Community Characteristics of Early Recovery Vegetation on Abandoned Lands of Shifting Cultivation in Bawangling of Hainan Island, South China

Shifting cultivation is a major form of agricultural practice in most parts of tropical regions worldwide. In places where the bush fallow period is excessively shortened or the period of cultivation is extended for too long, the rate of vegetation recovery and biodiversity on abandoned lands of shifting cultivation would decline. The recovery of the secondary plant communities could even be inhibited for a prolonged period because of grass occupancy. Because of the vital significance of the early recovery communities to secondary succession, we studied the community characteristics of early recovery vegetation on abandoned lands of shifting cultivation in Bawangling of Hainan Island. Measurements were made of the community composition and structure of early recovery vegetation. The sprouting abilities of different functional groups and different species in the same functional group, and the effect of the grass functional group on the composition and quantitative characteristics of tree and shrub functional groups were analyzed. Results indicated that only a few families, genera, or species apparently dominated in the early recovery vegetation on the abandoned lands of shifting cultivation and that deciduous species occurred with a rather high percentage in this early recovery community compared with the natural secondary or old growth forests. Smallsized individuals dominated the woody community. The abundance and basal area of sprouting stems for species in the tree functional group were greater than those of seeder stems, whereas the abundance and basal area of resprouters and seeders for species in the shrub functional group did not differ. The total abundance of stems for the community, stem abundances for species in tree or shrub functional groups, and for seeder or resprouter stems were all negatively correlated with coverage of the grass functional group. The mean sprouting ability in the tree functional group was greater than in the shrub functional group. The sprouting ability for different species in the same functional group was also significantly different.     

狐尾藻与黑藻断枝的不定根和新芽的形成

比较狐尾藻和黑藻2种沉水植物不同节位和不同长度断枝的不定根和新芽形成时间的结果表明,随着断枝节位的下降或断枝长度的增加,狐尾藻不定根的形成时间分别呈延长和缩短的趋势,其新芽均呈缩短趋势;而黑藻不定根的形成时间均呈缩短趋势,其新芽受节位与长度的影响不明显。     

Current-year and subsequent-year effects of crop-load manipulation and epicormic-shoot removal on distribution of long, short and epicormic shoot growth in Prunus persica

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The distribution of canopy growth among different shoot types such as epicormic, long and short shoots is not well understood in the peach tree. In this experiment, the effects of crop load and early epicormic sprout removal on current and subsequent-year distribution of vegetative growth among epicormic, long and short shoots was investigated in Prunus persica. METHODS: Field trials were conducted in Winters, California, in 2003-2004. Crop load was manipulated with fruit thinning in 2003 to produce trees that were de-fruited, commercially thinned or full crop, and half of the trees in each cropping treatment had all current year epicormic sprouts removed at the time of fruit thinning. Yield was recorded and trunk and root carbohydrates were sampled to confirm the effect of 2003 crop load differences on tissue carbohydrate concentration. All current-season vegetative-shoot extension growth was harvested from half of the trees in each treatment in the autumn of 2003 and from the other half in the autumn of 2004. Epicormic, long and short shoots were separately evaluated for dry weight, node number and leaf-stem parameters. KEY RESULTS: In 2003, long-shoot dry weight and node number were significantly affected by crop load; however, short-shoot dry weight and node number were not significantly affected. The 2003 crop-load treatments did not affect 2004 vegetative growth of any shoot type. Some re-growth of epicormic shoots followed early epicormic sprout removal: by the end of the 2003 season, trees in the early shoot-removal treatment had approximately one-third of the epicormic-shoot dry weight as unpruned trees. CONCLUSIONS: Fruit thinning promoted distribution of growth similar to that of de-fruited trees. While thinning was effective in increasing fruit size, it exacerbated the problem of epicormic sprouting. Early epicormic sprout removal did not stimulate the excessive epicormic re-growth in the same or subsequent year relative to previously studied summer pruning methods.     

Developmental regulation of plasticity along neurite shafts

Although it is becoming increasingly clear that structural dynamics on neurite shafts play important roles in establishing neuronal architecture, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. The present study investigates local induction of filopodia along the shafts of neurites, a process that, by analogy to the growth cone, can represent the first stage in the generation of a new neuronal process. We show that filopodia can be induced reliably along the neurite shaft in response to a localized electric field stimulus that evokes large local intracellular calcium increases. Neither induction of filopodia nor a local rise in intracellular calcium occurred in calcium free medium. Although calcium induction of neurite filopodia is highly reliable, forming in response to more than 90% of attempts, it is developmental state-dependent, since neurite filopodia could not be induced in neurons previously defined as “stable state.” We have found two distinct changes in stable state neurons that can decrease the ability to induce new neurites. The first is a reduced calcium response: Field stimulation produced large local rises (280 nM) in stable state neurons. Second, stable state neurons change so that even when the stimulus intensity was increased to elicit a calcium response that would have been sufficient to induce filopodia in growing neurites, neurite filopodia were still not induced. Thus, intracellular calcium plays a key role in structural changes along the shafts of neurites. Furthermore, developmental changes in both calcium homeostatic components, and in calcium responsiveness (i.e., the sensitivity of cellular components that modulate neurite morphology) underlie shifts from plasticity to stability of neuronal architecture in this system. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Nodal segments or microtubers as explants for in vitro microtuber production of potato

Experiments on recycling small microtubers back into tissue culture revealed that they have a great advantage over nodal segments when used as explants in vitro. They produced plantlets ready for micropropagation in one-half the time it took nodal segments to do so. They did not require a fixed daylength (either long or short days) for this, nor were they dependent on the presence of sucrose in the culture medium. Small microtubers were more suitable than large because the latter produced very many branches which senesced more rapidly. When maintained in culture, these plantlets from microtubers themselves produced microtubers of a similar array of sizes and fresh weights to nodal explants, but at a much faster rate. For this, the presence of a high level of sucrose (8%) was beneficial, and slightly larger microtubers produced a higher yield. The microtubers produced from these plantlets were identical to those from nodal segments, and had a similar period af dormancy.     

Plant traits enabling survival in Mediterranean badlands in northeastern Spain suffering from soil erosion

Question: This study analysed the effect of severe soil erosion on species composition of plant communities by favouring species showing certain growth forms, root‐sprouting and clonal growth abilities. Location: The study area was located between the middle Ebro Valley and the Pre‐Pyrenees (northeastern Spain). Methods: Root‐sprouting and shoot‐rooting abilities, clonal reproduction and growth form were assessed for the 123 most common plant species from eroded lands in the study area. We obtained 260 vegetation relevés in three different substrata (gypsum outcrops, Miocene clays and Eocene marls) on areas with different degrees of soil erosion. The frequency of every plant trait in each relevé was estimated according to species presence. The effect of soil erosion on the frequency of plant attributes was assessed by correlation analyses. Results: Bipolar, non‐clonal plants and annual species decreased their frequency with increasing soil erosion in the three substrata analyzed, whereas root‐sprouters and woody plants (mostly sub‐shrubs) increased their frequency in most of the substrata analysed. Conclusions: Woody sub‐shrubs, root‐sprouters and clonal species are favoured in eroded lands in NE Spain. Bipolar species and annual plants might not be plastic enough to survive the high stress and frequent disturbances prevailing in such eroded areas.