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Significant seasonal variation in size at settlement has been observed in newly settled larvae of Dreissena polymorpha in Lake Constance. Diet quality, which varies temporally and spatially in freshwater habitats, has been suggested as a significant factor influencing life history and development of freshwater invertebrates. Accordingly, experiments were conducted with field-collected larvae to test the hypothesis that diet quality can determine planktonic larval growth rates, size at settlement and subsequent post-metamorphic growth rates. Larvae were fed one of two diets or starved. One diet was composed of cyanobacterial cells which are deficient in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and the other was a mixed diet rich in PUFAs. Freshly metamorphosed animals from the starvation treatment had a carbon content per individual 70% lower than that of larvae fed the mixed diet. This apparent exhaustion of larval internal reserves resulted in a 50% reduction of the postmetamorphic growth rates. Growth was also reduced in animals previously fed the cyanobacterial diet. Hence, low food quantity or low food quality during the larval stage of D. polymorpha lead to irreversible effects for postmetamorphic animals, and is related to inferior competitive abilities.
The factors that determine the efficiency of energy transfer in aquatic food webs have been investigated for many decades. The plant-animal interface is the most variable and least predictable of all levels in the food web. In order to study determinants of food quality in a large lake and to test the recently proposed central importance of the long-chained eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) at the pelagic producer-grazer interface, we tested the importance of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) at the pelagic producerconsumer interface by correlating sestonic food parameters with somatic growth rates of a clone of Daphnia galeata. Daphnia growth rates were obtained from standardized laboratory experiments spanning one season with Daphnia feeding on natural seston from Lake Constance, a large pre-alpine lake. Somatic growth rates were fitted to sestonic parameters by using a saturation function. A moderate amount of variation was explained when the model included the elemental parameters carbon (r2 = 0.6) and nitrogen (r2 = 0.71). A tighter fit was obtained when sestonic phosphorus was incorporated (r2 = 0.86). The nonlinear regression with EPA was relatively weak (r2 = 0.77), whereas the highest degree of variance was explained by three C18-PUFAs. The best (r2 = 0.95), and only significant, correlation of Daphnia's growth was found with the C18-PUFA α-linolenic acid (α-LA; C18:3n-3). This correlation was weakest in late August when C:P values increased to 300, suggesting that mineral and PUFA-limitation of Daphnia's growth changed seasonally. Sestonic phosphorus and some PUFAs showed not only tight correlations with growth, but also with sestonic α-LA content. We computed Monte Carlo simulations to test whether the observed effects of α-LA on growth could be accounted for by EPA, phosphorus, or one of the two C18-PUFAs, stearidonic acid (C18:4n-3) and linoleic acid (C18:2n-6). With >99 % probability, the correlation of growth with α-LA could not be explained by any of these parameters. In order to test for EPA limitation of Daphnia's growth, in parallel with experiments on pure seston, growth was determined on seston supplemented with chemostat-grown, P-limited Stephanodiscus hantzschii, which is rich in EPA. Although supplementation increased the EPA content 80-800x, no significant changes in the nonlinear regression of the growth rates with α-LA were found, indicating that growth of Daphnia on pure seston was not EPA limited. This indicates that the two fatty acids, EPA and α-LA, were not mutually substitutable biochemical resources and points to different physiological functions of these two PUFAs. These results support the PUFA-limitation hypothesis for sestonic C:P < 300 but are contrary to the hypothesis of a general importance of EPA, since no evidence for EPA limitation was found. It is suggested that the resource ratios of EPA and α-LA rather than the absolute concentrations determine which of the two resources is limiting growth.
The effect of moderate rates of nitrogen deposition on ground floor vegetation is poorly predicted by uncontrolled surveys or fertilization experiments using high rates of nitrogen (N) addition. We compared the temporal trends of ground floor vegetation in permanent plots with moderate (7–13 kg ha−1 year−1) and lower bulk N deposition (4–6 kg ha−1 year−1) in southern Sweden during 1982–1998. We examined whether trends differed between growth forms (vascular plants and bryophytes) and vegetation types (three types of coniferous forest, deciduous forest, and bog). Trends of site-standardized cover and richness varied among growth forms, vegetation types, and deposition regions. Cover in spruce forests decreased at the same rate with both moderate and low deposition. In pine forests cover decreased faster with moderate deposition and in bogs cover decreased faster with low deposition. Cover of bryophytes in spruce forests increased at the same rate with both moderate and low deposition. In pine forests cover decreased faster with moderate deposition and in bogs and deciduous forests there was a strong non-linear increase with moderate deposition. The trend of number of vascular plants was constant with moderate and decreased with low deposition. We found no trend in the number of bryophyte species. We propose that the decrease of cover and number with low deposition was related to normal ecosystem development (increased shading), suggesting that N deposition maintained or increased the competitiveness of some species in the moderate-deposition region. Deposition had no consistent negative effect on vegetation suggesting that it is less important than normal successional processes.
In semi-arid savannah ecosystems, the vegetation structure and composition, i.e. the architecture of trees, shrubs, grass tussocks and herbaceous plants, offer a great variety of habitats and niches to sustain animal diversity. In the last decades intensive human land use practises like livestock farming have altered the vegetation in savannah ecosystems worldwide. Extensive grazing leads to a reduction of the perennial and herbaceous vegetation cover, which results in an increased availability of bare soil. Both, the missing competition with perennial grasses and the increase of bare soils favour shrub on open ground and lead to area-wide shrub encroachment. As a consequence of the altered vegetation structure and composition, the structural diversity declines. It has been shown that with decreasing structural diversity animal diversity decline across a variety of taxa. Knowledge on the effects of overgrazing on reptiles, which are an important part of the ecosystem, are missing. Furthermore, the impact of habitat degradation on factors of a species population dynamic and life history, e.g., birth rate, survival rate, predation risk, space requirements or behavioural adaptations are poorly known. Therefore, I investigated the impact of overgrazing on the reptile community in the southern Kalahari. Secondly I analysed population dynamics and the behaviour of the Spotted Sand Lizard, Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata. All four chapters clearly demonstrate that habitat degradation caused by overgrazing had a severe negative impact upon (i) the reptile community as a whole and (ii) on population parameters of Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata. Chapter one showed a significant decline of regional reptile diversity and abundance in degraded habitats. In chapter two I demonstrated that P. lineoocellata moves more frequently, spends more time moving and covers larger distances in degraded than in non-degraded habitats. In addition, home range size of the lizard species increases in degraded habitats as shown by chapter three. Finally, chapter four showed the negative impacts of overgrazing on several population parameters of P. lineoocellata. Absolute population size of adult and juvenile lizards, survival rate and birth rate are significantly lower in degraded habitats. Furthermore, the predation risk was greatly increased in degraded habitats. A combination of a variety of aspects can explain the negative impact of habitat degradation on reptiles. First, reduced prey availability negatively affects survival rate, the birth rate and overall abundance. Second, the loss of perennial plant cover leads to a loss of niches and to a reduction of opportunities to thermoregulate. Furthermore, a loss of cover and is associated with increased predation risk. A major finding of my thesis is that the lizard P. lineoocellata can alter its foraging strategy. Species that are able to adapt and change behaviour, such as P. lineoocellata can effectively buffer against changes in their environment. Furthermore, perennial grass cover can be seen as a crucial ecological component of the vegetation in the semi-arid savannah system of the southern Kalahari. If perennial grass cover is reduced to a certain degree reptile diversity will decline and most other aspects of reptile life history will be negatively influenced. Savannah systems are characterised by a mixture of trees, shrubs and perennial grasses. These three vegetation components determine the composition and structure of the vegetation and accordingly influence the faunal diversity. Trees are viewed as keystone structures and focal points of animal activity for a variety of species. Trees supply animals with shelter, shade and food and act as safe sites, nesting sites, observation posts and foraging sites. Recent research demonstrates a positive influence of shrub patches on animal diversity. Moreover, it would seem that intermediate shrub cover can also sustain viable populations in savannah landscapes as has been demonstrated for small carnivores and rodent species. The influence of perennial grasses on faunal diversity did not receive the same attention as the influence of trees and shrubs. In my thesis I didn’t explicitly measure the direct effects of perennial grasses but my results strongly imply that it has an important role. If the perennial grass cover is significantly depleted my results suggest it will negatively influence reptile diversity and abundance and on several populations parameters of P. lineoocellata. Perennial grass cover is associated with the highest prey abundance, reptile diversity and reptile abundance. It provides reptiles both a refuge from predators and opportunities to optimise thermoregulation. The relevance of each of the three vegetation structural elements is different for each taxa and species. In conclusion, I can all three major vegetation structures in the savannah system are important for faunal diversity.
Global Circulation Models of climate predict not only a change of annual precipitation amounts but also a shift in the daily distribution. To improve the understanding of the importance of daily rain pattern for annual plant communities, which represent a large portion of semi-natural vegetation in the Middle East, I used a detailed, spatially explicit model. The model explicitly considers water storage in the soil and has been parameterized and validated with data collected in field experiments in Israel and data from the literature. I manipulated daily rainfall variability by increasing the mean daily rain intensity on rainy days (MDI, rain volume/day) and decreasing intervals between rainy days while keeping the mean annual amount constant. In factorial combination, I also increased mean annual precipitation (MAP). I considered five climatic regions characterized by 100, 300, 450, 600, and 800 mm MAP. Increasing MDI decreased establishment when MAP was >250 mm but increased establishment at more arid sites. The negative effect of increasing MDI was compensated by increasing mortality with increasing MDI in dry and typical Mediterranean regions (c. 360–720 mm MAP). These effects were strongly tied to water availability in upper and lower soil layers and modified by competition among seedlings and adults. Increasing MAP generally increased water availability, establishment, and density. The order of magnitudes of MDI and MAP effects overlapped partially so that their combined effect is important for projections of climate change effects on annual vegetation. The effect size of MAP and MDI followed a sigmoid curve along the MAP gradient indicating that the semi-arid region (≈300 mm MAP) is the most sensitive to precipitation change with regard to annual communitie
This contribution describes a generator of stochastic time series of daily precipitation for the interior of Israel from c. 90 to 900 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP) as a tool for studies of daily rain variability. The probability of rainfall on a given day of the year is described by a regular Gaussian peak curve function. The amount of rain is drawn randomly from an exponential distribution whose mean is the daily mean rain amount (averaged across years for each day of the year) described by a flattened Gaussian peak curve. Parameters for the curves have been calculated from monthly aggregated, long-term rain records from seven meteorological stations. Parameters for arbitrary points on the MAP gradient are calculated from a regression equation with MAP as the only independent variable. The simple structure of the generator allows it to produce time series with daily rain patterns that are projected under climate change scenarios and simultaneously control MAP. Increasing within-year variability of daily precipitation amounts also increases among-year variability of MAP as predicted by global circulation models. Thus, the time series incorporate important characteristics for climate change research and represent a flexible tool for simulations of daily vegetation or surface hydrology dynamics.
Germination rates and germination fractions of seeds can be predicted well by the hydrothermal time (HTT) model. Its four parameters hydrothermal time, minimum soil temperature, minimum soil moisture, and variation of minimum soil moisture, however, must be determined by lengthy germination experiments at combinations of several levels of soil temperature and moisture. For some applications of the HTT model it is more important to have approximate estimates for many species rather than exact values for only a few species. We suggest that minimum temperature and variation of minimum moisture can be estimated from literature data and expert knowledge. This allows to derive hydrothermal time and minimum moisture from existing data from germination experiments with one level of temperature and moisture. We applied our approach to a germination experiment comparing germination fractions of wild annual species along an aridity gradient in Israel. Using this simplified approach we estimated hydrothermal time and minimum moisture of 36 species. Comparison with exact data for three species shows that our method is a simple but effective method for obtaining parameters for the HTT model. Hydrothermal time and minimum moisture supposedly indicate climate related germination strategies. We tested whether these two parameters varied with the climate at the site where the seeds had been collected. We found no consistent variation with climate across species, suggesting that variation is more strongly controlled by site-specific factors.
In a recent contribution in Nature (vol. 442, pp. 555-558) Austin & Vivanco showed that sunlight is the dominant factor for decomposition of grass litter in a semi-arid grassland in Argentine. The quantification of this effect was portrayed as a novel finding. I put this result in the context of three other publications from as early as 1980 that quantified photodegradation. My synopsis shows that photodegradation is an important process in semi-arid grasslands in South America, North America and eastern Europe.
In semi-arid savannas, unsustainable land use can lead to degradation of entire landscapes, e.g. in the form of shrub encroachment. This leads to habitat loss and is assumed to reduce species diversity. In BIOTA phase 1, we investigated the effects of land use on population dynamics on farm scale. In phase 2 we scale up to consider the whole regional landscape consisting of a diverse mosaic of farms with different historic and present land use intensities. This mosaic creates a heterogeneous, dynamic pattern of structural diversity at a large spatial scale. Understanding how the region-wide dynamic land use pattern affects the abundance of animal and plant species requires the integration of processes on large as well as on small spatial scales. In our multidisciplinary approach, we integrate information from remote sensing, genetic and ecological field studies as well as small scale process models in a dynamic region-wide simulation tool. <hr> Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Musterdynamik und Angewandte Fernerkundung Workshop vom 9. - 10. Februar 2006.
Decisions for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources are typically related to large scales, i.e. the landscape level. However, understanding and predicting the effects of land use and climate change on scales relevant for decision-making requires to include both, large scale vegetation dynamics and small scale processes, such as soil-plant interactions. Integrating the results of multiple BIOTA subprojects enabled us to include necessary data of soil science, botany, socio-economics and remote sensing into a high resolution, process-based and spatially-explicit model. Using an example from a sustainably-used research farm and a communally used and degraded farming area in semiarid southern Namibia we show the power of simulation models as a tool to integrate processes across disciplines and scales.
Variation in nitrogen deposition and available soil nitrogen in a forest–grassland ecotone in Canada
(2004)
Regional variation in nitrogen (N) deposition increases plant productivity and decreases species diversity, but landscape- or local-scale influences on N deposition are less well-known. Using ion-exchange resin, we measured variation of N deposition and soil N availability within Elk Island National Park in the ecotone between grassland and boreal forest in western Canada. The park receives regionally high amounts of atmospheric N deposition (22 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). N deposition was on average higher ton clayrich luvisols than on brunisols, and areas burned 1 – 15 years previously received more atmospheric N than unburned sites. We suggest that the effects of previous fires and soil type on deposition rate act through differences in canopy structure. The magnitude of these effects varied with the presence of ungulate grazers (bison, moose, elk) and vegetation type (forest, shrubland, grassland). Available soil N (ammonium and nitrate) was higher in burned than unburned sites in the absence of grazing, suggesting an effect of deposition. On grazed sites, differences between fire treatments were small, presumably because the removal of biomass by grazers reduced the effect of fire. Aspen invades native grassland in this region, and our results suggest that fire without grazing might reinforce the expansion of forest into grassland facilitated by N deposition.
Wachstum und Variabilität im Körperbau und ihre Berücksichtigung bei industriellen Größensystemen
(2001)
Körpermaße 2000
(2001)