Tropical forest and savanna ecosystems show differential impact of N and P additions on soil organic matter and aggregate structure

Landscape transformation and atmospheric nutrient depositions, important global change drivers, are affecting the vegetation and soil properties of natural dry tropical forest and derived savanna ecosystems in India. This study assessed the effect of continuous N and P additions for 6 years on the size distribution and properties of soil aggregates in forest–ecotone–savanna gradient. Addition of N significantly increased the proportion of macroaggregates in forest and ecotone, whereas the same input significantly decreased their proportion in the savanna. Consequently, the stability of soil aggregates increased significantly in forest and ecotone, whereas it decreased significantly in the savanna. The effect of P addition on soil aggregate stability was marginal. N addition also altered the biological and chemical qualities of soil aggregates. It caused increase in microbial biomass C (MBC) associated with macroaggregates in forest and ecotone; however, in savanna, MBC increased in the microaggregates. P addition did not affect the amount of MBC in both types of soil aggregates. Because of rapid accumulation of applied N and P in the microbial biomass, the ratios of MBC to microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) as well as microbial biomass phosphorous (MBP) were decreased in both aggregates. Overall, the effect of N addition was more marked than that of P addition, suggesting that N is more limiting than P in these dry tropical ecosystems. In the current scenario of N loading, continued soil N loading in forest may lead to increased macroaggregates with associated MBC and MBN and greater aggregate stability. In contrast, the extensively distributed savannas may show the reverse trend leading to a decrease in soil fertility.     

Characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of Tamarix ramosissima Nebkhas in desert-oasis ecotones

We investigated the morphological characteristics of Tamarix ramosissima Nebkhas in the desert-oasis ecotones that were located in Jinta County and Ejin, China. Also, we quantitatively analyzed the relationships among the morphological parameters, spatial pattern and spatial heterogeneity. The results indicate that (1) Most of Tamarix ramosissima Nebkhas is of independent type. The average values of Nebkhas height, volume and plant canopy diameter in the Gobi are smaller than those in the desert, whereas the average values of plant height and coverage are on the contrary. All parameter values in Ejin are larger than those in Jinta. (2) There are linear relationships between the long and the short axes, and the volume and the plant canopy diameter of the Tamarix ramosissima Nebkhas. The regression curve of Nebkhas height and area is parabolic, and that of the plant height and canopy diameter is parabolic in the Gobi while linear in the desert. (3) The spatial pattern shows a mosaic pattern in the Gobi, while it forms Nebkhas chain distribution along the wind orientation in the desert. (4) The spatial heterogeneity is mostly caused by the non-stochastic reason, and it is higher in Ejin than in Jinta. In addition, the conclusions indicate that the stimulative action of deep sand bury, caused by high strength aeolian accumulation, to the growth of Tamarix ramosissima and the feedback effect between Tamarix ramosissima and Nebkha are the adaptability mechanisms of Tamarix ramosissima Nebkhas.     

策勒绿洲-沙漠过渡带风成沉积物粒度的空间变化

为了探讨绿洲-沙漠过渡带对绿洲可持续发展的环境效应,本研究对策勒绿洲西缘绿洲-沙漠过渡带、防护林带和绿洲内部的各种风成沉积物及策勒河谷沉积物粒度特征进行比较.结果表明: 绿洲-沙漠过渡带风成沉积物粒度特征(包括粒度分布特征、粒度参数、各粒级含量等)在空间上基本一致,其粒度范围为0.3～200 μm,分选性良好,主峰众数为67 μm,主要为悬浮组分和变性跃移组分,未出现>200 μm的跃移和蠕移组分,表现出典型的大气沙尘近距离传输沉积的特点.与外围(上风向)的策勒河谷(粒度范围0.3～800 μm)和沙漠地区的沉积物比较,过渡带粒度明显偏细,但与过渡带、防护林带和绿洲内部现代尘暴降尘(下风向)各种粒度特征基本一致.策勒绿洲-沙漠过渡带由于存在较高植被覆盖度,能够有效地抑制沙漠地区较粗颗粒组分(>200 μm)通过变性跃移或蠕移方式输送进入过渡带和绿洲内部.绿洲-沙漠过渡带与防护林体系一样,可有效抑制沙漠入侵绿洲,二者形成一个整体,共同维护策勒绿洲生态环境的稳定.     

城乡交错带景感生态规划的基本思路与实现

传统城市规划方法多集中在城市用地、人口规模和交通优先等方面,而较少关注城市环境质量和环境福利。要构筑一个与未来居民生活品质相适应的城市形态,城市生态规划就必须考虑更多样化的数据基础和可获得性的技术,尤其是居民对这些规划的实际感受,合理和科学的规划需要综合分析城市生态系统,包括自然和人为因素。一个新的概念和理论"景感生态学"能够将城市规划蓝图与人类感知相耦合。景感生态规划理应包括人类对规划的各种感知需求,包括视觉、听觉、味觉、嗅觉和触觉等。本文秉承景感生态学的基本理论,以西集镇为执行案例,探索性地针对城乡交错带开展景感生态规划,以阐明将居民感觉信息融入生态规划过程的挑战性和重要性。     

The emergy of metabolism in different ecosystems under the same environmental conditions in the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China

The sustainability of ecosystem productivity and rules governing ecosystem development are important topics of scientific research. The emergy approach is an effective method for investigating these topics, especially when used to evaluate systems that have developed under the same environmental conditions, such as climate and soil. In this paper, emergy differences between terrestrial ecosystems were studied in Guyuan County, a region representative of the agro-pastoral ecotone in Hebei Province, China. A combination of field tests and a questionnaire survey were carried out between June and August 2015. The ecosystems studied included natural grassland, artificial grassland, field crops and commercial crops. These four ecosystems were further subdivided into a total of ten ecosystems. Natural grassland was divided into free-grazing and mowed ecosystems; artificial grassland consisted of oat, Chinese leymus and corn silage; field crops included naked oats, flax and wheat; and commercial crops consisted of cabbage and potatoes. The results showed that the rain input of 4.78 × 10¹⁴ seJ/ha/yr constituted the highest renewable natural resource emergy and that the purchased emergy inputs of the ten ecosystems ranged from 3.53 to 147.67 × 10¹⁴ seJ/ha/yr. Natural resource emergy input was the basic power to maintain the ecosystem, and purchased emergy input was the direct cause of the development of the ecosystems. Groundwater was the most important non-renewable purchased energy for the production of economic crops. The emergy investment ratios (EIR) for potatoes (27.81) and cabbage (19.03) were higher than those of the other ecosystems, but mowed and artificial Chinese leymus grassland had the higher emergy self-sufficiency rates (ESR). Natural grassland, artificial Chinese leymus grassland and traditional grain crops had a low environmental load and high sustainability, whereas potatoes and cabbage had a high environmental load and low sustainability. Overall, rain-fed artificial grassland has a high development potential from the perspective of environment and productivity.     

珠海市海-陆交错带水环境原核生物多样性

采用16S rRNA基因PCR-RFLP分析技术,对珠海市海-陆交错带的海水和地下水进行原核生物多样性分析,并将所得数据与国际基因数据库Genbank进行相似性比较及聚类分析.结果表明：海水细菌以变形菌居多,其次是古菌和芽单胞菌,以及Candidate division OP3、OP8和浮霉菌等;海 陆交错带地下水细菌则以古菌居多,其次是变形菌和鞘脂杆菌,以及Candidate division OP3、放线菌和假单胞菌等.海-陆交错带地下水中大部分优势类群与源于海洋的不可培养细菌具有很高的相似性.地下水样中存在大量能降解有机质和具有净化水体潜力的细菌,说明在长期演化下,海-陆交错带兼备了海洋生态系统和陆地生态系统的特征.     

生态交错带宽度判定及其影响因子研究进展

生态交错带是相邻生态系统之间的过渡带,是生态系统结构和功能在时、空尺度上变化较快的区域,也是生物多样性丰富区、全球变化敏感区.生态交错带位置和宽度的判定是定量研究交错带生态过程的基础,对生物多样性保护、片断化森林生态系统的管理与恢复以及自然保护区的功能分区都具有重要意义.由于生态交错带本身的复杂性,在相当程度上依赖于尺度水平,并受到各种自然和人为因素的影响,以致于目前还缺乏公认的原理和方法定量研究生态交错带,对其位置、宽度判定和动态变化研究一直处于不断的探索中.在分析大量相关研究资料的基础上,文章对生态交错带宽度判定方法以及影响因子进行论述,并对生态交错带宽度判定的研究前景进行展望.     

Patterns of invertebrate biodiversity across a natural edge

Abstract Most ecologists are comfortable with the notion of habitats as recognizable entities and also with situations where the junction between two adjacent habitats forms a discrete edge. Such edges form naturally because of sharp changes in important edaphic, geomorphological, climatic or chemical properties to which plants, in particular, respond. Less clear is the effect of such edges on assemblages of mobile organisms, especially invertebrates that operate at relatively small spatial scales. The objective of the present study was to sample invertebrate composition across a natural edge between a well‐developed riparian habitat on fluvial sands and a saltbush habitat developed on a stony gibber plain in a semi‐arid region of New South Wales, Australia. A total of 150 pitfall traps on five 1‐km‐long transects that straddled the edge produced more than 13 000 adult specimens from 21 ordinal invertebrate taxa. A total of 10 446 beetle, ant, wasp, fly and springtail specimens were further sorted into 426 morphospecies. Comparisons and estimates of trends in abundance and richness were made, along with computation of multivariate dissimilarity and permutation statistics, to determine if the land system edge was coincident with changes in invertebrate abundance and composition. These analyses were unable to detect disjunctions in diversity coincident with the edge. The data suggest that many taxa are either present consistently in both habitats or are mostly found in one habitat but ‘leak’ several hundred metres across into the other. Few taxa were unique to either habitat. The result is that assemblage composition for invertebrates changes gradually over distances of up to 400 m either side of the edge and that the distance to a recognizable change in composition is taxon dependent. Even sharp habitat edges, as defined by discrete changes in soils and plants, are not edges but broad transition zones for many invertebrate taxa. There are several implications of these results, especially for landscape ecology.     

生态交错带的定量判定

生态过渡性是梯度环境的特征之一,过渡带的显著性是地理学和地植物学中长期争论的重要问题,生态交错带位置和宽度的判定是定量研究交错带生态学过程的基础。样带法是采集非连续梯度数据和研究交错带的结构,功能和格局梯度变化的有效方法。生态交错带变化最为显著的特征是植被的变化,包括植物种类组成和植被结构的变化,植被生态学群落分析中的相异系数,β多样性,梯度分析和分类排序技术等已被证明是成熟可靠的方法。介绍两种交错带定量判定的有效方法。游动分割窗技术是通过滑动求取样带上样点间相异系数,通过相异系数变化曲线判定交错带的位置和宽度。分割窗技术提供了敏感地定位非连续梯度的客观且有效的方法,它不仅可用于环境梯度上的等距离样点取样,而且可用于非等距离梯度带多元变量的分析。植被的特征是对生态环境连续体的综合反应,植被在环境梯度上的排序参数提供了一种较好的交错带定量指标,样带植被数据特征参数的变异轮廓图能够反应植被沿样带的物种组成,结构和空间变化格局,可以反应植被沿环境梯度的β多样性和植物群落的梯度分化,植被变异侧面轮廓图的间断或不连续（突变）区间就是群落边界的位置。     

岷江冷杉林线交错带的植冠三维结构

卧龙自然保护区巴郎山岷江冷杉林线交错带植冠三维结构定量分析表明：植冠明显地分化成两个叶层,两叶层间有１．４ｍ的无叶植冠区。以岷江冷杉、大叶金顶杜鹃和红毛花楸为优势,构成了林线植冠的主要成分。植冠深度较小的为低矮灌木种类,深度最大的是乔木层树种。林线植冠的物种组成较丰富,每个垂直取样冠层平均有２个以上物种。林线的植冠空间占有率最高的是高大的星毛杜鹃,其次是岷江冷杉,但植冠高度以蜕江冷杉最高,故林线交错带林相以蜕江冷杉为优势。物种的盖度与单位面积的植冠体积间有较好的线性关系,物种的植冠体积大致可用其盖度值乘以系数１．２１来计算。