Fosamine ammonium impacts on the targeted invasive shrub Rhamnus cathartica and non-target herbs

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-215
Author(s):  
Michael J. Schuster ◽  
Paul Bockenstedt ◽  
Peter D. Wragg ◽  
Peter B. Reich

AbstractFosamine ammonium (Krenite®) is a foliar herbicide that primarily targets woody plant species; however, formal evaluations of its efficacy and potential for non-target impacts are scarce in the literature. The few tests of fosamine ammonium that exist focus primarily on its use in open environments, and the value of fosamine ammonium in controlling invasive understory shrubs is unclear. Here, we test the impact of fosamine ammonium on invasive common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica L.) and co-occurring herbaceous plants across six forest sites in Minnesota, USA. Rhamnus cathartica treated with fosamine ammonium had a 95% mortality rate, indicating high efficacy of fosamine ammonium for use against R. cathartica. Non-target impacts varied between forbs and graminoids such that forb cover was reduced by up to 85%, depending on site, whereas graminoid cover was sparse and impacts of fosamine ammonium on graminoids were unclear. These results indicate that while fosamine ammonium can provide effective control of R. cathartica and other understory shrubs, there is potential for significant non-target impacts following its use. We therefore suggest that land managers carefully consider the timing, rate, and application method of fosamine ammonium to achieve desired target and non-target impacts.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0251421
Author(s):  
Alan Barrett ◽  
Leslie Brown

Variability of ephemeral resources provided by woody plants is related to fluctuating environmental conditions, specifically the predominant climate variables temperature and rainfall. Photoperiod has less impact but also plays a role in the onset of resource pulses. In the seasonally affected bushveld of southern Africa, declining resources could have dire consequences to various animals that depend on these resources. Understanding the impact that rainfall, temperature and photoperiod has on woody plant resources allows managers of natural areas to plan for times when resources are scarce. Using a series of General Linear Models, this baseline study investigates the effects that these variables have on flower production, numbers of new fruit/pods and numbers of new leaves for 113 tagged trees from 26 woody plant species. Leads, lags and coincidental relationships observed between environmental predictor and phenological response variables were explored using time-series cross-correlations and concomitant correlograms. Model results indicated that temperature was the predominant indicator for flowering, with initial flowering starting when temperatures increase in September. A significant lead was observed between flowering and rainfall, suggesting that flower numbers increase approximately one month before rainfall increases. Temperature had the biggest effect on the number of species with new fruits and pods. Significant lags were observed between new fruits and pods and all environmental variables investigated, indicating that these resources depend on rainfall, temperature and photoperiod to reach their full potential. Photoperiod, temperature and the interaction between these variables had a noticeable effect on the number of species with new leaves. Peaks in species with new leaves coincide with peaks in rainfall, temperature and photoperiod. No leading or lagging indicators were observed between new leaves and the environmental variables investigated. In areas containing wildlife populations, recommendations are to undertake regular monitoring of climatic variables investigated, and the ephemeral resources on woody plant species.


Author(s):  
Andrew Barton ◽  
Helen Poulos

Aim: Drastic changes in fire regimes are altering plant communities, inspiring ecologists to better understand the relationship between fire and plant species diversity. We examined the impact of a 2011 megafire on woody plant species diversity in an arid mountain range in southern Arizona, USA. We tested recent fire-diversity hypotheses by addressing the impact of the fire severity, fire variability, historic fire regimes, and topography on diversity. Location: Chiricahua National Monument, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. USA., part of the Sky Islands of the US-Mexico borderlands. Taxon: Woody plant species. Methods: We sampled woody plant diversity in 138 plots before (2002-2003) and after (2017-2018) the 2011 Horseshoe Two Megafire in three vegetation types and across fire severity and topographic gradients. We calculated gamma, beta, and alpha diversity and examined changes over time in burned vs. unburned plots and the shapes of the relationships of diversity with fire severity and topography. Results: Alpha species richness declined and beta and gamma diversity increased in burned but not unburned plots. Fire-induced enhancement of gamma diversity was confined to low fire severity plots. Alpha diversity did not exhibit a clear continuous relationship with fire severity. Beta diversity was enhanced by fire severity variation among plots and increased with fire severity up to very high diversity, where it declined slightly. Main Conclusions: The results reject the intermediate disturbance hypothesis for alpha diversity but weakly support it for gamma diversity. Spatial variation in fire severity promoted variation among plant assemblages, supporting the pyrodiversity hypothesis. Long-term drought probably amplified fire-driven diversity changes. Despite the apparent benign impact of the fire on diversity, the replacement of two large conifer species with shrubs signals the potential loss of functional diversity, emphasizing the importance of intervention to direct the transition to a novel vegetation mosaic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Tetiana Iusypiva ◽  
Galyna Miasoid

The paper examines the influence of industrial emissions of sulphur (IV) and nitrogen (IV) oxides on the percentage of stem anatomical characteristics of the autochthonous woody plant species undergrowth of Acer platanoides L. and Fraxinus excelsior L. in the southern industrial zone of the city of Dnipro (Ukraine). It is ascertained, that the ratio of the primary cortex share to the central cylinder share does not change in the stems of annual shoots of the both studied woody plant species when they are exposed to the influence of the toxic gases. However, there are significant changes in the ratio of shares of histological elements in the undergrowth stems of F. excelsior. The use of both absolute and relevant values of anatomic parameters of the plant vegetative organs is needed to analyse the woody plants resistance to technogenic pollution of the environment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 129-141
Author(s):  
Mr. Y. EBENEZER

                   This paper deals with economic growth and infant mortality rate in Tamilnadu. The objects of this paper are to test the relationship between Per capita Net State Domestic Product and infant mortality rate and also to measure the impact of Per capita Net State Domestic Product on infant mortality rate in Tamil Nadu. This analysis has employed the ADF test and ARDL approach. The result of the study shows that IMR got reduced and Per capita Net State Domestic Product increased during the study period. This analysis also revealed that there is a negative relationship between IMR and the economic growth of Tamilnadu. In addition, ARDL bound test result has concluded that per capita Net State Domestic Product of Tamilnadu has long run association with IMR.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Olagoke ◽  
Ahmet E. Topcu

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable


Author(s):  
Ting Wan Tan ◽  
Han Ling Tan ◽  
Man Na Chang ◽  
Wen Shu Lin ◽  
Chih Ming Chang

(1) Background: The implementation of effective control measures in a timely fashion is crucial to control the epidemic outbreak of COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to analyze the control measures implemented during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as evaluating the responses and outcomes at different phases for epidemic control in Taiwan. (2) Methods: This case study reviewed responses to COVID-19 and the effectiveness of a range of control measures implemented for epidemic control in Taiwan and assessed all laboratory-confirmed cases between 11 January until 20 December 2020, inclusive of these dates. The confirmation of COVID-19 infection was defined as the positive result of a reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction test taken from a nasopharyngeal swab. Test results were reported by the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. The incidence rate, mortality rate, and testing rate were compiled, and the risk ratio was provided to gain insights into the effectiveness of prevention measures. (3) Results and Discussion: This study presents retrospective data on the COVID-19 incidence rate in Taiwan, combined with the vital preventive control measures, in a timeline of the early stage of the epidemic that occurred in Taiwan. The implementation of multiple strategy control measures and the assistance of technologies to control the COVID-19 epidemic in Taiwan led to a relatively slower trend in the outbreak compared to the neighboring countries. In Taiwan, 766 confirmed patients were included, comprised of 88.1% imported cases and 7.2% local transmission cases, within the studied period. The incidence rate of COVID-19 in Taiwan during the studied period was 32 per million people, with a mortality rate of 0.3 per million people. Our analysis showed a significantly raised incidence risk ratio in the countries of interest in comparison to Taiwan during the study period; in the range of 1.9 to 947.5. The outbreak was brought under control through epidemic policies and hospital strategies implemented by the Taiwan Government. (4) Conclusion: Taiwan’s preventive strategies resulted in a drastically lower risk for Taiwan nationals of contracting COVID-19 when new pharmaceutical drug or vaccines were not yet available. The preventive strategies employed by Taiwan could serve as a guide and reference for future epidemic control strategies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Arroyo-Espliguero ◽  
M.C Viana-Llamas ◽  
A Silva-Obregon ◽  
A Estrella-Alonso ◽  
C Marian-Crespo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Malnutrition and sarcopenia are common features of frailty. Prevalence of frailty among ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients is higher in women than men. Purpose Assess gender-based differences in the impact of nutritional risk index (NRI) and frailty in one-year mortality rate among STEMI patients following primary angioplasty (PA). Methods Cohort of 321 consecutive patients (64 years [54–75]; 22.4% women) admitted to a general ICU after PA for STEMI. NRI was calculated as 1.519 × serum albumin (g/L) + 41.7 × (actual body weight [kg]/ideal weight [kg]). Vulnerable and moderate to severe NRI patients were those with Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS)≥4 and NRI<97.5, respectively. We used Kaplan-Meier survival model. Results Baseline and mortality variables of 4 groups (NRI-/CFS-; NRI+/CFS-; NRI+/CFS- and NRI+/CFS+) are depicted in the Table. Prevalence of malnutrition, frailty or both were significantly greater in women (34.3%, 10% y 21.4%, respectively) than in men (28.9%, 2.8% y 6.0%, respectively; P<0.001). Women had greater mortality rate (20.8% vs. 5.2%: OR 4.78, 95% CI, 2.15–10.60, P<0.001), mainly from cardiogenic shock (P=0.003). Combination of malnutrition and frailty significantly decreased cumulative one-year survival in women (46.7% vs. 73.3% in men, P<0.001) Conclusion Among STEMI patients undergoing PA, the prevalence of malnutrition and frailty are significantly higher in women than in men. NRI and frailty had an independent and complementary prognostic impact in women with STEMI. Kaplan-Meier and Cox survival curves Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None


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