Head width–body mass equation: facilitating worker termite biomass estimates

1. Termites are one of the most important invertebrate ecosystem engineers in tropical regions, which may be quantified using termite biomass data. However, biomass data are particularly difficult to collect as they rely on termites being weighed in the field, which may neither be possible nor convenient. Local scale linear regression models, based on termite head widths (mm) and body masses (mg), have been used in the past to estimate termite biomass using head width and abundance data. However, these models represent very limited numbers of termite taxa from single sites. In the present study, I provide one of the most representative linear regression models available based on 90 samples from three different countries (Peru, Kenya, and Malaysia). 2. Although the linear regression model under‐ or overestimated body weights of taxa with characteristic features (e.g. large heads of Odontotermes workers or elongated abdomens of Kalotermitidae) it provides a robust method for estimating termite biomass at the community level. Additionally, while there are limitations related to the general model, which may be solved by focusing on taxa specific data and the use of higher accuracy equipment, it is the first model to facilitate termite biomass estimates using the head with and abundance data only. 3. This study encourages the use of termite biomass data to gain a better understanding of termites in ecosystem processes and calls for comparative data to be gathered for the purpose of creating models that may be representative of the variability among termite taxa.     

中国天然林资源保护工程综合评价指标体系与评估方法

天然林资源是国家重要的战略资源与生态资源,在维护国土生态安全、应对气候变化、保护生物多样性等方面发挥着不可替代的重要作用。作为覆盖范围最广、投资规模最大的天然林资源保护工程（简称天保工程）自2000年正式启动以来,对长江上游、黄河上中游地区以及东北、内蒙古、新疆、海南等重点国有林区的森林资源保护修复、区域生态环境改善及经济社会可持续发展等多方面都产生了巨大、深远影响。天保工程二期于2020年结束,全面定量评估天保工程的生态、经济和社会综合效益和国内外的巨大影响,可为全面推进我国天然林资源保护修复提供科技支撑,为后续政策修订提供决策依据。本文基于空间信息技术、样地调查、生态站观测、比较分析等手段,构建了适用于天保工程的综合评价指标体系与评估方法,涵盖森林资源、生态效益、社会经济效益、生态修复措施和政策设计5个方面,对全面贯彻落实国家生态文明战略和《天然林保护修复制度方案》具有重要的现实意义和深远历史意义,为开展全国性的重大生态工程评估提供借鉴和参考。     

The power of data synthesis to shape the future of the restoration community and capacity

Restoration efforts will be taking place over the next decade(s) in the largest scope and capacity ever seen. Immense commitments, goals, and budgets are set, with impactful wide‐reaching potential benefits for people and the environment. These are ambitious aims for a relatively new branch of science and practice. It is time for restoration action to scale up, the legacy of which could impact over 350 million hectares targeted for the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. However, restoration still proceeds on a case‐by‐case, trial by error basis and restoration outcomes can be variable even under similar conditions. The ability to put each case into context—what about it worked, what did not, and why—is something that the synthesis of data across studies can facilitate. The link between data synthesis and predictive capacity is strong. There are examples of extremely ambitious and successful efforts to compile data in structured, standardized databases which have led to valuable insights across regional and global scales in other branches of science. There is opportunity and challenge in compiling, standardizing, and synthesizing restoration monitoring data to inform the future of restoration practice and science. Through global collation of restoration data, knowledge gaps can be addressed and data synthesized to advance toward a more predictive science to inform more consistent success. The interdisciplinary potential of restoration ecology sits just over the horizon of this decade. Through truly collaborative synthesis across foci within the restoration community, we have the opportunity to rapidly reach that potential and achieve extraordinary outcomes together.     

Better to Live with Allogenerics Than to Live Alone? The Case of Single Male Cercopithecus pogonias in Troops of Colobus satanas

We report the integration of single male crowned guenons (Cercopithecus pogonias) into troops of black colobus (Colobus satanas). We observed one male Cercopithecus pogonias in three troops of Colobus satanas on 30% of observation days (n = 231). Activities of single males guenons did not differ significantly from those of the colobus with which they associated. Moreover, both species performed simultaneously the same activities more often than expected by chance. Interspecific grooming occurred on several occasions. Furthermore, single male guenons spent as much in time social activities when part of a colobus troop, as they typically do when part of a conspecific group. Unlike solitary male crowned guenons, which are silent, a male that is integrated into a troop of colobus is vocal and emits social alarm calls to which colobus monkeys respond. During the single file movements of colobus troops, single male crowned guenons were integrated in the core of the troop and used the same branches at the same height with the colobus. Thus, the life of a single male crowned guenon with black colobus was social. We suggest that the main benefits that he gained is the possibility to live in a social context. Social interactions could be the key element to explain why single males Cercopithecus pogonias join troops of monkeys so different from their natal groups.     

综合性医院临床科室目标管理效益效率分析

目的 通过对临床科室综合目标管理效益效率考核实施情况进行分析,评价考核方法及考核成效,为医院改进相关考核工作提供参考。方法 科学确立考核指标,并应用横向比较法实证分析安徽医科大学第二附属医院2012年各临床科室综合目标管理效益效率考核实施情况。结果 确立以门诊人次、出院人次、手术台次、净收益、每医生实际占用总床日等为核心指标的测算方案,对12个内科科室、10个外科科室进行测算并获得排名,结果基本客观公正地反映了科室效益效率情况。结论 采用横向比较方法对上述指标进行评价能有效反映效益效率考核要求,一定程度上克服科室之间不能直接比较的困难。该评价方法及测算过程简单实用,易于操作,在医院综合目标管理体系效益效率考核中有着一定的应用价值。

     

Impacts of forest cover change on ecosystem services in high Andean mountains

Land conversion affects the delivery of ecosystem goods and services. In this study, we used a 50 years time series of land cover maps to assess the potential impacts of forest cover changes on ecosystem services. A multi-source data integration strategy was followed to reduce inconsistencies in land cover change detection that result from the comparison of historical aerial photographs and satellite images. Our forest cover change analysis highlighted a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation in the early 1990s, consistent with the forest transition theory. When taking the nature of forest cover changes into account, our data show that the areal increase of the forested area was not associated with an improvement in ecological conditions. The overall capacity of the landscape to deliver ecosystem services dropped steadily by 16% over the 50 years’ study period. Conversion of native forests to agricultural land was associated with the strongest decline in ecosystem services. Conversion of natural grasslands into pine plantations mostly led to negative and probably irreversible impacts on the delivery of ecosystem services. Conversion of degraded agricultural lands into pine plantations led to an improvement in ecological conditions. An effective spatial targeting of forestation programs has the potential to maximize the environmental benefits that forest plantations may offer while minimizing their environmental harm.     

受干扰长白山阔叶红松林林分结构组成特征及健康距离评估

通过样地调查对不同干扰方式产生的过伐天然林、次生白桦林和人工落叶松林等群落的结构组成进行分析和分类探讨,并选取能够表征结构完整性和稳定性的一些指标因子,利用健康距离法对长白山阔叶红松林区的森林生态系统健康进行了评估实践,结果按顺序依次为：原始阔叶类0．14<结构转换型0．23<结构保留型0．32<结构破坏型0．33<严重干扰类型0．44<次生白桦林0．53<人工落叶松林0．68．以期对阔叶红松林生态系统的恢复和区域林业可持续发展提供参考．     

The relative importance of different direct benefits in the mate choices of a field cricket

Discussions about the evolution of female mating preferences have often suggested that females should express multiple strong preferences when different male traits are correlated with different mating benefits, yet few studies have directly tested this hypothesis by comparing the strength of female preferences for male traits known to be correlated with different benefits. In the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps, females receive fecundity and fertility benefits from mating with males with higher chirp rates and life-span benefits from mating with males with longer chirp durations. Although females prefer higher chirp rates and longer chirp durations when the other trait is held constant, it is possible that they give priority to one of these song traits when both vary. In this study, we examined the relative importance of chirp rate and chirp duration in female mate choice using single-stimulus presentations of songs that varied in both chirp rate and chirp duration. Females expressed both directional and stabilizing preferences based on chirp rate, responding most strongly to a chirp rate approximately one standard deviation above the population mean. Females did not express preferences based on chirp duration, and did not express correlational preferences. These results suggest that females may give priority to the reproductive benefits provided by males that produce higher chirp rates.     

Elevationally biased avian predation as a contributor to the spatial distribution of geometrid moth outbreaks in sub‐arctic mountain birch forest

1. Population dynamics and interactions that vary over a species' range are of particular importance in the context of latitudinal clines in biological diversity. Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) and autumnal moth (Epirrita autumnata) are two species of eruptive geometrids that vary widely in outbreak tendency over their range, which generally increases from south to north and with elevation. 2. The predation pressure on geometrid larvae and pupae over an elevational gradient was tested. The effects of background larval density and bird occupancy of monitoring nest boxes on predation rates were also tested. Predation on larvae was tested through exclusion treatments at 20 replicate stations over four elevations at one site, while pupae were set out to measure predation at two elevations at three sites. 3. Larval densities were reduced by bird predation at three lower elevations, but not at the highest elevation, and predation rates were 1.9 times higher at the lowest elevation than at the highest elevation. The rate of predation on larvae was not related to background larval density or nest box occupancy, although there were more eggs and chicks at the lowest elevation. There were no consistent differences in predation on pupae by elevation. 4. These results suggest that elevational variation in avian predation pressure on larvae may help to drive elevational differences in outbreak tendency, and that birds may play a more important role in geometrid population dynamics than the focus on invertebrate and soil predators of previous work would suggest.