The heterogeneity of wooded-agricultural landscape mosaics influences woodland bird community assemblages

Context Landscape heterogeneity (the composition and configuration of different landcover types) plays a key role in shaping woodland bird assemblages in wooded-agricultural mosaics. Understanding how species respond to landscape factors could contribute to preventing further decline of woodland bird populations. Objective To investigate how woodland birds with different species traits respond to landscape heterogeneity, and to identify whether specific landcover types are important for maintaining diverse populations in wooded-agricultural environments. Methods Birds were sampled from woodlands in 58 2 x 2 km tetrads across southern Britain. Landscape heterogeneity was quantified for each tetrad. Bird assemblage response was determined using redundancy analysis combined with variation partitioning and response trait analyses. Results For woodland bird assemblages, the independent explanatory importance of landscape composition and landscape configuration variables were closely interrelated. When considered simultaneously during variation partitioning, the community response was better represented by compositional variables. Different species responded to different landscape features and this could be explained by traits relating to woodland association, foraging strata and nest location. Ubiquitous, generalist species, many of which were hole-nesters or ground foragers, correlated positively with urban landcover while specialists of broadleaved woodland avoided landscapes containing urban areas. Species typical of coniferous woodland correlated with large conifer plantations. Conclusions At the 2 x 2 km scale, there was evidence that the availability of resources provided by proximate landcover types was highly important for shaping woodland bird assemblages. Further research to disentangle the effects of composition and configuration at different spatial scales is advocated

THE MATERHORN: Unraveling the Intricacies of Mountain Weather

Emerging application areas such as air pollution in megacities, wind energy, urban security, and operation of unmanned aerial vehicles have intensified scientific and societal interest in mountain meteorology. To address scientific needs and help improve the prediction of mountain weather, the U.S. Department of Defense has funded a research effort—the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) Program—that draws the expertise of a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional, and multinational group of researchers. The program has four principal thrusts, encompassing modeling, experimental, technology, and parameterization components, directed at diagnosing model deficiencies and critical knowledge gaps, conducting experimental studies, and developing tools for model improvements. The access to the Granite Mountain Atmospheric Sciences Testbed of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, as well as to a suite of conventional and novel high-end airborne and surface measurement platforms, has provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate phenomena of time scales from a few seconds to a few days, covering spatial extents of tens of kilometers down to millimeters. This article provides an overview of the MATERHORN and a glimpse at its initial findings. Orographic forcing creates a multitude of time-dependent submesoscale phenomena that contribute to the variability of mountain weather at mesoscale. The nexus of predictions by mesoscale model ensembles and observations are described, identifying opportunities for further improvements in mountain weather forecasting

Pecan (<i>Carya illinoinensis</i>) and Dairy Waste Stream Utilization: Properties and Economics of On-Farm Windrow Systems

Improper management of organic waste can lead to unnecessary carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and groundwater contamination. In this study, organic waste materials from two of New Mexico’s (U.S.A.) top agricultural industries, pecan (Carya illinoinensis) and dairy cattle dairy manure, were used to evaluate the feasibility of an on-farm compost program. Pecan woody residues (P) served as the primary carbon source; regional cattle dairy manure (M) served as the primary nitrogen source. Additional (A) inputs from a compost consulting company (PM/A) and green waste from community landscaping and on-farm harvested legumes (PMG/A) were employed, both of which required additional labor and material inputs. Finished composts were analyzed for selected macro, secondary and micronutrients, pH, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), electrical conductivity (EC), total carbon (TC) and organic matter (OM) content, bulk density (bd), and microbial biomass. The PM alone treatment showed similar or significantly higher amounts of macro, secondary and micronutrients compared to the PM/A and PMG/A treatments. Total microbial biomass and total salinity were highest for the PM treatment. The total cost of the PM treatment was around 1/6 of the cost of the lowest-cost addition compost production scheme, indicating that simpler, lower-input production methods may be more advantageous for on-farm compost program development

C-FOG Life of coastal fog

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0070.1C-FOG is a comprehensive bi-national project dealing with the formation, persistence, and dissipation (life cycle) of fog in coastal areas (coastal fog) controlled by land, marine, and atmospheric processes. Given its inherent complexity, coastal-fog literature has mainly focused on case studies, and there is a continuing need for research that integrates across processes (e.g., air–sea–land interactions, environmental flow, aerosol transport, and chemistry), dynamics (two-phase flow and turbulence), microphysics (nucleation, droplet characterization), and thermodynamics (heat transfer and phase changes) through field observations and modeling. Central to C-FOG was a field campaign in eastern Canada from 1 September to 8 October 2018, covering four land sites in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and an adjacent coastal strip transected by the Research Vessel Hugh R. Sharp. An array of in situ, path-integrating, and remote sensing instruments gathered data across a swath of space–time scales relevant to fog life cycle. Satellite and reanalysis products, routine meteorological observations, numerical weather prediction model (WRF and COAMPS) outputs, large-eddy simulations, and phenomenological modeling underpin the interpretation of field observations in a multiscale and multiplatform framework that helps identify and remedy numerical model deficiencies. An overview of the C-FOG field campaign and some preliminary analysis/findings are presented in this paper

Associations of a novel IL4RA polymorphism, Ala57Thr, in Greenlander Inuit

Background A novel IL4RA polymorphism, Ala57Thr, was identified in Greenlander Inuit. Objective We sought to determine whether the novel Thr57 allele is population specific and to assess the associations of Ala57Thr and Ile50Val with atopy in 2 Inuit populations. Methods Ala57Thr and Ile50Val were genotyped in 651 Inuit living in Denmark, 1295 Inuit living in Greenland, and 1329 individuals from 7 populations from widely differing global locations. In Inuit the polymorphisms were evaluated for associations with atopy, rhinitis, asthma, and pulmonary function. Results Thr57 was in linkage disequilibrium with Ile50 (D′ = 1, r2 = 0.13) and was common (33%) in the Inuit but rare (<0.6%) in all other populations. In Inuit living in Denmark, the Thr57 allele (in a dose-dependent manner) and the Ile50/Thr57 haplotype were associated with lower risk of atopy (Plinear = .003 and P = .034, respectively), with similar trends observed for atopic rhinitis and atopic asthma. In Inuit living in Greenland, Thr57 was not associated with atopy or atopic diseases, but Ile50 was weakly associated with lower risk of atopy. Conclusion The novel IL4RA Ala57Thr was common in and population specific to Greenlander Inuit, with Thr57 associated with a lower risk of atopy in those living in Denmark. Hence a full investigation of genotype-phenotype relationships in a given population can only be achieved if each gene is screened for novel polymorphisms in that population. Clinical implications Clinical risk attributable to variations in a gene in an ethnic group requires that all variations of the gene are known for that group