Airborne fungal spores colonising marbles exposed in the terrace of Messina Museum, Sicily

Studies were carried out on the air and on Carraramarble blocks located in the terrace of MessinaMuseum, in order to know the likelihood of airbornefungal spores coming into contact with and colonisingtridimensional objects. Our results showed there were not significantdifferences between airborne fungi circulating inspring and in autumn; Aspergillus, Penicillium,Fusarium, Alternaria, Cladosporium,Ulocladium, Aureobasidium, Phoma were themost common isolates. However, only few species wereable to settle on the marble surfaces as demonstratedby their isolation after 2 and 6 years of exposition.     

You eat what you find – Local patterns in vegetation structure control diets of African fungus‐growing termites

Fungus‐growing termites and their symbiotic Termitomyces fungi are critically important carbon and nutrient recyclers in arid and semiarid environments of sub‐Saharan Africa. A major proportion of plant litter produced in these ecosystems is decomposed within nest chambers of termite mounds, where temperature and humidity are kept optimal for the fungal symbionts. While fungus‐growing termites are generally believed to exploit a wide range of different plant substrates, the actual diets of most species remain elusive. We studied dietary niches of two Macrotermes species across the semiarid savanna landscape in the Tsavo Ecosystem, southern Kenya, based on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes in Termitomyces fungus combs. We applied Bayesian mixing models to determine the proportion of grass and woody plant matter in the combs, these being the two major food sources available for Macrotermes species in the region. Our results showed that both termite species, and colonies cultivating different Termitomyces fungi, occupied broad and largely overlapping isotopic niches, indicating no dietary specialization. Including laser scanning derived vegetation cover estimates to the dietary mixing model revealed that the proportion of woody plant matter in fungus combs increased with increasing woody plant cover in the nest surroundings. Nitrogen content of fungus combs was positively correlated with woody plant cover around the mounds and negatively correlated with the proportion of grass matter in the comb. Considering the high N demand of large Macrotermes colonies, woody plant matter seems to thus represent a more profitable food source than grass. As grass is also utilized by grazing mammals, and the availability of grass matter typically fluctuates over the year, mixed woodland‐grasslands and bushlands seem to represent more favorable habitats for large Macrotermes colonies than open grasslands.     

春季城区道路不同绿地配置模式对大气颗粒物的削减作用

研究城市道路不同绿地类型对大气颗粒物的吸附削减作用,是提高城市绿地大气污染治理功能绿地配置模式优化的重要基础。以位于北京市海淀区的3条典型主干道道路为对象,选取乔木、灌木、草本、乔-灌、乔-草、乔-灌-草6种典型绿地配置模式,在大气颗粒物污染严重以及城市植被发芽、开花、展叶完成的春季(3月中旬至4月上旬),采用Dustmate便携式颗粒物采样器和NK4500手持自动气象仪分1.5m和3m两个高度同步测定距污染源不同位置的大气颗粒物浓度与小气候因子,分析不同绿地配置模式对颗粒物削减能力的差异及其主要影响因素。研究结果表明:复合配置模式比单一配置模式下空气颗粒物浓度稳定程度高,其主要受风速与空气相对湿度的影响;大气颗粒物粒径越大绿地对其削减作用越强;地表覆盖程度是影响不同绿地配置模式对大气颗粒物垂直削减的关键因素,地表覆盖越好垂直削减效果越好,且垂直削减率与温度成正相关关系;草本、灌木对大气颗粒物的垂直削减作用比其他4种配置模式更好;由于受植被郁闭度、疏透度以及配置种类的综合影响,乔-草、灌木绿地配置对大气颗粒物的水平削减作用比其他4种模式更好。     

基于MODIS数据黄海绿潮覆盖面积精细化提取

针对MODIS数据绿潮提取存在大量混合像元导致绿潮覆盖面积偏大这一问题,基于3 m分辨率的机载SAR高分影像,结合归一化植被指数(NDVI),对MODIS研究区中大于NDVI阈值的像元进行混合像元分解得到绿潮的"覆盖面积";获取的准同步3 m机载SAR提取的绿潮面积为"真实值",然后建立二者之间的关系模型,并选取不同的样本区域对该模型进行了验证。实验结果表明:NDVI等传统算法所提取的绿潮覆盖面积约为"真实值"的2.68倍;基于混合像元分解的方法所提取的绿潮面积较"真实值"偏小,约为"真值"的0.56倍;与传统的NDVI等多波段比值法相比,该精细化模型方法提取的绿潮覆盖面积更接近于"真实值",与"真实值"误差仅为6.7%。     

Re-planning the layout of an inner city park by planting species with a low allergological impact

Summary The current situation of parkland in Turin metropolitan area is described. Recently (1979–81) a large area (18 hectars) was turned into a Park named Colonnetti. A project of total re-organisation of the area is proposed.In particular, from the botanical point of view, we suggest the use of non allergenic plants to reduce the allergenic airborne pollen concentration.The multidisciplinary exchange of information among experts such as physicians, botanists, local authorities and the people in charge of the public green areas, may play an important role and contribute to the improvement of the overall situation of airborne pollens in the city atmosphere.     

Scaling up functional traits for ecosystem services with remote sensing: concepts and methods

Ecosystem service‐based management requires an accurate understanding of how human modification influences ecosystem processes and these relationships are most accurate when based on functional traits. Although trait variation is typically sampled at local scales, remote sensing methods can facilitate scaling up trait variation to regional scales needed for ecosystem service management. We review concepts and methods for scaling up plant and animal functional traits from local to regional spatial scales with the goal of assessing impacts of human modification on ecosystem processes and services. We focus our objectives on considerations and approaches for (1) conducting local plot‐level sampling of trait variation and (2) scaling up trait variation to regional spatial scales using remotely sensed data. We show that sampling methods for scaling up traits need to account for the modification of trait variation due to land cover change and species introductions. Sampling intraspecific variation, stratification by land cover type or landscape context, or inference of traits from published sources may be necessary depending on the traits of interest. Passive and active remote sensing are useful for mapping plant phenological, chemical, and structural traits. Combining these methods can significantly improve their capacity for mapping plant trait variation. These methods can also be used to map landscape and vegetation structure in order to infer animal trait variation. Due to high context dependency, relationships between trait variation and remotely sensed data are not directly transferable across regions. We end our review with a brief synthesis of issues to consider and outlook for the development of these approaches. Research that relates typical functional trait metrics, such as the community‐weighted mean, with remote sensing data and that relates variation in traits that cannot be remotely sensed to other proxies is needed. Our review narrows the gap between functional trait and remote sensing methods for ecosystem service management.     

Linking canopy leaf area and light environments with tree size distributions to explain Amazon forest demography

Forest biophysical structure – the arrangement and frequency of leaves and stems – emerges from growth, mortality and space filling dynamics, and may also influence those dynamics by structuring light environments. To investigate this interaction, we developed models that could use LiDAR remote sensing to link leaf area profiles with tree size distributions, comparing models which did not (metabolic scaling theory) and did allow light to influence this link. We found that a light environment‐to‐structure link was necessary to accurately simulate tree size distributions and canopy structure in two contrasting Amazon forests. Partitioning leaf area profiles into size‐class components, we found that demographic rates were related to variation in light absorption, with mortality increasing relative to growth in higher light, consistent with a light environment feedback to size distributions. Combining LiDAR with models linking forest structure and demography offers a high‐throughput approach to advance theory and investigate climate‐relevant tropical forest change.     

Does more mean less? The value of information for conservation planning under sea level rise

Many studies have explored the benefits of adopting more sophisticated modelling techniques or spatial data in terms of our ability to accurately predict ecosystem responses to global change. However, we currently know little about whether the improved predictions will actually lead to better conservation outcomes once the costs of gaining improved models or data are accounted for. This severely limits our ability to make strategic decisions for adaptation to global pressures, particularly in landscapes subject to dynamic change such as the coastal zone. In such landscapes, the global phenomenon of sea level rise is a critical consideration for preserving biodiversity. Here, we address this issue in the context of making decisions about where to locate a reserve system to preserve coastal biodiversity with a limited budget. Specifically, we determined the cost‐effectiveness of investing in high‐resolution elevation data and process‐based models for predicting wetland shifts in a coastal region of South East Queensland, Australia. We evaluated the resulting priority areas for reserve selection to quantify the cost‐effectiveness of investment in better quantifying biological and physical processes. We show that, in this case, it is considerably more cost effective to use a process‐based model and high‐resolution elevation data, even if this requires a substantial proportion of the project budget to be expended (up to 99% in one instance). The less accurate model and data set failed to identify areas of high conservation value, reducing the cost‐effectiveness of the resultant conservation plan. This suggests that when developing conservation plans in areas where sea level rise threatens biodiversity, investing in high‐resolution elevation data and process‐based models to predict shifts in coastal ecosystems may be highly cost effective. A future research priority is to determine how this cost‐effectiveness varies among different regions across the globe.     

陕西中部黄土高原地区空气花粉组成及其与气候因子的关系——以洛川县下黑木沟村为例

空气花粉研究是现代孢粉学、植被变迁与预测的重要内容之一.陕西省黄土高原地区洛川县2007-2009连续2a的空气花粉分析表明:空气花粉组成与区域植被分布特征和植物花期一致.与2007—2008年相比,2008-2009年的花粉总通量及蒿属花粉通量明显增加,但木本植物花粉通量降低,这主要与2008-2009年降水明显偏少密切相关.2007-2008年降雨量高于500 mm,花粉组合中乔木花粉百分比高于30％,表现出森林植被特点;2008-2009年降雨量少于450 mm,花粉组合中草本花粉高于80％,乔木花粉低于10％,更多表现出草原植被特点.但从植被观测来看并没有明显的变化,表明花粉组合较植被对气候变化更为敏感.主要花粉类型与气候因子的相关分析表明:气候因子影响空气花粉的组成及数量.栎属、松属、蔷薇科花粉数量主要受春季温度影响,温度越高花粉数量越多;其他季节花粉数量主要受相对湿度影响,湿度越低,花粉数量越大.榆属花粉数量主要与冬季温度有关,温度越高,花粉数量越高.杨属只受春季温度影响,春季温度越低,花粉数量越多.胡颓子科花粉含量主要受春季相对湿度、风速影响,相对湿度越低,风速越大,花粉数量越多.绝大多数草本花粉数量均主要受春、冬季相对湿度及风速影响,相对湿度越低,风速越大,花粉数量越高;此外,禾本科花粉数量还受春季温度影响,温度越高,花粉数量越多;菊科花粉数量在夏秋季节还受温度、湿度和风速的共同影响,温度越低,湿度越低,风速越大,花粉数量越多.这些结果表明,黄土高原中部地区的空气花粉特征能反映区域植被组成,且对气候变化非常敏感,对认识和预测当地气候变化与植被动态等具有重要意义.