干旱区荒漠植被的特点及恢复问题的研究--以塔里木河流域胡杨林生态系统为例

干旱区除存在唯一的真正森林-胡杨(Populuseuphratica)林外,植被普遍极其稀疏,以降水稀少,蒸发显著为特点的干旱区,荒漠植被的存在对于生态环境的保护和良性发展起到极大的作用,干旱区的荒漠植被表现出特有的生理特征,本文研究塔里木河流域胡杨林的特征及对生态环境的适应规律,进一步提出了扩展荒漠植被的可能性及其措施。     

祁连山森林灌丛植被及其保护与可持续利用

祁连山是我国陆地生物多样性关键地区之一.本文分析和讨论了该区主要森林、灌丛植被类型及其重要特征.即区系组成受青藏高原及其毗邻地区的影响;具有一定的水平区域分异和垂直变化;其分布表现有明显的坡向性及山地森林性质;具有人类活动的明显痕迹.祁连山独特的地理位置,地形地貌特征及森林、灌丛植被的重要作用,为可持续利用该地区的森林、灌丛资源和保护生物多样性以及改善区域生态环境均具有重要意义.     

生态补偿使福建碧水长流

福建省日前决定,从今年起开始实施江河下游地区对上游地区的森林生态效益补偿制度。有关专家认为,区域性生态补偿机制的实施,有望进一步调动上游地区保护生态的积极性,使森林质量稳步提高,水土流失得到有效遏制,生态环境脆弱地段的森林植被逐步恢复。     

山东森林植被的基本特点及其改造利用

山东是一个少林的省份,森林资源比较贫乏。由于山东开发历史早,人类活动频繁,原始的森林植被早已破坏殆尽,大部分地区被开垦为农田。建国30多年经过全省人民的努力,森林覆盖率已达到8.9％,但仍低于全国12.7％的水平,与世界森林覆盖率22％相比相差更远。而且,山东的森林目前多属幼、中龄林,其经济效益和生态效益都不高。因此,增加山东森林面积,合理改造和利用现有森林植被,对于山东省经济的发展和生态环境条件的改善都具有重要意义。     

塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题及其策略

随着时间的推移,塔河流域生态环境恶化的现实已被越来越多的人们所认识。造成塔河中下游森林退化,生态环境恶化的主要原因除自然因素外,主要是人为不合理的社会经济活动的影响。目前塔河流域森林生态建设存在的主要问题有:第一水资源不合理的利用成为沙漠化和次生盐渍化的主要原因;第二传统的生活方式和掠夺式的生产方式使生态环境遭到破坏;第三耕地的增加,满足不了人口发展的需求,大面积的无序开荒,导致生态环境进一步恶化。为塔河中下游林地植被恢复、建设及防止退化的策略有:塔河中下游生态工程治理的原则;塔河中下游生态环境治理的基本思路;塔河流域生态环境治理的主要对策,合理利用水资源,坚持生产、生态建设并重,确保生态用水;要积极调整农村产业结构,正确处理林业和农业、林业和牧业以及林业和工业发展的关系;大力发展农村能源建设,从根本上解决农村薪材和生态保护之间矛盾;大力保护、恢复、发展荒漠林草植被,大力发展绿洲林业,建立荒漠生态环境和绿洲共同支撑的稳定的生态体系;积极实施林业生态工程和林果工程,建立较为完备和发达的生态和产业体系。     

洞庭水患与生态环境保护

本文分析了洞庭湖流域生态环境破坏对洪涝造成的影响,指出流域生态环境受到破坏主要是人类违背自然规律、破坏森林植被、盲目围湖造田、生产及建设性破坏河道及湖滩所致。文章还就根治洞庭水患的关键性措施——搞好生态恢复,提出了几点意见。     

生态环境:西部开发的切入点

国家林业局经济研发中心主任王成祖说:西部曾是水草丰美、林木繁茂、经济文化繁荣的地方.但由于森林植被遭到长期连续的破坏,许多富饶的地方变成了不毛之地,生态环境十分严峻.     

京藏高速公路诺木洪至格尔木段路域生态环境现状研究

为评估京藏高速公路（青海境内）建设对公路沿线生态环境的影响程度,借助遥感（RS）与地理信息系统（GIS）,对京藏高速公路诺木洪至格尔木段公路两侧300m范围内的土壤类型、植被情况、野生动物分布、土地利用情况和土壤侵蚀情况进行调查和研究。结果表明,公路沿线区域河流数量很少,水热条件差,物种较少,植被自我恢复能力较弱,植被覆盖度较差,荒漠化严重,生态环境现状为较差。因此,在公路建设和营运中,应重视和加强对已经十分脆弱的生态环境的保护,实现公路建设和环境保护的可持续发展。     

岷江上游生态环境建设与经济可持续发展

岷江上游生态环境问题严重,森林破坏、植被生态功能退化、水土流失、生物多样性减少。在上游地区应加强退耕还林还草,建立生态型持续农业系统和生态文明示范区,调整产业结构,提高群众的综合素质,走可持续发展道路。     

新疆巩乃斯山地草甸自然保护区草地植被的特点及其退化现象

新疆巩乃斯山地草甸自然保护区，生态环境条件优越．植物种类丰富，典型的中生植物占绝对优势，且有不少优良的牧革种质资源和残遗草本植物，森林和草甸发育良好，是保护区最具有景观意义的植被。由于过度放牧、人为活动频繁和民害严重等因素的影响，使保护区的草地植被表现出一定程度的破坏和退化现象。     

Quantifying the effects of trampling and habitat edges on forest understory vegetation – A field experiment

We investigated the effects of human trampling on boreal forest understory vegetation on, and off paths from suburban forest edges towards the interiors and on the likelihood of trampling-aided dispersal into the forests for three years by carrying out a trampling experiment. We showed that the vegetation was highly sensitive to trampling. Even low levels of trampling considerably decreased covers of the most abundant species on the paths. Cover decreased between 10 and 30% on paths which had been trampled 35 times, and at least by 50% on those trampled 70–270 times. On-path vegetation cover decreased similarly at forest edges and in the interiors. However, some open habitat plant species that occurred outside the forest patches and at forest edges dispersed into the forests, possibly through the action of trampling. A higher cover percentage of an open habitat species at the forest edge line increased its probability to disperse into the forest interior. The vegetation community on, next to, and away from lightly trampled paths remained the same throughout the trampling experiment. For heavily trampled paths, the community changed drastically on the paths, but stayed relatively similar next to and away from the paths. As boreal vegetation is highly sensitive to the effects of trampling, overall ease of access throughout the forest floor should be restricted to avoid the excessive creation of spontaneous paths. To minimize the effects of trampling, recreational use could be guided to the maintained path network in heavily used areas.     

矿区废弃地植被恢复中的森林生态效益计量分析

基于矿区废弃地植被恢复的视角，在分析矿区废弃地生态系统脆弱性和森林生态效益价值计量理论与方法的基础上，探讨了森林生态效益计量问题。结合矿区废弃地的相关特点，对矿区废弃地植被恢复中森林生态效益计量的具体指标进行了筛选。通过研究，选出涵养水源、净化大气、生物多样性保护、保持水土、游憩效益5个具体效益价值计量指标，为今后矿区废弃地植被恢复中森林生态效益价值的计量研究提供借鉴。     

Maintaining the Conservation Value of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes Requires Spatially Explicit Interventions

Fallow vegetation within landscapes dominated by shifting cultivation represents a woody species pool of critical importance with considerable potential for biodiversity conservation. Here, through the analysis of factors that influence the early stages of fallow vegetation regrowth in two contrasting forest margin landscapes in Southern Cameroon, we assessed the impact of current trends of land use intensification and expansion of the cultivated areas, upon the conservation potential of shifting cultivation landscapes. We combined the analysis of plot and landscape scale factors and identified a complex set of variables that influence fallow regrowth processes in particular the characteristics of the agricultural matrix and the distance from forest. Overall we observed a decline in the fallow species pool, with composition becoming increasingly dominated by species adapted to recurrent disturbance. It is clear that without intervention and if present intensification trends continue, the potential of fallow vegetation to contribute to biodiversity conservation declines because of a reduced capacity, (1) to recover forest vegetation with anything like its original species composition, (2) to connect less disturbed forest patches for forest dependent organisms. Strategies to combat biodiversity loss, including promotion of agroforestry practices and the increase of old secondary forest cover, will need not only to operate at a landscape scale but also to be spatially explicit, reflecting the spatial pattern of species reservoirs and dispersal strategies and human usage across landscapes.     

Water‐Yield Reduction After Afforestation and Related Processes in the Semiarid Liupan Mountains,Northwest China1

Abstract: The increase of coverage of forest/vegetation is imperative to improve the environment in dry‐land areas of China, especially for protecting soil against serious erosion and sandstorms. However, inherent severe water shortages, drought stresses, and increasing water use competition greatly restrict the reforestation. Notably, the water‐yield reduction after afforestation generates intense debate about the correct approach to afforestation and forest management in dry‐land areas. However, most studies on water‐yield reduction of forests have been at catchment scales, and there are few studies of the response of total evapotranspiration (ET) and its partitioning to vegetation structure change. This motivates us to learn the linkage between hydrological processes and vegetation structure in slope ecosystems. Therefore, an ecohydrological study was carried out by measuring the individual items of water balance on sloping plots covered by different vegetation types in the semiarid Liupan Mountains of northwest China. The ratio of precipitation consumed as ET was about 60% for grassland, 93% for shrubs, and >95% for forestland. Thus, the water yield was very low, site‐specific, and sensitive to vegetation change. Conversion of grassland to forest decreased the annual water yield from slope by 50‐100 mm. In certain periods, the plantations at lower slopes even consumed the runon from upper slopes. Reducing the density of forests and shrubs by thinning was not an efficient approach to minimize water use. Leaf area index was a better indicator than plant density to relate ET to vegetation structure and to evaluate the soil water carrying capacity for vegetation (i.e., the maximum amount of vegetation that can be supported by the available soil water for an extended time). Selecting proper vegetation types and plant species, based on site soil water condition, may be more effective than the forest density regulation to minimize water‐yield reduction by vegetation coverage increase and notably by reforestation. Finally, the focuses in future research to improve the forest‐water relations in dry‐land areas are recommended as follows: vegetation growth dynamics driven by environment especially water conditions, coupling of ecological and hydrological processes, further development of distributed ecohydrological models, quantitative relation of eco‐water quota of ecosystems with vegetation structures, multi‐scaled evaluation of soil water carrying capacity for vegetation, and the development of widely applicable decision support tools.     

水利水电工程建设对荒漠河岸林草的影响分析研究

以新疆喀什噶尔河流域克孜河卡拉贝利水利枢纽工程为例,采用水均衡模型计算方法,从工程建成后区域荒漠河岸林草耗水量变化、荒漠河岸林草区地下水位变化情况、工程建成后洪水过程变化等方面分析工程建设对工程影响区荒漠河岸林草的影响。评价结果显示,工程建成后,与现状相比荒漠河岸林草植被的耗水量有所增加,区域平均地下水埋深仍能维持现状,在河岸林草生长和繁殖的6-9月,区域地下水位较现状略有上升,可满足大部分荒漠河岸林草植被的正常生长需求,水库对5年一遇标准以下洪水不调蓄,不会对荒漠河岸林草的繁衍存活产生明显不利影响。     

Restoring Forests and Associated Ecosystem Services on Appalachian Coal Surface Mines

Surface coal mining in Appalachia has caused extensive replacement of forest with non-forested land cover, much of which is unmanaged and unproductive. Although forested ecosystems are valued by society for both marketable products and ecosystem services, forests have not been restored on most Appalachian mined lands because traditional reclamation practices, encouraged by regulatory policies, created conditions poorly suited for reforestation. Reclamation scientists have studied productive forests growing on older mine sites, established forest vegetation experimentally on recent mines, and identified mine reclamation practices that encourage forest vegetation re-establishment. Based on these findings, they developed a Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) that can be employed by coal mining firms to restore forest vegetation. Scientists and mine regulators, working collaboratively, have communicated the FRA to the coal industry and to regulatory enforcement personnel. Today, the FRA is used routinely by many coal mining firms, and thousands of mined hectares have been reclaimed to restore productive mine soils and planted with native forest trees. Reclamation of coal mines using the FRA is expected to restore these lands’ capabilities to provide forest-based ecosystem services, such as wood production, atmospheric carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and water quality protection to a greater extent than conventional reclamation practices.     

Recovery of trailside vegetation from trampling in a tropical rain forest

Practically no information exists on the impact of human trampling on tropical rain forest vegetation. We studied three trails with varying periods of use and recovery in a tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Human impact on trailside plants was curvilinearly related to use, as found by other workers in temperate zone vegetation. Recovery in a period of two years and eight months had been rapid, and herbs and seedlings were more abundant along the recovering trail than in undisturbed forest. The results imply that a shifting mosaic of trails, analogous to the mosaic created by light gaps, may be the best management technique to minimize the impact of human visitors in tropical rain forests.     

Comparing the impacts of hiking, skiing and horse riding on trail and vegetation in different types of forest

Nature-based tourism in protected areas has increased and diversified dramatically during the last decades. Different recreational activities have a range of impacts on natural environments. This paper reports results from a comparison of the impacts of hiking, cross-country skiing and horse riding on trail characteristics and vegetation in northern Finland. Widths and depths of existing trails, and vegetation on trails and in the neighbouring forests were monitored in two research sites during 2001 and 2002. Trail characteristics and vegetation were clearly related to the recreational activity, research site and forest type. Horse trails were as deep as hiking trails, even though the annual number of users was 150-fold higher on the hiking trails. Simultaneously, cross-country skiing had the least effect on trails due to the protective snow cover during winter. Hiking trail plots had little or no vegetation cover, horse riding trail plots had lower vegetation cover than forest plots, while skiing had no impact on total vegetation cover. On the other hand, on horse riding trails there were more forbs and grasses, many of which did not grow naturally in the forest. These species that were limited to riding trails may change the structure of adjacent plant communities in the long run. Therefore, the type of activities undertaken and the sensitivity of habitats to these activities should be a major consideration in the planning and management of nature-based tourism. Establishment of artificial structures, such as stairs, duckboards and trail cover, or complete closure of the site, may be the only way to protect the most sensitive or deteriorated sites.     

Determining Relative Contributions of Vegetation and Topography to Burn Severity from LANDSAT Imagery

Fire is a dominant process in boreal forest landscapes and creates a spatial patch mosaic with different burn severities and age classes. Quantifying effects of vegetation and topography on burn severity provides a scientific basis on which forest fire management plans are developed to reduce catastrophic fires. However, the relative contribution of vegetation and topography to burn severity is highly debated especially under extreme weather conditions. In this study, we hypothesized that relationships of vegetation and topography to burn severity vary with fire size. We examined this hypothesis in a boreal forest landscape of northeastern China by computing the burn severity of 24 fire patches as the difference between the pre- and post-fire Normalized Difference Vegetation Index obtained from two Landsat TM images. The vegetation and topography to burn severity relationships were evaluated at three fire-size levels of small (<100 ha, n = 12), moderate (100–1,000 ha, n = 9), and large (>1,000 ha, n = 3). Our results showed that vegetation and topography to burn severity relationships were fire-size-dependent. The burn severity of small fires was primary controlled by vegetation conditions (e.g., understory cover), and the burn severity of large fires was strongly influenced by topographic conditions (e.g., elevation). For moderate fires, the relationships were complex and indistinguishable. Our results also indicated that the pattern trends of relative importance for both vegetation and topography factors were not dependent on fire size. Our study can help managers to design fire management plans according to vegetation characteristics that are found important in controlling burn severity and prioritize management locations based on the relative importance of vegetation and topography.