Butterfly Response to Microclimatic Conditions Following Ponderosa Pine Restoration

Efforts to restore ponderosa pine ecosystems to open, park‐like conditions that predominated prior to European‐American settlement result in altered stand structure and increased landscape heterogeneity, potentially altering habitat suitability for invertebrates and other forest organisms. We examined the responses of two butterfly species, Colias eurytheme and Neophasia menapia, to microclimatic changes at structural edges created by experimental restoration treatments in northern Arizona. We monitored microclimate, including air temperature, light intensity, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), on several mornings during butterfly releases. We placed adult butterflies at east‐ and west‐facing edges approximately one half‐hour before dawn to determine their behavioral response to microclimatic differences between east‐ and west‐facing edges. After sunrise, all three microclimatic variables were higher at east‐facing edges, and the difference in microclimate between the two edge orientations increased through early morning. For both species, butterflies placed at east‐facing edges flew earlier than butterflies at west‐facing edges. Colias eurytheme, an open‐habitat species, tended to move toward the treated forest during initial flight, while movements of Neophasia menapia, a forest‐dwelling species, did not differ from random flight. Our results indicate that butterflies respond to microclimatic factors associated with restoration treatments, while responses to structural changes in habitat vary among species, based on habitat and food plant preferences. These changes in forest structure and microclimate may affect the distribution of many mobile invertebrates in forested landscapes undergoing restoration treatments.     

基于土地利用/覆被变化的荒漠绿洲碳储量动态评估

以典型的荒漠绿洲区为研究对象,基于不同时期土地利用/覆被类型图,运用Bookkeeping模型,结合土壤、植被碳密度基础资料及调查数据,评估了近30年临泽绿洲土地利用/覆被变化特征及其对碳储量的影响。结果表明:(1)临泽荒漠绿洲区的土地利用/覆被变化特征主要表现为:居民及建设用地、耕地、林地呈增加趋势,增幅分别为90.2%、75%、46.5%;盐碱地、水体、沙地、荒漠草地则呈减少趋势,减幅分别为73.9%、67.8%、46.2%、5.5%。(2) 30 a耕地面积增加了269.38 km~2,其中耕地开垦面积为372.57 km~2,开垦主要来源于盐碱地、荒漠草地和沙地,分别占耕地开垦面积的24.7%、24.4%和21.05%。耕地转变为其他土地覆被类型的面积为103.19 km~2,转变后的主要去向分别是居民及建设用地、盐碱地和荒漠草地,分别占耕地转变为其他土地覆被类型面积的32.78%、17.8%和15.37%。(3)土地利用/覆被变化导致总碳储量增加5.89×10~5t,其中土壤碳储量增加量为4.02×10~5t,植被碳储量增加量为1.86×10~5t;耕地变化使碳储量增加4.91×10~5t,其中使碳储量增加的转变分别是荒漠草地-耕地、沙地-耕地、盐碱地-耕地、耕地-林地,相反的转变则使碳储量减少。总体来看,临泽荒漠绿洲土地利用/覆被面积和结构均发生了变化,耕地开垦为最主要的土地利用/覆被变化,土地利用/覆被变化导致碳储量总体呈增加趋势,耕地变化是影响碳储量变化的主要因素。     

干旱绿洲灌区大白菜施磷效应与磷肥投入阈值

针对磷肥施用量大且利用率不高的问题,通过2011—2013年在甘肃省农业科学院张掖绿洲灌区农业生态环境重点野外台站进行定位试验,研究了不同施磷量对露地大白菜产量、磷肥利用率以及磷素平衡的影响.结果表明:大白菜产量随施磷量的增加先增加后呈下降的趋势.在施磷量为112.52 kg·hm^-2时产量达到最高(5489.1 kg·hm^-2),且显著高于其他处理,与不施磷处理相比,增产13.3%~23.8%,此时磷肥利用率为14.2%.土壤中土壤有效磷(Olsen-P)和可溶性总磷(CaCl-P)呈现较好的正相关性,土壤Olsen-P含量为24.22 mg·kg-12时对应的施磷量为111.1 kg·hm^-2,表明当土壤中Olsen-P含量小于24.22 mg·kg-1时,土壤中的磷素不发生盈余,对环境不造成污染.当施磷量为60.17 kg·hm^-2时,磷输入与输出达到平衡,即此施磷量水平能满足作物的需求.结合研究区的土壤肥力状况,综合产量、磷肥利用率及土壤有效磷含量,干旱绿洲灌区磷肥投入阈值在60.17~112.52 kg·hm^-2时,能保证露地大白菜高产,并且不会造成环境污染.     

One Dog,but Which Dog? How Researchers Guide Participants to Select Dogs in Surveys of Human–Dog Relationships

Surveys and questionnaires are regularly used in studies of human–animal relationships. However, little attention has been given to understanding how survey participants are provided with instructions for the selection of a single animal within a multi-pet household, let alone the implications for reporting and interpreting data. We reviewed the instructions for the selection of an individual animal in studies addressing emotional or psychological attachment between people and dogs. By searching multidisciplinary journals from the year 2000 onwards, we identified a total of 128 papers, of which 63 met the inclusion criteria. Where selection criteria/instructions were not clear, authors were contacted. One in five studies (21%, or n = 13) did not report their instructions. When provided, instructions varied considerably. The most commonly provided direction was “favorite/closest relationship” (n = 12, or 19%). The remainder (n = 38, or 60%) were spread across eight different categories. Around half of the studies used a validated questionnaire that already contained an instruction, though a similar proportion of studies implemented author-designed instruments. Overall, the common absence and inconsistency of instructions for individual dog selection is taken to imply that there is no standard expectation or approach for instructions to be reported in studies of human relationships with dogs, or human–animal relationships more generally. We recommend further research on the implication of selection methods to ensure that instructions can be matched with specific research aims.     

High‐Performance and Low‐Temperature Lithium–Sulfur Batteries: Synergism of Thermodynamic and Kinetic Regulation

The intrinsic polysulfides shuttle, resulting from not only concentration‐gradient diffusion but also slow conversion kinetics of polysulfides, bears the primary responsibility for the poor capacity and cycle stability of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). Here, it is first presented that enriched edge sites derived from vertical standing and ultrathin 2D layered metal selenides (2DLMS) can simultaneously achieve the thermodynamic and kinetic regulation for polysulfides diffusion, which is systematically elucidated through theoretical calculation, electrochemical characterization, and spectroscopic/microscopic analysis. When employed to fabricate compact coating layer of separator, an ultrahigh capacity of 1338.7 mA h g^?1 is delivered after 100 cycles at 0.2 C, which is the best among the reports. Over 1000 cycles, the cell still maintains the capacity of 546.8 mA h g^?1 at 0.5 C. Moreover, the cell exhibits outstanding capacities of 1106.2 and 865.7 mA h g^?1 after 100 cycles at stern temperature of 0 and ?25 °C. The superior low‐temperature performance is appealing for extended practical application of LSBs. Especially, in view of the economy, the 2DLMS is recycled as an anode of lithium‐ion and sodium‐ion batteries after finishing the test of LSBs. The low‐cost and scalable 2DLMS with enriched egde sites open a new avenue for the perfect regulation of the sulfur electrode.     

An Amazonian rainforest and its fragments as a laboratory of global change

We synthesize findings from one of the world's largest and longest‐running experimental investigations, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). Spanning an area of ∼ 1000 km² in central Amazonia, the BDFFP was initially designed to evaluate the effects of fragment area on rainforest biodiversity and ecological processes. However, over its 38‐year history to date the project has far transcended its original mission, and now focuses more broadly on landscape dynamics, forest regeneration, regional‐ and global‐change phenomena, and their potential interactions and implications for Amazonian forest conservation. The project has yielded a wealth of insights into the ecological and environmental changes in fragmented forests. For instance, many rainforest species are naturally rare and hence are either missing entirely from many fragments or so sparsely represented as to have little chance of long‐term survival. Additionally, edge effects are a prominent driver of fragment dynamics, strongly affecting forest microclimate, tree mortality, carbon storage and a diversity of fauna. Even within our controlled study area, the landscape has been highly dynamic: for example, the matrix of vegetation surrounding fragments has changed markedly over time, succeeding from large cattle pastures or forest clearcuts to secondary regrowth forest. This, in turn, has influenced the dynamics of plant and animal communities and their trajectories of change over time. In general, fauna and flora have responded differently to fragmentation: the most locally extinction‐prone animal species are those that have both large area requirements and low tolerance of the modified habitats surrounding fragments, whereas the most vulnerable plants are those that respond poorly to edge effects or chronic forest disturbances, and that rely on vulnerable animals for seed dispersal or pollination. Relative to intact forests, most fragments are hyperdynamic, with unstable or fluctuating populations of species in response to a variety of external vicissitudes. Rare weather events such as droughts, windstorms and floods have had strong impacts on fragments and left lasting legacies of change. Both forest fragments and the intact forests in our study area appear to be influenced by larger‐scale environmental drivers operating at regional or global scales. These drivers are apparently increasing forest productivity and have led to concerted, widespread increases in forest dynamics and plant growth, shifts in tree‐community composition, and increases in liana (woody vine) abundance. Such large‐scale drivers are likely to interact synergistically with habitat fragmentation, exacerbating its effects for some species and ecological phenomena. Hence, the impacts of fragmentation on Amazonian biodiversity and ecosystem processes appear to be a consequence not only of local site features but also of broader changes occurring at landscape, regional and even global scales.     

Opportunistic predation on birds trapped in mist nets in two areas in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil

Mist netting is the most popular method for capturing birds, but it can increase the predation rates of individuals trapped in the nets. From 2008 to 2017, we recorded eight instances of opportunistic bird predation from mist nets (MNs) in a matrix mixing restored forest and fragments of semideciduous seasonal forest in southeastern Brazil, three times (37.5%) by exotic primates and five times (62.5%) by birds of prey. Overall predation rates (1.17–1.20%) at these two sites were considered high but were lower than in other Brazilian studies. Placing MNs near the edges of forest fragments may have allowed attacks by either forest predators or marmosets, which are exotic edge species. Some previously described precautions may decrease the predation rates of birds in MNs, such as shorter observation intervals, greater attention to given site selection and maintaining a safe distance between the MNs and the ground.     

Restoration Efforts for Plant and Bird Communities in Tallgrass Prairies Using Prescribed Burning and Mowing

Recent losses and fragmentation of tallgrass prairie habitat to agriculture and urban development have led to corresponding declines in diversity and abundance of plants and birds associated with such habitat. Mowing and burning are alternative management strategies for restoring and rejuvenating prairies in fragmented landscapes, but their specific, comparative effects are the subjects of ongoing evaluation. We compared the responses of plant and bird communities on four sets of mowed, burned, and untreated sites of small (3–10 ha), fragmented tallgrass prairies at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), Iowa, U.S.A., during May–July in 1998 and 1999. Species richness and diversity of plants, resident grassland birds, and communities of birds associated with grassland edges (edge species) were independent of treatment. Although not affecting species richness and diversity in plant communities, mowed sites ranked lower in total plant coverage and total forb coverage than burned sites or untreated sites. In contrast, untreated sites had more coverage by shrubs, suggesting that mowing and burning did retard shrub encroachment. Overall, abundance and diversity of plants and birds were generally insensitive to management strategies. Small, fragmented sites of rare habitat may not respond in the short term to management treatments and may not be capable of supporting highly diverse communities, no matter how intensively manipulated. It is more probable that diversity of native prairie communities can be enhanced and restored only through long‐term efforts, acquisition of large land units capable of supporting stable populations, and deliberate reintroduction of species of high conservation value.