Research on protection forests designed to alleviate rockfall hazard has increased enormously over the last decade. Data are available concerning the most suitable stem spacing and density regimes in stands. The species used in protection forests can also influence enormously the effectiveness of the forest in conferring a protective role. Little information exists, however, about either the me...

Quick biodiversity studies on poorly studied taxa and areas are increasingly popular for setting conservation priorities over a wide range of spatial scales. However, the implementation of such studies is complicated by the variable extent to which the different criteria used in prioritisation are correlated to each other. Using methods of constrained ordination, we examined the specieshabitat ...

The correlation of the distribution of five subalpine and montane tree species with precipitation and temperature were modeled using GIS. The results were compared with data presented by Thompson et al. (2000). Distributions of subalpine fir (Abies concolor), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata)...

Diversity and species composition of endophytic fungi on leaves of 11 tree 10 species in Betulaceae were studied, with reference to climatic, tree species, and seasonal 11 variations. A total of 186 fungal isolates were obtained from 190 leaves collected in a 12 subalpine, a cool temperate, and a subtropical forest in Japan and were divided into 46 13 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) accordin...

The response of montane and subalpine hay meadow plant and arthropod communities to the application of liquid manure and aerial irrigation - two novel, rapidly spreading management practices - remains poorly understood, which hampers the formulation of best practice management recommendations for both hay production and biodiversity preservation. In these nutrient-poor mountain grasslands, a mo...

Rain-index insurance is strongly advocated in many parts of the developing world to help farmers to cope with climatic risk that prevail in (semi-)arid rangelands due to low and highly uncertain rainfall. We present a modeling analysis of how the availability of rain-index insurance affects the sustainability of rangeland management. We show that a rain-index insurance with frequent payoffs, i....

This study aimed to investigate and discuss the occurrence and accumulation of mercury in the fruiting bodies of wild-growing fungi (Macromycetes) collected from montane forests in two regions of southwestern China with differences in soil geochemistry, climate and geographical conditions. Fungal mycelia in soils of the subalpine region of the Minya Konka (Gongga Mountain) in Sichuan and in the...