A new EPR-detectable component in the ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase segment of the respiratory chain

A new paramagnetic electron acceptor, detectable by the characteristic EPR signal at g = 1.867, has been identified. The new paramagnetic species can be detected only below 10 °K. It is reducible by succinate plus ascorbate in the presence of phenazine ethosulphate, and undergoes redox changes parallel with the well-known Rieske iron-sulphur protein monitored at g = 1.89 at this temperature. However, it shows a temperature dependence different from that of the Rieske protein.Extraction of ubiquinone from the mitochondrial membrane results in inhibition of reduction of the new species, and re-incorporation of ubiquinone restores the reduction. It is concluded that the new paramagnetic species is associated with ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase.     

气候变化对滇西北碧塔海流域景观演变的影响

气候变化是景观演变的重要驱动力,高海拔地带生态系统对气候变化的响应较为敏感和迅速。选择地处青藏高原东南缘,受人为干扰相对较小的碧塔海流域为研究对象,利用1958—2011年气象资料以及1955、1974、1981、1994、2005和2011年6个年代的景观类型面积,采用气候倾向率估计、Mann-Kendall突变检验方法和Pearson相关系数等统计方法,研究了香格里拉县气候变化背景下碧塔海流域景观演变特征。结果表明:(1)1958—2011年来,滇西北香格里拉县多年平均气温为5.9℃,多年平均活动积温为2146.1℃,多年平均年极端高温为24.3℃,多年平均年极端低温为-18.6℃,多年平均降水量为631.7mm。气温、活动积温和年极端低温呈显著上升趋势,近54年来气温平均上升了1.94℃,升温速率远高于云南和全国水平。年极端高温和降水量呈增加趋势,但增加不明显。滇西北高原碧塔海流域背景气候呈现显著的变暖趋势。(2)1955—2011年来,碧塔海流域自然景观演变规律为草甸和灌草丛向有林地演变,气温、活动积温和年极端低温升高趋势与有林地景观面积的增加趋势大体一致,与草甸和灌草丛变化趋势相反。(3)气温、活动积温和年极端低温与碧塔海流域草甸、灌草丛和有林地的景观面积变化具有显著的相关性,是流域景观演变的主导气候要素,在草甸和灌草丛演变成有林地的过程中发挥着重要作用。极端高温和降水量对流域景观演变的作用相对较弱。     

黄土丘陵区坡面整地和植被耦合下的土壤水分特征

水分是干旱半干旱地区植被恢复的主要环境制约因子。在黄土高原小流域,合理整地能够有效截留降雨补给土壤水,进而促进植被恢复。选择地处甘肃定西的半干旱黄土小流域为研究区,基于野外实测数据,分析不同植被和整地方式(柠条水平阶、山杏水平沟、侧柏反坡台,油松反坡台)综合影响下的土壤水分特征。采用最优分割法将不同整地方式土壤水分垂直层次划分为活跃层,次活跃层和相对稳定层。结果表明:生长季不同整地方式土壤水分的变化与降水量的变化密切相关,不同月份以及不同深度各整地方式土壤水分之间差异显著(P0.05)。根据土壤水分垂直变化特征,山杏水平沟水分活跃层与次活跃层为0—80cm,其深度范围均大于其他3种整地方式,而柠条水平阶土壤水分均在30 cm以下较为稳定,其深度范围均小于其他3种整地方式。不同整地方式土壤水分含量具体表现为:山杏水平沟侧柏反坡台柠条水平阶油松反坡台。     

Development and application of watershed-scale indicator to quantify non-point source P losses in semi-humid and semi-arid watershed,China

Quantifying non-point source (NPS) phosphorus (P) pollution loads is essential for watershed nutrients management. This study intended to develop a NPS P indicator which (1) was suitable in semi-humid and semi-arid watersheds of Northern China; (2) integrated the key NPS P loss factors and constructed them in a simple and physically understandable way and (3) kept P loss forms distinctively separate. An inverse distance-based delivery ratio was proposed to count for the P delivery efficiency from source to watercourses. We applied this P indicator in Luan River Watershed (LRW) of northern China under typical hydrological years and seasons. Results demonstrated that this NPS P indicator predicted reasonable NPS TP loads using simple methods and readily obtainable inputs. The sub-watersheds located in the south of LRW were recognized as the high risk areas of NPS P loss to Panjiakou reservoir. The upland and paddy fields near the river channels were particularly posing high risk and thus should be treated with prioritized management practices such as soil conservation and recommended fertilization. Rainfall-runoff related variables rather than P source variables explained more of the spatial variation in NPS P load and percentages. Using this tool could give policy makers insight into the component and location of NPS P pollution that needs to be the focus of policy at watershed scales before sophisticated studies were conducted in smaller scales.     

Leaf-traits and growth allometry explain competition and differences in response to climatic change in a temperate forest landscape: a simulation study

Background and Aims

The ability to simulate plant competition accurately is essential for plant functional type (PFT)-based models used in climate-change studies, yet gaps and uncertainties remain in our understanding of the details of the competition mechanisms and in ecosystem responses at a landscape level. This study examines secondary succession in a temperate deciduous forest in eastern China with the aim of determining if competition between tree types can be explained by differences in leaf ecophysiological traits and growth allometry, and whether ecophysiological traits and habitat spatial configurations among PFTs differentiate their responses to climate change.

Methods

A temperate deciduous broadleaved forest in eastern China was studied, containing two major vegetation types dominated by Quercus liaotungensis (OAK) and by birch/poplar (Betula platyphylla and Populus davidiana; BIP), respectively. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (TESim) suite of models was used to examine carbon and water dynamics using parameters measured at the site, and the model was evaluated against long-term data collected at the site.

Key Results

Simulations indicated that a higher assimilation rate for the BIP vegetation than OAK led to the former''s dominance during early successional stages with relatively low competition. In middle/late succession with intensive competition for below-ground resources, BIP, with its lower drought tolerance/resistance and smaller allocation to leaves/roots, gave way to OAK. At landscape scale, predictions with increased temperature extrapolated from existing weather records resulted in increased average net primary productivity (NPP; +19 %), heterotrophic respiration (+23 %) and net ecosystem carbon balance (+17 %). The BIP vegetation in higher and cooler habitats showed 14 % greater sensitivity to increased temperature than the OAK at lower and warmer locations.

Conclusions

Drought tolerance/resistance and morphology-related allocation strategy (i.e. more allocation to leaves/roots) played key roles in the competition between the vegetation types. The overall site-average impacts of increased temperature on NPP and carbon stored in plants were found to be positive, despite negative effects of increased respiration and soil water stress, with such impacts being more significant for BIP located in higher and cooler habitats.     

Ecosystem function for water retention and forest ecosystem conservation in a watershed of the Yangtze River

The ecosystem function for water retention in a watershed of the Yangtze River was discussed in this study. The watershed was divided into 90 types of vegetation–soil–slope complex. A GIS-embodied spatial database was used to explore the relationships between the capacity of water retention by a complex and its types of vegetation, soil and slope. Furthermore, the capacity of water retention of every complex was estimated statistically by using estimation models. The spatial distribution of various capacity of water retention in the watershed was demarcated on a map based on the attributions and the locations of complexes. In addition, we evaluated integrally the situation of water retention in the watershed based on the estimation for the complexes from which it was distinctly recognized that the serious situation mainly results from the poor capacity of water retention of vegetation. The variation-location effect describes the phenomenon in which an identical variation of a factor may produce different effects on overall situation, when this variation occurs in a different spatial location. According to the variation-location effect on the expansion of forestland, a strategy 'spatial pattern-based forestland extension was proposed to conserve forest ecosystem and improve the situation of water retention in the watershed.     

Nitrogen Dynamics in Ice Storm-Damaged Forest Ecosystems: Implications for Nitrogen Limitation Theory

Despite the widely recognized importance of disturbance in accelerating the loss of elements from land, there have been few empirical studies of the effects of natural disturbances on nitrogen (N) dynamics in forest ecosystems. We were provided the unusual opportunity for such study, partly because the intensively monitored watersheds at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), New Hampshire, experienced severe canopy damage following an ice storm. Here we report the effects of this disturbance on internal N cycling and loss for watershed 1 (W1) and watershed 6 (W6) at the HBEF and patterns of N loss from nine other severely damaged watersheds across the southern White Mountains. This approach allowed us to test one component of N limitation theory, which suggests that N losses accompanying natural disturbances can lead to the maintenance of N limitation in temperate zone forest ecosystems. Prior to the ice storm, fluxes of nitrate (NO₃ ^–) at the base of W1 and W6 were similar and were much lower than N inputs in atmospheric deposition. Following the ice storm, drainage water NO₃ ^– concentrations increased to levels that were seven to ten times greater than predisturbance values. We observed no significant differences in N mineralization, nitrification, or denitrification between damaged and undamaged areas in the HBEF watersheds, however. This result suggests that elevated NO₃ ^- concentrations were not necessarily due to accelerated rates of N cycling by soil microbes but likely resulted from decreased plant uptake of NO₃ ^-. At the regional scale, we observed high variability in the magnitude of NO₃ ^- losses: while six of the surveyed watersheds showed accelerated rates of NO₃ ^– loss, three did not. Moreover, in contrast to the strong linear relationship between NO₃ ^– loss and crown damage within HBEF watersheds [r ²: (W1 = 0.91, W6 = 0.85)], stream water NO₃ ^– concentrations were weakly related to crown damage (r ² = 0.17) across our regional sites. The efflux of NO₃ ^– associated with the ice storm was slightly higher than values reported for soil freezing and insect defoliation episodes, but was approximately two to ten times lower than NO₃ ^– fluxes associated with forest harvesting. Because over one half of the entire years worth of N deposition was lost following the ice storm, we conclude that catastrophic disturbances contribute synergistically to the maintenance of N limitation and widely observed delays of N saturation in northern, temperate zone forest ecosystems. Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Guyot Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.     

Recovery of the proteose peptone component 3 from cheese whey in Reppal PES 100/polyethylene glycol aqueous two-phase systems

Recovery of the proteose peptone component 3 from cheese whey was optimal using a 16% (w/w) Reppal PES 100 – 24% (w/w) PEG 600 aqueous two-phase system, at pH 7, giving a mass recovery yield of 99% and a purity of 83% for proteose peptone component 3 in the upper phase. Using the above system a partition coefficient of 30.7 and a purification factor of 6.9 were achieved.     

洞庭湖流域生态安全状态变化及其驱动力分析

通过构建由状态子系统、压力子系统和响应子系统组成的洞庭湖流域生态安全评价系统,重点研究了该流域的生态安全变化趋势,并采用因子分析方法探究其驱动力。结果表明,1949年以来,流域生态安全变化表现出如下特征:系统状态指数明显下降,波动性和阶段性显著;系统压力指数1990年后呈下降趋势;系统响应指数一直呈增长趋势;生态安全度自1990年以来开始稳步上升。因子分析表明,流域生态风险是自然和人为因素叠加的结果,农民人均收入增加、农业人口占总人口比例减少、单位面积土地产值和单位土地面积生态建设投入增加,是促进流域生态安全度提高的决定性因素。同时,本文提出了提高流域生态安全度的相关对策。