Expansion of Evergreen Conifers to the Larch-Dominated Zone and Climatic Trends

The expansion of so-called evergreen conifers (EGCs), including Siberian stone pine, spruce, and fir, along the transect oriented from the boundary of the larch-dominated zone (LDZ; mixed forests of the Yenisei Ridge) to its center has been studied. The normalized dispersal coefficient calculated as K _i = (n _i – N _i )/(n _i + N _i ), where n _i and N _i are the relative numbers of the ith species in the undergrowth and the upper layer, respectively, serves as an indicator of the expansion. It has been found that the K _i values for EGCs (and birch) are higher than the K _i of larch even in the zone absolutely dominated by larch, where the relative numbers of EGCs in the upper layer is less than 1%. The EGC undergrowth has mainly been formed during the past 20–30 years, which is correlated with the trend of summer temperatures The spread of EGCs in the LDZ depends on the frequency of forest fires. The decrease in the time intervals between fires in the 20th century to 65 years (versus 100 years in the 19th century) may have prevented the expansion of competing species in the LDZ. The results obtained indicate that EGCs and birch penetrate into the zone traditionally dominated by larch, which is related to climatic changes during the past three decades. At the same time, tree stand density is increasing in the forest-tundra ecotone, and larch is spreading further into the tundra zone.__________Translated from Ekologiya, No. 3, 2005, pp. 186–193.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Kharuk, Dvinskaya, Ranson, Im.     

北京市2015年森林植被区PM10质量浓度时空变化特征

以北京市大兴区南海子公园植被区与亦庄非植被区为研究对象,对比分析了植被区与非植被区PM₁₀质量浓度日变化、月变化特征及典型天气条件下的变化.结果表明：PM₁₀浓度的日变化趋势基本相同,呈典型的双峰曲线,春、夏季的峰值出现在9：00-10：00和18：00-19：00,秋、冬季的峰值出现在8：00-9：00和18：00-19：00,且秋、冬季PM₁₀浓度高于春、夏季;植被区与非植被区的PM₁₀月变化趋势基本一致,植被区PM₁₀浓度低于非植被区,且2月份PM₁₀浓度最大;各季节优良天气排序为夏季（42.60%）> 秋季（31.10%）> 春季（26.43%）> 冬季（15.17%）,中度及以上污染天气所占比例排序为冬季（55.52%）> 春季（27.57%）> 秋季（17.77%）> 夏季（3.58%）;PM₁₀浓度随降雨强度的增加呈减小的变化趋势,雨前12 h的PM₁₀浓度均值表现为植被区（106.43 μg·m^-3）<非植被区（157.39 μg·m^-3）,雨后12 h的PM₁₀浓度均值表现为植被区（50.96 μg·m^-3）>非植被区（38.41 μg·m^-3）;PM₁₀浓度随风速的增大呈减小的变化趋势,风后12 h的非植被区PM₁₀浓度削减率均值是植被区的1.23倍,且PM₁₀浓度削减率均处于较高水平;PM₁₀浓度随空气湿度的增大呈增大的变化趋势,随温度的升高呈减小的变化趋势.研究结果对进一步治理和控制北京市大气污染有参考价值.     

区域土壤重金属空间分布驱动因子影响力比较案例分析

土壤重金属空间分布受到自然和人为驱动因子的共同影响,识别并评价各驱动因子对土壤重金属空间分布的影响力,对解析区域土壤重金属污染源、研究重金属迁移规律以及探明重金属空间分布模式具有重要意义.为研究不同自然和人类活动背景下各驱动因子对土壤重金属空间分布影响的差异性,并寻找在异质背景下的高影响力因子,采用地理探测器和随机森林模型,以贵州省安顺市作为土壤重金属高背景值典型地区、辽宁省葫芦岛市作为人类活动高强度典型地区,探讨市域尺度下土壤pH、地面累年值年值气温、坡度、海拔、地面累年值年值降水量（08:00）、夜间灯光指数和县GDP这7个驱动因子的空间分异性,及其对研究区内5种重金属（As、Cd、Cr、Hg、Pb）空间分布的单独及交互驱动力强度.结果表明:安顺市As、Cd、Cr、Hg、Pb这5种重金属的质量分数平均值均高于葫芦岛市,但w（Hg）差异不明显;在市域内采样点平均间距为10 km的尺度下,安顺市和葫芦岛市土壤重金属分布受到自然因子的影响程度均强于人为因子;在异质环境背景下,安顺市和葫芦岛市土壤pH、海拔和县GDP的驱动能力较稳定,并且是对土壤重金属分布影响能力最大的3个因子,适宜在上述地区作为土壤重金属含量多元非线性回归模型的通用参数.研究显示,基于地理探测器的因子驱动力评价方法可以应用于评价其他因子对土壤重金属含量空间分布影响力,以及用于土壤重金属含量回归方程自变量的选择.      

Modeling the impacts of hunting on the population dynamics of red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus)

Overexploitation of wildlife populations occurs across the humid tropics and is a significant threat to the long-term survival of large-bodied primates. To investigate the impacts of hunting on primates and ways to mitigate them, we developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model for a landscape that included hunted and un-hunted areas. We used the large-bodied neotropical red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) as our case study species because its life history characteristics make it vulnerable to hunting. We modeled the influence of different rates of harvest and proportions of landscape dedicated to un-hunted reserves on population persistence, population size, social dynamics, and hunting yields of red howler monkeys. In most scenarios, the un-hunted populations maintained a constant density regardless of hunting pressure elsewhere, and allowed the overall population to persist. Therefore, the overall population was quite resilient to extinction; only in scenarios without any un-hunted areas did the population go extinct. However, the total and hunted populations did experience large declines over 100 years under moderate and high hunting pressure. In addition, when reserve area decreased, population losses and losses per unit area increased disproportionately. Furthermore, hunting disrupted the social structure of troops. The number of male turnovers and infanticides increased in hunted populations, while birth rates decreased and exacerbated population losses due to hunting. Finally, our results indicated that when more than 55% of the landscape was harvested at high (30%) rates, hunting yields, as measured by kilograms of biomass, were less than those obtained from moderate harvest rates. Additionally, hunting yields, expressed as the number of individuals hunted/year/km², increased in proximity to un-hunted areas, and suggested that dispersal from un-hunted areas may have contributed to hunting sustainability. These results indicate that un-hunted areas serve to enhance hunting yields, population size, and population persistence in hunted landscapes. Therefore, spatial regulation of hunting via a reserve system may be an effective management strategy for sustainable hunting, and we recommend it because it may also be more feasible to implement than harvest quotas or restrictions on season length.     

Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation: a Peninsular Malaysian case

SUMMARY

The contention is examined that forests can contribute to biodiversity conservation either as protected areas or as production forests, especially where the latter are managed for timber extraction. This notion is explored for the Peninsular Malaysian forests, and it is shown that biodiversity conservation would be optimized if the system of protected areas is located within a broader matrix of carefully managed production forests. A model is developed to illustrate how the biodiversity value of protected areas would be enhanced through interaction with production forests. In no way is the suggestion being made here that production forests could serve as critical centres for the conservation of biotic diversity, but then neither should they be dismissed as areas completely devoid of any contribution to the biodiversity cause. These findings are especially significant in Peninsular Malaysia where two-thirds of the forests legally set aside as Permanent Forest Estate is to be managed as production forests. If the incremental biodiversity value of these forests can be captured through improved management practices, then the overall biodiversity status of the country, and the globe, could be greatly increased. The extent to which any country is willing to set aside forests as protected areas, strictly for biodiversity conservation, is limited, hence the integrated approach to the management of protected and production forests advocated here could prove an attractive and feasible strategy. Where funding is limited, as in the case of the Global Environment Facility, it may be worthwhile to provide incentives for improved management of production forests as a means of conserving biodiversity.     

Adaptive Management of Flows in the Lower Roanoke River, North Carolina, USA

The lower Roanoke River in North Carolina, USA, has been regulated by a series of dams since the 1950s. This river and its floodplain have been identified by The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State of North Carolina as critical resources for the conservation of bottomland hardwoods and other riparian and in-stream biota and communities. Upstream dams are causing extended floods in the growing season for bottomland hardwood forests, threatening their survival. A coalition of stakeholders including public agencies and private organizations is cooperating with the dam managers to establish an active adaptive management program to reduce the negative impacts of flow regulation, especially extended growing season inundation, on these conservation targets. We introduce the lower Roanoke River, describe the regulatory context for negotiating towards an active adaptive management program, present our conservation objective for bottomland hardwoods, and describe investigations in which we successfully employed a series of models to develop testable management hypotheses. We propose adaptive management strategies that we believe will enable the bottomland hardwoods to regenerate and support their associated biota and that are reasonable, flexible, and economically sustainable.     

Small mammal abundance and habitat relationships on deciduous forested sites with different susceptibility to gypsy moth defoliation

Small mammals are important predators of gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar L.), which are major defoliators of deciduous forests in the northeastern United States. Abundance and habitat relationships of small mammals were studied during summers 1984 and 1985 on forested sites at Moshannon and Rothrock state forests in two physiographic regions of Pennsylvania (Allegheny High Plateaus Province and Valley and Ridge Province, respectively) that varied in potential susceptibility to defoliation. The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), which is a major vertebrate predator of gypsy moths, was the most common small mammal on all sites. Of the four common species, northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda), southern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi), and white-footed mice were more abundant at Moshannon compared to Rothrock State Forest, but masked shrews (Sorex cinereus) were more abundant at Rothrock. Elevation was a major factor affecting abundance and distribution of small mammals. Because of the greater abundance of small mammals and more suitable physiographic features at Moshannon compared to Rothrock State Forest, small mammals may be more effective as predators on gypsy moths in the Allegheny High Plateaus than the Valley and Ridge Province of Pennsylvania.     

SUSPENDED SEDIMENT PRODUCTION FROM FORESTED WATERSHEDS ON OAHU,HAWAII1

Suspended sediment from forested and agricultural watersheds was sampled over a five-year period on the island of Oahu. A variety of storm conditions were sampled, giving a measure of the extreme variability in suspended sediment production. Total annual suspended sediment from all watersheds sampled ranged from 8400 kg/km² to 617,000 kg/km². Normally, about 90 percent of the total suspended sediment was produced during less than 2 percent of the time. Suspended sediment concentrations rapidly increased during rising stream flow resulting from rain storms. Time to peak of less than two hours is common, with a similarly rapid return to prestorm conditions. The data presented indicate the great variability of suspended sediment yields, making establishment of effective standards difficult.     

Predicting the multiple pathways of plant succession

Classical concepts view succession as a deterministic, mechanistic regeneration of the disturbed community, and thus have limited applicability to fire-prone ecosystems, A recently developed multiple pathway succession model appears to have more realism and applicability in frequently disturbed ecosystems. It includes a set of species-specific attributes that are vital to reproduction and survival, and permits variable succession pathways depending on the stand's age (and thus species composition) when disturbed. Examples from Australia and the northern Rocky Mountains (USA) are presented, as are approaches to refining and improving the model.     

The Influence of Atmospheric N Deposition on Nitrous Oxide and Nitric Oxide Fluxes and Soil Ammonium and Nitrate Concentrations

The deposition of atmospheric N to soils provides sources of available N to the nitrifying and denitrifying microbial community and subsequently influences the rate of NO and N₂O emissions from soil. We have investigated the influence of three different sources of enhanced N deposition on NO and N₂O emissions 1) elevated NH₃ deposition to woodlands downwind of poultry and pig farms, 2) increased wet cloud and occult N deposition to upland forest and moorland and 3) enhanced N deposition to trees as NO ₃ ^– and NH ₄ ⁺ aerosol. Flux measurements of NO and N₂O were made using static chambers in the field or intact and repacked soil cores in the laboratory and determination of N₂O by gas chromatography and of NO by chemiluminescence analysis. Rates of N deposition to our study sites were derived from modelled estimates of N deposition, NH₃ concentrations measured by passive diffusion and inference from measurements of the ²¹⁰Pb inventory of soils under tree canopies compared with open grassland. NO and N₂O emissions and KCl-extractable soil NH ₄ ⁺ and NO ₃ ^– concentrations all increased with increasing N deposition rate. The extent of increase did not appear to be influenced by the chemical form of the N deposited. Systems dominated by dry-deposited NH₃ downwind of intensive livestock farms or wet-deposited NH ₄ ⁺ and NO ₃ ^– in the upland regions of Britain resulted in approximately the same linear response. Emissions of NO and N₂O from these soils increased with both N deposition and KCl extractable NH ₄ ⁺ , but the relationship between NH ₄ ⁺ and N deposition (ln NH ₄ ⁺ = 0.62 ln N_deposition + 0.21, r ² = 0.33, n = 43) was more robust than the relationship between N deposition and soil NO and N₂O fluxes.