Contemporary distributions of saltmarsh diatoms in the Seymour–Belize Inlet Complex, British Columbia, Canada: Implications for studies of sea-level change

Surface diatom samples were collected from two saltmarshes in the Seymour–Belize Inlet Complex on the mainland coast of British Columbia to examine the controls on diatom distribution and provide training sets for regional studies of sea-level change. Cluster analysis and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) were used to examine diatom distributions within and between the two marshes whilst canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and partial canonical correspondence analysis (pCCA) were used to analyse species–environment relationships. The diatom assemblages were shown to be quite different between the two marshes, Waump and Wawwat'l. Q-mode cluster analysis separated the diatom assemblages from Waump into three zones corresponding to recognized vegetation zones; diatom zone C corresponds to the high marsh and is dominated by Pinnularia obscura, Caloneis bacillum and Diploneis ovalis, zone B spans the high- and mid marsh and is characterised by Fragilaria exigua, Nitzchia palea and D. ovalis, whilst zone A from the low marsh/tidal flat includes high frequencies of Diploneis smithii, Ctenophora pulchella and F. exigua. Three different diatom zones were recognised at Wawwat'l; two upper zones, E and F, corresponding to the mid-marsh which are dominated by mixed abundances of N. palea and Fragilaria construens var. venter, Navicula peregrina and Navicula clementis and zone D from the low marsh/tidal flat with increased frequencies of F. exigua and Achnanthes delicatula. At Waump, the major controls on diatom distribution were found to be elevation and to a lesser extent pH, whilst at Wawwat'l, the primary controls were grain size/organic content, conductivity and elevation. The results confirm that saltmarsh diatoms may have potential for future sea-level studies in this region. However, caution must be exercised as the significant difference in the diatom assemblages between the two marshes suggests that the diatoms are responding to a number of environmental variables on a local scale. Some of this variation may reflect highly seasonal changes in sedimentation and salinity resulting from the proximity of the marshes to adjacent streams which are subject to spring freshet. Local differences in elevation between the collected samples may also account for some of the assemblage variability. The results emphasize the great diversity and high sensitivity of intertidal diatom species to environmental controls.     

Lithostratigraphy and sedimentology of the latest Cretaceous-early Burdigalian Tamezzakht succession (Northern Rif, Morocco): consequences for its sequence stratigraphic interpretation

The Tamezzakht succession (Maastrichtian–middle Burdigalian), situated at the fringe between the Internal and the External zones, displays contrasting lithologies with abrupt facies changes, discontinuities, and/or coarse-grained calciturbidite in between. These criteria allow the definition of seven main lithostratigraphic formations.Depositional environments (oxygenation levels, trophic conditions, omission histories, among others) and/or transgressive/regressive trends are inferred from integrated sedimentologic data including facies change, cyclicity pattern and the textural composition of the turbidite facies tracts. Special emphasis is given to the ichnological features.Taking into account the extended time-range, the position between the internal zones and the external ones, as well as the clear differentiation into several contrasting sedimentary formations, the Tamezzakht succession is expected to provide useful stratigraphic data for the regional correlations.     

Pollen analysis of the ship site of Pisa San Rossore,Tuscany, Italy: the implications for catastrophic hydrological events and climatic change during the late Holocene

In 1998, an ancient shipping wharf was brought to light in Pisa, Italy. The shipwrecks found there showed human activity from the Etruscan to the late Roman Empire periods. Sandy sediments burying the ships and related materials show four main periods of catastrophic floods separated by thin muddy layers pointing to phases between flooding episodes. Pollen analyses in these fine grained deposits showed: 1) significant percentages of Abies and Fagus during the pre-Roman period; 2) elements of mixed oak woodland together with hygrophilous plants in pollen spectra dominated by herbs, in the Roman interflood deposits. On the whole, the pollen data show a vegetational change which may be attributed to different climatic conditions, supporting the hypothesis that the Roman period was warmer, even though a significant human influence cannot be excluded. Numerous fresh water genera suggest that the area was a poorly drained alluvial plain. Integration between pollen and sedimentological analyses allows some inferences on the dynamics of the warm Roman period and indicates that the warm climate was punctuated by century-scale hydro-climatic crises triggering catastrophic floods. Communicated by J.-L. de Beaulieu     

Disentangling the relative importance of climate,size and competition on tree growth in Iberian forests: implications for forest management under global change

Most large‐scale multispecies studies of tree growth have been conducted in tropical and cool temperate forests, whereas Mediterranean water‐limited ecosystems have received much less attention. This limits our understanding of how growth of coexisting tree species varies along environmental gradients in these forests, and the implications for species interactions and community assembly under current and future climatic conditions. Here, we quantify the absolute effect and relative importance of climate, tree size and competition as determinants of tree growth patterns in Iberian forests, and explore interspecific differences in the two components of competitive ability (competitive response and effect) along climatic and size gradients. Spatially explicit neighborhood models were developed to predict tree growth for the 15 most abundant Iberian tree species using permanent‐plot data from the Spanish Second and Third National Forest Inventory (IFN). Our neighborhood analyses showed a climatic and size effect on tree growth, but also revealed that competition from neighbors has a comparatively much larger impact on growth in Iberian forests. Moreover, the sensitivity to competition (i.e. competitive response) of target trees varied markedly along climatic gradients causing significant rank reversals in species performance, particularly under xeric conditions. We also found compelling evidence for strong species‐specific competitive effects in these forests. Altogether, these results constitute critical new information which not only furthers our understanding of important theoretical questions about the assembly of Mediterranean forests, but will also be of help in developing new guidelines for adapting forests in this climatic boundary to global change. If we consider the climatic gradients of this study as a surrogate for future climatic conditions, then we should expect absolute growth rates to decrease and sensitivity to competition to increase in most forests of the Iberian Peninsula (in all but the northern Atlantic forests), making these management considerations even more important in the future.     

The importance of phenology for the evaluation of impact of climate change on growth of boreal, temperate and Mediterranean forests ecosystems: an overview

An overview is presented of the phenological models relevant for boreal coniferous, temperate-zone deciduous and Mediterranean coniferous forest ecosystems. The phenology of the boreal forests is mainly driven by temperature, affecting the timing of the start of the growing season and thereby its duration, and the level of frost hardiness and thereby the reduction of foliage area and photosynthetic capacity by severe frost events. The phenology of temperate-zone forests is also mainly driven by temperature. Since temperate-zone forests are mostly mixed-species deciduous forests, differences in phenological response may affect competition between tree species. The phenology of Mediterranean coniferous forests is mainly driven by water availability, affecting the development of leaf area, rather than the timing of phenological events. These phenological models were subsequently coupled to the process-based forest model FORGRO to evaluate the effect of different climate change scenarios on growth. The results indicate that the phenology of each of the forest types significantly affects the growth response to a given climate change scenario. The absolute responses presented in this study should, however, be used with caution as there are still uncertainties in the phenological models, the growth models, the parameter values obtained and the climate change scenarios used. Future research should attempt to reduce these uncertainties. It is recommended that phenological models that describe the mechanisms by which seasonality in climatic drivers affects the phenological aspects of trees should be developed and carefully tested. Only by using such models may we make an assessment of the impact of climate change on the functioning and productivity of different forest ecosystems. Received: 21 October 1999 / Revised: 10 May 2000 / Accepted: 10 May 2000