Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Open Access Articles

A Pantropical Assessment Of Deforestation Caused By Industrial Mining, Stefan Giljum, Victor Maus, Nikolas Kuschnig, Sebastian Luckeneder, Michael Tost, Laura J. Sonter, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Growing demand for minerals continues to drive deforestation worldwide. Tropical forests are particularly vulnerable to the environmental impacts of mining and mineral processing. Many local- to regional-scale studies document extensive, long-lasting impacts of mining on biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, the full scope of deforestation induced by industrial mining across the tropics is yet unknown. Here, we present a biome-wide assessment to show where industrial mine expansion has caused the most deforestation from 2000 to 2019. We find that 3,264 km2 of forest was directly lost due to industrial mining, with 80% occurring in only four countries: Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, …

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Ice Algae Resource Utilization By Benthic Macro- And Megafaunal Communities On The Pacific Arctic Shelf Determined Through Lipid Biomarker Analysis, Chelsea Wegner Koch, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Karen Frey, Thomas A. Brown

Geography

We studied ice algae utilization by benthic fauna from the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas using highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) biomarkers. We assessed whether various food acquisition strategies influence the observed HBI signatures. The proportion of phytoplankton to ice algae-sourced HBIs was determined through the H-Print approach that is presumed to reflect the percentage of sea ice organic carbon (iPOC) incorporated into tissues, relative to phytoplankton organic carbon. Cluster analysis separated 3 groups based on location and feeding strategy that were significantly influenced by annual sea ice persistence. Ice algae utilization was most significant in the northeast Chukchi Sea, where …

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Patterns And Drivers Of Recent Disturbances Across The Temperate Forest Biome, Andreas Sommerfeld, Cornelius Senf, Brian Buma, Anthony W. D’Amato, Tiphaine Després, Ignacio Díaz-Hormazábal, Shawn Fraver, Lee E. Frelich, Álvaro G. Gutiérrez, Sarah J. Hart, Brian J. Harvey, Hong S. He, Tomáš Hlásny, Andrés Holz, Thomas Kitzberger, Dominik Kulakowski, David Lindenmayer, Akira S. Mori, Jörg Müller, Juan Paritsis, George L.W. Perry, Scott L. Stephens, Miroslav Svoboda, Monica G. Turner, Thomas T. Veblen, Rupert Seidl

Geography

Increasing evidence indicates that forest disturbances are changing in response to global change, yet local variability in disturbance remains high. We quantified this considerable variability and analyzed whether recent disturbance episodes around the globe were consistently driven by climate, and if human influence modulates patterns of forest disturbance. We combined remote sensing data on recent (2001–2014) disturbances with in-depth local information for 50 protected landscapes and their surroundings across the temperate biome. Disturbance patterns are highly variable, and shaped by variation in disturbance agents and traits of prevailing tree species. However, high disturbance activity is consistently linked to warmer and …

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Evaluating Wildlife Vulnerability To Mercury Pollution From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Madre De Dios, Peru, K. E. Markham, Florencia Sangermano

Geography

Illegal, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) often occurs in remote highly biodiverse areas, such as the Madre de Dios region of Peru. Mercury used in gold mining bioaccumulates in the environment and poses developmental, hormonal, and neurological threats to wildlife. The impact of ASGM on biodiversity remains largely unknown. We used geographic information science to create a spatial model of pollution risk from mining sites, in order to predict locations and species assemblages at risk. Multicriteria evaluation was used to determine how flow accumulation, distance from mining areas, total suspended sediment load, and soil porosity influenced the vulnerability of …

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The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex In The Pan-Amazon: Roll Backs And Contestations, Denise Bebbington, Ricardo Verdum, Cesar Gamboa, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Large-scale access and energy infrastructure projects, together with expanding investments in natural resource extraction, pose significant challenges to biodiversity conservation, forest cover, and the defence of forest peoples' rights and livelihoods across the wider Amazon region. Following a period in which safeguards and forest dwellers' territorial rights were strengthened under more permissive political opportunity structures, the current period has been characterized by efforts to weaken these protections and to facilitate large-scale private investment in previously protected lands. We describe these investment-based threats to forests and rights, and the nature of regulatory rollbacks in the region. We then discuss some of …

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A Walk On The Wild Side: Disturbance Dynamics And The Conservation And Management Of European Mountain Forest Ecosystems, Dominik Kulakowski, Rupert Seidl, Jan Holeksa, Timo Kuuluvainen, Thomas A. Nagel, Momchil Panayotov, Miroslav Svoboda, Simon Thorn, Giorgio Vacchiano, Cathy Whitlock, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Peter Bebi

Geography

Mountain forests are among the most important ecosystems in Europe as they support numerous ecological, hydrological, climatic, social, and economic functions. They are unique relatively natural ecosystems consisting of long-lived species in an otherwise densely populated human landscape. Despite this, centuries of intensive forest management in many of these forests have eclipsed evidence of natural processes, especially the role of disturbances in long-term forest dynamics. Recent trends of land abandonment and establishment of protected forests have coincided with a growing interest in managing forests in more natural states. At the same time, the importance of past disturbances highlighted in an …

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Is Initial Post-Disturbance Regeneration Indicative Of Longer-Term Trajectories?, Nathan S. Gill, Daniel Jarvis, Thomas T. Veblen, Steward T.A. Pickett, Dominik Kulakowski

Geography

The ability to estimate and model future vegetation dynamics is a central focus of contemporary ecology and is essential for understanding future ecological trajectories. It is therefore critical to understand when the influence of initial post-disturbance regeneration versus stochastic processes dominates long-term post-disturbance ecological processes. Often, conclusions about post-disturbance dynamics are based upon initial regeneration in the years immediately after disturbances. However, the degree to which initial post-disturbance regeneration indicates longer-term trends is likely to be contingent on the types, intensities, and combinations of disturbances, as well as pre-disturbance ecosystem structure and composition. Our relatively limited understanding of why initial …

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Not Only Climate: Interacting Drivers Of Treeline Change In Europe, Dominik Kulakowski, Ignacio Barbeito, Alejandro Casteller, Ryszard J. Kaczka, Peter Bebi

Geography

Treelines have long been recognized as important ecotones and likely harbingers of climate change. However, over the last century many treelines have been affected not only by global warming, but also by the interactions of climate, forest disturbance and the consequences of abrupt demographic and economic changes. Recent research has increasingly stressed how multiple ecological, biophysical, and human factors interact to shape ecological dynamics. Here we highlight the need to consider interactions among multiple drivers to more completely understand and predict treeline dynamics in Europe.

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Interactions Among Spruce Beetle Disturbance, Climate Change And Forest Dynamics Captured By A Forest Landscape Model, Christian Temperli, Thomas T. Veblen, Sarah J. Hart, Dominik Kulakowski, Alan J. Tepley

Geography

The risk of bark beetle outbreaks is widely predicted to increase because of a warming climate that accelerates temperature-driven beetle population growth and drought stress that impairs host tree defenses. However, few if any studies have explicitly evaluated climatically enhanced beetle population dynamics in relation to climate-driven changes in forest composition and structure that may alter forest suitability for beetle infestation. We synthesized current understanding of the interactions among climate, spruce beetles (Dendroctonus rufipennis) and forest dynamics to parameterize and further advance the bark beetle module of a dynamic forest landscape model (LandClim) that also integrates fire and wind disturbance …

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Negative Feedbacks On Bark Beetle Outbreaks: Widespread And Severe Spruce Beetle Infestation Restricts Subsequent Infestation, Sarah J. Hart, Thomas T. Veblen, Nathan Mietkiewicz, Dominik Kulakowski

Geography

Understanding disturbance interactions and their ecological consequences remains a major challenge for research on the response of forests to a changing climate. When, where, and how one disturbance may alter the severity, extent, or occurrence probability of a subsequent disturbance is encapsulated by the concept of linked disturbances. Here, we evaluated 1) how climate and forest habitat variables, including disturbance history, interact to drive 2000s spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) infestation of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) across the Southern Rocky Mountains; and 2) how previous spruce beetle infestation affects subsequent infestation across the Flat Tops Wilderness in northwestern Colorado, which experienced …

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Large Carbon Release Legacy From Bark Beetle Outbreaks Across Western United States, Bardan Ghimire, Christopher A. Williams, G. James Collatz, Melanie Vanderhoof, John Rogan, Dominik Kulakowski, Jeffrey G. Masek

Geography

Warmer conditions over the past two decades have contributed to rapid expansion of bark beetle outbreaks killing millions of trees over a large fraction of western United States (US) forests. These outbreaks reduce plant productivity by killing trees and transfer carbon from live to dead pools where carbon is slowly emitted to the atmosphere via heterotrophic respiration which subsequently feeds back to climate change. Recent studies have begun to examine the local impacts of bark beetle outbreaks in individual stands, but the full regional carbon consequences remain undocumented for the western US. In this study, we quantify the regional carbon …

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The Role Of Landscape Connectivity In Planning And Implementing Conservation And Restoration Priorities. Issues In Ecology, Doborah Rudnick, Sadie J. Ryan, Paul Beier, Samual A. Cushman, Fred Dieffenbach, Clinton Epps, Leah R. Gerber, Joel N. Hartter, Jeff S. Jenness, Julia Kintsch, Adina M. Merenlender, Ryan M. Perkl, Damian V. Perziosi, Stephen C. Trombulack

Geography

Landscape connectivity, the extent to which a landscape facilitates the movements of organisms and their genes, faces critical threats from both fragmentation and habitat loss. Many conservation efforts focus on protecting and enhancing connectivity to offset the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity conservation, and to increase the resilience of reserve networks to potential threats associated with climate change. Loss of connectivity can reduce the size and quality of available habitat, impede and disrupt movement (including dispersal) to new habitats, and affect seasonal migration patterns. These changes can lead, in turn, to detrimental effects for populations and species, …

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Integrating Landscapes That Have Experienced Rural Depopulation And Ecological Homogenization Into Tropical Conservation Planning, Aerin L. Jacob, Ismael Vaccaro, Raja Sengupta, Joel N. Hartter, Colin A. Chapman

Geography

If current trends of declining fertility rates and increasing abandonment of rural land as a result of urbanization continue, this will signal a globally significant transformation with important consequences for policy makers interested in conservation planning. This transformation is presently evident in a number of countries and projections suggest it may occur in the future in many developing countries. We use rates of population growth and urbanization to project population trends in rural areas for 25 example countries. Our projections indicate a general decline in population density that has either occurred already (e.g., Mexico) or may occur in the future …

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Research On Synthetic Rope And Its Future In Timber Harvesting, Joel N. Hartter, Jared Leonard, John Garland, Steve Pilkerton

Geography

Steel wire rope is used for many logging applications. It has served the industry well in terms of strength, durability, and longevity. However, steel wire rope is difficult to use because it is stiff, heavy, and unyielding. These characteristics can lead to fatigue and exhaustion, and may contribute to worker injuries. Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene synthetic rope has the potential to replace steel wire rope for selected logging applications. Research shows ergonomic gains and other operational effectiveness with its use. This paper presents research results, potentials, and issues in improving economic and ergonomic performance of ground-based and cable logging. Potential …

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Pantropical Assessment Of Deforestation Caused By Industrial Mining, Stefan Giljum, Victor Maus, Nikolas Kuschnig, Sebastian Luckeneder, Michael Tost, Laura J. Sonter, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Ice Algae Resource Utilization By Benthic Macro- And Megafaunal Communities On The Pacific Arctic Shelf Determined Through Lipid Biomarker Analysis, Chelsea Wegner Koch, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Karen Frey, Thomas A. Brown

Geography

Geography

Evaluating Wildlife Vulnerability To Mercury Pollution From Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining In Madre De Dios, Peru, K. E. Markham, Florencia Sangermano

Geography

The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex In The Pan-Amazon: Roll Backs And Contestations, Denise Bebbington, Ricardo Verdum, Cesar Gamboa, Anthony J. Bebbington

Geography

Geography

Is Initial Post-Disturbance Regeneration Indicative Of Longer-Term Trajectories?, Nathan S. Gill, Daniel Jarvis, Thomas T. Veblen, Steward T.A. Pickett, Dominik Kulakowski

Geography

Not Only Climate: Interacting Drivers Of Treeline Change In Europe, Dominik Kulakowski, Ignacio Barbeito, Alejandro Casteller, Ryszard J. Kaczka, Peter Bebi

Geography

Interactions Among Spruce Beetle Disturbance, Climate Change And Forest Dynamics Captured By A Forest Landscape Model, Christian Temperli, Thomas T. Veblen, Sarah J. Hart, Dominik Kulakowski, Alan J. Tepley

Geography

Negative Feedbacks On Bark Beetle Outbreaks: Widespread And Severe Spruce Beetle Infestation Restricts Subsequent Infestation, Sarah J. Hart, Thomas T. Veblen, Nathan Mietkiewicz, Dominik Kulakowski

Geography

Large Carbon Release Legacy From Bark Beetle Outbreaks Across Western United States, Bardan Ghimire, Christopher A. Williams, G. James Collatz, Melanie Vanderhoof, John Rogan, Dominik Kulakowski, Jeffrey G. Masek

Geography

Geography

Integrating Landscapes That Have Experienced Rural Depopulation And Ecological Homogenization Into Tropical Conservation Planning, Aerin L. Jacob, Ismael Vaccaro, Raja Sengupta, Joel N. Hartter, Colin A. Chapman

Geography

Research On Synthetic Rope And Its Future In Timber Harvesting, Joel N. Hartter, Jared Leonard, John Garland, Steve Pilkerton

Geography