Positive long-term effect of mulching on species and functional trait diversity in a nutrient-poor mountain meadow in Central Europe

Oligotrophic mountain meadows are threatened biodiversity hotspots throughout Europe. The traditional summer hay-making followed by autumn grazing is no longer economic and question is whether alternative managements can maintain both plant species and functional diversity typical of these habitats. In the Bohemian Forest Mts., we applied three treatments (mowing once a year - i.e., cutting and removing the biomass, mulching once a year - cutting and leaving the crushed biomass to decompose in situ, fallowing - no cutting) in order to assess temporal changes in meadow vegetation, plant trait composition and biomass production in a 13-year experiment. We recorded for each species twenty-five traits as to be most informative of plant strategies related to growth, resource acquisition and carbon-water economy. We compared different components of trait composition (community averages that mostly reflect traits of dominant species vs. the Rao index of functional diversity that reflects trait dissimilarity among species) and their impact on biomass production. We show that mulching promotes species and functional diversity by facilitating heliophilous forbs and legumes with more acquisitive strategies in resource use and release, e.g., higher foliar N and P content. This occurs at the expense of tall grasses (with resource-retentive strategies, e.g., high leaf dry matter content) which dominate the mown and fallow plots. The divergence in most quantitative traits indicates that niche complementarity is the dominant assembly process in mulched plots, which can prevent competitive exclusion and enable species coexistence. The divergent development was detected only after 5-6 years. This slow floristic and functional response is caused by acidity of soil and severe mountain climate that preclude rapid responses of vegetation to land-use changes. We conclude that mulching represents a good compromise maintaining both plant species and functional diversity as well as a relatively high biomass production. Mowing without grazing leads to gradual nutrient loss and thus reduces the productivity and diversity in these oligotrophic ecosystems. Fallowing causes gradual loss in diversity by increased grass competition and litter accumulation.     

沈阳市生态小区生活垃圾资源化示范模式

通过对沈阳市生活小区生活垃圾处理现状进行分析,对比分析了国内外生活垃圾再生资源利用情况,并在生态小区开展生活垃圾资源化管理,进而探讨其可行性模式。     

Community richness and stability in agricultural landscapes: The importance of surrounding habitats

In this paper, the role played by habitat diversity in the landscape on species richness and on the stability of farmland bird communities was investigated. Species richness was estimated on 374 samples monitored in farmland by the French breeding bird survey during the 2001–2005 period. A capture–recapture approach was used to estimate species richness accounting for the variation in detection probability among species of the 100 most common species detected in farmland. Landscape structure and composition were measured both in farmland and in adjacent habitats. The independent effect of each variable on community richness and stability was further assessed using hierarchical variance partitioning and taking spatial autocorrelation into account. A strong matrix effect was detected: non-cropped land deeply influenced richness and stability of bird assemblages.     

长江三角洲地区大气二恶英类污染物输送-沉降模拟研究

大气中的二恶英类物质(PCDD/Fs)是一类难降解的有毒污染物,可对人类和其他哺乳动物的健康构成危害.二恶英类物质主要是由废物焚烧、金属冶炼和造纸化工等行业所产生. 二恶英类物质为半挥发性物质,可以在气态和气溶胶之间相互转移,从而影响其大气物理和化学过程. 利用耦合有机物吸收和黑碳吸附的二恶英类污染物颗粒态、气态相间分配模块和化学转化的区域大气化学、输送模式(CMAQ)模拟了2006年1月,4月,7月和10月长三角(长江三角洲)地区PCDD/Fs在大气中的输送、转化和沉降等演变过程,探讨了大气中二恶英类污染物的季节变化规律和沉降特征. 模拟结果表明,长三角地区的二恶英类污染物排放存在着明显的长距离输送特征和区域影响;冬季大气二恶英类污染物浓度明显高于夏季,湿沉降是其主要的沉降途径.      

山地可持续人居环境初探

传统的山地人居环境是建立在传统的农业社会经济、文化基础之上的对自然环境的被动式生态适应，缺少居安安全性、便捷性、舒适性等生活基本保证。现代山地人居环境将以现代生态学为指导，突破山地特殊生态特性对人类的制约，实现人与山地自然和谐共生，满足社区居民物质和精神双重层次的需求，从而真正成为可持续发展的人居环境。