亚高山林线优势种形态结构和竞争力对CO2浓度和温度升高的响应

利用封顶式生长室模拟未来变化的气候条件,研究了亚高山林线优势物种岷江冷杉(Abies faxoniana)和4种草本植物形态与竞争指标对CO2浓度和温度升高的响应.结果表明:处理2个生长季后,高CO2浓度条件下,岷江冷杉冠体积增加42％,比叶面积、比冠体积和比根长分别增加17％、65％和19％;温度升高使岷江冷杉冠形更纵向生长,冠体积增加22％,根冠比和比根长均比对照增加17％;二者同时升高使岷江冷杉冠体积增加79％,比叶面积、比冠体积和比根长分别增加17％、197％和18％.CO2浓度升高处理下糙野青茅(Deyeuxia scabrescen)的株高、基茎和每株叶片数增加,但比叶面积降低;甘肃苔草(Carexkansuensis)、东方草莓(Fragaria orientali)和紫花碎米荠(Cardamine tangutorum)的各项指标变化与青茅相反.温度升高下青茅、苔草、草莓株高、基茎和根冠比下降.二者同时升高条件下4种草本植物的基茎和每株叶片数增加,但比叶面积和根冠比降低.这表明,在CO2浓度和温度升高处理下,岷江冷杉形成有利于生长的冠层结构且单位质量的竞争力增加,而4种草本植物的形态结构和竞争力均受到不同程度的负面影响.     

1967-2006年太子河流域径流系数的变化特征

利用太子河流域6个主要支流(海城河、南沙河、北沙河、兰河、细河、太子河南支)1967-2006年日均降水和径流资料,分析了各支流径流系数的变化趋势及其与降水的关系.结果表明:1967-2006年,位于高山丘陵区的太子河南支的年均径流系数较大,而人类活动影响较多的海城河流域的年均径流系数较小;除南沙河的年径流系数总体呈上升趋势外,其余各条支流的年径流系数均呈下降趋势,以南支和兰河的下降趋势尤为明显;除细河流域的年径流系数没有发生突变外,其余各条支流的年径流系数都发生了突变,且突变出现的年份各不相同;年降水量对年径流系数的影响极显著.     

疏勒河中游生态服务价值对土地利用变化的响应

利用ArcGIS 9.2和ERDAS 9.1软件平台和生态经济学方法,采用Costanza等生态系统服务价值计算公式,结合中国陆地生态系统服务单位面积价值,探讨了疏勒河中游1990-2010年土地利用和生态系统服务价值变化特征.结果表明:1990-2010年,疏勒河中游土地利用以未利用地、牧草地、耕地为主,三者面积占研究区总面积的98.2％,20年间土地利用整体特征并未发生重大变化;疏勒河中游主要土地利用变化发生在耕地、建设用地和牧草地,土地利用动态度分别为13.6％、8.0％和7.7％;生态系统服务价值总体呈上升趋势,从344.85亿元增加到485.11亿元,牧草地和水域对研究区总体生态系统服务价值的贡献率最大.研究区生态经济的发展已经处于低度协调水平的边缘,需要加强生态环境保护力度.     

华山新麦草叶片的光合生理特性

对华山新麦草(Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng ex P.C.Kuo)营养叶的净光合速率(Pn)和蒸腾速率(Tr)的日变化曲线进行了分析,并在对叶温(Tl)、气孔阻力(Rs)、光合有效辐射强度(PAR)和气温(Ta)的日变化曲线进行测定的基础上分析了它们对华山新麦草Pn的影响规律。结果表明:华山新麦草Pn的日变化曲线呈"三峰"型,峰值分别为6.5、6.2和9.0μmol.m-2.s-1,依次出现在9:30、11:30和16:30,而且具有明显的"午降"现象;Tr的日变化曲线呈"单峰"型,最大值为1.7 mmol.m-2.s-1,出现在13:30;Tl、Rs、PAR和Ta的日变化曲线均呈"单峰"型,峰值分别出现在12:30、11:30、12:30和13:30。华山新麦草的Pn对Tl、PAR和Ta的响应曲线均呈"抛物线"型,Pn在一定范围内与Tl、PAR和Ta呈正相关,随着Tl、PAR和Ta的升高逐渐增加至最大值后逐渐降低;而Pn与Rs则呈负相关,Pn在一定范围内随Rs的增大逐渐降低。根据拟合方程,华山新麦草营养叶的光补偿点和光饱和点分别为1.1和531.5μmol.m-2.s-1,说明该种类具有很强的喜光性,且对光照强度的适应范围较广。研究结果表明:较大的气孔阻力是造成华山新麦草叶片净光合速率偏低的主要原因。     

Behavioural responses to human‐induced environmental change

The initial response of individuals to human‐induced environmental change is often behavioural. This can improve the performance of individuals under sudden, large‐scale perturbations and maintain viable populations. The response can also give additional time for genetic changes to arise and, hence, facilitate adaptation to new conditions. On the other hand, maladaptive responses, which reduce individual fitness, may occur when individuals encounter conditions that the population has not experienced during its evolutionary history, which can decrease population viability. A growing number of studies find human disturbances to induce behavioural responses, both directly and by altering factors that influence fitness. Common causes of behavioural responses are changes in the transmission of information, the concentration of endocrine disrupters, the availability of resources, the possibility of dispersal, and the abundance of interacting species. Frequent responses are alterations in habitat choice, movements, foraging, social behaviour and reproductive behaviour. Behavioural responses depend on the genetically determined reaction norm of the individuals, which evolves over generations. Populations first respond with individual behavioural plasticity, whereafter changes may arise through innovations and the social transmission of behavioural patterns within and across generations, and, finally, by evolution of the behavioural response over generations. Only a restricted number of species show behavioural adaptations that make them thrive in severely disturbed environments. Hence, rapid human‐induced disturbances often decrease the diversity of native species, while facilitating the spread of invasive species with highly plastic behaviours. Consequently, behavioural responses to human‐induced environmental change can have profound effects on the distribution, adaptation, speciation and extinction of populations and, hence, on biodiversity. A better understanding of the mechanisms of behavioural responses and their causes and consequences could improve our ability to predict the effects of human‐induced environmental change on individual species and on biodiversity.     

Stochastic trajectories of succession initiated by extreme climatic events

Deterministic or rule-based succession is expected under homogeneous biotic and abiotic starting conditions. Effects of extreme climatic events such as drought, however, may alter these assembly rules by adding stochastic elements. We monitored the succession of species composition of 30 twin grassland communities with identical biotic and abiotic starting conditions in an initially sown diversity gradient between 1 and 16 species over 13 years. The stochasticity of succession, measured as the synchrony in the development of the species compositions of the twin plots, was strongly altered by the extreme warm and dry summer of 2003. Moreover, it was independent from past and present plant diversity and neighbourhood species compositions. Extreme climatic events can induce stochastic effects in community development and therefore impair predictability even under homogeneous abiotic conditions. Stochastic events may result in lasting shifts of community composition, as well as adverse and unforeseeable effects on the stability of ecological services.     

Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid fluxes in Santa Barbara Basin (CA) from 1993 to 2008

Blooms of domoic acid (DA) producing Pseudo-nitzschia, regularly occur off the coast of California. Although it has been hypothesized that these blooms are increasing in frequency, the lack of historical records limits our understanding of potential causal mechanisms. In this study, an 15-year time-series (1993–2008) of sediment trap samples collected from the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) at 540 m were analyzed for Pseudo-nitzschia (n = 196, microscopy and SEM) and DA (n = 206, LC–MS/MS) concentrations and fluxes. Results suggest that there was an abrupt shift towards greater frequency and higher magnitude Pseudo-nitzschia blooms and toxic DA flux events in the SBB after the year 2000. SEM analysis of sediment trap material indicates that these events were mainly blooms of P. australis, with cell fluxes increasing by an order of magnitude from a maximum of 4.5 × 10⁶ cells m⁻² d⁻¹ pre-2000, to as high as 3.2 × 10⁸ cells m⁻² d⁻¹ thereafter. Similarly, sediment trap DA fluxes increased by an average of 13.4 μg m⁻² d⁻¹, with only one large event (>5 μg m⁻² d⁻¹) from 1993 to 1999 versus 16 large DA events from 2000 to 2008. While the causes of this abrupt shift remain ambiguous, we suggest that this shift may be related to natural climate variability associated with a change in phase of the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) and its potential influence on the composition and magnitude of waters that are upwelled into the SBB.     

Oceanographic anomalies and sea‐level rise drive mangroves inland in the Pacific coast of Mexico

Question: Although mangrove forests are generally regarded as highly threatened, some studies have shown that mangrove canopies in the Pacific coast of Mexico have been increasing in recent decades. We investigated the possible causes driving this reported mangrove expansion. Location: The mangrove lagoons of Magdalena Bay in Baja California, Mexico. Methods: We used 50‐year‐old aerial photographs and 24‐year‐old satellite images to compare long‐term vegetation change, surveyed a coastal vegetation transect to analyse flooding levels, compiled six decades of tidal and oceanographic information, as well as hurricane data to analyse changes in storm frequency or sea‐level conditions, and used isotopic analysis to date the age of trees along the gradient. Results: A significant increase in mangrove cover has occurred in backwaters of the lagoons during the last 40 years, and especially during the El Niño anomalies of the 1980s and 1990s, while at the same time the mangrove fringe has been receding. Conclusions: The observed change can be attributed to the combined action of the warm surface waters of El Niño events and sea‐level rise. Jointly, these two effects are sufficient to flood large areas of previously non‐flooded salt flats, dispersing mangrove seedlings inland. The inland expansion of mangroves, however, does not ease conservation concerns, as it is the seaward fringes, and not the inland margins, that provide the most valuable environmental services for fisheries and coastal protection.     

Change from pre‐settlement to present‐day forest composition reconstructed from early land survey records in eastern Québec,Canada

Questions: What was the tree species composition of forests prior to European settlement at the northern hardwood range limit in eastern Québec, Canada? What role did human activities play in the changes in forest composition in this region? Location: Northern range limit of northern hardwoods in the Lower St. Lawrence region of eastern Québec, Canada. Methods: We used early land survey records (1846–1949) of public lands to reconstruct pre‐settlement forest composition. The data consist of ranked tree species enumerations at points or for segments along surveyed lines, with enumerations of forest cover types and notes concerning disturbances. An original procedure was developed to weigh and combine these differing data types (line versus point observations; taxa versus cover enumerations). Change to present‐day forest composition was evaluated by comparing survey records with forest decadal surveys conducted by the government of Québec over the last 30 years (1980–2009). Results: Pre‐settlement dominance of conifers was strong and uniform across the study area, whereas dominance of maple and birches was patchy. Cedar and spruce were less likely to dominate with increasing altitude, whereas maple displayed the reverse trend. Frequency of disturbances, especially logging and fire, increased greatly after 1900. Comparison of survey records and modern plots showed general increases for maple (mentioned frequency increased by 39%), poplar (36%) and paper birch (31%). Considering only taxa ranked first by surveyors, cedar displayed the largest decrease (19%), whereas poplar (15%) and maple (9%) increased significantly. Conclusions: These changes in forest composition can be principally attributed to clear‐cutting and colonization fire disturbances throughout the 20th century, and mostly reflected the propensity of taxa to expand (maples/aspen) or decline (cedar/spruce) with increased disturbance frequency. Québec's land survey archives provide an additional data source to reconstruct and validate our knowledge of North America's pre‐settlement temperate and sub‐boreal forests.     

Phenology shifts at start vs. end of growing season in temperate vegetation over the Northern Hemisphere for the period 1982–2008

Changes in vegetative growing seasons are dominant indicators of the dynamic response of ecosystems to climate change. Therefore, knowledge of growing seasons over the past decades is essential to predict ecosystem changes. In this study, the long‐term changes in the growing seasons of temperate vegetation over the Northern Hemisphere were examined by analyzing satellite‐measured normalized difference vegetation index and reanalysis temperature during 1982–2008. Results showed that the length of the growing season (LOS) increased over the analysis period; however, the role of changes at the start of the growing season (SOS) and at the end of the growing season (EOS) differed depending on the time period. On a hemispheric scale, SOS advanced by 5.2 days in the early period (1982–1999) but advanced by only 0.2 days in the later period (2000–2008). EOS was delayed by 4.3 days in the early period, and it was further delayed by another 2.3 days in the later period. The difference between SOS and EOS in the later period was due to less warming during the preseason (January–April) before SOS compared with the magnitude of warming in the preseason (June–September) before EOS. At a regional scale, delayed EOS in later periods was shown. In North America, EOS was delayed by 8.1 days in the early period and delayed by another 1.3 days in the later period. In Europe, the delayed EOS by 8.2 days was more significant than the advanced SOS by 3.2 days in the later period. However, in East Asia, the overall increase in LOS during the early period was weakened in the later period. Admitting regional heterogeneity, changes in hemispheric features suggest that the longer‐lasting vegetation growth in recent decades can be attributed to extended leaf senescence in autumn rather than earlier spring leaf‐out.