Political Ecology

Tree cover in savanna ecosystems is usually regarded as unstable, varying with rainfall, fire, and herbivory [[1], [2], [3] and [4]]. In sub-Saharan Africa, elephants (Loxodonta africana) suppress tree cover, thereby maintaining landscape heterogeneity by promoting tree-grass coexistence. In the absence of elephants, tree encroachment may convert savannas into closed-canopy woodlands [[5] and [6]]; when [...]

Numerous anthropogenic factors can deplete calcium (Ca) from forest ecosystems. Because an adequate supply of Ca is needed to support fundamental biological functions, including cell membrane stability and stress response, the potential for Ca deficiency following the individual, cumulative, or potentially synergistic, influences of anthropogenic factors raises important questions concerning organism and ecosystem health. Past [...]

The accumulation of species-specific enemies around adults is hypothesized to maintain plant diversity by limiting the recruitment of conspecific seedlings relative to heterospecific seedlings1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Although previous studies in forested ecosystems have documented patterns consistent with the process of negative feedback7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, these [...]

Biomass conversion and expansion factors were applied to convert the growing stock classification results to carbon stock in above-ground biomass. As results of the classification, coniferous and broadleaved growing stock as well as carbon stock of the above-ground biomass is mapped on a wall-to-wall basis with a spatial resolution of 500 m × 500 m [...]

In this study we evaluated the potential of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) for monitoring gross primary productivity (GPP) across fifteen eddy covariance towers encompassing a wide variation in North American vegetation composition. The across-site relationship between MTCI and tower GPP was stronger than that between either the MODIS GPP [...]

In this study, we used understory bamboo in Wolong Nature Reserve, China as a case study to develop and test an effective and practical remote sensing approach for mapping understory vegetation. Using phenology metrics generated from a time series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data, we characterized the phenological features of forests with understory bamboo. [...]

Measurements of net photosynthesis (Anet), stomatal conductance (gs), leaf water potential and leaf fluorescence were made in June and September, 2008. We observed a significant increase in Anet in response to elevated [CO2] regardless of site or temperature treatment in June and September. An increase in air temperature of over 2 °C had no significant [...]