Further records for Skye

As one of the most conspicuous boundaries between different types of ecosystem, the alpine timberline has attracted the interest of researchers in Innsbruck for more than 85 years. It is evident that the tree life form here reaches its absolute limit and is constrained by the harsh environment. However, the nature of constraints is less obvious and requires detailed ecophysiological analyses as exemplified in this review, which concentrates on the Central Tyrolean Alps. After focusing on the timberline environment, effects of elevation on the water relations and the CO₂ gas exchange of timberline-associated conifer species will be outlined towards conclusions on tree growth and treeline fluctuations. Presently, temperature is suggested to be the key environmental factor in determining the transition from forests to alpine shrub and grassland. As many physiological aspects are influenced directly or indirectly by the temperature regime at the alpine timberline, tree life at the timberline exists close to a number of physiological limits which interact to determine the position of the alpine timberline and modulate the upper boundary of tree life. Nevertheless, understanding of the altitude of the treeline must also consider seedling establishment, especially when evaluating treeline advances and global change effects in a changing environment.     

Impact assessment in SLCA: sorting the sLCIA methods according to their outcomes

Background, aims, and scope  

Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is a tool assessing the social aspects of products and services. This article is a step forward from the Guidelines and wishes to clarify the different impact assessment (IA) methods covered in the Guidelines and how these different methods would provide different types of information regarding the social aspects of the product system.     

SHORT NOTES

Bock, W. 2000. Heuristics in systematics. Ostrich 71 (1 &; 2): 41–44.

Avian systematics is not only part of the science of ornithology, but serves heuristically as a foundation for many other analyses in ornithology. Systematics can be divided roughly into two major areas, namely species-level analyses and supraspecific classification. Of greatest significance is the distinction between provisional classifications and standard sequences, the latter are based on widely accepted classifications and have major useful functions such as the arrangement of taxa in handbooks, check-lists, and museum collections. The species concept is part of evolutionary theory, not systematics, and applies to contemporaneous groups of individual organisms. Clear distinctions separate the species concept, the species category, the species taxon, and the phyletic lineage—all usually designated as the “species”. The frequent practice of recognising all distinctive allopatric forms as separate species taxa results in two discrete classes of species taxa which largely destroys their usefulness for other biological analyses, including conservation efforts.