scholarly journals A seascape approach for guiding effective habitat enhancement

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Ferrario ◽  
Thew Suskiewicz ◽  
Ladd Erik Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Reefs ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Algal Cover ◽  
Artificial Structures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Green Sea Urchin ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
Habitat Enhancement

Kelp habitats are threatened across the globe, and because of their ecological importance, active conservation and restoration solutions are needed. The use of man-made structures as artificial reefs is one way to enhance kelp habitat by providing suitable substrata, but in the past the ecology of artificial structures has been investigated mainly in contrast to natural coastal habitats, not as elements integrated into the seascape. Indeed, it is now emerging that structuring processes, including ecological interactions (e.g., herbivory), can depend on properties of the surrounding seascape. In Eastern Canada, grazing by the green sea urchin can jeopardize the success of artificial reefs for kelp enhancement. Urchin activity is, however, likely to be influenced by the bottom composition, and thus a seascape approach is needed to integrate urchin behavior and habitat heterogeneity. Adopting a spatially explicit framework, we investigated whether the seascape creates areas of differential grazing risk for kelp by affecting urchin habitat use. Specifically, we transplanted kelp onto modules of artificial substrata distributed on a heterogeneous area that we mapped for bottom type and algal cover. After following kelp survival and urchin distribution over time, we modeled kelp survival as function of urchin metrics and coupled it to urchin use of the habitat models to map grazing risk in the area. Kelp survival was a function of the frequency of the urchins presence. Urchins avoided sandy patches, while bottom composition and algal cover modulated the within-patch urchin use of the habitat, creating heterogeneity in grazing risk. Discrete seascape features (boulders) also increased the grazing risk locally. The heterogeneity of coastal seafloor can thus play a major role in determining the ecological outcomes on artificial structures. Incorporating this information when planning artificial reefs could minimize the detrimental grazing risk, thereby increasing the success of artificial reefs for kelp habitat enhancement.

scholarly journals Spatially explicit modelling of kelp-grazer interactions: a seascape approach for effective habitat enhancement using artificial reefs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferrario Filippo ◽  
Thew Suskiewicz ◽  
Ladd Erik Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Brown Seaweed ◽  
Strongylocentrotus Droebachiensis ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Artificial Reefs ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
List Type ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Artificial Structures ◽  
Marine Habitats

AbstractArtificial structures are sprawling along the coast affecting the aspect and the functioning of shallow coastal seascapes. For years, the ecology of artificial structures has been investigated mainly in contrast to natural coastal habitats. However, it is increasingly emerging that structuring processes, such as trophic interactions, can depend on properties of the surrounding landscape. Heterogeneity of coastal seafloor and habitats could thus play a major role in determining the variability of ecological outcomes on artificial structures.Artificial reefs are being used in coastal areas in attempts to restore and enhance marine habitats and communities, including large brown seaweed (“kelp”), to offset habitat loss and mitigate coastal development impacts. The outcome of enhancement projects using artificial reefs have not always been either consistent or positive. Overlooking the effect of strong ecological interactions adds a high level of uncertainty and can undermine the success of these efforts.In Eastern Canada, top-down control exerted by green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) can seriously compromise the success of artificial reefs for kelp enhancement. Importantly, urchin interactions with macroalgae are likely to be influenced by the bottom composition. A seascape approach could thus integrate behavior and habitat heterogeneity.We investigated whether the local seascape could create zones of differential grazing risk for kelp outplanting kelp (Alaria esculenta) on artificial blocks on an heterogenous bottom. Adopting a spatially explicit framework, we determined how seascape affected the urchin use of the habitat and used this information to map the grazing risk throughout the area.Kelp survival was a function of frequency of urchin presence throughout the study site. While urchins avoided sandy patches, bottom composition and algal cover modulated the within-patch urchin use of the habitat. This translated in the heterogeneity of grazing risk intensity.Synthesis and applications. The presence of discrete seascape features locally increased the grazing risk for kelp by differentially affecting the urchin’s usage of the habitat, even within the same bottom patch. Incorporating this information when planning artificial reefs could minimize the detrimental grazing risk thus increasing the rate of success and ensuring lasting results.

scholarly journals Spatially explicit statistical modeling of random and systematic land cover transitions in the main grassland plain of Nech Sar National Park, Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiros Tsegay Deribew
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Statistical Modeling ◽  
National Park ◽  
Spatial Extent ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Woody Vegetation ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Strong Signal ◽  
The Past

AbstractThe main grassland plain of Nech Sar National Park (NSNP) is a federally managed protected area in Ethiopia designated to protect endemic and endangered species. However, like other national parks in Ethiopia, the park has experienced significant land cover change over the past few decades. Indeed, the livelihoods of local populations in such developing countries are entirely dependent upon natural resources and, as a result, both direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures have been placed on natural parks. While previous research has looked at land cover change in the region, these studies have not been spatially explicit and, as a result, knowledge gaps in identifying systematic transitions continue to exist. This study seeks to quantify the spatial extent and land cover change trends in NSNP, identify the strong signal transitions, and identify and quantify the location of determinants of change. To this end, the author classifies panchromatic aerial photographs in 1986, multispectral SPOT imagery in 2005, and Sentinel imagery in 2019. The spatial extent and trends of land cover change analysis between these time periods were conducted. The strong signal transitions were systematically identified and quantified. Then, the basic driving forces of the change were identified. The locations of these transitions were also identified and quantified using the spatially explicit statistical model. The analysis revealed that over the past three decades (1986–2019), nearly 52% of the study area experienced clear landscape change, out of which the net change and swap change attributed to 39% and 13%, respectively. The conversion of woody vegetation to grassland (~ 5%), subsequently grassland-to-open-overgrazed land (28.26%), and restoration of woody vegetation (0.76%) and grassland (0.72%) from riverine forest and open-overgrazed land, respectively, were found to be the fully systematic transitions whereas the rest transitions were recorded either partly systematic or random transitions. The location of these most systematic land cover transitions identified through the spatially explicit statistical modeling showed drivers due to biophysical conditions, accessibility, and urban/market expansions, coupled with successive government policies for biodiversity management, geo-politics, demographic, and socioeconomic factors. These findings provide important insights into biodiversity loss, land degradation, and ecosystem disruption. Therefore, the model for predicted probability generally suggests a 0.75 km and 0.72 km buffers which are likely to protect forest and grassland from conversion to grassland and open-overgrazed land, respectively.

Predation by Sharks on the Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) in Eastern Canada

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Brodie ◽  
Brian Beck
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Halichoerus Grypus ◽  
Longline Fishery ◽  
Grey Seal ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
The Past ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Commercially Important ◽  
Important Fish

The increase in population size of the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) off eastern Canada over the past 20 yr may be attributed to a decrease in shark stocks, their supposed predators. Reduction of the shark population is presumed to have resulted from a directed longline fishery and, of greater significance, from a change in the fishery for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) from selective harpooning to pelagic longlining, which has produced a large bycatch of sharks. The resulting enhanced survival of grey seals is reflected in greater infestation of commercially important fish species by the codworm (Phocanema decipiens).Key words: grey seals, harbour seals, sharks, swordfish, codworm, predation, fisheries

Fathers’ Experience After the Death of Their Child (Aged 1–17 Years)

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Proulx ◽  
Anne-Marie Martinez ◽  
Franco Carnevale ◽  
Alain Legault
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Pediatric Hospital ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Push Forward

The death of a child is traumatic for parents. The grief of bereaved fathers is inadequately understood since most studies on this subject have focused primarily on mothers. The goal of this phenomenological study was to understand fathers’ experiences following the death of their child. Interviews were conducted with 13 fathers whose child (aged 1–17 years) had died at least 1 and up to 6 years earlier, either from a life-limiting illness or unexpectedly in an intensive care unit in a pediatric hospital in Eastern Canada. The analysis indicates that fathers’ experience deep suffering after the death of their child and feel torn between the past and the future. Three major themes were identified: needing to push forward in order to avoid breakdown, keeping the child present in everyday life, and finding meaning in their experience of grief. Clinical implications for professionals working with this population are discussed.

scholarly journals Interactions among ecosystem stressors and their importance in conservation

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1824) ◽  
pp. 20152592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle M. Côté ◽  
Emily S. Darling ◽  
Christopher J. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Biological Processes ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ecological Literature ◽  
Adaptive Monitoring ◽  
Ecosystem Stressors ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Potential Interactions ◽  
Near Future

Interactions between multiple ecosystem stressors are expected to jeopardize biological processes, functions and biodiversity. The scientific community has declared stressor interactions—notably synergies—a key issue for conservation and management. Here, we review ecological literature over the past four decades to evaluate trends in the reporting of ecological interactions (synergies, antagonisms and additive effects) and highlight the implications and importance to conservation. Despite increasing popularity, and ever-finer terminologies, we find that synergies are (still) not the most prevalent type of interaction, and that conservation practitioners need to appreciate and manage for all interaction outcomes, including antagonistic and additive effects. However, it will not be possible to identify the effect of every interaction on every organism's physiology and every ecosystem function because the number of stressors, and their potential interactions, are growing rapidly. Predicting the type of interactions may be possible in the near-future, using meta-analyses, conservation-oriented experiments and adaptive monitoring. Pending a general framework for predicting interactions, conservation management should enact interventions that are robust to uncertainty in interaction type and that continue to bolster biological resilience in a stressful world.

A New Locality Record for the Termite in Ontario

1954 ◽  
Vol 86 (12) ◽  
pp. 576-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Urquhart
Keyword(s):  
Reticulitermes Flavipes ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Locality Record ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
The Past

In my paper “The Introduction of the Termite into Ontario” (Can. Ent., No. 8, 1953) I stated that “insofar as records based on collected specimens are concerned, the termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, is to be found in no other part of eastern Canada, with the exception of Pelee Island (where this particular species has been present for many years).” I further stated that “it is forecast that it will continue to spread over the entire area of eastern Toronto including greater Toronto” and further that “its appearance in other parts of the Province is to be expected, and it will no doubt occur in isolated populations similar in pattern, but on a larger scale, to what has been witnessed in Toronto during the past fourteen years.”

Trends in the frequency, extent, and severity of spruce budworm outbreaks in eastern Canada

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Blais
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Forest Composition ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spruce Stands ◽  
History Of

The history of spruce budworm (Choristoneurafumiferana (Clem.)) outbreaks for the past 200 to 300 years, for nine regions in eastern Canada, indicates that outbreaks have occurred more frequently in the 20th century than previously. Regionally, 21 outbreaks took place in the past 80 years compared with 9 in the preceding 100 years. Earlier infestations were restricted to specific regions, but in the 20th century they have coalesced and increased in size, the outbreaks of 1910, 1940, and 1970 having covered 10, 25, and 55 million ha respectively. Reasons for the increase in frequency, extent, and severity of outbreaks appear mostly attributable to changes caused by man, in the forest ecosystem. Clear-cutting of pulpwood stands, fire protection, and use of pesticides against budworm favor fir–spruce stands, rendering the forest more prone to budworm attack. The manner and degree to which each of these practices has altered forest composition is discussed. In the future, most of these practices are expected to continue and their effects could intensify, especially in regions of recent application. Other practices, including large-scale planting of white spruce, could further increase the susceptibility of forest stands. Forest management, aimed at reducing the occurrence of extensive fir–spruce stands, has been advocated as a long-term solution to the budworm problem. The implementation of this measure at a time when man's actions result in the proliferation of fir presents a most serious challenge to forest managers.

scholarly journals Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1814) ◽  
pp. 20151367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias M. Pires ◽  
Paul L. Koch ◽  
Richard A. Fariña ◽  
Marcus A. M. de Aguiar ◽  
Sérgio F. dos Reis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
As Species ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unstable Dynamics

The end of the Pleistocene was marked by the extinction of almost all large land mammals worldwide except in Africa. Although the debate on Pleistocene extinctions has focused on the roles of climate change and humans, the impact of perturbations depends on properties of ecological communities, such as species composition and the organization of ecological interactions. Here, we combined palaeoecological and ecological data, food-web models and community stability analysis to investigate if differences between Pleistocene and modern mammalian assemblages help us understand why the megafauna died out in the Americas while persisting in Africa. We show Pleistocene and modern assemblages share similar network topology, but differences in richness and body size distributions made Pleistocene communities significantly more vulnerable to the effects of human arrival. The structural changes promoted by humans in Pleistocene networks would have increased the likelihood of unstable dynamics, which may favour extinction cascades in communities facing extrinsic perturbations. Our findings suggest that the basic aspects of the organization of ecological communities may have played an important role in major extinction events in the past. Knowledge of community-level properties and their consequences to dynamics may be critical to understand past and future extinctions.

scholarly journals Changes in the Morphological Diversity of Larvae of Lance Lacewings, Mantis Lacewings and Their Closer Relatives over 100 Million Years

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 860
Author(s):  
Joachim T. Haug ◽  
Gideon T. Haug ◽  
Ana Zippel ◽  
Serita van der van der Wal ◽  
Patrick Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shape Analysis ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Head Capsule ◽  
High Availability ◽  
Body Region ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Drastic Increase ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Ecological Importance

Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, comprises only about 6000 species in the modern fauna, but is generally assumed to have been more diverse and important in the past. A major factor of the modern-day ecological diversity of the group, and supposedly in the past as well, is represented by the highly specialised larval forms of lacewings. Quantitative analyses of the morphology of larvae revealed a loss of morphological diversity in several lineages. Here we explored the diversity of the larvae of mantis lacewings (Mantispidae), lance lacewings (Osmylidae), beaded lacewings (Berothidae and Rhachiberothidae, the latter potentially an ingroup of Berothidae), and pleasing lacewings (Dilaridae), as well as fossil larvae, preserved in amber, resembling these. We used shape analysis of the head capsule and stylets (pair of conjoined jaws) as a basis due to the high availability of this body region in extant and fossil specimens and the ecological importance of this region. The analysis revealed a rather constant morphological diversity in Berothidae. Mantispidae appears to have lost certain forms of larvae, but has seen a drastic increase of larval diversity after the Cretaceous; this is in contrast to a significant decrease in diversity in adult forms.

scholarly journals LONG-TERM MONITORING OF THE EUROPEAN ROLLER (CORACIAS GARRULUS) IN UKRAINE: IS CLIMATE BEHIND THE CHANGES?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Shupova ◽  
Volodymyr Tytar
Keyword(s):  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Coracias Garrulus ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Long Term Monitoring ◽  
European Roller ◽  
Term Monitoring

Since the 1980s there has been a long-term decline in numbers and contraction of range in Europe, including Ukraine. Our specific goals were to reconstruct the climatically suitable range of the species in Ukraine before the 1980s, gain better knowledge on its requirements, compare the past and current suitable areas, infer the regional and environmental variables that best explain its occurrence, and quantify the overall range change in the country. For these purposes we created a database consisting of 347 records of the roller made ever in Ukraine. We employed a species distribution modeling (SDM) approach to hindcast changes in the suitable range of the roller during historical times across Ukraine and to derive spatially explicit predictions of climatic suitability for the species under current climate. SDMs were created for three time intervals (before 1980, 1985-2009, 2010-2021) using corresponding climate data extracted from the TerraClim database. SDMs show a decline of suitable for rollers areas in the country from 85 to 46%. Several factors, including land cover and use, human population density and climate, that could have contributed to the decline of the species in Ukraine were considered. We suggest climate change and its speed (velocity) have been responsible for shaping the contemporary home range of the European roller.

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