河西走廊中部荒漠植被的生态学研究

根据对河西走廊中部荒漠植被的调查，对荒漠植被进行了分类及生态学描述，重点讨论了荒漠植被对改善河西走廊中部农村生态环境的作用，提出了保护和利用荒漠植被的措施及改善生态环境的途径。     

A model of rainfall redistribution in terraced sandy grassland landscapes

A simple model of rainfall redistribution within a terraced sandy grassland landscape has been developed. The model assumes that rainfall redistribution is driven by rainfall impulses and is controlled by characteristic field capacity of soils. When the rainfall intensity is large enough to render soil water content greater than its characteristic field capacity, the excessive soil water can drain very quickly by means of large amounts of non-capillary pores of sandy soils or by means of surface runoff. Exponential distribution of rainfall impulses was assumed and tested with measured daily rainfall at two meteorological stations in the sandy grassland area of north China. The model was solved to give the equivalent rainfall at each terrace in the landscape.     

The Botanist Effect Revisited: Plant Species Richness, County Area, and Human Population Size in the United States

Abstract:  The "botanist effect" is thought to be the reason for higher plant species richness in areas where botanists are disproportionately present as an artefactual consequence of a more thorough sampling. We examined whether this was the case for U.S. counties. We collated the number of species of vascular plants, human population size, and the area of U.S. counties. Controlling for spatial autocorrelation and county area, plant species richness increased with human population size and density in counties with and without universities and/or botanical gardens, with no significant differences in the relation between the two subsets. This is consistent with previous findings and further evidence of a broad-scale positive correlation between species richness and human population presence, which has important consequences for the experience of nature by inhabitants of densely populated regions. Combined with the many reports of a negative correlation between the two variables at a local scale, the positive relation between plant species richness in U.S. counties and human population presence stresses the need for the conservation of seminatural areas in urbanized ecosystems and for the containment of urban and suburban sprawl.     

制订县级生态市战略与规划的探讨

本文根据宜春生态市实施规划三年来在经济、社会、生态三方面取得的明显效益的实践,从三个方面探讨了县级生态市战略与规划的制订方法与具体内容,具有一定的实践性和可借鉴性.     

Aphid population response to agricultural landscape change: A spatially explicit,individual-based model

A spatially explicit individual-based simulation model has been developed to represent aphid population dynamics in agricultural landscapes. The application of the model to Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) population dynamics is detailed, including an outline of the construction of the model, its parameterisation and validation. Over time, the aphids interact with the landscape and with one another. The landscape is modified by varying a simple pesticide regime, and the multi-scale spatial and temporal implications for a population of aphids is analysed. The results show that a spatial modelling approach that considers the effects on the individual of landscape properties and factors such as wind speed and wind direction provides novel insight into aphid population dynamics both spatially and temporally. This forms the basis for the development of further simulation models that can be used to analyse how changes in landscape structure impact upon important species distributions and population dynamics.     

The Novel and Endemic Pathogen Hypotheses: Competing Explanations for the Origin of Emerging Infectious Diseases of Wildlife

Abstract:  Chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , is an emerging infectious disease implicated in declines of amphibian populations around the globe. An emerging infectious disease is one that has recently been discovered; has recently increased in incidence, geography, or host range; or is newly evolved. For any given outbreak of an emerging disease, it is therefore possible to state two hypotheses regarding its origin. The novel pathogen hypothesis states that the disease has recently spread into new geographic areas, whereas the endemic pathogen hypothesis suggests that it has been present in the environment but recently has increased in host range or pathogenicity. Distinguishing between these hypotheses is important, because the conservation measures needed to slow or stop the spread of a novel pathogen are likely to differ from those needed to prevent outbreaks of an endemic pathogen. Population genetics may help discriminate among the possible origins of an emerging disease. Current evidence suggests chytridiomycosis may be a novel pathogen being spread worldwide by carriers; until we know how much genetic variation to expect in an endemic strain, however, we cannot yet conclude that B. dendrobatidis is a novel pathogen.     

Ecological niche and phylogeny: the highly complex echolocation behavior of the trawling long-legged bat, Macrophyllum macrophyllum

Bats produce echolocation signals that reflect the sensory tasks they perform. In open air or over water, bats encounter few or no background echoes (clutter). Echolocation of such bats is the primary cue for prey perception and varies with the stage of approach to prey, typically comprising search, approach, and terminal group calls. In contrast, bats that glean stationary food from rough surfaces emit more uniform calls without a distinct terminal group. They use echolocation primarily for orientation in space and mostly need additional sensory cues for finding food because clutter echoes overlap strongly with food echoes. Macrophyllum macrophyllum is the only Neotropical leaf-nosed bat (Phyllostomidae) that hunts in clutter-poor habitat over water. As such, we hypothesized that, unlike all other members of its family, but similar to other trawling and aerial insectivorous bats, M. macrophyllum can hunt successfully by using only echolocation for prey perception. In controlled behavioral experiments on Barro Colorado Island, Panamá, we confirmed that echolocation alone is sufficient for finding prey in M. macrophyllum. Furthermore, we showed that pattern and structure of echolocation signals in M. macrophyllum are more similar to aerial and other trawling insectivorous bats than to close phylogenetic relatives. Particularly unique among phyllostomid bats, we found distinct search, approach, and terminal group calls in foraging M. macrophyllum. Call structure, however, consisting of short, multiharmonic, and steep frequency-modulated signals, closely resembled those of other phyllostomid bats. Thus, echolocation behavior in M. macrophyllum is shaped by ecological niche as well as by phylogeny.     

Exploitative compensation by subordinate age-sex classes of migrant rufous hummingbirds

Summary The three age-sex classes of rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) that directly interact on southward migratory stopovers in our California study system differ in territorial ability and resource use. Immature males are behaviorally dominant to adult and immature females and defend the richest territories. Here, we test the hypothesis that the territorially subordinate age-sex classes compensate exploitatively for their exclusion from rich resources. Our results show that females were able to accumulate energy stores at rates comparable to males despite their subordinate territorial status. Territorial females gained body mass at the same rate and in the same pattern as males, and resumed migration at the same body masses. Moreover, during periods when birds were nonterritorial and used dispersed resources, adult and immature females maintained or gained body mass, whereas immature males lost mass. We suggest that females may be energetically compensated by (1) lower costs of flight incurred during foraging and defense, resulting from their lower wing disc loading, and (2) greater success at robbing nectar from rich male territories, resulting from duller coloration (immature females), experience (adult females), and, possibly, hormonal differences. In the future, experiments will be necessary to distinguish the various hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in compensation. Correspondence to: F.L. Carpenter     

整合分析在生态学应用中的优势及存在的问题

整合分析(meta-analysis)是对同一主题下多个独立实验结果进行综合的统计学方法，被认为是到目前为止最好的数量综合方法。结合实例讨论了整合分析在生态学应用中的优势及存在的问题，并介绍了一些解决问题的方法。有明确的选择文献标准、给出了测量指标…效应值、设计严密，分析结果客观性强是其优点；在生态学应用中最严重的问题是选择效应值时面临的生物学意义和统计学特性不能兼顾，其它不足之处主要有选择文献时面临的数据缺失、原文献数据的非正态分布、文章的发表偏见、非随机性选择独立研究等。     

地理信息系统支持下的城市生态环境功能区划

本文以马鞍山市为例，利用地理信息系统软件－－ＩＤＲＩＳＩ进行ＧＩＳ支持下的城市生态环境功能区划，以生态环境适宜度分析方法进行了工业用地、居住用地、综合用地的适宜度分析，并以此为基础划分了城市生态环境功能区，最后，讨论了ＧＩＳ支持下的城市生态环境功能区划的优势与不足以及发展趋势。