Effects of Exurban Development and Temperature on Bird Species in the Southern Appalachians

Land‐use dynamics and climatic gradients have large effects on many terrestrial systems. Exurban development, one of the fastest growing forms of land use in the United States, may affect wildlife through habitat fragmentation and building presence may alter habitat quality. We studied the effects of residential development and temperature gradients on bird species occurrence at 140 study sites in the southern Appalachian Mountains (North Carolina, U.S.A.) that varied with respect to building density and elevation. We used occupancy models to determine 36 bird species’ associations with building density, forest canopy cover, average daily mean temperature, and an interaction between building density and mean temperature. Responses varied with habitat requirement, breeding range, and migration distance. Building density and mean temperature were both included in the top occupancy models for 19 of 36 species and a building density by temperature interaction was included in models for 8 bird species. As exurban development expands in the southern Appalachians, interior forest species and Neotropical migrants are likely to decline, but shrubland or edge species are not likely to benefit. Overall, effects of building density were greater than those of forest canopy cover. Exurban development had a greater effect on birds at high elevations due to a greater abundance of sensitive forest‐interior species and Neotropical migrants. A warming climate may exacerbate these negative effects. Efectos del Desarrollo Exurbano y de la Temperatura sobre Especies de Aves en las Apalaches del Sur     

Lichen Conservation in Heavily Managed Boreal Forests

Lichens are an important component of the boreal forest, where they are long lived, tend to accumulate in older stands, and are a major food source for the threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). To be fully sustainable, silvicultural practices in the boreal forest must include the conservation of ecological integrity. Dominant forest management practices, however, have short‐term negative effects on lichen diversity, particularly the application of herbicides. To better understand the long‐term effects of forest management, we examined lichen regeneration in 35 mixed black spruce (Picea mariana) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forest stands across northern Ontario to determine recovery following logging and postharvest silvicultural practices. Our forest stands were 25–40 years old and had undergone 3 common sivilcultural treatments that included harvested and planted; harvested, planted, and treated with N‐[phosphonomethyl] glycine (glyphosate); and harvested, planted, and treated with 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4‐D). Forest stands with herbicide treatments had lower lichen biomass and higher beta and gamma diversity than planted stands that were not treated chemically or control stands. In northwestern Ontario, planted stands that were not treated chemically had significantly greater (p < 0.05) alpha diversity than stands treated with herbicides or control stands. Our results show that common silvicultural practices do not emulate natural disturbances caused by wildfires in the boreal forest for the lichen community. We suggest a reduction in the amount of chemical application be considered in areas where lichen biomass is likely to be high and where the recovery of woodland caribou is an objective. Conservación de Líquenes en Bosques Boreales Manejados Intensivamente     

森林净生态系统生产力及其生物影响因子研究进展

在全球大气二氧化碳浓度上升的背景下,陆地生态系统碳循环及碳汇功能研究得到了广泛的关注,日益成为今后的政治和外交的重大议题之一.净生态系统生产力(net ecosystem production, NEP)是生态系统光合固定的碳与生态系统呼吸损失的碳之间的差值;或者为生态系统净的碳积累速率.NEP 的研究整合生态系统地上和地下部分,把生态系统碳循环的影响因子有机地联系了起来.当NEP为正值时,说明生态系统为碳汇,NEP为负值则表明生态系统为碳源.随着植物和土壤相互联系及其对生态系统过程研究的深入,NEP已经成为生态系统碳循环研究的核心概念之一.以森林NEP为出发点,综述了国内外的最近的 NEP 研究进展,分析了 NEP 研究的科学意义;探讨了植物群落组成/生物多样性、土壤微生物群落、大型/土壤动物和人为的管理或干扰等生物因子对NEP的影响.根据综述研究提出未来研究应在:(1)土壤生物过程、土壤食物网及其与地上部分植物/动物相互作用对NEP的影响;(2)自然林生物多样性的竞争/共存机制与生态系统碳吸存稳定性;(3)人工林固碳潜力和不同植物功能群(灌草层)对生态系统碳动态影响等方面加强,以期为全面认识生物因子对森林生态系统系统固碳现状、机制和潜力提供理论基础.     

Conservation Value of Remnant Riparian Forest Corridors of Varying Quality for Amazonian Birds and Mammals

Abstract:  Forest corridors are often considered the main instrument with which to offset the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation. Brazilian forestry legislation requires that all riparian zones on private landholdings be maintained as permanent reserves and sets fixed minimum widths of riparian forest buffers to be retained alongside rivers and perennial streams. We investigated the effects of corridor width and degradation status of 37 riparian forest sites (including 24 corridors connected to large source-forest patches, 8 unconnected forest corridors, and 5 control riparian zones embedded within continuous forest patches) on bird and mammal species richness in a hyper-fragmented forest landscape surrounding Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil. We used point-count and track-sampling methodology, coupled with an intensive forest-quality assessment that combined satellite imagery and ground truthed data. Vertebrate use of corridors was highly species-specific, but broad trends emerged depending on species life histories and their sensitivity to disturbance. Narrow and/or highly disturbed riparian corridors retained only a depauperate vertebrate assemblage that was typical of deforested habitats, whereas wide, well-preserved corridors retained a nearly complete species assemblage. Restriction of livestock movement along riparian buffers and their exclusion from key areas alongside deforested streams would permit corridor regeneration and facilitate restoration of connectivity .     

威海市区黑松林群落的物种多样性特征

用3个丰富度指数、2个多样性指数和3个均匀度指数对威海市区11个黑松林群落多样性进行研究,并用相关分析研究了这些指数间的关系,结果表明:(1)黑松混交林群落的丰富度和多样性均高于黑松纯林群落,但均匀度却无此规律;(2)生境最优的黑松+刺槐+麻栎林(位于仙姑顶的样地11)在11个样地中的物种多样性表现最好,丰富度、多样性和均匀度都最大.而生境最差的位于火炬大厦的黑松纯林(样地2)群落的丰富度和多样性指数都最小;(3)除样地2外,其余样地群落的草本层丰富度和多样性都最大,灌木层次之,乔木层最小,均匀度无此规律;(4)3个丰富度指数之间、2个多样性指数之间以及两个Pielou均匀度指数之间存在极显著的相关性,但Alatalo均匀度指数和其它7个指数之间相关性都不显著,同时对8个物种多样性指数进行比较后发现丰富度指数中Patrick指数(S)最优,而多样性指数中Shannon-Wiener(H)最优,均匀度指数中以H为基础计算出的Pielou(JH)指数最优.     

北方和温带森林生态系统的蒸腾耗水

北方和温带森林地处气候变化敏感的中高纬度地区,认识其蒸腾耗水过程的时卒动态及其控制因子是评价和预测森林在气候系统中作用的基础.本文综述了北方和温带森林蒸腾耗水的近期研究结果,从叶片、个体和林分3个尺度综合分析了树木蒸腾耗水的变异性及其影响因子,并探讨了其中的尺度转换问题.主要结论如下:尽管相同生活型树木的蒸腾耗水量变异性较大,但针叶树的平均蒸腾耗水量在叶片和个体尺度上显著低于阔叶树,而在林分尺度上针叶林和阔叶林之间差异不显著.3个尺度上的蒸腾作用均受太阳辐射、蒸汽压亏缺、土壤含水量等环境因子的影响,且存在因子间的交互作用,但主导控制因子因时空尺度而异.单株树木蒸腾量与胸径、边材面积和树高均呈显著正相关;林分日蒸腾量最大值与叶面积指数相关显著,而生长季日蒸腾量平均值则与年降水量和年均温呈正相关.这些蒸腾速率与生物环境因子之间的关系模型和不同空间尺度之间的联系是目前森林蒸腾过程尺度转换的基础.本文还讨论了该领域研究中存在的问题和研究热点.     

增补UV-B辐射下南亚热带森林建群树种叶片对UV-B辐射的防护

研究了我国南亚热带森林5种建群树种UV-B辐射诱导的UV-B吸收物质(在280～320 nm波长下测定)的积累及抗UV-B辐射的可能性保护机制.增补UV-B辐射下,马尾松(Pinus massoniana)针叶的甲醇可溶性提取物和细胞壁的碱提取酚类的含量明显高于正常水平的光辐射下.红椎(Castanopsis hystrix)和厚壳桂(Cryptocarya chinensis)叶片的这些化学物质也升高,意味着增补UV-B辐射刺激UV-B辐射吸收物质的生成,形成抗UV-B辐射的功能性保护结构.然而,自然光下已含有大量细胞壁碱提取酚类的荷木(Schima superba)和藜蒴(Castanopsis fissa),这些化合物在增补UV-B辐射下则见下降,很有可能表皮层细胞壁碱提取酚类被转移到含有较低甲醇可溶性色素的液胞可溶性化合物里,这一现象意示着可能涉及叶肉组织光合机构的保护策略.增补UV-B下,马尾松针叶的叶绿素a和b含量不受影响,而其他4种阔叶树叶片则下降10.7% 到16.8%不等.胡萝卜素对增补UV-B辐射的响应变化不一,红椎和荷木的胡萝卜素水平下降,而马尾松、厚壳桂和藜蒴的胡萝卜素则上升,后者也许与功能性增加激发能耗散有关.结果显示,自然条件下不同树种展示出不同的驯化策略以形成抗UV-B辐射增加的防护机制.表4参29     

The Future of Scattered Trees in Agricultural Landscapes

Abstract: Mature trees scattered throughout agricultural landscapes are critical habitat for some biota and provide a range of ecosystem services. These trees are declining in intensively managed agricultural landscapes globally. We developed a simulation model to predict the rates at which these trees are declining, identified the key variables that can be manipulated to mitigate this decline, and compared alternative management proposals. We used the initial numbers of trees in the stand, the predicted ages of these trees, their rate of growth, the number of recruits established, the frequency of recruitment, and the rate of tree mortality to simulate the dynamics of scattered trees in agricultural landscapes. We applied this simulation model to case studies from Spain, United States, Australia, and Costa Rica. We predicted that mature trees would be lost from these landscapes in 90–180 years under current management. Existing management recommendations for these landscapes—which focus on increasing recruitment—would not reverse this trend. The loss of scattered mature trees was most sensitive to tree mortality, stand age, number of recruits, and frequency of recruitment. We predicted that perpetuating mature trees in agricultural landscapes at or above existing densities requires a strategy that keeps mortality among established trees below around 0.5% per year, recruits new trees at a rate that is higher than the number of existing trees, and recruits new trees at a frequency in years equivalent to around 15% of the maximum life expectancy of trees. Numbers of mature trees in landscapes represented by the case studies will decline before they increase, even if strategies of this type are implemented immediately. This decline will be greater if a management response is delayed.     

Effectiveness of Panama as an intercontinental land bridge for large mammals

Habitat fragmentation is a primary driver of wildlife loss, and establishment of biological corridors is a common strategy to mitigate this problem. A flagship example is the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC), which aims to connect protected forest areas between Mexico and Panama to allow dispersal and gene flow of forest organisms. Because forests across Central America have continued to degrade, the functioning of the MBC has been questioned, but reliable estimates of species occurrence were unavailable. Large mammals are suitable indicators of forest functioning, so we assessed their conservation status across the Isthmus of Panama, the narrowest section of the MBC. We used large-scale camera-trap surveys and hierarchical multispecies occupancy models in a Bayesian framework to estimate the occupancy of 9 medium to large mammals and developed an occupancy-weighted connectivity metric to evaluate species-specific functional connectivity. White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), jaguar (Panthera onca), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and tapir (Tapirus bairdii) had low expected occupancy along the MBC in Panama. Puma (Puma concolor), red brocket deer (Mazama temama), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), and collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), which are more adaptable, had higher occupancy, even in areas with low forest cover near infrastructure. However, the majority of species were subject to ≥1 gap that was larger than their known dispersal distances, suggesting poor connectivity along the MBC in Panama. Based on our results, forests in Darien, Donoso–Santa Fe, and La Amistad International Park are critical for survival of large terrestrial mammals in Panama and 2 areas need restoration.     

Village-scale reserves in the forest frontier regions of Chenes and Calakmul,Mexico

ABSTRACT

Sketch-map-facilitated interviews were conducted in 23 villages in two adjacent regions in the southern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico – the Maya (and increasingly Mennonite) forest-agriculture mosaic of the Chenes, and the late-20^th-century-settlement forest frontier of Calakmul – to determine the frequency and typology of local-scale reserves, including the external (e.g. Payments for Environmental Services programs) and internal sources of their generation. 9% of the study communities are found to satisfy the author’s criteria for deliberate, autochthonous reserves. The static polygon reserve and static map are found to have limited value for understanding the evolving cultural ecologies of these regions. Alternative approaches are discussed, particularly those employed by geographers.