Towards an understanding of population change for the long-lived resprouting tree Angophora inopina (Myrtaceae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Tierney

In fire-prone habitats some long-lived tree species appear resilient to fire. However, fire frequency may affect recruitment patterns. This study investigates the reproductive features of the long-lived tree species Angophora inopina Hill in recognised priority conservation areas with a high fire frequency. Plants exhibit high survival rates when burnt and respond to fire events with high rates of growth, flowering and seed set. Aged capsules on plants contain few seeds but released seeds germinate readily, suggesting high viability, low dormancy and limited seed storage in aerial or soil seed banks. Population modelling indicates that the species will be resilient to low recruitment levels in the short term. However, over the long term, population structure is significant in determining the ability of the population to respond to recruitment cues. Thus, understanding and monitoring population structural change is a priority for this species.

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 1728-1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher E. Looney ◽  
Anthony W. D’Amato ◽  
Brian J. Palik ◽  
Robert A. Slesak

Fraxinus nigra Marsh. (black ash) wetland forests in northern Minnesota, USA, are threatened by the invasive insect, emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (EAB)). A potential management option is promoting regeneration of tree species that are not EAB hosts to maintain ecosystem functions. Using an operational-scale field experiment, we examined the survival of 12 alternative tree species in response to different canopy treatments. We planted the seedlings in 1.6 ha plots assigned to four replicated canopy treatments: untreated control, group selection (0.04 ha gaps, 20% of stand), black ash girdling to emulate EAB-induced mortality, and clearcut. Fall and spring plantings were used to compare the effects of spring ponding. Control (32.9%), group selection (34.5%), and girdling (33.3%) treatments had comparable overall seedling survival. Survival in the clear-cut treatments was significantly lower (22%). Species selection, overstory treatment, and season of planting together resulted in survival rates ranging from 0.08% to 94.1%. Conifer species had low overall rates of survival (10.7%), whereas some species with native ranges not presently overlapping with northern F. nigra forests, e.g., Quercus bicolor Willd. (75.5%), had high survival rates. If growth is light-limited, group selection may be effective in promoting recruitment and supporting a larger variety of species.


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 449
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Griffith ◽  
Susan Rutherford

Blandfordia grandiflora (Blandfordiaceae) is a resprouting perennial herb in wet heathland of coastal and tableland habitats on mainland eastern Australia. It has attractive turbinate flowers of considerable horticultural value. Blandfordia grandiflora is reported to have an enhanced flowering response in the first post-fire flowering season, and management prescriptions advocate frequent fire as beneficial for the species. Nonetheless, the present study appears to be the first to document the flowering response and fate of individual plants exposed to a range of fire frequencies (3-, 6- and 9-year intervals) over an extended period. We also examined the flowering response in unburnt habitat. High survival rates (>95%) were observed for B. grandiflora plants in heathland that had remained unburnt for a minimum of 30 years. Flowering after experimental burns was found to peak in the second post-fire flowering season rather than the first, and there was no clear fire frequency effect. Maximum levels of flowering during the second post-fire season reached 38 to 56% of individuals, although in some years post-fire flowering during this peak season was as low as 23%. Comparatively few plants flowered during the second-year peak season after every fire, and ~34% of individuals in both the 6- and 9-year burn treatments failed to flower at any time. Inter-fire flowering was also observed, and in some instances this flowering was not significantly different to the level achieved during the peak post-fire flowering season. For example, ~9% of individuals flowered 5–7 times over a 12-year period despite being burnt on only four occasions. Flowering after vernalisation (winter-chilling) was observed in unburnt heathland, and the level of this response was not significantly different to peak post-fire flowering in some years. The findings are examined in the context of evolutionary and habitat processes within a climate change framework. Future studies should focus on the complex interactions between climate, fire and soil for not only B. grandiflora, but more importantly for the diverse assemblage of plant species in wet heathland.


FLORESTA ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Harley Araújo da Silva ◽  
Thiago Augusto Da Cunha ◽  
Veronica Telma Da Rocha Passos

The evaluation of the survival and natural regeneration of tree species in a 35-year-old plantation was carried out to identify the species established in the area, aiming at their recommendation in forest restoration plantations in the State of Acre. In the 1980s, 138 forest species were planted in two experimental units (EU), of 1.38 ha each, in the Zoobotanical Park (ZP) of the Federal University of Acre, Rio Branco campus. The main activities carried out in the area, prior to planting, were agriculture and cattle raising.  Survival status was measured through a census of all individuals planted at the time, who were still alive. In addition, all regenerating individuals from planted species were surveyed in the effective planting area of the experimental units. At the time of evaluation, living individuals of 41 and 46 species were found in experimental units 1 (EU-1) and 2 (EU-2), respectively. The species Syagrus sancona, Talisia esculenta, Acacia polyphylla, Couepia bracteosa, Mangifera indica, Syzygium cumini and Copaifera multijuga showed survival rates above 90% in at least one of the experimental units. Only Syagrus sancona and Handroanthus serratifolius presented high survival rates in both experimental. Regenerating individuals of the species Aspidosperma vargasii, Couepia bracteosa, Euterpe precatoria, Handroanthus serratifolius, Oenocarpus mapora, Onychopetalum periquino and Stryphnodendron pulcherrimum were found in the two EU.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043844
Author(s):  
Natalia Araujo ◽  
Samantha Morais ◽  
Ana Rute Costa ◽  
Raquel Braga ◽  
Ana Filipa Carneiro ◽  
...  

IntroductionProstate cancer is the most prevalent oncological disease among men in industrialised countries. Despite the high survival rates, treatments are often associated with adverse effects, including metabolic and cardiovascular complications, sexual dysfunction and, to a lesser extent, cognitive decline. This study was primarily designed to evaluate the trajectories of cognitive performance in patients with prostate cancer, and to quantify the impact of the disease and its treatments on the occurrence of cognitive decline.MethodsParticipants will be recruited from two main hospitals providing care to approximately half of the patients with prostate cancer in Northern Portugal (Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto and São João Hospital Centre), and will comprise a cohort of recently diagnosed patients with prostate cancer proposed for different treatment plans, including: (1) radical prostatectomy; (2) brachytherapy and/or radiotherapy; (3) radiotherapy in combination with androgen deprivation therapy and (4) androgen deprivation therapy (with or without chemotherapy). Recruitment began in February 2018 and is expected to continue until the first semester of 2021. Follow-up evaluations will be conducted at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years. Sociodemographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics, anxiety and depression, health literacy, health status, quality of life, and sleep quality will be assessed. Blood pressure and anthropometrics will be measured, and a fasting blood sample will be collected. Participants’ cognitive performance will be evaluated before treatments and throughout follow-up (Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Cube Test as well as Brain on Track for remote monitoring). All participants suspected of cognitive impairment will undergo neuropsychological tests and clinical observation by a neurologist.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the hospitals involved. All participants will provide written informed consent, and study procedures will be developed to ensure data protection and confidentiality. Results will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentation in scientific meetings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Purhonen Jenna ◽  
Abrego Nerea ◽  
Komonen Atte ◽  
Huhtinen Seppo ◽  
Kotiranta Heikki ◽  
...  

AbstractThe general negative impact of forestry on wood-inhabiting fungal diversity is well recognized, yet the effect of forest naturalness is poorly disentangled among different fungal groups inhabiting dead wood of different tree species. We studied the relationship between forest naturalness, log characteristics and diversity of different fungal morpho-groups inhabiting large decaying logs of similar quality in spruce dominated boreal forests. We sampled all non-lichenized fruitbodies from birch, spruce, pine and aspen in 12 semi-natural forest sites of varying level of naturalness. The overall fungal community composition was mostly determined by host tree species. However, when assessing the relevance of the environmental variables separately for each tree species, the most important variable varied, naturalness being the most important explanatory variable for fungi inhabiting pine and aspen. More strikingly, the overall species richness increased as the forest naturalness increased, both at the site and log levels. At the site scale, the pattern was mostly driven by the discoid and pyrenoid morpho-groups inhabiting pine, whereas at the log scale, it was driven by pileate and resupinate morpho-groups inhabiting spruce. Although our study demonstrates that formerly managed protected forests serve as effective conservation areas for most wood-inhabiting fungal groups, it also shows that conservation planning and management should account for group- or host tree -specific responses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1307-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Busch ◽  
Helen Wheadon

Abstract Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a paradigm of precision medicine, being one of the first cancers to be treated with targeted therapy. This has revolutionised CML therapy and patient outcome, with high survival rates. However, this now means an ever-increasing number of patients are living with the disease on life-long tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, with most patients anticipated to have near normal life expectancy. Unfortunately, in a significant number of patients, TKIs are not curative. This low-level disease persistence suggests that despite a molecularly targeted therapeutic approach, there are BCR-ABL1-independent mechanisms exploited to sustain the survival of a small cell population of leukaemic stem cells (LSCs). In CML, LSCs display many features akin to haemopoietic stem cells, namely quiescence, self-renewal and the ability to produce mature progeny, this all occurs through intrinsic and extrinsic signals within the specialised microenvironment of the bone marrow (BM) niche. One important avenue of investigation in CML is how the disease highjacks the BM, thereby remodelling this microenvironment to create a niche, which enables LSC persistence and resistance to TKI treatment. In this review, we explore how changes in growth factor levels, in particular, the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, impact on cell behaviour, extracellular matrix deposition and bone remodelling in CML. We also discuss the challenges in targeting LSCs and the potential of dual targeting using combination therapies against BMP receptors and BCR-ABL1.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 3943
Author(s):  
João Caramês ◽  
Ana Catarina Pinto ◽  
Gonçalo Caramês ◽  
Helena Francisco ◽  
Joana Fialho ◽  
...  

This retrospective study evaluated the survival rate of short, sandblasted acid-etched surfaced implants with 6 and 8 mm lengths with at least 120 days of follow-up. Data concerning patient, implant and surgery characteristics were retrieved from clinical records. Sandblasted and acid-etched (SLA)-surfaced tissue-level 6 mm (TL6) or 8 mm (TL8) implants or bone-level tapered 8 mm (BLT8) implants were used. Absolute and relative frequency distributions were calculated for qualitative variables and mean values and standard deviations for quantitative variables. A Cox regression model was performed to verify whether type, length and/or width influence the implant survival. The cumulative implant survival rate was assessed by time-to-event analyses (Kaplan–Meier estimator). In all, 513 patients with a mean age of 58.00 ± 12.44 years received 1008 dental implants with a mean follow-up of 21.57 ± 10.77 months. Most implants (78.17%) presented a 4.1 mm diameter, and the most frequent indication was a partially edentulous arch (44.15%). The most frequent locations were the posterior mandible (53.97%) and the posterior maxilla (31.55%). No significant differences were found in survival rates between groups of type, length and width of implant with the cumulative rate being 97.7% ± 0.5%. Within the limitations of this study, the evaluated short implants are a predictable option with high survival rates during the follow-up without statistical differences between the appraised types, lengths and widths.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna T. Trugman ◽  
David Medvigy ◽  
William A. Hoffmann ◽  
Adam F. A. Pellegrini

Abstract. Fire frequencies are changing in Neotropical savannas and forests as a result of forest fragmentation and increasing drought. Such changes in fire regime and climate are hypothesized to destabilize tropical carbon storage, but there has been little consideration of the widespread variability in tree fire tolerance strategies. To test how aboveground carbon stocks change with fire frequency and composition of plants with different fire tolerance strategies, we update the Ecosystem Demography model 2 (ED2) with (i) a fire survivorship module based on tree bark thickness (a key fire-tolerance trait across woody plants in savannas and forests), and (ii) plant functional types representative of trees in the region. With these updates, the model is better able to predict how fire frequency affects population demography and aboveground woody carbon. Simulations illustrate that the high survival rate of thick-barked, large trees reduces carbon losses with increasing fire frequency, with high investment in bark being particularly important in reducing losses in the wettest sites. Additionally, in landscapes that frequently burn, bark investment can broaden the range of climate and fire conditions under which savannas occur by reducing the range of conditions leading to either complete tree loss or complete grass loss. These results highlight that tropical vegetation dynamics depend not only on rainfall and changing fire frequencies but also on tree fire survival strategy. Further, our results indicate that fire survival strategy is fundamentally important in regulating tree size demography in ecosystems exposed to fire, which increases the preservation of aboveground carbon stocks and the coexistence of different plant functional groups.


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