Combined influence of river discharge and wind on littoral nematode communities of a river mouth area of Lake Constance

The littoral nematode community adjacent to a river mouth (River Schussen) on Lake Constance (Germany) was studied from February 1999 to January 2000 in order to determine the influence of stress resulting from fluctuations in river discharge on local nematode assemblages. Additionally, the influence of wind as a second important stress factor was considered. Six sample sites were chosen, reflecting a gradient of river influence within the broader river mouth area. Nematode communities, varying in a mean range from 121 to 165 ind/10 cm², were found to differ significantly in terms of abundance, feeding type composition and species diversity. Deposit feeders were most abundant at all sites followed by chewers. Deposit feeders were affected mainly by wind events, while species diversity and the occurrence of chewers were influenced mainly by river discharge. The impact of both these stress factors was modified by a third variable, water level. Moderate and high levels of combined habitat stress led to significant changes in community structure. Under conditions of calm weather and low discharge, reduced species diversity and an increased predominance of deposit feeders were observed. In most cases, species diversity was found to be higher under moderate stress conditions, an observation that offers support for Connel’s Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis.     

丘陵地区地形梯度上植被格局的分异研究概述

植物群落的本质特征之一是群落中的植物和环境之间存在一定的相互关系。湿润的丘陵地区是由水侵蚀而形成的包含各种干扰频率的生境复合体,作为中尺度的地形单位,可以通过侵蚀前线划分为上部坡面和下部坡面两个小尺度的地形单位,而上部坡面可以进一步划分为顶坡、上部边坡、谷头凹地等微地形单元,下部坡面可以进一步划分为下部边坡、麓坡、泛滥性阶地及谷床等微地形单元。上部坡面发育的是气候顶极群落,沿顶坡向谷头凹地,群落发生逐渐、连续的变化,下部坡面发育的为地形群落,其物种组成、结构以及其它生态特征与上部坡面具有显著的差异,而其微地形单元之间植被的变化不明显。干扰作用是不同地形植被分异的控制因子,也是地形植被维持和更新的关键因子。下部坡面以相对积极的土壤侵蚀、滑坡和崩塌等过程为特征,其植被更新依赖于频繁的地面干扰,而上部坡面长期稳定,其植被更新依赖于林窗动态。地形是影响植被格局的最重要的也是最基本的生境因子,其引起的生境生态位分化为物种的共存提供了条件,导致了小尺度空间内高生物多样性的形成和维持。     

The spatial characteristics of stand structure in Pinus torreyana

The arrangement of trees within a stand by location and age (stand structure) is in part determined by the life history strategy of the species and the disturbance history of the stand. In western North America such disturbances are often the product of wildfires and human management activities. The current study uses spatial analysis to characterize three stands of Pinus torreyana with known disturbance histories. Two stands are located at Torrey Pines State Reserve (TPSR). Of these, one stand has burned twice since 1972. Fire has been successfully excluded from the other stand since the early part of this century. A third stand, on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park (SRI), has been grazed heavily since the mid-19th century and has not experienced fire since that time. One-hectare study plots were established in the interior of each stand. Considering the known life history attributes of P. torreyana, and the disturbance histories of the stands, predictions are made concerning the spatial characteristics of the respective stands. All trees within each study plot were sized by diameter breast height (DBH) and mapped. Three techniques of spatial analysis are applied to the resulting unweighted point pattern distributions and the distributions weighted by the square root of DBH as a surrogate for age. The results are consistent with predictions and confirm the following generalizations concerning patterns of aggregation in Torrey pine stands. Young trees tend to be more aggregated than old trees within the same stands. Young stands tend to be more aggregated than old stands on otherwise ecologically similar sites. On a periodically disturbed site there are clusters of trees that represent cohorts of post-disturbance recruitment.     

关于Taylor幂法则的统计学讨论

自Greenwood于1920年把负二项分布引做昆虫种群空间格局模型以来,昆虫种群空间格局分析的理论和方法大致经历了两个阶段的发展:五、六十年代以前,是以少数离散型概率分布为主要模型;其后,各种聚集性指标和一些回归公式被提出,显示了比原有     

Time to fixation in the presence of recombination

We study the evolutionary dynamics of a haploid population of infinite size recombining with a probability r in a two locus model. Starting from a low fitness locus, the population is evolved under mutation, selection and recombination until a finite fraction of the population reaches the fittest locus. An analytical method is developed to calculate the fixation time T to the fittest locus for various choices of epistasis. We find that: (1) for negative epistasis, T decreases slowly for small r but decays fast at larger r; (2) for positive epistasis, T increases linearly for small r and mildly for large r; (3) for compensatory mutation, T diverges as a power law with logarithmic corrections as the recombination fraction approaches a critical value. Our calculations are seen to be in good agreement with the exact numerical results.     

随机交配群体中连锁对世代平均数和方差的影响及其测定

本文以黄花烟草N.rustica的两个品种V_2和V_(12)为材料,人工创造4个随机交配轮次不同的群体,对开花期(FT)和最后株高(FH)两个性状在理论上探讨了随机交配群体中连锁对世代平均数和方差的影响,并用上述材料进行验证。结果指出,在平均数和方差两种水平上都测定出连锁的存在;无论是加性方差还是显性方差,都随着交配轮次的增加而减少,这是相引连锁的表现。本文还讨论了基因连锁强度、基因联合程度对世代平均数和方差的影响。     

Demographic and genetic invasion history of a 9-year-old roadside population of Bunias orientalis L. (Brassicaceae)

The population history of a 9-year-old roadside population of the invasive plant Bunias orientalis was reconstructed by demographic analysis including size, position, age (determined by herbchronology) and RAPD-PCR patterns of individual plants. We evaluated emerging patterns of population growth and genetic structure during a full period of population development under typical site conditions (anthropogenic disturbance) and their possible consequences for the invasion potential of the species. The population has grown rapidly and continuously (though with slowing geometric population increase) during the 9 years since its foundation, filling the space available in the study area. Genetic variation (RAPD markers) was already high in the founder cohorts and remained at the same level throughout population development (variance fluctuations <15%). Both results may be related to the mowing management at the site which seems to promote population growth of B. orientalis relative to other co-occuring species and to prevent the genetic drift and the development of spatial genetic structure that would be expected under isolation-by-distance models. Large founder plants had comparatively low genetic variance and were more closely related to younger cohorts than were small founder plants, indicating that selection acted during population development. Overall, the current anthropogenic disturbance regimes may contribute to high genetic variability by artificially increasing gene flow and thereby promoting the adaptability of invasive species to the often unpredictable conditions at disturbed sites. Our approach using retrospective demographic investigation allows the detection of spatio-temporal microscale patterns in genetic and phenotypic variation. Thus it allows a thorough understanding of local invasions of perennial herbaceous plants. Received: 23 November 1998 / Accepted: 14 April 1999     

放牧和水淹干扰对松嫩平原碱化草地空间格局影响的分形分析

对东北松嫩平原碱化草地植物群落空间格局的分形性质进行了分析,分别用边长面积指数和Ｋｏｒｃａｋ相对斑块化指数估计了斑块边界复杂性和斑块面积大小频率分布格局。结果表明：随放牧强度增加,占优势的羊草（Ｌｅｙｍｕｓｃｈｉｎｅｎｓｉｓ（Ｔｒｉｎ．）Ｔｚｒｅｌ）斑块的斑块化加剧,而斑块的边界在中度放牧时最不规则;在水淹地,占优势的羊草斑块和次优势的碱茅（Ｐｕｃｉｎｅｌｉａｓｐｐ．）斑块、獐茅（Ａｅｌｕｒｏｐｕｓｌｉｔｏｒａｌｉｓ（Ｇｏｕａｎ）Ｐａｒｌ．ｖａｒ．ｓｉｎｅｎｓｉｓＤｅｂｅａｕｘ）斑块的斑块边界复杂性和斑块化程度比未水淹地都低,说明水淹降低了群落复合体内的异质性;在水淹地,优势斑块的边长面积指数和Ｋｏｒｃａｋ指数均低于次优势种,但在重度放牧地结果正好相反,可能是由于两种样地处于不同的演替阶段;而且,斑块边界复杂性符合同一尺度规律,在现有的面积范围内没有尺度转换,斑块面积大小的频率分布格局则存在尺度转换点。     

Structure and pattern in temperate seasonal forests

Demography, spatial pattern, and diversity of canopy and subcanopy trees, shrubs, and lianas were compared in two cool and two warm temperate North American forests, paired at 30° and 40° north latitudes. All woody stems 1 cm dbh in 16 randomly located, non-contiguous plots totalling 1 ha at each of the four sites were measured, mapped, and identified. Basal area and overall density did not differ between latitudes. Demographic and spatial analyses revealed remarkable similarity in spatial dispersion, irrespective of density or species composition. At all sites, dispersion of canopy trees was random but all understory stems were uniformly distributed relative to all canopy trees. Species diversity and vertical structure differed between the warm and cool temperate sites, especially in species composition of individual strata. Associations of understory species relative to canopy species were more random at 30° than at 40° north, where a higher degree of association between canopy and understory species' patterns, coupled with their size class distributions, suggested more lengthy regeneration cycles and an alternation of species assemblages. The forests at 30°, those subject to periodic canopy disturbance by hurricanes, had more vertical mixing of species (i.e., canopy species represented in all size classes), more tree saplings, and significantly more shrub and liana species.     

Bud banks and their role in vegetative regeneration – A literature review and proposal for simple classification and assessment

While sexual regeneration of plants after disturbance is relatively well understood, vegetative regeneration has attracted some attention only recently. Its role along environmental gradients and across biomes is poorly known and standard methods for assessment are not yet established. We review current knowledge about the role of bud banks in vegetative regeneration and the diversity of their modes of functioning. The similarities and differences between bud banks and seed banks are illustrated, focusing on dormancy, dispersability, seasonal dynamics, longevity and storage of carbohydrates. We try to formulate some principles that unify bud bank functioning across habitats and growth forms: (1) the bud banks consist of all buds which may be used for vegetative regeneration, including those formed adventitiously only after injury; (2) vertical distribution of buds reflects avoidance of disturbance; (3) seasonal changes in the bud bank make vegetative regeneration sensitive to timing of disturbance; and (4) ability to form adventitious buds provides a potential for vegetative regeneration from roots, stumps and leaves. Based on these principles, a simple classification of bud banks is presented similar to the classification of seed banks. Bud bank traits are considered in relation to severity, timing and frequency of disturbance. These include vertical distribution and seasonal fluctuations in the number of buds. Methods for quantitative assessment of bud numbers and resprouting capacity are reviewed, and a new approach based on indirect bud counts is proposed. The suggested concept of bud banks may be widely used in studies focusing on plant functional traits in relation to disturbance regimes at the levels of plant individuals, populations and communities. Its further development may incorporate adjustments for areas with non-seasonal climate and refinements for some growth forms, such as epiphytes.     

Equilibria in an epistatic viability model under arbitrary strength of selection

A class of viability models that generalize the standard additive model for the case of pairwise additive by additive epistatic interactions is considered. Conditions for existence and stability of steady states in the corresponding two-locus model are analyzed. Using regular perturbation techniques, the case when selection is weaker than recombination and the case when selection is stronger than recombination are investigated. The results derived are used to make conclusions on the dependence of population characteristics on the relation between the strength of selection and the recombination rate.     

Single tester triple test cross analysis in spring wheat

Summary Two experiments, each including the same 30 homozygous varieties of spring wheat plus one separate tester variety, were conducted in order to detect epistasis and to test and estimate the additive and dominance components of genetic variation for five quantitative traits: final plant height, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, 100-kernel weight and grain yield per plant. Epistasis played a significant role in the control of 100-kernel weight and yield per plant. There was a gratifyingly good agreement between the two independent methods (2¯B₁i — ¯f_1i — ¯P_i and 2¯B_ci — ¯F_1i) used to test the presence of epistasis. In both experiments, there was a remarkably uniform high dominance ratio for most of the traits studied indicating that this test cross design is equally sensitive to both additive and dominance genetic variation.     

Sam Karlin and multi-locus population genetics

Between 1967 and 1982, Sam Karlin made fundamental contributions to many areas of deterministic population genetic theory. This remembrance focuses on his work in multi-locus population genetics, primarily on the interaction between genotypic selection and the rate of recombination.