Floristic and life form diversity in post-pasture successions on a Mediterranean island (Corsica)

The landscapes of the French island of Corsica are the result of thegrazing tradition which has always occupied a pivotal position in the island'seconomy. Furthermore, in the last fifty years, a reduction in the pressure fromhuman activity has lead to changes in plant cover. This article intends tostudythe evolution of dynamic mechanisms during the secondary successions and theeffect of changes in vegetation on plant diversity. Our study was based on asimultaneous study of 375 plots carried out between May and September from 1996to 1998. We studied the floristic composition of each stage both qualitatively(life form, adaptive strategy and seed dispersal mode) and quantitatively(species richness, equitability, Shannon index). The results show a change inspecies and environmental conditions, with a progressive move from heliophilicgrassland and low shrub species with an S or SR strategy, anemochoric and withahigh tolerance for soil quality to a final stage of dense forest composed ofcompetitive (C or CS) zoochoric or barochoric phanerophytes. Moreover, theturning point in Corsica in terms of floristic diversity lies between 20 and 55years after land abandonment. Successions are due to a series of rapidinteractions. Thus, when a site is given reserve or protected area status, weneed to take into account the fact that it will evolve according to thebiological traits of the species. From a research point of view, we need tolookat process diversity and the role of each of the species present during thesuccessions.     

Intensive fish predation: an obstacle to biological recovery following liming of acidified lakes?

Several thousand lakes have been limed inNorway and Sweden during the last threedecades. Most fishless lakes are stocked withsalmonid game fish after liming, predominantlybrown trout (Salmo trutta). Thecombination of intensive anthropogenic stockingand improved natural reproduction possibilitiesin brooks and rivers often leads to denselypopulated lakes and excess fish planktivory.Another major fish species in southern Norway,Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis),exhibits strong numerical increases afterliming, and within a short period of time thelakes harbor dense and often stuntedpopulations. The cladoceran zooplanktoncommunity was used as a diagnostic tool forstudying fish status, patterns and processes oflakes in the present area. Systems that werelimed before all fish species were lost, andbefore major dominance shifts had taken placewithin the invertebrates, recovered morequickly. Recovery periods are severelyprolonged in strongly disturbed, chronicallyacidified ecosystems. The control of fishabundance in optimal human resource managementof limed lakes is a delicate balance betweenthe necessity to suppress potentialinvertebrate predators and fish competitorssuch as corixids and chaoborids, and to avoidover-exploitation of the planktonic and benthiccommunities. If the combined watershed and lakesystem does not naturally produce sub-optimalspawning and recruitment possibilities, eitherfor brown trout or Eurasian perch, resulting insmaller populations, chances are high that thesite will lose its attraction as a fishingobject due to overpopulation. This should be amajor field of concern both for the ecology ofthese lakes and their resource management bythe fishery and environmental officials.     

Stoichiometry of nutrient recycling by vertebrates in a tropical stream: linking species identity and ecosystem processes

Ecological stoichiometry offers a framework for predicting how animal species vary in recycling nutrients, thus providing a mechanism for how animal species identity mediates ecosystem processes. Here we show that variation in the rates and ratios at which 28 vertebrate species (fish, amphibians) recycled nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in a tropical stream supports stoichiometry theory. Mass-specific P excretion rate varied 10-fold among taxa and was negatively related to animal body P content. In addition, the N : P ratio excreted was negatively related to body N : P. Body mass (negatively related to excretion rates) explained additional variance in these excretion parameters. Body P content and P excretion varied much more among taxonomic families than among species within families, suggesting that familial composition may strongly influence ecosystem-wide nutrient cycling. Interspecific variation in nutrient recycling, mediated by phylogenetic constraints on stoichiometry and allometry, illustrates a strong linkage between species identity and ecosystem function.     

Recognition of the main geobotanical features along the Bragança mangrove coast (Brazilian Amazon Region) from Landsat TM and RADARSAT-1 data

Orbital remote sensing data were assessedfor mapping of the main geomorphologicaland vegetation units of the Bragançapeninsula (North Brazil), which belongs toa vast though sparsely mapped mangrovecoast. Wide wetland environmentscharacterize the region with extremevariations in extension, temporalevolution, and spatial complexity. Thiswork was based on different digitalprocessing techniques separately applied toLandsat TM and RADARSAT-1 images. Inaddition, both data were merged on apixel-to-pixel basis using algorithms,which rendered an enhancement of thecoastal landforms and a betterdiscrimination of wetlands and landformtypes. The interpretation of the integratedproduct, aided by field validation, made itpossible to significantly extend existingmapping. Nineteen geobotanical units wereidentified: estuarine channels, submergedsand banks, sandflats, old estuarinesandbanks, mudflats, ebb-tidal deltas,barrier-beach ridges, coastal dunes,chenier sand ridges, young intertidalmangroves, intertidal and supratidalmangroves, outer and inner marshes, fluvialflood plains, coastal plateau, degraded andregenerated mangroves, and an artificiallagoon. The digital integration of Fine RADARSAT-1 and Landsat TM data sensitivelyhighlighted geobotanical coastal features,providing a useful tool for a synopticanalysis of their natural and man-drivenchanges.     

Fish mortality and physicochemistry in a managed floodplain wetland

Patterns of fish mortality and associated physicochemical factors werestudied during late spring in a managed wetland canal along the lowerMissouri River, Missouri. Mean dawn dissolved oxygen was lower and meanun-ionized ammonia and turbidity were higher during the fish kill thanbefore or after the kill, or than was observed in a nearby wetland canalwhere no fish kill occurred. Dissolved oxygen at dawn and un-ionizedammonia concentrations were at critically low and high levels respectively,so that both likely contributed to the fish mortality. Timing and magnitudeof observed carcasses suggested that Ameiurus melas Rafinesques wasthe most tolerant species for the sizes observed compared to Ictiobuscyprinellus Valenciennes, Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, Cyprinus carpio Linneaus, and Lepomis cyanellus Rafinesque.Decreasing mean lengths of fish carcasses during the fish kill for C.carpio, L. cyanellus, and A. melas, indicate that smaller fishes mayhave been more tolerant of harsh environmental conditions than largerindividuals of the same species. Differential mortalities among species andsizes during drawdowns in actively managed wetland pools may haveintentional and unintentional ramifications on wetland and riverine fishcommunity structure, fish-avian interactions, and implementing anecosystem management perspective to restoring more naturalized riverfloodplain wetland functions. Late summer and early autumn draining ofmanaged wetlands might be used to benefit a wider diversity of wildlife andfishes.     

Benthic fauna in tropical tidal flats of Hinchinbrook Channel, NE Australia: diversity, abundance and their spatial and temporal variation

A survey of the benthic infauna (macro- and mesofauna) in tidalflats of Hinchinbrook Channel, north-east Australia, was carried out toassess the species diversity and individual abundances as well as theirtemporalvariations. Two sites were surveyed at five occassions from November 1988 toOctober 1991. In addition, spatial distributions over the intertidal gradientwere investigated once in May 1990. During the entire survey, over 200 specieswere recorded, with 53 species found on average at each sampling occassion.Species densities ranged from 4.0 to 8.2 species 177cm^–2 for macrofauna and from 4.1 to 11.8 species10 cm^–2 for mesofauna, but varied little betweensites. The average infaunal diversity (H') was 2.53. Individual abundancesreached median values of 14.0 individuals 177cm^–2for macrofauna and 14.5 individuals 10 cm^–2 formesofauna. Changes in total abundances were not related to season andinconsistent at the two study sites, with significantly higher abundancesoccurring either at site A or B on single sampling dates. Transects sampled inMay 1990 showed varying species compositions and abundances in the upper, midand lower intertidal, but no defined benthic communities were revealed bymultivariate analyses. Temporal variations in the benthic assemblages of thetwotidal flats in Hinchinbrook Channel were higher than variations between sites,with a separation of assemblages before and after 1989. Problems to assess andinterpret temporal changes in species rich tropical benthic communities arediscussed.     

Conservation and status of the fish communities inhabiting the Río Conchos basin and middle Rio Grande,México and U.S.A.

The Chihuahuan Desert region contains a numberof unique aquatic environments, but with fewexceptions, these have been little studied. Because of the dearth of information aboutthese environments and because many of the fishin the region are threatened with extinction orhave gone extinct, we sampled the RíoConchos basin and adjoining aquatic habitats inthe Rio Grande to assess the status of the fishof this region. Most sites showed some degreeof human-induced impacts. A number ofpotentially threatened fish were eitherabundant at only a few sites or rare or absentthroughout the localities sampled. Withoutconcerted binational efforts to conserve thefish of the region, further deletions to thenative fish fauna will likely occur.     

Aromatase plays a key role during normal and temperature-induced sex differentiation of tilapia Oreochromis niloticus.

In the tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, sex is determined genetically (GSD), by temperature (TSD) or by temperature/genotype interactions. Functional masculinization can be achieved by applying high rearing temperatures during a critical period of sex differentiation. Estrogens play an important role in female differentiation of non-mammalian vertebrates. The involvement of aromatase, was assessed during the natural (genetic all-females and all-males at 27 degrees C) and temperature-induced sex differentiation of tilapia (genetic all-females at 35 degrees C). Gonads were dissected between 486--702 degree x days. Aromatase gene expression was analyzed by virtual northern and semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealing a strong expression during normal ovarian differentiation concomitant with high levels (465 +/- 137 fg/g) of oestradiol-17 beta (E2-17 beta). This was encountered in gonads after the onset of ovarian differentiation (proliferation of both stromal and germ cells prior to ovarian meiosis). Genetic males exhibited lower levels of aromatase gene expression and E2-17 beta quantities (71 +/- 23 fg/ g). Aromatase enzyme activity in fry heads established a sexual dimorphism in the brain, with high activity in females (377.9 pmol/head/hr) and low activity in males (221.53 pmol/head/hr). Temperature induced the masculinization of genetic females to a different degree in each progeny, but in all cases repression of aromatase expression was encountered. Genetic males at 35 degrees C also exhibited a repression of aromatase expression. Aromatase brain activity decreased by nearly three-fold in the temperature-masculinized females with also a reduction observed in genetic males at 35 degrees C. This suggests that aromatase repression is required in the gonad (and perhaps in the brain) in order to drive differentiation towards testis development. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 59:265-276, 2001.     

Female mate choice in a mating system dominated by male sexual coercion

In poeciliid fishes, males can gain copulation either by courtingfemales or through sexual coercion. In some species these twotactics coexist. However, in about half of the poeciliids,males do not display, females never cooperate during copulationand all matings are achieved by thrusting the intromittentorgan toward the genital pore of apparently unaware females.In one of these species, the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusiaholbrooki), the probability of insemination is influenced bythe time females are previously deprived of males, suggestingthat females exert some control over the occurrence of matingeven in a system apparently dominated by sexual coercion. Inthe present study we investigated the tendency of female mosquitofishto approach males in relation to their reproductive status and the time they were previously deprived of males. The tendencyto approach males increased in females that were previouslydeprived of males and in females that had recently given birth.When allowed to choose between males, male-deprived femalespreferred larger males and normally pigmented over melanisticmales. Females preferred groups of three males over a singlemale, whereas the preference for three males over a group ofone male and two females was only marginally significant. Collectively,these results suggest that, even when coercive mating is theonly tactic adopted by males, females may be able to influencethe outcome of these attempts, and thus exert some controlover the paternity of their offspring.