Richard H. Goodwin

Equilibrium Biogeography and the Size of Nature Preserves: An Avian Case Study

SummaryThe results of seven breeding bird censuses on an upland site in Connecticut from 1953 to 1976 are analyzed and related to changes in vegetation and surrounding urbanization during the same period. Turnover of breeding bird species on the old-field portion of the site was due to vegetational changes that caused the extinction of species preferring open shrub habitats and the colonization of species preferring forest. Turnover of breeding birds on the forest portion was due to its increasing isolation from similar forest habitat, resulting in the local extinction of forest interior species and the colonization of species characteristic of suburban habitats. The study site is too small for the preservation of forest interior bird species. It must be coordinated with larger preserves in a regional context if it is to be useful in preventing the regional extinction of forest interior bird species.

Ultraviolet absorption spectra of coumarin derivatives.

Abstract The ultraviolet absorption spectra of ethanolic solutions of coumarin and eighteen of its derivatives are reported.

Estimating historical in-lake alkalinity generation from sulfate reduction and its relationship to lake chemistry as inferred from algal microfossils

Sediment cores were used to estimate in-lake alkalinity generation resulting from sulfate reduction relative to inferred changes in lakewater pH and trophic status over the last century in three Connecticut lakes. Despite being situated in geological settings with crystalline bedrock and thin, poorly buffered soils, and being impacted with high rates of acidic precipitation, none of the study lakes have declined in inferred pH based on scaled chrysophyte and diatom remains. In fact, the pH of one of the lakes, Coventry Lake, has significantly increased over the last century. Over the last 44 to 69 years the amount of sulfur stored in the sediments from each lake increased from ~two to three times resulting in mean rates of alkalinity generation ranging from 78 to 145 meq m−2 yr−1, significantly higher than the 45 to 48 meq m−2 yr−1 of hydrogen ions falling directly on the lake surfaces. In-lake alkalinity generation resulting from sulfate reduction has been sufficient to neutralize all of the acid falling directly onto the lake surfaces, as well as between 9% and 25% of the acid deposited onto the surrounding watersheds. Despite the increased importance of in-lake alkalinity generation, our findings support the hypothesis that significant amounts of alkalinity are also being generated in the catchments of the study lakes. The bulk of the increases in stored sulfur in all three lakes were as Fe sulfides and not in the form of organic sulfur, suggesting that the increases were the result of dissimilatory bacterial reduction of sulfate. As a result of the large increases in storage of Fe sulfides the ratio of total iron to chromium reducible sulfur (Fe:CRS) has declined in all cores over time. Despite the overall decline in Fe:CRS in recent sediments, values are still largely above 3 in more recent sediments of two of the lakes. However, values of Fe:CRS have dropped below 1 in surface sediments of Uncas Lake, suggesting that in-lake loading of phosphorus may be responsible for a recent shift in the algal flora towards a slightly more eutrophic condition.

The fluorescence of coumarin derivatives as a function of pH. II

Abstract The relative intensity and color of the fluorescence of 54 additional coumarin derivatives and of 5 new samples of compounds previously studied are reported for hydrogen-ion concentrations ranging from pH − 1.6 to 12.6. None of the pH-fluorescence curves of these derivatives are similar to those obtained with the unknown substances isolated from oat roots.

The Role of Private Agencies in Natural Area Preservation

The preservation of natural areas on a permanent basis has, until rather recently, been a neglected area of national concern. The most noteworthy exception to this generalization is our splendid National Park System. Natural areas, as we are discussing them in this conference, are tracts of wild land upon which the foot of man is but lightly laid; places where ecological forces are allowed to operate relatively undisturbed; where biological communities, with all their fascinating relationships and complex interactions, may be studied; and where some of our rarer plants and animals may find sanctuary. At the risk of oversimplification, I will attempt a brief comparison between public and private action in the preservation of natural areas. At the federal

Inland Wetlands: Their Ecological Role and Environmental Status

In 1971 the authors undertook for the Department of the Interior a survey of the significant inland wetlands of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii. As a result of the study, conducted through the cooperation of hundreds of knowledgeable persons throughout the country and sup plemented by on-site inspections, a total of 358 individual wetlands was evaluated (Goodwin & Niering 1971). The purpose of this paper is to give a brief summary of the ecological role of the inland wetlands in the continental ecosystem and to review the extensive human impacts on these aquatic habitats that were revealed by the survey.

The Nature Conservancy Preserves

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the preservation, in their natural state, of biologically or geologically significant samples of the American landscape. It had its inception in 1917 as a Committee on Natural Areas of the Ecological Society of America. In 1946 the members of this Committee, desirous of establishing an effective action group, formed the Ecologists Union, and four years later the name was changed to the present one, borrowed from the British governmental agency concerned with the preservation of natural areas for scientific research.