Bird communities in traditional wood-pastures with changing management in Eastern Europe

Wood-pastures are fragile ecosystems because they were formed by, and depend on specific, low-intensity multifunctional management. Although their ecological and cultural significance is high, wood-pastures are rapidly deteriorating all over Europe, mainly due to changing land use. We still lack a basic understanding of the ecological value of wood-pastures, and in which features they differ from other landscape elements. In this paper we investigated the ecological value of wood-pastures for passerine birds by (i) comparing bird assemblages of wood-pastures with those of closed forests and open pastures and (ii) exploring the relationships between variables describing wood-pastures and species traits of the bird assemblages. Our study region (Southern Transylvania, Romania) provides a unique opportunity to understand the importance of a traditional cultural and ecological environment for many different organisms. Wood-pastures had a higher overall number of bird species, and a higher spatial turnover in bird community composition than closed forests and open pastures. We found significant associations between bird species traits and habitat structural elements in wood-pastures such as large trees, oak- and pear trees and shrubs. Our findings suggest that traditional wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania have distinct and rich passerine bird communities. This richness is inextricably linked to the multifunctional, low-intensity land use traditionally applied in the wood-pastures that promotes high niche diversity. For effective conservation of the biodiversity of wood-pastures, a detailed understanding is needed of how different management regimes may influence the key structural elements of wood-pastures relevant for biodiversity and these should be protected.     

Climate sensitivity of conifer growth doesn’t reveal distinct low–high dipole along the elevation gradient in the Wolong National Natural Reserve,SW China

Recent climate warming is usually hypothesized to cause tree growth decline in the semi-arid regions where forests are particularly vulnerable to warming induced increases of water deficit. But there is still a large knowledge gap of climate warming effects on tree growth of cold temperate forest in the sub-humid region. Here we assess how climate warming has affected tree growth in the Wolong National Natural Reserve, Southwestern China, where recent warming might not cause tree growth decline because of the cold-humid climatic conditions. Tree-ring data from four co-dominant coniferous species (Larix potaninii var. macrocarpa, Tsuga chinensis, Abies faxoniana and Juniperus saltuaria) along an elevation gradient (from 2700 m to 3700 m) all imprinted temperature signals, and were both positively and significantly correlated with instrumental record of temperature data during the analyzed period of 1954–2010. Furthermore, the rising temperature since 1980 induced pervasive tree growth increases and stronger temperature signals for the coniferous species along the elevation gradient. The tree-ring chronology recorded a strong coherence with instrumental temperature since 1980 and was successful to keep up with the pace of climate warming rate. If climate warming continues, further increases in forest growth could be expected, and the terrestrial carbon sink will be strengthened for the local forest ecosystem in the future.     

《山海经》三大神木的植物学考订

《山海经》中有太阳东出扶桑、日中建木、西归若木的传说,长期以来一直存疑,争论不休,直到四川广汉三星堆遗址出土了青铜神树,才证明了传说的真实性.我们结合《山海经》等相关典籍,从植物学角度对扶桑、建木、若木的原植物进行探讨,基于典籍描述、考古资料、植物形态特征、生态习性和地理分布等,初步考订扶桑的植物原型为桦木科白桦(Betula platyphylla),建木的植物原型为杉科杉木(Cunninghamia lanceolata),若木的植物原型为木棉科木棉(Bombax ceiba).     

Effects of the winter beechmast crop on bird occurrence in British gardens

Capsule Woodland birds were significantly less likely to occur in gardens in years of high beechmast crop.

Aim To test the hypothesis that woodland species that feed on beechmast will have significantly lower occurrence rates at garden feeders in mast years.

Methods Weekly winter occurrence rates at garden feeders between 1970/71 and 1999/2000 for 40 species were analysed in relation to annual beechmast abundance, classified into low, medium and high years. A repeated-measures logistic regression model was used to assess whether beechmast abundance explained further significant variation additional to underlying seasonal and annual trends.

Results Seven species that commonly feed on beechmast showed significantly lower occurrence in gardens in years of highest beechmast abundance: Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major, Woodpigeon Columba palumbus, Great Tit Parus major, Coal Tit Periparus ater, Nuthatch Sitta europaea, Jay Garrulus glandarius and Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. Blackbird Turdus merula and Siskin Carduelis spinus, which showed similar significant patterns, are likely to take beechmast as elements of their diet. Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba was the only insectivorous species to show significant effects, but occurrence was lowest in years of intermediate beechmast abundance. For the latter species, this may have been due to confounding effects of temperature, but there were no such confounding effects of either temperature, or the number of bird feeders provided in gardens, for the other nine species.

Conclusion Use of artificial food sources by birds in gardens is influenced by resources in the surrounding countryside, suggesting that food provided in gardens may play a significant part in the population dynamics of these species, that population monitoring without consideration of the garden habitat may be deficient, and that volunteer-based garden bird recording may provide data that can be used as an indicator of changes in the wider countryside.     

Is Foraging Time Limited During Winter? – A Feeding Experiment with Tree Sparrows Under Different Predation Risk

Small passerines are faced with a trade‐off when foraging during winter. Increasing energy reserves makes them more vulnerable to predators, while a low level of reserves exposes them to a high risk of starvation. Whether small birds under these circumstances are allowed to reduce their foraging activity under increased predation risk, for example in feeding sites more exposed to predators, remains controversial in former behavioural and ecological researches. In this study, we investigated the foraging activity of free‐living Tree Sparrow Passer montanus flocks feeding on an artificial feeding platform. The predation risk perceived by the sparrows was manipulated by placing the platform either close to or far from a bushy shelter. Foraging activity, assessed as cumulative activity of sparrows per unit time on the platform, did not differ between the low‐risk and the high‐risk conditions and did not significantly change during the day. Feeding efficiency, assessed as pecking rate, was not either reduced under the high‐risk condition. Our results suggest that sparrows were forced to feed almost continuously during the day in order to maintain their preferred level of energy reserves. However, several behavioural changes helped sparrows to adopt a safer foraging policy when feeding far from cover, as we found in another study. Altogether, sparrow flocks feeding far from cover decreased the overall foraging time (the time when any sparrow stayed on the platform) by approximately 20% as compared to the near cover condition. A possible way to maintain the same level of foraging activity despite of the reduction in overall foraging time is discussed.     

The extent of edge effects in fragmented landscapes: Insights from satellite measurements of tree cover

Due to deforestation, intact tropical forest areas are increasingly transformed into a mixture of remaining forest patches and human modified areas. These forest fragments suffer from edge effects, which cause changes in ecological and ecosystem processes, undermining habitat quality and the offer of ecosystem services. Even though detailed and long term studies were developed on the topic of edge effects at local scale, understanding edge effect characteristics in fragmented forests on larger scales and finding indicators for its impact is crucial for predicting habitat loss and developing management options. Here we evaluate the spatial and temporal dimensions of edge effects in large areas using remote sensing. First we executed a neighborhood pixel analysis in 11 LANDSAT Tree Cover (LTC) scenes (180 × 185 km each, 8 in the tropics and 3 in temperate forested areas) using tree cover as an indicator of habitat quality and in relation to edge distance. Second, we executed a temporal analysis of LTC in a smaller area in the Brazilian Amazon forest where one larger forest fragment (25,890 ha) became completely fragmented in 5 years. Our results show that for all 11 scenes pixel neighborhood variation of LTC is much higher in the vicinity of forest edges, becoming lower towards the forest interior. This analysis suggests a maximum distance for edge effects and can indicate the location of unaffected core areas. However, LTC patterns in relation to fragment edge distance vary according to the analyzed region, and maximum edge distance may differ according to local conditions. Our temporal analysis illustrates the change in tree cover patterns after 5 years of fragmentation, becoming on average lower close to the edge (between 50 and 100 m). Although it is still unclear which are the main causes of LTC edge variability within and between regions, LANDSAT Tree Cover could be used as an accessible and efficient discriminator of edge and interior forest habitats in fragmented landscapes, and become invaluable for deriving qualitative spatial and temporal information of ecological and ecosystem processes.     

DAPI染色法在流式细胞术中去除死细胞影响的探讨

目的:探索利用DAPI染色法在流式细胞检测过程中去除死细胞,消除死细胞对流式结果的影响。方法:建立原位肝癌小鼠模型,流式检测其中死细胞对脾脏中骨髓来源抑制性细胞(myeloid-derived suppressor cell,MDSC)结果的影响,并以碘化丙啶(propidiumiodide,PI)为对照,探索不同DAPI浓度、不同染色时间对死细胞比例的影响。结果:流式细胞术中去除死细胞影响时DAPI染色浓度低于1 g/m L时,其染色结果影响不大,浓度大于1 g/m L,死细胞比例明显升高;当DAPI使用浓度为0.2 g/m L时,在30钟内死细胞染色结果与PI相比差别无统计学差异,当染色时间大于30 min时,死细胞的比例显著升高。结论:DAPI染色法应用于流式细胞术中去除死细胞是一种可靠的检测方法,且简单易行,推荐使用方法为0.2 g/m L,染色时间1-5 min。     

Tree-ring indicators of winter-spring temperature in Central China over the past 200 years

Long-term, high-resolution proxy records containing temperature signals are relatively scarce over Central China, limiting our understanding of regional climate and the potential driving forces. In this study, a robust tree-ring width chronology is developed based on Pinus massoniana woods from two sites on the northeast Wuling Mountains, spanning from 1815 to 2014. The presented chronology is used to reconstruct regional long-term winter-spring (January-May) temperature changes over the past two centuries in Central China. The reconstruction reveals that cold epochs occurred in 1830 s–1840 s, 1850 s–1860 s, 1900 s–1910 s and 1960 s–1970 s. The correlation patterns between the reconstruction and global sea surface temperature (SST) are suggestive of the influence of SST of the western North Pacific Ocean (especially the Japan Current region) and the North Atlantic Ocean on regional temperature. In addition, persistent close matches are observed between the chronology and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) reconstructions over the past two centuries, suggesting the AMO may have been a key modulator of long-term temperature variations over Central China.