FOUR NATIVE PLANT COMMUNITY TYPES (IN DECREASING ELEVATION: montane bog, rain forest, wet mesic forest, drier forest) on Molokai were sampled for nematodes. Six samples of 10 cores each were gathered from each community. Nematodes were extracted from 200 cm(3) soil by elutriation. All extracted nematodes were counted and identified to species-level taxa. Sixty-seven species were identified amon...

The evaporation of methanol from needle-shaped particles of cellobiose octaacetate (COA) has been studied directly in a jacketed vacuum drier using in situ measurements by Raman spectrometry. A design of experiments (DoE) approach was used to investigate the effects of three parameters (method of agitation, % solvent loss on drying and jacket temperature), with the intention of minimising the d...

Patterns of diversity distribution in the Isa defense locus in wild-barley populations suggest adaptive selection at this locus. The extent to which environmental selection may act at additional nuclear-encoded defense loci and within the whole chloroplast genome has now been examined by analyses in two grass species. Analysis of genetic diversity in wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) defense gen...

The amount, frequency, and duration of precipitation have important impact on the occurrence and severity of forest fires. To fully understand the effects of precipitation regimes on forest fires, a drought index was developed with number of consecutive dry days (daily precipitation less than 2 mm) and total precipitation, and the relationships of drought and precipitation with fire activities ...

Abstract In the tundra, woody plants are dispersing towards higher latitudes and altitudes due to increasingly favourable climatic conditions. The coverage height of increasing, which may influence soils tundra ecosystem. Here, we use structural equation modelling analyse 171 study plots examine if affect growing-season topsoil moisture temperature (< 10 cm) as well soil organic carbon stock...

Soil moisture impacts on precipitation have been strongly debated. Recent observational evidence of afternoon rain falling preferentially over land parcels that are drier than the surrounding areas (negative spatial effect), contrasts with previous reports of a predominant positive temporal effect. However, whether spatial effects relating to soil moisture heterogeneity translate into similar t...

Rotaviruses were detected by counterimmunoelectro-osmophoresis in the feces of 16 (13.8%) of 116 infants and young children with gastroenteritis during a 5-month period (September 1979 through January 1980) in Ife, Nigeria. The rate of rotavirus detection varied inversely with relative humidity and was highest in December (38.5% positive) when the humidity was lower. There was not such a distin...

This study investigates the amenity value of climate to British households. By using the hedonic price approach, the marginal willingness to pay for small changes in climate variables, specified as averages and ranges, is derived. The estimates suggest that British people would typically prefer a greater distribution of precipitation across the seasons (i.e. holding annual precipitation constan...

Pan-tropically, liana density increases with decreasing rainfall and increasing seasonality. This pattern has led to the hypothesis that lianas display a growth advantage over trees under dry conditions. However, the physiological mechanisms underpinning this hypothesis remain elusive. A key trait influencing leaf and plant drought tolerance is the leaf water potential at turgor loss point (πtl...