Biodiversity Patterns in Relation to Climate: The Coastal Temperate Rainforests of North America

I present the systematics and distribution of five new species of oribatid mites in the genus Ceratoppia (Oribatida: Peloppiidae) from western North America. The species are described on the basis of adult morphology using the following character states: number of hypostomal setae, number, length and expression of posterior notogastral setae, length of lamellae and lamellar cusp, length of interlamellar setae, and the shape and dentition of the rostrum. Ceratoppia indentata n. sp. is described from forest floor habitats, while Ceratoppia longicuspis n. sp. and Ceratoppia tofinoensis n. sp. are described from arboreal bryosphere habitats; Ceratoppia offarostrata n. sp. is associated with bark habitats. Ceratoppia valerieae n. sp. was collected from both arboreal and forest floor samples. Distributions of all species are provided based on museum and collection records; C. indentata, C. longicuspis, C. tofinoensis are recorded from coastal temperate coniferous rainforests of the Pacific Northwest of North America, while C. valerieae was found in coastal temperate rainforests and extending along the southern border of British Columbia into eastern Alberta. Ceratoppia offarostrata is collected only from a small number of locations on the west coast of Canada. Comments on other North American Ceratoppia species is given. A morphological key is presented to the described adult species for the genus Ceratoppia in North America.

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On the Interplay of Ownership Patterns, Biodiversity, and Conservation in Past and Present Temperate Forest Landscapes of Europe and North America

Current Forestry Reports ◽

10.1007/s40725-021-00143-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andreas Mölder ◽

Malin Tiebel ◽

Tobias Plieninger

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

North America ◽

Ecosystem Management ◽

Conservation Management ◽

Time Shift ◽

Special Focus ◽

Ownership Type ◽

Private Forests ◽

Biodiversity Patterns ◽

Ownership Patterns

Abstract Purpose of Review Ownership patterns and the associated management characteristics are related to forest structures, biodiversity patterns, and their conservation worldwide. A literature review on this topic is missing so far. We fill this gap with an emphasis on the temperate forests of Europe and North America. Mixed-ownership landscapes are the special focus of the analysis. In a first step, historical effects of ownership patterns on forest structure and biodiversity are elucidated. Second, connections between present-time forest ownership patterns and both forest structural and biodiversity patterns are analyzed. Finally, implications for integrative conservation management are evaluated with a special focus on mixed-ownership forest landscapes. Recent Findings Close linkages between ownership type-specific forest management and particular forest structural and biodiversity patterns are identified for past and current forest landscapes. Both in Europe and North America, publicly and privately owned forests show comparable lines of historical development but with a time shift. Forest reserves and ancient woodland with long ecological continuity appear to be mainly connected with public ownership. A high diversity of management approaches and cultural landscape habitats is characteristic of non-industrial small private forests. In mixed-ownership landscapes, a more diverse mosaic of habitats has developed than in mono-ownership landscapes. Summary We conclude that cross-boundary ecosystem management is crucial for effective conservation in present-day mixed-ownership landscapes. Integrative forest management that considers biodiversity and social-ecological aspects across ownerships is indispensable. We present a framework of implications for conservation management in mixed-ownership forest landscapes that build on each other and may enhance cross-boundary ecosystem management.

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Deep-time biodiversity patterns and the dinosaurian fossil record of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior, North America

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2021.0692 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 288 (1953) ◽

pp. 20210692

Author(s):

Susannah C. R. Maidment ◽

Christopher D. Dean ◽

Robert I. Mansergh ◽

Richard J. Butler

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽

Generalized Least Squares ◽

Sampling Bias ◽

Least Squares Regression ◽

Deep Time ◽

Biodiversity Patterns ◽

Future Work

In order for palaeontological data to be informative to ecologists seeking to understand the causes of today's diversity patterns, palaeontologists must demonstrate that actual biodiversity patterns are preserved in our reconstructions of past ecosystems. During the Late Cretaceous, North America was divided into two landmasses, Laramidia and Appalachia. Previous work has suggested strong faunal provinciality on Laramidia at this time, but these arguments are almost entirely qualitative. We quantitatively investigated faunal provinciality in ceratopsid and hadrosaurid dinosaurs using a biogeographic network approach and investigated sampling biases by examining correlations between dinosaur occurrences and collections. We carried out a model-fitting approach using generalized least-squares regression to investigate the sources of sampling bias we identified. We find that while the raw data strongly support faunal provinciality, this result is driven by sampling bias. The data quality of ceratopsids and hadrosaurids is currently too poor to enable fair tests of provincialism, even in this intensively sampled region, which probably represents the best-known Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. To accurately reconstruct biodiversity patterns in deep time, future work should focus on smaller scale, higher resolution case studies in which the effects of sampling bias can be better controlled.

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