Context The rates and pathways of nutrient cycling through ecosystems depend on interactions between both bottom-up forces, including the chemical characteristics of biomass that influence its decomposition and consumption by higher trophic levels, and top-down forces, such as the nutritional requirements andmetabolic efficiencies of consumers and decomposers that influence their feeding and ex...

Terrestrial ecosystems are often considered as among the structurally most complex systems that can be scientifically investigated. On the other hand, utilization techniques like forestry or water management, focussing on specific functional aspects, often follow relatively simple empirical rules, which led in the past to satisfying predictions. This apparent contradiction opens the question wh...

almon runs in the Pacific Northwest have been declining for decades, so much so that many runs are threatened or endangered; others have been completely extirpated (Nehlsen et al. 1991). This “salmon crisis” looms large in the public eye, because it has serious and wideranging economic, cultural, and ecological repercussions. Billions of dollars have gone into industrial and agricultural projec...

The input of mercury (Hg) to ecosystems is estimated to have increased two- to fivefold during the industrial era, and Hg accumulates in aquatic biota as neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg). Escalating anthropogenic land use and climate change are expected to alter the input rates of terrestrial natural organic matter (NOM) and nutrients to aquatic ecosystems. For example, climate change has been p...

Abstract We evaluated how three widths of buffer zones on greater than or equal to 100-ha wetlands (240, 300, and 390 m) rivers (10, 20, 30 would help meet watershed conservation goals in the Upper Peninsula Michigan, USA, whether doing so also protect each predominant types terrestrial natural communities across landscape. The use (even narrowest assessed) around riparian met exceeded targets ...

generalized interactions flexible acquaintances/interactions reactive capabilities pro-active capabilities

Interactions between the terrestrial nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles shape the response of ecosystems to global change. However, the global distribution of nitrogen availability and its importance in global biogeochemistry and biogeochemical interactions with the climate system remain uncertain. Based on projections of a terrestrial biosphere model scaling ecological understanding of nitroge...

Three lines of evidence for ancient life on land are paleosols, microfossils, and MISS (microbially induced sedimentary structures). The three appear in the rock record as old as 3.5–2.7 Ga (Hallbauer and van Warmelo 1974; Rye and Holland 2000; Wacey et al. 2008; Johnson et al. 2010; Noffke et al. 2013). The primitive terrestrial biosphere is plausibly as old as the oldest marine biosphere (Sch...