Biodiversity Responses in Early Seral Forests of the Klamath-Siskiyou: Comparisons with Birds, Bees, and Ground Beetles among Post-fire, Salvage Logging, and Intensive Forest Management Environments

Early seral forests regenerating from stand-replacing disturbances provide unique habitat for many species in productive, temperate forest landscapes and contribute to supporting biodiversity. Population declines in some species associated with early seral forests have prompted concerns about the conservation of these habitats, particularly the characteristic structural and compositional complexity associated with natural disturbance. Timber harvesting is the dominant disturbance in many temperate forest landscapes, but it is not clear how well widespread harvest and silviculture practices emulate natural disturbance (e.g., wildfire) for early seral forest biodiversity. In the western Pacific Northwest, timber production has been largely concentrated onto intensively managed plantations on private industrial land since the early 1990s. Clearcutting is rare on federal lands, though post-fire salvage harvesting is regularly proposed after stand-replacing wildfire events. I used a chronosequence sampling design across three age classes (2–5, 6–9, and 16–20 years post-disturbance) to evaluate how biodiversity varies in early seral forests regenerated by stand-replacing wildfire, post-fire salvage logging, and intensive forest management—short-rotation clearcuts characteristic of industrial forest management in the western Pacific Northwest. Salvage-logged stands were only available for sampling in the intermediate age class. Specifically, I focused on three taxa that together provide a varied lens to evaluate biodiversity responses—birds (songbirds and woodpeckers), carabid ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), and bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Across the same set of 69 stands for each taxon, I sampled birds using breeding season point counts, carabid beetles using pitfall traps, and bees using blue vane traps. I also sampled habitat characteristics for each taxon including vegetation, deadwood, and floral resources. Each of these wildlife taxa are individually the focus of three core data chapters. For comparisons of bird communities (Chapter 2), I found that intensively managed stands supported an estimated 8.7 fewer species than post-fire stands in the youngest age class (2–5 years; 90% CI: 4.0–14.4), including a three-fold difference in cavity-nesting species richness (3.8–8.2 species). In the intermediate age class, delayed shrub-layer regeneration in intensively managed stands and especially a lack of deciduous shrubs corresponded to an expected 4.9 fewer foliage-gleaning species (3.3–6.5) than in post-fire stands. Stands managed with post-fire salvage logging sampled in this intermediate age class also supported a distinct assemblage of bird species, but overall compositional differences with unlogged post-fire stands were 48% smaller (19–68%) than those for intensive forest management. I found no evidence that post-fire early seral stands supported distinct bird communities from intensively managed stands for the most advanced age class. Within the foraging and nesting guilds that distinguished post-fire and intensively managed stands, species richness was positively associated with deciduous shrub cover, large residual trees, and standing snags, suggesting that maintaining these elements in industrially managed early seral forests will substantially enhance their bird habitat value. Within carabid communities (Chapter 3), contrasts in species composition between post-fire and intensively managed early seral forests were strongest in the youngest stands and eventually converged in the oldest age class, a common thread with observed bird responses. Post-fire stands supported 30.3% higher carabid species richness initially (p = 0.08), but this contrast was temporary. In this youngest age class, post-fire carabid communities were distinguished by disturbance-adapted traits, suggesting that even where fire and harvest are both stand-replacing, carabids experience fire as a higher severity disturbance. Unlike the observed bird responses to salvage logging, which were generally intermediate between post-fire and intensively managed stands, carabid responses were less predictable. Two large and relatively common species that were captured at similar rates between intermediate post-fire and intensively managed stands were rarely captured in salvage-logged stands, reinforcing concerns about the ecological impacts of this practice. Carabid community composition varied with gradients in vegetation and deadwood structure, but these habitat characteristics could not fully explain a lack of disturbance-adapted species in intensively managed stands. These results indicate a highly ephemeral and distinct phase of early forest succession for carabid beetles that may be unique to post-fire environments. Within bee communities (Chapter 4), a distinct response of solitary, aboveground nesting bees (primarily Osmia spp.) to post-fire environments was maintained across age classes. Though I captured approximately twice as many bees in young intensively managed stands as in post-fire stands (90% C.I. 24 – 241% more), species-specific abundances of solitary, aboveground nesting bees were on average 62% lower (90% C.I. 34 – 79%). This species group was positively associated with snags, which were rare in intensively managed stands. Many other species were negatively correlated with snag abundance, potentially reflecting the challenges of foraging efficiently in cluttered environments. Compared to unlogged post-fire stands, salvage-logged stands supported comparable abundances of solitary aboveground-nesting species, despite few snags, and overall bee abundance was three-time higher (90% C.I. 100 – 361% higher) than in burned stands. Lower bee diversity in salvage-logged stands than burned stands indicated that elevated abundance was driven by a limited number of species. In the oldest age class, intensively managed stands provided limited bee habitat, but post-fire stands maintained relatively high bee abundance and diversity. This lack of convergence in bee communities between post-fire and intensively managed early seral was unique among the taxonomic groups quantified in this study and warrants future research into the importance of wind-pollinated broadleaf trees and shrubs for bees in this system. Together, these studies quantify contrasts in the biodiversity supported by intensively managed and naturally generated early seral forests that have often been assumed but never tested in the Pacific Northwest. Across three distinct wildlife taxa, my results indicate unique biodiversity values of post-fire early seral forests that are not emulated by industrial forestry. However, these studies also highlight the existing biodiversity value of intensively managed early seral stands for some taxa, prompting nuanced consideration of how these fit into regional conservation strategies. By reporting correlative relationships between species- or community-level responses with specific habitat characteristics, I provide testable hypotheses for research or adaptive management, which can further efforts to generate complex early seral habitat through harvesting or enhance the biodiversity value of intensively managed stands

Interpreting forest and grassland biome productivity utilizing nested scales of image resolution and biogeographical analysis

Several hardware, software, and data collection problems encountered were conquered. The Geographic Information System (GIS) data from other systems were converted to ERDAS format for incorporation with the image data. Statistical analysis of the relationship between spectral values and productivity is being pursued. Several project sites, including Jackson, Pope, Boulder, Smokies, and Huntington Forest are evolving as the most intensively studied areas, primarily due to availability of data and time. Progress with data acquisition and quality checking, more details on experimental sites, and brief summarizations of research results and future plans are discussed. Material on personnel, collaborators, facilities, site background, and meetings and publications of the investigators are included

Cardiac hypertrophy is inhibited by a local pool of cAMP regulated by phosphodiesterase 2

Rationale: Chronic elevation of 3'-5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels has been associated with cardiac remodelling and cardiac hypertrophy. However, enhancement of particular aspects of cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signalling appears to be beneficial for the failing heart. cAMP is a pleiotropic second messenger with the ability to generate multiple functional outcomes in response to different extracellular stimuli with strict fidelity, a feature that relies on the spatial segregation of the cAMP pathway components in signalling microdomains. Objective: How individual cAMP microdomains impact on cardiac pathophysiology remains largely to be established. The cAMP-degrading enzymes phosphodiesterases (PDEs) play a key role in shaping local changes in cAMP. Here we investigated the effect of specific inhibition of selected PDEs on cardiac myocyte hypertrophic growth. Methods and Results: Using pharmacological and genetic manipulation of PDE activity we found that the rise in cAMP resulting from inhibition of PDE3 and PDE4 induces hypertrophy whereas increasing cAMP levels via PDE2 inhibition is anti-hypertrophic. By real-time imaging of cAMP levels in intact myocytes and selective displacement of PKA isoforms we demonstrate that the anti-hypertrophic effect of PDE2 inhibition involves the generation of a local pool of cAMP and activation of a PKA type II subset leading to phosphorylation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT). Conclusions: Different cAMP pools have opposing effects on cardiac myocyte cell size. PDE2 emerges as a novel key regulator of cardiac hypertrophy in vitro and in vivo and its inhibition may have therapeutic applications

The tuberculosis challenge in a rural South African HIV programme.

BACKGROUND: South Africa remains the country with the greatest burden of HIV-infected individuals and the second highest estimated TB incidence per capita worldwide. Within South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal has one of the highest rates of TB incidence and an emerging epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. METHODS: Review of records of consecutive HIV-infected people initiated onto ART between 1st January 2005 and 31st March 2006. Patients were screened for TB at initiation and incident episodes recorded. CD4 counts, viral loads and follow-up status were recorded; data was censored on 5th August 2008. Geographic cluster analysis was performed using spatial scanning. RESULTS: 801 patients were initiated. TB prevalence was 25.3%, associated with lower CD4 (AHR 2.61 p = 0.01 for CD4 25 copies/ml (OR 1.75 p = 0.11). A low-risk cluster for incident TB was identified for patients living near the local hospital in the geospatial analysis. CONCLUSION: There is a large burden of TB in this population. Rate of incident TB stabilises at a rate higher than that of the overall population. These data highlight the need for greater research on strategies for active case finding in rural settings and the need to focus on strengthening primary health care

Validation of Afterbody Aeroheating Predictions for Planetary Probes: Status and Future Work

A review of the relevant flight conditions and physical models for planetary probe afterbody aeroheating calculations is given. Readily available sources of afterbody flight data and published attempts to computationally simulate those flights are summarized. A current status of the application of turbulence models to afterbody flows is presented. Finally, recommendations for additional analysis and testing that would reduce our uncertainties in our ability to accurately predict base heating levels are given

Demographic Patterns and Limitation of Grey Wolves, Canis lupus, in and Near Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario

In response to concern regarding the growth and long-term viability of the wolf population in and near Pukaskwa National Park, a study of demographic patterns and limitation of radio-collared wolves (Canis lupus) was completed between 1994 and 1998. The mean annual finite rate of increase (0.96) suggested that population growth of wolves was limited and declining slightly. Small pack sizes, high cumulative mortality, and low reproductive success also suggested a declining population. Two limiting factors, ungulate biomass and human-caused mortality, were examined to determine the importance of each in limiting the population growth of wolves. Ungulate biomass was involved because occurrence of natural-caused mortality was high (9 of 17 wolves) compared with other studies. In addition, consumption rates were low and similar to other studies where starvation and other signs of malnutrition were noted. Further, Moose densities in the study area were low to moderate and below thresholds indicating nutritional stress for wolves. Occurrence of human-caused mortality was high (8 of 17 wolves) suggesting that it was also an important limiting factor, particularly given the low availability of ungulate biomass and reproduction noted in this study. Based on present demographic patterns, ungulate biomass, and human-caused mortality, the wolf population likely will remain at present low densities or continue to decline

Interpreting forest biome productivity and cover utilizing nested scales of image resolution and biogeographical analysis

The objective was to relate spectral imagery of varying resolution with ground-based data on forest productivity and cover, and to create models to predict regional estimates of forest productivity and cover with a quantifiable degree of accuracy. A three stage approach was outlined. In the first stage, a model was developed relating forest cover or productivity to TM surface reflectance values (TM/FOREST models). The TM/FOREST models were more accurate when biogeographic information regarding the landscape was either used to stratigy the landscape into more homogeneous units or incorporated directly into the TM/FOREST model. In the second stage, AVHRR/FOREST models that predicted forest cover and productivity on the basis of AVHRR band values were developed. The AVHRR/FOREST models had statistical properties similar to or better than those of the TM/FOREST models. In the third stage, the regional predictions were compared with the independent U.S. Forest Service (USFS) data. To do this regional forest cover and forest productivity maps were created using AVHRR scenes and the AVHRR/FOREST models. From the maps the county values of forest productivity and cover were calculated. It is apparent that the landscape has a strong influence on the success of the approach. An approach of using nested scales of imagery in conjunction with ground-based data can be successful in generating regional estimates of variables that are functionally related to some variable a sensor can detect

Uniqueness and Nondegeneracy of Ground States for (−Δ)sQ+Q−Qα+1=0(-\Delta)^s Q + Q - Q^{\alpha+1} = 0 in R\mathbb{R}

We prove uniqueness of ground state solutions $Q = Q(|x|) \geq 0$ for the nonlinear equation $(-\Delta)^s Q + Q - Q^{\alpha+1}= 0$ in $\mathbb{R}$, where $0 < s < 1$ and $0 < \alpha < \frac{4s}{1-2s}$ for $s < 1/2$ and $0 < \alpha < \infty$ for $s \geq 1/2$. Here $(-\Delta)^s$ denotes the fractional Laplacian in one dimension. In particular, we generalize (by completely different techniques) the specific uniqueness result obtained by Amick and Toland for $s=1/2$ and $\alpha=1$ in [Acta Math., \textbf{167} (1991), 107--126]. As a technical key result in this paper, we show that the associated linearized operator $L_+ = (-\Delta)^s + 1 - (\alpha+1) Q^\alpha$ is nondegenerate; i.\,e., its kernel satisfies $\mathrm{ker}\, L_+ = \mathrm{span}\, \{Q'\}$. This result about $L_+$ proves a spectral assumption, which plays a central role for the stability of solitary waves and blowup analysis for nonlinear dispersive PDEs with fractional Laplacians, such as the generalized Benjamin-Ono (BO) and Benjamin-Bona-Mahony (BBM) water wave equations.Comment: 45 page

Risk of cardiovascular disease and total mortality in adults with type 1 diabetes: Scottish registry linkage study

&lt;p&gt;Background: Randomized controlled trials have shown the importance of tight glucose control in type 1 diabetes (T1DM), but few recent studies have evaluated the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality among adults with T1DM. We evaluated these risks in adults with T1DM compared with the non-diabetic population in a nationwide study from Scotland and examined control of CVD risk factors in those with T1DM.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Methods and Findings: The Scottish Care Information-Diabetes Collaboration database was used to identify all people registered with T1DM and aged ≥20 years in 2005–2007 and to provide risk factor data. Major CVD events and deaths were obtained from the national hospital admissions database and death register. The age-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) for CVD and mortality in T1DM (n = 21,789) versus the non-diabetic population (3.96 million) was estimated using Poisson regression. The age-adjusted IRR for first CVD event associated with T1DM versus the non-diabetic population was higher in women (3.0: 95% CI 2.4–3.8, p&#60;0.001) than men (2.3: 2.0–2.7, p&#60;0.001) while the IRR for all-cause mortality associated with T1DM was comparable at 2.6 (2.2–3.0, p&#60;0.001) in men and 2.7 (2.2–3.4, p&#60;0.001) in women. Between 2005–2007, among individuals with T1DM, 34 of 123 deaths among 10,173 who were &#60;40 years and 37 of 907 deaths among 12,739 who were ≥40 years had an underlying cause of death of coma or diabetic ketoacidosis. Among individuals 60–69 years, approximately three extra deaths per 100 per year occurred among men with T1DM (28.51/1,000 person years at risk), and two per 100 per year for women (17.99/1,000 person years at risk). 28% of those with T1DM were current smokers, 13% achieved target HbA1c of &#60;7% and 37% had very poor (≥9%) glycaemic control. Among those aged ≥40, 37% had blood pressures above even conservative targets (≥140/90 mmHg) and 39% of those ≥40 years were not on a statin. Although many of these risk factors were comparable to those previously reported in other developed countries, CVD and mortality rates may not be generalizable to other countries. Limitations included lack of information on the specific insulin therapy used.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: Although the relative risks for CVD and total mortality associated with T1DM in this population have declined relative to earlier studies, T1DM continues to be associated with higher CVD and death rates than the non-diabetic population. Risk factor management should be improved to further reduce risk but better treatment approaches for achieving good glycaemic control are badly needed.&lt;/p&gt