Biomass estimation models and allocation patterns of 14 shrub species in Mountain Luya,Shanxi, China

Aims Shrub species have evolved specific strategies to regulate biomass allocation among various organs or between above- and belowground biomass and shrub biomass model is an important approach to estimate biomass allocation among different shrub species. This study was designed to establish the optimal estimation models for each organ (leaf, stem, and root), aboveground and total biomass of 14 common shrub species in Mountain Luya, Shanxi Province, China. Furthermore, we explored biomass allocation characteristics of these shrub species by using the index of leaf biomass fraction (leaf to total biomass), stem biomass fraction (stem to total biomass), root biomass fraction (root to total biomass), and root to shoot mass ratio (R/S) (belowground to aboveground biomass).
Methods We used plant height, basal diameter, canopy diameter and their combination as variables to establish the optimal biomass estimation models for each shrub species. In addition, we used the ratios of leaf, stem, root to total biomass, and belowground to aboveground biomass to explore the difference of biomass allocation patterns of 14 shrub species.
Important findings Most of biomass estimation models could be well expressed by the exponential and linear functions. Biomass for shorter shrub species with more stems could be better estimated by canopy area; biomass for taller shrub species with less stems could be better estimated by the sum of the square of total base diameter multiply stem height; and biomass for the rest shrub species could be better estimated by canopy volume. The averaged value for these shrub species was 0.61, 0.17, 0.48, and 0.35 for R/S, leaf biomass fraction, stem biomass fraction, and root biomass fraction, respectively. Except for leaf biomass fraction, R/S, stem biomass fraction, and root biomass fraction for shrubs with thorn was significantly greater than that for shrubs without thorn.     

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the adult Drosophila melanogaster proteome

Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most widely used model organisms in life sciences. Mapping its proteome is of great significance for understanding the biological characteristics and tissue functions of this species. However, the comprehensive coverage of its proteome remains a challenge. Here, we describe a high‐coverage analysis of whole fly through a 1D gel electrophoresis and LC‐MS/MS approach. By combining the datasets of two types of SDS‐PAGE and two kinds of tagmata, the high‐coverage analysis resulted in the identification of 5262 genes, which correspond to 38.23% of the entire coding genes. Moreover, we found that the fly head and body have different molecular weight distributions of their proteomes when the proteins were resolved with SDS‐PAGE and image analysis of the stained gel. This phenomenon was further confirmed by both label‐free and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation‐based quantitative approaches. The consistent results of the two different quantitation methods also demonstrated the stability and accuracy of the LC‐MS/MS platform. The MS proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifiers PXD000454 and PXD000455 ( http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000454 ; ( http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000455 ).     

What potential is there for regeneration of native species from the soil seed bank in Coast Tea Tree‐dominated scrub?

Shrub encroachment generally causes the loss of native species in herbaceous‐dominated communities. The ability of the original ecosystem to return to its pre‐encroachment state (i.e. its ecological resilience) will be partially contingent on the capacity of these species to regenerate from soil‐stored seed. Coast Tea Tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) has formed a dense scrub in many areas previously dominated by grassy woodland, and hence, managers need guidance about the effectiveness of strategies designed to recover the pre‐encroachment vegetation. In this context, we ask: what is the potential of species stored in the soil seed bank to return following Tea Tree removal? A germination experiment was undertaken using soil collected from dense stands of Tea Tree that had been long established. Heat/smoke was applied to soils to simulate the effects of a fire on the soil seed bank, while leaf litter treatments were used to mimic both undisturbed stands and stands where shrubs have been slashed where litter creates a physical barrier to emergence. We found the soil seed bank was dominated by exotic forbs (83% of all germinants) and contained few grasses. Heat and smoke decreased total species density but increased species diversity through the suppression of common exotics. Our data suggest that slashing would result in germination being dominated by exotic flora, but using fire would likely reduce that dominance. However, we conclude that recovery by much of the original flora after site occupation by Coast Tea Tree may be contingent on mechanisms other than soil‐stored seeds.     

Morphological traits and physiological characteristics in drought tolerance in 20 shrub species on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Aims Providing indispensably theoretical evidence for establishing indices of evaluation on drought tolerance in shrubs, and screening for tree species that are drought tolerant for afforestation in arid regions or for matching their characteristics with suitable habitat conditions are the key to vegetation restoration in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. However, these issues are not adequately addressed in recent research due to lack of systematic methods. Therefore, our objective was to make a comprehensive evaluation on drought tolerance in 20 shrub species collected from different areas in Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, and to study their underlying mechanisms in drought tolerance.
Methods We made measurements on variables depicting root characteristics, including the root length (TRL), surface area (TRSA), volume (TRV), and tips number (TRTN) of all roots, the root length (FRL), surface area (FRSA), volume (FRV), and tips number (FRTN) of fine roots (d≤2 mm), and derived plant characteristic indices including thickness of cuticle (CT), thickness of palisade tissue (TPT), thickness of spongy tissue (TST), TPT/TST, thickness of leaf (LT), palisable tissue cell density, and tissue structural tense ratio (CTR = TPT/LT × 100%) and spongy tissue loosened ratio (SR = TST/LT × 100%) of leaf anatomical structure, root to shoot ratio (RSR), leaf transpiration rate (T_r), instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE_i), and carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) of the 20 shrub species through field experiments. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis were performed on the 19 variables and indices.
Important findings Different shrubs had different mechanisms of drought tolerance. In this study, the character- istics of drought tolerance were mainly categorized into 6 types, involving modifications of (1) root systems, (2) leaf anatomical structure, (3) leaf pattern, and (4) biomass allocation, or via (5) low water-consumption and (6) high WUE_i. Different genera or different tree species within the same genus clearly differed in drought tolerance. The species of the genus Hippophae were relatively poorly tolerant to drought, whereas several shrubs including Potentilla fruticosa, Berberis julianae, Caragana arborescens, Spiraea salicifolia and Hippophae rhamnoides ssp. mongolica occurred to be more drought tolerant than other shrub species investigated in this study. On the other hand, there were highly significant correlations among the characteristics of root systems and among characteristics of leaf anatomical structure. The results of principal component analysis on 19 variables and indices showed that TRL, TRSA, TRV, TRTN, FRL, FRSA, FRV, FRTN, CT, TPT, TST and WUE_i could be effective indicators of drought tolerance of shrubs in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. In addition, the drought tolerance of shrubs had a close connection with their origin of collections; the shrubs collected from Xining prefecture in Qinghai Province were more drought tolerant than those from Tianshui Prefecture in Gansu and Lasa Prefecture in Xizang.     

毛乌素沙地中间锦鸡儿整株丛的蒸腾特征

中间锦鸡儿(Caragana intermedia)是一种优良的防风固沙灌木。有关其蒸腾作用的测定研究多是通过对单叶或小枝蒸腾速率的测定值推算整株丛的蒸腾耗水。该研究选择在中间锦鸡儿株丛的主根安装“热扩散探针”来测定整株丛的蒸腾耗水。结果表明: 中间锦鸡儿整株丛液流量的日变化可划分为4个阶段: 1)液流量迅速上升阶段(8:00~11:30), 其液流量占全天液流量的21.21%; 2)液流量最高而相对稳定阶段(12:00~18:00), 液流量占全天液流量的58.84%; 3)液流量迅速降低阶段(18:30~21:00), 液流量占全天液流量的10.62%; 4)液流量最低而稳定阶段(21:30~次日8:00), 液流量占全天液流量的9.32%。从所观测的中间锦鸡儿整株丛液流量的日变化可以看出: 在午间(12:00~14:00), 中间锦鸡儿整株丛蒸腾虽因环境因子的影响(如云朵遮阴)会发生较小的波动, 但并没有出现明显的“午休”现象, 而是保持相对稳定的高蒸腾速率。环境因子对中间锦鸡儿整株丛液流量影响的强弱次序依次为: 太阳辐射>空气温度>水蒸气压亏缺>空气相对湿度>土壤温度>风速。液流量对环境因子变化的响应存在着明显的时滞现象。根据所测大、中、小3个中间锦鸡儿整株丛树干液流量数据, 计算出一个中等大小(株高为110 cm, 冠幅为0.6 m², 叶片总干重为51.82 g)的中间锦鸡儿整株丛在测定时间内的日蒸腾耗水量为2.2 kg · d^-1。     

干旱区荒漠稀疏植被覆盖度提取及尺度扩展效应

选择线性混合像元分解模型、亚像元模型、最大三波段梯度差法模型以及修正的三波段梯度差法的2个变异模型来提取植被覆盖度,结合地面实测数据,探讨了提取干旱区荒漠稀疏植被覆盖度信息的适宜模型,并以简单平均法模拟了不同尺度的覆盖度影像,通过尺度上推检验了模型在MODIS尺度上的反演效应.结果表明：线性混合像元分解模型反演覆盖度的精度高于其他模型,适于稀疏植被地区,但端元的正确选取较难,从而影响其运用;亚像元分解模型是一个通用模型,植被分类图越精细,通过亚像元分解模型得到的覆盖度精度越高,但这也同时意味着该模型需要测定大量的输入参数;最大三波段梯度差法的算法简单、易于操作,其在农田等中高植被覆盖区及裸土区的预测值与实测值接近,但对干旱区稀疏植被的估计精度偏低;修正后的三波段最大梯度差法模型在稀疏植被覆盖区的预测值与实测值基本一致,在不同尺度上反演的覆盖度信息与实测值的一致性较好.该方法可有效提取干旱区低覆盖度植被信息.     

基于样带的唐古特白刺灌丛沙包空间格局尺度研究

黄河河岸与库布齐沙漠之间生态过渡带上的唐古特白刺(Nitraria Tangutorum)灌丛沙包由于遭受到不同程度的破坏而表现出一定程度的退化,空间格局尺度从一定程度上表征了其破碎化程度。我们分别应用样方方差法,小波分析,分维,谱分析以及空隙度分析等方法对鄂尔多斯高原北缘唐古特白刺灌丛沙包的空间格局尺度进行了比较研究,旨在选出适合分析干旱半干旱区白刺灌丛沙包空间格局尺度的方法,并确定研究区内唐古特白刺灌丛沙包的空间格局尺度,为保护唐古特白刺灌丛沙包提供科学依据。结果表明:(1)TTLQV法得到的格局尺度过大,而小波分析得到的格局尺度过小,分维分析得到的格局尺度除了相对较小之外,趋势也不明显,因此都不适合分析干旱半干旱区白刺灌丛沙包的空间格局尺度;(2)而3TLQV,tQV,谱分析和空隙度分析所得到的结果则相对容易接受,其大小顺序是:3TLQV>tQV>空隙度分析>谱分析;(3)独贵塔拉、呼和木独和巴拉贡唐古特白刺灌丛沙包的空间格局尺度分别为16.7～27.1m,10.2～25.0m和8.8～17.0m,这一结果将有助于在今后的研究中合理地确定研究范围和尺度。