Flying wildlife may mask the loss of ecological functions due to terrestrial habitat fragmentation

Flowering plants always attract animals providing rewards or deceptive signals to gain reproductive success. However, there is no well-documented reporting about a pollination mechanism with both rewards and deceptive signals by a same object. We found Cypripedium wardii flowers seem to attract visitors by the white pseudopollen-like trichomes on labella in our preliminary field observation. To explore the pollination mechanism of Cypripedium wardii, especially, the ecological function of the pseudopollen-like trichomes, we conducted field observations, analyses of the traits of visitors and flowers, and breeding system experiments. The white trichomes composed by multicellular moniliform hairs on the floral labella played a crucial role to attract pollinators, causing a high natural fruit set ratio in C. wardii. We established the direct connection of the white trichomes and real pollen. We propose that flowers of C. wardii provide pseudopollen to attract suitable bees and hoverflies as pollinators. And our evidence indicate that the pseudopollen owns both deceptive and rewarding ecological functions. Our study provide a clear pollination mechanism with both rewards and deceptive signals by a same object in angiosperm for the first time. However, an inbreeding depression seem to be caused by this strategy. And we speculated that the pollen mimicry strategy with both rewarding and deceptive functions in C. wardii may be an adaptation to the habitat fragmentation of this species to gain a reproductive assurance. Keywords: bee pollinators, Cypripedium, deception, hoverfly pollinators, inbreeding depression, orchid, pseudopollen, reward

Download Full-text

Effects of habitat fragmentation: increased isolation and reduced habitat size reduces the incidence of dead wood fungi beetles in a fragmented forest landscape

Ecography ◽

10.1034/j.1600-0587.2000.230411.x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 492-502 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Bjorn Arne Rukke

Keyword(s):

Habitat Fragmentation ◽

Dead Wood ◽

Forest Landscape ◽

Habitat Size ◽

Fragmented Forest

Download Full-text

Habitat fragmentation causes collapse of kelp recruitment

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13422 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 648 ◽

pp. 111-123

Author(s):

C Layton ◽

MJ Cameron ◽

M Tatsumi ◽

V Shelamoff ◽

JT Wright ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Habitat Fragmentation ◽

Patch Size ◽

Life Stage ◽

Extended Period ◽

Anthropogenic Disturbances ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Kelp Forests ◽

Natural Disturbances ◽

Short Term ◽

Turf Algae

Kelp forests in many regions are experiencing disturbance from anthropogenic sources such as ocean warming, pollution, and overgrazing. Unlike natural disturbances such as storms, anthropogenic disturbances often manifest as press perturbations that cause persistent alterations to the environment. One consequence is that some kelp forests are becoming increasingly sparse and fragmented. We manipulated patch size of the kelp Ecklonia radiata over 24 mo to simulate persistent habitat fragmentation and assessed how this influenced the demography of macro- and microscopic juvenile kelp within the patches. At the beginning of the experiment, patch formation resulted in short-term increases in E. radiata recruitment in patches <1 m2. However, recruitment collapsed in those same patches over the extended period, with no recruits observed after 15 mo. Experimental transplants of microscopic and macroscopic juvenile sporophytes into the patches failed to identify the life stage impacted by the reductions in patch size, indicating that the effects may be subtle and require extended periods to manifest, and/or that another life stage is responsible. Abiotic measurements within the patches indicated that kelp were less able to engineer the sub-canopy environment in smaller patches. In particular, reduced shading of the sub-canopy in smaller patches was associated with proliferation of sediments and turf algae, which potentially contributed to the collapse of recruitment. We demonstrate the consequences of short- and longer-term degradation of E. radiata habitats and conclude that habitat fragmentation can lead to severe disruptions to kelp demography.

Download Full-text

Protura and Diplura of Kathara coal field area of Jharkhand, India and their ecological functions

10.1603/ice.2016.113570 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Amita Hembrom

Keyword(s):

Coal Field ◽

Ecological Functions ◽

Field Area

Download Full-text

Geoinformation research and vegetation mapping (digest based on the proceedings of the InterCarto. InterGIS conference. 1994–2020)

Geobotanical mapping ◽

10.31111/geobotmap/2020.78 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 78-98

Author(s):

T. V. Kotova

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Geographical Information Systems ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Far East ◽

Vegetation Mapping ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Plant Resources ◽

Ecological Functions ◽

Geoinformation Technologies

Proceedings of the International conference (ИнтерКарто. ИнтерГИС, Russia) devoted to geographical information systems for sustainable development of territories have been published annually since 1994. The articles discuss theoretical and methodological aspects of geoinformation support for environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development, issues of geoinformatics, cartography, remote sensing of the Earth, problems of environmental sustainability and environmental impact assessment. Over a quarter of a century, the conference proceedings got more than 125 articles related to the use of geoinformation technologies to the study and mapping of vegetation. The review of proceedings gives the concrete examples how to solve problems of vegetation mapping using GIS, it is focused on publications providing some examples of GIS application to the vegetation studies. The review is organized into thematic sections according the field of application of Geoinformatics: 1.Vegetation, 2. Dynamics, state and ecological functions of vegetation, 3. Biodiversity and its assessment, 4. Plant resources, 5. Monitoring of vegetation. The Vegetation section contains publications on vegetation studies and mapping performed for some regions of Russia — the North of the Far East, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Tyva Republic, Central Siberia, and others. More than half of the articles are devoted to vegetation dynamics, state and ecological functions of vegetation at different hierarchical levels. Some papers present the results of the studies based on new types of information sources (photographs) and visualization methods (animation). The use of geoinformation technologies to study biological diversity was included in the agenda of five conference sessions and later reflected in more than ten publications. They cover the development and creation of GIS, the use of geoinformation technologies for the analysis, assessment and mapping of biodiversity, for its monitoring and conservation. Quite a large number of articles are devoted to the study of forest resources. GIS technologies were used to solve problems of forest management, cartometric analysis of forested areas, determination of taxation indicators, systematization of forest conditions, etc. Examples of geoinformation versatile research for medicinal plant resources are given to assess their quality, resources and productivity in the region, to identify growing areas, including ones to be protected. Most of the published materials concerning to vegetation monitoring mainly relate to forests and forest management.

Download Full-text