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Gradsect
A gradsect or gradient-directed transect is a low-input, high-return sampling method where the aim is to maximise information about the distribution of biota in any area of study. Most living things are rarely distributed at random, their placement being largely determined by a hierarchy of environmental factors. For this reason, standard statistical designs based on purely random sampling or systematic (e.g. grid-based) systems tend to be less efficient in recovering information about the distribution of taxa than sample designs that are purposively directed instead along deterministic environmental gradients. Ecologists have long been aware of the significance of environmental gradient based approaches to better understand community dynamics and this is reflected especially in the work of Robert Whittaker (1967) and others. Although in practice, life-scientists intuitively sample gradients, until the early 1980s there was little formal theoretical or empirical support for such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Environmental Gradient
An environmental gradient, or climate gradient, is a change in Abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) factors through space (or time). Environmental gradients can be related to factors such as altitude, depth, temperature, soil humidity and precipitation. Often times, a multitude of Biotic component, biotic (living) factors are closely related to these gradients; as a result of a change in an environmental gradient, factors such as Abundance (ecology), species abundance, population density, Morphology (biology), morphology, Primary production, primary productivity, predation, and local adaptation may be impacted. Abiotic influence The species distribution along environmental gradients has been studied intensively due to large databases of species presence data (e.g. Global Biodiversity Information Facility, GBIF). The abiotic factors that environmental gradients consist of can have a direct ramifications on organismal survival. Generally, organismal distribution is tied t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biota (ecology)
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, calling it '' ecosystem''. The International Biological Program (1964–74) projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in some contexts, the term ''biome'' is used in a different manner. In German literature, particularly in the Walter terminology, the term is used similarly as '' biotope'' (a concrete geographical unit), while the biome definition used in this article is used as an international, non-regional, terminology—irrespectively of the continent in which an area is present, it takes the same biome name—and corresponds to his "zonobiome", "orobiome" and "pedobiome" (biomes determined by climate zone, altitude or soil). In the Brazilian literature, the term ''biome'' is sometim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catena (soil)
A catena in soil science (pedology) is a series of distinct but co-evolving Soil, soils arrayed down a slope. Each soil type or "facet" differs somewhat from its neighbours, but all occur in the same climate and on the same underlying parent material. A mature catena is in equilibrium as the processes of Deposition (geology), deposition and erosion are in balance. Concept The term soil catena is used to describe the lateral variation in soils over a hillslope. The catena concept originated in central Uganda by chemist W.S. Martin to describe a hill slope sequence at the Bukalasa Agricultural Training Institute, Bukalasa research station. The term catena (Latin: chain) was first coined by scientist Geoffrey Milne to describe these soil-topography units. The concept was developed in order to analyze the regular variation of soils across a slope. The example of this approach consists first in a structural component, the recurring pattern of certain soils in a landscape transect in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biological Censuses
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and distribution of life. Central to biology are five fundamental themes: the cell (biology), cell as the basic unit of life, genes and heredity as the basis of inheritance, evolution as the driver of biological diversity, energy transformation for sustaining life processes, and the maintenance of internal stability (homeostasis). Biology examines life across multiple biological organisation, levels of organization, from molecules and cells to organisms, populations, and ecosystems. Subdisciplines include molecular biology, physiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and systematics, among others. Each of these fields applies a range of methods to investigate biological phenomena, including scientific method, observation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth and other planets. Remote sensing is used in numerous fields, including geophysics, geography, land surveying and most Earth science disciplines (e.g. exploration geophysics, hydrology, ecology, meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, geology). It also has military, intelligence, commercial, economic, planning, and humanitarian applications, among others. In current usage, the term ''remote sensing'' generally refers to the use of satellite- or airborne-based sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth. It includes the surface and the atmosphere and oceans, based on wave propagation, propagated signals (e.g. electromagnetic radiation). It may be split into "active" remote sensing (when a signal is emitted b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States, and was named after a Big Bend (Texas), large bend in the Rio Grande, Rio Grande/Río Bravo. The park protects more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. Additional park activities include scenic drives, programs led by Big Bend park rangers, and stargazing. The area has a rich cultural history, from Prehistoric art, archeological sites dating back nearly 10,000 years to more recent pioneers, ranchers, and miners. The Chisos Mountains are located in the park, and are the only mountain range in the United States to be fully contained within the boundary of a national park. Geological features in the park include sea fossils and Fos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservation Biology
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management. The nature conservation, conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology. Origins The term conservation biology and its conception as a new field originated with the convening of "The First International Conference on Research in Conservation Biology" held at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California, in 1978 led by American biologists Bruce A. Wilcox and Michael E. Soulé with a group of leading university and zoo researchers and conservationists including Kurt Benirschke, Sir Otto Frankel, Thomas Lovejoy, and Jared Diamond. The meeting was prompted due to concern over tropical de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Environmental Surveying
Environmental surveying is the title of a profession within the wider field of surveying, the practitioners of which are known as environmental surveyors. Environmental surveyors use surveying techniques to understand the potential impact of environmental factors on real estate and construction developments, and conversely the environmental impact assessment, impact that real estate and construction developments will have on the environment. Professional activities The exact activities that make up the day-to-day work of an environmental surveyor vary from surveyor to surveyor and from project to project. Two environmental surveyors could have careers that consist of quite different professional activities depending on their and their practices area of specialisation. In the strictest sense, the field of environmental surveying is distinct from that of environmental consultancy. Environmental consultancies may have some overlap with the work of environmental surveyors, but may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than one-fifth of Earth's terrestrial area and contain about 50% of the world's species. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Since Abiogenesis, life began on Earth, six major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic aeon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosion. In this period, the majority of Multicellular organism, multicellular Phylum, phyla first appeared. The next 400 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy Van Der Maarel
Evert "Eddy" van der Maarel (23 February 1934 – 4 April 2021) was a Dutch ecologist. He spent most of his career as professor of ecological botany at Uppsala University in Sweden. Career Van der Maarel was born on 23 February 1934 in Amsterdam. He studied biology at the University of Amsterdam between 1951 and 1959. Between 1962 and 1968 he worked at the institute of botany of Utrecht University and later at the institute of plant ecology of the University of Groningen. Van der Maarel obtained his PhD at Utrecht University in 1966 with a dissertation titled : "Over vegetatiestructuren, -relaties en -systemen in het bijzonder in de duingraslanden van Voorne". Between 1968 and 1981 he was a lecturer of geobotany at the Catholic University Nijmegen. From 1981 to 1999 van de Maarel was a professor of ecological botany at Uppsala University. From 1995 to 1999 he was the Gerard Baerends professor at the University of Groningen. He retired in 1999. He died on 4 April 2021. He was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Elevation Model
A digital elevation model (DEM) or digital surface model (DSM) is a 3D computer graphics representation of elevation data to represent terrain or overlaying objects, commonly of a planet, Natural satellite, moon, or asteroid. A "global DEM" refers to a discrete global grid. DEMs are used often in geographic information systems (GIS), and are the most common basis for digitally produced Relief mapping (computer graphics), relief maps. A digital terrain model (DTM) represents specifically the ground surface while DEM and DSM may represent tree top Canopy (biology), canopy or building roofs. While a DSM may be useful for Landscape planning, landscape modeling, Urban planning, city modeling and visualization applications, a DTM is often required for flood or drainage modeling, Land-use planning, land-use studies, geological applications, and other applications, and in planetary science. Terminology There is no universal usage of the terms ''digital elevation model'' (DEM), ''di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riparian Zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone. The word ''riparian'' is derived from Latin ''wiktionary:ripa, ripa'', meaning "bank (geography), river bank". Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by aquatic plant, hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones are important in ecology, environmental resource management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on terrestrial animal, terrestrial and semiaquatic fauna as well as aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and even non-vegetative areas. Riparian zones may be natural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
