岩溶地下河反硝化作用的有限性——一个碳酸盐岩管道的实验研究

反硝化作用是公认的去除水体中硝酸盐的路径,但相比于多孔介质,岩溶地下河中反硝化效果具有不确定性.为更好地认识岩溶地下河中反硝化效果,本研究利用天然碳酸盐岩管道几何模型,以乙醇为可利用电子供体(碳源),示踪了控制流速条件下管道流中反硝化作用,并辅以多孔介质流实验进行对比.反应示踪、地球化学印迹和微生物检测结果表明:当碳源缺乏时,反硝化作用没有明显启动的迹象;一旦补充了碳源,溶解氧、硝酸盐浓度和质量都出现了明显衰减,并且有中间产物亚硝酸盐产生,水体碱度增加.然而,即使在碳源充足情况下,管道流中反硝化强度却明显比多孔介质流中强度低,两者硝酸盐生物去除率分别为39.4%和大于99%,生物降解速率分别为0.113和10.8 mg·L~(-1)·h~(-1).推测其原因,一是碳酸盐岩管道内固体表面积与水体积比值低,固体吸着条件不利于微生物生长与发育,降低了硝酸盐去除率;二是管道富含的溶解氧可能延迟了反硝化作用启动,溶解氧降至3.0 mg·L~(-1)左右时硝酸盐浓度才有明显衰减.相比之下,其它环境因素如p H值和温度没有出现明显变化.该研究意义在于:岩溶管道流反硝化去除硝酸盐的潜能是存在的,但即使可利用碳源充足仍具有明显的局限性,这可能意味着岩溶地下河一旦遭受硝酸盐污染,其作为饮用水源的安全风险更大.     

Sperm economy and limitation in spiny lobsters

Sperm limitation, when female fertilisation success is constrained by the supply of sperm, is generally perceived to be an uncommon feature of reproduction in species which directly transfer gametes during copulation. Male size, previous copulations, and the balance of expected reproductive return and future mating opportunity may, however, limit the amount of sperm males transfer to females. We used laboratory experiments where mate size could be manipulated and its consequences on spermatophore size and clutch size determined, to show that in two genera of spiny lobsters (Crustacea: Palinuridae) male reproductive output limits the size of clutches brooded by females. In Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, we show that while male size affects spermatophore area, males also vary the amount of ejaculate positively with female size. Furthermore, the area of the spermatophore has a greater influence than female size on subsequent clutch weight. In Jasus edwardsii from New Zealand, female size, male size and mate order all affect clutch weight. In both species, clutches fertilised by small males in the laboratory are significantly smaller than clutches fertilised by large males. These results suggest that to ensure they receive sufficient sperm, females should either mate several times prior to oviposition, mate as early as possible in the reproductive season, or choose large, preferably unmated males as partners and thus compete with other females for preferred males. Sperm-limited female fecundity has the potential to limit the egg production of fished populations where large males are typically rare. Received: 18 May 1998 / Received in revised form: 20 November 1998 / Accepted: 30 November 1998     

Assessing the current state of ecological connectivity in a large marine protected area system

The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a critical step in ensuring the continued persistence of marine biodiversity. Although the area protected in MPAs is growing, the movement of individuals (or larvae) among MPAs, termed connectivity, has only recently been included as an objective of many MPAs. As such, assessing connectivity is often neglected or oversimplified in the planning process. For promoting population persistence, it is important to ensure that protected areas in a system are functionally connected through dispersal or adult movement. We devised a multi-species model of larval dispersal for the Australian marine environment to evaluate how much local scale connectivity is protected in MPAs and determine whether the extensive system of MPAs truly functions as a network. We focused on non-migratory species with simplified larval behaviors (i.e., passive larval dispersal) (e.g., no explicit vertical migration) as an illustration. Of all the MPAs analyzed (approximately 2.7 million km²), outside the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, <50% of MPAs (46-80% of total MPA area depending on the species considered) were functionally connected. Our results suggest that Australia's MPA system cannot be referred to as a single network, but rather a collection of numerous smaller networks delineated by natural breaks in the connectivity of reef habitat. Depending on the dispersal capacity of the taxa of interest, there may be between 25 and 47 individual ecological networks distributed across the Australian marine environment. The need to first assess the underlying natural connectivity of a study system prior to implementing new MPAs represents a key research priority for strategically enlarging MPA networks. Our findings highlight the benefits of integrating multi-species connectivity into conservation planning to identify opportunities to better incorporate connectivity into the design of MPA systems and thus to increase their capacity to support long-term, sustainable biodiversity outcomes.     

Identifying robust strategies for assisted migration in a competitive stochastic metacommunity

Assisted migration (AM) is the translocation of species beyond their historical range to locations that are expected to be more suitable under future climate change. However, a relocated population may fail to establish in its donor community if there is high uncertainty in decision-making, climate, and interactions with the recipient ecological community. To quantify the benefit to persistence and risk of establishment failure of AM under different management scenarios (e.g., choosing target species, proportion of population to relocate, and optimal location to relocate), we built a stochastic metacommunity model to simulate several species reproducing, dispersing, and competing on a temperature gradient as temperature increases over time. Without AM, the species were vulnerable to climate change when they had low population sizes, short dispersal, and strong poleward competition. When relocating species that exemplified these traits, AM increased the long-term persistence of the species most when relocating a fraction of the donor population, even if the remaining population was very small or rapidly declining. This suggests that leaving behind a fraction of the population could be a robust approach, allowing managers to repeat AM in case they move the species to the wrong place and at the wrong time, especially when it is difficult to identify a species’ optimal climate. We found that AM most benefitted species with low dispersal ability and least benefited species with narrow thermal tolerances, for which AM increased extinction risk on average. Although relocation did not affect the persistence of nontarget species in our simple competitive model, researchers will need to consider a more complete set of community interactions to comprehensively understand invasion potential.     

Spontaneous Interspecific Hybridization and Patterns of Pollen Dispersal in Ex Situ Populations of a Tree Species (Sinojackia xylocarpa) that is Extinct in the Wild

Abstract:  For endangered plants interspecific hybridization occurring in ex situ collections may lead to failure of reintroduction actions. We used Sinojackia xylocarpa , a well documented Chinese endemic species that is extinct in the wild, as a model case to address this concern. We used paternity analyses to assess the spontaneous hybridization and patterns of pollen flow between S. xylocarpa and its congener species, S. rehderiana , in conserved populations in Wuhan Botanic Garden. Interspecific hybridization events were detected in seven out of eight maternal trees of S. xylocarpa , and an average of 32.7% seeds collected from maternal trees of S. xylocarpa were hybrids. The paternity of 93 out of 249 seedlings from S. xylocarpa assigned to S. rehderiana provided convincing evidence that spontaneous interspecific hybridization occurred extensively in the living garden collection we studied. Different patterns of pollen dispersal (predominantly short-distance vs. long-distance pollination) were observed between intra- and interspecific hybridization events in the garden. Pollen dispersal within the ex situ populations was not restricted by distance, as evidenced by a lack of significant correlations between the average effective pollen dispersal distance (δ) and the geographic distances (d1 and d2) between maternal and paternal trees. The interspecific pollen-dispersal distance ranged from 10 to 620.1 m (mean 294.4 m). Such extensive hybridization in ex situ collections could jeopardize the genetic integrity of endangered species and irrevocably contaminate the gene pool if such hybrids are used for reintroduction and restoration. We recommend strongly that measures be taken to minimize the genetic risks of this kind of hybridization, including establishing buffer zones in ex situ collections, manipulating flowering phenology, testing seed lots before use in reintroduction programs, and controlling pollination for seed purity.     

Herbivores enable plant survival under nutrient limited conditions in a model grazing system

We make a theoretical study of nitrogen cycling in a model of a grazing system with five compartments. The rates of uptake of nutrient by plants and herbivores are allowed nonlinear forms which involve no a priori assumptions about whether the system is subject to top-down or bottom-up control. We derive a method of piecewise linear approximation which allows analytical study of the system. We then use this method to investigate the properties of the equilibrium states of the system, and in particular whether the system favours donor- or recipient-control, the grazing optimization problem, and the potential benefits of herbivory to plant growth. We are able to generalise our results to all uptake functions of the same qualitative class as those considered, and to show that in general the system will tend to a stable equilibrium state of donor-controlled herbivory. In this model, the presence of the ‘right’ class of herbivore is not only beneficial to plant growth in certain circumstances, but can be essential to their survival, allowing plants to co-exist with herbivores under conditions in which they would be unable to survive alone.     

淀山湖浮游藻类增长的氮磷限制性营养研究

2009年1月至12月对淀山湖浮游藻类生物量及主要营养元素N、P含量进行了监测,并利用藻类增长的生物学评价（NEB）方法对浮游藻类增长的限制性营养元素进行了研究,采用双变量相关性分析了水体中N、P含量与浮游藻类生物量的相关性.结果表明,磷含量与藻类生物量有显著的正相关（Rmax=0.980）,添加磷能明显促进藻类生物量...     

Dispersal connectivity and reserve selection for marine conservation

Although larval dispersal is crucial for the persistence of most marine populations, dispersal connectivity between sites is rarely considered in designing marine protected area networks. In particular the role of structural characteristics (known as topology) for the network of larval dispersal routes in the conservation of metapopulations has not been addressed. To determine reserve site configurations that provide highest persistence values with respect to their connectivity characteristics, we model nine connectivity topological models derived from graph theory in a demographic metapopulation model. We identify reserve site configurations that provide the highest persistence values for each of the metapopulation connectivity models. Except for the minimally connected and fully connected populations, we observed two general ‘rules of thumb’ for optimising the mean life time for all topological models: firstly place the majority of reserves, so that they are neighbours of each other, on the sites where the number of connections between the populations is highest (hub), secondly when the reserves have occupied the majority of the vertices in the hub, then select another area of high connectivity and repeat. If there are no suitable hubs remaining then distribute the remaining reserves to isolated locations optimising contact with non-reserved sites.     

秦岭中段撂荒地植被恢复过程中土壤微生物代谢特征

明确撂荒地植被恢复过程中土壤微生物养分限制特征及其驱动机制对揭示土壤养分循环和维持生态系统稳定具有重要意义.以秦岭中段不同年限撂荒地为研究对象,通过测定土壤理化性质、5种胞外酶活性[β-1,4-葡萄糖苷酶(BG)、纤维二糖水解酶(CBH)、β-1,4-N-乙酰基氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)、亮氨酸氨基肽酶(LAP)和酸性磷...     

Studying ecological communities from a neutral standpoint: A review of models’ structure and parameter estimation

Neutral models provide an alternative to niche-based assembly rules of ecological communities by assuming that communities’ properties are shaped by the stochastic interplay between ecological drift, migration and speciation. The recent and ongoing interest about neutral assumptions has produced many developments on the theoretical side, with nevertheless limited echoes in terms of analyses of real-world data. The present review paper aims to help bridge the widening gap between modellers and field ecologists through two objectives. First, to provide a multi-criteria typology of the main neutral models, including those from population genetics that have not yet been transposed to ecology, by considering how the fundamental processes of ecological drift, speciation and migration are modelled and, specifically, how space is taken into account. Second, to review methods recently proposed to estimate models parameters from field data, a point that should be mastered to allow for broader applications.