Trade-offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across the State of New Hampshire, USA: Timber, Carbon, and Albedo

Forests are more frequently being managed to store and sequester carbon for the purposes of climate change mitigation. Generally, this practice involves long-term conservation of intact mature forests and/or reductions in the frequency and intensity of timber harvests. However, incorporating the influence of forest surface albedo often suggests that long rotation lengths may not always be optimal in mitigating climate change in forests characterized by frequent snowfall. To address this, we investigated trade-offs between three ecosystem services: carbon storage, albedo-related radiative forcing, and timber provisioning. We calculated optimal rotation length at 498 diverse Forest Inventory and Analysis forest sites in the state of New Hampshire, USA. We found that the mean optimal rotation lengths across all sites was 94 yr (standard deviation of sample means = 44 yr), with a large cluster of short optimal rotation lengths that were calculated at high elevations in the White Mountain National Forest. Using a regression tree approach, we found that timber growth, annual storage of carbon, and the difference between annual albedo in mature forest vs. a post-harvest landscape were the most important variables that influenced optimal rotation. Additionally, we found that the choice of a baseline albedo value for each site significantly altered the optimal rotation lengths across all sites, lowering the mean rotation to 59 yr with a high albedo baseline, and increasing the mean rotation to 112 yr given a low albedo baseline. Given these results, we suggest that utilizing temperate forests in New Hampshire for climate mitigation purposes through carbon storage and the cessation of harvest is appropriate at a site-dependent level that varies significantly across the state

The Differential Association between Alexithymia and Primary versus Secondary Psychopathy

Using a sample of 104 college students, this study tested the hypothesis that alexithymia is positively related to secondary (also known as “neurotic psychopathy”), but not primary psychopathy (i.e., inability to form emotional bonds with others and a fear insensitivity). Participants completed the TAS-20 (alexithymia), the LSRP (primary and secondary psychopathy), the PPI-R (psychopathy), and the trait version of the STAI (trait anxiety). The interaction between the latter two measures was used as a second index of primary and secondary psychopathy. Support was found for the study hypothesis with both methods of assessing psychopathy (i.e., the LSRP subscales or the combination of the PPI-R and the STAI). These results further our understanding of both alexithymia and psychopathy. Highlights: * We hypothesized that alexithymia would be related to secondary psychopathy. * We hypothesized that alexithymia would not be related to primary psychopathy. * Support for these hypotheses was used with two different ways of operationalizing psychopathy. * Primary psychopathy was correlated with “externally oriented thinking

A Simple Microbiome in the European Common Cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis.

The European common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, is used extensively in biological and biomedical research, yet its microbiome remains poorly characterized. We analyzed the microbiota of the digestive tract, gills, and skin in mariculture-raised S. officinalis using a combination of 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, quantitative PCR (qPCR), and fluorescence spectral imaging. Sequencing revealed a highly simplified microbiota consisting largely of two single bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of Vibrionaceae and Piscirickettsiaceae The esophagus was dominated by a single ASV of the genus Vibrio Imaging revealed bacteria in the family Vibrionaceae distributed in a discrete layer that lines the esophagus. This Vibrio was also the primary ASV found in the microbiota of the stomach, cecum, and intestine, but occurred at lower abundance, as determined by qPCR, and was found only scattered in the lumen rather than in a discrete layer via imaging analysis. Treatment of animals with the commonly used antibiotic enrofloxacin led to a nearly 80% reduction of the dominant Vibrio ASV in the esophagus but did not significantly alter the relative abundance of bacteria overall between treated versus control animals. Data from the gills were dominated by a single ASV in the family Piscirickettsiaceae, which imaging visualized as small clusters of cells. We conclude that bacteria belonging to the Gammaproteobacteria are the major symbionts of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis cultured from eggs in captivity and that the esophagus and gills are major colonization sites.IMPORTANCE Microbes can play critical roles in the physiology of their animal hosts, as evidenced in cephalopods by the role of Vibrio (Aliivibrio) fischeri in the light organ of the bobtail squid and the role of Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria in the reproductive system and egg defense in a variety of cephalopods. We sampled the cuttlefish microbiome throughout the digestive tract, gills, and skin and found dense colonization of an unexpected site, the esophagus, by a microbe of the genus Vibrio, as well as colonization of gills by Piscirickettsiaceae This finding expands the range of organisms and body sites known to be associated with Vibrio and is of potential significance for understanding host-symbiont associations, as well as for understanding and maintaining the health of cephalopods in mariculture

Fuel Dynamics After Reintroduced Fire in an Old-Growth Sierra Nevada Mixed-Conifer Forest

Background: Surface fuel loadings are some of the most important factors contributing to fire intensity and fire spread. In old-growth forests where fire has been long excluded, surface fuel loadings can be high and can include woody debris ≥100 cm in diameter. We assessed surface fuel loadings in a long-unburned old-growth mixed-conifer forest in Yosemite National Park, California, USA, and assessed fuel consumption from a management-ignited fire set to control the progression of the 2013 Rim Fire. Specifically, we characterized the distribution and heterogeneity of pre-fire fuel loadings, both along transects and contained in duff mounds around large trees. We compared surface fuel consumption to that predicted by the standard First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) based on pre-fire fuel loadings and fuel moistures. We also assessed the relationship between tree basal area—calculated for two different spatial neighborhood scales—and pre-fire fuel loadings. Results: Pre-fire total surface fuel loading averaged 192 Mg ha−1 and was reduced by 79% by the fire to 41 Mg ha−1 immediately after fire. Most fuel components were reduced by 87% to 90% by the fire, with the exception of coarse woody debris (CWD), which was reduced by 60%. Litter depth in duff mounds were within 1 SD of plot means, but duff biomass for the largest trees (\u3e150 cm diameter at breast height [DBH]) exceeded plot background levels. Overstory basal area generally had significant positive relationships with pre-fire fuel loadings of litter, duff, 1-hour, and 10-hour fuels, but the strength of the relationships differed between overstory components (live, dead, all [live and dead], species), and negative relationships were observed between live Pinus lambertiana Douglas basal area and CWD. FOFEM over-predicted rotten CWD consumption and under-predicted duff consumption. Conclusions: Surface fuel loadings were characterized by heterogeneity and the presence of large pieces. This heterogeneity likely contributed to differential fire behavior at small scales and heterogeneity in the post-fire environment. The reductions in fuel loadings at our research site were in line with ecological restoration objectives; thus, ecologically restorative burning during fire suppression is possible

Does Graded Prognostic Assessment outperform Recursive Partitioning Analysis in patients with moderate prognosis brain metastases?

AIM: To compare the clinical utility of the Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA) and Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA) in predicting outcomes for moderate prognosis patients with brain metastases. METHODS & MATERIALS: We reviewed 101 whole brain radiotherapy cases. RPA and GPA were calculated. Overall survival was compared. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients had moderate prognosis. RPA patient characteristics for increased death hazard were ≤10 WBRT fractions or no surgery/radiosurgery. GPA patients had increased death risk with no surgery/radiosurgery or lower Karnofsky Performance Status. CONCLUSION: The indices have similar predicted survival. Patients scored by RPA with longer radiation schedules had longer survival; patients scored by GPA did not. This indicates GPA is more clinically useful, leaving less room for subjective treatment choices

Herschel-PACS Observations of Far-IR CO Line Emission in NGC 1068: Highly Excited Molecular Gas in the Circumnuclear Disk

We report the detection of far-IR CO rotational emission from the prototypical Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068. Using Herschel-PACS, we have detected 11 transitions in the J_upper=14-30 (E_upper/k_B = 580-2565 K) range, all of which are consistent with arising from within the central 10" (700 pc). The detected transitions are modeled as arising from 2 different components: a moderate excitation (ME) component close to the galaxy systemic velocity, and a high excitation (HE) component that is blueshifted by ~80 km s^{-1}. We employ a large velocity gradient (LVG) model and derive n_H2~10^{5.6} cm^{-3}, T_kin~170 K, and M_H2~10^{6.7} M_sun for the ME component, and n_H2~10^{6.4} cm^{-3}, T_kin~570 K, and M_H2~10^{5.6} M_sun for the HE component, although for both components the uncertainties in the density and mass are plus/minus (0.6-0.9) dex. We compare the CO line profiles with those of other molecular tracers observed at higher spatial and spectral resolution, and find that the ME transitions are consistent with these lines arising in the ~200 pc diameter ring of material traced by H_2 1-0 S(1) observations. The blueshift of the HE lines may also be consistent with the bluest regions of this H_2 ring, but a better kinematic match is found with a clump of infalling gas ~40 pc north of the AGN. We discuss the prospects of placing the HE component near the AGN, and conclude that while the moderate thermal pressure precludes an association with the ~1 pc radius H_2O maser disk, the HE component could potentially be located only a few parsecs more distant from the AGN, and might then provide the N_H~10^{25} cm^{-2} column obscuring the nuclear hard X-rays. Finally, we also report sensitive upper limits extending up to J_upper=50, which place constraints on a previous model prediction for the CO emission from the X-ray obscuring torus. [Abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Maximal LpL^p-regularity for stochastic evolution equations

We prove maximal $L^p$-regularity for the stochastic evolution equation \{{aligned} dU(t) + A U(t)\, dt& = F(t,U(t))\,dt + B(t,U(t))\,dW_H(t), \qquad t\in [0,T], U(0) & = u_0, {aligned}. under the assumption that $A$ is a sectorial operator with a bounded $H^\infty$-calculus of angle less than $\frac12\pi$ on a space $L^q(\mathcal{O},\mu)$. The driving process $W_H$ is a cylindrical Brownian motion in an abstract Hilbert space $H$. For $p\in (2,\infty)$ and $q\in [2,\infty)$ and initial conditions $u_0$ in the real interpolation space \XAp we prove existence of unique strong solution with trajectories in L^p(0,T;\Dom(A))\cap C([0,T];\XAp), provided the non-linearities F:[0,T]\times \Dom(A)\to L^q(\mathcal{O},\mu) and B:[0,T]\times \Dom(A) \to \g(H,\Dom(A^{\frac12})) are of linear growth and Lipschitz continuous in their second variables with small enough Lipschitz constants. Extensions to the case where $A$ is an adapted operator-valued process are considered as well. Various applications to stochastic partial differential equations are worked out in detail. These include higher-order and time-dependent parabolic equations and the Navier-Stokes equation on a smooth bounded domain \OO\subseteq \R^d with $d\ge 2$. For the latter, the existence of a unique strong local solution with values in (H^{1,q}(\OO))^d is shown.Comment: Accepted for publication in SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysi

A coupled terrestrial and aquatic biogeophysical model of the Upper Merrimack River watershed, New Hampshire, to inform ecosystem services evaluation and management under climate and land-cover change

Accurate quantification of ecosystem services (ES) at regional scales is increasingly important for making informed decisions in the face of environmental change. We linked terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem process models to simulate the spatial and temporal distribution of hydrological and water quality characteristics related to ecosystem services. The linked model integrates two existing models (a forest ecosystem model and a river network model) to establish consistent responses to changing drivers across climate, terrestrial, and aquatic domains. The linked model is spatially distributed, accounts for terrestrial–aquatic and upstream–downstream linkages, and operates on a daily time-step, all characteristics needed to understand regional responses. The model was applied to the diverse landscapes of the Upper Merrimack River watershed, New Hampshire, USA. Potential changes in future environmental functions were evaluated using statistically downscaled global climate model simulations (both a high and low emission scenario) coupled with scenarios of changing land cover (centralized vs. dispersed land development) for the time period of 1980–2099. Projections of climate, land cover, and water quality were translated into a suite of environmental indicators that represent conditions relevant to important ecosystem services and were designed to be readily understood by the public. Model projections show that climate will have a greater influence on future aquatic ecosystem services (flooding, drinking water, fish habitat, and nitrogen export) than plausible changes in land cover. Minimal changes in aquatic environmental indicators are predicted through 2050, after which the high emissions scenarios show intensifying impacts. The spatially distributed modeling approach indicates that heavily populated portions of the watershed will show the strongest responses. Management of land cover could attenuate some of the changes associated with climate change and should be considered in future planning for the region

Spatial aspects of tree mortality strongly differ between young and old-growth forests

Rates and spatial patterns of tree mortality are predicted to change during forest structural development. In young forests, mortality should be primarily density dependent due to competition for light, leading to an increasingly spatially uniform pattern of surviving trees. In contrast, mortality in old-growth forests should be primarily caused by contagious and spatially auto-correlated agents (e.g., insects, wind), causing spatial aggregation of surviving trees to increase through time. We tested these predictions by contrasting a three-decade record of tree mortality from replicated mapped permanent plots located in young (\u3c60-year-old) and old-growth (\u3e300-year-old) Abies amabilis forests. Trees in young forests died at a rate of 4.42% per year, whereas trees in old-growth forests died at 0.60% per year. Tree mortality in young forests was significantly aggregated, strong density dependent, and caused live tree patterns to become more uniform through time. Mortality in old-growth forests was spatially aggregated, but was density independent and did not change the spatial pattern of surviving trees. These results extend current theory by demonstrating that density-dependent competitive mortality leading to increasingly uniform three spacing in young forests ultimately transitions late in succession to a more diverse tree mortality regime that maintains spatial heterogeneity through time