Carbon emissions from a temperate coastal peatland wildfire: contributions from natural plant communities and organic soils

Background One of the scientific challenges of understanding climate change has been determining the important drivers and metrics of global carbon (C) emissions and C cycling in tropical, subtropical, boreal, subarctic, and temperate peatlands. Peatlands account for 3% of global land cover, yet contain a major reservoir of 550 gigatons (Gt) of soil C, and serve as C sinks for 0.37 Gt of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year. In the United States, temperate peatlands are estimated to store 455 petagrams of C (PgC). There has been increasing interest in the role of wildfires in C cycling and altering peatlands from C sinks to major C sources. We estimated above- and below-ground C emissions from the Pains Bay Fire, a long-duration wildfire (112 days; 18,329 ha) that burned a coastal peatland in eastern North Carolina, USA. Results Soil C emissions were estimated from pre- and post-burn Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) soil elevation data, soils series and C content mapping, remotely sensed soil burn severity, and post-burn field surveys of soil elevation. Total above-ground C emissions from the fire were 2,89,579 t C and 214 t C ha−1 for the 10 vegetation associations within the burn area perimeter. Above-ground sources of C emissions were comprised of litter (69,656 t C), shrub (1,68,983 t C), and foliage (50,940 t C). Total mean below-ground C emissions were 5,237,521 t C, and ranged from 2,630,529 to 8,287,900 t C, depending on organic matter content of different soil horizons within each of the 7 soil series. The mean below-ground C emissions within the burn area were 1,595.6 t C ha−1 and ranged from 629.3 to 2511.3 t C ha−1. Conclusions In contrast to undisturbed temperate peatlands, human induced disturbances of the natural elevation gradient of the peatland has resulted in increased heterogeneity of floristic variation and assemblages that are a product of the spatial and temporal patterns of the water table level and the surface wetness across peatlands. Human induced changes in surface hydrology and land use influenced the fuel characteristics of natural vegetation and associated soils, thus influencing wildfire risk, behavior, and the resulting C emissions.

Modeling habitat suitability of vulnerable Mollucan Babirusa Babyrousa babyrussa in small island of Buru, Indonesia

Babirusa is a mammal belongs to Suidae family. This mammal belongs to Babyrousa genus is known endemic to Indonesia. Recently there are 3 species of Babyrousa, one species is Babyrousa babyrussa, listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Babyrousa occurs in Indonesia on Sulawesi island, Togian, Sula islands, and Taliabu, Mangole and Buru islands in the Molucca regions. The Moluccan Babirusa is now restricted to upland forests and mountainous terrain. Then this study aims to assess the suitability of Buru island as habitat for Moluccan Babirusa. The suitability analysis was based on GIS analysis using 4 determinant environmental variables required by B. babyrussa species including NDVI, barren soil, elevation, and river network. The particular location was a Batabual landscape sizing 292.60 km2 located in the east parts of Buru island. Based on NDVI, less vegetation covers were observed in north and east parts of Batabual. In contrast, NDVI values were higher in the central, west, and south indicating that half of the landscape was covered by intact primary forest. Batabual has a hilly landscape surrounded by coastal areas with hilly areas were observed in the south and west. There were 2 river streams in the east parts. The analysis has divided the landscape into several parts based on the habitat suitability levels. About one third of the landscape located in north was considered less and not suitable for Babirusa. Some areas in west were also considered moderate to be inhabited by Babirusa considering a presence of hilly landscape that may limit the vertical distribution of Babirusa. Most suitable habitats were estimated in central parts of the landscape spanning to the south. South parts of the landscape were characterized by high NDVI values and forest covers then these areas were considered as suitable habitats for Babirusa. The size of this suitable habitat was estimated around 188.62 km2 or more than half of the size (64.46%) of Batabual landscape.

Drone-Based Remote Sensing for Research on Wind Erosion in Drylands: Possible Applications

With rapid innovations in drone, camera, and 3D photogrammetry, drone-based remote sensing can accurately and efficiently provide ultra-high resolution imagery and digital surface model (DSM) at a landscape scale. Several studies have been conducted using drone-based remote sensing to quantitatively assess the impacts of wind erosion on the vegetation communities and landforms in drylands. In this study, first, five difficulties in conducting wind erosion research through data collection from fieldwork are summarized: insufficient samples, spatial displacement with auxiliary datasets, missing volumetric information, a unidirectional view, and spatially inexplicit input. Then, five possible applications—to provide a reliable and valid sample set, to mitigate the spatial offset, to monitor soil elevation change, to evaluate the directional property of land cover, and to make spatially explicit input for ecological models—of drone-based remote sensing products are suggested. To sum up, drone-based remote sensing has become a useful method to research wind erosion in drylands, and can solve the issues caused by using data collected from fieldwork. For wind erosion research in drylands, we suggest that a drone-based remote sensing product should be used as a complement to field measurements.

Phylogeography and palaeomodelling of Duseniella patagonica (Barnadesioideae), an early-diverging member of Asteraceae endemic to the Argentinean Monte and Patagonia

We performed an integrated phylogeographical and palaeoclimatic study of an early-diverging member of Asteraceae, Duseniella patagonica, endemic to Argentina. Chloroplast and nuclear markers were sequenced from 106 individuals belonging to 20 populations throughout the species range. We analysed genetic spatial distribution, diversity and structure, tested for range expansion, estimated divergence times, reconstructed ancestral areas and modelled present and past species distributions based on climatic data. Duseniella diverged from its sister genera during the Late/Middle Miocene. Its ancestral area included southern Monte plus eastern and central Patagonia. A vicariant event separated Monte and Patagonian clades during the Plio-Pleistocene. This would have involved unfavourable climate, soil, elevation, volcanism and/or other geomorphological processes between 40 and 43.5°S, in the sourroundings of the Somuncura plateau. Each clade possesses its own haplotypes and nucleotypes. Two populations, one in southern Monte and the other in eastern Patagonia, contain the highest diversity and exclusive haplotypes, representing hypothetical ancestral refugia. Northern Monte and southern Patagonian populations show low to null genetic diversity, being the most recently colonized areas. Climatic models indicate that winter temperature influenced the distribution of Duseniella, with an increase in probability of occurrence during colder periods, thus enabling diversification during glacial episodes.

Enhancing Seed Selection and Providing Guidance for Cultivation using Random Forest Technique

Seed Selection is a very challenging job because for a selection of a seed multifarious parameters are to be taken under consideration. Also seed analysis require a prediction of which seed is suitable which needs a great accuracy as there are numerous things to be taken into account like soil type, ph of soil, nutrient content of soil, elevation of land, weather of the area, etc. Several algorithms have been devised from time to time but each of the methods differs in their own way. The algorithms, which are discussed, are K-Means Algorithm, K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm, Naïve Bayes Classifier, Decision Tree, Regression Model, etc. Data mining techniques can overcome this challenging job

Microtopography is a fundamental organizing structure of vegetation and soil chemistry in black ash wetlands

All wetland ecosystems are controlled by water table and soil saturation dynamics, so any local-scale deviation in soil elevation and thus water table position represents variability in this primary control. Wetland microtopography is the structured variability in soil elevation and is typically categorized into a binary classification of local high points (hummocks) and local low points (hollows). Although the influence of microtopography on vegetation composition and biogeochemical processes in wetlands has received attention around the globe, its role in forested wetlands is still less understood. We studied relationships among microtopography and understory vegetation communities, tree biomass, and soil chemistry in 10 black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marshall) wetlands in northern Minnesota, USA. To do so, we combined a 1 cm resolution surface elevation model generated from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) with colocated water table, vegetation, and soil measurements. We observed that microtopography was an important structural element across sites, where hummocks were loci of greater species richness; greater midstory and canopy basal area; and higher soil concentrations of chloride, phosphorus, and base cations. In contrast, hollows were associated with higher soil nitrate and sulfate concentrations. We also found that the effect of microtopography on vegetation and soils was greater at wetter sites than at drier sites, suggesting that the distance-to-mean water table is a primary determinant of wetland biogeochemistry. These findings highlight clear controls of microtopography on vegetation and soil distributions while also supporting the notion that microtopography arises from feedbacks that concentrate biomass, soil nutrients, and productivity on microsite highs, especially in otherwise wet conditions. We therefore conclude that microtopography is a fundamental organizing structure in black ash wetlands.

Microtopography is a fundamental organizing structure in black ash wetlands

All wetland ecosystems are controlled by water table and soil saturation dynamics, so any local scale deviation in soil elevation represents variability in this primary control. Wetland microtopography is the structured variability in soil elevation, and is typically categorized into a binary classification of local high points (hummocks) and local low points (hollows). Although the influence of microtopography on vegetation composition and biogeochemical processes has received attention in wetlands around the globe, its role in forested wetlands is still poorly understood. We studied relationships among microtopography on understory vegetation communities, tree biomass, and soil chemistry in 10 black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marshall) wetlands in northern Minnesota, U.S.A. To do so, we combined a 1-cm resolution surface elevation model generated from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) with co-located water table, vegetation, and soil measurements. We observed that microtopography was an important structural element across sites, where hummocks were loci of greater species richness, greater midstory and canopy basal area, and higher soil concentrations of chloride, phosphorus, and base cations. In contrast, hollows were associated with higher soil nitrate and sulfate concentrations. We also found that the effect of microtopography on vegetation and soils was greater at wetter sites than at drier sites, suggesting that distance to mean water table is a primary determinant of wetland biogeochemistry. These findings highlight clear controls of mictopography on vegetation and soil distributions, while also supporting the notion that microtopography arises from feedbacks that concentrate biomass, soil nutrients, and productivity on microsite highs, especially in otherwise wet conditions. We therefore conclude that microtopography is a fundamental organizing structure in black ash wetlands.