In vivo pharmacological characterization of the structurally novel, potent, selective mGlu2/3 receptor agonist LY404039 in animal models of psychiatric disorders - Linda M. Rorick-Kehn; Bryan G. Johnson; Karen M. Knitowski; Craig R. Salhoff; Jeffrey M. Witkin; Kenneth W. Perry; Kelly I. Griffey; Joseph P. Tizzano; James A. Monn; David L. McKinzie; Darryle D. Schoepp (Psychopharmacology, 2007)

Effects of male group size, parity, and cycle stage on female chimpanzee copulation rates at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda - David P. Watts (Primates, 2007)

Biotic resistance to green crab, Carcinus maenas, in California bays - Gregory C. Jensen; P. Sean McDonald; David A. Armstrong (Marine Biology, 2007)

The roles of sensory traps in the origin, maintenance, and breakdown of mutualism - David P. Edwards; Douglas W. Yu (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2007)

Hurricane track forecasting with OMEGA - David P. Bacon; Nash′at N. Ahmad; Thomas J. Dunn; S. G. Gopalakrishnan; Mary S. Hall; Ananthakrishna Sarma (Natural Hazards, 2007)

Budongo Chimpanzees: Behavior and Conservation - David P. Watts (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2007)

Genetic admixture, adipocytokines, and adiposity in Black Americans: the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study - Christina L. Wassel Fyr; Alka M. Kanaya; Steve R. Cummings; David Reich; Wen-Chi Hsueh; Alexander P. Reiner; Tamara B. Harris; Susan Moffett; Rongling Li; Jingzhong Ding; Iva Miljkovic-Gacic; Elad Ziv (Human Genetics, 2007)

Time and decision making: differential contribution of the posterior insular cortex and the striatum during a delay discounting task - Marc Wittmann; David S. Leland; Martin P. Paulus (Experimental Brain Research, 2007)

Evaluation of temperature-selection differences among juvenile muskellunge originating from different latitudes - Curtis P. Wagner; David H. Wahl (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2007)

Biophysical, pharmacological, and functional characteristics of cloned and native mammalian two-pore domain K+ channels - David P. Lotshaw (Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, 2007)

Impacts of Hurricane Frances on Florida scrub‐oak ecosystem processes: defoliation, net CO 2 exchange and interactions with elevated CO 2 - JIAHONG LI; THOMAS L. POWELL; TROY J. SEILER; DAVID P. JOHNSON; HANS P. ANDERSON; ROSVEL BRACHO; BRUCE A. HUNGATE; CHARLES R. HINKLE; BERT G. DRAKE (Global Change Biology, 2007)
Hurricane disturbances have profound impacts on ecosystem structure and function, yet their effects on ecosystem CO 2 exchange have not been reported. In September 2004, our research site on a fire‐regenerated scrub‐oak ecosystem in central Florida was struck by Hurricane Frances with sustained winds of 113 km h −1 and wind gusts as high as 152 km h −1 . We quantified the hurricane damage on this ecosystem resulting from defoliation: we measured net ecosystem CO 2 exchange, the damage and recovery of leaf area, and determined whether growth in elevated carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere ( C a ) altered this disturbance. The hurricane decreased leaf area index (LAI) by 21%, which was equal to 60% of seasonal variation in canopy growth during the previous 3 years, but stem damage was negligible. The reduction in LAI led to a 22% decline in gross primary production (GPP) and a 25% decline in ecosystem respiration ( R e ). The compensatory declines in GPP and R e resulted in no significant change in net ecosystem production (NEP). Refoliation began within a month after the hurricane, although this period was out of phase with the regular foliation period, and recovered 20% of the defoliation loss within 2.5 months. Full recovery of LAI, ecosystem CO 2 assimilation, and ecosystem respiration did not occur until the next growing season. Plants exposed to elevated C a did not sustain greater damage, nor did they recover faster than plants grown under ambient C a . Thus, our results indicate that hurricanes capable of causing significant defoliation with negligible damage to stems have negligible effects on NEP under current or future CO 2 ‐enriched environment.

Context Specific Transcription Factor Prediction - Eric Yang; David Simcha; Richard R. Almon; Debra C. Dubois; William J. Jusko; Ioannis P. Androulakis (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2007)

Decreased prepulse inhibition and increased sensitivity to muscarinic, but not dopaminergic drugs in M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor knockout mice - Morgane Thomsen; Gitta Wörtwein; Anders Fink-Jensen; David P. D. Woldbye; Jürgen Wess; S. Barak Caine (Psychopharmacology, 2007)

The influence of depth, site exposure and season on the intensity of iceberg scouring in nearshore Antarctic waters - Dan A. Smale; David K. A. Barnes; Keiron P. P. Fraser (Polar Biology, 2007)

Use of digital webcam images to track spring green-up in a deciduous broadleaf forest - Andrew D. Richardson; Julian P. Jenkins; Bobby H. Braswell; David Y. Hollinger; Scott V. Ollinger; Marie-Louise Smith (Oecologia, 2007)

Effect of adenoviral mediated overexpression of fibromodulin on human dermal fibroblasts and scar formation in full-thickness incisional wounds - Alexander Stoff; Angel A. Rivera; J. Michael Mathis; Steven T. Moore; N. S. Banerjee; Maaike Everts; Antonio Espinosa-de-los-Monteros; Zdenek Novak; Luis O. Vasconez; Thomas R. Broker; Dirk F. Richter; Dale Feldman; et al. (Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2007)

A high resolution green area index for modelling the seasonal dynamics of CO2 exchange in peatland vascular plant communities - David Wilson; Jukka Alm; Terhi Riutta; Jukka Laine; Kenneth A. Byrne; Edward P. Farrell; Eeva-Stiina Tuittila (Plant Ecology, 2007)

The Energy Balance Experiment EBEX-2000. Part I: overview and energy balance - Steven P. Oncley; Thomas Foken; Roland Vogt; Wim Kohsiek; H. A. R. DeBruin; Christian Bernhofer; Andreas Christen; Eva van Gorsel; David Grantz; Christian Feigenwinter; Irene Lehner; Claudia Liebethal; et al. (Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 2007)

Opium poppy: blueprint for an alkaloid factory - Peter J. Facchini; Jillian M. Hagel; David K. Liscombe; Natalia Loukanina; Benjamin P. MacLeod; Nailish Samanani; Katherine G. Zulak (Phytochemistry Reviews, 2007)

Dynamics of Neutrophil Membrane Compliance and Microstructure probed with a Micropipet-based Piconewton Force Transducer - Scott I. Simon; Tun Nyunt; Kathryn Florine-Casteel; Ken Ritchie; H. P. Ting-Beall; Evan Evans; David Needham (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2007)

Unobtrusive integration of data management with fMRI analysis - Andrew V. Poliakov; Xenia Hertzenberg; Eider B. Moore; David P. Corina; George A. Ojemann; James F. Brinkley (Neuroinformatics, 2007)

Plant responsiveness to mycorrhizas differs from dependence upon mycorrhizas - David P. Janos (Mycorrhiza, 2007)

Development of a peptide-containing chewing gum as a sustained release antiplaque antimicrobial delivery system - Jabar A. Faraj; Rossella Dorati; Aurélie Schoubben; David Worthen; Francesca Selmin; Yilmaz Capan; Kai Leung; Patrick P. DeLuca (AAPS PharmSciTech, 2007)

Product Quality Research Institute evaluation of cascade impactor profiles of pharmaceutical aerosols: Part 2—Evaluation of a method for determining equivalence - David Christopher; Wallace P. Adams; Douglas S. Lee; Beth Morgan; Ziqing Pan; Gur Jai Pal Singh; Yi Tsong; Svetlana Lyapustina (AAPS PharmSciTech, 2007)

Product Quality Research Institute evaluation of cascade impactor profiles of pharmaceutical aerosols, part 1: Background for a statistical method - Wallace P. Adams; David Christopher; Douglas S. Lee; Beth Morgan; Ziqing Pan; Gur Jai Pal Singh; Yi Tsong; Svetlana Lyapustina (AAPS PharmSciTech, 2007)

Seasonal water availability predicts the relative abundance of C 3 and C 4 grasses in Australia - Brett P. Murphy; David M. J. S. Bowman (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2007)
Aim Numerous studies have examined the climatic factors that influence the abundance of C 4 species within the grass flora (C 4 relative species richness) in various regions throughout the world, but very few have examined the relative abundance of C 4 vs. C 3 grasses (C 4 relative abundance). We sought to determine the climatic factors that influence C 4 relative abundance throughout Australia. Location Australia (including Tasmania). Methods We measured C 4 relative abundance at 168 locations and measured δ 13 C (the abundance of 13 C relative to 12 C) of the bone collagen of 779 kangaroos collected throughout Australia, as bone collagen δ 13 C was assumed to be proportional to the relative abundance of C 4 grasses in the diet. Results Both C 4 relative abundance and kangaroo bone collagen δ 13 C were found to have a strong positive relationship with seasonal water availability, i.e. the distribution of rainfall in the C 4 vs. C 3 growing seasons (76% and 69% of deviance explained, respectively). There was clear evidence that seasonal water availability was a better predictor of both C 4 relative abundance and bone collagen δ 13 C than other climate variables such as mean annual temperature and January daily minimum temperature. However, seasonal water availability appeared to be a relatively poor predictor of C 4 relative species richness, which was most closely related to January daily minimum temperature (90% of deviance explained). Main conclusions Our results highlight the relatively poor relationship between C 4 relative abundance and C 4 relative species richness, and suggest that these two variables may be related to different climatic factors. They also suggest that caution is required when using C 4 relative species richness to infer the relative biomass and productivity of C 4 grasses on a global scale.

(Z)-11-Hexadecenal and (3Z,6Z,9Z)-Tricosatriene: Sex Pheromone Components of the Red Banded Mango Caterpillar Deanolis sublimbalis - Andrew R. Gibb; Bruno Pinese; David Tenakanai; Annastasia P. Kawi; Barry Bunn; Padmaja Ramankutty; D. Max Suckling (Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2007)

Phylogenetic assignment and mechanism of action of a crop growth promoting Rhizobium radiobacter strain used as a biofertiliser on graminaceous crops in Russia - David R. Humphry; Mitchell Andrews; Scott R. Santos; Euan K. James; Lioubov V. Vinogradova; Liamara Perin; Veronica M. Reis; Stephen P. Cummings (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2007)

TagSNP evaluation for the association of 42 inflammation loci and vascular disease: evidence of IL6, FGB, ALOX5, NFKBIA, and IL4R loci effects - Christopher S. Carlson; Patrick J. Heagerty; Alex S. Nord; David K. Pritchard; Jane Ranchalis; Joshua M. Boguch; Hangjun Duan; Thomas S. Hatsukami; Stephen M. Schwartz; Mark J. Rieder; Deborah A. Nickerson; Gail P. Jarvik (Human Genetics, 2007)

Guidelines on nicotine dose selection for in vivo research - Shannon G. Matta; David J. Balfour; Neal L. Benowitz; R. Thomas Boyd; Jerry J. Buccafusco; Anthony R. Caggiula; Caroline R. Craig; Allan C. Collins; M. Imad Damaj; Eric C. Donny; Phillip S. Gardiner; Sharon R. Grady; et al. (Psychopharmacology, 2007)

Neuroprotective and Antiretroviral Effects of the Immunophilin ligand GPI 1046 - Joseph P. Steiner; David Galey; Norman J. Haughey; Daniella Asch; Avindra Nath (Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, 2007)

The interdependence of fire, grass, kangaroos and Australian Aborigines: a case study from central Arnhem Land, northern Australia - Brett P. Murphy; David M. J. S. Bowman (Journal of Biogeography, 2007)
Aim To describe the nexus between Aboriginal landscape burning and patterns of habitat use by kangaroos in a tropical savanna habitat mosaic, and to provide evidence to evaluate the claim that Aboriginal landscape burning is a game management tool. Location Central Arnhem Land, a stronghold of traditional Aboriginal culture, in the monsoon tropics of northern Australia. Methods The abundance of kangaroo scats was recorded throughout a landscape burnt by Aboriginal people, and used as a proxy for the intensity of habitat use by kangaroos. Scat abundance was assessed along field traverses totalling 112 km, at three time periods: (1) 1–4 weeks following mid‐dry season burning (July 2003); (2) in the late dry season (November 2003); and (3) in the following mid‐dry season (July 2004). We compared the intensity with which kangaroos used burnt vs. unburnt areas in various habitat types, with time since mid‐dry season burning. Scats were collected from areas that had been burnt to a varying extent and the abundance of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes ( δ 13 C and δ 15 N) and carbon to nitrogen ratios (C : N) determined. Results There was clear evidence of an interaction between burning and habitat type on the abundance of kangaroo scats. Scats were much more abundant in burnt vs. unburnt areas in the moist habitats, but the opposite effect was observed in the dry rocky habitats, with higher scat abundance in unburnt areas. This interactive effect of burning and habitat type on scat abundance was observed immediately ( Main conclusions The fine‐scale mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas created by mid‐dry season Aboriginal landscape burning has clear effects on the distribution of kangaroos. Kangaroos move into burnt moist habitats and away from burnt dry, rocky habitats. Isotopic analysis of scats suggests that the mechanism driving this effect is the increased abundance of nitrogen rich grasses in burnt moist habitats.

Fecundity as a Basis for Risk Assessment of Nonindigenous Freshwater Molluscs - REUBEN P. KELLER; JOHN M. DRAKE; DAVID M. LODGE (Conservation Biology, 2007)
The most efficient way to reduce future damages from nonindigenous species is to prevent the introduction of harmful species. Although ecologists have long sought to predict the identity of such species, recent methodological advances promise success where previous attempts failed. We applied recently developed risk assessment approaches to nonindigenous freshwater molluscs at two geographic scales: the Laurentian Great Lakes basin and the 48 contiguous states of the United States. We used data on natural history and biogeography to discriminate between established freshwater molluscs that are benign and those that constitute nuisances (i.e., cause environmental and/or economic damage). Two statistical techniques, logistic regression and categorical tree analysis, showed that nuisance status was positively associated with fecundity. Other aspects of natural history and biogeography did not significantly affect likelihood of becoming a nuisance. We then used the derived statistical models to predict the chance that 15 mollusc species not yet in natural ecosystems would cause damage if they become established. We also tested whether time since establishment is related to the likelihood that nonindigenous mollusc species in the Great Lakes and United States would cause negative impacts. No significant relationship was evident at the U.S. scale, but recently established molluscs within the Great Lakes were more likely to cause negative impacts. This may reflect changing environmental conditions, changing patterns of trade, or may be an indication of “invasional meltdown.” Our quantitative analyses could be extended to other taxa and ecosystems and offer a number of improvements over the qualitative risk assessments currently used by U.S. (and other) government agencies.

Overexpression of proline oxidase induces proline-dependent and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis - Chien-an A. Hu; Steven P. Donald; Jian Yu; Wei-Wen Lin; Zhihe Liu; Gary Steel; Cassandra Obie; David Valle; James M. Phang (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 2007)

The effect of Na+-K+ ATPase inhibition by ouabain on histamine release from human cutaneous mast cells - Mustafa Senol; I. Halil Ozerol; Asha V. Patel; David P. Skoner (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 2007)

Past and future changes in climate and hydrological indicators in the US Northeast - Katharine Hayhoe; Cameron P. Wake; Thomas G. Huntington; Lifeng Luo; Mark D. Schwartz; Justin Sheffield; Eric Wood; Bruce Anderson; James Bradbury; Art DeGaetano; Tara J. Troy; David Wolfe (Climate Dynamics, 2007)

Maintaining Genetic Resources of Peach Palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth): The Role of Seed Migration and Swidden-fallow Management in Northeastern Peru - David M. Cole; Timothy L. White; P. K. R. Nair (Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 2007)

Lode–gold mineralization in the Tanami region, northern Australia - David L. Huston; Leon Vandenberg; Andrew S. Wygralak; Terrence P. Mernagh; Leon Bagas; Andrew Crispe; Alexis Lambeck; Andrew Cross; Geoff Fraser; Nick Williams; Kurt Worden; Tony Meixner; et al. (Mineralium Deposita, 2007)

Paleoproterozoic gold deposits in the Bald Hill and Coyote areas, Western Tanami, Western Australia - Leon Bagas; David L. Huston; James Anderson; Terrence P. Mernagh (Mineralium Deposita, 2007)

Linkage mapping of the locus for inherited ovine arthrogryposis (IOA) to sheep Chromosome 5 - Angela M. Murphy; David E. MacHugh; Stephen D.E. Park; Erik Scraggs; Chris S. Haley; David J. Lynn; Maurice P. Boland; Michael L. Doherty (Mammalian Genome, 2007)

Coordination of locomotion and prehension - Robrecht P. R. D. van der Wel; David A. Rosenbaum (Experimental Brain Research, 2007)

Fungal biodiversity in aquatic habitats - Carol A. Shearer; Enrique Descals; Brigitte Kohlmeyer; Jan Kohlmeyer; Ludmila Marvanová; David Padgett; David Porter; Huzefa A. Raja; John P. Schmit; Holly A. Thorton; Hermann Voglymayr (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2007)

Global diversity and distribution of macrofungi - Gregory M. Mueller; John P. Schmit; Patrick R. Leacock; Bart Buyck; Joaquín Cifuentes; Dennis E. Desjardin; Roy E. Halling; Kurt Hjortstam; Teresa Iturriaga; Karl-Henrik Larsson; D. Jean Lodge; Tom W. May; et al. (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2007)

Exploitation of archived marine nematodes — a hot lysis DNA extraction protocol for molecular studies - Punyasloke Bhadury; Melanie C. Austen; David T. Bilton; P. John D. Lambshead; Alex D. Rogers; Gary R. Smerdon (Zoologica Scripta, 2007)
Museums and other research organizations around the world have large numbers of formalin‐fixed marine invertebrates in their collections. These have the potential to be a valuable resource for molecular ecological studies, but the development of methodologies for the molecular analysis of formalin‐fixed material has been slow. In this study, a hot lysis protocol accompanied by the use of a commercial DNA extraction kit has been employed for DNA recovery from archived marine nematodes, followed by PCR amplification and sequencing. In total, 25 specimens ranging from estuarine to deep sea environments were subjected to molecular analyses. Successful amplification and sequencing of the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) gene was achieved in all individuals. Additionally, some estuarine nematodes were tentatively identified to genus and species using a phylogenetic approach. In the future, this technique should prove to be profitable for the genetic study of a wide range of formalin‐fixed marine invertebrates.

Experiments linking nitrogenase gene expression to nitrogen fixation in the North Pacific subtropical gyre - Jonathan P. Zehr; Joseph P. Montoya; Bethany D. Jenkins; Ian Hewson; Elizabeth Mondragon; Cindy M. Short; Matthew J. Church; Andrew Hansen; David M. Karl (Limnology and Oceanography, 2007)
We examined diazotroph activity in controlled experiments containing natural populations of nitrogen (N 2 )‐fixing microbes collected offshore from Kane'ohe Bay, Hawai'i, and from Station ALOHA (A Long‐term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment) in the North Pacific subtropical gyre. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction approaches showed that the abundances of the major phylotypes did not change substantially during experimental incubations. Diel phasing of nifH gene expression in the experiments was similar to that documented for natural populations. Cell‐specific N 2 fixation rates, calculated as 15 N 2 incorporation rate divided by specific phylotype abundance (gene copy number), varied between the experiments, but generally agreed with the abundance and levels of nifH expression of each group of diazotrophs. Phosphorus additions had little effect on the abundance, gene expression, or N 2 fixation activity of diazotrophs across the course of the 36‐h experiments, indicating that other factors may limit the growth, gene expression, and activity of diazotrophs in the North Pacific subtropical gyre.

Changes in European ecosystem productivity and carbon balance driven by regional climate model output - PABLO MORALES; THOMAS HICKLER; DAVID P. ROWELL; BENJAMIN SMITH; MARTIN T. SYKES (Global Change Biology, 2007)
Climate change resulting from the enhanced greenhouse effect together with the direct effect of increased atmospheric CO 2 concentrations on vegetation growth are expected to produce changes in the cycling of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Impacts will vary across Europe, and regional‐scale studies are needed to resolve this variability. In this study, we used the LPJ‐GUESS ecosystem model driven by a suite of regional climate model (RCM) scenarios from the European Union (EU) project PRUDENCE to estimate climate impacts on carbon cycling across Europe. We identified similarities and discrepancies in simulated climate impacts across scenarios, particularly analyzing the uncertainties arising from the range of climate models and emissions scenarios considered. Our results suggest that net primary production (NPP) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) will generally increase throughout Europe, but with considerable variation between European subregions. The smallest NPP increases, and in some cases decreases, occurred in the Mediterranean, where many ecosystems switched from sinks to sources of carbon by 2100, mainly as a result of deteriorating water balance. Over the period 1991–2100, modeled climate change impacts on the European carbon balance ranged from a sink of 11.6 Gt C to a source of 3.3 Gt C, the average annual sink corresponding with 1.85% of the current EU anthropogenic emissions. Projected changes in carbon balance were more dependent on the choice of the general circulation model (GCM) providing boundary conditions to the RCM than the choice of RCM or the level of anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions.

The last lavas erupted during the main phase of the Siberian flood volcanic province: results from experimental petrology - Linda T. Elkins-Tanton; David S. Draper; Carl B. Agee; Jessica Jewell; Andrew Thorpe; P. C. Hess (Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 2006)

Salinity and light interactively affect neotropical mangrove seedlings at the leaf and whole plant levels - Laura López-Hoffman; Niels P. R. Anten; Miguel Martínez-Ramos; David D. Ackerly (Oecologia, 2006)

Insect feeding-induced differential expression of Beta vulgaris root genes and their regulation by defense-associated signals - David P. Puthoff; Ann C. Smigocki (Plant Cell Reports, 2006)

Rational Design of a Dual-Mode Optical and Chemical Prodrug - Colin P. McCoy; Clare Rooney; David S. Jones; Sean P. Gorman; Mark Nieuwenhuyzen (Pharmaceutical Research, 2006)

Evaluation of woody plant restoration in the Middle Rio Grande: Ten years after - John P. Taylor; Loren M. Smith; David A. Haukos (Wetlands, 2006)

Bioenergetics modeling to investigate habitat use by the nonindigenous crab,Carcinus maenas, in Willapa Bay, Washington - P. Sean McDonald; Kirstin K. Holsman; David A. Beauchamp; Brett R. Dumbauld; David A. Armstrong (Estuaries and Coasts, 2006)

MHC class I allele frequencies in pigtail macaques of diverse origin - Bridget F. Pratt; David H. O’Connor; Bernard A. P. Lafont; Joseph L. Mankowski; Caroline S. Fernandez; Retno Triastuti; Andrew G. Brooks; Stephen J. Kent; Miranda Z. Smith (Immunogenetics, 2006)

Above‐ and below‐ground impacts of introduced predators in seabird‐dominated island ecosystems - Tadashi Fukami; David A. Wardle; Peter J. Bellingham; Christa P. H. Mulder; David R. Towns; Gregor W. Yeates; Karen I. Bonner; Melody S. Durrett; Madeline N. Grant‐Hoffman; Wendy M. Williamson (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Predators often exert multi‐trophic cascading effects in terrestrial ecosystems. However, how such predation may indirectly impact interactions between above‐ and below‐ground biota is poorly understood, despite the functional importance of these interactions. Comparison of rat‐free and rat‐invaded offshore islands in New Zealand revealed that predation of seabirds by introduced rats reduced forest soil fertility by disrupting sea‐to‐land nutrient transport by seabirds, and that fertility reduction in turn led to wide‐ranging cascading effects on belowground organisms and the ecosystem processes they drive. Our data further suggest that some effects on the belowground food web were attributable to changes in aboveground plant nutrients and biomass, which were themselves related to reduced soil disturbance and fertility on invaded islands. These results demonstrate that, by disrupting across‐ecosystem nutrient subsidies, predators can indirectly induce strong shifts in both above‐ and below‐ground biota via multiple pathways, and in doing so, act as major ecosystem drivers.

Energy, range dynamics and global species richness patterns: reconciling mid‐domain effects and environmental determinants of avian diversity - David Storch; Richard G. Davies; Samuel Zajíček; C. David L. Orme; Valerie Olson; Gavin H. Thomas; Tzung‐Su Ding; Pamela C. Rasmussen; Robert S. Ridgely; Peter M. Bennett; Tim M. Blackburn; Ian P. F. Owens; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Spatial patterns of species richness follow climatic and environmental variation, but could reflect random dynamics of species ranges (the mid‐domain effect, MDE). Using data on the global distribution of birds, we compared predictions based on energy availability (actual evapotranspiration, AET, the best single correlate of avian richness) with those of range dynamics models. MDE operating within the global terrestrial area provides a poor prediction of richness variation, but if it operates separately within traditional biogeographic realms, it explains more global variation in richness than AET. The best predictions, however, are given by a model of global range dynamics modulated by AET, such that the probability of a range spreading into an area is proportional to its AET. This model also accurately predicts the latitudinal variation in species richness and variation of species richness both within and between realms, thus representing a compelling mechanism for the major trends in global biodiversity.

Deforestation and Plant Diversity of Madagascar's Littoral Forests - TRISHA CONSIGLIO; GEORGE E. SCHATZ; GORDON MCPHERSON; PORTER P. LOWRY; JOHNY RABENANTOANDRO; ZACHARY S. ROGERS; RAYMOND RABEVOHITRA; DAVID RABEHEVITRA (Conservation Biology, 2006)
Few studies have attempted to quantify the reduction or document the floristic composition of forests in Madagascar. Thus, we focused specifically on deforestation and plant diversity in Madagascar's eastern littoral community. We used a data set of approximately 13,500 specimen records compiled from both historical and contemporary collections resulting from recent intensive inventory efforts to enumerate total plant species richness and to analyze the degree of endemism within littoral forests. Change in littoral forest cover from original to current extent was estimated using geographical information systems tools, remote sensing data (satellite imagery and low‐elevation digital photography), and environmental data layers. Of the original littoral forest only 10.3% remains in the form of small forest parcels, and only 1.5% of these remaining fragments are included within the existing protected‐areas network. Additionally, approximately 13% of Madagascar's total native flora has been recorded from these forests that originally occupied

Interannual variability of the tropical Atlantic independent of and associated with ENSO: Part I. The North Tropical Atlantic - Itsuki C. Handoh; Adrian J. Matthews; Grant R. Bigg; David P. Stevens (International Journal of Climatology, 2006)
The interannual variability of the tropical Atlantic ocean–atmosphere system is examined using 50 years of sea‐surface temperature (SST) and re‐analysis data, and satellite data when available. A singular value decomposition analysis of 12‐ to 72‐month bandpass filtered SST and zonal wind stress reveals two dominant modes of interannual variability. The SST anomalies are confined to the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) in the first mode and extend over the equatorial and South Tropical Atlantic in the second mode. No evidence is found for an Atlantic SST dipole. The structure of the first (NTA) mode is examined in detail here, while the second mode has been described in a companion paper. In particular, the relationship of the NTA mode with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is investigated. There are 12 NTA events (seven warm and five cold) that are associated with ENSO, and 18 NTA events (seven warm and 11 cold) that are independent of ENSO. The ENSO‐associated NTA events appear to be a passive response to remote ENSO forcing, mainly via a Pacific‐North America (PNA)‐like wave train that induces SST anomalies over the NTA through changes in the surface wind and latent heat flux. The NTA anomalies peak four months after ENSO. There does not appear to be an atmospheric response to the NTA SST anomalies as convection over the Atlantic is suppressed by the anomalous Walker circulation due to ENSO. The ENSO‐independent NTA events also appear to be induced by an extratropical wave train from the Pacific sector (but one that is independent of Pacific SST), and forcing by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) also contributes. As the event matures, the atmosphere does respond to the NTA SST anomalies, with enhanced convection over the Caribbean and a wave train that propagates northeastward to Europe. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society

Interannual variability of the Tropical Atlantic independent of and associated with ENSO: Part II. The South Tropical Atlantic - Itsuki C. Handoh; Grant R. Bigg; Adrian J. Matthews; David P. Stevens (International Journal of Climatology, 2006)
Two dominant ocean–atmosphere modes of variability on interannual timescales were defined in part I of this work, namely, the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) and South Tropical Atlantic (STA) modes. In this paper we focus on the STA mode that covers the equatorial and sub‐tropical South Atlantic. We show that STA events occurring in conjunction with ENSO have a preference for the southern summer season and seem to be forced by an atmospheric wave train emanating from the central tropical Pacific and travelling via South America, in addition to the more direct ENSO‐induced change in the Walker Circulation. They are lagged by one season from the peak of ENSO. These events show little evidence for other‐than‐localised coupled ocean–atmosphere interaction. In contrast, STA events occurring in the absence of ENSO favour the southern winter season. They appear to be triggered by a Southern Hemisphere wave train emanating from the Pacific sector, and then exhibit features of a self‐sustaining climate mode in the tropical Atlantic. The southward shift of the inter tropical convergence zone that occurs during the warm phase of such an event triggers an extra tropical wave train that propagates downstream in the Southern Hemisphere. We present a unified view of the NTA and STA modes through our observational analysis of the interannual tropical Atlantic variability. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.

Common variants in the TCF7L2 gene and predisposition to type 2 diabetes in UK European Whites, Indian Asians and Afro-Caribbean men and women - Steve E. Humphries; David Gable; Jackie A. Cooper; Helen Ireland; Jeffrey W. Stephens; Steven J. Hurel; Ka Wah Li; Jutta Palmen; Michelle A. Miller; Francesco P. Cappuccio; Robert Elkeles; Ian Godsland; et al. (Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2006)

A Demonstration of the Uncertainty in Projections of UK Climate Change Resulting from Regional Model Formulation - David P. Rowell (Climatic Change, 2006)

Sex differences in the neurochemical and functional effects of MDMA in Sprague–Dawley rats - Q. David Walker; Christina N. Williams; Rakesh P. Jotwani; Samuel T. Waller; Reynold Francis; Cynthia M. Kuhn (Psychopharmacology, 2006)

Visual-proprioceptive mismatch and the Taylor illusion - Angus I. G. Ramsay; David P. Carey; Stephen R. Jackson (Experimental Brain Research, 2006)

Conflict Resolution in Chimpanzees and the Valuable-relationships Hypothesis - David P. Watts (International Journal of Primatology, 2006)

Comprehensive characterization of skeletal tissue growth anomalies of the finger coral Porites compressa - Isabelle J. Domart-Coulon; Nikki Traylor-Knowles; Esther Peters; David Elbert; Craig A. Downs; Kathy Price; Joanne Stubbs; Shawn McLaughlin; Evelyn Cox; Greta Aeby; P. Randy Brown; Gary K. Ostrander (Coral Reefs, 2006)

Quantitative PCR assays for mouse enteric flora reveal strain-dependent differences in composition that are influenced by the microenvironment - A. Deloris Alexander; Roger P. Orcutt; JaNell C. Henry; Joseph Baker; Anika C. Bissahoyo; David W. Threadgill (Mammalian Genome, 2006)

The origin of the savanna biome - DAVID J. BEERLING; COLIN P. OSBORNE (Global Change Biology, 2006)
Savannas are a major terrestrial biome, comprising of grasses with the C 4 photosynthetic pathway and trees with the C 3 type. This mixed grass–tree biome rapidly appeared on the ecological stage 8 million years ago with the near‐synchronous expansion of C 4 grasses around the world. We propose a new hypothesis for this global event based on a systems analysis that integrates recent advances in how fire influences cloud microphysics, climate and savanna ecology in a low carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) world. We show that fire accelerates forest loss and C 4 grassland expansion through multiple positive feedback loops that each promote drought and more fire. A low CO 2 atmosphere amplifies this cycle by limiting tree recruitment, allowing the ingress of C 4 grasses to greatly increase ecosystem flammability. Continued intensification of land use could enhance or moderate the network of feedbacks that have initiated, promoted and sustained savannas for millions of years. We suggest these alterations will overprint the effects of anthropogenic atmospheric change in coming decades.

Nutrient fluxes via litterfall and leaf litter decomposition vary across a gradient of soil nutrient supply in a lowland tropical rain forest - Daisy H. Dent; Robert Bagchi; David Robinson; Noreen Majalap-Lee; David F. R. P. Burslem (Plant and Soil, 2006)

Modulation of acute inflammation by a chitin-binding lectin from Araucaria angustifolia seeds via mast cells - Mário R. L. Mota; David N. Criddle; Nylane M. N. Alencar; Raphaela C. Gomes; Ana V. P. Meireles; Tatiane Santi-Gadelha; Carlos A. A. Gadelha; Cecília C. Oliveira; Raquel G. Benevides; Benildo S. Cavada; Ana M. S. Assreuy (Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, 2006)

Rapid Assessment of the Structural Relaxation Behavior of Amorphous Pharmaceutical Solids: Effect of Residual Water on Molecular Mobility - Danforth P. Miller; David Lechuga-Ballesteros (Pharmaceutical Research, 2006)

Liana habitat associations and community structure in a Bornean lowland tropical forest - Saara J. DeWalt; Kalan Ickes; Reuben Nilus; Kyle E. Harms; David F. R. P. Burslem (Plant Ecology, 2006)

Ratio-dependent response of a temperate Australian estuarine system to sustained nitrogen loading - Melanie J. Bishop; Brendan P. Kelaher; Marcus P. Lincoln Smith; Paul H. York; David J. Booth (Oecologia, 2006)

Spatial patterns of fish communities along two estuarine gradients in southern Florida - David P. J. Green; Joel C. Trexler; Jerome J. Lorenz; Carole C. McIvor; Tom Philippi (Hydrobiologia, 2006)

Rapid responses of vegetation to hydrological changes in Taylor Slough, Everglades National Park, Florida, USA - Thomas V. Armentano; Jay P. Sah; Michael S. Ross; David T. Jones; Hillary C. Cooley; Craig S. Smith (Hydrobiologia, 2006)

Interaction of hydrology and nutrient limitation in the Ridge and Slough landscape of the southern Everglades - Michael S. Ross; Sherry Mitchell-Bruker; Jay P. Sah; Stuart Stothoff; Pablo L. Ruiz; David L. Reed; Kris Jayachandran; Charles L. Coultas (Hydrobiologia, 2006)

Immobilized yeast cell systems for continuous fermentation applications - Pieter J. Verbelen; David P. De Schutter; Filip Delvaux; Kevin J. Verstrepen; Freddy R. Delvaux (Biotechnology Letters, 2006)

Model‐based uncertainty in species range prediction - Richard G. Pearson; Wilfried Thuiller; Miguel B. Araújo; Enrique Martinez‐Meyer; Lluís Brotons; Colin McClean; Lera Miles; Pedro Segurado; Terence P. Dawson; David C. Lees (Journal of Biogeography, 2006)
Aim Many attempts to predict the potential range of species rely on environmental niche (or ‘bioclimate envelope’) modelling, yet the effects of using different niche‐based methodologies require further investigation. Here we investigate the impact that the choice of model can have on predictions, identify key reasons why model output may differ and discuss the implications that model uncertainty has for policy‐guiding applications. Location The Western Cape of South Africa. Methods We applied nine of the most widely used modelling techniques to model potential distributions under current and predicted future climate for four species (including two subspecies) of Proteaceae. Each model was built using an identical set of five input variables and distribution data for 3996 sampled sites. We compare model predictions by testing agreement between observed and simulated distributions for the present day (using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and kappa statistics) and by assessing consistency in predictions of range size changes under future climate (using cluster analysis). Results Our analyses show significant differences between predictions from different models, with predicted changes in range size by 2030 differing in both magnitude and direction (e.g. from 92% loss to 322% gain). We explain differences with reference to two characteristics of the modelling techniques: data input requirements (presence/absence vs. presence‐only approaches) and assumptions made by each algorithm when extrapolating beyond the range of data used to build the model. The effects of these factors should be carefully considered when using this modelling approach to predict species ranges. Main conclusions We highlight an important source of uncertainty in assessments of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and emphasize that model predictions should be interpreted in policy‐guiding applications along with a full appreciation of uncertainty.

Resource availability controls fungal diversity across a plant diversity gradient - Mark P. Waldrop; Donald R. Zak; Christopher B. Blackwood; Casey D. Curtis; David Tilman (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Despite decades of research, the ecological determinants of microbial diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we test two alternative hypotheses concerning the factors regulating fungal diversity in soil. The first states that higher levels of plant detritus production increase the supply of limiting resources (i.e. organic substrates) thereby increasing fungal diversity. Alternatively, greater plant diversity increases the range of organic substrates entering soil, thereby increasing the number of niches to be filled by a greater array of heterotrophic fungi. These two hypotheses were simultaneously examined in experimental plant communities consisting of one to 16 species that have been maintained for a decade. We used ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA), in combination with cloning and sequencing, to quantify fungal community composition and diversity within the experimental plant communities. We used soil microbial biomass as a temporally integrated measure of resource supply. Plant diversity was unrelated to fungal diversity, but fungal diversity was a unimodal function of resource supply. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that plant diversity showed a relationship to fungal community composition, although the occurrence of RISA bands and operational taxonomic units (OTUs) did not differ among the treatments. The relationship between fungal diversity and resource availability parallels similar relationships reported for grasslands, tropical forests, coral reefs, and other biotic communities, strongly suggesting that the same underlying mechanisms determine the diversity of organisms at multiple scales.

Global estimates of shark catches using trade records from commercial markets - Shelley C. Clarke; Murdoch K. McAllister; E. J. Milner‐Gulland; G. P. Kirkwood; Catherine G. J. Michielsens; David J. Agnew; Ellen K. Pikitch; Hideki Nakano; Mahmood S. Shivji (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Despite growing concerns about overexploitation of sharks, lack of accurate, species‐specific harvest data often hampers quantitative stock assessment. In such cases, trade studies can provide insights into exploitation unavailable from traditional monitoring. We applied Bayesian statistical methods to trade data in combination with genetic identification to estimate by species, the annual number of globally traded shark fins, the most commercially valuable product from a group of species often unrecorded in harvest statistics. Our results provide the first fishery‐independent estimate of the scale of shark catches worldwide and indicate that shark biomass in the fin trade is three to four times higher than shark catch figures reported in the only global data base. Comparison of our estimates to approximated stock assessment reference points for one of the most commonly traded species, blue shark, suggests that current trade volumes in numbers of sharks are close to or possibly exceeding the maximum sustainable yield levels.

Remarkable Amphibian Biomass and Abundance in an Isolated Wetland: Implications for Wetland Conservation - J. WHITFIELD GIBBONS; CHRISTOPHER T. WINNE; DAVID E. SCOTT; JOHN D. WILLSON; XAVIER GLAUDAS; KIMBERLY M. ANDREWS; BRIAN D. TODD; LUKE A. FEDEWA; LUCAS WILKINSON; RIA N. TSALIAGOS; STEVEN J. HARPER; JUDITH L. GREENE; et al. (Conservation Biology, 2006)
Despite the continuing loss of wetland habitats and associated declines in amphibian populations, attempts to translate wetland losses into measurable losses to ecosystems have been lacking. We estimated the potential productivity from the amphibian community that would be compromised by the loss of a single isolated wetland that has been protected from most industrial, agricultural, and urban impacts for the past 54 years. We used a continuous drift fence at Ellenton Bay, a 10‐ha freshwater wetland on the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, South Carolina (U.S.A.), to sample all amphibians for 1 year following a prolonged drought. Despite intensive agricultural use of the land surrounding Ellenton Bay prior to 1951, we documented 24 species and remarkably high numbers and biomass of juvenile amphibians (>360,000 individuals; >1,400 kg) produced during one breeding season. Anurans (17 species) were more abundant than salamanders (7 species), comprising 96.4% of individual captures. Most (95.9%) of the amphibian biomass came from 232095 individuals of a single species of anuran (southern leopard frog [Rana sphenocephala ]). Our results revealed the resilience of an amphibian community to natural stressors and historical habitat alteration and the potential magnitude of biomass and energy transfer from isolated wetlands to surrounding terrestrial habitat. We attributed the postdrought success of amphibians to a combination of adult longevity (often >5 years), a reduction in predator abundance, and an abundance of larval food resources. Likewise, the increase of forest cover around Ellenton Bay from 60% in 2001 probably contributed to the long‐term persistence of amphibians at this site. Our findings provide an optimistic counterpoint to the issue of the global decline of biological diversity by demonstrating that conservation efforts can mitigate historical habitat degradation.

Responses of twelve tree species common in Everglades tree islands to simulated hydrologic regimes - David T. Jones; Jay P. Sah; Michael S. Ross; Steven F. Oberbauer; Bernice Hwang; Krish Jayachandran (Wetlands, 2006)

The giant Carlin gold province: a protracted interplay of orogenic, basinal, and hydrothermal processes above a lithospheric boundary - Poul Emsbo; David I. Groves; Albert H. Hofstra; Frank P. Bierlein (Mineralium Deposita, 2006)

Phenotypic characterization of Bbs4 null mice reveals age-dependent penetrance and variable expressivity - Erica R. Eichers; Muhammad M. Abd-El-Barr; Richard Paylor; Richard Alan Lewis; Weimin Bi; Xiaodi Lin; Thomas P. Meehan; David W. Stockton; Samuel M. Wu; Elizabeth Lindsay; Monica J. Justice; Philip L. Beales; et al. (Human Genetics, 2006)

A new method for conservation planning for the persistence of multiple species - Emily Nicholson; Michael I. Westphal; Karin Frank; Wayne A. Rochester; Robert L. Pressey; David B. Lindenmayer; Hugh P. Possingham (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Although the aim of conservation planning is the persistence of biodiversity, current methods trade‐off ecological realism at a species level in favour of including multiple species and landscape features. For conservation planning to be relevant, the impact of landscape configuration on population processes and the viability of species needs to be considered. We present a novel method for selecting reserve systems that maximize persistence across multiple species, subject to a conservation budget. We use a spatially explicit metapopulation model to estimate extinction risk, a function of the ecology of the species and the amount, quality and configuration of habitat. We compare our new method with more traditional, area‐based reserve selection methods, using a ten‐species case study, and find that the expected loss of species is reduced 20‐fold. Unlike previous methods, we avoid designating arbitrary weightings between reserve size and configuration; rather, our method is based on population processes and is grounded in ecological theory.

Host Cell Factor-1 and E2F4 Interact Via Multiple Determinants in Each Protein - Jozo Knez; David Piluso; Patricia Bilan; John P. Capone (Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 2006)

Genetic dissociation of two behaviors associated with nicotine addiction: Beta-2 containing nicotinic receptors are involved in nicotine reinforcement but not in withdrawal syndrome - M. Besson; V. David; S. Suarez; A. Cormier; P. Cazala; J.-P. Changeux; S. Granon (Psychopharmacology, 2006)

Early post-hurricane stand development in Fringe mangrove forests of contrasting productivity - Michael S. Ross; Pablo L. Ruiz; Jay P. Sah; David L. Reed; Joshua Walters; John F. Meeder (Plant Ecology, 2006)

Causes and uncertainty of future summer drying over Europe - David P. Rowell; Richard G. Jones (Climate Dynamics, 2006)

Direct estimation of the oxygen requirements of Achromobacter xylosoxidans for aerobic degradation of monoaromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) in a bioscrubber - David R. Nielsen; P. James McLellan; Andrew J. Daugulis (Biotechnology Letters, 2006)

Mechanical reconfiguration mediates swallowing and rejection in Aplysia californica - Valerie A. Novakovic; Gregory P. Sutton; David M. Neustadter; Randall D. Beer; Hillel J. Chiel (Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 2006)

A Case Study on the Effects of Heterogeneous Soil Moisture on Mesoscale Boundary-Layer Structure in the Southern Great Plains, U.S.A. Part II: Mesoscale Modelling - Brian P. Reen; David R. Stauffer; Kenneth J. Davis; Ankur R. Desai (Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 2006)

Annual basal area increment and growth duration of Pinus taeda in response to eight years of free‐air carbon dioxide enrichment - DAVID J. P. MOORE; SUSANNE AREF; RINGO M. HO; JEFFREY S. PIPPEN; JASON G. HAMILTON; EVAN H. DE LUCIA (Global Change Biology, 2006)
Rising CO 2 is predicted to increase forest productivity, although the duration of the response and how it might be altered by variation in rainfall, temperature and other environmental variables are not well understood. We measured the basal area of rapidly growing Pinus taeda trees exposed to free‐air CO 2 enrichment for 8 years and used these measurements to estimate monthly and annual growth. We used these measurements in a statistical model to estimate the start and end of growth in each year. Elevated CO 2 increased the basal area increment ( BAI ) of trees by 13–27%. In most years, exposure to elevated CO 2 increased the growth rate but not the duration of the active growth period. With the exception of 1 year following an extreme drought and a severe ice storm, BAI was positively correlated with the amount of rainfall during the active growth period. The interannual variation in the relative enhancement of BAI caused by elevated CO 2 was strongly related to temperature and rainfall, and was greatest in years with high vapor pressure deficit. There was no evidence of a systematic reduction in the stimulation of growth during the first 8 years of this experiment, suggesting that the hypothesized limitation of the CO 2 response caused by nitrogen availability has yet to occur.

Coexistence in a metacommunity: the competition–colonization trade‐off is not dead - V. Calcagno; N. Mouquet; P. Jarne; P. David (Ecology Letters, 2006)
The competition–colonization trade‐off model is often used to explain the coexistence of species. Yet its applicability has been severely criticized, mainly because the original model assumed a strict competitive hierarchy of species and did not allow for any preemptive effect. We considered the impact of relaxing both of these limitations on coexistence. Relaxing trade‐off intensity makes coexistence less likely and introduces a minimum colonization rate below which any coexistence is impossible. Allowing for preemption introduces a limit to dissimilarity between species. Surprisingly, preemption does not impede coexistence as one could presume from previous studies, but can actually increase the likelihood of coexistence. Its effect on coexistence depends on whether or not species in the regional pool are strongly limited in their colonization ability. Preemption is predicted to favour coexistence when: (i) species are not strongly limited in their colonization ability; and (ii) the competitive trade‐off is not infinitely intense.

Reconciling Salvage Logging of Boreal Forests with a Natural‐Disturbance Management Model - FIONA K.A. SCHMIEGELOW; DAVID P. STEPNISKY; CURTIS A. STAMBAUGH; MATTI KOIVULA (Conservation Biology, 2006)
In North American boreal forests, wildfire is the dominant agent of natural disturbance. A natural‐disturbance model has therefore been promoted as an ecologically based approach to forest harvesting in these systems. Given accelerating resource demands, fire competes with harvest for timber, and there is increasing pressure to salvage naturally burned areas. This creates a management paradox: simultaneous promotion of natural disturbance as a guide to sustainability while salvaging forests that have been naturally disturbed. The major drivers of postfire salvage in Canadian boreal forests are societal perceptions, overallocation of forest resources, and economic and policy incentives, and postfire salvage compromises forest sustainability by diminishing the role of fire as a critical, natural process. These factors might be reconciled through consideration of fire in resource allocations and application of active adaptive management. We provide novel treatment of the role of burn severity in mediating biotic response by examining its influence on the amount, type, and distribution of live, postfire residual material, and we highlight the role of fire in shaping spatial and temporal patterns in forest biodiversity. Maintenance of natural postfire forests is a critical component of an ecosystem‐based approach to forest management in boreal systems. Nevertheless, present practices focus heavily on expediting removal of timber from burned forests, despite increasing evidence that postfire communities differ markedly from postharvest systems, and there is a mismatch between emerging management models and past management practices. Policies that recognize the critical role of fire in these systems and facilitate enhanced understanding of natural system dynamics in support of development of sustainable management practices are urgently needed.

Culture of Calu-3 Cells at the Air Interface Provides a Representative Model of the Airway Epithelial Barrier - Christopher I. Grainger; Leona L. Greenwell; David J. Lockley; Gary P. Martin; Ben Forbes (Pharmaceutical Research, 2006)

The Molecular Phylogeny of a Nematode-Specific Clade of Heterotrimeric G-Protein α-Subunit Genes - Damien M. O’Halloran; David A. Fitzpatrick; Grace P. McCormack; James O. McInerney; Ann M. Burnell (Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2006)

Empirical Bayes estimation of gene-specific effects in micro-array research - Jode W. Edwards; Grier P. Page; Gary Gadbury; Moonseong Heo; Tsuyoshi Kayo; Richard Weindruch; David B. Allison (Functional & Integrative Genomics, 2006)

Towards A Noninvasive Method for Determination of Patient-Specific Wall Strength Distribution in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms - Jonathan P. Vande Geest; David H. J. Wang; Stephen R. Wisniewski; Michel S. Makaroun; David A. Vorp (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2006)

NONLINEAR DYNAMICS IN MANATEE VOCALIZATIONS - David A. Mann; Thomas J. O'Shea; Douglas P. Nowacek (Marine Mammal Science, 2006)

The FeL model of iron acquisition: Nondissociative reduction of ferric complexes in the marine environment - Tim P. Salmon; Andrew L. Rose; Brett A. Neilan; T. David Waite (Limnology and Oceanography, 2006)
Recently there has been recognition of the importance of reductive processes in the acquisition of iron by microorganisms in marine environments with Fe(III) reduction induced by either membrane‐bound reductases or by superoxide, a powerful Fe(III) reducing agent generated either by photochemical or biological means. We have measured the relative rates of iron uptake achieved by the cyanobacterium L. majuscula in the presence of a variety of model‐ and naturally‐derived organic ligands exhibiting a broad range of conditional ferric and ferrous stability constants. Additionally, we have investigated the effect upon iron uptake rate of varying the concentration of both iron and the iron‐binding ligands. We have reconciled this data with previous work in which we measured rates of reduction by exogenous superoxide of Fe(III) bound to these same complexes. We show that the rate of formation of ferrous iron and the rate of uptake of iron by Lyngbya majuscul a are each independent of the concentration of Fe' and demonstrate that this is consistent with our previous finding that this organism acquires iron via nondissociative reduction of ferric complexes. We also show that the rate of reoxidation of organically complexed Fe(II) is a critical determinant of the subsequent bioavailability of iron, a feature not previously addressed in the literature. In view of the central importance of the complexation and redox behavior of the iron‐ organic complexes to iron uptake rate, we propose a new kinetic model of iron acquisition, termed the FeL model, that is consistent with presented and previously published data and which describes processes both in natural and artificial conditions.

Assessing the sensitivity of wetland bird communities to hydrologic change in the eastern Great Lakes region - David A. Steen; James P. Gibbs; Steven T. A. Timmermans (Wetlands, 2006)

Energetics of parental care in six syntopic centrarchid fishes - Steven J. Cooke; David P. Philipp; David H. Wahl; Patrick J. Weatherhead (Oecologia, 2006)

Quantitative trait loci for body size components in mice - Jane P. Kenney-Hunt; Ty T. Vaughn; L. Susan Pletscher; Andrea Peripato; Eric Routman; Kilinyaa Cothran; David Durand; Elizabeth Norgard; Christy Perel; James M. Cheverud (Mammalian Genome, 2006)

Genetic determinants of weight of fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscles in old mice - Arimantas Lionikas; David A. Blizard; David J. Vandenbergh; Joseph T. Stout; George P. Vogler; Gerald E. McClearn; Lars Larsson (Mammalian Genome, 2006)

QTL influencing baseline hematocrit in the C57BL/6J and DBA/2J lineage: age-related effects - Frank Johannes; David A. Blizard; Arimantas Lionikas; Dena H. Lang; David J. Vandenbergh; Joseph T. Stout; James A. Strauss; Gerald E. McClearn; George P. Vogler (Mammalian Genome, 2006)

The high-resolution structures of the neutral and the low pH crystals of aminopeptidase from Aeromonas proteolytica - William Desmarais; David L. Bienvenue; Krzysztof P. Bzymek; Gregory A. Petsko; Dagmar Ringe; Richard C. Holz (JBIC Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 2006)

Genetic variation at the growth hormone (GH1) and growth hormone receptor (GHR) loci as a risk factor for hypertension and stroke - Martin Horan; Vicky Newsway; Yasmin; Mark D. Lewis; Tammy E. Easter; D. Aled Rees; Arti Mahto; David S. Millar; Annie M. Procter; Maurice F. Scanlon; Ian B. Wilkinson; Ian P. Hall; et al. (Human Genetics, 2006)

Tree-ring reconstructed rainfall variability in Zimbabwe - Matthew D. Therrell; David W. Stahle; Lydia P. Ries; Herman H. Shugart (Climate Dynamics, 2006)

Clinical patterns of metastasis - Stanley P. L. Leong; Blake Cady; David M. Jablons; Julio Garcia-Aguilar; Douglas Reintgen; J. Jakub; S. Pendas; L. Duhaime; R. Cassell; M. Gardner; R. Giuliano; V. Archie; et al. (Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2006)

Molecular mechanisms of metastasis - Dave S. B. Hoon; Minoru Kitago; Joseph Kim; Takuji Mori; Adriano Piris; Katherine Szyfelbein; Martin C. Mihm; S. David Nathanson; Timothy P. Padera; Ann F. Chambers; Sharon A. Vantyghem; Ian C. MacDonald; et al. (Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2006)

Molecular targeting of the lymphovascular system for imaging and therapy - Heiko Schöder; Edwin C. Glass; Alain P. Pecking; Jay K. Harness; Anne M. Wallace; Peter Hirnle; Jean L. Alberini; Didier Vilain; Steven M. Larson; Carl K. Hoh; David R. Vera (Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2006)

Src activation of Stat3 is an independent requirement from NF-κB activation for constitutive IL-8 expression in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells - Jose G. Trevino; Michael J. Gray; Steffan T. Nawrocki; Justin M. Summy; Donald P. Lesslie; Douglas B. Evans; Tomi K. Sawyer; William C. Shakespeare; Stephanie S. Watowich; Paul J. Chiao; David J. McConkey; Gary E. Gallick (Angiogenesis, 2006)

Relationships between mosquito densities in artificial container habitats, land use and temperature in the Kapiti‐Horowhenua region, New Zealand - Paul T. Leisnham; Philip J. Lester; David P. Slaney; Philip Weinstein (New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2006)
Land‐use change, including deforestation for agriculture and urbanisation, has coincided with increases in vector‐borne diseases worldwide. Land‐use change is likely to regulate immature (larvae and pupae) mosquito populations through changes in local temperatures owing to manifold changes to the physical environment. However, we still poorly understand the relationship between land use, water temperature, and immature mosquito density. We conducted a field study in the Kapiti‐Horowhenua region, New Zealand, to examine the relationship between land use, water temperature, and immature mosquito population dynamics in aquatic larval habitats. Artificial container habitats were sampled for immature mosquitoes in native forest, pastureland and urbanland, at three replicate locations, from October 2002 to April 2003. The endemic species Culex pervigilans constituted 94.5% of all late‐instar larvae collected, the remainder being the exotic Ochlerotatus notoscriptus. On average, significantly higher pupal mosquito densities were recorded from urbanland containers compared with pastureland and native forest containers. A similar trend was observed for total mosquito densities, but did not reach statistical significance. Water temperatures in native forest typically did not show as much variation as those in urbanland and pastureland. Pastureland containers had significantly higher maximum and average daily water temperatures and lower minimum daily water temperatures than native forest containers. Using multiple regression analysis, total mosquito densities were best explained by the quadratic effects of maximum daily temperature and average daily temperature. The results of this study show that pastoral and urban development can increase water temperatures in container habitats, and that land‐use change may be responsible for higher immature mosquito densities when habitat water temperatures do not consistently exceed a high threshold.

Interannual climatic variation mediates elevated CO 2 and O 3 effects on forest growth - MARK E. KUBISKE; VANESSA S. QUINN; WARREN E. HEILMAN; EVAN P. McDONALD; PAULA E. MARQUARDT; RON M. TECLAW; ALEXANDER L. FRIEND; DAVID F. KARNOSKY (Global Change Biology, 2006)
We analyzed growth data from model aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.) forest ecosystems grown in elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide ([CO 2 ]; 518 μL L −1 ) and ozone concentrations ([O 3 ]; 1.5 × background of 30–40 nL L −1 during daylight hours) for 7 years using free‐air CO 2 enrichment technology to determine how interannual variability in present‐day climate might affect growth responses to either gas. We also tested whether growth effects of those gasses were sustained over time. Elevated [CO 2 ] increased tree heights, diameters, and main stem volumes by 11%, 16%, and 20%, respectively, whereas elevated ozone [O 3 ] decreased them by 11%, 8%, and 29%, respectively. Responses similar to these were found for stand volume and basal area. There were no growth responses to the combination of elevated [CO 2 +O 3 ]. The elevated [CO 2 ] growth stimulation was found to be decreasing, but relative growth rates varied considerably from year to year. Neither the variation in annual relative growth rates nor the apparent decline in CO 2 growth response could be explained in terms of nitrogen or water limitations. Instead, growth responses to elevated [CO 2 ] and [O 3 ] interacted strongly with present‐day interannual variability in climatic conditions. The amount of photosynthetically active radiation and temperature during specific times of the year coinciding with growth phenology explained 20–63% of the annual variation in growth response to elevated [CO 2 ] and [O 3 ]. Years with higher photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) during the month of July resulted in more positive growth responses to elevated [CO 2 ] and more negative growth responses to elevated [O 3 ]. Mean daily temperatures during the month of October affected growth in a similar fashion the following year. These results indicate that a several‐year trend of increasingly cloudy summers and cool autumns were responsible for the decrease in CO 2 growth response.

Subtractive cDNA Libraries Identify Differentially Expressed Genes in Dormant and Growing Buds of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) - Ying Jia; James V. Anderson; David P. Horvath; Yong-Qiang Gu; Rodney G. Lym; Wun S. Chao (Plant Molecular Biology, 2006)

Targeted High Lung Concentrations of Itraconazole Using Nebulized Dispersions in a Murine Model - Jason T. McConville; Kirk A. Overhoff; Prapasri Sinswat; Jason M. Vaughn; Bradi L. Frei; David S. Burgess; Robert L. Talbert; Jay I. Peters; Keith P. Johnston; Robert O. Williams (Pharmaceutical Research, 2006)

Cell and tissue responses of a range of Urotensin II analogs at cloned and native urotensin II receptors. Evidence for coupling promiscuity - Wei Song; John McDonald; Valeria Camarda; Girolamo Calo; Remo Guerrini; Erika Marzola; Jonathan P. Thompson; David J. Rowbotham; David G. Lambert (Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology, 2006)

Cotton genome mapping with new microsatellites from Acala ‘Maxxa’ BAC-ends - James E. Frelichowski; Michael B. Palmer; Dorrie Main; Jeffrey P. Tomkins; Roy G. Cantrell; David M. Stelly; John Yu; Russell J. Kohel; Mauricio Ulloa (Molecular Genetics and Genomics, 2006)

Genome-wide linkage scan for prostate cancer susceptibility genes in men with aggressive disease: significant evidence for linkage at chromosome 15q12 - Ethan M. Lange; Lindsey A. Ho; Jennifer L. Beebe-Dimmer; Yunfei Wang; Elizabeth M. Gillanders; Jeffrey M. Trent; Leslie A. Lange; David P. Wood; Kathleen A. Cooney (Human Genetics, 2006)

PPARα gene variation and physical performance in Russian athletes - Ildus I Ahmetov; Irina A Mozhayskaya; David M Flavell; Irina V Astratenkova; Antonina I Komkova; Ekaterina V Lyubaeva; Pavel P Tarakin; Boris S Shenkman; Anastasia B Vdovina; Aleksei I Netreba; Daniil V Popov; Olga L Vinogradova; et al. (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2006)

A Case Study on the Effects of Heterogeneous Soil Moisture on Mesoscale Boundary-Layer Structure in the Southern Great Plains, U.S.A. Part I: Simple Prognostic Model - Ankur R. Desai; Kenneth J. Davis; Christoph J. Senff; Syed Ismail; Edward V. Browell; David R. Stauffer; Brian P. Reen (Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 2006)

Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests - Helene C. Muller‐Landau; Richard S. Condit; Jerome Chave; Sean C. Thomas; Stephanie A. Bohlman; Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin; Stuart Davies; Robin Foster; Savitri Gunatilleke; Nimal Gunatilleke; Kyle E. Harms; Terese Hart; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2006)
The theory of metabolic ecology predicts specific relationships among tree stem diameter, biomass, height, growth and mortality. As demographic rates are important to estimates of carbon fluxes in forests, this theory might offer important insights into the global carbon budget, and deserves careful assessment. We assembled data from 10 old‐growth tropical forests encompassing censuses of 367 ha and > 1.7 million trees to test the theory's predictions. We also developed a set of alternative predictions that retained some assumptions of metabolic ecology while also considering how availability of a key limiting resource, light, changes with tree size. Our results show that there are no universal scaling relationships of growth or mortality with size among trees in tropical forests. Observed patterns were consistent with our alternative model in the one site where we had the data necessary to evaluate it, and were inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology in all forests.

Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models - Helene C. Muller‐Landau; Richard S. Condit; Kyle E. Harms; Christian O. Marks; Sean C. Thomas; Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin; George Chuyong; Leonardo Co; Stuart Davies; Robin Foster; Savitri Gunatilleke; Nimal Gunatilleke; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Tropical forests vary substantially in the densities of trees of different sizes and thus in above‐ground biomass and carbon stores. However, these tree size distributions show fundamental similarities suggestive of underlying general principles. The theory of metabolic ecology predicts that tree abundances will scale as the −2 power of diameter. Demographic equilibrium theory explains tree abundances in terms of the scaling of growth and mortality. We use demographic equilibrium theory to derive analytic predictions for tree size distributions corresponding to different growth and mortality functions. We test both sets of predictions using data from 14 large‐scale tropical forest plots encompassing censuses of 473 ha and > 2 million trees. The data are uniformly inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology. In most forests, size distributions are much closer to the predictions of demographic equilibrium, and thus, intersite variation in size distributions is explained partly by intersite variation in growth and mortality.

Relationship of intertidal surface sediment chlorophyll concentration to hyperspectral reflectance and chlorophyll fluorescence - Jacco C. Kromkamp; Edward P. Morris; Rodney M. Forster; Claire Honeywill; Scott Hagerthey; David M. Paterson (Estuaries and Coasts, 2006)

Assigning birds to wintering and breeding grounds using stable isotopes: lessons from two feather generations among three intercontinental migrants - Deborah A. Rocque; Merav Ben-David; Ronald P. Barry; Kevin Winker (Journal of Ornithology, 2006)

Nut-yield Variations and Yield–diameter Relationships in Open-canopy Black Walnut Trees in Southern USA - David Brauer; Adrian Ares; William Reid; Andrew Thomas; John P. Slusher (Agroforestry Systems, 2006)

Agrarian legacy in soil nutrient pools of urbanizing arid lands - DAVID BRUCE LEWIS; JASON P. KAYE; CORINNA GRIES; ANN P. KINZIG; CHARLES L. REDMAN (Global Change Biology, 2006)
Today's worldwide expansion of dry land cities consumes cultivated and native ecosystems, providing laboratories for investigating imprints of former land use in places where people now live. Around Phoenix, USA, we compared soil nutrient pools in residential yards converted from farms with nutrient pools in yards developed on native desert. Organic matter, carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and soluble ions were >2‐fold greater in yards that were previously agrarian than in yards that were not. These pools remain elevated 40 years after land conversion to residential use. Present N accumulation (1.5 g m −2 yr −1 ) is not affected by prior land use, suggesting that rates of residential fertilizer application and retention are not affected by antecedent soil fertility. Bioavailable, inorganic phosphorus (P av ) is elevated in soil with a recent agrarian past, but this signal disappears after 10–30 years of residential use owing to an accumulation of P av in never‐farmed yards. Our results indicate a ‘direct agrarian legacy,’ wherein agrarian amendment of nutrient pools endures urbanization, more so than an ‘indirect legacy,’ wherein present land management is molded by former land use. Agriculture in dry lands thus sequesters material in soils, and—as we also found higher material contents in residential soils than in contemporary agrarian soils—residential land use simply adds to the agrarian legacy these soils already bear. Intense human use of arid lands may cause increases in material pools in soils, a condition with potential global consequence.

Membrane lipids of mesophilic anaerobic bacteria thriving in peats have typical archaeal traits - Johan W. H. Weijers; Stefan Schouten; Ellen C. Hopmans; Jan A. J. Geenevasen; Olivier R. P. David; Joanna M. Coleman; Rich D. Pancost; Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté (Environmental Microbiology, 2006)
Summary The 16S ribosomal DNA based distinction between the bacterial and archaeal domains of life is strongly supported by the membrane lipid composition of the two domains; Bacteria generally contain dialkyl glycerol diester lipids, whereas Archaea produce isoprenoid dialkyl glycerol diether and membrane‐spanning glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids. Here we show that a new group of ecologically abundant membrane‐spanning GDGT lipids, containing branched instead of isoprenoid carbon skeletons, are of a bacterial origin. This was revealed by examining the stereochemistry of the glycerol moieties of those branched tetraether membrane lipids, which was found to be the bacterial 1,2‐di‐ O ‐alkyl‐ sn ‐glycerol stereoconfiguration and not the 2,3‐di‐ O ‐alkyl‐ sn ‐glycerol stereoconfiguration as in archaeal membrane lipids. In addition, unequivocal evidence for the presence of cyclopentyl moieties in these bacterial membrane lipids was obtained by NMR. The biochemical traits of biosynthesis of tetraether membrane lipids and the formation of cyclopentyl moieties through internal cyclization, which were thought to be specific for the archaeal lineage of descent, thus also occur in the bacterial domain of life.

Response of fishes to floodplain connectivity during and following a 500-year flood event in the unimpounded upper Mississippi River - Valerie A. Barko; David P. Herzog; Martin T. O’Connell (Wetlands, 2006)

Biophysical and Pharmacological Characteristics of Native Two-Pore Domain TASK Channels in Rat Adrenal Glomerulosa Cells - David P. Lotshaw (The Journal of Membrane Biology, 2006)

Lithospheric controls on the formation of provinces hosting giant orogenic gold deposits - Frank P. Bierlein; David I. Groves; Richard J. Goldfarb; Benoit Dubé (Mineralium Deposita, 2006)

Shallow benthic fauna communities of South Georgia Island - David K. A. Barnes; Katrin Linse; Cath Waller; Simon Morely; Peter Enderlein; Keiron P. P. Fraser; Matt Brown (Polar Biology, 2006)

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and inbred line development in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon - John P. Vogel; David F. Garvin; Oymon M. Leong; Daniel M. Hayden (Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC), 2006)

Facilitating Physiologic Self-Regeneration: A Step Beyond Islet Cell Replacement - Pleunie P. M. Rood; Rita Bottino; A. N. Balamurugan; Yong Fan; David K. C. Cooper; Massimo Trucco (Pharmaceutical Research, 2006)

Sex-specific life history patterns in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus): interacting mechanisms influence individual body size - D. Derek Aday; David P. Philipp; David H. Wahl (Oecologia, 2006)

Transition from Planktonic to Benthic Algal Dominance Along a Salinity Gradient - Richard D. Segal; Anya M. Waite; David P. Hamilton (Hydrobiologia, 2006)

Testing for Non-target Effects of Spinosad on Twospotted Spider Mites and their Predator Phytoseiulus persimilis under Greenhouse Conditions - Kiffnie M. Holt; George P. Opit; James R. Nechols; David C. Margolies (Experimental and Applied Acarology, 2006)

Phylogeographic Analyses Suggest Multiple Lineages of Crystallaria asprella (Percidae: Etheostominae) - Cheryl L. Morrison; David P. Lemarié; Robert M. Wood; Tim L. King (Conservation Genetics, 2006)

Differential Transcription of Ovine Herpesvirus 2 Genes in Lymphocytes from Reservoir and Susceptible Species - Leenadevi Thonur; George C. Russell; James P. Stewart; David M. Haig (Virus Genes, 2006)

Immune-related, lectin-like receptors are differentially expressed in the myeloid and lymphoid lineages of zebrafish - Patoula G. Panagos; Kimberly P. Dobrinski; Xianghong Chen; Amanda W. Grant; David Traver; Julie Y. Djeu; Sheng Wei; Jeffrey A. Yoder (Immunogenetics, 2006)

Conventional functional classification schemes underestimate the relationship with ecosystem functioning - Justin P. Wright; Shahid Naeem; Andy Hector; Clarence Lehman; Peter B. Reich; Bernhard Schmid; David Tilman (Ecology Letters, 2006)
Studies linking the functional diversity of a biota to ecosystem functioning typically employ a priori classifications of species into hypothetically complementary groups. However, multiple alternate classifications exist in which the number of functional groups, the number of species per functional group, and the grouping of species differ from the a priori scheme. Without assessing the relative precision, or ability of an a priori scheme to accurately predict ecosystem functioning relative to its many alternatives, the validity and utility of analyses based on a single a priori classification scheme remains unclear. We examine the precision of a priori classifications used in 10 experimental grassland systems in Europe and the United States that have found evidence for a significant role of functional plant diversity in governing ecosystem function. The predictive precision of the a priori classifications employed in these studies was seldom significantly higher than the precision of random classifications. Post‐hoc classification schemes that performed well in predicting ecosystem function resembled each other more with regard to species composition than average classifications, but there was still considerable variability in the manner in which these classification schemes grouped species. These results suggest that we need a more nuanced understanding of how the diversity of functional traits of species in an assemblage affects ecosystem functioning.

Two new isoflavonoids from Bowdichia virgilioides - Débora B. F. Juck; Larissa C. De Rezende; Juceni P. David; Luciano P. De Queiroz; Jorge M. David (Natural Product Research, 2006)

Impact of Firm‐Based Environmental Standards on Subsidiaries and Their Suppliers: Evidence from Motorola‐Penang - Michael T. Rock; Pao Li Lim; David P. Angel (Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2006)
How successful are multinational corporations in extending their firm‐based environmental standards to their subsidiaries and those subsidiaries' local suppliers in their global production networks in developing countries? We address this question through an in‐depth case study of how Motorola, a prominent multinational electronics firm with an extensive global production network, is using a set of firm‐based standards to meet several new stringent European Union environmental directives. The case study demonstrates that these firm‐based standards appear to be enabling a major subsidiary and its suppliers in one developing economy to reduce the environmental intensities of their production activities. This finding suggests that the firm‐based environmental standards of multinationals with extensive global production networks might contribute to a leveling up of environmental standards in subsidiaries and their local suppliers, rather than a “race to the bottom”, thus reinforcing the technique or intensity effects associated with open trade, investment, and technology policies.

Biological monitoring and surveillance results of Gulf War I veterans exposed to depleted uranium - Melissa A. McDiarmid; Susan M. Engelhardt; Marc Oliver; Patricia Gucer; P. David Wilson; Robert Kane; Michael Kabat; Bruce Kaup; Larry Anderson; Dennis Hoover; Lawrence Brown; Richard J. Albertini; et al. (International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2006)

The relative influence of natural selection and geography on gene flow in guppies - ERIKA CRISPO; PAUL BENTZEN; DAVID N. REZNICK; MICHAEL T. KINNISON; ANDREW P. HENDRY (Molecular Ecology, 2006)
Two general processes may influence gene flow among populations. One involves divergent selection, wherein the maladaptation of immigrants and hybrids impedes gene flow between ecological environments (i.e. ecological speciation). The other involves geographic features that limit dispersal. We determined the relative influence of these two processes in natural populations of Trinidadian guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ). If selection is important, gene flow should be reduced between different selective environments. If geography is important, gene flow should be impeded by geographic distance and physical barriers. We examined how genetic divergence, long‐term gene flow, and contemporary dispersal within a watershed were influenced by waterfalls, geographic distance, predation, and habitat features. We found that waterfalls and geographic distance increased genetic divergence and reduced dispersal and long‐term gene flow. Differences in predation or habitat features did not influence genetic divergence or gene flow. In contrast, differences in predation did appear to reduce contemporary dispersal. We suggest that the standard predictions of ecological speciation may be heavily nuanced by the mating behaviour and life history strategies of guppies.

Ants, altitude and change in the northern Cape Floristic Region - A. Botes; M. A. McGeoch; H. G. Robertson; A. van Niekerk; H. P. Davids; S. L. Chown (Journal of Biogeography, 2006)
Aim Climate‐modelling exercises have demonstrated that the Cape Floristic Region is highly sensitive to climate change and will apparently lose much of its northern limits over the next few decades. Because there is little monitoring of diversity in this area, ant assemblage structure was investigated within the main vegetation types in the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor. In particular, we sought to determine how ant assemblage structure differs between the main vegetation types, how restricted ants – and in particular the major myrmecochores – are to the major vegetation types, and which environmental variables might underlie differences in the ant assemblages and in the specificity of species to particular areas. Location Northern Cape Floristic Region, Western Cape, South Africa. Methods Sampling was undertaken during October 2002 and March 2003 across an altitudinal gradient ranging from sea level (Lambert's Bay) to c. 2000 m a.s.l. (Sneeukop, Cederberg) and down again to 500 m a.s.l. (Wupperthal) in the Western Cape, South Africa. Pitfall traps were used to sample ants at 17 altitudinal bands, stretching over three vegetation types (Strandveld, Mountain Fynbos and Succulent Karoo). Biotic and abiotic environmental variables were collected at each sampling site. Generalized linear models were used to determine the relationships between species richness, density, abundance and the abundance of the major myrmecochores, and the environmental variables. Redundancy analysis was used to determine the relationship between ant assemblage structure and the environmental variables. The Indicator Value Method was used to identify characteristic ant species for each vegetation type and altitudinal site. Results Temperature explained significant proportions of the variation in species density and abundance, and, together with area and several vegetation variables, contributed significantly to the separation of the assemblages in the major vegetation types and biomes. Four major myrmecochores were identified [ Anoplolepis sp. (cf. custodiens ), Anoplolepis sp. (cf. steinergroeveri ), Camponotus niveosetosus , Tetramorium quadrispinosum ]. The abundances of the two Anoplolepis species were related to vegetation variables, while the abundance of the other two species showed opposite relationships with temperature variables. Fourteen ant species were characteristic of certain vegetation types and altitudes. Several of these species contributed to the differences between the assemblages. Main conclusions There are likely to be substantial and complex changes to ant assemblages as climates change in the northern Cape Floristic Region. Moreover, the importance of ants for ecosystem functioning suggests that these responses are not only likely to be a response solely to vegetation changes, but might also precipitate vegetation changes. The changes that are predicted to take place in the next 50 years in the Cape Floristic Region could be substantially exacerbated by such synergistic effects, which have major implications for long‐term conservation plans. Ongoing monitoring of this transect will reveal the nature and pace of the change as it unfolds.

A role for nickel in osmotic adjustment in drought-stressed plants of the nickel hyperaccumulator Stackhousia tryonii Bailey - Naveen P. Bhatia; Alan J. M. Baker; Kerry B. Walsh; David J. Midmore (Planta, 2005)

Physiological state of phytoplankton communities in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, as measured by fast repetition rate fluorometry - Claire L. Holeton; Florence Nédélec; Richard Sanders; Louise Brown; C. Mark Moore; David P. Stevens; Karen J. Heywood; Peter J. Statham; Cathy H. Lucas (Polar Biology, 2005)

Animal Bodies, Human Minds: Ape, Dolphin, and Parrot Language Skills. Edited by W. A. Hillix and D. Rumbaugh. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. 310 pp. $135.00 (Cloth). ISBN 0-306-47739-4 - David P. Watts (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

Editors' Note - P. David Polly; Mark S. Springer; Zhe-Xi Luo (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

The EPAS1 gene influences the aerobic–anaerobic contribution in elite endurance athletes - Jennifer Henderson; Jason M. Withford-Cave; David L. Duffy; Stuart J. Cole; Nicole A. Sawyer; Jason P. Gulbin; Allan Hahn; Ronald J. Trent; Bing Yu (Human Genetics, 2005)

A scenario of European climate change for the late twenty-first century: seasonal means and interannual variability - David P. Rowell (Climate Dynamics, 2005)

Antibody-based therapeutics: Focus on prostate cancer - Jeffrey S. Ross; Karen E. Gray; Iain J. Webb; Gary S. Gray; Mark Rolfe; David P. Schenkein; David M. Nanus; Mathew I. Millowsky; Neil H. Bander (Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2005)

Effects of food availability on dispersal and cub sex ratio in the Mednyi Arctic fox - Mikhail Goltsman; Elena P. Kruchenkova; Sergei Sergeev; Paul J. Johnson; David W. Macdonald (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2005)

Evaluation of two dipping methods for sampling immature Culex and Ochlerotatus mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from artificial containers - Paul T. Leisnham; David P. Slaney; Philip J. Lester; Philip Weinstein (New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005)
Monitoring changes in populations of immature (larvae and pupae) mosquitoes are fundamental to determining mosquito‐borne disease risk. Dipping is the most common method used to sample immature mosquitoes, but it can be biased towards particular species and instars. We aimed to assess the generality of the findings of Mori (1989), who showed that stirring the water of artificial containers gave more consistent and accurate samples of Ochlerotatus togoi compared with conventional dipping without prior stirring. Five water‐filled artificial containers were placed in each of pastureland, urbanland, and native forest. These containers were subsequently colonised by Culex pervigilans and O. notoscriptus and were used to compare two dipping methods using a plastic dipper. One method involved removing the container from the field and stirring the water before sampling (destructive sampling), and was compared with a conventional field dipping method without prior stirring (field dipping). Results from this study showed that when comparing samples from the two methods, destructive sampling gave estimates that had very strong and better correlations with absolute counts, and were more accurate and consistent. Field dipping generally underestimated O. notoscriptus, possibly because it did not sample the bottom of the container where Ochlerotatus larvae browse detrital sediments. When using estimates from destructive sampling compared with field dipping, the relationship between mosquito density and land use was more similar to the relationship between absolute counts and land use across all population measures used. The results suggest that destructive sampling may be a more reliable mosquito sampling method than conventional field dipping when studying questions on mosquito ecology.

Forest Roads as Partial Barriers to Terrestrial Salamander Movement - DAVID M. MARSH; GRAHAM S. MILAM; NICHOLAS P. GORHAM; NOELLE G. BECKMAN (Conservation Biology, 2005)
Roads can fragment animal populations by disrupting movement among formerly continuous habitats. Although models have demonstrated that disrupted movement can contribute to long‐term extinction, there are few empirical data on the effects of roads on animal movement. We used displacement and homing experiments to determine whether forest roads are barriers to the movement of terrestrial salamanders. We displaced 1471 red‐backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) across five forest roads and compared return rates to those of salamanders displaced equal distances toward the forest interior. Roads significantly reduced the return rate of salamanders, with a mean reduction of 51%. Steep roadside verges further reduced return rates, particularly for salamanders moving downhill across verges. The permeability of roads to salamander movement did not appear to be related to road surface type. Gravel roads had both the highest and lowest observed permeability with the two paved roads intermediate between these. We conclude that narrow forest roads are partial barriers to salamander movement and that steep roadside verges may exacerbate these effects.

An AFLP-based survey of genetic diversity among accessions of sea oats (Uniola paniculata, Poaceae) from the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coast states of the United States - Prasanta K. Subudhi; Neil P. Parami; Stephen A. Harrison; Michael D. Materne; J. Paul Murphy; David Nash (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2005)

Effects of ketamine on prefrontal and striatal regions in an overt verbal fluency task: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study - Cynthia H. Y. Fu; Kathryn M. Abel; Matthew P. G. Allin; David Gasston; Sergi G. Costafreda; John Suckling; Steve C. R. Williams; Philip K. McGuire (Psychopharmacology, 2005)

Reconstitution of the Peridinin–chlorophyll a Protein (PCP): Evidence for Functional Flexibility in Chlorophyll Binding - David J. Miller; Julian Catmull; Robert Puskeiler; Helen Tweedale; Frank P. Sharples; Roger G. Hiller (Photosynthesis Research, 2005)

Reconstitution of the Peridinin–chlorophyll a Protein (PCP): Evidence for Functional Flexibility in Chlorophyll Binding - David J. Miller; Julian Catmull; Robert Puskeiler; Helen Tweedale; Frank P. Sharples; Roger G. Hiller (Photosynthesis Research, 2005)

Understanding RAGE, the receptor for advanced glycation end products - Angelika Bierhaus; Per M. Humpert; Michael Morcos; Thoralf Wendt; Triantafyllos Chavakis; Bernd Arnold; David M. Stern; Peter P. Nawroth (Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2005)

Heightened stress response in primary fibroblasts expressing mutant eIF2B genes from CACH/VWM leukodystrophy patients - Liraz Kantor; Heather P. Harding; David Ron; Raphael Schiffmann; Christine R. Kaneski; Scot R. Kimball; Orna Elroy-Stein (Human Genetics, 2005)

Dating the geologic history of Oman’s Semail ophiolite: insights from U-Pb geochronology - Clare J. Warren; Randall R. Parrish; David J. Waters; Michael P. Searle (Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 2005)

Growth of Dactylis glomerata along a light gradient in the central Appalachian region of the eastern USA: I. Dry matter production and partitioning - David P. Belesky (Agroforestry Systems, 2005)

Thinking at the global scale - David P. Turner (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2005)
The noosphere concept was originally proposed as a sphere of mind or thought that has emerged from the biosphere over the course of human evolution. Two versions of the noosphere concept were developed in the 20th century and they differed with respect to whether the noosphere was to be considered separate from the biosphere or a new form of the biosphere. Both versions shared an assumption that collective human thought based on a scientific epistemology would achieve a benevolent relationship with the biosphere. Research in global ecology continues to reveal the growing influence of humanity on the biota and on the global biogeochemical cycles, but recent history has not confirmed humanity's ability to self‐regulate. Nevertheless, the noosphere concept remains useful because it acknowledges the uniquely subjective aspect of human brain functioning and the propensity for humans to share ideas and work collaboratively. Both of these features will be needed to develop a structured coupling of humanity and the biosphere that preserves the biophysical processes sustaining the ecosphere.

Nutrients and primary production along the eastern Aleutian Island Archipelago - CALVIN W. MORDY; PHYLLIS J. STABENO; CAROL LADD; STEPHAN ZEEMAN; DAVID P. WISEGARVER; SIGRID A. SALO; GEORGE L. HUNT (Fisheries Oceanography, 2005)
The distribution of nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and silicic acid), chlorophyll and primary productivity were examined in the central and eastern Aleutian Archipelago. The data were collected from moorings (temperature, salinity, nitrate, and currents) and two hydrographic research cruises (June 2001 and May–June 2002). During the hydrographic cruises salinity, temperature, nutrients, chlorophyll and primary production were measured in and around the eastern and central Aleutian Passes. The net nutrient transport through the passes was northward, and it was relatively low in the eastern passes compared to the central passes. In the shallow eastern passes the source water from the Pacific was the nutrient‐poor Alaska Coastal Current, while in the deeper central passes it was the nutrient‐rich Alaskan Stream. Within the passes, vigorous tidal mixing resulted in enriched surface concentrations, especially in the central passes. Chlorophyll sections and satellite composites from summer indicate high chlorophyll east of Samalga Pass and very low chlorophyll between Samalga and Seguam Passes. Production was relatively low across the study area, except at the northern end of Seguam Pass and in the vicinity of the shelf edge in the southeastern Bering Sea. Production and chlorophyll concentrations were lowest in the deep passes. These results suggest that, within the passes, deep mixing inhibits new production, but substantial blooms may occur downstream of the passes subsequent to stratification.

On the Behavior of the Stable Boundary Layer and the Role of Initial Conditions - Xingzhong Shi; Richard T. McNider; M. P. Singh; David E. England; Mark J. Friedman; William M. Lapenta; William B. Norris (Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2005)

Field and Laboratory Methods in Primatology - David P. Watts (International Journal of Primatology, 2005)

Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions - Larry D. Hinzman; Neil D. Bettez; W. Robert Bolton; F. Stuart Chapin; Mark B. Dyurgerov; Chris L. Fastie; Brad Griffith; Robert D. Hollister; Allen Hope; Henry P. Huntington; Anne M. Jensen; Gensuo J. Jia; et al. (Climatic Change, 2005)

Scenarios of freshwater fish extinctions from climate change and water withdrawal - Marguerite A. Xenopoulos; David M. Lodge; Joseph Alcamo; Michael Märker; Kerstin Schulze; Detlef P. Van Vuuren (Global Change Biology, 2005)
Reductions in river discharge (water availability) like those from climate change or increased water withdrawal, reduce freshwater biodiversity. We combined two scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change with a global hydrological model to build global scenarios of future losses in river discharge from climate change and increased water withdrawal. Applying these results to known relationships between fish species and discharge, we build scenarios of losses (at equilibrium) of riverine fish richness. In rivers with reduced discharge, up to 75% (quartile range 4–22%) of local fish biodiversity would be headed toward extinction by 2070 because of combined changes in climate and water consumption. Fish loss in the scenarios fell disproportionately on poor countries. Reductions in water consumption could prevent many of the extinctions in these scenarios.

Potential photosynthesis gene recombination between Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus via viral intermediates - Gil Zeidner; Joseph P. Bielawski; Michael Shmoish; David J. Scanlan; Gazalah Sabehi; Oded Béjà (Environmental Microbiology, 2005)
Summary Genes ( psbA and psbD ) encoding for photosynthetically important proteins were recently found in a number of cultured cyanophage genomes. This phenomenon may be a beneficial trait to the viruses or their photosynthetic cyanobacterial hosts, or may represent an untapped pool of genes involved in the formation of the photosynthetic apparatus that are prone to lateral gene transfer. Here we show analyses of psbA genes from uncultured environmental viruses and prophage populations. We observe a statistically significant separation between viral genes and their potential Synechococcus hosts’ genes, and statistical analyses under models of codon evolution indicate that the psbA genes of viruses are evolving under levels of purifying selection that are virtually indistinguishable from their hosts. Furthermore, our data also indicate the possible exchange and reshuffling of psbA genes between Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus via phage intermediates. Overall, these observations raise the possibility that marine viruses serve as a potential genetic pool in shaping the evolution of cyanobacterial photosynthesis.

Mental maze solving: directional fMRI tuning and population coding in the superior parietal lobule - Pavlos Gourtzelidis; Charidimos Tzagarakis; Scott M. Lewis; David A. Crowe; Edward Auerbach; Trenton A. Jerde; Kâmil Uğurbil; Apostolos P. Georgopoulos (Experimental Brain Research, 2005)

Human movement coordination implicates relative direction as the information for relative phase - Andrew D. Wilson; David R. Collins; Geoffrey P. Bingham (Experimental Brain Research, 2005)

Crystal morphology and surface structures of orthorhombic MgSiO3 in the presence of divalent impurity ions - Maria Alfredsson; Furio Corà; John P. Brodholt; Steve C. Parker; G. David Price (Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 2005)

Stable isotopes in ecological studies - David R. Thompson; Sarah J. Bury; Keith A. Hobson; Leonard I. Wassenaar; Joseph P. Shannon (Oecologia, 2005)

Comparison of light- and SST-based geolocation with satellite telemetry in free-ranging albatrosses - Scott A. Shaffer; Yann Tremblay; Jill A. Awkerman; R. William Henry; Steven L. H. Teo; David J. Anderson; Donald A. Croll; Barbara A. Block; Daniel P. Costa (Marine Biology, 2005)

New Insights into Old Lemurs: The Trophic Adaptations of the Archaeolemuridae - Laurie R. Godfrey; Gina M. Semprebon; Gary T. Schwartz; David A. Burney; William L. Jungers; Erin K. Flanagan; Frank P. Cuozzo; Stephen J. King (International Journal of Primatology, 2005)

Perceptual coupling in rhythmic movement coordination: stable perception leads to stable action - Andrew D. Wilson; David R. Collins; Geoffrey P. Bingham (Experimental Brain Research, 2005)

Estimated Ultraviolet Radiation Doses in Wetlands in Six National Parks - Stephen A. Diamond; Peter C. Trenham; Michael J. Adams; Blake R. Hossack; Roland A. Knapp; Stacey L. Stark; David Bradford; P. Stephen Corn; Ken Czarnowski; Paul D. Brooks; Dan Fagre; Bob Breen; et al. (Ecosystems, 2005)

Structural Determinants of Metal Selectivity in Prokaryotic Metal-responsive Transcriptional Regulators - Mario A. Pennella; David P. Giedroc (BioMetals, 2005)

Evaluation of microbial strains for linoleic acid hydroxylation and reclassification of strain ALA2 - Ching T. Hou; David P. Labeda; Alejandro Rooney (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2005)

Land-use system modeling and analysis of shaded cacao production in Belize - David E. Rosenberg; Travis P. Marcotte (Agroforestry Systems, 2005)

Prolonged exposure of rats to intravenous methamphetamine: behavioral and neurochemical characterization - David S. Segal; Ronald Kuczenski; Meghan L. O’Neil; William P. Melega; Arthur K. Cho (Psychopharmacology, 2005)

Effects of topographic position, leaf litter and seed size on seedling demography in a semi-deciduous tropical forest in Panamá - Matthew I Daws; Timothy R. H. Pearson; David F. R P. Burslem; Christopher E. Mullins; James W. Dalling (Plant Ecology, 2005)

Introduction - James P. Allen; David B. Knaff (Photosynthesis Research, 2005)

Sustained Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Delivery Enhances Angiogenesis and Perfusion in Ischemic Hind Limb - Qinghua Sun; Ruth R. Chen; Yuechun Shen; David J. Mooney; Sanjay Rajagopalan; P. Michael Grossman (Pharmaceutical Research, 2005)

Evidence for a novel glaucoma locus at chromosome 3p21-22 - Paul N. Baird; Simon J. Foote; David A. Mackey; Jamie Craig; Terence P. Speed; Alexandre Bureau (Human Genetics, 2005)

Early life history and settlement of the slender filefish, Monacanthus tuckeri (Monacanthidae), at Calabash Caye, Turneffe Atoll, Belize - Jessica Ben-David; Jacob P. Kritzer (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2005)

Mercury Transport in a High-Elevation Watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado - M. Alisa Mast; Donald H. Campbell; David P. Krabbenhoft; Howard E. Taylor (Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2005)

Introduction: Paleomammalogy In Honor of Professor Emeritus William Alvin Clemens, Jr. - P. David Polly; Jason A. Lillegraven; Zhe-Xi Luo (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

Mammalian Faunal Succession in the Cretaceous of the Kyzylkum Desert - J. David Archibald; Alexander P. Averianov (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

On the Occlusal Fit of Tribosphenic Molars: Are We Underestimating Species Diversity in the Mesozoic? - P. David Polly; Steven C. Le Comber; Tamsin M. Burland (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

Editors' Note - P. David Polly; Mark S. Springer; Zhe-Xi Luo (Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2005)

Sex differences in the perception of affective facial expressions: Do men really lack emotional sensitivity? - Barbara Montagne; Roy P. C. Kessels; Elisa Frigerio; Edward H. F. de Haan; David I. Perrett (Cognitive Processing, 2005)

Forest Service Large Fire Area Burned and Suppression Expenditure Trends, 1970–2002 - David E. Calkin; Krista M. Gebert; J. Greg Jones; Ronald P. Neilson (Journal of Forestry, 2005)

The design and implementation of the immune epitope database and analysis resource - Bjoern Peters; John Sidney; Phil Bourne; Huynh-Hoa Bui; Soeren Buus; Grace Doh; Ward Fleri; Mitch Kronenberg; Ralph Kubo; Ole Lund; David Nemazee; Julia V. Ponomarenko; et al. (Immunogenetics, 2005)

Differential expression of the GABA transporters GAT-1 and GAT-3 in brains of rats, cats, monkeys and humans - David V. Pow; Robert K. P. Sullivan; Susan M. Williams; Heather L. Scott; Peter R. Dodd; David Finkelstein (Cell and Tissue Research, 2005)

Process analytical technology case study part I: Feasibility studies for quantitative near-infrared method development - Robert P. Cogdill; Carl A. Anderson; Miriam Delgado-Lopez; David Molseed; Robert Chisholm; Raymond Bolton; Thorsten Herkert; Ali M. Afnán; James K. Drennen (AAPS PharmSciTech, 2005)

The Seismic Project of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program - David H. Oppenheimer; Alex N. Bittenbinder; Barbara M. Bogaert; Raymond P. Buland; Lynn D. Dietz; Roger A. Hansen; Stephen D. Malone; Charles S. McCreery; Thomas J. Sokolowski; Paul M. Whitmore; Craig S. Weaver (Natural Hazards, 2005)

Climate change in lowland Central America during the late deglacial and early Holocene - Michael B. Hillesheim; David A. Hodell; Barbara W. Leyden; Mark Brenner; Jason H. Curtis; Flavio S. Anselmetti; Daniel Ariztegui; David G. Buck; Thomas P. Guilderson; Michael F. Rosenmeier; Douglas W. Schnurrenberger (Journal of Quaternary Science, 2005)
The transition from arid glacial to moist early Holocene conditions represented a profound change in northern lowland Neotropical climate. Here we report a detailed record of changes in moisture availability during the latter part of this transition (∼11 250 to 7500 cal. yr BP) inferred from sediment cores retrieved in Lake Petén Itzá, northern Guatemala. Pollen assemblages demonstrate that a mesic forest had been largely established by ∼11 250 cal. yr BP, but sediment properties indicate that lake level was more than 35 m below modern stage. From 11 250 to 10 350 cal. yr BP, during the Preboreal period, lithologic changes in sediments from deep‐water cores (>50 m below modern water level) indicate several wet–dry cycles that suggest distinct changes in effective moisture. Four dry events (designated PBE1‐4) occurred centred at 11 200, 10 900, 10 700 and 10 400 cal. yr BP and correlate with similar variability observed in the Cariaco Basin titanium record and glacial meltwater pulses into the Gulf of Mexico. After 10 350 cal. yr BP, multiple sediment proxies suggest a shift to a more persistently moist early Holocene climate. Comparison of results from Lake Petén Itzá with other records from the circum‐Caribbean demonstrates a coherent climate response during the entire span of our record. Furthermore, lowland Neotropical climate during the late deglacial and early Holocene period appears to be tightly linked to climate change in the high‐latitude North Atlantic. We speculate that the observed changes in lowland Neotropical precipitation were related to the intensity of the annual cycle and associated displacements in the mean latitudinal position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Azores–Bermuda high‐pressure system. This mechanism operated on millennial‐to‐submillennial timescales and may have responded to changes in solar radiation, glacial meltwater, North Atlantic sea ice, and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Analysis of vegetation distribution in Interior Alaska and sensitivity to climate change using a logistic regression approach - Monika P. Calef; A. David McGuire; Howard E. Epstein; T. Scott Rupp; Herman H. Shugart (Journal of Biogeography, 2005)
Aim To understand drivers of vegetation type distribution and sensitivity to climate change. Location Interior Alaska. Methods A logistic regression model was developed that predicts the potential equilibrium distribution of four major vegetation types: tundra, deciduous forest, black spruce forest and white spruce forest based on elevation, aspect, slope, drainage type, fire interval, average growing season temperature and total growing season precipitation. The model was run in three consecutive steps. The hierarchical logistic regression model was used to evaluate how scenarios of changes in temperature, precipitation and fire interval may influence the distribution of the four major vegetation types found in this region. Results At the first step, tundra was distinguished from forest, which was mostly driven by elevation, precipitation and south to north aspect. At the second step, forest was separated into deciduous and spruce forest, a distinction that was primarily driven by fire interval and elevation. At the third step, the identification of black vs. white spruce was driven mainly by fire interval and elevation. The model was verified for Interior Alaska, the region used to develop the model, where it predicted vegetation distribution among the steps with an accuracy of 60–83%. When the model was independently validated for north‐west Canada, it predicted vegetation distribution among the steps with an accuracy of 53–85%. Black spruce remains the dominant vegetation type under all scenarios, potentially expanding most under warming coupled with increasing fire interval. White spruce is clearly limited by moisture once average growing season temperatures exceeded a critical limit (+2 °C). Deciduous forests expand their range the most when any two of the following scenarios are combined: decreasing fire interval, warming and increasing precipitation. Tundra can be replaced by forest under warming but expands under precipitation increase. Main conclusion The model analyses agree with current knowledge of the responses of vegetation types to climate change and provide further insight into drivers of vegetation change.