Factors controlling the distribution of vascular and non-vascular epiphytes in the northern Andes

The epiphytic vegetation on host trees along an altitudinal transect on the west slope of the Central Cordillera in Colombia was sampled. Bark-type restricted sampling comprised four full-grown forest trees, not necessarily four species, at altitudinal intervals of c. 200 meters from 1000 to 4130 m a.s.l. and included the canopy. Both vascular and non-vascular epiphytes, the latter often more abundant in the montane rain forest, were included in the analyses. Using a method of direct gradient analysis, canonical correspondence analysis, the variation explained by various environmental variables could be discriminated from a great amount of variation that seemed not related to any ecological factor. To a large extent, the randomness in propagule supply appears to determine the floristic composition on branch/trunk segments. The grouping of relevés in a phytosociological analysis concurred with a clustering of samples in an ordination diagram of the first two extracted constrained axes. The sample scores on these two axes were strongly correlated with the complex variables altitude and height within the host tree. Specialists and generalists with respect to the two variables were defined based on tolerances provided by the canonical correspondence analysis as was the position of species on the gradients involved. Independently from any of the other variables entered, a relation between the epiphytic vegetation and host species was detected, particularly in the case of Brunellia occidentalis, a fast growing tree species of higher altitude. No relation between chemical characteristics of suspended soil in the Upper Montane Rain forest and its supporting species could be demonstrated.     

The rapid and long-lasting growth of grasses following small falls of rain on stony downs in the arid interior of Australia

Abstract Stony downs consist of grassy areas that alternate with areas that have a substantial stone cover. The stone-covered areas are impermeable, and most rain falling on them runs off, substantially increasing the effective rainfall in adjacent grassy areas. As a result, 20–25 mm of rain on stony downs wetted the soil around the grass to a depth of 140–170 mm and allowed sustained grass response. This is much less than the 35–40 mm of rain required for the same response on red clay or grey clay plains. Grasses respond very rapidly after rain. Some have green shoots the day after rain, and all have responded by the second day. Ephemerals dry off in 4–6 weeks, but most tussock grasses still have some green foliage 8–10 weeks after rain. Deeper rooted tussock grasses remain green for so long because most of the moisture that reaches deeper roots after rain remains there. Most moisture loss is through the soil surface and is recognizable as a drying front that descends through the soil profile. Soil above the drying front is nearly air dry (<5% moisture) while soil below the front has substantial moisture (14–16%). By about a month after rain in summer, the drying front is at a depth of about 80–120 mm. This is near the tips of the roots of ephemeral grasses and the ephemerals then dry off rapidly. Only the tips of the leaves of deep rooted grasses like Mitchell grass (Astrebla spp.) dry off. Their leaves continue to remain mostly green during most of the second month after rain and they do not dry off completely until the third month when the drying front reaches the bottom of the main root system.     

Cyanobacteria of Rocks and Soils of the Orinoco Lowlands and the Guayana Uplands,Venezuela

The occurrence of 23 cyanobacterial species, belonging to 9 different genera and 5 cyanobacterial lichen species of 5 different genera on exposed, open rock surfaces of inselbergs and on soil in savannas of the Orinoco lowlands and the Guayana uplands is described. Their distribution patterns and frequency within the different habitats are given. The filamentous procaryotic blue-green algae/cyanobacteria Stigonema ocellatum and Scytonema crassum, together with the unicellular cyanobacterium Gloeocapsa sanguinea were the most frequent species on rocks, whereas the filamentous cyanobacterium, Schizothrix telephoroides, dominated in cyanobacterial mats on the savanna soil. All species showed intensively coloured sheaths, either brown or yellow in the case of Stigonema ocellatum and Scytonema crassum, or red in Gloeocapsa sanguinea and Schizothrix telephoroides. In addition, a number of cyanobacterial lichens occurred.     

日本落叶松引种区林地棕壤肥力的多变量分析

本研究从日本落叶松引种区林地棕壤9个主要理化性状及与之配套的17株优势木材料入手,采用多变量分析方法筛选出影响该地区日本落叶松生长的主要肥力因子为氮及磷,並据此将该林地棕壤划分为9个肥力类型。在进行聚类分析时,本研究的创新在于以任意二样本点在各主成份上的坐标值为变量,以各主成份的贡献率为权重,重新定义欧氏距离公式,对主成份坐标值聚类,使其更为合理、直观。同时采用回归分析拟合出理化性状间的多个回归方程。此研究为该林地科学施肥、速生丰产、永续利用提供了可靠的数量依据。     

石灰性土壤上植物根际中Fe,Mn的形态分布及其与植物吸收的关系

研究了石灰性土壤上５种作物品种根际微生态环境中Ｆｅ、Ｍｎ的形态分布．结果表明,交换态Ｆｅ（ＥＸ－Ｆｅ）、碳酸盐结合态Ｆｅ（ＣＡＲＢ－Ｆｅ）、无定形氧化铁（ＡＯ－Ｆｅ）和交换态Ｍｎ（Ｅ－Ｍｎ）、碳酸盐结合态Ｍｎ（ＣＡＲＢ－Ｍｎ）在根际土壤中都呈现明显的累积．各品种根际中的累积量有较大差异．相关分析表明,黄潮土上植株含Ｆｅ量、吸Ｆｅ量与根际土壤ＡＯ－Ｆｅ含量呈显著正相关．根际有效态Ｆｅ累积不仅是根际ｐＨ作用的结果,与根系分泌物对难溶性Ｆｅ活化有关．根际有效态Ｍｎ累积则受到根际土壤Ｅｈ的影响．     

Talaromyces lagunensis,a new species from Philippine soil

A new species ofTalaromyces (Ascomycetes; Trichocomaceae) with aPenicillium anamorph,T. lagunensis, is described and illustrated. This fungus is characterized by its extremely restricted growh on Czapek-yeast extract agar, light yellow to light orange ascomata with a telaperidium, catenate, pyriform or ellipsoidal asci, ellipsoidal or subglobose ascospores with a microtuberculate wall, short conidiophores with an irregular, mostly monoverticillate to biverticillate penicillus, and subglobose to ovoid conidia. The holotype was isolated from forest soil in the Philippines.     

Ecological and methodological drivers of non-stationarity in tree growth response to climate

Radial tree growth is sensitive to environmental conditions, making observed growth increments an important indicator of climate change effects on forest growth. However, unprecedented climate variability could lead to non-stationarity, that is, a decoupling of tree growth responses from climate over time, potentially inducing biases in climate reconstructions and forest growth projections. Little is known about whether and to what extent environmental conditions, species, and model type and resolution affect the occurrence and magnitude of non-stationarity. To systematically assess potential drivers of non-stationarity, we compiled tree-ring width chronologies of two conifer species, Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris, distributed across cold, dry, and mixed climates. We analyzed 147 sites across the Europe including the distribution margins of these species as well as moderate sites. We calibrated four numerical models (linear vs. non-linear, daily vs. monthly resolution) to simulate growth chronologies based on temperature and soil moisture data. Climate–growth models were tested in independent verification periods to quantify their non-stationarity, which was assessed based on bootstrapped transfer function stability tests. The degree of non-stationarity varied between species, site climatic conditions, and models. Chronologies of P. sylvestris showed stronger non-stationarity compared with Picea abies stands with a high degree of stationarity. Sites with mixed climatic signals were most affected by non-stationarity compared with sites sampled at cold and dry species distribution margins. Moreover, linear models with daily resolution exhibited greater non-stationarity compared with monthly-resolved non-linear models. We conclude that non-stationarity in climate–growth responses is a multifactorial phenomenon driven by the interaction of site climatic conditions, tree species, and methodological features of the modeling approach. Given the existence of multiple drivers and the frequent occurrence of non-stationarity, we recommend that temporal non-stationarity rather than stationarity should be considered as the baseline model of climate–growth response for temperate forests.     

Initial soil organic carbon stocks govern changes in soil carbon: Reality or artifact?

Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) storage have the potential to affect global climate; hence identifying environments with a high capacity to gain or lose SOC is of broad interest. Many cross-site studies have found that SOC-poor soils tend to gain or retain carbon more readily than SOC-rich soils. While this pattern may partly reflect reality, here we argue that it can also be created by a pair of statistical artifacts. First, soils that appear SOC-poor purely due to random variation will tend to yield more moderate SOC estimates upon resampling and hence will appear to accrue or retain more SOC than SOC-rich soils. This phenomenon is an example of regression to the mean. Second, normalized metrics of SOC change—such as relative rates and response ratios—will by definition show larger changes in SOC at lower initial SOC levels, even when the absolute change in SOC does not depend on initial SOC. These two artifacts create an exaggerated impression that initial SOC stocks are a major control on SOC dynamics. To address this problem, we recommend applying statistical corrections to eliminate the effect of regression to the mean, and avoiding normalized metrics when testing relationships between SOC change and initial SOC. Careful consideration of these issues in future cross-site studies will support clearer scientific inference that can better inform environmental management.     

Soils in warmer and less developed countries have less micronutrients globally

Soil micronutrients are capital for the delivery of ecosystem functioning and food provision worldwide. Yet, despite their importance, the global biogeography and ecological drivers of soil micronutrients remain virtually unknown, limiting our capacity to anticipate abrupt unexpected changes in soil micronutrients in the face of climate change. Here, we analyzed >1300 topsoil samples to examine the global distribution of six metallic micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Co and Ni) across all continents, climates and vegetation types. We found that warmer arid and tropical ecosystems, present in the least developed countries, sustain the lowest contents of multiple soil micronutrients. We further provide evidence that temperature increases may potentially result in abrupt and simultaneous reductions in the content of multiple soil micronutrients when a temperature threshold of 12–14°C is crossed, which may be occurring on 3% of the planet over the next century. Altogether, our findings provide fundamental understanding of the global distribution of soil micronutrients, with direct implications for the maintenance of ecosystem functioning, rangeland management and food production in the warmest and poorest regions of the planet.