo.     

Atlantic forest bird communities provide different but not fewer functions after habitat loss

Habitat loss often reduces the number of species as well as functional diversity. Dramatic effects to species composition have also been shown, but changes to functional composition have so far been poorly documented, partly owing to a lack of appropriate indices. We here develop three new community indices (i.e. functional integrity, community integrity of ecological groups and community specialization) to investigate how habitat loss affects the diversity and composition of functional traits and species. We used data from more than 5000 individuals of 137 bird species captured in 57 sites in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a highly endangered biodiversity hotspot. Results indicate that habitat loss leads to a decrease in functional integrity while measures of functional diversity remain unchanged or are even positively affected. Changes to functional integrity were caused by (i) a decrease in the provisioning of some functions, and an increase in others; (ii) strong within-guild species turnover; and (iii) a replacement of specialists by generalists. Hence, communities from more deforested sites seem to provide different but not fewer functions. We show the importance of investigating changes to both diversity and composition of functional traits and species, as the effects of habitat loss on ecosystem functioning may be more complex than previously thought. Crucially, when only functional diversity is assessed, important changes to ecological functions may remain undetected and negative effects of habitat loss underestimated, thereby imperiling the application of effective conservation actions.