Measurement and modeling of diclosulam runoff under the influence of simulated severe rainfall

A runoff study was conducted near Tifton, GA to measure the losses of water, sediment, and diclosulam (N-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-5-ethoxy-7-fluoro-[1,2,4]triazolo-[1,5c]-pyrimidine- 2-sulfonamide), a new broadleaf herbicide, under a 50-mm-in-3-h simulated rainfall event on three separate 0.05-ha plots. Results of a runoff study were used to validate the Pesticide Root Zone Model (PRZM, v. 3.12) using field-measured soil, chemical, and weather inputs. The model-predicted edge-of-field diclosulam loading was within 1% of the average observed diclosulam runoff from the field study; however, partitioning between phases was not as well predicted. The model was subsequently used with worst-case agricultural practice inputs and a 41-yr weather record from Dublin, GA to simulate edge-of-field runoff losses for the two most prevalent soils (Tifton and Bibb) in the southeastern U.S. peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) market for 328 simulation years, and showed that the 90th percentile runoff amounts, expressed as percent of applied diclosulam, were 1.8, 0.6, and 5.2% for the runoff study plots and Tifton and Bibb soils, respectively. The runoff study and modeling indicated that more than 97% of the total diclosulam runoff was transported off the field by water, with < 3% associated with the sediment. Diclosulam losses due to runoff can be further reduced by lower application rates, tillage and crop residue management practices that reduce edge-of-field runoff, and conservation practices such as vegetated filter strips.     

Predispersal seed herbivores, not pollinators, exert selection on floral traits via female fitness

Herbivores that oviposit in flowers of animal-pollinated plants depend on pollinators for seed production and are therefore expected to choose flowers that attract pollinators. This provides a mechanism by which seed herbivores and pollinators could impose conflicting selection on floral traits. We measured phenotypic selection on floral traits of Lobelia siphilitica (Lobeliaceae) via female fitness to determine the relative strength of selection by pollinators and a specialist predispersal seed herbivore. We were able to attribute selection on flowering phenology to the herbivores. However, no selection could be attributed to pollinators, resulting in no conflicting selection on floral traits. Unlike pollinators, whose preference for certain floral traits does not always translate into higher fitness, any discrimination by seed herbivores is likely to decrease fitness of the preferred floral phenotype. Thus predispersal seed herbivores may be a significant agent of selection on floral traits.     

New methods for quantifying the spatial storage effect: an illustration with desert annuals

Recent theory supports the long-held proposition that coexistence is promoted by species-specific responses to a spatially varying environment. The underlying coexistence mechanism, the spatial storage effect, can be quantified by the covariance between response to the environment and competition. Here, "competition" is generalized to encompass similar processes such as facilitation and apparent competition. In the present study, we use a model field system of desert annual plants to demonstrate this method and to provide insight into the dynamics of the field system. Specifically, we use neighborhood competition experiments to quantify the spatial storage effect and compare it to the separate (but not mutually exclusive) process of neighborhood-scale resource partitioning. As our basic experimental design has been used frequently in community ecology, these methods can be applied to many existing data sets, as well as future field studies.     

A comparison of taxon co-occurrence patterns for macro- and microorganisms

We examine co-occurrence patterns of microorganisms to evaluate community assembly "rules". We use methods previously applied to macroorganisms, both to evaluate their applicability to microorganisms and to allow comparison of co-occurrence patterns observed in microorganisms to those found in macroorganisms. We use a null model analysis of 124 incidence matrices from microbial communities, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and algae, and we compare these results to previously published findings from a meta-analysis of almost 100 macroorganism data sets. We show that assemblages of microorganisms demonstrate nonrandom patterns of co-occurrence that are broadly similar to those found in assemblages of macroorganisms. These results suggest that some taxon co-occurrence patterns may be general characteristics of communities of organisms from all domains of life. We also find that co-occurrence in microbial communities does not vary among taxonomic groups or habitat types. However, we find that the degree of co-occurrence does vary among studies that use different methods to survey microbial communities. Finally, we discuss the potential effects of the undersampling of microbial communities on our results, as well as processes that may contribute to nonrandom patterns of co-occurrence in both macrobial and microbial communities such as competition, habitat filtering, historical effects, and neutral processes.     

Subsurface application of poultry litter in pasture and no-till soils

Poultry litter provides a rich nutrient source for crops, but the usual practice of surface-applying litter can degrade water quality by allowing nutrients to be transported from fields in surface runoff while much of the ammonia (NH3)-N escapes into the atmosphere. Our goal was to improve on conventional titter application methods to decrease associated nutrient losses to air and water while increasing soil productivity. We developed and tested a knifing technique to directly apply dry poultry litter beneath the surface of pastures. Results showed that subsurface litter application decreased NH3-N volatilization and nutrient losses in runoff more than 90% (compared with surface-applied litter) to levels statistically as low as those from control (no litter) plots. Given this success, two advanced tractor-drawn prototypes were developed to subsurface apply poultry litter in field research. The two prototypes have been tested in pasture and no-till experiments and are both effective in improving nutrient-use efficiency compared with surface-applied litter, increasing crop yields (possibly by retaining more nitrogen in the soil), and decreasing nutrient losses, often to near background (control plot) levels. A paired-watershed study showed that cumulative phosphorus losses in runoff from continuously grazed perennial pastures were decreased by 55% over a 3-yr period if the annual poultry litter applications were subsurface applied rather than surface broadcast. Results highlight opportunities and challenges for commercial adoption of subsurface poultry litter application in pasture and no-till systems.     

Comparison of field-scale herbicide runoff and volatilization losses: an eight-year field investigation

An 8-yr study was conducted to better understand factors influencing year-to-year variability in field-scale herbicide volatilization and surface runoff losses. The 21-ha research site is located at the USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, MD. Site location, herbicide formulations, and agricultural management practices remained unchanged throughout the duration of the study. Metolachlor [2-chloro--(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)--(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl) acetamide] and atrazine [6-chloro--ethyl--(1-methylethyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine] were coapplied as a surface broadcast spray. Herbicide runoff was monitored from a month before application through harvest. A flux gradient technique was used to compute volatilization fluxes for the first 5 d after application using herbicide concentration profiles and turbulent fluxes of heat and water vapor as determined from eddy covariance measurements. Results demonstrated that volatilization losses for these two herbicides were significantly greater than runoff losses ( < 0.007), even though both have relatively low vapor pressures. The largest annual runoff loss for metolachlor never exceeded 2.5%, whereas atrazine runoff never exceeded 3% of that applied. On the other hand, herbicide cumulative volatilization losses after 5 d ranged from about 5 to 63% of that applied for metolachlor and about 2 to 12% of that applied for atrazine. Additionally, daytime herbicide volatilization losses were significantly greater than nighttime vapor losses ( < 0.05). This research confirmed that vapor losses for some commonly used herbicides frequently exceeds runoff losses and herbicide vapor losses on the same site and with the same management practices can vary significantly year to year depending on local environmental conditions.     

A direct comparison of the consequences of plant genotypic and species diversity on communities and ecosystem function

Biodiversity loss is proceeding at an unprecedented rate, yet we lack a thorough understanding of the consequences of losing diversity at different scales. While species diversity is known to impact community and ecosystem processes, genotypic diversity is assumed to have relatively smaller effects. Nonetheless, a few recent studies suggest that genotypic diversity may have quantitatively similar ecological consequences compared to species diversity. Here we show that increasing either genotypic diversity of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) or species diversity of old-field plant species resulted in nearly equivalent increases (approximately 17%) in aboveground primary production. The predominant mechanism explaining this effect, niche complementarity, was similar for each type of diversity. Arthropod species richness also increased with both types of plant diversity, but the mechanisms leading to this effect differed: abundance-driven accumulation of arthropod species was important in plant genotypic polycultures, whereas resource specialization was important in plant species polycultures. Thus, similar increases in primary productivity differentially impacted higher trophic levels in response to each type of plant diversity. These results highlight important ecological similarities and differences between genotypic and species diversity and suggest that genotypic diversity may play a larger role in community and ecosystem processes than previously realized.     

森林对生态环境的作用

一、引言发展林业,保护森林,当代受益,造福子孙,这是我们的国策。环境是人类赖以生存的场所和索取生活资料的来源。但如对自然资源不合理地开发利用,必然要破坏生态平衡,破坏环境。则将受到大自然的严励惩罚,后患无穷。