Slow response of soil organic matter to the reduction in atmospheric nitrogen deposition in a Norway spruce forest

Global nitrogen (N) deposition rates in terrestrial environments have quadrupled since preindustrial times, causing structural and functional changes of ecosystems. Different emission reduction policies were therefore devised. The aim of our study was to investigate if, and over what timescale, processes of soil organic matter (OM) transformation respond to a decline in atmospheric N deposition. A N‐saturated spruce forest (current N deposition: 34 kg ha^?1 yr^?1; critical N load: 14 kg ha^?1 yr^?1), where N deposition has been reduced to 11.5 kg ha^?1 yr^?1 since 1991, was studied. Besides organic C and organic and inorganic N, noncellulosic carbohydrates, amino sugars and amino acids were determined. A decline in organic N in litter indicated initial effects at plant level. However, there were no changes in biomarkers upon the reduction in N deposition. In addition, inorganic N was not affected by reduced N deposition. The results showed that OM cycling and transformation processes have not responded so far. It was concluded that no direct N deposition effects have occurred due to the large amount of stored organic N, which seems to compensate for the reduction in deposited N. Obviously, the time span of atmospheric N reduction (about 14.5 years) is too short compared with the mean turnover time of litter to cause indirect effects on the composition of organic C and N compounds. It is assumed that ecological processes, such as microbial decomposition or recycling of organic N and C, react slowly, but may start within the next decade with the incorporation of the new litter.     

防洪改善计划对鸟类的生态影响

香港特别行政区新界内有23 hm^2的鱼塘和22 hm^2的耕地,在“元朗-锦田-牛潭尾主要防洪改善计划”中被改变成两条防洪渠（防洪渠60号和43号）.于该防洪改善计划中的生态监察调查中发现这两条防洪渠的鸟类数量均较原先的生境大大减少.在耕地改变成防洪渠43号的过程中,鸟类密度由33.9 只/hm^2减少至2.2只/hm^2.在鱼塘改变成防洪渠60号的过程中,鸟类密度由5.2 只/hm^2 减少至0.4只/hm^2.研究亦发现一些原本在鱼塘和耕地很常见的鸟类物种因为生境被改变而消失.这些转变可能和食物,植被及生境复杂程度的减少有关.另一方面,为纾缓因这防洪改善计划中损失的耕地生境,渠务署在防洪渠43号的河岸铺上混凝土草格,促进植物繁衍,为鸟类提供生境.但研究发现以混凝土草格建造的草坡并未能提供有效的纾缓措施,取代耕地生境以减少生态影响.     

2016年度国家自然科学基金微生物学学科项目申请与资助概况分析

摘要:本文介绍了2016年度国家自然科学基金微生物学学科项目申请、受理和资助概况,分析了各分支学科和各项目类别申请的特点和存在的问题,并对今后微生物学学科资助方向进行了展望,希望能够为本学科科研人员今后的项目申请提供有益参考。     

Heterogeneous patterns of abundance of epigeic arthropod taxa along a major elevation gradient

Species diversity is the variable most commonly studied in recent ecological research. Ecological processes, however, are driven by individuals and affected by their abundances. Understanding the variation in animal abundances along climatic gradients is important for predicting changes in ecosystem processes under global warming. High abundances make arthropods, despite their small body sizes, important actors in food webs, yet abundance distributions of major arthropod taxa along climatic gradients remain poorly documented. We sampled arthropod assemblages in disturbed and undisturbed vegetation types along an elevational gradient of 860–4550 m asl on the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. In our analysis, we focused on 13 taxa of arthropods that represented three major functional groups: predators, herbivores, and decomposers. Abundance patterns were unimodal for most of the taxa and functional groups, including decomposer arthropods, and most of them peaked at low elevations in lower montane forest. When we assigned beetles to functional groups, however, decomposer beetle abundances declined almost linearly, and abundances of predator beetles (ca. 2400 m asl) and herbivore beetles (ca. 3000 m asl, undisturbed vegetation) peaked at higher elevations and exhibited unimodal patterns. Temperature, not primary productivity, was the best predictor of abundance for most of the taxa and groups. Disturbance was only of minor importance. Our results revealed different trends in the response of arthropod abundance along the elevational gradient that depended on the level of taxonomic and functional resolution. This highlights the need for more comparisons of different taxa along the same climatic gradients.     

OpenCMISS: A multi-physics & multi-scale computational infrastructure for the VPH/Physiome project

The VPH/Physiome Project is developing the model encoding standards CellML (cellml.org) and FieldML (fieldml.org) as well as web-accessible model repositories based on these standards (models.physiome.org). Freely available open source computational modelling software is also being developed to solve the partial differential equations described by the models and to visualise results. The OpenCMISS code (opencmiss.org), described here, has been developed by the authors over the last six years to replace the CMISS code that has supported a number of organ system Physiome projects.OpenCMISS is designed to encompass multiple sets of physical equations and to link subcellular and tissue-level biophysical processes into organ-level processes. In the Heart Physiome project, for example, the large deformation mechanics of the myocardial wall need to be coupled to both ventricular flow and embedded coronary flow, and the reaction-diffusion equations that govern the propagation of electrical waves through myocardial tissue need to be coupled with equations that describe the ion channel currents that flow through the cardiac cell membranes.In this paper we discuss the design principles and distributed memory architecture behind the OpenCMISS code. We also discuss the design of the interfaces that link the sets of physical equations across common boundaries (such as fluid-structure coupling), or between spatial fields over the same domain (such as coupled electromechanics), and the concepts behind CellML and FieldML that are embodied in the OpenCMISS data structures. We show how all of these provide a flexible infrastructure for combining models developed across the VPH/Physiome community.     

Genetic diversity and population structure of Sepiella japonica (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Decapoda) inferred by mitochondrial DNA (COI) variations

In order to describe the genetic diversity of five geographical populations of cuttlefish (Sepiella japonica) along with Chinese coast and determined their phylogenetic relationship, partial mitochondrial COI gene (681bp in length) was amplified from 96 individuals collected from these populations and sequenced. The 5 populations of cuttlefish inhabit Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. Out of 22 polymorphic nucleotides identified, 8 were represented by a single sequence, 12 were parsimony informative, which defined 22 haplotypes. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity were low among populations. Of 22 haplotypes, 15 appeared only in a single population, 6 appeared in 2 or 3 populations and 1 was shared by all populations. The COI gene was monomorphic in Qingdao population. The haplotypes identified clustered into 2 clades, each covered individuals from 5 populations each. Pairwise F_ST were not proportional to the geographical distances. Among the 5 populations, relatively high level of genetic diversity was found in Ningde population which was recommended to be the best choice of germplasm resources for artificial releasing project.     

EPICO 2.0 project. Development of educational therapeutic recommendations using the DELPHI technique on invasive candidiasis in critically ill adult patients in special situations

BackgroundAlthough there has been an improved management of invasive candidiasis in the last decade, still controversial issues remain, especially in different therapeutic critical care scenarios.AimsWe sought to identify the core clinical knowledge and to achieve high agreement recommendations required to care for critically ill adult patients with invasive candidiasis for antifungal treatment in special situations and different scenarios.MethodsSecond prospective Spanish survey reaching consensus by the DELPHI technique, conducted anonymously by electronic e-mail in the first phase to 23 national multidisciplinary experts in invasive fungal infections from five national scientific societies including intensivists, anesthesiologists, microbiologists, pharmacologists and infectious disease specialists, answering 30 questions prepared by a coordination group after a strict review of literature in the last five years. The educational objectives spanned four categories, including peritoneal candidiasis, immunocompromised patients, special situations, and organ failures. The agreement among panelists in each item should be higher than 75% to be selected. In a second phase, after extracting recommendations from the selected items, a meeting was held with more than 60 specialists in a second round invited to validate the preselected recommendations.Measurements and main resultsIn the first phase, 15 recommendations were preselected (peritoneal candidiasis (3), immunocompromised patients (6), special situations (3), and organ failures (3)). After the second round the following 13 were validated: Peritoneal candidiasis (3): Source control and early adequate antifungal treatment is mandatory; empirical antifungal treatment is recommended in secondary nosocomial peritonitis with Candida spp. colonization risk factors and in tertiary peritonitis. Immunocompromised patients (5): consider hepatotoxicity and interactions before starting antifungal treatment with azoles in transplanted patients; treat candidemia in neutropenic adult patients with antifungal drugs at least 14 days after the first blood culture negative and until normalization of neutrophils is achieved. Caspofungin, if needed, is the echinocandin with most scientific evidence to treat candidemia in neutropenic adult patients; caspofungin is also the first choice drug to treat febrile candidemia; in neutropenic patients with candidemia remove catheter. Special situations (2): in moderate hepatocellular failure, patients with invasive candidiasis use echinocandins (preferably low doses of anidulafungin and caspofungin) and try to avoid azoles; in case of possible interactions review all the drugs involved and preferably use anidulafungin. Organ failures (3): echinocandins are the safest antifungal drugs; reconsider the use of azoles in patients under renal replacement therapy; all of the echinocandins to treat patients under continuous renal replacement therapy are accepted and do not require dosage adjustment.ConclusionsTreatment of invasive candidiasis in ICU patients requires a broad range of knowledge and skills as summarized in our recommendations. These recommendations may help to optimize the therapeutic management of these patients in special situations and different scenarios and improve their outcome based on the DELPHI methodology.     

重大工程建设中生态安全格局构建基本原则和方法

随着人类活动的日益加强,生态安全成为全球关注的话题.生态安全的状态受到人类干扰活动的影响,而区域生态安全演变也会影响人类活动的功效.20世纪90年代以来,我国先后开展了长江三峡大坝、青藏铁路、西气东输、西电东送、南水北调等重大工程项目的建设.这些重大工程建设对区域生态安全的影响,以及区域生态系统演变对工程安全运行的影响成为我国政府关注的重要课题.如何在强度干扰下开展生态恢复与区域生态安全格局的构建,不仅关系到区域生态环境的保护,也关系到各项重大工程的顺利运行.本文系统分析了工程建设的类型、特征及其对区域生态环境的影响,在此基础上,提出了重大工程建设中生态恢复与安全格局构建的基本原则和方法.认为在工程建设中构建生态安全格局需要从6个方面着手：区域生态环境现状分析与评价、工程建设生态干扰与风险评价、生态安全格局预案构建、区域生态环境效应情景分析、区域生态恢复与安全格局再优化和生态系统管理方案的建立.讨论了我国重大工程建设中生态安全格局构建面临的突出问题.     

云南雨石得电站工程建设对巴江渔业资源及生态环境的影响

综述了巴江渔业资源状况和雨石得电站建设对资源和环境的影响。巴江共有鱼类60种,其中土著鱼类47种。有16个水生动物新种(其中鱼类新种14个),和国家二级保护动物红瘰疣螈。屯站建成后将对巴江急流鱼种及洄游鱼种的生存造成不利影响。当前应采取切实可行的生态措施,以保护巴江特有的生物资源。     

Modelling the vegetation of China using the process-based equilibrium terrestrial biosphere model BIOME3

1 We model the potential vegetation and annual net primary production (NPP) of China on a 10′ grid under the present climate using the processed‐based equilibrium terrestrial biosphere model BIOME3. The simulated distribution of the vegetation was in general in good agreement with the potential natural vegetation based on a numerical comparison between the two maps using the ΔV statistic (ΔV = 0.23). Predicted and measured NPP were also similar, especially in terms of biome‐averages. 2 A coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model including sulphate aerosols was used to drive a double greenhouse gas scenario for 2070–2099. Simulated vegetation maps from two different CO₂ scenarios (340 and 500 p.p.m.v.) were compared to the baseline biome map using ΔV. Climate change alone produced a large reduction in desert, alpine tundra and ice/polar desert, and a general pole‐ward shift of the boreal, temperate deciduous, warm–temperate evergreen and tropical forest belts, a decline in boreal deciduous forest and the appearance of tropical deciduous forest. The inclusion of CO₂ physiological effects led to a marked decrease in moist savannas and desert, a general decrease for grasslands and steppe, and disappearance of xeric woodland/scrub. Temperate deciduous broadleaved forest, however, shifted north to occupy nearly half the area of previously temperate mixed forest. 3 The impact of climate change and increasing CO₂ is not only on biogeography, but also on potential NPP. The NPP values for most of the biomes in the scenarios with CO₂ set at 340 p.p.m.v. and 500 p.p.m.v. are greater than those under the current climate, except for the temperate deciduous forest, temperate evergreen broadleaved forest, tropical rain forest, tropical seasonal forest, and xeric woodland/scrub biomes. Total vegetation and total carbon is simulated to increase significantly in the future climate scenario, both with and without the CO₂ direct physiological effect. 4 Our results show that the global process‐based equilibrium terrestrial biosphere model BIOME3 can be used successfully at a regional scale.