Using the floristic quality concept to assess created and natural wetlands: Ecological and management implications

We applied the floristic quality index (FQI) to vegetation data collected across a chronosequence of created wetland (CW) sites in Virginia ranging in age from one to 15 years post-construction. At each site, we also applied FQI to a nearby forested reference wetland (REF). We tested the performance of the index against a selection of community metrics (species richness, diversity, evenness, percent native species) and site attributes (age, soil physiochemical variables). FQI performed better when non-native species (C-value = 0) were removed from the index, and also when calculated within rather than across vegetation layers. A modified, abundance-weighted FQI showed significant correlation with community and environmental variables in the CW herbaceous layer and REF herbaceous and shrub-sapling layers based on Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) ordination output. These results suggest that a “natives only”, layer-based version of the index is most appropriate for our region, and an abundance-weighted FQI may be useful for assessing floristic quality in certain layers. The abundance-weighted format has the advantage of preserving the “heritage” aspect of the species conservatism concept while also entraining the “ecology” aspect of site assessment based on relative abundances of the inhabiting species. FQI did not successfully relate CW sites to REF sites, bringing into question the applicability of the FQI concept in comparing created wetlands to reference wetlands, and by analogy, the use of forested reference wetlands in general to assess vegetation development in created sites.     

Biomass and quality changes of forages along land use and soil type gradients in the riparian zone of Lake Naivasha,Kenya

The recession of the water level of Lake Naivasha has incrementally exposed land surfaces creating a chronosequential transect representing durations of 1–30 years of exposure to grazing. This chronosequence provides a unique model to study the effects of land use duration on resource availability and resource base quality. Particularly, pasture quality changes in the riparian land of tropical fresh water lakes have so far not been studied. We assessed the effect of the duration of exposure to grazing on the biomass production, crude protein content and energy quality of pastures in a 4 × 4 latin square design (4 chronosequence positions × 4 soil types). Species composition was recorded and biomass was sampled at monthly intervals from February to August 2011. Soil moisture was recorded using frequency domain reflectometry sensors. Vegetation samples were analyzed for dry matter, nitrogen and metabolizable energy. Increased land use duration favored a shift in species dominance from Pennisetum clandestinum to Cynodon plectostachyus, which was associated with a reduction in dry matter yield and increased plant nitrogen content. All measured variables tended to be higher in soils formed on alluvial than in those formed on lacustrine deposits. Increased soil N and gravimetric moisture content stimulated biomass accumulation. The crude protein yield and metabolizable energy changed with phenological stages of the pasture and declined significantly towards maturity (seed setting of grasses). Continuous grazing and reduced soil moisture content, both during low rainfall and increased distance from the lake shore, affected the composition of pasture grasses as well as forage yield and quality. This may thus differentially affect the suitability of the riparian land as pasture ground and feed resource area for grazing animals.     

扎龙湿地昆虫群落结构及动态

湿地是介于水体与陆地之间的特殊的生态系统,其中昆虫扮演着重要的角色。通过选取扎龙村、烟筒屯、土木台和育苇场为样地以诱集夜间活动的昆虫为主,对扎龙湿地昆虫群落结构进行了探讨。结果表明:扎龙湿地夜间活动的昆虫分属14目54科139种,以鳞翅目、鞘翅目和双翅目为优势类群。各区域昆虫群落种-多度关系均表现为对数正态分布。物种丰富度为扎龙村＞烟筒屯＞育苇场＞土木台,而群落多样性和均匀度均为烟筒屯＞扎龙村＞土木台＞育苇场,Shannon-Wiener 多样性指数(H') 与均匀度(J')和物种丰富度(S)时间动态关系表现为:烟筒屯Shannon-Wiener 多样性指数(H')与均匀度(J')和物种丰富度(S)均一致;扎龙村和育苇场Shannon-Wiener 多样性指数(H')与均匀度(J')一致,而与物种丰富度(S)弱相关;土木台 Shannon-Wiener 多样性指数(H')与均匀度(J')和物种丰富度(S)均表现为弱相关。研究得出扎龙湿地总体环境质量较好,但局部地区(如土木台)有退化的趋势,并分析造成上述结果的原因。     

黑河河岸植被与环境因子间的相互作用

2009-2010年,对黑河流域河岸植被分季节进行了详细调查,并实地测定各样点环境因子数据,采用PC-ORD和Canoco软件对数据进行分类排序与环境因子的指示种分析:(1)黑河河岸带植被分为4个植被型和6个群系,位于黑河上游的高山苔草+矮嵩草群系植被种类和数量最为丰富,草本层盖度最大,也是唯一没有乔木分布的群系;金露梅+沙棘+膜荚黄芪+针茅群系是灌木层密度和盖度最大的群系,草本植物种类相对较丰富;位于湿地的沙枣+水柏枝+芦苇+香蒲群系,土壤养分含量最高;(2)影响黑河河岸带植被分布的主要环境因子是海拔、降水、温度、土壤有机质、含水率以及全氮含量,其中,海拔、降水和温度为最重要的影响因子,土壤影响因子中土壤含水率>有机质>全氮,而全磷和速效氮没有显著影响;(3)在黑河河岸带共有20种植物是环境因子指示种,柽柳和苦豆子是温度、降水指示种,胡杨对海拔和降水有很强的指示作用,草本植物中没有土壤含水率和海拔指示种,而在乔灌木中没有土壤有机质指示种,这为气候、土壤条件的变化提供了很好的参考价值。     

Long-term population trends of endangered Hawaiian waterbirds

We analyzed long-term winter survey data (1956–2007) for three endangered waterbirds endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiian moorhen (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis), Hawaiian coot (Fulica alai), and Hawaiian stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). Time series were analyzed by species–island combinations using generalized additive models, with alternative models compared using Akaike information criterion (AIC). The best model included three smoothers, one for each species. Our analyses show that all three of the endangered Hawaiian waterbirds have increased in population size over the past three decades. The Hawaiian moorhen increase has been slower in more recent years than earlier in the survey period, but Hawaiian coot and stilt numbers still exhibit steep increases. The patterns of population size increase also varied by island, although this effect was less influential than that between species. In contrast to earlier studies, we found no evidence that rainfall affects counts of the target species. Significant population increases were found on islands where most wetland protection has occurred (Oahu, Kauai), while weak or no increases were found on islands with few wetlands or less protection (Hawaii, Maui). Increased protection and management, especially on Maui where potential is greatest, would likely result in continued population gains, increasing the potential for meeting population recovery goals.     

Salt marshes: biological controls of food webs in a diminishing environment

This essay reviews two important topics in coastal ecology: the work on the relative role of bottom–up and top–down controls in natural communities and the loss of wetlands worldwide. In salt marshes and other coastal wetlands, bottom–up and top–down mechanisms of control on natural communities are pervasive. Bottom–up effects through nutrient supply may propagate to upper trophic levels via better food quality, or indirectly by altering water and sediment quality. Top–down control by consumers alters lower trophic levels through consumption of primary producers, and indirectly by trophic cascades in which higher predators feed on grazers. The combined forcing of bottom–up and top–down controls govern assemblages of species in natural communities, mediated by physical and biogeochemical factors. Although there is much information about biological controls of coastal food webs, more information is needed. Even more important is that large losses of wetland are occurring along coastlines worldwide due to a variety of economic and social activities including filling, wetland reclamation, and sediment interception. Such losses are of concern because these wetlands provide important functions, including export of energy-rich material to deeper waters, nursery and stock habitats, shoreline stabilization, and intercept land-derived nutrients and contaminants. These important functions justify conservation and restoration efforts; barring such efforts, we will find it increasingly difficult to find coastal wetlands where we can continue to gain further understanding of ecology and biogeochemistry and lack the aesthetic pleasure these wetlands provide to so many of us.     

Restoring natural seepage conditions on former agricultural grasslands does not lead to reduction of organic matter decomposition and soil nutrient dynamics

In the central part of the Netherlands, wetland restoration projects involve the rewetting of former agricultural land, where low water levels were artificially maintained (polders). Many of these projects do not result in the expected reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus availability and subsequent re-establishment of a diverse wetland vegetation. The aim of the present study was to investigate which mechanisms are responsible for this lack of success. Thereto, we studied the effect of rewetting of former agricultural grasslands on acidified peat soil (pH = 3.5) on organic matter decomposition, nitrogen cycling and phosphorus availability in the soil for three seasons. To provide an explanation for the observed effects, we simultaneously studied a set of potentially controlling abiotic soil conditions that were expected to change after rewetting. It was found that rewetting of these grasslands with natural, unpolluted seepage water did not affect nitrogen cycling, but raised decomposition rates and almost doubled phosphorus availability. The main cause of these effects is a raise of soil pH to about 7 due to the hydrochemical composition of the soil pore water after rewetting, which reflects groundwater with high amounts of buffering ions. This effect overruled any reduction in process rates by the lowered soil redox potential. The counterintuitive finding of eutrophication after rewetting with natural and unpolluted water is considered to represent a new form of internal eutrophication, triggered by the restoration of natural site conditions of former agricultural land on acid peat soil.     

黑河下游河岸绿洲区包气带土壤水分与植被生长状况的研究

黑河下游荒漠平原区近年来由于河水流入量的持续减小,致使依赖河水补给来源的地下水呈减少趋势,造成区域性地下水位下降,从而引起一系列生态环境问题。通过研究黑河下游河岸绿洲区非饱和带的含水量、地下潜水埋深、土壤类型结构等与河岸绿洲植被生长状况之间的关系,发现土壤结构、地下水位埋深和土壤盐分是决定研究区植被生长状况的3个主要因素,而土壤结构是不可改变的,土壤盐分又与地下水关系密切,因此,地下水是极端干旱区植被生长状况的决定因素。     

临泽绿洲边缘区棉花群体光合速率、蒸腾速率及水分利用效率

在甘肃河西走廊中部黑河中游绿洲边缘区,于6月下旬和8月上旬,利用Li-8100土壤碳通量测定系统与改进的同化箱联合对田间条件下早熟陆地棉(Gossypium hirsutum)品种新陆早8号的群体光合特性进行了研究.结果表明：试验地6月下旬的土壤呼吸速率和土壤蒸发速率显著高于8月上旬（P＜0.01）;棉花群体光合速率日变化均呈“单峰型”,6月下旬的群体光合速率显著高于8月上旬,其日平均值分别为（43.11±1.26）和（24.53±0.60）μmol CO₂·m^-2·s^-1, 差异极显著（P＜0.01）;群体蒸腾速率日变化也呈“单峰型”,6月下旬和8月上旬的日平均值分别为（3.10±0.34）和（1.60±0.26）mmol H₂O·m^-2·s^-1,两者存在极显著差异（P＜0.01）;6月下旬和8月上旬的群体水分利用效率日平均值分别为（15.67±1.77）和（23.08±5.54） mmol CO₂·mol^-1 H₂O,但差异不显著（P＞0.05）.两生育时期棉花群体光合速率与温度、光合有效辐射及土壤含水量均呈正相关关系.表明棉花群体光合速率在6月下旬和8月上旬均没有出现中午光合下调,8月由于土壤水分降低和植物叶片衰老,棉花群体光合速率和蒸腾速率显著降低,但水分利用效率并无显著下降.     

淡水螺类去壳干重和无灰干重的换算方法

软体动物的生物量常用带壳湿重表示,然而外壳的主要成分是碳酸钙,不宜计为生物量,去壳干重和无灰干重相对更接近真实生物量,但其测量过于繁琐,因此有必要建立一套简单易行的方法对这2种干重生物量进行换算.选择长江流域常见的6种淡水螺类（环棱螺、长角涵螺、纹沼螺、大沼螺、方格短沟蜷和萝卜螺）,对其螺壳的5个形态参数和带壳干湿重与去壳干重和无灰干重的关系进行了研究.结果表明：这6种螺类的5个形态参数与去壳干重和无灰干重的回归关系均为指数式（y=ax^b）,其中,壳宽和壳长的换算效果（预测值与实测值间的百分误差率均值分别为22.0%和22.5%）好于其他参数;带壳湿重可通过方程直接换算为去壳干重和无灰干重（百分误差率均值为21.7%）.从概念的内涵和换算误差表明,无灰干重是表示螺类生物量的最适参数.