淡水生态系统服务及其评价指标体系的探讨

对淡水生态系统的重要性及生态系统服务的内涵进行了阐述,指出了当前淡水生态系统服务研究的不足;认为淡水生态系统服务的正常发挥离不开一个健康的生态系统,但少有将两者结合的综合研究,而这样的研究又是必要的。水资源应明确包括水量、水质、水能和水生生物四大要素,以此为基础,对淡水生态系统服务及其评价指标体系进行了论述,并简要介绍其评价方法。文章还对国内相关研究的思路及其技术路线进行了探讨。     

淡水生态系统水溶性有机碳对全球变化的响应研究进展

淡水生态系统水溶性有机碳(dissolved organic carbon,DOC)是全球碳循环的重要组成部分,也是淡水生态系统异养生物物质和能量来源,其对全球变化的响应很大程度上影响着全球碳汇的大小和淡水生态系统结构和功能。过去对陆地生态系统碳循环的研究较多,而有关淡水生态系统碳循环,特别是淡水生态系统DOC在全球碳循环中的作用及其对气候变化的响应研究相对缺乏。本文综述了近年全球变化对淡水生态系统DOC的影响,以及淡水生态系统DOC对全球变化的反馈。指出了全球变化各因子对淡水生态系统DOC的影响存在交互作用,各因子的影响程度也会随时间、空间而变化。淡水生态系统DOC对全球变的反馈程度也存在时空变异,但该方面的研究十分有限,反馈机制不十分清楚。基于目前研究,本文提出今后值得深入研究的三个方面,即:(1)扩展研究区域和范围,了解DOC在不同区域淡水生态系统中的动态变化特征;(2)加强全球变化对淡水生态系统DOC的组成和结构特征影响的研究;(3)深入研究淡水生态系统DOC对全球变化的反馈程度和机制。     

土壤环境中微塑料污染及迁移转化规律研究进展

作为一种新兴的污染物,微塑料在水和土壤生态系统中普遍存在,并成为了近年来环境污染研究的热点之一.目前研究主要集中在海洋和淡水生态系统中微塑料的检测、赋存、表征和毒理学等方面,但与水生态系统相比,对土壤生态系统中微塑料的生态效应的了解还很有限.为此,论文综述了土壤环境中微塑料的来源、丰度及分布特征、微塑料对土壤结构和生物...     

Responses of freshwater ecosystems to global change: research progress and outlook

全球变化已经通过提高水温、改变降水格局和水流状况、促进物种入侵、增加极端事件, 对不同的淡水生态系统造成严重的威胁。该文将全球变化背景下淡水生态学的主要研究内容归纳为: (1)全球变化各要素对个体、种群、群落及至生态系统水平的影响; (2)全球变化过程中生态系统生物地球化学循环的改变; (3)淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应对策。最近10-15年淡水生态系统与全球变化研究快速发展, 取得的重要突破有: (1)阐明淡水生态系统结构与功能对全球气候变化尤其是水温升高的响应过程与机制; (2)揭示淡水生态系统(湿地、湖泊、河流等)是全球碳循环的重要组成部分, 在全球变化因素的影响下呈现有机碳埋藏减少和矿化速率提高。今后的研究中, 需要进一步加强对淡水生态系统全要素的系统观测与整合; 开展以“河流”为介质耦合多系统的碳输运和转化过程研究; 强化基础理论研究揭示淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应机制。     

淡水生态系统对全球变化的响应:研究进展与展望

全球变化已经通过提高水温、改变降水格局和水流状况、促进物种入侵、增加极端事件,对不同的淡水生态系统造成严重的威胁。该文将全球变化背景下淡水生态学的主要研究内容归纳为:(1)全球变化各要素对个体、种群、群落及至生态系统水平的影响;(2)全球变化过程中生态系统生物地球化学循环的改变;(3)淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应对策。最近10–15年淡水生态系统与全球变化研究快速发展,取得的重要突破有:(1)阐明淡水生态系统结构与功能对全球气候变化尤其是水温升高的响应过程与机制;(2)揭示淡水生态系统(湿地、湖泊、河流等)是全球碳循环的重要组成部分,在全球变化因素的影响下呈现有机碳埋藏减少和矿化速率提高。今后的研究中,需要进一步加强对淡水生态系统全要素的系统观测与整合;开展以"河流"为介质耦合多系统的碳输运和转化过程研究;强化基础理论研究揭示淡水生态系统对全球变化的适应机制。     

淡水鱼类功能生态学研究进展

在全球变化和人类活动的影响下,生物多样性正以前所未有的速度丧失,全球生物正经受第六次生物多样性危机。淡水生态系统是最脆弱的生态系统之一。淡水鱼类作为淡水生态系统的重要组成部分,承受着日趋严重的气候变化、栖息地退化、生物入侵和过度捕捞等压力,面临巨大的威胁。在此背景下,如何准确评估鱼类种群和群落对环境变化的响应,以及鱼类群落结构和功能的变化对生态系统功能的影响是淡水鱼类多样性和淡水生态系统保护的关键问题。近年来,淡水鱼类功能生态学的快速发展为解答这一问题提供了一个框架。系统地介绍了淡水鱼类功能生态学主要研究内容、方法、进展及其应用,并着重介绍了淡水鱼类功能特征及其与环境的关系、环境变化下的功能生态学响应研究。据此提出了淡水鱼类功能生态学未来的重点研究方向,指出了其在鱼类多样性保护和资源利用等领域的应用前景。     

淡水湖泊附着藻类生态学研究进展

附着藻类是淡水生态系统初级生产者的主要组成部分,对淡水生态系统营养盐循环及沉水植物分布具有重要的影响。本文对近年来淡水湖泊生态系统中附着藻类群落组成、生态功能以及主要影响因子进行了分析,从附着藻类种群结构入手,指出附着藻类通过改变群落中优势种的组成来适应不同的环境,阐述了附着藻类在湖泊生态系统营养盐循环中的作用及其与沉水植物之间的关系。针对淡水湖泊富营养化问题,提出了今后附着藻类生态学研究应侧重于:主要因子(如弱光、高浓度的营养盐等)的交互作用对附着藻类的影响,原位实验方法弄清楚附着藻类在湖泊生态系统碳、氮、磷生物地球化学循环中的作用,以及富营养湖泊附植藻类与沉水植物相互作用的机理。     

林德曼的营养动力论及其在当前生态学研究中的意义

莱曼德·林德曼1942年发表的论文“生态学的营养动力论”为水生态系统能流研究提出了一个全新的概念,被认为是生态学和湖沼学研究史上的奠基之作,也是生态系统生态学的重要著作。林德曼的研究是从定量上应用Arthur Tansley提出的生态系统概念最早的工作之一,并在几个方面具有开创性。该研究最重要的贡献是为研究营养级之间的相互关系和为比较不同的水生态系统提出了共同的衡量指标(有机物或能流),从而为生态学发展确立了理论取向。林德曼的生态学的营养动力论对当前的生态学研究仍然具有重大的指导意义。     

外源性有机碳对淡水生态系统食物网的贡献

淡水生态系统中的有机碳来自于两个部分, 系统自身的初级生产力(内源性有机碳)以及流域带来的外源性有机碳。而外源性有机碳对淡水生态系统食物网贡献的大小一直以来存在争议。如一些富营养化水体中, 较高的内源性初级生产力会降低水生生物对外源性碳的依赖性。而在一些贫营养和富含腐殖质的湖泊和溪流中, 水生生物对外源性有机碳的利用甚至超过了内源性有机碳。本文总结分析了外源性有机碳对食物网的贡献的研究现状, 概括了三种不同形式的外源有机碳[溶解有机碳(DOC)、颗粒有机碳(POC)、陆生动物]对淡水生态系统食物网的贡献及其路径, 并得出结论: 外源性有机碳对不同淡水生态系统食物网贡献各有不同, 其大小主要受到水体的营养状态、水体中的消费者种类、外源性有机碳的质量以及进入食物网的方式等多方面因素的影响。     

地下水生态系统健康评价指标体系的构建

地下水生态系统是重要的生态系统类型,由于地下水资源不合理的开发利用和污染物排放强度的增大、并长期积累,已导致许多地方产生生态环境劣变,甚至酿成难以弥补的严重后果,地下水生态系统健康问题已经成为许多国家和地区重点关注的环境问题之一.在科学把握地下水生态系统健康的概念和内涵的基础上,从系统结构特征、生态功能、资源功能、系统保护以及社会环境等5个方面选取了29个典型指标构建了地下水生态系统健康指标体系,对关键评价指标的意义进行了具体分析.出于服务于地下水生态系统健康评价的目的,对重要指标的评价标准进行了划分,并探讨了地下水生态系统健康评价的主要方法及发展方向,研究成果在一定程度上可以丰富生态系统健康评价研究理论与方法体系.     

Trophic cascades in the bryosphere: the impact of global change factors on top‐down control of cyanobacterial N2‐fixation

Trophic cascades in which predators regulate densities of organisms at lower trophic levels are important drivers of population dynamics, but effects of trophic cascades on ecosystem‐level fluxes and processes, and the conditions under which top‐down control is important, remain unresolved. We manipulated the structure of a food web in boreal feather mosses and found that moss‐inhabiting microfauna exerted top‐down control of N₂‐fixation by moss‐associated cyanobacteria. However, the presence of higher trophic levels alleviated this top‐down control, likely through feeding on bacterivorous microfauna. These effects of food‐web structure on cyanobacterial N₂‐fixation were dependent on global change factors and strongly suppressed under N fertilisation. Our findings illustrate how food web interactions and trophic cascades can regulate N cycling in boreal ecosystems, where carbon uptake is generally strongly N‐limited, and shifting trophic control of N cycling under global change is therefore likely to impact ecosystem functioning.     

A food web perspective on large herbivore community limitation

The exceptional diversity of large mammals in African savannas provides an ideal opportunity to explore the relative importance of top‐down and bottom‐up controls of large terrestrial herbivore communities. Recent work has emphasized the role of herbivore and carnivore body size in shaping these trophic relationships. However, the lack of across‐ecosystem comparisons using a common methodology prohibits general conclusions. Here we used published data on primary production, herbivore and carnivore densities and diets to estimate the consumption fluxes between three trophic levels in four African savanna ecosystems. Our food web approach suggests that the body size distribution within and across trophic levels has a strong influence on the strength of top‐down control of herbivores by carnivores and on consumption fluxes within ecosystems, as predicted by theoretical food web models. We generalize findings from the Serengeti ecosystem that suggest herbivore species below 150 kg are more likely to be limited by predation. We also emphasize the key functional role played by the largest species at each trophic level. The abundance of the largest herbivore species largely governs the consumption of primary production in resident communities. Similarly, predator guilds in which the largest carnivore species represent a larger share of carnivore biomass are likely to exert a stronger top‐down impact on herbivores. Our study shows how a food web approach allows integrating current knowledge and offers a powerful framework to better understand the functioning of ecosystems.     

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in food webs: the vertical diversity hypothesis

One challenge in merging community and ecosystem ecology is to integrate the complexity of natural multitrophic communities into concepts of ecosystem functioning. Here, we combine food‐web and allometry theories to demonstrate that primary production, as measured by the total nutrient uptake of the multitrophic community, is determined by vertical diversity (i.e. food web's maximum trophic level) and structure (i.e. distributions of species and their abundances and metabolic rates across trophic levels). In natural ecosystems, the community size distribution determines all these vertical patterns and thus the total nutrient uptake. Our model suggests a vertical diversity hypothesis (VDH) for ecosystem functioning in complex food webs. It predicts that, under a given nutrient supply, the total nutrient uptake increases exponentially with the maximum trophic level in the food web and it increases with its maximum body size according to a power law. The VDH highlights the effect of top–down regulation on plant nutrient uptake, which complements traditional paradigms that emphasised the bottom–up effect of nutrient supply on vertical diversity. We conclude that the VDH contributes to a synthetic framework for understanding the relationship between vertical diversity and ecosystem functioning in food webs and predicting the impacts of global changes on multitrophic ecosystems.     

基于Ecopath模型的太湖生态系统结构与功能分析

根据2008—2009年太湖湖区水生生物调查的结果及主要水生动物摄食生态学已发表资料,应用Ecopath with Ecosim 6.1软件构建了太湖生态系统的食物网模型,初步分析了太湖生态系统功能与结构特征.模型由初级生产者、主要鱼类及无脊椎动物和有机碎屑等20个功能组组成.结果表明： 太湖生态系统的能流主要分布在4个营养级上,顶级捕食者鲌鱼营养级最高.食物网存在两条主要的营养传递途径,即碎屑食物链和牧食食物链,且碎屑食物链占比较大;营养级I的利用效率低下,大量初级生产力未能流入更高的营养层次,造成生态系统下层的营养流动“阻塞”.对系统总体特征分析发现,反映系统成熟度的指标,包括较高的净初级生产力(NPP)和净初级生产力/呼吸(NPP/R),以及较低的连接指数(CI)、系统杂食指数(SOI)和Finn循环指数(FCI)等,都揭示了太湖“幼态化”的生态系统现状;混合营养分析和关键种筛选结果显示,高强度的渔业捕捞活动对系统负影响显著,而顶级捕食者的下行效应显著下降.
     

Climate effects on fish body size–trophic position relationship depend on ecosystem type

The energetic demand of consumers increases with body size and temperature. This implies that energetic constraints may limit the trophic position of larger consumers, which is expected to be lower in tropical than in temperate regions to compensate for energy limitation. Using a global dataset of 3635 marine and freshwater ray‐finned fish species, we addressed if and how climate affects the fish body size–trophic position relationship in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, while controlling for the effects of taxonomic affiliation. We observed significant fish body size–trophic position relationships for different ecosystems. However, only in freshwater systems larger tropical fish presented a significantly lower trophic position than their temperate counterparts. Climate did not affect the fish body size–trophic position relationship in marine systems. Our results suggest that larger tropical freshwater fish may compensate for higher energetic constraints feeding at lower trophic positions, compared to their temperate counterparts of similar body size. The lower latitudinal temperature range in marine ecosystems and/or their larger ecosystem size may attenuate and/or compensate for the energy limitation of larger marine fish. Based on our results, temperature may determine macroecological patterns of aquatic food webs, but its effect is contingent on ecosystem type. We suggest that freshwater ecosystems may be more sensitive to warming‐induced alterations in food web topology and food chain length than marine ecosystems.     

Temperature and trophic structure are driving microbial productivity along a biogeographical gradient

Temperature is known to influence ecosystem processes through its direct effect on biological rates such as respiration and nutrient cycling. These changes can then indirectly affect ecologically processes by altering trophic dynamics, the persistence of a species in a given environment, and, consequently, its distribution. However, it is not known if this direct effect of temperature on biological rates is singularly the most important factor for the functioning of ecosystems, or if trophic structure and the adaptation of a species to the local environment also play an essential role. Understanding the relative importance of these factors is crucial for predicting the impact that climate change will have on species and ecosystems. To achieve a more complete understanding of the impact of changing temperatures, it is necessary to integrate perspectives from biogeography, such as the influences of species distribution and local adaptation, with ecosystem and community ecology. By using the microbial community inhabiting the water‐filled leaves of Sarracenia purpurea, we tested the importance of temperature, trophic structure, and local adaptation on ecosystem functioning. We accomplished this by collecting communities along a natural temperature gradient and maintaining these communities in a common garden, factorial experiment. To test for the importance of local adaptation and temperature, the origin of each community was crossed with the temperature from each site. Additionally, to test the importance of top‐down trophic regulation for ecosystem functioning, the presence of the mosquito larvae top predator was manipulated. We found that temperature has a greater effect on ecosystem functioning than origin, and that top‐down trophic regulation increased with temperature. Our results emphasize the synergistic effects of temperature and biotic interactions when predicting the consequences of global warming on ecosystem functioning.     

Latitude and protection affect decadal trends in reef trophic structure over a continental scale

The relative roles of top‐down (consumer‐driven) and bottom‐up (resource‐driven) forcing in exploited marine ecosystems have been much debated. Examples from a variety of marine systems of exploitation‐induced, top‐down trophic forcing have led to a general view that human‐induced predator perturbations can disrupt entire marine food webs, yet other studies that have found no such evidence provide a counterpoint. Though evidence continues to emerge, an unresolved debate exists regarding both the relative roles of top‐down versus bottom‐up forcing and the capacity of human exploitation to instigate top‐down, community‐level effects. Using time‐series data for 104 reef communities spanning tropical to temperate Australia from 1992 to 2013, we aimed to quantify relationships among long‐term trophic group population density trends, latitude, and exploitation status over a continental‐scale biogeographic range. Specifically, we amalgamated two long‐term monitoring databases of marine community dynamics to test for significant positive or negative trends in density of each of three key trophic levels (predators, herbivores, and algae) across the entire time series at each of the 104 locations. We found that trophic control tended toward bottom‐up driven in tropical systems and top‐down driven in temperate systems. Further, alternating long‐term population trends across multiple trophic levels (a method of identifying trophic cascades), presumably due to top‐down trophic forcing, occurred in roughly fifteen percent of locations where the prerequisite significant predator trends occurred. Such alternating trophic trends were significantly more likely to occur at locations with increasing predator densities over time. Within these locations, we found a marked latitudinal gradient in the prevalence of long‐term, alternating trophic group trends, from rare in the tropics (<5% of cases) to relatively common in temperate areas (~45%). Lastly, the strongest trends in predator and algal density occurred in older no‐take marine reserves; however, exploitation status did not affect the likelihood of alternating long‐term trophic group trends occurring. Our data suggest that the type and degree of trophic forcing in this system are likely related to one or more covariates of latitude, and that ecosystem resiliency to top‐down control does not universally vary in this system based on exploitation level.     

Climate‐mediated changes in marine ecosystem regulation during El Niño

The degree to which ecosystems are regulated through bottom‐up, top‐down, or direct physical processes represents a long‐standing issue in ecology, with important consequences for resource management and conservation. In marine ecosystems, the role of bottom‐up and top‐down forcing has been shown to vary over spatio‐temporal scales, often linked to highly variable and heterogeneously distributed environmental conditions. Ecosystem dynamics in the Northeast Pacific have been suggested to be predominately bottom‐up regulated. However, it remains unknown to what extent top‐down regulation occurs, or whether the relative importance of bottom‐up and top‐down forcing may shift in response to climate change. In this study, we investigate the effects and relative importance of bottom‐up, top‐down, and physical forcing during changing climate conditions on ecosystem regulation in the Southern California Current System (SCCS) using a generalized food web model. This statistical approach is based on nonlinear threshold models and a long‐term data set (~60 years) covering multiple trophic levels from phytoplankton to predatory fish. We found bottom‐up control to be the primary mode of ecosystem regulation. However, our results also demonstrate an alternative mode of regulation represented by interacting bottom‐up and top‐down forcing, analogous to wasp‐waist dynamics, but occurring across multiple trophic levels and only during periods of reduced bottom‐up forcing (i.e., weak upwelling, low nutrient concentrations, and primary production). The shifts in ecosystem regulation are caused by changes in ocean‐atmosphere forcing and triggered by highly variable climate conditions associated with El Niño. Furthermore, we show that biota respond differently to major El Niño events during positive or negative phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), as well as highlight potential concerns for marine and fisheries management by demonstrating increased sensitivity of pelagic fish to exploitation during El Niño.     

The ecological importance of crocodylians: towards evidence‐based justification for their conservation

Large‐bodied predators are well represented among the world's threatened and endangered species. A significant body of literature shows that in terrestrial and marine ecosystems large predators can play important roles in ecosystem structure and functioning. By contrast, the ecological roles and importance of large predators within freshwater ecosystems are poorly understood, constraining the design and implementation of optimal conservation strategies for freshwater ecosystems. Conservationists and environmentalists frequently promulgate ecological roles that crocodylians are assumed to fulfil, but often with limited evidence supporting those claims. Here, we review the available information on the ecological importance of crocodylians, a widely distributed group of predominantly freshwater‐dwelling, large‐bodied predators. We synthesise information regarding the role of crocodylians under five criteria within the context of modern ecological concepts: as indicators of ecological health, as ecosystem engineers, apex predators, keystone species, and as contributors to nutrient and energy translocation across ecosystems. Some crocodylians play a role as indicators of ecosystem health, but this is largely untested across the order Crocodylia. By contrast, the role of crocodylian activities in ecosystem engineering is largely anecdotal, and information supporting their assumed role as apex predators is currently limited to only a few species. Whether crocodylians contribute significantly to nutrient and energy translocation through cross‐ecosystem movements is unknown. We conclude that most claims regarding the importance of crocodylians as apex predators, keystone species, ecosystem engineers, and as contributors to nutrient and energy translocation across ecosystems are mostly unsubstantiated speculation, drawn from anecdotal observations made during research carried out primarily for other purposes. There is a paucity of biological research targeted directly at: understanding population dynamics; trophic interactions within their ecological communities; and quantifying the short‐ and long‐term ecological impacts of crocodylian population declines, extirpations, and recoveries. Conservation practices ideally need evidence‐based planning, decision making and justification. Addressing the knowledge gaps identified here will be important for achieving effective conservation of crocodylians.     

Damped trophic cascades driven by fishing in model marine ecosystems

The largest perturbation on upper trophic levels of many marine ecosystems stems from fishing. The reaction of the ecosystem goes beyond the trophic levels directly targeted by the fishery. This reaction has been described either as a change in slope of the overall size spectrum or as a trophic cascade triggered by the removal of top predators. Here we use a novel size- and trait-based model to explore how marine ecosystems might react to perturbations from different types of fishing pressure. The model explicitly resolves the whole life history of fish, from larvae to adults. The results show that fishing does not change the overall slope of the size spectrum, but depletes the largest individuals and induces trophic cascades. A trophic cascade can propagate both up and down in trophic levels driven by a combination of changes in predation mortality and food limitation. The cascade is damped as it comes further away from the perturbed trophic level. Fishing on several trophic levels leads to a disappearance of the signature of the trophic cascade. Differences in fishing patterns among ecosystems might influence whether a trophic cascade is observed.