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The vegetation database CACTUS (registered in GIVD under SA-00-004) aims to bring together all plot-based relevés from the Dutch Caribbean Islands that are available from literature, unpublished resources, and recent field surveys. The database currently contains 2,701 vegetation descriptions. The database is used for vegetation classification, to investigate vegetation change over time, to assist in the planning of vegetation surveys, as a source for plant species distribution maps, and to inform nature conservation and policy. Taxonomic references: Van Proosdij (2012) for the Leeward Islands, Axelrod (2017, 2021) for the Windward Islands, except for St. Martin (Howard 1974-1989).

Pollen-based vegetation, biodiversity, and biome reconstructions over the last 15,500 years from sediment core data at Mbi Crater in the Cameroon highlands (6.089273° N, 10.348549° E; 2015 m above sea level) are used to discuss the behavior of the lower edge of the Afromontane forest facing climate change. The data reveal that the post-glacial forest change gradually happened at Mbi and that the forest-wooded grassland ecotone was highly influenced by the climate variability related to the North Atlantic. The forest disruption and diversity loss intermittently occurred over the whole period, and their vegetation changes temporally match dry-cold events at the northern latitudes during the Younger Dryas, at 9.5–9.1 ka, 8.6–8.0 ka, 6.7–6.0 ka, 3.2 ka, and during the Little Ice Age (LIA). During the LIA, the mountain forest was subject to unprecedented levels of disturbance at all altitudes, unlike the seasonal lowland forests, which appears to have been only marginally affected.

International audience; While the emergence of the Acheulean is well documented in East Africa at ~1.7 Ma, subsequent developments are less well understood and to some extent controversial. Here, we provide robust evidence regarding the time period between 1.6 Ma and 1.2 Ma, based on an interdisciplinary approach to the stratigraphic sequences exposed in the Gombore gully of Melka Kunture, in the upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia. Throughout the Pleistocene, the environment differed significantly from elsewhere in Africa because of the elevation at 2000 m asl, the cooler and rainy climate, the Afromontane vegetation, the development of endemic animal species, and the recurrent impact of volcanic activity. At Gombore IB, dated ~1.6 Ma, remains of Homo erectus/ergaster have been discovered, associated with a rich early Acheulean assemblage. The techno-typological analysis of the lithic record from Gombore Iγ (~1.4 Ma) and Gombore Iδ (~1.3 Ma), where substantial areas have been excavated, and the contrasting evidence from Gombore OAM Test Pit C (~1.2 Ma), suggest that the scarcity or lack of large flakes and large cutting tools at the two earlier sites is possibly not just the outcome of sampling bias, but rather of the adaptation of H. erectus/ergaster to the local resources, in a relatively isolated environment. The sites of Gombore gully provide new evidence on the complex pattern of human evolution and adaptation in East Africa during the Lower Pleistocene.

Miscanthus giant is one of the perspective crops for the soil and climatic zone of Ukraine, which is grown as raw material for processing into solid biofuels. However, for industrial use there is no cultivation technology adapted to the conditions of Ukraine. One of the promising directions is to study the conditions of giant miscanthus productivity increasing on the basis of determining the features of plant growth and development, improving the elements of cultivation technology in the conditions of the Western Forest Steppe. As a result of the observations and calculations, the peculiarities of plant growth and development in the first and subsequent years of vegetation and the formation of the above ground mass (biomass) of giant miscanthus were analyzed, depending on the soil and climatic conditions of cultivation. The regularities of growth conditions dependens, development and formation of miscanthus productivity due to influence of agrotechnical factors of planting density and mass of rhizomes are established in the study. Biometric indices of giant miscanthus plants in sprout height for October make a maximum value of 159 cm for planting density of 15 thousand plants / ha with mass of rhizomes 41-70 g. The maximum value of the biomass yield indicator was noted for planting density study of 15,000 units / ha with rhizomes of 41-70 g, which averaged 18.5 tons / ha during the years of analysis. Based on the results of the research, for providing a high productivity of miscanthus giant plants as raw material for Western Forest-Steppe biofuel production, the planting density of 15 thousand plants / ha with rhizomes 41-70 g is recommended. Improved technology for the cultivation of giant miscanthus for biofuel production is proposed

Aim: Palms are iconic and dominant elements of neotropical forests. In the Amazon region, palms have been used and managed by humans for food, material, medicine and other purposes for millennia. It is, however, debated to what extent the structure of modern palm communities reflects long-term human modification. Here, we investigate the complex interplay of ecological and societal factors that influence the distributions of both human-used and non-used palms in western Amazonia. Location: Amazonia. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae). Methods: We used Bayesian hierarchical joint species distribution models to predict the distributions and environmental niche dimensions of 78 western Amazonian species, and to explore their relationships with their diversity of human uses and with specific uses (food, construction and medicine). The models were parameterized with a comprehensive set of field- and satellite-derived environmental predictors. Results: Our results suggest that a combination of ecological and anthropogenic fac-tors drive the present-day distributions of Amazonian palms. The modelled ecological niches of the species revealed use- related species-sorting along soil, climatic, accessibility and drainage gradients. We found peaks in the proportions of useful palms and their diversity of uses in fertile soils, close to rivers, and on floodplains. These are habitats favourable for human settlement, although they harbour naturally restricted palm species pools. We also found a negative correlation between predicted palm species richness and number of human uses across western Amazonia. Main conclusions: Soil characteristics, accessibility, and species pool size all contribute to defining palm–human relationships. At the basin scale, the signature of human use on palm communities was predicted to be stronger in the species- poor south- west than in central-western Amazonia. Overall, we conclude that environmental conditions have influenced modern Amazonian palm distributions both directly and indirectly, by regulating human settlement patterns and natural resource use over extended time periods. peerReviewed

A temporal analysis of landscape change patterns and consequent evaluation of urban expansion has been studied for the Dera Ghazi Khan city which is developing fast since 2000 as an emerging metropolis of South Punjab. The geospatial techniques particularly remote sensing augmented with GIS are vital tools and are mostly used in studying landscape changes and decision making for sustainable urban development. Four Landsat images (1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021) obtained from the free web of GLFC have been analysed. A supervised classification algorithm was applied to all images and results have been presented in both tabular and graphic forms. Present study, focuses upon two land-use classes i.e. built up and open areas, which will be monitored by land-use patterns of Dera Ghazi Khan city during 1991 to 2021 using satellite images. The graphical depiction of all the landscape changes, which have taken place in D. G. Khan city in the form of tables and maps provides detailed information about the degree and ratio of urban expansion and the changes in land use that occurred during the stipulated period.The classification was based on four categories i.e., urban land, bare soil, vegetation, and water; while maps were prepared to present the temporal changes in D. G. Khan city. A total of 52 sq./kms areas was selected for this study designated as the Dera Ghazi Khan city. According to the results, 33% of the urban area has been expanded in Dera Ghazi Khan from 1991 to 2021 and 19% vegetation cover has been reduced. It is a very alarming situation that agricultural land is decreasing because of urban expansion. The results revealed the significance of remote sensing and GIS in evaluating landscape changes.

This paper presents recently obtained palebotanical data regarding the evolution of Lake Paleolotos in the Middle Pleistocene. Its evolution was more complicated than the development of the adjacent lakes in the coast of Peter the Great Bay (the Sea of Japan). The Middle Pleistocene lacustrine sediments accumulated in the downstream of the Tumannaya River (the most southwestern area of Primorye, Russia Far East) were studied using diatom and pollen analytical methods. We found that the Lake Paleolotos arose during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11) and disappeared during MIS 6. For more than half of its existence (MIS 11–8), it was a freshwater oligotrophic basin with a depth of at least 20 m, with clear waters and poor organic matter content. The lake occupied most of the modern accumulative plain on the left bank of the Tumannaya River, reaching a size of at least 10–12 km across. During MIS 7–6 Lake Paleolotos turned into a shallow-water basin (its depth most likely did not exceed 1–3 m) of a eutrophic type with turbid waters rich in organic matter. Palynological data suggest that during MIS 11, 9 and 7 the area adjacent to the Lake was covered with coniferous/broad-leaved forests with presence of some thermophilic plants of North China and North Korea Flora (Castanea, Celtis, Magnolia, Tsuga and Cupressaceae). This indicates that vegetation zones were displaced by about 500–700 km to the north relative to their present position. During periods of cooling they were replaced by coniferous/small-leaved forests with the participation of shrub species of birch and alder (MIS 10) and coniferous/small-leaved forests consisted of pine, birch, and spruce with the participation of elm and oak (MIS 8 and 6).

The vicinity of the Rozprza archaeological site (central Poland) has been the area of a series of palaeoecological studies tracking the environmental history of the Luciąża River valley up to ca. 13,200 cal. BP. Numerous subfossil palaeomeanders of different sizes have been discovered in the valley floor. Here, we present the first results of multiproxy research on the paleo-oxbow lake fill, one of the oldest in the region. The wide range of palaeoecological analyses resulted in reconstructions of vegetation history, climatic, hydrological and habitat changes. The studied oxbow was an aquatic ecosystem with diverse invertebrate fauna until the end of Younger Dryas when it transformed into a limno-telmatic habitat. The sediment composition indicates active denudation processes and several episodes of turbulent hydrological conditions. Such an increased river activity could have caused flooding, resulting in an allochthonous matter supply to the oxbow lake in Late Vistulian. Environmental changes were strictly related to the regional features of the catchment, the transformation of soils, and the hydrogeological conditions. The chironomid- and pollen-inferred climatic reconstructions indicate periods of high and low continentality. The chironomid record indicates relatively cool summer conditions in the Allerød, especially ca. 13,000 cal. BP, possibly related to the Gerzensee Oscillation. On the other hand, a distinct increase of summer temperatures in Younger Dryas (up to 16 °C) was recorded. Such a situation was also confirmed in some other studies from the region, suggesting that it might be the effect of some specific, local palaeoclimatic conditions. Fundator badań: Fundator badań: Optional.empty

U ovom istraživanju analizirana je intenzivna proizvodnja krumpira koji se prerađuje u čips. U analiziranom razdoblju (2019. – 2022.) prikazane su sve agrotehničke mjere pri proizvodnji krumpira na primjeru PO „Beta“. Vidljivo je da je gnojidba svake godine provedena pri jesenskoj obradi, zatim pred samu sadnju, pri nagrtanju i prije zatvaranja redova. Zaštita krumpira je provedena pravovremeno, a kod primjene zaštitnih sredstava najviše se koriste fungicidi u zaštiti od plamenjače i koncentrične pjegavosti krumpira. Kod zaštite od krumpirove zlatice vodi se računa o korištenju pripravaka iz različitih kemijskih skupina i različitih mehanizma djelovanja. Obavezna mjera u proizvodnji je navodnjavanje koje se provodi tijekom ljetnih mjeseci (lipanj i srpanj). Vađenje krumpira obavilo se strojno, a ostvareni prinosi iznosili su prosječno 36 t/ha, što je daleko od hrvatskog prosjeka (19,1 t/ha)., This study analyzed the intensive production of potatoes which are processed into chips. In the analyzed period (2019 - 2022), all agrotechnical measures in the production of potatoes are presented on the example of PO "Beta". Autumn fertilization was carried out every year during the autumn cultivation, then before planting and before closing the rows. In plant protection fungicides are mostly used to protect against potato late blight fungus and early blight of potatoes. For Colorado potato beetle used insecticides were different in active compound. Irrigation was done during the summer months (June and July). Potatoes were harvested by machine, and achieved yield was on average 36 t/ha, which is far higher than Croatian average (19.1 t/ha).

The Darjeeling Himalaya, located in eastern part of the Himalaya biodiversity hotspot in India, is known for its diverse vegetation. The varying climatic conditions along the elevational gradient provide suitable habitats for supporting a rich flora in the region. We provide an updated checklist of vascular epiphytes in Darjeeling Himalaya. A total of 239 vascular epiphyte species belonging to 93 genera and 38 families have been recorded from the region, which include holoepiphytes, hemiepiphytes, facultative and accidental epiphytes. Orchidaceae was the largest family with 70 species, followed by Polypodiaceae comprising 42 species. We make available baseline biodiversity information on vascular epiphytes of the study area and provide details on taxonomic diversity and distribution in terms of vegetation types and along the elevational gradient. We also provide photographs to facilitate field identification.

México está considerado como uno de los países megadiversos y en su territorio se encuentran entre 4 y 8% del número de total de especies de plantas del mundo, de las cuales 51% son endémicas. Existe una gran preocupación sobre la conservación de la flora mexicana, ya que se han detectado varias actividades y factores que la amenazan. En este trabajo se identifican áreas de endemismo para las angiospermas de México con el objetivo de priorizar regiones para conservación. Para categorizar estas zonas se sigue el enfoque que toma en cuenta la biodiversidad, el índice de endemismo ponderado y la historia evolutiva. Se identificaron los linajes de angiospermas, ya sean familias, géneros, o grupos infragenéricos con o sin estatus taxonómico que previamente se habían determinado como monofiléticos para representar la historia evolutiva en unidades espaciales equivalentes. Se construyó una base de datos de 9416 registros de especies de 259 grupos monofiléticos de angiospermas restringidas a México y se registró su presencia en estas áreas. Para cada una se calculó la riqueza de taxones y el índice de endemismo ponderado. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría de las zonas de más alto endemismo están en climas secos, con vegetación xérica, con dos excepciones de vegetación tropical y templada. Los índices de endemismo ponderado más altos se localizaron en: el área norte de matorral rosetófilo en Nuevo León y Coahuila, matorrales gipsófilos en San Luis Potosí, la Sierra Gorda en Querérato, Tolantongo en Hidalgo, el Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán en Puebla y Oaxaca, El Salto en Durango, la Sierra de Quila en Jalisco, la zona oeste de la Depresión del Balsas en Michoacán, Guerrero, Morelos y el Estado de México, la zona de Tehuantepec en Oaxaca y El Triunfo en Chiapas. Algunas áreas de endemismo en el Desierto Chihuahuense, en la Cuenca del Balsas y en la Depresión de Chiapas, así como del sur de Oaxaca no están suficientemente protegidas. Se registraron aproximadamente 340 especies con distribución restringida a un solo cuadrante y de éstas la mayoría de las que se incluyen en la lista de taxones amenazados de México pertenecen a las Cactaceae.

Entre las diversas ideas que se han propuesto para explicar la gran diversidad biológica de México está la que afirma que ésta es el resultado del contacto de las biotas neotropical y neártica; sin embargo, esta explicación relacionada con el gran contacto biótico de las Américas no es completamente satisfactoria y necesita ser revisada a la luz de la biogeografía histórica. En este artículo ofrecemos nuevas perspectivas sobre este asunto por medio de una revisión de la historia de la flora y la heterogeneidad vegetacional del trópico estacionalmente seco de este país. Se han usado varios criterios ambientales para definir las regiones tropicales estacionalmente secas, pero ubicar con precisión sus límites geográficos no es siempre fácil. Esto se debe en gran medida a la gran heterogeneidad de la vegetación presente en esta región, entre la que predomina el bosque tropical caducifolio (BTC). El origen de la flora del BTC se remonta, por lo menos, unos 20 millones de años antes del presente y parece estar asociada con la flora del Terciario de Norteamérica. La evidencia disponible no apoya un origen sudamericano para el BTC. Asimismo, no hay razones que justifiquen de forma convincente la separación de la flora del BTC y la de los desiertos calientes de Norteamérica en dos reinos biogeográficos diferentes. La historia de la flora del trópico estacionalmente seco de México sugiere fuertemente que esta dicotomía biogeográfica debería ser reemplazada por el reconocimiento de la existencia de un Reino Panamericano.

With the potential of fixed wireless access (FWA) networks as an alternative to optical fiber, it is necessary to determine vegetation loss at millimeter wave frequencies. In this article, we present vegetation loss measurement results for different types of vegetation, including trees, hedges, and forests, at frequencies ranging from 110 to 170 GHz. An experimental method is proposed to determine the average loss per meter vegetation depth (VD) for different vegetation types. Average losses at 140 GHz range from 0.2 dB/m for an open forest, and up to 9.8 dB/m for dense hedges. As there is a large variance of vegetation loss for different vegetation types, we propose a novel vegetation-dependent exponential decay (VED) model, expressing vegetation loss as a function of VD, frequency, and vegetation density, which is expressed by the plant area index (PAI) parameter. The VED vegetation loss model can be used for network design, and to perform accurate link budget calculations.

The following paper represents results from a research focused on the soil associations and their corresponding vegetation communities (soil-plant catenas), located on the northern slopes (N, NW, NE) of the Rila Mountains. Data from eight key sites located between 815 and 2041 m above sea level is discussed. The slope in each site varies from 2° to 25°, and most often the tests and descriptions were carried out on sites with a slope of 10-15°. Vegetation cover is analyzed with plant community plots which provides data on species composition, abundance and coverage. The size of each plot varies from 16 up to 225 m2 depending on the vegetation type. Topsoil horizons were tested in each site in order to diagnose the subspecies diversity of brown forest soils (Cambisols) using ratio of humic acids to fulvic acids. That ratio varies from 0,69 up to 1,61 in all studied sites. Both acids are associated with the dominance of different vegetation types – deciduous, mixed or coniferous forest or herbaceous canopy. The results are interrupted in terms of the diagnosis and classification of Cambisols and Umbrosols in the area of interest. Differences in soil and vegetation cover of Northwest and Eastern Rila Mountain are highlighted and analyzed.

En un ecosistema degradado, que actualmente es objeto de restauración, analizar de manera detallada la estructura de la vegetación y describir su relación con especies de aves es muy relevante para su manejo. El análisis de la arquitectura de las plantas es un método visual para describir la estructura de la vegetación como resultado de su estrategia de crecimiento. Por medio de este método se analizó la oferta de hábitat de las aves insectívoras Myrmeciza longipes (hormiguero ventriblanco), Thamnophilus doliatus (batará rayado) y Synallaxis albescens (pijuí pechiblanco) como parte de un estudio poblacional y de calidad de hábitat en un remanente de bosque seco tropical de 11 079 hectáreas, en Huila, Colombia. Por medio de conteos y también con la información secundaria recopilada, se estableció cómo estas especies usan los diferentes estratos de la vegetación. Teniendo en cuenta que árboles con más perchas incrementan el forrajeo de aves insectívoras, que más perchas significan mayor refugio para las aves, y también que mayor cruce de perchas posibilitan la aparición de horquetas para el anclaje de nidos de estas especies, en 186 parcelas se determinó que la zona está dominada por siete modelos arquitectónicos, divididos en tres grupos según su oferta potencial de recursos del hábitat para las tres especies: 1) modelos arquitectónicos Roux, Petit y Prevost con una calidad alta; 2) modelos arquitectónicos Koriba y Nozerán con una calidad intermedia; y 3) modelos arquitectónicos McClure y Holttum con una calidad muy baja.

Responses of forest-floor small mammals to clearcutting are species-specific with generalists occupying a range of habitats, and specialists persisting on clearcuts for variable periods. We investigated the responses in abundance and species composition of small mammal communities to cumulative clearcutting of coniferous forests on a landscape that had four independent clearcutting events (Periods 1 to 4) over a 42-year interval from 1979 to 2020 in south-central British Columbia, Canada. We ask if the small mammal communities have changed significantly over these decades owing to removal of old-growth forest by clearcut harvesting. Hypotheses (H) predicted that the small mammal community would (H1) increase in abundance, species richness, and diversity on new clearcuts owing to the availability of early seral post-harvest habitats from cumulative clearcutting; and (H2) have higher mean abundance, species richness, and species diversity in clearcut than uncut forest sites, owing to availability of vegetative food and cover. A third hypothesis (H3) predicted that abundance of (i) early seral vegetation (herbs and shrubs) and (ii) small mammal populations, will be greater in ungrazed clearcut sites than in those grazed by cattle (Bos taurus). Mean total numbers of small mammals on new clearcuts declined in Periods 3 and 4, and hence did not support the abundance part of H1. Much of this decline was owing to low numbers of the long-tailed vole (Microtus longicaudus) and meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus). Two generalist species: the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and northwestern chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus), contributed to high mean species richness and diversity in Periods 2 and 3 before these metrics declined in Period 4, and hence partly supported H1. The similarity in mean total numbers of small mammals in Periods 2 to 4 did not support the abundance prediction of H2 that total numbers would be higher in clearcut than uncut forest sites. Higher mean species richness (Periods 2 and 3) and diversity (Period 3) measurements on clearcut than forest sites, particularly in the early post-harvest years, did support these parts of H2. The vegetation part (i) of H3 was not supported for herbaceous plants but it was for shrubs. The small mammal part (ii) of H3 that populations would be higher in ungrazed than grazed clearcut sites was supported for abundance but not for species richness or diversity. The decline and near disappearance of both species of Microtus was possibly related to the reduction in plant community abundance and structure from grazing (at least for shrubs) and potentially from drought effects associated with climate change. Loss of microtines from these early seral ecosystems may have profound negative effects on various ecological functions and predator communities.

The study was designed to document the phytodiversity and vegetation dynamics of Chour Valley, Hazara Division, Pakistan during 2018–19. Sum of 115 plant species belonged to 48 families were documented. The leading family was Rosaceae with 14 plant species followed by Asteraceae (11 species). The data were analyzed for classification through two way indicator species Analysis and ordination through CCA and DCA to find differences in directories of plants communities and their habitats kind. Five plants communities were identified including, Abies-Pinus-Rheum, Picea-Cyperus-Oxalis, Rumex-Urtica-Cyperus, Picea-Betula-Viburnum and Berberis-Clematis-Potentilla communities. It was observed that the distribution of species and community structure was directly correlated to altitude, slope aspect and soil characteristics. It was also noticed that forest in the study area are continuously degraded and will go in vanishing, until conservation and restoration measures are adopted in priority basis.

Site preservation and associated terrain characteristics are among the major agents controlling the spatial distribution and discoverability of late Quaternary archaeological sites. However, site expectancy in extensive areas can be determined using a combination of geoarchaeological investigation and digital spatial analysis. In that sense a prediction model, respectively the result of a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), is presented to highlight areas with a high potential to contain Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Eastern Mediterranean and bordering arid margins. Based on detailed on-site analysis in the Wadi Sabra region, with its many sites and the location of other well-known sites in the southern Levant, eight individual parameters, aspect (cardinal point), elevation, geomorphology, hydrogeology, drainage network, slope inclination, vegetation, and a terrain ruggedness index (TRI) are evaluated and tested for significance. The statistical results confirm a significant divergence of the spatial distribution of Upper Palaeolithic sites from the distribution of natural terrain position factors. This allows for a definition of parameter classes with a high site expectancy and their use in a predictive model. For the results map, the site expectancy factors determined in this way were intersected with each other, thus enabling a distinction between areas with a high and low site occurrence probability. The accuracy of the presented result is assessed by the implementation of another MCDA pass based on an independent dataset of archaeological survey sites and compared to the original. Both datasets complement each other and can show the potential for further investigations with more numerous site datasets as well as more detailed spatial information. A local classification based on high-resolution elevation information and field data is evaluated for the Wadi Sabra, Southern Jordan, which can confirm yet further specify the result from the MCDA.

Previous research on atmospheric chemistry in the forest environment has shown that the total reactivity from biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions is not well considered in forest chemistry models. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is the unawareness and neglect of reactive biogenic emissions that have eluded common monitoring methods. This question motivated the development of a total ozone reactivity monitor (TORM) for the direct determination of the reactivity of foliage emissions. Emission samples drawn from a vegetation branch enclosure experiment are mixed with a known and controlled amount of ozone (resulting in, e.g., 100 ppb of ozone) and directed through a temperature-controlled glass flow reactor to allow reactive biogenic emissions to react with ozone during the approximately 2 min residence time in the reactor. The ozone reactivity is determined from the difference in the ozone mole fraction before and after the reaction vessel. An inherent challenge of the experiment is the influence of changing water vapor in the sample air on the ozone signal. Sample air was drawn through Nafion dryers to mitigate the water vapor interference, and a commercial UV absorption ozone monitor was modified to directly determine the ozone differential with one instrument. These two modifications significantly reduced interferences from water vapor and errors associated with the determination of the reacted ozone as the difference from two individual measurements, resulting in a much improved and sensitive determination of the ozone reactivity. This paper provides a detailed description of the measurement design, the instrument apparatus, and its characterization. Examples and results from field deployments demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the TORM.

Climate change has the potential to increase surface ozone (O3) concentrations, known as the “ozone–climate penalty”, through changes to atmospheric chemistry, transport and dry deposition. In the tropics, the response of surface O3 to changing climate is relatively understudied but has important consequences for air pollution and human and ecosystem health. In this study, we evaluate the change in surface O3 due to climate change over South America and Africa using three state-of-the-art Earth system models that follow the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 3-7.0 emission scenario from CMIP6. In order to quantify changes due to climate change alone, we evaluate the difference between simulations including climate change and simulations with a fixed present-day climate. We find that by 2100, models predict an ozone–climate penalty in areas where O3 is already predicted to be high due to the impacts of precursor emissions, namely urban and biomass burning areas, although on average, models predict a decrease in surface O3 due to climate change. We identify a small but robust positive trend in annual mean surface O3 over polluted areas. Additionally, during biomass burning seasons, seasonal mean O3 concentrations increase by 15 ppb (model range 12 to 18 ppb) in areas with substantial biomass burning such as the arc of deforestation in the Amazon. The ozone–climate penalty in polluted areas is shown to be driven by an increased rate of O3 chemical production, which is strongly influenced by NOx concentrations and is therefore specific to the emission pathway chosen. Multiple linear regression finds the change in NOx concentration to be a strong predictor of the change in O3 production, whereas increased isoprene emission rate is positively correlated with increased O3 destruction, suggesting NOx-limited conditions over the majority of tropical Africa and South America. However, models disagree on the role of climate change in remote, low-NOx regions, partly because of significant differences in NOx concentrations produced by each model. We also find that the magnitude and location of the ozone–climate penalty in the Congo Basin has greater inter-model variation than that in the Amazon, so further model development and validation are needed to constrain the response in central Africa. We conclude that if the climate were to change according to the emission scenario used here, models predict that forested areas in biomass burning locations and urban populations will be at increasing risk of high O3 exposure, irrespective of any direct impacts on O3 via the prescribed emission scenario.

Climate change is expected to have detrimental consequences on fragile ecosystems, threatening biodiversity, as well as food security of millions of people. Trees are likely to play a central role in mitigating these impacts. The microclimatic conditions below tree canopies usually differ substantially from the ambient macroclimate as vegetation can buffer temperature changes and variability. Trees cool down their surroundings through several biophysical mechanisms, and the cooling benefits occur also with trees outside forest. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of canopy cover on microclimate in an intensively modified Afromontane landscape in Taita Taveta, Kenya. We studied temperatures recorded by 19 microclimate sensors under different canopy covers, as well as land surface temperature (LST) estimated by Landsat 8 thermal infrared sensor. We combined the temperature records with high-resolution airborne laser scanning data to untangle the combined effects of topography and canopy cover on microclimate. We developed four multivariate regression models to study the joint impacts of topography and canopy cover on LST. The results showed a negative linear relationship between canopy cover percentage and daytime mean (R2=0.65) and maximum (R2=0.75) temperatures. Any increase in canopy cover contributed to reducing temperatures. The average difference between 0 % and 100 % canopy cover sites was 5.2 ∘C in mean temperatures and 10.2 ∘C in maximum temperatures. Canopy cover (CC) reduced LST on average by 0.05 ∘C per percent CC. The influence of canopy cover on microclimate was shown to vary strongly with elevation and ambient temperatures. These results demonstrate that trees have a substantial effect on microclimate, but the effect is dependent on macroclimate, highlighting the importance of maintaining tree cover particularly in warmer conditions. Hence, we demonstrate that trees outside forests can increase climate change resilience in fragmented landscapes, having strong potential for regulating regional and local temperatures.

Climate change is rapidly warming high latitude and high elevation regions influencing plant community composition. Changes in vegetation composition have motivated the coordination of ecological monitoring networks across the Arctic, including the International Tundra Experiment. We have established a long-term passive warming experiment using open-top chambers, which includes five distinct plant communities (Dry Heath; Tussock Tundra; and Dry, Mesic, and Wet Meadow). We measured changes in plant community composition based on relative abundance differences over 26 years. In addition, relative abundance changes in response to fertilization and warming treatments were analyzed based on a seven-year Community-Level Interaction Program experiment. The communities had distinct soil moisture conditions, leading to community-specific responses of the plant growth forms (deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs, forbs, and graminoids). Warming significantly affected growth forms, but the direction of the response was not consistent across the communities. Evidence of shrub expansion was found in nearly all communities, with soil moisture determining whether it was driven by deciduous or evergreen shrubs. Graminoids increased in relative abundance in the Dry Meadow due to warming. Growth form responses to warming are likely mediated by edaphic characteristics of the communities and their interactions with climate.

The lowest section of the Upper Dniester River Valley (DRV), located between the uplands of Opillia and Eastern Subcarpathians, was a separate and specific Pleistocene geoecosystem, interesting for the hunter-gatherer communities. This is evidenced by three main (Yezupil, Mariampil and Halych), and a dozen or so additional Palaeolithic open-air sites. They occur as cultural layers within the loess-palaeosol sequences (LPSs) and represent semi-permanent settlement (except for the periods with the maximum intensity of the loess sedimentation); the oldest occur in the Eemian palaeosol. All sites are located on both sides of the river. In the past, the DRV was characterized by local environmental diversity changing with time. In consequence, it has very individual features, so the analysis of environmental changes is a local case study. In order to obtain information about the changes of climate and environment, the multi-proxy analyses were carried out. Chronology was based on the luminescence and radiocarbon dating. The diversity of habitats was local. Its degree was changing with time: it was minimal in the periods with extreme climatic conditions, such as the climate optimum and pessimum, and clearly greater in the climatically intermediate periods with fluctuations. Based on the materials indicating the mesoclimate and local vegetation diversity during the human occupation episodes as well as the location of the Palaeolithic sites, we found that generally the possibilities of choosing a warmer or sheltered place for a camp were not significant for hunters representing different cultures of different ages. Palaeolithic groups very often occupied the same places in the DRV. The camps had a hunting function, the choice of places was dictated primarily by the need to find a good place to observe game animals and to organize hunting – first of all – in the mouth sections of the tributaries of the Dniester River, regardless of the situation of localities relative to riverplains. The settlement attractiveness of such places was essentially timeless.

Desertification in degraded grasslands is manifested through the development of bare sandy patches, which eventually lead to habitat fragmentation. The ability of these bare sandy patches to regenerate naturally through in-situ soil seed banks is not well understood. To fill this knowledge gap, we randomly selected 24 bare sandy patches with areas ranging from 19 to 898 m2 in a desertified grassland of the Horqin sandy land, Northern China to determine whether soil seed bank can be used for natural regeneration of bare sandy patches. Species composition and density of soil seed bank as well as aboveground vegetation composition, abundance and coverage were investigated. We then determined their relationships with in-situ habitat characteristics. Our observations showed that the studied area had low soil seed bank density and species richness, as well as depauperate soil seed bank communities. Consequently, local soil seed bank was not able to provide sufficient seed source for natural regeneration. This was indicated by the relationships between aboveground vegetation, soil seed bank and the in-situ habitat characteristics. For bare patches with an area between 300 m2 and 900 m2, increase the soil seed bank density and species richness should be the main restoration measures. For bare patches with a small area of less than 50 m2, restoration of vegetation density should be the main measure. Our data highlighted that different extents of desertification, indicated by different bare patches, are requiring distinct restoration measures.

Early Eocene climate and vegetation evolution in northern Yakutia (Eastern Siberia) are quantitatively studied for the first time based on paleobotanical records, using the coexistence approach (CA) for paleoclimate, the plant functional type approach (PFT) and the integrated plant record method (IPR). Paleobotanical data of this time-interval were obtained from 18 palynofloras of the coal beds outcropping on the bank of the Bykovskaya Channel in the area of Bulunkan Bay (Lena River Delta). The results indicate the persistence of warm temperate and at times possibly nearly tropical, overall humid climate conditions throughout the early Eocene, and a relatively strong seasonality in precipitation. The vegetation reconstructed is in agreement with the climate conditions determined by the CA. Analyses of the PFT diversity spectra indicate the prevalence of mixed warm temperate evergreen-deciduous forests. Based on the IPR method, plant biomes varied from mixed mesophytic forests during warmer intervals to broadleaved deciduous forest/mixed mesophytic forest ecotone during cooler episodes. The presence of mangroves in our early Eocene records is possibly related to hyperthermal events such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.

We compiled the Cretaceous sporopollen fossil data from 19 locations of six provinces in South China, reviewed the affinities of spore and pollen genera by examining and assessing these fossils with published data, and associated them with the sporomorph eco-groups (SEG) model and vegetation type. Seven palynofloral assemblages (PA1–PA7) were identified. PA1 (Berriasian–Valanginian) and PA2 (Hauterivian–Barremian) mainly include Cheirolepidiaceae (∼60–80%), Cycadophytes (∼10%), and Lygodiaceae (∼10%), indicating warm and dry climate; PA3 (Aptian) and PA4 (Albian) represent warm, semi-arid to semi-humid climate with vegetation composed of Araucariaceae (∼10%), Cheirolepidiaceae (∼40–60%), Cycadophytes (∼10%), and Lygodiaceae (∼10%); PA5 (Cenomanian–Turonian) and PA6 (Coniacian–Santonian) imply a hot, semi-humid to humid climate with the vegetation taxa of Lygodiaceae (∼20–40%), Cheirolepidiaceae (∼20–50%), Ephedraceae (∼5–8%), and Araucariaceae (∼10%); and PA7 (Campanian–Maastrichtian) indicates a relatively cool and dry climate evidenced by the vegetation composition of Cheirolepidiaceae (∼30–40%), Pteridaceae (∼10%), Ephedraceae (∼5–8%), and Ulmaceae (∼30–40%). Our SEG analysis reveals three climatic evolution phases: the Berriasian–Barremian warm-dry phase, the Aptian–Santonian warm-wet phase, and the Campanian–Maastrichtian cool-dry phase. The climatic variation pattern is compatible with that indicated by fossil stomatal pCO2 values and the pCO2 simulation of GEOCARB II and III models, providing independent climatic proxies of the region and contributing to better understanding of the global Cretaceous climatic changes.

The Romanian hamster Mesocricetus newtoni is endemic to South-Eastern Romania (Dobruja region) and North-Eastern Bulgaria, and prefers steppic, arid, uncultivated habitats, but is also found in alfalfa fields, less often in corn cultures and field-protecting vegetation belts. Previous studies provide only limited data regarding the diet of this cryptic species. The diet of one family group (one female and four pups) was monitored for 10 days, during the vernal season. The data was collected using camera traps and direct observations, supplemented by photos. Plants were identified at the species level. A vegetation survey was performed in a radius of 25 m2 around the burrows using the pratological method, estimating a percentage of each plant species present in the habitat. A number of 16 plants were identified as part of the diet of the Romanian hamster, mostly herbaceous species within the Brassicaceae family. According to the observations, Erodium cicutarium (Geraniaceae) and Papaver rhoeas (Papaveraceae) were consumed most frequently, followed by Descurainia sophia (Brassicaceae), Sisymbrium orientale (Brassicaceae), Medicago minima (Fabaceae) and Buglossoides arvense (Boraginaceae). In the studied area, 38 plant taxa were determined and characterized as ruderal and segetal (weeds of arable land) plants, mostly native to Eurasia. The purpose of this study is to provide novel data on the diet composition of the Romanian hamster in accordance with plant taxa availability and to emphasize the importance of conservation measures of its preferred habitats, which are crucial to the survival of the species.

Pollen, sediment texture, moisture, organic/inorganic carbon content and geochemical analyses of a 1.2m in-depth sediment profile from upper Tundabhuj Lake in the Parvati Valley show that the region supported alpine-scrub vegetation. The forest elements largely consisted of Betula and its broad-leaved allies viz., Quercus, Corylus and Carpinus interspersed with meadow grasses, Asteraceae, Impatiens, etc. under a warm and moderately humid climate from around 17,100 to 14,700 cal yr BP. Additionally, the increase in organic carbon, enrichment of immobile elements (TiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3) and moderate values of the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA = ~72) reinforce the warm and moderately humid climate in the catchment. Subsequently, at around 14,700 to 10,600 cal yr BP, an increase in alpine-scrub vegetation dominated by Betula, Corylus and Carpinus was observed. The enrichment of (TiO2, Ni and Cr) and slightly higher CIA values (72–78) indicated relatively more humid conditions than earlier climatic conditions. The climate turned cold and dry between 10,600 and 5400 cal yr BP as deduced from the abrupt reduction in the alpine-scrubs and meadow constituents. During this period immobile elements (Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3, and Cr) also decreased. In contrast, mobile elements (CaO, Na2O, Sr, and Ba) increased along with a gradual decrease in CIA (minimum at 42.5 cm) and organic carbon content supporting cold and dry climatic conditions. From around 5400 until ~1600 cal yr BP, the region saw a return of alpine-scrubs and conifers, indicating a relatively warm and humid climate. Increasing CIA values, organic carbon, and concentration of immobile elements also reaffirm relatively warm and humid climatic conditions. In the most recent phase (around 1600 cal yr BP to present), the climate deteriorated as reflected by the depletion of Betula and broad-leaved associates and an increase in dry elements such as Juniperus and Ephedra. The decrease in CIA values, organic carbon and immobile elements (TiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3) substantiate this observation.

Detailed knowledge of the periglacial flora is essential to assess the vegetation dynamics in deglaciated regions of northern and north eastern Europe, previously covered by the ice sheet of the Late Weichselian Glaciation. Therefore, the territory of Belarus, which stretches in the periglacial zone of the Last Glaciation and the most part of which was free of ice during the Last Glacial maximum, is off particular importance in analysing the postglacial floral establishment and the subsequent vegetation dynamics in this part of the continent. In this study, results of palaeobotanical (pollen and plant macrofossil), lithological (measurements of magnetic susceptibility, MS) and isotopic (14C) investigations were obtained to fill the existing gap in reconstructing the peculiarities of the terrestrial and aquatic vegetation dynamics throughout the Lateglacial - Early Holocene period in the central Belarus. The investigated sediment profile, comprising organically enriched gyttja at 13,400–13,100 cal yr BP, carbon enriched and sandy gyttja at 13,100–9700 cal yr BP and unconsolidated mud after 9500 cal yr BP, provides clear evidence proving the flourishing of a pine-birch predominated forest with occasional spruce stands during the Allerod in area. Three occasions of change in the vegetation structure were noted within the Younger Dryas, i.e. 12,900–12,700 cal yr BP, 12,200–12,000 cal yr BP and 11,900–11,700 cal yr BP, suggesting negative climatic excursion taken place in area and facilitating flourishing of a Picea-predominating forest that culminated at about 12,300 and 12,000 cal yr BP. Pollen record suggests the Early Holocene vegetation shifts occurring at about 11,300–11,200 cal yr BP, 10,800–10,600 cal yr BP and 10,300–10,100 cal yr BP evidence the general response to the global-scale climatic events i.e. Preborael Oscillation or “10,2 ka” while fluctuations triggered by local or regional-scale climatic events have been identified as well. About 10,800–10,700 cal yr BP, formation of the forest with an increasing representation of thermophilous taxa (Ulmus, Tilia, Quercus) started in area.

10 Pág. Centro de Investigación Forestal (CIFOR), Riparian vegetation supports high biodiversity providing many services and is, therefore, an important landscape element. Riparian ecosystems are subject to numerous pressures leading to population decline and genetic erosion of riparian plants. This may have cascading effects at various ecosystem levels, including decreasing ecosystem services, so identifying the current status of genetic diversity of riparian tree species is vital to improve the effectiveness of restoration efforts. We aimed to elicit expert views on the status and importance of genetic diversity of tree species, and conservation needs across European riparian ecosystems. Sharing of such information among researchers, managers and policymakers has the potential to enhance ecological restoration and management of riparian ecosystems. We identified experts in riparian genetic resources conservation and management across Europe. These included stakeholders with different perspectives, ranging from researchers to practitioners. We designed a set of questionnaires where our identified experts were asked to answer questions related to the status and conservation of genetic diversity of riparian tree species in their respective countries. Specifically, we asked about societal awareness, legislative tools, good practices and conservation or restoration projects accounting for intraspecific genetic diversity and differentiation of tree species in riparian ecosystems. Questionnaire responses were analysed and discussed in light of the scientific literature to define needs and priorities related to the management and conservation of genetic diversity of riparian tree species. The experts recognized that a combination of in situ and ex situ measures and/or integrative conservation of riparian ecosystems is the most appropriate option for conserving the genetic diversity of riparian tree species. Simultaneous application of conservation measures at the level of priority species, identified by experts, and protection of riparian areas are required. Synthesis and applications. This study revealed the importance of recognizing the ecological processes that shape the genetic diversity of riparian tree species in hydrographic networks (dendritic spatial configuration, specific patterns of gene flow among riparian populations, fragmentation of river by dams) but also the need to overcome socio-economic barriers, such as lack of policy priority, deficiency in funding and weak legislation framework., The work leading to this paper was developed within the COST Action (CA16208)—CONVERGES (Knowledge Conversion for Enhancing Management of European Riparian Ecosystems and Services), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; www.cost.eu) and by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. We thank three anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that greatly improved the paper. JM was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, according to the agreement No. 0801-417/1. PMRG was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the 2020.03356.CEECIND grant, and through PTDC/ASP-SIL/28593/2017 grant; and Forest Research Centre by the FCT (UIDB/00239/2020) grant. RP was supported by the grant from the National Science Centre, Poland (2019/35/B/NZ8/01901).

Topography affects the intensity and spatial distribution of precipitation due to orographic lifting mechanisms and, in turn, influences the prevailing climate and vegetation distribution. Previous modelling studies on the impact of orographic precipitation on landform evolution have considered bare soil conditions. However, research on the effect of changes in precipitation regimes induced by elevation gradients (particularly in aspect-controlled semi-arid ecosystems) on landform patterns, trying to understand feedbacks and consequences for coevolving vegetation, has been limited. In this study, the Channel–Hillslope Integrated Landscape Development (CHILD) landscape evolution model coupled with the vegetation dynamics Bucket Grassland Model (BGM) is used to analyse the coevolution of semi-arid landform–vegetation ecosystems. The CHILD+BGM model is run under different combinations of precipitation and solar radiation settings. Three precipitation settings, including uniform, elevation control, and orographic control on precipitation, are considered in combination with spatially uniform and spatially varied radiation settings. Based on the results, elevation control, aspect, and drainage network are identified as the major drivers of the distribution of vegetation cover on the landscapes. Further, the combination of orographic precipitation and spatially varied solar radiation created the highest asymmetry in the landscape and divide migration due to the emergence of gentler slopes on the windward than the leeward sides of the domain. The modelling outcomes from this study indicate that aspect control of solar radiation in combination with orographic precipitation plays a key role in the generation of topographic asymmetry in semi-arid ecosystems.

Soil moisture estimates at high spatial and temporal resolution are of great value for optimizing water and agricultural management. To fill the gap between local ground observations and coarse spatial resolution remote sensing products, we use Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Sentinel-1 data together with a unique data set of ground-based soil moisture estimates by cosmic ray neutron sensors (CRNS) and capacitance probes to test the possibility of downscaling soil moisture to the sub-kilometre resolution. For a high-latitude study area within a highly heterogeneous landscape and diverse land use in Denmark, we first show that SMAP soil moisture and Sentinel-1 backscatter time series correlate well with in situ CRNS observations. Sentinel-1 backscatter in both VV and VH polarizations shows a strong correlation with CRNS soil moisture at higher spatial resolutions (20–400 m) and exhibits distinct and meaningful signals at different land cover types. Satisfactory statistical correlations with CRNS soil moisture time series and capacitance probes are obtained using the SMAP Sentinel-1 downscaling algorithm. Accounting for different land use in the downscaling algorithm additionally improved the spatial distribution. However, the downscaling algorithm investigated here does not fully account for the vegetation dependency at sub-kilometre resolution. The study suggests that future research focussing on further modifying the downscaling algorithm could improve representative soil moisture patterns at a fine scale since backscatter signals are clearly informative. Highlights. Backscatter produces informative signals even at high resolutions. At the 100 m scale, the Sentinel-1 VV and VH polarizations are soil moisture dependent. The downscaling algorithm is improved by introducing land-cover-dependent clusters. The downscaled satellite and CRNS soil moisture agree best at the agricultural site.

Arctic tundra is facing unprecedented warming, resulting in shifts in the vegetation, thaw regimes, and potentially in the ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of carbon (C). However, the estimates of regional carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) budgets are highly uncertain. We measured CO2 and CH4 fluxes, vegetation composition and leaf area index (LAI), thaw depth, and soil wetness in Tiksi (71 degrees N, 128 degrees E), a heterogeneous site located within the prostrate dwarf-shrub tundra zone in northeastern Siberia. Using the closed chamber method, we determined the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2, ecosystem respiration in the dark (ER), ecosystem gross photosynthesis (Pg), and CH4 flux during the growing season. We applied a previously developed high-spatial-resolution land cover map over an area of 35.8 km(2) for spatial extrapolation. Among the land cover types varying from barren to dwarf-shrub tundra and tundra wetlands, the NEE and Pg at the photosynthetically active photon flux density of 800 mu mol m(-2) h(-1) (NEE800 and Pg(800)) were greatest in the graminoid-dominated habitats, i.e., streamside meadow and fens, with NEE800 and Pg(800) of up to -21 (uptake) and 28 mmol M-2 h(-1), respectively. Vascular LAI was a robust predictor of both NEE800 and Pg(800) and, on a landscape scale, the fens were disproportionately important for the summertime CO2 sequestration. Dry tun- dra, including the dwarf-shrub and lichen tundra, had smaller CO2 exchange rates. The fens were the largest source of CH4, while the dry mineral soil tundra consumed atmospheric CH4, which on a landscape scale amounted to -9 % of the total CH(4 )balance during the growing season. The largest seasonal mean CH4 consumption rate of 0.02 mmol m(-2) h(-1) occurred in sand- and stone-covered barren areas. The high consumption rate agrees with the estimate based on the eddy covariance measurements at the same site. We acknowledge the uncertainty involved in spatial extrapolations due to a small number of replicates per land cover type. This study highlights the need to distinguish different land cover types including the dry tundra habitats to account for their different CO2 and CH4 flux patterns, especially the consumption of atmospheric CH4, when estimating tundra C exchange on a larger spatial scale.

Introduction There has been limited research conducted on the identifications/methodological approaches of using plant species as indicators of the presence of economically, important mineral resources. Objectives This study set out to answer the following questions (1) Do specific plant species and species assemblages indicate the presence of mineral deposits? and (2) if yes, then what sort of ecological, experimental, and statistical procedures could be employed to identify such indicators? Methods Keeping in mind these questions, the vegetation of subtropical mineral mines sites in northern Pakistan were evaluated using Indicator Species Analysis (ISA), Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results A total of 105 plant species belonging to 95 genera and 43 families were recorded from the three mining regions. CA and TWCA classified all the stations and plants into three major mining zones, corresponding to the presence of marble, coal, and chromite, based on Jaccard distance and Ward’s linkage methods. This comprehended the following indicator species: Ficus carica, Isodon rugosus and Ajuga parviflora (marble indicators); Olea ferruginea, Gymnosporia royleana and Dicliptera bupleuroides (coal indicators); and Acacia nilotica, Rhazya stricta and Aristida adscensionis (chromite indicators) based on calculated Indicator Values (IV). These indicators were reconfirmed by CCA and SEM analysis. Conclusion It was concluded that ISA is one of the best techniques for the identification/selection of plant indicator species, followed by reconfirmation via CCA and SEM analysis. In addition to establishing a robust approach to identifying plant indicator species, our results could have application in mineral prospecting and detection.

The Loess Plateau is one of the most vulnerable areas in the world as it is extremely susceptible to soil erosion and ecological destruction. Recently, the local government carried out the “Gully Land Consolidation Project” (GLCP) in the Loess Plateau region to increase farmland area, improve rural production and living conditions. Among all the GLCP engineering constructions, slope protection engineering plays an important role in ensuring the safety of the main project, residential lives and properties, although more theoretical and technical research on comprehensive protection of engineering slopes is required. In this study, a field experiment using 12 standard runoff plots (length 4m×width 2m) was performed in Yangjuangou catchment of Yan'an City, to compare and analyze the comprehensive benefit to vegetative growth, soil erosion and engineering benefit from four vegetation styles and three levels of slope gradient (45°, 53°,63°). Results show that under different slope gradient and vegetation styles, significant differences existed in the comprehensive benefit to slopes, as well as the levels of vegetative growth, soil erosion and engineering benefit. The comprehensive benefit of the 53° slope was significantly better than that of 45° and 63° slopes. In addition, the comprehensive benefit of slopes with one or more vegetation styles was better than that of non-vegetation covered slopes. With the increase in slope gradient, the vegetative growth and slope erosion indices of vegetation average height, species richness, vegetation coverage slope, runoff production and sediment yield, showed a remarkable declining trend. Conversely, the engineering benefit index including newly-increased farmland area and excavating earthwork volume, showed an increasing trend. Recently, agricultural geographical engineering (AGE) has become an indispensable method for ecological construction and agricultural development, resulting in an increase in research in the field of geography. These findings not only have theoretical significance and enrich our understanding of the influence of gradient and vegetation styles on excavation slope protection, but also have practical significance and provide a baseline for engineering parameters and suggestions for slope protection engineering strategies.

For the first time, the syntaxonomic diversity of steppe vegetation along the Baikal-Gobi transect was determined, represented by 49 associations belonging to 23 formations, 5 florocoenotypes, and 3 ecological-historical series. The classification construction according to the ecological-phytocoenotic dominant-determinant principle was based on data collected during field research and processed using traditional geobotanical methods: route reconnaissance studies, geobotanical descriptions, cluster and gradient analysis. Units of this approach give an idea of the current state of communities at a certain stage of succession, and syntaxa reflect the ecological features of vegetation inherent in the territory. This approach has an applied value, expressed, in particular, in mapping – the volume of the main syntaxa is smaller compared to the ecological-floristic approach, which makes it possible for a more meaningful analysis in large-scale mapping., Впервые определено фитоценотическое разнообразие степной растительности вдоль Байкало-Гобийского трансекта, представленное 49 ассоциациями, относящимися к 23 формациям, 5 флороценотипам, 3 эколого-историческим рядам. Классификационное построение по эколого-фитоценотическому доминантно-детерминантному принципу базировалось на данных, собранных при полевых исследованиях и обработанных по традиционным геоботаническим методам: маршрутные рекогносцировочные исследования, геоботанические описания, кластерный и градиентный анализ. Единицы данного подхода дают представление о современном состоянии сообществ на определенной стадии сукцессии, а фитотаксоны отражают экологические особенности растительности, свойственные территории. Данный подход имеет прикладную ценность, выражающуюся, в частности, в картографировании – объем основных единиц меньше по сравнению с эколого-флористическим подходом, что дает возможность для более содержательного анализа при крупномасштабном картографировании.

RESUMEN El suelo es la parte superficial de la tierra donde crecen las plantas, entre ellas, especies de importancia económica que proporcionan alimento, medicina y madera para la población; sin embargo, poco se ha estudiado sobre la influencia del suelo en las plantas de la Amazonía peruana. Por estas razones, se evaluó la relación entre las características físico-químicas del suelo con la diversidad y estructura en los bosques del ámbito de la carretera Iquitos-Nauta, Loreto, Perú. Para este estudio se establecieron 102 calicatas para el muestreo del suelo y 37 parcelas de 50 x 20 m para estudio de la vegetación. El índice de correlación de Spearman indicó que la diversidad alfa está relacionada negativamente con la cantidad de potasio, fósforo y materia orgánica y la capacidad de intercambio catiónico; y la estructura (cantidad de individuos) está relacionada negativamente con la cantidad de arcilla y pH. En conclusión, la diversidad alfa y estructura de la vegetación está determinada por las características físico- químicas del suelo. ABSTRACT Soil is the superficial part of the earth where plants grow, among them, species of economic importance that provide food, medicine and wood for local people, however, little has been studied about the influence of the soil on the plants in the Amazon Peruvian. Due to these reasons, the relationship between the physical-chemical characteristics of the soil and the diversity and structure in the forests in the area of the Iquitos-Nauta highway, Loreto, Peru, was evaluated. 102 pits for soil sampling and 37 plots of 50 x 20 m for vegetation study, were settled. Spearman's correlation index indicated that alpha diversity is negatively related to cation exchange capacity, potassium, phosphorus, and organic matter; and the structure (number of individuals) is negatively related to the amount of clay and pH. In conclusion, the alpha diversity and structure of the vegetation is determined by the physical-chemical characteristics of the soil.

Anuran richness patterns are strongly influenced by environmental factors. However, investigations on this issue have focused on the influence of abiotic factors without considering the joint effect of many existing variables, including the data sampling methodology and human demography. In this study we investigated the relationship between 21 environmental variables and anuran richness in brazilian biomes. Environmental variables represent a combination of human demographics, topographic, climatic and vegetation characteristics, and data sampling methodologies. We used principal component factorization and regressive and autoregressive models to select the most relevant variables for explaining anuran richness. Richness was correlated with demographic density, vegetation, accumulated rainfall, accumulated rainfall in the third and fourth quarter of the year, and accumulated rainfall in the first and second half of the year. However, the regressive and autoregressive models showed that human demographic density, sampling time, and sampling methodology were the best predictors of anuran richness. Our results highlight the importance of considering the effects of the human footprint and the methodology used for data collection on anuran species richness.

The eddy-covariance technique measures carbon, water, and energy fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere at hundreds of sites globally. Collections of standardised and homogenised flux estimates such as the LaThuile, Fluxnet2015, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), AsiaFlux, AmeriFlux, and Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)/OzFlux data sets are invaluable to study land surface processes and vegetation functioning at the ecosystem scale. Space-borne measurements give complementary information on the state of the land surface in the surroundings of the towers. They aid the interpretation of the fluxes and support the benchmarking of terrestrial biosphere models. However, insufficient quality and frequent and/or long gaps are recurrent problems in applying the remotely sensed data and may considerably affect the scientific conclusions. Here, we describe a standardised procedure to extract, quality filter, and gap-fill Earth observation data from the MODIS instruments and the Landsat satellites. The methods consistently process surface reflectance in individual spectral bands, derived vegetation indices, and land surface temperature. A geometrical correction estimates the magnitude of land surface temperature as if seen from nadir or 40∘ off-nadir. Finally, we offer the community living data sets of pre-processed Earth observation data, where version 1.0 features the MCD43A4/A2 and MxD11A1 MODIS products and Landsat Collection 1 Tier 1 and Tier 2 products in a radius of 2 km around 338 flux sites. The data sets we provide can widely facilitate the integration of activities in the eddy-covariance, remote sensing, and modelling fields.

The numerous lake and peat sedimentary archives of Central European Russia are ideal for studying the Lateglacial–Holocene climate and vegetation history of the region. However, robustly dated palaeoenvironmental records have only become available in the last decade and are still few and far between. Together with the continuously growing archaeological record and increasing focus on absolute dating of cultural assemblages, such records, where available, offer an excellent opportunity to study human-environment interactions in the region. For this study we selected one of the most detailed regional pollen records, from a 4.5-m-long sediment section from Zmeinoe Mire (56°16′53″ N, 31°15′36″ E) at Zhizhitskoye Lake (165 m a.s.l.). We performed quantitative pollen-based biome reconstruction and constructed a Bayesian age-depth model to ensure maximum chronological control of the sediment succession. To link the reconstructed vegetation changes to human activities, we gathered and summarized available archaeological data from the study area. Our results show that humid conditions and taiga-like patchy forests (spruce, pine, birch) dominated the study region during the Lateglacial. The Early Holocene (ca. 11,650–8000 cal yr BP) was marked by a warming and drying trend indicated by the spread of cool-temperate summergreen broad-leaved trees and shrubs (elm, lime, hazel) and the retreat of spruce. Warmest conditions, expressed by the maximum contribution of temperate deciduous woody taxa to the pollen assemblages, were recorded during the Middle Holocene (ca. 8000–4000 cal yr BP) when Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer groups flourished in the region. The pollen record suggests that the regional climate became cooler and wetter after 4000 cal yr BP, which may explain the decline of the Neolithic pile dwelling settlement Naumovo at Zhizhitskoye Lake around 3800 cal yr BP. Evidence for human impact on natural forest vegetation becomes visible from 5000 cal yr BP, although it remains at modest levels until the end of the Neolithic (3500–3000 cal yr BP). Decline in arboreal pollen percentages intensified after ca. 2800 cal yr BP, indicating the onset of increased deforestation for pasture, farmland, construction material and fuel by Iron Age populations. This is in line with the foundation of the fortified Iron Age Anashkino settlement north of Zhizhitskoye Lake dated to around 2750 cal yr BP. Forest clearance further increased during the second half of the Iron Age (5th century BCE–5th century CE) and again from ca. 1200 cal yr BP after the onset of the Middle Ages.

This paper presents the results of the wood charcoal analyses from the Middle Paleolithic open-air site at Nesher Ramla, on the central coastal plain of Israel. The study focuses on the interpretation of the charcoals left by fires used by Middle Paleolithic hominins during early Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Moreover, this study sheds light on the arboreal taxa present in the vegetation and environmental conditions in the southern Levant during the Middle Paleolithic. A small quantity of identifiable charcoals was retrieved from the 8-m-thick archaeological sequence of the site (Units II to VI). The largest charcoal assemblage was recovered from part of the sequence dated to MIS 5e. The results show the presence of deciduous Quercus sp. and Prunus. The presence of these taxa, together with other proxies from the multidisciplinary studies at Nesher Ramla, indicate an arboreal setting with relatively humid and mild climatic conditions in MIS 5e. Our results further suggest that wood was used as fuel at Nesher Ramla. Given the scarcity of Middle Paleolithic sites in the Levant that have yielded charcoal, this new data from Nesher Ramla constitutes an important contribution to the study of past environments and the exploitation of plant resources by human groups.

Applying deep learning to images of cropping systems provides new knowledge and insights in research and commercial applications. Semantic segmentation or pixel-wise classification, of RGB images acquired at the ground level, into vegetation and background is a critical step in the estimation of several canopy traits. Current state of the art methodologies based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are trained on datasets acquired under controlled or indoor environments. These models are unable to generalize to real-world images and hence need to be fine-tuned using new labelled datasets. This motivated the creation of the VegAnn - Vegetation Annotation - dataset, a collection of 3775 multi-crop RGB images acquired for different phenological stages using different systems and platforms in diverse illumination conditions. We anticipate that VegAnn will help improving segmentation algorithm performances, facilitate benchmarking and promote large-scale crop vegetation segmentation research.

Increasing aridity is one major consequence of ongoing global climate change and is expected to cause widespread changes in key ecosystem attributes, functions, and dynamics. This is especially the case in naturally vulnerable ecosystems, such as drylands. While we have an overall understanding of past aridity trends, the linkage between temporal dynamics in aridity and dryland ecosystem responses remain largely unknown. Here, we examined recent trends in aridity over the past two decades within global drylands as a basis for exploring the response of ecosystem state variables associated with land and atmosphere processes (e.g., vegetation cover, vegetation functioning, soil water availability, land cover, burned area, and vapor-pressure deficit) to these trends. We identified five clusters, characterizing spatiotemporal patterns in aridity between 2000 and 2020. Overall, we observe that 44.5% of all areas are getting dryer, 31.6% getting wetter, and 23.8% have no trends in aridity. Our results show strongest correlations between trends in ecosystem state variables and aridity in clusters with increasing aridity, which matches expectations of systemic acclimatization of the ecosystem to a reduction in water availability/water stress. Trends in vegetation (expressed by leaf area index [LAI]) are affected differently by potential driving factors (e.g., environmental, and climatic factors, soil properties, and population density) in areas experiencing water-related stress as compared to areas not exposed to water-related stress. Canopy height for example, has a positive impact on trends in LAI when the system is stressed but does not impact the trends in non-stressed systems. Conversely, opposite relationships were found for soil parameters such as root-zone water storage capacity and organic carbon density. How potential driving factors impact dryland vegetation differently depending on water-related stress (or no stress) is important, for example within management strategies to maintain and restore dryland vegetation.

The purpose of this research was to investigate infiltration rates of rainwater into a roadside filter strip. The findings of this study were intended to be used by the Utah Department of Transportation in their design of stormwater retention. A testing apparatus was designed and constructed to simulate rainfall and infiltration on an inclined slope during the 80th percentile 24-hour rainstorm event in Utah. The model was used to test six different surface soil configurations at three slope inclinations. Each test was subjected to a simulated storm event of ½ inch of rain over a 2-hour period. The variation in the top 4 inches of soil resulted in the most significant changes to the amount of infiltration, while the slope had little effect on infiltration for the two topsoil materials. The addition of vegetation resulted in increased amounts of infiltration as did the scarifying beneath the topsoil.

Concerns regarding non-point source pollution have been steadily increasing over recent decades around the world. Sudden discharges of stormwater runoff from paved surfaces, which cannot soak into the ground, lead to flooding, and water pollution into aquatic ecosystems. Green infrastructure (GI) systems have been employed as an environmentally sustainable alternative to treat stormwater in urban areas since the late 1990s in the hope of mitigating impervious surface hydrology effects. GI could protect aquatic ecosystems from stormwater quantity and quality pollution due to land development and human activities. There have been many short-term studies that document the performance of individual GI systems and their ability to protect waterways from the detrimental effects of urban stormwater. However, few studies exist comparing the long-term performance of different types of GI designs in the same location, and the removal mechanism of salt by GI vegetation is poorly understood. The potential of different vegetation types for mitigating deicing salt has not been documented significantly, and little is known about the effects of maintenance on GI performance. This dissertation uses the flow and composite flow-weighted sampling to compare water quality improvements of four typical GI practices (bioretention, grass channel, compost-amended grass channel, and bioswale) along a road in Lorton, Fairfax County, Virginia. The three objectives of this dissertation include: (1) compare long-term monitoring of the water-quality performance of four GI practices receiving similar influent pollutant loadings; (2) explore the potential of different vegetation types to reduce deicing salt released from a bioretention by transpiration; (3) evaluate the economic and environmental maintenance costs and benefits of GI based on water-quality performance. For the first part of this dissertation, approximately 60 storm events have been monitored and sampled since 2018, and 24 relatively complete storms are selected for comparison and evaluation. The performance of these four monitored GI designs ranges significantly. Grass channel performed best on both runoff and pollutant load reductions, serving a relatively small contributing drainage area, while the bioretention, which has the second highest volume and mass load reduction for pollutants, serves the biggest contributing drainage area, and its performance is considerably more consistent than most of the other types of GI systems monitored. The second part of this dissertation investigates the attenuated transport of salts by vegetation in the bioretention basin (BR). BR is a typical GI system wherein stormwater runoff is routed to a soil basin planted with vegetation and has been shown to reduce deicing salt loads in surface runoff, but the removal mechanism of salt is poorly understood. This work explores the potential of different vegetation types to reduce deicing salt released from a BR by transpiration. Six engineered soil media columns were built in a laboratory greenhouse to simulate a 1012 m2 BR basin along Lorton Road, Fairfax County, Virginia. The effect of vegetation types (Blue Wild Indigo and Broadleaf Cattail) and influent salt concentration on flow volume and salt mass reduction were quantified for multiple storm events. For all storm events, inflow concentrations, and vegetation types, Cl− load reduction ranged from 26.1% to 33.5%, Na+ load reduction ranged from 38.2% to 47.4%, and volume reductions ranged from 11.4% to 41.9%. Different inflow salt concentrations yielded different removal rates of deicing salt, and for a given column, salt removal decreased over sequential storm events. For each influent salt concentration, columns planted with Broadleaf Cattail (BC) performed better for volume and salt mass reductions than columns planted with Blue Wild Indigo (BWI), which in turn performed better than the controls. The third part of this dissertation addresses the effects of long-term maintenance on GI performance. Seven maintenance events with a forebay restoration are monitored from 2018 to 2022 to evaluate the efficiency of maintenance activities. Stormwater quality performance among these four GI practices before and after the seven in-field maintenance activities was assessed according to pollutant load on dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), total suspended solids (TSS), and runoff reductions for the 14 storm events over four years. The average runoff reductions over all monitored storms were 74%, 85%,63%, and 68% for bioretention, grass channel, compost-amended grass channel, and bioswale, respectively. Over the seven maintenance events, the mean runoff reduction of all monitored GI designs improved by 3% after maintenance, DOC mass load reduction increased by 41%, TDN mass load reduction improved by 25%, and TSS mass load reduction increased by 2%. All the pollutant and runoff reduction for swales improved after spring maintenance events, and all monitored GI systems performed better after spring maintenance events compared with their performance after fall maintenance activities, which is potentially due more to the vegetation growth than the maintenance work. This dissertation will help researchers, engineers, and policymakers better understand how GI practices are functioning and identify ways to optimize their effectiveness. It can also help determine the capacity of different types of GI systems to store and treat stormwater, track changes in water quality over time, and evaluate the effectiveness of their maintenance activities.

As climate change intensifies, the fate of many of the world’s forests is becoming a major concern. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) member states have committed to the goal of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, which will involve the planting of 3 billion additional trees by 2030. This challenge can only be met by robust and efficient management and conservation strategies, based on intense sharing of knowledge and tools among experts, practitioners and policymakers. The B4EST International Conference ‘Managing Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) for an Uncertain Future’, held on 20–23 June 2022 in Lisbon (Portugal), brought together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, researchers and policymakers to explore issues around implementation of sustainable management and conservation of European forests. The conference illustrated the promise of genomic technologies for supporting the tree breeding sector, how Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) and Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) could be optimally deployed and play a key role in building climate resilient forests, and the role experts play in the present context of uncertain climate and societal changes., We acknowledge the support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773383 (B4EST).

Multispectral airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) systems are currently available. Optech Titan is an example of these systems, which acquires LiDAR point clouds at three independent wavelengths (1550, 1064 and 532 nm) from Earth’s surface. This dissertation aims to use the radiometric information (i.e., intensity) of the Optech Titan LiDAR data along with the geometric information (e.g., height) for land/water discrimination in coastal zones and land cover classification of urban areas. A set of point features based on elevation, intensity, and geometry was extracted and evaluated for land/water discrimination in coastal zones. In addition, an automated land/water discrimination approach based on seeded region growing algorithm was presented. Two data subsets were tested at Lake Ontario and Tobermory Harbour in Ontario, Canada. The elevation and geometry-based features achieved average overall accuracies of 72.8% - 83.3% and 69.9% -74.4%, respectively, while the intensity-based features achieved an average overall accuracy of 59.0% - 63.4%. The region growing method achieved an average overall accuracy of more than 99%, and the automation of this method is restricted by having double returns from water bodies at the 532 nm wavelength. A hierarchal point-based classification approach was presented for land cover classification of urban areas. The collected point clouds at the three wavelengths were first merged and three intensity values were estimated for each LiDAR point, followed by three-level classification approach. First, a ground filtering method was applied to separate non-ground from ground points. Second, three normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVIs) were computed, followed by NDVIs’ histograms construction. A multivariate Gaussian decomposition (MVGD) was then used to divide those histograms into buildings or trees from non-ground and roads or grass from ground points. Third, classes such as power lines, swimming pools and different types of trees were labeled based on their spectral characteristics. Three data subsets were tested representing different complexity of urban areas in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is shown that the presented approach has achieved an overall accuracy up to 93.0%, which increased to more than 99% by considering the spatial coherence of the LiDAR point clouds.

This research has been supported by the European Research Council (GC2.0 (grant no. 694481)), the European Research Council (REALM (grant no. 787203)), Imperial College through the Lee Family Scholarship, the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society (grant no. RC-2018-023), and the REDISCO (grant no. HAR2017-88035-P) project., Charcoal accumulated in lake, bog or other anoxic sediments through time has been used to document the geographical patterns in changes in fire regimes. Such reconstructions are useful to explore the impact of climate and vegetation changes on fire during periods when human influence was less prevalent than today. However, charcoal records only provide semi-quantitative estimates of change in biomass burning. Here we derive quantitative estimates of burnt area from vegetation data in two stages. First, we relate the modern charcoal abundance to burnt area using a conversion factor derived from a generalised linear model of burnt area probability based on eight environmental predictors. Then, we establish the relationship between fossil pollen assemblages and burnt area using tolerance-weighted weighted averaging partial least-squares regression with a sampling frequency correction (fxTWA-PLS). We test this approach using the Iberian Peninsula as a case study because it is a fire-prone region with abundant pollen and charcoal records covering the Holocene. We derive the vegetation-burnt area relationship using the 31 records that have both modern and fossil charcoal and pollen data and then reconstruct palaeoburnt area for the 113 records with Holocene pollen records. The pollen data predict charcoal-derived burnt area relatively well (R-2 = 0.44), and the changes in reconstructed burnt area are synchronous with known climate changes through the Holocene. This new method opens up the possibility of reconstructing changes in fire regimes quantitatively from pollen records, after regional calibration of the vegetation-burnt area relationship, in regions where pollen records are more abundant than charcoal records., European Research Council (ERC) European Commission 694481 787203, Imperial College through the Lee Family Scholarship, Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society RC-2018-023 REDISCO HAR2017-88035-P

The state of Paraíba in northeast Brazil contains four of the seven biomes present in the country: Mata Atlântica, Cerrado, Caatinga and Matas Serranas. On the other hand, Amazônia, Pantanaland Pampa were not found in this area. This special situation allows us to analyse changes in the distribution of these four large Brazilian biomes according to bioclimatic conditions, using the methodology of bioclimatic regime types. Based on the analysis of variables from periods of hydric and thermal vegetation stagnation, obtained from hydric and bioclimatic balances, average monthly temperature and rainfall, that methodology enables us to establish a typology of 27 types of bioclimatic regimes and 243 bioclimatic regime subtypes with the 9 Thornthwaite ombrothermal levels. In Paraíba 4 types of bioclimatic regimes are currently identified (mesophyllo, tropophyllo, xerophyllo and eurythermophilous) and 9 subtypes according to ombrothermal levels. In order to analyse the changes, extreme change situations were chosen: a past scenario with the Last Glacial Maximum (40 ky); and an RCP 8.5 climate change scenario for the CMSS 4.0 model for the year 2070. This enabled 3 bioclimatic regime maps of each of the 3 aforementioned situations to be obtained, providing a map of potential distribution of the plant formations of Paraíba state according to the specific field knowledge and bioclimatic mapping obtained for the present. This paper concludes that a retrocession of the Mata Atlântica can be seen from the Last Glacial Maximum up to the present, losing its optimal bioclimatic conditions and therefore remaining in a highly fragile relict situation in the face of anthropic pressure (sugarcane cultivation and urban expansion); an advance toward 2070 of the Caatinga in its shrub form as a predominant formation is indicated by the projection of climate change in 2070 for the analysed situation, specifically resulting from anthropic pressure, in this case due to livestock activities which have affected this biome in Paraíba since the mid-19th century. El estado de Paraiba en el nordeste del país, recoge cuatro de los siete biomas presentes en Brasil: la Mata Atlántica, el Cerrado, la Caatinga y las Matas Serranas.Por otro lado, Amazonia, Pantanal y Pampa no se encontraron en esta área. Esta situación especial nos permite hacer un análisis de los cambios en la distribución de estos cuatro grandes biomas brasileños en función de las condiciones bioclimáticas con el uso de la metodología de tipos regímenes bioclimáticos. Dicha metodología, a partir del análisis de las variables de los periodos de paralización vegetativa hídrica y térmica, obtenidos de los balances hídricos y bioclimáticos, la precipitación y la temperatura media mensual, nos permite establecer una tipología de 27 tipos de regímenes bioclimáticos y 243 subtipos de regímenes bioclimáticos con los 9 niveles ombrotérmicos de Thornthwaite. Se identifican actualmente para Paraiba 4 tipos de regímenes bioclimáticos (mesophyllo, tropophyllo, xerophyllo y euritermophyllo) y 9 subtipos en función de los niveles ombrotérmicos. Para poder hacer un análisis de cambios se han elegido situaciones extremas de cambio: por un lado, un escenario del pasado con el Ultimo Máximo Glaciar (40 ky), y por otro un escenario de cambio climático RCP 8.5 para el modelo CMSS 4.0 para el año 2070. Se obtienen así 3 cartografías de regímenes bioclimáticos de cada una de las tres situaciones citadas y se aporta una cartografía de la distribución potencial de las formaciones vegetales del estado de Paraiba en función de los propios conocimientos de campo y de la cartografía bioclimática que se ha obtenido para la actualidad. Como conclusión de este trabajo se puede ver un retroceso de la Mata Atlántica desde el Ultimo máximo Glaciar hasta la actualidad, perdiendo son condiciones bioclimáticas óptimas y quedando por lo tanto en una situación relicta de alta fragilidad ante la presión antrópica (cultivos de caña de azúcar y expansión urbana) y un avance hacia el 2070 de la caatinga en su forma arbustiva como formación predominante según marca la proyección del cambio climático en el 2070 para el escenario analizado, y como resultado de la propio acción antrópica, en este caso con actividades ganaderas, que se viene ejerciendo sobre este bioma en Paraiba desde mediados del siglo XIX.

Insights into the rates at which ecosystems and vegetation respond to a changing climate is fundamental to anticipating impacts of projected climate change. Characterization of vegetation change over millennia to centuries has potential to make an important contribution toward this goal, and regional scale syntheses of fossil pollen data can provide the foundation for this understanding. However, challenges of data analysis and integration are nontrivial. Here we present a case study in which publicly available fossil pollen data for California are assessed and analyzed. The data are selected according to a clearly defined selection criteria, and a Rate of Change (RoC) value is calculated to assess rates of vegetation change in California from ~15k BP (before A.D. 1950) to the present. Our results highlight several challenges presented by the extant data sets, including temporal sampling variation within and between records, large age control uncertainties, and sparse, geographically biased coverage. Recommendations for methodological refinements to better characterize ecological rates of change include increasing sampling frequency, maintaining a consistent temporal spacing within records, and applying probabilistic approaches to existing pollen data sets.