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Linked in: Connectiong Riparian areas to support Forest Biodiversity
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Many forest-dwelling species rely on both
terrestrial and aquatic habitat for their
survival. These species, including rare and
little-understood amphibians and arthropods,
live in and around headwater streams and
disperse overland to neighboring headwater
streams. Forest management policies that
rely on riparian buffer strips and structurebased
management—practices meant to
preserve habitat—address only some of
these habitat needs. They generally do not
consider the overland connectivity necessary
for these species to successfully move across
a landscape to maintain genetically diverse
populations.
Management in headwater areas also can
affect downstream salmon habitat. Landslides
and debris flows initiated in these areas can
severely degrade habitat by dumping too
much sediment and not enough large wood
into the stream. Carefully managing sensitive
headwater areas can aid not only amphibians
and arthropods, but also threatened salmon
populations and other forest organisms.
Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists
are exploring scenarios for protecting
headwaters by extending riparian buffers
and connecting them over ridgelines to
neighboring drainages. A range of management
practices designed to achieve multiple
objectives may be appropriate in these
protected areas to facilitate cost-effective,
ecologically integrated management plans.
Headwater links could piggyback on lands
that are already protected and could consider
such factors as sensitivity to debris flows and
landslides, land ownerships and objectives,
and climate change.
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From Ocean to Stratosphere
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Rising tropical sea surface temperatures
alter atmospheric dynamics at heights of 16 kilometers or more.
SCIENCE VOL 322 3 OCTOBER 2008
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Seeds of Change for Restoration Ecology
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FORESTS PROVIDE A WIDE VARIETY OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, INCLUDING PROVISIONS SUCH AS
food and fuel and services that affect climate and water quality (1). In light of the increasing
global population pressure, we must not only conserve, but also restore forests to meet the
increasing demands for ecosystem services and goods
that they provide (2). Ecological restoration has recently
adopted insights from the biodiversity-ecosystem function
(BEF) perspective (3). This emphasis on functional
rather than taxonomic diversity (3, 4), combined with
increasing acceptance of perennial, global-scale effects
on the environment (5, 6) and the associated species
gains and losses (“Terrestrial ecosystem responses to
species gains and losses,” D. A. Wardle et al., Review,
10 June, p. 1273), may be the beginning of a paradigm
shift in forest conservation and restoration ecology. As
a result, we may see increased tolerance toward and the
use of nonnative tree species in forests worldwide
8 JULY 2011 VOL 333 SCIENCE
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Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming
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The distributions of many terrestrial organisms are currently shifting in latitude or elevation in responseto changing climate. Using a meta-analysis, we estimated that the distributions of species haverecently shifted to higher elevations at a median rate of 11.0 meters per decade, and to higher latitudes
at a median rate of 16.9 kilometers per decade. These rates are approximately two and three times faster than previously reported. The distances moved by species are greatest in studies showing thehighest levels of warming, with average latitudinal shifts being generally sufficient to track temperature
changes. However, individual species vary greatly in their rates of change, suggesting that the range shift of each species depends on multiple internal species traits and external drivers of change. Rapid average shifts derive from a wide diversity of responses by individual species.
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Rescuing Wolves from Politics: Wildlife as a Public Trust Resource
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Long-term conservation of gray wolves is
possible if states recognize a legal obligation
to conserve species as a public trust resource
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Human Evolution Out of Africa: The Role of Refugia and Climate Change
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Although an African origin of the modern human species is generally accepted, the evolutionary
processes involved in the speciation, geographical spread, and eventual extinction of archaic
humans outside of Africa are much debated. An additional complexity has been the recent evidence
of limited interbreeding between modern humans and the Neandertals and Denisovans. Modern
human migrations and interactions began during the buildup to the Last Glacial Maximum,
starting about 100,000 years ago. By examining the history of other organisms through glacial
cycles, valuable models for evolutionary biogeography can be formulated. According to one
such model, the adoption of a new refugium by a subgroup of a species may lead to important
evolutionary changes.
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The Greening of Synfuels
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An old, dirty technology to make transportation fuels from coal could
fight global warming, say proponents. The trick is using more biomass
and burying the carbon dioxide that’s generated
18 APRIL 2008 VOL 320 SCIENCE
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How Does Climate Change Affect Biodiversity?
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The most recent and complex bioclimate
models excel at describing species’ current
distributions. Yet, it is unclear which models
will best predict how climate change will affect
their future distributions.
8 SEPTEMBER 2006 VOL 313 SCIENCE
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Not All About Consumption
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Resource exploitation can lead to increased
ecological impacts even when overall
consumption levels stay the same
15 March 2013 VOL 339 SCIENCE
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Freshwater Methane Emissions Offset the Continental Carbon Sink
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Acornerstone of our understanding of the
contemporary global carbon cycle is that
the terrestrial land surface is an important
greenhouse gas (GHG) sink (1, 2). The global
land sink is estimated to be 2.6 T 1.7 Pg of C
year−1 (variability T range, excluding C emissions
because of deforestation) (1). Lakes, impoundments,
and rivers are parts of the terrestrial landscape,
but they have not yet been included in the
terrestrial GHG balance (3, 4). Available data
suggest, however, that freshwaters can be substantial
sources of CO2 (3, 5) and CH4 (6). Over time,
soil carbon reaches freshwaters by lateral hydrological
transport, where it can meet several fates,
including burial in sediments, further transport to
the sea, or evasion to the atmosphere as CO2 or
CH4 (7). CH4 emissions may be small in terms of
carbon, but CH4 is a more potent GHG than CO2
over century time scales. This study indicates that
global CH4 emissions expressed as CO2 equivalents
correspond to at least 25% of the estimated
terrestrial GHG sink.
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