四川盆地北部山区中华蜜蜂活动气象指数构建及应用

基于四川盆地北部山区(简称四川盆北山区)2个地面气象观测站的气象资料和1个中华蜜蜂核心保护区的产量资料以及中华蜜蜂的生态特征和活动规律,分析了区内中华蜜蜂的气候生态适宜性;并以气温、水分、光照、风力和天气状况为影响指标,参考生活气象指数,构建四川盆北山区中华蜜蜂活动气象指数和年景评价分级计算方法。结果表明: 影响研究区中华蜜蜂活动的主要气象因子有气温、空气相对湿度、日照时数、风力和白天降水累计时长,其中,气温和白天降水累计时长是影响中华蜜蜂活动的主要限制性气象因子。通过这5个指标因子的不同取值组合,构建中华蜜蜂活动气象指数并进行分级评价:当指数＞12时,天气条件好,适宜中华蜜蜂活动;当指数为7～12时,天气条件一般,较适宜中华蜜蜂活动;当指数为1～7时,天气条件较差,中华蜜蜂活动明显减少;当指数≤1时,天气条件差,不适宜中华蜜蜂活动或处于越冬期。运用该指数对中山蜂场进行气候评价,多年(4—10月)平均综合气象指数为129.3(评分60.4),总体气象条件良好,“土蜂蜜”单产与年度综合气象指数显著相关,气象年景评价准确率90%。     

鄱阳湖流域极端降水时空分布和非平稳性特征

全球变暖背景下的极端天气气候事件显著增加。本研究基于PreWhitening Mann-Kendall(PWMK)、极点对称模态分解法和广义可加模型,利用鄱阳湖流域1959—2019年16个国家级气象站点的逐日降水数据,从极端降水的强度、频率和持续性3个维度系统检测和分析流域极端降水的时空分布和非平稳性特征。结果表明: 研究期间,鄱阳湖流域极端降水强度和频率呈显著增加趋势,持续性呈下降趋势,极端降水整体表现出强度大、频率高、持续时间短的特点;极端降水存在明显的汛期和非汛期时间分异规律,汛期极端降水集中在流域北部和中部,而非汛期多集中于中部,子流域中信江流域降水量增加趋势最显著,达到2.10 mm·a^-1;汛期极端降水的持续时间越长,强度和范围越小,非汛期极端降水则相反;鄱阳湖流域的极端降水强度和频率以平稳性特征为主,持续性表现出非平稳性特征。随着鄱阳湖流域极端降水量的不断增加,其可能引发的灾害风险将进一步增大。     

Ecosystem Services from Keystone Species: Diversionary Seeding and Seed‐Caching Desert Rodents Can Enhance Indian Ricegrass Seedling Establishment

Seeds of Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides), a native bunchgrass common to sandy soils on arid western rangelands, are naturally dispersed by seed‐caching rodent species, particularly Dipodomys spp. (kangaroo rats). These animals cache large quantities of seeds when mature seeds are available on or beneath plants and recover most of their caches for consumption during the remainder of the year. Unrecovered seeds in caches account for the vast majority of Indian ricegrass seedling recruitment. We applied three different densities of white millet (Panicum miliaceum) seeds as “diversionary foods” to plots at three Great Basin study sites in an attempt to reduce rodents' over‐winter cache recovery so that more Indian ricegrass seeds would remain in soil seedbanks and potentially establish new seedlings. One year after diversionary seed application, a moderate level of Indian ricegrass seedling recruitment occurred at two of our study sites in western Nevada, although there was no recruitment at the third site in eastern California. At both Nevada sites, the number of Indian ricegrass seedlings sampled along transects was significantly greater on all plots treated with diversionary seeds than on non‐seeded control plots. However, the density of diversionary seeds applied to plots had a marginally non‐significant effect on seedling recruitment, and it was not correlated with recruitment patterns among plots. Results suggest that application of a diversionary seed type that is preferred by seed‐caching rodents provides a promising passive restoration strategy for target plant species that are dispersed by these rodents.     

Bivalve Wood Borings of the Ichnogenus Teredolites Leymerie from the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Upper Cretaceous,Czech Republic)

Finds of fossil wood with bivalve wood borings (Teredolites clavatus and T. longissimus) occur in various facies and presumed sedimentary settings of the platform, shallow-marine Bohemian Crectaceous Basin. The basin comprises areas with sandy-dominated sediments, with marl and clay-dominated sediments, areas with predominat sandy-marly rocks, and finally areas dominated by calcareous nearshore sediments. Teredolites clavatus is common in fossil wood of sandstones, originating in beach or deltaic settings; marl and clay-dominated rock frequently bear wood fragments densely bored by Teredolites longissimus. When accompanied by evidence of marine environments as body fossils, glauconite or typical trace fossils, most of the wood fragments are bored. The presence/absence of borings in wood fragments can be considered the most reliable and easily useable criterion of distinction of marine settings in sandy sediments of the margin of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin.     

Possible noncalcareous algae in the upper part of the bell canyon formation (Permian), New Mexico

A new genus and species of alga called Sinoglypha nassichuki is identified and described from Guadalupian rocks of the Delaware Basin, New Mexico. It occurs in tilted to almost upright position in laminites generally accepted as being deposited in deep, anoxic water. The fossils are noncalcareous, having a wavy nature. They are not classed as trace fossils of animals. They are leafy, 2–5 cm long and may be preserved in original position.

If Sinoglypha is an alga it leads to the tentative, but not new, conclusion that perhaps the water was not deep but shallow enough for light penetration—30 meters for the upper part of the Bell Canyon Formation.     

New Data on Therangospodus oncalensis from the Berriasian Fuentesalvo Tracksite (Villar del Río,Soria, Spain): An Example of Gregarious Behaviour in Theropod Dinosaurs

Therangospodus oncalensis is a Berriasian theropod ichnotaxon from the Cameros Basin (Soria Province, Spain). We discovered new trackways assigned to this ichnotaxon during cleaning and conservation works at the type locality (Fuentesalvo), enabling us to describe it more precisely. Therangospodus oncalensis was made by a medium-sized theropod dinosaur and is characterized by a single tapering pad on each toe, a rounded heel impression and a narrow trackway. In addition to having similar morphometric characteristics, most of the trackways at the Fuentesalvo site show comparable size and biometric features. This indicates that, in terms of size and age, a homogeneous population of a single theropod species could have produced these tracks. Moreover, the similar orientation (lying within a range of only 15°) and estimated speed suggested by most of the trackways, lend weight to the hypothesis that the trackmaker of Therangospodus oncalensis was able, at least at times, to move in structured packs displaying gregarious behaviour. Furthermore, this is the first structured pack of theropods to be described.     

Linkichnus Terebrans New Ichnogenus et Ichnospecies,an Insect Boring from the Late Triassic of the Germanic Basin,Southern Germany

The proposed new ichnotaxon Linckichnus terebrans n. ig. et isp., is a small test-tube shaped boring produced by insects in a sphenophyte stem and occurs in Upper Triassic (Keuper) terrestrial deposits.     

Halocnemum M. Bieb. vegetation in the Mediterranean Basin

The aim of the article is the syntaxonomic interpretation of hyperhalophilous woody or semi-woody vegetation with Halocnemum M. Bieb. along the coasts of the Mediterranean Basin. For this area, the two species of Halocnemum, H. strobilaceum (Pall.) M. Bieb. and H. cruciatum (Forssk.) Tod. are identified; their morphological characteristics, synonymy and distribution are here described. The study carried out of particular aspects of the plant morphology and the micromorphological characteristics of the seeds collected from different places in the Mediterranean allows to better differentiate the two species. Vegetation studies already done in many communities of the Mediterranean by several authors threw into great confusion because only H. strobilacem has been recognized as a dominant species. As regards the syntaxonomic analyses of the vegetation, the authors refer to the proposals already made by various scientists for the vegetation of inland salt basins of Eurasia and the Irano-Anatolian area, who suggested the classes Kalidietea foliate and Halocnemetea strobilaceiirano-anatolica, respectively. Conversely, in the Mediterranean Basin, the vegetation study is present only in coastal areas where it is considerably impoverished in the number of species. Therefore, the authors propose to include hyperhalophilous, woody and fruticose vegetation in the class Sarcocornietea fruticosae. However, the phytosociological and ecological diversity is highlighted proposing the order Halocnemetalia cruciati in which both the alliance Halocnemion strobilacei, for middle Eastern Europe, and the alliance Halocnemion cruciati, for North Africa with penetrations in the Western and Eastern Europe up to the Middle East coast, are included. This new interpretation has required the correction of the names of two associations (Frankenio corymbosae–Halocnemetum cruciati and Zygophylloalbi–Halocnemetumcruciati) and the proposal of two new associations Arthrocnemo machrostachyi–Halocnemetum cruciati and Halocnemo cruciati–Sarcocornietum fruticosae. A further proposal concerns the addition of the alliance Limoniastrion monopetali, previously included in the order Limonietalia, in the order Halocnemetalia cruciati.     

Hidden areas of endemism: Small units in the South-eastern Neotropics

This study aimed to establish if the Lower Río de la Plata Basin (LRPB) wetlands can be considered a biogeographic unit. The species of this area were compiled and segregated according to the habitat, selecting only 87 endemic taxa restricted to the LRPB and linked to wetlands. Distributional data of species obtained from the literature, web databases, biological collections, and field trips were georeferenced. The areas of endemism were established as those areas where the distribution of two or more taxa overlaps in groups of rivers’ sections with geographic continuity and were tested with a cluster analysis. This congruence is due to ecological, geomorphological, and historical factors. Four areas of endemism were found: a broad area that comprises the whole study area (Riverine district), which is divided into three nested smaller areas (Paraguay–Paraná Flooding Valleys, Uruguay Basin, and Paraná Delta subdistricts). Then, we analysed 170 taxa distributions to evaluate the relationship between the study area and the neighbouring biogeographic units. According to the results, the study area belongs to the Paraná biogeographic province. Some areas of endemism are hidden inside broader areas and are hardly detected with the currently used biogeographic grid-methods. We propose to combine the information about ecological requirements of each taxon with its georeferenced records to estimate their areas of distribution as a primary step for searching areas of endemism in intracontinental studies.