Comparison of leaf area index inversion for grassland vegetation through remotely sensed spectra by unmanned aerial vehicle and field-based spectroradiometer

Aims Remote sensing technology has been proved useful in mapping grassland vegetation properties. Spectral features of vegetation cover can be recorded by optical sensors on board of different platforms. With increasing popularity of applying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to mapping plant cover, the study aims to investigate the possible applications and potential issues related to mapping leaf area index (LAI) through integration of remote sensing imagery collected by multiple sensors.     

Seasonal distribution of increased precipitation in maternal environments influences offspring performance of Potentilla tanacetifolia in a temperate steppe ecosystem

Aims Precipitation is predicted to increase in arid and semiarid regions under climate change, with greater changes in intra- and inter-annual distribution in the future. As a major limiting factor in these regions, changes in precipitation undoubtedly influence plant growth and productivity. However, how the temporal shifts in precipitation will impact plant populations are uncertain.     

Phylogeography of Pulsatilla cernua (Ranunculaceae), a grassland species,in Japan

The genetic diversity and structure of Pulsatilla cernua, a continental‐grassland relict, were investigated using variations in chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and microsatellites of nuclear DNA. In the analyses of three cpDNA regions, 17 haplotypes were found in 24 populations of P. cernua from Japan, Korea, and Russia. Although the route and time of migration between the continent of Asia and Japan could not be well resolved, the cpDNA haplotype network suggests the existence of several ancient lineages in Japan and a recent secondary migration from Japan to the continent. Microsatellite analyses did not indicate genetic structure among the Japanese populations, indicating the existence of gene flow across the distribution area until recently. These results indicate that the present fragmentation of P. cernua in Japan may reflect a rapid, recent reduction from a previously large, continuous distribution.     

Grazing intensity enhances spatial aggregation of dominant species in a desert steppe

Understanding how grazing activity drives plant community structure or the distribution of specific species in a community remains a major challenge in community ecology. The patchiness or spatial aggregation of specific species can be quantified by analyzing their relative coordinates in the community. Using variance and geostatistical analysis methods, we examined the quantitative characteristics and spatial distribution of Stipa breviflora in a desert steppe in northern China under four different grazing intensities (no grazing, NG, light grazing, LG, moderate grazing, MG, and heavy grazing, HG) at three small spatial scales (10 × 10 cm, 20 × 20 cm, 25 × 25 cm). We found that grazing significantly increased cover, density, and proportion in standing crop of S. breviflora, but decreased height. The spatial distribution of S. breviflora was strongly dependent upon the sampling unit and grazing intensity. The patchiness of S. breviflora reduced with sampling scale, and spatial distribution of S. breviflora was mainly determined by structural factors. The intact clusters of S. breviflora were more fragmented with increasing grazing intensity and offspring clusters spread out from the center of the parent plant. These findings suggest that spatial aggregation can enhance the ability of S. breviflora to tolerate grazing and that smaller isolated clusters are beneficial to the survival of this dominant species under heavy grazing.     

A dynamic multi‐scale occupancy model to estimate temporal dynamics and hierarchical habitat use for nomadic species

Distribution models are increasingly being used to understand how landscape and climatic changes are affecting the processes driving spatial and temporal distributions of plants and animals. However, many modeling efforts ignore the dynamic processes that drive distributional patterns at different scales, which may result in misleading inference about the factors influencing species distributions. Current occupancy models allow estimation of occupancy at different scales and, separately, estimation of immigration and emigration. However, joint estimation of local extinction, colonization, and occupancy within a multi‐scale model is currently unpublished. We extended multi‐scale models to account for the dynamic processes governing species distributions, while concurrently modeling local‐scale availability. We fit the model to data for lark buntings and chestnut‐collared longspurs in the Great Plains, USA, collected under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program. We investigate how the amount of grassland and shrubland and annual vegetation conditions affect bird occupancy dynamics and local vegetation structure affects fine‐scale occupancy. Buntings were prevalent and longspurs rare in our study area, but both species were locally prevalent when present. Buntings colonized sites with preferred habitat configurations, longspurs colonized a wider range of landscape conditions, and site persistence of both was higher at sites with greener vegetation. Turnover rates were high for both species, quantifying the nomadic behavior of the species. Our model allows researchers to jointly investigate temporal dynamics of species distributions and hierarchical habitat use. Our results indicate that grassland birds respond to different covariates at landscape and local scales suggesting different conservation goals at each scale. High turnover rates of these species highlight the need to account for the dynamics of nomadic species, and our model can help inform how to coordinate management efforts to provide appropriate habitat configurations at the landscape scale and provide habitat targets for local managers.     

沙质草地3种优势植物叶片光合生理对增温和降水减少的响应北大核心CSCD

以沙质草地优势物种猪毛蒿、胡枝子和糙隐子草为研究对象,利用开顶式生长室(OTC)模拟增温,研究降水减少20%、40%和60%与增温的交互作用对3种典型植物叶片光合气体交换特征及叶绿素荧光特征的影响,以揭示沙质草地3种优势植物对气候变化的响应规律。结果显示:(1)与自然温度相比,OTC模拟增温增加了猪毛蒿C_(i),显著降低了胡枝子G_(s)、P_(n)和T_(r)、糙隐子草G_(s)和P_(n)、猪毛蒿WUE和L_(s),也显著降低了猪毛蒿和胡枝子F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)。(2)无论增温与否,随着降水减少幅度的增加,猪毛蒿G_(s)和P_(n)呈下降趋势,且中度以上的干旱胁迫下(降水减少>40%)胡枝子和糙隐子草P_(n)显著低于对照。(3)在自然温度条件下,轻度干旱胁迫时(降水减少20%)猪毛蒿T_(r)显著低于对照,重度干旱胁迫时(降水减少60%)其WUE、F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)显著低于对照;重度干旱胁迫时,胡枝子C_(i)显著高于对照,差异幅度达10.7%,L_(s)显著低于对照,轻度干旱胁迫时(降水减少20%)其F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)显著高于中度以上的干旱胁迫;中度以上的干旱胁迫下糙隐子草T_(r)和G_(s)显著低于对照,重度干旱胁迫时,其C_(i)、F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)显著低于对照,WUE和L_(s)显著高于对照。(4)增温与降水减少交互作用下,所有处理猪毛蒿C_(i)均高于对照,差异幅度分别达4.5%,6.0%和8.4%;胡枝子T_(r)均显著低于对照,差异幅度达57.8%;重度干旱胁迫时猪毛蒿L_(s)和WUE显著低于对照,糙隐子草F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)随降水减少而降低,中度以上的干旱胁迫时其值显著低于对照。(5)相关性分析表明,3个优势物种的P_(n)与F_(v)/F_(m)和F_(v)/F_(o)均呈显著正相关关系,其中猪毛蒿和糙隐子草的P_(n)—F_(v)/F_(m)和P_(n)—F_(v)/F_(o)斜率明显高于胡枝子。研究表明,气候变暖会在一定程度上加剧降水减少对沙质草地3种群落优势物种光合作用的抑制。     

放牧对黄土高原退耕草地土壤有机碳储量的影响

放牧是影响草地土壤碳固存的重要因素。本研究选取黄土高原水蚀风蚀交错区西部、中部、东部地区及水蚀区,以各区20年以上退耕封禁地为对照,分析3个放牧强度下(羊粪球密度分别为0～10、10～20、>20 ind·m^-2)退耕草地0～20 cm土层土壤有机碳储量的分布特征,研究放牧及其强度对退耕草地土壤固碳效应的影响。结果表明: 放牧对交错区西部0～20 cm、东部0～10 cm,水蚀区0～5 cm土层土壤有机碳储量有显著影响,对交错区中部各土层均无显著影响;羊粪球密度0～10、＞20 ind·m^-2强度的放牧使交错区西部0～20 cm土层土壤有机碳储量显著降低了34.8%～50.9%,而在其他3个区域,放牧对有机碳储量的影响较退耕封禁地差异不显著。在交错区东部,放牧强度是影响退耕草地土壤有机碳储量的主要因素,而其他3个区域有机碳储量主要受土壤理化性质和(或)枯落物生物量的影响。羊粪球密度10～20 ind·m^-2强度的放牧对各区域退耕草地0～20 cm土层土壤有机碳储量无显著影响。     

刈割制度对呼伦贝尔草原群落特征及牧草质量的影响

为确定呼伦贝尔草原高效生产和可持续利用的最佳刈割制度,于2019—2021年在呼伦贝尔草原开展刈割时间(7月31日、8月10日、8月20日、8月30日、9月9日)、留茬高度(3、9、15 cm)及两者交互作用对草原群落特征、牧草产量和品质影响的研究。结果表明: 较晚时间刈割和低留茬刈割会降低翌年群落高度和盖度;低留茬刈割降低翌年地上部分生物量,但刈割时间对其影响不显著。禾草、莎草相对生物量随刈割时间的延迟表现出先增加后减少的趋势,杂类草则与之相反,而豆科植物无明显变化。低留茬刈割在当年能够获得高的干草产量,但翌年的干草产量显著下降;8月30日,留茬3 cm刈割时干草产量达到最高值(469 g·m^-2),高于最低值361.5%。牧草品质中粗蛋白含量在8月30日刈割时亦达到峰值,高于最低值约6.5%,且在高留茬刈割下含量更高;酸、中性洗涤纤维含量随刈割时间延迟逐渐升高,9月9日刈割高于7月31日8.0%、5.9%,并且随留茬高度增加而降低。呼伦贝尔草原刈割制度设置为留茬高度9 cm左右、8月20—30日刈割为最佳,但需更长期的刈割试验观测才能得到更可靠、更客观的结论。     

基于Sentinel-2数据的草地植物功能多样性遥感反演及其与生产力的关系

生物多样性与生态系统功能的关系是当前生态学研究的焦点和难点。植物功能多样性是影响生态系统功能的重要指标, 开展植物功能多样性的研究对了解生物多样性与生态系统功能之间的关系有着重要意义。传统的草地植物功能多样性研究多以实地调查为主, 不仅费时费力, 而且由于受到时空的限制, 很难拓展到大尺度的研究中。遥感技术的发展为评估草地功能多样性提供了一种经济、有效的手段。该研究选取内蒙古自治区锡林郭勒盟乌拉盖管理区草甸草原为研究区, 利用Sentinel-2卫星影像和野外实测数据, 选取了波段及植被指数等46个特征变量, 探讨了逐步回归、偏最小二乘法(PLSR)和随机森林(RFR)等3种不同方法对草地植物功能丰富度(FRic)、功能均匀度(FEve)和功能离散度(FDiv)的反演精度, 并基于PLSR反演草地地上生物量, 进一步分析了研究区功能多样性与生产力的关系。研究结果表明: (1)波段B11、优化型土壤调节植被指数(OSAVI)、水波段指数(WBI)对FRic解释度最高; 波段B6、B10、B12、类胡萝卜素反射指数1 (CRI1)、双峰光学指数(D)、归一化差值指数45 (NDI45)等6个特征变量对FEve解释度最高; 波段B5、B9、B10、B11、加权差分植被指数(WDVI)、凸包面积等对FDiv解释度最高; (2)基于十折重复交叉验证, 利用逐步回归估算的FRic和FEve反演精度远高于其他两种回归方法, R²分别为0.52和0.44; 而利用PLSR方法估算的FDiv反演精度最高(R² = 0.61); (3)群落地上生物量反演精度为R² = 0.61; FRic与地上生产力的关系最好(R² = 0.40), 其次为FDiv (R² = 0.28)和FEve (R² = 0.27)。研究发现, 基于Sentinel-2卫星影像能较好地反演草地功能多样性和生产力, 为下一步能在大尺度上进行草地功能多样性估算及其与生产力关系研究提供了参考和依据。