Shifting climatic responses of tree rings and NDVI along environmental gradients.

Variations in the growth of aboveground biomass compartments such as tree stem and foliage significantly influence the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems. Yet the patterns of climate-driven responses of stem and foliage and their modulating factors remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the climatic response of Norway spruce (Picea abies) at 138 sites covering wide spatial and site fertility gradients in temperate forests in Central Europe.

Habitat suitability models of mountain ungulates: identifying potential areas for conservation.

Background: Determining the distribution of species and of suitable habitats is a fundamental part of conservation planning. We used slope and ruggedness of the terrain, forest type and distance to the nearest village to construct habitat suitability maps for three mountain ungulates (barking deer (), Himalayan goral () and Himalayan serow ()) inthe midhills of western Nepal. We used locations of sightings and signs of presence of these mountain ungulates collected during surveys along transect to derive a suitability value for each variable using Jacob's index.