Climate shifts the interaction web of a marine plankton community

Climatic effects in the ocean at the community level are poorly described, yet accurate predictions about ecosystem responses to changing environmental conditions rely on understanding biotic responses in a food-web context to support knowledge about direct biotic responses to the physical environment. Here we conduct time-series analyses with multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models of marine zooplankton abundance in the Northern California Current from 1996 to 2009 to determine the influence of climate variables on zooplankton community interactions. Autoregressive models showed different community interactions during warm vs. cool ocean climate conditions. Negative ecological interactions among zooplankton groups characterized the major warm phase during the time series, whereas during the major cool phase, ocean transport largely structured zooplankton communities. Local environmental conditions (sea temperature) and large-scale climate indices (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) were associated with changes in zooplankton abundance across the full time series. Secondary environmental correlates of zooplankton abundance varied with ocean climate phase, with most support during the warm phase for upwelling as a covariate, and most support during the cool phase for salinity. Through simultaneous quantitation of community interactions and environmental covariates, we show that marine zooplankton community structure varies with climate, suggesting that predictions about ecosystem responses to future climate scenarios in the Northern California Current should include potential changes to the base of the pelagic food.Keywords: community interactions, California Current, marine zooplankton, time series analysis, MAR models, climate chang

Using Grizzly Bears to Assess Harvest-Ecosystem Tradeoffs in Salmon Fisheries

Using grizzly bears as surrogates for “salmon ecosystem” function, the authors develop a generalizable ecosystem-based management framework that enables decision-makers to quantify ecosystem-harvest tradeoffs between wild and human recipients of natural resources like fish

Data from: Fertilizer legacies meet saltwater incursion: challenges and constraints for coastal plain wetland restoration

Coastal wetland restoration is an important tool for climate change adaptation and excess nutrient runoff mitigation. However, the capacity of restored coastal wetlands to provide multiple ecosystem services is limited by stressors, such as excess nutrients from upstream agricultural fields, high nutrient legacies on-site, and rising salinities downstream. The effects of these stressors are exacerbated by an accelerating hydrologic cycle, expected to cause longer droughts punctuated by more severe storms. We used seven years of surface water and six years of soil solution water chemistry from a large (440 ha) restored wetland to examine how fertilizer legacy, changes in hydrology, and drought-induced salinization affect dissolved nutrient and carbon concentrations. To better understand the recovery trajectory of the restored wetland, we also sampled an active agricultural field and two mature forested wetlands. Our results show that nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations in soil solution were 2–10 times higher in the restored wetland compared to two mature forested wetlands, presumably due to legacy fertilizer mobilized by reflooding. Despite elevated nutrient concentrations relative to reference wetlands, the restored wetland consistently attenuated N and P pulses delivered from an upstream farm. Even with continued loading, N and P concentrations in surface water throughout the restored wetland have decreased since the initial flooding. Our results suggest that high nutrient concentrations and export from wetlands restored on agricultural lands may be a severe but temporary problem. If field to wetland conversion is to become a more widespread method for ameliorating nutrient runoff and adapting coastal plain ecosystems to climate change, we should adopt new methods for minimizing the initial export phase of wetland restoration efforts

tower_longterm_surfacewater

File contains 7 years of surface water chemistry from the Timberlake Observatory for Wetland Restoration (TOWeR) site

Appropriate technology for soil remediation in tropical low-income countries - a pilot scale test of three different amendments for accelerated biodegradation of diesel fuel in Ultisol

Polluted land in marginalized regions, such as tropical low-incomecountries and sparsely populated regions in industrialised countries, demand specialremediation strategies that are energy-efficient, locally adapted, economicallyviable. Strategies for appropriate bioremediation technology under such circumstancescan be based on locally available resources in combination with in situbioremediation technologies to keep energy and material costs down. A pilot scaleexperiment was set up to test the application of three organic by-products from thelocal industry (whey, pyroligneous acid and compost tea) to enhance the naturalbiodegradation of diesel in ultisol. Biweekly applications of 6 mL whey kg−1 soilsignificantly increased the degradation rate but no positive effect on degradationwas found with any of the other amendments. Tropical climate is favourable forbiodegradation but many tropical soils are rich in clay which can inhibit the bioavailabilityof the pollutant which in turn may be decisive for biodegradation kinetics. If low cost is a crucial factor, our results indicate that whey treatment has the potential to be an appropriate technology for treating petroleum-contaminated soils in tropical regions

Comparison of vermiwash and vermicompost tea properties produced from different organic beds under greenhouse conditions

Abstract Purpose Using different organic beds to produce vermicompost may influence on quality of vermicompost and its derived productions. Methods A greenhouse experiment was conducted to compare the properties of vermicompost, vermiwash and vermicompost tea obtained from three types of organic beds consisted of cow manure, leaf meal and a combination of cow manure and leaf meal (1:1 w/w). Results Cow manure vermicompost had more desirable effect on many measured traits toward leaf meal and combination of leaf meal and cow manure vermicomposts. Vermicompost tea obtained from three vermicompost types was richer in terms of macro and micro nutrients, C/N, percent of organic matter and organic carbon toward the vermiwash produced from the same vermicompost. Vermiwash and vermicompost tea produced from cow manure vermicompost were at first order in majority of measured traits toward others. Conclusions Generally vermicompost which was richer in nutrient concentrations affected intensively quality of vermiwash and vermicompost tea produced from it