The response of Puccinellia maritima to burial: A key to understanding its role in salt‐marsh dynamics?

Abstract. The plant and sediment dynamics in salt marshes are strongly interrelated, but few data are available to document their interaction. Puccinellia maritima is a perennial grass that occurs widely in salt marshes and this study examines its role in the stabilization or trapping of sediment in the pioneer zone and its response to burial, a characteristic phenomenon in accreting salt marshes. Puccinellia not only appears to limit erosion but also to significantly enhance accretion. The functional role of this species is largely dependent on the local disturbance regime. The response of Puccinellia to burial was studied in a series of burial treatments. Growth performance of Puccinellia was stimulated by burial of 4 mm sediment and reduced by burial of 8 mm/month. Burial under 12 mm of sediment led to high mortality of up to 97%. Response was determined by the instantaneous thickness of sediment rather than by the total quantity. Morphological response to burial consisted mainly of stem elongation. Plants collected from accretion zones in the field also produced tillers with adventitious roots at successive soil layers. The range of burial tolerances found for Puccinellia fits well with its occurrence in locations with up to 8 mm sediment accretion per tidal cycle, a common situation in the salt marsh studied.     

森林生态系统的水源涵养功能及其计量方法

为全面认识与正确评价森林生态系统的水源涵养功能,本文探讨了其概念、表现形式及其计量方法,认为：1）森林的水源涵养功能是一个动态、综合的概念,随着人们对森林水文作用认识的不断深入,其内涵不断丰富扩大,因此森林的水源涵养功能概念存在狭义和广义之分;2）森林的水源涵养功能（广义）有多种表现形式,包括拦蓄降水、调节径流、影响降雨和净化水质等,不过其具体表现形式与研究对象、研究目的以及研究尺度有关;3）目前森林拦蓄降水功能的计量方法主要有土壤蓄水能力法、水量平衡法、年径流量法和多因子回归法等8种,不过这些方法都存在一定的局限性,实际应用中需要综合考虑。     

三峡大坝下游残存疏花水柏枝种群结构和动态

在三峡大坝下游的湖北宜都关洲设立1个40 m×40 m的固定样地,利用高度分级,比较2008与2009年两年间的疏花水柏枝（Myricaria laxiflora）种群数量动态,并运用点格局的Ripley＇s K函数分析了其空间格局变化及种群更新特征。结果表明,疏花水柏枝幼苗数量较少,种群更新存在一些障碍。空间分布格局与空间尺度及植株的大小密切相关。种群总体呈集群分布,各大小级多在9 m时出现最大的聚集强度,随着大小级的增加,聚集强度有减弱的趋势。幼苗与中株有较强的正关联。由于种群现有生境变化较大,应考虑迁地保护,并对原生种群加强长期动态监测;同时,开展疏花水柏枝适应机理研究,实施科学保护。     

Population dynamics of diploid and hexaploid populations of a perennial herb

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite the recent enormous increase in the number of studies on polyploid species, no studies to date have explored the population dynamics of these taxa. It is thus not known whether the commonly reported differences in single life-history traits between taxa of different ploidy levels result in differences in population dynamics. METHODS: This study explores differences in single life-history traits and in the complete life cycle between populations of different ploidy levels and compares these differences with differences observed between different habitat types and years. Diploid and hexaploid populations of a perennial herb, Aster amellus, are used as the study system. Transition matrix models were used to describe the dynamics of the populations, and population growth rates, elasticity values and life-table response experiments were used to compare the dynamics between populations and years. KEY RESULTS: The results indicate that between-year variation in population dynamics is much larger than variation between different ploidy levels and different habitat conditions. Significant differences exist, however, in the structure of the transition matrices, indicating that the dynamics of the different ploidy levels are different. Strong differences in probability of extinction of local populations were also found, with hexaploid populations having higher probability than diploid populations, indicating strong potential differences in persistence of these populations. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study on complete population dynamics of plants of different ploidy levels. This knowledge will help to understand the ability of new ploidy levels to spread into new areas and persist there, and the interactions of different ploidy levels in secondary contact zones. This knowledge will also contribute to understanding of interactions of different ploidy levels with other plant species or other interacting organisms such as pollinators or herbivores.     

Intranasal HB-EGF administration favors adult SVZ cell mobilization to demyelinated lesions in mouse corpus callosum

In the adult rodent brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) represents a special niche for neural stem cells; these cells proliferate and generate neural progenitors. Most of these migrate along the rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb, where they differentiate into interneurons. SVZ-derived progenitors can also be recruited spontaneously to damaged brain areas to replace lost cells, including oligodendrocytes in demyelinated lesions. In this study, we searched for factors able to enhance this spontaneous recruitment of endogenous progenitors. Previous studies have suggested that epidermal growth factor (EGF) could stimulate proliferation, migration, and glial differentiation of SVZ progenitors. In the present study we examined EGF influence on endogenous SVZ cell participation to brain repair in the context of demyelinated lesions. We induced a focal demyelinated lesion in the corpus callosum by lysolecithin injection and showed that intranasal heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF) administration induces a significant increase in SVZ cell proliferation together with a stronger SVZ cell mobilization toward the lesions. Besides, HB-EGF causes a shift of SVZ-derived progenitor cell differentiation toward the astrocytic lineage. However, due to the threefold increase in cell recruitment by EGF treatment, the absolute number of SVZ-derived oligodendrocytes in the lesion of treated mice is higher than in controls. These results suggest that enhancing SVZ cell proliferation could be part of future strategies to promote SVZ progenitor cell mobilization toward brain lesions.     

The surf zone: a semi-permeable barrier to onshore recruitment of invertebrate larvae?

The supply of larvae to the shore is important for population replenishment and intertidal community dynamics but its variability at most scales is not well understood. We tested the relationship between nearshore mussel larval abundance and intertidal settlement rates over several years at multiple spatiotemporal scales in Oregon and New Zealand. Abundance of competent larvae nearshore and intertidal recruitment rates were simultaneously quantified using collectors mounted at different depths on moorings 50-1100 m from shore, and at adjacent rocky intertidal sites. Total mussel larval abundance and oceanographic conditions were also measured in some locations. At all scales, abundance of nearshore mussel larvae was unrelated to intertidal recruitment rates. In the intertidal, patterns of mussel recruitment were persistent in space, with sites of consistently high or low recruitment. In contrast, nearshore competent larval abundance showed generally similar abundances among sites except for a high, and spatially-inconsistent, variability in Oregon during 1998 only. On moorings, recruitment tended to be greater on midwater collectors than shallower or deeper. Finally, on moorings larval abundance in traps and recruitment on collectors was unrelated. These results suggest that (1) among sites, the size of the nearshore larval pool is relatively uniform while onshore recruitment varies and is unrelated to larval abundance, (2) temporal variability in nearshore larval availability is not strongly expressed onshore, (3) vertical stratification of competent larvae nearshore is strong and may influence transport and recruitment, and (4) within-coast variability in onshore recruitment is strongly driven by processes occurring locally within the surf zone that need to be studied to understand coastal recruitment dynamics.     

Is coarse woody debris in lakes a refuge or a trap for benthic invertebrates exposed to fish predation?

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