Papers by Mashuri Waite
Journal of Ecology, 2011
1. General hypotheses have related nutrient stoichiometry to physiology and structure for tracheo... more 1. General hypotheses have related nutrient stoichiometry to physiology and structure for tracheophytes across global resource gradients. These hypotheses have not been tested on bryophytes despite their importance in numerous ecosystem processes. 2. Twelve bryophyte species were sampled across an elevation · soil age matrix representing a dramatic range of climates on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. 3. We tested six major hypotheses for the relationship of tissue nutrients to environment and morphology, and for differences in composition between bryophytes and tracheophytes. 4. Results supported stoichiometric theory. Mass-based nutrient concentrations increased with soil nutrient availability; area-based nutrient concentrations increased with irradiance as mediated by bryophyte canopy mass per area; N and P followed the general scaling shown previously for tracheophytes; and P increased and N:P decreased with elevation consistent with increasing cold tolerance. 5. Synthesis. These findings extend the generality of stoichiometric theory, pointing to convergent physiological responses across distantly related lineages, operating across local and global resource gradients.
Global Change Biology, Aug 1, 2010
Plant-invasive success is one of the most important current global changes in the biosphere. To u... more Plant-invasive success is one of the most important current global changes in the biosphere. To understand which factors explain such success, we compared the foliar traits of 41 native and 47 alien-invasive plant species in Oahu Island (Hawaii), a location with a highly endemic flora that has evolved in isolation and is currently vulnerable to invasions by exotic plant species. Foliar traits, which in most cases presented significant phylogenetic signal, i.e. closely related species tended to resemble each other due to shared ancestry, separated invasive from native species. Invasive species had lower leaf mass per area and enhanced capacities in terms of productivity (photosynthetic capacity) and nutrient capture both of macro-(N, P, K) and microelements (Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn). All these differences remain highly significant after removing the effects of phylogenetic history. Alien-invasive species did not show higher efficiency at using limiting nutrient resources, but they got faster 'leaf economics returns' and occupied a different 'biogeochemical niche,' which helps to explain the success of invasive plants and suggests that potential increases in soil nutrient availability might favor further invasive plant success.
Oecologia, 2011
The carbon isotope ratio (d 13 C) of vascular plant leaf tissue is determined by isotope discrimi... more The carbon isotope ratio (d 13 C) of vascular plant leaf tissue is determined by isotope discrimination, primarily mediated by stomatal and mesophyll diffusion resistances and by photosynthetic rate. These effects lead to predictable trends in leaf d 13 C across natural gradients of elevation, irradiance and nutrient supply. Less is known about shifts in d 13 C for bryophytes at landscape scale, as bryophytes lack stomata in the dominant gametophyte phase, and thus lack active control over CO 2 diffusion. Twelve bryophyte species were sampled across a matrix of elevation and soil ages on Mauna Loa, Hawaii Island. We tested hypotheses based on previous findings for vascular plants, which tend to have less negative d 13 C at higher elevations or irradiances, and for leaves with higher leaf mass per area (LMA). Across the matrix, bryophytes spanned the range of d 13 C values typical of C 3 vascular plants. Bryophytes were remarkably similar to vascular plants in exhibiting less negative d 13 C with increasing elevation, and with lower overstory cover; additionally d 13 C was related to bryophyte canopy projected mass per area, a trait analogous to LMA in vascular plants, also correlated negatively with overstory cover. The similarity of responses of d 13 C in bryophytes and vascular plants to environmental factors, despite differing morphologies and diffusion pathways, points to a strong direct role of photosynthetic rate in determining d 13 C variation at the landscape scale.
New Phytologist, 2009
Mosses are an understudied group of plants that can potentially confirm or expand principles of p... more Mosses are an understudied group of plants that can potentially confirm or expand principles of plant function described for tracheophytes, from which they diverge strongly in structure.
Cyanea konahuanuiensis Sporck-Koehler, M. Waite, A.M. Williams, sp. nov., a recently documented, ... more Cyanea konahuanuiensis Sporck-Koehler, M. Waite, A.M. Williams, sp. nov., a recently documented, narrowly endemic species from the Hawaiian Island of O‘ahu, is described and illustrated with photographs from the field. The closest likely relatives to the species, current conservation needs, and management future are discussed. It is currently known from 20 mature plants from two subpopulations and is restricted to a drainage below the Kōnāhua-nui summit (K1), the highest summit of the Ko‘olau Mountains, located on Windward O‘ahu. It differs from all other Cyanea species by its combination of densely pubescent leaves, petioles, and flowers; sparsely pubescent to glabrous stems, long calyx lobes, and staminal column being adnate to the corolla.
Abstracts by Mashuri Waite
Participation by local communities in planning and implementation can both empower local people a... more Participation by local communities in planning and implementation can both empower local people and improve the sustainability and beneficial impact of development efforts. This success has led community development professionals in academia, and international and local NGO's to promote a global trend of formally incorporating participatory approaches as standard procedure. A recent example of this is Indonesia's Law Number 6/2014 (Undang-Undang tentang Desa) which requires the use of participatory planning in village level administration. This adoption should bring better outcomes in people empowerment since it has full legal and financial support from the national government, but studies have shown many failures when participatory approaches have been instituted as standard procedure. Since the law is still in the early stages of implementation, this is an appropriate time to evaluate whether the adoption of participatory planning as part of the formal government development practice will result in the outcome of greater empowerment for villagers. We will compare the ideal of participatory planning versus what is regulated in the Law and derivative regulations. We will review the literature to synthesize an ideal of participatory planning for this comparison and evaluation. We will also conduct content analysis of news media about the implementation of these regulations. The findings can be used as an early warning to improve the quality of the derivative regulations, or even of the Law itself.
Community development practices typically requires outsiders (practicioners or agents) who play t... more Community development practices typically requires outsiders (practicioners or agents) who play the role of empowering the target community. However, in Cibulao village located in Puncak, local communities incorporated in a Forest User Group (Kelompok Tani Hutan/KTH) have estabished an innovative social enterprise without any outsider involvement. The enterprise designed and built bicycle track through the periphery of the protection forest and charge fees for bikers to use it. This unusual idea came from the KTH members themselves thus provides economic profit for the locals which acts as incentives for them to conserve the surrounding protection forest. This paper aims to, first, explore factors that contributed to the community empowerment process despite the absence of outsiders in the context of Cibulao village, and second, explore the potential of this social enterprise to act as a medium for empowerment.
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Papers by Mashuri Waite
Abstracts by Mashuri Waite