Cyperus Tubers Protect Meloidogyne incognita from 1,3-Dichloropropene

Meloidogyne incognita-infected and noninfected tubers of yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus) and purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus) were treated with 56 L/ha 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) in microplots and subsequently examined for tuber and nematode viability in the greenhouse using a chile pepper (Capsicum annuum) bioassay system. The study was conducted three times. Nutsedge tuber viability and M. incognita harbored in both yellow and purple nutsedge tubers were unaffected by 1,3-D treatment. Nematode reproduction on nutsedges and associated chile pepper plants varied among years, possibly due to differing levels of tuber infection or soil temperature, but was not affected by fumigation. The presence of M. incognita resulted in greater yellow nutsedge tuber germination and reproduction. The efficacy of 1,3-D for management of M. incognita in chile pepper production is likely to be reduced when nutsedges are present in high numbers, reinforcing the importance of managing these weeds and nematodes simultaneously.     

目标树抚育对亚热带天然次生灌丛群落结构和多样性的影响

在浙江省临安市选择典型天然次生灌丛,分别进行封禁和目标树抚育,探讨灌丛恢复为乔木林的可能性.结果表明: 4年后,与未管护(对照)相比,封禁和目标树抚育后群落平均胸径分别提高1.3和2.6倍,平均高度分别提高0.5和1.1倍;目标树抚育林木出现了对照林分没有的4.5～8.5 cm径阶和4.5～8.5 m树高阶,形成了4 m高的新林层;灌木层物种丰富度和多样性指数没有因抚育而下降;封禁管理维持了群落的树种组成,遵循原有的演替方向;目标树抚育显著改变了群落的树种组成,提高了目的树种的重要值,近期有可能恢复成为针阔混交林群落.与封禁相比,目标树抚育在优势林木胸径和高度生长、树种组成改善等方面更能达到预想的目标.在有条件经营的情况下,可以选择目标树抚育模式对天然次生灌丛进行管理,从而达到加快群落恢复演替形成乔木林的目的.     

Disentangling environmental and host sources of fungal endophyte communities in an experimental beachgrass study

Disentangling the ecological factors that contribute to the assembly of the microbial symbiont communities within eukaryotic hosts is an ongoing challenge. Broadly speaking, symbiont propagules arrive either from external sources in the environment or from internal sources within the same host individual. To understand the relative importance of these propagule sources to symbiont community assembly, we characterized symbiotic fungal endophyte communities within the roots of three species of beachgrass in a field experiment. We manipulated two aspects of the external environment, successional habitat and physical disturbance. To determine the role of internal sources of propagules for endophyte community assembly, we used beachgrass individuals with different pre‐existing endophyte communities. Endophyte species richness and community composition were characterized using culture‐based and next‐generation sequencing approaches. Our results showed that external propagule sources associated with successional habitat, but not disturbance, were particularly important for colonization of most endophytic taxa. In contrast, internal propagule sources played a minor role for most endophytic taxa but were important for colonization by the dominant taxon Microdochium bolleyi. Our findings highlight the power of manipulative field experiments to link symbiont community assembly to its underlying ecological processes, and to ultimately improve predictions of symbiont community assembly across environments.     

The bacterial communities of bioelectrochemical systems associated with the sulfate removal under different pHs

Sulfate contamination in ecosystems has been a serious problem. Among various technologies, bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) show the advantage of no-pollution and low-cost for removing sulfate. In order to further expound the biological process of sulfate removal in BESs, 454 pyrosequencing was applied to analyze the bacterial communities under different pH conditions. The bacterial community profiles were analyzed from three aspects: (a) the α-diversity and β-diversity of bacterial communities, (b) the distribution of bacterial phylotypes, and (c) the characterizations of dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs). We demonstrated that the indexes of phylotype richness and phylogenetic diversity were positively correlated across the pH gradient in the BESs. Among the dominant OTUs, the OTUs which were highly similar to Desulfatirhabdium butyrativorans, Desulfovibrio marrakechensis and Desulfomicrobium sp. might participate in removing sulfate. Standing on genus level, Desulfomicrobium and Sulfuricurvum play conducing and adverse roles for sulfate removal in alkaline condition, respectively. Desulfovibrio contributed to removing sulfate in the neutral and acidic conditions, while Thiomonas mainly weakened the performance of sulfate removal in neutral pH condition. These results further clarified how pH condition directly affected the bacterial communities, which consequently affected the performance of sulfate pollutant treatment using BESs.     

Tree shape, forest structure and diversity of drosophilid community: Comparison between boreal and temperate birch forests

Some models, based on the latitudinal variation in sun angle distribution, predict that trees at high latitudes have narrowly conical crowns and constitute simple-layered forests, whereas trees at low latitudes have shallowly dome-shaped and form more structurally complex multilayered forests. There is a hypothesis that structurally complex habitats can harbor potentially more species than simple ones. In this study, we examined latitudinal correlations between tree shape, forest structure and diversity in drosophilid communities, comparing boreal and cool-temperate forests. We selected secondary birch forests with a common canopy tree species, white birch (Betula platyphylla Sukatchev), as study sites. The crown shape of white birch tended to be spherical in the cool-temperate forest, but narrowly conical in the boreal forest. The foliage structure differed between the two forests. The cool-temperate forest was characterized by a clearly two-layered structure, whereas foliage in the boreal forest was less clearly stratified, being distributed somewhat continuously from the ground to the canopy at lower densities. The structural complexity expressed by foliage height diversity was greater in the cool-temperate forest than in the boreal forest. Various measures of drosophilid diversity were higher in the cool-temperate forest than in the boreal forest, probably resulting from the impoverishment of the canopy subcommunity in the boreal forest. Thus, a physical environmental factor (i.e. the angle of solar inclination) could be a potentially important factor in structuring latitudinal patterns of sylvan animal communities through changes in plant structure at the individual and community levels.     

Assessment of Pollution-Induced Microbial Community Tolerance to Heavy Metals in Soil Using Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria and Biolog Assay

This study attempted to investigate if the tolerance of soil bacterial communities in general, and autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in particular, evolved as a result of prolonged exposure to metals, and could be used as an indigenous bioindicator for soil metal pollution. A soil contaminated with copper, chromium, and arsenic (CCA) was mixed with an uncontaminated garden soil (GS3) to make five test soils with different metal concentrations. A modified potential ammonium oxidation assay was used to determine the metal tolerance of the AOB community. Tolerance to Cr, Cu, and As was tested at the beginning and after up to 13 months of incubation. Compared with the reference GS3 soil, the five CCA soils showed significantly higher tolerance to Cr no matter which form of Cr (Cr³⁺, CrO₄ ^2?, or Cr₂O₇ ^2?) was tested, and the Cr tolerance correlated with the total soil Cr concentration. However, the tolerance to Cu²⁺, As³⁺, and As⁵⁺ did not differ significantly between the GS3 soil and the five CCA soils. Community level physiological profiles using Biolog microtiter plates were also used to examine the chromate tolerance of the bacterial communities extracted after six months of exposure. Our results showed that the bacterial community tolerance was altered and increased as the soil Cr concentration was increased, indicating that the culturable microbial community and the AOB community responded in a similar manner.     

Integration of research and management in optimizing multiple uses of reservoirs: the experience in South America and Brazilian case studies

The construction of large reservoirs in South America and particularly in Brazil has intensified within the last 50 years. Built up primarily for hydroelectricity production, these artificial ecosystems now serve purposes such as: water storage for public use; fisheries and aquaculture; recreation; tourism, and irrigation. These artificial ecosystems were also built up with the purpose of enhancing the regional development. These activities produce multiple impacts among which are eutrophication, a serious problems with various ecological, economic, and social consequences. Basic studies on reservoirs have identified their main ecological characteristics and described some of their fundamental mechanisms of functioning. This information cover: factors involved in reservoir complexity, such as spatial scale, vertical and horizontal heterogeneity, temporal variation at several time scales and, in some cases, watershed/reservoir relationships, and the impact of non-point and point sources of nutrients. Numerous studies have been dedicated to describing aquatic biota, its relationship with environmental factors, and the impacts of degradation/pollution/ eutrophication on biodiversity. Research priorities have been established mainly by limnologists in response to needs identified by environmental impact assessment. Due to the pressure of multiple uses, population growth, and economic factors, aquatic scientists now face a number of questions being posed by managers and engineers. These questions relate to a wide range of practical problems, the solutions to which depend on accumulated data related to the structural complexities and function mechanisms previously referred to. These problems can be divided into three main groups: (i) eutrophication processes and their characteristics, and water quality control; (ii) impact of fisheries, aquaculture, and exotic species introduction on the biota and the water quality; (iii) sustainable development of reservoirs and optimization management of their multiple uses. Predictive capabilities required in the face of these problems should be based on modeling development and intensive use of data-bases resulting from long-term studies on reservoirs. The predictions thus made possible would involve economic factors and the costs of recovery of eutrophic reservoirs. The experience of reservoir research and management in South America and in Brazil is, probably part of a world wide tendency on reservoir research and development with the aim to optimize multiple uses. Based on the cooperation of limnologists and engineers, ecosystem management models must eventually be applied at the watershed / reservoir level, where demands on the part of managers and decision makers will certainly promote a predictive, integrated, and adaptive approach,based on fundamental research.     

宁夏云雾山典型草原灌丛化过程中植被和土壤演变特征

干旱半干旱区灌木、半灌木等木本植物的分布面积持续增加(灌丛化)显著改变了原有植被景观及生态过程,但缺乏对长期封育过程中灌木物种取代草本物种进而影响草地群落组成、结构和功能的研究。为揭示长期封育措施下典型草原灌丛化特征及地上/地下植物群落的响应规律,研究通过对宁夏云雾山典型草原同一封育草地不同时间(2010年、2016年、2021年)植物群落(物种重要值、丰富度、多样性和生物量)和土壤特性(土壤容重、土壤水分及储水量、养分、pH)的定点观测,探讨了长期封育过程中灌木物种矮脚锦鸡儿(Caragana brachypoda)驱动的植被和土壤特性变化。结果表明,(1)灌木矮脚锦鸡儿已经取代草本植物成为封育草地的优势种,群落中灌木生物量、总生物量以及盖度、高度显著增加,但对植物密度的影响较小;(2)灌丛化过程中草地群落Patrick丰富度指数、Simpson优势度指数和Shannon-Wiener多样性指数显著降低,而Pielou均匀度指数显著增加;(3)灌丛化引起土壤深层(60-100 cm)容重显著增大,土层储水量随土层深度的增加呈先减少后增加的趋势;(4)灌丛化使得土壤有机碳含量在浅层(0...