Territory occupancy and breeding success of Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus at various stages of population recovery

Organochlorine pesticides disrupted reproduction and killed many raptorial birds, and contributed to population declines during the 1940s to 1970s. We sought to discern whether and to what extent territory occupancy and breeding success changed from the pesticide era to recent years in a resident population of Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus in southern Scotland using long‐term (1964–2015) field data and multi‐state, multi‐season occupancy models. Peregrine territories that were occupied with successful reproduction in one year were much more likely to be occupied and experience reproductive success in the following year, compared with those that were unoccupied or occupied by unsuccessful breeders in the previous year. Probability of territory occupancy differed between territories in the eastern and western parts of the study area, and varied over time. The probability of occupancy of territories that were unoccupied and those that were occupied with successful reproduction during the previous breeding season generally increased over time, whereas the probability of occupancy of territories that were occupied after failed reproduction decreased. The probability of reproductive success (conditional on occupancy) in territories that were occupied during the previous breeding season increased over time. Specifically, for territories that had been successful in the previous year, the probability of occupancy as well as reproductive success increased steadily over time; these probabilities were substantially higher in recent years than earlier, when the population was still exposed to direct or residual effects of organochlorine pesticides. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that progressive reduction, followed by a complete ban, in the use of organochlorine pesticides improved reproductive success of Peregrines in southern Scotland. Differences in the temporal pattern of probability of reproductive success between south‐eastern and south‐western Scotland suggest that the effect of organochlorine pesticides on Peregrine reproductive success and/or the recovery from pesticide effects varied geographically and was possibly affected by other factors such as persecution.     

Foliar and wood chemistry of sugar maple along a gradient of soil acidity and stand health

The decline of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) in forest of north-eastern North America is an important environmental issue. In this study, relationships between, soil, wood and foliar chemistry were assessed for 17 stands distributed within a large area of the Quebec sugar maple forest and that were growing on soils with a strong gradient of acidity and base saturation. There were many significant relationships between variables describing the acid-base status of the top-B soil (Ca and Mg concentrations, exchangeable acidity and base saturation) and Ca and Mn concentrations and Ca/Mn and Mg/Mn in tree tissues. Manganese was the element that showed the strongest inverse non-linear relationships with top-B soil base saturation with variance explanation of 71 and 65%, for wood and foliage, respectively. The 17 sites were divided in two groups according to their level of decline. The declining stands had significantly higher wood Mn and Mg concentrations and lower Ca/Mn ratios and significantly higher foliar Mn and lower Ca and Al concentrations. It was impossible to determine if these differences were a cause or a symptom of sugar maple health. However, the increase in Mn concentrations in tree tissues with increasing soil acidity, as well as the higher Mn concentrations in declining as compared to healthy stands suggest that Mn, as well as low Ca availability, could be an important contributing factor in the sugar maple decline.     

野生和人工繁育树鼩部分生理指标检测与比较

比较野生和人工繁育树鼩的部分生理指标,为人类疾病的动物模型创制提供基本参数.血液采自昆明地区54只野生树鼩(被捕获后人工饲养1-2月)和54只子一代人工繁育树鼩.该研究首次报道在两组动物中,肌酸激酶、肌钙蛋白I、总胆汁酸、果糖胺、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇等在性别间差异无显著性;这些指标在人工繁育树鼩中的中位数(四分位数间距)依次为:1449(956)U/L、5.94(7.23)μg/L、15.6(19.7)μmol/L、393.5(80.8)μmol/L和0.36(0.32)mmol/L;在野生树鼩中依次为:986(564)U/L、4.01(4.10)μg/L、20.0(20.6)μmol/L、379.0(104.0)μmol/L和0.46(0.23)mmol/L.人工繁育树鼩生理指标表现出个体间离散程度降低趋势,但个别反映肝脏功能及心肌情况的指标表现出平均值上升,个体离散程度扩大的现象.这些生理指标为人类疾病的树鼢模型创制打下了基础.     

Effects of past disturbance and edges on tree community structure and dynamics within a fragment of tropical semideciduous forest in south-eastern Brazil over a five-year period (1987–1992)

Tree community structure and dynamics of a 5.8 ha fragment of montane semideciduous forest in south-eastern Brazil are described based on two successive surveys of trees with dbh 5 cm carried out in 1987 and 1992 in 126 20 × 20 m quadrats. The main purpose was to assess whether the spatial variation of dynamic and structural variables were related to edge-effects and past disturbance regimes. The totals for the two surveys were, respectively, 6528 and 6770 trees, and 94.89 and 108.53 m² of basal area. The forest fragment was at an aggrading sylvigenetic phase, indicated by an overall net increase in density and basal area, and by a declining proportion of trees of smaller size. The overall annual mortality and recruitment rates were 2.6% and 3.0%, respectively. The dynamic process, however, was strongly affected by spatial heterogeneity. The more severely disturbed sectors had lower average canopy heights and basal areas per hectare, and higher tree densities, proportions of smaller trees, and relative area of canopy gaps. They also had higher mortality and recruitment rates, resulting in higher turnover rates compared to the sectors which suffered only moderate disturbance regimes. Edge sectors were also affected by different past disturbance regimes. However, they stood out by having a particularly high frequency of liana tangles and the highest rates of net increase both in density and basal area. A canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the effects of past disturbance regimes and edges were highly related to the species distribution in the area. Pioneer species were concentrated on the edges and more severely disturbed sectors, shade-tolerant species were particularly more abundant on the moderately disturbed sites, while light-demanding ones were more widely distributed. Tree community structure was also undergoing important changes, with less common species enjoying higher recruitment rates and density increase compared to the more common ones. Shade-tolerant species were increasing in relative abundance and had comparatively lower mortality rates and higher recruitment rates. On the other hand, pioneer species were under retreat, with a decreasing relative abundance, higher mortality rates and lower recruitment rates.Nomenclature: Oliveira-Filho et al. 1994a,d.     

神农架地区米心水青冈萌枝过程的研究

米心水青冈是水青冈属３种多主干的树种之一,萌枝是它的主要更新方式。本文通过样方法和树木年代学方法对神农架地区米心水青冈的萌枝更新过程进行了研究。结果表明,米心水青冈的萌枝现象是普遍存在的,但萌枝数量不同地点差异较大。９丛米心水青冈完整的年轮分析结果表明,它们萌枝的时间不是连续的,而与森林的受干扰有关。根据８３个圆盘和生长锥芯资料,米心水青冈在萌枝后成长为乔木层或林冠层的过程中,径向生长表现为５种模式,这是根株内竞争的结果。萌枝在米心水青冈林的维持和发展过程中,具有重要的生态学作用。     

红皮云杉人工林乔木层生物量的研究

本文对黑龙江省绥棱林区红皮云杉人工林的生物量和净生产量进行了测定和研究。按平均标准木法调查并分析了林龄为６～３１年红皮云杉人工林乔木层干、皮、枝、叶、根的生物量、净生产量及其分配．用维量分析法建立了估测乔水层单株林木各器官生物量的回归方程,方程的相关系数和估测精度较高,具有参考价值。分析结果表明：红皮云杉人工林乔木层生物量随年龄的增长而增加,到３１年生,林分总生物量平均为１５１．１３ｔ·ｈｍ－２,净生产量并不是随着年龄规律是增长,积累速度快慢不一,一般在３０年左右其净生产量值为１１～１４ｔ·ｈｍ－２·ａ－１,表明红皮云杉人工林群落具有较高的生物生产力。     

Tree growth and climate sensitivity in open and closed forests of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

The creation of forest openings is a frequently observed phenomenon in many types of forests. On the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, where the average elevation is greater than 4000 m above sea level, differences in tree growth between forest stands with openings and completely closed stands are poorly characterized. Here, we presented a dendrochronological study of Tibetan juniper (Juniperus tibetica Kom.) and Sikkim spruce (Picea spinulosa (Griff.) Beissn.) in an open and a closed stand, near Qamdo of eastern Tibet. We found that the growth of juniper responded to climate in a similar way in the open and closed stands, and was positively correlated with temperature from October to January and with the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) from September to June. In contrast, the growth of spruce responded to climate differently in the open and closed stands: growth was positively correlated with the PDSI from September to May in the open stand, whereas it was positively correlated to November and December temperatures (of the prior year) and current June temperature in the closed stand. Interannual variation in, and standard deviations among, juniper tree ring widths were similar in both stands for the past four centuries, whereas they differed in spruce over the past two centuries, particularly in the 1900s. These results suggest that juniper tree ring growth is less sensitive to stand structure than that of spruce, thus providing more reliable climate signals. The data obtained from our study will help forest managers understand the ecology of juniper and spruce in open and closed stands and are therefore useful for management planning.     

Temporal instability of isotopes–climate statistical relationships – A study of black spruce trees in northeastern Canada

Climate reconstructions using stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values) in tree rings are based on relationships between present climatic conditions and isotopic series. This widely used approach relies on the assumption that correlations between stable isotopes and climatic conditions are steady over time. In this paper, we evaluate the strength of the correlations between δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C series with several climatic parameters on fourteen black spruce trees coming from three different sites, in northeastern Canada. We applied a 21-year moving window on the r Pearson calculated between stable isotopes and March–May and June–August precipitation, June–August and April–June maximal temperatures. Our results indicate that despite the large distance and differences in stand conditions between the sites, the three sites responded in the same way over time. We show that because the climatic ambiance has changed during the 1980–1990 period due to a positive North Atlantic Oscillation index the δ¹³C values are not controlled anymore by spring precipitation or summer maximal temperature in the following two decades. As opposed to δ¹³C series, the relationship between summer maximal temperature and δ¹⁸O values was stable over time, and decreased only in the last decade. All these results attest of a “divergence problem” in the last decades which is most pronounced for δ¹³C series. We conclude that the spruce δ¹⁸O series appears to be the most appropriate indicator for reconstructing June–August maximal temperature in the studied area despite the divergence issue, given that the calibration–validation tests and reconstruction can exclude the divergent last decade.     

Large saline lakes of former USSR: a summary review

Shoot biomass and nitrogen, accumulated within above-ground plant biomass in autumn, correlate with nitrogen availability indicated by nitrogen content (% DM) of several shoot parts during the height of the growth period.A higher nitrogen percentage of the shoots is correlated with a higher shoot loss and subsequent substitution by branching and tillering during and continuing toward the end of the growth period. A delayed switch from the vegetative to the generative phase reduces the translocation of reserve material to the rhizome. Increasing nitrogen load is at least one of the factors causing instability and reed-belt decline.