We documented riparian primary succession on an expansive floodplain (Kol River, Kamchatka, Russian Federation) that receives large nitrogen subsidies from spawning Pacific salmon. As is typical of primary succession, new alluvial deposits in the lower Kol floodplain were nitrogen poor (200 kg persulfate N/ha to 10 cm soil depth); however, nitrogen accumulated rapidly, and soils contained 1600 ...

Diatoms, combined with a multiproxy study of lake sediments (organic matter, N, δ15N, δ13C, biogenic silica, grain size, Cladocera and chironomids, Alnus pollen) from Lone Spruce Pond, Alaska detail the late-glacial to Holocene history of the lake and its response to regional climate and landscape change over the last 14.5 cal ka BP. We show that the immigration of alder (Alnus viridis) in the ...

• Following the decades-long warming and drying trend in Alaska, there is mounting evidence that temperature-induced drought stress is associated with disease outbreaks in the boreal forest. Recent evidence of this trend is an outbreak of Cytospora canker disease (fungal pathogen Valsa melanodiscus (anamorph = Cytospora umbrina)) on Alnus species. • For Alnus fruticosa, we examined the effects ...

Precipitation, throughfall, forest floor, and soil leachate samples were monitored continuously in 1981 and 1982 in aN-poor Douglasfir (Pseudotsuga men:.iesii (Mirb.) Franco) forest and a red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) forest growing adjacently on a glacial soil in western Washington. The purpose of the study was to quantify the relative importance of atmospheric vs. natural sources of H + input...

The replacement of native forests by exotic tree monocultures, such as those of Eucalyptus, decreases the quality of leaf litter inputs to streams and often reduces riparian cover, which can elevate water temperature. The combined effects of these stressors on the survival and performance of detritivores may be important, as detritivore species loss leads to reduced litter breakdown, a key ecos...

Climate change is expected to have a significant effect on the first flowering date (FFD) in plants flowering in early spring. Prunus yedoensis Matsum is a good model plant for analyzing this effect. In this study, we used a degree day model to analyze the effect of air temperatures on the FFDs of P. yedoensis at Wuhan University from a long-time series from 1951 to 2012. First, the starting da...

Myrmecochorous diaspores bear a nutrient-rich appendage, the elaiosome, attractive to ant workers that retrieve them into the nest, detach the elaiosome and reject the seed intact. While this interaction is beneficial for the plant partner by ensuring its seed dispersal, elaiosome consumption has various effects -positive, negative or none - on ants' demography and survival, depending on both t...