Bumblebee Vulnerability: Common Correlates of Winners and Losers across Three Continents

Abstract:  It is widely agreed that in many parts of the world some bumblebee ( Bombus ) species have declined, and that this has often been driven by land-use changes that cause reductions in the abundance of food plants. There is much less agreement about how changes in food plants affect some bumblebee species more than others. We sought to identify which species' characteristics are generally associated with the relative winners and losers by comparing the 3 independent bumblebee faunas from parts of Britain, Canada, and China. Using available survey data, we assessed species characteristics, including competition with congeners, climatic specialization, proximity to climatic range edge, food specialization, phenology, body size, and range size. Results of our meta-analysis of correlations showed support for the hypotheses that decline susceptibility is generally greater for species that have greater climatic specialization, for species in areas where they occur closest to the edges of their climatic ranges, and for species that have queens that become active later in the year. The latter characteristic may render a species at a particular disadvantage when they have long colony cycles if there are losses of food plants in mid to late colony development.     

Lichen Conservation in Heavily Managed Boreal Forests

Lichens are an important component of the boreal forest, where they are long lived, tend to accumulate in older stands, and are a major food source for the threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). To be fully sustainable, silvicultural practices in the boreal forest must include the conservation of ecological integrity. Dominant forest management practices, however, have short‐term negative effects on lichen diversity, particularly the application of herbicides. To better understand the long‐term effects of forest management, we examined lichen regeneration in 35 mixed black spruce (Picea mariana) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forest stands across northern Ontario to determine recovery following logging and postharvest silvicultural practices. Our forest stands were 25–40 years old and had undergone 3 common sivilcultural treatments that included harvested and planted; harvested, planted, and treated with N‐[phosphonomethyl] glycine (glyphosate); and harvested, planted, and treated with 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4‐D). Forest stands with herbicide treatments had lower lichen biomass and higher beta and gamma diversity than planted stands that were not treated chemically or control stands. In northwestern Ontario, planted stands that were not treated chemically had significantly greater (p < 0.05) alpha diversity than stands treated with herbicides or control stands. Our results show that common silvicultural practices do not emulate natural disturbances caused by wildfires in the boreal forest for the lichen community. We suggest a reduction in the amount of chemical application be considered in areas where lichen biomass is likely to be high and where the recovery of woodland caribou is an objective. Conservación de Líquenes en Bosques Boreales Manejados Intensivamente     

Understanding Trait‐Dependent Community Disassembly: Dung Beetles,Density Functions,and Forest Fragmentation

Abstract: Anthropogenic disturbances such as fragmentation are rapidly altering biodiversity, yet a lack of attention to species traits and abundance patterns has made the results of most studies difficult to generalize. We determined traits of extinction‐prone species and present a novel strategy for classifying species according to their population‐level response to a gradient of disturbance intensity. We examined the effects of forest fragmentation on dung beetle communities in an archipelago of 33 islands recently created by flooding in Venezuela. Species richness, density, and biomass all declined sharply with decreasing island area and increasing island isolation. Species richness was highly nested, indicating that local extinctions occurred nonrandomly. The most sensitive dung beetle species appeared to require at least 85 ha of forest, more than many large vertebrates. Extinction‐prone species were either large‐bodied, forest specialists, or uncommon. These explanatory variables were unrelated, suggesting at least 3 underlying causes of extirpation. Large species showed high wing loading (body mass/wing area) and a distinct flight strategy that may increase their area requirements. Although forest specificity made most species sensitive to fragmentation, a few persistent habitat generalists dispersed across the matrix. Density functions classified species into 4 response groups on the basis of their change in density with decreasing species richness. Sensitive and persistent species both declined with increasing fragmentation intensity, but persistent species occurred on more islands, which may be due to their higher baseline densities. Compensatory species increased in abundance following the initial loss of sensitive species, but rapidly declined with increasing fragmentation. Supertramp species (widespread habitat generalists) may be poor competitors but strong dispersers; their abundance peaked following the decline of the other 3 groups. Nevertheless, even the least sensitive species were extirpated or rare on the smallest and most isolated islands.     

Nitrogen deposition alters soil chemical properties and bacterial communities in the Inner Mongolia grassland

Nitrogen deposition has dramatically altered biodiversity and ecosystem functioning on the earth; however, its effects on soil bacterial community and the underlying mechanisms of these effects have not been thoroughly examined. Changes in ecosystems caused by nitrogen deposition have traditionally been attributed to increased nitrogen content. In fact, nitrogen deposition not only leads to increased soil total N content, but also changes in the NH₄⁺-N content, NO₃^--N content and pH, as well as changes in the heterogeneity of the four indexes. The soil indexes for these four factors, their heterogeneity and even the plant community might be routes through which nitrogen deposition alters the bacterial community. Here, we describe a 6-year nitrogen addition experiment conducted in a typical steppe ecosystem to investigate the ecological mechanism by which nitrogen deposition alters bacterial abundance, diversity and composition. We found that various characteristics of the bacterial community were explained by different environmental factors. Nitrogen deposition decreased bacterial abundance that is positively related to soil pH value. In addition, nitrogen addition decreased bacterial diversity, which is negatively related to soil total N content and positively related to soil NO₃^--N heterogeneity. Finally, nitrogen addition altered bacterial composition that is significantly related to soil NH₄⁺-N content. Although nitrogen deposition significantly altered plant biomass, diversity and composition, these characteristics of plant community did not have a significant impact on processes of nitrogen deposition that led to alterations in bacterial abundance, diversity and composition. Therefore, more sensitive molecular technologies should be adopted to detect the subtle shifts of microbial community structure induced by the changes of plant community upon nitrogen deposition.     

基于PCR-TGGE技术的餐厨垃圾厌氧消化微生物群落结构解析

为了解不同负荷下单相餐厨垃圾厌氧消化反应器内微生物群落结构演替特征,在单相厌氧消化反应器负荷为2.0～8.5kg·m-·3d-1(以VS计)的不同负荷条件下取样,运用16SrDNA的PCR-TGGE技术对反应器内微生物进行动态追踪.同时,运用Dice系统和NMDS软件对PCR-TGGE图谱进行分析.结果表明,负荷为4.0～6.0kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化不大;负荷为6.0～7.0kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化较为明显;负荷分别为7.0～8.0kg·m-·3d-1及8.5kg·m-·3d-1时,微生物群落结构变化最为明显.纵观整个过程,在餐厨垃圾厌氧消化反应器有机负荷在2.0～8.5kg·m-·3d-1下厌氧反应器内的微生物群落结构存在明显的阶段性演替;负荷为7.0kg·m-·3d-1时微生物群落结构的丰富度最好.     

广东南水水库富营养化与浮游植物群落动态

南水水库是广东省第三大水库,属饮用水源一级保护区。于2011年1~12月对该水库的水文、水质和浮游植物进行了每月一次、为期一年的调查,采用营养状态指数(TSI)进行了水质综合评价,分析了浮游植物群落的动态变化规律,选择冗余分析(RDA)研究了影响浮游植物群落结构的环境因素。结果表明:南水水库现为贫营养型,全年浮游植物的种类变化不大,共鉴定出浮游植物6门50属(种),优势种以适应贫营养的种类为主,且浮游植物的丰度、生物量及叶绿素a浓度都较低,其均值分别为8.72×104～2.51×105cells/L、0.031～0.423 mg/L和0.83～2.80 mg/L。浮游植物群落主要以硅藻、甲藻和绿藻种群为主,硅藻种群全年占优势,甲藻和绿藻在不同季节优势度有变化,体现出从硅藻型到硅藻-甲藻型,到硅藻-绿藻型,再到硅藻-甲藻型的变化过程。温度、氮磷比和水体稳定性的季节变化是影响上述浮游植物群落动态的主要因子。     

深水型水库热分层诱导水质及真菌种群结构垂向演替

水体真菌种群在调控水库生态系统健康过程中发挥重要作用,为探明热分层诱导深水型水库水体真菌种群结构垂向演替特征,采集金盆水库主库区0.5、10、25、40、60和70 m水深水样,分析水质参数、并运用高通量DNA测序技术诊断水库水体真菌种群结构垂向异质性.结果表明,金盆水库表层水温最高为22.33℃,底层最低为7.21℃(P0.05).水体溶解氧(DO)随水深增加显著降低(P0.05),电导率、总磷(TP)和铁含量随着水深增加显著升高(P0.05),垂向形成稳定的变温层、斜温层和等温层结构.水体真菌种群高通量DNA测序共发现1 247个OTUs,隶属4门14纲39属,主要包括接合菌门(Zygomycota)、担子菌门(Basidiomycota)、子囊菌门(Ascomycota)和壶菌门(Chytridiomycota).等温层水体真菌种群Shannon指数和Chao 1多样性指数最高,分别为3.45和360,显著高于斜温层水体(P0.05).红酵母属(Rhodotorula,27.23%)、链格孢属(Alternaria,24.28%)、分子孢子菌属(Cladosporium,22.98%)、链格孢属(Alternaria,32.00%)、亚隔孢壳属(Didymella,17.47%)和分子孢子菌属(Cladosporium,28.17%)分别是0.5、10、25、40、60、70 m的优势菌属,不同水深均存在大量未知真菌(Unclassified).热图(heat map)结果表明,热分层期间金盆水库水体真菌种群结构垂向分布差异显著、不同水层具有不同的真菌种群结构.主成分分析(PCA)表明水温、DO、TP、电导率是调控水体真菌种群结构垂向异质性的主要水质因子.该研究结果为水源水库热分层期间水质与真菌群落的偶联机制提供科学依据.     

磁性纳米铁对厌氧颗粒污泥特性及其微生物群落的影响

考察了磁性纳米铁(Fe3O4NPs)对厌氧颗粒污泥溶解性微生物产物(SMP)、疏松胞外聚合物(LB-EPS)、紧密胞外聚合物(TB-EPS)的影响,同时利用高通量测序技术对厌氧颗粒污泥内微生物群落结构的变化进行了分析.结果表明,在长期接触实验过程中,投加Fe3O4NPs的反应器对COD去除率为83.6%,与对照组相比降低了5.7%.对照组与实验组中厌氧颗粒污泥TB-EPS含量(以VSS计)分别为178.20 mg·g-1和138.24 mg·g-1,而SMP含量分别为34.88 mg·L-1和27.44 mg·L-1;同时投加Fe3O4NPs后,在LB-EPS三维荧光(EEM)光谱中,紫外光区类腐殖酸荧光峰消失,辅酶F420荧光峰强度有所降低.在长期接触实验后,甲烷杆菌属(Methanobacterium)所占比例从76.15%增至86.76%,而甲烷丝菌属(Methanothrix)所占比例从17.1%降至7.51%,Methanothrix对于Fe3O4NPs更为敏感;总细菌群落变化明显,其中变形菌门(Proteobacteria)所占比例从66.44%降至47.16%,放线菌门(Actinobacteria)所占比例从8.97%增至17.33%,拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)所占比例从8.07%增至17.74%,厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门比例的增加对有机物的厌氧水解过程发挥积极的作用.     

区域地下水不同深度微生物群落结构特征

为了揭示区域地下水不同深度微生物群落结构特征及其与地下水环境相互作用关系,选取北京琉璃河地区,采集不同深度地下水样品,用于水化学分析和微生物16S rRNA基因V4-V5区测序.水化学分析结果显示,地下水中8种主要离子浓度随深度增加均呈减小趋势,Cl^-、SO₄^2-、NO₃^-变化规律显著,工业较发达区NO₃^-浓度达155.30mg/L,SO₄^2-浓度达321.00mg/L,部分浅层地下水受NO₃^-和SO₄^2-污染.微生物分析结果显示,地下水中微生物群落多样性受深度影响显著,随深度增加微生物群落组成丰富.地下水中优势菌门为Proteobacteria （26.2%~95.2%）,优势菌属为Pseudomonas（1.5%~32.2%）,不同深度微生物菌属组成差异明显,浅层、中层和深层地下水特有菌属数目分别为74,60,54.NO₃^-、SO₄^2-、深度是影响地下水微生物群落的主要因子,且NO₃^-、SO₄^2-浓度受地下水深度影响程度大.地下水深度是影响微生物群落结构差异的重要原因.     

电磁波加载回流污泥对A2O厌氧池功能的影响

基于电磁波加载污泥的生物效应和溶出效应,将A²O系统的回流污泥进行电磁波加载,以期从微生物群落结构变化角度考察其对系统中厌氧池功能的影响.结果表明,电磁波加载回流污泥后,污泥絮体分解,细胞破壁;回流污泥中C、N、P的溶出效应显著.与加载前对比,厌氧池中TP富集效果更明显,富集率由122.9%增至152.2%;TN、COD去除率分别由7.3%、58.8%上升为32.1%和65.4%.MiSeq焦磷酸测序分析表明,回流污泥经电磁波加载后,厌氧池微生物群落的丰度增加,但其微生物多样性降低.碳源得到补充,厌氧池中微生物的代谢活性明显提高,活菌数量增加.厌氧池中富集了Zoogloea、Tolumonas、Dechloromonas等菌属.