Factors influencing seasonal and monthly changes in the group size of chital or axis deer in southern India

Chital or axis deer (Axis axis) form fluid groups that change in size temporally and in relation to habitat. Predictions of hypotheses relating animal density, rainfall, habitat structure, and breeding seasonality, to changes in chital group size were assessed simultaneously using multiple regression models of monthly data collected over a 2 yr period in Guindy National Park, in southern India. Over 2,700 detections of chital groups were made during four seasons in three habitats (forest, scrubland and grassland). In scrubland and grassland, chital group size was positively related to animal density, which increased with rainfall. This suggests that in these habitats, chital density increases in relation to food availability, and group sizes increase due to higher encounter rate and fusion of groups. The density of chital in forest was inversely related to rainfall, but positively to the number of fruiting tree species and availability of fallen litter, their forage in this habitat. There was little change in mean group size in the forest, although chital density more than doubled during the dry season and summer. Dispersion of food items or the closed nature of the forest may preclude formation of larger groups. At low densities, group sizes in all three habitats were similar. Group sizes increased with chital density in scrubland and grassland, but more rapidly in the latter—leading to a positive relationship between openness and mean group size at higher densities. It is not clear, however, that this relationship is solely because of the influence of habitat structure. The rutting index (monthly percentage of adult males in hard antler) was positively related to mean group size in forest and scrubland, probably reflecting the increase in group size due to solitary males joining with females during the rut. The fission-fusion system of group formation in chital is thus interactively influenced by several factors. Aspects that need further study, such as interannual variability, are highlighted.     

Estimating woody and herbaceous vegetation cover from time series satellite observations

In this paper we test a method to estimate the tree and grass vegetation cover over Australia from satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series (monthly 1981–91, ≈5 km pixels) observations. The evergreen cover is assumed to track along the base of the NDVI time series, which is assumed to be equivalent to the woody vegetation cover. The base of the NDVI time series is estimated using modifications to a classical econometric model (i.e. time series is the sum of trend, seasonal and random components). Estimates of the average evergreen component during 1982–85 and 1986–89 were generally consistent with known vegetation distributions. Changes in evergreen cover were largely restricted to the south-west and south-east of Australia. Those changes were largely the result of differences in rainfall between the two periods. The proposed method for estimating woody vegetation cover is found to be generally robust. However, there are some regions where the grass (or pasture) is mostly evergreen. Some possible refinements are proposed to handle such cases.     

Pollination systems in a warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved forest on Yaku Island

Animal pollination in a warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved forest was observed on Yaku-shima Island, south of Kyushu, Japan. Three groups of plants were categorized: canopy-flowering tree species, understory-flowering tree species, and climber and epiphyte species. Each of these formed different pollination systems. The canopy-flowering tree species had shallow, dish-shaped flowers and utilized various types of opportunistic pollinators. Most of the climber and epiphyte species had deep, tube-shaped flowers and specialized pollinators, although some climber species which bloomed in the canopy especially in winter, had opportunistic pollinators. The understory-flowering tree species had large dish- or funnel-shaped flowers and endothermic pollinators able to tolerate the dark and cold conditions under the canopy. The individual trees of canopy-flowering tree species produced large numbers of flowers simultaneously (mass-flowering) and had a well synchronized flowering period. Each canopy-flowering tree species segregated its flowering time from those of the anothers. Climber and epiphyte species and most of the understory-flowering tree species produced small numbers of flowers sequentially (extended flowering) and showed a long flowering period.     

Population structure and dynamics of Pinus massoniana Lamb. on mount Jinyun,Sichuan, China

Masson Pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) is a pioneer in forest succession in the subtropics of East Asia. However, the species persits, though with decreasing abundance, throughout the various successional phases. Agestructure, spatial pattern, density, population biomass, and their dynamics are described for a population in Sichuan, China, on the basis of a census of all individuals in the population while substituting space with time. In the course of succession, the population density increases and its rate of growth decreases until self-thinning starts; during the phase of self-thinning density decrease and continues to decrease even afterwards, but the rate of growth increase markedly after self-thinning has stopped. The development of population biomass (Bp) during the early succession from shrub-grassland to the early stages of mixed pine and broad-leaved forest can be described by a logistic equation. Later, Bp decrease rapidly. These changes are governed partly by inherent biological features of P. massoniana and partly by the invasion, establishment and development of shade-tolerant evergreen broad-leaved trees. Both self- and alien-thinning occur. Soil conditions affect the rates of these processes.     

控制常绿针叶树叶量对树干生长的促进作用

一、前言近几年,在研究不同树种的修枝过程中,偶然发现,一些常绿针叶树的人工去叶能加快树干材积的生长,这引起了人们新的研究兴趣:控制常绿针叶树的叶量是否能促进树木生长?这一措施有多少可能的前途或弊端?多年来,人类为寻求促进林木生长的有效经营措施,利用各种手段进行了大量实验研究工作,获得了很有意义的成果,抚育间伐是其中的一项重要途径。由于世界各国的日益重视,60年代以来,很多学     

Fine root dynamics in two tropical dry evergreen forests in southern India

Seasonality in fine root standing crop and production was studied in two tropical dry evergreen forests viz., Marakkanam reserve forest (MRF) and Puthupet sacred grove (PSG) in the Coromandel coast of India. The study extended from December 89 to December 91 in MRF and from August 90 to December 91 in PSG with sampling at every 2 months. Total fine interval. Mean fine root standing crop was 134 g m⁻² in MRF and 234 g m⁻² in PSG. root production was 104 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ in MRF and 117 g m⁻² yr⁻¹ in PSG. These estimates lie within the range for fine roots reported for various tropical forests. Rootmass showed a pronounced seasonal pattern with unimodal peaks obtained during December in the first year and from October–December in the second year in MRF. In PSG greater rootmass was noticed from June–October than other times of sampling. The total root mass in MRF ranged from 114 to 145 g m−2 at the 13 sampling dates in the three sites. The live biomass fraction of fine roots in MRF ranged from 46 to 203 g m⁻² and in PSG it ranged from 141 to 359 g mm⁻² during the study periods. The dead necromass fraction of fine roots ranged from 6 to 37 g m⁻² in MRF and from 12 to 66 g m⁻² in PSG. Fine root production peaked during December in both the forest sites. The necromass fraction of newly produced roots was negligible. Total N was slightly greater in PSG than in MRF. Whereas total P level was almost similar in both the sites. The study revealed that season and site characteristics influenced fine root system.     

田林老山中山两类森林凋落物研究

田林老山中山两类森林凋落物研究梁宏温（广西农学院林学分院,南宁５３０００１）ＳｔｕｄｉｅｓｏｎｔｈｅＬｉｔｔｅｒｆａｌｌｏｆＴｗｏＦｏｒｅｓｔＴｙｐｃｓｉｎＭｉｄ—ＡｌｔｉｔｕｄｅｏｆＬａｏｓｈａｎＭｏｕｎｔａｉｎｉｎＴｉａｎｌｉｎＣｏｕｎｔｙ．￥Ｌ...     

浙江古田山亚热带常绿阔叶林叶衰老物候影响因子研究

该文选取浙江省古田山亚热带常绿阔叶林72种木本植物,探究气候因素、系统发育关系和功能性状对亚热带常绿阔叶林叶衰老物候的影响。结果表明,叶变色期在9—12月,落叶期在10—12月。每月落叶物种数与月均温、月均降水量和月均日照时数没有显著相关性,每月叶变色物种数与月均温和月均日照时数呈弱相关;落叶性对叶变色期和落叶期具有显著影响;植物间系统发育关系对叶变色期和落叶期没有显著影响。因此,生物和非生物因子都会影响常绿阔叶树种的叶衰老,这对于提高秋季物候预测模型具有重要价值。     

中国亚热带常绿阔叶林净第一性生产力的估算

中国亚热带常绿阔叶林净第一性生产力的估算倪健（中国科学院植物研究所生态室,北京１０００９３）ＥｓｔｉｍａｔｅｏｆｔｈｅＮｅｔＰｒｉｍａｒｙＰｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｖｉｔｙｆｏｒＳｕｂｔｒｏｐｉｃａｌＥｖｅｒｇｒｅｅｎＢｒｏａｄｌｅａｖｅｄＦｏｒｅｓｔｉｎＣｈ...