Blue light controls solar tracking by flowers of an alpine plant

In at least 18 plant families, leaves or flowers can maintain a specific orientation with respect to diurnal movements of the sun. Previous work on heliotropic leaves has demonstrated that blue light (400–500nm) provides the cue for their tracking response. Floral heliotropism occurs in several families of arctic and alpine plants, but the spectral sensitivity of the response has not been studied previously. Moreover, no studies on the spectral sensitivity of any heliotropism have been conducted on wild plants growing in their natural habitat. Working under field conditions, we used coloured acrylic filters to determine whether heliotropism by flowers of the snow buttercup (Ranunculus adoneus) is responsive to broad-band blue or red light. Flowers were able to orient towards the sun under boxes made entirely of blue-transmitting filters and in red-transmitting boxes having a single blue side that faced the sun. In these treatments, solar tracking ability was not significantly different from that observed in adjacent control flowers. In contrast, the precision of solar orientation was significantly reduced in red-transmitting boxes and red boxes with a single blue side oriented away from the sun. In the early morning, flowers covered by red-transmitting boxes failed to orient in the direction of sunrise, suggesting that this floral response, unlike that seen in some heliotropic leaves, lacks a residual‘memory’ for previous solar movements.     

The palatability of Arctic willow for greater snow geese: the role of nutrients and deterring factors

Temporary feeding on willow buds and leaves by nesting greater snow geese provided us with an opportunity to test the relative importance of nutrients and deterrents in affecting the palatability for geese of a food plant with a high phenol content. Protein, total phenol and fiber (neutral and acid detergent fiber, and lignin) were analyzed in closed and open buds and in rolled and open leaves. Geese feed on willows at the open-buds and rolled-leaf stages but not at the closed-bud and open-leaf stages. Protein content was higher in open buds and rolled leaves (25–27%) than in closed buds and open leaves (19–21%). Phenol content increased during leaf emergence but was already high (14%) in rolled leaves. All plant fibers were very high in closed buds but declined rapidly during leaf emergence. The increase in phenol: protein ratio appeared to be more important than phenol concentration alone in explaining the cessation of feeding by geese on willow leaves whereas the high fiber content of closed buds may explain why they were not eaten. Our results illustrate the value of a multifactorial approach in the study of the food selection process in herbivores.     

青藏高原1979-2007年间的积雪变化

利用雪深被动微波遥感数据产品,对青藏高原1979—2007年积雪深度、积雪日数的分布变化及其趋势进行了分析。结果表明:青藏高原积雪日数、积雪深度和海拔三者之间在空间上具有显著正相关;青藏高原积雪在1988年发生突变,该年前后积雪分布有显著不同,这与20世纪80年代中后期青藏高原由暖干时期进入暖湿时期有关;将青藏高原按夏季水汽来源不同将其分为南北两部分,发现29年来北部积雪日数变化与全国积雪变化相反呈极显著增加趋势(R2=0.39,P0.01),以1.40 d/a的趋势增加,主要原因是西北部地区冬季积雪日数增加;南部积雪深度与全国积雪变化一致呈极显著减少趋势(R2=0.24,P0.01),以-0.04 cm/a的趋势减少,主要原因是东南部春、夏、秋三季积雪深度减少。     

Snow depth manipulation and its influence on soil frost and water dynamics in a northern hardwood forest

Climate change will likelyresult in warmer winter temperatures leading toless snowfall in temperate forests. Thesechanges may lead to increases in soil freezingbecause of lack of an insulating snow cover andchanges in soil water dynamics during theimportant snowmelt period. In this study, wemanipulated snow depth by removing snow for twowinters, simulating the late development of thesnowpack as may occur with global warming, toexplore the relationships between snow depth,soil freezing, soil moisture, and infiltration.We established four sites, each with two pairedplots, at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest(HBEF) in New Hampshire, U.S.A. and instrumentedall eight plots with soil and snow thermistors,frost tubes, soil moisture probes, and soillysimeters. For two winters, we removed snowfrom the designated treatment plots untilFebruary. Snow in the reference plots wasundisturbed. The treatment winters (1997/1998 and1998/1999) were relatively mild, withtemperatures above the seasonal norm and snowdepths below average. Results show the treatedplots accumulated significantly less snow andhad more extensive soil frost than referenceplots. Snow depth was a strong regulator ofsoil temperature and frost depth at all sites.Soil moisture measured by time domainreflectometry probes and leaching volumescollected in lysimeters were lower in thetreatment plots in March and April compared tothe rest of the year. The ratio of leachatevolumes collected in the treatment plots tothat in the reference plots decreased as thesnow ablation seasons progressed. Our data showthat even mild winters with low snowfall,simulated by snow removal, will result inincreased soil freezing in the forests at theHBEF. Our results suggest that a climate shifttoward less snowfall or a shorter duration ofsnow on the ground will produce increases insoil freezing in northern hardwood forests.Increases in soil freezing will haveimplications for changes in soil biogeochemicalprocesses.     

季节性雪被对天山雪岭云杉凋落叶分解和碳氮磷释放的影响

季节性雪被下显著的冻融格局差异可能对干旱区山地森林凋落叶分解过程产生重要影响, 但一直未见深入研究。2015年10月至2016年10月, 采用凋落物分解袋法, 研究了天山典型树种雪岭云杉(Picea schrenkiana)凋落叶在季节性雪被覆盖下的3个关键时期(冻融期、深冻期、融冻期)以及生长季(生长季早期和生长季末期)的分解动态和碳、氮、磷释放特征。结果表明: (1)经过一年的分解, 不同雪被厚度下雪岭云杉凋落叶分解率为24.6%-29.2%, 且存在显著性差异。分解系数k值厚雪被覆盖最大, 无雪被覆盖最小。(2)冬季雪被覆盖期雪岭云杉凋落叶分解对当年分解总量的贡献达46.0%- 48.5%, 其中对冻融期凋落叶分解影响较为明显。(3)随着凋落叶的分解, 雪岭云杉凋落叶氮含量总体呈增加趋势; 碳含量和碳氮比大致呈下降趋势, 在深冻期和生长季末期不同雪被处理下碳含量呈显著性差异; 而凋落叶磷含量呈不规则变化趋势, 且在冻融期和融冻期不同雪被厚度下呈显著性差异。(4)整个雪被覆盖季节凋落叶氮元素表现为富集, 碳和磷元素表现为释放; 其中, 在融冻期薄雪被和中雪被处理下碳元素富集率最大, 在冻融期薄雪被、中雪被和厚雪被处理下, 融冻期无雪被和厚雪被下以及生长季早期中雪被和厚雪被下氮元素富集率最大, 而雪被对凋落叶磷释放的影响不显著。     

Fitness consequences of egg-size variation in the lesser snow goose

We investigated the relationship between eggsize variation and (a) egg hatching success, (b) chick survival to fledging and recruitment, and (c) adult female survival, over 12 years in the lesser snow goose (Anser caerulescens caerulescens). By comparing the means and variances of egg size for successful and unsuccessful eggs, our aim was to assess the relative fitness of eggs of different sizes and to determine the type of selection operating on egg size in this species. As both egg size and reproductive success vary with age in the lesser snow goose we controlled for the effects of female age. Egg-size variation is very marked in this population, varying by up to 52% for eggs hatching successfully. However, there was no relationship between egg size and post-hatching survival of goslings to fledging or recruitment, either within or between broods, pooling across years. Egg size varied significantly between successful and unsuccessful clutches in only 2 of 33 individual year comparisons. First-laid eggs surviving to onset of incubation, and eggs hatching successfully, were on average larger than unsuccessful eggs, but this was probably due to the confounding effects of female age-specific and sequence-specific egg survival. Variance of egg size differed significantly between successful and unsuccessful eggs in only 3 of 24, and 0 of 21, individual year comparisons for pre- and post-hatching survival respectively. We therefore found little evidence for a relationship between egg-size variation and offspring fitness, or for strong directional, normalising or diversifying selection operating on egg size, in the lesser snow goose. In addition, there was only weak support for the hypothesis that egg-size variation is maintained by temporal variation in selection pressure (sensu Ankney and Bisset 1973). It is likely that egg-size variation represents the pleiotropic expression of alleles affecting more general physiological or metabolic processes. While this does not rule out the existence of alleles with more direct effects on egg size we suggest that their contribution to heritable egg size is small.     

Arthropod community composition along snowmelt gradients in snowbeds in the Snowy Mountains of south‐eastern Australia

Environmental gradients drive variation in community composition across a range of spatial scales. In alpine regions, areas of long‐lasting snow (‘snow patches’) create snowmelt gradients that drive considerable change in vegetation structure and composition over small spatial scales. This study examined whether there is parallel variation in arthropod communities using snowmelt gradients in the Australian Alps. Mites (Acarina) were the most common arthropods in snow patches, followed by springtails while, among the insects, the orders Hymenoptera (primarily Formicidae), Diptera, Coleoptera (primarily Carabidae) and Hemiptera (primarily Cicadellidae) dominated. Along the snowmelt gradient, arthropod assemblages changed from having equal proportions of predators and herbivores in early‐melting zones to being predator‐dominated in late‐melting zones, particularly early in the growing season. This followed a transition in vegetation cover and composition and was driven by higher numbers of predacious carabid beetles in later‐melting zones. Overall, however, our results suggest that snowbed arthropod communities in the Australian alpine zone are more sensitive to short‐term effects, such as time since snowmelt, than to differences in vegetation structure and composition or long‐term patterns of snowmelt. Continued advancement of snowmelt timing due to warmer spring temperatures is therefore likely to have more impact on the seasonality of snowbed arthropod communities than on the overall community composition.