The Holdridge life zones of the conterminous United States in relation to ecosystem mapping

Aim Our main goals were to develop a map of the life zones for the conterminous United States, based on the Holdridge Life Zone system, as a tool for ecosystem mapping, and to compare the map of Holdridge life zones with other global vegetation classification and mapping efforts. Location The area of interest is the forty-eight contiguous states of the United States. Methods We wrote a PERL program for determining life zones from climatic data and linked it to the image processing workbench (IPW). The inputs were annual precipitation (Pann), biotemperature (T_bio), sea-level biotemperature (T₀bio), and the frost line. The spatial resolution chosen for this study (2.5 arc-minute for classification, 4-km for mapping) was driven by the availability of current state-of-the-art, accurate and reliable precipitation data. We used the Precipitation-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model, or PRISM, output for the contiguous United States downloaded from the Internet. The accepted standard data for air temperature surfaces were obtained from the Vegetation/Ecosystem Modelling and Analysis Project (VEMAP). This data set along with station data obtained from the National Climatic Data Center for the US, were used to develop all temperature surfaces at the same resolution as the Pann. Results The US contains thirty-eight life zones (34% of the world's life zones and 85% of the temperate ones) including one boreal, twelve cool temperate, twenty warm temperate, four subtropical, and one tropical. Seventy-four percent of the US falls in the ‘basal belt’, 18% is montane, 8% is subalpine, 1% is alpine, and < 0.1% is nival. The US ranges from superarid to superhumid, and the humid province is the largest (45% of the US). The most extensive life zone is the warm temperate moist forest, which covers 23% of the country. We compared the Holdridge life zone map with output from the BIOME model, Bailey's ecoregions, Küchler potential vegetation, and land cover, all aggregated to four cover classes. Despite differences in the goals and methods for all these classification systems, there was a very good to excellent agreement among them for forests but poor for grasslands, shrublands, and nonvegetated lands. Main conclusions We consider the life zone approach to have many strengths for ecosystem mapping because it is based on climatic driving factors of ecosystem processes and recognizes ecophysiological responses of plants; it is hierarchical and allows for the use of other mapping criteria at the association and successional levels of analysis; it can be expanded or contracted without losing functional continuity among levels of ecological complexity; it is a relatively simple system based on few empirical data; and it uses objective mapping criteria.     

The Spatial Pattern of the Small Fish Community in the Biandantang Lake – A Small Shallow Lake Along the Middle Reach of the Yangtze River, China

The spatial pattern of the small fish community was studied seasonally in 1996 in the Biandantang Lake. Based on plant cover, the lake was divided into five habitats, arranged in the order by plant structure complexity from complex to simple: Vallisneria spiralis habitat (V habitat), Vallisneria spiralis–Myriophyllum spicatum habitat (V–M habitat), Myriophyllum spicatum habitat (M habitat), Nelunbo nucefera habitat (N habitat), and no vegetation habitat (NV habitat). A modified popnet was used for quantitative sampling of small fishes. A total of 16 fish species were collected; Hypseleotris swinhonis, Ctenogobius giurinus, Pseudorasbora parva, Carassius auratus and Paracheilognathus imberis were the five numerically dominant species. In both summer and autumn, the total density of small fishes was about 10indm^–2. Generally, Ctenogobius giurinus, a sedatory, benthic fish, was distributed more or less evenly among the five habitats, while the other four species had lower densities in the N habitat and NV habitat, which had the simplest structures. The distribution of the small fish species showed seasonal variations. In winter, most species concentrated in the V habitat, which had the most complex structure. In spring, the fish had low densities in the N and NV habitat, and were more or less evenly distributed in the other habitats. In summer, the fish had a low density in the NV habitat, and were evenly distributed in the other habitats. In autumn, the fish had higher densities in the V–M and M habitats than in the others. Generally, spatial overlaps between the dominant species were higher in winter than in the other seasons. It was suggested that the variations in the importance of predation risk and resource competition in habitat choice determined the seasonal changes of spatial patterns in the small fishes in the Biandantang Lake.     

Climate change-driven forest fires marginalize the impact of ice cap wasting on Kilimanjaro

The disappearing glaciers of Kilimanjaro are attracting broad interest. Less conspicuous but ecologically far more significant is the associated increase of frequency and intensity of fires on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, which leads to a downward shift of the upper forest line by several hundred meters as a result of a drier (warmer) climate since the last century. In contrast to common belief, global warming does not necessarily cause upward migration of plants and animals. Here, it is shown that on Kilimanjaro the opposite trend is under way, with consequences more harmful than those due to the loss of the showy ice cap of Africa's highest mountain.     

基于MaxEnt模型的延河流域草本植物适生分布与功能性状分析

明确延河流域常见草本植物的潜在适生区分布,是植被恢复工作持续推进的基础。本研究收集了延河流域8种常见草本植物的地理分布信息和13个环境变量,采用MaxEnt和ArcGIS模拟了延河流域常见草本植物在当前气候下的潜在适生性分布,进而研究这8种不同草本植物适生性分布与功能性状变异特征之间的相关关系。研究结果显示：根据物种-性状排序图的分布格局判断,本研究选择的七个功能性状在植物所属科之间发生了明显趋异分化现象,在PC1右侧为禾本科植物,PC1左侧为菊科、豆科和唇形科植物。对物种适生性分布模拟结果表明,达乌里胡枝子在研究区内的适生性最高,百里香的适生性最低,表明达乌里胡枝子比其他常见草本物种更适合被选择为该流域的植被恢复的先锋物种。在功能性状变异特征相关性分析中,物种适生区大小与比叶面积变异系数呈显著正相关,与其他植物功能性状变异特征不显著。因此,比叶面积的变异系数更适合作为指示延河流域草本植物适生区大小的性状。     

青藏高原气候变化与高寒草地

综述了近五十年来青藏高原气候和高寒草地的变化趋势,阐述了气候变化对高寒草地的可能影响。气候变化主要通过水、热过程及其诱导的环境变化对青藏高原高寒草地产生显著的影响。主要过程包括：气候变化对气候带、植被带、植物、植物群落、农业生产以及生态系统固碳潜力等的影响。从目前的观测和研究结果来看,有关青藏高原气候变化及其对高寒草地的可能影响都还很难得出一致的结论。因此,如何科学评价气候变化及其预测和评价对高寒草地结构和功能的潜在影响,以及如何将已经发生的变化纳入到全球变化模型或评价体系中,以便更加精确地评估气候变化的长期影响,将成为必须要回答的关键科学问题。     

Winter distribution of small mammals in relation to snow cover in the subalpine zone, Australia

We present the results of a study that is the first to investigate the landscape-scale distribution of small mammals in direct relation to the spatial and temporal variation of snow cover. We investigated the distribution of the dusky antechinus Antechinus swainsonii and bush rat Rattus fuscipes in the subalpine zone of Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains of south-eastern Australia. A new hair tube technique was used to detect the presence of small mammals active in the subnivean space. In 2002, we sampled 72 sites stratified by elevation (1501–1600, 1601–1700, 1701–1800 m), aspect (accumulating, ablating) and habitat type (woodland, wet heath, dry heath, grassland). These factors were considered important in influencing snow accumulation and generally reflected the types of habitats available to small mammals. In 2003, the presence of small mammals was investigated at 30 high-elevation sites including six boulderfields. The development of the subnivean space in the Snowy Mountains is dependent on the presence of structures such as shrubs, boulders and microtopographic features that are capable of supporting a snow layer above ground level. When snow was present, small mammal detections were negatively correlated with snow depth and duration, and positively correlated with the complexity of structures and microtopography. At high elevations detections were largely confined to boulderfields, and at mid and low elevations small mammals were detected primarily in habitats where the subnivean space was most extensive. Antechinus swainsonii and R. fuscipes responded differently to snow cover, with the latter seeming better able to overwinter where snow cover was shallow and patchy, in contrast to A. swainsonii whose occurrence was correlated to the size of the subnivean space.     

Vegetation, climatic changes and net carbon sequestration in a North-Scandinavian subarctic mire over 30 years

This study deals with changes in the plant cover and its net carbon sequestration over 30 years on a subarctic Sphagnum-mire with permafrost near Abisko, northernmost Sweden, in relation to climatic variations during the same period. Aerial colour infrared images from 1970 and 2000 were compared to reveal changes in surface structure and vegetation over the whole mire, while the plant populations were studied within a smaller, mainly ombrotrophic part. The results demonstrated two processes, namely (1) that wet sites dominated by graminoids expanded while hummock sites dominated by dwarf shrubs receded, and (2) that on the hummocks lichens expanded while evergreen dwarf shrubs and mosses decreased, both processes creating an instability in the surface structure. A successive degradation of the permafrost is the likely reason for the increase in wet areas, while the changes in the hummock vegetation might have resulted from higher spring temperatures giving rise to an intensified snow melt, exposing the vegetation to frost drought. Because of the vegetation changes, the annual litter input of carbon to the mire has increased slightly, by 4 g m⁻² a⁻¹ (7.3%), over these years while an increased erosion has resulted in a loss of 40–80 Mg carbon or 7–17 g m⁻² a⁻¹ for the entire mire over the same period. As the recalcitrant proportion of the litter has decreased, the decay rate in the acrotelm might be expected to increase in the future.