杉木人工林取代天然次生阔叶林对土壤生物活性的影响

对我国亚热带南、中、北3个区带杉木人工林与天然次生阔叶林表层土壤化学性状、土壤生物活性特征进行研究.结果表明,杉木人工林取代天然次生林阔叶林后表层土壤总有机碳含量下降31.51%～58.24%,土壤全氮、全磷、pH值以及土壤C/N、C/P比亦呈下降趋势;杉木人工林取代天然次生阔叶林后表层土壤细菌、真菌数量减少;土壤脲酶、蔗糖酶、过氧化氢酶和脱氢酶活性下降,而土壤多酚氧化酶活性增加8%～40%;杉木人工林与天然次生林阔叶林相比,土壤呼吸强度下降51.15%～54.48%.相关分析发现,土壤总有机碳与土壤多酚氧化酶活性呈负相关(R=-0.723,n=18),与土壤全氮、全磷及其它土壤酶活性呈正相关.杉木人工林取代天然次生林阔叶林使林内表层土壤质量恶化.杉木人工林土壤有机质丢失是导致杉木人工林土壤养分减少、土壤生物活性下降的重要原因.     

生态系统途径——生态系统管理的一种新理念

介绍了生态系统途径的概念和内涵．生态系统途径最早由西方生态学家提出。随后得到一系列国际学术组织和国家的认同和支持,其中《生物多样性公约》、世界自然保护联盟和世界野生动物基金发挥了重要作用,．生态系统途径的实质是对土地、水和生物资源进行综合管理,旨在生态系统保护、生物资源可持续利用和共享生物资源三者之间达到平衡．作为生态系统管理的一种方法论,它以生物为核心。将人类及文化的多样性视为生态系统的一个组成部分,2000年《生物多样性公约》缔约国会议上制定的生态系统管理的12条基本原则和5项行动指南,丰富了生态系统途径的内涵,明确了实施的办法,我国在生态系统管理方面有着丰富的学术储备和经验总结。但也存在一定问题。

     

杉木连栽土壤微生物多样性的比较研究

分析了位于湖南会同广坪镇1～4代人工杉木林根际土壤微生物数量变化情况,结果表明,随杉木连栽代数的增加,根际土壤中三大类群微生物数量发生显著变化,细菌和放线菌数量明显减少,真菌数量显著增加.利用PCR和DGGE技术分析了1～4代杉木林根际土壤细菌区系和真菌区系.结果表明,细菌生物多样性在不同连栽代数杉木根际土壤中变化不明显,各代杉木土壤之间细菌的遗传相似性为87%.而真菌随连栽代数的增加,DGGE图谱带逐渐减少,真菌生物多样性降低,各代杉木土壤之间真菌的遗传相似性也较低,仅为45%.对各代杉木土壤主要真菌类群的分析表明,随连栽代数的增加,病原真菌及产毒真菌增加显著.     

Shannon entropy for time-varying persistence of cell migration

Cell migration, which can be significantly affected by intracellular signaling pathways and extracellular matrix, plays a crucial role in many physiological and pathological processes. Cell migration is typically modeled as a persistent random walk, which depends on two critical motility parameters, i.e., migration speed and persistence time. It is generally very challenging to efficiently and accurately quantify the migration dynamics from noisy experimental data. Here, we introduce the normalized Shannon entropy (SE) based on the FPS of cellular velocity autocovariance function to quantify migration dynamics. The SE introduced here possesses a similar physical interpretation as the Gibbs entropy for thermal systems in that SE naturally reflects the degree of order or randomness of cellular migration, attaining the maximal value of unity for purely diffusive migration (i.e., SE = 1 for the most “random” dynamics) and the minimal value of 0 for purely ballistic dynamics (i.e., SE = 0 for the most “ordered” dynamics). We also find that SE is strongly correlated with the migration persistence but is less sensitive to the migration speed. Moreover, we introduce the time-varying SE based on the WPS of cellular dynamics and demonstrate its superior utility to characterize the time-dependent persistence of cell migration, which typically results from complex and time-varying intra- or extracellular mechanisms. We employ our approach to analyze experimental data of in vitro cell migration regulated by distinct intracellular and extracellular mechanisms, exhibiting a rich spectrum of dynamic characteristics. Our analysis indicates that the SE and wavelet transform (i.e., SE-based approach) offers a simple and efficient tool to quantify cell migration dynamics in complex microenvironment.     

杉木根桩和周围土壤酚含量的变化及其化感效应

研究了杉木根桩在分解过程中酚类物质的释放规律及其化感效应.结果表明,随着分解程度的加深,根桩中酚类物质的含量减少.根桩中酚类物质含量的梯度为根系>心桩>边桩;根桩在分解过程中酚类物质向外释放并会在土壤中积累,根桩周围土壤中酚类物质含量高于非根桩周围土壤.盆栽试验说明酚类物质会影响杉木种子的萌芽率.将田间调查的杉木树高、地径与根桩密度进行相关分析证明杉木根桩保留在造林地上,不利于下一代杉木的生长.建议改革杉木人工林的传统作业方式,造林前将根桩从造林地中清除.     

Glucosinolate biosynthetic genes in Brassica rapa

Glucosinolates (GS) are a group of amino acid-derived secondary metabolites found throughout the Cruciferae family. Glucosinolates and their degradation products play important roles in pathogen and insect interactions, as well as in human health. In order to elucidate the glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway in Brassica rapa, we conducted comparative genomic analyses of Arabidopsis thaliana and B. rapa on a genome-wide level. We identified 102 putative genes in B. rapa as the orthologs of 52 GS genes in A. thaliana. All but one gene was successfully mapped on 10 chromosomes. Most GS genes exist in more than one copy in B. rapa. A high co-linearity in the glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway between A. thaliana and B. rapa was also established. The homologous GS genes in B. rapa and A. thaliana share 59-91% nucleotide sequence identity and 93% of the GS genes exhibit synteny between B. rapa and A. thaliana. Moreover, the structure and arrangement of the B. rapa GS (BrGS) genes correspond with the known evolutionary divergence of B. rapa, and may help explain the profiles and accumulation of GS in B. rapa.     

Conversion of secondary broadleaved forest into Chinese fir plantation alters litter production and potential nutrient returns

Litter production, litter standing crop, and potential nutrient return via litterfall to soil were studied during a 4-year period (January 2004–December 2007) in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) plantation and a secondary broadleaved forest in Hunan Province in subtropical China. Mean annual litterfall in the sampling sites varied from 358 g m⁻² in the pure plantation to 669 g m⁻² in the secondary broadleaved forest. Total litterfall followed a bimodal distribution pattern for both forests. Amount of litterfall was also related to the air temperature in both forests. During the period under this study, annual variation in the total litterfall in the pure plantation was significantly higher than that in the secondary broadleaved forest. Litterfall was markedly seasonal in the both forests. Leaf proportions of litterfall in the pure plantation and secondary broadleaved forest were 58.1 and 61.7%, respectively. Total potential nutrient returns to the soil through litterfall in the pure plantation were only 46.2% of those in the secondary broadleaved forest. Total litter standing crop was 913 and 807 g m⁻² in the pure plantation and secondary broadleaved forest, respectively. Our results confirm that conversion from a secondary broadleaved forest into a pure coniferous plantation changes the functioning of the litter system.     

Litter production, leaf litter decomposition and nutrient return in Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations in south China: effect of planting conifers with broadleaved species

This study compared litter production, litter decomposition and nutrient return in pure and mixed species plantations. Dry weight and N, P, K, Ca, Mg quantities in the litterfall were measured in one pure Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation (PC) and two mixed-species plantations of C. lanceolata with Alnus cremastogyne (MCA) and Kalopanax septemlobus (MCK) in subtropical China. Covering 6 years of observations, mean annual litter production of MCA (4.97 Mg·ha⁻¹) and MCK (3.97 Mg·ha⁻¹) was significantly higher than that of PC (3.46 Mg·ha⁻¹). Broadleaved trees contributed 42% of the total litter production in MCA and 31% in MCK. Introduction of broadleaved tree species had no significant effect on litterfall pattern. Total litterfall was greatest in the dry season from November to March. Nutrient returns to the forest floor through leaf litter were significantly higher in both MCA and MCK than in PC (P < 0.05). The amounts of N, K, and Mg returned to the forest floor through leaf litter were highest in the MCA, and P and Ca returns were highest in the MCK. Percent contribution of broadleaf litter to total nutrient returns ranged from 41.7% to 86.9% in MCA and from 49.3% to 74.8% in MCK. The decomposition rate of individual leaf litter increased in the order: C. lanceolata < K. septemlobus < A. cremastogyne. Litter mixing had a positive effect on decomposition rate of the more recalcitrant litter and promoted nutrient return. Relative to mass loss of A. cremastogyne decomposing alone, higher mass loss of the mixture of C. lanceolata and A. cremastogyne was observed after 330 days of decomposition. These results indicate that mixed plantations of different tree species have advantages over monospecific plantations with regards to nutrient fluxes and these advantages have relevance to restoration of degraded sites. Responsible Editor: Alfonso Escudero.