BEN # 94

[Adolf Ceska]

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No. 94                               March 7, 1995

aceska at freenet.victoria.bc.ca        Victoria, B.C.
-----------------------------------------------------------
 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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BIOCONTROL OF SCRUB OAK ON NANTUCKET ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS
From: Dr. Meindert de Jong <TPEjong at rcl.wau.nl>

Report  on  my  visit  to  the University of Massachusetts Field
Station, Island of Nantucket (November 11-20, 1994).

I visited Dr. Wesley Tiffney, Director of the Field  Station  in
Nantucket  <wtiffney at AOL.COM> During the first days of my visit,
I was guided all over the island. I could  see  the  problem  of
successional  scrub  oak  (Quercus ilicifolia) overgrowing heath
vegetation engendered by a long history of grazing, now ceased.

At the same time I observed several salt marshes and the  native
New  England  plants  growing  on  them.  With  the exception of
Limonium, the plants are different from  those  in  The  Nether-
lands, although the basic ecology is quite similar.

The  original  purpose  of  this visit was the organization of a
biocontrol trial of scrub oak. It was intended to inoculate some
just cut stubs  of  scrub  oak  with  Chondrostereum  purpureum,
silver leaf fungus, to suppress oak resprouting. Fungal prepara-
tions were to be provided by labs in Canada and The Netherlands.

Preliminary  field  results  performed  in  The  Netherlands had
already proved that the silver leaf fungus is an  highly  effec-
tive  controller of resprouting in "American oak" (Q. rubra) and
many other hardwoods. However, it quickly became clear that this
purpose had to be changed since we were not allowed to import  a
foreign  fungus  into  this island. So I decided to provide some
information about possibilities of biological control using 'my'
mycoherbicide (using the fungus C. purpureum  as  if  it  was  a
herbicide). Through a field survey, we would try to show natural
occurrence of this cosmopolitan fungus on Nantucket. sp Together
with  Dr.  Tiffney  and  Nantucket conservation land managers we
looked for the purple crusts (basidiocarps of C. purpureum)  all
across  the  island.  We  finally found these crusts on piles of
firewood, imported from central Massachusetts, in the yard of  a
Nantucket  fuel  merchant.  Dr.  Tiffney  put samples in a moist
chambers in his lab.

This summer, students at the Field Station will seek to document
natural occurrence of C. purpureum on Nantucket  island.  If  it
can be shown that the species is native there, then field trials
of  the  fungus used as a mycoherbicide for control of scrub oak
resprouting can be carried out.

Acknowledgments.
This research was sponsored by Landbouw Export Bureau  (Wagenin-
gen,   NL).   University   of   Massachusetts  provided  lodging
facilities and other in-kind compensation.


JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE: CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC VEGETATION

The Journal of Vegetation  Science,  vol.  5(1994)  published  a
Special  Feature  issue  on  Circumpolar  Arctic Vegetation. The
issue was based on contributions presented at the  International
Workshop  on  Classification  of  Arctic  Vegetation held at the
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado,
Boulder, CO, 5-9 March 1992.

Table of contents:

Walker, M.D., Daniels, F.J.A. & van der Maarel, E.:  Circumpolar
      arctic vegetation - Introduction and perspective.
Yurtsev, B.A.: Floristic division of the Arctic.
Murray,  D.F.:  Floristics, systematics, and the study of arctic
      vegetation a commentary.
Daniels, F.J.A.: Vegetation classification in Greenland.
Elvebakk, A.: A survey of plan associations and  alliances  from
      Svalbard.
Koroleva,  N.E.:  Phytosociological survey of the tundra vegeta-
      tion of the Kola Peninsula, Russia.
Matyeva, N.V.: Floristic classification and  ecology  of  tundra
      vegetation of the Taymyr Peninsula, northern Siberia.
Razzhivin, V.Yu.: Snowbed vegetation of far northeastern Asia.
Walker,  M.D.,  Walker, D.A. & Auerbach, N.A.: Plant communities
      of  a  tussock  tundra  landscape  in  the  Brooks   Range
      Foothills, Alaska.
Talbot,  S.S.  &  Talbot,  S.L.: Numerical classification of the
      coastal  vegetation  of  Attu  Island,  Aleutian  Islands,
      Alaska.
Forbes, B.C.: The importance of bryophytes in the classification
      of human-disturbed high arctic vegetation.
Sumina,  O.I.:  Plant communities on anthropogenically disturbed
      sites on the Chukotka Peninsula, Russia.
Lloyd, A.H., Armbruster, W.S. &  Edwards,  M.E.:  Ecology  of  a
      steppe-tundra gradient in interior Alaska.
Odasz,  A.M.:  Nitrate reductase activity in vegetation below an
      arctic bird cliff, Svalbard, Norway.

The  issue  is  being  published  separately  under  the  series
"Special  Features  in  Vegetation Science." The price is around
300 SEK and it can be ordered from Opulus Press AB, Box 25  137,
750 25 Uppsala, Sweden.


NEW FIELD STATION IN KALIMANTAN TENGAH, INDONESIA
From: Carey Yeager <cyeager at murray.fordham.edu>, originally
      posted on CONSLINK <CONSLINK%SIVM.BITNET at uga.cc.uga.edu>

The   Rainforest   Conservation   Biology  Group  announces  the
availability of new housing facilities at its field  station  in
Kalimantan  Tengah,  Indonesia.  The field station is located at
Natai Lengkuas on the black water Sekonyer Kiri river in Tanjung
Puting National Park. Facilities include motor boats, two 10 m x
12 m buildings for housing and lab work, two 6 m x 6m houses for
permanent staff, a kitchen,  four  vegetation  plots  containing
over  2000  tagged trees and a trail system. The site contains a
combination of fresh water peat swamp, heath  (kerangas)  forest
and  lowland dipterocarp forest. We have nine primate species in
the park (orangutan, gibbon, proboscis monkey,  red  leaf-eating
monkey,  silver  leaf-eating  monkey, long-tailed macaques, pig-
tailed macaque, slow loris  and,  supposedly,  tarsiers),  mouse
deer,  barking  deer, civets, short-nosed fruit bats, false vam-
pire bats, binturang, false gavials, monitor lizards,  Malaysian
sun  bear,  hornbills, kingfishers, storm's stork, arawana, etc.
Current research being conducted at  the  site  focuses  on  the
impact  of  habitat  degradation on primate group size, composi-
tion, ranging and feeding behavior, phytochemical differences in
food resources as predictors of  food  preferences,  inter-group
communication,  vegetation ecology and swamp forest restoration.
The field station works in close  collaboration  with  the  park
management  on  conservation  issues  and  is  run  through  the
auspices of Universitas Indonesia. All research is conducted  in
accordance with Indonesian regulations. Research permits must be
obtained  from  LIPI (Indonesian Institute of Sciences) and PHPA
(Indonesian Department of  Forest  Conservation)  and  take  ap-
proximately six months to obtain. Permission to work at the site
itself is made by the site operating committee and is contingent
upon  housing  availability.  For  more  information  concerning
research opportunities contact:

Before March 8, 1995 and after Sept. 1, 1995
Carey P. Yeager, Ph.D.
Director (U.S.) Rainforest Conservation Biology Group
Calder Center of Fordham University
Box K, 53 Whippoorwill Road
Phone: (914) 273-3078
Fax: (914) 273-6346
e-mail: cyeager at murray.fordham.edu

Between March 20, 1995 and August 9, 1995
Carey P. Yeager, Ph.D.
Rainforest Conservation Biology Group
D/A Losmen Abadi
Pangkalan Bun  74114
Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia
Fax: (62)(532) 21923 or 21919
(commercial - often turned off at night - a fax will take 3 days
to one week to reach the station)


SCIENCE CONTRACT REPORTS - INTERIOR COLUMBIA BASIN ECOSYSTEM
From:  Interior  Columbia  Basin  Ecosystem  Management  Project
      (ICBEMP),  112  E. Poplar Street, Walla Walla, Washington.
      Phone: 509-522-4030. ICBEMP Electronic  Library:  509-522-
      4085.

The following reports are currently available:

Chatterton,  N.  Jerry, Deane Harrison, Richard Page and Michael
      Curto. 1994. Introduced Forage Grasses. (77 pages)
Clark, Patrick  E.  1994.  Livestock-Big  Game  Interactions:  A
      Selected  Review  with  Emphasis  on  Literature  from the
      Interior Pacific Northwest. (109 pages)
Eversman, Sharon. 1994. Lichens of  the  Yellowstone  Ecosystem.
      (102 pages)
Hammer, Samuel. 1995. The Biogeography and Ecology of Species in
      the Lichen Genus Cladonia in the Columbia River Basin. (77
      pages)
Hammond,  Paul C. 1994. Rare Butterfly Assessment for the Colum-
      bia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest. (15 pages)
Hammond, Paul C. 1995. Butterflies and Their  Larval  Foodplants
      as  Bioindicators  for Ecosystem Monitoring in the Pacific
      Northwest. (38 pages)
Ingham, E. R. 1995. Soil Organisms, Bacteria,  Fungi,  Protozoa,
      Nematodes and Rotifers. (93 pages)
Kaltenecker,  Julie.  1994. Microbiotic Soil Crusts in Sagebrush
      Habitats of Southern Idaho. (60 pages)
Kemp,  William  P.  1994.  Rangeland  Grasshoppers  (Orthoptera:
      Acrididae)  of Concern to Management of the Columbia River
      Basin. (51 pages)
Lattin, John D. 1995. The Hemiptera:Heteroptera of the  Columbia
      River Basin, Western United States. (57 pages)
McCune, Bruce. 1994. Lichen Species Groups in the Columbia Basin
      Ecosystem Functions and Indicator Values. (52 pages)
McCune, Bruce. 1994. Lichen Species Groups in the Columbia Basin
      Ecosystem Functions and Indicator Values. Appendix: Lichen
      Database Listing for Columbia Basin. (209 pages)
McIver,  James, J. R. LaBonte and R. Crawford. 1994. Terrestrial
      Invertebrate Predators of the  Columbia  River  Basin:  An
      Assessment. (74 pages)
McNeal, Dale W. 1995. Report on Allium Columbia Basin Scientific
      Assessment Project. (25 pages)
Miller,  Jeffrey  C.  1994.  Assessment  of Invertebrates of the
      Columbia River Basin: Understory Herbivores (Lepidoptera).
      (42 pages)
Muehlchen,  Andrea  M.  1994.  Eastside   Ecosystem   Management
      Project: Functional Groups of Bacteria. (53 pages)
Rasmussen, Christine. 1994. Riparian Community and Bank Response
      to  Management: A Comparison of Old and New Surveys in the
      Prineville District, BLM. (41 pages)
Ross, Darrell W. 1995. Report on Bole and Branch Herbivores. (86
      pages)
Schowalter, Timothy D. 1994. Coarse Woody Debris Chewers in  the
      Columbia River Basin. (12 pages)
Sheley,  Roger  L.,  ed. 1994. The Identification, Distribution,
      Impacts,  Biology  and  Management  of  Noxious  Rangeland
      Weeds. (368 pages)
Wagner,  Michael R. and Joel D. McMillin. 1994. Eastside Ecosys-
      tem Assessment Project: Role of  Canopy  Herbivores.  (197
      pages)
Wicklow-Howard,  Marcia C. 1994. Fungi from the Owyhee Region of
      Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon. (40 pages)
Wicklow-Howard, Marcia C. 1994. Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizae
      from Sagebrush Steppe Habitat in Western Idaho  and  Parts
      of Eastern and Central Oregon. (37 pages)
Williams, John D. 1994. Microbiotic Crusts: A Review. (63 pages)

Reports are available from:

Walla Walla Xerographic
2 E. Rose Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362
Attn: ICBEMP Request
Phone: 509-522-5401

Verbal  and written requests for processing will be assessed the
following costs when applicable:

   Cost for duplication is $0.06 per page;
   Tax is 7.8%;
   Handling cost is $1.00; and
   Shipping charges will vary depending on weight of materials.

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"Walla Walla Xerographic".