Biologisk mangfold og økosystemfunksjoner i gamle eiker

Veteran trees are keystone structures in landscapes, hotspots for biodiversity and have high cultural value. They are also declining globally, and this threatens the species that are dependent on them, and the ecosystem functions they promote. Ecosystem functions are the physicochemical and biological processes that occur within ecosystems that maintain life. A key link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is the traits of the species. This diversity of traits is also known as functional diversity, and high levels of functional diversity in a community promote multiple ecosystem processes and make these processes more resilient to change. There is a large amount of evidence to support the conclusion that biodiversity influences ecosystem functioning, but few studies address this related to invertebrate diversity in veteran trees. My research has explored the multifaceted predictors of taxonomic and functional diversity of veteran oaks invertebrate communities, and measured the contribution of these communities to ecosystem functioning. In Paper 1, I considered three possible ecosystem functions promoted by veteran oak beetle communities (decomposition, predation and pollination), and explored how the veteran oaks and their landscape contexts influence this diversity (both taxonomic and functional). In the two corresponding papers (Papers 2 and 3), I focused more closely on predation and decomposition (respectively), and examined the differences in these processes and beetle communities involved in them between veteran and young oaks. Lastly, in Paper 4 I used a mesocosm experiment to explore how community complexity influences biotic interactions and decomposition in tree hollows. All my research was conducted around veteran oaks in southern Norway. In Paper 1, I found that the features of veteran trees (e.g.: senescence, circumference and regrowth) and the landscape that they were in had different influences on species richness and functional diversity within the different groups of decomposers, predatory and flower visiting beetles. In Paper 2, I found that there were more species of predatory beetles with greater functional diversity around veteran oaks than young oaks, and this corresponded with greater invertebrate predation rates. In Paper 3, I found a similar effect on the wood decomposing beetles, with a greater number of species and higher functional diversity around veteran trees than young trees. However, I found the opposite effect on decomposition of the small diameter wood, with slower rates around the veteran trees. In Paper 4, I found that community complexity increased decomposition rates and wood mold production in tree hollows, and that macrofauna influenced the decomposition pathway and nematode community structure and maturity. The findings from my research support the concept that veteran trees are important for biodiversity, and indicate that veteran trees and their communities influence ecosystem functions, such as invertebrate predation and decomposition. They also highlight the importance of community complexity and habitat heterogeneity for promoting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Results from my work indicate that there is the potential for synergies between the conservation of veteran trees and sustainable agriculture and forestry. Protecting and valuing veteran trees and their communities, and reintegrating them into land use practices, is an essential step towards a more sustainable system of management, and has the possibility of enhancing the wellbeing of people while promoting biodiversity.Gamle trær er nøkkelstrukturer i landskapet, de er viktige for biologisk mangfold og de har høy kulturell verdi. De minker globalt, og dette truer artene som er avhengige av dem samt de økosystemfunksjonene disse trærne fremmer. Økosystemfunksjoner er de fysisk-kjemiske og biologiske prosessene som forekommer i økosystemer og som støtter opp om liv. Artenes egenskaper utgjør en sentral kobling mellom biologisk mangfold og økosystemfunksjoner. Dette mangfoldet av egenskaper er også kjent som funksjonelt mangfold, og høye nivåer av funksjonelt mangfold i et samfunn fremmer flere økosystemprosesser og gjør disse prosessene mer motstandsdyktige mot endring. Mye forskning peker på at biologisk mangfold påvirker økosystemfunksjon, men få studier tar for seg dette i sammenheng med mangfold av insekter i gamle trær. Forskningen min har utforsket de flersidige driverne for taksonomisk og funksjonelt mangfold i insektmiljøer som forekommer i gamle eiketrær, og målt bidragene fra disse til økosystemfunksjoner. Resultatene fra forskningen min støtter oppfatningen om at gamle trær er viktige for biologisk mangfold, og peker på at gamle trær og samfunnene deres bidrar til viktige økosystemfunksjoner, eksempelvis predasjon av insekter og nedbrytning av organisk materiale. Resultatene fremhever også viktigheten av samfunnskompleksitet og habitatsmangfold for å fremme biologisk mangfold og viktige økosystemfunksjoner. Forskningen min viser dessuten at det finnes mulige synergier mellom bevaring av gamle trær og bærekraftig jordbruk. Å beskytte og verdsette gamle trær og lokalsamfunnene deres, samt integrere disse på nytt i landbrukspraksis, er et viktig skritt mot et mer bærekraftig forvaltningssystem som har mulighet for å forbedre folks velvære samtidig som det fremmer biologisk mangfold

Institutional Invention: (How) is it possible?

(First paragraph) In this chapter I want to explore several broad questions with respect to higher education: Is institutional invention possible? What are the conditions that enable it, and how can they be created and sustained? What are the obstacles to institutional invention? How can academic leadership foster institutional invention

The 1979 Ottawa Conference and It\u27s Inscriptions: Recovering a Canadian Moment in American Rhetoric and Composition

[First Paragraph] In May 1979, Aviva Freedman and Ian Pringle hosted an international conference on Learning to Write at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, featuring a concentrated assemblage of eminent scholars as speakers and respondents. Those present sensed immediately that they were part of a momentous and historic event. Janet Emig, who delivered her famous Tacit Tradition speech at the conference, remembered it later as the single most electric professional meeting I ever participated in (Emig 1983, n.p.). Many delegates saw it as the rightful successor to the landmark Dartmouth Conference of 1966, and when Anthony Adams, the closing speaker, suggested it might even eclipse Dartmouth as the most important conference ever held on English education, there was a general murmur of assent (Oster 1979, 24)

Bouncing Back: Resilience and Its Limits in Late-Age Composing

This essay is one of a series on my mother’s late-age composing, studying a writing project she started at age 70 and worked on for more than 25 years. Her intention was to integrate extensive reading, personal experience, and cultural observations to explain changes in parenting (and, by extension, education and enculturation of the next generation) from her childhood in the 1920s through the 2000s. When she died at 97, she left behind a 75-page draft, but was unable to complete her plans for revisions and an ending. I focus here on identifying the multiple factors in the ecology of her aging literacy that interacted to interrupt, slow down, and ultimately prevent her from finishing the essay. By studying her artifacts and documenting stresses on her literacy system (defined as body/mind/environment), I constructed timelines for her aging literacy and composing, expressed in visualizations. These demonstrate a pattern of persistence and resilience, “bouncing back” from setbacks, but at progressively lower levels until she reaches the limits of her literacy system in late old age

Pen Register Evidence with One-Party Consent: Should It Be Admissible

Consent of one party to a communication has been held to eliminate the need for a warrant when tapping phones. This Comment will examine the consent doctrine under the laws of New York, the federal statutes and the United States Constitution. It will attempt to determine whether one person who has some communications with another can consent to having all the communications of the other monitored and, indeed, whether one-party consent is still a valid constitutional consideration

LABOR LAW - CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT- RIGHT OF EMPLOYER TO DISPARAGE LABOR UNIONS AND TO ADVISE HIS EMPLOYEES AGAINST JOINING THEM

In the spring of 1937 the respondent distributed anti-union literature to its employees. Some of the material specifically denied any design on the part of the employer to prevent the employees from joining a union, and none of the literature pretended to be more than the advice and opinions of the employer. Nevertheless, the unions were thoroughly condemned as rackets, controlled by Communists, which deprive the workingman of his economic freedom and force him to pay for the privilege of working. The National Labor Relations Board found that the distribution of this literature interfered with, restrained, and coerced the employees in the exercise of their rights of self-organization. It thereupon issued a cease and desist order and applied to the court for its enforcement. Held, the order of the board was invalid because it violated the constitutional guarantee of free speech. National Labor Relations Board v. Ford Motor Co., (C. C. A. 6th, 1940) 7 L. R. R. 163

The Historical Formation of Academic Identities: Rhetoric and Composition, Discourse and Writing

(First paragraph) This talk originated in my work as a consultant at the University of Winnipeg, where I spent six weeks on a Fulbright Specialist grant in Spring 2011. I was invited to advise the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Communications on its plans for “program architecture renewal,” which included critically assessing its programs, articulating levels of the curriculum, and charting future directions for the department. The grant had larger goals as well, charging me to study the development of writing and rhetorical studies in Canada as an emerging field seeking both definition and visibility. The Winnipeg faculty hoped that the project could highlight the importance of these studies, in relation to a vibrant discipline of rhetoric and composition in the U.S. and the global growth of interdisciplinary writing studies, and contribute to their prospects for cohesion and recognition in Canada.1 In this presentation, I hope to advance some of these broader goals, informed by my dual perspective as a longtime scholar in and of American rhetoric and composition and as a new student of Canadian work in discourse and writing.

PREDICTIVE GEOSPATIAL MODELING FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION: CASE STUDIES FROM THE GALISTEO BASIN, VERMONT AND CHACO CANYON

Geospatial modeling of ancient landscapes for predictive scientific research and hypothesis testing is an important emerging approach in contemporary archaeology. This doctoral dissertation is comprised of three published North American case studies that clearly demonstrate the value of predictive geospatial modeling to address explicit goals of contemporary archaeological research, conservation and cultural resource management. The case studies consist of a GIS-based prioritization analysis of natural and cultural resources conservation value in the Galisteo Basin of north-central New Mexico, an archaeological sensitivity analysis (site-discovery potential) for the state of Vermont, and a predictive model of agricultural potential during the Bonito Phase (ca. AD 850 to 1150) in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. These studies contribute to the growing reliance on quantitative geospatial modeling in the social sciences