Excess nitrogen is a pollutant and global problem that harms ecosystems and can severely affect human health. Pollutant nitrogen is becoming more widespread and intensifying in the tropics. There is thus a requirement to develop nitrogen biomonitoring for spatial mapping and trend analysis of tropical biodiversity and ecosystems. In temperate and boreal zones, multiple bioindicators for nitrogen pollution have been developed, with lichen epiphytes among the most sensitive and widely applied. However, the state of our current knowledge on bioindicators is geographically biased, with extensive research effort focused on bioindicators in the temperate and boreal zones. The development of lichen bioindicators in the tropics is further weakened by incomplete taxonomic and ecological knowledge. In this study we performed a literature review and meta-analysis, attempting to identify characteristics of lichens that offer transferability of bioindication into tropical regions. This transferability must overcome the different species pools between source information - drawing on extensive research effort in the temperate and boreal zone - and tropical ecosystems. Focussing on ammonia concentration as the nitrogen pollutant, we identify a set of morphological traits and taxonomic relationships that cause lichen epiphytes to be more sensitive, or more resistant to this excess nitrogen. We perform an independent test of our bioindicator scheme and offer recommendations for its application and future research in the tropics.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121575 | DOI Listing |
Sci Total Environ
December 2024
Department of Hydrology, Meteorology and Water Management, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, ul Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.
With their net carbon accumulation determined by the balance between gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and carbon losses (from processes such as oxidation and decomposition), peatlands can function as either carbon sinks or carbon sources. Healthy, pristine peatlands are vital carbon sinks, while degraded peatlands can release significant amounts of carbon (C) into the atmosphere. This study investigates the use of peat vertical displacement (VD), detectable via remote sensing, as a proxy for net carbon accumulation in northern boreal and temperate peatlands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Pollut
December 2024
Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 105 rue McGill, Montréal, Québec, H2Y 2E7, Canada. Electronic address:
A major consequence of the Industrial Revolution was the acidification of continental water bodies by sulfates (SO) and nitrates deposited over long-range distance from atmospheric emissions. Regulation policies were implemented in the 1980s leading to the general decrease of SO concentrations in freshwaters and progressive recovery from acidification, a complex process that is still ongoing. The surface water SO decrease has been linked to declining calcium (Ca) and increasing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
December 2024
School of Forestry, Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China; Northeast Asia Biodiversity Research Center, Northeast Forestry University, 26 Hexing Road, Harbin, 150040, China. Electronic address:
Spanning both temperate and sub-frigid zones, Northeast China boasts typical boreal forests and abundant wetland resources. Because of these attributes, the region is critically significant for global climate regulation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity preservation. While existing research explores the ecosystem service (ESs) functions of different land cover types, a thoroughly in-depth investigation into the ESs of detailed forest and wetland types is essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor Res (Fayettev)
August 2024
Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, 1219 Queen Street East Sault Ste. Marie, P6A 2E5, ON, Canada.
Due to climate change, the timing of budbreak is occurring earlier in temperate and boreal tree species. Since the warmer conditions also cause snow to melt earlier in the spring, the hypothesis that bud reactivation of tree species of the mixedwood forests of Québec would occur under drier conditions in the future and that species from the temperate forests with late budbreak would be most exposed to dry conditions was tested. The thermal-time bud phenology model was used to predict the timing of budbreak for early and late species using 300 and 500 growing degree-days as the threshold for the timing of budbreak.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParasitology
November 2024
Department of Ornithology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Migratory animals likely play an important role in the geographic spread of parasites. In fact, a common assumption is that parasites are potentially transmitted by migratory animals at temporary stopover sites along migratory routes, yet very few studies have assessed whether transmission at stopover sites can or does occur. We investigated the potential for a group of vector-transmitted parasites, the avian haemosporidians, to be transmitted during migratory stopover periods at Rushton Woods Preserve in Pennsylvania, USA.
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