Methane emissions reduce the radiative cooling effect of a subtropical estuarine mangrove wetland by half

The role of coastal mangrove wetlands in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) and mitigating climate change has received increasing attention in recent years. While recent studies have shown that methane (CH₄) emissions can potentially offset the carbon burial rates in low‐salinity coastal wetlands, there is hitherto a paucity of direct and year‐round measurements of ecosystem‐scale CH₄ flux (F_CH4) from mangrove ecosystems. In this study, we examined the temporal variations and biophysical drivers of ecosystem‐scale F_CH4 in a subtropical estuarine mangrove wetland based on 3 years of eddy covariance measurements. Our results showed that daily mangrove F_CH4 reached a peak of over 0.1 g CH₄‐C m^?2 day^?1 during the summertime owing to a combination of high temperature and low salinity, while the wintertime F_CH4 was negligible. In this mangrove, the mean annual CH₄ emission was 11.7 ± 0.4 g CH₄‐C m^–2 year^?1 while the annual net ecosystem CO₂ exchange ranged between ?891 and ?690 g CO₂‐C m^?2 year^?1, indicating a net cooling effect on climate over decadal to centurial timescales. Meanwhile, we showed that mangrove F_CH4 could offset the negative radiative forcing caused by CO₂ uptake by 52% and 24% over a time horizon of 20 and 100 years, respectively, based on the corresponding sustained‐flux global warming potentials. Moreover, we found that 87% and 69% of the total variance of daily F_CH4 could be explained by the random forest machine learning algorithm and traditional linear regression model, respectively, with soil temperature and salinity being the most dominant controls. This study was the first of its kind to characterize ecosystem‐scale F_CH4 in a mangrove wetland with long‐term eddy covariance measurements. Our findings implied that future environmental changes such as climate warming and increasing river discharge might increase CH₄ emissions and hence reduce the net radiative cooling effect of estuarine mangrove forests.     

Rapid reversal of a potentially constraining genetic covariance between leaf and flower traits in Silene latifolia

Genetic covariance between two traits generates correlated responses to selection, and may either enhance or constrain adaptation. Silene latifolia exhibits potentially constraining genetic covariance between specific leaf area (SLA) and flower number in males. Flower number is likely to increase via fecundity selection but the correlated increase in SLA increases mortality, and SLA is under selection to decrease in dry habitats. We selected on trait combinations in two selection lines for four generations to test whether genetic covariance could be reduced without significantly altering trait means. In one selection line, the genetic covariance changed sign and eigenstructure changed significantly, while in the other selection line eigenstructure remained similar to the control line. Changes in genetic variance–covariance structure are therefore possible without the introduction of new alleles, and the responses we observed suggest that founder effects and changes in frequency of alleles of major effect may be acting to produce the changes.     

柽柳灌丛关键物候参数多种植被指数遥感提取的适用性——基于CO2通量观测和Sentinel-2数据

本研究以额济纳绿洲四道桥超级站为研究区,结合2018—2019年涡度通量、气象数据和2017—2020年Sentinel-2遥感影像,分析通量塔总初级生产力(GPP)与环境因子的关系,评估12种遥感植被指数对柽柳灌丛长势模拟和关键物候参数提取的适用性。采用7参数双逻辑斯蒂函数(DL-7)+全局模型函数(GMF)拟合GPP和各植被指数生长曲线,并逐年提取生长季始期(SOS)、生长季峰期(POS)和生长季末期(EOS)3种关键物候参数。结果表明: 有效积温(GDD)和土壤含水量是影响柽柳灌丛物候动态的主要环境因子。与2018年相比,2019年由于气温较低,SOS前的积温累积速率较慢,柽柳灌丛需要更长时间的热量积累来进入生长季,从而导致2019年SOS比2018年晚。在SOS与POS之间,2018和2019年水热条件相似,但2019年POS比2018年晚8 d,可能是2019年SOS较晚所致。POS以后,2019年较高的GDD和较低的土壤含水量使柽柳灌丛遭受水分胁迫,导致其生长季后期时间缩短。标准化的Sentinel-2植被指数与10:00—14:00 GPP均值的线性回归结果表明,宽波段植被指数中的增强型植被指数和窄波段植被指数中的叶绿素红边指数、倒红边叶绿素指数、红边归一化植被指数(NDVI705)能够较好地反映与柽柳灌丛GPP具有较高的一致性。柽柳灌丛SOS和EOS的遥感提取结果表明,Sentinel-2窄波段植被指数比宽波段植被指数的准确性更高,尤其是修正叶绿素吸收反射率指数提取SOS最准确,MERIS陆地叶绿素指数提取EOS最准确;Sentinel-2宽波段植被指数提取POS的准确性更高,尤其是两波段增强型植被指数和植被近红外反射率指数最准确。综合所有物候参数来看,NDVI705综合表现最佳。     

Forest vascular plants as indicators of plant species richness: A data analysis of a flora atlas from northwestern Germany

Abstract

Our study had the objective to examine whether the number of forest vascular plants in a forest-poor region may be indicative of total plant species richness and of the number of threatened plant species. We also related forest plant species richness to geological and soil variables. The analysis was based on a regional flora atlas from the Weser-Elbe region in northwestern Germany including incidence data of species in a total of 1109 grid cells (each ca. 2.8 × 2.8 km²). All taxa were classified either as forest or non-forest species. Total species richness in the grid cells ranged from 65 to 597, with a mean value of 308. The number of forest species varied between 20 and 309 (mean 176). Grid cells with or without particular geological units differed in total and forest species richness, with those containing peatland and marshland being particularly species-poor. Indicator value analysis showed that both total and forest species richness in the grid cells were related to soil acidity and nitrogen in a hump-backed manner, with the highest number of species found at moderately low values for nitrogen and at intermediate values of pH. Forest species richness was highly positively correlated with the number of non-forest species and threatened non-forest species. Indicators for high species richness were primarily those species that are confined to closed semi-natural forests with a varied topography and relatively base- and nutrient-rich soils. Grid cells including historically ancient forest exhibited a higher species richness than grid cells lacking ancient forest, indicating the importance of a long habitat continuity for a high phytodiversity. The “habitat coincidence” of high species richness is best explained by similar responses of forest species and species of other habitats to the main environmental gradients. It is suggested that the regional patterns found for the Weser-Elbe region can be transferred also to other forest-poor regions in Central Europe.     

Spatial variation in landscape‐level CO2 and CH4 fluxes from arctic coastal tundra: influence from vegetation,wetness, and the thaw lake cycle

Regional quantification of arctic CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes remains difficult due to high landscape heterogeneity coupled with a sparse measurement network. Most of the arctic coastal tundra near Barrow, Alaska is part of the thaw lake cycle, which includes current thaw lakes and a 5500‐year chronosequence of vegetated thaw lake basins. However, spatial variability in carbon fluxes from these features remains grossly understudied. Here, we present an analysis of whole‐ecosystem CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes from 20 thaw lake cycle features during the 2011 growing season. We found that the thaw lake cycle was largely responsible for spatial variation in CO₂ flux, mostly due to its control on gross primary productivity (GPP). Current lakes were significant CO₂ sources that varied little. Vegetated basins showed declining GPP and CO₂ sink with age (R² = 67% and 57%, respectively). CH₄ fluxes measured from a subset of 12 vegetated basins showed no relationship with age or CO₂ flux components. Instead, higher CH₄ fluxes were related to greater landscape wetness (R² = 57%) and thaw depth (additional R² = 28%). Spatial variation in CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes had good satellite remote sensing indicators, and we estimated the region to be a small CO₂ sink of ?4.9 ± 2.4 (SE) g C m^?2 between 11 June and 25 August, which was countered by a CH₄ source of 2.1 ± 0.2 (SE) g C m^?2. Results from our scaling exercise showed that developing or validating regional estimates based on single tower sites can result in significant bias, on average by a factor 4 for CO₂ flux and 30% for CH₄ flux. Although our results are specific to the Arctic Coastal Plain of Alaska, the degree of landscape‐scale variability, large‐scale controls on carbon exchange, and implications for regional estimation seen here likely have wide relevance to other arctic landscapes.     

我国亚热带毛竹林CO2通量的变异特征

2010年12月至2011年11月,利用涡度相关技术研究了我国亚热带(浙江)毛竹林生态系统的CO₂通量,分析了毛竹林净生态系统交换量(NEE)、生态系统呼吸量(RE)和生态系统总交换量(GEE)的变化.结果表明: 研究期间,毛竹林各月的NEE均为负值,7月最大,为-99.33 g C·m^-2,11月最小,仅-23.49 g C·m^-2,其变化曲线呈双峰型.各月CO₂通量平均日变化差异明显,9月最大,为-0.60 g CO₂·m^-2·s^-1,1月最小,为-0.30 g CO₂·m^-2·s^-1,且在NEE正负转换的时间点上呈明显的季节变化特征;全年RE呈单峰型变化,夏季最高、冬季最低,夜间RE与土壤温度呈极显著正相关.全年NEE、RE和GEE分别为-668.40、932.55和-1600.95 g C·m^-2·a^-1,NEE占GEE的41.8%.与其他生态系统相比,毛竹林的固碳能力极强.     

Allometric disparity in rodent evolution

In this study, allometric trajectories for 51 rodent species, comprising equal representatives from each of the major clades (Ctenohystrica, Muroidea, Sciuridae), are compared in a multivariate morphospace (=allometric space) to quantify magnitudes of disparity in cranial growth. Variability in allometric trajectory patterns was compared to measures of adult disparity in each clade, and dietary habit among the examined species, which together encapsulated an ecomorphological breadth. Results indicate that the evolution of allometric trajectories in rodents is characterized by different features in sciurids compared with muroids and Ctenohystrica. Sciuridae was found to have a reduced magnitude of inter‐trajectory change and growth patterns with less variation in allometric coefficient values among members. In contrast, a greater magnitude of difference between trajectories and an increased variation in allometric coefficient values was evident for both Ctenohystrica and muroids. Ctenohystrica and muroids achieved considerably higher adult disparities than sciurids, suggesting that conservatism in allometric trajectory modification may constrain morphological diversity in rodents. The results provide support for a role of ecology (dietary habit) in the evolution of allometric trajectories in rodents.     

The causes of variation in the presence of genetic covariance between sexual traits and preferences

Mating traits and mate preferences often show patterns of tight correspondence across populations and species. These patterns of apparent coevolution may result from a genetic association between traits and preferences (i.e. trait–preference genetic covariance). We review the literature on trait–preference covariance to determine its prevalence and potential biological relevance. Of the 43 studies we identified, a surprising 63% detected covariance. We test multiple hypotheses for factors that may influence the likelihood of detecting this covariance. The main predictor was the presence of genetic variation in mate preferences, which is one of the three main conditions required for the establishment of covariance. In fact, 89% of the nine studies where heritability of preference was high detected covariance. Variables pertaining to the experimental methods and type of traits involved in different studies did not greatly influence the detection of trait–preference covariance. Trait–preference genetic covariance appears to be widespread and therefore represents an important and currently underappreciated factor in the coevolution of traits and preferences.