Quercus ilex browse utilization by Caprini in Sierra de Cazorla and Segura (Spain)

The impact of domestic and wild Caprini browsing on Quercus ilex has been examined in an area of the Sierra de Cazorla. Vegetation as a herbivore food supply, herbivore feeding regime and density in the study area during six sampling periods throughout two years, has been quantified. Wild Caprini show diets similar to the available vegetation, whereas domestic Caprini tend more towards the trophic specialities (browsing or grazing) of their genus. Nevertheless, this tendency was more pronounced in domestic goats than in sheep. A hypothetical estimate of Q. ilex intake by each species under the study conditions was carried out. It was found that domestic Caprini have a greater impact on the holm oak than wild Caprini, density and feeding-niche deviations being the main factors responsible for this situation.Abbreviations DM= dry matter     

Shell-banding polymorphism of the land snail Xeropicta vestalis along the coastal plain of Israel

Along the coastal plain of Israel, shell darkness of the polymorphic land snail Xeropicta vestalis is positively related to the extent of perennial vegetation. It is not related to rain, temperature, geographic position or darkness of the ground.
White shells reflect more radiation than dark ones do, and therefore in Israel's coastal plain, where solar radiation is very strong, they are favoured. Perennial vegetation, where it occurs, shields the snails from the sun by absorbing radiation, so that snails amongst them can afford to be darker, and thus more cryptic. Hence, the more perennial vegetation in the habitat, the darker the shells.
Also during the Pleistocene, when temperatures were 5–10°C lower than today, the shells of the coastal plain were as pale as recent ones are. The distribution of a snail-predator, Gerbillus allenbyi , which is restricted to sandy biotopes where perennial bushes occur, and which was absent from Israel during the Pleistocene, could perhaps explain the distribution of X. vestalis morphs, both today and in the past.     

Diversity and stability in garrigue ecosystems after fire

Summary Vegetation dynamics after fire was studied in six communities in Bas-Languedoc (Southern France). 47 plots were observed by means of a permanent transect for ten years.In the first part, we describe floristic richness, species fugacity and the way by which, the terminal community (as defined by the last observation) appears. The dynamics of all these communities follows a simple and general model: floristic richness reaches its maximum during the first two years after a fire, then decreases and becomes stable. Fugacity follows a similar model, whereas the mergence of the terminal community is rapid: one year after fire 70% of the plots have already acquired 75% of the species of the terminal community. There is no succession (in the general sense of the word), but a progressive reappearance of the species belonging to the original community.In the second part, we study floristic similarities between our plots and corresponding associations as described in literature. It appears that after a fire the floristic diversity of the landscape remains high; while the communities rapidly reach a relative maturity.In the study area fire seems to be a rather superficial phenomenon; it does not lead to an important modification of the community dynamics, because probably the most frequent species in Bas-Languedoc developed adaptations to withstand fire.     

A phytosociological study of weed communities on the southwestern Coastal Plain of North Carolina

Summary The vegetation of cultivated, fallow and ‘old’ fields of Scotland County, N.C. was both randomly and subjectively sampled throughout the growing season of 1973. Relevés were placed in each of the above management units, and the data collected in this relevé analysis were sorted into phytosociological charts, with the aid of the digital computer. Weed associations delimited in the charts reflected the importance of edaphic factors, time (aspect), and man's agricultural activities as causal factors in the determination of characteristic assemblages of weeds. Several character and differential species were denoted, in a tentative classification of the weed associations. The cultivated and fallow stands in the spring aspect were noted to be dominated by a group of spring annuals. Summer annuals were more prevalent in homologous situations in the summer. It was determined that perennials, appearing mainly as seedlings in cultivated and fallow fields, attained dominance in ‘old’ fields, one to five years in age. Within each of the major spheres of management, and in each season, associations of weeds mainly reflected differences in edaphic factors. Many character species were noted to maintain affinities to an assortment of soil types that ranged from moist loams to xeric, sterile sands. A study of roadsides, hedgerows, field margins and other ecotonal areas inhabited by weeds was carried throughout the growing season of 1973, also. Species presence was documented in each of these habitat types and reported in Sharp (1974). The weed flora of Scotland County was found to be rich in species. A total of 506 species representing 248 genera and 80 families were encountered throughout the study. Of the total number of species listed, approximately 25 percent were of foreign origin, and 28 percent represented additions to the flora of Scotland County. This paper is the short version of a masters thesis for the Department of Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The author would like to extend his appreciation and gratitude to Professors H. Lieth, A. E. Radford and J. Hardin for their generous advice and encouragement extended through the duration of the study.     

Guidelines for model adaptation: A study of the transferability of a general seagrass ecosystem Dynamic Bayesian Networks model

In general, it is not feasible to collect enough empirical data to capture the entire range of processes that define a complex system, either intrinsically or when viewing the system from a different geographical or temporal perspective. In this context, an alternative approach is to consider model transferability, which is the act of translating a model built for one environment to another less well‐known situation. Model transferability and adaptability may be extremely beneficial—approaches that aid in the reuse and adaption of models, particularly for sites with limited data, would benefit from widespread model uptake. Besides the reduced effort required to develop a model, data collection can be simplified when transferring a model to a different application context. The research presented in this paper focused on a case study to identify and implement guidelines for model adaptation. Our study adapted a general Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) of a seagrass ecosystem to a new location where nodes were similar, but the conditional probability tables varied. We focused on two species of seagrass (Zostera noltei and Zostera marina) located in Arcachon Bay, France. Expert knowledge was used to complement peer‐reviewed literature to identify which components needed adjustment including parameterization and quantification of the model and desired outcomes. We adopted both linguistic labels and scenario‐based elicitation to elicit from experts the conditional probabilities used to quantify the DBN. Following the proposed guidelines, the model structure of the general DBN was retained, but the conditional probability tables were adapted for nodes that characterized the growth dynamics in Zostera spp. population located in Arcachon Bay, as well as the seasonal variation on their reproduction. Particular attention was paid to the light variable as it is a crucial driver of growth and physiology for seagrasses. Our guidelines provide a way to adapt a general DBN to specific ecosystems to maximize model reuse and minimize re‐development effort. Especially important from a transferability perspective are guidelines for ecosystems with limited data, and how simulation and prior predictive approaches can be used in these contexts.     

气候变化条件下全氟化合物对海岸带可持续发展的影响及管控策略

海岸带生态系统为人类提供了食物、水等丰富的物质以及文化、休闲等生态系统服务。但由于全氟化合物等污染物的排放和气候变化的影响,海岸带地区环境日益恶化、资源枯竭、极端气候灾害加剧。这些问题直接导致了海岸带水质下降、近海生物多样性减少、生物群落结构变化,海岸带生态系统可持续发展受到影响。全氟化合物在自然环境中难以降解,会沿食物链在生物体内累积和放大进而对人类健康造成风险。随着氟化工产业在我国的快速发展、新型全氟化合物的不断更替以及气候变化的加剧,全氟化合物对海岸带生态的影响面临着极大的不确定性。为了更好地服务海岸带生态系统的可持续发展,目前仍需要加快完善立法保障,在全国范围内对全氟化合物进行监测;将海洋与陆地作为一个有机整体,统筹陆地影响和海岸带管控,严格控制污染物的排放。     

海洋生物多样性损害与沿海地区经济增长关系实证研究

海洋生物多样性是海洋生态系统服务的基础,保护海洋生物多样性不仅对维持地球生态系统的功能至关重要,也与人类福祉密切相关。基于沿海11个省区生态系统亚健康程度指标和物种多样性损害指标,运用面板回归模型对中国沿海地区经济增长与海洋生物多样性损害的关系进行实证考察。研究结果表明：(1)海洋生态系统亚健康程度与沿海地区经济增长之间存在显著的线性关系,随着经济增长,典型海洋生态系统亚健康状态占比呈现出持续上升趋势。此外,实施排污费制度和建立海洋自然保护区有利于抑制海洋生态系统的恶化。(2)海洋物种多样性损害与沿海地区经济增长之间存在显著“倒U”型关系,随着经济增长,海洋物种多样性损害呈现先上升后下降的态势,转折点为人均GDP 45145元,目前海南省、广西壮族自治区、河北省未跨过转折点。此外,排污费制度有利于抑制海洋物种多样性损害,而沿海地区目前的产业结构加重了海洋物种多样性损害。根据实证分析结果,海洋生态系统健康尚未出现拐点,沿海地区经济增长如果建立在对生态环境破坏的基础上,则势必会造成生物多样性的损害。因此从规范海域利用方式,完善海岸生态保护红线划定,加强生态系统的监测与管理,保持绿色可持续的...     

棉田生态系统氮营养元素循环的研究

在棉田生态系统Ｎ循环中,低,中,高,超高产棉田Ｎ素的输入与输出不平衡,亏盈值（Ｂｋ）分别为－９．８,－１０．６,－１３．５和－１６．２ｋｇ／ｈｍ＾２,平衡值（Ｂ１）为０．９１１３,０．９４３５,０．９４２９．０．９４５８,每种１季棉花,土壤库现存Ｎ减少２‰～６‰,低,中,高,超高产棉田产物Ｎ输出,分别为棉田生态系统总输出Ｎ的５４．４％,４６．５％,４４．９％和４３．４％,其中经济产品（棉子和纤维）     

河漫滩湿地生态阈值——以二卡自然保护区为例

以典型河漫滩湿地 —— 二卡自然保护区为研究区域,进行生态阈值研究。根据湿地补给河流 —— 海拉尔河的月均流量频率分布特征,选取58.72 m³/s(P=74.6%)、119.26 m³/s(P=44.4%)、190.35 m³/s(P=23.8%)分别代表河流的低、中、高径流期,分析各径流期湿地分布特征。结果表明,低、中径流期内草本沼泽及盐化沼泽所占比例较高,而高径流期则以季节性河流湿地及湖泊湿地为主。低径流期内,作为湿地中心区的湖泊湿地景观破碎度出现一个较明显的跃变,由中径流期的0.57增加到1.37。此时的湿地状态可近似的作为区域的生态阈值,即维持湿地面积占全区域面积的43.03%。而中、高径流期湿地面积比例可近似作为保护区湿地面积的适宜值和理想值,分别为53.66%和69.53%。其研究结果为二卡自然保护区的管理及保护提供支持,并为河漫滩湿地研究提供思路。     

积雪和冻结土壤系统中的微生物碳排放和碳氮循环的季节性特征

土壤微生物作为生态系统中重要的分解者,在对动植物残体以及土壤有机质降解的过程中,一方面释放CO2到大气中,是土壤碳排放的重要组成部分;另一方面,在分解的过程中,形成了可供给植物利用的无机养分.由于温度对代谢活动的直接影响,过去对微生物代谢的研究主要集中在生长季,通常假设冬季土壤微生物的活力可以忽略.陆地表面近60％的区域经历着季节性积雪覆盖和季节性土壤冻结的影响.近年来的研究表明,由于积雪的覆盖,形成很好的绝缘层,雪被下土壤中微生物仍然具有显著的活性,对土壤碳排放和植物的养分吸收具有重要的贡献.本文就积雪和冻结土壤系统中的微生物碳排放和碳氮循环的季节性特征进行了全面的分析,综述了国内外冬季雪下碳氮循环的研究现状,提出了目前研究中存在的问题和未来的研究方向,强调了开展温带冬季雪下土壤微生物碳氮循环研究的必要性和重要性.