Soil respiration of forest ecosystems in Japan and global implications

Within terrestrial ecosystems, soil respiration is one of the largest carbon flux components. We discuss the factors controlling soil respiration, while focusing on research conducted at the Takayama Experimental Site. Soil respiration was affected by soil temperature, soil moisture, rainfall events, typhoons, and root respiration. We consider the temporal and spatial variability of soil respiration at the Takayama Experimental Site and review the variability of annual soil respiration in Japanese forests. In the 26 compiled studies, the values of annual soil respiration ranged from 203 to 1,290 g C m⁻² year⁻¹, with a mean value of 669 g C m⁻² year⁻¹ (SD=264, CV=40). We note the need for more studies and data synthesis for the accurate prediction of soil respiration and soil carbon dynamics in Japanese forests. Finally, several methods for measuring soil respiration rates are compared and the implications of soil respiration rates for global climate change are discussed.     

Can ecological land classification increase the utility of vegetation monitoring data?

Vegetation dynamics in rangelands and other ecosystems are known to be mediated by topoedaphic properties. Vegetation monitoring programs, however, often do not consider the impact of soils and other sources of landscape heterogeneity on the temporal patterns observed. Ecological sites (ES) comprise a land classification system based on soil, topographic, and climate variations that can be readily applied by land managers to classify topoedaphic properties at monitoring locations. We used a long-term (>40 y) vegetation record from southeastern Arizona, USA to test the utility of an ES classification for refining interpretations of monitoring data in an area of relatively subtle soil differences. We focused on two phenomena important to rangeland management in the southeastern Arizona region: expansion of the native tree velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina Woot.) and spread of the introduced perennial grass Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana Nees). Specifically, we sought to determine if a quantitative, ES-specific analysis of the long-term record would (1) improve detection of changes in plant species having heightened ecological or management importance and (2) further clarify topoedaphic effects on vegetation trajectories. We found that ES class membership was a significant factor explaining spatiotemporal variation in velvet mesquite canopy cover, Lehmann lovegrass basal cover, and Lehmann lovegrass density measurements. In addition, we observed that the potential magnitude of velvet mesquite and Lehmann lovegrass increases varied substantially among ES classes. Our study brings attention to a practical land management tool that might be called upon to increase the effectiveness of vegetation-based indicators of ecosystem change.     

六盘山林区几种土地利用方式下土壤活性有机碳的比较

 应用KMnO4氧化法测定分析了六盘山林区天然次生林（杂灌林、山杨（Populus davidanda）和辽东栎（Querces liaotungensis）林）、农田、草地和人工林（13、18和25年华北落叶松（Larix principis-rupprechtii））土壤活性有机碳含量及分配比例的差异。结果表明：农田和草地土壤活性有机碳含量比天然次生林分别低60%和36%,差异主要在0～70 cm土层;人工林比农田和草地分别高129%和29%,差异主要在0～50 cm土层。农田和草地土壤活性有机碳分配比例比天然次生林分别低11%和4%以上, 差异主要在0～20 cm与70～110 cm土层;人工林比农田和草地分别高13.3%和5.3%,差异主要在0～110 cm土层。土壤活性有机碳含量和分配比例随土层加深而递减,其中天然次生林和人工林土壤活性有机碳含量随土层加深而递减的幅度比农田和草地中大,农田土壤活性有机碳分配比例随土层加深而递减幅度较大。不同土地利用方式间土壤活性有机碳含量的差异比活性有机碳分配比例的差异大,土壤活性有机碳含量随土层加深而递减的幅度比分配比例随土层加深而递减的幅度大。这可能由土壤有机碳的输入、稳定性、质量和根系分布等差异所致。结果说明土壤活性有机碳含量和分配比例随天然次生林变成农田或草地而降低,随农田或草地中造林而增加,且土壤活性有机碳含量的变化幅度比分配比例大。另外,土壤活性有机碳含量和分配比例在土壤剖面的分布也随土地利用变化而改变,其中活性有机碳含量的变化幅度比分配比例大。     

土壤侵蚀对土壤肥力及土地生物生产力的影响

通过对红壤坡地不同土地利用方式土壤肥力及土地生物生产力的空间分异研究,揭示了土壤侵蚀对土壤肥力和土地生产力的负面影响．即侵蚀导致Ｎ、Ｐ、Ｋ等土壤速效养分含量减少及其在坡面上部的相对贫乏和下部的相对富集;土壤有机质含量降低;土壤机械组成中砂、粉、粘粒比率发生变化,表现为土壤沙化,土地生物生产力下降．     

Desert perennials as plant and soil indicators in Eastern Arabia

Soils of different Eastern Arabian vegetation types, dominated by five desert perennials have been analysed for their texture, salinity and surface hardness. The vegetation types were analysed for plant species richness and composition. Special emphasis was given to Abu Dhabi's widespread terrestrial perennials Cyperus conglomeratus Rottb., Haloxylon salicornicum (Moq.) Bge., Pennisetum divisum (Gmel.) Henr., Seidlitzia rosmarinus Ehrenb. ex Bge. and Zygophyllum mandavillei Hadidi. The results show some important relationships between soils and plants. C. conglomeratus indicates the lowest soil salinity levels and the finest texture. P. divisum indicates the highest species richness and S. rosmarinus indicates the lowest species richness. Z. mandavillei indicates the highest salinity levels, the largest soil particle size, and the hardest soil surfaces.     

Global climate change and soil carbon stocks; predictions from two contrasting models for the turnover of organic carbon in soil

Enhanced release of CO₂ to the atmosphere from soil organic carbon as a result of increased temperatures may lead to a positive feedback between climate change and the carbon cycle, resulting in much higher CO₂ levels and accelerated global warming. However, the magnitude of this effect is uncertain and critically dependent on how the decomposition of soil organic C (heterotrophic respiration) responds to changes in climate. Previous studies with the Hadley Centre's coupled climate–carbon cycle general circulation model (GCM) (HadCM3LC) used a simple, single‐pool soil carbon model to simulate the response. Here we present results from numerical simulations that use the more sophisticated ‘RothC’ multipool soil carbon model, driven with the same climate data. The results show strong similarities in the behaviour of the two models, although RothC tends to simulate slightly smaller changes in global soil carbon stocks for the same forcing. RothC simulates global soil carbon stocks decreasing by 54 Gt C by 2100 in a climate change simulation compared with an 80 Gt C decrease in HadCM3LC. The multipool carbon dynamics of RothC cause it to exhibit a slower magnitude of transient response to both increased organic carbon inputs and changes in climate. We conclude that the projection of a positive feedback between climate and carbon cycle is robust, but the magnitude of the feedback is dependent on the structure of the soil carbon model.     

Is the interspecific variation of body size of land snails correlated with rainfall in Israel and Palestine?

The hypothesis that body size of land snail species increases with aridity in Israel and Palestine because large snails lose relatively less water due to their lower surface to volume ratio has been investigated. Data on rainfall amplitudes of 84 land snail species in Israel and Palestine and on their body sizes were used to test for interspecific correlations between body size and rainfall. Four methods, means of body sizes in rainfall categories, the midpoint method, the across-species method, and a phylogenetically controlled analysis (CAIC) showed that there is no significant correlation between body size of land snail species and their rainfall amplitude in Israel and Palestine. The lack of an interspecific correlation between body size and rainfall amplitude may be the result of conflicting selective forces on body size.     

土壤模糊隶属度不同数据转换方法及其对空间插值结果的影响

应用模糊c-均值算法对土壤进行连续分类时,其输出的土壤模糊隶属度值具有成分数据的结构特点.直接基于土壤隶属度数据实施普通克里格插值,其空间预测结果缺乏可信度.因此,在进行插值预测之前,必须对土壤模糊隶属度值进行必要的数据转换.研究采用对数正态变换方法、对称对数比转换方法和非对称对数比转换方法对土壤模糊隶属度值进行数据转换,分析了各种数据转换形式对插值结果及其精度的影响.结果表明,对样点土壤模糊隶属度进行简单对数正态转换,其插值结果空间上任意点的土壤对于不同类别的隶属度之和均不为1,因此这样的插值结果理论上缺乏可行性.数据经非对称对数比转换和对称对数比转换后,插值结果均满足各个位置组分之和为1和非负限制,二者相比,后者对区域总体趋势的反映较前者好,且精度较高.因此,在应用对称对数比方法对样点土壤模糊隶属度值进行数据转换的基础上,应用克里格技术实施空间插值可以获得最佳预测结果.     

陆地表层系统动力学机制研究Ⅰ．──陆地表层系统和动力学方程

对陆地表层动力学的研究对象、研究内容及其基本理论方法作了阐述,以多学科综合的观点定义了陆地表层系统,包括时空尺度范围的约定、状态变量的选择、物质循环以及外界因子等的讨论;依据物质和能量守恒原理建立了陆地表层系统的非线性控制方程组,表述了各圈层之间物质循环和能量循环过程、反馈关系及其动力学联系;讨论了控制方程组的整体运作功能以及人类活动对陆地表层系统的影响．     

半干旱地区天然草地灌丛化与土壤异质性关系研究进展

 回顾了半干旱地区天然草地灌丛化的成因和机理、灌丛化导致草地土壤水分和养分空间异质性及其对生态系统生物地球化学过程的影响,以及土壤异质性与土地退化关系等方面的研究进展,周期性气候干旱和过度放牧是天然草地灌丛化的主要原因,伴随灌木入侵而出现的草地土壤水分和养分的空间异质性,是造成生态系统水分和养分流失,以及土壤加速侵蚀的原因之一。因此,半干旱地区天然草地的灌丛化应得到一定的控制,使群落中灌丛保持适宜的密度,以避免生态系统水分和养分的损失。     

Forest-scale sap flux responses to rainfall in a dryland eucalyptus plantation

Dryland salinity is caused by rising saline water tables, the result of relatively recent landscape-scale clearance of deep-rooted vegetation. One obvious solution to this problem is the reintroduction of deep-rooted vegetation into these landscapes, most likely non-deciduous trees. Ideally, continually-transpiring deep-rooted trees would remove moisture from throughout the soil profile, increasing the capacity of the soil to store water, thus lowering water tables by effectively reducing the number of rainfall events that contribute to groundwater recharge. In this study, we examined how water use by a Eucalyptus sideroxylon A. Cunn. ex Woolls plantation, growing in a salinity-prone landscape, varied in response to rainfall events across four years of sap flux monitoring. Responses of the plantation were observed across multiple seasons, from above average to well below average rainfall. We observed that the plantation forest, while capable of continuous water use during drought, was also quite responsive to rainfall events. During the driest periods, during which shallow soil moisture was reduced to a stable minimum, the forest continued using water at around 1 mm/day. Generally we observed increases in forest water use following only 5 mm of rainfall, in contrast to 20 mm for neighbouring native vegetation. We compared a range of plausible empirical models for describing forest water use responses to rainfall. The best model demonstrated that rainfall size, post-rainfall PET and the interaction between rainfall size and antecedent soil moisture made significant contributions to variation in forest water use across rainfall events. Interestingly, the model showed that all else equal, higher antecedent soil moisture tended to reduce potential increases in forest water use in response to rainfall.     

Tree-grass co-existence in savanna: Interactions of rain and fire

The mechanisms permitting the co-existence of tree and grass in savannas have been a source of contention for many years. The two main classes of explanations involve either competition for resources, or differential sensitivity to disturbances. Published models focus principally on one or the other of these mechanisms. Here we introduce a simple ecohydrologic model of savanna vegetation involving both competition for water, and differential sensitivity of trees and grasses to fire disturbances. We show how the co-existence of trees and grasses in savannas can be simultaneously controlled by rainfall and fire, and how the relative importance of the two factors distinguishes between dry and moist savannas. The stability map allows to predict the changes in vegetation structure along gradients of rainfall and fire disturbances realistically, and to clarify the distinction between climate- and disturbance-dependent ecosystems.     

Distribution of Selected Plant Parasitic Nematodes Relative to Vegetation and Edaphic Factors

The occurrence of selected plant-parasitic nematodes in the hemlock-hardwood-white pine, boreal forest, tundra, and oak-hickory associations in some northern states was compared. Helicotylenchus platyurus and Xiphinema americanum were not found in the boreal forest and tundra, and occurred infrequently in the hemlock-hardwood-white pine areas. They were found frequently, however, in the oak-hickory forest of Iowa. It is questioned that vegetational differences among the areas account directly for the major differences in nematode occurrence. Presence and absence of nematodes and their numbers in the oak-hickory association were clustered by similarity coefficients by sites and correlated with soil pH, percentage organic matter, percentage sand-silt-clay, and field capacity. Of the soil factors measured, pH gave the strongest correlations with nematode numbers. Xiphinema chambersi was found only in soils with a pH between 4.5 and 6.4 while the largest numbers of H. platyurus, H. pseudorobustus, and X. americanum occurred in soil above pH 6.0.