Meta-analysis of the effects of upstream land cover on stream recovery

Unpredictable or variable ecosystem recovery from disturbance presents a challenge to conservation, particularly as the scale of human disturbance continues to increase. Theory suggests land-cover and disturbance characteristics affect recovery, but individual studies of disturbance and recovery frequently struggle to uncover generalizable patterns because of high levels of site-specific variation. To understand how land-cover, disturbance type, and disturbance duration influence ecosystem recovery, we used studies documenting recovery of 50 streams to perform a global meta-analysis of stream recovery from disturbances that affect water quality (e.g., oil spill, fire, wastewater). We extracted upstream natural and urban land-cover percentages for each site and performed model selection and averaging to identify influences on recovery completeness. Most streams improved following the end of a disturbance (median 240% of disturbed condition) but did not recover fully to baseline predisturbance condition within the studied period (median study period 2 years; median recovery 60% of baseline). Scale of disturbance in time and space did not predict recovery, but sites with higher percentages of upstream natural land cover had less complete recovery relative to sites with more urban or agricultural cover, possibly due to higher baseline conditions in these streams. Our findings suggest impacts to systems with low anthropogenic stress may be more irreversible than impacts to already modified systems. We call for more long-term evaluations of ecosystem response to disturbance and the inclusion of regional references and predisturbance reference conditions for comparison. A more thorough understanding of the role of the surrounding landscape in shaping stream response to disturbance can help managers calibrate expectations for recovery and prioritize protection.     

The importance of agricultural lands for Himalayan birds in winter

The impacts of land‐use change on biodiversity in the Himalayas are poorly known, notwithstanding widespread deforestation and agricultural intensification in this highly biodiverse region. Although intact primary forests harbor many Himalayan birds during breeding, a large number of bird species use agricultural lands during winter. We assessed how Himalayan bird species richness, abundance, and composition during winter are affected by forest loss stemming from agriculture and grazing. Bird surveys along 12 elevational transects within primary forest, low‐intensity agriculture, mixed subsistence agriculture, and intensively grazed pastures in winter revealed that bird species richness and abundance were greatest in low‐intensity and mixed agriculture, intermediate in grazed pastures, and lowest in primary forest at both local and landscape scales; over twice as many species and individuals were recorded in low‐intensity agriculture than in primary forest. Bird communities in primary forests were distinct from those in all other land‐use classes, but only 4 species were unique to primary forests. Low‐, medium‐, and high‐intensity agriculture harbored 32 unique species. Of the species observed in primary forest, 80% had equal or greater abundance in low‐intensity agricultural lands, underscoring the value of these lands in retaining diverse community assemblages at high densities in winter. Among disturbed landscapes, bird species richness and abundance declined as land‐use intensity increased, especially in high‐intensity pastures. Our results suggest that agricultural landscapes are important for most Himalayan bird species in winter. But agricultural intensification—especially increased grazing—will likely result in biodiversity losses. Given that forest reserves alone may inadequately conserve Himalayan birds in winter, comprehensive conservation strategies in the region must go beyond protecting intact primary forests and ensure that low‐intensity agricultural lands are not extensively converted to high‐intensity pastures.     

Interacting effects of habitat destruction and changing disturbance rates on biodiversity: Who is going to survive?

Changes in disturbance rates due to climate change may increase or decrease diversity, whereas permanent loss of habitat is generally believed to decrease diversity. It is, however, very likely that the effects of disturbances and habitat destruction interact. Understanding such combined effects is essential to predict the response of communities to global changes and in particular which functional types of species are most endangered. Using an individual-based spatially explicit community model, we investigate (1) whether diversity-disturbance curves alter when spatially uncorrelated or autocorrelated habitat destruction is added, and (2) which functional types of species are able to survive under these altered conditions. Model communities consisted of four functional types of species trading off between colonisation ability and competition strength. We found that habitat destruction may alter both height and shape of diversity-disturbance curves: maximum diversity at intermediate disturbance rates may shift to other disturbance rates or even split into two peaks giving rise to bimodal diversity-disturbance relationships with different sub-communities persisting at low and high disturbance rates. Diversity responded differentially depending on how the colonisation-competition trade-off was represented. Our results suggest that, for trade-offs in seed production rate, generally the best coloniser will better withstand the interacting effects of habitat destruction and changing disturbance rates; however, for trade-offs in mean dispersal distances, functional types characterized by intermediate abilities will perform best. We conclude that predictions of the impacts of changing disturbance rates on biodiversity depend on community structure and cannot be made without knowledge of concurrent permanent habitat destruction.     

建筑扰动条件下大气流动与扩散的CFD模拟

用FLUENT模式对中性大气、单个建筑的气流扰动情况进行模拟,并以风洞试验数据检验模拟效果;将模拟方法应用于类似城市建筑阵列条件的大气污染扩散问题,并且与现场示踪试验比较. 结果表明:FLUENT对建筑扰动条件的平均风场模拟效果良好,FAC2(模拟值与试验值之比在0.5~2之间的比例)在水平与垂直风速下分别达到77.9%与61.0%;对湍流特征量的模拟偏差稍大,K(湍流动能)虽总体偏小,但FAC2仍达到了54.6%. 选择湍流闭合的标准K-ε(ε为湍流动能耗散率)方案、重整化群K-ε方案和雷诺应力模型方案对结果的影响均不大. 采用FLUENT模拟了类似城市街区建筑阵列条件的大气扩散个例, 模拟结果反映了建筑扰动导致的扩散烟流轴线相对于平均风向的非常规偏移,并且扩散浓度与示踪试验结果相符较好,下风向32与63m处的侧向模拟浓度峰值的相对误差分别为72.5%与36.9%. 相比于高斯模式ISC3,FLUENT对复杂建筑阵列条件的扩散模拟结果更符合实际,如污染物向上风向扩散以及在建筑物周围堆积与绕流的现象. FLUENT扩散模拟还显示:近源处相邻建筑街道峡谷中的最大浓度沿下风向“阶跃”式减小,排放源所在街道峡谷中的最大浓度可比相邻街谷中的高几倍甚至1个数量级以上.      

外来入侵植物在中国的分布及入侵能力研究进展

以近十几年来备受关注的外来植物入侵为背景,综述关于入侵植物在我国分布和入侵能力及其相关因素的研究进展,并探讨了未来研究需要加强的几个方面。不同起源地的入侵植物在我国分布区域不一样,在控制了起源地的作用后,入侵植物主要分布在经济较发达、人为活动较多的省份或地区（大尺度）,以及干扰较严重的生境（小尺度）。入侵能力强的多年生植物常有强大的无性繁殖能力、高光合速率和资源利用效率、强化感作用、以及适应异质生境的能力;起源于美洲的入侵能力强的1年生植物常能产生大量的易传播的种子、可自交亲和、强化感作用等;起源于欧亚大陆的入侵能力强的1年生植物常与作物非常相似,在农田中危害严重。未来需要研究干扰促进入侵的机制、化感作用与野外实际情况相结合研究、化感物质通过改变土壤微生态环境间接促进入侵的机制研究、1年生和多年生外来植物的入侵能力与其物种特性之间的关系、以及加强对弱入侵性外来植物的预警研究。这些研究不仅能使我们深入理解外来植物发生入侵和危害的规律,也可为人侵植物的防控和管理提供科学依据。     

Mining disturbance effect and mining arrangements analysis of near-fault mining in high tectonic stress region

Dynamic disasters can be easily induced by mining disturbance in the tectonic stress concentration region near the fault. Based on the fault Coulomb failure stress criterion, a dynamic Coulomb failure stress increment model is established for quantitative assessment of mining disturbance effect. Furthermore, the disturbance effects of two possible working face arrangements near the same fault are compared by using the proposed dynamic Coulomb failure stress model and numerical method. The results show that Coulomb failure stress increment, as a comprehensive mechanical parameter, can well reflect the mining disturbance to the stress environment of fault. The disturbance effect on the fault in the case of the working face perpendicular to fault is much less than that of the working face parallel to fault, therefore the dynamic disaster risk induced by the former arrangement is much lower.     

动力扰动作用下充填体的力学响应研究

稳定的充填体是二步骤矿房回采的安全保障。在采矿动力作用下实现充填体的稳定性预测,是二步开采的安全控制关键。为了研究不同扰动幅值下充填体的动力响应规律,以某矿山工程为研究对象,采用Midas/GTS与FLAC3D数值模拟技术,建立了充填体动力稳定性分析的三维数值模型并进行了数值模拟分析。研究结果表明:动力扰动作用下,充填体暴露面的破坏区域由四周逐渐向中心扩展,并随着动力扰动幅值的增加,充填体暴露面破坏区域逐渐增大直至贯通破坏;充填体暴露面质点峰值振动速度随着动力扰动峰值的增加而增加,并得出了适用于该矿充填体暴露面振动峰值速度与动力扰动幅值之间的函数关系。距动力加载面越远,充填体内部质点峰值振动速度越小,且距动力加载面0~12 m处,质点峰值振动速度衰减较慢,从12~20 m质点峰值振动速度下降趋势最为明显。     

土壤有机碳储量估算的影响因素和不确定性

土壤作为陆地生态系统最大的碳库和碳循环过程的关键环节,其源、汇的变化直接影响全球碳平衡,因此,土壤有机碳储量估算成为生态领域的重要研究内容之一。通过比较不同研究者在不同研究尺度上报道的有机碳储量的研究结果,发现这些研究结果较不一致。分析认为导致土壤有机碳储量评估结果存在较大差异的原因,主要是来自于采样过程中人类干扰以及气候变化等环境要素的波动,特别是研究者所采取的不同估算方法和背景资料。从环境要素（外因）和估算方法（内因）两个角度出发,提出了土壤有机碳储量的研究意义,阐述了造成土壤有机碳储量估算的不确定性和目前研究中存在的问题,并在此基础上,对其未来研究方向和重点进行了展望。     

森林土壤呼吸对人为干扰因素的响应

森林土壤是大气CO₂重要的排放源。施肥、采伐、火烧、林下植被管理和土地利用方式改变等人为措施改变了土壤理化性质和土壤微气候,显著影响森林土壤CO₂的产生与排放。人为干扰对森林土壤呼吸的影响已积累了丰富的研究结果,但因森林类型、土壤状况、地域差异以及气候因素的不同,即使同一种干扰因素对土壤呼吸的影响也存在促进、降低或者未改变等不同的结论。论文利用相关论文数据库查询森林土壤呼吸的文献,在简要分析影响森林土壤呼吸自然因素（土壤温度、含水量）的基础上,重点论述了施肥、采伐、火烧、林下植被管理以及土地利用方式改变等人为因素对森林土壤呼吸的影响,系统揭示了人为干扰对森林土壤呼吸影响的作用机制,并探讨今后需要加强的研究方向,以期为气候变化背景下我国林地的合理、可持续经营起到借鉴和启示的作用。     

基于多因素模式识别的煤与瓦斯突出预测研究

采煤工作面煤与瓦斯突出是由煤层自然条件和工程扰动共同作用决定的,充分考虑煤层原始赋存条件和人类工程活动对煤与瓦斯突出的影响,建立多因素模式识别准则和方法,应用VBA技术完成了工作面煤与瓦斯突出危险性动态预测系统开发。以平顶山十矿己15-24080工作面为研究对象,将瓦斯含量、瓦斯压力、采动应力等因素作为工作面煤与瓦斯突出的主要影响因素,运用多因素模式识别方法实现了对工作面煤与瓦斯突出危险性分单元概率预测,且能够随着工作面不断推进进行动态预测和分级管理。研究结果表明:突出危险性预测结果与现场实况有较好的一致性,对煤矿安全开采具有良好的指导作用。