Species Diversity of Edible Plants Grown in Homegardens of Chibchan Amerindians from Costa Rica

We studied edible crop species diversity at homegardens of two Chibchan Amerindian Reserves in Costa Rica: Talamanca and Coto Brus. We visited six settlements at Talamanca and five at Coto Brus. We recorded the number of edible crop species growing homegardens; we found 46 edible plant species at Talamanca and 27 at Coto Brus. The mean number of species per homegarden ranged between 3.80 and 6.80 at Coto Brus and 4.50 and 8.63 at Talamanca. We identified species that were common, i.e., found in most households and all settlements, and species that were rare. We estimated diversity indexes for each settlement and each Reserve. Also, we compared crop species composition between both Reserves and among settlements within each Reserve, using the Jaccard coefficient of community similarity. Settlements from the same Reserve were grouped together, with the exception of Villa Palacios from the Coto Brus Reserve.     

Plant Diversity in Hmong and Mien Homegardens in Northern Thailand

Plant Diversity in Hmong and Mien Homegardens in Northern Thailand. We surveyed 180 homegardens in three Hmong and three Mien villages in northern Thailand to study their floristic diversity and composition and to understand the impact of forced migration and ecological conditions for the development of the rich homegarden flora. We also looked at the role of culturally important species as carriers of cultural identity. We found 406 species: 341 (99 families) and 270 species (90 families) in Hmong and Mien homegardens, respectively. Five lowland villages had the richest homegarden flora, in part due to the presence of many widespread species. Twenty-two species were widespread in tropical countries and found in most Hmong and Mien homegardens, and 14 additional common species were shared between Hmong and Mien homegardens. Seventeen species were exclusive to Hmong homegardens and eight to Mien homegardens; these we have designated as culturally important species. The presence of culturally important species determines the homegardens’ characteristics and reflects the cultural identity related to plant uses of a group. Similarities in floristic composition of the two groups can be attributed to widespread and common species. Floristic variation and diversity in homegardens were strongly related to homegarden geographical location, personal preference, and cultural background of the owners.     

湖南乌云界蝴蝶物种多样性及区系特点研究

2008～2010年,采用路线法对湖南省乌云界国家级自然保护区的蝶类物种多样性进行了为期近3年的调查,共记录蝴蝶147种,隶属于10科94属。蛱蝶科Nymphalidae Swainson,1827种类最多,弄蝶科Hesperiidae Latreille,1809的多样性指数最大。凤蝶属Papilio Linnaeus,1758对属多样性指数贡献值相对较大。记录国家保护种4种(宽尾凤蝶Agehana elwesi、中华虎凤蝶Luehdorfia chinensis、箭环蝶Stichophthalma howqua、大伞弄蝶Bibasis miraculata),其中中华虎凤蝶属于国家二级重点保护动物;湖南省新纪录种3种(金斑剑凤蝶Pazala alebion、报喜斑粉蝶Delias pasithoe和泰环蛱蝶Neptis thestias);宽边黄粉蝶Eurema hecabe采集数量最多(69头),是该保护区优势种群。蝶类昆虫区系主要以东洋成分为主,兼有古北和广布成分。     

西藏东南部色季拉山兰科植物的区系特征和物种多样性

对我国西藏东南部色季拉山兰科植物的区系地理特征和物种多样性进行了研究.结果表明:1.色季拉山有兰科植物35属67种,是西藏兰科植物分布最为丰富的地域之一;2.色季拉山兰科植物生活型齐全,陆生、附生、腐生3种类型皆有,陆生兰最多,共21属42种,分别占总属数和总种数的60.00％和62.69％,附生兰有11属21种,腐生兰有4属4种;3.就6个海拔带分析,色季拉山兰科植物的物种分布数量呈现随海拔升高逐渐减少的趋势,其中陆生兰从低到高分布于整个山体的各个海拔带,附生兰所有种均分布在中低海拔,4种腐生兰在该区内仅分布在2 800 ～3 730 m比较狭窄的区域内;4.兰科物种的分布区类型表明:色季拉山兰科植物区系成分比较复杂,热带成分和温带成分属相当,以热带成分稍多,而就种的类型看,热带分布类型相对较少,温带分布类型占较大优势,共有43种,占总种数的64.18％,反映了色季拉山兰科植物区系为热带与温带相交错,并向温带过渡的性质;其次,种的类型内东亚分布最多,共有30种,占总种数的44.78％,占温带分布的69.77％,其中中国-喜马拉雅分布变型20种,占东亚分布的66.67％,反映了色季拉山区兰科植物区系具有一定的高山植物区系的特色.中国特有分布12种,也证实了该区兰科植物区系具有特有现象发达的年轻性及其较强的衍化、特化性质.     

湖南小溪国家级自然保护区两栖爬行动物多样性与区系特征

本底资源是保护区建设与发展的基础,也是生物多样性深入研究与保护重要的参考资料。湖南小溪国家级自然保护区是我国中南地区具有代表性的原始次生林区,生物资源相对丰富。自2014年以来,对区内的两栖爬行动物资源、多样性及区系进行了较为系统的调查与研究。结果表明:区内现有两栖爬行动物2目16科40属63种,其中两栖动物1目7科15属33种,爬行动物1目9科25属30种;无声囊泛树蛙Polypedates mutus和老山树蛙Rhacophorus laoshan是湖南省两栖动物新记录;核心区的物种多样性指数和均匀度指数均高于缓冲区和实验区;动物区系成分缺乏古北界种类,以东洋界种类为主(48种,占76.2%),广布种有15种(23.8%);平均动物区系相似性比较发现,其与湖南省内其他6个保护区(森林公园)属于周缘关系。鉴于保护区两栖爬行动物资源的丰富性、典型性与代表性,应加强研究和保护。     

Species Diversity, Biogeography, and the Evolution of Biotas

SYNOPSIS. A central scientific problem for ecologists and systematistshas been to explain spatiotemporal patterns of species diversity.One aspect of this question is how to understand the taxonomicassembly of biotas and their included ecosystems and communities.Four processes add or subtract species from a region: speciation,extinction, biotic dispersion, and long-distance dispersal.Speciation and biotic dispersion are postulated to result inhistorically structured (hierarchical) species assemblages,whereas long-distance dispersal results in assemblages thatwould be expected to be historically unstructured (nonhierarchical).Continental biotas, as exemplified by the Australian avifauna,are historically structured: they are segregated into areasof endemism having hierarchical relationships that presumablyarose as a result of their history being dominated by cyclesof biotic dispersion and vicariance. It is also proposed thatthese latter two processes are necessary, and in many casesprobably sufficient, to explain the taxonomic composition ofcommunities within these areas of endemism. Long-distance dispersalappears to play a much more minor role in the assembly of eithercontinental biotas or their communities than current ecologicaltheory would predict.     

Species Diversity and Biomass Stability

With the current accelerating rate of biodiversity extinction, there is great interest in how species diversity influences ecosystem properties. In this article, we investigate the relationship between species diversity and the stability of community biomass in the face of stochastic perturbations of species' abundances. The model explicitly includes species' interactions. We show that the pattern of species' interactions affects whether the relationship between diversity and biomass stability is positive or negative. In particular, assumptions about community structure influence the relationship between species diversity and community biomass, which in turn influences the diversity-stability relationship. We also discuss the relationship between diversity and another type of stability, the proportional change in community biomass with the extinction or introduction of a species. Regardless of community type, diversity buffers the change in biomass when a species is added or removed.     

珠海市淇澳岛肉实树群落及其物种多样性特征

对珠海淇澳岛地区肉实树占优势的植物群落进行研究,结果表明：（1）肉实树群落中共有维管植物38科51属61种,种类组成具有极强的南亚热带性质;（2）年龄结构显示群落的主要优势种属于稳定型种群,群落总体处于稳定状态;群落的频度指数规律为A〉B〉C〉D〈E,与RaunKiaer频度规律相一致;（3）物种多样性指数为D=13．70,H=4．12,均匀度指数为E=0．39,E’=0．82,群落物种多样性指数和均匀度指数均较高,接近典型南亚热带常绿阔叶林顶极群落类型。     

Empirical Relationships between Species Richness, Evenness, and Proportional Diversity

Diversity (or biodiversity) is typically measured by a species count (richness) and sometimes with an evenness index; it may also be measured by a proportional statistic that combines both measures (e.g., Shannon-Weiner index or H'). These diversity measures are hypothesized to be positively and strongly correlated, but this null hypothesis has not been tested empirically. We used the results of Caswell's neutral model to generate null relationships between richness (S), evenness (J'), and proportional diversity (H'). We tested predictions of the null model against empirical relationships describing data in a literature survey and in four individual studies conducted across various scales. Empirical relationships between log S or J' and H' differed from the null model when <10 species were tested and in plants, vertebrates, and fungi. The empirical relationships were similar to the null model when >10 and <100 species were tested and in invertebrates. If >100 species were used to estimate diversity, the relation between log S and H' was negative. The strongest predictive models included log S and J'. A path analysis indicated that log S and J' were always negatively related, that empirical observations could not be explained without including indirect effects, and that differences between the partials may indicate ecological effects, which suggests that S and J' act like diversity components or that diversity should be measured using a compound statistic.     

Trophic Niche in a Raptor Species: The Relationship between Diet Diversity,Habitat Diversity and Territory Quality

Recent research reports that many populations of species showing a wide trophic niche (generalists) are made up of both generalist individuals and individuals with a narrow trophic niche (specialists), suggesting trophic specializations at an individual level. If true, foraging strategies should be associated with individual quality and fitness. Optimal foraging theory predicts that individuals will select the most favourable habitats for feeding. In addition, the “landscape heterogeneity hypothesis” predicts a higher number of species in more diverse landscapes. Thus, it can be predicted that individuals with a wider realized trophic niche should have foraging territories with greater habitat diversity, suggesting that foraging strategies, territory quality and habitat diversity are inter-correlated. This was tested for a population of common kestrels Falco tinnunculus. Diet diversity, territory occupancy (as a measure of territory quality) and habitat diversity of territories were measured over an 8-year period. Our results show that: 1) territory quality was quadratically correlated with habitat diversity, with the best territories being the least and most diverse; 2) diet diversity was not correlated with territory quality; and 3) diet diversity was negatively correlated with landscape heterogeneity. Our study suggests that niche generalist foraging strategies are based on an active search for different prey species within or between habitats rather than on the selection of territories with high habitat diversity.     

Soil Nematode Diversity: Species Coexistence and Ecosystem Function

Soil nematode species diversity is often high, both at ecosystem and single soil-core scales. First, how can so many species coexist? There is evidence of niche partitioning, notably of physical space, but vast interspecific overlaps and trait plasticity seem equally common. It appears that coexistence of species with similar resource needs is made possible by small-scale disturbance and predation, which likely reduce local population sizes and interspecific competition. Regional processes such as dispersal, large-scale disturbance, and aggregation, which govern ecosystem level diversity, may also affect local species interactions and soil-core scale diversity. Second, what is the significance of having so many species, with so few trophic functions, for ecosystem processes? Focusing on bacterivore diversity, it is clear that species contributions to decomposition, likely to differ as a function of individual biologies, are concealed by the trophic group approach. However, considerable functional redundancy probably exists, which may explain why decomposition processes are maintained in highly disturbed soils despite the extinction of many species. Thus, soil nematode diversity is important for the long-term stability of soil functioning, and merits protection and further study.     

Plant Functional Diversity and Species Diversity in the Mongolian Steppe

Background

The Mongolian steppe is one of the most important grasslands in the world but suffers from aridization and damage from anthropogenic activities. Understanding structure and function of this community is important for the ecological conservation, but has seldom been investigated.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this study, a total of 324 quadrats located on the three main types of Mongolian steppes were surveyed. Early-season perennial forbs (37% of total importance value), late-season annual forbs (33%) and late-season perennial forbs (44%) were dominant in meadow, typical and desert steppes, respectively. Species richness, diversity and plant functional type (PFT) richness decreased from the meadow, via typical to desert steppes, but evenness increased; PFT diversity in the desert and meadow steppes was higher than that in typical steppe. However, above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) was far lower in desert steppe than in the other two steppes. In addition, the slope of the relationship between species richness and PFT richness increased from the meadow, via typical to desert steppes. Similarly, with an increase in species diversity, PFT diversity increased more quickly in both the desert and typical steppes than that in meadow steppe. Random resampling suggested that this coordination was partly due to a sampling effect of diversity.

Conclusions/Significance

These results indicate that desert steppe should be strictly protected because of its limited functional redundancy, which its ecological functioning is sensitive to species loss. In contrast, despite high potential forage production shared by the meadow and typical steppes, management of these two types of steppes should be different: meadow steppe should be preserved due to its higher conservation value characterized by more species redundancy and higher spatial heterogeneity, while typical steppe could be utilized moderately because its dominant grass genus Stipa is resistant to herbivory and drought.     

Phylogeography and Cryptic Species Diversity of Paramesotriton caudopunctatus Species Group(Salamandridae: Paramesotriton) in Guizhou,China

The Paramesotriton caudopunctatus species group is mainly distributed in the karst mountain ecosystems of Guizhou, China. Although some species have been included in previous phylogenetic studies, the evolutionary relationships and divergence-time of members of this species group as a whole remain unexplored. In this study, we report the sequencing of one protein coding mitochondrial gene fragment(ND2) and one nuclear gene(POMC), and use a combination of phylogenetic analyses and coalescent simulations to explore the cryptic diversity and evolutionary history of the P. caudopunctatus species group. Phylogenetic relationships revealed that the P. caudopunctatus species group is composed of two major groups, i. e., East Clade and Western-South Clade. The divergence-time and ancestral area estimation suggested that the P. caudopunctatus species group likely originated in the Doupeng Mountains in Guizhou, China at 12.34 Ma(95% HPD: 8.30–14.73), and intraspecific divergence began at about 2.17 Ma(95% HPD: 1.39–2.97). This timing coincides with the orogenesis of the Miaoling Mountains during the Late Miocene to early Pleistocene. The delimitation of species in the P. caudopunctatus species group supports the existence of the currently identified species, and consensus was confirmed across methods for the existence of least to two cryptic species within what has been traditionally considered to be P. caudopunctatus species group. This study is of significance for understanding the species formation, dispersal, and diversity of the tailed amphibians in the karst mountains ecosystem of Guizhou and the role of the Miaoling Mountains as a geographical barrier to species dispersal.     

Predicting Coral Species Richness: The Effect of Input Variables,Diversity and Scale

Coral reefs are facing a biodiversity crisis due to increasing human impacts, consequently, one third of reef-building corals have an elevated risk of extinction. Logistic challenges prevent broad-scale species-level monitoring of hard corals; hence it has become critical that effective proxy indicators of species richness are established. This study tests how accurately three potential proxy indicators (generic richness on belt transects, generic richness on point-intercept transects and percent live hard coral cover on point-intercept transects) predict coral species richness at three different locations and two analytical scales. Generic richness (measured on a belt transect) was found to be the most effective predictor variable, with significant positive linear relationships across locations and scales. Percent live hard coral cover consistently performed poorly as an indicator of coral species richness. This study advances the practical framework for optimizing coral reef monitoring programs and empirically demonstrates that generic richness offers an effective way to predict coral species richness with a moderate level of precision. While the accuracy of species richness estimates will decrease in communities dominated by species-rich genera (e.g. Acropora), generic richness provides a useful measure of phylogenetic diversity and incorporating this metric into monitoring programs will increase the likelihood that changes in coral species diversity can be detected.     

物种多样性研究的进展

物种多样性是生物多样性研究的一个重要层次。为适应资源与环境可发展的要求,物种多样性的研究受到了广泛的重视。文章阐述了物种多样性的概念、研究方法等,分析了当今物种多样性研究的几个热点问题。     

山东泰山两栖爬行动物物种多样性

泰山地区有两栖爬行动物18种,其中两栖动物1目3科3属6种,爬行动物2月4科7属12种。     

Effects of Harvest on the Sustainability and Leaf Productivity of Populations of Two Palm Species in Maya Homegardens

Traditional management practices are usually thought to be sustainable. The Maya manage Sabal (Arecaceae) palms in homegardens, using their leaves for thatching. The sustainability of such production systems depends on the long-term persistence of palm populations, whereas resource availability also depends on the number of leaves on individual palms. We examined how leaf harvest affects Sabal yapa and S. mexicana population growth rates (λ) and leaf production, comparing traditional and alternative harvest regimes in terms of sustainability and productivity. Demographic, harvest and leaf production data were recorded for three years in two homegardens. We used general integral projection models linked to leaf-production models to describe population dynamics and productivity. Harvest had no effect on S. yapa’s vital rates or on λ, but it changed the growth rate of individuals of S. mexicana, with a negligible impact on λ. Homegardens affected λ values, reflecting the species’ ecological affinities. S. mexicana, introduced from mesic forests, required watering and shade; therefore, its population declined rapidly in the homegarden that lacked both water and shade. The λ of the xerophilic S. yapa was slightly larger without watering than with watering. Palms usually compensated for leaf extraction, causing the number of leaves harvested per individual to increase with harvest intensity. Nevertheless, traditional management is relatively mild, allowing standing leaves to accumulate but reducing the homegarden’s yield. Apparently, the Maya do not seek to maximize annual production but to ensure the availability of large numbers of leaves in homegardens. These leaves may then be used when the entire roof of a hut needs to be replaced every few years.     

Mixed Infections, Cryptic Diversity, and Vector-Borne Pathogens: Evidence from Polygenis Fleas and Bartonella Species

Coinfections within hosts present opportunities for horizontal gene transfer between strains and competitive interactions between genotypes and thus can be a critical element of the lifestyles of pathogens. Bartonella spp. are Alphaproteobacteria that parasitize mammalian erythrocytes and endothelial cells. Their vectors are thought to be various biting arthropods, such as fleas, ticks, mites, and lice, and they are commonly cited as agents of various emerging diseases. Coinfections by different Bartonella strains and species can be common in mammals, but little is known about specificity and coinfections in arthropod vectors. We surveyed the rate of mixed infections of Bartonella in flea vectors (Polygenis gwyni) parasitizing cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) in which previous surveys indicated high rates of infection. We found that nearly all fleas (20 of 21) harbored one or more strains of Bartonella, with rates of coinfection approaching 90%. A strain previously identified as common in cotton rats was also common in their fleas. However, another common strain in cotton rats was absent from P. gwyni, while a rare cotton rat strain was quite common in P. gwyni. Surprisingly, some samples were also coinfected with a strain phylogenetically related to Bartonella clarridgeiae, which is typically associated with felids and ruminants. Finally, a locus (pap31) that is characteristically borne on phage in Bartonella was successfully sequenced from most samples. However, sequence diversity in pap31 was novel in the P. gwyni samples, relative to other Bartonella previously typed with pap31, emphasizing the likelihood of large reservoirs of cryptic diversity in natural populations of the pathogen.