Phenology of mating flight in Ecitoninae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest location

The mating flight of Ecitoninae ants was studied using four light traps inspected daily during the whole year of 2004. A total of 1285 males belonging to 15 species was collected, the species number varying monthly from two to 11. For most species, the beginning of the reproductive period occurred in November or in February. Synchronism of the flight activity among species was observed in the genera Neivamyrmex and Eciton, while segregation occurred in two Labidus species. In the model tested to explain male abundance over the year, including rainfall, temperature and interaction between both factors, only temperature was significant.     

长期施肥对紫色土农田土壤动物群落的影响

土壤动物在陆地生态系统物质循环和能量流动中起着重要作用,直接或间接的参与土壤有机质的分解与矿化;长期施肥对土壤理化性质产生影响的同时,改变了土壤动物群落组成.为查明紫色土长期施肥对土壤动物群落的影响及其响应关系,于2008年的5、7、9和11月分别对紫色土农田无肥对照(CK)、单施氮肥(N)、常规化肥氮磷钾(NPK)、有机肥(OM)、有机肥与化肥氮磷钾混施(OMNPK)、秸秆还田(RSD)和秸秆还田与化肥氮磷钾混施(RSDNPK)等7种长期施肥定位试验地的土壤动物群落进行调查,采用改良的干漏斗和湿漏斗两种方法,共获得土壤动物9454只,隶属7门17纲24目.分析表明,OM和RSDNPK两种施肥方式下土壤动物群落的多样性显著高于CK、N和NPK等3种施肥方式,说明有机物料的长期投入有利于提高土壤动物群落丰富度和多样性.方差分析表明施肥方式对土壤动物主要类群密度的影响差异性极显著(F=42.412,P=0.0001),对土壤动物群落类群影响存在不均衡性.施肥方式主要影响农田土壤动物类群的种群个体数量、线虫动物门个体数量、大蚓类个体数量、甲螨亚目个体数量、密度-类群指数DG及土壤动物群落类群数等六个指标,初步认为这些主要类群因素能够预测长期施肥引起的土壤肥力变化,可能对指示土壤质量的变化具有一定潜力.     

神府东胜煤田弃土弃渣体径流产沙过程的野外试验

采用野外模拟降雨试验方法,研究了神府东胜煤田开采造成的弃土弃渣体产流产沙规律及其减水减沙效益.结果表明： 随降雨强度的增大,弃土弃渣体产流的起始时间呈递减趋势,且差异达几倍至十几倍.弃渣体比弃土体更快到达稳定流速,平均流速大小为弃土体>沙多石少弃渣体>沙少石多弃渣体.弃土弃渣体产流6 min后的径流率达到稳定,与降雨强度呈显著相关.弃土弃渣体侵蚀主要发生在产流开始后的前6 min,弃土体产流后前6 min的平均含沙量是6 min后的0.43～4.27倍,弃渣体为1.43～54.93倍.弃土体和沙多石少弃渣体径流量与降雨强度呈线性函数关系,沙少石多弃渣体呈幂函数关系.弃土体和沙少石多弃渣体的次侵蚀量与降雨强度之间分别呈指数函数和幂函数相关.弃土体侵蚀量与径流量呈线性函数关系.在降雨强度为1.0和1.5 mm·min^-1条件下,弃渣体采用鱼鳞坑及植被防护的产流滞后降雨时间为24 min,减水效益为29.5%～52.9%,减沙效益为85.7%～97.9%.     

Eucalypts face increasing climate stress

Global climate change is already impacting species and ecosystems across the planet. Trees, although long‐lived, are sensitive to changes in climate, including climate extremes. Shifts in tree species' distributions will influence biodiversity and ecosystem function at scales ranging from local to landscape; dry and hot regions will be especially vulnerable. The Australian continent has been especially susceptible to climate change with extreme heat waves, droughts, and flooding in recent years, and this climate trajectory is expected to continue. We sought to understand how climate change may impact Australian ecosystems by modeling distributional changes in eucalypt species, which dominate or codominate most forested ecosystems across Australia. We modeled a representative sample of Eucalyptus and Corymbia species (n = 108, or 14% of all species) using newly available Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios developed for the 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC, and bioclimatic and substrate predictor variables. We compared current, 2025, 2055, and 2085 distributions. Overall, Eucalyptus and Corymbia species in the central desert and open woodland regions will be the most affected, losing 20% of their climate space under the mid‐range climate scenario and twice that under the extreme scenario. The least affected species, in eastern Australia, are likely to lose 10% of their climate space under the mid‐range climate scenario and twice that under the extreme scenario. Range shifts will be lateral as well as polewards, and these east–west transitions will be more significant, reflecting the strong influence of precipitation rather than temperature changes in subtropical and midlatitudes. These net losses, and the direction of shifts and contractions in range, suggest that many species in the eastern and southern seaboards will be pushed toward the continental limit and that large tracts of currently treed landscapes, especially in the continental interior, will change dramatically in terms of species composition and ecosystem structure.     

海南儋州地区橘小实蝇成虫数量动态

【背景】橘小实蝇是热带、亚热带水果的重要害虫,在海南发生严重。【方法】利用橘小实蝇性诱剂进行田间诱捕,以诱到的雄成虫为指标,通过定期调查,获得了海南儋州地区4种样地橘小实蝇成虫的种群动态,并进一步通过相关分析,研究了芒果园橘小实蝇种群动态与温度和降雨量的相关性。【结果】儋州地区橘小实蝇种群周年发生,冬季种群数量较低,夏季种群数量较高。橘小实蝇种群高峰期发生于6月,其中芒果园达327.6头,蔬菜地为182.8头,办公区为150.0头,植物园为209.6头。在芒果园中,随着温度的升高,橘小实蝇的种群数量呈指数增长,其相关系数R=0.799;而与降雨量的相关系数较低,为0.367。【结论与意义】本研究可为儋州地区制定橘小实蝇综合防治策略提供理论依据。     

There's no place like home: seedling mortality contributes to the habitat specialisation of tree species across Amazonia

Understanding the mechanisms generating species distributions remains a challenge, especially in hyperdiverse tropical forests. We evaluated the role of rainfall variation, soil gradients and herbivory on seedling mortality, and how variation in seedling performance along these gradients contributes to habitat specialisation. In a 4‐year experiment, replicated at the two extremes of the Amazon basin, we reciprocally transplanted 4638 tree seedlings of 41 habitat‐specialist species from seven phylogenetic lineages among the three most important forest habitats of lowland Amazonia. Rainfall variation, flooding and soil gradients strongly influenced seedling mortality, whereas herbivory had negligible impact. Seedling mortality varied strongly among habitats, consistent with predictions for habitat specialists in most lineages. This suggests that seedling performance is a primary determinant of the habitat associations of adult trees across Amazonia. It further suggests that tree diversity, currently mostly harboured in terra firme forests, may be strongly impacted by the predicted climate changes in Amazonia.     

Long‐term patterns of invertebrate abundance and relationships to environmental factors in arid Australia

Resource pulses are a key feature of semi‐arid and arid ecosystems and are generally triggered by rainfall. While rainfall is an acknowledged driver of the abundance and distribution of larger animals, little is known about how invertebrate communities respond to rain events or to vegetative productivity. Here we investigate Ordinal‐level patterns and drivers of ground‐dwelling invertebrate abundance across 6 years of sampling in the Simpson Desert, central Australia. Between February 1999 and February 2005, a total of 174 381 invertebrates were sampled from 32 Orders. Ants were the most abundant taxon, comprising 83% of all invertebrates captured, while Collembola at 10.3% of total captures were a distant second over this period. Temporal patterns of the six invertebrate taxa specifically analysed (Acarina, ants, Araneae, Coleoptera, Collembola and Thysanura) were dynamic over the sampling period, and patterns of abundance were taxon‐specific. Analyses indicate that all six taxa showed a positive relationship with the cover of non‐Triodia vegetation. Other indicators of vegetative productivity (seeding and flowering) also showed positive relationships with certain taxa. Although the influence of rainfall was taxon‐dependent, no taxon was affected by short‐term rainfall (up to 18 days prior to survey). The abundance of Acarina, ants, and Coleoptera increased with greater long‐term rainfall (up to 18 months prior to survey), whilst Araneae showed the opposite effect. Temperature and dune zone (dune crest vs. swale) also had taxon‐specific effects. These results show that invertebrates in arid ecosystems are influenced by a variety of abiotic factors, at multiple scales, and that responses to rainfall are not as strong or as predictable as those seen for other taxa. Our results highlight the diversity of invertebrates in our study region and emphasize the need for targeted long‐term sampling to enhance our understanding of the ecology of these taxa and the role they play in arid ecosystems.     

Divergent responses of Atlantic cod to ocean acidification and food limitation

In order to understand the effect of global change on marine fishes, it is imperative to quantify the effects on fundamental parameters such as survival and growth. Larval survival and recruitment of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were found to be heavily impaired by end‐of‐century levels of ocean acidification. Here, we analysed larval growth among 35–36 days old surviving larvae, along with organ development and ossification of the skeleton. We combined CO₂ treatments (ambient: 503 µatm, elevated: 1,179 µatm) with food availability in order to evaluate the effect of energy limitation in addition to the ocean acidification stressor. As expected, larval size (as a proxy for growth) and skeletogenesis were positively affected by high food availability. We found significant interactions between acidification and food availability. Larvae fed ad libitum showed little difference in growth and skeletogenesis due to the CO₂ treatment. Larvae under energy limitation were significantly larger and had further developed skeletal structures in the elevated CO₂ treatment compared to the ambient CO₂ treatment. However, the elevated CO₂ group revealed impairments in critically important organs, such as the liver, and had comparatively smaller functional gills indicating a mismatch between size and function. It is therefore likely that individual larvae that had survived acidification treatments will suffer from impairments later during ontogeny. Our study highlights important allocation trade‐off between growth and organ development, which is critically important to interpret acidification effects on early life stages of fish.     

Predator‐mediated effects of severe drought associated with poor reproductive success of a seabird in a cross‐ecosystem cascade

Despite the profound impacts of drought on terrestrial productivity in coastal arid ecosystems, only a few studies have addressed how drought can influence ecological cascades across ecosystem boundaries. In this study, we examine the consequences of rainfall pulses and drought that subsequently impact the breeding success of a threatened nocturnal seabird, the Scripps's Murrelet (Synthliboramphus scrippsi). On an island off the coast of southern California, the main cause of reduced nest success for one of their largest breeding colonies is egg predation by an endemic deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus elusus). Mice on the island have an opportunistic diet of primarily terrestrial sources, but drastic declines in terrestrial productivity from drought might be expected to increase their reliance on marine resources, including murrelet eggs. We compiled data on terrestrial and marine productivity between 1983 and 2013 to determine how conditions in these ecosystems influence murrelet nest success. We found that the severity of drought had the strongest negative impact on murrelet nest success. We calculated that the reduction in fecundity during drought years due to increased egg predation by mice was substantial enough to produce a declining population growth rate. Nest success was much higher under normal or high rainfall conditions, depending on whether oceanic conditions were favorable to murrelets. Therefore, the more frequent and severe drought that is projected for this region could lead to an increased risk of murrelet population decline on this island. Our study highlights the need for understanding how species interactions will change through the effects of increasing drought and altered rainfall regimes under global change.     

Excessive rainfall leads to maize yield loss of a comparable magnitude to extreme drought in the United States

Increasing drought and extreme rainfall are major threats to maize production in the United States. However, compared to drought impact, the impact of excessive rainfall on crop yield remains unresolved. Here, we present observational evidence from crop yield and insurance data that excessive rainfall can reduce maize yield up to ?34% (?17 ± 3% on average) in the United States relative to the expected yield from the long‐term trend, comparable to the up to ?37% loss by extreme drought (?32 ± 2% on average) from 1981 to 2016. Drought consistently decreases maize yield due to water deficiency and concurrent heat, with greater yield loss for rainfed maize in wetter areas. Excessive rainfall can have either negative or positive impact on crop yield, and its sign varies regionally. Excessive rainfall decreases maize yield significantly in cooler areas in conjunction with poorly drained soils, and such yield loss gets exacerbated under the condition of high preseason soil water storage. Current process‐based crop models cannot capture the yield loss from excessive rainfall and overestimate yield under wet conditions. Our results highlight the need for improved understanding and modeling of the excessive rainfall impact on crop yield.