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.

/pdf/effects-of-biodiversity-on-ecosystem-functioning-a-consensus-13j8vabcus.pdf

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.

/pdf/agricultural-sustainability-and-intensive-production-1h98l920tu.pdf

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.

/pdf/the-worldwide-leaf-economics-spectrum-1uikdmil76.pdf

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

Recovery from fire : Observations in the alpine vegetation of western Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)

Untersuchungen über die Dickenentwicklung der kutikularen Zellwandschichten bei der Fichtennadel

Current pressures to change the reforestation time limit of the Kyoto Protocol for Clean Development Mechanism sinks will create the conditions to generate carbon credits from recent deforestation of pristine tropical forests.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/299/5613/1669.full.pdf

Making Deforestation Pay Under the Kyoto Protocol

Monitoring and managing carbon stocks in forested ecosystems requires accurate and repeatable quantification of the spatial distribution of wood volume at landscape to regional scales Grid-based forest inventory networks have provided valuable records of forest structure and dynamics at individual plot scales, but in isolation they may not represent the carbon dynamics of heterogeneous landscapes encompassing diverse land-management strategies and site conditions Airborne LiDAR has greatly enhanced forest structural characterisation and, in conjunction with field-based inventories, it provides avenues for monitoring carbon over broader spatial scales Here we aim to enhance the integration of airborne LiDAR surveying with field-based inventories by exploring the effect of inventory plot size and number on the relationship between field-estimated and LiDAR-predicted wood volume in deciduous broad-leafed forest in central Germany Estimation of wood volume from airborne LiDAR was most robust (R2 = 092, RMSE = 5057 m3 ha−1 ~1413 Mg C ha−1) when trained and tested with 1 ha experimental plot data (n = 50) Predictions based on a more extensive (n = 1100) plot network with considerably smaller (005 ha) plots were inferior (R2 = 068, RMSE = 10101 ~2809 Mg C ha−1) Differences between the 1 and 005 ha volume models from LiDAR were negligible however at the scale of individual land-management units Sample size permutation tests showed that increasing the number of inventory plots above 350 for the 005 ha plots returned no improvement in R2 and RMSE variability of the LiDAR-predicted wood volume model Our results from this study confirm the utility of LiDAR for estimating wood volume in deciduous broad-leafed forest, but highlight the challenges associated with field plot size and number in establishing robust relationships between airborne LiDAR and field derived wood volume We are moving into a forest management era where field-inventory and airborne LiDAR are inextricably linked, and we encourage field inventory campaigns to strive for increased plot size and give greater attention to precise stem geolocation for better integration with remote sensing strategies

/pdf/scaling-wood-volume-estimates-from-inventory-plots-to-28v0pm0jpi.pdf

Scaling wood volume estimates from inventory plots to landscapes with airborne LiDAR in temperate deciduous forest

Well watered plants of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp cv. California Blackeye No. 5 had maximum photosynthetic rates of 16 μmol m-2 s-1 (at ambient CO2 concentration and environmental parameters optimal for high CO2 uptake). Leaf conductance declined with increasing water vapour concentration difference between leaf and air (Δw), but it increased with increasing leaf temperature at a constant small Δw. When light was varied, CO2 assimilation and leaf conductance were correlated linearly. We tested the hypothesis that g was controlled by photosynthesis via intercellular CO2 concentration (c
i). No unique relationship between (1) c
i, (2) the difference between ambient CO2 concentration (c
a) and c
i, namely c
a-c
i, or (3) the c
i/c
a ratio and g was found. g and A appeared to respond to environmental factors fairly independently of each other. The effects of different rates of soil drying on leaf gas exchange were studied. At unchanged air humidity, different rates of soil drying were produced by using (a) different soils, (b) different irrigation schemes and (c) different soil volumes per plant. Although the soil dried to wilting point the relative leaf water content was little affected. Different soil drying rates always resulted in the same response of photosynthetic capacity (A
max) and corresponding leaf conductance (g(Amax)) when plotted against percent relative plant-extractable soil water content (W

 e
 %) but the relationship with relative soil water content (W

 e
 ) was less clear. Above a range of W

 e
 of 15%–25%, A
max and g(Amax) were both high and responded little to decreasing W

 e
 . As soon as W

 e
 fell below this range, A
max and g(Amax) declined. The data suggest root-to-leaf communication not mediated via relative leaf water content. However, g(Amax) was initially more affected than A
max.

Soil drying and its effect on leaf conductance and CO2 assimilation of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp : I. The response to climatic factors and to the rate of soil drying in young plants.

Ernst Detlef Schulze

Papers

Recovery from fire : Observations in the alpine vegetation of western Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)

Untersuchungen über die Dickenentwicklung der kutikularen Zellwandschichten bei der Fichtennadel

Making Deforestation Pay Under the Kyoto Protocol

Scaling wood volume estimates from inventory plots to landscapes with airborne LiDAR in temperate deciduous forest

Soil drying and its effect on leaf conductance and CO2 assimilation of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp : I. The response to climatic factors and to the rate of soil drying in young plants.