The landscape pattern of vegetation communities is of fundamental importance to ecologists and biogeographers because it establishes the biotic template upon which largescale ecological processes occur. Landscape vegetation patterns within boreal forests are thought to be driven strongly by abiotic disturbance processes (i.e. fire in uplands, floods in floodplains) coupled with the extremely co...

Contemporary landscapes are subject to a multitude of human-derived stressors. Effects of such stressors are increasingly realized by population declines and large-scale extirpation of taxa worldwide. Most notably, cumulative effects of climate and landscape change can limit species' local adaptation and dispersal capabilities, thereby reducing realized niche space and range extent. Resolving t...

1. Changes in benthic invertebrate community structure following 16 years of forest succession after logging were examined by estimating benthic invertebrate abundance, biomass and secondary production in streams draining a forested reference and a recovering clear-cut catchment. Benthic invertebrate abundance was three times higher, and invertebrate biomass and production were two times higher...

Species migration in response to warming temperatures is expected to lead to ‘biotic attrition,’ or loss of local diversity, in areas where the number of species emigrating or going locally extinct exceeds the number immigrating. Biotic attrition is predicted be especially severe in the low-lying hot tropics since elevated temperatures may surpass the observed tolerances of most extant species....

Water is one of the most critical resources derived from natural systems. While it has long been recognized that forest disturbances like fire influence watershed streamflow characteristics, individual studies have reported conflicting results with some showing streamflow increases postdisturbance and others decreases, while other watersheds are insensitive to even large disturbance events. Cha...

abstract this chapter describes how the climate change is potentially the mostsevere threat to pollinator biodiversity. mounting evidence demonstrates that therehave already been biotic responses to the relatively small climate changes that haveoccurred this century. pollinators such as birds, bees, butterflies, moths, flies, wasps,beetles bats and even mosquitoes are essential for food product...

Volume 22 • Number 3 (2005) 29 A basic premise of the geodiversity concept recognizes that there is an intrinsic relationship between biological diversity and geological diversity. In principle, the geologic bedrock is viewed as the foundation of the ecosystem. Geologic resources and processes sustain much greater relationships with biotic resources and biosystems than is commonly recognized. T...