Drought mildly reduces plant dominance in a temperate prairie ecosystem across years

1. Shifts in dominance and species reordering can occur in response to global change. However, it is not clear how altered precipitation and disturbance regimes interact to affect species composition and dominance.
2. We explored community‐level diversity and compositional similarity responses, both across and within years, to a manipulated precipitation gradient and annual clipping in a mixed‐grass prairie in Oklahoma, USA. We imposed seven precipitation treatments (five water exclusion levels [?20%, ?40%, ?60%, ?80%, and ?100%], water addition [+50%], and control [0% change in precipitation]) year‐round from 2016 to 2018 using fixed interception shelters. These treatments were crossed with annual clipping to mimic hay harvest.
3. We found that community‐level responses were influenced by precipitation across time. For instance, plant evenness was enhanced by extreme drought treatments, while plant richness was marginally promoted under increased precipitation.
4. Clipping promoted species gain resulting in greater richness within each experimental year. Across years, clipping effects further reduced the precipitation effects on community‐level responses (richness and evenness) at both extreme drought and added precipitation treatments.
5. Synthesis: Our results highlight the importance of studying interactive drivers of change both within versus across time. For instance, clipping attenuated community‐level responses to a gradient in precipitation, suggesting that management could buffer community‐level responses to drought. However, precipitation effects were mild and likely to accentuate over time to produce further community change.

     

Nutrient requirements and stress response of Populus simonii and Paulownia tomentosa

The aim of this investigation was to estimate the optimum nutrient requirements and responses to low relative nutrient addition rates of seedlings of two important broadleaf tree species in China, Populus simonii Carr. and Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud. In preliminary experiments the optimum nutrient proportions were estimated under high concentration conditions. The nutrients consumed were replaced by means of daily additions determined by pH and conductivity titrations without changing the nutrient solutions. A relatively high K level was needed in relation to nitrogen; higher than in birch or grey alder seedlings. To obtain a high relative growth rate, suitable proportions by weight were 100 N:70 K:14 P:7 Ca:7 Mg for the Populus seedlings and 100 N:75 K:20 P:8 Ca:9 Mg for the Paulownia seedlings.
In studies of nutrient stress responses the relative nutrient addition rate was used as the treatment variable under low conductivity conditions. The responses and relationships were similar to those described for birch, grey alder and Salix . The relative addition rate, and there was also a strong linear regression between relative growth rate and nitrogen status. Relative growth rates were high and the maximum weight increase was about 19% day⁻¹ in Populus and over 25% day⁻¹ in Paulownia . The nitrogen productivity of Paulownia was very high, 0.26 g dry weight (g N)⁻¹ h⁻¹, and for Populus it was 0.16 g dry weight (g N)⁻¹ h⁻¹.     

Accumulation of phosphatidic acid in microsomes from propranolol-treated retinas during short-term incubations

Abstract: The pool size and synthesis of phosphatidic acid derived from [2-³H]glycerol were studied in bovine whole retinas and subcellular fractions. Microsomal preparations from retinas incubated with [2-³H]glycerol displayed the highest percentage labeling of phosphatidic acid at 5 min of incubation; labeling decreased rapidly thereafter. In drug-treated retinas,0.5 m M propranolol increased the endogenous content of phosphatidic acid and stimulated [2-³H]glycerol labeling in whole retina and microsomal and postmicrosomal supernatant fractions. This effect was observed during short-term incubations and was reversible. In pulse-chase experiments, 60 min of reincubation greatly reduced the labeling effect, although propranolol still enhanced phosphatidic acid labeling. At the same time, endogenous phosphatidic acid accumulated and reincubation without propranolol reversed the effect. During accumulation, the amount of palmitate increased and that of oleate decreased, whereas the relatively high level of docosahexaenoate in phosphatidic acid remained unchanged. It was concluded that this propranolol-induced effect is due to cationic amphiphilic drug activity in the endoplasmic reticulum that results in a partial inhibition of phosphatidic acid degradation and a stimulation of its de novo synthesis. Hence, net synthesis of phosphatidic acid can be assessed in the retina during short-term incubation with propranolol.     

Carbon-cycling changes during regeneration of a decinduous broadleaf forest after clear-cutting II. Aboveground net production

Growth and death rates of aboveground plant parts were measured in a mature forest and four different-aged deciduous broadleaf forests regeneratede after clear-cutting, with special reference to rates for woody parts (stems and branches) of different diameters (ø) in rerms of the pipe model theory (Shinozaki et al., 1964). The total biomass increment of woody parts of trees higher than 1.3 m varied within a range of 2.1-4.6 ton ha^?1 yr^?1, the increase beingdue largely to the growth of canopy trees exposed to direct sunlight. Biomass increments of small (ø<1 cm) and medium (1≤ø<5 cm) woody parts were negligibly small except in the youngest forest, and changes in aboveground woody biomass with forest age after clear-cutting mainly resulted from accumulation of large (5 cm<ø) woody parts of canopy trees. Biomass loss of trees due to death and grazing increased with forest age from 4.0 to 8.3 ton ha^?1 yr^?1. Recovery of leaf and small wood falls was observed at the early stage of regeneration, while large wood falls increased during regeneration. Flower and fruit fall was markedly higher in the mature forest than in the other four forest types. Mortality of woody parts became higher with forest age and was 20, 5.0 and 0.46% yr^?1 for small, medium and large parts, respectively, at the mature stage. Aboveground net production of the forest was in therange 7.6-13.3 ton ha^?1 yr^?1 with the undergrowth vegetation lower than 1.3 m being 0.4-1.4 ton ha^?1 yr^?1. Production recovered rapidly at an early stage of regeneration and was highest in mature forest.     

A probabilistic approach to the construction of competing-risk life tables

"This paper aims to identify net and partial-crude probabilities in the competing-risk life table context, by using probabilistic approaches. Five types of lifelength random variables are defined to formulate these nonidentifiable probabilities. General expressions for net and partial-crude probabilities are first derived under independent risks assumptions. Two sets of explicit formulas for estimating the net and partial-crude probabilities are then derived in terms of the identifiable overall and crude probabilities by making the additional assumption of piecewise uniform distribution of the lifelength random variables. A study of the degree to which nonidentifiability can affect the net and partial-crude probabilities in a variety of situations is developed. An example from cross-sectional studies is employed to illustrate the methodology developed."     

大豆-根瘤菌共生体系光合与固氮关系研究

水培大豆和田间生长的大豆,接种根瘤菌 Rhizobium B16-11C 后植株全氮含量、叶片叶绿素含量和净光合速率及种子产量都明显增加。比较 Clark 大豆的结瘤品系和不结瘤品系获类似结果。摘除根瘤后3天内叶片净光合速率无明显变化。大豆植株遮阴、去叶或切掉地上部导致根瘤活性明显下降。但去豆荚不能提高根瘤固氮的比活性。根瘤活性的日变化不能用根瘤蔗糖、淀粉含量或周围温度的变化来解释,其控制因子尚待深入研究。     

Genetic variation in Drechslera teres populations as indicated by RAPD markers

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to assess genetic variation among 48 isolates of Drechslera teres originating from different sites in Finland. RAPD profiles were generated with five arbitrary 10-mer primers and revealed polymorphisms suitable for screening differentiation in this fungal population. Using UPGMA clustering analysis, a similarity coefficient of approximately 63% was observed between all D. teres isolates studied. The variation was, however, distributed on a small scale as different genotypes were found from the same plant. The isolates could not be grouped according to geographic origin, aggressiveness, growth rate or morphological features, indicating that the primers used in this study were neutral markers for these characters. The primers were, however, able to differentiate between isolates of Helminthosporium species (D. teres, Drechslera graminea and Bipolaris sorokiniana).     

白水江自然保护区糙花箭竹天然林生物量与生产力的初步研究

 本文根据样方上测定糙花箭竹的地径、茎高、密度、茎重、枝条重、叶重和鞭系重资料,研究竹林生物量和生产力,并建立回归数学模型为：茎重Ws=160.942+0.227(D2NH) p<0.001 枝条重WB=76.008+0.039(D2NH) p<0.001 叶重WL＝80.643+0.051(D2NH) p<0.001 鞭系重WR=285.554+0.074(D2NH) p<0.001由方程估测出天然糙花箭竹林的各器官干重分别为茎7.558,枝条1.782,叶2.143,鞭系4.795t／ha。总生物量为16.278t／ha,平均净生产量为3.256t／ha。     

Growth and nutrition of birch seedlings in relation to potassium supply rate

Summary Growth of hydroponically cultivated birch seedlings (Betula pendula Roth.) at sub- and supra-optimum potassium supply rates was investigated. Potassium was supplied either as a relative addition rate (r _k = 5, 10, 15 and 20% increase day^-1) or as fixed concentrations (0.2, 3, 6, 12 and 15 mM) in the culture solution. After an acclimation period the growth rate of the seedlings in the suboptimum treatments reached values close to the treatment variable, the relative rate of K-addition. Deficiency symptoms, in the form of chlorosis and necroses along the leaf margins, developed initially in all suboptimum treatments, but very few new symptoms appeared once the seedlings had reached the phase of steady-state nutrition and growth. At supra-optimum K-supply levels, i.e. at 0.2–15 mM K in the culture solution, no symptoms of deficiency or toxicity developed, and the relative growth rate of the seedlings remained maximum. The relative growth rate of the seedlings was linearly related to the plant K-status for K contents ranging from 0.2 to 1.0% of dry weight (DW). At higher internal K-concentrations, 1.0–3.0% DW, no further increase in relative growth rate was achieved. A shortage of K resulted in a decrease in the net assimilation rate. This effect was counterbalanced by the absence of shift in he leaf weight ratio as well as by the production of relatively thin leaves. The fraction of dry matter allocated to roots decreased in K-limited plants, as did the leaf contents of soluble carbohydrates and starch.