Using citizen science butterfly counts to predict species population trends

Citizen scientists are increasingly engaged in gathering biodiversity information, but trade‐offs are often required between public engagement goals and reliable data collection. We compared population estimates for 18 widespread butterfly species derived from the first 4 years (2011–2014) of a short‐duration citizen science project (Big Butterfly Count [BBC]) with those from long‐running, standardized monitoring data collected by experienced observers (U.K. Butterfly Monitoring Scheme [UKBMS]). BBC data are gathered during an annual 3‐week period, whereas UKBMS sampling takes place over 6 months each year. An initial comparison with UKBMS data restricted to the 3‐week BBC period revealed that species population changes were significantly correlated between the 2 sources. The short‐duration sampling season rendered BBC counts susceptible to bias caused by interannual phenological variation in the timing of species’ flight periods. The BBC counts were positively related to butterfly phenology and sampling effort. Annual estimates of species abundance and population trends predicted from models including BBC data and weather covariates as a proxy for phenology correlated significantly with those derived from UKBMS data. Overall, citizen science data obtained using a simple sampling protocol produced comparable estimates of butterfly species abundance to data collected through standardized monitoring methods. Although caution is urged in extrapolating from this U.K. study of a small number of common, conspicuous insects, we found that mass‐participation citizen science can simultaneously contribute to public engagement and biodiversity monitoring. Mass‐participation citizen science is not an adequate replacement for standardized biodiversity monitoring but may extend and complement it (e.g., through sampling different land‐use types), as well as serving to reconnect an increasingly urban human population with nature.     

桑沟湾大型底栖动物的次级生产力

根据2009年夏季和冬季在桑沟湾9个大面站进行的大型底栖动物定量采集样品资料,利用Brey(1990)的经验公式对调查海区进行了大型底栖动物丰度、生物量、次级生产力和P/B值的研究计算.结果表明,该海域大型底栖动物年平均丰度为1 226.7 ind m-2,年平均生物量为3.62 g(AFDW)m-2,年平均生产力为4.76 g(AFDW)m-2 a-1,P/B值平均为1.45 a-1.调查期间由湾口到湾底,次级生产力呈明显的梯度升高.相关分析表明,水深和水温是影响次级生产力的重要环境因子.通过比较,发现桑沟湾大型底栖动物次级生产力与南黄海相近,高于东海、长江口和深沪湾,低于渤海、胶州湾、大亚湾和海坛海峡;P/B值低于长江口、海坛海峡和深沪湾,高于其它海区,说明桑沟湾大型底栖动物群落中,个体小、生活史短、代谢快的种类所占比例低于海坛海峡和深沪湾,高于其它海区.图2表3参25     

一种浮游植物快速浓缩及固定方法的可靠性分析

为验证一种浮游植物快速浓缩固定方法——滤膜浓缩法的可靠性,采用“鲁戈氏液固定沉降法”和“滤膜浓缩法”同时鉴定了不同浮游植物浓度梯度水样,并进行了对比分析,结果表明：鲁戈氏液固定沉降法与滤膜浓缩法整体上均鉴定出7门,32属,但不同梯度上滤膜浓缩法鉴定出的浮游植物种类较多.两种方法门水平上除裸藻门（P<0.05）外丰度均无明显差异（P>0.05）,属水平上相对丰度99%以内的浮游植物均无明显差异（P>0.05）,即无论是门还是属水平上,滤膜浓缩法对浮游植物丰度的鉴定是可行的.采用两种方法得到的不同梯度下藻密度拟合方程斜率差异较小（P>0.05）且相关性显著（R²=0.958,P<0.01）,但滤膜浓缩法鉴定出的浮游植物细胞密度更大.整体来看,滤膜浓缩法得到的藻类鉴定结果与鲁戈氏液固定沉降法基本一致.     

中国区域经济与资源丰度相关性研究

以省域面板数据为基础．选取水、耕地、森林、能源、矿产等五种资源．验证了1978—2004年中国不同种类资源丰度与区域经济发展之问的相关关系。研究表明：①资源诅咒原理在中国内部区域之间仍然成立，除水资源外．耕地、能源、矿产和森林等四种资源的丰度与区域经济发展水平都呈现负相关关系．其程度由裔到低依次是：耕地资源、矿产资源、能源资源、森林资源；②遭遇“资源诅咒”的省处于“资源丰度一经济发展”坐标系第Ⅳ象限。并绝大多数都位于西部地区和东北地区；③各省人均GDP与综合资源丰度的对数成反比．我国资源丰裕度与经济发展水平成相反的变化趋势；④自然资源对于经济增长的影响作用往往是通过多种机制共同作用的结果．中国资源诅咒的传导机制主要包括“荷兰病”效应、制度效应、“挤出”效应以及区位和交通因素等方面。     

Structural Changes in the Fauna of Pollinating Insects in Urban Landscapes

Species composition, abundance, and some ecological features of pollinating insects have been studied in urbanized landscapes. Changes in the composition of bumblebees (Hymenoptera) and butterflies (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) and their adaptive potential in urban environments are considered.__________Translated from Ekologiya, No. 4, 2005, pp. 286–293.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Eremeeva, Sushchev.     

Land‐Cover Change and Avian Diversity in the Conterminous United States

Abstract: Changes in land use and land cover have affected and will continue to affect biological diversity worldwide. Yet, understanding the spatially extensive effects of land‐cover change has been challenging because data that are consistent over space and time are lacking. We used the U.S. National Land Cover Dataset Land Cover Change Retrofit Product and North American Breeding Bird Survey data to examine land‐cover change and its associations with diversity of birds with principally terrestrial life cycles (landbirds) in the conterminous United States. We used mixed‐effects models and model selection to rank associations by ecoregion. Land cover in 3.22% of the area considered in our analyses changed from 1992 to 2001, and changes in species richness and abundance of birds were strongly associated with land‐cover changes. Changes in species richness and abundance were primarily associated with changes in nondominant types of land cover, yet in many ecoregions different types of land cover were associated with species richness than were associated with abundance. Conversion of natural land cover to anthropogenic land cover was more strongly associated with changes in bird species richness and abundance than persistence of natural land cover in nearly all ecoregions and different covariates were most strongly associated with species richness than with abundance in 11 of 17 ecoregions. Loss of grassland and shrubland affected bird species richness and abundance in forested ecoregions. Loss of wetland was associated with bird abundance in forested ecoregions. Our findings highlight the value of understanding changes in nondominant land cover types and their association with bird diversity in the United States.     

Edge Effects and Isolation: Red-Backed Voles Revisited

Abstract:  We examined demographic responses of California red-backed voles ( Clethrionomys californicus ) to forest fragmentation in southwestern Oregon at sites where this species has previously shown negative responses to fragmentation. Voles were captured in live traps and released. Voles were rarely caught in clearcuts surrounding 11 forest fragments, but relative vole density did not decrease from the forest-fragment interiors to edges. The first result agrees with previous findings at these sites 6 years earlier, but the latter result does not. There was no evidence that vole response to edge changes with fragment age. Two years of intensive mark-recapture efforts at two forest-fragment sites and two unfragmented (control) sites did not show negative effects of fragmentation on vole survival, an important demographic rate. Vole capture probabilities varied greatly across space and time on these four sites, which may explain the differences in vole responses to edge seen between this and the previous study. These results suggest that reliable appraisal of edge effects may be difficult for many species on small fragments because the data necessary to apply population estimators require great efforts to obtain and the use of indices leads to a confounding of detection probabilities with demographic change.     

转cry1Ab和epsps基因玉米C0030.3.5对土壤固氮细菌丰度和群落结构的影响

为评估转基因玉米种植对土壤氮周转功能微生物的潜在风险,以转cry1Ab和epsps基因玉米C0030.3.5(TM)及其亲本玉米DBN318(PM)为研究对象,于2015年拔节期、抽雄期、乳熟期、完熟期采集根际土和非根际土进行试验,并采用荧光定量PCR(quantitative real-time PCR,q PCR)和末端限制性片段长度多态性(terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism,TRFLP)技术分析土壤固氮微生物nif H基因丰度和多样性.结果表明,TM和PM根际土和非根际土固氮细菌nif H基因丰度随生长时期整体呈现先升高后降低的变化趋势,无论是根际土还是非根际土,同一生长时期2种玉米nif H基因丰度间差异均不显著.相关分析显示,土壤固氮细菌nif H基因丰度与有机质含量呈极显著正相关.T-RFLP结果表明,所获得的14种TRFs中,43 bp和155 bp片段所代表的固氮细菌为共有优势种群,无论是根际土还是非根际土,同一生长时期各T-RFs的相对丰度在TM和PM间差异同样不显著.土壤固氮细菌的Shannon指数和Evenness指数随生长期整体呈现出先升高后降低的变化趋势,无论是根际土还是非根际土,同一生长时期TM和PM的Shannon指数间及Evenness指数间均无显著差异.主成分分析(principal component analysis,PCA)表明TM和PM土壤固氮细菌群落结构组成无显著差异.冗余分析(redundancy analysis,RDA)显示土壤铵态氮和p H对固氮细菌群落结构组成影响显著.     

高浓度基质冲击后厌氧氨氧化菌活性恢复研究

试验研究了阶段式负荷提高法对高浓度基质抑制后反应器中厌氧氨氧化(Anammox)菌的活性恢复特性的影响,考察了活性恢复过程反应器各阶段的脱氮性能、胞外聚合物(EPS)组分及Anammox菌丰度的变化.结果表明,通过逐步提高氮负荷率,反应器中Anammox菌活性于57d内即可恢复至受损前状态,最终氮去除负荷达2.21 kg·m-3·d-1;Anammox泥中的EPS含量、紧密型EPS和松散型EPS中蛋白质与多糖的比例均呈现先降低后上升的趋势,当进水总氮(TN)为500 mg·L-1时,EPS含量及二者的比例均最低;Anammox菌丰度对废水中氮浓度的敏感度较高,在活性恢复过程中,TN浓度为700 mg·L-1时丰度最高,达2.4×1010copies·g-1VSS.     

Are There Ecological Foundations for Ecosystem Health?

We present a critical introduction to the problems shared by ecologists and ecosystem health researchers who attempt to integrate applied ecology with other disciplines. The importance of the concept of ecosystem health as an approach to environmental problems is presented, and the difficulties in integrating ecology into the concept are outlined. A rigorous ecological and evolutionary basis for ecosystem health is introduced through diversity abundance models and especially by the outcome of competitive exclusion, niche hierarchy, and log normality. The importance of defining functional groups for assessing the effects of disturbance (e.g., on pollinators, macrolepidoptera, diatoms, gut bacteria) and in the broader context of ecosystem health (e.g., through pollinating bees) is stressed.