Estonian Journal of Ecology最新文献

{"title":"An Antillean plant of beauty, a French botanist, and a German name: naming plants in the Early Modern Atlantic world/Antillide taimeiludus, prantsuse botaanik ja saksa nimi: taimenimede andmine varauusaegses Atlandi regioonis","authors":"Laura Hollsten","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2012.1.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2012.1.05","url":null,"abstract":"INTRODUCTION According to a story entitled 'The Tree of Riches', the French botanist Charles Plumier decided that he would like to travel the world and get rich (Pellowski, 1990). In order for this to happen, a fortune teller told him, he had to find a tree with blossoms of the colour of the new moon that grows near churches and graveyards. Hence Plumier travelled to the West Indies where he was told by an old wise woman that such a tree indeed existed and that shaking its branches would bring him riches beyond imagining. As Plumier did so, the story goes, his soul was overpowered by the lovely smell and sight of the cascade of flowers, glistening like golden coins, and he realized that the real wealth in this life was beauty, not riches. Instead of searching for material riches he then went on to look for wealth in nature and discovered many plants. The genus of the tree he found came to be named Plumeria. This old tale is probably based on the facts that the French priest and botanist Charles Plumier (1646-1704) really did botanize in the West Indies and that the tree commonly known as frangipani was named after him. His personal motives, however, probably had more to do with scientific interest and duty than economic gain, although exotic plants often were of great economic value in early modern times (Schiebinger, 2004). Plumier was a monk, a member of the order of the Minims, characterized by great penance and abnegation, including abstinence from all meat. The order is called the Minims because its members regard themselves as the least (minimi) of all the religious and devote themselves to prayer, study, and scholarship (Whitmore, 1967). The genus name Plumeria was given by fellow botanists Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and Carl von Linne, who wanted to honour a colleague they highly respected. Plumier in his turn named several plants after well-known botanists. An example of this is a plant he found in St. Domingue, called Molla Ecantu (plant of beauty) by the indigenous people, which he named Fuchsia triphylla after the German botanist Leonard Fuchs (Plumier, 1703-1704). Knowledge of a plant is usually understood to include, besides knowledge of its physical characteristics, the ability to name it. The vernacular name sometimes refers to the form or the colour of the plant, sometimes to its habitat, and in some cases to the ways the plant has been used. In all these cases the name provides at least some information about the plant. These descriptive references continued when botanists began giving plants Latin names, although then only those who knew Latin understood the significance of the names. The European expansion and the transatlantic contacts created a situation where natural historians of several nationalities botanized in the colonies, each giving the plants they 'discovered' a different name. In addition, a practice of naming plants after prominent men, often botanists, developed in early modern Europe. The custom of naming plan","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129689058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Botanical nature writing: an ecocritical analysis","authors":"Kadri Tüür, T. Reitalu","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2012.1.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2012.1.03","url":null,"abstract":"INTRODUCTION The background of the present article lies in the American tradition of ecocritical literary studies and in a concept central to it, nature writing. Our purpose is to detect the tradition of nature writing in Estonia and to analyse its characteristic traits on the example of a botany-focused book. In introducing the notion of nature writing (Finch & Elder, 2002) and applying ecocritical reading (Glotfelty & Fromm, 1996) on an exemplary text (Rebassoo, 1975a), we want to test the benefits of literary analysis for texts that have been regarded as popular science in Estonian reception and left without much critical response. There is a whole array of books on natural history that in some regard conform too little to the rules of popular science, but cannot be considered fiction either. The problem is that such texts have been written for decades, but they have not received much critical attention or feedback. The lack of conceptual tools is definitely one reason for this situation. Ecocritical interest in nature writing provides a context for re-actualizing a wide range of previously under-conceptualized publications. As a recently developed approach in literary theory that focuses on human-environment relationships (Buell, 1995; Love, 2003; Murphy, 2009), ecocriticism has taken nature writing as one of the central types of literature studied with its methods. In the Anglo-American tradition, the notions such as wilderness, experience of sublime, solitude, pastoral, and apocalypse have been central for the scholars analysing such texts (Garrard, 2009). One of the distinctive traits of the Estonian tradition of nature writing is a strong scientific background of its authors (Tuur & Maran, 2005). Scientific names, data, and explanations are routinely provided as comments to the immediate observations of natural phenomena. At the same time, such texts cannot be approached as academic papers as the writer's subjective persona is ever present in them. The solution we are offering in the present article is to consider such texts as nature writing. The dynamic model of nature writing is introduced and applied, demonstrating some possibilities of ecocritical analysis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Source material The source material for the present study is a book based on botanical fieldwork notes that resembles a diary rather than a research text. The author Haide-Ene Rebassoo (b. 1935) is an Estonian botanist who has published extensively on Estonian plants, plant communities, their distribution and protection; she has written chapters for encyclopaedic collections and accounts of plants for a wider public (for her bibliography, see Kukk, 1999). The present article focuses on her book titled Botaanilisi kilde 17 Hiiumaa suvest [Botanical Fragments from 17 Summers in Hiiumaa] (further referred to as BF), published in 1975. Unlike the majority of the books issued during the Soviet period, this one does not have an annotation on its impressum page. It i","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133625658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"People and plants : Introducing environmental humanities of plants in the Baltics and beyond","authors":"Sabine Brauchman, Dolly Jørgensen","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2012.1.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2012.1.02","url":null,"abstract":"People and plants : Introducing environmental humanities of plants in the Baltics and beyond","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115583336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stocks and annual fluxes of organic carbon in the mineral soil cover of Estonia","authors":"R. Kõlli, I. Tamm, A. Astover","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.4.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.4.01","url":null,"abstract":"Annual cycling of soil organic carbon (SOC) is the main driving force in the formation and functioning of soil cover. Therefore knowledge about it forms the scientific base for sustainable management and ecologically sound soil protection. Systematized parameters of the mean annual cycling of SOC by soils are analysed on the basis of the SOC stock densities (Mg ha -1 ) of 16 mineral soil groups. The SOC stocks according to soil groups for the soil cover (solum) as a whole and for their epipedon were calculated on the basis of mean SOC densities and their distribution area of soil types. In the Estonian mineral soil cover (32 351 km 2 ) a total of 323 ± 46 Tg (10 12 g) SOC is retained; 42% of this is sequestered into stabilized humus, 40% into unstable raw humus, and 18% into forest (grassland) floor and shallow peat layers. Of the total SOC stock, 75% is situated in biologically active epipedons and 25% in subsoil. The annual SOC inputs and outputs in natural soils, which were calculated on the basis of annual productivity, ranged from 0.2 to 3.6 Mg ha -1 yr -1 . The influence of land management peculiarities on the annual cycling and balance of SOC has been demonstrated by our own experimental research, as well as by data published in the literature. In this work the pedo-ecological causal regularities of SOC sequestration in mineral soil cover (SOC concentration, soil thickness, moisture regime, texture, carbonate content), and agro-technological possibilities for its regulation (crops and their rotation, level of subsidization and soil amelioration) are discussed.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128075371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phytosociology and Dynamics of Calcareous Grasslands in Kemeri National Park, Latvia","authors":"A. Priede","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.4.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.4.03","url":null,"abstract":"Ecology, phytosociology, and regional characteristics of and management effects on calcareous grasslands in Kemeri National Park (Latvia) were studied. The data set included 181 phytosociological releves. According to TWINSPAN division and mean Ellenberg values the releves were classified into four major groups at association level and classified as Sesleria caerulea-Primula veris community (alliance Bromion), Sesleria caerulea-Inula salicina community, Molinietum caeruleae community, and Carex hostiana community (alliance Molinion). Environmental factors were analysed by DCA using the mean Ellenberg values. The variances in species composition were mainly influenced by moisture, the only factor significantly differing among the phytosociological groups. The recent management has not directly affected the present species richness and vegetation structure at community level. Some aspects of grassland dynamics and conservation are discussed.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131733981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biochemical and structural characteristics of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in an alkaline environment","authors":"M. Mandre, A. Lukjanova","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.4.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.4.02","url":null,"abstract":"Investigations in a 75-85-year-old Scots pine stand were performed on a territory influenced over 40 years by alkaline dust pollution (pH 12.3-12.7) emitted from a cement plant. Sample plots were located at distances of 2, 3, and 5 km E of the emission source and a control sample plot was selected on an unpolluted territory 38 km W of it. We studied soil properties and the anatomical structure, mineral nutrition, and pigments in Scots pine needles. The alkaline dust pollution has affected the biogeochemical cycling in the forest ecosystem, increasing the pH and total Ca, K, Fe, Mn, and Mg and decreasing N, C, organic matter, and C/N compared to the unpolluted soils. Alkalization and changes in the nutrient composition of soil had caused serious disbalances in nutrient availability and in the mineral composition of trees. Deficiency in foliar N and Mn and excess of K, Ca, and Fe contents had caused a decrease in the average chlorophyll concentrations. Carotenoids seemed to be more tolerant both to changes in soil and needle nutrient composition. The Chl a/Chl b ratio in needles was found to have declined. With the alkalization of the environment the total area of the needle cross-section, needle thickness, and mesophyll area had also decreased compared with control. Differences in the anatomical characteristics of needles between the polluted and unpolluted areas were significant in the oldest needles. The decrease of mesophyll was associated with the content of chlorophylls and correlated with N concentrations in needles.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127635043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radon emissions in Harju County, North Estonia","authors":"Krista Jüriado, V. Petersell, A. Raukas","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.4.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.4.04","url":null,"abstract":"The risk of radon emissions is high in Estonia, especially in the northern part of the country where graptolite argillite (Dictyonema shale) crops out close to the ground surface. The behaviour and concentration of Rn in soil air vary considerably due to several reasons. To elucidate these, investigations were carried out in densely populated Harju County where the concentration of Rn is generally high and the risk to human health is the greatest. The investigations of soil air and in soil samples from the bottom of the excavations were carried out in 31 points. The assessments were made on the results of two simultaneously applied methods: calculated from eU concentration in soil measured with a gamma ray spectrometer, and by direct measurements in soil air with a Markus-10 emanometer. The results obtained by the two methods can notably differ. In the high and very high Rn risk areas the concentration of Rn in the indoor air of dwellings was high as well. The main source of Rn there is the soil underneath the dwellings and/or bedrock, primarily radioactive graptolite argillite lying below the Quaternary deposits. Areas of such high Rn concentrations in the ground did not follow the genetic-lithologic types of Quaternary deposits. In the high Rn-risk areas within the klint zone the content of U, F, Mo, and some other elements exceeded the recommended and even permissible level for residential areas in several investigation points.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132376485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rhopalodes lecorrei, a new moth species from French Guiana (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae: Trichopterygini)","authors":"J. Viidalepp","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.4.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.4.05","url":null,"abstract":"A new species of geometrid moth, Rhopalodes lecorrei sp. nov. is described from French Guiana. The wing pattern, venation, and male and female genitalia of the new species are described, illustrated, and compared to allird species.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"156 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125783815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Re-evaluation of stand indicators for the assessment of the representativity status of the Natura 2000 habitat type forests","authors":"A. Palo, Dagmar Hoder, J. Liira","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.3.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.3.04","url":null,"abstract":"Habitat inventories and monitoring require the evaluation of the status of various charac- teristics of these habitats - indicator traits. In the case study of Estonian forests in Viru County (Natura 2000 Annex I forest habitat types *9010, *9080, and *91D0), the survey data of old-growth and natural forests were used to test for the efficiency of the indicator set that has been suggested for the evaluation of the habitat's representativity status. The data from expert-graded forests (121 stands) were alternatively clustered with k-means clustering, their characteristics were tested for indicator power with discriminant analysis, and the resulting efficient set of characteristics was clustered again for an updated classification. In studying the differences between analyses of expert grading and cluster system, we found that different characteristics had different weights in forest classification. In addition to the standard structural characteristics, signs of anthropogenic activity and landscape pattern proved to be of importance. From the testing for various precision scales of classification, we concluded that different indicator traits of structure and composition are required, and the three-grade system appears to be practical for the purpose of avoiding over-interpretation. We found that additional studies are needed to define reasonable indicator traits for wet and swampy forests, and also for forests on unproductive soils.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"412 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129271830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of age estimates from otoliths, vertebrae, and pectoral spines in African sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell)","authors":"Shahista Khan, M. A. Khan, K. Miyan","doi":"10.3176/ECO.2011.3.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3176/ECO.2011.3.02","url":null,"abstract":"Otoliths, vertebrae, and pectoral fin spine sections were compared to ascertain the best ageing structure in Clarias gariepinus. Standard procedures were followed to prepare and study the age structures. All ageing structures showed alternating opaque and translucent bands that were interpreted as annuli. Age estimates were evaluated for comparison between readers and among structures. Among all structures otoliths showed highest (95.6%) agreement between readers, followed by vertebrae (91.2%) and pectoral spine sections (79.7%). Due to the highest values of percent agreement and lowest average percent error and coefficient of variation values between two readers, otoliths were considered to be the most suitable structure for ageing C. gariepinus. When otoliths' ages were compared with other bony structures, viz. vertebrae and pectoral spine sections, the highest percent agreement and lowest average percent error and coefficient of variation values were found between otoliths and vertebrae age estimates (90.7%). Mean age estimates from otoliths were comparable (P > 0.05) to the values obtained from vertebrae but significantly (P < 0.05) different to those from pectoral fin spine sections.","PeriodicalId":262667,"journal":{"name":"Estonian Journal of Ecology","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121407269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}