Recent Scientific Papers
Ecological Indicators
Integrating Sciences for Monitoring, Assessment and Management
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| The relationships between biomass allocation and plant functional trait | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Qiulong Yin, Tingting Tian, Xiaohui Han, Jinshi Xu, Yongfu Chai, Jiao Mo, Maolin Lei, Lei Wang, Ming YueAbstractUnderstanding how plants allocate biomass to different organs is of high importance since biomass allocation among organs determines many growth processes. Biomass allocation among plant organs is driven by environmental conditions, while functional traits can also be potential covariates to understand the allocation of biomass. However, the relationships between functional traits and biomass... | ||
| Influence of salinity on relative density of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) in Everglades National Park: Implications for restoration of Everglades ecosystems | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Frank J. Mazzotti, Brian J. Smith, Michiko A. Squires, Michael S. Cherkiss, Seth C. Farris, Caitlin Hackett, Kristen M. Hart, Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez, Laura A. BrandtAbstractThe status of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) has long been a matter of concern in Everglades National Park (ENP) due to its classification as a federal and state listed species, its recognition as a flagship species, and its function as an ecosystem indicator. Survival and recovery of American crocodiles has been linked with... | ||
| Biochemical composition of particles shape particle-attached bacterial community structure in a high Arctic fjord | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Anand Jain, Kottekkatu Padinchati Krishnan, Archana Singh, Femi Anna Thomas, Nazira Begum, Manish Tiwari, Venkateswaran Parli Bhaskar, Anu GopinathAbstractKongsfjorden, a high Arctic fjord was used as a model site to test the hypothesis that source and biochemical composition of particulate organic matter (POM) exert strong selective pressure on particle-attached bacterial community than their free-living counter parts. For this subsurface water samples were collected along the particle density gradient in... | ||
| Phytotoxicity assessment of conventional and biodegradable plastic bags using seed germination test | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Elena Balestri, Virginia Menicagli, Viviana Ligorini, Sara Fulignati, Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti, Claudio LardicciAbstractA large fraction of plastic litter found in natural environments is constituted by conventional not biodegradable plastic bags, and their adverse effects via ingestion or entanglement on terrestrial and marine organisms are largely documented. Biodegradable and compostable shoppers have been recently developed as alternative to traditional ones. These bags are specifically designed to... | ||
| Latitudinal pattern of soil lignin/cellulose content and the activity of their degrading enzymes across a temperate forest ecosystem | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Shan Yang, Fei Yao, Ji Ye, Shuai Fang, Zhirui Wang, Ruzhen Wang, Qinglong Zhang, Ruiao Ma, Xugao Wang, Yong Jiang, Maxim Dorodnikov, Hui Li, Hongtao ZouAbstractTemperate mixed forests, along with other high latitudinal ecosystems, are more vulnerable to global warming in comparison with warm sites, because of the slower carbon (C) turnover and higher soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation. Lignin and cellulose are two major components of plant litter, and usually make contributions to the recalcitrant and labile... | ||
| Indicators on the ecosystem service “regulation service of floodplains” | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Ulrich Walz, Benjamin Richter, Karsten GrunewaldAbstractThe capacity to absorb and retain surface waters in the floodplain in case of floods and thus prevent or reduce threats to settlement areas through flooding is an important aspect among others within the ecosystem service “Regulation service of floodplains”. Two simplified indicators for measuring the potential flood retention in Germany are proposed here: the “Area for flood retention” on the one hand and the “Proportion of built-up areas in the... | ||
| Are reproductive traits of dominant species associated with specific resource allocation strategies during forest succession in southern China? | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Taotao Han, Hongfang Lu, Hai Ren, Jun Wang, Guangman Song, Dafeng Hui, Qinfeng Guo, Shidan ZhuAbstractPlant reproductive traits have often evolved to optimize plant fitness under different environmental conditions, and their relationships with vegetative functional traits reflect more general plant reproduction and resource allocation strategies. How those relationships change during succession remains unclear. Here, we investigated the relationships between 8 reproductive traits and 18 functional traits of... | ||
| Identification of source apportionment and its spatial variability of dissolved organic matter in Dagu River-Jiaozhou Bay estuary based on the isotope and fluorescence spectroscopy analysis | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Xue Yu, Junlong Zhang, Fanlong Kong, Yue Li, Maomao Li, Yanru Dong, Min XiAbstractIdentification of allochthonous sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a significant role in biogeochemical cycles and regional management in estuarine areas. In this study, samples of sediments and potential sources including farmland, forest, aquaculture, industrial and rural area were collected. Carbon stable isotope (combing δ13CDOM and C/N ratios) and fluorescence spectroscopy were applied to calculate the relative... | ||
| The use of 3-axial accelerometers to evaluate sound production in European spiny lobster, Palinurus elephas | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): A. Zenone, M. Ceraulo, J.E. Ciancio, G. Buscaino, G. D'Anna, R. Grammauta, S. Mazzola, V.M. GiacaloneAbstractThe European spiny lobster Palinurus elephas emits sound (“rasp”), moving the base of their antennas, as response to the presence of predator and for interspecific communication. During the last decade, three-axial accelerometers have been used to mainly describe diel activity patterns, circadian rhythms and rate of energy consumption of different lobster species, but these devices can also record... | ||
| Revegetation has increased ecosystem water-use efficiency during 2000–2014 in the Chinese Loess Plateau: Evidence from satellite data | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Han Zheng, Henry Lin, Weijian Zhou, Han Bao, Xianjin Zhu, Zhao Jin, Yi Song, Yunqiang Wang, Wenzhao Liu, Yakun TangAbstractVegetation coverage has been effectively increased across the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) mainly because of the implementation of large-scale revegetation programs. Understanding the entire CLP’s ecosystem carbon-water relationship and its response to the vegetation coverage increase and climate change is essential for the water resources management in this semi-humid to arid region... | ||
| Pouteria torta is a remarkable native plant for biomonitoring the glyphosate effects on Cerrado vegetation | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Sueisla Lopes Rezende-Silva, Alan Carlos Costa, Fábio Henrique Dyszy, Priscila Ferreira Batista, Ailton José Crispim-Filho, Kelly Juliane Telles Nascimento, Adinan Alves da SilvaAbstractCerrado is a Brazilian savannah ecosystem that has a high diversity of flora and fauna and originally covered 2 million km2, but in recent years more than 50% of its area has been converted to grain crops and pastures. The intensive grain production in Cerrado has been accompanied by an increase in pesticide and herbicide... | ||
| Evaluating the effectiveness of Floristic Quality Assessment as a tool for determining the condition of depressional wetlands across ecoregions | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Sarah Gallaway, Craig Davis, Daniel Dvorett, Brooks TramellAbstractFloristic Quality Assessment (FQA) has been recognized as a useful tool for evaluating wetland condition and guiding conservation and management efforts. However, FQA validation to confirm that results represent actual wetland condition is limited. Moreover, FQA has been applied across large regions without consideration for the high environmental variability (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and topography) within application areas, which may... | ||
| Estimating grassland aboveground biomass on the Tibetan Plateau using a random forest algorithm | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Na Zeng, Xiaoli Ren, Honglin He, Li Zhang, Dan Zhao, Rong Ge, Pan Li, Zhongen NiuAbstractEffective and accurate monitoring of grassland aboveground biomass (AGB) is necessary for improving our understanding of regional carbon cycle and pastoral agricultural management. In this study, we developed a suitable AGB estimation model for the Tibetan alpine grasslands based on the random forest algorithm, using 256 AGB observation data, remote sensing vegetation indices, meteorological data, and topographical data. We... | ||
| Ecological security evaluation based on entropy matter-element model: A case study of Kunming city, southwest China | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Xue Wu, Shiliang Liu, Yongxiu Sun, Yi An, Shikui Dong, Guohua LiuAbstractEcological security is important for social and economic sustainable development which needs stable resources and eco-environment support. In this study, we established an evaluation indicator system considering pressure and pressure-bearing to quantify the ecological security for Kunming city as it is a socioeconomic center in Southwest China with important ecological niche and rapid urbanization. According to the weights assigned by... | ||
| Family-level surrogates are too coarse to assess environment-community interactions: A response to Jiang et al. (2019) | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Wei Xiong, Yuzhan Yang, Aibin ZhanAbstractJiang et al. (Ecological Indicators, 2019, 96, 750–752) recently commented on our paper (Xiong et al., 2018a) that we underestimated the effectiveness of family-level surrogates for assessing environment-community interactions. Indeed, they did not properly perform statistical analyses, particularly redundancy analysis models. Even worse, they wrongly recommended the use of family-level surrogates according to their improper analyses. Here we clarify that the use of... | ||
| The accuracy in the assessment of arsenic toxicity using soil alkaline phosphatase depends on soil water contents | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Chaoyang Liu, Haixia Tian, Huayong Li, Wei Xie, Ziquan Wang, Mallavarapu Megharaj, Wenxiang HeAbstractSoil phosphatase is commonly used as an indicator to evaluate the arsenic (As) toxicity in soil. However, the As ageing process and the accuracy of using soil phosphatase activity to assess As contamination under various soil water contents are not clearly known. This study explored the effects of soil moisture condition on the As fractions (soil solid phase species) and soil alkaline phosphatase (ALP) over time... | ||
| Evaluation of precipitation impacts on benthic macroinvertebrate communities at three different stream types | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Mi-Jung Bae, Young-Seuk ParkAbstractWe investigated the impacts of two natural disturbances (i.e., heavy rain and dry events) on benthic macroinvertebrates at three different stream types: perennial, intermittent and ephemeral streams. Co-occurrence networks displayed the differences of macroinvertebrate community stability among three different stream types. Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling demonstrated distinct impacts of heavy rain and drought on macroinvertebrate communities. The... | ||
| RESTOQUARRY: Indicators for self-evaluation of ecological restoration in open-pit mines | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Vicenç Carabassa, Oriol Ortiz, Josep M. AlcañizAbstractSeveral methods and criteria to evaluate and assess quarry restoration are available in the scientific literature, but they are very specialized and time consuming. Furthermore, there is a lack of evaluation tools appropriate for technicians involved in these types of activities, such as quarry engineers, restoration managers and quality control supervisors in public administration. The work presented attempts to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge... | ||
| A dynamic and spatially explicit modeling approach to identify the ecosystem service implications of complex urban systems interactions | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Haozhi Pan, Le Zhang, Cong Cong, Brian Deal, Yutao WangAbstractA comprehensive understanding and modeling of socio-ecological systems can better assess how human-induced urban growth affects ecosystem service. This paper demonstrates a comprehensive socio-ecological system modeling approach to identify ecosystem service impacts that result from human activities within large, complex urban systems. It adds to the existing ecosystem impact assessment approaches by integrating spatiotemporal and socio-ecological... | ||
| Scale-guided mapping of forest stand structural heterogeneity from airborne LiDAR | ||
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| Publication date: July 2019Source: Ecological Indicators, Volume 102Author(s): Collins B. Kukunda, Philip Beckschäfer, Paul Magdon, Peter Schall, Christian Wirth, Christoph KleinnAbstractHeterogeneity in forest structure, naturally occurring or induced by management, is continuous in space and time. However, measures used to quantify structure of forests are scale-variant, as they rely on bounded observations on either ecological or forest inventory observation units. The understanding of the influence of the scale of observation in mapping of forest structural heterogeneity is limited... | ||
