Can School Children Support Ecological Research? Lessons from the Oak Bodyguard Citizen Science Project

Peer reviewe

The Nature Index: A General Framework for Synthesizing Knowledge on the State of Biodiversity

The magnitude and urgency of the biodiversity crisis is widely recognized within scientific and political organizations. However, a lack of integrated measures for biodiversity has greatly constrained the national and international response to the biodiversity crisis. Thus, integrated biodiversity indexes will greatly facilitate information transfer from science toward other areas of human society. The Nature Index framework samples scientific information on biodiversity from a variety of sources, synthesizes this information, and then transmits it in a simplified form to environmental managers, policymakers, and the public. The Nature Index optimizes information use by incorporating expert judgment, monitoring-based estimates, and model-based estimates. The index relies on a network of scientific experts, each of whom is responsible for one or more biodiversity indicators. The resulting set of indicators is supposed to represent the best available knowledge on the state of biodiversity and ecosystems in any given area. The value of each indicator is scaled relative to a reference state, i.e., a predicted value assessed by each expert for a hypothetical undisturbed or sustainably managed ecosystem. Scaled indicator values can be aggregated or disaggregated over different axes representing spatiotemporal dimensions or thematic groups. A range of scaling models can be applied to allow for different ways of interpreting the reference states, e.g., optimal situations or minimum sustainable levels. Statistical testing for differences in space or time can be implemented using Monte-Carlo simulations. This study presents the Nature Index framework and details its implementation in Norway. The results suggest that the framework is a functional, efficient, and pragmatic approach for gathering and synthesizing scientific knowledge on the state of biodiversity in any marine or terrestrial ecosystem and has general applicability worldwide

Search for top-down and bottom-up drivers of latitudinal trends in insect herbivory in oak trees in Europe

AimThe strength of species interactions is traditionally expected to increase toward the Equator. However, recent studies have reported opposite or inconsistent latitudinal trends in the bottom‐up (plant quality) and top‐down (natural enemies) forces driving herbivory. In addition, these forces have rarely been studied together thus limiting previous attempts to understand the effect of large‐scale climatic gradients on herbivory.LocationEurope.Time period2018–2019.Major taxa studiedQuercus robur.MethodsWe simultaneously tested for latitudinal variation in plant–herbivore–natural enemy interactions. We further investigated the underlying climatic factors associated with variation in herbivory, leaf chemistry and attack rates in Quercus robur across its complete latitudinal range in Europe. We quantified insect leaf damage and the incidence of specialist herbivores as well as leaf chemistry and bird attack rates on dummy caterpillars on 261 oak trees.ResultsClimatic factors rather than latitude per se were the best predictors of the large‐scale (geographical) variation in the incidence of gall‐inducers and leaf‐miners as well as in leaf nutritional content. However, leaf damage, plant chemical defences (leaf phenolics) and bird attack rates were not influenced by climatic factors or latitude. The incidence of leaf‐miners increased with increasing concentrations of hydrolysable tannins, whereas the incidence of gall‐inducers increased with increasing leaf soluble sugar concentration and decreased with increasing leaf C : N ratios and lignins. However, leaf traits and bird attack rates did not vary with leaf damage.Main conclusionsThese findings help to refine our understanding of the bottom‐up and top‐down mechanisms driving geographical variation in plant–herbivore interactions, and indicate the need for further examination of the drivers of herbivory on trees.</p

Research Activities on Chestnut: Recommendations for Terminology and Measurement Standards

Management of chestnut crops has to deal with two different concepts which are defined by two different goals: timber production and fruit production. Timber production may be reached with two different management methods: coppice and high forests. Timber producing chestnut forest in Europe are generally managed by the coppice system. Otherwise, fruit production system may be considered as orchards, although in some countries they are considered as forests. Two deal with the different aims it is necessary to be clear i) about the production goal, ii) about the management system. While timber production with chestnut high forest may be described and defined with the traditional and international widely accepted silvicultural terminology and definitions, this is not the case for coppice forests and orchards. Therefore the aim of this paper (elaborated by the group \u201cSilviculture\u201d during the COST Action G$ - Multidisciplinary Research on Chestnut) is to compile a document as a reference and as a work instrument for research and management activities in chestnut forests in order to ensure an efficient exchange and comparison of scientific data and information and to promote the dissemination of the research results to the users

Spatial analysis of structural and tree‐ring related parameters in a timberline forest in the Italian Alps

We investigated the variability in spatial pattern of some structural, dendrochronological and dendroclimatological features of a mixed Larix decidua-Pinus cembra forest at the timberline in the eastern Italian Alps at fine geographical and temporal scales. Forest structure variables such as stem diameter, tree height, age and tree-ring related parameters (yearly growth index, mean sensitivity, first order autocorrelation and some dendroclimatic variables) have been compared at various scale levels. We observed that most of the variables show positive autocorrelated structures due to both forest dynamics and fine-scale driving forces, probably related to microrelief. Spatial structure of yearly indexed radial growth appears sensitive to extreme climatic events. Secondary succession after past disturbances drives the forest towards a structure governed by a gap regeneration dynamics that seems to ensure the different requirements of the two main tree species present. Small spatial scale studies of forest structures, especially if integrated to dendro-ecological data, seem an efficient tool to assess the disturbance regime and species sensitivity to environmental change

Collecte, analyse et diffusion des resultats des differentes equipes du programme DEFORPA Archivages des donnees et realisation de syntheses sur les causes du deperissement des forets

programme DEFORPAAvailable at INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : RP 185 (3137) / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc