Effects of glucosinolate and myrosinase levels in Brassica juncea on a glucosinolate-sequestering herbivore – and vice versa

Summary. Larvae of the turnip sawfly, Athalia rosae L. (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), sequester glucosinolates of their host plants, namely members of the Brassicaceae family, in their haemolymph. Therefore, they need to circumvent myrosinase activities of the plant tissue which normally hydrolyse the glucosinolates after plant damage. Effects of varying levels of glucosinolates and myrosinases on the performance of A. rosae were investigated using homozygous lines of Brassica juncea (L.) with either (1) low glucosinolate (lowGS) and low myrosinase (lowMR), (2) high glucosinolate (highGS) and high myrosinase (highMR), or (3) high glucosinolate (highGS) and low myrosinase (lowMR) levels. To insure that the given quantities remained as constant as possible, newly hatched larvae were enclosed on the second-youngest leaf of a plant, and were offered a new plant of comparable physiological age (6-leaf-stage) every day. The performance of A. rosae was little affected by leaf quality. Body masses of eonymphs and adults were on average lowest on the highGS/highMR-line, but these differences were rarely significant. The pupal developmental times of females and males were longest on the highGS/lowMR-line in only one of two replicate experiments. All other performance traits (developmental times of larvae, egg numbers, adult longevity) were not significantly different. Glucosinolates, sequestered by the larvae, are carried through the pupal stage. The glucosinolate concentration measured in adult insects reflected the level of the host plant line, without showing any obvious costs for sequestration. Obviously, A. rosae is highly tolerant to variation in the glucosinolate-myrosinase system of its host. In addition, induced changes of glucosinolate concentrations and myrosinase activities caused by 24 h-feeding of groups of three small larvae were analysed in the second-youngest leaves. In contrast to the patterns most herbivores evoke on Brassicaceae, namely an increase of both glucosinolate concentration and myrosinase activity, we detected a significant decrease of both traits in all three lines where the respective trait was originally high in the plants. Although glucosinolate levels dropped in the highGS lines about 50%, these still contained higher concentrations than the lowGS line. Whereas the activity of soluble myrosinases remained highest in the highMR line, even after a decrease to almost 30% due to feeding, the levels of insoluble myrosinases converged after feeding in lowMR and highMR lines. Levels of the signalling molecule salicylic acid slightly decreased on average after feeding, whereas jasmonic acid was below the detection threshold in almost all samples. The concentration of several molecules varies strongly in plant tissue with age and can change due to induction by herbivore feeding. Therefore, if performance of an insect species is measured on plants with specific traits, the variability in these traits needs to be carefully controlled in experiments.     

Sequestration of phorbol esters by aposematic larvae of Hyles euphorbiae (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)?

Summary. The larvae of the hawkmoth species Hyles euphorbiae have a conspicuous aposematic colouration and show gregarious behaviour. It has thus been suggested that they sequester phorbol esters from their food plants which include different species of the genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) for chemical protection against predators. To test this hypothesis in more detail, we fed larvae an artificial diet with three doses of 12-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), then examined the faeces and the larval tissues, such as integument, haemolymph and gut of the caterpillars for the presence of TPA. In order to determine the ability of the larvae to detoxify phorbol esters, other larvae were directly injected with a TPA solution and analysed in the same manner. Our study indicates that the larvae of Hyles euphorbiae do not sequester phorbol esters. Upon oral application TPA was not found in the larval integument or the haemolymph. Instead, it was mostly metabolised (about 70–90%). Nevertheless, about 10-30% were retained and recovered in the faeces. The larvae were also able to metabolise and thus detoxify the phorbol ester when TPA was injected directly into the body. These hawkmoth caterpillars are relatively large and have a gut full of plant material, which they regurgitate into the direction of the predator when attacked in nature. Since phorbol esters are very potent toxins and irritants, we postulate that the gut content (and especially the plant slurry disgorged as regurgitant from the anterior gut) alone could be aversive for a potential predator, even if some metabolism has taken place. Thus, although H. euphorbiae caterpillars do not actively sequester phorbol esters, their aposematic colouration appears to be based on chemical defence through phorbol esters retained in the gut.     

耕地土壤碳固存的措施与潜力

土壤CO2排放与土壤退化、土壤有机质(SOC)含量减少和土壤质量下降密切相关。耕地具有较大的碳固存潜力。通过采用最佳管理措施(BMPs)和进行土壤修复来提高土壤质量，能增加SOC含量和提高土壤生产力，并能部分起到减缓温室效应的作用。文章从土壤固碳的机制入手，系统总结了在耕作土壤碳固存方面的研究。从土壤侵蚀控制、退化土壤修复、保护性耕作、残落物管理，改善农作物制度等方面，论述了耕地的固碳潜力，并提出了一系列实现碳固存的措施。最后估算出耕地土壤总的固碳潜力为0．73～0．87Pg/a。研究表明,在替代性能源开发之前，耕地碳固存是一项切实可行的措施。     

Analysis of leakage in carbon sequestration projects in forestry: a case study of upper magat watershed,Philippines

The role of forestry projects in carbon conservation and sequestration is receiving much attention because of their role in the mitigation of climate change. The main objective of the study is to analyze the potential of the Upper Magat Watershed for a carbon sequestration project. The three main development components of the project are forest conservation: tree plantations, and agroforestry farm development. At Year 30, the watershed can attain a net carbon benefit of 19.5 M tC at a cost of US$ 34.5 M. The potential leakage of the project is estimated using historical experience in technology adoption in watershed areas in the Philippines and a high adoption rate. Two leakage scenarios were used: baseline and project leakage scenarios. Most of the leakage occurs in the first 10 years of the project as displacement of livelihood occurs during this time. The carbon lost via leakage is estimated to be 3.7 M tC in the historical adoption scenario, and 8.1 M tC under the enhanced adoption scenario.     

Carbon Monitoring Costs and their Effect on Incentives to Sequester Carbon through Forestry

Technically, forestry projects have thepotential to contribute significantly tothe mitigation of global warming, but manysuch projects may not be economicallyattractive at current estimates of carbon(C) prices. Forest C is, in a sense, a newcommodity that must be measured toacceptable standards for the commodity toexist. This will require that credible Cmeasuring and monitoring procedures be inplace. The amount of sequestered C that canbe claimed by a project is normallyestimated based on sampling a number ofsmall plots, and the precision of thisestimate depends on the number of plotssampled and on the spatial variability ofthe site. Measuring C can be expensive andhence it is important to select anefficient C-monitoring strategy to makeprojects competitive in the C market. Thispaper presents a method to determinewhether a forestry project will benefitfrom C trading, and to find the optimalmanagement strategy in terms of forestcycle length and C-monitoring strategyA model of an Acacia mangiumplantation in southern Sumatra, Indonesiais used to show that forestry projects canbe economically attractive under a range ofconditions, provided that the project islarge enough to absorb fixed costs.Modeling results indicate that between 15and 38 Mg of Certified Emission Reductions(CERs) per hectare can be captured by thesimulated plantation under optimalmanagement, with optimality defined asmaximizing the present value of profitsobtained from timber and C. The optimalcycle length ranged from 12 to 16 years andthe optimal number of sample plots rangedfrom 0 to 30. Costs of C monitoring (inpresent-value terms) were estimated to bebetween 0.45 (Mg C)^-1 to 2.11 (MgC)^-1 depending on the spatialvariability of biomass, the variable costsof C monitoring and the discount rate.     

Carbon Management in Agricultural Soils

World soils have been a major source of enrichment of atmospheric concentration of CO₂ ever since the dawn of settled agriculture, about 10,000 years ago. Historic emission of soil C is estimated at 78 ± 12 Pg out of the total terrestrial emission of 136 ± 55 Pg, and post-industrial fossil fuel emission of 270 ± 30 Pg. Most soils in agricultural ecosystems have lost 50 to 75% of their antecedent soil C pool, with the magnitude of loss ranging from 30 to 60 Mg C/ha. The depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is exacerbated by soil drainage, plowing, removal of crop residue, biomass burning, subsistence or low-input agriculture, and soil degradation by erosion and other processes. The magnitude of soil C depletion is high in coarse-textured soils (e.g., sandy texture, excessive internal drainage, low activity clays and poor aggregation), prone to soil erosion and other degradative processes. Thus, most agricultural soils contain soil C pool below their ecological potential. Adoption of recommend management practices (e.g., no-till farming with crop residue mulch, incorporation of forages in the rotation cycle, maintaining a positive nutrient balance, use of manure and other biosolids), conversion of agriculturally marginal soils to a perennial land use, and restoration of degraded soils and wetlands can enhance the SOC pool. Cultivation of peatlands and harvesting of peatland moss must be strongly discouraged, and restoration of degraded soils and ecosystems encouraged especially in developing countries. The rate of SOC sequestration is 300 to 500 Kg C/ha/yr under intensive agricultural practices, and 0.8 to 1.0 Mg/ha/yr through restoration of wetlands. In soils with severe depletion of SOC pool, the rate of SOC sequestration with adoption of restorative measures which add a considerable amount of biomass to the soil, and irrigated farming may be 1.0 to 1.5 Mg/ha/yr. Principal mechanisms of soil C sequestration include aggregation, high humification rate of biosolids applied to soil, deep transfer into the sub-soil horizons, formation of secondary carbonates and leaching of bicarbonates into the ground water. The rate of formation of secondary carbonates may be 10 to 15 Kg/ha/yr, and the rate of leaching of bicarbonates with good quality irrigation water may be 0.25 to 1.0 Mg C/ha/yr. The global potential of soil C sequestration is 0.6 to 1.2 Pg C/yr which can off-set about 15% of the fossil fuel emissions.     

Carbon sequestration via afforestation as a sustainable action to mitigate climate change in Western Iran

Climate change involves increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration which is driven by anthropogenic emissions. Afforestation, which is the establishment of forests on previously non‐forested lands, could be a suitable climate change mitigation strategy. The aim of this research is to evaluate the carbon sequestration capability of the Eucalyptus and Prosopis species in the Reza‐Abad afforestation park in western Iran. For this aim, three stands of any species were selected. For quantitative assessment, a transect was implemented at the length of 100 m. In trees located of transects, the general characteristics of species were measured. Also, for estimating the amount of litter, a sample plot has been measured at the center of the quadrate. These samples were taken from the afforested area, the control area inside the afforested area and another control area outside. In each stand, species were selected randomly and one‐eighth of the whole stand was taken for calculating the percentage of carbon and aerial biomass. Then the aboveground organs were weighted and after the transfer of different plant organs to the laboratory, the conversion factor of carbon sequestration of the plant organs was determined individually by combustion method. Also, soil samples were also collected from two depths of 0–15 and 15–30 cm in each of the cultivated and control parts. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the species and Prosopis has higher carbon sequestration than Eucalyptus. The carbon sequestration among different organs showed a significant difference, carbon sequestration was 19.24 t/ha for Eucalyptus and 18.43 t/ha for Prosopis. After an economic calculation, it was concluded that afforestation has a positive effect on the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Hence, these results allow decision makers to change land use from desert area to forest, and planting the Prosopis species is more recommendable than Eucalyptus for afforestation in such areas which are economically profitable.     

Drought can offset potential water use efficiency of forest ecosystems from rising atmospheric CO2

Increasing atmospheric CO₂ is both leading to climate change and providing a potential fertilisation effect on plant growth. However, southern Australia has also experienced a significant decline in rainfall over the last 30 years, resulting in increased vegetative water stress. To better understand the dynamics and responses of Australian forest ecosystems to drought and elevated CO₂, the magnitude and trend in water use efficiency (WUE) of forests, and their response to drought and elevated CO₂ from 1982 to 2014 were analysed, using the best available model estimates constrained by observed fluxes from simulations with fixed and time-varying CO₂. The ratio of gross primary productivity (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET) (WUEe) was used to identify the ecosystem scale WUE, while the ratio of GPP to transpiration (Tr) (WUEc) was used as a measure of canopy scale WUE. WUE increased significantly in northern Australia (p < 0.001) for woody savannas (WSA), whereas there was a slight decline in the WUE of evergreen broadleaf forests (EBF) in the southeast and southwest of Australia. The lag of WUEc to drought was consistent and relatively short and stable between biomes (≤3 months), but notably varied for WUEe, with a long time-lag (mean of 10 months). The dissimilar responses of WUEe and WUEc to climate change for different geographical areas result from the different proportion of Tr in ET. CO₂ fertilization and a wetter climate enhanced WUE in northern Australia, whereas drought offset the CO₂ fertilization effect in southern Australia.     

我国典型陆地生态系统固碳重要区范围界定

全球变暖已成为当今最主要的全球性环境问题之一,建立固碳重要区也是应对全球气候变化的重要途径之一.根据我国陆地生态系统现状以及固碳相关的最新研究结果和政府文件,以森林、草地生态系统为主要研究对象,采用GIS空间叠置分析方法,界定我国典型陆地生态系统固碳重要区(注:涉及“全国”的各要素范围均未包含港澳台地区)的空间范围.研究结果:固碳重要区评价指标体系包括生态系统碳储量、碳汇和固碳潜力3个核心因子,界定过程包括界定范围选择、固碳高值区识别、固碳重要区范围确定和分区命名等步骤.在全国尺度界定了森林、草地两大类共计20个固碳重要区,总面积285.6×104 km2.其中,森林生态系统固碳重要区主要分布在我国东北部、西南部的深山区和东南部的山地丘陵,草地生态系统固碳重要区主要分布在内蒙古高原中东部、新疆西北部山地和青藏高原东南部.固碳重要区面积占全国国土总面积的29.8%,所提供的NPP(净初级生产力)量占全国NPP总量的40.7%,固碳能力是全国平均水平的1.37倍.固碳重要区范围界定结果符合“以较小面积获取较大服务”原则,适于作为我国实现碳减排目标的优先保护区域.