Hunting and Plant Community Dynamics in Tropical Forests: A Synthesis and Future Directions

This synthesis builds on the preceding articles of this Special Section and has three goals. We first review the nascent literature that addresses indirect effects of hunting for tropical forest plant communities. Next, we highlight the potential indirect effects of hunting for other groups of organisms. Our final goal is to consider what could be done to ameliorate the demographic threats to harvest-sensitive game species caused by unsustainable hunting. Three conclusions are possible at this time concerning the impact of hunting for tropical forest plant communities: (1) Hunting tends to reduce seed movement for animal-dispersed species with very large diaspores; (2) Hunting reduces seed predation by granivorous vertebrates for species with large seeds; and (3) Hunting alters the species composition of the seedling and sapling layers. The cascading effects of hunting are already known to affect bruchid beetles and dung beetles and are likely to affect other, nongame taxa. To ameliorate these problems, several lines of research should be further explored to facilitate the development of game management plans including: (1) alternative use of sources of animal protein; (2) income supplementation for local people from sources other than wild meat; (3) outreach and extension activities for communities; (4) recognition and facilitation of the shifting of attitudes towards hunting; (5) implementation of community-based wildlife management programs in regulated-use areas such as extractive reserves; and (6) landscape-scale conservation planning that maximizes the source-sink dynamics of harvested and unharvested game populations and enforces game regulations in strictly protected areas.     

云南澜沧景迈古茶园生态系统植物多样性评价

云南澜沧县境内的景迈古茶园是云南省现存面积最大的古茶园.本文应用植物学样地调查和农业生物多样性调查评价(HH-ABA)方法,在景迈古茶园内设置了78个20 m×20 m的样方,对植物多样性进行调查,并就古茶园的管理及资源利用等问题进行了问卷调查和农户访谈.研究结果表明,景迈芒景地区植物地理成分的热带性明显.在景迈古茶园中发现的珍稀濒危保护植物达15种,其中濒危种5个,易危种7个,稀有种3个,含国家三级保护植物11种.从古茶园、天然林、新式茶园3类生态系统的物种多样性分析来看,古茶园与天然林较为接近而比新式茶园高得多,因而在该区生物多样性的维护上起着非常重要的作用.古茶园的物种数按照生活型排序为草本＞乔木＞灌木＞藤本＞附生.与天然林相比,古茶园内乔木和灌木种类的比例减少,草本和附生(寄生)植物的比例大大增加,这与古茶园内乔木郁闭度及茶树的存在密切相关.农业生物多样性分析显示,不同村寨的物种丰富度和物种利用率均存在差异.6个村寨的农业物种丰富度指数的平均值为0.059,高于同纬度地区旱谷地和橡胶林,可见人们在古茶园管理中有意识地保留了可利用的物种.由于不同农户采取的管理措施不同,影响了古茶园内的植物多样性和古茶树的更新,因而使各农户的茶叶经济效益存在差别.古茶园生态系统是自然资源保护与利用相结合的典型例子,建议应当传承并发展当地人民对古茶园的管理经验,由政府、科研机构和农户共同参与,通过示范和培训加强学习指导,对古茶园进行保护和合理的开发利用.     

残茬覆盖与耕作方式对夏玉米叶片衰老代谢和籽粒产量的影响

对小麦机械收获后残茬覆盖与不覆盖两种条件下免耕、翻耕和播种行深松3种土壤耕作方式的夏玉米开花后叶片衰老生理特性和籽粒产量进行了研究。结果表明,残茬覆盖和深松耕作的玉米叶片SOD和POD活性提高、MAD含量降低、叶绿素和可溶性蛋白质含量高、降解速度慢,维持了叶片后期较高的生理功能。最终开花后干物质生产量和玉米籽粒产量表现为：覆盖显著高于不覆盖,深松显著高于翻耕和免耕,残茬覆盖与深松结合效果最好。     

模拟地表火行为对燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮的影响

燃烧剩余物是火烧迹地土壤表面必然存在的残留物,可以通过降水过程以及地表径流释放其所含有的矿物质和有机质至土壤生态系统,从而在一定时间内持续地对火后生态系统恢复过程造成影响。但不同火行为下,相同的可燃物所产生的燃烧剩余物可能具有不同的生态学功能,为了认知火行为对燃烧剩余物的影响,进一步了解二者对火烧迹地生态恢复过程中养分循环和能量流动的潜在影响,探究了火行为对燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮化学计量特征的影响。以红松人工林地表可燃物为实验材料,通过设置不同坡度和含水率为火行为的驱动因子,进行了森林可燃物床层地表上坡火和下坡火的室内模拟燃烧实验。用独立样本T检验、单因素方差分析、多因素方差分析探究了火环境对燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮和火行为的影响,用基于距离的冗余分析(db-RDA)探究了火行为对燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮化学计量特征的影响。上坡火实验组的燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮含量明显高于下坡火实验组(P<0.01);5°实验组中,燃烧剩余物的水溶性碳含量随着可燃物预设含水率的升高而升高(P<0.05)。进一步的数据分析发现火行为与燃烧剩余物水溶性碳氮化学计量特征关系密切,火焰宽度是影响燃烧剩余物水溶性...     

Livestock-driven land use change to model species distributions: Egyptian vulture as a case study

Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used to predict species ranges and their shifts under future scenarios of global environmental change (GEC). SDMs are thus incorporating key drivers of GEC (e.g. climate, land use) to improve predictions of species’ habitat suitability (i.e. as an indicator of species occurrence). Yet, most SDMs incorporating land use only consider dominant land cover types, largely ignoring other key aspects of land use such as land management intensity and livestock. We developed SDMs including main land use components (i.e. land cover, livestock and its management intensity) to assess their relative importance in shaping habitat suitability for the Egyptian vulture, an endangered raptor linked to livestock presence. We modelled current and future (2020 and 2050) habitat suitability for this vulture using an organism-centred approach. This allowed us to account for basic species’ habitat needs (i.e. nesting cliff) while gaining insight into our variables of interest (i.e. livestock and land cover). Once nest-site requirements were fulfilled, land use variables (i.e. openland and sheep and goat density) were the main factors determining species’ habitat suitability. Current suitable area could decrease by up to 6.81% by 2050 under scenarios with rapid economic growth but no focus on environmental conservation and rural development. Local solutions to environmental sustainability and rural development could double current habitat suitability by 2050. Land use is expected to play a key role in determining Egyptian vulture's distribution through land cover change but also through changes in livestock management (i.e. species and stocking density). Change in stocking densities (sheep and goats/km²) becomes thus an indicator of habitat suitability for this vulture in our study area. Abandonment of agro-pastoral practises (i.e. below ∼15–20 sheep and goats/km²) will negatively influence the species distribution. Nonetheless, livestock densities above these values will not further increase habitat suitability. Given the widespread impacts of livestock on ecosystems, the role of livestock and its management intensity in SDMs for other (non-livestock-related) species should be further explored.     

Seeds of the annual grasses Schizachyrium spp. as a food resource for tropical granivorous birds

Seed dynamics of the annual tropical grasses Schizachyrium fragile (R. Br.) A. Camus, S. pachyarthron C. Gardner and S. pseudeulalia (Hosok.) S.T. Blake were studied with the aim of documenting fluxes in granivore food resources. In S. fragile, seed production began in the early dry season, and seed output was primarily influenced by seedling survival. Following seed-fall, there were 651 S. fragile seeds/m² (393 kernels/m²⁾ and 1014 S. pachyarthron seeds/m² (593 kernels/m²) across the study area, with a combined kernel biomass of 14.1 × 10³ g/ha. Seed densities remained stable through the dry season, then declined rapidly after wet season rain. Initial wet season rains of up to 25 mm, 40 mm and 50 mm resulted in seed-bank germination of < 5%, 57%, and 93%, respectively. Some seeds were buried by rain and resurfaced or germinated later, but about 30% was lost. Widespread and abrupt depletion of the seed-bank is likely to occur at the start of about 8% of wet seasons on central Cape York Peninsula, leaving little seed, either for subsequent germination or as food for granivores. Burning early in the dry season, when most seeds were still on the plants, reduced seed densities by 85%. The proportion of seeds with sound kernels was reduced in areas burnt by dry season fires, both directly after the fires and, subsequently, as a result of preferential granivore activity. Areas burnt in the dry season were thus depleted of seed earlier than were unburnt areas. Food availability for granivores should therefore be optimized by fire regimes that include a range of burning histories, including fires in both early dry and early wet seasons as well as keeping other areas unburnt.     

The impact of fire regimes on populations of an endangered lizard in montane south‐eastern Australia

The Blue Mountains water skink (Eulamprus leuraensis; Scincidae) is restricted to less than 40 fragmented swamp sites, all within the Blue Mountains and Newnes Plateau areas of New South Wales, Australia. Climate change is expected to increase fire frequency in the area, potentially degrading habitat quality for this endangered reptile. We quantified lizard abundances in 12 swamps using standardized surveys, and constructed a Global Information System (GIS) database to determine fire‐histories for each swamp since 1967. The abundance of Blue Mountains water skinks was negatively correlated with fire frequency, but not with time since fire. Indirect impacts of fire (mediated via shifts in vegetation density, moisture levels, prey availability and post‐fire predation) may be more important than direct effects in these cool, moist habitats. Although lizards were less common in swamps close to urban areas, and less common in frequently burnt areas, viable populations of this endangered reptile still persist even in anthropogenically disturbed swamps and in swamps that have experienced up to four fires in 20 years. Future research could usefully extend these analyses to other swamps in the locality, and explore the broader impacts of fire regimes on the distinctive flora and fauna of this threatened ecological community.     

Improving the Applicability of Quantitative Ecological Risk Assessment Tools—Understanding Demand-Side Changes

Quantitative ecological risk assessment (ERA) methods are the tools of choice for many natural resource management agencies and practitioners. However, a number of researchers and practitioners have recently highlighted that the application of quantitative ERA tools has perhaps been somewhat limited and this has stimulated discussion on the limitations of these methods, considered to be supply-side limitations in this analysis. By contrast, it is argued here that the demand for risk assessment tools has also changed substantively and this also acts to limit the use of ERA approaches. In particular, demand has changed through an increasing expectation that quantitative ERA tools will be able to capture ecosystem-scale, and sometimes global-scale interactions to support ecosystem-based management approaches. Similarly, the burgeoning use of market-based policy instruments often underpinned by the allocation of private property rights to an increasing number of ecosystem goods and services has fundamentally changed many natural resource management issues into allocation conflicts between alternate rights-holders. These demand-side changes represent both an opportunity and a challenge for developers of quantitative ERA tools.     

灾难及突发事件住院信息管理系统研究现状及趋势

信息工作是决策的依据和先导,如何准确、及时、高效地收集、整理、分析灾难及突发事件信息、伤病员基本信息、救治信息等,已成为医院管理信息学的研究热点问题,也是医院在灾难和突发事件大量伤员信息管理中面临的难点问题。本文就灾难及突发事件住院信息管理系统研究现状及趋势进行综述。