Benthic invertebrate community structure is influenced by forest succession after clearcut logging in southeastern Alaska

To assess the effects of timber harvesting on headwater streams in upland forests, benthic community structure was contrasted among four dominant forest management types (old growth, red alder-dominated young growth, conifer-dominated young growth, clearcut) and instream habitats (woody debris, cobble, gravel) in southeastern Alaska. Benthos in streams of previously harvested areas resulted in increased richness, densities and biomass relative to old growth types, particularly in young growth stands with a red alder-dominated riparian canopy. Woody debris and gravel habitats supported a combination of higher densities and biomass of invertebrates than cobble habitats. In addition, woody debris also supported a richer and more diverse invertebrate fauna than either cobble or gravel substrates. Maintaining both a woody debris source and a red alder component in regenerating riparian forests following timber harvesting should support greater invertebrate densities and diversity following clearcutting.     

Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in alder,Alnus firma, revealed by AFLP

Molecular markers for alder,Alnus firma Sieb. et Zucc, have not been studied extensively. Here, we used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to investigate genetic relationships among 15 natural populations. EcoRI-ACG + Msel-CTG combinations revealed the highest polymorphism (62.2%). A total of 171 DNA fragments were identified. On average, 58.1% of the AFLP markers that were generated using four primer pairs were polymorphic. Diversity was insignificant among the populations. The combination of a wind-pollinated, outcrossing breeding system along with large population sizes, and the ability to regenerate by stump sprouting may explain the high level of genetic diversity within this species. The majority (98%) of the genetic variance resided within populations. The average number of individuals that were exchanged between populations per generation was very high (N _em = 12.3). Gene dispersal in alder is apparently by seed dispersalvia water and human activity as well as through pollen. Five individuals per population were claded in the same cluster.     

Effects of Manganese in Solution Culture on the Growth of Five Deciduous Broad-Leaved Tree Species with Different Successional Characters from Northern Japan

The effects of four manganese (Mn) concentrations (1, 10, 50, and 100 g m^-3 = Mn₁, Mn₁₀, Mn₅₀, Mn₁₀₀) in solution culture on growth variables were studied for seedlings of five deciduous broad-leaved trees with different successional characteristics and shoot development patterns in northern Japan. The five species were: Betula ermanii, Betula platyphylla var. japonica, and Alnus hirsuta (early-successional species with continuous leaf development), Ulmus davidiana var. japonica (mid-successional species with flush and continuous leaf development), and Acer mono (late-successional species with a flush type leaf development). In plants grown in the Mn environment for about 45 d, relative growth rate (RGR) decreased with increasing Mn supply. Between the 1 and 100 g(Mn) m^-3, RGR decreased by 20 % for B. ermanii and B. platyphylla, by 40 % for A. hirsuta and A. mono, and by 80 % for U. davidiana. Specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf mass ratio (LMR) of all species were little affected by high Mn supply. In U. davidiana, however, there was a 67 % decrease in LMR in Mn₁₀₀ plants. Leaf area ratio (LAR) was higher in early-successional species than in mid- and late-successional ones but differed little among Mn treatments within species, except for U. davidiana where LAR declined substantially with increased Mn supply. While LAR, which represents the relative size of assimilatory apparatus, was little affected, net photosynthetic rate (P_N) saturated with radiant energy decreased with increasing Mn supply in all species. Thus P_N was adversely affected by high accumulation of Mn in leaves, which resulted in an overall reduction in biomass production. However, the proportional allocation of photosynthates to the assimilatory apparatus was not affected by different Mn toxicity in hardwood tree seedlings. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Field determination of denitrification in water-logged forest soils

Abstract Denitrification rates were measured as N₂O production in two water-logged forest soils at monthly intervals. The effect of acetylene inhibition and the addition of nitrate, glucose, acetate and celloboise in field incubations was examined.
N₂O release from the two soils was very low, 26 mg N₂m⁻²y⁻¹ in ash and 178 mg N₂ in alder. In acetylene inhibited incubations N₂O production was higher, 296 and 486 mg N₂m⁻² y⁻¹ in ash and alder respectively. After addition of nitrate and C-sources to a 10 mM concentration, denitrification rates increased to 5–15 times higher values.
The denitrification rates below 4°C were low and most N₂O was produced in late spring and summer.
The highest rate of denitrification during a 50 h incubation experiment occurred between 3 and 23 h.     

Tall shrub and tree expansion in Siberian tundra ecotones since the 1960s

Circumpolar expansion of tall shrubs and trees into Arctic tundra is widely thought to be occurring as a result of recent climate warming, but little quantitative evidence exists for northern Siberia, which encompasses the world's largest forest‐tundra ecotonal belt. We quantified changes in tall shrub and tree canopy cover in 11, widely distributed Siberian ecotonal landscapes by comparing very high‐resolution photography from the Cold War‐era ‘Gambit’ and ‘Corona’ satellite surveillance systems (1965–1969) with modern imagery. We also analyzed within‐landscape patterns of vegetation change to evaluate the susceptibility of different landscape components to tall shrub and tree increase. The total cover of tall shrubs and trees increased in nine of 11 ecotones. In northwest Siberia, alder (Alnus) shrubland cover increased 5.3–25.9% in five ecotones. In Taymyr and Yakutia, larch (Larix) cover increased 3.0–6.7% within three ecotones, but declined 16.8% at a fourth ecotone due to thaw of ice‐rich permafrost. In Chukotka, the total cover of alder and dwarf pine (Pinus) increased 6.1% within one ecotone and was little changed at a second ecotone. Within most landscapes, shrub and tree increase was linked to specific geomorphic settings, especially those with active disturbance regimes such as permafrost patterned‐ground, floodplains, and colluvial hillslopes. Mean summer temperatures increased at most ecotones since the mid‐1960s, but rates of shrub and tree canopy cover expansion were not strongly correlated with temperature trends and were better correlated with mean annual precipitation. We conclude that shrub and tree cover is increasing in tundra ecotones across most of northern Siberia, but rates of increase vary widely regionally and at the landscape scale. Our results indicate that extensive changes can occur within decades in moist, shrub‐dominated ecotones, as in northwest Siberia, while changes are likely to occur much more slowly in the highly continental, larch‐dominated ecotones of central and eastern Siberia.     

Ghloroplast DNA and nuclear DNA variation in the sympatric alder species, Alnus cordata (Lois.) Duby and A. glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.

The European alder species, Alnus cordata and A. glutinosa have sympatric distributions on Corsica and southern Italy, where they often grow in mixed populations. An assessment was made of the levels of genetic variation in the chloroplast and nuclear genomes of individual trees from 22 alder populations from Corsica and Italy. The distribution of 10 chloroplast DNA polymorphisms generated by the PCR-RFLP method shows strong geographic structuring of cpDNA haplotypes. Conversely, variation in the nuclear genome, as determined by ISSR analysis, is strongly correlated to the taxonomic affinities of the individual trees analysed. Approximately 50% of ISSR variation (P= 0.00, AMOVA) could be attributed to differences between species. Possible reasons for the incongruence between variation in the chloroplast and nuclear genomes are discussed.