The interplay between foraging mode, habitat structure, and predator presence in antlions

Antlion larvae are sand-dwelling insect predators, which ambush small arthropod prey while buried in the sand. In some species, the larvae construct conical pits and are considered as sit-and-wait predators which seldom relocate while in other species, they ambush prey without a pit but change their ambush site much more frequently (i.e., sit-and-pursue predators). The ability of antlion larvae to evade some of their predators which hunt them on the sand surface is strongly constrained by the degree of sand stabilization or by sand depth. We studied the effect of predator presence, predator type (active predatory beetle vs. sit-and-pursue wolf spider), and sand depth (shallow vs. deep sand) on the behavioral response of the pit building Myrmeleon hyalinus larvae and the sit-and-pursue Lopezus fedtschenkoi larvae. Predator presence had a negative effect on both antlion species activity. The sit-and-wait M. hyalinus larvae showed reduced pit-building activity, whereas the sit-and-pursue L. fedtschenkoi larvae decreased relocation activity. The proportion of relocating M. hyalinus was negatively affected by sand depth, whereas L. fedtschenkoi was negatively affected also by the predator type. Specifically, the proportion of individual L. fedtschenkoi that relocated in deeper sand was lower when facing the active predator rather than the sit-and-pursue predator. The proportion of M. hyalinus which constructed pits decreased in the presence of a predator, but this pattern was stronger when exposed to the active predator. We suggest that these differences between the two antlion species are strongly linked to their distinct foraging modes and to the foraging mode of their predators. Reut Loria and Inon Scharf contributed equally to the paper.     

Assessment of canopy stomatal conductance models using flux measurements

Stomatal conductance (g) is a key parameter in controlling energy and water exchanges between canopy and the atmosphere. Stomatal conductance models proposed by Ball, Woodrow and Berry (BWB) and Leuning have been increasingly used in land surface schemes. In a recent study, a new diagnostic index was developed by Wang et al. to examine the response of g to humidity and new models were proposed to resolve problems identified in the BWB and Leuning models. This approach is theoretically sound, but relies on canopy latent heat and CO₂ fluxes and environmental variables at the leaf surface which are not available at most eddy correlation (EC) observation sites. In this study, we tested the diagnostic index by empirically correcting EC measurements to canopy-level fluxes and by replacing leaf surface variables by their corresponding ambient air variables, and re-examined the stomatal conductance models of BWB, Leuning, and Wang et al. We found that the impact of the above modifications on the evaluation of g–humidity relationships is very small. This study provides a practical approach to investigate the stomatal response to humidity using routine EC measurements.     

How might we model an ecosystem?

Predicting ecosystem effects is of crucial importance in a world at threat from natural and human-mediated change. Here we propose an ecologically defensible representation of an ecosystem that facilitates predictive modelling. The representation has its roots in the early trophic and energetic theory of ecosystem dynamics and more recent functional ecology and network theory. Using the arable ecosystem of the UK as an example, we show that the representation allows simplification from the many interacting plant and invertebrate species, typically present in arable fields, to a more tractable number of trophic-functional types. Our compound hypothesis is that “trophic-functional types of plants and invertebrates can be used to explain the structure, diversity and dynamics of arable ecosystems”. The trophic-functional types act as containers for individuals, within an individual-based model, sharing similar trophic behaviour and traits of biomass transformation. Biomass, or energy, flows between the types and this allows the key ecological properties of individual abundance and body mass, at each trophic height, to be followed through simulations. Our preliminary simulation results suggest that the model shows great promise. The simulation output for simple ecosystems, populated with realistic parameter values, is consistent with current laboratory observations and provides exciting indications that it could reproduce field scale phenomena. The model also produces output that links the individual, population and community scales, and may be analysed and tested using community, network (food web) and population dynamic theory. We show that we can include management effects, as perturbations to parameter values, for modelling the effects of change and indicating management responses to change. This model will require robust analysis, testing and validation, and we discuss how we will achieve this in the future.     

A note on non-parametric and semi-parametric modeling of wildfire hazard in Los Angeles County, California

This paper explores the use of, and problems that arise in, kernel smoothing and parametric estimation of the relationships between wildfire incidence and various meteorological variables. Such relationships may be treated as components in separable point process models for wildfire activity. The resulting models can be used for comparative purposes in order to assess the predictive performance of the Burning Index.

中国地区大气汞沉降速度研究

借助箱模式对汞的干沉降过程进行敏感性分析,并利用区域大气环境模式系统Reg AEMS计算中国地区汞干沉降速度的时空分布特征。结果表明,森林下垫面下三类汞(气态零价汞、活性气态汞和颗粒态汞)的干沉降速度较大(0.13、4.5和0.45 cm·s-1),水体表面上的相对较小(0.0012,0.5和0.11 cm·s-1)。敏感性分析发现,三类汞的干沉降速度随着近地层风速增加;降水或者地表湿度降低会导致零价汞和活性气态汞干沉降速度增加;雪盖厚度会减小气态零价汞的干沉降速度而增加活性气态汞的干沉降速度。三类汞的干沉降速度在区域上分布类似,东北以及南部地区最高,华东地区最小。季节变化上,气态零价汞、活性气态汞的干沉降速度在多数下垫面都夏季最大,冬季最小;颗粒态汞季节变化不明显。     

Litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralization from an annual to a monthly model

The forest litter decomposition model (FLDM) described in this paper provides an important basis for assessing the impacts of forest management on seasonal stream water quality and export of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). By definition, models with annual time steps are unable to capture seasonal, within-year variation. In order to simulate seasonal variation in litter decomposition and DOC production and export, we have modified an existing annual FLDM to account for monthly dynamics of decomposition and residual mass in experimental litterbags placed in 21 different forests across Canada.The original annual FLDM was formulated with three main litter pools (fast, slow, and very slow decomposing litter) to address the fact that forest litter is naturally composed of a mixture of organic compounds that decompose at different rates. The annual FLDM was shown to provide better simulations than more complex models like CENTURY and SOMM.The revised monthly model retains the original structure of the annual FLDM, but separates litter decomposition from nitrogen (N) mineralization. In the model, monthly soil temperature, soil moisture, and mean January soil temperature are shown to be the most important controlling variables of within-year variation in decomposition. Use of the three variables in a process-based definition of litter decomposition is a significant departure from the empirical definition in the annual model. The revised model is shown to give similar calculations of residual mass and N concentration as the annual model (r² = 0.91, 0.78), despite producing very different timeseries of decomposition over six years. It is shown from a modelling perspective that (i) forest litter decomposition is independent of N mineralization, whereas N mineralization is dependent on litter decomposition, and (ii) mean January soil temperature defines litter decomposition in the summer because of winter-temperatures’ role in modifying forest-floor microorganism community composition and functioning in the following summer.     

基于OCO-2卫星观测的浙江省典型城市CO2柱浓度变化特征及碳排放重点源识别应用

为有效制定城市层面的低碳发展政策,实现碳达峰的发展目标,利用碳卫星2号（OCO-2）监测的高分辨率大气CO₂柱浓度数据（XCO₂）,分析浙江省杭州、宁波和嘉兴3个典型城市的XCO₂变化特征,以及人类活动和XCO₂变化的关系;识别城市碳排放热点区域,评估碳排放热点源对XCO₂的影响,并利用拉格朗日粒子扩散模型（LPDM）进行验证。结果表明：（1）2016—2021年3个城市的XCO₂年增长量分别为3.1×10^-6,2.3×10^-6和2.2×10^-6,杭州的增长量最为明显;杭州和宁波在2019—2021年XCO₂增量明显,分别为8.0×10^-6和5.7×10^-6。杭州XCO₂的变化趋势与临安大气本底站CO₂观测数据的变化趋势一致。（2）与2017年相比,3个城市的建筑用地面积都略有增加,分别增加了0.9%,2.2%和4.8%;从人口和GDP数据来看,2016—2021年3个城市也均呈持续增加的变化趋势。表明CO₂浓度升高与人类活动密切相关。（3）XCO₂正距平高值区域基本都对应了碳排放热点源（电力企业）的下风向地区,电力企业CO₂的排放会导致下风向地区的XCO₂出现局地性增长,增量为7×10^-6～9×10^-6。     

运用灰色系统理论对城市环境噪声分析与预测

利用灰色系统理论的灰色关联度分析法,对影响佛山市禅城区区域环境噪声的影响因子进行定量分析,结果表明,影响佛山市禅城区区域环境噪声的第一位因素是机动车辆密度;同时建立了城市区域环境噪声的灰色GM(1,1)预测模型,短期预测精度很高,未来5年禅城区区域环境噪声呈平稳下降趋势.为规划防治城市区域环境噪声提供科学依据.     

燃烧过程氮氧化物系统中反应和传递模型研究进展

氮氧化物是空气中主要污染物之一,随着计算燃烧学迅速发展,氮氧化物(NOx)生成反应和传递过程的模拟在燃烧反应器设计工作中所起的作用越来越重要,如何建立合理而经济的预测模型,是其中的关键问题之一。根据国内外的研究现状,本文对燃烧过程氮氧化物系统中的反应和传递模型研究进展进行了评述,讨论了各个模型的优点和不足,并提出了NOx预测模型今后的发展方向。     

模糊矩阵法在校园声环境质量评价中的应用

由于噪声及其感受主体均具有不确定性的特点,拟采用模糊综合评价方法对声环境质量进行评价,从而使评价结果更具客观性和合理性。本文通过对S大学声环境质量的现状监测并结合在校师生主观感受调查结果,运用模糊矩阵法对校园声环境质量进行综合评价,并对校园声环境质量与教学生活的适宜度进行了分析论证。