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

Freshwater biodiversity is the over-riding conservation priority during the International Decade for Action - 'Water for Life' - 2005 to 2015. Fresh water makes up only 0.01% of the World's water and approximately 0.8% of the Earth's surface, yet this tiny fraction of global water supports at least 100000 species out of approximately 1.8 million - almost 6% of all described species. Inland waters and freshwater biodiversity constitute a valuable natural resource, in economic, cultural, aesthetic, scientific and educational terms. Their conservation and management are critical to the interests of all humans, nations and governments. Yet this precious heritage is in crisis. Fresh waters are experiencing declines in biodiversity far greater than those in the most affected terrestrial ecosystems, and if trends in human demands for water remain unaltered and species losses continue at current rates, the opportunity to conserve much of the remaining biodiversity in fresh water will vanish before the 'Water for Life' decade ends in 2015. Why is this so, and what is being done about it? This article explores the special features of freshwater habitats and the biodiversity they support that makes them especially vulnerable to human activities. We document threats to global freshwater biodiversity under five headings: overexploitation; water pollution; flow modification; destruction or degradation of habitat; and invasion by exotic species. Their combined and interacting influences have resulted in population declines and range reduction of freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Conservation of biodiversity is complicated by the landscape position of rivers and wetlands as 'receivers' of land-use effluents, and the problems posed by endemism and thus non-substitutability. In addition, in many parts of the world, fresh water is subject to severe competition among multiple human stakeholders. Protection of freshwater biodiversity is perhaps the ultimate conservation challenge because it is influenced by the upstream drainage network, the surrounding land, the riparian zone, and - in the case of migrating aquatic fauna - downstream reaches. Such prerequisites are hardly ever met. Immediate action is needed where opportunities exist to set aside intact lake and river ecosystems within large protected areas. For most of the global land surface, trade-offs between conservation of freshwater biodiversity and human use of ecosystem goods and services are necessary. We advocate continuing attempts to check species loss but, in many situations, urge adoption of a compromise position of management for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning and resilience, and human livelihoods in order to provide a viable long-term basis for freshwater conservation. Recognition of this need will require adoption of a new paradigm for biodiversity protection and freshwater ecosystem management - one that has been appropriately termed 'reconciliation ecology'.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/96AA265E3D88C95FB802E7A73CCB4332/S1464793105006950a.pdf/div-class-title-freshwater-biodiversity-importance-threats-status-and-conservation-challenges-div.pdf

Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

Humans continue to transform the global nitrogen cycle at a record pace, reflecting an increased combustion of fossil fuels, growing demand for nitrogen in agriculture and industry, and pervasive inefficiencies in its use. Much anthropogenic nitrogen is lost to air, water, and land to cause a cascade of environmental and human health problems. Simultaneously, food production in some parts of the world is nitrogen-deficient, highlighting inequities in the distribution of nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Optimizing the need for a key human resource while minimizing its negative consequences requires an integrated interdisciplinary approach and the development of strategies to decrease nitrogen-containing waste.

/pdf/transformation-of-the-nitrogen-cycle-recent-trends-questions-3hakfwkgng.pdf

Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions

On 13 October 1908, Fritz Haber filed his patent on the "synthesis of ammonia from its elements" for which he was later awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A hundred years on we live in a world transformed by and highly dependent upon Haber–Bosch nitrogen.

How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world

With humans having an increasing impact on the planet, the interactions between the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle and climate are expected to become an increasingly important determinant of the Earth system.

/pdf/an-earth-system-perspective-of-the-global-nitrogen-cycle-51ivqz6w55.pdf

An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle.

Improving forecasts for noisy geographic time series

Removal of mammalian mesopredators is a strategy frequently applied to problems of conservation management, such as protection of rare or endangered species. Effectiveness of predator removal is often dependent on the ease with which additional predators can immigrate into the removal area. We applied cost-distance analysis, coupled to a sensitivity analysis, and least-cost path analysis to raccoons (Procyon lotor) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) on the Virginia barrier islands to determine the landscape resistance (i.e., difficulty) for mesopredators to reach individual islands from both mainland and island sources, to assess the relative role of mainland versus island populations as sources of immigrants to unoccupied (or depopulated) islands, and to formulate strategies that focus management efforts on a few key predator sources. The minimum energetic resistances to immigration varied over 3 orders of magnitude, making some islands better targets for removal efforts than others. Additionally, because of differences in the distribution of resident populations on the islands, resistance to immigration to a typical island is at least 3 times less for raccoons than for red foxes. Landscape resistance to red fox immigration is typically lower from the mainland, whereas for raccoons inter-island movements are typically less costly. Empirical data from long-term field studies of raccoons and red foxes in this system support the resistance structure identified. Overwater transits made by marked and resighted raccoons all were relatively short and relatively low-cost. Similarly, islands that were recolonized following the removal of raccoons and red foxes all were characterized by very low resistance values. These results are used to identify specific islands for which predator removal efforts are most likely to be successful in aiding the recovery of beach-nesting and colonial waterbirds in this system. A similar approach may be applied in any landscape where there are distinct differences in the costs of traversing different elements of the landscape. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Cost-distance analysis of mesopredators as a tool for avian habitat restoration on a naturally fragmented landscape

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2017_vanderbilt001.pdf

A prototype system for multilingual data discovery of International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network data

Herein, we introduce a framework of an ecological information management prototype of tools based on a metadata standard. The framework was developed by the Ecological Informatics Working Group of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) to aid with editing, storing, and using documents in the multiple languages of Asian cultures that comprise the East-Asia Pacific International Long-Term Ecological Research (EAP-ILTER) Network. The conceptual framework of the system can be divided into three tiers. The first tier deals with datasets and related information. The second tier relates to information management. Once datasets and other related information have been described, they are stored in a schema-independent database. The third tier is comprised of the full web-based interfaces that allow easy access to the second tier. Results of the application of this framework consist of an Ecological Metadata Language (EML) document database module, a data analysis function module, and a collection of 58 EML documents.

A Metadata-based Framework for Multilingual Ecological Information Management

Most traditional methods used by ecologists to collect field data are time and manpower intensive. The development of sensor networks, however, allows sensors to gather data in the field and deliver them to the laboratory automatically. But the shift toward this data collection paradigm in turn has created new challenges for indexing, navigating, documenting, and analyzing the data. Furthermore, standard mechanisms for analysis and quality assurance checking of sensor-collected data are lacking. Therefore, an automated data quality checking and analyzing system based on metadata would have tremendous advantages for ecologists when they use sensor-collected data. To address the management and quality assurance problems of sensor data, we have developed a tool based on the Ecological Metadata Language (EML). This tool allows researchers to access EML, upload data, check data quality, and then run R code on the server. Researchers can use it for data manipulation, calculation, and graphical display online without the need to install any statistical software.

John H. Porter

Papers

Improving forecasts for noisy geographic time series

Cost-distance analysis of mesopredators as a tool for avian habitat restoration on a naturally fragmented landscape

A prototype system for multilingual data discovery of International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network data

A Metadata-based Framework for Multilingual Ecological Information Management

Establishing an EML-based Data Management System for Automating Analysis of Field Sensor Data