沙质草地植物功能性状对放牧、增水、氮添加及其耦合效应的响应机制

人类活动和气候变化对陆地生态系统结构和功能的影响日益明显。在中国半干旱草原区,植物功能性状对这些变化的响应机制仍不是很清楚。以科尔沁沙质草地植物群落功能性状（CWM_trait）、一年生和多年生植物平均功能性状为研究对象,开展非生长季放牧、增水、氮添加及其耦合效应的模拟控制试验,于2016年8月中旬在沙质草地开展了植物功能性状的调查及测定,主要包括植物高度、比叶面积（specific leaf area,SLA）、叶片干物质含量（leaf dry matter content,LDMC）、叶片氮含量（leaf nitrogen content,LNC）和叶片碳同位素（leaf carbon isotopes,δ¹³C）。结果表明：氮添加显著提高了CWM_height和CWM_LNC（P<0.05）,降低了CWM_LDMC（P<0.05）,同时放牧和增水的耦合效应对CWM_SLA具有显著影响（P<0.05）;放牧显著降低了一年生植物的平均高度（P<0.05）,氮添加显著提高了一年生植物的平均高度、LNC和δ¹³C （P<0.05）;氮添加显著提高了多年生植物的平均SLA、LNC和δ¹³C （P<0.05）,同时放牧和增水的耦合效应对多年生植物的平均SLA和LDMC具有显著影响（P<0.05）。主成分分析表明,放牧促进了植物群落和多年生植物SLA与LDMC、LNC和δ¹³C之间的负相关关系,增水促进了植物群落和多年生植物高度与SLA之间的正相关关系以及LDMC、LNC和δ¹³C之间的正相关关系,说明多年生植物在调控沙质草地植物群落响应外界干扰时具有较强的主导性作用。非生长季放牧、生长季禁牧有利于沙质草地的可持续发展和管理,增水能够减缓放牧压力对于草地植物的影响,氮添加有利于植物同化δ¹³C,并提高植物叶片的水分利用效率。     

自然保护区退牧还草生态补偿标准——以向海国家级自然保护区为例

我国部分自然保护区中拥有大面积草原,但由于过度放牧,面临草原面积减少、质量下降等问题,其重要原因之一是缺少合理的补偿标准导致牧民生计得不到有效保障,偷牧行为屡禁不止。研究制定自然保护区的退牧还草生态补偿标准、完善补偿机制,对于提高我国自然保护区内草原的生态环境质量、改善牧民生计具有重要意义。以我国自然保护区草原生态环境破坏的典型案例--吉林向海国家级自然保护区为例,构建自然保护区退牧还草生态补偿标准制定框架,包括识别影响保护区牧民退牧还草意愿的关键因素,遴选生态补偿标准计算方法;根据草原承包经营权、保护区功能分区、草原利用情况等对补偿客体进行分类;制定针对不同客体的多种补偿标准方案,并提出其优先序。研究结果显示：影响向海国家级自然保护区牧民退牧还草的关键因素为文化程度、务农人口比例、原有牲畜数量和已退养牲畜数量。核心区、缓冲区内未承包草原放牧的牧民的最佳补偿标准为833元 羊单位^-1 a^-1;核心区、缓冲区内承包草原放牧的牧民的最佳补偿标准为913元 羊单位^-1 a^-1;核心区、缓冲区内承包草原未放牧的牧民的最佳补偿标准为120元 羊单位^-1 a^-1;实验区牧民的最佳补偿标准则在核心区、缓冲区三类牧民的补偿基础上扣除牧民承包草原的理论载畜量后进行计算。建议完善牧民基本情况统计制度、拓展补偿资金来源、创新多元化补偿方式并建立动态化补偿标准调整机制。     

天山北坡中段草地生态系统多功能性对放牧的响应

生态系统多功能性(EMF)是指生态系统能够提供多种服务和功能的能力。放牧是草地资源实现开发和利用的主要途径之一,但草地EMF对放牧干扰的响应尚不明确,且其驱动因子仍不清楚。以天山北坡中段草地生态系统为研究对象,基于野外植物群落调查和室内土壤理化性质分析以及微生物高通量测序,探讨轻度放牧、重度放牧和未放牧处理下草地EMF的变化规律。结果表明,(1)相较于重度放牧,轻度放牧显著提高草地生产力、土壤碳养分、土壤氮养分、土壤磷养分、土壤钾养分等生态系统单一功能以及多功能性(P<0.05)。(2)线性拟合结果表明,草地生态系统单功能和多功能性与植物Shannon-Wiener指数、土壤细菌Shannon-Wiener指数、土壤真菌Shannon-Wiener指数、土壤含水量之间呈显著正相关关系(P<0.05),与土壤容重呈显著负相关关系(P<0.05)。(3)通过结构方程模型总体来看,放牧能够直接对EMF产生负向效应,也可通过植物多样性和土壤细菌多样性及其二者之间的相互作用间接地对EMF产生负向效应,并且同时考虑多个生态系统功能对放牧的响应可以更好的反映整个生态系统的变化。研究强调了植物群落多样性和土壤微生物群落多样性对维持草地生态系统功能及多功能性的重要性,轻度放牧处理是更好地保护生物多样性及维持草地EMF的可行策略,该结果揭为合理制定天山北坡中段草地生态系统的可持续经营和管理提供了理论参考。     

大型野生食草动物生境资源利用竞争关系

生物多样性维持是三江源区的重要生态功能,野生动物保护的科学规划需要掌握区内野生动物的栖息地分布状况与资源竞争关系。利用无人机遥感的新技术,在三江源玛多县开展藏野驴、藏原羚和岩羊的适宜栖息地识别与划定以及生境资源利用竞争关系研究。结果显示,2017年玛多县藏野驴适宜生境面积3559.43 km²,距水源距离是限制适宜生境面积的主要因子;藏原羚的适宜生境面积为283.76 km²,岩羊的适宜生境面积为29.97 km²,坡度、距水源距离以及植被类型是制约适宜栖息地面积的主要因素。由于在栖息地坡度选择中的生态位差异,三种大型野生食草动物的生境重叠面积均较小,生境竞争关系较弱。研究为生物多样性保护提供了全新的思路,可为相似区域的野生动物保护与恢复综合规划提供支撑。     

Applied dendroecology informs the sustainable management of Blue Pine forests in Bhutan

Tree ring science is a new discipline in Bhutan but has contributed substantially to our understanding of climate history and informed sustainable forest management practices in the country. This paper describes dendroecological contributions to the second aspect for Blue Pine using three case studies. i) The effects of livestock grazing impact on Blue Pine radial growth were quantified. Radial growth increment was tendentially higher after three years of livestock exclosure, as compared to continued grazing. However, differences remained statistically not significant, likely due to the brevity of the treatment period. ii) Radial growth rates of Blue Pine were characterized across a 400 m elevation gradient. Cumulative radial growth over 40 years differed by a factor of more than three between the low and the high end of the gradient. However, below 2300 m, radial growth showed a continuous decline from 1990, likely as a results of drought due to climate change. iii) Effects of three levels of prescribed thinning of pole stage (DBH 30–50 cm) Blue Pine in central Bhutan showed distinct response to thinning. Heavy thinning lead to a thinning shock in the year after harvest and did not lead to significantly higher radial growth as compared to moderate thinning, which is thus recommended for the species. A positive thinning effect remained for seven years post operation. The case studies were incorporated into national guidelines on sustainable forest management in Bhutan and prove the demand for tree ring based research to inform policy and practice.     

Life-form composition of alpine plant communities at the Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

Alpine plants of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (Sichuan, China) are developed under long-lasting grazing by wild and domestic yaks. Among morphological features of plants, life forms may reflect their adaptation to grazing. We studied life-form composition of four typical communities within the alpine belt (3930–3960 m a.s.l.) subjected to grazing of various intensity: alpine fen (heavily grazed), alpine shrub meadow (heavily grazed), Spiraea alpina thicket (grazed), and Rhododendron thicket (practically not grazed). The following morphological traits were studied: (1) life form according to Raunkiaer, (2) life form according to Serebryakov, (3) canopy structure, and (4) rate of lateral spreading. We derived life-form spectra based on (1) the number of species per life form and (2) the cumulative abundance of species which have the same life form. One-way ANOVA and nonparametric ANOVA were run to test for significance of differences between spectra. The studied communities differed significantly by the proportion of different life forms. The main life forms are caudex and short rhizome hemicryptophytes, nonclonal species, or species with a low rate of lateral spreading. Therophytes made up 10–11% of the communities except in Rhododendron thickets, where such were absent. These life forms can indicate grazing in the study area.     

Effect of the nutritional environment and reproductive investment on herbivore-parasite interactions in grazing environments

Parasitism is a serious challenge to herbivore health and fitness.To avoid parasites, herbivores avoid grazing near feces, creatinga mosaic of contaminated tall avoided areas (tussocks) and noncontaminatedshort grazed areas (gaps). The mosaic represents a nutritionversus parasitism trade-off in that feces-contaminated tussocksare localized concentrations of both forage resources and parasites.Here, we use a grazing experiment with a natural tussock–gapmosaic to determine how the nutritional environment and reproductiveeffort affect sheep grazing decisions when faced with this trade-off.There were 3 animal treatments (Barren ewes, ewes suckling asingle lamb, and ewes suckling twin lambs) and 2 environmenttreatments (low and high nitrogen). Sward selection and grazingbehavior were measured using focal observations on grazing ewes.Sheep showed an overall strong and significant avoidance oftussocks across all treatments. However, there was a reductionin the avoidance of tussocks by ewes on the low-nitrogen (low-N)plots. Ewes suckling twins showed a reduced avoidance of tussockscompared with barren ewes. Lactating ewes in low-N environmentsfurther reduced their avoidance of tussocks. Ewes with twins,which are at greatest risk from parasites, had the greatestcontact with feces and thus parasites, especially in low-N environments.We conclude that twin-bearing ewes accept the increased riskof parasitism in order to gain the nutrients required to supportincreased reproductive effort, thus increasing their investmentin current offspring at the cost of increased risk of parasitismand thus future potential reproductive attempts.     

Limited effect of hare grazing and short-term climatic variations on the most common alpine vegetation community in the Snowy Mountains,Australia

Background: In the alpine zone of the Snowy Mountains, grazing by mammals is limited. However, introduced European hare numbers have increased since the 1970s.

Aims: To estimate the density of hares and hence grazing pressure among years. To assess the response of biomass, vegetation height and composition to a cessation of hare grazing.

Methods: We used indices of hare abundance based on spotlighting and counts of hare pellets on a transect. The effect of hare grazing on tall alpine herbfield was assessed by using 15 paired exclosure and control quadrats for six years.

Results: The indices of hare abundance suggested densities similar to those in upland areas of Britain. Grazing did not affect the composition, cover of herbs or graminoids or, for 2010, vegetation height or biomass. Variation in vegetation and hare numbers among years was not correlated with climatic variables. Observations of selective grazing suggested that impacts on vegetation may be localised and restricted to certain species. Prior analyses of hare pellets indicated that hares might spread seed of native and exotic species.

Conclusions: Hares are having no general effect on tall alpine herbfield but may affect certain plant species via selective grazing or by spread of viable seed.