In order to combat the growing problems associated with biological invasions, many researchers have focused on identifying which communities are most vulnerable to invasion by exotic species. However, once established, invasive species can significantly change the composition of the communities that they invade. The first step to disentangling the direction of causality is to discern whether a ...

Previous research studies have demonstrated that the relationship between remote sensing-derived parameters and aboveground biomass (AGB) could vary across different species types. However, there are few studies that calibrate reliable statistical models for mangrove AGB. This study quantifies the differences of accuracy in AGB estimation between the results obtained with and without the consid...

Traditionally, most vegetation patterns were thought to be driven by environmental conditions (Holdridge 1947; Whittaker 1975). The role of animals in determining patterns of vegetation has also long been recognized (Hairston et al. 1960; Terborgh et al. 2006), given that herbivores consume vegetation and, in turn, are controlled by carnivores and parasites. There is an increasing volume of lit...

Some endemic shrubs in arid and semiarid ecosystems are in danger of extinction, and yet they can play useful roles in maintaining or restoring these ecosystems, thus practical efforts are needed to conserve them. The shrubs Amygdalus pedunculata Pall., Amygdalus mongolica (Maxim.) Ricker and Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Maxim. ex Kom.) Cheng f. are endemic species in arid and semiarid regions of...

Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is a private game reserve covering 1,020 km(2) in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It has been created from a number of reclaimed farms and restocked with large indigenous mammals. Two surveys were conducted to inventory the dung beetle fauna (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) and determine their spatial patterns and food type associations. The spatial survey used ...

a study was conducted to determine habitat suitability of goitred gazelle (gazella subgutturosa) in kalmand-bahadoran protected area during four seasons of year 2003-2004.the geographic position of dispersal points of gazelle herds was recorded with global position system. the data were transmitted into attributed tables in arc view software and their layers were created. the maps of slope, alt...