A multi-mutualist simulation: Applying biological market models to diverse mycorrhizal communities

We present a cellular automaton that simulates the interaction between a host tree and multiple potential mycorrhizal symbionts and generates testable hypotheses of how processes at the scale of individual root tips may explain mycorrhizal community composition. Existing theoretical biological market models imply that a single host is able to interact with and select from multiple symbionts to organize an optimal symbiont community. When evaluating the tree–symbiont interaction, two scales must be considered simultaneously: the scale of the entire host plant at which carbon utilization and nutrient demands operate, and the scale of the individual root tip, at which colonization and carbon-nutrient trade occurs. Three strategies that may be employed by the host tree for optimizing carbon use and nutrient acquisition through mycorrhizal symbiont communities are simulated: (1) carbon pool adjustment, in which the plant controls only the total amount of carbon to be distributed uniformly throughout the root system, (2) symbiont selection, wherein the plant opts either for or against the interaction at each fine root tip, and (3) selective carbon allocation, wherein the plant adjusts the amount of carbon allocated to each root tip based on the cost of nutrients. Strategies were tested over various nutrient availabilities (the amount of inorganically and organically bound nutrients). Success was defined on the basis of minimizing carbon expended for nutrient acquisition because this would allow more carbon to be utilized for growth and reproduction. In all cases, the symbiont selection and selective carbon allocation strategies were able to meet the nutritional requirements of the plant, but did not necessarily optimize carbon use. The carbon pool adjustment strategy is the only strategy that does not operate at the individual root tip scale, and the strategy was not successful when inorganic nutrients were scarce since there is no mechanism to exclude suboptimal symbionts. The combination of the symbiont selection strategy and the carbon pool adjustment resulted in optimal carbon use and nutrient acquisition under all environmental conditions but result in monospecific symbiont assemblages. On the other hand, the selective carbon allocation strategy is the only strategy that maintained successful, multi-symbiont communities. The simulations presented here thus imply clear hypotheses about the effect of nutrient availability on symbiont selection and mycorrhizal community richness and composition.     

Modeling Waste Incineration for Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis in Switzerland

This paper proposes a mathematical model for life-cycle inventory analysis (LCI) of waste incineration in Switzerland. In order to model conventional and new incineration technologies adequately, fundamental aspects of the different technologies relevant for the LCI are discussed. The environmental impact of these technologies strongly depends on the assessment of the long-term emissions of the solid incineration residues and is therefore related to value based decisions about the time horizon considered. The article illustrates that the choice of the landfill model has a significant influence on the results of life-cycle assessment of waste incineration.     

Time allocation strategies in insect parasitoids: from ultimate predictions to proximate behavioral mechanisms

As most parasitoids are time limited, they usually die before they have laid all their eggs. In such cases, optimal foraging theory predicts that female parasitoids will adopt behavioral reproductive strategies enabling them to maximize progeny production per unit of time. One key situation in which parasitoid females must optimize their time budget is related to the fact that most of their hosts are distributed in discrete patches in the environment. In this review, I first present the results of basic theoretical models predicting female wasp search duration on a patch of hosts. I then compile and analyze all studies investigating the effect of different factors on parasitoid patch time allocation and patch-leaving decision rules. Different patch-leaving mechanisms that were proposed to explain the results obtained are discussed, along with statistical methods that should be used to estimate them from experimental data. Finally, ideas for future research are presented.     

南亚热带中幼龄针阔混交林碳储量及其分配格局

以南亚热带中幼龄针阔混交林为研究对象,通过典型样地调查法,对森林生态系统各个层次进行取样调查,采用12个样地实测数据和已有生物量模型相结合的方法计算乔木层生物量,灌木层、草本层和凋落物层采用全部收获法测得其生物量,对土壤层的调查采用剖面法加土钻法,代表性样品碳含量的测定采用重铬酸钾-水合加热法。在此基础上,分析了中幼龄针阔混交林碳储量及其分配格局。结果表明,主要造林树种树根、树杆、树枝和树叶碳含量均值分别为45.07%、46.73%、46.30%和47.72%。植物碳含量表现为乔木〉灌木〉草本。乔木碳储量占植被总碳储量比例介于63.38%-94.08%之间,灌木碳储量所占比例介于3.55%-12.67%之间,而草本碳储量仅介于为1.28%-23.95%之间,不同林龄段乔木和灌木碳储量均值随林龄的增加呈上升趋势,而草本碳储量呈下降趋势。土壤碳储量介于106.73-136.61 t·hm^-2之间,土壤碳储量随林龄的增加呈现出先降低后升高的趋势。针阔混交林总碳储量介于134.79-162.60 t·hm^-2之间,分配格局表现为土壤层〉植被层〉凋落物层。土壤层碳储量所占总碳储量比例范围为78.34%-94.45%,植被层所占比例介于4.84%-20.16%之间,凋落物层仅介于0.71%-1.50%之间,中幼龄针阔混交林碳储量主要以土壤固碳为主。研究结果为树种选择、人工林生态系统固碳潜力以及人工碳汇林的经营管理等研究提供科学参考。     

Achieving air pollutant emission reduction targets with minimum abatement costs: An enterprise-level allocation method with constraints of fairness and feasibility

• Quantification of efficiency and fairness of abatement allocation are optimized. • Allocation results are refined to the different abatement measures of enterprises. • Optimized allocation results reduce abatement costs and tap the abatement space. • Abatement suggestions are given to enterprises with different abatement quotas. For achieving air pollutant emission reduction targets, total pollutant amount control is being continuously promoted in China. However, the traditional pattern of pollutant emission reduction allocation regardless of economic cost often results in unreasonable emission reduction pathways, and industrial enterprises as the main implementers have to pay excessively high costs. Therefore, this study adopted economic efficiency as its main consideration, used specific emission reduction measures (ERMs) of industrial enterprises as minimum allocation units, and constructed an enterprise-level pollutant emission reduction allocation (EPERA) model with minimization of the total abatement cost (TAC) as the objective function, and fairness and feasibility as constraints for emission reduction allocation. Taking City M in China as an example, the EPERA model was used to construct a Pareto optimal frontier and obtain the optimal trade-off result. Results showed that under basic and strict emission reduction regulations, the TAC of the optimal trade-off point was reduced by 46.40% and 45.77%, respectively, in comparison with that achieved when only considering fairness, and the Gini coefficient was 0.26 and 0.31, respectively. The abatement target was attained with controllable cost and relatively fair and reasonable allocation. In addition, enterprises allocated different emission reduction quotas under different ERMs had specific characteristics that required targeted optimization of technology and equipment to enable them to achieve optimal emission reduction effects for the same abatement cost.     

资源研究面向社会主义市场经济问题刍议

资源研究工作如何面向社会主义市场经济是资源科研机构深化改革中必须解决的重要问题。本文着重从社会主义市场经济对资源配置的要求,自然资源的价格改革和管理,资源的综合利用和节能降耗等方面进行分析,提出了资源研究为社会主义市场经济服务的四条途径。即保证继续进行必要的基础性研究和软科学研究,加强自然资源的非传统性开发研究,资源综合利用与环境保护研究以及资源经济学的研究。     

黄河口滨岸潮滩湿地泥沙沉积及外源镉Cd输入对碱蓬物质量分配及抗氧化酶活性的影响

近年来黄河三角洲面临退化等的生态问题,调水调沙为湿地补充淡水恢复退化湿地的同时,也改变了沉积环境,并带来大量外源重金属,从而对植被生长产生影响.为此本文选择黄河口滨岸潮滩湿地先锋植被碱蓬(Suaeda salsa)为研究对象,基于微区试验研究了不同泥沙沉积深度(0、3、6、12 cm)及不同Cd输入量(0、0.5、1.0、1.5 mg·kg~(-1))对碱蓬物质量分配及抗氧化酶活性的影响.结果表明:适当的浅层埋深叶绿素含量高,利于碱蓬生长,而过量的埋深叶绿素含量低,并对碱蓬生长产生抑制作用;随着Cd输入量的增加,碱蓬叶绿素含量和生物量呈现出减小的趋势.泥沙沉积为0 cm、3 cm及Cd输入为0 mg·kg~(-1)、0.5 mg·kg~(-1)时,CAT和SOD活性增强,但随着胁迫的增加,SOD活性减弱,且在最大埋深处理(12 cm)时,大量的Cd输入(1.0 mg·kg~(-1)、1.5 mg·kg~(-1))时CAT活性分别比对照高62.66%和58.56%,CAT活性在最大埋深(12 cm)和最大Cd输入(1.5 mg·kg~(-1))时取得最大值(15.76 U·mg-1).方差分析结果表明Cd输入对碱蓬蛋白含量、CAT和SOD活性具有显著的影响,泥沙埋深对蛋白含量及SOD活性具有显著影响,两者的交互作用对CAT和SOD的影响达到显著水平(P0.05).以上结果表明调水调沙带来的泥沙沉积和外源重金属输入对黄河口滨岸潮滩湿地先锋植被碱蓬生长带来一定的影响,在一定范围内碱蓬也能够通过改变生物量分配及调节体内抗氧化酶活性来适应不同的生存环境.     

水资源优化配置理论发展研究

水资源的合理配置是确保社会经济可持续发展的根本保障 ,本文对水资源优化配置的主要理论进行了较为深入的分析 ,研究表明可持续发展的水资源优化配置是水资源优化配置的理想模式 ,也是水资源优化配置理论的发展方向     

Text analysis tools for identification of emerging topics and research gaps in conservation science

Keeping track of conceptual and methodological developments is a critical skill for research scientists, but this task is increasingly difficult due to the high rate of academic publication. As a crisis discipline, conservation science is particularly in need of tools that facilitate rapid yet insightful synthesis. We show how a common text‐mining method (latent Dirichlet allocation, or topic modeling) and statistical tests familiar to ecologists (cluster analysis, regression, and network analysis) can be used to investigate trends and identify potential research gaps in the scientific literature. We tested these methods on the literature on ecological surrogates and indicators. Analysis of topic popularity within this corpus showed a strong emphasis on monitoring and management of fragmented ecosystems, while analysis of research gaps suggested a greater role for genetic surrogates and indicators. Our results show that automated text analysis methods need to be used with care, but can provide information that is complementary to that given by systematic reviews and meta‐analyses, increasing scientists’ capacity for research synthesis.     

A Water Yield‐Oriented Practical Approach for Multifunctional Forest Management and its Application in Dryland Regions of China

Mountainous forest areas are vitally important for water supply in dryland regions which suffer from high erosion risk and severe water shortage. Massive afforestation, mainly for erosion control, may reduce the water yield and threaten local water supply security. Moreover, many over‐dense forests due to a strict logging ban policy have produced remarkably negative impacts for both forests (e.g., low timber quality, restricted natural regeneration, and high stand instability) and water yield. To satisfy the rapidly increasing demands on water supply and other services, a practical approach for managing forest stands in a multifunctional way, which particularly addresses water yielding, is urgently required. For this purpose, we integrated the existing knowledge and experience, designed an “ideal” stand structure to represent multifunctional forest (MFF) and determined its key parameters (a ground coverage of >0.7, a canopy density around 0.7, and an H/DBH ratio (tree height [m] to the diameter at breast height [cm]) of <0.7). Moreover, a decision process for MFF stand management was recommended as: (1) investigating the site quality; (2) identifying the site‐specific main forest functions; (3) quantifying the stand structure; (4) diagnosing the stand structure by comparing with the “ideal” one; and (5) arranging the functions/structure‐oriented management measures. In this way, the water‐yielding function can be improved and meanwhile other forest functions can be promoted.