高寒草甸不同草地群落物种多样性与生产力关系研究

生态系统的结构和功能、生物多样性与生产力的关系问题是近年来群落生态学中研究的中心问题,其中,生态系统生产力水平是其功能的重要表现形式,用4种不同草地类型探讨自然群落的物种多样性与生产力关系.结果表明,矮嵩草草甸、小嵩草草甸和金露梅灌丛群落中物种多样性与生产力的关系呈线性增加关系,藏嵩草沼泽化草甸群落中线性增加关系不显著,这表明群落生产力除受物种多样性的影响外,也受物种本身特征和环境资源的影响.不同的环境资源和环境异质性是形成群落结构特征、物种多样性分布格局差异的主要原因之一.     

我国土壤线虫生态学研究进展和展望

土壤线虫生态学主要探讨土壤线虫群落和其周围环境(包括生物和非生物)的相互关系, 包括不同生态系统中土壤线虫群落的分布和结构组成、线虫群落与土壤环境及其他土壤生物之间的相互作用等。本文回顾了我国研究者近年来在土壤线虫生态学研究领域的研究现状, 包括不同生态系统土壤线虫群落的分布、组成和多样性及其影响因素, 土壤线虫群落与全球气候环境变化的关系, 土壤线虫群落的生态功能以及土壤线虫群落生态学分析方法的发展及应用。重点评述近年来我国土壤线虫生态学的发展现状, 同时分析和比较了国内外土壤线虫生态学的发展态势, 提出建设全国范围的监测网络的重要性。未来我国土壤线虫生态学的发展方向应继续加强小尺度下土壤微食物网联通性和大尺度下全球气候变化对土壤线虫群落影响的研究以及加强相关新的研究技术方法的应用。     

以昆虫作为指示生物评估森林健康的生物学与生态学基础

昆虫是森林生物多样性的重要组成部分,在森林生态系统主体群落中,昆虫与植物密切关联.森林害虫胁迫及昆虫多样性变动,对于评估森林生态系统健康状况具有重要价值.昆虫多样性可用于对森林生态系统健康的快速评估,如基于昆虫指示生物评价森林生态系统的毒害水平、物种丰富度、多样性水平、靶标昆虫的地位和特有种水平等.针对影响森林环境健康的重要干扰因子,本文阐述了应用昆虫作为指示性生物监测与评估森林健康状况的生物与生态学依据,讨论了昆虫种群,特别是珍稀物种种群在生境破碎干扰下的种群波动,以及大气污染、干旱和二氧化碳浓度升高等对昆虫种群密度与分布的影响等.同时,分析了昆虫作为指示性生物监测与评估森林环境健康所存在的问题.     

非木材森林产品利用的生态影响

非木材森林产品指来自森林的非木材植物产品,如果实、种子、枝叶、树皮、树胶等,在维持当地居民生活以及森林生物多样性保护中扮演着重要角色.非木材森林产品利用对植物个体、种群、群落和生态系统均会产生影响,这不仅取决于植物的利用部位、生物学或生态学特征,而且与资源的利用方式密切相关.本文从植物生物学和生态学角度综述了非木材森林产品利用影响的研究进展,讨论了研究中存在的问题和今后的研究方向.     

群落/生态系统功能多样性研究方法及展望

功能多样性是指影响群落/生态系统功能的物种性状值和范围,是解释和预测生态系统结构和功能的有效手段之一,可将植物个体尺度与群落尺度和生态系统尺度的相关生态学问题联系起来。虽已发展出多种功能多样性定量化研究方法,但不同方法结果差异较大,难以进行多研究间的比较研究。比较探讨各功能多样性研究方法的优缺点有利于拓展功能多样性内涵,也有助于功能生态学的应用与发展。回顾了当前10种功能多样性的定量化研究方法,并指出选取合适功能多样性方法的关键在于,应考虑选取群落/生态系统中的哪些物种、哪些功能性状、选取的功能性状数目、以及如何对功能性状权重等。对比发现,功能分散性指数和Rao二次熵系数的研究方法在众多方法中优势明显,具有较高的应用潜力;标准化功能多样性的研究方法在未来仍需进一步完善。利用功能多样性指数预测群落/生态系统过程和功能当前仍多侧重于理论研究,野外实证研究较为缺乏,是功能生态学未来研究的重点和难点之一。     

陆地植物群落物种多样性研究进展

生物多样性是当前生态学研究的热点之一,物种多样性层次是最直接、最易观察和最适合研究生物多样性的层次。总结了与群落动态、生境因子、取样尺度及生态系统相关的陆地植物物种多样性研究。同时,根据目前的趋势提出了多样性动态研究的发展动向。     

全球变化对土壤动物多样性的影响

陆地生态系统由地上和地下两部分组成,二者相互作用共同影响生态系统过程和功能.土壤动物在生物地球化学循环方面起着重要作用.随着人们对土壤动物在生态系统过程中重要性的认识,越来越多的研究表明全球变化对土壤动物多样性产生深刻影响.土地利用方式的改变、温度增加和降雨格局的改变能直接影响土壤动物多样性.CO2浓度和氮沉降的增加主要通过影响植物群落结构、组成和化学成分对土壤动物多样性产生间接影响.不同环境因子之间又能相互作用共同影响土壤动物多样性.了解全球变化背景下不同驱动因子及其交互作用对土壤动物多样性的影响,有助于更好地预测未来土壤动物多样性及相关生态学过程的变化.     

全球变化对土壤动物多样性的影

陆地生态系统由地上和地下两部分组成,二者相互作用共同影响生态系统过程和功能.土壤动物在生物地球化学循环方面起着重要作用.随着人们对土壤动物在生态系统过程中重要性的认识,越来越多的研究表明全球变化对土壤动物多样性产生深刻影响.土地利用方式的改变、温度增加和降雨格局的改变能直接影响土壤动物多样性.CO₂浓度和氮沉降的增加主要通过影响植物群落结构、组成和化学成分对土壤动物多样性产生间接影响.不同环境因子之间又能相互作用共同影响土壤动物多样性.了解全球变化背景下不同驱动因子及其交互作用对土壤动物多样性的影响,有助于更好地预测未来土壤动物多样性及相关生态学过程的变化.     

钱塘江中游水生昆虫群落功能多样性对土地利用变化的响应

基于11个反映水生昆虫生活史、对外界抵抗力和生理特征的生物学性状,应用目前国际上通用的fourth-corner统计方法,系统研究了浙江省钱塘江中游流域水生昆虫功能多样性对土地利用变化的响应.结果表明： 部分生物学性状对土地利用变化敏感,且其随人类干扰强度的变化所发生的改变与预期吻合,其最大个体长度逐渐下降,呼吸方式从以鳃呼吸为主转变为以表皮呼吸为主,掘穴者数量显著增加.参照点的功能多样性指数(Rao值)显著高于干扰点(P<0.001).说明人类活动引起的土地利用变化导致溪流水质和栖境质量下降,引起群落的变异和对生物性状组成的筛选,最终导致水生昆虫群落功能多样性改变.生物性状及功能多样性是未来评价生态健康的潜在指标.     

土壤动物粒径谱研究进展

群落结构如何响应环境变化是生态学研究长期关注的核心问题之一。粒径谱由个体大小和多度构建而来,与营养级转换速率相关、反映生态系统过程动态以及表征生态系统稳定性,可以将其视为一个综合的功能多样性指标用于预测和表征群落的组成以及生态系统功能如何响应环境压力。粒径谱研究最初始于水生生态系统,近年来被引入到土壤动物群落生态学的研究中。简要回顾粒径谱的概念由来及理论基础,分析比较了当前粒径谱研究中的4种易混淆类型,介绍了常用的两类土壤动物粒径谱构建方法及其生态学意义,梳理了土壤动物粒径谱对环境梯度响应与生态化学计量学相结合的研究进展,并指出了应用粒径谱研究土壤动物群落的难点及限制条件。未来,在基础理论研究方面,土壤动物粒径谱应关注个体大小与营养级位置及能量利用关系;在应用方面,土壤动物粒径谱可结合传统的分类方法广泛应用于指示环境污染、生态恢复、保育生物以及土地利用变化等。     

Context dependency of animal resource subsidies

The transport of resource subsidies by animals has been documented across a range of species and ecosystems. Although many of these studies have shown that animal resource subsidies can have significant effects on nutrient cycling, ecosystem productivity, and food‐web structure, there is a great deal of variability in the occurrence and strength of these effects. Here we propose a conceptual framework for understanding the context dependency of animal resource subsidies, and for developing and testing predictions about the effects of animal subsidies over space and time. We propose a general framework, in which abiotic characteristics and animal vector characteristics from the donor ecosystem interact to determine the quantity, quality, timing, and duration (QQTD) of an animal input. The animal input is translated through the lens of recipient ecosystem characteristics, which include both abiotic and consumer characteristics, to yield the QQTD of the subsidy. The translated subsidy influences recipient ecosystem dynamics through effects on both trophic structure and ecosystem function, which may both influence the recipient ecosystem's response to further inputs and feed back to influence the donor ecosystem. We present a review of research on animal resource subsidies across ecosystem boundaries, placed within the context of this framework, and we discuss how the QQTD of resource subsidies can influence trophic structure and ecosystem function in recipient ecosystems. We explore the importance of understanding context dependency of animal resource subsidies in increasingly altered ecosystems, in which the characteristics of both animal vectors and donor and recipient ecosystems may be changing rapidly. Finally, we make recommendations for future research on animal resource subsidies, and resource subsidies in general, that will increase our understanding and predictive capacity about their ecosystem effects.     

Resource subsidies between stream and terrestrial ecosystems under global change

Streams and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems are characterized by permeable boundaries that are crossed by resource subsidies. Although the importance of these subsidies for riverine ecosystems is increasingly recognized, little is known about how they may be influenced by global environmental change. Drawing from available evidence, in this review we propose a conceptual framework to evaluate the effects of global change on the quality and spatiotemporal dynamics of stream–terrestrial subsidies. We illustrate how changes to hydrological and temperature regimes, atmospheric CO₂ concentration, land use and the distribution of nonindigenous species can influence subsidy fluxes by affecting the biology and ecology of donor and recipient systems and the physical characteristics of stream–riparian boundaries. Climate‐driven changes in the physiology and phenology of organisms with complex life cycles will influence their development time, body size and emergence patterns, with consequences for adjacent terrestrial consumers. Also, novel species interactions can modify subsidy dynamics via complex bottom‐up and top‐down effects. Given the seasonality and pulsed nature of subsidies, alterations of the temporal and spatial synchrony of resource availability to consumers across ecosystems are likely to result in ecological mismatches that can scale up from individual responses, to communities, to ecosystems. Similarly, altered hydrology, temperature, CO₂ concentration and land use will modify the recruitment and quality of riparian vegetation, the timing of leaf abscission and the establishment of invasive riparian species. Along with morphological changes to stream–terrestrial boundaries, these will alter the use and fluxes of allochthonous subsidies associated with stream ecosystems. Future research should aim to understand how subsidy dynamics will be affected by key drivers of global change, including agricultural intensification, increasing water use and biotic homogenization. Our conceptual framework based on the match–mismatch between donor and recipient organisms may facilitate understanding of the multiple effects of global change and aid in the development of future research questions.     

Vectors with autonomy: what distinguishes animal‐mediated nutrient transport from abiotic vectors?

Animal movements are important drivers of nutrient redistribution that can affect primary productivity and biodiversity across various spatial scales. Recent work indicates that incorporating these movements into ecosystem models can enhance our ability to predict the spatio‐temporal distribution of nutrients. However, the role of animal behaviour in animal‐mediated nutrient transport (i.e. active subsidies) remains under‐explored. Here we review the current literature on active subsidies to show how the behaviour of active subsidy agents makes them both ecologically important and qualitatively distinct from abiotic processes (i.e. passive subsidies). We first propose that animal movement patterns can create similar ecological effects (i.e. press and pulse disturbances) in recipient ecosystems, which can be equal in magnitude to or greater than those of passive subsidies. We then highlight three key behavioural features distinguishing active subsidies. First, organisms can transport nutrients counter‐directionally to abiotic forces and potential energy gradients (e.g. upstream). Second, unlike passive subsidies, organisms respond to the patterns of nutrients that they generate. Third, animal agents interact with each other. The latter two features can form positive‐ or negative‐feedback loops, creating patterns in space or time that can reinforce nutrient hotspots in places of mass aggregations and/or create lasting impacts within ecosystems. Because human‐driven changes can affect both the space‐use of active subsidy species and their composition at both population (i.e. individual variation) and community levels (i.e. species interactions), predicting patterns in nutrient flows under future modified environmental conditions depends on understanding the behavioural mechanisms that underlie active subsidies and variation among agents' contributions. We conclude by advocating for the integration of animal behaviour, animal movement data, and individual variation into future conservation efforts in order to provide more accurate and realistic assessments of changing ecosystem function.     

Recognizing cross‐ecosystem responses to changing temperatures: soil warming impacts pelagic food webs

The energy and materials that move across ecosystem boundaries influence food web structure and key ecosystem functions. Despite the acknowledged importance of such ecological subsidies, surprisingly little information is available regarding the role of environmental temperature in influencing subsidy quality and the response of the recipient ecosystem. We evaluated the impacts of temperature‐mediated changes in leaves from deciduous trees, an important subsidy from terrestrial to freshwater ecosystems, on both the producer‐based and detritivore‐based components of a pelagic pond food web in a field mesocosm experiment. We hypothesized that variation in leaf chemistry driven by increased soil temperature would alter both the quality of leaf subsidies and the pond response. We collected red maple Acer rubrum leaves from heated and ambient temperature plots from the long‐term soil warming experiment at the Harvard Experimental Forest and added them to 167‐l field mesocosms containing established plankton communities, creating ‘no leaf’, ‘ambient leaf’ and ‘heated leaf’ treatments during autumn 2012. We then monitored physical, chemical, and biological responses to treatments until the mesocosms froze six weeks later. Experimental soil warming altered the chemical composition of deciduous leaves, the physical and chemical environment of the aquatic ecosystems to which leaves were added, and the pelagic pond food webs as measured by community composition. Compared to leaves from ambient‐temperature soils, leaves from warmed soils initially resulted in lower water column phosphorus and dissolved organic carbon, reducing bacterial densities. However, the diminished carbon and phosphorus resulting from soil warming also increased light availability that ultimately stimulated cladoceran zooplankton relative to ambient‐temperature leaves. Our results suggest that changes in temperature can alter ecological subsidies in unanticipated ways, and suggest that accurately predicting the potential consequences of climate change will require conducting research across ecosystem boundaries.     

Impacts of marine-derived nutrients on stream ecosystem functioning

Energy and nutrient subsidies transported across ecosystem boundaries are increasingly appreciated as key drivers of consumer-resource dynamics. As purveyors of pulsed marine-derived nutrients (MDN), spawning salmon are one such cross-ecosystem subsidy to freshwaters connected to the north Pacific. We examined how salmon carcasses influenced detrital processing in an oligotrophic stream. Experimental manipulations of MDN inputs revealed that salmon carcasses indirectly reduced detrital processing in streams through temporarily decoupling the detrital resource-consumer relationship, in which detrital consumers shifted their diet to the high-nutrient resource, i.e. salmon carcasses. The average decomposition rate of alder leaves with salmon carcass addition was significantly lower than that without the carcass, which was associated with lower abundance and biomass of detritivorous Trichoptera on the carcass-treated leaves. There were generally larger in size Trichopteran detritivores on the carcasses than on leaves. These results imply that cross-boundary MDN subsidies indirectly retard the ecosystem processing of leaf litter within the short term, but may enhance those food-limited detritivorous consumers. Because unproductive freshwaters in the Pacific northwest are highly dependent upon the organic matter inputs from surrounding forests, this novel finding has implications for determining conservation and management strategies of salmon-related aquatic ecosystems, in terms of salmon habitat protection and fisheries exploitation.     

Quality matters: Stoichiometry of resources modulates spatial feedbacks in aquatic-terrestrial meta-ecosystems

Species dispersal and resource spatial flows greatly affect the dynamics of connected ecosystems. So far, research on meta-ecosystems has mainly focused on the quantitative effect of subsidy flows. Yet, resource exchanges at heterotrophic-autotrophic (e.g. aquatic-terrestrial) ecotones display a stoichiometric asymmetry that likely matters for functioning. Here, we joined ecological stoichiometry and the meta-ecosystem framework to understand how subsidy stoichiometry mediates the response of the meta-ecosystem to subsidy flows. Our model results demonstrate that resource flows between ecosystems can induce a positive spatial feedback loop, leading to higher production at the meta-ecosystem scale by relaxing local ecosystem limitations (‘spatial complementarity’). Furthermore, we show that spatial flows can also have an unexpected negative impact on production when accentuating the stoichiometric mismatch between local resources and basal species needs. This study paves the way for studies on the interdependency of ecosystems at the landscape extent.     

Subsidy hypothesis and strength of trophic cascades across ecosystems

Ecosystems are differentially open to subsidies of energy, material and organisms. This fundamental ecosystem attribute has long been recognized but the influence of this property on community regulation has not been investigated. We propose that this environmental attribute may explain variation in the strength of trophic cascades among ecosystems. Simply because of gravity, we should predict that systems with convex profiles receive low amounts of subsidies whereas systems with concave profiles act as spatial attractors, and receive high amounts of subsidies. The subsidy hypothesis states that ecosystems with high amounts of allochthonous inputs will experience the strongest trophic cascades. To test this hypothesis, we derive ecosystem models and investigate the effect of location and magnitude of subsidies on the strength of trophic cascades. Predictions from our models support the subsidy hypothesis and highlight the need to consider ecosystems as open to allochthonous flows.     

Engineering role models: do non-human species have the answers?

A shift from traditional engineering approaches to ecologically-based techniques will require changing societal values regarding ‘how and what’ is defined as engineering and design. Non-human species offer many ecological engineering examples that are often beneficial to ecosystem function and other biota. For example, organisms known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ build, modify, and destroy habitat in their quest for food and survival. Similarly, ‘keystone species’ have greater impacts on community or ecosystem function than would be predicted from their abundance. The capacity of these types of organisms to affect ecosystems is great. They exert controlling influences over ecosystems and communities by altering resource allocation, creating habitats and modifying relative competitive advantages.Species’ effects in ecosystems, although context-dependent, can be evaluated as ‘beneficial’ or ‘detrimental’. The evaluation depends on whether effects on other species or ecosystem function are more or less desirable from a given perspective. Organisms with beneficial impacts facilitate the presence of other species, employ efficient nutrient cycling, and are sometimes characterized by specific mutualisms. In contrast, many cases of detrimental engineering are found from introduced (i.e., exotic) species and are characterized by a loss of species richness, a lack of nutrient retention and the degradation of ecosystem integrity. Species’ impacts on ecosystems and community traits have been quantified in ecological studies and can be used similarly to understand, design and model human engineering structures and impacts on the landscape. Emulation of species with beneficial impacts on ecosystems can provide powerful guidance to the goals of ecological engineering. Using role model organisms that have desirable effects on species diversity and ecosystem function will be important in developing alternatives to traditional engineering practices.     

Increasing donor ecosystem productivity decreases terrestrial consumer reliance on a stream resource subsidy

Because nutrient enrichment can increase ecosystem productivity, it may enhance resource flows to adjacent ecosystems as organisms cross ecosystem boundaries and subsidize predators in recipient ecosystems. Here, we quantified the biomass and abundance of aquatic emergence and terrestrial spiders in a reference and treatment stream that had been continuously enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus for 5 years. Because we previously showed that enrichment increased secondary production of stream consumers, we predicted that aquatic emergence flux would be higher in the treatment stream, subsequently increasing the biomass and abundance of terrestrial spiders. Those increases were predicted to be greatest for spiders specializing on aquatic emergence subsidies (e.g., Tetragnathidae). By adding a ¹⁵N stable isotope tracer to both streams, we also quantified nitrogen flow from the stream into the riparian community. Emergence biomass, but not abundance, was higher in the treatment stream. The average body size of emerging adult insects and the relative dominance of Trichoptera adults were also greater in the treatment stream. However, spider biomass did not differ between streams. Spiders also exhibited substantially lower reliance on aquatic emergence nitrogen in the treatment stream. This reduced reliance likely resulted from shifts in the body size distributions and community composition of insect emergence that may have altered predator consumption efficiency in the treatment stream. Despite nutrient enrichment approximately doubling stream productivity and associated cross-ecosystem resource flows, the response of terrestrial predators depended more on the resource subsidy’s characteristics that affected the predator’s ability to capitalize on such increases.     

Ecosystem services transcend boundaries: estuaries provide resource subsidies and influence functional diversity in coastal benthic communities

Background

Estuaries are highly productive ecosystems that can export organic matter to coastal seas (the ‘outwelling hypothesis’). However the role of this food resource subsidy on coastal ecosystem functioning has not been examined.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We investigated the influence of estuarine primary production as a resource subsidy and the influence of estuaries on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in coastal mollusk-dominated sediment communities. Stable isotope values (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) demonstrated that estuarine primary production was exported to the adjacent coast and contributed to secondary production up to 4 km from the estuary mouth. Further, isotope signatures of suspension feeding bivalves on the adjacent coast (Dosinia subrosea) closely mirrored the isotope values of the dominant bivalves inside the estuaries (Austrovenus stutchburyi), indicating utilization of similar organic matter sources. However, the food subsidies varied between estuaries; with estuarine suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) dominant at Tairua estuary, while seagrass and fringing vegetation detritus was proportionately more important at Whangapoua estuary, with lesser contributions of estuarine SPOM. Distance from the estuary mouth and the size and density of large bivalves (Dosinia spp.) had a significant influence on the composition of biological traits in the coastal macrobenthic communities, signaling the potential influence of these spatial subsidies on ecosystem functioning.

Conclusions/Significance

Our study demonstrated that the locations where ecosystem services like productivity are generated are not necessarily where the services are utilized. Further, we identified indirect positive effects of the nutrient subsidies on biodiversity (the estuarine subsidies influenced the bivalves, which in turn affected the diversity and functional trait composition of the coastal sediment macrofaunal communities). These findings highlight the importance of integrative ecosystem-based management that maintains the connectivity of estuarine and coastal ecosystems.