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This study aims to broaden our historical knowledge about ideas of rationalism and monocultures in forestry science and rational forest management. Empirically, it focuses on the writings of Swedish forestry scientist Henrik Hesselman, active in the early twentieth century. The texts were analyzed using the method of historical contextualization. The study indicates that monocultures historically
It is a well-known predicament of the social sciences that predictions, if the right circumstances are in place, can intervene on the very processes the predictions concern. The purpose of this paper is to address the question of how modelers or scientists should act in the presence of such performative effects with a specific focus on the example of climate economics. Specifically, we will argue
Warming is expected to stimulate soil microbial respiration triggering a positive soil carbon-climate feedback loop while a consensus remains elusive regarding the magnitude of this feedback. This is partly due to our limited understanding of the temperature-adaptive response of soil microbial respiration, especially over broad climatic scales. We used the square root (Ratkowsky) model to calculat
Temperature governs most biotic processes, yet we know little about how warming affects whole ecosystems. Here we examined the responses of 128 components of a subarctic grassland to either 5–8 or >50 years of soil warming. Warming of >50 years drove the ecosystem to a new steady state possessing a distinct biotic composition and reduced species richness, biomass and soil organic matter. However,
Enhanced nutrient input and warming have led to the development of low oxygen (hypoxia) in coastal waters globally. For many coastal areas, insight into redox conditions prior to human impact is lacking. Here, we reconstructed bottom water redox conditions and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the coastal Stockholm Archipelago over the past 3000 yr. Elevated sedimentary concentrations of molybde
Through changes in climate and other environmental factors, alpine tundra ecosystems are subject to increased cover of erect shrubs, reduced predictability of rodent dynamics and changes in wild and domesticated herbivore densities. To predict the dynamics of these ecosystems, we need to understand how these simultaneous changes affect alpine vegetation. In the long term, vegetation dynamics may d
The way microbes behave in nature can vary widely depending on the spatial characteristics of the habitats they are located in. The spatial structure of the microbial environment can determine whether and to which extent processes such as organic matter degradation, and synergistic or antagonistic microbial processes occur. Investigating how the different spatial characteristics of microhabitats i
The demand of renewable energy has increased the interest in whole-tree harvesting. The sustainability of whole-tree harvesting after clear-cutting, from an acidification point of view, depends on two factors: the present acidification status and the further loss of buffering capacity at harvesting. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between these two factors at 26 sites a
Climate change models predict an increase in the intensity and frequency of drought periods as well as precipitation events. Moisture and its fluctuations have a large impact on soil microorganisms, which are key drivers of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. When there is a drought period followed by a rainfall event there is a big CO2 release from soil to the atmosphere, which can dominate the C b
As an alternative to clear-cutting, variable-retention harvesting is now standard forest management practice on the coast of British Columbia and in temperate forests globally, due to the benefits associated with maintaining mature forest species and forest structural diversity. Although there is some evidence that variable-retention harvesting, particularly single-tree (dispersed) retention will
Selection leading to adaptation to interactions may generate rapid evolutionary feedbacks and drive diversification of species interactions. The challenge is to understand how the many traits of interacting species combine to shape local adaptation in ways directly or indirectly resulting in diversification. We used the well-studied interactions between Lithophragma plants (Saxifragaceae) and Grey
Poikilotherms have two major alternative strategies to deal with the inhospitable conditions of temperate winters: hibernation or migration. The vast majority of insects spend winter in a species-specific diapause resting stage, while others remain reproductively active after having migrated to more hospitable environments in the autumn. The butterfly clade Nymphalini offers an interesting possibi
Global patterns in soil, plant, and fungal stable isotopes of N (delta N-15) show promise as integrated metrics of N cycling, particularly the activity of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. At small spatial scales, however, it remains difficult to differentiate the underlying causes of plant delta N-15 variability and this limits the application of such measurements to better understand N cycling. We co
Our aim was to examine the effect of water stress on plant growth and development of two native plant species (Tetraclinis articulata and Crithmum maritimum) and on microbial community composition and activity in the rhizosphere soil, following the addition of an organic amendment, namely sugar beet residue (SBR), and/or the inoculation with an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus, namely Glomus mos
Soil tillage practices affect the soil microbial community in various ways, with possible consequences for nitrogen (N) losses, plant growth and soil organic carbon (C) sequestration. As microbes affect soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics largely through their activity, their impact may not be deduced from biomass measurements alone. Moreover, residual microbial tissue is thought to facilitate SOM
Secondary hole-nesting birds that do not construct nest holes themselves and hence regularly breed in nest boxes constitute important model systems for field studies in many biological disciplines with hundreds of scientists and amateurs involved. Those research groups are spread over wide geographic areas that experience considerable variation in environmental conditions, and researchers provide
While many laboratory studies have focused on the short term effects of biochar addition to soil), there have been comparatively few tracing its longer term effects in the field. This study investigated the multiyear impact of biochar on crop performance and soil quality with specific emphasis on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling over a 3 y period. Biochar was added to an agricultural field at 0
A substantial portion of the carbon (C) fixed by the trees is allocated belowground to ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbionts, but this fraction usually declines after fertilization. The aim of the present study was to estimate the effect of optimal fertilization (including all the necessary nutrients) on the growth of EM fungi in young Norway spruce forests over a three year period. In addition, the amou
The determination of the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) pattern of soil organisms has become one of the most commonly used methods to study microbial community structure. Here we recapitulate the background of our work applying the PLFA method to soil in the early 1990s. We also stress that although the PLFA method was, and still is, a rapid and sensitive method to detect changes in the microbial
Resolving fungal and bacterial groups within the microbial decomposer community is thought to capture disparate life strategies for soil microbial decomposers, associating bacteria with an r-selected strategy for carbon (C) and nutrient use, and fungi with a K-selected strategy. Additionally, food-web model-based work has established a widely held belief that the bacterial decomposer pathway in so
