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• 1. [Article] Convergence of Microclimate in Residential Landscapes Across Diverse Cities in the United States

  Context The urban heat island (UHI) is a welldocumented pattern of warming in cities relative to rural areas. Most UHI research utilizes remote sensing methods at large scales, or climate sensors in single ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Convergence of Microclimate in Residential Landscapes Across Diverse Cities in the United States Author: Hall, Sharon J., Learned, J, Ruddell, Benjamin, Larson, Kelli L., Cavender-Bares, Jeannine, Bettez, Neil D., Groffman, Peter M., Grove, J. Morgan, Heffernan, James B., Hobbie, Sarah E., Larson, Kristen, Morse, Jennifer L., Neill, Christopher, Nelson, Kristen C., O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath, Ogden, Laura A., Pataki, Diane E., Pearse, William D., Polsky, Colin, Chowdhury, Rinku Roy, Steele, Meredith K., Trammell, Tara Year: 2015 Context The urban heat island (UHI) is a welldocumented pattern of warming in cities relative to rural areas. Most UHI research utilizes remote sensing methods at large scales, or climate sensors in single cities surrounded by standardized land cover. Relatively few studies have explored continental-scale climatic patterns within common urban microenvironments such as residential landscapes that may affect human comfort. Objectives We tested the urban homogenization hypothesis which states that structure and function in cities exhibit ecological ‘‘sameness’’ across diverse regions relative to the native ecosystems they replaced. Methods We deployed portable micrometeorological sensors to compare air temperature and humidity in residential yards and native landscapes across six U.S. cities that span a range of climates (Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; and Miami, FL). Results Microclimate in residential ecosystems was more similar among cities than among native ecosystems, particularly during the calm morning hours. Maximum regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) was related to the morning residential microclimate effect. Residential yards in cities with maximum AET \50–65 cm/year (Phoenix and Los Angeles) were generally cooler and more humid than nearby native shrublands during summer mornings, while yards in cities above this threshold were generally warmer (Baltimore and Miami) and drier (Miami) than native forests. On average, temperature and absolute humidity were *6 % less variable among residential ecosystems than among native ecosystems from diverse regions. Conclusions These data suggest that common residential land cover and structural characteristics lead to microclimatic convergence across diverse regions at the continental scale. Title: Convergence of Microclimate in Residential Landscapes Across Diverse Cities in the United States Author: Hall, Sharon J., Learned, J, Ruddell, Benjamin, Larson, Kelli L., Cavender-Bares, Jeannine, Bettez, Neil D., Groffman, Peter M., Grove, J. Morgan, Heffernan, James B., Hobbie, Sarah E., Larson, Kristen, Morse, Jennifer L., Neill, Christopher, Nelson, Kristen C., O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath, Ogden, Laura A., Pataki, Diane E., Pearse, William D., Polsky, Colin, Chowdhury, Rinku Roy, Steele, Meredith K., Trammell, Tara Year: 2015 Context The urban heat island (UHI) is a welldocumented pattern of warming in cities relative to rural areas. Most UHI research utilizes remote sensing methods at large scales, or climate sensors in single cities surrounded by standardized land cover. Relatively few studies have explored continental-scale climatic patterns within common urban microenvironments such as residential landscapes that may affect human comfort. Objectives We tested the urban homogenization hypothesis which states that structure and function in cities exhibit ecological ‘‘sameness’’ across diverse regions relative to the native ecosystems they replaced. Methods We deployed portable micrometeorological sensors to compare air temperature and humidity in residential yards and native landscapes across six U.S. cities that span a range of climates (Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; and Miami, FL). Results Microclimate in residential ecosystems was more similar among cities than among native ecosystems, particularly during the calm morning hours. Maximum regional actual evapotranspiration (AET) was related to the morning residential microclimate effect. Residential yards in cities with maximum AET \50–65 cm/year (Phoenix and Los Angeles) were generally cooler and more humid than nearby native shrublands during summer mornings, while yards in cities above this threshold were generally warmer (Baltimore and Miami) and drier (Miami) than native forests. On average, temperature and absolute humidity were *6 % less variable among residential ecosystems than among native ecosystems from diverse regions. Conclusions These data suggest that common residential land cover and structural characteristics lead to microclimatic convergence across diverse regions at the continental scale. Close

• 2. [Article] High Performance Computational Chemistry: Bridging Quantum Mechanics, Molecular Dynamics, and Coarse-Grained Models

  The past several decades have witnessed tremendous strides in the capabilities of computational chemistry simulations, driven in large part by the extensive parallelism offered by powerful computer clusters ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: High Performance Computational Chemistry: Bridging Quantum Mechanics, Molecular Dynamics, and Coarse-Grained Models Author: Ozog, David Year: 2017 The past several decades have witnessed tremendous strides in the capabilities of computational chemistry simulations, driven in large part by the extensive parallelism offered by powerful computer clusters and scalable programming methods in high performance computing (HPC). However, such massively parallel simulations increasingly require more complicated software to achieve good performance across the vastly diverse ecosystem of modern heterogeneous computer systems. Furthermore, advanced “multi-resolution” methods for modeling atoms and molecules continue to evolve, and scientific software developers struggle to keep up with the hardships involved with building, scaling, and maintaining these coupled code systems. This dissertation describes these challenges facing the computational chemistry community in detail, along with recent solutions and techniques that circumvent some primary obstacles. In particular, I describe several projects and classify them by the 3 primary models used to simulate atoms and molecules: quantum mechanics (QM), molecular mechanics (MM), and coarse-grained (CG) models. Initially, the projects investigate methods for scaling simulations to larger and more relevant chemical applications within the same resolution model of either QM, MM, or CG. However, the grand challenge lies in effectively bridging these scales, both spatially and temporally, to study richer chemical models that go beyond single-scale physics and toward hybrid QM/MM/CG models. This dissertation concludes with an analysis of the state of the art in multiscale computational chemistry, with an eye toward improving developer productivity on upcoming computer architectures, in which we require productive software environments, enhanced support for coupled scientific workflows, useful abstractions to aid with data transfer, adaptive runtime systems, and extreme scalability. This dissertation includes previously published and co-authored material, as well as unpublished co-authored material. Title: High Performance Computational Chemistry: Bridging Quantum Mechanics, Molecular Dynamics, and Coarse-Grained Models Author: Ozog, David Year: 2017 The past several decades have witnessed tremendous strides in the capabilities of computational chemistry simulations, driven in large part by the extensive parallelism offered by powerful computer clusters and scalable programming methods in high performance computing (HPC). However, such massively parallel simulations increasingly require more complicated software to achieve good performance across the vastly diverse ecosystem of modern heterogeneous computer systems. Furthermore, advanced “multi-resolution” methods for modeling atoms and molecules continue to evolve, and scientific software developers struggle to keep up with the hardships involved with building, scaling, and maintaining these coupled code systems. This dissertation describes these challenges facing the computational chemistry community in detail, along with recent solutions and techniques that circumvent some primary obstacles. In particular, I describe several projects and classify them by the 3 primary models used to simulate atoms and molecules: quantum mechanics (QM), molecular mechanics (MM), and coarse-grained (CG) models. Initially, the projects investigate methods for scaling simulations to larger and more relevant chemical applications within the same resolution model of either QM, MM, or CG. However, the grand challenge lies in effectively bridging these scales, both spatially and temporally, to study richer chemical models that go beyond single-scale physics and toward hybrid QM/MM/CG models. This dissertation concludes with an analysis of the state of the art in multiscale computational chemistry, with an eye toward improving developer productivity on upcoming computer architectures, in which we require productive software environments, enhanced support for coupled scientific workflows, useful abstractions to aid with data transfer, adaptive runtime systems, and extreme scalability. This dissertation includes previously published and co-authored material, as well as unpublished co-authored material. Close

• 3. [Article] Examination of Human Impacts on the Biodiversity and Ecology of Lichen and Moss Communities

  Globally, more than half of the world's population is living in urban areas and it is well accepted that human activities (e.g. climate warming, pollution, landscape homogenization) pose a multitude of ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Examination of Human Impacts on the Biodiversity and Ecology of Lichen and Moss Communities Author: Prather, Hannah Marie Year: 2017 Globally, more than half of the world's population is living in urban areas and it is well accepted that human activities (e.g. climate warming, pollution, landscape homogenization) pose a multitude of threats to ecosystems. Largely, human-related impacts on biodiversity will hold consequences for larger ecological processes and research looking into human impacts on sensitive epiphytic lichen and moss communities is an emerging area of research. While seemingly small, lichen and moss communities exist on nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth and contribute to whole-system processes (e.g. hydrology, mineral cycling, food web energetics) worldwide. To further examine human impacts on epiphytic communities, I conducted three studies examining urbanization and climate warming effects on epiphytic lichen and moss biodiversity and ecology. In the first study I revisited a historic urban lichen community study to assess how urban lichen communities have responded to regional air quality changes occurring over the last nearly two decades. I further investigated, for the first time, the biodiversity of urban tree canopy-dwelling lichen communities in a native coniferous tree species, Pseudotsuga menziesii. I found that urban parks and forested areas harbor a species rich community of lichens epiphytes. Further, I found evidence for the distinct homogenization of urban epiphytic lichen communities, suggesting that expanding beyond simplistic measures of biodiversity to consider community composition and functional biodiversity may be necessary when assessing the ecology and potential ecosystem services of epiphyte communites within urbanizing landscapes. Next, I present the first tall tree canopy study across a regional gradient of urbanization near Portland, Oregon, USA. I found that tall tree canopy epiphyte communities change dramatically along gradients of increasing urbanization, most notably by the transitioning of species functional groups from sensitive, oligotrophic species to a dominance of urban-tolerant, eutrophic species. The implications these dramatic shifts in species composition have on essential PNW ecosystem processes, like N-fixation and canopy microclimate regulation, is still not well understood and is difficult to formally evaluate. However, I find strong evidence that native conifer trees in urban areas may provide a diversity of essential ecosystem services, including providing stratified habitat for epiphyte communities and their associated micro arthropod communities and the scavenging of atmospherically deposited nutrients. Future work is needed to understand how losses in canopy N fixation and species with large biomass (both lichens and bryophytes) will affect nutrient and hydrologic cycling in the PNW region, which continue to undergo rapid growth and urbanization. The final chapter investigates the impacts of passive warming by Open Top Chambers (OTCs) in moss-dominated ecosystems located on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, an area of increasing climate warming. I compared species-specific temperature effects, moss canopy morphology, sexual reproductive effort and invertebrate communities between OTC and control moss communities for two moss species, Polytrichastrum alpinum and Sanionia uncinata, that make up over 65% of the terrestrial vegetative cover in the area. I found distinct reproductive shifts in P. alpinum under passive warming compared to controls. Moss communities under warming also had substantially larger total invertebrate communities than those in control moss communities, and invertebrate communities were significantly affected by moss species and moss reproductive effort. Further, substantial species-specific thermal differences among contiguous patches of these dominant moss species were revealed. These results suggest that continued warming will differentially impact the reproductive output of Antarctic moss species and is likely to dramatically alter terrestrial ecosystems dynamics from the bottom up. This combined work provides a diverse contribution to the field of epiphyte ecology and biology by providing new insights on how human impacts will affect epiphyte lichen and moss communities across diverse ecosystems, in light of a rapidly changing planet. Title: Examination of Human Impacts on the Biodiversity and Ecology of Lichen and Moss Communities Author: Prather, Hannah Marie Year: 2017 Globally, more than half of the world's population is living in urban areas and it is well accepted that human activities (e.g. climate warming, pollution, landscape homogenization) pose a multitude of threats to ecosystems. Largely, human-related impacts on biodiversity will hold consequences for larger ecological processes and research looking into human impacts on sensitive epiphytic lichen and moss communities is an emerging area of research. While seemingly small, lichen and moss communities exist on nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth and contribute to whole-system processes (e.g. hydrology, mineral cycling, food web energetics) worldwide. To further examine human impacts on epiphytic communities, I conducted three studies examining urbanization and climate warming effects on epiphytic lichen and moss biodiversity and ecology. In the first study I revisited a historic urban lichen community study to assess how urban lichen communities have responded to regional air quality changes occurring over the last nearly two decades. I further investigated, for the first time, the biodiversity of urban tree canopy-dwelling lichen communities in a native coniferous tree species, Pseudotsuga menziesii. I found that urban parks and forested areas harbor a species rich community of lichens epiphytes. Further, I found evidence for the distinct homogenization of urban epiphytic lichen communities, suggesting that expanding beyond simplistic measures of biodiversity to consider community composition and functional biodiversity may be necessary when assessing the ecology and potential ecosystem services of epiphyte communites within urbanizing landscapes. Next, I present the first tall tree canopy study across a regional gradient of urbanization near Portland, Oregon, USA. I found that tall tree canopy epiphyte communities change dramatically along gradients of increasing urbanization, most notably by the transitioning of species functional groups from sensitive, oligotrophic species to a dominance of urban-tolerant, eutrophic species. The implications these dramatic shifts in species composition have on essential PNW ecosystem processes, like N-fixation and canopy microclimate regulation, is still not well understood and is difficult to formally evaluate. However, I find strong evidence that native conifer trees in urban areas may provide a diversity of essential ecosystem services, including providing stratified habitat for epiphyte communities and their associated micro arthropod communities and the scavenging of atmospherically deposited nutrients. Future work is needed to understand how losses in canopy N fixation and species with large biomass (both lichens and bryophytes) will affect nutrient and hydrologic cycling in the PNW region, which continue to undergo rapid growth and urbanization. The final chapter investigates the impacts of passive warming by Open Top Chambers (OTCs) in moss-dominated ecosystems located on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, an area of increasing climate warming. I compared species-specific temperature effects, moss canopy morphology, sexual reproductive effort and invertebrate communities between OTC and control moss communities for two moss species, Polytrichastrum alpinum and Sanionia uncinata, that make up over 65% of the terrestrial vegetative cover in the area. I found distinct reproductive shifts in P. alpinum under passive warming compared to controls. Moss communities under warming also had substantially larger total invertebrate communities than those in control moss communities, and invertebrate communities were significantly affected by moss species and moss reproductive effort. Further, substantial species-specific thermal differences among contiguous patches of these dominant moss species were revealed. These results suggest that continued warming will differentially impact the reproductive output of Antarctic moss species and is likely to dramatically alter terrestrial ecosystems dynamics from the bottom up. This combined work provides a diverse contribution to the field of epiphyte ecology and biology by providing new insights on how human impacts will affect epiphyte lichen and moss communities across diverse ecosystems, in light of a rapidly changing planet. Close

• 4. [Article] 525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity in Oregon Trade Publishing?

  In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: 525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity in Oregon Trade Publishing? Author: Gnall, Alyssa Year: 2016 In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, and whether and how the economic concept of cultural diversity can be useful to publishers committed to increasing diversity in their lists or amongst their staff. Generally speaking, the term “diversity” refers to the social choice to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, sex, class or economic status, etc. In this paper, I will also refer to the economic concept of cultural diversity. In publishing, this concept, developed from principles of biodiversity in healthy ecosystems and defined for the book industry by Françoise Benhamou and Stéphanie Peltier, is measured by analyzing the three properties of diversity—variety, balance, and disparity—“according to the three forms of categorization of the population of individual books…: the title, the genre and the original language" Title: 525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity in Oregon Trade Publishing? Author: Gnall, Alyssa Year: 2016 In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, and whether and how the economic concept of cultural diversity can be useful to publishers committed to increasing diversity in their lists or amongst their staff. Generally speaking, the term “diversity” refers to the social choice to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, sex, class or economic status, etc. In this paper, I will also refer to the economic concept of cultural diversity. In publishing, this concept, developed from principles of biodiversity in healthy ecosystems and defined for the book industry by Françoise Benhamou and Stéphanie Peltier, is measured by analyzing the three properties of diversity—variety, balance, and disparity—“according to the three forms of categorization of the population of individual books…: the title, the genre and the original language" Close

• 5. [Article] Ecosystem Services in Managing Residential Landscapes: Priorities, Value Dimensions, and Cross-Regional Patterns

  Although ecosystem services have been intensively examined in certain domains (e.g., forests and wetlands), little research has assessed ecosystem services for the most dominant landscape type in urban ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Ecosystem Services in Managing Residential Landscapes: Priorities, Value Dimensions, and Cross-Regional Patterns Author: Larson, Kelli L., Morse, Jennifer L., Groffman, Peter M., Bettez, Neil D., Trammell, Tara Year: 2016 Although ecosystem services have been intensively examined in certain domains (e.g., forests and wetlands), little research has assessed ecosystem services for the most dominant landscape type in urban ecosystems—namely, residential yards. In this paper, we report findings of a cross-site survey of homeowners in six U.S. cities to 1) examine how residents subjectively value various ecosystem services, 2) explore distinctive dimensions of those values, and 3) test the urban homogenization hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that urbanization leads to similarities in the social-ecological dynamics across cities in diverse biomes. By extension, the thesis suggests that residents’ ecosystem service priorities for residential landscapes will be similar regardless of whether residents live in the humid East or the arid West, or the warm South or the cold North. Results underscored that cultural services were of utmost importance, particularly anthropocentric values including aesthetics, low-maintenance, and personal enjoyment. Using factor analyses, distinctive dimensions of residents’ values were found to partially align with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s categories (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural). Finally, residents’ ecosystem service priorities exhibited significant homogenization across regions. In particular, the traditional lawn aesthetic (neat, green, weed-free yards) was similarly important across residents of diverse U.S. cities. Only a few exceptions were found across different environmental and social contexts; for example, cooling effects were more important in the warm South, where residents also valued aesthetics more than those in the North, where low-maintenance yards were a greater priority. Title: Ecosystem Services in Managing Residential Landscapes: Priorities, Value Dimensions, and Cross-Regional Patterns Author: Larson, Kelli L., Morse, Jennifer L., Groffman, Peter M., Bettez, Neil D., Trammell, Tara Year: 2016 Although ecosystem services have been intensively examined in certain domains (e.g., forests and wetlands), little research has assessed ecosystem services for the most dominant landscape type in urban ecosystems—namely, residential yards. In this paper, we report findings of a cross-site survey of homeowners in six U.S. cities to 1) examine how residents subjectively value various ecosystem services, 2) explore distinctive dimensions of those values, and 3) test the urban homogenization hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that urbanization leads to similarities in the social-ecological dynamics across cities in diverse biomes. By extension, the thesis suggests that residents’ ecosystem service priorities for residential landscapes will be similar regardless of whether residents live in the humid East or the arid West, or the warm South or the cold North. Results underscored that cultural services were of utmost importance, particularly anthropocentric values including aesthetics, low-maintenance, and personal enjoyment. Using factor analyses, distinctive dimensions of residents’ values were found to partially align with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s categories (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural). Finally, residents’ ecosystem service priorities exhibited significant homogenization across regions. In particular, the traditional lawn aesthetic (neat, green, weed-free yards) was similarly important across residents of diverse U.S. cities. Only a few exceptions were found across different environmental and social contexts; for example, cooling effects were more important in the warm South, where residents also valued aesthetics more than those in the North, where low-maintenance yards were a greater priority. Close

• 6. [Article] Green Roofs and Urban Biodiversity: Their Role as Invertebrate Habitat and the Effect of Design on Beetle Community

  With over half the world's population now living in cities, urban areas represent one of earth's few ecosystems that are increasing in extent, and are sites of altered biogeochemical cycles, habitat fragmentation, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Green Roofs and Urban Biodiversity: Their Role as Invertebrate Habitat and the Effect of Design on Beetle Community Author: Gonsalves, Sydney Marie Year: 2016 With over half the world's population now living in cities, urban areas represent one of earth's few ecosystems that are increasing in extent, and are sites of altered biogeochemical cycles, habitat fragmentation, and changes in biodiversity. However, urban green spaces, including green roofs, can also provide important pools of biodiversity and contribute to regional gamma diversity, while novel species assemblages can enhance some ecosystem services. Green roofs may also mitigate species loss in urban areas and have been shown to support a surprising diversity of invertebrates, including rare and endangered species. In the first part of this study I reviewed the literature on urban invertebrate communities and diversity to better understand the role of green roofs in providing habitat in the context of the larger urban mosaic. My review concluded that, while other factors such as surrounding land use and connectivity are also important to specific invertebrate taxa, local habitat variables contribute substantially to the structure and diversity of urban invertebrate communities. The importance of local habitat variables in urban green spaces and strong support for the habitat complexity hypothesis in a number of other ecosystems has led to proposals that "biodiverse" roofs--those intentionally designed with varied substrate depth, greater plant diversity, or added elements such as logs or stones--would support greater invertebrate diversity, but there is currently limited peer reviewed data to support this. In order to address the habitat complexity hypothesis in the context of green roofs, in the second part of this study I surveyed three roofs designed primarily for stormwater management, three biodiverse roofs, and five ground-level green spaces, from March until September of 2014 in the Portland metropolitan area. Beetles (Coleoptera) were sampled bi-weekly as representatives of total species diversity. Biodiverse roofs had greater richness, abundance, and diversity of beetle species compared to stormwater roofs, but were not more diverse than ground sites. Both biodiverse roofs and ground sites had approximately 20% native beetle species while stormwater roofs had only 5%. Functional diversity was also higher on biodiverse roofs with an average of seven trophic groups represented, while stormwater roofs averaged only three. Ground sites, biodiverse roofs, and stormwater roofs each grouped distinctively in terms of beetle community composition and biodiverse roof communities were found to be positively correlated with roof age, percent plant cover, average plant height, and plant species richness. These results support the findings of previous studies on the importance of local variables in structuring urban invertebrate communities and suggest that biodiverse design can reliably increase greenroof diversity, with the caution that they remain no replacement for ground level conservation. Title: Green Roofs and Urban Biodiversity: Their Role as Invertebrate Habitat and the Effect of Design on Beetle Community Author: Gonsalves, Sydney Marie Year: 2016 With over half the world's population now living in cities, urban areas represent one of earth's few ecosystems that are increasing in extent, and are sites of altered biogeochemical cycles, habitat fragmentation, and changes in biodiversity. However, urban green spaces, including green roofs, can also provide important pools of biodiversity and contribute to regional gamma diversity, while novel species assemblages can enhance some ecosystem services. Green roofs may also mitigate species loss in urban areas and have been shown to support a surprising diversity of invertebrates, including rare and endangered species. In the first part of this study I reviewed the literature on urban invertebrate communities and diversity to better understand the role of green roofs in providing habitat in the context of the larger urban mosaic. My review concluded that, while other factors such as surrounding land use and connectivity are also important to specific invertebrate taxa, local habitat variables contribute substantially to the structure and diversity of urban invertebrate communities. The importance of local habitat variables in urban green spaces and strong support for the habitat complexity hypothesis in a number of other ecosystems has led to proposals that "biodiverse" roofs--those intentionally designed with varied substrate depth, greater plant diversity, or added elements such as logs or stones--would support greater invertebrate diversity, but there is currently limited peer reviewed data to support this. In order to address the habitat complexity hypothesis in the context of green roofs, in the second part of this study I surveyed three roofs designed primarily for stormwater management, three biodiverse roofs, and five ground-level green spaces, from March until September of 2014 in the Portland metropolitan area. Beetles (Coleoptera) were sampled bi-weekly as representatives of total species diversity. Biodiverse roofs had greater richness, abundance, and diversity of beetle species compared to stormwater roofs, but were not more diverse than ground sites. Both biodiverse roofs and ground sites had approximately 20% native beetle species while stormwater roofs had only 5%. Functional diversity was also higher on biodiverse roofs with an average of seven trophic groups represented, while stormwater roofs averaged only three. Ground sites, biodiverse roofs, and stormwater roofs each grouped distinctively in terms of beetle community composition and biodiverse roof communities were found to be positively correlated with roof age, percent plant cover, average plant height, and plant species richness. These results support the findings of previous studies on the importance of local variables in structuring urban invertebrate communities and suggest that biodiverse design can reliably increase greenroof diversity, with the caution that they remain no replacement for ground level conservation. Close

• 7. [Article] Climate Change Effects on Northern Great Lake (USA) Forests: A Case for Preserving Diversity

  Under business as usual (BAU) management, stresses posed by climate change may exceed the ability of Great Lake forests to adapt. Temperature and precipitation projections in the Great Lakes region are ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Climate Change Effects on Northern Great Lake (USA) Forests: A Case for Preserving Diversity Author: Duveneck, Matthew Joshua, Scheller, Robert M., White, Mark A., Handler, Stephen D., Ravenscroft, Catherine Year: 2014 Under business as usual (BAU) management, stresses posed by climate change may exceed the ability of Great Lake forests to adapt. Temperature and precipitation projections in the Great Lakes region are expected to change forest tree species composition and productivity. It is unknown how a change in productivity and/or tree species diversity due to climate change will affect the relationship between diversity and productivity. We assessed how forests in two landscapes (i.e., northern lower Michigan and northeastern Minnesota, USA) would respond to climate change and explored the diversityproductivity relationship under climate change. In addition, we explored how tree species diversity varied across landscapes by soil type, climate, and management. We used a spatially dynamic forest ecosystem model, LANDIS-II, to simulate BAU forest management under three climate scenarios (current climate, low emissions, and high emissions) in each landscape. We found a positive relationship between diversity and productivity only under a high emissions future as productivity declined. Within landscapes, climate change simulations resulted in the highest diversity in the coolest climate regions and lowest diversity in the warmest climate region in Minnesota and Michigan, respectively. Simulated productivity declined in both landscapes under the high emissions climate scenario as species such as balsam fir (Abies balsamea) declined in abundance. In the Great Lakes region, a high emissions future may decrease forest productivity creating a more positive relationship between diversity and productivity. Maintaining a diversity of tree species may become increasingly important to maintain the adaptive capacity of forests. Title: Climate Change Effects on Northern Great Lake (USA) Forests: A Case for Preserving Diversity Author: Duveneck, Matthew Joshua, Scheller, Robert M., White, Mark A., Handler, Stephen D., Ravenscroft, Catherine Year: 2014 Under business as usual (BAU) management, stresses posed by climate change may exceed the ability of Great Lake forests to adapt. Temperature and precipitation projections in the Great Lakes region are expected to change forest tree species composition and productivity. It is unknown how a change in productivity and/or tree species diversity due to climate change will affect the relationship between diversity and productivity. We assessed how forests in two landscapes (i.e., northern lower Michigan and northeastern Minnesota, USA) would respond to climate change and explored the diversityproductivity relationship under climate change. In addition, we explored how tree species diversity varied across landscapes by soil type, climate, and management. We used a spatially dynamic forest ecosystem model, LANDIS-II, to simulate BAU forest management under three climate scenarios (current climate, low emissions, and high emissions) in each landscape. We found a positive relationship between diversity and productivity only under a high emissions future as productivity declined. Within landscapes, climate change simulations resulted in the highest diversity in the coolest climate regions and lowest diversity in the warmest climate region in Minnesota and Michigan, respectively. Simulated productivity declined in both landscapes under the high emissions climate scenario as species such as balsam fir (Abies balsamea) declined in abundance. In the Great Lakes region, a high emissions future may decrease forest productivity creating a more positive relationship between diversity and productivity. Maintaining a diversity of tree species may become increasingly important to maintain the adaptive capacity of forests. Close

• 8. [Article] Exploring, Exploiting and Evolving Diversity of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: a Community Perspective

  Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Exploring, Exploiting and Evolving Diversity of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: a Community Perspective Author: Janssen, Annette B.G., Arhonditsis, George B., Beusen, Arthur, Bolding, Karsten, Bruce, Louise, Bruggeman, Jorn, Couture, Raoul-Marie, Downing, Andrea S., Elliott, J. Alex, Frassl, Marieke A., Gal, Gideon, Gerla, Daan J., Hipsey, Matthew R., Hu, Fenjuan, Ives, Stephen C., Janse, Jan H., Jeppesen, Erik, Jöhnk, Klaus D., Kneis, David, Kong, Xiangzhen, Kuiper, Jan J., Lehmann, Moritz K., Lemmen, Carsten, Özkundakci, Deniz, Petzoldt, Thomas, Rinke, Karsten, Robson, Barbara J., Sachse, René, Schep, Sebastiaan A., Schmid, Martin, Scholten, Huub, Teurlincx, Sven, Trolle, Dennis, Troost, Tineke A., Van Dam, Anne A., Van Gerven, Luuk P.A., Weijerman, Mariska, Wells, Scott A., Mooij, Wolf M. Year: 2015 Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, filling in observation gaps and developing effective strategies for water quality management. In this spirit, numerous models have been developed since the 1970s. We set off to explore model diversity by making an inventory among 42 aquatic ecosystem modellers, by categorizing the resulting set of models and by analysing them for diversity. We then focus on how to exploit model diversity by comparing and combining different aspects of existing models. Finally, we discuss how model diversity came about in the past and could evolve in the future. Throughout our study, we use analogies from biodiversity research to analyse and interpret model diversity. We recommend to make models publicly available through open-source policies, to standardize documentation and technical implementation of models, and to compare models through ensemble modelling and interdisciplinary approaches. We end with our perspective on how the field of aquatic ecosystem modelling might develop in the next 5–10 years. To strive for clarity and to improve readability for non-modellers, we include a glossary. Title: Exploring, Exploiting and Evolving Diversity of Aquatic Ecosystem Models: a Community Perspective Author: Janssen, Annette B.G., Arhonditsis, George B., Beusen, Arthur, Bolding, Karsten, Bruce, Louise, Bruggeman, Jorn, Couture, Raoul-Marie, Downing, Andrea S., Elliott, J. Alex, Frassl, Marieke A., Gal, Gideon, Gerla, Daan J., Hipsey, Matthew R., Hu, Fenjuan, Ives, Stephen C., Janse, Jan H., Jeppesen, Erik, Jöhnk, Klaus D., Kneis, David, Kong, Xiangzhen, Kuiper, Jan J., Lehmann, Moritz K., Lemmen, Carsten, Özkundakci, Deniz, Petzoldt, Thomas, Rinke, Karsten, Robson, Barbara J., Sachse, René, Schep, Sebastiaan A., Schmid, Martin, Scholten, Huub, Teurlincx, Sven, Trolle, Dennis, Troost, Tineke A., Van Dam, Anne A., Van Gerven, Luuk P.A., Weijerman, Mariska, Wells, Scott A., Mooij, Wolf M. Year: 2015 Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, filling in observation gaps and developing effective strategies for water quality management. In this spirit, numerous models have been developed since the 1970s. We set off to explore model diversity by making an inventory among 42 aquatic ecosystem modellers, by categorizing the resulting set of models and by analysing them for diversity. We then focus on how to exploit model diversity by comparing and combining different aspects of existing models. Finally, we discuss how model diversity came about in the past and could evolve in the future. Throughout our study, we use analogies from biodiversity research to analyse and interpret model diversity. We recommend to make models publicly available through open-source policies, to standardize documentation and technical implementation of models, and to compare models through ensemble modelling and interdisciplinary approaches. We end with our perspective on how the field of aquatic ecosystem modelling might develop in the next 5–10 years. To strive for clarity and to improve readability for non-modellers, we include a glossary. Close

• 9. [Article] Increased Taxonomic and Functional Similarity Does Not Increase the Trophic Similarity of Communities

  Aim: Despite a long-standing research interest in the association between the biodiversity (i.e. taxonomic and functional composition) and trophic structure of communities, our understanding of the relationship ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Increased Taxonomic and Functional Similarity Does Not Increase the Trophic Similarity of Communities Author: Pool, Thomas K., Cucherousset, Julien, Boulêtreau, Stéphanie, Villéger, Sébastien, Strecker, Angela L., Grenouillet, Gaël Year: 2015 Aim: Despite a long-standing research interest in the association between the biodiversity (i.e. taxonomic and functional composition) and trophic structure of communities, our understanding of the relationship remains limited. Community assembly theory predicts that niche partitioning will result in communities with a diverse array of functional traits, which in turn may facilitate a correspondingly diverse array of trophic interactions that define the trophic niche of those communities. The aim of our study is to test this prediction. Methods: We built a database composed of functional traits and stable isotope values (δ13C and δ15N) for 63 freshwater fish communities containing 109 species in 34 lentic and 29 lotic ecosystems. First, using linear mixed models (i.e. an alpha-diversity approach), we tested whether the taxonomic diversity of communities was positively associated with their functional diversity and if their functional diversity was positively associated with their trophic diversity. Second, we assessed the taxonomic, functional and trophic similarity of communities using multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM) and their respective ‘turnover’ and ‘nestedness-resultant’ components to test if the taxonomic similarity of communities was positively correlated with their functional similarity and if their functional similarity was positively associated with their trophic similarity (i.e. a beta-diversity approach). Results: We found that the functional diversity of communities increased as their taxonomic diversity increased. Similarly, the trophic diversity of communities increased as their functional diversity increased. The pairwise taxonomic and functional similarity of communities were also positively associated, but there was a weak relationship between the functional and trophic similarities of communities. Main conclusions: Our study demonstrates that communities with similar functional characteristics can have disparate food web structures, suggesting that additional site-specific factors influence community variation in trophic niche geometry. Determining the relative importance of functional characteristics and site-specific factors in shaping trophic interactions is crucial for a better understanding of how future species loss and species introductions will affect food web structure and ecosystem functioning. Title: Increased Taxonomic and Functional Similarity Does Not Increase the Trophic Similarity of Communities Author: Pool, Thomas K., Cucherousset, Julien, Boulêtreau, Stéphanie, Villéger, Sébastien, Strecker, Angela L., Grenouillet, Gaël Year: 2015 Aim: Despite a long-standing research interest in the association between the biodiversity (i.e. taxonomic and functional composition) and trophic structure of communities, our understanding of the relationship remains limited. Community assembly theory predicts that niche partitioning will result in communities with a diverse array of functional traits, which in turn may facilitate a correspondingly diverse array of trophic interactions that define the trophic niche of those communities. The aim of our study is to test this prediction. Methods: We built a database composed of functional traits and stable isotope values (δ13C and δ15N) for 63 freshwater fish communities containing 109 species in 34 lentic and 29 lotic ecosystems. First, using linear mixed models (i.e. an alpha-diversity approach), we tested whether the taxonomic diversity of communities was positively associated with their functional diversity and if their functional diversity was positively associated with their trophic diversity. Second, we assessed the taxonomic, functional and trophic similarity of communities using multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM) and their respective ‘turnover’ and ‘nestedness-resultant’ components to test if the taxonomic similarity of communities was positively correlated with their functional similarity and if their functional similarity was positively associated with their trophic similarity (i.e. a beta-diversity approach). Results: We found that the functional diversity of communities increased as their taxonomic diversity increased. Similarly, the trophic diversity of communities increased as their functional diversity increased. The pairwise taxonomic and functional similarity of communities were also positively associated, but there was a weak relationship between the functional and trophic similarities of communities. Main conclusions: Our study demonstrates that communities with similar functional characteristics can have disparate food web structures, suggesting that additional site-specific factors influence community variation in trophic niche geometry. Determining the relative importance of functional characteristics and site-specific factors in shaping trophic interactions is crucial for a better understanding of how future species loss and species introductions will affect food web structure and ecosystem functioning. Close

• 10. [Article] Enhancing the effectiveness of conservation easements through trust building, partner coordination, and cooperation

  2 pages

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Enhancing the effectiveness of conservation easements through trust building, partner coordination, and cooperation Author: University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program Year: 2016, 2013 2 pages Title: Enhancing the effectiveness of conservation easements through trust building, partner coordination, and cooperation Author: University of Oregon. Ecosystem Workforce Program Year: 2016, 2013 2 pages Close