University of Maine

About: University of Maine is a education organization based out in Orono, Maine, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Ice sheet. The organization has 8637 authors who have published 16932 publications receiving 590124 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Maine at Orono.

Recruitment and mortality of early post-settlement stages of benthic algae

Abstract: Four transitional life history stages are generally recognized for benthic marine algae. On the basis of differences in size, we propose two more: young germlings and young juveniles. Three of these (spores or zygotes, young germlings, and germlings) are considered early post-settlement (EPS) stages. Many of the available data on recruitment and mortality were not collected with EPS stages specifically in mind, and considerable extrapolation and inference are required to interpret effects on early phases. Data on EPS stages, and grazing in particular, are based on the disappearance of early stages (laboratory or field experiments, including outplantings), on indirect information on mortality from manipulations of grazers or juvenile stages, and combinations of observation and manipulation. We also provide original data on the effects of water motion and canopy sweeping on zygote mortality. The most notable finding is the variability in, and multiplicity of, factors preventing successful recruitment of ear...

People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years

Abstract: Archaeological and paleoecological evidence shows that by 10,000 BCE, all human societies employed varying degrees of ecologically transformative land use practices, including burning, hunting, species propagation, domestication, cultivation, and others that have left long-term legacies across the terrestrial biosphere. Yet, a lingering paradigm among natural scientists, conservationists, and policymakers is that human transformation of terrestrial nature is mostly recent and inherently destructive. Here, we use the most up-to-date, spatially explicit global reconstruction of historical human populations and land use to show that this paradigm is likely wrong. Even 12,000 y ago, nearly three quarters of Earth’s land was inhabited and therefore shaped by human societies, including more than 95% of temperate and 90% of tropical woodlands. Lands now characterized as “natural,” “intact,” and “wild” generally exhibit long histories of use, as do protected areas and Indigenous lands, and current global patterns of vertebrate species richness and key biodiversity areas are more strongly associated with past patterns of land use than with present ones in regional landscapes now characterized as natural. The current biodiversity crisis can seldom be explained by the loss of uninhabited wildlands, resulting instead from the appropriation, colonization, and intensifying use of the biodiverse cultural landscapes long shaped and sustained by prior societies. Recognizing this deep cultural connection with biodiversity will therefore be essential to resolve the crisis.