Substrate Availability May Be More Important than Aquatic Insect Abundance in the Distribution of Riparian Orb-web Spiders in the Tropics

Spiders that are abundant along streams may depend on energy subsidies across land–water ecotones, but the effects of season and habitat structure on this trophic linkage remain poorly understood in the tropics. We carried out surveys and a manipulative experiment to investigate the effects of season and substrate availability on the distribution of riparian orb-web spiders in Hong Kong, southern China. In the surveys, spider abundance, prey, substrate use, and web orientation were recorded. The experiment involved installation of in-stream artificial substrates (ropes and bamboo poles) to increase substrate availability for web attachment. We found no seasonal difference in web abundance, but seasonal differences were observed for the prey on webs: aquatic insects (mostly Ephemeroptera and chironomid midges) contributed 69 percent of total prey collected during the wet season, but only 38 percent during the dry season. Most webs (50–80%) were < 0.5 m above the water and 45–51 percent of them tended to be orientated horizontally to the water surface and supported by overhanging vegetation and boulders. The addition of artificial substrates resulted in a 23–34 percent increase in the number of webs at the four treatment sites compared to controls, indicating that availability of web-building substrates is a critical determinant of the spider distribution. Our results suggest that riparian zones are potential 'hotspots' of food availability for spiders, and that the aquatic insect subsidy allows this habitat to support increased densities of spiders when the constraint of substrate availability is relaxed.     

Contrasting long‐term records of biomass burning in wet and dry savannas of equatorial East Africa

Rainfall controls fire in tropical savanna ecosystems through impacting both the amount and flammability of plant biomass, and consequently, predicted changes in tropical precipitation over the next century are likely to have contrasting effects on the fire regimes of wet and dry savannas. We reconstructed the long‐term dynamics of biomass burning in equatorial East Africa, using fossil charcoal particles from two well‐dated lake‐sediment records in western Uganda and central Kenya. We compared these high‐resolution (5 years/sample) time series of biomass burning, spanning the last 3800 and 1200 years, with independent data on past hydroclimatic variability and vegetation dynamics. In western Uganda, a rapid (<100 years) and permanent increase in burning occurred around 2170 years ago, when climatic drying replaced semideciduous forest by wooded grassland. At the century time scale, biomass burning was inversely related to moisture balance for much of the next two millennia until ca. 1750 ad , when burning increased strongly despite regional climate becoming wetter. A sustained decrease in burning since the mid20th century reflects the intensified modern‐day landscape conversion into cropland and plantations. In contrast, in semiarid central Kenya, biomass burning peaked at intermediate moisture‐balance levels, whereas it was lower both during the wettest and driest multidecadal periods of the last 1200 years. Here, burning steadily increased since the mid20th century, presumably due to more frequent deliberate ignitions for bush clearing and cattle ranching. Both the observed historical trends and regional contrasts in biomass burning are consistent with spatial variability in fire regimes across the African savanna biome today. They demonstrate the strong dependence of East African fire regimes on both climatic moisture balance and vegetation, and the extent to which this dependence is now being overridden by anthropogenic activity.     

Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Agricultural Paradigm of Mountain-Oasis-Ecotone-Desert System in the North of the Tianshan Mountains

The mountain-basin system(MBS) in the north of the Tianshan Mountains consists of mountain vegetation vertical belt system and concentric circular vegetation (geologic and geomorphic) system of desert basin. The MBS contains three “circles”: montane, piedmont fan and alluvial plain, including nine belts, viz. alpine belt, montane forest-grassland belt, low-mountain desert belt, gravel gobi desert belt, agricultural oasis, marginal belt of diluvial fan, alluvial desert plain, sandy desert belt, and lake. The above-mentioned zonation is the most essential existence and functional pattern of those precious natural resources. It is the representation of an irresistible rule of the nature and, also, the guidance system of ecological conservation and land use. Basing on this foundation, a “mountain-oasis-oasis/desert ecotone-desert eco-productive paradigm”is proposed. The MBS is its basic frame. Its driving forces are the biogeochemical cycles, biogeophysic process, and biogeosocial interaction, which run through the whole system. Thus, the establishment of a sustainable agricultural system and an optimized land use and land cover structure and pattern, which aimed at ecological conservation, may be possible.     

北方农牧交错区农业生态系统生产力对气候波动的响应——以准格尔旗为例

气候变化对区域生态系统结构和功能有重大影响。以中国北方农牧交错区的准格尔旗为例,利用气象和《统计年鉴》数据,采用数理统计方法分析准格尔旗1961—2009年降水量、平均气温的波动特征,计算出该地区1961—2009年农业生态系统NPP值和主要农作物的气候产量,论述了准格尔旗农业生态系统生产力对气候波动的响应。结果表明:(1)降水量和平均气温的年际、年内波动均显著。(2)准格尔旗农业生态系统生产力呈现阶段性地波动上升趋势。排除社会、科技等影响,气候生产力对气候波动表现出较强的敏感性,是作物气候生态适应的结果。(3)中国北方雨养旱作区,粮食气候产量受降水量年际波动(特别是7、8月)显著影响;谷子、糜黍、玉米、薯类、大豆和油料等农作物的气候产量与降水量年际波动呈显著正相关;谷子、糜黍的气候产量与生长季降水量年内波动呈显著负相关。集水型生态农业是北方农牧交错区生态环境友好的农业发展模式。(4)谷子、糜黍、薯类、大豆和油料等农作物的气候产量与6、7、8月平均气温年际波动呈显著负相关;生长季平均气温年内波动对谷子、糜黍、大豆和油料等农作物的气候产量有显著负面影响。因此,需要综合采取工程、生物和农业措施,将气候变化对主要农作物气候产量的不利影响降到最低。     

Signals of range expansions and contractions of vascular plants in the high Alps: observations (1994–2004) at the GLORIA* master site Schrankogel,Tyrol, Austria

High mountain ecosystems are defined by low temperatures and are therefore considered to react sensitively to climate warming. Responding to observed changes in plant species richness on high peaks of the European Alps, an extensive setup of 1 m × 1 m permanent plots was established at the alpine‐nival ecotone (between 2900 and 3450 m) on Mount Schrankogel, a GLORIA master site in the central Tyrolean Alps, Austria, in 1994. Recording was repeated in a representative selection of 362 quadrats in 2004. Ten years after the first recording, we observed an average change in vascular plant species richness from 11.4 to 12.7 species per plot, an increase of 11.8% (or of at least 10.6% at a 95% confidence level). The increase in species richness involved 23 species (about 43% of all taxa found at the ecotone), comprising both alpine and nival species and was pronouncedly higher in plots with subnival/nival vegetation than in plots with alpine grassland vegetation. Only three species showed a decrease in plot occupancy: one was an annual species, one was rare, and one a common nival plant that decreased in one part of the area but increased in the uppermost part. Species cover changed in relation to altitudinal preferences of species, showing significant declines of all subnival to nival plants, whereas alpine pioneer species increased in cover. Recent climate warming in the Alps, which has been twice as high as the global average, is considered to be the primary driver of the observed differential changes in species cover. Our results indicate an ongoing range contraction of subnival to nival species at their rear (i.e. lower) edge and a concurrent expansion of alpine pioneer species at their leading edge. Although this was expected from predictive distribution models and different temperature‐related habitat preferences of alpine and nival species, we provide first evidence on – most likely – warming‐induced species declines in the high European Alps. The projected acceleration of climate warming raises concerns that this phenomenon could become the major threat to biodiversity in high mountains.     

黑河中游荒漠绿洲过渡带土壤水分与植被空间变异

荒漠绿洲过渡带是绿洲生态系统的重要组成部分,对维持绿洲稳定具有重要作用。过渡带土壤湿度和植被之间的相互关系是了解荒漠绿洲过渡带的重要科学问题,从而开始受到重视。研究是在黑河中游荒漠绿洲过渡带,选择一条1700m×200m的样带（包括3条平行样线）,在对土壤湿度、植被高度、盖度等调查的基础上,应用统计分析和地统计的方法,研究了荒漠绿洲过渡带土壤水分和植被的空间变异性特征。结果表明：在荒漠绿洲过渡带上,0～200cm土层中土壤平均湿度介于1．45％～3．85％,变异系数在27．7％～83．2％;植被盖度介于9％～80％,变异系数为80％。植被盖度、冠幅与0～20、20～40cm两层土壤湿度显著负相关（p〈0．05）,与120～140、140～160cm两层土壤湿度显著正相关（p〈0．01）。土壤水分和植被空间分布在样带上存在明显的空间异质性,表现在小于100m的尺度上随机分布,而在100～3110m的尺度上呈聚集分布格局。     

川西亚高山林线交错带植被凋落物量及养分归还动态

从2006—2008年,研究了川西亚高山林线交错带群落凋落物产量及N、P、K、Ca和Mg主要养分归还动态。结果表明:林线交错带植被凋落物年产量为389.83kg.hm-2.a-1,5种主要养分年归还量总量为15.82kg.hm-2.a-1,归还量排序为Ca>N>K>Mg>P。其中,叶、枝和其他混合杂物分别占凋落物总量的72.2%、17.9%和9.9%,占养分归还总量的87.4%、7.0%和5.6%。凋落物各组分及养分归还月动态均呈单峰曲线型变化,叶高峰期在9月,而枝、杂物则在10月。凋落物养分含量季节动态因不同凋落物组分和养分元素而异。叶凋落物中N、P、K和Mg含量在生长高峰的6、7月较高,而Ca含量较低;枝凋落物各元素含量总体上月变化不显著,其他混合杂物各元素含量6与10月相对较高,其余各月则无显著差异。     

景观边界研究概况

景观边界指在特定时空尺度下 ,相对均质的景观之间所存在的异质景观[6 9] 。过去 ,生态学家的注意力往往集中在景观边界两侧的同质区域来研究生态系统的结构和过程 ,忽视生态系统间的异质区域 ,它们在地图上往往被忽视或缩成一条线。但是 ,景观边界是一个客观存在的空间实体 ,有自己特定的结构和功能。由于景观边界包含有不同类型和不同尺度上的均质景观和异质景观 ,因而它具有等级结构[13] ,同时景观边界都有长度和宽度 ,在此范围内 ,相邻景观单元的小斑块交叉出现 ,因此景观边界是相邻景观单元相互转化的发生区。从景观的演替过程可以看出…     

Further records for Skye

As one of the most conspicuous boundaries between different types of ecosystem, the alpine timberline has attracted the interest of researchers in Innsbruck for more than 85 years. It is evident that the tree life form here reaches its absolute limit and is constrained by the harsh environment. However, the nature of constraints is less obvious and requires detailed ecophysiological analyses as exemplified in this review, which concentrates on the Central Tyrolean Alps. After focusing on the timberline environment, effects of elevation on the water relations and the CO₂ gas exchange of timberline-associated conifer species will be outlined towards conclusions on tree growth and treeline fluctuations. Presently, temperature is suggested to be the key environmental factor in determining the transition from forests to alpine shrub and grassland. As many physiological aspects are influenced directly or indirectly by the temperature regime at the alpine timberline, tree life at the timberline exists close to a number of physiological limits which interact to determine the position of the alpine timberline and modulate the upper boundary of tree life. Nevertheless, understanding of the altitude of the treeline must also consider seedling establishment, especially when evaluating treeline advances and global change effects in a changing environment.     

长白山林区森林/沼泽交错群落的植物多样性

本研究应用样带网格调查方法,对森林／沼泽交错区上6种群落的植物多样性状况、优势种类与分布以及交错区环境梯度进行了研究。结果表明：森林／沼泽交错区植物多样性具有沿着交错区环境梯度逐渐增高的趋势;发育成熟的交错群落具有最高的植物多样性,且高于相对应的典型森林群落。由于交错区群落存在着沼泽植物类群、森林类群以及交错区群落的优势种类群,故发育成熟的交错区群落种类较丰富,一些优势种种群数量为森林中的5倍。因为交错区的生境对于满足这些种类的生活史具有重要作用。森林／沼泽交错群落的特征与交错区环境梯度以及两个植被类型的特征密切相关。