The Biology of Invasive Alien Plants in Canada. 11. Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb., T. chinensis Lour. and hybrids

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lindgren ◽  
C. Pearce ◽  
K. Allison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Ecological Niche Modeling ◽  
Invasion Biology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tamarix Ramosissima ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Invasive Alien Plant

These Tamarix species and their hybrids, known collectively as saltcedar, are perennial small trees or shrubs native to Eurasia, and were among the Tamarix species introduced to the United States in 1800s as ornamentals, for plantings in windbreaks, and to stabilize eroding stream banks. They have since escaped and become damaging invasive plants in large areas of the western and Great Plains regions of the United States. They are able to reproduce vigorously by both seed and vegetative propagation, and are persistent and long-lived once established. Ecological problems include hydrologic impacts, displacement of native flora and fauna including endangered species, and excretion of salt, which increases soil salinity. Economic impacts include costs associated with control as well as losses of irrigation and municipal water, flood control costs, and loss of recreational opportunities. Invaded habitats include floodplains, salt flats, marshes, reservoirs, stock watering ponds, and irrigation ditches. Saltcedar is difficult to control and almost impossible to eradicate once established. In 2007, naturalized saltcedar was found near Penticton and at Osoyoos Lake in British Columbia, Canada. It is also currently sold in several Canadian provinces as an ornamental. Ecological niche modelling indicates that large areas of the Canadian Prairies are susceptible to invasion. Hybridization, multiple intentional introductions through garden plantings, natural dispersal from populations in the northern United States, and climate warming will increase the risk and promote the spread of saltcedar in Canada. Key words: Saltcedar, Tamarix ramosissima, Tamarix chinensis, invasive alien plant, weed biology, invasion biology, ecological niche modeling

scholarly journals Analysis and modeling of Blastomyces dermatitidis environmental prevalence in Minnesota using soil collected to compare basal and outbreak levels

2020 ◽  
pp. AEM.01922-20
Author(s):  
Katrina M. Jackson ◽  
Keith C. Pelletier ◽  
Joni Scheftel ◽  
Joshua D. Kerkaert ◽  
Serina L. Robinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Samples ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Ecological Niche Modeling ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
The United States ◽  
Blastomyces Dermatitidis ◽  
Site Classification ◽  
Environmental Niche ◽  
Culture Independent

Outbreaks of blastomycosis, caused by the fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis, occur in endemic areas of the United States and Canada but the geographic range of blastomycosis is expanding. Previous studies inferred the location of B. dermatitidis through epidemiologic data associated with outbreaks because culture of B. dermatitidis from the environment is often unsuccessful. In this study, we used a culture-independent, PCR-based method to identify B. dermatitidis DNA in environmental samples using the BAD1 promoter region. We tested 250 environmental samples collected in Minnesota, either associated with blastomycosis outbreaks or environmental samples collected from high- and low-endemic regions to determine basal prevalence of B. dermatitidis in the environment. We identified a fifth BAD1 promoter haplotype of B. dermatitidis prevalent in Minnesota. Ecological niche analysis identified latitude, longitude, elevation, and site classification as environmental parameters associated with the presence of B. dermatitidis. Using this analysis, a Random Forest model predicted B. dermatitidis presence in basal environmental samples with 75% accuracy. These data support use of culture-independent, PCR-based environmental sampling to track spread into new regions and to characterize the unknown B. dermatitidis environmental niche.Importance Upon inhalation of spores from the fungus Blastomyces dermatitidis from the environment, humans and animals can develop the disease blastomycosis. Based on disease epidemiology, B. dermatitidis is known to be endemic in the United States and Canada around the Great Lakes and in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys but is starting to emerge in other areas. B. dermatitidis is extremely difficult to culture from the environment so little is known about the environmental reservoirs for this pathogen. We used a culture-independent PCR-based assay to identify the presence of B. dermatitidis DNA in soil samples from Minnesota. By combining molecular data with ecological niche modeling, we were able to predict the presence of B. dermatitidis in environmental samples with 75% accuracy and to define characteristics of the B. dermatitidis environmental niche. Importantly, we showed the effectiveness of using a PCR-based assay to identify B. dermatitidis in environmental samples.

scholarly journals Ecological Niche Modeling of Francisella tularensis Subspecies and Clades in the United States

2010 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 912-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshinori Nakazawa ◽  
Kiersten J. Kugeler ◽  
Richard A. J. Williams ◽  
Paul S. Mead ◽  
A. Townsend Peterson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Francisella Tularensis ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Ecological Niche Modeling ◽  
The United States ◽  
Niche Modeling

Reconciling Environmental and Flood Control Goals on an Arid-Zone River: Case Study of the Limitrophe Region of the Lower Colorado River in the United States and Mexico

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward P. Glenn ◽  
Kate Hucklebridge ◽  
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta ◽  
Pamela L. Nagler ◽  
Jennifer Pitt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lower Colorado River

scholarly journals Natural climate solutions for the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. eaat1869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Fargione ◽  
Steven Bassett ◽  
Timothy Boucher ◽  
Scott D. Bridgham ◽  
Richard T. Conant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Water Filtration ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Natural Climate

Limiting climate warming to <2°C requires increased mitigation efforts, including land stewardship, whose potential in the United States is poorly understood. We quantified the potential of natural climate solutions (NCS)—21 conservation, restoration, and improved land management interventions on natural and agricultural lands—to increase carbon storage and avoid greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. We found a maximum potential of 1.2 (0.9 to 1.6) Pg CO2e year−1, the equivalent of 21% of current net annual emissions of the United States. At current carbon market prices (USD 10 per Mg CO2e), 299 Tg CO2e year−1could be achieved. NCS would also provide air and water filtration, flood control, soil health, wildlife habitat, and climate resilience benefits.

Floods as Man-made Disasters

1975 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice D. Arnold
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The United States ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Floodplain Management ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Wide Range

In the United States, the numbers of humans living on floodplains seem recently to have increased, and so probably have the annual costs of flood damage. This is despite expenditures of many millions of dollars on flood-control devices in the United States alone.The means which we use to control or contain excessive water-energy are the dam, channel, levee, sea-wall, and floodplain management. Logic and evidence, although incomplete, seem to argue against employing only structures; indeed there now seems good reason to think that structures should rarely be employed for flood-control. The case against relying solely on a structural strategy to abate floods rests on four main arguments: it is often counter-productive in that it encourages human occupation of the floodplain, thus introducing the elements of future disaster that may be more serious than if nothing had been done; it causes severe and unnecessary losses of resources; it discourages the economic use of land; and it is not cost-effective.Floodplain management, keeping the floodplain generally free from flood-control structures, is the only method which is effective in the long run. If it is planned adequately, its life is not as dependent on maintenance and upstream activity as are the structural alternatives. Moreover floodplains, when left undeveloped, are ideal and highly productive for a wide range of conservation and allied uses—including farming, parklands, open spaces, and habitats for wildlife.

A legacy of absence

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Wohl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Stable State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alternative Stable State ◽  
Sediment Yields ◽  
Overbank Flow ◽  
Natural Wood ◽  
River Corridors

The historical removal of accumulations of wood on medium to large rivers in the continental United States caused a fundamental change in river corridors that has received relatively little attention in the scientific literature. Although scientific literature discusses the natural wood rafts present on the Red and the Atchafalaya Rivers in the southeastern United States, there is little awareness that similar extensive masses of wood are documented in the historical record from forested river catchments as diverse and widespread as those in the northeast, southeast, Texas Gulf Coast, Pacific Northwest, and upper Great Lakes regions of the country. While present, these natural wood rafts decreased channel conveyance, increased channel-floodplain connectivity, and facilitated anastomosing channels and floodplain lakes. Removal of natural wood rafts began in the 17th century in the eastern United States and proceeded westward with the movement of European settlers, accelerating during the 19th-century era of steamboats and floating of cut timber. Removal of the natural wood rafts likely forced many rivers from a multi thread planform with high channel-floodplain connectivity into an alternative stable state of single-thread channels with substantially reduced overbank flow, sedimentation, and avulsions. There is now widespread recognition among the geomorphic community of how upland clearance increased sediment yields and floodplain aggradation. I propose that widespread removal of instream wood for steamboat routes, timber rafts, and flood control was equally significant in decreasing floodplain sedimentation and river complexity, and in causing a fundamental, extensive, and intensive change in forested river corridors throughout the United States.

scholarly journals Niche conservatism and invasion potential of Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea maculata in two invaded regions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhong Qin ◽  
Jia-En Zhang ◽  
Benliang Zhao ◽  
Zhaoji Shi ◽  
Zeheng Xiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
The United States ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Pomacea Canaliculata ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Ecological Niche Models ◽  
Invasion Potential ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables

Abstract The most noxious apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata and P. maculata) native to South America, currently has two distinct invaded ranges in China and the United States. Whether the environmental niches of the two closely related species have changed or remained stable (niche conservatism hypothesis) during the invasion process has become an important issue in forecasting their potential geographic distributions. For each Pomacea snail, two ecological niche models (ENMs, employing BIOMOD2) were generated based on bioclimatic variables and occurrence records in: (1) the native range; (2) the different invasive range. Conservation of ecological niche between the native and invasive snail populations were then tested by principal component and niche dynamics analysis. According to all models, precipitation contributed most to distribution of P. maculata, whereas low temperature was another most influential factor for spread of P. canaliculata. Niche conservatism were indicated by niche similarity tests and high niche stability for both Pomacea snails during their invasions in two regions. Niche expansions of P. canaliculata were relatively larger than unfilling values, whereas niche expansions of P. maculata were lower than unfillings. High niche unfilling for P. maculata in the United States revealed a great potential for further expansion in this region. We discuss the possible roles of physiological tolerances, genetic variation, residence time and hybridization in shaping niche changes for Pomacea snails during their invasion processes. Findings of this work can improve the understanding of potential mechanisms for niche differentiation and provide a theoretical basis for forecasting the invasion potential of Pomacea snails.

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