A grassland ecosystem model of the Xilingol steppe, Inner Mongolia, China

The natural grassland ecosystem of the Xilingol steppe has traditionally been the source of the most productive and highest quality agriculture in northern China. Unfortunately, the area is now experiencing degradation due to resource overuse. In an attempt to forecast grassland production and to sustain the ecosystem, we built a time-dependent simulation model of the ecosystem based on long-range weather forecasts (several weeks to several months). The model incorporated five state variables including above- and belowground biomass, the amount of standing dead plant material, livestock (sheep) weight, and the amount of excrement per unit ground area. Within the model, solar light energy is fixed by grassland vegetation and flows through the other variables via a variety of organism-environment interactions. The model was written using a set of simultaneous differential equations and was numerically analyzed. The values of the time-dependent parameters controlling energy flow were determined based on data accumulated in experiments and field surveys executed at a grassland experimental station located in Xilingol, as well as by reference to related literature. We used daily meteorological data including air temperature and rainfall recorded at the Xilinhot Meteorological Observatory. Simulated results for several stocking densities coincided well with the data of aboveground plant biomass observed at the experimental station in 1990, 1993, and 1997. We obtained reasonable simulation results for five stocking densities, three air temperature patterns, and five rainfall patterns. When a month-long drought, which sometimes occurs in this area, was forecast by a local weather station, a decrease in grassland production was forecast by the model. Such forecasts will assist in the management of livestock, forage preservation, and grassland conservation.     

Direct and indirect control of grassland community structure by litter, resources, and biomass

Multiple factors linked through complex networks of interaction including fertilization, aboveground biomass, and litter control the diversity of plant communities. The challenge of explaining plant diversity is to determine not only how each individual mechanism directly influences diversity, but how those mechanisms indirectly influence diversity through interactions with other mechanisms. This approach is well established in the study of plant species richness, but surprisingly little effort has been dedicated toward understanding the controls of community evenness, despite the recognition that this aspect of diversity can influence a variety of critical ecosystem functions. Similarly, studies of diversity have predominantly focused on the influence of shoot, rather than root, biomass, despite the fact that the majority of plant biomass is belowground in many natural communities. In this study, I examine the roles of belowground biomass, live aboveground biomass, litter, and light availability in controlling the species richness and evenness of a rough fescue grassland community using structural equation modeling. Litter was the primary mechanism structuring grassland diversity, with both richness and evenness declining with increasing litter cover. There were few relationships between shoot biomass, shading, and diversity, and more importantly, no relationship between root biomass and diversity. The lack of relationship between root biomass and species richness and evenness suggests that, even though root competition in grasslands is intense, belowground interactions may not play an important role in structuring community diversity or composition.     

Carbon allocation to ectomycorrhizal fungi correlates with belowground allocation in culture studies

Ectomycorrhizal fungi form symbioses with most temperate and boreal tree species, but difficulties in measuring carbon allocation to these symbionts have prevented the assessment of their importance in forest ecosystems. Here, I surveyed allocation patterns in 14 culture studies and five field studies of ectomycorrhizal plants. In culture studies, allocation to ectomycorrhizal fungi (NPPf) was linearly related to total belowground net primary production (NPPb) by the equation NPPf = 41.5% x NPPb - 11.3% (r2 = 0.55, P < 0.001) and ranged from 1% to 21% of total net primary production. As a percentage of NPP, allocation to ectomycorrhizal fungi was highest at lowest plant growth rates and lowest nutrient availabilities. Because total belowground allocation can be estimated using carbon balance techniques, these relationships should allow ecologists to incorporate mycorrhizal fungi into existing ecosystem models. In field studies, allocation to ectomycorrhizal fungi ranged from 0% to 22% of total allocation, but wide differences in measurement techniques made intercomparisons difficult. Techniques such as fungal in-growth cores, root branching-order studies, and isotopic analyses could refine our estimates of turnover rates of fine roots, mycorrhizae, and extraradical hyphae. Together with ecosystem modeling, such techniques could soon provide good estimates of the relative importance of root vs. fungal allocation in belowground carbon budgets.     

The invasive grass Agropyron cristatum doubles belowground productivity but not soil carbon

Root dynamics are among the largest knowledge gaps in determining how terrestrial carbon (C) cycles will respond to environmental change. Increases in productivity accompanying plant invasions and introductions could increase ecosystem C storage, but belowground changes are unknown, even though roots may account for 50-90% of production in temperate ecosystems. We examined whether the introduction of a widespread invasive grass with relatively high shoot production also increased belowground productivity and soil C storage, using a multiyear rhizotron study in 50-year-old stands dominated either by the invasive C3 grass Agropyron cristatum or by largely C4 native grasses. Relative to native vegetation, stands dominated by the invader had doubled root productivity. Soil carbon isotope values showed that the invader had made detectable contributions to soil C. Soil C content, however, was not significantly different between invader-dominated stands (0.42 mg C/g soil) and native vegetation (0.45 mg C/g soil). The discrepancy between enhanced production and lack of soil C changes was attributable to differences in root traits between invader-dominated stands and native vegetation. Relative to native vegetation, roots beneath the invader had 59% more young white tissue, with 80% higher mortality and 19% lower C:N ratios (all P < 0.05). Such patterns have previously been reported for aboveground tissues of invaders, and we show that they are also found belowground. If these root traits occur in other invasive species, then the global phenomenon of increased productivity following biological invasion may not increase soil C storage.     

草地枯落物分解研究进展及展望

草地枯落物是草地生态系统中生物组分枯死后所有有机物质的总称,是草地生态系统重要的组成部分,是除冠层外,大气与矿质土壤层、植物根系层进行物质与能量交换的另一介质,在生态学中起着不可替代的作用。随着西部大开发战略和退耕还林还草工程的实施,大型家畜等草食性动物退出草地生态系统后,枯落物成为草地生态系统物质和能量循环的重要调节枢纽。近年来,随着全球应对气候变化、节能减排和低碳经济所面临的压力,作为全球碳循环的重要组成部分,草地枯落物的研究被越来越多的学者所重视。文章在综述国内外大量文献的基础上,对草地枯落物的概念进行了比较分析,对其进行了准确定义;归纳出了尼龙网袋法、室内分解培养法、现量估算法和同位素法等多种草地枯落物分解方法,并就枯落物分解过程中经常采用的分解率概算模型、时间衰减模型、影响因子关系模型等进行了比较分析,总结出枯落物的分解是由淋溶、自然粉碎和代谢等3个主要作用,碎屑食物链、腐食食物链等2种不同的食物链共同组成的复杂过程。开展长期定位监测、形成统一的研究方法,探索枯落物分解过程中碳循环微观机理,以及影响因子之间的交互作用是未来草地枯落物研究工作的重点。     

Grassland establishment under varying resource availability: a test of positive and negative feedback

The traditional logic of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) interactions in ecosystems predicts further increases or decreases in productivity (positive feedback) in response to high and low fertility in the soil, respectively; but the potential for development of feedback in ecosystems recovering from disturbance is less well understood. Furthermore, this logic has been challenged in grassland ecosystems where frequent fires or grazing may reduce the contribution of aboveground litter inputs to soil organic matter pools and nutrient supply for plant growth, relative to forest ecosystems. Further, if increases in plant productivity increase soil C content more than soil N content, negative feedback may result from increased microbial demand for N making less available for plant growth. We used a field experiment to test for feedback in an establishing grassland by comparing aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and belowground pools and fluxes of C and N in soil with enriched, ambient, and reduced N availability. For eight years annual N enrichment increased ANPP, root N, and root tissue quality, but root C:N ratios remained well above the threshold for net mineralization of N. There was no evidence that N enrichment increased root biomass, soil C or N accrual rates, or storage of C in total, microbial, or mineralizable pools within this time frame. However, the net nitrogen mineralization potential (NMP) rate was greater following eight years of N enrichment, and we attributed this to N saturation of the microbial biomass. Grassland developing under experimentally imposed N limitation through C addition to the soil exhibited ANPP, root biomass and quality, and net NMP rate similar to the ambient soil. Similarity in productivity and roots in the reduced and ambient N treatments was attributed to the potentially high nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) of the dominant C4 grasses, and increasing cover of legumes over time in the C-amended soil. Thus, in a developing ecosystem, positive feedback between soil N supply and plant productivity may promote enhanced long-term N availability and override progressive N limitation as C accrues in plant and soil pools. However, experimentally imposed reduction in N availability did not feed back to reduce ANPP, possibly due to shifts in NUE and functional group composition.     

Computer simulation of barren-ground caribou dynamics

This paper describes a simulation model of a Canadian caribou population. The model was constructed by an interdisciplinary team of field biologists, managers, and systems ecologists. Population dynamics are represented in terms of age structure, with age-dependent survival and fecundity. Biomass dynamics of the major food species are also simulated, and the food dynamics interact with the caribou population through a foraging submodel that explicitly considers snow depth, seasonal migrations, and total area of useable winter habitat. The model was used to examine two hypotheses regarding the abundance of barren-ground caribou. It was shown that there is no reason to suspect that food supply currently limits the population size; instead, hunting pressure appears to be the critical variable. The implications of this finding for population management are discussed.     

Grassland root communities: species distributions and how they are linked to aboveground abundance

There is little comprehensive information on the distribution of root systems among coexisting species, despite the expected importance of those distributions in determining the composition and diversity of plant communities. This gap in knowledge is particularly acute for grasslands, which possess large numbers of species with morphologically indistinguishable roots. In this study we adapted a molecular method, fluorescent fragment length polymorphism, to identify root fragments and determine species root distributions in two grasslands in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Aboveground biomass was measured, and soil cores (2 cm in diameter) were collected to depths of 40 cm and 90 cm in an upland, dry grassland and a mesic, slope-bottom grassland, respectively, at peak foliar expansion. Cores were subdivided, and species that occurred in each 10-cm interval were identified. The results indicated that the average number of species in 10-cm intervals (31 cm3) throughout the sampled soil profile was 3.9 and 2.8 species at a dry grassland and a mesic grassland, respectively. By contrast, there was an average of 6.7 and 14.1 species per 0.5 m2, determined by the presence of shoot material, at dry and mesic sites, respectively. There was no relationship between soil depth and number of species per 10-cm interval in either grassland, despite the exponential decline of root biomass with soil depth at both sites. There also was no relationship between root frequency (i.e., the percentage of samples in which a species occurred) and soil depth for the vast majority of species at both sites. The preponderance of species were distributed throughout the soil profile at both sites. Assembly analyses indicated that species root occurrences were randomly assorted in all soil intervals at both sites, with the exception that Festuca idahoensis segregated from Artemisia tridentata and Pseudoroegnaria spicata in 10-20 cm soil at the dry grassland. Root frequency throughout the entire sampled soil profile was positively associated with shoot biomass among species. Together these results indicated the importance of large, well-proliferated root systems in establishing aboveground dominance. The findings suggest that spatial belowground segregation of species probably plays a minor role in fostering resource partitioning and species coexistence in these YNP grasslands.     

SPACSYS: Integration of a 3D root architecture component to carbon, nitrogen and water cycling—Model description

It is an ongoing challenge to develop and demonstrate management practices that increase the sustainability of agricultural systems. Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics directly affect soil quality, crop productivity and environmental impacts. Root systems are central to the acquisition of water and nutrients by plants, but are also a major pathway for the inputs of carbon and nutrients to soil. The complexity of both biotic and abiotic interactions, combined with stochastic changes in root architecture, makes it difficult to understand below-ground dynamics on the basis of experimentation alone. The integration of dynamic models of above-ground growth, three-dimensional root system demography, and interactions between plants and the environment, into one single model is a major challenge because of the complexity of the systems.In order to understand the interaction between a plant and the environment, it is advantageous to develop a model framework to integrate submodels that simulate various plant and environmental components. The objective of this paper is to outline a mechanistic and process-based model, which is capable of simulating interactions among environmental conditions around plants, plant growth and development, nitrogen and carbon cycles, with a three-dimensional root system submodel as an interface.The model presented in this paper is a mixed dimensional, multi-layer, field scale, weather-driven and daily time-step dynamic simulation model. The current version includes a plant growth and development component, a nitrogen cycling component, a carbon cycling component, plus a soil water component that includes representation of water flow to field drains as well as downwards through the soil layers, together with a heat transfer component. The components themselves and linkage among components are designed using object-oriented techniques, which makes the model robust, understandable and reusable. The components are implemented in the C++ programming language, and inputs and outputs of all components are organised as a database in either Microsoft^® SQL Server 2000, Access 2000 or MySQL5.0. Root architecture is visualised by using the OpenGL graphics system. Preliminary validation with two separate experimental datasets shows that the model can reasonably simulate root systems, nitrogen cycling, water movement and plant growth.     

中国草地生态系统碳储量及碳过程研究进展

草地为陆地生态系统的主体,是陆地上最主要的碳储库和碳吸收汇之一。近年来,随着“草原承包责任制”、“退耕还林还草”和“封育禁牧”等重大生态工程项目的实施及草地生态系统的恢复和草地生产力的提升,草地生态系统碳储量、固持潜力、土壤碳循环机制及稳定性机制越来越受到学术界的关切。文章全面综述了近年来我国草地生态系统碳储量及其碳过程的研究工作,总结了不同研究中,我国不同草地类型碳库的特征及其储量、分析了草地生态系统碳过程等,评述了土壤碳过程相关科学问题的研究进展,指出了当前草地生态系统土壤碳储量及碳过程的研究进展、存在的问题,分析了未来草地生态系统土壤碳研究的重点研究方向和发展趋势。研究表明：草地生态系统在调节碳循环和减缓全球气候变化中起着重要作用。但是,由于草地类型的多样性、结构的复杂性以及草地对干扰和变化环境响应的时空动态变化,至今对草地生态系统碳储量和变率的科学估算,以及草地生态系统土壤关键碳过程及其稳定性维持机制的认识还十分有限,随着高分辨率的MODIS、TM数据、数学模型及不同草地类型实测点的建立,以及通过枯落物碳库将植物碳库与土壤碳库的有机连接,草地生态系统的土壤碳储量及固持潜力取得了重要进展;土壤有机碳来源、组成,有机碳化学结构以及环境因子是影响土壤有机碳稳定性的重要因素,而固体赫兹共振、碳同位素示踪等对破解有机碳稳定性提供了重要手段。未来,还将进一步厘清草地生态系统土壤固碳的驱动机制,构建草地生态系统土壤固碳量化方法体系等。     

Economic land use, ecosystem services and microfounded species dynamics

In an integrated economy–ecosystem model humans choose their land use and leave the residual land as habitat for three species forming a food chain. The size of habitat determines the diversity and abundance of species. That biodiversity generates, in turn, a flow of ecosystem services with public-good characteristics for human consumption. The ecosystem submodel yields (rather than assumes!) population growth functions with each species’ growth depending on the size of habitat. First the relationship between habitat and species growth (sustenance, decline and extinction) is explored. The laissez-faire economy is shown to result in an underprovision of habitat making the case for land use restrictions for nature protection. The optimal land use policy is characterized with full regard of ecosystem dynamics. Finally, labor-augmenting technical change is introduced to generate ever increasing pressure towards further habitat reductions. In the laissez-faire economy the habitat is consequently squeezed to zero in the long-run so that all species are doomed. Social optimality demands, however, to refrain from using all land for economic purposes despite ever growing labor productivity.     

From single fine roots to a black alder forest ecosystem: How system behaviour emerges from single component activities

Based on empirical findings in a natural black alder ecosystem in Northern Germany we developed an individual based model that integrates components of a black alder ecosystem interacting on different levels of organisation. The factors determining seasonal fine root biomass development of forest ecosystems are not yet fully understood.We used an object oriented model approach to investigate this complex matter for black alder trees. Processes like growth, storage, respiration, transport, nutrient mineralisation and uptake as well as interactions among these factors are described on the level of functionally differentiated plant organs (fine roots, coarse roots, stem, branches, leaves) and soil units. The object structure of the model is determined by spatial relations between plant modules as well as between plant modules and their local environment modules.As results of model application we found that (i) on the organ level, spatio-temporal plasticity of (root) growth allocation is related to spatio-temporal variation of resource availability, (ii) on the plant level, balanced root:shoot growth appears in response to variation of available resources light and nutrients, (iii) on the population level, tree stand development (population structure, self-thinning) resulted from coexistence and competition between plant individuals.For the understanding of the root compartment it seems relevant that the model implementation of local scale fine root dynamics is consistent with a self-organised large scale spatial heterogeneity of fine root activity pattern. On the other hand, fine-root dynamics cannot be explained as a result of autonomous dynamics. A reference to above-ground processes is a necessary condition and the overall plant seems to act as an integrator providing boundary conditions for local activity pattern. At the same time fine-root characteristics are of some importance for properties on hierarchically higher levels, e.g. co-existence in a tree population or element cycling in the ecosystem.As a conclusion, modelling of the spatio-temporal dynamics of tree root systems appears as a paradigmatic example of scale and organisation level integrating processes.     

Analysis of the phenolic compounds in root exudates produced by a subalpine coniferous species as responses to experimental warming and nitrogen fertilisation

In terrestrial ecosystems, plant root exudates clearly play a crucial role in the belowground ecosystem. However, there have been few reports on root exudates from field-grown plants or mature trees in situ, especially when exposed to experimental warming. In this study, we adopted and modified a culture-based cuvette system developed especially for root exudation collection in the field to collect soluble root exudates of a subalpine coniferous species, Abies faxoniana, under experimental warming and nitrogen fertilisation treatments. We then analysed the chemical composition and relative abundance of root exudates using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major chemical constituents of root exudates were phenols and their derivatives of all the different treatments, such as 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol. Experimental warming had significant effects on the relative contents of major compounds and an increase effect on the total phenolic acid compounds. By contrast, there were small significant effects of N fertilisation on root exudation and no significant effects of the warming×N fertilisation interaction. Meanwhile, warming also markedly increased soil polyphenol oxidase activity and it may be soil ecological adjustment response to changes of root exudation under global climate warming.     

A process-based model of nitrogen cycling in forest plantations: Part I. Structure,calibration and analysis of the decomposition model

We present a new decomposition model of C and N cycling in forest ecosystems that simulates N mineralisation from decomposing tree litter. It incorporates a mechanistic representation of the role of soil organisms in the N mineralisation-immobilisation turnover process during decomposition. We first calibrate the model using data from decomposition of ¹⁴C-labelled cellulose and lignin and ¹⁴C-labelled legume material and then calibrate and test it using mass loss and N loss data from decomposing Eucalyptus globulus residues. The model has been linked to the plant production submodel of the G’DAY ecosystem model, which previously used the CENTURY decomposition submodel for simulating C and N cycling. The key differences between this new decomposition model and the previous one, based on the CENTURY model, are: (1) growth of microbial biomass is the process that drives N mineralisation-immobilisation, and microbial succession is simulated; (2) decomposition of litter can be N-limited, depending on soil inorganic N availability relative to N requirements for microbial growth; (3) ‘quality’ of leaf and fine root litter is expressed in terms of biochemically measurable fractions; (4) the N:C ratio of microbial biomass active in decomposing litter is a function of litter quality and N availability; and (5) the N:C ratios of soil organic matter (SOM) pools are not prescribed but are instead simulated output variables defined by litter characteristics and soil inorganic N availability. With these modifications the model is able to provide reasonable estimates of both mass loss and N loss by decomposing E. globulus leaf and branch harvest residues in litterbag experiments. A sensitivity analysis of the decomposition model to selected parameters indicates that parameters regulating the stabilisation of organic C and N, as well as those describing incorporation of soil inorganic N in Young-SOM (biochemical immobilisation of N) are particularly critical for long-term applications of the model. A parameter identifiability analysis demonstrates that simulated short-term C and N loss from decomposing litter is highly sensitive to three model parameters that are identifiable from the E. globulus litterbag data.     

Effect of elevated CO2 on coarse-root biomass in Florida scrub detected by ground-penetrating radar

Growth and distribution of coarse roots in time and space represent a gap in our understanding of belowground ecology. Large roots may play a critical role in carbon sequestration belowground. Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), we quantified coarse-root biomass from an open-top chamber experiment in a scrub-oak ecosystem at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. GPR propagates electromagnetic waves directly into the soil and reflects a portion of the energy when a buried object is contacted. In our study, we utilized a 1500 MHz antenna to establish correlations between GPR signals and root biomass. A significant relationship was found between GPR signal reflectance and biomass (R2 = 0.68). This correlation was applied to multiple GPR scans taken from each open-top chamber (elevated and ambient CO2). Our results showed that plots receiving elevated CO2 had significantly (P = 0.049) greater coarse-root biomass compared to ambient plots, suggesting that coarse roots may play a large role in carbon sequestration in scrub-oak ecosystems. This nondestructive method holds much promise for rapid and repeatable quantification of coarse roots, which are currently the most elusive aspect of long-term belowground studies.     

基于遥感与GIS的黄河三角洲绿色空间生态服务价值评估

基于黄河三角洲1987、1997和2007年的TM遥感影像解译数据和野外调查结果,得到研究区三个年度的土地利用空间分布图。然后从土地利用的角度重新审视绿色空间的概念和内涵,建立基于土地利用类型的绿色空间生态评估体系,分析黄河三角洲地区的绿色空间生态服务价值及其变化情况。研究结果表明,1987—2007年间黄河三角洲地区绿色空间土地利用变化显著,其中,水体面积增加明显,农田、林地面积略有增加,湿地和草地面积显著减少,未利用地面积略有减少。土地利用面积的变化直接影响到其生态服务价值的变化,研究期间湿地生态服务价值减少了77.72亿元,草地减少9.00亿元,未利用地减少0.16亿元;水体的生态服务价值增加54.54亿元,农田和林地共增加3.41亿元。研究区绿色空间生态服务价值呈逐年减少的趋势,20年间研究区生态服务价值减少了28.94亿元。通过对绿色空间单项生态服务价值功能重要性进行评价,研究表明黄河三角洲地区单项生态服务价值以湿地、农田和水体占主要地位,这与各单项生态系统的面积及其单位生态服务价值量有关。     

Urbanization increases grassland carbon pools: effects of landscaping in Colorado's front range.

During the past few decades, urban and suburban developments have grown at unprecedented rates and extents with unknown consequences for ecosystem function. Carbon pools of soil and vegetation on landscaped properties were examined in the Front Range of Colorado, USA, in order to characterize vegetation and soils found in urban green spaces; analyze their aboveground biomass, vegetative C storage, and soil C storage; and compare these suburban ecosystem properties to their counterparts in native grassland and cultivated fields. Anthropogenic activities leave clear signatures on all three C compartments measured. Management level dominates the response of grass production, biomass, and N tissue concentration. This, in turn, influences the amount of C and N both stored in and harvested from sites. The site age dominates the amount of woody biomass as well as soil C and N. Soil texture only secondarily affects total soil carbon and total bulk density. Established urban green spaces harbor larger C pools, more than double in some cases, than native grasslands or agricultural fields on a per-area basis. Lawn grass produces more biomass and stores more C than local prairie or agricultural fields. Introduced woody vegetation comprises a substantial C pool in urban green spaces and represents a new ecosystem feature. After an initial decrease with site development, soil organic carbon (SOC) pools surpass those in grasslands within two decades. In addition to the marked increase of C pools through time, a shift in storage from belowground to aboveground occurs. Whereas grasslands store approximately 90% of C belowground, urban green spaces store a decreasing proportion of the total C belowground in soils through time, reaching approximately 70% 30-40 years after construction. Despite the substantial increase in C pools in this urban area, it is important to recognize that this shift is distinct from C sequestration since it does not account for a total C budget, including increased anthropogenic C emissions from these sites.     

Modelling partitioning and distribution of micropollutants in the lagoon of Venice: a first step towards a comprehensive ecotoxicological model

The model presented in this paper integrates a large amount of recent and ad hoc collected data concerning environmental contamination from micropollutants in the lagoon of Venice. This model represents the first step in setting up of an ecotoxicological model for the Venice lagoon, to simulate fate of contaminants from abiotic matrices to organisms. Distribution and partitioning of organic and inorganic contaminants are modelled by a two-dimensional model, based both on deterministic and empirical submodels and adapted to a large spectrum of different substances (polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzo-furans (PCDD/F), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals). The model was successfully calibrated on a wide set of experimental data. Sensitivity analysis showed that the model is generally not very sensible to parameters values but it is sensible to external conditions (e.g., pollutants loads). Distribution of dissolved and total concentrations of contaminants was obtained for a series of PCDD/F and PCBs congeners and for eight heavy metals. These distributions represent integrated information on ecosystem health, complementary to monitoring data and they are useful to be used for comparisons with various water quality criteria. Simulation scenarios under different external conditions are proposed as examples of use of the model for management purposes.     

根系及其主要影响因子在森林演替过程中的变化

统计分析了国内外主要森林生态系统演替过程中根系生物量及其分布的变化，并探讨了相关的影响因子及其动态。结果发现，根系生物量随林龄和演替的进行而增加，演替群落的根冠比呈减小趋势。一般来说，根系的垂直分布是较浅的，尤其是细根。根系分布范围与地下部生态位的变化能够反映其可以利用的资源范围以及它在演替过程中的作用和地位。在森林演替初期，群落根系分布较浅，可塑性强，且水平根系发达；演替中期的根系呈镶嵌分布，分布范围加深，根系密度增加；演替后期的根系分布趋于稳定，地下生态位分离程度加剧，根系结构具有相对明显的分层。在演替过程中，根系的这种分布特征受自身条件和生态因子的影响，文章论证了这些影响因子本身在演替过程中也是动态变化的，进一步说明了根系分布动态规律存在的必然性。在演替过程中，根系生物量及其分布动态的研究，可以为森林群落动态学提供新的理论基础，是未来地下生态学研究的焦点之一。最后，分析了根系研究中亟待解决的问题和今后的发展重点，提出新的展望。     

Effects of macrophyte functional group richness on emergent freshwater wetland functions

Most plant diversity-function studies have been conducted in terrestrial ecosystems and have focused on plant productivity and nutrient uptake/retention, with a notable lack of attention paid to belowground processes (e.g., root dynamics, decomposition, trace gas fluxes). Here we present results from a mesocosm experiment in which we assessed how the richness of emergent macrophyte functional groups influences aboveground and belowground plant growth and microbial-mediated functions related to carbon and nitrogen cycling, with an emphasis on methane (CH4) efflux and potential denitrification rates. We found that an increase in the richness of wetland plant functional groups enhanced belowground plant biomass, altered rooting patterns, and decreased methane efflux, while having no effect on aboveground plant production or denitrification potential. We hypothesize that the greater root production and increased rooting depth in the highest diversity treatments enhanced CH4 oxidation to a relatively greater degree than methane production, leading to an overall decrease in CH4 efflux across our plant functional group richness gradient.