Seasonal succession of phytoplankton in a lake of the Paraná river floodplain,Argentina

Phytoplankton biomass, morphological and taxonomic composition, species diversity and productivity were analyzed in a shallow lake of the Middle Paraná River floodplain (El Tigre, 31 ° 41 S and 60° 42 W), between November 1986 and July 1988. Lake inundation (filling and through-flow phases) constituted an intense long-term perturbation in the physical and chemical environment. As the lake filled with river water, K-selected species (netplanktonic filamentous bluegreens, > 37 µm, with low surface area/volume (SA/V) ratios) that had existed prior to filling (late spring 1986) were replaced in summer-fall by r-selected species (nannoplanktonic chlorophytes and cryptophytes, < 37 µm, mainly stout forms with high SA/V ratios). During the through-flow phase, lentic phytoplankton was replaced by lotic flagellate populations due to the direct flushing by river water. During the period of falling water (drainage and isolation phases), nanoplanktonic algae with similar characteristics to those of the filling phase dominated in late winter-spring. Later in the isolation phase, these were succeeded by K-selected species (netplanktonic algae, mainly motile spherical dinoflagellates and filamentous bluegreens with low SA/V ratios). Simultaneously, primary production per unit biomass decreased and total biomass and specific diversity increased. Seasonal changes of phytoplankton in floodplain lakes can be interpreted as the interaction between true successional development (as observed in the drainage and isolation phases) and intermediate disturbance. Using Reynolds' terminology, short-term disturbance (slight inflow of nutrient-rich river water) caused reversion to an earlier stage in the former succession, and long-term disturbance (lake inundation) truncated the successional progression and a new (or shifted) succession was initiated.     

How drought events during the last century have impacted biomass carbon in Amazonian rainforests

During the last two decades, inventory data show that droughts have reduced biomass carbon sink of the Amazon forest by causing mortality to exceed growth. However, process-based models have struggled to include drought-induced responses of growth and mortality and have not been evaluated against plot data. A process-based model, ORCHIDEE-CAN-NHA, including forest demography with tree cohorts, plant hydraulic architecture and drought-induced tree mortality, was applied over Amazonia rainforests forced by gridded climate fields and rising CO₂ from 1901 to 2019. The model reproduced the decelerating signal of net carbon sink and drought sensitivity of aboveground biomass (AGB) growth and mortality observed at forest plots across selected Amazon intact forests for 2005 and 2010. We predicted a larger mortality rate and a more negative sensitivity of the net carbon sink during the 2015/16 El Niño compared with the former droughts. 2015/16 was indeed the most severe drought since 1901 regarding both AGB loss and area experiencing a severe carbon loss. We found that even if climate change did increase mortality, elevated CO₂ contributed to balance the biomass mortality, since CO₂-induced stomatal closure reduces transpiration, thus, offsets increased transpiration from CO₂-induced higher foliage area.     

The role of fire in terrestrial vertebrate richness patterns

Productivity is strongly associated with terrestrial species richness patterns, although the mechanisms underpinning such patterns have long been debated. Despite considerable consumption of primary productivity by fire, its influence on global diversity has received relatively little study. Here we examine the sensitivity of terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity (amphibians, birds and mammals) to fire, while accounting for other drivers. We analyse global data on terrestrial vertebrate richness, net primary productivity, fire occurrence (fraction of productivity consumed) and additional influences unrelated to productivity (i.e., historical phylogenetic and area effects) on species richness. For birds, fire is associated with higher diversity, rivalling the effects of productivity on richness, and for mammals, fire's positive association with diversity is even stronger than productivity; for amphibians, in contrast, there are few clear associations. Our findings suggest an underappreciated role for fire in the generation of animal species richness and the conservation of global biodiversity.     

Human appropriation of net primary production as driver of change in landscape-scale vertebrate richness

Aim

Land use is the most pervasive driver of biodiversity loss. Predicting its impact on species richness (SR) is often based on indicators of habitat loss. However, the degradation of habitats, especially through land-use intensification, also affects species. Here, we evaluate whether an integrative metric of land-use intensity, the human appropriation of net primary production, is correlated with the decline of SR in used landscapes across the globe.

Location

Global.

Time period

Present.

Major taxa studied

Birds, mammals and amphibians.

Methods

Based on species range maps (spatial resolution: 20 km × 20 km) and an area-of-habitat approach, we calibrated a “species–energy model” by correlating the SR of three groups of vertebrates with net primary production and biogeographical covariables in “wilderness” areas (i.e., those where available energy is assumed to be still at pristine levels). We used this model to project the difference between pristine SR and the SR corresponding to the energy remaining in used landscapes (i.e., SR loss expected owing to human energy extraction outside wilderness areas). We validated the projected species loss by comparison with the realized and impending loss reconstructed from habitat conversion and documented by national Red Lists.

Results

Species–energy models largely explained landscape-scale variation of mapped SR in wilderness areas (adjusted R²-values: 0.79–0.93). Model-based projections of SR loss were lower, on average, than reconstructed and documented ones, but the spatial patterns were correlated significantly, with stronger correlation in mammals (Pearson's r = 0.68) than in amphibians (r = 0.60) and birds (r = 0.57).

Main conclusions

Our results suggest that the human appropriation of net primary production is a useful indicator of heterotrophic species loss in used landscapes, hence we recommend its inclusion in models based on species–area relationships to improve predictions of land-use-driven biodiversity loss.     

黄河流域植被格局变化对水分利用效率的影响

黄河流域横跨3个气候带,是全球人类活动最为强烈的地区之一,特殊的地理位置和复杂的下垫面导致其碳-水循环过程较为复杂。研究黄河流域碳水循环不仅是区域水资源利用的基础,也是实现气候变化条件下双碳目标的关键。水分利用效率(WUE)作为表征碳水过程的重要指标,可用于反映生态系统碳水耦合规律及其相互作用关系。基于此,利用全球陆表特征参量数据(GLASS)的净初级生产力(NPP)和蒸散(ET)产品以及中国逐年土地利用与覆盖数据集(CLUD-A),分析了黄河流域植被格局变化背景下WUE在1990—2018年的时空变化特征及其驱动力。结果表明：(1)黄河流域全域WUE在29 a的均值处在0.18—1.53 g C/kg H₂O之间,存在明显的空间异质性,上游地区WUE明显高于中下游地区,分别在0.66—0.92 g C/kg H₂O和0.43—0.62 g C/kg H₂O之间波动,二者均存在波动上升态势。(2)黄河流域全域WUE在以2000年为中间点的10 a的增速达到近29 a的峰值,流域植被格局变化所带来的流域内NPP与ET变化速...     

闽南渔场主要游泳动物时空生态位特征及其影响因素

根据2019—2021年在闽南渔场进行的秋季、冬季、春季和夏季四个航次定点底拖网调查资料,利用相对重要性指数、种群聚集强度、生态位宽度、生态位重叠及冗余分析对主要游泳动物时空生态位特征及其影响因素进行研究。结果表明,(1)调查海域共鉴定出游泳动物214种,主要优势种有18种,优势种存在明显的季节更替现象;夏季优势种的丛生指数和平均拥挤度较高,春季较低;(2)在时间维度上,须赤虾(Metapenaeposis barbata De Haan)生态位宽度最大(0.99), 7组种对时间生态位重叠值等于1.00;在空间维度上,带鱼(Trachurus japonicus Temminck&Schlegel)生态位宽度最大(2.57),空间生态位重叠值超过0.6的种类占71.3%;在时空维度上,带鱼生态位宽度最大(2.45),鹿斑仰口鲾(Leiognathus ruconius Hamilton)与赤鼻棱鳀(Thrissa kammalensis Bleeker)时空生态位重叠值最大(0.94);(3)冗余分析表明,底层温度和底层盐度是影响闽南渔场主要游泳动物时空生态位特征的重要环境因...     

The effect of charcoal production on carbon cycling in African biomes

Using biomass for charcoal production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) may change carbon stock dynamics and lead to irreversible changes in the carbon balance, yet we have little understanding of whether these dynamics vary by biome in this region. Currently, charcoal production contributes up to 7% of yearly deforestation in tropical regions, with carbon emissions corresponding to 71.2 million tonnes of CO₂ and 1.3 million tonnes of CH₄. With a projected increased demand for charcoal in the coming decades, even low harvest rates may throw the carbon budget off-balance due to legacy effects. Here, we parameterized the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS for six SSA biomes and examined the effect of charcoal production on net ecosystem exchange (NEE), carbon stock sizes and recovery time for tropical rain forest, montane forest, moist savanna, dry savanna, temperate grassland and semi-desert. Under historical charcoal regimes, tropical rain forests and montane forests transitioned from net carbon sinks to net sources, that is, mean cumulative NEE from −3.56 ± 2.59 kg C/m² to 2.46 ± 3.43 kg C/m² and −2.73 ± 2.80 kg C/m² to 1.87 ± 4.94 kg C/m² respectively. Varying charcoal production intensities resulted in tropical rain forests showing at least two times higher carbon losses than the other biomes. Biome recovery time varied by carbon stock, with tropical and montane forests taking about 10 times longer than the fast recovery observed for semi-desert and temperate grasslands. Our findings show that high biomass biomes are disproportionately affected by biomass harvesting for charcoal, and even low harvesting rates strongly affect vegetation and litter carbon and their contribution to the carbon budget. Therefore, the prolonged biome recoveries imply that current charcoal production practices in SSA are not sustainable, especially in tropical rain forests and montane forests, where we observe longer recovery for vegetation and litter carbon stocks.     

中国亚热带常绿阔叶林净第一性生产力的估算

中国亚热带常绿阔叶林净第一性生产力的估算倪健（中国科学院植物研究所生态室,北京１０００９３）ＥｓｔｉｍａｔｅｏｆｔｈｅＮｅｔＰｒｉｍａｒｙＰｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｖｉｔｙｆｏｒＳｕｂｔｒｏｐｉｃａｌＥｖｅｒｇｒｅｅｎＢｒｏａｄｌｅａｖｅｄＦｏｒｅｓｔｉｎＣｈ...     

Belowground positive and negative feedbacks on CO2 growth enhancement

In this paper we present a conceptual model of integrated plant-soil interactions which illustrates the importance of identifying the primary belowground feedbacks, both positive and negative, which can simultaneously affect plant growth responses to elevated CO₂. The primary negative feedbacks share the common feature of reducing the amount of nutrients available to plants. These negative feedbacks include increased litter C/N ratios, and therefore reduced mineralization rates, increased immobilization of available nutrients by a larger soil microbial pool, and increased storage of nutrients in plant biomass and detritus due to increases in net primary productivity (NPP). Most of the primary positive feedbacks share the common feature of being plant mediated feedbacks, the only exception being Zak et al.'s hypothesis that increased microbial biomass will be accompanied by increased mineralization rates. Plant nutrient uptake may be increased through alterations in root architecture, physiology, or mycorrhizal symbioses. Further, the increased C/N ratios of plant tissue mean that a given level of NPP can be achieved with a smaller supply of nitrogen.Identification of the net plant-soil feedbacks to enhanced productivity with elevated CO₂ are a critical first step for any ecosystem. It is necessary, however, that we first identify how universally applicable the results are from one study of one ecosystem before ecosystem models incorporate this information. The effect of elevated CO₂ on plant growth (including NPP, tissue quality, root architecture, mycorrhizal symbioses) can vary greatly for different species and environmental conditions. Therefore it is reasonable to expect that different ecosystems will show different patterns of interacting positive and negative feedbacks within the plant-soil system. This inter-ecosystem variability in the potential for long-term growth responses to rising CO₂ levels implies that we need to parameterize mechanistic models of the impact of elevated CO₂ on ecosystem productivity using a detailed understanding of each ecosystem of interest.