Heathland Restoration Techniques: Ecological Consequences for Plant-Soil and Plant-Animal Interactions

We compare the soil and plant community development during heathland restoration on improved farmland when achieved through soil stripping with that achieved through soil acidification. We also test the potential for toxic metals to be made more available to plant and animal species as a result of these treatments. Acidification with elemental sulphur was found to be more effective than soil stripping for establishing an ericaceous sward despite the high levels of phosphate still present within the soil.However, both soil acidification and soil stripping were found to have the potential to increase the availability of potentially toxic metals. Acidification increased uptake of both aluminium and zinc in two common plant species Agrostis capillaris and Rumex acetosella and decreased the abundance of surface active spiders. The potential consequences for composition of restored heathland communities and for functioning of food chains are discussed

SB25-13/14: University of Montana Confidentiality Policy

SB25-13/14: University of Montana Confidentiality Policy

SB73-13/14b: Student Directory

SB73-13/14b: Student Directory. This resolution passed 14Y-6N-3A on a roll call vote during the March 26, 2014 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

SB94-13/14: LR-126

SB94-13/14: LR-126. This resolution failed 8Y-11N-4A on a roll call vote during the April 23, 2014 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

SB73-13/14a: Student Directory

SB73-13/14a: Student Directory. This resolution passed 12Y-11N on a roll call vote during the March 26, 2014 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

The effect of sewage sludge application to an agricultural soil on the fecundity of the Rose Grain aphid (Metopolophium dirhodum).

A pot trial was used to assess the effect of amending soil with sewage sludge on the number of offspring produced by individual Rose Grain Aphids. Results demonstrated that the highest application rate (100 t.d.s. ha-1) could significantly decrease the number of offspring produced by the aphid

Do aphids biomagnify Cd and Zn as a defence against predation?

The results of a study on sewage sludge application to agricultural soil have led us to propose that recycling sewage sludge can affect the biological control of grain aphids. This, we suggest, is due to the biomagnification of trace metals in the aphid presenting potentially toxic concentrations to predators

Genetic variation within and among asexual populations of Porphyra umbilicalis Kützing (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) in the Gulf of Maine, USA

The intertidal marine red alga Porphyra umbilicalis reproduces asexually in the Northwest Atlantic. We looked for population substructure among typical open-coastal and atypical estuarine habitats in seven asexual populations of P. umbilicalis from Maine to New Hampshire using eight expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeats (EST-SSR) or microsatellite loci. Six genotypes were identified, four of which may represent recombinant genotypes from a recombination event that took place locally, or that took place prior to introduction to the Northwest Atlantic. Genotypic diversity was lowest in a population from Wiscasset, Maine, which inhabits an atypical habitat high in the intertidal zone of a bridge piling in an estuarine tidal rapid. Genotypic diversity was highest in the southernmost populations from New Hampshire; we identified two genotypes that were unique to the southernmost populations, and probably represent the most derived genotypes. We looked at genetic distances among populations in similar habitats, and found that populations were more closely related to their closest neighboring population than to a population in a similar habitat. We show that genotypic diversity within P. umbilicalis populations in the Gulf of Maine is relatively high and thus fits a model of high steady-state variation within asexual populations

Heathland creation on improved grassland using sulphur: is there a conflict between optimal application rates for plant and animal communities?

We examined the effectiveness of using elemental sulphur (a soil acidifier) as a method for creating heathland on improved pasture. We determined i) optimal rate of sulphur application to control mesotrophic grasses ii) if invertebrates avoid areas of sulphur application. Results indicated that optimal sulphur application attracted invertebrates

Modifying soil chemistry to enhance heathland recreation: a use for sulphur captured during oil refining

The overall aim of this paper is to evaluate potential new modifications to methods for re-creating heathland habitats. Heathlands need acidic soils so the specific objectives are to evaluate the effectiveness of a new method for heathland re-creation by soil acidification using a sulphur soil amendment and to explore the benefits for re-creation of applying a soil stripping treatment in conjunction with soil acidification. A new source of sulphur was recovered from oil refinery towers and applied over agricultural sites covering a total of 13 ha on Trehill Farm, Marloes, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK in 2004. In the summer of 2011 we compared soil chemistry and plant communities on sites subjected to different sulphur treatments (sulphur applied to the existing soil surface and sulphur applied after top soil had been stripped) with those on an adjacent untreated control and on a nearby established heathland. Each of the four treatment sites and the control and heath site was surveyed using 10 random locations measuring 4m x 4m. The total above ground % cover was measured for each plant species and a bulk soil sample was taken in a ‘W’ shape from within each 4m x 4m quadrat. pH and all chemical parameters of the soil showed highly significant differences amongst the sampled sites (P>0.01 in all cases) and produced even greater abundance of ericaceous species on some of the treated sites than occurred in the established heath. However, soil stripping had no significant additional effect on either edaphic factors or plant species abundances. Sulphur recovered from oil refinery is a potentially useful tool in heathland re-creation, but soil stripping prior to sulphur amendment did not enhance success. We propose that sulphur application drives success through increasing H+ toxicity reducing the availability of base cations and creating Fe-induced Mn deficiency in plants