Surveys of diseases of spring barley in England and Wales, 1976–1980

Samples from 200–300 randomly selected spring barley crops were taken annually at growth stage 73–77 (milky ripe) from 1976 to 1980. The number of samples from each region was proportional to the area of barley grown in each region. The percentage of the area of the top two leaves affected by diseases was recorded. Mildew (Erysiphe graminis) was the most widespread and severe disease recorded. Brown rust (Puccinia hordei) and rhynchosporium (Rhyn-chosporium secalis) occurred frequently but at relatively low levels. Yellow rust {Puccinia striiformis) and septoria (Septoria nodorum) were seen on less than 50% of the samples in most years, and halo spot (Selenophoma donacis) and net blotch (Pyrenophora teres) were rarely recorded. There was an association between the severity of rhynchosporium and the number of rain days in May and June. The highest levels of brown rust occurred in the south and east and rhynchosporium was more common in Wales and the south-west than in the east, but there were no differences in the regional distribution of other diseases. Cultivar resistance, sowing date, previous cropping and fungicide usage were all found to be associated with altered disease levels. The proportion of crops treated with a foliar fungicidal spray rose from 26% in 1976 to 47% in 1980. The use of tridemorph declined but that of triadimefon increased reaching 29% of crops treated by 1980. The use of ethirimol as a seed treatment declined from 16% of crops grown from treated seed in 1976 to 7% in 1980. Estimated yield losses between 1976 and 1980 varied between 4% and 9% due to mildew, between 0.3% and 0.8% due to brown rust and between 0.2% and 0.5% due to rhynchosporium.     

Preferential grazing of five varieties of spring barley by wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Assessment of grazing damage to five varieties of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) by wild rabbits in an enclosed site revealed varietal differences. The variety Atem was consistently least grazed and Triumph most grazed by rabbits. When variety effects were removed from the analysis significant negative correlations were observed between plant height and stem damage. Differences in sugar content of varieties did not fully explain varietal selection by grazing rabbits.     

Phytoplankton Spring Bloom Intensity Index for the Baltic Sea Estimated for the years 1992 to 2004

We introduce an index for estimating the annual phytoplankton spring bloom intensity in the Baltic Sea. It is based on chlorophyll a estimates calculated from automatically sampled fluorescence and chlorophyll a measurements on board cargo ships from 1992 to 2004. The intensity is described by an index including information on the chlorophyll a concentration and duration of the spring bloom period. In all of the years studied, the spring bloom was most intense in the Gulf of Finland. In the Gulf of Finland and the Northern Baltic Proper there was a slight tendency for the bloom to start earlier in the spring.     

Spring benthic macroinvertebrate communities of selected streams in the High Caucasus (Azerbaijan SSR)

Investigations on invertebrate fauna were carried out at fifteen sites in some chosen streams of the Caucasus (Azerbaijan SSR) in March 1970. Seventy-five taxa of invertebrates were found in the investigated streams. Chironomidae constituted the most numerous group at all sites, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Simuliidae being other important components of the fauna. On the basis of percentage structure of dominance in the examined streams four types of faunistic communities were distinguished. The most common one was the type characteristic of high mountain streams and rivers with Diamesa sp. (gr. latitarsis) predominant. Nevertheless, in springtime this community was characterized by a greater number of taxa and a greater abundance of specimens as compared with the summer period. It may be thus assumed that the spring period in high mountain streams and rivers is more conducive to the development of the invertebrate fauna.     

Keep your feet warm? A cryptic refugium of trees linked to a geothermal spring in an ocean of glaciers

Up to now, the most widely accepted idea of the periglacial environment is that of treeless ecosystems such as the arctic or the alpine tundra, also called the tabula rasa paradigm. However, several palaeoecological studies have recently challenged this idea, that is, treeless environments in periglacial areas where all organisms would have been exterminated near the glacier formed during the Last Glacial Maximum, notably in the Scandinavian mountains. In the Alps, the issue of glacial refugia of trees remains unanswered. Advances in glacier reconstructions show that ice domes did not cover all upper massifs, but glaciers filled valleys. Here, we used fossils of plant and malacofauna from a travertine formation located in a high mountain region to demonstrate that trees (Pinus, Betula) grew with grasses during the Lateglacial‐Holocene transition, while the glacier fronts were 200–300 m lower. The geothermal travertine started to accumulate more than 14,500 years ago, but became progressively more meteogene about 11,500 years ago due to a change in groundwater circulation. With trees, land snails (gastropods) associated to woody or open habitats and aquatic mollusc were also present at the onset of the current interglacial, namely the Holocene. The geothermal spring, due to warm water and soil, probably favoured woody glacial ecosystems. This new finding of early tree growth, combined with other scattered proofs of the tree presence before 11,000 years ago in the western Alps, changes our view of the tree distribution in periglacial environments, supporting the notion of tree refugia on nunataks in an ocean of glaciers. Therefore, the tabula rasa paradigm must be revisited because it has important consequences on the global changes, including postglacial plant migrations and biogeochemical cycles.     

Biogeographical patterns of endemic diversity and its conservation in Australia's artesian desert springs

Aim

Springs in the Australian arid zone are distinct from other waterways because they house a large number of endemic species. We aimed to assess spatial patterns in endemic diversity at a basin‐wide scale and whether environmental features can help to explain them. In doing so, we take the opportunity to summarize the current state of conservation in the system.

Location

Great Artesian Basin (GAB), arid and semiarid regions of eastern Australia

Methods

We combine data regarding the location of springs with published GIS layers regarding environmental characteristics and a literature review of all species and subspecies documented in the published literature to be endemic to GAB springs.

Results

We found evidence of 96 species and subspecies of fishes, molluscs, crustaceans and plants endemic to these springs. The majority of endemic species are invertebrates with geographical distributions limited to a single spring complex (<61 km²). Endemic taxa are concentrated in 75 of the 326 spring complexes. Spring complexes with a large number of springs, high connectivity via drainage basins and low rainfall were more likely to contain endemic taxa, but environmental models were poor predictors of diversity. Only 24% spring complexes with high conservation value are within conservation reserves, and the majority of endemic species are unassessed under the IUCN and Australian conservation legislation, particularly the invertebrates.

Main conclusions

Diversity in this system is underestimated given the current rate of species discovery and prevailing data deficiency for many taxa. Historical processes and species‐specific environmental requirements may be more important for explaining why diversity is concentrated in particular complexes. Almost a decade after this system was listed as endangered, most complexes of high conservation value remain outside of conservation reserves, and the endangered species status of many taxa, and particularly the invertebrates, remain unassessed.

     

CO2浓度增加对半干旱区春小麦生产和水分利用效率的影响

为了解CO₂浓度升高条件下春小麦生产和水分利用效率(WUE)的响应特征,在典型半干旱区定西,利用开顶式气室(OTC)试验平台开展了CO₂浓度增加模拟试验.试验设对照(390 μmol·mol^-1)、480 μmol·mol^-1和570 μmol·mol^-1 3个CO₂浓度.结果表明: CO₂浓度升高使春小麦冠层空气温度小幅上升,10 cm深处的土壤环境温度下降;CO₂浓度增加对春小麦各器官生物量和总生物量都有明显促进作用,在480和570 μmol·mol^-1浓度下,地上干物质量平均增长20.6%和41.5%,总干物质量平均增长19.3%和39.6%.生物量增加主要是由茎叶干物质量增加所致,与生育中期物质生产能力明显增强有关;在两种CO₂浓度处理下,植株根冠比分别降低7.3%和11.8%,CO₂浓度增加对春小麦地上部分干物质积累的贡献大于地下部分;CO₂浓度升高主要通过影响穗粒数来影响最终产量,在480和570 μmol·mol^-1浓度下,小麦产量分别增加了8.9%和19.9%;大气CO₂浓度升高对春小麦光合作用影响的长期效应不明显,随CO₂浓度升高,光合速率显著提高,蒸腾速率降低,蒸发蒸腾量减小.随CO₂浓度升高,叶片、群体和产量3个水平的WUE都增加,其中群体水平的WUE增幅最大,产量水平的WUE增幅最小.     

河南鲁山五大温泉水细菌多样性分析

【背景】位于河南中部的平顶山市含有丰富的温泉资源,对温泉水中的微生物多样性和群落结构进行研究有助于更好地开发利用温泉资源。【目的】探究河南鲁山五大温泉水中(上汤、中汤、下汤、温汤和神汤)细菌多样性。【方法】采用Illumina Hi Seq2500 PE250技术对鲁山五大温泉水细菌的16S r RNA基因V3-V4变异区序列进行测序,应用UPARSE、Mothur、Silva、MUSCLE和QIIME等软件整理和统计样品序列数目和操作分类单元(Operational taxonomic unit,OTU)数量,最后分析五大温泉水中细菌的丰度和多样性。【结果】上汤、中汤、下汤、温汤和神汤分别获得56 017、68 319、65 247、59 340、68 825条有效Tags,聚类为670、287、337、598、381个OTU。细菌分类分析表明,五大温泉水的细菌超过40个门,变形菌门(Proteobacteria)占84.12%,是优势菌;在属分类阶元上,五大温泉水的细菌超过239个属,上汤的优势菌是不动杆菌属(Acinetobacter),中汤的优势菌是Tepidimonas,下汤的优势菌是Vogesella和不动杆菌属(Acinetobacter),温汤的优势菌是Sphingopyxis和新鞘脂菌属(Novosphingobium),神汤的优势菌是Aquabacterium。【结论】鲁山五大温泉水中含有丰富的微生物资源,为后续五大温泉水中的微生物资源开发奠定了基础。     

Phenological responses to nitrogen and water addition are linked to plant growth patterns in a desert herbaceous community

Increases in nitrogen (N) deposition and variation in precipitation have been occurring in temperate deserts; however, little information is available regarding plant phenological responses to environmental cues and their relationships with plant growth pattern in desert ecosystems. In this study, plant phenology and growth of six annuals in response to N and water addition were monitored throughout two consecutive growing seasons in 2011 and 2012 in a temperate desert in northwestern China. The effects of N and water addition on reproductive phenology differed among plant species. N and water addition consistently advanced the flowering onset time and fruiting time of four spring ephemerals; however, their effects on two spring‐summer annuals were inconsistent, with advances being noted in one species and delays in another. N and water addition alone increased plant height, relative growth rate, leaf number, flower number, and individual biomass, while their combinative effects on plant growth and reproductive phenology were dependent on species. Multiple regression analysis showed that flowering onset time was negatively correlated with relative growth rate of two species, and negatively correlated with maximum plant height of the other four species. Our study demonstrates that phenological responses to increasing precipitation and N deposition varied in annuals with different life histories, whereby the effects of climate change on plant growth rate were related to reproductive phenology. Desert annuals that were able to accelerate growth rate under increasing soil resource availability tended to advance their flowering onset time to escape drought later in the growing season. This study promotes our understanding of the responses of temperate desert annuals to increasing precipitation and N deposition in this desert.