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The aim of this study was to detect a potential temporal shift from sink to source dynamics of pioneer plants during primary succession. The study was done in an initial ecosystem, namely an artificially constructed catchment on Pleistocene sands in eastern Germany. The import and export of seeds (including soil seed bank and seed rain), the development of vegetation cover and the population size of all pioneer species were recorded in 2005–2009. The interplay between the spatial distribution of seed rain and the prevailing wind direction provide evidence that seeds of Conyza canadensis (Asteraceae) first and to a considerable amount left the developing ecosystem. A change from a sink to source dynamics was detected already in the first year of both the existence of the site and occurrence of C. canadensis individuals within the site. Population patterns at the landscape unit scale demonstrated extensive auto-correlations in the coverage of this invasive plant at first. Our results underline the pioneer traits of C. canadensis as a prolific seeder and excellent wind disperser, which enables this species to become rapidly dominant over relatively large areas.
Successional phases describe changes in ecological communities that proceed in steps rather than continuously. Despite their importance for the understanding of ecosystem development, there still exists no reliable definition of phases and no quantitative measure of phase transitions. In order to obtain these data, we investigated primary succession in an artificial catchment (6 ha) in eastern Germany over a period of 6 years. The data set consists of records of plant species and their cover values, and initial substrate properties, both from plots in a regular grid (20 m × 20 m) suitable for spatial data analysis. Community assembly was studied by analyses of species co-occurrence and nestedness. Additionally, we correlated lognormal and log series distributions of species abundance to each community. We here introduce a new general method for detection of successional phases based on the degree of transient spatial homogeneity in the study system. Spatially coherent vegetation patterns revealed non-overlapping partitions within this sequence of primary succession and were characterized as two distinct ecological phases. Patterns of species co-occurrence were increasingly less random, and hence the importance of demographic stochasticity and neutral community assembly decreased during the study period. Our findings highlight the spatial dimension of successional phases and quantify the degree of change between these steps. They are an element for advancing a more reliable terminology of ecological successions.
Site- and Symmetry-resolved Resonant X-ray Emission Study of a Highly-ordered PTCDA Thin Film
(2016)
The use of cerium oxide for hydrogen sensing is limited by the low electrical conductivity of layers deposited from a ceria target. To increase the electrical conductivity, partially reduced cerium oxide layers were obtained from a metallic cerium target by reactive magnetron sputtering. The proportions of the oxidation states Ce3+, present in reduced species, and Ce4+, present in fully oxidized species, were determined by ex-situ XPS. For electrical characterization, films were deposited on planarized tungsten finger electrodes. IV curves were measured over several days to investigate possible influences of oxygen and humidity on electrical conductivity. The morphological stability of the layers under ambient conditions was investigated by microscopical methods. The XPS results show a significant amount of Ce3+ in the layers. The electrical conductivity of as-grown samples is several orders of magnitude higher than that of samples grown from a ceria target. However, the conductivity decreases over time, indicating an oxidation of the layers. The surface morphology of the samples was found to be changing drastically within days, leading to partial delamination.