Comparison of geographically distant populations of Rhizobium isolated from root nodules of Phaseolus vulgaris

Seventy-two rhizobial strains were isolated from the root nodules of french beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ). They were sampled from two geographically distant field populations and 18 additional different sites in France. They were characterized by a) plasmid profiles, (b) RFLP analysis of total cellular DNA using various chromosomal and symbiotic gene probes (including nif H from Rhizobium etli bv. phaseoli ) and c) their ability to nodulate a potential alternative host, L. leucocephala. Over half of the isolates were ascribed to Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. phaseoli on the basis of the hybridization analysis, the possession of multiple copies of nif H and their inability to nodulate L. leucocephala. The remaining isolates belonged to 2 groups which were shown to be genomically distinct from R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli, R. etli bv. phaseoli and R. tropici. Most members of these two groups shared with R. tropici the ability to nodulate L. leucocephala and, for isolates of only one of these groups, the presence of one copy of nif H. Members of each of the 3 taxa were widely distributed in France and circumstantial evidence of pSym transfer between them was shown. R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli and one of the two novel groups co-occurred within the two geographically distant populations. Individual genotypes were conserved between them. The finding of a third taxon at various other locations indicated additional diversity among rhizobia nodulating beans.     

基于环境DNA技术的赤水河秋季鱼类多样性分布特征

赤水河是长江上游少有的仍保持自然流态的大型一级支流,是长江鱼类重要的繁衍场和珍稀物种的保护地,摸清其鱼类多样性现状及鱼类群落结构特征对赤水河水生态恢复评估极为重要。于2021年9月对赤水河流域开展了鱼类多样性、分布及其特征调查,全流域共设置52个采样点,采用环境DNA技术采集并研究了赤水河鱼类的组成及其分布。结果显示通过环境DNA方法共调查到鱼类6目18科62属77种,包含16种长江特有鱼类。以鲤形目为主,占总数的87.87%。赤水河鱼类食性以杂食性和肉食性鱼类为主,群落结构上,处于下层水环境鱼类较多;赤水河鱼类优势种为宽鳍鱲(Y=0.205)、西昌华吸鳅(Y=0.085)、麦穗鱼(Y=0.068)、乌苏拟鲿(Y=0.033)、云南光唇鱼(Y=0.027);赤水河上游和下游鱼类群落(P<0.01)和Shannon-Wiener指数差异均显著(P<0.05)。海拔、流速、pH、电导率和温度是影响赤水河鱼类多样性的主要环境因素。为环境DNA技术在赤水河鱼类多样性调查中的应用提供了探索性研究,将有助于赤水河生物多样性的保护。     

高寒草甸植物群落功能多样性对不同生长期干旱的响应机制

植物对干旱胁迫的响应表现为各功能性状的差异化表达。全球气候变化下,青藏高原地区降水格局发生改变,高寒草甸群落功能性状及功能多样性在不同生长期干旱事件下的响应机制对加深高寒草甸适应气候变化认知具有重要意义。以藏北高寒草甸为研究对象,设置截雨棚模拟生长季前期（ED）、中期（MD）和非生长季时期（ND）干旱事件,通过观测群落物种功能性状,分析高寒草甸群落功能多样性对不同生长期干旱的响应机制。结果表明：（1）叶片功能性状对干旱存在差异响应,表现为叶片小而厚且寿命长,同化速率降低,并受氮元素限制加剧;（2）生长季前期干旱对高寒草甸群落功能性状的影响最强,生长季中期干旱次之,非生长季干旱的影响最弱;（3）生长季干旱处理显著改变了群落的功能多样性,ED处理下功能分散度指数（FDiv）和功能分异度指数（FDis）显著降低（P<0.05）,而Rao二次熵指数（RaoQ）显著升高（P<0.05）,MD处理下功能均匀度指数（FEve）显著降低（P<0.05）;（4）相关性分析得出,群落功能性状与功能多样性对干旱的响应之间存在着联系。本研究发现高寒草甸植物功能性状与群落功能多样性对生长季前期和中期干旱存在差异化响应,指示着高寒草甸植物群落在响应不同时期干旱时可能采取不同的生存策略,即对生长季前期干旱采用耐旱策略、对生长季中期干旱采用避旱策略。探讨了高寒草甸植物群落功能多样性对不同生长时期干旱胁迫的响应机制,为预测未来季节性干旱事件对青藏高原高寒草甸植物功能性状、群落特征和功能多样性的影响提供科学依据。     

Environmental influences on local amphibian diversity: the role of floods on river basins

We tested two hypotheses about boundary units and seven about environmental control of species diversity in order to explain geographical trends in the richness of amphibian species in the Mediterranean watershed of the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The number of amphibian species tends to decrease from west to east. The longitudinal trend in the richness of amphibian species actually occurs on passing from one basin to another, but there is not any longitudinal trend within the basins. Multivariate analyses confirmed that the disturbances of episodic river-basin floodings were the principal factor which controls the richness of amphibian species. They explained 94.8% of the observed variations in the richness of amphibian species in this area, according to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.We propose hydrographic basins as suitable geographical units for further biogeographical analysis and for considering the role of disturbances produced by floods in the environmental control of species diversity.     

Restoration management of abandoned chalk grassland in the Netherlands

After abandonment of chalk grassland in the Netherlands, Brachypodium pinnatum had become very dominant and this resulted in a dramatic decrease of plant diversity. Restoration of these abandoned sites is important, because of its former high diversity with many nationally endangered species. To restore the chalk grassland vegetation, the impact of the introduction of different experimental cutting regimes was investigated during three years. The thick litter layer and the dominance of Brachypodium was strongly reduced after introduction of all cutting regimes. In all cutting treatments forb phytomass increased considerably, especially in the twice-a-year cutting vegetation, where the forb phytomass became as high as that of Brachypodium. Phanerogamic species diversity was stimulated in all cutting regimes. Especially the number of short-lived forbs. with a persistent seed bank, increased markedly in the twice-a-year cutting treatment. It is concluded that cutting the vegetation twice is adequate to reduce the negative effects of the thick litter layer and the abundant growth of Brachypodium. It creates an appropriate starting point for more detinite management, whether mowing or grazing. However, the restoration of a more complete species assortment strongly depends on the re-invasion possibilities of these species.     

金沙江下游典型库区消落带植被恢复模式

消落带植被分布、生活型、多样性的调查研究显著促进了消落带植被恢复技术的进步,然而相邻两梯级库区消落带植被分布的差异以及植被群落特征的年际变化并不明确。此外,金沙江下游部分区域表现出一定的干热特征,其影响下的消落带植被群落特征有待深入了解。基于2019年和2021年向家坝和溪洛渡库区消落带植被调查结果,分析表明：(1)金沙江下游消落带按照下垫面特性主要分为硬岩型、软岩型、松软堆积型3种类型,坡度平缓的松软堆积型消落带是植被恢复的主要类型;(2)整体上,消落带优势植被类型是一年生和多年生草本,单优势种、少优势种群落较为普遍,两个库区消落带优势种重要值差异显著,植被生活型较少;(3)向家坝、溪洛渡库区消落带在分别经历6次和8次周期性水淹后,消落带植被分布与群落物种多样性特征变化不显著,表明消落带植被群落结构相对稳定。综上说明向家坝、溪洛渡两个相邻的梯级库区消落带植被恢复需要以灌草为主,且具有不同的潜在恢复模式,因此需要对应采取不同的恢复策略。研究对于科学指导金沙江下游梯级水电站库区消落带植被恢复具有重要意义。     

黄土高原草地植物多样性与群落稳定性的关系及其驱动因素

植物多样性对维持生态功能的稳定发挥具有重要作用。以黄土高原不同植被带草地为研究对象,基于野外调查和实验分析,探究黄土高原不同植被带草地植物多样性与群落稳定性特征和二者之间的关系以及影响因素。结果表明：黄土高原草地群落结构特征(地上生物量、地下生物量)与植物多样性具有明显的纬度分布格局,草地植物多样性和生物量均表现出自东南向西北沿森林草原带—森林带—草原带—草原荒漠带逐渐递减趋势。森林草原带草地植物多样性和群落稳定性显著高于森林带、草原带和草原荒漠带;植物多样性与群落稳定性之间存在显著正相关关系,可以作为衡量群落稳定性的指标,其稳定性大小表现为森林草原带>森林带>草原带>草原荒漠带。降雨量是影响植物多样性和群落稳定性的主要因素,并通过改变土壤含水量影响群落稳定性。研究结果揭示了草地植物多样性与群落稳定性之间的关系及驱动机制,为维持黄土高原草地生态系统的群落稳定性提供了科学依据。     

Identifying Mozambique's most critical areas for plant conservation: An evaluation of protected areas and Important Plant Areas

Successful protected area networks must represent biodiversity across taxonomic groups. However, too often plant species are overlooked in conservation planning, and the resulting protected areas may, as a result, fail to encompass the most important sites for plant diversity. The Mozambique Tropical Important Plant Areas project sought to promote the conservation of Mozambique's flora through the identification of Important Plant Areas (IPAs). Here, we use the Weighted Endemism including Global Endangerment (WEGE) index to identify the richest areas for rare and endemic plants in Mozambique and subsequently evaluate how well represented these hotspots are within the current protected area and IPA networks. We also examine the congruence between IPA and protected areas to identify opportunities for strengthening the conservation of plants in Mozambique. We found that high WEGE scores, representing areas rich in endemic/near-endemic and threatened species, predict the presence of IPAs in Mozambique, but do not predict the presence of protected areas. We also find that there is limited overlap between IPAs and protected areas in Mozambique. We demonstrate how IPAs could be an important tool for ensuring priority sites for plant diversity are included within protected area network expansions, particularly following the adoption of the “30 by 30” target agreed within the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity framework, with great potential for this method to be replicated elsewhere in the global tropics.     

Do Geographically Isolated Grasslands Follow the Principle of Island Biogeography in a Landscape Scale? Taking Poyang Lake Grassland as an Example

As one of the basic theories of biodiversity conservation, island biogeography has been widely accepted in the past decades. Originally, island biogeography was put forward and applied in oceanic environments. But later on, it was found out that the application was not only limited to oceanic islands, but also in terrestrial environments with relatively isolated conditions. In terms of biodiversity level, island biogeography generally focuses on a small scale, such as species diversity and genetic diversity. The studies of biodiversity on a large-scale based on island biogeography, such as ecosystem and landscape scales, were seldomly conducted. Taking Poyang Lake, the largest fresh water lake in China as case study area, 30 grasslands were randomly selected to study whether island biogeography can be applied to grasslands at a landscape level from three island attributes (area, distance and shape), and the most important ecological variable (flooding) in Poyang Lake. The results showed that in general, grasslands have the property of an island, and follow the basic principle of island biogeography. We found the area and flooding duration were the two most important determinants of landscape diversity. There was a significant positive correlation between the grassland area and the landscape diversity, which could be well expressed by logarithmic function model (R² = 0.73). There was a negative correlation between flooding duration and landscape diversity, which could be described by an inverse model (R² = 0.206). The distance to mainland and the shape of grassland were correlated with landscape diversity, but the fitting result of the models was not as good as expected. The possible reason could be that Poyang Lake is a seasonal lake, the water level varies with hydrological conditions, so that the grasslands are not strongly isolated and their shape is not stable enough required by island biogeography. Furthermore, it indicates that besides area, distance and shape attributes, flooding strongly affects the biodiversity of grassland vegetation, and should not be ignored when applying island biogeography theory to Poyang Lake. This study is expected to be a supplement for island biogeography in terrestrial environments, and the results are expected to benefit for the biodiversity conservation in Poyang Lake.     

人工辅助投食对滇金丝猴肠道微生物群落的影响

【背景】肠道菌群与宿主的消化吸收、免疫抵抗和行为等息息相关,并受宿主的饮食、生活环境等因素影响。【目的】人工辅助投食能增加野生动物的营养摄入,但对其肠道菌群影响的研究较少。【方法】以云南白马雪山国家级自然保护区内的野生和人工辅助投食滇金丝猴群的新鲜粪便为材料,通过高通量测序探究人工辅助投食对猴群肠道菌群的影响。【结果】人工辅助投食的猴群肠道菌群丰富度、均匀度及谱系多样性更高,并且个体间群落组成差异更小。通过多级物种差异判别分析(linear discriminant analysis effect size, LEfSe)分析发现,人工辅助投食对20种不同分类水平的细菌相对丰度有影响,包括提升了厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)等8种类群的相对丰度,降低了变形菌门(Proteobacteria)、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)等12种类群的相对丰度。通过构建微生物相关网络发现,野生猴群肠道菌群网络结构更加复杂,鲁棒性更高。京都基因与基因组百科全书(Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes, KEGG)功能预测结果表明,人工辅助投食降低了猴群肠...