Topographic and vegetation drivers of thermal heterogeneity along the boreal–grassland transition zone in western Canada: Implications for climate change refugia

Climate change refugia are areas that are relatively buffered from contemporary climate change and may be important safe havens for wildlife and plants under anthropogenic climate change. Topographic variation is an important driver of thermal heterogeneity, but it is limited in relatively flat landscapes, such as the boreal plain and prairie regions of western Canada. Topographic variation within this region is mostly restricted to river valleys and hill systems, and their effects on local climates are not well documented. We sought to quantify thermal heterogeneity as a function of topography and vegetation cover within major valleys and hill systems across the boreal–grassland transition zone.Using iButton data loggers, we monitored local temperature at four hills and 12 river valley systems that comprised a wide range of habitats and ecosystems in Alberta, Canada (N = 240), between 2014 and 2020. We then modeled monthly temperature by season as a function of topography and different vegetation cover types using general linear mixed effect models.Summer maximum temperatures (T _max) varied nearly 6°C across the elevation gradient sampled. Local summer mean (T _mean) and maximum (T _max) temperatures on steep, north‐facing slopes (i.e., low levels of potential solar radiation) were up to 0.70°C and 2.90°C cooler than highly exposed areas, respectively. T _max in incised valleys was between 0.26 and 0.28°C cooler than other landforms, whereas areas with greater terrain roughness experienced maximum temperatures that were up to 1.62°C cooler. We also found that forest cover buffered temperatures locally, with coniferous and mixedwood forests decreasing summer T _mean from 0.23 to 0.72°C and increasing winter T _min by up to 2°C, relative to non‐forested areas.Spatial predictions of temperatures from iButton data loggers were similar to a gridded climate product (ClimateNA), but the difference between them increased with potential solar radiation, vegetation cover, and terrain roughness.Species that can track their climate niche may be able to compensate for regional climate warming through local migrations to cooler microsites. Topographic and vegetation characteristics that are related to cooler local climates should be considered in the evaluation of future climate change impacts and to identify potential refugia from climate change.     

喀斯特坡地基岩起伏对土壤剖面水分格局的影响

研究了喀斯特地区典型坡地3条人工开挖样沟(投影长21 m、宽1 m)的岩土结构特征、土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量沿坡面向下的变化趋势,探讨了喀斯特坡地基岩起伏对土壤水分格局的影响.结果表明: 喀斯特坡地地表地形与基岩地形不一致,基岩深度变异系数最大为82%,基岩起伏较大.基岩起伏程度明显影响到土壤剖面水分分布格局: 基岩起伏较小时,土壤含水量呈上坡位至下坡位逐渐增加的趋势,且土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量与基岩深度相关性均不显著;基岩起伏越大,土壤含水量沿坡向下线性增加的趋势越不明显,土壤水分空间连续性越差,基岩凹陷、裂隙处土壤含水量较高,土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量与基岩深度呈极显著正相关,但后者对基岩起伏的响应更明显.     

地形对森林群落年龄及其空间格局的影响

 地形已被广泛认为是植被环境时空异质性的重要来源,但其对山地森林群落动态的影响及其机理仍不清楚。作者在三峡大老岭选取一块200 m×100 m的常绿落叶阔叶林样地, 在样地植物群落调查的同时,建立了1∶500的数字高程模型,并利用树木年轮数据和分种的胸径 年龄幂函数模型,推算了全部10 m×10 m单元样方的群落年龄。统计了样地群落的年龄结构及其代表种的构成特征,并利用多元回归结合方差分析方法分析了地形和生物因子对群落年龄结构的影响与途径。结果表明：1）幂函数模型很好地拟合了16个树种的胸径-年龄数量关系;2）样地内群落斑块的年龄介于14～179年,平均值在95年左右;3）代表样方群落年龄的树种共有24 个,而前5种即在68.5%的样方中决定群落的年龄;4）回归分析表明群落年龄受到溪流影响指数、坡位、坡度、样方内受干扰木胸面积和树种生长指数等因素的显著影响。显示沟谷地 表径流冲击和表土侵蚀等坡面过程带来的干扰明显影响群落发育过程的空间格局,具有不同生态习性树种的潜在年龄也限制了群落的现实年龄;5）地形主要通过控制地表干扰体系的时空分布和不同物种的选择性分布两方面而对群落动态与年龄产生影响。但由于生态格局自身的复杂性与随机性和分析方法带来的误差,使基于地形的群落年龄格局预测结果还存在较大的不确定性。     

不同坡位大针茅生长与生殖分配特征

比较了内蒙古锡林郭勒草原坡地地形中坡底和坡顶大针茅的营养生物量与生殖生物量,并采用关联度法与因子分析法分析了影响种子生物量的因子.结果表明：坡底与坡顶大针茅营养生长和生殖生长之间差异均显著.与坡顶相比,坡底大针茅种群未结实子株高和数目分别增加24.69%和35.37%,已结实子株数增加102.97%,其营养生物量、生殖生物量和总生物量分别增加44.14%、95.59%和47.45%,种子百粒重增加25.00%.坡顶大针茅种子生物量受土壤含水量的影响较大,而坡底受土壤pH的影响较大.坡地地形使土壤水分和土壤氮含量发生分异,坡底大针茅将更多的能量分配给有性生殖.     

Morning flight behavior of nocturnally migrating birds along the western basin of Lake Erie

Many species of birds that normally migrate during the night have been observed engaging in so‐called morning flights during the early morning. The results of previous studies have supported the hypothesis that one function of morning flights is to compensate for wind drift that birds experienced during the night. Our objective was to further explore this hypothesis in a unique geographic context. We determined the orientation of morning flights along the southern shore of Lake Erie's western basin during the spring migrations of 2016 and 2017. This orientation was then compared to the observed orientation of nocturnal migration. Additionally, the orientation of the birds engaged in morning flights following nights with drifting winds was compared to that of birds following nights with non‐drifting winds. The morning flights of most birds at our observation site were oriented to the west‐northwest, following the southern coast of Lake Erie. Given that nocturnal migration was oriented generally east of north, the orientation of morning flight necessarily reflected compensation for accumulated, seasonal wind drift resulting from prevailingly westerly winds. However, the orientation of morning flights was similar following nights with drifting and non‐drifting winds, suggesting that birds on any given morning were not necessarily re‐orienting as an immediate response to drift that occurred the previous night. Given the topographical characteristics of our observation area, the west‐northwest movement of birds in our study is likely best explained as a more complex interaction that could include some combination of compensation for wind drift, a search for suitable stopover habitat, flying in a direction that minimizes any loss in progressing northward toward the migratory goal, and avoidance of a lake crossing.     

一套顺应地形的设计框架——山之厕所

As landscape architects, sometimes we are committed with architecture designs within landscape projects. Our proposal always tries to merge architecture with landscape. Views, planting, experience and topography related to the sites are always our starting point of design. The Restroom in the Mountains is a meaningful practice, where a systematic design method is generated based on the site condition. This method coordinates site selection, communication with client, design process as well as construction seamlessly.     

Effect of divalent cations on flagellar scales in the green flagellateTetraselmis cordiformis

Summary The structure and topography of flagellar scales (underlayer scales, rodshaped scales, hair-scales) in the green flagellateTetraselmis cordiformis has been studied in detail and the effect of divalent cations and fixation conditions on scale structure and topography was followed quantitatively. Hair-scales occur in two rows on opposite sides of a flagellum and are linked to the flagellar membrane and to two axonemal doublets by B-tubule-flagellar membrane connectives. Underlayer scales form about 24 longitudinal rows along the flagellum and occur in two distinctive shapes (pentagonal and square). The square shaped underlayer scales are related in position to the attachment sites of the hair-scales. Rod-shaped scales occur in about 20 longitudinal rows along the flagellum and are characteristically positioned as double scales. Calcium in the culture medium is necessary to retain rod-shaped scales on the flagellum, absence of calcium or chelation with EGTA or pyrophosphate leads to disappearance of rod-shaped scales from the flagellum. Other divalent cations can only partially substitute for calcium. It is suggested that calcium provides the linkage between underlayer scales and rod-shaped scales inTetraselmis. Flagellar scales inTetraselmis apparently fall into two categories: a) hair-scales (not affected by fixation or absence of divalent cations, firmly bound to axonemal microtubules via the flagellar membrane), b) underlayer scales and rod-shaped scales (affected by fixation and absence of divalent cations, kept on the flagellum mainly by electrostatic forces). The function of flagellar scales inTetraselmis is discussed.     

Plant competition,abiotic, and long- and short-term effects of large herbivores on demography of opportunistic species in a semiarid grassland

Summary The emergence and subsequent survival and growth of five opportunistic weeds were monitored after seed additions to long-term grazing treatments with or without current-year grazing, long-term ungrazed treatments, and removal treatments designed to eliminate plant competition from existing perennials while either leaving vegetation and soil structure unaltered or disturbed. The treatments were applied on both uplands and lowlands to assess the relative influence of macroabiotic environment versus plant competition. The long-term effects of large herbivores on the initial emergence of seedlings were greater than the effects of removing competition. Very few individuals emerged on the long-term grazed treatments that were either grazed or ungrazed during the experiment. Numbers of individuals emerging on the long-term ungrazed treatments were greater or equal to those emerging on the no-competition-undisturbed treatments, but numbers were greatest on no-competition-disturbed treatments. None of the seeded individuals on the long-term grazed, currently grazed treatments survived to the end of the growing season. There was a slightly greater end-of-season biomass of seeded species and percentage of the total population reaching reproductive status on the long-term ungrazed compared with grazed-nondefoliated treatments, and very high survival, biomass, and proportions of reproductives on both no-competition treatments. Cover types in the immediate vicinity of seedlings influenced both germination and survival, but the effects differed between species and treatments. Equal compensation to current-year herbivory occurred on long-term heavily grazed treatments even though above-ground production was much greater on long-term protected sites. Productivity varied with topography, but very few topographic main effects or interactions occurred with demographic variables of seeded species, suggesting that macroabiotic effects were of minor importance compared with grazing and plant competition.     

Chloroplast biogenesis 89: development of analytical tools for probing the biosynthetic topography of photosynthetic membranes by determination of resonance excitation energy transfer distances separating metabolic tetrapyrrole donors from chlorophyll a acceptors

The thorough understanding of photosynthetic membrane assembly requires a deeper knowledge of the coordination and regulation of the chlorophyll (Chl) and thylakoid apoprotein biosynthetic pathways. As a working hypothesis we have recently proposed three different Chl-thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis models: a single-branched Chl biosynthetic pathway (SBP)-single location model, a SBP-multilocation model, and a multibranched Chl biosynthetic pathway (MBP)-sublocation model. The detection of resonance excitation energy transfer between tetrapyrrole precursors of Chl, and several Chl-protein complexes, has made it possible to test the validity of the proposed Chl-thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis models by resonance excitation energy transfer determinations. In this work, resonance excitation energy transfer techniques that allow the determination of distances separating tetrapyrrole donors from Chl-protein acceptors in green plants by using readily available electronic spectroscopic instrumentation are developed. It is concluded that the calculated distances are compatible with the MBP-sublocation model and incompatible with the operation of the SBP-single location Chl-protein biosynthesis model.