退化生态系统的恢复与管理--兼论自然保护区在其中发挥的作用

生态系统退化与人口的增加及人类的活动有直接的关系。长期以来人类对自然生态系统的掠夺性利用造成了各类生态系统的退化,即人为原因是主要的,而自然原因是次要的。在退化生态系统的治理方面,关键要减少自然生态系统恢复演替中人为的压力,而大面积的土地可借助自然力恢复,恢复后的土地可发展成自然保护区,并开展生态旅游等非直接破坏性的活动。应充分考虑到社区的发展问题,解决人的生存出路并提高他们的生活质量,从而在根本上缓解对自然生态系统的压力。本文提出了“以地养地”并借助自然力恢复退化生态系统的模式,利用各种具体例子阐明了我们的观点。最后指出了中国古代先哲关于人与自然的关系原理至今在退化生态系统的恢复中仍然有着现实的指导意义。     

退化生态系统的恢复与管理——兼论自然保护区在其中发挥的作用

生态系统退化与人口的增加及人类的活动有直接的关系。长期以来人类对自然生态系统的掠夺性利用造成了各类生态系统的退化,即人为原因是主要的,而自然原因是次要的。在退化生态系统的治理方面,关键要减少自然生态系统恢复演替中人为的压力,而大面积的土地可借助自然力恢复,恢复后的土地可发展成自然保护区,并开展生态旅游等非直接破坏性的活动。应充分考虑到社区的发展问题,解决人的生存出路并提高他们的生活质量,从而在根本上缓解对自然生态系统的压力。本文提出了“以地养地”并借助自然力恢复退化生态系统的模式,利用各种具体例子阐明了我们的观点。最后指出了中国古代先哲关于人与自然的关系原理至今在退化生态系统的恢复中仍然有着现实的指导意义。     

松嫩平原沙土区不同植被类型对土壤相关指标的影响

松嫩平原沙土区严重退化,不同植被对土壤影响的数据有助生态恢复,但相关数据匮乏严重。本研究以松嫩平原核心区新店林场的农田、草地、杨树林、落叶松林、樟子松林和榆树林等6种植被为研究对象,采集三层（0~20、20~40和40~60 cm）土样,测定土壤理化指标（容重、土壤含水量、土壤pH、土壤电导率、有机碳、碱解氮、全氮、速效磷、全磷、速效钾、全钾）及根系密度、根系含水量。结果如下：6种植被在整个土壤剖面上显著影响了13个指标中的8个指标（根系密度、容重、土壤含水量、土壤pH、土壤电导率、全氮、根系含水量、有机碳）,其中根系密度植被间差异在不同土层显著不同(交互作用,P<0.05),而其它7个指标在不同土层的种间差异基本一致（交互作用,P>0.05）。与林地和农田相比,草地具有最大的根系生物量,达到农田的1.8倍,是4种林分平均值的1.4倍。容重、土壤含水量、pH、土壤电导率值均草地最高,林地最小。土壤有机碳的累积受根系密度和容重影响明显,土壤氮除了受上述两个因素影响外,还受土壤含水量的影响。上述结果说明草地对于表层土壤生物固着明显,而人工造林能够改善土壤物理性质、降低盐碱但增加耗水,这些结果对于西部沙土区通过植被恢复来实现土壤修复提供数据支撑。     

Large-scale Ecological Restoration of Degraded Tropical Forest Lands: The Potential Role of Timber Plantations

Large areas of the world's tropical forests are being degraded, with a consequent loss of species diversity. Only some of these are able to recover unaided. Where attempts are being made to restore such forests, the scale of the attempts is usually small. Timber plantations are one of the few means by which large areas of cleared or degraded landscape can be reforested. These usually restore the productive capacity of the landscape but do little to recover biological diversity. But a number of approaches might be used to redesign such plantations so that they would both yield the timber needed to justify the investment and also contain some proportion of their former biodiversity. These approaches include using indigenous species rather than exotic species, creating species mosaics by matching species to particular sites, embedding the plantation monocultures in a matrix of intact or restored vegetation, using species mixtures rather than monocultures, or encouraging the diverse plant understories that can often develop beneath plantations. The degree of ecological restoration possible using these alternatives ranges from modest to significant, although none is likely to achieve complete restoration. Any improvements in regional biodiversity brought about by these changes might be seen as being at the expense of plantation productivity. But many of these approaches have advantages other than just restoring former biodiversity. I discuss some of the trade-offs and implications for plantation managers and restorationists.     

Restoration and Rehabilitation of Degraded Ecosystems in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands. I. A View from the South

A general model is presented describing ecosystem degradation to help decide when restoration, rehabilitation, or reallocation should be the preferred response. The latter two pathways are suggested when one or more “thresholds of irreversibility” have been crossed in the course of ecosystem degradation, and when “passive” restoration to a presumed predisturbance condition is deemed impossible. The young but burgeoning field of ecological restoration, and the older field of rehabilitation and sustainable range management of arid and semiarid lands (ASAL), are found to have much in common, especially compared with the reallocation of lands, which is often carried out without reference to pre-existing ecosystems. After clarifying some basic terminology, we present 18 vital ecosystem attributes for evaluating stages of degradation and planning experiments in the restoration or rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems. Finally, we offer 10 hypotheses concerning ecological restoration and rehabilitation as they apply to ASAL and perhaps to all terrestrial ecosystems.     

Restoration and Rehabilitation of Degraded Ecosystems in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands. II. Case Studies in Southern Tunisia, Central Chile and Northern Cameroon

A model of ecosystem degradation and three possible responses to it—restoration, rehabilitation, and real-location—is applied to ongoing projects in the arid mediterranean region of southern Tunisia, the subhumid mediterranean region of central Chile, and the semiarid tropical savannas of northern Cameroon. We compare both nonhuman and human determinants of ecosystem degradation processes in these contrasted regions, as well as interventions being tested in each. A number of quantifiable “vital ecosystem attributes” are used to evaluate the effects of ecosystem degradation and the experimental responses of rehabilitation on vegetation, soils and plant-soil-water relations. We argue that attempts to rehabilitate former ecosystem structure and functioning, both above- and below ground, are the best way to conserve biodiversity and insure sustainable long-term productivity in ecosystems subjected to continuous use by people in arid and semi-arid lands of “the South.” The success of such efforts, however, depends not only on elucidating the predisturbance (or slightly disturbed) structure and function of the consciously selected “ecosystem of reference,” but also on understanding and working with the socioeconomic, technical, cultural, and historical factors that caused the degradation in the first place.     

Degraded diterpenoids from the stem bark of Neoboutonia mannii

Neoboutomannin (1), a degraded diterpenoid dimer, and manniorthoquinone (2), another degraded diterpenoid, have been isolated from the stem bark of Neoboutonia mannii Benth (Euphorbiaceae), together with the known 3-acetylaleuritolic acid (3), 3,6-dihydroxy-9-methoxy-1,7-dimethylphenanthrene (4) and sitosterol 3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (5). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral studies and comparison with published data. Compounds 1, 3, 4 and 5 were evaluated for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. 1, 3 and 4 were active against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and three Candida species, Candida albicans ATCC 9002, Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis. Compound 5 was inactive against all the bacterial and fungal species used.     

海岛退化生态系统的恢复

海岛在干扰下极易退化且不易恢复,这些干扰包括毁林、引种不当和自然灾害三类。海岛恢复的限制性因子是缺乏淡水和土壤、生物资源缺乏、严重的风害或暴雨。不同大小的海岛和海岛不同部分的恢复策略不同。海岛植被恢复可参考其群落演替过程,其恢复至少是一个群落或生态系统水平的恢复。海岛恢复的长期利益包括重建海岛的生物群落,再现海岛生态系统的营养循环,恢复海岛的进化过程。海岛恢复的过程比较复杂,最关键的是要选择好适生的关键种。     

Confronting Feedbacks of Degraded Marine Ecosystems

In many coastal areas, marine ecosystems have shifted into contrasting states having reduced ecosystem services (hereafter called degraded). Such degraded ecosystems may be slow to revert to their original state due to new ecological feedbacks that reinforce the degraded state. A better understanding of the way human actions influence the strength and direction of feedbacks, how different feedbacks could interact, and at what scales they operate, may be necessary in some cases for successful management of marine ecosystems. Here we synthesize interactions of critical feedbacks of the degraded states from six globally distinct biomes: coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass beds, shallow soft sediments, oyster reefs, and coastal pelagic food webs. We explore to what extent current management captures these feedbacks and propose strategies for how and when (that is, windows of opportunity) to influence feedbacks in ways to break the resilience of the degraded ecosystem states. We conclude by proposing some challenges for future research that could improve our understanding of these issues and emphasize that management of degraded marine states will require a broad social–ecological approach to succeed.     

海岛退化生态系统的恢复

海岛在干扰极下极易退化且不易恢复,这些干扰包括毁林、引种不当和自然灾害三类。海岛恢复的限制性因子是缺乏淡水和土壤,生物资源缺乏、严重的风害或暴雨。不同大小的海岛和海岛不同部分的恢复策略不同。海岛植被恢复可参考其群落演替过程,其恢复至少是一个群落或生态系统水平的恢复。海岛恢复的长期利益包括重建海岛的生物群落,再现海岛生态系统的营养循环,恢复海岛的进化过程。海岛恢复的过程比较复杂,最关键的是要选择好适生的关键种。     

Querying the Obvious: Lessons from a Degraded Stream

A detailed assessment of degradation issues is essential for the development of reasonable restoration strategies. The assessment may be a difficult task when fluxes of organic matter and energy are concerned, which are primarily mediated by microorganisms. In small streams, biofilms are hot spots of trophic interactions. Small weirs cause small‐scale changes of flow velocity, which affects the formation, structure, and function of biofilms. Weirs are superficially considered as disturbing cross barriers that should immediately be removed for the restoration of riparian systems. However, our empirical studies of weirs in the stream Ilm, Germany, and conceptual modeling approaches revealed a rather beneficial effect because weirs compensate the loss of natural retention structures in straightened rivers. Longer processing time of particulate organic matter in the weir reservoirs may have a positive effect on biofilm productivity and nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems. This is a striking example of thorough investigations that resulted in a complete and surprising reassessment of a degradation situation, and for a case in which uninformed gut feeling decisions about management plans would have had detrimental effects.     

Degraded Environments Alter Prey Risk Assessment

Elevated water temperatures, a decrease in ocean pH, and an increasing prevalence of severe storms have lead to bleaching and death of the hard corals that underpin coral reef ecosystems. As coral cover declines, fish diversity and abundance declines. How degradation of coral reefs affects behavior of reef inhabitants is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that risk assessment behaviors of prey are severely affected by coral degradation. Juvenile damselfish were exposed to visual and olfactory indicators of predation risk in healthy live, thermally bleached, and dead coral in a series of laboratory and field experiments. While fish still responded to visual cues in all habitats, they did not respond to olfactory indicators of risk in dead coral habitats, likely as a result of alteration or degradation of chemical cues. These cues are critical for learning and avoiding predators, and a failure to respond can have dramatic repercussions for survival and recruitment.     

Degraded Time-Frequency Acuity to Time-Reversed Notes

Time-reversal symmetry breaking is a key feature of many classes of natural sounds, originating in the physics of sound production. While attention has been paid to the response of the auditory system to “natural stimuli,” very few psychophysical tests have been performed. We conduct psychophysical measurements of time-frequency acuity for stylized representations of “natural”-like notes (sharp attack, long decay) and the time-reversed versions of these notes (long attack, sharp decay). Our results demonstrate significantly greater precision, arising from enhanced temporal acuity, for such sounds over their time-reversed versions, without a corresponding decrease in frequency acuity. These data inveigh against models of auditory processing that include tradeoffs between temporal and frequency acuity, at least in the range of notes tested and suggest the existence of statistical priors for notes with a sharp-attack and a long-decay. We are additionally able to calculate a minimal theoretical bound on the sophistication of the nonlinearities in auditory processing. We find that among the best studied classes of nonlinear time-frequency representations, only matching pursuit, spectral derivatives, and reassigned spectrograms are able to satisfy this criterion.     

丛枝菌根在退化土壤恢复中的生态学作用

土壤退化(包括土壤侵蚀、贫瘠化、盐碱化、沙化、酸化)不仅为全球所关注,而且是关系到我国农业可持续发展的重大问题.全球1.3×108km2的总土地面积中,因人为原因引起的退化面积为2.0×107km2,这些退化土壤中,耕地近5×108ha,约占总耕地面积的1/3.     

Biodiversity and the Heterogeneous Disturbance Regime on Military Training Lands

Disproportionately large numbers of threatened and endangered species and unusually high biodiversity occur on active and former military training areas. Although this may seem paradoxical given the apparently destructive nature of military training, an evaluation of the nature and extent of the disturbances is enlightening. Military training frequently produces heterogeneous landscapes. Large portions of military training areas remain virtually untouched, favoring disturbance‐averse species; other portions are heavily disturbed, favoring disturbance‐dependent species. The rich habitat mosaics include the two extremes as well as the continua of disturbance and succession between them, thus providing suitable habitat for a very large number of species with widely varying habitat requirements. To explain the phenomenon, a heterogeneous disturbance hypothesis is proposed which suggests that biodiversity is maximized where multiple kinds, frequencies, severities, periodicities, sizes, shapes, and/or durations of disturbance occur concomitantly on a landscape in a spatially and temporally distributed fashion. The enhanced biodiversity occurring on active and former military training areas illustrates the need for restoration ecologists to restore or maintain an appropriate heterogeneous disturbance regime when attempting to restore ecosystem function and biodiversity.     

生态系统退化的过程及其特点

随着人口迅速增长和社会经济的加速发展,人们对环境资源的过度使用和破坏,使生态系统的退化已成为普遍现象。据初步统计,我国处于退化状态的生态系统面积已占国土面积的４５％以上,目前仍继续处于恶化状态［１］。加强对生态系统退化的研究已成为当前我国面临的重大问...     

Formation of Forest Biogeocenoses on Disturbed Lands of the Northern Caspian Region

Biology Bulletin - Abstract—The features, trends, and rates of formation of new forest biogeocenoses on anthropogenically disturbed lands, in particular, on an unused pond created on heavy...     

Abnormality of the Corpus Callosum in Coalmine Gas Explosion-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abnormal corpus callosum (CC) has been reported in childhood trauma-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, the nature of white matter (WM) integrity alterations in the CC of young adult-onset PTSD patients is unknown. In this study, 14 victims of a coal mine gas explosion with PTSD and 23 matched coal miners without experiencing the coal mine explosion were enrolled. The differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) within 7 sub-regions of the CC were compared between the two groups. Compared to the controls, PTSD coal miners exhibited significantly reduced FA values in the anterior sub-regions of the CC (P < 0.05, Bonferroni-corrected), which mainly interconnect the bilateral frontal cortices. Our findings indicated that the anterior part of the CC was more severely impaired than the posterior part in young adult-onset PTSD, which suggested the patterns of CC impairment may depend on the developmental stage of the structure when the PTSD occurs.     

Restoration of Tropical Moist Forests on Bauxite-Mined Lands in the Brazilian Amazon

We evaluated forest structure and composition in 9- to 13-year-old stands established on a bauxite-mined site at Trombetas (Pará), Brazil, using four different reforestation techniques following initial site preparation and topsoil replacement. These techniques included reliance on natural forest regeneration, mixed commercial species plantings of mostly exotic timber trees, direct seeding with mostly native early successional tree species, and mixed native species plantings of more than 70 tree species (the current operational restoration treatment at this site). Replicated fixed-radius plots in each treatment and in undisturbed primary forest were used to quantify the canopy and understory structure and the abundance and diversity of all vascular plant species. Treatment comparisons considered regeneration density, species richness and diversity for all floristic categories, and, for trees and shrubs, the relative contribution of initial planting and subsequent regeneration from soil seed banks and seed inputs from nearby primary forests. With the possible exception of the stands of mixed commercial species, which were superior to all others in terms of tree basal-area development but relatively poor in species richness, all treatments were structurally and floristically diverse, with a high probability of long-term restoration success. Of these, the mixed native species plantings appeared to be at least risk of arrested succession due to the dominance of a broader range of tree species of different successional stages or expected life spans. In all treatments, several locally important families of primary forest trees (Annonaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Lauraceae, Palmae and Sapotaceae) were markedly underrepresented due to a combination of poor survival of initial plantings and limitations on seed dispersal from the surrounding primary forest.