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Central Alberta (central + alberta)
Selected AbstractsLack of relationship between below-ground competition and allocation to roots in 10 grassland speciesJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2003James F. Cahill Jr Summary 1A field experiment in a native grassland in Central Alberta, Canada, tested whether plants alter relative allocation to roots vs. shoots in response to below-ground competition, and whether the mass of a species' root system accounts for interspecific differences in below-ground competitive response. 2Seedlings of each of 10 native species were transplanted into the naturally occurring vegetation in the field at the start of the growing season. Root interactions between the target plants and their neighbours were manipulated through the use of PVC root exclusion tubes, with target plants grown with or without potential root interactions with their neighbours. Neighbour shoots were also tied back, forcing any target,neighbour interactions to be below ground. 3Below-ground competition generally reduced plant growth, with its relative magnitude varying among species. 4An allometric analysis indicated that competition below ground did not result in an increase in the relative biomass allocated to roots for any of the 10 target species. This is counter to the growth-balance hypothesis (and optimal foraging theory). Below-ground competition did increase root : shoot ratios, but this was due to reduced plant size (small plants have larger root : shoot ratios), rather than adaptive plasticity. 5A species' below-ground competitive ability was not related to its root system size. Although this finding is counter to commonly made assumptions, it is supported by other work demonstrating below-ground competition to be generally size-symmetric. 6Despite the majority of plant,plant interactions in grasslands being below ground, our understanding of plant competition above ground is significantly more robust. Several wide-spread assumptions regarding below-ground competition are suspect, and more multispecies studies such as this are required to provide a fuller picture of how plants respond to, and compete for, soil resources. [source] Gall size determines the structure of the Rabdophaga strobiloides host,parasitoid communityECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 5 2003Brian H. Van Hezewijk Abstract., 1.,The relationship between gall size and mortality of the willow pinecone gall midge Rabdophaga strobiloides (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) was examined by determining the fate of all galls in a 30-ha area in central Alberta, Canada over 4 years. It was found that gall size has a large effect on the type and intensity of mortality experienced by the gall midge, and consequently this factor has the potential to influence the dynamics of the host,parasitoid interaction through the creation of phenotypic refuges. 2.,Total midge mortality ranged from 51% to 78% over the course of the study and was dominated by parasitism by Torymus cecidomyiae (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) and Gastrancistrus sp. (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) as well as predation by birds. Gall size had a strong, non-linear effect on the attack rates of each of these natural enemies. 3.,Birds attacked the smallest size classes. Torymus cecidomyiae preferentially attacked medium diameter galls and thus avoided predation by birds in smaller galls. Gastrancistrus sp. preferentially attacked the largest galls and consequently suffered lower rates of predation by both T. cecidomyiae and birds. 4.,This study emphasises the importance of understanding the interactions among mortality factors in order to describe adequately the susceptibility of R. strobiloides to parasitism and predation, and ultimately its population dynamics. [source] A comparison of heat pulse velocity and lesion lengths for assessing the relative virulence of mountain pine beetle-associated fungi on jack pineFOREST PATHOLOGY, Issue 4 2008A. V. Rice Summary The mountain pine beetle (MPB) vectors three blue-stain fungi, Grosmannia clavigera, Ophiostoma montium and Leptographium longiclavatum, which contribute to the success of the beetles and the death of the trees. The utility of two methods, heat pulse velocity (HPV) and lesion length, for assessing the relative virulence of these fungi were compared on jack pine in central Alberta. The HPV monitoring apparatus failed to detect xylem sap flow in any of the trees and, thus, could not be used to assess fungal virulence. In contrast, measurement of lesion lengths was more sensitive and provided further evidence that G. clavigera and L. longiclavatum are more virulent than O. montium. The failure of the HPV apparatus to detect sap flow suggests that the study trees were moisture stressed, a factor likely to increase their susceptibility to MPB. Thus, this method is not appropriate for assessing the response of the most susceptible (i.e. drought stressed) trees to MPB and its associated fungi. [source] Modelling snowpack surface temperature in the Canadian Prairies using simplified heat flow modelsHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 18 2005Purushottam Raj Singh Abstract Three practical schemes for computing the snow surface temperature Ts, i.e. the force,restore method (FRM), the surface conductance method (SCM), and the Kondo and Yamazaki method (KYM), were assessed with respect to Ts retrieved from cloud-free, NOAA-AVHRR satellite data for three land-cover types of the Paddle River basin of central Alberta. In terms of R2, the mean Ts, the t -test and F -test, the FRM generally simulated more accurate Ts than the SCM and KYM. The bias in simulated Ts is usually within several degrees Celsius of the NOAA-AVHRR Ts for both the calibration and validation periods, but larger errors are encountered occasionally, especially when Ts is substantially above 0 °C. Results show that the simulated Ts of the FRM is more consistent than that of the SCM, which in turn was more consistent than that of the KYM. This is partly because the FRM considers two aspects of heat conduction into snow, a stationary-mean diurnal (sinusoidal) temperature variation at the surface coupled to a near steady-state ground heat flux, whereas the SCM assumes a near steady-state, simple heat conduction, and other simplifying assumptions, and the KYM does not balance the snowpack heat fluxes by assuming the snowpack having a vertical temperature profile that is linear. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Spiders (Araneae) associated with downed woody material in a deciduous forest in central Alberta, CanadaAGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2001Christopher M. Buddle Abstract 1,Spiders (Araneae) were collected on and near downed woody material (DWM) in a Populus -dominated forest to determine if spiders utilize wood surfaces, and to ascertain the importance of DWM habitat and wood elevation for spider assemblages. 2,Over 10 000 spiders representing 100 species were collected. Although more spiders were collected on the forest floor, spider diversity was higher in traps located on wood surfaces than on the forest floor, and 11 species were collected more frequently on wood surfaces. 3,Spiders utilized DWM at different stages in their development. Female Pardosa mackenziana (Keyserling) (Lycosidae) carrying egg sacs were caught most often on the surface of DWM, possibly to sun their egg sacs. Additionally, the proportion of immature spiders was higher on the wood surface than on the forest floor. 4,Spiders collected on logs with and without bark were compared to assemblages collected on telephone poles to assess what features of DWM habitat may be important. Web-building species were seldom collected on telephone poles, suggesting that they depend on the greater habitat complexity provided by DWM. In contrast, hunting spiders did not distinguish between telephone poles and logs. 5,Fewer spiders and a less diverse fauna utilized elevated compared to ground-level wood. Additionally, Detrended Correspondence Analysis revealed that the spider community from elevated wood was distinguishable from the spider community from ground-level wood, and from the forest floor spider community. [source] Analysis of scale dependence of quantitative precipitation forecast verification: A case-study over the Mackenzie river basinTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 620 2006Olivier Bousquet Abstract Six-hour rainfall accumulations derived from radar observations collected during a 3-day summertime precipitation event over central Alberta (Canada) are used to assess the performance of a regional Canadian numerical weather prediction system for quantitative precipitation forecast verification. We show that radar data provide a simple and efficient way to significantly reduce model phase errors associated with misplacement of predicted precipitation patterns. Using wavelet analysis, we determine that the limiting spatial scale of predictability of the model is about six times its grid resolution for 6 h accumulated fields. The use of longer accumulation periods is shown to smooth out forecast errors that may have resulted from slight phase or time shift errors but does not change the limiting scale of predictability. The scale decomposition of the mean-square forecast error also reveals that scales which cannot be accurately reproduced by the model account for about 20% of the total error. Using classical continuous and categorical scores, we show that significantly better model performance can be achieved by smoothing out wavelengths that cannot be predicted. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Characterization of diverse plant communities in Aspen Parkland rangeland using LiDAR dataAPPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 3 2007Jason G. Su Moss (1983) Abstract Question: How effective is high-resolution airborne LiDAR technology for quantifying biophysical characteristics of multiple community types within diverse rangeland environments? Location: Native Aspen Parkland vegetation in central Alberta, Canada. Methods: Vegetation within 117 reference plots stratified across eight types, including forest, shrubland, upland grassland and lowland meadow communities, were assessed in 2001 for the height, cover and density of vegetation within various strata (herb, shrub and tree layers). Actual ground data were subsequently compared against modelled values for each community type and strata derived from the analysis of airborne LiDAR data obtained in 2000. Results: LiDAR data were effective for quantifying vegetation height, cover and density of the overstory within closed- and open Populus forest communities. However, LiDAR measurements typically underestimated the height and cover of shrublands, as well as most of the herbaceous communities. Analysis of LiDAR intensity data indicated reflectance generally decreased as LiDAR sampling points moved upwards from the ground to the vegetation canopy. Conclusions: While LiDAR technology is useful for characterizing deciduous forest properties, the quantification of understory vegetation characteristics, as well as those of individual shrublands and grasslands, was more limiting. Further refinements in analysis methods are necessary to increase the reliability of characterizing these communities. [source] | |||||||||||||