整体大于部分之和: 生态自组织斑图及其涌现属性

近30年来, 自组织理论已经发展成为解释生态系统呈现规则空间格局的有效理论。伴随着生态系统自发有序空间格局的生成, 自组织过程产生一系列的涌现属性, 这些特征对生态系统功能至关重要。在此, 我们将介绍这一正蓬勃发展的研究领域的主要理论进展。首先, 叙述了自组织这一概念的发展历程与定义, 详细阐述了自组织理论的两个经典理论框架: 图灵原理与相分离原理。然后, 根据几个典型的生态自组织研究案例, 描述了图灵原理与相分离原理在不同生态系统中的具体数学模型表达形式。接着, 分别阐述了图灵原理的涌现属性对生态系统功能以及相分离原理的涌现属性对细胞功能的作用。最后, 从多尺度自组织斑图、瞬态斑图和生物个体行为自组织3个方面对未来生态自组织理论发展方向进行了探讨。自组织研究在生态学与生物学研究中方兴未艾, 希望更多的学者在未来关注与参与该领域的发展。     

跨越生境的资源补贴对生态系统的影响研究进展

跨越不同生态系统之间的物质、能量和营养元素流动,即资源补贴,是生态系统的基本属性,也是生态学研究的基本问题之一.常见的资源补贴包括落入水体的树叶凋落物和陆地昆虫、水生昆虫成虫、从海洋生殖洄游的鲑鱼等,这些外源性的资源补贴对接收生态系统的生物个体、种群、群落、生物多样性和生态系统功能都有影响,包括促进个体生长、增加物种丰度和多样性、改变群落结构、增加生态系统的生产力、改变食物链长度及影响食物网、影响生态系统的稳定性等.随着未来人类活动对环境扰动的增加,尤其在土地利用、气候变化、生物入侵方面,对跨越生态系统资源补贴的时空动态影响将加剧,因而生态系统将面临更加严峻的威胁.鉴于此,未来在该领域的基础研究应着重开展以下几方面研究:单一和多重环境胁迫对资源补贴和生态系统的影响;动态资源补贴在生态系统修复及管理中的应用;关注与污染物相关的资源补贴的负面影响;加强跨越生境资源补贴在热带和亚热带以及在我国的生态学基础研究.     

Ecosystem functions in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems across the East African coastal forest landscape

Habitat identity and landscape configuration significantly shape species communities and affect ecosystem functions. The conservation of natural ecosystems is of particular relevance in regions where landscapes have already been largely transformed into farmland and where habitats suffer under resource exploitation. The spillover of ecosystem functions from natural ecosystems into farmland may positively influence agricultural productivity and human livelihood quality. We measured three proxies of ecosystem functioning: Pollinator diversity (using pan traps), seed dispersal (with a seed removal experiment), and predation (using dummy caterpillars). We assessed these ecosystem functions in three forest types of the East African dry coastal forest (Brachystegia forest, Cynometra forest, and mixed forest), as well as in adjoining farmland and in plantations of exotic trees (Eucalyptus mainly). We measured ecosystem functions at 20 plots for each habitat type, and along gradients ranging from the forest into farmland. We also recorded various environmental parameters for each study plot. We did not find significant differences of ecosystem functions when combining all proxies assessed, neither among the three natural forest types, nor between natural forest and plantations. However, we found trends for single ecosystem functions. We identified highest pollinator diversity along the forest margin and in farmlands. Vegetation cover and blossom density affected the level of predation positively. Based on our findings, we suggest that flowering gardens around housings and woodlots across farmland areas support ecosystem functioning and thus improve human livelihood quality. We conclude that levels of overall ecosystem functions are affected by entire landscapes, and high landscape heterogeneity, as found in our case, might blur potential negative effects and trends arising from habitat destruction and degradation.     

Biodiversity in the context of ecosystem services: the applied need for systems approaches

Recent evidence strongly suggests that biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation continue. How might a systems approach to ecology help us better understand and address these issues? Systems approaches play a very limited role in the science that underpins traditional biodiversity conservation, but could provide important insights into mechanisms that affect population growth. This potential is illustrated using data from a critically endangered bird population. Although species-specific insights have practical value, the main applied challenge for a systems approach is to help improve our understanding of the role of biodiversity in the context of ecosystem services (ES) and the associated values and benefits people derive from these services. This has profound implications for the way we conceptualize and address ecological problems. Instead of focusing directly on biodiversity, the important response variables become measures of values and benefits, ES or ecosystem processes. We then need to understand the sensitivity of these variables to biodiversity change relative to other abiotic or anthropogenic factors, which includes exploring the role of variability at different levels of biological organization. These issues are discussed using the recent UK National Ecosystems Assessment as a framework.     

退化森林生态系统评价指标体系研究进展

森林是陆地生态系统的主要组成部分,而森林退化是全球面临的主要环境问题之一,准确评价退化森林生态系统是进行森林生态系统恢复与重建的重要前提,建立合理的评价指标体系目前已成为生态学研究的热点问题。在研究国内外提出的关于退化森林生态系统评价理论的基础上,综述了森林退化的定义、特征和一般过程,梳理了退化森林生态系统评价指标筛选的一般原则和指标体系构建的主要方法,分析比较了不同学者所提出的主要评价指标。并在此基础上,重新筛选、构建了一套退化森林生态系统评价指标体系,即从生态系统的组成结构、功能和生境这3个方面选取了32个能够较全面反映退化生态系统主要特征的评价指标,以期为构建我国区域尺度上的退化森林生态系统评价指标体系提供参考,为退化森林生态系统的恢复和重建提供科学依据。总结分析了退化森林生态系统评价指标体系在构建过程中产生的一些问题和不足,提出了今后开展研究和探索应该深入的方向,以提高评价指标体系的科学性、准确性和合理性。     

The importance of benthic–pelagic coupling for marine ecosystem functioning in a changing world

Benthic–pelagic coupling is manifested as the exchange of energy, mass, or nutrients between benthic and pelagic habitats. It plays a prominent role in aquatic ecosystems, and it is crucial to functions from nutrient cycling to energy transfer in food webs. Coastal and estuarine ecosystem structure and function are strongly affected by anthropogenic pressures; however, there are large gaps in our understanding of the responses of inorganic nutrient and organic matter fluxes between benthic habitats and the water column. We illustrate the varied nature of physical and biological benthic–pelagic coupling processes and their potential sensitivity to three anthropogenic pressures – climate change, nutrient loading, and fishing – using the Baltic Sea as a case study and summarize current knowledge on the exchange of inorganic nutrients and organic material between habitats. Traditionally measured benthic–pelagic coupling processes (e.g., nutrient exchange and sedimentation of organic material) are to some extent quantifiable, but the magnitude and variability of biological processes are rarely assessed, preventing quantitative comparisons. Changing oxygen conditions will continue to have widespread effects on the processes that govern inorganic and organic matter exchange among habitats while climate change and nutrient load reductions may have large effects on organic matter sedimentation. Many biological processes (predation, bioturbation) are expected to be sensitive to anthropogenic drivers, but the outcomes for ecosystem function are largely unknown. We emphasize how improved empirical and experimental understanding of benthic–pelagic coupling processes and their variability are necessary to inform models that can quantify the feedbacks among processes and ecosystem responses to a changing world.     

More than a barrier: The complex effects of ecotone vegetation type on terrestrial consumer consumption of an aquatic prey resource

Community structure and dynamics can be influenced by resource transfers between ecosystems, yet little is known about how boundary structure determines both the magnitude of exchanges and their effects on recipient and donor communities. Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are often linked by resource fluxes and riparian vegetation is commonly affected by anthropogenic alterations to land use or river hydrological regime. I investigated whether shrubs at the freshwater–terrestrial interface alter the supply, distribution and importance of aquatic prey resources to terrestrial consumers. Shrubs were predicted to alter the larval community composition of aquatic insects and the emergence of winged adults, thus affecting aquatic prey subsidies to terrestrial consumers. In addition, shrubs were hypothesized to alter the microclimatic suitability of the riparian zone for adult aquatic insects, act as a physical barrier to their dispersal and affect terrestrial community composition, particularly the abundance and type of predators that could benefit from the aquatic prey resource. Stable isotope dietary analyses and a survey of shrub‐dominated and open grassland riparian habitats revealed that larval densities of aquatic insects (EPTM: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Megaloptera) were higher in shrub than grassland habitats; however, reduced emergence and lateral dispersal in shrub areas led to lower densities of adults. The temperature and relative humidity of the riparian zone did not differ between the habitats. Ground‐active terrestrial invertebrate communities had a higher proportion of cursorial spiders in grassland, coinciding with greater abundances of aquatic prey. Aquatic prey contribution to cursorial spider diet matched adult aquatic insect abundances. Overall, riparian shrubs reduced the magnitude, or at least altered the timing, of cross‐ecosystem subsidy supply, distribution and use by consumers through mechanisms operating in both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Thus, the structure of ecosystem boundaries has complex effects on the strength of biological interactions between adjacent systems.     

A novel photographic approach for monitoring the structural heterogeneity and diversity of grassland ecosystems

Aims Studies that investigate the space-filling heterogeneity of biological structures in plant communities remain scarce. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between newly developed photographic measures of structural heterogeneity in digital images and plant species composition in the context of a long-term grassland experiment.Methods We tested a close-range photographic protocol using measures of structural heterogeneity in gray-tone images, namely mean information gain (MIG) and spatial anisotropy, to assess differences in the compositional (species richness) and functional characteristics (plant height and flowering) of 78 managed grassland communities. We also implemented a random placement model of community assembly to explore the links between our measures of structural complexity and the geometric pattern of plant communities.Important findings MIG and spatial anisotropy correlated with the growth and species richness of grassland communities. Simulations showed that structural heterogeneity in gray-tone digital images is a function of the size distribution and orientation pattern of plant modules. This easy, fast and non-destructive methodological approach could eventually serve to monitor the diversity and integrity of various ecosystems at different resolutions across space and time.     

基于条件价值法评估三亚海域生态系统多样性及物种多样性的维持服务价值

基于条件价值法(CVM)开展了三亚海域海洋保护区生态系统多样性和重要海洋物种多样性的维持服务价值评估。于2014年12月通过面对面调研的形式对三亚当地城镇居民进行问卷调查,建立了支付意愿(WTP)多元线性回归方程,再将此回归模型推广到海南全省城镇居民,从而评估了三亚海域海洋保护区生态系统多样性和重要海洋物种多样性的维持服务价值;同时也对CVM研究中的相关问题如问卷设计、偏差分析和CVM的可靠性与有效性等进行了验证和探讨。研究结果表明:(1)2014年三亚海域海洋保护区生态系统多样性及重要海洋物种多样性的维持服务总价值分别为3.734亿元和4.442亿元。(2)受教育程度和家庭人均年收入等社会经济信息变量对支付意愿具有显著的影响水平,符合经济学理论。(3) CVM作为陈述偏好性价值评估方法,评估结果受偏差的影响较大。为了尽可能减小偏差,需要从问卷的设计、调查员筛选培训、调查方式和被调查者等诸多方面严格把关。(4) CVM问卷支付数额的设计较好地界定了支付意愿的范围和分布形态,支付意愿具有较高的统计效率,CVM的可靠性得到较好的验证,显示了CVM评估法在估算生态系统服务非使用价值的有效性。鉴于居民的学历和收入在短时间内很难得到提升,建议相关海洋管理部门加强对三亚海域海洋保护区和海洋生物多样性的宣传教育,增强居民对三亚海洋保护区和海洋珍稀濒危生物的认知及保护意识。     

Managing the pattern of forest harvest: lessons from wildfire

Managing forests for sustainable use requires that both the biological diversity of the forests and a viable forest industry be maintained. A current approach towards maintaining biological diversity is to pattern forest management practices after those of natural disturbance events. This paradigm hypothesizes that ecological processes will be maintained best where active management approximates natural disturbance events. The forest management model now used in most sub-boreal and boreal forests calls for regularly dispersed clearcuts no greater than 60–100 ha in size. However, the spatial characteristics of the landscape produced by this model are distinctly different from the historic pattern generated by wildfire, which was heretofore the dominant stand-replacing process in these forests. Wildfire creates a more complex landscape spatial pattern with greater range in patch size and more irregular disturbance boundaries. Individual wildfires are often over 500 ha but leave patches of unburned forest within them. The combination of these attributes is not present in recent clearcuts. Allowing a proportion of larger (i.e.>500ha) harvest units may provide distinct economic advantages that could outweight the opportunity costs of leaving some patches of forest behind. For the forest type examined, further evaluation of modelling forest harvest patterns more closely after the patterns created by wildfire is required as it may achieve a good balance and strike a suitable compromise between certain ecological and economic objectives of sustainable development.     

Stoichiometry of nutrient recycling by vertebrates in a tropical stream: linking species identity and ecosystem processes

Ecological stoichiometry offers a framework for predicting how animal species vary in recycling nutrients, thus providing a mechanism for how animal species identity mediates ecosystem processes. Here we show that variation in the rates and ratios at which 28 vertebrate species (fish, amphibians) recycled nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in a tropical stream supports stoichiometry theory. Mass-specific P excretion rate varied 10-fold among taxa and was negatively related to animal body P content. In addition, the N : P ratio excreted was negatively related to body N : P. Body mass (negatively related to excretion rates) explained additional variance in these excretion parameters. Body P content and P excretion varied much more among taxonomic families than among species within families, suggesting that familial composition may strongly influence ecosystem-wide nutrient cycling. Interspecific variation in nutrient recycling, mediated by phylogenetic constraints on stoichiometry and allometry, illustrates a strong linkage between species identity and ecosystem function.     

Greater than the sum of the parts: how the species composition in different forest strata influence ecosystem function

The mechanisms underpinning forest biodiversity‐ecosystem function relationships remain unresolved. Yet, in heterogeneous forests, ecosystem function of different strata could be associated with traits or evolutionary relationships differently. Here, we integrate phylogenies and traits to evaluate the effects of elevational diversity on above‐ground biomass across forest strata and spatial scales. Community‐weighted means of height and leaf phosphorous concentration and functional diversity in specific leaf area exhibited positive correlations with tree biomass, suggesting that both positive selection effects and complementarity occur. However, high shrub biomass is associated with greater dissimilarity in seed mass and multidimensional trait space, while species richness or phylogenetic diversity is the most important predictor for herbaceous biomass, indicating that species complementarity is especially important for understory function. The strength of diversity‐biomass relationships increases at larger spatial scales. We conclude that strata‐ and scale‐ dependent assessments of community structure and function are needed to fully understand how biodiversity influences ecosystem function.     

Scaling eutrophication effects between species and ecosystems: The importance of variation and similarity among species with similar functional roles

Abstract Although eutrophication is frequently cited as an anthropogenic threat to coral-reef systems, very little is known about the effects of eutrophication on coral-reef fishes. In this paper, I explore how variation and similarity among fish species, and among the species with which they interact, may determine when population- or system-level responses to nutrient enrichment are most likely. Where functionally similar species exhibit complementary responses to environmental stress, ecosystem function may be maintained relatively unchanged although the relative abundance of species may shift dramatically. Alternatively, major changes in the ecosystem can occur if functionally similar species respond similarly to changes in the environment, if little functional complementarity or behavioural plasticity exists, or if feedback exists whereby changes in the fish assemblage cause further degradation of their coral habitat.     

Transforming existing local ecosystems to circular economy ecosystems for plastics: The case of the PlastiCity ecosystem

This paper discusses the transition toward a circular economy ecosystem (CEE) for plastics by assessing and mapping existing ecosystems and coordinating efforts among ecosystem actors. The PlastiCity ecosystem is used as a case study. The study employs ecosystem analysis and mapping to identify the new activities and actors needed to transition toward a CEE. These include local and eco-friendly transportation, plastic recycling knowledge management, and upgrading the existing recycling infrastructure. The findings emphasize the significance of the joint orchestration of ecosystem actors facilitated by an ecosystem coordinator and knowledge team to achieve a CEE. It presents a tangible and feasible approach to achieving a local plastic CEE. The policymakers are encouraged to support collaborative orchestration efforts among ecosystem actors and establish knowledge management practices that facilitate ecosystem transitions.