Phylogenetic diversity does not capture body size variation at risk in the world's mammals

Mammals contribute to important ecosystem processes and services, but many mammalian species are threatened with extinction. We compare how global patterns in three measures of mammalian diversity—species richness, phylogenetic diversity (PD) and body mass variance (BMV)—would change if all currently threatened species were lost. Given that many facets of species'' ecology and life history scale predictably with body mass, the BMV in a region roughly reflects the diversity of species'' roles within ecosystems and so is a simple proxy for functional diversity (FD). PD is also often considered to be a proxy for FD, but our results suggest that BMV losses within ecoregions would be much more severe than losses of PD or species richness, and that its congruence with the latter two measures is low. Because of the disproportionate loss of large mammals, 65 per cent of ecoregions would lose significantly more BMV than under random extinction, while only 11 per cent would lose significantly more PD. Ecosystem consequences of these selective losses may be profound, especially throughout the tropics, but are not captured by PD. This low surrogacy stresses a need for conservation prioritization based on threatened trait diversity, and for conservation efforts to take an ecosystem perspective.     

Consequences of forest fragmentation in an understory plant community: extensive range expansion of native dwarf bamboo

Understory bamboo species are important and influential components of temperate forests in at least several parts of the world. Here we report a study testing the effect of forest fragmentation on the dynamics of the dwarf bamboo Sasa chartacea and on forest herb communities in the Tokachi plain of Hokkaido, Japan. We studied 16 forest fragments of different sizes and small plots established in these fragments to examine the relationship between the abundance of S. chartacea, landscape and environmental conditions, and forest herb communities. Sasa chartacea was more abundant near forest edges and in smaller fragments, suggesting that the species has expanded its local range and increased its abundance in response to forest fragmentation. Edge‐related changes in light and soil moisture might have facilitated this range expansion. The species richness of forest herbs was strongly negatively related to the density of S. chartacea. Because much larger variation in species richness was explained by S. chartacea density than distance to the nearest forest edge, the expansion of S. chartacea has likely excluded other understory species by competition. In addition, the density of S. chartacea significantly explained variation in the species composition of forest herbs across plots. Taken together, our results emphasize the key roles of dwarf bamboos in changing plant communities following forest fragmentation.     

边缘效应对卧龙自然保护区森林-草地群落交错带地表甲虫多样性的影响

本文研究了卧龙国家自然保护区地表甲虫群落在天然落叶阔叶林森林边缘与森林内部和周围草地间多样性差异,在科级水平上探讨边缘效应对地表甲虫群落的影响。调查共设5个重复样带（间距大于500 m）;每个样带以距离梯度（25 m）的方式设置样点,分别由边缘深入到森林内部和草地中央100 m,共设45个样点,通过巴氏罐诱法调查地表甲虫群落组成和季节变化。本研究采集甲虫标本4 736 号,隶属于28个科,步甲科、隐翅虫科和叩甲科分别占总数的49.5%、23.5%和13.0%,共同构成本研究地区地表甲虫的优势类群。甲虫的个体数量从森林内部、边缘到周围草地依次降低,而科多样性和均匀度则依次增高,都达到了显著差异。主坐标分析（PCoA）排序表明,森林内部和周围草地间的地表甲虫群落组成差异较大;而森林边缘的群落组成与两者都有较高程度的相似性,反映了森林边缘的地表甲虫群落已经与森林内部的群落组成发生明显分化,除了森林物种成分外,还包含了若干从周围草地环境扩散来的物种成分。从季节动态看,森林边缘和森林内部在丰富度和个体数量的季节变化曲线方面相似性更高;捕食类和腐食类地表甲虫的季节变化在森林内部和边缘相似性更高,而植食类则在森林边缘和草地的相似性更高。多元回归分析表明,枯落物覆盖率是影响地表甲虫科多样性和均匀度的决定因素,枯落物厚度和林冠层覆盖率是决定甲虫个体数量分布的重要因素。以上结果表明,在科级水平上,地表甲虫群落在天然落叶阔叶林边缘已经与森林内部生境发生分化,而且正在加剧的森林片断化进程将会产生更多的森林边缘,因此,保留大面积的天然落叶阔叶林免受破坏和干扰是保护地表甲虫多样性的必要措施。     

片断化常绿阔叶林的植物多样性

由于人类活动的严重干扰,使得我国的常绿阔叶林基本上已片断化.对位于浙、闽、赣、皖交界山区的6个以甜槠和木荷为建群种的片断化常绿阔叶林的植物多样性进行了研究,结果表明:(1)6个片断化样点共有物种69～142种.其中乔木层共有24～39种,Simpson 指数(λ)为0.793 2～0.931 9,Shannon-Weiner指数(H')为2.410 8～3.201 8,Pielou均匀度指数(J)为0.667 6～0.813 2,Gleason指数(IG)为4.5816～8.209 8;灌木层共有45～120种,λ为0.830 9～0.955 8,H'为2.6257～3.7902,J为0.608 2～0.7903,IG为10.0216～17.2782;草本层共有6～23种,λ为0.5073～0.7639,H'为0.8783～1.8802,J为0.3822～0.5771,IG为0.9646～4.2871.(2)乔木层和灌木层分别在物种均匀度和丰富度上占有优势,此外,各片断化样点之间建群种比较类似,而林下灌木和草本种类则有明显差异.(3)人类干扰和片断化面积大小分别影响了乔木层和草本层的物种丰富度和多样性.(4)边缘效应明显,并且主要发生在林缘50m的范围内.从林缘到林内单位面积物种数根据片断化面积的大小分别呈现出上升和下降的格局,并且不同耐阴性的物种其分布密度表现出完全相反的特征.林缘0～50m的范围内,木本植物死亡率呈逐渐上升趋势,50m以后开始下降,林缘100m附近达到稳定.此外,林缘比林内具有更为丰富的藤本植物.     

Effects of forest fragmentation on small mammals in an Atlantic Forest landscape

Recent studies on the effects of tropical forest fragmentation indicate that fragmented landscapes are complex and heterogeneous systems influenced by factors other than the size or degree of isolation of forest remnants: of particular importance are the quality of the matrix and the edge-induced habitat changes. In order to investigate the influence of these factors, small mammals were surveyed in 36 sites in the landscape of Una, a region that encompasses some of the last and largest Atlantic Forest remnants in northeastern Brazil. Six sites were distributed on each of six landscape components – the interiors and edges of small remnants, the interiors and edges of large remnants, and the most common forested habitats found in the matrix. The survey comprised 46,656 trap-nights and yielded 1725 individuals of 20 species of rodents and marsupials. Results revealed: an increase in beta-diversity caused by fragmentation; the contrasting effects of the altered forested habitats of the matrix, which harbor both forest and disturbance-adapted species; a greater importance of edge effect than of patch size to the observed changes in small mammal community in remnants; an association among terrestrial forest species and among arboreal forest species in terms of the distribution and abundance in the Una mosaic; and a distinctive vulnerability of these two groups of species to fragmentation. Results emphasize the biological importance and conservation value of both fragmented landscapes and small remnants in the Atlantic Forest, as well as the importance of management techniques to control and attenuate edge effects.     

海南岛3个林区热带云雾林植物多样性变化

以分布在海南岛西部(霸王岭国家级自然保护区, 21个样方)、西南部(尖峰岭国家级自然保护区, 12个样方)和中部(黎母山省级自然保护区, 15个样方)的热带云雾林为研究对象, 研究α及β物种多样性、功能多样性、谱系多样性的变化, 为植物多样性的保护提供科学依据。结果表明: 尖峰岭群落树木个体多度、物种丰富度最大, 黎母山群落树木个体多度、物种丰富度最小; 黎母山群落间物种组成差异最大, 霸王岭群落间物种组成差异最小, 海南岛霸王岭(西部)、尖峰岭(西南部)和黎母山(中部) 3个林区热带云雾林物种多样性差异可能与空气温度和相对湿度有关。尖峰岭群落内功能丰富度、Rao’s二次熵最低, 功能均匀度最高, 群落间平均成对性状距离最小, 反映群落构建主要受环境筛影响; 霸王岭群落Rao’s二次熵最高, 功能均匀度最低, 群落间平均成对性状距离最大, 反映群落构建主要受限制相似性影响; 黎母山群落内功能丰富度最高, 群落间平均最近性状距离最大, 表明限制相似性在黎母山热带云雾林群落构建中的作用更重要。霸王岭群落内谱系多样性、物种间平均最近相邻谱系距离均较大, 反映物种间谱系关系趋于发散; 黎母山群落内谱系多样性、物种间平均成对谱系距离及群落间平均成对谱系距离均最小, 反映物种间谱系关系趋于聚集; 而尖峰岭群落内物种间平均成对谱系距离、群落间平均成对谱系距离最大, 但物种间平均最近相邻谱系距离最小, 反映物种间谱系关系既具有发散又具有聚集的共存格局。因此, 海南岛热带云雾林群落植物多样性变化格局与环境及物种间相互作用有关。     

Traits,trees and taxa: global dimensions of biodiversity in mammals

Measures of biodiversity encompass variation along several dimensions such as species richness (SR), phylogenetic diversity (PD) and functional/trait diversity (TD). At the global scale, it is widely recognized that SR and PD are strongly correlated, but the extent to which either tends to capture variation in TD is unclear. Here, we assess relationships among PD, SR and TD for a number of traits both across clades and regional assemblages of mammals. We also contrast results using two different measures of TD, trait variance and a new measure we refer to as trait bin filling (the number of orders of magnitude of variation that contain at least one species). When TD is defined as trait variance, PD is a much stronger correlate of TD than SR across clades, consistent with hypotheses about the conservation value of PD. However, when TD is defined as bin filling, PD and SR show similar correlations with TD across clades and space. We also investigate potential losses of SR, PD and TD if species that are currently threatened were to go extinct, and find that threatened PD is often a similar predictor of threatened TD as SR.     

山西关帝山森林群落物种、谱系和功能多样性海拔格局

探索和揭示生物多样性的空间格局和维持机制是生态学和生物地理学研究的热点内容, 但综合物种、系统进化和功能属性等方面的多样性海拔格局研究很少。该文以关帝山森林群落为研究对象, 综合物种、谱系和功能α和β多样性指数, 旨在初步探讨关帝山森林群落多样性海拔格局及其维持机制。研究结果表明: 随着海拔的升高(1 409-2 150 m), 关帝山森林群落物种丰富度指数(S)、谱系多样性指数(PD)和功能丰富度指数(FRic)整体上表现出上升的趋势, 特别是海拔1 800 m以上区域。随着海拔的升高, 总β多样性(β_total)和更替(β_repl)上升趋势明显, 而丰富度差异(β_rich)则逐渐下降。不同生活型植物的物种、谱系和功能多样性海拔格局差异较大。随着海拔的升高, 草本植物S和物种多样性指数(H′)上升趋势高于木本植物。影响草本植物S分布的主要因素是地形因子, 而影响木本植物S分布的主要因素是历史过程。随着海拔的升高, 木本植物β_total上升趋势要比草本植物明显。随着海拔的升高, 木本植物β_repl和β_rich分别表现出单峰格局和“U”形格局, 而草本植物β_repl和β_rich则分别表现出单调递增和单调递减的格局。随着环境差异和地理距离的增加, 群落间物种、谱系和功能β多样性显著增加。环境差异(环境过滤)对木本植物的β多样性具有相对较强的作用; 而环境差异(环境过滤)和地理距离(扩散限制)共同作用于草本植物的β多样性。     

功能多样性和谱系多样性对热带云雾林群落构建的影响

近年来, 功能多样性和谱系多样性为探究群落构建机制提供了新方法。为了更准确地了解海南岛高海拔热带云雾林群落构建机制, 该研究以海南岛霸王岭热带云雾林为对象, 测定7个环境因子和13个植物功能性状。利用主成分分析(PCA)筛选环境因子, 以霸王岭、尖峰岭和黎母山热带云雾林分布物种建立区域物种库, 结合模型, 分析Rao二次熵(RaoQ)和平均成对谱系距离(MPD)变化对植物群落构建的影响。结果表明: 林冠开阔度、土壤全磷含量和坡度是影响植物群落构建的关键环境因子。多数功能性状的系统发育信号很低且不显著, 说明热带云雾林群落的系统发育关系与功能性状随历史进程变化不一致。RaoQ和MPD的实际观测值都显著低于期望值, 且其标准效应值与土壤磷含量显著相关, 说明生境过滤是驱动热带云雾林群落构建的关键因子, 土壤磷含量是群落构建的关键环境筛。     

Fragmentation of Continental United States Forests

We report a multiple-scale analysis of forest fragmentation based on 30-m (0.09 ha pixel⁻¹) land-cover maps for the conterminous United States. Each 0.09-ha unit of forest was classified according to fragmentation indexes measured within the surrounding landscape, for five landscape sizes including 2.25, 7.29, 65.61, 590.49, and 5314.41 ha. Most forest is found in fragmented landscapes. With 65.61-ha landscapes, for example, only 9.9% of all forest was contained in a fully forested landscape, and only 46.9% was in a landscape that was more than 90% forested. Overall, 43.5% of forest was located within 90 m of forest edge and 61.8% of forest was located within 150 m of forest edge. Nevertheless, where forest existed, it was usually dominant—at least 72.9% of all forest was in landscapes that were at least 60% forested for all landscape sizes. Small (less than 7.29 ha) perforations in otherwise continuous forest cover accounted for about half of the fragmentation. These results suggest that forests are connected over large regions, but fragmentation is so pervasive that edge effects potentially influence ecological processes on most forested lands. Received 22 October 2001; accepted 30 April 2002.