Towards the archaeobotanical identification of intensive cereal cultivation: present-day ecological investigation in the mountains of Asturias, northwest Spain

The region of Asturias, northwest Spain, is highly unusual in that a cereal crop (spelt wheat) is cultivated on a garden scale using horticultural methods. A floristic survey was made of the weeds in 65 spelt plots in this region. The ecological attributes of the weed species were then measured and compared to an earlier study of the functional characteristics of weeds associated with pulse crops on the Greek island of Evvia. In this earlier study, it was possible to distinguish between plots cultivated intensively on a garden-scale and plots cultivated extensively in fields, on the basis of a suite of functional attributes of the weed species. The cereal plots from Asturias were correctly identified as gardens on the basis of the same suite of attributes. The Asturias plots were also compared to weed associations from autumn- and spring-sown crops in Germany, using a different suite of attributes, and were classified either as autumn-sown or ambiguously. This is consistent with the sowing time in Asturias, which is spread over late autumn to winter. These results demonstrate that the suites of functional attributes identified to distinguish intensive and extensive cultivation, and to recognise sowing time, can be applied in another geographical area and to another crop type. This paves the way for the application of these attributes to the identification of past agricultural practices from archaeological weed assemblages. Received September 12, 2001 / Accepted December 12, 2002     

Plant attributes determining the regional abundance of weeds on central European arable land

Aim Several recent studies have aimed to identify the biological, ecological and distributional attributes that determine the regional abundance of plant species. Here we aim to assess the relationships between regional abundance and species attributes in weeds on arable land. Location Czech Republic, central Europe. Methods The relationships between regional abundance and species attributes were studied with a data set of 381 weed species occurring on arable land in the Czech Republic. Regional species abundances were estimated from their occurrence frequency in vegetation plots distributed across the country. Using regression tree models, abundance was related to the biological traits, ecological indicator values, geographical distribution and habitat range of species. The models were calculated for the entire country and separately for weeds in cereals, root crops, lowlands and uplands. The effects of phylogenetic relatedness among species on their regional abundance were quantified and compared with the effects of species attributes. Results The results were similar for the whole data set and its particular subsets. Phylogeny explained 11.2–14.9% and species attributes 16.1–56.9% of the variation in regional abundance of weed species. Removal of the phylogenetic signal did not result in important changes in the effects of particular attributes. The most abundant species were those flowering in pre‐spring and early spring, adapted to low temperatures, relatively shade tolerant and with high nutrient requirements. The high regional abundance of these species positively correlated with their broad geographical (often circumpolar) distribution and broad habitat ranges. Main conclusions The regional abundance of weeds can, to some extent, be explained by their attributes. The most important attributes are those that enable weeds to grow and reproduce in the cool season when there is limited competition with crop plants, and those that are adaptations to growth in dense vegetation stands and highly productive habitats.     

中国翼手目地理分布的环境因子影响分析

利用地理信息系统提取了中国翼手目90个物种已知地理分布点的环境因子数据,并利用主成分分析和逐步回归分析研究了这些环境因子对中国翼手目动物地理分布和种数密度分布的影响程度。结果表明,按其影响程度大小,影响中国翼手目动物地理分布的连续型环境因子依次为年平均气温、大于零度日数、一月份平均气温、无霜期日数、年降雨量、年平均相对湿度、七月份平均气温、海拔高度和年日照时数,其中年日照时数和海拔高度为负影响;影响翼手目种数密度分布的决定环境因子是年降雨量,但年平均气温也有明显作用。作者认为,气候因子影响翼手目动物地理分布的机制是限制性因子的作用,主要受冬眠和活动及摄食时间长短的限制,而种数密度分布则决定于环境资源的丰富度,即主要受到由降雨量决定的食物种类多少的影响。另外,对类别环境因子的研究表明：植被类型对翼手目的种数分布没有明显影响;具有多洞穴特点的喀斯特和火山熔岩地貌具有较多的翼手目种类,但红层地貌由于分布于南方和分散分布的特点而具有最高的翼手目种数密度[动物学报51(3)：413—422,2005]。     

Ensemble modelling of species distribution: the effects of geographical and environmental ranges

The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of species geographical and environmental ranges on the predictive performances of species distribution models (SDMs). We explored the usefulness of ensemble modelling approaches and tested whether species attributes influenced the outcomes of such approaches. Eight SDMs were used to model the current distribution of 35 fish species at 1110 stream sections in France. We first quantified the consensus among the resulting set of predictions for each fish species. Next, we created an average model by taking the average of the individual model predictions and tested whether the average model improved the predictive performances of single SDMs. Lastly, we described the ranges of fish species along four gradients: latitudinal, thermal, stream gradient (i.e. upstream‐downstream) and elevation. After accounting for the effects of phylogenetic relatedness and species prevalence, these four species attributes were related to the observed variations in both consensus among SDMs and predictive performances by using generalized estimation equations. Our results highlight the usefulness of ensemble approaches for identifying geographical areas of agreement among predictions. Although the geographical extent of species had no effect on the performances of SDMs, we demonstrated that more consensual and accurate predictions were obtained for species with low thermal and elevation ranges, validating the hypothesis that specialist species yield models with higher accuracy than generalist ones. We emphasized that significant improvements in the accuracy of SDMs can be achieved by using an average model. Furthermore, these improvements were higher for species with smaller ranges along the four gradients studied. The geographical extent and ranges of species along environmental gradients provide promising insights into our understanding of uncertainties in species distribution modelling.     

藏南布丹拉山南坡种子植物区系海拔格局分析

生态群落交错区通常因物种丰富、区系成分复杂而被视为关键带.藏南布丹拉山处在半湿润向半干旱的生态环境过渡带上,因其特殊的自然地理环境而有着丰富的山地植物多样性,但这一重要生态过渡区的种子植物组成和区系成分海拔分布格局目前尚缺乏了解.为了理清布丹拉山南坡种子植物区系成分及其垂直分布变化格局,该文通过野外植物群落的样方调查、...     

中国串珠藻科植物地理分布及与环境因子的关系

研究以中国串珠藻科Batrachospermaceae的串珠藻属Batrachospermum、熊野藻属Kumanoa和西斯藻属Sheathia植物样本的经纬度和一些重要环境因子数据为研究材料, 采用方差分析、相关分析、主成分分析和线性判别分析的方法, 分析这些环境因子对3个属的地理分布影响及3个属地理分布和生长环境的差异性。根据方差分析和线性判别分析结果可知, 串珠藻属、熊野藻属和西斯藻属的地理分布和生长环境具有明显差异性。相关分析和主成分分析结果显示, 海拔高度、平均相对湿度、平均风速、最大可持续风速和大气压强是影响串珠藻属、熊野藻属和西斯藻属地理分布的重要环境因素。研究结果可为丰富我国淡水红藻生态地理分布和地理起源研究提供重要科学依据。     

Cereal density and N-fertiliser effects on the flora and biodiversity value of arable headlands

Modern intensive farming caused pronounced changes to the European arable flora. Many species adapted to less intensive traditional farming declined severely, as did the potential of unsown arable vegetation to support higher trophic levels. To reverse these trends, various agri-environment measures were introduced. One such measure is to manage cereal headlands as conservation headlands, involving strict restrictions on pesticide and fertiliser use. An additional modification to management which could reduce crop competition and thus deliver benefits to arable plants is cereal sowing at reduced rates. However, little is known about its benefits to rare and declining arable plants, or to species of value to higher trophic levels, and whether it can be implemented without concomitant increase in undesirable weeds. We set up identical two-factorial experiments in winter wheat and spring barley, combining a nitrogen fertiliser versus no fertiliser treatment with cereal sowing at economic rates versus sowing at rates reduced by 75 %, with added sowing of a mixture of rare arable species. Both experiments also included an uncropped but cultivated control equivalent to another agri-environment measure. Our results show that reduced cereal sowing in conservation headlands can benefit rare and declining species, as well as arable plant diversity, without necessarily resulting in a concomitant increase in undesirable weeds. While such benefits tended to be larger in uncropped cultivated controls, conservation headlands have the advantage of not requiring land being taken out of production. Moreover, as shown in this study, their benefits to arable plants can be maximised by reduced sowing.     

Spatial patterns of weeds along a gradient of landscape complexity

Processes that drive spatial patterning among plant species are of ongoing interest, mostly because these patterns have implications for the structure and function of plant communities. We investigated the spatial strategies of weeds focusing on how spatial patterns of weeds are mediated by agricultural landscape complexity and species life-history attributes. We quantified the spatial distribution of 110 weed species using data collected in ten landscapes in central western France along a gradient of landscape complexity, from structurally complex (numerous small fields) to structurally simple (few large fields). We then related differences observed in species’ distribution patterns to ecological attributes of species for resource exploitation and dispersion. Our study reveals that weeds were spatially aggregated at the landscape scale. Their spatial patterns are related to the frequency of occurrence of weeds but surprisingly not directly to the seed dispersal type, nor to the degree of habitat specialization. We show that landscape complexity had no direct effect on the spatial patterning of weeds but through interactions with species attributes. Our results point to the importance of interactions between landscape complexity and species attributes in the spatial patterning of weed species even in intensively managed fields. These patterns appear to be a consequence of the spatial arrangement of landscape elements as well as the result of landscape filtering on species attributes.     

中国鼠疫宿主鼠类丰富度格局及疫区环境因子分析

鼠疫等媒介疾病地理分布规律的认识对于疫病防控具有重要意义,分析影响疾病地理分布的因素进而预测疾病发生趋势已经成为目前研究的热点。本文在分析鼠间鼠疫及其宿主鼠类地理分布数据以及相关环境数据的基础上,探讨了鼠疫宿主丰富度与环境因子的关系以及影响鼠间鼠疫发生的主要环境因素。我国的鼠疫宿主鼠类在干旱区和季风区过渡带的县级行政单元中物种丰富度最高,物种丰富度与高度差正相关性最高。发生鼠间鼠疫的地区,宿主鼠类丰富度较高,未发生鼠间鼠疫的地区,宿主鼠类丰富度较低。影响鼠间鼠疫发生的主要环境因子包括蚤类物种数、年均气温、年降雨量、年均相对湿度和年日照时数和气候因子,其次是包括高度差、植被类型数、土壤类型数和地貌类型数的景观因子,以及反映海拔和宿主鼠类物种数的地形和宿主鼠类因子。在未来全国气候变干变暖条件下,我国鼠间鼠疫发病区可能随宿主鼠类的迁移而扩展。     

甘肃草地4种毒杂草潜在入侵区预测研究

针对4种著名的草原毒杂草:醉马草,黄花棘豆,狼毒和露蕊乌头,应用生态位模型分别研究其在甘肃的潜在扩散区域。首先,通过最近邻体距离法和相关性分析分别选取样本数据和环境变量,接着应用最大熵方法(Maxent)建立生态位模型,预测了4种毒杂草的潜在分布区。最后通过Matlab和ENMTools计算了地理分布重心、平均海拔、等级分布区比例、生态位宽度、生态位重合度和地理分布重合度。研究结果表明:4种毒杂草中醉马草和狼毒的环境适应能力较强,但醉马草的分布范围更为广泛,从祁连山脉一直延伸到甘南草原,扩散重心基本在祁连山西侧,而狼毒分布范围主要在甘肃南部,地理分布重心大致位于兰州地区。黄花棘豆的分布范围主要集中在祁连山脉,而露蕊乌头更偏向甘南草原地区。     

Occurrence of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) isolates in different farmland habitats in western France and south-west England

The incidence and distribution of the three principal isolates of barley yellow dwarf virus (PAV, RPV and MAV) are described in winter cereal crops, cereal (stubble) regrowth and grasses from 11 sites in western France and south-west England during 1987 and 1988. Isolates were identified by indirect ‘sandwich’ ELISA using the monoclonal antibodies MAC91, MAC92 and MAFF2. More virus infection occurred in all localities and in most of the plant communities sampled, with the exception of perennial grass leys, in 1987 than in 1988. All three isolates were widespread. MAV was associated more with sites further north and PAV more with those further south. The geographical distribution of RPV was less variable. Underlying these trends, the relative abundance of isolates differed considerably between habitats. RPV always predominated in perennial grass leys and MAV in most cereal crops, although in the latter MAV was less prevalent in 1987 than in 1988. The greatest regional difference was found in stubble regrowth where PAV predominated in France but MAV predominated in England. Grasses from field margins (only sampled in England) were mainly infected by MAV and RPV. The implications of these findings for the epidemiology of BYDV are discussed, especially the roles of different host plant communities or habitats in the annual infection cycle of small-grain cereals.     

Intraspecific Functional Trait Variation in a Tree Species (Lithocarpus dealbatus) along Latitude

We quantied intraspecic variation and covariation of leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf dry matter concentration (LD), leaf frost sensitivity (LFS) and Fv/Fm of leaves of 8 Lithocarpus dealbatus populations across the geographical distribution from north to south to determine the magnitude and whether it is related to environmental conditions, latitude and mean annual temperature. The results showed that the total variation (coefcient of variation) of LMA, LD, LFS and Fv/Fm were 160%, 177%, 211% and 401% respectively. The total intraspecic variation was contributed by the difference among populations, individuals and leaves. The difference among populations accounted for the largest total variation in LMA, LD and Fv/Fm, whereas the difference among leaves accounted for the largest total variation in LFS. On population level, LMA was significantly positive related to the latitude and Fv/Fm was significantly negative, but LD and LFS were not related to the latitude. LMA decreased while Fv/Fm increased significantly with the increase of mean annual temperature. LD was a downward quadratic variation, and LFS was upward with the increase of mean annual temperature. The principal component analysis of four functional traits showed that no population was located nearer to the origin of the first and second principal component, and populations at the edge of distribution area located at both sides of the first principal component axis. The results suggested that the environmental variation in the distribution could cause intraspecic variation of functional traits. There is no population could represent a species in functional traits. When an average trait value for species is considered and trait comparisons are done among species, intraspecific variation of traits could not be ignored.     

Analysing spatial correlation of weeds and harvester ants in cereal fields using point processes

The interaction between the spatial distribution of weed richness and weed cover and the spatial location of harvester ant nets was investigated in cereal fields. The understanding of such interdependencies can be relevant to understand weed population dynamics in dryland cereal fields and may enhance management strategies for weed control. We used spatial statistical tools derived from point process theory. In particular, we compared the two spatial configurations by assuming two different point patterns. We did so by replacing the random weed fields by a related point pattern and comparing it with the point pattern of harvester ants. Our results suggest that areas with a high density of ant nests are, in this case study, in areas with low weed richness and that large nests have a greater impact than small nests. Considering that only one field was analysed, preserving and enhancing regular ant nest distributions, especially of large nests, might have an impact on depleting weeds and consequently enhancing weed control.     

蚊虫地理生态位及其重叠群划分的初步研究

本文将物种在地理上的分布范围作为地理生态位（ｇｅｏｇｒａｐｈｉｃａｌｎｉｃｈｅ）提出,并对我国蚊虫的地理生态位进行了研究。内容包括：蚊虫地理生态位宽度、地理生态位重叠指数的测定和９种蚊虫重叠群的划分。     

Relationships Between Geographical Distribution of Cyclobalanopsis glauca and Climate in China

Cyclobalanopsis glauca (Thunb.) Oerst., which belongs to China-Japan subtype of East Asia district, is a evergreen broadleaved tree of Fagaceae. It is distributed widely in the subtropical region of China and also in Japan, Korea, India, Burma, etc. According to the data on geographical distribution of this species collected extensively, the indexes of vegetation-climate interaction which used widely in the world were calculated. These indexes include Kira' s water-temperature indexes, Penman's formula, Thornthwaite's indexes and climatic classification, Holdridge's life zone classification system, annual average temperature, mean temperature in January, mean temperature in July, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, ≥10 ℃ accumulated temperature and precipitation. The relationships between geographical distribution of Cyclobalanopsis glauca and climate in China has been analysed and the Kira's water-temperature indexes on the distributional upper limit, lower limit and north limit have been discussed. The relation of species versus climate in historial period and the relation of species versus climate in historial period have also been discussed according to palynological and written records. The potential change of the tree species distributional area under elevated CO2 concentration has been forecast based on Holdridge' s indexes of life zone classification system and GCM models' conclusions.     

甘肃河西小型哺乳动物物种多样性与水热分布的关系

野外调查、文献和标本资料收集相结合,采用因子分析法,分析了甘肃河西地区小型哺乳动物物种多样性分布格局与水热条件空间分布的关系.结果表明:物种丰富度与年降水量呈正相关关系,而与最热月(7月)平均温度、年平均温度、年蒸发量呈负相关关系,与最冷月(1月)平均温度相关性不明显;影响小型哺乳动物物种丰富度空间分布的决定因素以年降水量、最热月(7月)平均温度、年平均温度、年蒸发量为主的要素所构成的基本景观因子,其次是最冷月(1月)平均温度.     

Potential geographical distribution and environmental explanations of rare and endangered plant species through combined modeling: A case study of Northwest Yunnan,China

In recent decades, due to the effect of climate change and the interference of human activities, the species habitat index has fallen by 2%. Studying on the geographical distribution pattern and predicting the potential geographical distribution of species are of great significance for developing scientific and effective biodiversity conservation strategies. Plenty of rare and endangered species that need immediate conservation are distributed in Northwest Yunnan. In this regard, this research is conducted in the purpose of predicting the potential geographical distribution of 25 rare and endangered plant species in Northwest Yunnan and analyzing the explanation capabilities of various environmental factors on the potential geographical distribution patterns of these species. Initially, the ecological niche model MaxEnt was employed to predict the potential geographical distribution of target species. Following that, the superposition method was applied to obtain the potential geographical distribution pattern of species richness on the spatial scale of the ecological niche model with a resolution of 0.05° × 0.05°. Ultimately, geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was adopted to investigate the explanation capabilities of various environmental parameters on the potential distribution patterns. The research results showed that the average value of the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of each species was between 0.80 and 1.00, which indicated that the simulation accuracy of the MaxEnt model for each species was good or excellent. On the whole, the potential distribution area for each species was relatively concentrated and mainly distributed in the central‐western, central‐eastern and northern regions of Northwest Yunnan. In addition, the potential distribution areas of these species were between 826.33 km² and 44,963.53 km². In addition, the annual precipitation (Bio12), precipitation of coldest quarter (Bio19), and population density (Pop) made a greater contribution to the species distribution model, and their contribution values were 25.92%, 15.86%, and 17.95%, respectively. Moreover, the goodness‐of‐fit R ² and AIC value of the water model were 0.88 and 7,703.82, respectively, which indicated the water factor largely influenced the potential distribution of these species. These results would contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the potential geographical distribution pattern and the distribution of suitable habitats of some rare and endangered plant species in Northwest Yunnan and would be helpful for implementing long‐term conservation and reintroduction for these species.     

The status of transitions between cultivated fields and their boundaries: ecotones,ecoclines or edge effects?

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the concepts of ecotones, ecoclines and edge effects have been discussed from a theoretical point of view. However, there have been very few experimental tests of these ideas, which are sometimes radically different. This study presents data from field experimental researches and determines the status of transitions between cereal fields and grazed grasslands. Five study sites were chosen in Southern France because they were included in agri-environmental schemes aimed at conserving arable weeds and dry grassland species. In total, 128 quadrats of 1 m² were sampled on replicated transects running through transition zones. There was no significant increase of species-richness but there were changes in the botanical composition from cereal fields to grassland. These experimental results confirmed the opinion of Van der Maarel, E. (1990. Ecotones and ecoclines are different. J. Veg. Sci. 1, 135–138) that an ecotone is poorer in species than the adjacent ecosystems, as only a few species can adapt to the typical environmental factors in this zone. The transition zones studied rather reflected an edge effect than a real ecotone following the definition of Odum, E.P. (1971. Fundamentals of Ecology, 3e éd. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphie). In our case, when the transition zone between the two adjacent ecosystems is managed as a “constraint ecotone” following Vanpeene-Bruhier's, S. (1998. Transformations des paysages et dynamique de la biodiversité végétale. Les écotones, un concept clé pour l'étude des végétations post-culturales. L'exemple de la commune d'Aussois (Savoie). Thèse de Doctorat de l'ENGREF; CEMAGREF de Grenoble) definition, sheep grazing allowed the weed flora to colonise grassland boundaries via the gaps created by livestock trampling. These results are then discussed for the biological conservation of threatened arable weeds in agricultural landscapes.     

云南省恙螨区系及垂直分布研究

2000～2004年对云南省恙螨进行调查,发现云南省内恙螨192种,主要分布于中西部及中南部的热带及亚热带气候区,垂直高度多在1 000 m以下或1 500～2 500m范围.古北界种类有114种,占59%,东洋界种类较少为6%,35%的种类为跨界分布.中华纤恙螨leptotrombidium sinicum和小板纤恙螨L.scutellare为优势螨种.结合其他资料发现,该省广布种类10种,特有种5种,广宿主种及窄宿主种类均较多.少数螨种仅发现于3000 m以上的高海拔温带气候区或500m以下的低海拔热带气候区.恙螨分布与地域、海拔及气候因素有关.