Familiar soil conditions help Pinus ponderosa seedlings cope with warming and drying climate

Changes in temperature and moisture as a result of climate forcing can impact performance of planted trees. Tree performance may also be sensitive to new soil conditions, for example, brought about by seeds germinating in soils different from those colonized by ancestral populations. Such “edaphic constraint” may occur with natural migration or human‐assisted movement. Pinus ponderosa seedlings, sourced from one location (“home” site), were grown across a field environmental gradient in either their original home soil or in soils from two different “away” sites. Seedlings were inoculated with site‐specific soil organisms by germinating seeds in living soil. After 6 months, the inoculated seedlings were transplanted into sterilized soils from the home or away sites. This experimental design allowed us to uncouple the importance of abiotic and biotic soil properties and test (1) how biotic and abiotic soil properties interact with climate to influence plant growth and stress tolerance, and (2) the role of soil biota in facilitating growth in novel environments. Seedlings grew least in hotter and drier away sites with away soil biota. Home soil biota ameliorated negative impacts on growth of hotter and drier away sites. Measurements of photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and chlorophyll florescence (Fv/Fm) suggest that edaphic constraint reduced growth by increasing tree water stress. Results suggest that success of Ponderosa pine plantings into warming environments will be enhanced by pre‐inoculation with native soil biota of the seed source.     

Effects of Irrigation and Nitrogen on the Performance of Aerobic Rice in Northern China

Aerobic rice is a new production system in which specially-developed varieties are grown under non-flooded, non-puddled, and non-saturated soil conditions. In 2003-2004, irrigation x Nitrogen experiments were carried out near Beijing using variety HD297. Water treatments included four irrigation levels, and Nitrogen treatments included different fertilizer N application rates and different numbers of N splits. The highest yields were 4460 kg/ha with 688 mm of total (rain plus irrigation) water input in 2003 and 6 026 kg/ha with 705 mm of water input in 2004. Because of the quite even distribution of rainfall in both years, the four irrigation treatments did not result in large differences of soil water conditions. There were few significant effects of irrigation on biomass accumulation, but yield increased with the total amount of water applied. High yields coincided with high harvest index and high percentages of grain filling. The application of fertilizer N either reduced biomass and yield or kept it at the same level as 0 N and consistently reduced the percentage grain filling and 1 000-grain weight. With the highest water application, five splits of N gave higher yield than three splits, whereas three splits gave higher yield than five splits with lower water applications.     

Field Studies of the Wheat Stomata Resistance Influenced by Soil Water Content

Concurrent observations of soil water potential and leaf stomata diffusion resistance were made on two, plots of wheat grown at Datun Agro-ecological Experimental Station in Beijing under two different soil water conditions. These data were further complemented by weather and physiological observation. In this paper, we mainly analysed the influence of soil water potential on the status of wheat leaf stomatal resistance. The results indicate that: (1) there is a obvious influence of soil water potential on the status of wheat leaf stomata under normal conditions and (2) there is a different upper and lower epidermis stomata of wheat leaf respond to the soil water potential. The lower epidermis stomata are more sensitive to soil water potential than upper epidermis one. (3) There is a linear relationship between the ratio of lower and upper epidermis stomata resistance and soil water potential in root layer, according to this we can diagnose the degree of wheat water deficit.     

Detection of Water in Lipase-Catalyzed Reactions in Reverse Micelles as Studied by Infrared Spectroscopy

The hydrolytic activity of lipolytic enzymes in reverse micelles can be measured continuously with Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) by following in the region of the OH-stretching band the water consumption during the reaction. This possibility is unique to reverse micellar solutions, because they are optically transparent and because they contain only a limited amount of water.     

冬小麦不同生育时期水分亏缺胁迫对叶片保护酶系统的影响

利用盆栽试验研究了施Ｎ（底肥）与不施Ｎ条件下冬小麦不同生育时期水分有限亏缺对叶片保护酶系统的影响,结果表明,在无底肥条件下,３个生育时期水分亏缺均使保护酶系统活性有所降低,而在有底肥时酶活性多数则升高,各保护酶活性与ＭＤＡ相关分析表明,苗期ＳＯＤ活性与ＭＤＡ呈极显著负相关;拔节却是ＰＯＤ活性与ＭＤＡ呈极显著负相关;在灌浆期ＳＯＤ、ＰＯＤ、ＣＡＴ与ＭＤＡ含量均无显著相关性,但ＭＤＡ在叶片中累积至较高水平。各生育期水分处理叶片绿素含量与ＭＤＡ含量达极显著负相关。这些说明在不同生育时期,受水分亏缺和供的,保护酶系统各酶的变化有明显差异。其生理作用也有差异。     

科尔沁草甸生态系统水分利用效率及影响因素

生态系统水分利用效率(WUE)是衡量碳水循环耦合程度的重要指标。利用科尔沁温带草甸草地碳水通量观测数据,对该生态系统总初级生产力水分利用效率(WUEGPP)的日季变化规律及对环境和生理因子的响应进行分析。结果表明:(1)WUEGPP日变化呈下降-稳定-上升的变化趋势,最大值出现在日出后1—2 h,阴天条件下WUEGPP高于晴天,生长中期WUEGPP高于生长初期和末期;(2)总初级生产力、总蒸散和WUEGPP季节变化均呈夏季高、春秋低的形式,生长季平均值分别为0.57 mg m-2s-1、0.08 g m-2s-1和5.97 mg/g,最大值分别为1.49 mg m-2s-1、0.16 g m-2s1和13.62 mg/g;(3)总初级生产力与饱和差、气温和叶面积指数均呈二次曲线关系,与冠层导度呈对数曲线关系;总蒸散与气温呈二次曲线关系,与饱和差、叶面积指数和冠层导度相关性均不显著;(4)WUEGPP与饱和差、气温和叶面积指数均呈二次曲线关系,与冠层导度呈对数曲线关系,饱和差、冠层导度和叶面积指数分别为2.0 k Pa、0.0015 m/s和4.2是控制WUEGPP增加的阈值;(5)净生态系统生产力水分利用效率(WUENEP)和净初级生产力水分利用效率(WUENPP)季节变化规律与WUEGPP一致,均值分别为3.47和5.47 mg/g。     

Porosity and available water of temporarily waterlogged soils in a Quercus robur (L.) declining stand

Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) is particularly sensitive to decline in clayey soils presenting a high-perched temporary water table. These soils induce two successive constraints in one-year cycle: water excess (and hypoxy) in winter and early spring, and water shortage in summer (water stress being more restrictive to oak). We determined the porosity and water properties of temporarily waterlogged clayey soils supporting forest stands of decliningQuercus robur trees in a 101yr-old oak stand in Belgium (50°06N, 4°16E). Roots unevenly colonized the soil down to 1.6m: fine roots (diameter<5mm) were mostly distributed on the surface horizons (0–0.3 m) and around 1.3m deep, despite dense clayey horizons appearing at 0.35m depth. Clay content below this depth reached 46–51. Illite and vermiculite were the dominant clay minerals. The clayey horizons exhibited marked shrink–swell properties: bulk density at 30kPa increased from 1.41 to 1.88gcm^–3 from the surface to 2m depth. There was also evidence of hypoxic conditions caused by water saturation of pore space in the rooting zone from October to mid-April. Extractable water (EW), calculated between moisture tensions of 5 and 1600kPa was 152.8mm. The level of perched temporary water table strongly depended on the seasonal rhythm of water uptake by trees and on the shrink–swell behaviour of soil.     

石羊河尾闾绿洲的景观变化与生态恢复对策

利用G IS技术和景观结构分析软件FRAG STATS,在对民勤湖区绿洲景观格局动态变化以及土地利用格局的空间转化分析的基础上,从水资源利用以及政策和市场经济等方面分析了湖区景观变化的驱动因素,结果表明:(1)耕地和沙地斑块数量减少,平均斑块面积增加,空间连片趋势加剧;蔓延度指数变大,边缘密度和多样性指数降低;(2)沙地和耕地面积分别增加5171.85 hm2和2640.33hm2,它们的增加以牺牲林、草地为代价;(3)湖区地表水净利用量近10a来降幅达50%,到20世纪90年代后期仅有0.22×108m3,使得地下水净利用量近年来年均高达0.80×108m3;(4)以耐盐性较强的经济作物占绝对优势的单一经济结构,降低了农业生产对市场风险的抵御能力,农户收入急剧下降。通过以上分析,提出了湖区生态恢复途径与措施。     

Exposure and Health Risk from Swimming in Outdoor Pools Contaminated by Trichloroethylene

A method was developed that evaluated the exposure and health risk to children from swimming in outdoor pools filled with contaminated water. It was found that dermal absorption of trichloroethylene (TCE) was significantly larger than the inhalation component of the exposures. It was estimated that the inhalation route accounted for only 1% of the total exposure, whereas accidental ingestion was 7% of the child's total intake and the dermal absorbed dose was 92% of the total exposure. The relative percentage of the total exposure estimated for each exposure route indicated that the dermal exposure route and accidental ingestion of pool water should not be ignored for volatile compounds when evaluating exposure.

The method utilized was simple enough to use computer spreadsheets for the calculations and can be easily adapted to various swimming scenarios and age groups. This method also included an assessment of the uncertainty in the exposure and risk estimates. The range of estimated exposures was 40 μ g to 442 μ g of TCE per swimming season. All values in this range were below the health benchmark for both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic endpoints.