Green spaces are not all the same for the provision of air purification and climate regulation services: The case of urban parks

Only a few primate species thrive in temperate regions characterized by relatively low temperature, low rainfall, low species diversity, high elevation, and especially an extended season of food scarcity during which they suffer from dietary stress. We present data of a case study of dietary strategies and fallback foods in snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) in the Samage Forest, Northwest Yunnan, PRC. The snub-nosed monkeys adjusted intake of plant food items corresponding with changes in the phenology of deciduous trees in the forest and specifically showed a strong preference for young leaves in spring. A non-plant food, lichens (Parmeliaceae), featured prominently in the diet throughout the year (annual representation in the diet was about 67%) and became the dominant food item in winter when palatable plant resources were scarce. Additional highly sought winter foods were frost-resistant fruits and winter buds of deciduous hardwoods. The snub-nosed monkeys' choice of lichens as a staple fallback food is likely because of their spatiotemporal consistency in occurrence, nutritional and energetic properties, and the ease with which they can be harvested. Using lichens is a way to mediate effects of seasonal dearth in palatable plant foods and ultimately a key survival strategy. The snub-nosed monkeys' fallback strategy affects various aspects of their biology, e.g., two- and three-dimensional range use and social organization. The higher abundance of lichens at higher altitudes explains the monkeys' tendency to occupy relatively high altitudes in winter despite the prevailing cold. As to social organization, the wide temporal and spatial availability of lichens strongly reduces the ecological costs of grouping, thus allowing for the formation of "super-groups." Usnea lichens, the snub-nosed monkeys' primary dietary component, are known to be highly susceptible to human-induced environmental changes such as air pollution, and a decline of this critical resource base could have devastating effects on the last remaining populations. Within the order Primates, lichenivory is a rare strategy and only found in a few species or populations inhabiting montane areas, i.e., Macaca sylvanus, Colobus angolensis, and Rhinopithecus roxellana. Other temperate-dwelling primates rely mainly on buds and bark as winter fallback foods.

Fallback foods of temperate-living primates: a case study on snub-nosed monkeys.

Humid tropical forests are often characterized by large nitrogen (N) pools, and are known to have large potential N losses. Although rarely measured, tropical forests likely maintain considerable biological N fixation (BNF) to balance N losses. We estimated inputs of N via BNF by free-living microbes for two tropical forests in Puerto Rico, and assessed the response to increased N availability using an on-going N fertilization experiment. Nitrogenase activity was measured across forest strata, including the soil, forest floor, mosses, canopy epiphylls, and lichens using acetylene (C2H2) reduction assays. BNF varied significantly among ecosystem compartments in both forests. Mosses had the highest rates of nitrogenase activity per gram of sample, with 11 ± 6 nmol C2H2 reduced/g dry weight/h (mean ± SE) in a lower elevation forest, and 6 ± 1 nmol C2H2/g/h in an upper elevation forest. We calculated potential N fluxes via BNF to each forest compartment using surveys of standing stocks. Soils and mosses provided the largest potential inputs of N via BNF to these ecosystems. Summing all components, total background BNF inputs were 120 ± 29 μg N/m2/h in the lower elevation forest, and 95 ± 15 μg N/m2/h in the upper elevation forest, with added N significantly suppressing BNF in soils and forest floor. Moisture content was significantly positively correlated with BNF rates for soils and the forest floor. We conclude that BNF is an active biological process across forest strata for these tropical forests, and is likely to be sensitive to increases in N deposition in tropical regions.

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Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Two Tropical Forests: Ecosystem-Level Patterns and Effects of Nitrogen Fertilization

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2010_geiser001.pdf

Lichen-based critical loads for atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Western Oregon and Washington Forests, USA

Lichen and bryophyte distribution on oak in London in relation to air pollution and bark acidity

Diversity and sensitivity of epiphytes to oxides of nitrogen in London.

Biomonitoring using the lichen Hypogymnia physodes and bark samples near Zlatna, Romania immediately following closure of a copper ore-processing plant

O.W. Purvis

Papers

Diversity and sensitivity of epiphytes to oxides of nitrogen in London.

Biomonitoring using the lichen Hypogymnia physodes and bark samples near Zlatna, Romania immediately following closure of a copper ore-processing plant

Lichens in a changing pollution environment: An introduction