Scale-dependent effects of marine subsidies on the island biogeographic patterns of plants.

Although species richness can be determined by different mechanisms at different spatial scales, the role of scale in the effects of marine inputs on island biogeography has not been studied explicitly. Here, we evaluated the potential influence of island characteristics and marine inputs (seaweed wrack biomass and marine-derived nitrogen in the soil) on plant species richness at both a local (plot) and regional (island) scale on 92 islands in British Columbia, Canada. We found that the effects of subsidies on species richness depend strongly on spatial scale.

Monitoring Soil Moisture Dynamics Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography under Homogeneous Field Conditions.

There is a gap between lab experiments where resistivity-soil moisture relations are generally very good and field studies in complex environmental settings where relations are always less good and complicated by many factors. An experiment was designed where environmental settings are more controlled, the best outside laboratory, to assess the transferability from lab to outdoor. A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the use of electric resistivity tomography (ERT) for monitoring soil moisture dynamics over a period of 67 days.

Human practices promote presence and abundance of disease-transmitting mosquito species.

Humans alter the environment at unprecedented rates through habitat destruction, nutrient pollution and the application of agrochemicals. This has recently been proposed to act as a potentially significant driver of pathogen-carrying mosquito species (disease vectors) that pose a health risk to humans and livestock. Here, we use a unique set of locations along a large geographical gradient to show that landscapes disturbed by a variety of anthropogenic stressors are consistently associated with vector-dominated mosquito communities for a wide range of human and livestock infections.

Marine subsidies mediate patterns in avian island biogeography.

The classical , which predicts species richness using island area and isolation, has been expanded to include contributions from marine subsidies, i.e. (SIB) .

Heading for the hills? Evaluating spatial distribution of woodland caribou in response to a growing anthropogenic disturbance footprint.

Anthropogenic landscape change (i.e., disturbance) is recognized as an important factor in the decline and extirpation of wildlife populations.

Intertidal resource use over millennia enhances forest productivity.

Human occupation is usually associated with degraded landscapes but 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia's coastal First Nations has had the opposite effect, enhancing temperate rainforest productivity. This is particularly the case over the last 6,000 years when intensified intertidal shellfish usage resulted in the accumulation of substantial shell middens. We show that soils at habitation sites are higher in calcium and phosphorous.