▪ Abstract We explore the social dimension that enables adaptive ecosystem-based management. The review concentrates on experiences of adaptive governance of social-ecological systems during periods of abrupt change (crisis) and investigates social sources of renewal and reorganization. Such governance connects individuals, organizations, agencies, and institutions at multiple organizational levels. Key persons provide leadership, trust, vision, meaning, and they help transform management organizations toward a learning environment. Adaptive governance systems often self-organize as social networks with teams and actor groups that draw on various knowledge systems and experiences for the development of a common understanding and policies. The emergence of “bridging organizations” seem to lower the costs of collaboration and conflict resolution, and enabling legislation and governmental policies can support self-organization while framing creativity for adaptive comanagement efforts. A resilient social-eco...

/pdf/adaptive-governance-of-social-ecological-systems-4doqvfxaqg.pdf

Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems

All terrestrial ecosystems consist of aboveground and belowground components that interact to influence community- and ecosystem-level processes and properties. Here we show how these components are closely interlinked at the community level, reinforced by a greater degree of specificity between plants and soil organisms than has been previously supposed. As such, aboveground and belowground communities can be powerful mutual drivers, with both positive and negative feedbacks. A combined aboveground-belowground approach to community and ecosystem ecology is enhancing our understanding of the regulation and functional significance of biodiversity and of the environmental impacts of human-induced global change phenomena.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/304/5677/1629.full.pdf

Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota.

Nature And Properties Of Soils

Understanding and predicting ecosystem functioning (e.g., carbon and water fluxes) and the role of soils in carbon storage requires an accurate assessment of plant rooting distributions. Here, in a comprehensive literature synthesis, we analyze rooting patterns for terrestrial biomes and compare distributions for various plant functional groups. We compiled a database of 250 root studies, subdividing suitable results into 11 biomes, and fitted the depth coefficient β to the data for each biome (Gale and Grigal 1987). β is a simple numerical index of rooting distribution based on the asymptotic equation Y=1-βd, where d = depth and Y = the proportion of roots from the surface to depth d. High values of β correspond to a greater proportion of roots with depth. Tundra, boreal forest, and temperate grasslands showed the shallowest rooting profiles (β=0.913, 0.943, and 0.943, respectively), with 80-90% of roots in the top 30 cm of soil; deserts and temperate coniferous forests showed the deepest profiles (β=0.975 and 0.976, respectively) and had only 50% of their roots in the upper 30 cm. Standing root biomass varied by over an order of magnitude across biomes, from approximately 0.2 to 5 kg m-2. Tropical evergreen forests had the highest root biomass (5 kg m-2), but other forest biomes and sclerophyllous shrublands were of similar magnitude. Root biomass for croplands, deserts, tundra and grasslands was below 1.5 kg m-2. Root/shoot (R/S) ratios were highest for tundra, grasslands, and cold deserts (ranging from 4 to 7); forest ecosystems and croplands had the lowest R/S ratios (approximately 0.1 to 0.5). Comparing data across biomes for plant functional groups, grasses had 44% of their roots in the top 10 cm of soil. (β=0.952), while shrubs had only 21% in the same depth increment (β=0.978). The rooting distribution of all temperate and tropical trees was β=0.970 with 26% of roots in the top 10 cm and 60% in the top 30 cm. Overall, the globally averaged root distribution for all ecosystems was β=0.966 (r 2=0.89) with approximately 30%, 50%, and 75% of roots in the top 10 cm, 20 cm, and 40 cm, respectively. We discuss the merits and possible shortcomings of our analysis in the context of root biomass and root functioning.

A global analysis of root distributions for terrestrial biomes

Study of the impacts of biological invasions, a pervasive component of global change, has generated remarkable understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of the spread of introduced populations. The growing field of invasion science, poised at a crossroads where ecology, social sciences, resource management, and public perception meet, is increasingly exposed to critical scrutiny from several perspectives. Although the rate of biological invasions, elucidation of their consequences, and knowledge about mitigation are growing rapidly, the very need for invasion science is disputed. Here, we highlight recent progress in understanding invasion impacts and management, and discuss the challenges that the discipline faces in its science and interactions with society.

/pdf/impacts-of-biological-invasions-what-s-what-and-the-way-8rett5vqp1.pdf

Impacts of biological invasions: what's what and the way forward

Root biomass was determined for four sites on each of two toposequences in the New Jersey Pinelands. The sites have similar plant species composition, disturbance histories, and soil parent materia...

Vertical distribution of roots along a soil toposequence in the New Jersey Pinelands

Plant–soil interactions include a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical effects exerted by soil on plant survival, growth, and reproduction, and reciprocal effects of plants on soil formation, soil physical structure, and the activities of the soil biota. These interactions take place over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. The involvement of both the soil biota and the physical substrate of the soil has feedback effects on plant populations and communities, and also results in changes in nutrient cycles and dynamics.

Plant–Soil Interactions

The Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) functional assessment method is predicated on the ability of hydrogeomorphic wetland classification and visual assessment of alteration to provide reference standards against which functions in individual wetlands can be evaluated. The effectiveness of this approach was tested by measuring nitrogen cycling functions in forested wetlands in an urbanized region in New Jersey, USA. Fourteen sites represented three HGM classes and were characterized as “least disturbed reference” or “non-reference” based on initial visual assessment. Water table levels and in situ rates of net nitrogen mineralization, net nitrification, and denitrification were measured over one year in each site. Hydrological alterations, resulting in consistently low or flashy water table levels, were not correlated with a priori designations as reference and non-reference. Although the flat-riverine wetland class had lower net nitrification and higher denitrification rates than riverine or mineral flat wetland classes, this difference was attributable to the lack of hydrologically-altered wetlands in the flat-riverine class, and thus more consistently wet conditions. Within all HGM classes, a classification based on the long-term hydrological record that separated sites with “normal,” saturated hydrology from those with “altered,” drier hydrology, clearly distinguished sites with different nitrogen cycling function. Based on these findings, current practices for designating reference standard sites to judge wetland functions, at least in urbanized regions, are ineffective and potentially misleading. At least one year of hydrological monitoring data is suggested to classify wetlands into groups that have different nutrient cycling functions, particularly in urban landscapes.

Rapid Assessment of Urban Wetlands: Do Hydrogeomorphic Classification and Reference Criteria Work?

Exotic invasive species often affect the pools and fluxes of carbon, nutrient elements, and energy, but there are few sources of information that permit these effects to be anticipated. Some plant traits, such as growth rates and tissue nutrient content, are known to influence the ecosystem process, but information about these traits is often not available. I propose that plant secondary chemistry may be a useful trait for assessing the likelihood of ecosystem (and community) impacts. Information about such traits is readily available from several sources, rendering it a good candidate for screening and monitoring programs. Plant secondary chemicals affect a variety of ecosystem processes, largely through their direct and indirect impacts on soil microbial community composition and function. They also have well-known effects on human physiology, as evidenced in the numerous plant-derived bioactive compounds used for their medicinal and other physiological effects. There is a large amount of information available about plant secondary chemistry due to its role in herbal medicine, dietary supplements and the emerging field of nutraceuticals. This information includes databases and traditional texts in ethnobotany, plant chemistry, and alternative medicine. I review evidence that secondary compounds are widespread in invasive species and affect soil microbial communities and microbially-mediated ecosystem processes. Invasion ecology may profit from collaborations with a novel group of scientists, including those in ethnobotany, nutraceuticals, plant chemistry and alternative medicine.

A potential novel source of information for screening and monitoring the impact of exotic plants on ecosystems.

The biomass, density, age structure, and dominance patterns of the tree and shrub populations in hardwood swamps of the New Jersey Pine Barrens are described and contrasted with each other. The total biomass of individual swamps ranges from 92,000 kg/ha to 194,000 kg/ha, depending on the age of the stand. These biomass values are similar to those reported for southern hardwood swamps. The Pine Barrens swamps are distinguished by very large populations of ericaceous and other shrubs, which range up to 13% of the total above-ground biomass. The tree populations, composed principally of Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylliatica and Magnolia virginiana, are even-aged; Acer is strongly dominating, with a minimum of 73% of the biomass, and species richness is associated with the availability of different microhabitats. The shrub populations, by contrast, are all-aged, with the dominance patterns among the species and the stand biomasses varying with the degree of flooding of the stand. Differences in size and growth rate among the shrub species parallel their evident response to the flooding gradient. The shrub stratum has lower species richness than the comparable southern swamps and floodplains, but ranges up to higher biomass values.

Structure and dynamics of hardwood swamps in the new jersey pine barrens: contrasting patterns in trees and shrubs

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