The role of ectomycorrhizal inoculations in landfill site restoration programmes

Selected abstracts

300 94Z/00040

Southern Appalachian streams at risk:

implications for mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and other aquatic biota J. C. Morse, B. P. Stark & W. P. McCafferty, Aquatic Conservation, 3(4), 1993, pp 293-303. The Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera faunas of the S Appalachians are rich in species, including many endemic species. Humans have tmpacted the faunas in several significant ways, primarily through air pollution (with acid precipitation), introduction of exotic forest pests, impoundments (ponds and reservoirs), sedimentation (from road building, development, deforestation, fanning), toxic substances (industrial effluent, agricultural and golf course insecticides), and organic enrichment (agricultural and golf course fertilizers, trout farm effluent). Nineteen species of Ephemeroptera, 17 species of Plecoptera and 38 species of Trichoptera are identified as examples that are probably rare and vulnerable to extirpation in the S Appalachians. -from Authors 94Z/00041

Sea-level rise: destruction of threatened

and endangered species habitat in South Carolina R. C.

Daniels, T. W.

White & K. K.

Chapman,

Environmental Management, 17(3), 1993, pp 373-385. At the regional scale 52 endangered or threatened plant and animal species reside within 3 m of mean sea level in the coastal stages of the US Southeast. At the state level, the habitats of nine endangered or threatened animals that may be at risk from future sea level rise (SLR) were identified. At the local level, a microscale analysis was conducted in the Cape Remain National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina, on the adverse effects that SLR may have on the habitats of American alligator Alligator mississippiensis, brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis, loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta and wood stork Mycteria americana. -from Authors 94Z/00042 The effect of human activity on the structure and composition of a tropical forest in Puerto Rico D.C. Garcia-Montiel & F. N. Scatena, Forest Ecology & Management, 63(1), 1994, pp 57-78. From European settlement to the 1940s, the Bisley watersheds of the Luquillo Experimental Forest were used for agroforestry, selective logging, charcoal production, and timber management. After nearly 50 yr of unhindered regeneration, six impacts remain apparent: 1) shifts in the dominance and age structure of canopy species; 2) immigration of subcanopy crop species and the establishment of banana as a riparian dominant; 3) increases in the importance of canopy sp.ecies used for coffee shade; 4) impoverishment of certam commercial timber species; 5) an increase in the density of palms around abandoned charcoal kilns; 6) a reduction in the regeneration of canopy species around abandoned charcoal kilns. Changes in the above-ground nutrient pool may also have occurred. -from Authors 94Z/00043 Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: the effect of population and land tenure P.M. Feamside, Ambio, 22(8), 1993, pp 537-545. Landsat data indicate that by 1991 the area of forest cleared had reached 426 000 km 2 (10.5% of the 4 million km 2 originally forested portion of Brazil's 5 million km 2 Legal Amazon Region). Over the 1978-1988 period, forest was lost at a rate of 22 000 km 2 yr-l (including hydroelectric flooding), while Re rate was 19 000 k m 2 y r "1 for 1988-1989, 14 000 km yr-t for 1989-1990 and 11 000 km 2 yr"l for 1990-1991. 30% of the clearing in 1991 can be attributed to small farmers, the remaining 70% to medium or large ranchers. -from Author 94Z/00044 Mapping areas of Wales

the

environmentally sensitive

G. Brown, Mapping Awareness & GIS in Europe, 7(2),

1993, pp 17-19. The UK Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme has been in existence since 1987. Various areas of countryside were identified as being at risk from changing agricultural practices and ESA status was given m order to encourage the presevation of various countryside features and the co-existence of conservation and efficient fanning.

The aim of ESA designation is to preserve the diversity of vegetation and the quality of landscape of the area. Farmers are encouraged to join the non-mandatory scheme by compensatory payments, in return to which the farmer undertakes to carry out any combination of conservation measures. In Wales then include undertaking to agree livestock grazing density, fence off broadleaved woodlands to encourage regeneration, preserve the floral diversity of herb rich haymeadows by agreeing to delay cutting until seeds are set, and conserving linear landscape features such as banks, hedges and wails. The new designations for 1993 include a positive conservation initiative which will pay farmers for enhancing the environment rather than striving to maintain the status quo. -from Author 94Z/00045 Centers of high biodiversity in Africa D. Pomeroy, Conservation Biology, 7(4), 1993, pp 901-907. Data for Africa are limited and of variable quality, but 'hotspots' can be identified provisionally, the Albertine Rift (where Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire meet) emerging most consistently. The varying results produced by different methods almost certainly reflect some real differences, as can be seen both regionally (endemism at the Cape is high for plants but not for other groups) and locally (the species richness of forest trees and forest birds in Uganda are only moderately correlated). Overall conservation policies are likely to be improved by the use of more than one criterion. -from Author 94Z/00046 The role and design of wildlife corridors with examples from Tanzania W.D. Newmark, Ambio, 22(8), 1993, pp 500-504. Wildlife corridors are defined as habitat that permits the movement of organisms between ecological isolates. Corridors should be designed for species within a protected area that are considered to be most vulnerable to extinction. For these species knowledge about the habitat requirements, dispersal, seasonal movements, avoidance behavior, and learning behavior are important for the design of wildlife corridors. The ability of a species to successfully use a corridor is dependent in part upon the width and length of the corridor. Many of the practical challenges of designing wildlife corridors are examined bypresenting examples of proposed wildlife corridors in the Eastern Usambara Mountains and on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. -from Author 94Z/00047 Extreme anthropogenic loads and the northern ecosystem condition V.V. Kryuchkov, Ecological Applications, 3(4), 1993, pp 622-630. In the polar region of Siberian Russia, the largest mining and processing enterprises for ores, coal, oil and gas are situated. The extremely vulnerable boreal and polar ecosystems respond adversely to the impact of these activities, and are in danger of collapse. The deforested and destroyed areas of former forest-tundra and taiga ecosystems resemble the Arctic zones of a much harsher environment more than the typical Arctic zones where they occur. -from Author

Restoration ecology 94Z/00048

The role of ectomycorrhizal inoculations in

landfill site restoration programmes J.E. Tosh, E. Senior, J. E. Smith & I. A. Watson-Craik,

Letters in Applied Microbiology, 16(4), 1993, pp 187-191. Greenhouse landfill models were used to examine the efficacy of the mycorrhizal fungus Paxillus involutus to promote the growth of Betula pendula (silver birch) seedlings in different site restoration strategies. Direct planting into refuse resulted in death of the fungal symbiont whilst with topsoil and subsoil no positive growth promotions, compared with uninoculated controls, resulted. With sterile seedlings, mycorrhizal associations formed within 24 wk in both subsoil and topsoil. The need for mycorrhizal tree seedlings in site restoration programmes is, therefore, questioned. -Authors