Search results

The purpose of this article is to: review the current methods and results of measuring the macrofungal biodiversity of both saprophytes and mycorrhiza; to show root tip analysis to be less accurate for mycorrhiza than expected when the latest research reports are considered; and to provide a simple methodology for measuring macrofungal biodiversity of forests.

Current macrofungal biodiversity methods are reviewed. A diagram representing the relationship between the mycorrhizal fungus and the root with three axes of variation is presented. A new methodology based on fruit body recording and analysis to provide a set of biodiversity quality indices is also presented.

The results of the use of the new methodology on two adjacent sites are presented as examples. The comparison of a set of sites for the full range of indices is also presented. Suggestions of how forest management may be influenced to include macrofungal biodiversity are made.

This new approach is considered to be an improvement on current practice since it relates both mycorrhizal biodiversity and saprophytic biodiversity to the ecosystem function.

This paper aims to present a general analysis and overview of forest biodiversity, emphasising the three main components (structure, composition, function) related to biodiversity. Following this theoretical consideration of forest biodiversity the current proposal of the European Environment Agency for biodiversity indicators is presented as a table with the application to forests identified and the direct/indirect nature of the indicator also indicated.

The biodiversity of forests is determined by a number of overall large‐scale factors that intimately affect the individual components of biodiversity. A more specific and direct measurement of forest biodiversity is presented with data assessed by the Fungib programme to provide a set of biodiversity indices that can be used to: create biodiversity baselines; compare sites; and follow biodiversity changes through time, all with the possibility of determining significance of change statistically. An example of data derived from a macrofungal survey is presented as an example of how this methodology can be adapted to many groups of organisms. Finally, a further example of using biodiversity quality data to understand changes in biodiversity is presented comparing butterfly biodiversity quality with nitrogen deposition.

This paper shows how an example of function (nitrogen deposition) has affected an element of composition (butterfly biodiversity). This has been made possible by the use of a rational sampling methodology (TRIM) used over a number of years. This metadata analysis of butterfly survey data shows clearly that changes in the butterfly biodiversity quality would have been missed if the normal approach of equating biodiversity with species richness had been adopted. In this example nitrogen‐sensitive species loss was compensated by nitrophilic species gain.

Such a methodology, therefore, has much to recommend it and it has been shown to be applicable to a wide range of organisms from bryophytes to beetles. For forest biodiversity monitoring the adoption of this kind of rationale will hopefully yield far greater information to the scientific community and policy makers for little extra effort.

This chapter is intended to elaborate on the existing academic literature addressing the migration of constitutional ideas. Through an examination of ongoing efforts to enshrine “defamation of religion” as a violation of international human rights, the author confirms that the phenomenon of migration is not restricted to positive constitutional norms, but rather also encompasses negative ideas that ultimately may serve to undermine international and domestic constitutionalism. More specifically, the case study demonstrates that the movement of anti-constitutional ideas is not restricted to the domain of “international security” law, and further, that the vertical axis linking international and domestic law is in fact a two-way channel that permits the transmission of domestic anti-constitutional ideas up to the international level.

In reaching the findings presented herein, the chapter also adds to the universalism–relativism debate by demonstrating that allowances for “plurality consciousness” on the international level may in certain instances undermine fundamental norms previously negotiated and accepted as authoritative by the international community. From this perspective, the movement in favor of prohibiting “defamation of religion” is not merely a case study that helps to expand our understanding of how anti-constitutional ideas migrate, but also indicative of a reenergized campaign to challenge the status, content, and stability of universal human rights norms.