bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Small‐scale spatial variation of pasture molluscan faunas within a relic watermeadow system at Wylye, Wiltshire, U.K.
Authors: Davies P. , Grimes C. J. 
Published: March 2003

SummaryAimTo acquire general quantitative data on the molluscan faunas of floodplain pastures, assessing the influence of (minor) topographic variation on molluscan distribution. Additionally, to examine the potential for analogous comparison with fossil dataLocationThe study was located within a relic watermeadow system currently used as floodplain pasture near Wylye, Wiltshire, U.K.MethodsMollusca were extracted from forty turf samples collected from relic carriers (cf. ridges) and relic drains (cf. furrows). Molluscan faunal differences between carriers and drains were assessed usingTWINSPANand diversity indices.ResultsThe dry relic carriers, characterized by a short grassy sward, showed a low‐diversityTrichia‐Vallonia‐Cochlicopa‐Nesovitreafauna. The damper relic drains, characterized by longer vegetation comprising both rushes and grasses, additionally contained other molluscan species indicative of wetter and/or more sheltered conditions and had significantly more diverse faunasMain conclusionsIntra‐site variability of molluscan faunas can be demonstrated with relatively minor changes in topography, hydrology and/or vegetation structure. In addition, the study clearly aids in the analogous interpretation of Holocene subfossil assemblages from the same region.
A fire history of a subalpine forest in south‐eastern Wyoming, USA
Authors: Kipfmueller Kurt F. , Baker William L. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractFire history was determined for part of the Routt‐Medicine Bow National Forest in south‐eastern Wyoming using fire‐scar and age‐class analysis. A composite chronology of fire events was used to determine mean fire intervals (MFI) for pre‐EuroAmerican settlement, EuroAmerican settlement (before 1868 ad), EuroAmerican settlement and modern (after 1912) periods, for all fires and stand‐replacing fires. Point‐scale MFI was also determined using grand means from individual trees. Stand‐replacing fires were reconstructed to determine fire rotation. MFI for the entire time period is 5.5–8.4 years. MFI decreased from 9.3 to 15.7–1.9–2.9 years from the preto post‐EuroAmerican settlement periods, and increased during the modern period. Point‐scale MFIs are longer than MFI of the study area. Fire rotation is 182 years for the total period of record, but increased from 127 years during the pre‐EuroAmerican settlement period to 170 years during the EuroAmerican settlement period. Fire rotation during the modern period dramatically increased to 27,035 years. Results suggest fire suppression may have influenced the fire regime. Comparison of regional fire events with fire events from this study indicate regional weather has an important influence on Rocky Mountain fire regimes.
Palaeovegetation of China: a pollen data‐based synthesis for the mid‐Holocene and last glacial maximum
Authors: Yu G. , Chen X. , Ni J. , Cheddadi R. , Guiot J. , Han H. , Harrison S. P. , Huang C. , Ke M. , Kong Z. , Li S. , Li W. , Liew P. , Liu G. , Liu J. , Liu Q. , Liu K.‐B. , Prentice I. C. , Qui W. , Ren G. , Song C. , Sugita S. , Sun X. , Tang L. , Van Campo E. , Xia Y. , Xu Q. , Yan S. , Yang X. , Zhao J. , Zheng Z. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractPollen data from China for 6000 and 18,000 14C yr bp were compiled and used to reconstruct palaeovegetation patterns, using complete taxon lists where possible and a biomization procedure that entailed the assignment of 645 pollen taxa to plant functional types. A set of 658 modern pollen samples spanning all biomes and regions provided a comprehensive test for this procedure and showed convincing agreement between reconstructed biomes and present natural vegetation types, both geographically and in terms of the elevation gradients in mountain regions of north‐eastern and south‐western China.The 6000 14C yr bp map confirms earlier studies in showing that the forest biomes in eastern China were systematically shifted northwards and extended westwards during the mid‐Holocene. Tropical rain forest occurred on mainland China at sites characterized today by either tropical seasonal or broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest. Broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest occurred further north than today, and at higher elevation sites within the modern latitudinal range of this biome. The northern limit of temperate deciduous forest was shifted c. 800 km north relative to today.The 18,000 14C yr bp map shows that steppe and even desert vegetation extended to the modern coast of eastern China at the last glacial maximum, replacing today’s temperate deciduous forest. Tropical forests were excluded from China and broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest had retreated to tropical latitudes, while taiga extended southwards to c. 43°N.
Contemporary geography dominates butterfly diversity gradients within the Aegean archipelago (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea, Hesperioidea)
Authors: Dennis Roger L. H. , Shreeve Tim G. , Olivier Alain , Coutsis John G. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractAim We compare the influence of contemporary geography and historical influences on butterfly diversity for islands in the Aegean archipelago.Location The Aegean archipelago (Greece) and two islands (Cyprus and Megisti) in the Levantine Sea.Methods Thirty‐one islands were examined. Data are taken from own surveys (Coutsis and Olivier) and from the literature. Stepwise multiple regression is used to determine relationships between species richness, frequency, rarity and endemicity against potential geographical predictors. Stepwise logit regression is used to determine geographical predictors of species incidence on islands. Inter‐island and inter‐species associations have been examined using multivariate ordination and clustering techniques.Results The Aegean butterfly fauna is characterized by decreasing diversity and rarity, and increasing homogeneity, from the periphery to the present geographical centre of the archipelago (Cyclades). Diversity and rarity are shown to relate closely to species richness, and species richness, in turn, is largely explained by contemporary geography, particularly the degree of isolation from the nearest mainland sources of Greece or Turkey, and island dimensions. Islands towards the centre of the archipelago are characterized by a group of mobile species (n ≥ 20 species) with extensive ranges across Europe; species that would have recolonized Santorini (Thira) following the VI6 eruption therec.1630 bc. Endemic components, indicative of autochthonous evolutionary events, are few (5% of species are endemic) compared to known sedentary organisms (molluscs and isopods), but exceed those for more mobile animals (i.e. birds); their distribution is mainly confined to large isolated islands along the Aegean arc (i.e. Kriti) and in the Dodecanese group.Main conclusions Contemporary geography, i.e. processes currently operating in ecological time, dominates butterfly diversity gradients (species richness, frequency, rarity and incidence) in the archipelago. Two reasons are suggested to account for the lack of endemism and the pattern of decreasing diversity into the Cyclades. First, relict butterfly elements may have become extinct on all but a few larger islands, particularly from environmental changes since the Neolithic (fire and overgrazing). Second, colonization from the continental landmasses is ongoing with more mobile species transferring even to the most isolated islands.
Plant migration rates and seed dispersal mechanisms
Authors: Pakeman  
Published: March 2003

AimHolocene plant migration rates appear to greatly exceed measured dispersal distances. This is a feature of species with all dispersal mechanisms and in all communities. The role of dispersal by large mammalian herbivores is explored as a mechanism that accounts for the observed dispersal rates.MethodsA simple model was constructed that took into account herbivore dispersal and how migration rates might vary with herbivore territory size, gut survival and probability of consumption.ResultsEven at relatively low probabilities of consumption and gut survival, dispersal by animals within large territories could account for observed rates of dispersal in the palaeorecord. Animals with small territory sizes could not produce large enough rates of dispersal.Main conclusionsAs many modern day grassland plants appear to survive gut passage, endozoochory by large mammalian herbivores could be the main mechanism for long‐distance dispersal of herbaceous species.
Geographic variation in seed‐setting by heather (Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull) in the Scottish Highlands
Authors: Miller G. R. , Cummins R. P. 
Published: March 2003

AimTo assess the influence of oceanicity, altitude and latitude on spatial and temporal variations in the fecundity of heather (Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull) in Scotland.LocationMountain study areas located throughout the Highlands of Scotland.MethodsSeed‐set was assessed as the number of seeds per heather capsule. At each mountain, the mean number of seeds per capsule was recorded at five sites spaced at 150 m height intervals up to heather’s upper altitudinal limit. Germinability was measured by incubating seeds at 20 °C after chilling at 2–3 °C for 6 weeks. Collateral cultivation of heather cuttings taken from sites below 450 m and above 900 m determined whether seed‐setting and germinability were under genetic or environmental control.ResultsNeither seed‐setting nor germinability was under genetic control. Seed‐setting generally declined with increasing site oceanicity and altitude but the effect of latitude was ill‐defined. Mean maximum temperature and total rainfall during August–September were the principal environmental controls. Germinability varied less widely but tended to be least towards heather’s upper altitudinal limit.Main conclusionsSeed‐setting by heather varied in both space and time, depending mainly on late summer warmth. It was always copious below about 600 m but was sparse or even failed altogether on higher ground, particularly in the hyperoceanic west Highlands.
Natural variability in forests of the Grand Canyon, USA
Authors: Fulé Peter Z. , Covington W. Wallace , Moore Margaret M. , Heinlein Thomas A. , Waltz Amy E. M. 
Published: March 2003

AimCompare contemporary with pre‐fire‐disruption forest structures, assessing the influence of factors that caused ecological change and evaluating remote sites as relatively natural areas.LocationGrand Canyon National Park contains the largest never‐harvested and long‐term ungrazed forest ecosystem in Arizona, providing valuable sites for measuring natural variability. However, anthropogenic disruption of natural fire regimes since Euro‐American settlementc.1880 has led to changes in forest structure.MethodsWe compared species composition, tree structure, regeneration, and canopy cover on large (135–603 ha) ponderosa pine‐dominated study sites: (1) isolated points on the North Rim where some surface fires continued after 1880, (2) a higher‐elevation North Rim site where fire has been excluded and (3) a South Rim site, also without recent fire, with a paired Kaibab National Forest site. Forest tree structure prior to fire‐regime disruption was reconstructed with dendroecological techniques.ResultsBefore fire exclusion, all sites had relatively low tree density (140–246 trees ha−1) dominated by large trees (basal area 9.1–28.5 m2 ha−1), primarily ponderosa pine or pine/Gambel oak on the South Rim. Currently all sites are relatively dense (389–955 trees ha−1, 14.1–41.3 m2 ha−1) but patterns of species composition and regeneration differed substantially with fire regime and elevation. Regeneration at continued‐fire sites was primarily through sprouting species, Gambel oak and New Mexican locust, forming a shrubby midstorey under a relatively open pine canopy. In contrast, all fire‐excluded sites were dense with seed‐reproducing conifer species.Main conclusionsComparison of change caused by climate fluctuation, tree cutting, fire exclusion, livestock herbivory, and wildlife herbivory, suggests that fire regime alteration appears to have played the greatest role. The remote North Rim sites provide a close analogue to conditions prior to fire regime disruption, a contemporary example of the forest characteristics that might have been extant had recent human‐caused disruption of disturbance regimes and heavy resource extraction not occurred. They merit broader study of natural variability on a range of ecological variables in ponderosa pine ecosystems.
Native American impacts on fire regimes of the California coastal ranges
Authors: Keeley Jon E. 
Published: March 2003

AimNative American burning impacts on California shrubland dominated landscapes are evaluated relative to the natural lightning fire potential for affecting landscape patterns.LocationFocus was on the coastal ranges of central and southern California.MethodsPotential patterns of Indian burning were evaluated based upon historical documents, ethnographic accounts, archaeological records and consideration of contemporary land management tactics. Patterns of vegetation distribution in this region were evaluated relative to environmental factors and the resilience of the dominant shrub vegetation to different fire frequencies.ResultsLightning fire frequency in this region is one of the lowest in North America and the density of pre‐Columbian populations was one of the highest. Shrublands dominate the landscape throughout most of the region. These woody communities have weak resilience to high fire frequency and are readily displaced by annual grasses and forbs under high fire frequency. Intact shrublands provided limited resources for native Americans and thus there was ample motivation for using fire to degrade this vegetation to an open mosaic of shrubland/grassland, not unlike the agropastoral modification of ecologically related shrublands by Holocene peoples in the Mediterranean Basin. Alien‐dominated grasslands currently cover approximately one‐quarter of the landscape and less than 1% of these grasslands have a significant native grass presence. Ecological studies in the Californian coastal ranges have failed to uncover any clear soil or climate factors explaining grassland and shrubland distribution patterns.Main conclusionsCoastal ranges of California were regions of high Indian density and low frequency of lightning fires. The natural vegetation dominants on this landscape are shrubland vegetation that often form dense impenetrable stands with limited resources for Native Americans. Natural fire frequencies are not high enough to maintain these landscapes in habitable mixtures of shrublands and grasslands but such landscape mosaics are readily produced with additional human subsidy of ignitions. It is hypothesized that a substantial fraction of the landscape was type converted from shrubland to grassland and much of the landscape that underwent such type conversion has either been maintained by Euro‐American land management practices or resisted recolonization of native shrublands. It appears that these patterns are disturbance dependent and result from anthropogenic alteration of landscapes initiated by Native Americans and sustained and expanded upon by Euro‐American settlers.
Excess density compensation of island herpetofaunal assemblages
Authors: Rodda Gordon H. , Dean‐Bradley Kathryn 
Published: March 2003

AimSome species reach extraordinary densities on islands. Island assemblages have fewer species, however, and it is possible that island species differ from their mainland counterparts in average mass. Island assemblages could be partitioned differently (fewer species or smaller individuals) from mainland sites without differing in aggregate biomass (density compensation). Our objective was to determine the generality of excess density compensation in island herpetofaunal assemblages.LocationOur bounded removal plot data were obtained from Pacific Island sites (Guam, Saipan and Rota), the West Indies (British Virgin Islands), and the Indian Ocean (Ile aux Aigrettes off Mauritius). The literature values were taken from several locales. Other island locations included Barro Colorado Island, Bonaire, Borneo, Philippine Islands, Seychelle Islands, Barrow Island (Australia), North Brother Island (New Zealand), Dominica and Puerto Rico. Mainland sites included Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Australia, Thailand, Peru, Brazil, Panama and the USA.MethodWe added our thirty‐nine bounded total removal plots from sixteen island habitats to fifteen literature records to obtain seventy‐five venues with estimable density and biomass of arboreal or terrestrial herpetofaunal assemblages. These biomass estimates were evaluated geographically and in relation to sampling method, insularity, latitude, disturbance regime, seasonality, community richness, vegetative structure and climate. Direct data on trophic interactions (food availability, parasitism and predation pressure) were generally unavailable. Sampling problems were frequent for arboreal, cryptic and evasive species.Results and main conclusionsWe found strong evidence that herpetofaunal assemblages on small islands (mostly lizards) exhibit a much greater aggregate density of biomass (kg ha−1) than those of larger islands or mainland assemblages (small islands show excess density compensation). High aggregate biomass density was more strongly associated with the degree of species impoverishment on islands than it was on island area or insularity per se. High aggregate biomass density was not strongly associated with latitude, precipitation, canopy height or a variety of other physical characteristics of the study sites. The association between high aggregate biomass density and species‐poor islands is consistent with the effects of a reduced suite of predators on depauperate islands, but other features may also contribute to excess density compensation.
The role of climate in limiting European resident bird populations
Authors: Forsman Jukka T. , Mönkkönen Mikko 
Published: March 2003

Abstract Aim  To study densities of eight groups of resident forest bird populations across Europe to examine their association with abiotic (temperature, precipitation) factors.Location  Europe.Methods  Densities of residents (and migrant birds, which were used as a control group) were extracted from published breeding bird censuses. For each census location we obtained geographical co‐ordinates (latitude and longitude), temperature and precipitation variables describing both breeding and non‐breeding seasons. Resident densities were first examined separately in relation to co‐ordinates and principal component axes, which were extracted from temperature and precipitation variables. The relative impact of each explaining factor (co‐ordinates and principal component axis) on resident densities was checked by using residual examination and partial correlation.Results  Densities of resident birds were in general negatively correlated with both latitude and longitude and temperature and precipitation factors, but latitude and temperature proved to be the strongest individual factors along which resident densities varied. The higher the latitude or the lower the temperatures, the lower were the densities of most resident birds. Partial correlation analysis suggested that of those two factors, latitude was the dominant one. Both the density of resident and migrant birds decreased towards the north, but the decrease of residents was steeper, and in the north they comprised only a small fraction of breeding bird numbers, whereas further south they commonly comprise half of the breeding bird numbers.Main conclusions  The best explanatory factor for resident densities was latitude. For this reason, it was difficult to separate the relative effect of each individual factor, because latitude partly describes all the original variables (temperature and precipitation). The results suggested that precipitation was of less importance and that the interplay between latitude and ambient temperatures was not the sole factor behind the strong effect of latitude. We suggest that the coupled effect of harshening climate and decreasing amount of available energy with increasing latitude is limiting the population sizes of resident birds. We also propose that the effect of those factors is most apparent in northern Fennoscandia, where resident densities are suggested to be lower than would be expected on the basis of summer time carrying capacity.
A survey of the management of leg ulcers in primary care settings in Scotland
Authors: Hickie Susan , Ross Sue , Bond Christine 
Published: March 2003

• A postal survey was undertaken to describe the management of leg ulcers in a sample of primary care settings in Scotland.• The management of leg ulcers caused a considerable workload for all three groups of professionals, although general practitioners (GPs) reported seeing fewer patients.• Initial assessment of leg ulcers was often carried out by nurses in collaboration with GPs; however, 48% of district nurses reported assessing patients alone.• Choice of treatment depended on clinical criteria and frequency of visits to change dressings.• Compression bandages were used routinely by 64% of nurses.• Practice protocols were unusual, with only 12% of nurses reporting their use.• The management of leg ulcers was not always optimum, and the findings indicate that evidence‐based guidelines should be more widely adopted for the management of leg ulcers in general practice.
Wound management: a literature review
Authors: Lait Margaret E. , Smith Lorraine N. 
Published: March 2003

• This paper provides an overview of literature on wound management, including wound assessment and wound care and their relationship to the healing process.• No attempt is made to describe individual tools or dressing materials as this literature can be found elsewhere.• Patient and economic benefits of accurate wound assessment and choice of dressing material are highlighted.• The case for an improved and updated nursing knowledge base regarding all aspects of wound care is made.
Perceptions related to time in a qualitative study of informal carers of terminally ill cancer patients
Authors: Rose Karen E. 
Published: March 2003

• Caring for a terminally ill relative is a complex, time‐consuming experience.• Demands on carers' time stem from a variety of sources, notably the practical and emotional work they must perform.• Carers should be helped to plan their time effectively.• Carers need to come to terms with their perceptions about past, present and future.• Achieving some sense of equilibrium in the caring role is important.• Professionals working with families experiencing terminal illness have a duty to assess each family individually in order to provide appropriate help and support.
Psychosocial care in oncology nursing: a study of social knowledge
Authors: Roberts Dave , SNOWBALL JAN 
Published: March 2003

• A combination of focus group and individual interviews aimed to examine psychosocial aspects of nursing within a social context and social knowledge held by two teams of ward‐based oncology nurses.• Five core categories of knowledge emerged: knowledge of how to care, knowledge of the patient, knowledge of the ward, knowledge of nurses coping, and knowledge of involvement.• Involvement or emotional closeness was seen as a necessary, inevitable and potentially stressful feature of psychosocial care.• The authors conclude that interpersonal and professional aspects of nursing must be balanced in order to provide effective psychosocial care.