More Like this

1. Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Invertebrate and Restoration Habitat Data

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/675c0b7286358f4ba2fc991bc2af1eaa  

   Swan, Christopher ( January 2020 , Environmental Data Initiative)

   An often-cited benefit of river restoration is an increase in biodiversity or shift in composition to more desirable taxa. Yet, hard manipulations of habitat structure often fail to elicit a significant response in terms of biodiversity patterns. In contrast to conventional wisdom, the dispersal of organisms may have as large an influence on biodiversity patterns as environmental conditions. This influence of dispersal may be particularly influential in river networks which are linear branching, or dendritic, and thus constrain most dispersal to the river corridor. As such, some locations in river networks, such as isolated headwaters, are expected to respond less to environmental factors and less by dispersal than more well-connected downstream reaches. We applied this metacommunity framework to study how restoration drives biodiversity patterns in river networks. By comparing assemblage structure in headwater versus more well-connected mainstem sites, we learned that headwater restoration efforts supported higher biodiversity, exhibited more stable ecological communities compared with adjacent, un-restored reaches. Such differences were not evident in mainstem reaches. Consistent with theory and mounting empirical evidence, we attribute this finding to a relatively higher influence of dispersal-driven factors on assemblage structure in more well-connected, higher order reaches. An implication of this work is that, if biodiversity is to be a goal of restoration activity, such local manipulations of habitat should elicit a more profound response in small, isolated streams than in larger downstream reaches. These results offer another significant finding supporting the notion that restoration activity cannot proceed in isolation of larger scale, catchment level degradation. This dataset represents the microhabitat sampling. 

   more » « less
2. PoLAR-FIT: Pliocene Landscapes and Arctic Remains—Frozen in Time

   https://doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2017.44.116  

   Gosse, John C. ; Ballantyne, Ashley P. ; Barker, Joel D. ; Csank, Adam Z. ; Fletcher, Tamara L. ; Grant, George W. ; Greenwood, David R. ; MacPhee, Ross D.E. ; Rybczynski, Natalia ( April 2017 , Geoscience Canada)

   This short summary presents selected results of an ongoing investigation into the feedbacks that contribute to amplified Arctic warming. The consequences of warming for Arctic biodiversity and landscape response to global warmth are currently being interpreted. Arctic North American records of large-scale landscape and paleoenvironmental change during the Pliocene are exquisitely preserved and locked in permafrost, providing an opportunity for paleoenvironmental and faunal reconstruction with unprecedented quality and resolution. During a period of mean global temperatures only ~2.5°C above modern, the Pliocene molecular, isotopic, tree-ring, paleofaunal, and paleofloral records indicate that the high Arctic mean annual temperature was 11°C–19°C above modern values, pointing to a much shallower latitudinal temperature gradient than exists today. It appears that the intense Neogene warming caused thawing and weathering to liberate sediment and create a continuous and thick (>2.5 km in places) clastic wedge from at least Banks Island to Meighen Island to form a coastal plain that provided a highway for camels and other mammals to migrate and evolve in the high Arctic. In this summary we highlight the opportunities that exist for research on these and related topics with the PoLAR-FIT community.RÉSUMÉCe bref résumé présente les résultats choisis d'une enquête en cours sur les déclencheurs qui contribuent à l’amplification du réchauffement de l'Arctique. Les conséquences du réchauffement sur la biodiversité arctique et de la réponse du paysage au réchauffement climatique sont en cours d’être interprété. Des dossiers nord-américains de paysage à grande échelle et le changement paléoenvironnementales durant le Pliocène sont exceptionnellement préservés et scellées dans un état de congélation qui fournissant une occasion pour la reconstruction paléoenvironnementale et faunistique avec une qualité et une résolution sans précédent. Pendent une période de réchauffement global seulement ~2,5°C au-dessus de moderne les dossiers, moléculaire, isotopique, annaux de croissance, paléofaunistique et paléovégétation indiquent que l'Arctique a connu une augmentation de la température annuelle moyenne de 11°C–19°C au-dessus de moderne, en montrant un inferieur gradient de température latitudinal qu'aujourd'hui. Il semble que le réchauffement intense pendent le Néogène a provoqué la décongélation et erosion pour libérer les sédiments et créer une plaine côtière continuel et épaisse (> 2,5 km dans lieux) qui a fourni une route pour les chameaux et autres mammifères pour migrer et évoluer dans l’Haut-Arctique. Dans ce résumé, nous soulignons les opportunités qui existent pour la recherche sur ces sujets et les sujets connexes avec la communauté PoLAR-FIT. 

   more » « less
3. Designing, generating, and translating deep-ocean observations for and with international policy makers

   https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac143  

   Levin, Lisa A. ; Cimoli, Laura ; Gjerde, Kristina ; Harden-Davies, Harriet ; Heimbach, Patrick ; LaScala-Gruenewald, Diana ; Pachiadaki, Maria ; Pillar, Helen R. ; Smith, Leslie M. ; Stocks, Karen ; et al ( August 2022 , ICES Journal of Marine Science)

   Deep-ocean observing is essential for informing policy making in the arenas of climate, biodiversity, fisheries, energy and minerals extraction, pollution, hazards, and genetic resources. The Deep Ocean Observing Strategy (DOOS), a UN Ocean Decade endorsed programme, is meeting with representatives from relevant international bodies and agreements to strengthen their interface with the deep-ocean science community, ensure that deep observing is responsive to societal needs, identify points of entry for science in policy making, and to develop relevant products for broad use. DOOS collaboration with the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) facilitates this co-design. A DOOS policy liaison team is being formed to link the contacts, voices, and messaging of multiple deep-ocean networks and organizations in reaching international policy makers. The UN Ocean Decade will help to gain the ear of target communities, scale communication channels appropriately, minimize duplicative efforts, maximize limited resources, and organize inclusive and equitable public and private partners in deep-ocean science and policy.

    

   more » « less
4. Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Increased diversity of the regional species pool via seeding augments establishment of native species in experimental vacant lot restorations

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1492f59f9ebed1d51f35a085f4666832  

   Swan, Christopher M ( January 2022 , Environmental Data Initiative)

   The harsh geophysical template characterized by the urban environment combined with people’s choices has led ecologists to invoke environmental filtering as the main ecological phenomena explaining urban biodiversity patterns. Yet, dispersal is often overlooked as a driving factor, especially on expanding vacant land. Does overcoming dispersal limitation by seeding native species in urban environments and increasing the functional or phylogenetic diversity of the seeding pool increase native plant species diversity and abundance in urban vacant land? We took an experimental approach to learn how different dimensions of plant biodiversity within an augmented regional species pool, via seed additions, can explain variation in community structure over a 3-year period. Vacant lots were cleared and manipulated with seeding treatments of high or low phylogenetic and functional diversities from a pool of 28 native species. Establishment success, total native cover and native species richness were followed and compared to cleared, unseeded control lots as well as un-manipulated lots. Seeding increased native plant abundance and richness over uncleared plots, as well as cleared and unseeded control plots. Phylogenetically diverse seed mixtures had greater establishment success than mixtures composed of closely related species. Diversifying seed mixtures increased the likelihood of including species that are better able to establish on vacant land. However, there were no differences in varying levels of either functional or phylogenetic diversity. Augmenting the regional species pool via diverse seed mixtures can enhance native plant cover and richness under the harsh environmental conditions conferred by land abandonment. 

   more » « less
5. How reliable – and (net) beneficial – is the green in green infrastructure

   https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.6  

   Groffman, Peter M. ; Matsler, A. Marissa ; Grabowski, Zbigniew J. ( August 2023 , Agricultural and Resource Economics Review)

   The idea of green infrastructure (GI) has generated great interest and creativity in addressing a range of challenging and expensive environmental problems, from coastal resilience to control of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The appeal of GI stems from its cost savings compared to traditional “gray” infrastructure and the multiple benefits it provides, including biodiversity, aesthetics, and carbon sequestration. For example, a “green” approach to controlling CSOs in New York City saved $1.5 billion compared to a “gray” approach. Despite these advantages, GI still does not have detailed design and reliability specifications as compared to engineered gray infrastructure, potentially hindering its adoption. In this paper, we review some of the potential applications of GI in modern environmental science and discuss how reliability and associated (un)certainty in net benefits need to be addressed to realize the potential of this new approach.

    

   more » « less