Does land use matter in an arid Environment? A case study from the Hoanib River catchment, north-western Namibia

The effect of intensive grazing and browsing of domestic stock and wildlife on the number of species and abundance of vegetation was investigated in the Hoanib River catchment, north-western Namibia. The seasonal abundance of ground cover, bare earth, canopy cover, annual grass, perennial grass and annual forbs were measured in each of the focus-study areas. In three of the focus areas where the ranges of both domestic stock and wildlife were restricted either by fencing or water availability, impact on the vegetation was greatest. The final focus area was a more ‘open range’ system that allowed for the free movement of wildlife. Under these conditions the species abundance and availability of browsing and grazing was greater than the other focus areas during both the wet and dry seasons. However, very little difference in abundance and availability of vegetation was observed between focus areas in both seasons regardless of landuse. There is generally a low abundance of perennial grasses and browse species affording the ecosystem little resistance and resilience to disturbance caused by grazing and drought.     

Diatom assemblages from Adirondack lakes (New York,USA) and the development of inference models for retrospective environmental assessment

Detrended canonical coreespondence analysis (DCCA) was used to examine the relationships between diatom species distributions and environmental variables from 62 drainage lakes in the Adirondack region, New York (USA). The contribution of lakewater pH, Al_m (monomeric Al), NH₄, maximum depth, Mg, and DOC (dissolved organic carbon) were statistically significant in explaining the patterns of variation in the diatom species composition. Twenty-three and sixteen diatom taxa were identified as potential indicator species for pH and Al_m, respectively (i.e. a taxon with a strong statistical relationship to the environmental variable of interest, a well defined optimum, and a narrow tolerance to the variable of interest). Using weighted-averaging regression and calibration, predictive models were developed to infer lakewater pH (r ²=0.91), Al_m (r ²=0.83), DOC (dissolved organic carbon) (r ²=0.64), and ANC (acid neutralizing capacity; r ²=0.90). These variables are of key importance in understanding watershed acidification processes. These predictive models have been used in the PIRLA-II (Paleoecological Investigation of Recent Lake Acidification-II) project to answer policy-related questions concerning acidification, recovery, and fisheries loss.     

Postglacial history of alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) in the British Isles

Data from 92 postglacial pollen sequences are used to map the spread and increase of alder (Alnus glutinosa) across the British Isles between 9000 and 5000 years ago. The spread is found to be patchy and erratic in space and time. Consideration of the habitat requirements and reproductive ecology of alder suggest that it spread within Britain and Ireland after about 10 000 yr BP, when suitable habitat for it was scarce. Alder spread across most of Britain and Ireland early in the postglacial but only increased in abundance as (i) suitable habitat became available through changing sea levels, hydroseral successions, and floodplain development, and as (ii) rare weather events produced the necessary conditions for reproduction. Alder is unique among British and Irish trees in its requirement for a suitable habitat isolated among expanses of unsuitable habitats. Because of this, maps of its postglacial population spread and increase do not show the spatial coherence of maps for other forest tree taxa.     

Automated system for measuring snow surface energy balance components in mountainous terrain

The ability to continually monitor several meteorological parameters is needed to estimate snow surface energy balance components in mountainous terrain. In remote mountainous locations, limited accessibility and extreme weather conditions limit the use of delicate meteorological instrumentation. Robust instrumentation and radio telemetry are often needed to measure snow surface energy exchanges. This study examined the practicality and effectiveness of robust instrumentation in estimating radiative and turbulent exchanges in the forested Bear River Mountains of northern Utah. Measurement of reflected shortwave radiation was problematic due to possible selective absorption in the infra-red range. This resulted in overestimates of reflected shortwave radiation and decreased estimates of now surface albedo. During high snowfall, the pyranometer and net radiometer were occasionally covered with snow, resulting in inaccurate radiation measurements. Snow typically melted from instrument surfaces in less than one day under full sun. A relative humidity measurement accuracy of ± 4% may have resulted in a possible error of 20% in the calculation of vapour pressure. Snow depth measurement with an acoustical sensor was affected by new or blowing snow, which resulted in inaccurate snow depth measurement 16.2% of the time. The longest period without a valid snow depth measurement was 19.5 hours. A new snow temperature thermocouple ladder was designed and constructed and provided accurate within-pack temperature measurements throughout the pre-melt and melt season.     

Continental shelf benthos off Otago Peninsula,New Zealand

Benthic macrofauna of the continental shelf off Otago Peninsula, south-eastern New Zealand (45°51′S, 170°52′E) was surveyed by dredge sampling during 1973–1975. Numerical classification (Canberra metric coefficient and flexible sorting) was used to produce site groups and species groups, and three major benthic communities were recognised: a shallow-water (14–25 m) fauna inhabiting well-sorted fine sand, a mid-shelf fauna (concentrated in the depth range 50–76 m) associated with sediments containing the greatest proportions of gravel and siltclay, and a predominantly sand-bottom fauna occurring mainly on the outer shelf (87–150 m). All station groups were dominated numerically by polychaetes (mean of 36·6–56% of individuals) with Mollusca (13·8–25%) or Crustacea (12·1–19·4%) the next most abundant group.The inshore sand fauna was the most distinct, characteristic elements being the trochid gastropod Antisolarium egenum, an amphipod of the genus Hippomedon and dense patches of the spionid polychaete Spiophanes bombyx. Diagnostic species of the mid-shelf mixed sediments were Lepidonotus jacksoni, Psammolyce antipoda, Lumbrineris brevicirra and Phyllamphicteis foliata (Polychaeta), Terenochiton otagoensis, Micrelenchus caelatus caelatus, Maoricolpus roseus roseus and Zegalerus tenuis (Mollusca), Ampelisca chiltoni (Amphipoda) and Amphipholis squamata (Ophiuroidea). Outer shelf sand stations were faunally less distinct, but among the more characteristic species were Euthalenessa fimbriata, Sigalion sp. and Euchone sp. (Polychaeta) and Gari stangeri (Bivalvia). Several abundant species were widely distributed among station groups, notably Nephtys macroura, Lumbrineris magalhaensis, Phyllochaetopterus socialis and Owenia fusiformis (Polychaeta) and Nucula nitidula and Tawera spissa (Bivalvia).Free-living lunulitiform Bryozoa of the genus Otionella were a characteristic component of inner and outer shelf sand faunas, and their inshore penetration probably marks the outer limit of a turbulent zone.Species diversity (Margalef's d) varied markedly across the shelf and appeared to be related primarily to the degree of sediment heterogeneity. Mixed sediments of the middle shelf were particularly rich in species.     

Expert judgements on the response of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to climate change

We present results from detailed interviews with 12 leading climate scientists about the possible effects of global climate change on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The elicitation sought to examine the range of opinions within the climatic research community about the physical processes that determine the current strength of the AMOC, its future evolution in a changing climate and the consequences of potential AMOC changes. Experts assign different relative importance to physical processes which determine the present-day strength of the AMOC as well as to forcing factors which determine its future evolution under climate change. Many processes and factors deemed important are assessed as poorly known and insufficiently represented in state-of-the-art climate models. All experts anticipate a weakening of the AMOC under scenarios of increase of greenhouse gas concentrations. Two experts expect a permanent collapse of the AMOC as the most likely response under a 4×CO₂ scenario. Assuming a global mean temperature increase in the year 2100 of 4 K, eight experts assess the probability of triggering an AMOC collapse as significantly different from zero, three of them as larger than 40%. Elicited consequences of AMOC reduction include strong changes in temperature, precipitation distribution and sea level in the North Atlantic area. It is expected that an appropriately designed research program, with emphasis on long-term observations and coupled climate modeling, would contribute to substantially reduce uncertainty about the future evolution of the AMOC.