Abstract. Spatial changes in tree and upland tundra cover in response to a complex environmental gradient and to landscape factors were investigated in the high subarctic forest-tundra of NW Canada. Vegetation and terrain studies provided ground truth for a grid of 1314 air photos which covered 24 % of the Canadian high subarctic and some of the adjacent low subarctic and low arctic. Across the high subarctic, gradual spatial change in % cover of tree and upland tundra vegetation is typical at both high and low cover values, with more rapid change occurring at intermediate cover. Cover gradients of zonal tree and tundra vegetation in the forest-tundra region in general follow a sigmoid pattern. Tundra and tree patch sizes increase in area and variability with higher tundra and tree cover, respectively. 相似文献
The composition of the seed bank was compared with that of the above-ground vegetation in two British salt marshes. Vegetation and seed banks were sampled in autumn and spring. There was a relatively low correlation between seed bank and vegetation in most perennial-dominated zones. Percentage annual plant cover was significantly positively correlated to percentage similarity value between vegetation and seed bank. Cluster analysis indicated that the zones dominated by annuals and by Suaeda vera on the ungrazed Nod Marsh in Norfolk formed groups between seed bank and vegetation, whereas on the Llanrhidian Marsh in Wales the seed bank of four of the six zones formed a group. 相似文献
Land use is the most pervasive driver of biodiversity loss. Predicting its impact on species richness (SR) is often based on indicators of habitat loss. However, the degradation of habitats, especially through land-use intensification, also affects species. Here, we evaluate whether an integrative metric of land-use intensity, the human appropriation of net primary production, is correlated with the decline of SR in used landscapes across the globe.
Location
Global.
Time period
Present.
Major taxa studied
Birds, mammals and amphibians.
Methods
Based on species range maps (spatial resolution: 20 km × 20 km) and an area-of-habitat approach, we calibrated a “species–energy model” by correlating the SR of three groups of vertebrates with net primary production and biogeographical covariables in “wilderness” areas (i.e., those where available energy is assumed to be still at pristine levels). We used this model to project the difference between pristine SR and the SR corresponding to the energy remaining in used landscapes (i.e., SR loss expected owing to human energy extraction outside wilderness areas). We validated the projected species loss by comparison with the realized and impending loss reconstructed from habitat conversion and documented by national Red Lists.
Results
Species–energy models largely explained landscape-scale variation of mapped SR in wilderness areas (adjusted R2-values: 0.79–0.93). Model-based projections of SR loss were lower, on average, than reconstructed and documented ones, but the spatial patterns were correlated significantly, with stronger correlation in mammals (Pearson's r = 0.68) than in amphibians (r = 0.60) and birds (r = 0.57).
Main conclusions
Our results suggest that the human appropriation of net primary production is a useful indicator of heterotrophic species loss in used landscapes, hence we recommend its inclusion in models based on species–area relationships to improve predictions of land-use-driven biodiversity loss. 相似文献
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can form symbiosis with 90% of the vascular plants and play important roles in ecosystem. To realize the AM fungal colonization at different succession stages in saline-alkali land and screen AM fungi species with great functions, roots and soil samples were collected from the three succession stages of Songnen saline-alkali grassland. The soil properties and AM fungal colonization were measured, and the fungus distributed extensively in three stages was annotated by sequencing for AML1/AML2 target, subsequently, maize was selected as the host to verify its colonization. The results showed that the soil properties improved with the succession of saline-alkali grassland. The plants’ communities of the three stages could be colonized by AM fungi, and the colonization rate of Leymus chinensis (the third stage) ranged from 66.67% to 100%, Puccinellia tenuiflora (the second stage) ranged from 50% to 80%, while the Suaeda glauca (the first stage) was only 35%–60%. Glomeraceae sp1 was identified as the dominant AM fungi species which occurred frequently in the succession of saline-alkali land with the isolation frequency, relative abundance, and importance value of 100%, 18.1%, and 59.1%, respectively. The colonization rate of Glomeraceae sp1 in maize ranged from 80% to 87% and similar mycorrhizal characteristics were detected in the roots of P. tenuiflora, S. glauca, and L. chinensis, indicating that Glomeraceae sp1 colonized the samples in the field. The correlation matrix indicated that colonization rate, colonization intensity, and vesicle abundance were closely related to soil conditions most, and they were related significantly to all the soil properties except cellulase activity. Besides, redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil properties drove the changes of AM fungal colonization and sporulation. These results will provide theoretical support for realizing the relationship between AM fungal colonization and soil conditions, and also for the exploration of AM fungi species with great functions.
Aucuba japonica varieties are common evergreen understory shrubs in Japan.Aucuba japonica var.borealis is distributed on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu and Hokkaido where heavy snow cover lasts for more than 3 months in winter.Aucuba japonica var.japonica is distributed in areas with shallow or no snow on the Pacific Ocean side of Honshu and Shikoku. The ecophysiological characteristics
of var.borealis were compared with those of var.japonica to examine the effects of heavy and long-term snow cover on the life cycle of var.borealis. Shoots of both varieties were shaded in crushed ice for 110 days, but their photosynthetic activities, chlorophyll contents
and the chlorophylla/b ratio was not affected. The leaves of var.borealis were no less frost tolerant than those of var.japonica. In spite of the difference in environmental factors, both varieties had similar characteristics in seasonal changes of photosynthesis,
respiration and chlorophylla/b ratio. These results suggest that var.japonica could survive in areas with heavy snow where it does not normally occur. Leaf net production (LNP) was estimated based on
the microclimatic data and seasonal photosynthetic and respiration rates. The difference in the annual LNP between the two
varieties was equivalent to the difference in the LNP during the snow season. One of the major effects of snow cover is to
interrupt and reduce the production period of var.borealis. 相似文献
Bioenergy could play a major role in decarbonizing energy systems in the context of the Paris Agreement. Large-scale bioenergy deployment could be related to sustainability issues and requires major infrastructure investments. It, therefore, needs to be studied carefully. The Bioenergy and Land Optimization Spatially Explicit Model (BLOEM) presented here allows for assessing different bioenergy pathways while encompassing various dimensions that influence their optimal deployment. In this study, BLOEM was applied to the Brazilian context by coupling it with the Brazilian Land Use and Energy Systems (BLUES) model. This allowed investigating the most cost-effective ways of attending future bioenergy supply projections and studying the role of recovered degraded pasture lands in improving land availability in a sustainable and competitive manner. The results show optimizing for limiting deforestation and minimizing logistics costs results in different outcomes. It also indicates that recovering degraded pasture lands is attractive from both logistics and climate perspectives. The systemic approach of BLOEM provides spatial results, highlighting the trade-offs between crop allocation, land use and the logistics dynamics between production, conversion, and demand, providing valuable insights for regional and national climate policy design. This makes it a useful tool for mapping sustainable bioenergy value chain pathways. 相似文献
Projection of land use and land-cover change is highly uncertain yet drives critical estimates of carbon emissions, climate change, and food and bioenergy production. We use new, spatially explicit land availability data in conjunction with a model sensitivity analysis to estimate the effects of additional land protection on land use and land cover. The land availability data include protected land and agricultural suitability and is incorporated into the Moirai land data system for initializing the Global Change Analysis Model. Overall, decreasing land availability is relatively inefficient at preserving undeveloped land while having considerable regional land-use impacts. Current amounts of protected area have little effect on land and crop production estimates, but including the spatial distribution of unsuitable (i.e., unavailable) land dramatically shifts bioenergy production from high northern latitudes to the rest of the world, compared with uniform availability. This highlights the importance of spatial heterogeneity in understanding and managing land change. Approximately doubling the current protected area to emulate a 30% protected area target may avoid land conversion by 2050 of less than half the newly protected extent while reducing bioenergy feedstock land by 10.4% and cropland and grazed pasture by over 3%. Regional bioenergy land may be reduced (increased) by up to 46% (36%), cropland reduced by up to 61%, pasture reduced by up to 100%, and harvested forest reduced by up to 35%. Only a few regions show notable gains in some undeveloped land types of up to 36%. Half of the regions can reach the target using only unsuitable land, which would minimize impacts on agriculture but may not meet conservation goals. Rather than focusing on an area target, a more robust approach may be to carefully select newly protected land to meet well-defined conservation goals while minimizing impacts to agriculture. 相似文献
This study sought to investigate land‐snail diversity, abundance and distribution in Arabuko Sokoke forest. Sampling was done using standard timed direct search and litter sample methods. In total, 25 species and 1263 specimens were recorded. The 25 species rank Arabuko Sokoke forest as the second richest coastal forest in land snails in East Africa. The 25 species, however, are not uniformly distributed across the forest. The majority of the snails were localized with low levels of abundance. Eight species were restricted to one forest type, whereas those shared among forest types tended to concentrate in one forest type. Only five species, Gulella radius, Gulella foveolata, Gonaxis kibweziensis, Pseudoglessula biovini and Opeas gracilis, were widespread. The highest snail diversity was recorded in the mixed forest, implying that special conservation of this habitat is necessary for retention of the broadest molluscan diversity. The observation that some species rare in the mixed forest were recorded in excess from Brachystegia and Cynometra forest, further suggests that conservation of the entire A. Sokoke forest is critical for efficient molluscan conservation. Species recorded in low levels of abundance are probably declining and investigation on the snails' ecology to understand factors that influence the snails' diversity is recommended. 相似文献
Marginality describes the impact that environmental and landscape factors have in decreasing the probability of population survival and persistence. It may be imposed by extreme conditions or resource scarcity. Typically, it affects populations at the range edge but can also affect populations within the core of ranges, and produces a number of symptoms: characteristically demographic, but also morphological, physiological, biochemical and genetic. In this paper, the causes and effects of marginality on British butterflies are compared in edge and centre of range populations. Issues of temporal and spatial scales are examined, as is the relevance of marginality to the conservation of single and multiple species populations. The recognition of marginality questions the appropriateness of many so-called spatially realistic models of populations and highlights areas of research which have hitherto been ignored. Projected changes in land use and climate have implications for marginality in core and peripheral populations; in view of this, current scales of mapping are found to be unsuitable for monitoring fragmentation and the increasing marginalization of butterfly species in the British landscape. 相似文献