4,814 research outputs found
Floristic response to urbanization: Filtering of the bioregional flora in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Globally, urban plant populations are becoming increasingly important, as these plants play a vital role in ameliorating effects of ecosystem disturbance and climate change. Urban environments act as filters to bioregional flora, presenting survival challenges to spontaneous plants. Yet, because of the paucity of inventory data on plants in landscapes both before and after urbanization, few studies have directly investigated this effect of urbanization. METHODS: We used historical, contemporary, and regional plant species inventories for Indianapolis, Indiana USA to evaluate how urbanization filters the bioregional flora based on species diversity, functional traits, and phylogenetic community structure. KEY RESULTS: Approximately 60% of the current regional flora was represented in the Indianapolis flora, both historically and presently. Native species that survived over time were significantly different in growth form, life form, and dispersal and pollination modes than those that were extirpated. Phylogenetically, the historical flora represented a random sample of the regional flora, while the current urban flora represented a nonrandom sample. Both graminoid habit and abiotic pollination are significantly more phylogenetically conserved than expected. CONCLUSIONS: Our results likely reflect the shift from agricultural cover to built environment, coupled with the influence of human preference, in shaping the current urban flora of Indianapolis. Based on our analyses, the urban environment of Indianapolis does filter the bioregional species pool. To the extent that these filters are shared by other cities and operate similarly, we may see increasingly homogenized urban floras across regions, with concurrent loss of evolutionary information
A Variational Principle for the Asymptotic Speed of Fronts of the Density Dependent Diffusion--Reaction Equation
We show that the minimal speed for the existence of monotonic fronts of the
equation with , and in
derives from a variational principle. The variational principle allows
to calculate, in principle, the exact speed for arbitrary . The case
when is included as an extension of the results.Comment: Latex, postcript figure availabl
Macroscopic description of particle systems with non-local density-dependent diffusivity
In this paper we study macroscopic density equations in which the diffusion
coefficient depends on a weighted spatial average of the density itself. We
show that large differences (not present in the local density-dependence case)
appear between the density equations that are derived from different
representations of the Langevin equation describing a system of interacting
Brownian particles. Linear stability analysis demonstrates that under some
circumstances the density equation interpreted like Ito has pattern solutions,
which never appear for the Hanggi-Klimontovich interpretation, which is the
other one typically appearing in the context of nonlinear diffusion processes.
We also introduce a discrete-time microscopic model of particles that confirms
the results obtained at the macroscopic density level.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Anomalous diffusion mediated by atom deposition into a porous substrate
Constant flux atom deposition into a porous medium is shown to generate a
dense overlayer and a diffusion profile. Scaling analysis shows that the
overlayer acts as a dynamic control for atomic diffusion in the porous
substrate. This is modeled by generalizing the porous diffusion equation with a
time-dependent diffusion coefficient equivalent to a nonlinear rescaling of
timeComment: 4 page
Neutron diffraction in a model itinerant metal near a quantum critical point
Neutron diffraction measurements on single crystals of Cr1-xVx (x=0, 0.02,
0.037) show that the ordering moment and the Neel temperature are continuously
suppressed as x approaches 0.037, a proposed Quantum Critical Point (QCP). The
wave vector Q of the spin density wave (SDW) becomes more incommensurate as x
increases in accordance with the two band model. At xc=0.037 we have found
temperature dependent, resolution limited elastic scattering at 4
incommensurate wave vectors Q=(1+/-delta_1,2, 0, 0)*2pi/a, which correspond to
2 SDWs with Neel temperatures of 19 K and 300 K. Our neutron diffraction
measurements indicate that the electronic structure of Cr is robust, and that
tuning Cr to its QCP results not in the suppression of antiferromagnetism, but
instead enables new spin ordering due to novel nesting of the Fermi surface of
Cr.Comment: Submitted as a part of proceedings of LT25 (Amsterdam 2008
Artificial scaling laws of the dynamical magnetic susceptibility in heavy-fermion systems
We report here how artificial, thus erroneous, scaling laws of the dynamical
magnetic susceptibility can be obtained when data are not treated carefully. We
consider the example of the heavy-fermion system
CeLaRuSi and we explain how different kinds of
artificial scaling laws in can be plotted in a low temperature
regime where the dynamical susceptibility is nearly temperature independent.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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