Inducing whole-assemblage change by experimental manipulation of habitat structure

1. Habitat structure long has been identified as a primary factor influencing local assemblage composition. Most evidence has been in the form of correlations of species occurrence and assemblage composition over a range of habitats, with experimental verification of relationships being relatively uncommon because of the difficulties of enacting precise manipulations of habitat structure. 2. Fallen timber (also known as coarse or large woody debris) is one of the few habitat-structural elements in forests and woodlands that can be manipulated with relatively high precision. We report on manipulations of wood-loads on 30 experimental 1-ha plots in floodplain forests of northern Victoria, Australia, over 4 years (one pre- and three post-manipulation). 3. We show that very high wood-loads (80 Mg ha(-1)) and intermediate wood-loads derived from tree crowns (40 Mg ha(-1)) increase species richness (all species and ground-foraging species) and numbers of birds (all species and ground-foraging species) relative to the control plots. 4. Three bird species consistently increased most following manipulations: white-plumed honeyeater Lichenostomus penicillatus (Gould 1837) (fam. Meliphagidae), brown treecreeper Climacteris picumnus (Temm. & Laug. 1824) (fam. Climacteridae) and yellow rosella Platycercus elegans flaveolus (Gould 1837) (fam. Psittacidae). The honeyeater is not considered as a ground or fallen timber dependent species, while the treecreeper and rosella both are regarded as being dependent on ground-layer structure. 5. Fallen timber management needs to be considered in a landscape and temporal context for improving conservation of avian biodiversity.     

干旱胁迫下胡杨茎流日变化分析——以塔里木河下游英苏断面为例

用PHYTALK植物生理生态监测系统对塔里木河下游英苏断面胡杨的茎流和相关环境因子的日变化进行了监测.结果表明:在极端干旱区塔里木河下游的胡杨茎流日变化表现多峰值,且夜晚仍保持一定流速;主枝与侧枝茎流日变化趋势相似,主枝流速高于侧枝;侧枝对环境变化响应更加灵敏,波动强烈,主枝相对侧枝,茎流变化响应迟钝且有明显滞后效应;茎流变化受太阳辐射、风速和大气温度影响明显,而其它环境因子如空气湿度、土壤湿度等影响则不大,气温与叶温表现出极佳相关性,气温与空气湿度呈显著负相关;同时,日变化中,不同时段起主导作用的因子不尽相同.     

Floodplain lake fish assemblages in the Amazon River: directions in conservation biology

The Neotropical region is renowned for its high biodiversity, and the Amazon River basin contains the highest number of fish species of any river system in the world. In recent years, habitat fragmentation and exploitation of biotic resources have threatened biological integrity and provoked to need for sustainable management and conservation of the Amazon River system. We studied 36 floodplain lakes along 2000 km of the Amazon River. The fish assemblages associated with flood forests are moderately diverse, with low species dominance and reduced populations. To detect nestedness of fish assemblage composition in floodplain lakes, a nested subset analysis was performed on species presence–absence. The incidence matrix (species × lakes) was maximally packed using the Nestedness Temperature Calculator software. The results of ranking lakes and species allow us to establish targets for conservation. Such strategy for sustainable management should be focused on maintaining the Amazonian biodiversity.     

Web-Based Data, Document, and Knowledge Management in Restoration Projects

This paper gives an introduction to composition, creation, and management of knowledge using a long‐term research project as an example. The concept and first experiences for a web‐based knowledge management system (KMS) of the regeneration process of the stream Ilm (Thuringia, Germany) are presented. From 1996 until 2005, this restoration ecology project investigated whether the river ecosystem can attain its natural state again and how the regeneration can be influenced. The web‐based content management system iZone, with an emphasis on information retrieval and feedback, was used to support the process of storage, retrieval, and visualization of existing information, several Ph.D. studies, and expert knowledge in the concluding phase of the research project. The resulting KMS at the moment stores 90 entries from 35 project scientists.     

Endemic freshwater finfish of Asia: distribution and conservation status

Freshwater finfish species richness and level of endemism in East, and South and South‐East Asia that included 17 nations were studied using available databases, and included nation‐wise distribution, habitat types, and conservation status. The number of endemic finfish species in the region was 559, belonging to 47 families. Families Cyprinidae and Balitoridae accounted for 43.5% and 16.2% of the total number of endemic species in the region, respectively, followed by Sisoridae (25), Gobiidae (20), Melanotaeniidae (19), and Bagridae (16), and the other 41 families had at least one endemic species. Nation‐wise the most number of endemic freshwater finfish species occur in India (191), followed by China (88), Indonesia (84), and Myanmar (60). In India, the endemic species accounted for 26.4% of the native freshwater fish fauna, followed by South Korea (16.9%), the Philippines, (16.3%) and Myanmar (15.7%). Statistically significant relationships discerned between the number of indigenous and endemic species richness to land area (X_la in 10³ km²) of the nations in the region were, Y_in = 218.961 Ln(X_la) – 843.1 (R² = 0.735; P < 0.001) and Y_e = 28.445 Ln X_la?134.47 (R² = 0.534; P < 0.01), respectively, and between indigenous and endemic species richness was Y_e = 0.079X_n? 1.558 (R² = 0.235; P < 0.05). The overall conservation status of endemic finfish in Asia was satisfactory in that only 92 species were in some state of vulnerability, of which 37 species (6.6%) are endangered or critically endangered. However, the bulk of these species (83.7%) were cave‐ and or lake‐dwelling fish. However, nation‐wise, the endemic freshwater finfish fauna of the Philippines and Sri Lanka, based on the imperilment index, were found to be in a highly vulnerable state. Among river basins, the Mekong Basin had the highest number of endemic species (31.3%). The discrepancies between databases are highlighted and the need to consolidate information among databases is discussed. It is suggested that the Mekong Basin be considered as a biodiversity hotspot, and appropriate management strategies be introduced in this regard.     

Rivers in peril inside and outside protected areas: a systematic approach to conservation assessment of river ecosystems

This paper establishes a framework within which a rapid and pragmatic assessment of river ecosystems can be undertaken at a broad, subcontinental scale, highlighting some implications for achieving conservation of river biodiversity in water‐limited countries. The status of river ecosystems associated with main rivers in South Africa was assessed based on the extent to which each ecosystem had been altered from its natural condition. This requires consistent data on river integrity for the entire country, which was only available for main rivers; tributaries were thus excluded from the analyses. The state of main river ecosystems in South Africa is dire: 84% of the ecosystems are threatened, with a disturbing 54% critically endangered, 18% endangered, and 12% vulnerable. Protection levels were measured as the proportion of conservation target achieved within protected areas, where the conservation target was set as 20% of the total length of each river ecosystem. Sixteen of the 112 main river ecosystems are moderately to well represented within protected areas; the majority of the ecosystems have very low levels of representation, or are not represented at all within protected areas. Only 50% of rivers within protected areas are intact, but this is a higher proportion compared to rivers outside (28%), providing some of the first quantitative data on the positive role protected areas can play in conserving river ecosystems. This is also the first assessment of river ecosystems in South Africa to apply a similar approach to parallel assessments of terrestrial, marine, and estuarine ecosystems, and it revealed that main river ecosystems are in a critical state, far worse than terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystem status is likely to differ with the inclusion of tributaries, since options may well exist for conserving critically endangered ecosystems in intact tributaries, which are generally less regulated than main rivers. This study highlights the importance of healthy tributaries for achieving river conservation targets, and the need for managing main rivers as conduits across the landscape to support ecological processes that depend on connectivity. We also highlight the need for a paradigm shift in the way protected areas are designated, as well as the need for integrated river basin management plans to include explicit conservation visions, targets, and strategies to ensure the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide.     

河流景观生态服务供给与需求/消费的互馈机制

河流景观系统孕育了人类文明,为人类社会提供类型多样的生态系统服务。其本身是一个自然景观过程和社会经济过程高度耦合的社会-生态系统,具有极高的空间异质性、时间动态和鲜明的组织尺度等级结构。当前,对河流景观系统这种特点所决定的生态系统服务供给与需求/消费互馈的机制研究不够深入,普遍缺乏从过程角度刻画生态服务供给与需求/消费互馈关系及其时空异质性和尺度特征。生态服务供给、需求和消费产生于社会-生态系统,是社会-生态耦合的纽带。阐述了河流景观生态服务供给和需求/消费的时空异质性,阐释了它们时空耦合机制和尺度特征,梳理了当前对生态服务供给、需求/消费互馈机理研究的不足。认为未来需要在社会-生态系统的框架下,从景观结构和生态过程出发,融合景观生态过程和社会过程来深入认识河流景观系统的生态服务供给与区内人类对生态服务的需求/消费之间的互馈机制。未来应重点关注：（1）河流景观结构和过程决定的生态服务供给和消费的空间分异及驱动机制;（2）河流生态服务传输的自然和人文载体及其耦合格局;（3）将生态服务需求/消费通过景观结构和生态过程对生态服务供给的反馈融入生态服务评估的方法框架,研发基于生态服务供给和需求/消费的社会-生态互馈过程模型。     

Relating life‐history traits,environmental constraints and local extinctions in river fish

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Population status and habitat occupancy of endangered river dolphins in the Karnali River system of Nepal during low water season

Ganges river dolphin abundance has undergone a predominant decline across its range since monitoring began. In Nepal, disappearance from some of the rivers it once used has already occurred. Today this species can only be found in three river systems in Nepal, the Karnali, Sapta Koshi, and Narayani, but numbers are low in these locations. To determine the abundance of dolphins remaining in the Karnali system (which includes the Karnali, Geruwa, and Mohana), and factors affecting dolphin habitat use, we conducted surveys where we recorded dolphin presence. Dolphins within this river system were sighted only in the Karnali and an abundance estimate of 5.04 ± 0.753 SE was calculated. This pattern of ranging differed from that previously reported (from previous sightings only in the Geruwa to current sightings only in the Karnali). River depth likely contributed to the presence or absence of dolphins. Shifts in available habitat between the Geruwa and Karnali have resulted from changes in the course of the main stream Karnali following construction of the Chisapani irrigation intake. Because of the low numbers of dolphins reported, there is great concern that loss of this species in Nepal is likely in the near future.     

Potential effects of warmer worms and vectors on onchocerciasis transmission in West Africa

Development times of eggs, larvae and pupae of vectors of onchocerciasis (Simulium spp.) and of Onchocerca volvulus larvae within the adult females of the vectors decrease with increasing temperature. At and above 25°C, the parasite could reach its infective stage in less than 7 days when vectors could transmit after only two gonotrophic cycles. After incorporating exponential functions for vector development into a novel blackfly population model, it was predicted that fly numbers in Liberia and Ghana would peak at air temperatures of 29°C and 34°C, about 3°C and 7°C above current monthly averages, respectively; parous rates of forest flies (Liberia) would peak at 29°C and of savannah flies (Ghana) at 30°C. Small temperature increases (less than 2°C) might lead to changes in geographical distributions of different vector taxa. When the new model was linked to an existing framework for the population dynamics of onchocerciasis in humans and vectors, transmission rates and worm loads were projected to increase with temperature to at least 33°C. By contrast, analyses of field data on forest flies in Liberia and savannah flies in Ghana, in relation to regional climate change predictions, suggested, on the basis of simple regressions, that 13–41% decreases in fly numbers would be expected between the present and before 2040. Further research is needed to reconcile these conflicting conclusions.