634 research outputs found
Phylogeny as a proxy for ecology in seagrass amphipods: which traits are most conserved?
Increasingly, studies of community assembly and ecosystem function combine trait data and phylogenetic relationships to gain novel insight into the ecological and evolutionary constraints on community dynamics. However, the key to interpreting these two types of information is an understanding of the extent to which traits are phylogenetically conserved. In this study, we develop the necessary framework for community phylogenetics approaches in a system of marine crustacean herbivores that play an important role in the ecosystem functioning of seagrass systems worldwide. For 16 species of amphipods and isopods, we (1) reconstructed phylogenetic relationships using COI, 16S, and 18S sequences and Bayesian analyses, (2) measured traits that are potentially important for assembling species between and within habitats, and (3) compared the degree to which each of these traits are evolutionarily conserved. Despite poor phylogenetic resolution for the order Amphipoda as a whole, we resolved almost all of the topology for the species in our system, and used a sampling of ultrametric trees from the posterior distribution to account for remaining uncertainty in topology and branch lengths. We found that traits varied widely in their degree of phylogenetic signal. Body mass, fecundity, and tube building showed very strong phylogenetic signal, and temperature tolerance and feeding traits showed much less. As such, the degree of signal was not predictable based on whether the trait is related to environmental filtering or to resource partitioning. Further, we found that even with strong phylogenetic signal in body size, (which may have large impacts on ecosystem function), the predictive relationship between phylogenetic diversity and ecosystem function is not straightforward. We show that patterns of phylogenetic diversity in communities of seagrass mesograzers could lead to a variety of interpretations and predictions, and that detailed study of trait similarities and differences will be necessary to interpret these patterns
Background Paper for Seminar on Organizational and Management Problems Arising from Technological Changes - Coal: Issues for the Eighties
The Core Task of the Management and Technology Area included a subtask devoted to industry studies entitled "Issues for the Eighties"; the first to be studied was coal. Although this study is to terminate at the end of 1981 it is hoped that IIASA will continue to lend its name and support for holding a seminar each year on the problems of world coal prospects.
At previous IIASA seminars on coal mining problems it was unanimously requested that such meetings should be continued. In this respect the Institute for Organizational and Management Problems of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Computer Center for the Polish Mining Industry agreed to sponsor the next seminar which will be held in Kokotek (near Katowice) Poland, in October 1981.
This seminar will be devoted to current developments in the systems assessment of the technological changes in coal mining and data-processing at a colliery, Special attention would be paid to the influences of advanced new mining and information technology on the organizational, managerial, and social subsystems. This paper outlines some issues which, it is hoped, will provoke discussion,
Any comments by the participants or those who are interested in the subjects of the seminar would be of great interest to the organizers in helping them prepare a comprehensive program which will be of interest to those attending
Planning for Planning - Coal: Issues for the Eighties
This Collaborative Paper contains the technical papers presented at IIASA's Task Force Meeting held at the Institute in November 1980 entitled "Planning for Planning -- Coal: Issues for the Eighties",
This meeting was part of a research program at IIASA under the generic title "Issues for the Eighties" in which systems analysts and managers from a given industry met to exchange ideas and information, as well as to explore and develop a strategy of using systems analysis, rather than using it merely as a tool to be brought in for certain well-defined problems.
The subject of the task force meeting was to explore the use of systems analysis in the planning of new capacity for deep mining in hard coal. In fact, the planning of any major project or enterprise, but especially a colliery is, in itself, an extremely complex process which, by definition, requires planning, i.e., planning must itself be planned. Hence the title of this seminar.
The discussion was attended by 17 representatives from 7 countries, and 13 papers were presented or tabled at the meeting
Szczyrk Conference Papers -- Part I. Coal: Issues for the Eighties (Proceedings of Meeting: November 6-9, 1979)
This volume is the first of two Collaborative Papers which contain the technical papers presented at an IIASA Seminar under the generic title "Coal: Issues for the Eighties" which was held in Szczyrk, Poland in November 1979. The seminar was jointly organized by IIASA and the Polish institutes collaborating in this study. The papers are here reproduced for the convenience of those attending the seminar and for reference by those involved in this continuing industry study. The second volume contains those papers concerning the environmental issues, CP-80-24
Coal - Issues for the Eighties
This paper summarizes the proceedings of the inaugural meeting to establish a new international collaborative project for the coal industry -- the first IIASA Industry Study to be carried out under the generic title of "Issues for the Eighties". The purpose of this paper is to provide information for those who may be interested in the project to understand what has so far been done, and what the value may be of cooperation.
It may be worth saying something about the general concept lying behind the IIASA Industry Studies. The purpose of these is to bring together representatives of the same industry from many countries, to identify the key issues which the industry faces over the next ten years, to identify the way in which systems analysis can assist in the major policy and investment decisions, and to engage in a collaborative program of information exchange and research. IIASA's role is essentially catalytic. It is our task to identify needs, and seek to create the conditions in which they can be satisfied. Its unique international -- but nongovernmental -- position in the systems analysis field, and the fact that it works in so many fields of concern to industry (Energy, Resources, Environment, Manpower and Health, Management, Technology, etc.,) makes it an ideal base for a creative exchange of information methods and ideas. Funding limitations restrict the amount of research that it can undertake but, in any case, the knowledge and research skills lie within the industry itself. The fact that the work will be collaborative is fundamental to its success, which we hope will result in better information and an improved methodology for those involved in policy decisions.
Up to the present, two such industry studies have been set in motion, one in coal and another in the forestry/forest product industry. The reasons for selecting the coal industry, and the general background to the study, are set out in Appendix A which was sent out in advance to participants at the inaugural meeting held at IIASA in March 1979. A brief report of that meeting, together with recommendations for future action follow. Various supporting documents are set out in the Appendices
Report of an IIASA Seminar on Systems Analysis in the Coal Industry Held in Szczyrk, Poland, 6-9 November 1979
This paper summarizes the proceedings of the IIASA seminar that was held in Poland in November 1979 to discuss the results of collaborative work under the generic title "Coal -- Issues for the Eighties" and to establish a general policy and plan for the future and presents the main conclusions. Three main topics were discussed during this seminar: Organization, Management and Computers; Planning for Planning; and Environmental Problems.
This paper covers the first two topics in some detail. The papers themselves are available separately as an IIASA Collaborative Paper, CP-80-23. The presentations and discussion on environmental issues are being issued separately as CP-80-24. All the proceedings will be published as IIASA Collaborative Papers
Selected Problems and Research Methods of the Polish Mining Industry Relevant to the IIASA Coal Study
We will conduct investigations on problems connected with the design of organizations in the mining industry. This work could be treated as a case study for IIASA's program, Coal -- Issues for the Eighties. But we must get other countries to deal with similar studies as well. It would be very fruitful if these studies were developed on the basis of common methods that could be worked out during our cooperation in this field at IIASA. It is hoped that this cooperation will give a common base for answering questions directly connected with Coal -- Issues for the Eighties.
In this paper, we will describe our interest in working on these problems within IIASA's program
Scale of Collieries and their Top-Level Management Capability in the Polish Coal Mining Industry: Recent Results
In this paper the following topics are considered: retrospective research into the effect of coal mine scale on its effectiveness; research results on the effect of the "system size" (coal mine) on the top-level management capability; and problem specifications for further research work in this area.
The research results presented in this paper are part of the work accomplished within the IIASA project called "Coal -- Issues for the Eighties". Among others, elements of the IIASA concept "S-IOT" have been used
Rock wall manipulation experiment conducted in Bodega Bay, CA from 2010-2011
Dataset: Rock Wall ExperimentThese data summarize results from a field experiment testing effects of gastropod grazer diversity and substrate heterogeneity generated by barnacles on intertidal algal succession. The manipulation experiment was conducted on a vertical rock wall in the mid-high intertidal zone of Bodega Marine Reserve, Bodega Bay, CA. Surveys were conducted from during 2010-2011. On each survey date, grazer abundance was recorded and the percent cover of algal taxa was visually assessed. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/641692NSF Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-085070
A Pleistocene legacy structures variation in modern seagrass ecosystems
Distribution of Earth’s biomes is structured by the match between climate and plant traits, which in turn shape associated communities and ecosystem processes and services. However, that climate–trait match can be disrupted by historical events, with lasting ecosystem impacts. As Earth’s environment changes faster than at any time in human history, critical questions are whether and how organismal traits and ecosystems can adjust to altered conditions. We quantified the relative importance of current environmental forcing versus evolutionary history in shaping the growth form (stature and biomass) and associated community of eelgrass (Zostera marina), a widespread foundation plant of marine ecosystems along Northern Hemisphere coastlines, which experienced major shifts in distribution and genetic composition during the Pleistocene. We found that eelgrass stature and biomass retain a legacy of the Pleistocene colonization of the Atlantic from the ancestral Pacific range and of more recent within-basin bottlenecks and genetic differentiation. This evolutionary legacy in turn influences the biomass of associated algae and invertebrates that fuel coastal food webs, with effects comparable to or stronger than effects of current environmental forcing. Such historical lags in phenotypic acclimatization may constrain ecosystem adjustments to rapid anthropogenic climate change, thus altering predictions about the future functioning of ecosystems
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