Non-random sampling and its role in habitat conservation: a comparison of three wetland macrophyte sampling protocols

Aquatic macrophytes provide essential spawning and nursery habitat for fish, valuable food source for waterfowl, migratory birds and mammals, and contribute greatly to overall biodiversity of coastal marshes of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Two approaches have been used to survey the plant community in coastal wetlands, and these include the grid (GR) and transect (TR) methods. These methods have been used to identify the average species richness at different sites, but their suitability for determining total species richness of a site has not been tested. In this paper, we compare the performance of these two established methods with that of the Stratified method (ST), which uses the sampler’s judgment to guide them to different habitat zones within the wetland. We used the three protocols to compare species richness of six coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes, three pristine marshes in eastern Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) and three degraded wetlands in Lake Ontario, Canada. The greatest species richness was associated with the ST method, irrespective of wetland quality. The ST method was also more efficient (fewer quadrats sampled), and revealed the most number of unique (those found with only one method) and uncommon species (those found in <5% of the quadrats). Despite these statistical differences, we found that sampling method did not significantly affect the performance of a recently developed index of wetland quality, the Wetland Macrophyte Index. These results have important implications for designing macrophyte surveys to track changes in biodiversity and wetland quality.     

Study on coastal wetland habitat quality evaluation in Quanzhou Bay, Fujian, China

Coastal wetland is located in the active interface between land and sea, which is one of the richest biodiversity habitats, while it is seriously disturbed and destroyed by anthropogenic activities in both terrestrial and marine parts. Habitat serves as the basis for organism survival, providing food, shelter, water, space and so on, and habitat degradation and loss caused by intense anthropogenic activities is widely considered as the main reason for biodiversity decline and loss. However, there is still limited study on the evaluating methods of coastal wetland habitats, especially for those in a large scale. In this study, methods for evaluating coastal wetland habitat quality, including selecting indicators, setting value assignment criteria and weights were discussed systematically, a method of coastal wetland habitat quality evaluation was established, and the habitat quality in Quanzhou Bay was also evaluated as a case study. The present study provided a new concept and method to assess quantitatively habitat status, indicate the ecological status and its change, and also reflect and predict indirectly the ecological impact of human activities.
Referring to the habitat evaluation system (HES) developed by United States in the mid 1970s, the evaluation method was established by thorough analysis of the characteristics of coastal wetland. The habitat indicators were selected in terms of three habitat factors as follows: chemical factors, including dissolved oxygen (DO), phosphate in seawater, sulfide in sediment, and regional priority pollutants; physical factors, including landscape naturalness index and coastline artificialization index; biological factors, including invasive species risk and area ratio of invasive alien species. Weights were established by Analytic Hierarchy Process, combined with several-round expert evaluation. Evaluation criteria providing principles for value assignment of each indicator, were established referring to previous standards and related researches. The final result for assessing habitat quality was indicated and stated by the value of Habitat Quality Index (HQI), which is the weighted sum of each indicator. Habitat quality increased with the HQI value, with value ranging from 0 to 100.
The established evaluating method was applied to assess the habitat quality of Quanzhou Bay, located in the southeast coastal zone of Fujian Province, with a total area of 136.4 km², which is an important bay in Fujian. Quanzhou Bay wetland is a typical coastal wetland with diverse wetland habitats, including mangrove, estuary, island, aquaculture ponds, salt pan, shallow sea, mud flat and so on. The Quanzhou Bay is now seriously suffering environmental problems, e.g. eutrophication due to great discharge of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastewater, rapid urbanization and reclamation resulting in decreased wetland area, and the invasion of alien species. The evaluation results showed that the habitat quality index value was 68.13, 57.99 and 51.23 in 1989, 2002 and 2008, respectively, indicating that the habitat degraded gradually. The five major factors that led to decline of HQI value were phosphate in seawater, lead in sediment, landscape naturalness index and coastline artificialization index and area ratio of invasive alien species. Therefore, in order to improve and maintain habitat quality, it is urgent to control pollution, large-scale reclamation and Spartina invasion in Quzhou Bay.     

The value of plant functional groups in demonstrating and communicating vegetation responses to environmental flows

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基于享乐价格-结构方程双模型的西宁城市湿地生态系统服务价值及影响因素研究

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白洋淀湖滨湿地岸边带氨氧化古菌与氨氧化细菌的分布特性

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黑河中游湿地景观破碎化过程及其驱动力分析

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Dissolved organic carbon concentrations in four Norway spruce stands of different ages

Boreal forests are increasing in age partly due to reduced logging and efficient wildfire control. As a result, they also stock more carbon. Whether increased forest C stock causes greater production of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is uncertain. DOC in bulk precipitation, throughfall and soil water was studied in 10-, 30-, 60- and 120-year-old stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) DOC concentrations in throughfall and O horizon soil water followed the order 10 < 30 < 60 = 120 and 10 = 30 < 120 < 60, respectively. DOC fluxes followed the order 10 = 30 < 60 = 120 in throughfall, while no significant difference between stands was found for O horizon soil water. Above-ground tree litter varied according to 10 < 30 < 60 = 120, a pattern identical to that for DOC concentrations in throughfall and resembling but not identical to that for DOC concentrations in O horizon soil water. This indicates additional sources for DOC in soil water. Seasonality in DOC concentrations was observed at the base of the O horizon, and seasonality in DOC fluxes in both throughfall and O horizon soil water. Our results suggest differences in the polarity of DOC between the 10-year stand and the others, which we interpret as reflecting the lack of grown trees and possibly the different vegetation on the 10-year stand.     

气温和降雨量对中国湿地生态系统CO2交换的影响

湿地由于具有较高的初级生产力以及较低的有机质降解速率而成为缓解全球变暖的潜在有效碳汇.虽然近年来中国湿地生态系统CO₂交换过程及其影响机制研究取得了一系列进展,但尚缺乏对数据进行系统性整合分析.基于29篇文献的数据,对中国21个典型湿地植被净生态系统CO₂交换(NEE)、生态系统呼吸(R_eco)、总初级生产力(GPP)、NEE的光响应参数以及R_eco的温度响应参数进行整合分析,并探讨了这些指标对温度与降雨的响应.结果表明： 年尺度上,气温和降雨量对NEE(R²=50%,R²=57% )、GPP(R²=60%,R²=50%)和R_eco(R²=44%,R²=50%)均有显著影响(P<0.05).生长季尺度上,NEE (R²=50%)、GPP (R²=36%)和R_eco(R²=19%)与气温呈显著相关(P<0.05);同时NEE(R²=33%)和GPP(R²=25%)也与降雨量呈显著相关(P<0.05),但R_eco与降雨量的相关关系不显著(P>0.05).生长季降雨量与最大光合速率(A_max)之间呈显著相关 (P<0.01),但与表观量子产率(α)、白天生态系统呼吸速率(R_eco,day)无显著相关(P>0.05).生长季气温对α、A_max和R_{eco, day}均无显著影响(P>0.05).生态系统基础呼吸速率(R_ref)与降雨量无显著相关(P>0.05),但是生态系统呼吸的温度敏感系数(Q₁₀)与降雨量呈显著的线性负相关(P<0.05),同时气温对Q₁₀(R²=0.35)、R_ref(R²=0.46)均产生显著影响(P<0.05).