Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Microbial Community Structure And Ecosystem Function In A Changing World, Melissa Ann Cregger
Microbial Community Structure And Ecosystem Function In A Changing World, Melissa Ann Cregger
Doctoral Dissertations
Understanding the effects climate change will have on the structure and function of global ecosystems is a pressing ecological and social issue. Global change driven changes in atmospheric warming and precipitation régimes have begun to alter the distribution of plants and animals in, as well as the function of, ecosystems. Using two large-scale climate change manipulations, I assessed the effect of changing precipitation and temperature regimes on soil microbial community structure and function. Soil microbial communities regulate decomposition and nutrient cycling rates in ecosystems, thus understanding their response to climatic changes will enable scientists to better predict carbon feedbacks to …
Tree Growth Dynamics, Fire History, And Fire-Climate Relationships In Pine Rocklands Of The Florida Keys, U.S.A., Grant Logan Harley
Tree Growth Dynamics, Fire History, And Fire-Climate Relationships In Pine Rocklands Of The Florida Keys, U.S.A., Grant Logan Harley
Doctoral Dissertations
Pine rocklands are globally endangered, fire-maintained communities currently restricted to small habitat areas in southern Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. The purpose of this dissertation research was to identify the long-term ecological disturbance regimes and climatic trends responsible for the persistence of pine rocklands, and examine how human-induced changes during the 20th century contributed to decline of these communities. This research applied techniques of dendrochronology in extreme southern Florida, in a subtropical region where tree‐ring science has never been applied, to increase the understanding of how anthropogenic and natural disturbance events have decreased the spatial distribution of South Florida …