西藏色季拉山林线薄毛海绵杜鹃种群分布

薄毛海绵杜鹃是西藏东南部地区高山林线灌丛的优势种,在色季拉山分布在海拔4300 ～4500 m.通过样地调查和基径结构分析,研究了色季拉山林线薄毛海绵杜鹃种群分布.结果表明:随着海拔升高,薄毛海绵杜鹃种群密度增加而高度降低;在同一海拔,阴坡的种群密度和高度大于阳坡,而基径较小.在阴坡和阳坡,薄毛海绵杜鹃种群年龄结构的峰值均呈“n”型曲线,中龄级个体较多,幼苗、幼树相对不足.薄毛海绵杜鹃种群的种内竞争呈波浪式发展,强度为阴坡高于阳坡,且存在自疏现象.     

藏东南色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉(Abies georgei var. smithii)林线的生态气候特征

高山林线因其对气候因子的敏感性和自身结构的不稳定性而被视为气候变化的"监视器",通过自动微气象站对藏东南色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉(Abies georgei var. smithii)林线气象因子的连续监测,探讨了色季拉山高山林线的生态气候特征.结果表明:在色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉林线处,年平均温度为1.3℃,年平均相对湿度为79.4%,全年降水量为892.6 mm,主要集中在6、7、8、9月4个月份.林线最热月平均温度为9.4℃,最冷月平均温度为-6.4℃,年生物温度为3.1℃,温暖指数是11.6℃月,寒冷指数是-55.9℃月,生长季内平均温度为7.7℃,生长季长度为133d,大陆度指数为34.0,湿润指数为217.5.其温暖指数与我国两种山地森林树种祁连圆柏和喜马拉雅冷杉的分布上限较为接近.林线的最热月温度、年生物学温度和生长季平均温度与全国高山林线的平均值十分接近.从全球范围来看,色季拉山林线最热月平均温度9.4℃与全球均值10℃很接近.生长季内10cm深度的土壤均温为6.22℃,接近Krner观测的(6.7±0.8)℃全球均值.     

西藏色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉种群点格局分析

基于4 hm2色季拉山长期监测样地调查资料,采用成对相关函数点格局方法,分析西藏色季拉山冷杉林群落优势种急尖长苞冷杉种群活立木不同生长阶段和不同大小死亡木的空间格局及它们之间的空间关联性.结果表明:急尖长苞冷杉种群活立木径级分布连续,呈倒“J”型,为增长型种群.小树在小尺度(0～7 m)上呈显著聚集分布,随着龄级和研究尺度的增加,冷杉种群聚集强度逐渐减弱,最终趋向于均匀或随机分布格局.小树与大树、中树与大树在小尺度(0～35和0～30 m)上呈负关联,在大尺度(45～100和80～100 m)上呈正关联,且个体间龄级相差越大,其关联性越强.冷杉死亡所释放的空间不足以影响大树对小树的距离制约,大径级死亡木与小树在小尺度(0～34和5～27 m)上具有负关联性,在大尺度(49～100和73～100 m)上具有正关联性.自疏作用和Janzen-Connell假说中的距离制约效应可能是色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉种群空间格局形成的重要原因.     

贡嘎山雅家埂峨眉冷杉林线种群的时空动态

通过对贡嘎山雅家埂峨眉冷杉种群林线附近6个3000 m2样地(阴阳坡各3个)中峨眉冷杉(Abies fabri Craib)种群的定位调查,分析了过去100a间该区峨眉冷杉种群的时间-空间动态。结果表明:1)雅家埂林线附近峨眉冷杉种群密度在过去100 a(主要是近50 a)有显著的升高,但树线的海拔位置并无明显的爬升;2)阴阳坡林线格局存在显著的坡向分异:阴坡林线和树线的海拔高度显著高于阳坡(分别比阳坡高152.5 m和135.8 m),阳坡林线附近峨眉冷杉早期的生长速率在大于阴坡,但后期的生长速率却低于阴坡;3)热量(温度)控制假说不能完全解释雅家埂目前的树线格局,除气候因素之外,其它因素也限制了雅家梗地区树线位置的变化。     

色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉林不同坡向土壤养分及肥力研究

以色季拉山不同坡向急尖长苞冷杉(Abies georgei var.smithii)天然林为研究对象,采用单因素方差、化学计量比及内梅罗指数等方法对不同坡向0—100 cm土壤的pH和7种养分含量及肥力状况进行研究,以期为色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉的经营管理提供理论依据。结果表明:(1)色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉林土壤pH7,为酸性。0—100 cm土层中除土壤全钾含量外,其他各养分含量及变异系数的均值均表现为:阳坡阴坡,且均属于中等变异程度。除全磷、全钾含量较低外,其他指标均处于"中等"及以上水平。(2)土壤有机质、全氮、碱解氮随土层的增加而降低,总体上表层与深层差异显著(P0.05),其他土层之间差异不显著(P0.05);其他养分随土层变化规律不一致,各土层之间差异不显著(P0.05)。(3)阳坡各土壤化学计量比总体上表现为随土壤深度增加而降低,阴坡呈波动性变化,除C∶N外,阳坡C∶P、C∶K、N∶P、N∶K、P∶K均小于阴坡。(4)阴坡的土壤肥力指数(1.44)大于阳坡(1.32),不同坡向土壤肥力均属于"中等"水平。坡向通过影响多种因素使土壤理化性质具有一定差异性,阴坡的土壤养分含量及肥力状况优于阳坡,全钾是第一限制因子,全磷是第二限制因子。     

山西五台山高山林线的植被景观

 过草本植物群落的分类和排序,结合对乔木和灌木分布的分析,确定了五台山高山林线的几条植被界线以及五台山森林上限附近植被的性质。结果表明：1）阳坡林线的海拔范围为2 605～2 790 m,阴坡林线的海拔范围为2 810～3 015 m;2）草本植物群落随海拔高度的变化比较明显,阴坡和阳坡从郁闭林到山顶均依次分布林下草本层、林缘草甸、亚高山灌丛草甸、高山草甸,草本植物的分布很好地体现了林线内部景观的差异性;3）海拔高度是高山林线附近草本植物群落空间分异的决定性因素。     

色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉种群不同龄级立木的空间分布格局

植物种群空间分布格局是种群个体在水平空间的分布、配置状况，是种群对环境适应的生存策略及适应机制的反映。以色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉（Abies georgei var.smithii）原始林为研究对象，在色季拉山东坡设置100 m×100 m固定样地，采用相邻网格法将样地划分为25个20 m×20 m的调查单元，对样地内所有基径≥0.1 cm的急尖长苞冷杉进行调查，记录林木的坐标、胸径、基径、冠幅等信息。依据基径和胸径两个指标将林木划分为12个径级和6个龄级（幼苗、幼树、小树、中树、大树、老树），对种群的径级特征及空间分布格局进行分析。结果显示：（1）急尖长苞冷杉种群在不同径级上的分布成倒"J"型。（2）种群整体、幼苗、幼树随空间尺度的增大依次呈现集群分布、随机分布和均匀分布，小树、中树、大树、老树在所研究尺度内均为随机分布。（3）幼树与幼苗在小尺度上接近或达到负关联，在中、大尺度无显著关联；小树、中树、大树、老树在空间分布上与幼苗、幼树的关联性符合Janzen-Connell假说，但小树、中树、大树、老树之间无显著关联。上述结果表明：色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉种群为稳定增长型种群，小径木以集群方式相互庇护以提高自身适应环境的能力，大径木在小、中尺度抑制林下更新，在大尺度则促进更新。该结果有助于揭示色季拉山急尖长苞冷杉种群的现状与动态规律，可为深入研究该种群维持机制提供理论依据。     

西藏色季拉山森林优势种群的生态位评价

基于对西藏色季拉山原始林区分布的6种优势种群进行的生态调查,对其生长的海拔、坡度、坡向、坡位、土壤厚度5个空间因子进行统计,计算出不同优势种群在各空间资源上的生态位宽度以及平均权重,以此来对该区域的森林资源进行分析评价。结果表明:色季拉山原始森林主要优势种群的生态位宽度从大到小的排序为:急尖长苞冷杉、高山松、林芝云杉、高山栎、方枝柏、华山松。其生态位度量空间均表现较大的特点,说明各森林群落处于比较稳定阶段,相当于顶级群落。     

云南轿子山不同海拔急尖长苞冷杉径向生长动态及其低温阈值

环境对树木的功能和生存具有至关重要的意义, 但环境因素影响树木发育的过程仍有待探究。树木径向生长动态监测是深刻了解树木生长状况及其对气候变化响应的重要手段。该研究以云南轿子山不同海拔树线树种急尖长苞冷杉(Abies georgei var. smithii)为研究对象, 对其年内径向生长动态进行监测, 以期明晰树木径向生长各阶段起止时间的海拔差异, 分析不同海拔树木形成层活动和木质部分化对温度的响应, 辨析树木径向生长的低温阈值。结果表明: (1)海拔越高, 径向生长开始的时间越晚, 结束越早, 生长季缩短。海拔每上升100 m, 急尖长苞冷杉径向生长的开始时间推迟4.7 d, 结束时间提前7.2 d, 生长季缩短12.8 d; (2) 3个海拔急尖长苞冷杉的径向生长具有相似的低温阈值(约5 ℃), 温度控制形成层活动的开始与木质部分化的结束; (3)不同海拔急尖长苞冷杉形成层的细胞分裂活动均在温度较高时(夏至日前后)减弱。 形成层活动的结束与海拔引起的温度变化关系较弱, 光周期可能参与了形成层活动结束的调控, 以确保当年新生细胞能够在冻害来临前完成木质化。该研究结果有助于加深树木生长动态对气候变化响应机制的认识, 为更好地适应和应对气候变化提供科学依据。     

贡嘎山海螺沟冷杉群落物种多样性与群落结构随海拔的变化

冷杉(Abies fabri)是贡嘎山东坡亚高山暗针叶林主要的建群种和林线树种.在海螺沟沿海拔梯度调查了19个冷杉林样方,以此分析冷杉在其垂直分布范围内,物种多样性、群落结构及生物量沿海拔梯度的变化.结果表明(1)二元指示种分析(TWINSPAN)可将全部样方分为5个群落类型 a. 冷杉+麦吊云杉(Picea brachytyla)+云南铁杉(Tsuga dumosa)混交林群落; b. 冷杉+阔叶树-杂灌群落; c. 冷杉+阔叶树-冷箭竹(Bashania fangiana)群落; d. 冷杉-杂灌-苔藓群落; e. 冷杉-杜鹃(Rhododendron spp.)-苔藓群落.群落类型的空间分异主要受海拔和坡度、坡位等小地形因素控制.(2)群落乔木层、灌木层的物种丰富度和Shannon-Wiener指数随海拔上升而减小;但草本层没有明显的变化趋势.(3)各层的β多样性指数随海拔上升均有减小趋势;海拔3300 m以上的群落构成差异较小.(4)冷杉群落和冷杉种群的最大高度、平均高度、最大胸径、平均胸径都随海拔上升而逐渐减小;海拔3550 m以上,冷杉个体的高和直径生长因受到林线环境制约而明显减小,而DBH>5 cm的冷杉和全部种的密度随海拔上升而增大.(5)冷杉林材积随海拔上升而下降,平均值为846.4 m3/hm2.     

Causality, randomness, intelligibility, and the epistemology of the cell

Because the basic unit of biology is the cell, biological knowledge is rooted in the epistemology of the cell, and because life is the salient characteristic of the cell, its epistemology must be centered on its livingness, not its constituent components. The organization and regulation of these components in the pursuit of life constitute the fundamental nature of the cell. Thus, regulation sits at the heart of biological knowledge of the cell and the extraordinary complexity of this regulation conditions the kind of knowledge that can be obtained, in particular, the representation and intelligibility of that knowledge. This paper is essentially split into two parts. The first part discusses the inadequacy of everyday intelligibility and intuition in science and the consequent need for scientific theories to be expressed mathematically without appeal to commonsense categories of understanding, such as causality. Having set the backdrop, the second part addresses biological knowledge. It briefly reviews modern scientific epistemology from a general perspective and then turns to the epistemology of the cell. In analogy with a multi-faceted factory, the cell utilizes a highly parallel distributed control system to maintain its organization and regulate its dynamical operation in the face of both internal and external changes. Hence, scientific knowledge is constituted by the mathematics of stochastic dynamical systems, which model the overall relational structure of the cell and how these structures evolve over time, stochasticity being a consequence of the need to ignore a large number of factors while modeling relatively few in an extremely complex environment.     

The tree, the network, and the species

To enrich the Hennigian internodal conception of species, a new formalization of the definition of the species concept is proposed. This rigorous definition allows for considerable unification of the various, and sometimes conflicting, techniques of species delimitation used in practice. First, the domain of such a definition is set out, namely, the set of all organisms on Earth, past, present, and future. Next, the focus is on the genealogical relationship among organisms, which provides the key to analysing the giant or global genealogical network (GGN) connecting all these organisms. This leads to the construction of an algorithm revealing the topological structure of the GGN, from families to lineages, ending up with a definition of species as equivalence classes of organisms corresponding to branches of the 'tree of life'. Such a theoretical definition of the species concept must be accompanied by various recognition criteria to be operational. These criteria are, for example, the ill-named 'biological species concepts', 'phylogenetic species concepts', etc., usually, but wrongly, presented as definitions of the species concept. Besides clarifying this disputed point, the definition in the present study displays the huge diversity of the scales (time-scale and population size) involved in actual species, thus explaining away the classical problems raised by previous attempts at defining the species concept (uniparental reproduction, temporal depth of species, and hybridization).  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 89 , 509–521.     

Formation of pyrophosphate,tripolyphosphate, and phosphorylimidazole with the thioester,N, S-diacetylcysteamine,as the condensing agent

Summary Reaction of 0.20M orthophosphate with 0.20M N,S-diacetylcysteamine in 0.40M imidazole at pH 7.0 or 8.0 under drying conditions at 50°C for 6 days yields pyrophosphate and tripolyphosphate in the presence and absence of 0.10M divalent metal ion. The efficiency of utilization of N,S-diacetylcysteamine in the formation of pyrophosphate linkages ranges from 3 – 8% under the above conditions. The thioester, N,S-diacetylcysteamine, and imidazole are required for phosphoanhydride formation.Reaction of 0.40M orthophosphate with 0.20M N, S-diacetylcysteamine in 0.40M imidazole at ambient temperature for 6 days yields phosphorylimidazole in the absence or presence of 0.05M MgCl₂. Phosphorylimidazole and pyrophosphate are formed in the presence of 0.05M CaCl₂; pyrophosphate and tripolyphosphate are formed with 0.15M CaCl₂. The efficiency of utilization of N,S-diacetylcysteamine in the formation of pyrophosphate linkages is roughly 7% at 6 days of reaction with 0.15M CaCl₂. The thioester, N,S-diacetylcysteamine and imidazole are required for the formation of phosphoanhydrides. The significance of these reactions to molecular evolution is discussed.Abbreviations P₁ orthophosphate - P₂ pyrophosphate - P₃ tripolyphosphate - ImP phosphorylimidazole - Ac-Csa(Ac) N, S-diacetylcysteamine - Im imidazole     

The parasitic chytrid, Zygorhizidium, facilitates the growth of the cladoceran zooplankter, Daphnia, in cultures of the inedible alga, Asterionella

In food-web studies, parasites are often ignored owing to their insignificant biomass. We provide evidence that parasites may affect trophic transfer in aquatic food webs. Many phytoplankton species are susceptible to parasitic fungi (chytrids). Chytrid infections of diatoms in lakes may reach epidemic proportions during diatom spring blooms, so that numerous free-swimming fungal zoospores (2-3 microm in diameter) are produced. Analysis shows that these zoospores are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and sterols (particularly cholesterol), which indicates that they provide excellent food for zooplankters such as Daphnia. In life-table experiments using the large diatom Asterionella formosa as food, Daphnia growth increased significantly in treatments where a parasite was present. By grazing on the zoospores, Daphnia acquired important supplementary nutrients and were able to grow. When large inedible algae are infected by parasites, nutrients within the algal cells are consumed by these chytrids, some of which, in turn, are grazed by Daphnia. Thus, chytrids transfer energy and nutrients from their hosts to zooplankton. This study suggests that parasitic fungi alter trophic relationships in freshwater ecosystems and may be the important components in shaping the community and the food-web dynamics of lakes.     

On the Position of the Genera Turdoides, Argya, Illadopsis, Neociehla, Ptyrticus, Maerosphenus and Pseudoaleippe in the Timaliidæ

Although in these five genera the long broad first primary and rounded wing agree with Timalia pileata, as does the profile of the bill of Argya fulvus and Argya rubiginosus, they do not do so in any other respect,. neither in their habits, nest and eggs, nor in the scutation of the tarsus. We therefore propose to remove them all from the Timaliidae and place them in two separate families, but leaving them in their present position in the classification as placed by Sclater in Syst. Av. Æthiop. ii. 1930.