滩地植被景观斑块分布特征与生态潜力评价

斑块大小是研究景观要素特征的一个主要参数。物种动态、潜在生境、潜在林产品(木材)、能量、养分和水流以及很多其它参数都受到景观中斑块大小的影响。将研究区域--富阳市富阳镇段滩地划分为6大类81个基本类型,并将其归为低水平斑块(基本类型对应斑块)和高水平斑块(大类对应斑块),采用极大似然估计法进行了研究,Kotliar和Wiens提出的斑块结构的等级框架是对斑块意义的更完整的理解,研究过程中对斑块的确定符合Kotliar和Wiens的等级思想。充分考虑了两个水平上的斑块,及它们对应于斑块类型的两个水平,研究表明:低水平的斑块内部具有较高的同质性,而高水平的斑块内部具有较低的同质性;在两种斑块水平上都显示出斑块大小分布是明显右偏的;只有少数类型斑块大小的分布服从负指数分布,而绝大多数斑块大小的分布服从对数正态分布,这对斑块内的群落和生态系统的稳定性和保护提供了参考。     

安徽长江滩地杨树人工林个体生长与水淹状况的关系

通过对长江滩地连续７年的水文动态以及滩地杨树人工林年轮生长序列的研究,分析杨树人工林个体生长与水淹时间、水淹深度以及气候因子的相应关系,建立相关模型。结果表明,林分个体胸径分布格局与滩地的高程具显著的相关性,水淹深度对直径生长的影响大于水淹的时间,而当年的径向生长与前一年８、９月水淹情况以及气候因子的关系明显。在滩地营造杨树人工林,以丰产为目的宜选择深度小于２ｍ的地域造林,淹水深度超过２ｍ的地域宜     

Exploiting beach filling as an unaffordable experiment: Benthic intertidal impacts propagating upwards to shorebirds

Cold-season filling using much coarser sediments than the native caused dramatic suppression of beach macroinvertebrates, demonstrably degrading habitat value for foraging shorebirds. As a dual consequence of persistent steepening of the foreshore, which translated to reduction in habitat area by 14-29%, and disturbance-induced depression of invertebrate densities on filled beaches, abundances of Donax spp. and haustoriid amphipods averaged less than 10% of control levels. Donax spp. is the biomass dominant and a key prey for higher trophic levels. Haustoriids lack pelagic larvae. Recovery on filled beaches was not initiated by either taxon during the March-November sampling. Emerita talpoida, an order of magnitude less abundant than Donax spp. on control beaches, exhibited a pattern of initial depression on filled beaches but recovered by mid summer. Polychaetes, mostly the small Scolelepis squamata, experienced a warm-season bloom of equal magnitude on filled and control beaches. Summertime recruitment of predatory ghost crabs appeared inhibited on filled beaches, perhaps by persistent shell hash. Intertidal shell cover on filled beaches averaged 25-50% in mid summer as compared to 6-8% on control beaches. Largely in response to prey depression, but perhaps also to surface shell armoring and/or coarsening of sediments, shorebird (mostly sanderling) use plummeted by 70-90% on filled beaches until November. Thus, despite likely adaptations to natural sediment dynamics, the high intensity of sediment deposition, cumulative spatial scope (10.8 km), and unnaturally coarse shelly character of the Bogue Banks beach nourishment resulted in a perturbation that exceeded biotic resistance and degraded the trophic transfer function of this highly productive habitat for at least one warm season.     

The gracilarioids in South Africa: long-term monitoring of a declining resource

In South Africa, gracilarioid red algae have been collected as wash-up to be dried and sold for agar extraction for at least 50 years. Despite much research, there is currently no commercial mariculture of the algae locally although this has been carried out in neighboring Namibia for a number of years. The industry is traditionally confined to Saldanha Bay on the west coast, although small wash-ups of Gracilariopsis longissima have been collected in nearby St Helena Bay. In Saldanha Bay, wash-ups of Gracilaria. gracilis have been very sporadic over the last few decades, with human alteration of the bay configuration possibly responsible for an initial major decline in 1974. This unpredictability in the amounts of wash-up has made the industry unstable and increasingly unprofitable. We compiled the results of previous surveys (some unpublished) of gracilariod populations in St Helena Bay and the Saldanha-Langebaan sytem, and re-surveyed these populations to examine long-term fluctuations. In Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon, standing stock of G. gracilis was estimated at 538 tons fresh weight and 71 tons fresh weight respectively. Less than 4 tons of gracilarioids are estimated to remain in St Helena Bay. We discuss the fluctuations in biomass and distribution of these South African gracilarioid populations.     

Impact of anthropogenic disturbances on beetle communities of French Mediterranean coastal dunes

In coastal dunes, influenced by anthropogenic activities such as tourism, it is important to determine the relative influence of environmental factors at different spatial scales to evaluate the sensitivity of local communities to disturbances. We analyzed beetle communities of 14 dunes of the French Mediterranean coast: four in the relatively preserved Camargue area, and ten in the Var department, where tourism is intensive. Beetle communities were studied three times in early spring using sand sampling. Species-environment relationships were evaluated at the regional, landscape and local scale using redundancy analysis (RDA) and variability partitioning. About 28 species were identified, of which 15 were sand-specialist species, which accounted for more than 93% of total abundance. The beetle communities of Camargue were significantly different from those of the Var department owing to the pullulation of a Tenebrionid species (Trachyscelis aphodioides Latr.) in the Var, except for one restored dune where the community was very similar to those of Camargue. Our results showed no longitudinal gradient between the two regions. Local factors (dune height, preservation and disturbance index) significantly explained most of the variation in the dominance of T. aphodioides, while some other local factors were important for other psammophilous species. This study also suggests that dune beetle communities are strongly affected on beaches intensively managed for tourism, but beetles are still abundant in much disturbed sites.     

Lesions confined to the ventromedial hypothalamus decrease the frequency of coital contacts in female rats

Ovariectomized female rats received either bilateral radiofrequency lesions of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) or control treatments and were tested for copulatory activity following either estrogen (E) alone, or E plus progesterone (P) administration. In separate experiments the females were tested in two testing apparatuses both of which allowed the test females to control their contacts with sexually active males. One of the testing apparatuses also allowed the females to control their contacts with sexually inactive males and ovariectomized females. Females receiving VMH lesions engaged in fewer coital contacts with sexually active males than sham-operated females in the E plus P condition. Lesioned females also tended to spend less time with sexually active males than did sham operates in both the E and E plus P hormonal conditions. The VMH-lesioned females did not differ from the sham-operated females in the ability to display lordosis during the coital contacts or the frequency and duration of visits to the inactive males or ovariectomized females. The sham-operated females did have some transitory alterations in copulatory behavior in comparison to unoperated control females.     

Ichnology of Lower Jurassic beach deposits in the Shemshak Formation at Shahmirzad,southeastern Alborz Mountains,Iran

A 19 m thick package of well-sorted lowermost Jurassic (Hettangian-Lower Sinemurian?) sandstones within the Shemshak Formation of the southeastern Alborz Mountains displays features characteristic of foreshore to upper shoreface environments such as tabular bedding, low-angle lamination, trough cross-stratification, parting lineation, and oscillation ripples. In contrast to most other beach successions recorded in the literature the sandstones contain a trace fossil assemblage characterised by low abundance but comparatively high diversity. The assemblage, comprising 14 ichnotaxa, is dominated by Palaeophycus heberti, Rhizocorallium irregulare, Gyrochorte comosa, and Parahaentzschelinia surlyki. Contrary to predictions, which assume a dominance of suspension-feeders in such high-energy environments, the trace fossil assemblage represents a variety of ethological groups ranging from suspension-feeders to deposit-feeders, detritus-feeders, scavengers, and a possible trap constructor (Ctenopholeus), whereby deposit-feeders predominate. This anomaly is explained by a high amount of organic detritus in the sediment, indicated by abundant plant material, and a position of the beach in the vicinity of a river mouth.