Treesearch

Ecosystem services (ES) are an important tool for quantifying the value of nature, yet there are often disconnects between services defined and measured by scientists and those that are realized and appreciated by the general public. Our study explored public perceptions of urban ES by examining benefits associated with greenways in two U.S. cities. Respondents (n =460) recognized all types of ES, though environmental benefits (e.g., air and water quality regulation; acknowledged by 74% of respondents) were less widely recognized than cultural benefits (e.g., economic impacts, social...

California supported a great diversity of plants with edible underground storage organs available to Indian tribes. Together, plant foods, fish and meat made up an indigenous diet that was well-rounded, diverse, and relatively secure. The edible underground parts possessed by these plants are classified as bulbs, corms, taproots, tubers and rhizomes, and when conditions turn unfavorable (too cold or too dry), the above-ground stems die back and the underground organs remain alive. Botanists and ecologists call the plants that employ this strategy geophytes. Indians often call them Indian...

Oil extraction and development activities in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of northern Alberta, Canada, release NOx, SOx, and NHy to the atmosphere, ultimately resulting in increasing N and S inputs to surrounding ecosystems through atmospheric deposition. Peatlands are a major feature of the northern Alberta landscape, with bogs covering 6-10% of the land area, and fens covering 21-53%. Bulk deposition of NH4+ -N, NO3- -N, dissolved inorganic N (DIN), and SO42- -S, was quantified using ion-exchange resin collectors deployed at 23 locations, over 1-6 years. The results reveal maximum N...

Fragmentation and isolation of wildlife populations has reduced genetic diversity worldwide, leaving many populations vulnerable to inbreeding depression and local extinction. Nonetheless, isolation is protecting many native aquatic species from interactions with invasive species, often making reconnection an unrealistic conservation strategy. Isolation management is widely used to protect extant cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) populations from invasive species. Despite this, few studies have empirically examined how predictor variables including habitat length, population size,...

History of human odor analysis in disease diagnosis The use of the sense of smell as an indicator of human disease probably originated with Hippocrates (circa 400 BC). Early medical practitioners recognized that the presence of human diseases changed the odors released from the body and breath. Physicians once relied heavily on their sense of smell to provide useful clues for identifying the causes of human ailments. Descriptive terms were used to describe odors (or aromas) associated with specific human diseases and disorders (Fig. 1). This odor information was a valuable tool for...

The identification of herbicide residues on crop foliage is necessary to make crop-management decisions for weed pest control and to monitor pesticide residue levels on food crops. Electronic-nose (e-nose) methods were tested as a cheaper, alternative means of discriminating between herbicide residue types (compared with conventional chromatography methods), by detection of headspace volatiles released from inert surfaces. Detection methods were developed for a conducting polymer (CP)-type electronic nose device, the Aromascan A32S, to identify and discriminate among eight herbicide types...

The extreme precipitation event on October 3-4, 2015, likely resulting from the convergence of a persistent deep easterly flow, the continuous supply of moisture, the terrain, and the circulation associated with Hurricane Joaquin off the eastern Atlantic Coast (http://cms.met.psu. edu/sref/severe/2015/04Oct2015.pdf) resulted in extreme and prolonged flooding in many parts of South Carolina. We present the precipitation amounts and intensities observed at four gauges on the USDA Forest Service Santee Experimental Forest (SEF) watersheds during this extreme event in conjunction with the...

Background: Interactions between plants and the environment occur primarily at the leaf level. The plant cuticle consists of a menagerie of lipids, waxes and polymers merging to form an insoluble membrane to protect plant leaves from contamination. In Arabidopsis, wax Inducer1/shine1 (WIN1/SHN1) and its family members have demonstrated roles in wax biosynthesis and cutin formation, the primary component of the cuticle layer composition. Constitutive overexpression of the Arabidopsis WIN1/SHN1 (wax inducer1, shine1, AtWIN1/SHN1) gene has led to improved water stress tolerance, altered...

Remote sensing has increasingly been used to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and its supporting parameters in a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective manner. The goal of this study was to develop remote sensing-based models for estimating ET and the biophysical parameters canopy conductance (gc), upper-canopy temperature, and soil moisture for a mature loblolly pine forest ( L.) in the Parker Tract in eastern North Carolina. To validate the remote sensing approach, we acquired long-term on-site eddy flux measurements, including micrometeorological variables and water and energy fluxes....