Sampling adequacy in an extreme environment: species richness patterns in Slovenian caves

Caves harbor a rich fauna unique to subterranean environments. Although extensive records of cave animals are available, only a small fraction of known caves in any region have been biologically assessed. We investigated the impact of incomplete sampling using one of the richest, best documented cave faunas in the world – that of the Dinaric karst of Slovenia. We utilized time snapshots (1940, 1970, and 2000) of the caves and cave fauna to analyze stability of hotspots, spatial pattern, and relationship between number of species and number of caves. Using data aggregated into 100km² hexagons, the location of hotspots, black–white joins, Moran's I, and spatial autocorrelation all remained constant, at least from 1970 on. The linear regression coefficient of the relationship between number of caves and number of species declined with time. Most hexagons had been sampled, but there was no indication that any hexagon had been sampled intensively enough for the accumulation curve of number of caves versus number of species within a hexagon to reach an asymptote. This appeared to be the result of a highly skewed distribution of species richness among caves. Number and position of hotspots can be predicted from information on these few high diversity caves.     

Extraordinarily low bone mineral density in an old female chimpanzee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii</Emphasis>) from the Mahale Mountains National Park

We examined bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck and lumbar vertebrae of four chimpanzee skeletons from Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, and four captive ones, with a dual energy X-ray absorptiometer. The BMD of Wansombo, an old female chimpanzee from Mahale , was remarkably lower than the mean of the other six younger adult female chimpanzees and categorized as osteoporosis. Posture, locomotion, and trunk-sacral anatomy of chimpanzees may have prevented fractures in Wansombo, whose BMD was below human osteoporosis criteria. Electronic Publication     

'Gatherings' of social grooming among wild chimpanzees: implications for evolution of sociality

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) often groom in gatherings that cannot simply be divided into unilateral dyadic grooming interactions. This feature of grooming is studied at two different levels: grooming cliques and grooming clusters. Grooming cliques are defined as directly connected configurations of grooming interactions at any given moment, and when any member of a clique successively grooms any member of another clique within 5min and within a distance of 3m, all the members of both cliques are defined as being in the same grooming cluster. Twenty-seven types of cliques are observed, with the largest one consisting of seven individuals. Mutual and/or polyadic cliques account for more than 25% of all cliques. The size of grooming clusters varies from two to 23 individuals, and almost 70% of the grooming time is spent in polyadic clusters. Although adult males groom the longest in relatively smaller clusters (size=2-4), adult females groomed the longest in clusters of five or more individuals. A review of the literature implies that mutual and polyadic cliques occur less often in other primate species than in chimpanzees. The importance of overlapping interactions for these kinds of gatherings and its possible significance in the evolution of sociality is discussed in this article.     

Retention of NO_3^ - in an upland streamenvironment: A mass balance approach

Models of the effects of atmosphericN deposition in forested watersheds have notadequately accounted for the effects of aquatic andnear-stream processes on the concentrations and loadsof NO in surface waters. This studycompared the relative effects of aquatic andnear-stream processes with those from the terrestrialecosystem on the retention and transport ofNO in two contrasting stream reaches ofthe Neversink River, a forested watershed in theCatskill Mountains of New York that receives among thehighest load of atmospheric N deposition in thenortheastern United States. Stream water samples werecollected every two hours and ground-water andtributary samples were collected daily at base flowconditions during four 48-hour periods from April toOctober 1992, and NO mass balances werecalculated for each site. Results indicated diurnalvariations in stream NO concentrations inboth reaches during all four sampling periods; this isconsistent with uptake of NO byphotoautotrophs during daylight hours. Mass-balanceresults revealed significant stream reach losses ofNO at both sites during all samplingperiods. The diurnal variations in NO concentrations and the retention of NO relative to terrestrial contributions to the streamreaches were greater downstream than upstream becausephysical factors such as the head gradients ofinflowing ground water and the organic matter contentof sediment are more favorable to uptake anddenitrification downstream. The mass retention ofNO increased as the mean 48-hr streamdischarge increased at each site, indicating that theresponsible processes are dependent onNO supply. Low stream temperatures duringthe April sampling period, however, probably reducedthe rate of retention processes, resulting in smallerlosses of NO than predicted from streamdischarge alone. Water samples collected from thestream, the hyporheic zone, and the alluvial groundwater at sites in both reaches indicated that the neteffect of hyporheic processes on downstreamNO transport ranged from conservativemixing to complete removal by denitrification. Therelative effects of biological uptake anddenitrification as retention mechanisms could not bequantified, but the results indicate that bothprocesses are significant. These results generallyconfirm that aquatic and near-stream processes causesignificant losses of NO in the NeversinkRiver, and that the losses by these processes atdownstream locations can exceed the NO contributions to the stream from the terrestrialenvironment during summer and fall base-flowconditions. Failure to consider these aquatic andnear-stream processes in models of watershed responseto atmospheric N deposition could result inunderestimates of the amount of NO leaching from forested ecosystems and to an inabilityto unequivocally relate geographic differences inNO concentrations of stream waters tocorresponding differences in terrestrial processes.     

甘肃小陇山麻沿林区土壤纤毛虫群落特征

2006年7月和2007年11月,用活体观察和固定染色方法对小陇山麻沿林区土壤纤毛虫群落特征进行了研究.研究中共鉴定到土壤纤毛虫91种,其中包括8个未定名种.林区土壤纤毛虫群落结构复杂,计有3纲11目28科42属91种,下毛目为优势类群,肾形目和前口目为次优势类群,侧口目、缘毛目和寡毛目为偶见类群,膨胀肾形虫(Colpoda inflata)、长篮环虫(Cyrtolophosis elongata)、大口薄咽虫(Leptopharynx eurystoma)和长圆膜袋虫(Cyclidium oblongum)为优势种.林区各样点之间的土壤纤毛虫群落相似性为极不相似到中等不相似.结果表明,小陇山麻沿林区土壤纤毛虫群落物种丰富,特有和稀有物种繁多;林区各样点之间的小生境不同,土壤纤毛虫群落结构出现较大的差异.从林区生态环境的复杂性和独特性方面讨论了保护区土壤纤毛虫群落的特点.     

北极-第三纪成分在喜马拉雅-横断山的发展及演化

通过古植物学及古地史资料,论述了北极地区在第三纪早期气候变迁对喜马拉雅-横断山地区植物区系形成的影响,并通过一些喜马拉雅-横断山地区的特征类群;杜鹃属,槭树属,柳属,桦木属和桤木属以及一些草本类群虎耳草科的落新妇族,金腰属和虎耳草属,忍冬科的莛子镳属的分布式样和起源分化的分析,说明了喜马拉雅-横断山区系中有相当一部分是这些北方起源的,北极-第三纪成分迁移是现代喜马拉雅-横断山植物区系成分的一个重要来源,并且讨论了喜马拉雅-横断山植物区系同北方植物区系可能的迁移路线,指出西南-秦岭-东北通道即西南沿四川盆地经秦岭和黄河至东北和西伯利亚和“中亚高地通道”即向西经帕米尔高原同北方交流,向东经西南-秦岭-东北通道迁移交流是喜马拉雅-横断山植物区系成分同北方交流的主要路线,由于第四纪冰期间冰期反复作用,各类成分在该地区保存,汇集,分化发展,使得该喜马拉雅-横断山地区成了北极-第三纪中心消失以后,在近代形成的温带和高山植物区系新的发展和分化中心。     

七姊妹山自然保护区黄杉林群落学特征

黄杉为国家Ⅱ级保护植物,是我国特有的第三纪孑遗的珍贵树种,主要分布在我国亚热带的中山地带。采用Braun-Blanquet的植物社会学调查方法并结合典型样方法对七姊妹山自然保护区的原生黄杉群落进行调查,并对其群落特征进行了分析。结果表明:在2300 m~2的调查样地,共有维管束植物52种,隶属24科38属,群落物种组成主要以杜鹃花科、豆科、五加科、壳斗科等种类为主;群落生活型组成分析显示,该黄杉群落高位芽植物占绝对优势,高位芽植物、地面芽植物占比分别为76.9%、13.5%,地上芽和地下芽植物较少,植物的生活型谱大致呈"L"型;群落重要值分析表明,黄杉重要值为53.6,占较大优势,是群落建群种,乌冈栎、石韦分别是灌木层及草本层的优势种,其重要值分别为24.0、54.8;该黄杉群落物种多样性指数整体较低,除均匀度指数外,优势度指数、多样性指数、丰富度指数总体表现出灌木层乔木层草本层,上坡山脊的规律;种群年龄结构分析表明,七姊妹山自然保护区黄杉种群年龄结构呈"L"型分布,属于增长型种群,在一定时间内,表明黄杉仍为该群落的优势种群,林窗的出现使该黄杉群落保持持续更新。     

祁连山典型林区生态服务功能间接价值估算

采用常规和替代市场评估技术,对祁连山北坡东段哈溪林区有机质生产、水源涵养、水土保持、固定CO2和净化空气5种生态系统服务功能间接价值进行了估算,并对3种不同植被类型的生态服务功能价值进行了比较。结果表明,哈溪林区5种服务功能总价值为52061.00万元,其中森林、灌丛和草地分别为19510.34万元、25200.01万元和7350.65万元。按有林地面积推算,祁连山森林生态系统提供的服务功能间接经济价值是天祝县国民生产总值的3～5倍,森林生态系统所提供的生态服务功能价值远远超过了当地社会创造的经济价值。就水源涵养和水土保持服务功能而言,灌丛提供的总价值最大。     

山西关帝山种子植物区系研究

关帝山位于吕梁山脉中部,有种子植物７３７种,属于３３５属、８５科。种子植物属种区系成分复杂多样,以温带尬发占绝对优势（温带属２４９属,占总属数的８５．６７％）。对属种区系成分和植被建群种和优势种组成的分析表明,关帝山具有典型的明温带落叶阔叶林性质。与有关山地植物区系与植被组成的比较,关帝山与太岳山具有较高的同质性和密切的联系,与太行山南部次之,而与秦岭太白山具有明显的差异。