Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

Humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities that increase rates of species invasions and species extinctions, at all scales, from local to global. These changes in components of the Earth's biodiversity cause concern for ethical and aesthetic reasons, but they also have a strong potential to alter ecosystem properties and the goods and services they provide to humanity. Ecological experiments, observations, and theoretical developments show that ecosystem properties depend greatly on biodiversity in terms of the functional characteristics of organisms present in the ecosystem and the distribution and abundance of those organisms over space and time. Species effects act in concert with the effects of climate, resource availability, and disturbance regimes in influencing ecosystem properties. Human activities can modify all of the above factors; here we focus on modification of these biotic controls. The scientific community has come to a broad consensus on many aspects of the re- lationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, including many points relevant to management of ecosystems. Further progress will require integration of knowledge about biotic and abiotic controls on ecosystem properties, how ecological communities are struc- tured, and the forces driving species extinctions and invasions. To strengthen links to policy and management, we also need to integrate our ecological knowledge with understanding of the social and economic constraints of potential management practices. Understanding this complexity, while taking strong steps to minimize current losses of species, is necessary for responsible management of Earth's ecosystems and the diverse biota they contain.

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Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge

A doubling in global food demand projected for the next 50 years poses huge challenges for the sustainability both of food production and of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide to society. Agriculturalists are the principal managers of global useable lands and will shape, perhaps irreversibly, the surface of the Earth in the coming decades. New incentives and policies for ensuring the sustainability of agriculture and ecosystem services will be crucial if we are to meet the demands of improving yields without compromising environmental integrity or public health.

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Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices

Bringing together leaf trait data spanning 2,548 species and 175 sites we describe, for the first time at global scale, a universal spectrum of leaf economics consisting of key chemical, structural and physiological properties. The spectrum runs from quick to slow return on investments of nutrients and dry mass in leaves, and operates largely independently of growth form, plant functional type or biome. Categories along the spectrum would, in general, describe leaf economic variation at the global scale better than plant functional types, because functional types overlap substantially in their leaf traits. Overall, modulation of leaf traits and trait relationships by climate is surprisingly modest, although some striking and significant patterns can be seen. Reliable quantification of the leaf economics spectrum and its interaction with climate will prove valuable for modelling nutrient fluxes and vegetation boundaries under changing land-use and climate.

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The worldwide leaf economics spectrum

We discuss the physical and enzymatic bases of carbone isotope discrimination during photosynthesis, noting how knowledge of discrimination can be used to provide additional insight into photosynthetic metabolism and the environmental influences on that process

Carbon Isotope Discrimination and Photosynthesis

Presented are the results of the model study of wildfire impact on the spatial distribution of deposition fields of sulfur and nitrogen compounds in the regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. The CHIMERE chemistry transport model was used for computing the deposition fields taking account of pyrogenic emissions specified using satellite measurements of intensity of wildfire heat radiation. Carried out is the model validation using the data of ground-based measurements of nitrate and sulfate concentrations in precipitation at the Russian EANET stations as well as the data of satellite measurements of carbon dioxide content in the troposphere and aerosol optical depth carried out by IASI and MODIS instruments, respectively. It is demonstrated that wildfires considerably influence deposition of sulfur and nitrogen compounds and redistribution of nitrogen compounds assimilated by plants within the regions under consideration.

The model study of the wildfire impact on the spatial distribution of deposition of sulfur and nitrogen compounds in Siberia

A significantly lower growth was found in a Norway spruce stand where some of the trees are becoming yellow, in comparison to a similar stand composed of green trees. The growth loss can only be explained by lower photosynthesis of yellow foliage because the green foliage in both stands photosynthesized similarly, and no difference in production below ground was detected. The yellowing of the foliage is a result of lower Mg++ uptake and, thus, lower Mg++ concentration in the foliage of the trees in the declining stand, including the foliage green trees. Correction of the leaf area index of the declining site, to account for the reduced productivity of the canopy, will result in a production which is appropriate for this effective leaf area index.

Carbon Assimilation and Nutrition of Trees in Two Picea Abies (L.) Karst. Stands in Bavaria Exhibiting Apparent Decline Differences

Measuring biological diversity is a crucial but difficult undertaking, as exemplified in oaks where complex morphological, ecological, biogeographic and genetic differentiation patterns collide with traditional taxonomy that measures biodiversity in number of species (or higher taxa). In this pilot study, we generated High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) amplicon data of the intergenic spacer of the 5S nuclear ribosomal DNA cistron (5S-IGS) in oaks, using six mock samples that differ in geographic origin, species composition, and pool complexity. The potential of the marker for automated geno-taxonomy applications was assessed using a reference dataset of 1770 5S-IGS cloned sequences, covering the entire taxonomic breadth and distribution range of western Eurasian Quercus, and applying similarity (BLAST) and evolutionary approaches (ML trees and EPA). Both methods performed equally well, with correct identification of species in sections Ilex and Cerris in the pure and mixed samples and main genotypes shared by species of sect. Quercus. Application of different cut-off thresholds revealed that medium-high abundance sequences (>10 or 25) suffice for a net species identification of samples containing one or few individuals. Lower thresholds identify phylogenetic correspondence with all target species in highly mixed samples (analogue to environmental bulk samples) and include rare variants pointing towards reticulation, incomplete lineage sorting, pseudogenic 5S units, and in-situ (natural) contamination. Our pipeline is highly promising for future assessments of intra-specific and inter-population diversity, and of the genetic resources of natural ecosystems, which are fundamental to empower fast and solid biodiversity conservation programs worldwide.

High-throughput sequencing of 5S-IGS in oaks - exploring intragenomic variation and algorithms to recognize target species in pure and mixed samples.

In this chapter, global change and its impacts on terrestrial ecosystems are discussed. First, land use and land-use change are introduced, focusing on agriculture and forestry, in terms of both their characteristics and their consequences for the biogeochemistry of terrestrial managed ecosystems. Then these changes in land use are linked to observed and predicted climate change, which is described in detail, that is, radiative forcing of greenhouse gases, global warming, global dimming and brightening. Moreover, both the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and the feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems on climate are discussed. Changes in global biodiversity are illustrated as well. The last section contains a discussion of global political agreements that have been put in place to address these global ecological challenges of land degradation, climate change and biodiversity.

Ernst Detlef Schulze

Papers

The model study of the wildfire impact on the spatial distribution of deposition of sulfur and nitrogen compounds in Siberia

Carbon Assimilation and Nutrition of Trees in Two Picea Abies (L.) Karst. Stands in Bavaria Exhibiting Apparent Decline Differences

High-throughput sequencing of 5S-IGS in oaks - exploring intragenomic variation and algorithms to recognize target species in pure and mixed samples.

Global change and terrestrial ecosystems

Die Wirkung von Immissionen auf Fichtenökosysteme - Ergebnisse der Waldschadensforschung im Fichtelgebirge