增温、施肥与种内竞争的交互作用对云杉根系属性的影响

增温、施肥与种内竞争的交互作用对云杉根系属性的影响 物种竞争、气温和土壤养分是青藏高原东部高寒地区影响树木生长的重要因素。虽然已开展了大量关于物种竞争、气温、施肥单因素对树木生长的影响研究,但关于这三者的交互作用对根系生长的影响还知之甚少。因此,本研究拟通过测量根系属性(细根长、根表面积、比根长、比表面积、根尖数、根系分支数等)、根生物量,以及根系养分吸收,研究施肥和增温对物种竞争的影响,并进一步探讨施肥、增温与物种竞争的交互作用对云杉(Picea asperata)生长的影响机制以及所采取的适应策略。研究结果表明,增温、施肥和竞争均提高了细根的氮、钾浓度,但并未影响细根生物量和根长、根表面积、根尖数和根分支数等根系特征。然而,无论是增温、施肥,或是它们的联合作用,与物种竞争进行交互时,均增加了根长、根表面积、根尖数、根系分支数和养分吸收。此外,施肥降低了根比表面积、比根长和单位面积的根尖数和根分支数,增温和竞争的交互作用使根比表面积、比根长下降,其他参数不受温度和竞争的影响。该结果表明,云杉在物种竞争、气候变暖、施肥及其交互作用下保持着保守的营养策略。该研究加强了对树木应对全球变化的生理和生态适应性的理解。     

Dynamics of solute/matric stress interactions with climate change abiotic factors on growth,gene expression and ochratoxin A production by Penicillium verrucosum on a wheat-based matrix

Penicillium verrucosum contaminates temperate cereals with ochratoxin A (OTA) during harvesting and storage. We examined the effect of temperature (25 vs 30 ^oC), CO₂ (400 vs 1000 ppm) and matric/solute stress (-2.8 vs -7.0 MPa) on (i) growth, (ii) key OTA biosynthetic genes and (iii) OTA production on a milled wheat substrate. Growth was generally faster under matric than solute stress at 25 ^oC, regardless of CO₂ concentrations. At 30 ^oC, growth of P. verrucosum was significantly reduced under solute stress in both CO₂ treatments, with no growth observed at -2.8 MPa (=0.98 water activity, a_w) and 1000 ppm CO₂. Overall, growth patterns under solute stress was slower in elevated CO₂ than under matric stress when compared with existing conditions. The otapksPV gene expression was increased under elevated CO₂ levels in matric stress treatments. There was fewer effects on the otanrpsPV biosynthetic gene. This pattern was paralleled with the production of OTA under these conditions. This suggest that P. verrucosum is able to actively grow and survive in both soil and on crop debris under three way interacting climate-related abiotic factors. This resilience suggests that they would still be able to pose an OTA contamination risk in temperate cereals post-harvest.     

Water availability and population origin affect the expression of the tradeoff between reproduction and growth in Plantago coronopus

Investment in reproduction and growth represent a classic tradeoff with implication for life history evolution. The local environment can play a major role in the magnitude and evolutionary consequences of such a tradeoff. Here, we examined the investment in reproductive and vegetative tissue in 40 maternal half‐sib families from four different populations of the herb Plantago coronopus growing in either a dry or wet greenhouse environment. Plants originated from populations with an annual or a perennial life form, with annuals prevailing in drier habitats with greater seasonal variation in both temperature and precipitation. We found that water availability affected the expression of the tradeoff (both phenotypic and genetic) between reproduction and growth, being most accentuated under dry condition. However, populations responded very differently to water treatments. Plants from annual populations showed a similar response to drought condition with little variation among maternal families, suggesting a history of selection favouring genotypes with high allocation to reproduction when water availability is low. Plants from annual populations also expressed the highest level of plasticity. For the perennial populations, one showed a large variation among maternal families in resource allocation and expressed significant negative genetic correlations between reproductive and vegetative biomass under drought. The other perennial population showed less variation in response to treatment and had trait values similar to those of the annuals, although it was significantly less plastic. We stress the importance of considering intraspecific variation in response to environmental change such as drought, as conspecific plants exhibited very different abilities and strategies to respond to high versus low water availability even among geographically close populations.     

Zooplankton species richness–productivity relationship: Confronting monotonic positive and hump‐shaped models from a local perspective

This study examined two models that are most frequently used to describe the relationship between species richness and productivity (SPR): monotonic positive and hump‐shaped models. We assessed zooplankton community diversity in response to algal productivity. The relationship between net primary productivity (NPP) and rarefied species richness was examined by fitting the data to two models and comparing them using the Akaike information criterion (AICc). Macrophyte banks with the highest net primary productivity had the highest zooplankton abundance. Our results pointed to a hump‐shaped model as the best fit to describe the relationship between zooplankton species richness and primary productivity (ΔAICc > 4). Thus, the diversity was lower at the extremes of productivity and higher at intermediate levels of productivity. We suggest that this relationship might occur because when the resource supply rates are low, environmental conditions are stressful, whereas a high availability of resources enhances competitive exclusion. Two observations supported this statement: (i) the total abundance of the community positively correlated with NPP (P < 0.05), indicating that less productive sites had few consumers and the raised productivity tended to favour the total abundance; (ii) NPP was negatively correlated with evenness (P < 0.05), indicating that productivity increased the dominance of certain species in the communities. Therefore, we challenged two of the models most frequently used to explain SPR, and discuss some mechanisms underlying a hump‐shaped SPR.     

The short‐ and long‐term fitness consequences of natal dispersal in a wild bird population

Dispersal is a key process in population and evolutionary ecology. Individual decisions are affected by fitness consequences of dispersal, but these are difficult to measure in wild populations. A long‐term dataset on a geographically closed bird population, the Mauritius kestrel, offers a rare opportunity to explore fitness consequences. Females dispersed further when the availability of local breeding sites was limited, whereas male dispersal correlated with phenotypic traits. Female but not male fitness was lower when they dispersed longer distances compared to settling close to home. These results suggest a cost of dispersal in females. We found evidence of both short‐ and long‐term fitness consequences of natal dispersal in females, including reduced fecundity in early life and more rapid aging in later life. Taken together, our results indicate that dispersal in early life might shape life history strategies in wild populations.