At which spatial scale are plant species composition and diversity affected in beech forests?     

Lorena Peña  Ibone Amezaga  Miren Onaindia 《Annals of Forest Science》2011,68(8):1351-1362

• Context  

Landscape structure is crucial for forest conservation in regions where the natural forest is fragmented. Practical conservation is currently shifting from local stands to a landscape perspective, although few studies have tested the relative effects of different spatial scales on plant species composition and diversity in forests.  相似文献   

Relationship between vegetation diversity and soil functional diversity in native mixed-oak forests     

Gloria Rodríguez-Loinaz  Miren Onaindia  Ibone Amezaga  Iker Mijangos  Carlos Garbisu 《Soil biology & biochemistry》2008,40(1):49-60

Most studies on the interactions between aboveground vegetation and belowground soil diversity have been carried out in microcosms or manipulated field plots. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between forest vegetation diversity and soil functional diversity (calculated from the activity of soil enzymes) in naturally developed plant communities of native mixed-oak forests without imposing any disturbances to already existing plant–soil relationships. In order to do so, five different vegetation types, i.e., herbaceous plants, climbing plants, trees, shrubs, and ferns, were considered. Correlations between plant diversity, soil physicochemical properties, and soil enzyme activities were determined. Soil physicochemical parameters appeared strongly correlated with both enzyme activities (e.g., pH was positively correlated with amidase and arylsulphatase, and negatively with acid phosphatase; OM content was positively correlated with β-glucosidase, acid and alkaline phosphatase and urease, and negatively with amidase; total N was positively correlated with β-glucosidase, and acid and alkaline phosphatase, and negatively with amidase) and soil functional diversity. For ferns, strong correlations between enzyme activities and plant diversity indexes were found (i.e., dehydrogenase was positively correlated with species richness and Shannon's diversity; acid and alkaline phosphatase were negatively correlated with Shannon's diversity; acid phosphatase was also negatively correlated with species richness). Most interestingly, herbaceous plants and ferns showed a strong positive correlation between Shannon's plant diversity and soil functional diversity. Furthermore, herbaceous plants showed a strong positive correlation between species richness and soil functional diversity. Although these correlations between plant diversity and soil functional diversity might possibly be due to the fact that higher values of plant richness and diversity result in a greater habitat heterogeneity in the soil, current knowledge on the topic is mixed and very incomplete and, then, one must be extremely cautious when interpreting such correlations.  相似文献   

Effects of exposure to environmental chemicals during pregnancy on the development of the male and female reproductive axes     

M Bellingham  N Fiandanese  A Byers  C Cotinot  NP Evans  P Pocar  MR Amezaga  RG Lea  KD Sinclair  SM Rhind  PA Fowler 《Reproduction in domestic animals = Zuchthygiene》2012,47(Z4):15-22

There is a large body of literature describing effects of environmental chemicals (ECs), many of them anthropogenic with endocrine-disrupting properties, on development in rodent laboratory species, some of which lead to impaired reproduction and adverse health. This literature joins extensive human epidemiological data and opportunistic wildlife findings on health effects of ECs. In contrast, the effect of endocrine disruption on foetal development and reproductive performance in domestic species is less extensively documented. This applies both to domestic farm and to companion species even though the former is critical to food production and the latter share our homes and many aspects of the modern developed human lifestyle. In domestic species, the nature of chemicals exposure in utero and their consequences for animal health and production are poorly understood. A complication in our understanding is that the pace of development, ontogeny and efficiency of foetal and maternal hepatic and placental activity differs between domestic species. In many ways, this reflects the difficulties in understanding human exposure and consequences of that exposure for the foetus and subsequent adult from epidemiological and largely rodent-based data. It is important that domestic species are included in research into endocrine disruption because of their (i) wide variety of exposure to such chemicals, (ii) greater similarity of many developmental processes to the human, (iii) economic importance and (iv) close similarities to developed world human lifestyle in companion species.  相似文献   

Atmospheric Deposition and Canopy Interactions for Conifer and Deciduous Forests in Northern Spain     

Amezaga  I.  Gonzalez Arias  A.  Domingo  M.  Echeandia  A.  Onaindia  M. 《Water, air, and soil pollution》1997,97(3-4):303-313

The effect of forest canopy on the chemical composition of Throughfall was studied in four forests, two coniferous plantations of Pinus radiata and two deciduous forests (Quercus robur and Q.rubra, respectively) near bilbao (Bizkaia), Basque Country (Northern Spain) during one year. The study areas are assumed to have different levels of pollution: Manzanal suffers industrial pollution mainly of SO₄ ^2‐ and N.NO₃ ^‐, while Durango has industrial and agricultural pollution mainly of N.NH₄ ⁺ and SO₄ ^2‐  相似文献