Showing papers on "Disturbance (geology) published in 2007"

Mortality and tree‐size distributions in natural mixed‐age forests

Abstract: Summary 1Tree-size distributions are changing in many natural forests around the world, and it is important to understand the underlying processes that are causing these changes. Here we use a classic conceptual framework – the shifting mosaic of patches model – to explore the ways in which competitive thinning and disturbance influence tree-size distributions, and to consider the effects of temporal variability in disturbance frequency on the size structure of forests. 2We monitored 250 stands of Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortiodes (mountain beech), randomly distributed over 9000 hectares, for 19 years. Mountain beech is a light-demanding species that forms monospecific forests in New Zealand mountains. For the purposes of our model, we assumed that each stand functions as an even-aged population: it is initiated by a pulse of recruitment, undergoes competitive thinning as it matures, and is eventually destroyed by a disturbance event. The tree-size distribution of the whole forest is driven partly by the frequency and temporal patchiness of disturbance events and partly by competitive processes within the constituent stands. 3Temporal changes in stem density and mean tree size were observed to be remarkably similar in all young stands, indicating that a consistent packing rule operates during this phase of stand development. A popular idea in the self-thinning literature is that the maintenance of constant leaf area index (LAI) provides the mechanism for this packing rule, but our analyses suggest that LAI increased by about 30% during the thinning phase. We use leaf economic theory to develop a new packing rule based on light interception, and argue that LAI increases with stand age because of changes in canopy organisation. 4Smaller trees were significantly more likely to die than larger trees within the young stands. Tree-diameter distributions within young stands were left skewed but those of older populations were normally distributed. These observations are consistent with asymmetric competition winnowing out small, suppressed trees from young stands but having less effect in older stands. 5Large-scale disturbances created gaps of sufficient size to allow mass recruitment of seedlings in about 0.8% of stands each year. Older stands were most susceptible to such large-scale disturbance, but the trend was weak. 6The diameter-distribution of the whole Nothofagus forest was found to be approximately exponential in form. Simulation models only produced realistic diameter distributions when competitive packing rules and disturbance were included. Therefore, the shifting mosaic model provides a general framework for understand the ways in which these mortality processes determine forest size structure. 7The diameter distribution of the forest was not in equilibrium over the 19-year study. Using simulation models, we show that temporal variability in disturbance frequency can generate enormous deviations in tree-diameter distributions away from the long-term mean, leading us to conclude that modern-day disequilibrium in natural forests may be the legacy of past disturbance events.

Reciprocal relationships and potential feedbacks between biodiversity and disturbance

Abstract: Two major foci of ecological research involve reciprocal views of the relationship between biodiversity and disturbance: disturbance determines community diversity or diversity determines realized disturbance severity. Here, we present an initial attempt to synthesize these two approaches in order to understand whether feedbacks occur, and what their effects on patterns of diversity might be. Our review of published experiments shows that (i) disturbance severity can be both a cause and a consequence of local diversity in a wide range of ecosystems and (ii) shapes of the unidirectional relationships between diversity and disturbance can be quite variable. To explore how feedbacks between diversity and disturbance might operate to alter expected patterns of diversity in nature, we develop and then evaluate a conceptual model that decomposes the relationships into component parts, considering sequentially the effect of diversity on disturbance severity, and the effect of realized disturbance on diversity loss, subsequent recruitment, and competitive exclusion. Our model suggests that feedbacks can increase mean values of richness, decrease variability, and alter the patterns of correlation between diversity and disturbance in nature. We close by offering ideas for future research to help fill gaps in our understanding of reciprocal relationships among ecological variables like diversity and disturbance.

Power-Quality Disturbance Recognition Using S-Transform

Abstract: Taking advantage of S-transforms (STs), this paper proposes a new method of detecting and classifying power-quality disturbances. The ST is unique in that it provides frequency-dependent resolution while maintaining a direct relationship with the Fourier spectrum. The features obtained from ST are distinct, understandable, and immune to noise. According to a rule-based decision tree, eight types of single power disturbance and two types of complex power disturbance are well recognized, and there is no need to use other complicated classifiers. The comparison between the wavelet-transform-based method and the ST-based method for power-quality disturbance recognition is also provided. The simulation results show that the proposed method is effective and immune against noise. The proposed method is feasible and promising for real applications

Disturbance, invasion and re‐invasion: managing the weed‐shaped hole in disturbed ecosystems

Abstract: We aim to develop a simple model to explore how disturbance and propagule pressure determine conditions for successful invasion in systems where recruitment occurs only in disturbed sites. Disturbance is often thought to favour invaders as it allows recruitment; however, the effects of disturbance are more complicated when it results in mortality of the invader. When disturbance rates in both invader occupied and unoccupied sites are the same, recruitment and mortality effects are exactly balanced, and successful invasion is independent of the disturbance regime. Differences in the disturbance rates between invader occupied and unoccupied sites can occur through invader modification or management of disturbance. Under these conditions, we found a novel mechanism for the generation of an Allee effect, which occurs when the invader promotes disturbance in sites it already occupies. When Allee effects occur one-off, large-scale disturbances can result in permanent, dramatic shifts in invader abundance; and conversely, reducing the population below a critical threshold can cause extinction.

Woodland Caribou Extirpation and Anthropogenic Landscape Disturbance in Ontario

Abstract: The decline of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) has been attributed to anthropogenic landscape disturbances, but critical distance thresholds and time lags between disturbance and extirpation are unknown. Using a database of caribou presence and extirpation for northern Ontario, Canada, geo-coded to 10 × 10-km cells, we constructed logistic regression models to predict caribou extirpation based on distance to the nearest of each of 9 disturbance types: forest cutovers, fires, roads, utility corridors, mines, pits and quarries, lakes, trails, and rail lines. We used Akaike's Information Criterion to select parsimonious models and Receiver-Operating Characteristic curves to derive optimal thresholds. To deal with the effects of spatial autocorrelation on estimates of model significance, we used subsampling and restricted randomizations. Forest cutovers were the best predictor of caribou occupancy, with a tolerance threshold of 13 km to nearest cutover and a time lag of 2 decades between...

Comments on Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Abstract: This paper presents comments on active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) in four aspects as follows: (1) tracking differentiator; (2) nonlinear combination of proportional, integral, and differential errors; (3) extended state observer; and (4) disturbance rejection. Applications of ADRC are briefly introduced.

Post-socialist forest disturbance in the carpathian border region of poland, slovakia, and ukraine

Abstract: Forests provide important ecosystem services, and protected areas around the world are intended to reduce human disturbance on forests. The question is how forest cover is changing in different parts of the world, why some areas are more frequently disturbed, and if protected areas are effective in limiting anthropogenic forest disturbance. The Carpathians are Eastern Europe's largest contiguous forest ecosystem and are a hotspot of biodiversity. Eastern Europe has undergone dramatic changes in political and socioeconomic structures since 1990, when socialistic state economies transitioned toward market economies. However, the effects of the political and economic transition on Carpathian forests remain largely unknown. Our goals were to compare post-socialist forest disturbance and to assess the effectiveness of protected areas in the border triangle of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine, to better understand the role of broadscale political and socioeconomic factors. Forest disturbances were assessed using the forest disturbance index derived from Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+ images from 1978 to 2000. Our results showed increased harvesting in all three countries (up to 1.8 times) in 1988-1994, right after the system change. Forest disturbance rates differed markedly among countries (disturbance rates in Ukraine were 4.5 times higher than in Poland, and those in Slovakia were 4.3 times higher than in Poland), and in Ukraine, harvests tended to occur at higher elevations. Forest fragmentation increased in all three countries but experienced a stronger increase in Slovakia and Ukraine (approximately 5% decrease in core forest) than in Poland. Protected areas were most effective in Poland and in Slovakia, where harvesting rates dropped markedly (by nearly an order of magnitude in Slovakia) after protected areas were designated. In Ukraine, harvesting rates inside and outside protected areas did not differ appreciably, and harvests were widespread immediately before the designation of protected areas. In summary, the socioeconomic changes in Eastern Europe that occurred since 1990 had strong effects on forest disturbance. Differences in disturbance rates among countries appear to be most closely related to broadscale socioeconomic conditions, forest management practices, forest policies, and the strength of institutions. We suggest that such factors may be equally important in other regions of the world.

The Effect of Repeated Physical Disturbance on Soft Tissue Decomposition?Are Taphonomic Studies an Accurate Reflection of Decomposition?

Abstract: Although the relationship between decomposition and postmortem interval has been well studied, almost no studies examined the potential effects of physical disturbance occurring as a result of data collection procedures. This study compares physically disturbed rabbit carcasses with a series of undisturbed carcasses to assess the presence and magnitude of any effects resulting from repetitive disturbance. Decomposition was scored using visual assessment of soft tissue changes, and numerical data such as weight loss and carcass temperature were recorded. The effects of disturbance over time on weight loss, carcass temperature, soil pH and decomposition were studied. In addition, this study aimed to validate some of the anecdotal evidence regarding decomposition. Results indicate disturbance significantly inversely affects both weight loss and carcass temperature. No differences were apparent between groups for soil pH change or overall decomposition stage. An insect-mediated mechanism for the disturbance effect is suggested, along with indications as to why this effect may be cancelled when scoring overall decomposition.

Elephants, fire, and frost can determine community structure and composition in Kalahari Woodlands.

Abstract: Fire, elephants, and frost are important disturbance factors in many African savannas, but the relative magnitude of their effects on vegetation and their interactions have not been quantified. Understanding how disturbance shapes savanna structure and composition is critical for predicting changes in tree cover and for formulating management and conservation policy. A simulation model was used to investigate how the disturbance regime determines vegetation structure and composition in a mixed Kalahari sand woodland savanna in western Zimbabwe. The model consisted of submodels for tree growth, tree damage caused by disturbance, mortality, and recruitment that were parameterized from field data collected over a two-year period. The model predicts that, under the current disturbance regime, tree basal area in the study area will decline by two-thirds over the next two decades and become dominated by species unpalatable to elephants. Changes in the disturbance regime are predicted to greatly modify vegetation structure and community composition. Elephants are the primary drivers of woodland change in this community at present-day population densities, and their impacts are exacerbated by the effects of fire and frost. Frost, in particular, does not play an important role when acting independently but appears to be a key secondary factor in the presence of elephants and/or fire. Unlike fire and frost, which cannot suppress the woodland phase on their own in this ecosystem, elephants can independently drive the vegetation to the scrub phase. The results suggest that elephant and fire management may be critical for the persistence of certain woodland communities within dry-season elephant habitats in the eastern Kalahari, particularly those dominated by Brachystegia spiciformis and other palatable species.

Effects of upland disturbance and instream restoration on hydrodynamics and ammonium uptake in headwater streams

Abstract: Delivery of water, sediments, nutrients, and organic matter to stream ecosystems is strongly influenced by the catchment of the stream and can be altered greatly by upland soil and vegetation disturbance. At the Fort Benning Military Installation (near Columbus, Georgia), spatial variability in intensity of military training results in a wide range of intensities of upland disturbance in stream catchments. A set of 8 streams in catchments spanning this upland disturbance gradient was selected for investigation of the impact of disturbance intensity on hydrodynamics and nutrient uptake. The size of transient storage zones and rates of NH4 þ uptake in all study streams were among the lowest reported in the literature. Upland disturbance did not appear to influence stream hydrodynamics strongly, but it caused significant decreases in instream nutrient uptake. In October 2003, coarse woody debris (CWD) was added to ½ of the study streams (spanning the disturbance gradient) in an attempt to increase hydrodynamic and structural complexity, with the goals of enhancing biotic habitat and increasing nutrient uptake rates. CWD additions had positive short-term (within 1 mo) effects on hydrodynamic complexity (water velocity decreased and transient storage zone cross-sectional area, relative size of the transient storage zone, fraction of the median travel time attributable to transient storage over a standardized length of 200 m, and the hydraulic retention factor increased) and nutrient uptake (NH4 þ uptake rates increased). Our results suggest that water quality in streams with intense upland disturbances can be improved by enhancing instream biotic nutrient uptake capacity through measures such as restoring stream CWD.

Biodiversity and the Heterogeneous Disturbance Regime on Military Training Lands

Abstract: Disproportionately large numbers of threatened and endangered species and unusually high biodiversity occur on active and former military training areas. Although this may seem paradoxical given the apparently destructive nature of military training, an evaluation of the nature and extent of the disturbances is enlightening. Military training frequently produces heterogeneous landscapes. Large portions of military training areas remain virtually untouched, favoring disturbance-averse species; other portions are heavily disturbed, favoring disturbancedependent species. The rich habitat mosaics include the two extremes as well as the continua of disturbance and succession between them, thus providing suitable habitat for a very large number of species with widely varying habitat requirements. To explain the phenomenon, a heterogeneous disturbance hypothesis is proposed which suggests that biodiversity is maximized where multiple kinds, frequencies, severities, periodicities, sizes, shapes, and/or durations of disturbance occur concomitantly on a landscape in a spatially and temporally distributed fashion. The enhanced biodiversity occurring on active and former military training areas illustrates the need for restoration ecologists to restore or maintain an appropriate heterogeneous disturbance regime when attempting to restore ecosystem function and biodiversity.

Habituation and habitat changes can moderate the impacts of human disturbance on shorebird breeding performance

Abstract: Disturbance by humans is widely expected to reduce the reproductive fitness of nesting birds if disturbance reduces nest attentiveness, and unattended eggs experience increased risk of predation or exposure to potentially lethal temperature extremes. Yet, relatively few studies have examined the physiological or behavioural mechanisms whereby disturbance influences reproductive fitness, or the extent to which the costs of disturbance may be reduced through habituation. We compared the behavioural responses, egg temperatures and reproductive success of shore-nesting white-fronted plovers Charadrius marginatus to disturbance at two breeding sites experiencing low versus high human recreational activity, respectively. Daytime nest attentiveness decreased with increasing experimental disturbance at both sites, but this relationship differed between sites; for any given level of disturbance, incubating birds at the more disturbed site had greater nest attentiveness. They achieved this through habituation, allowing a closer human approach before leaving the nest, and returning to the nest faster after a disturbance event. Despite lower average daytime nest attentiveness at the more disturbed site, incubation temperatures did not differ significantly between sites. Nest mortality, mostly by natural mammalian and corvid predators, was significantly lower at the site experiencing high recreational activity. However, chick mortality was significantly greater at the more disturbed site, most likely because of predation by domestic dogs. Chick mortality may have been increased by the habitation of chicks, whose escape responses were much reduced at the more disturbed site. Nonetheless, annual fecundity was substantially higher at the more disturbed site, showing that the overall reproductive fitness of wild birds is not always compromised by human disturbance and urbanization.

A dendroecological reconstruction of disturbance in an old-growth Fagus-Abies forest in Slovenia

Abstract: The scarcity of large old-growth forests has made it challenging to quantify disturbance regimes in Central Europe. The objective of this study was to reconstruct the history of disturbance in an old-growth Fagus-Abies forest reserve in Slovenia using a dendroecological approach. We extracted cores from canopy trees blown down during a recent windthrow event and identified growth releases in the tree-ring series using boundary-line release criteria to infer past disturbances. A total of 216 release events were identified from 88 trees. Between 1790 and 1990, moderate, asynchronous release events were present in nearly every decade of the disturbance chronology, suggesting a history of frequent, low severity disturbance. However, there were also peaks in the chronology corresponding to synchronous release events in a large proportion of the trees, suggesting that less frequent, intermediate severity disturbance events played an important role in forest development. These events are likely caused from wind damage associated with local thunderstorms, which seem to occur at intervals between 20-80 years on the study site. Thus, in addition to the small-scale gap phase processes operating in the forest, the results indicate that periodic intermediate severity disturbance events are an important component of the disturbance regime in mountain forests of Central Europe.

The Behavioral Ecology of Disturbance Responses

Abstract: Measuring the impacts of anthropogenic activities on wildlife is crucial for ensuring effective management. Animal behavior is often considered a sensitive index of impact, but its use requires detailed understanding of the context dependent decisions animals make. In this manuscript I identify a number of areas where insights from the field of animal behavior are relevant to studies of human disturbance and activity. In particular, I differentiate between disturbance effects and disturbance impacts and show how context-dependent decision-making often makes animal behavior an unreliable index of impact. I show the areas where animal behavior can be useful in quantifying minimum disturbance impact when additional information is available, and identify a number of areas where further research may help improve the management of anthropogenic activities within wildlife areas. The effective management of human activities in wildlife areas is an

Predicting the population consequences of human disturbance for Ringed Plovers Charadrius hiaticula: a game theory approach

Abstract: Human disturbance and its potential impacts upon bird populations are currently topical and contentious issues for conservationists. Although many studies have revealed a behavioural impact, or even direct effect on breeding success or survival, these cannot usually be extended to predict the impact on population size. Here we present a population model that allows predictions of the effect that changes in human numbers, visiting a 9-km-long section of the coastline, may have upon the size of a Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula population. Human disturbance affects Ringed Plovers in our study area through birds avoiding areas of high disturbance and, in addition, through the accidental trampling of a small number of nests by people walking on the beach. Using the level of human disturbance and habitat variables (which define territory quality) it is possible to predict which areas of beach are occupied and therefore the sites available to the population. Breeding success, for a given area of beach, can be predicted from habitat data. Incorporating known, density-independent, adult mortality allows the equilibrium population size to be predicted. This provides a model that predicts population size. This model is then used to predict the population that the site would support with different, hypothetical, levels of disturbance. If nest loss from human activity was prevented, for example by fencing nests, we predict the Plover population size would increase by 8%. A complete absence of human disturbance would cause a population increase of 85%. If the numbers of people were to double, we predict the population would decrease by 23%.

Predicting the effect of disturbance on coastal birds

Abstract: Assessments of whether disturbance is having a deleterious effect on populations have often measured behavioural responses to disturbance and assumed that populations with a larger behavioural response are more susceptible to disturbance. However, there is no guarantee that the behavioural response to disturbance is related to the population consequence, measured in terms of decreased reproduction or increased mortality. Individual-based models, consisting of fitness-maximizing individuals, are one means of linking the behavioural responses to disturbance to population consequences. This paper reviews how individual-based models have been used to predict the effect of disturbance on populations of shorebirds and wildfowl at several European sites, and shows how these models could be improved in the future by incorporating a range of alternative responses to disturbance.

Nutrient enrichment influences the responses of stream macroinvertebrates to disturbance

Abstract: The effects of nutrient enrichment on the responses of alpine stream macroinvertebrates to disturbance were studied using 2 field experiments. In experiment 1, individual stones were physically disturbed in 3 different streams at intervals of 0 (i.e., no disturbance), 4, 8, and 16 d over a 32-d period. In experiment 2, nutrients were added to 1 of 2 channels in the same stream, and the same disturbance regime as in experiment 1 was applied in both channels. The stones were collected at the end of each experiment. Periphyton chlorophyll a and ash-free dry mass (experiment 2 only), macroinvertebrate diversity and density, and densities and relative abundances of baetid mayflies, nemourid stoneflies, and chironomid and simuliid dipterans were determined for each stone. In addition, C, N, and P contents of periphyton, benthic organic matter, grazing mayflies, and detritivorous stoneflies and dipterans were determined for each channel in experiment 2. In experiment 1, disturbance frequency affected the...

Future directions in disturbance research

Abstract: The major questions identified for future research are: what determines patterns of human disturbance; how can we determine population-level responses to disturbance; are there general rules for predicting how important disturbance will be; how important are disturbance-derived ecological traps; what is the interaction between predation and disturbance; when does habituation occur; how do physiological responses to disturbance affect population size; what is the evidence for changes in access impacting upon populations; what are the positive consequences of access to the countryside; how important is habitat-specific disturbance; which measures reduce human impact and how can large-scale planning minimize the impact of disturbance?

Evaluating the position of a disturbance

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for evaluating the position of a time-varying disturbance on an optical waveguide. The steps include: transmitting sensing signals onto the optical waveguide, which sensing signals have imposed thereon a modulation which is dependent, at least in part, on their time of transmission; receiving returned sensing signals, which signals have been exposed to the disturbance; and, from the previously imposed modulation on the returned sensing signals, evaluating the position of the disturbance. Because the sensing signals have a modulation that is dependent at least in part on their transmission time, the round-trip time for the signals to travel to and from a disturbance can be inferred. From this round trip time, or a value related thereto, it is possible to directly or indirectly evaluate the position of the disturbance.

Impacts of postfire salvage logging on understory plant communities of the boreal mixedwood forest 2 and 34 years after disturbance

Abstract: We compared understory vegetation composition and richness in aspen-dominated boreal mixedwood forest stands in Alberta, Canada, that had been burned by wildfire with those that burned and were sub...