A Field Study of Animal Behaviour

A dice game for teaching the relationship between water availability and water loss in plant growth     

Canopy cover and tree regeneration in old-growth cove forests of the Appalachian Mountains

Relationships between canopy cover and tree regeneration were determined for various species in cove forests of the Great Smoky Mountains. Old-growth stands were sampled with six plots covering a total area of 4.8 ha. Each plot was subdivided into contiguous 10×10 m quadrats. Canopy cover overlying each of the 480 quadrats was characterized with three different indices based on visual estimates of cover. Influences of: (1) overlying cover, (2) proximate openings, and (3) total area of proximate openings on quadrat regeneration densities were determined. Most species reproducing by seed and some species reproducing by vegetative means had higher densities in quadrats with openings, but only the intolerants were highly dependent on gaps. Tsuga canadensis, a very shade-tolerant species, was one of the few species with abundant regeneration beneath dense canopy cover. In general, understory areas near gaps had somewhat higher regeneration densities than other areas with overlying cover. Several shade-tolerant species showed a positive regeneration density response to canopy openings and an ability to regenerate in gaps 0.01–0.03 ha in area. These openings were too small for intolerant species. Many species exhibited a positive response to total size of the proximate opening(s). A sharp increase in regeneration density with area of the opening(s) was evident at approximately 0.04 ha for the shade-intolerant species.     

Dispersal by cattle of salt-marsh and dune species into salt-marsh and dune communities

We investigated the spatial cohort structure of Trillium populations in old-growth cove forests in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (TN, USA). We mapped the locations of all Trillium erectum L., Trillium grandiflorum (Michaux) Salisbury, and Trillium vaseyi Harbison occurring within two 10 × 10 m sample plots at each of three old-growth sites—Anthony Creek, Cove Mountain, and Kalanu Prong. The height and life stage of each individual were recorded and a randomly selected subset was excavated for age determination. Our results suggest that Trillium populations in cove forests of the southern Appalachians display a high degree of spatial aggregation and are relatively stable, spatially, over long time periods (i.e., decades). Individual patches (aggregations of plants) within populations were typically multi-aged and no clear spatial cohort structure was observed. Surprisingly, more isolated plants (distal from large aggregations) were among the oldest plants in the population, rather than recent colonists dispersing away from parent populations. Individual species were less mingled than expected given that they share a common dispersal agent (ants). This study provides a double-baseline for Trillium population structure in old, primary forests with low browse pressure.     

Growth pattern of Picea rubens prior to canopy recruitment

A majority (72%) of Picea rubens Sarg. (red spruce) trees in an old-growth spruce-fir forest in the Great Smoky Mountains underwent episodes of radial growth suppression and release before they reached the forest canopy. Prior to canopy recruitment, trees experienced an average of 1.43 and a maximum of 7 suppression periods with an average ring width of 0.257 mm. Duration of suppression periods ranged from 4 to 79 years with an average of 19.05 years, which was significantly shorter than the average duration of release periods (29.00 years). Mean ring width in a suppression period was negatively correlated with duration of the suppression period. The opposite was true for release periods. The severity of suppression had no significant effect on mean ring width in subsequent release periods. Greater suppression was observed in the recent growth pattern of current non-canopy trees than in the historical growth pattern reconstructed from current canopy trees. Growth releases prior to canopy recruitment, triggered by small gaps or neighboring gaps, displayed a continuous pattern over the last two centuries and had consistent frequency in recent decades. By contrast, canopy recruitment resulting from large-gap disturbances was discontinuous over the last two centuries, and less frequent after 1850.     

Recovery of Sasajiscymnus tsugae,released against hemlock woolly adelgid,Adelges tsugae,in the southern Appalachians

Eastern hemlock in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is currently threatened by the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae). As part of a management plan against this invasive insect pest, about 350,000 adults of the predatory beetle Sasajiscymnus tsugae (Sasaji and McClure) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were released at ca. 150 sites in the Park from 2002 to 2007. Of these adult release sites, 33 were sampled in 2008 and 2009 using beat-sheet sampling for 4 man-hours. Sasajiscymnus tsugae adults (n=78) and/or larvae (n=145) were recovered from seven sites (21.2% of the release sites sampled). Recovery of S. tsugae was significantly associated with older release sites, with the most beetles recovered from 2002 release sites. These results indicate that S. tsugae may require more time (i.e., 5–7 years) than anticipated for population densities to reach readily detectable levels in some areas.     

Stomatal behavior of ozone-sensitive and -insensitive coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata var. digitata) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

* Morphological and physiological attributes were assessed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of ozone (O(3)) sensitivity in a highly sensitive species, cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata var. digitata). * Foliage at the same height in the canopy on paired O(3)-sensitive and -insensitive cutleaf coneflowers was assessed for level of foliar symptoms, stomatal density, stomatal responsiveness to dynamic changes in light and leaf-to-air vapor pressure deficit (VPD), steady-state responses to light and CO(2), intrinsic transpirational efficiency, and plant water balance. * There were no morphological differences between the sensitivity types that might have contributed to greater O(3) uptake in sensitive individuals. Stomata of sensitive plants were less responsive than those of insensitive plants to experimentally increased and decreased light intensities, and to increased VPD. O(3)-insensitive plants had greater intrinsic transpirational efficiencies, greater maximum assimilation rates under saturating CO(2) and light, and greater carboxylation rates. * Different physiological attributes vary independently within an individual plant, which collectively confer sensitivity or insensitivity to O(3) injury.     

贵州省哺乳动物名录更新

在《贵州兽类志》的基础上,参照最新的哺乳动物分类学和分子系统学研究成果,梳理2019年12月31日以前与贵州省哺乳动物相关的研究资料,变更了一些贵州省原记录的哺乳动物物种名称和分类地位,更新了贵州省哺乳动物名录。更新后的贵州省哺乳动物名录共记录哺乳纲9目29科84属153种。其中,翼手目56种、啮齿目38种、食肉目24种、劳亚食虫目19种、偶蹄目7种、灵长目4种、兔形目3种、鳞甲目和攀鼩目各1种。与《贵州兽类志》相比,共计新增哺乳动物36种,包括近年来在贵州发现的5个新种,水甫管鼻蝠(Murinashuipuensis)、梵净山管鼻蝠(M.fanjingshanensis)、榕江管鼻蝠(M.rongjiangensis)、荔波管鼻蝠(M.liboensis)和黑姬鼠(Apodemus nigrus);1个中国新记录种,即2011年发表的艾氏管鼻蝠(M.eleryi);14个贵州分布新记录种,以及近年来有研究证据支持分布于贵州的17个种;此外,由于标本鉴定有误,或同物异名,或被研究证实不分布于贵州等原因,删除了23个物种。贵州省境内目前记录到的重点保护野生动物有19种,其中,国家Ⅰ和Ⅱ级...     

Influence of drainage basin topography and elevation on carbon dioxide and methane supersaturation of stream water

The partial pressures of CO₂ (pCO₂) andCH₄ (pCH₄) in streams are not only governed byinstream processes, but also by transformations occurring in soil andgroundwater ecosystems. As such, stream water pCO₂ andpCH₄ can provide a tool to assess ecosystem respiration andanaerobic metabolism throughout drainage basins. We conducted three surveyssampling the gas content of streams in eastern Tennessee and western NorthCarolina to assess factors regulating ecosystem metabolism in catchmentswith contrasting geomorphologies, elevations and soil organic matterstorage. In our first survey, the influence of drainage basin geomorphologyon ecosystem respiration was examined by sampling streams drainingcatchments underlain by either shale or dolomite. Geomorphology isinfluenced by geology with shale catchments having shallower soils, broader,unconstrained valley floors compared with dolomite catchments.pCO₂ varied little between catchment types but increased froman average of 3340 ppmv in spring to 9927 ppmv in summer or 9.3 and 28 timesatmospheric equilibrium (pCO_2(equilib)), respectively. Incontrast, pCH₄ was over twice as high in streams drainingshale catchments (306 ppmv; pCH_4(equilib) = 116) compared withmore steeply incised dolomite basins (130 ppmv; pCH_4(equilib)= 51). Using the ratio of pCH₄:pCO₂ as an indexof anaerobic metabolism, shale catchments had nearly twice as muchanaerobiosis (pCH₄:pCO₂ = 0.046) than dolomitedrainages (pCH₄:pCO₂ = 0.024). In our secondsurvey, streams were sampled along an elevational gradient (525 to 1700 m)in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA where soil organic matterstorage increases with elevation. pCO₂ did not vary betweenstreams but increased from 5340 ppmv (pCO_2(equilib) = 15) to8565 ppmv (pCO_2(equilib) = 24) from spring to summer,respectively. During spring pCH₄ was low and constant acrossstreams, but during summer increased with elevation ranging from 17 to 2068ppmv (pCH_4(equilib) = 10 to 1216). The contribution ofanaerobiosis to total respiration was constant during spring(pCH₄:pCO₂ = 0.017) but during summer increasedwith elevation from 0.002 at 524 m to 0.289 at 1286 m. In our last survey,we examined how pCO₂ and pCH₄ changed withcatchment size along two rivers (ca. 60 km stretches in both riverscorresponding to increases in basin size from 1.7–477km² and 2.5–275 km²). pCO₂and pCH₄ showed opposite trends, with pCO₂decreasing ca. 50% along the rivers, whereas pCH₄roughly doubled in concentration downstream. These opposing shifts resultedin a nearly five-fold increase of pCH₄:pCO₂along the rivers from a low of 0.012 in headwaters to a high of 0.266 65-kmdownstream. pCO₂ likely declines moving downstream asgroundwater influences on stream chemistry decreases, whereaspCH₄ may increase as the prevalence of anoxia in riversexpands due to finer-grained sediments and reduced hydrologic exchange withoxygenated surface water.