Trait differences between naturalized and invasive plant species independent of residence time and phylogeny

The ability to predict which alien plants will transition from naturalized to invasive prior to their introduction to novel regions is a key goal for conservation and has the potential to increase the efficacy of weed risk assessment (WRA). However, multiple factors contribute to plant invasion success (e.g., functional traits, range characteristics, residence time, phylogeny), and they all must be taken into account simultaneously in order to identify meaningful correlates of invasion success. We compiled 146 pairs of phylogenetically paired (congeneric) naturalized and invasive plant species in Australia with similar minimum residence times (i.e., time since introduction in years). These pairs were used to test for differences in 5 functional traits (flowering duration, leaf size, maximum height, specific leaf area [SLA], seed mass) and 3 characteristics of species’ native ranges (biome occupancy, mean annual temperature, and rainfall breadth) between naturalized and invasive species. Invasive species, on average, had larger SLA, longer flowering periods, and were taller than their congeneric naturalized relatives. Invaders also exhibited greater tolerance for different environmental conditions in the native range, where they occupied more biomes and a wider breadth of rainfall and temperature conditions than naturalized congeners. However, neither seed mass nor leaf size differed between pairs of naturalized and invasive species. A key finding was the role of SLA in distinguishing between naturalized and invasive pairs. Species with high SLA values were typically associated with faster growth rates, more rapid turnover of leaf material, and shorter lifespans than those species with low SLA. This suite of characteristics may contribute to the ability of a species to transition from naturalized to invasive across a wide range of environmental contexts and disturbance regimes. Our findings will help in the refinement of WRA protocols, and we advocate the inclusion of quantitative traits, in particular SLA, into the WRA schemes.     

喀斯特高原退化湿地草海土壤微生物群落碳源代谢活性研究

为了揭示土壤微生物群落功能多样性对湿地退化过程的响应及其与环境因子的关系,采用BIOLOG-ECO微平板法对喀斯特高原湿地草海不同植被演替阶段根际土壤微生物的碳源代谢活性进行了研究.结果表明,沿湿地植被演替梯度,根际土壤微生物群落碳源代谢强度逐渐增加,原生湿地竹叶眼子菜(Comm.Potamogeton malaianu)根际土壤微生物碳源利用能力最低,碳源代谢类型单一;草甸灯芯草(Juncus effusus L.)群落利用能力最强,碳源代谢类型丰富;Shannon指数(H')和Mc Intosh指数(U)均沿植被演替梯度逐渐升高,这可能与地上植物和土壤理化环境变化有关;主成分分析(PCA)提取的3个主成分累计贡献率为92.85%,能够很好解释不同阶段碳源利用的分异,醇类和氨基酸类是引起碳源利用分异的主要基质;冗余分析(RDA)表明,环境因子对微生物碳源代谢活性具有重要影响,p H、DOC是引起碳源利用分异的主要环境因子.土壤微生物群落碳源代谢活性影响湿地碳循环功能.     

香溪河附石性大型底栖动物功能摄食类群研究

利用1∶50 000地形图对香溪河进行划分,显示香溪河为一条6级河流。分析包括捕食者(PR)、撕食者(SH)、刮食者(SC)、直接收集者（GC）和过滤收集者(FC)在内的5个主要功能摄食类群的组成,发现香溪河主要摄食类群以直接收集者和刮食者为主。各功能摄食类群的密度和生物量随着河流级别的变化而发生变化,基本趋势为：直接收集者和滤食者的密度和生物量都随着河流级别的增加而增大;撕食者和刮食者的密度和生物量的密度随着河流级别的增加而减小;而捕食者在整个流域内的密度上游小于下游,生物量却是上游大于下游。研究结果表明香溪河在夏季其上游物质来源以附石性藻类生产为主,下游则以异源性细有机颗粒输入为主。此外,功能摄食类群的密度与部分环境因子具有显著的相关性：过滤收集者与Ca2+和河宽相关,收集者与SiO2相关显著,刮食者与海拔和氨氮相关性较高,撕食者与电导和PO4 P相关性较高.     

Plant polyphenols – implications of different sampling,storage and sample processing in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments

Plant polyphenols are involved in important ecosystem processes and may affect nutrient cycling. Previous investigations have demonstrated detrimental effects of suboptimal sample treatment on the quantity of extractable plant polyphenols. We compared leaf polyphenol concentrations of 20 tree species from East China in two sample sets collected under different conditions: (a) according to established protocols and stored more than three years, (b) under conditions optimised for leaf polyphenols. We investigated the variance brought about by suboptimal sample handling as compared to the variance caused by the taxonomic range of species. Family-affiliation explained the largest proportion of variance, whereas sample handling had only minor effects. Reducing the taxonomic range increased the impact of differences in sample handling. Additionally, we showed that the concentrations of leaf polyphenols were phylogenetically more conserved than other leaf traits. Non-metric-multi-dimensional scaling revealed similar ordination patterns for leaf polyphenol concentrations in both sample sets with both ordinations being closely correlated. Finally, we computed separate ordinations including an extended set of leaf traits and found that both analyses led to similar ecological conclusions. Consequently, in studies comprising a wide taxonomic range, the adverse effects of suboptimal sample handling may be overridden by the variation brought about by phylogeny.     

Trophic Flexibility and the Persistence of Understory Birds in Intensively Logged Rainforest

Effects of logging on species composition in tropical rainforests are well known but may fail to reveal key changes in species interactions. We used nitrogen stable‐isotope analysis of 73 species of understory birds to quantify trophic responses to repeated intensive logging of rainforest in northern Borneo and to test 4 hypotheses: logging has significant effects on trophic positions and trophic‐niche widths of species, and the persistence of species in degraded forest is related to their trophic positions and trophic‐niche widths in primary forest. Species fed from higher up the food chain and had narrower trophic‐niche widths in degraded forest. Species with narrow trophic‐niche widths in primary forest were less likely to persist after logging, a result that indicates a higher vulnerability of dietary specialists to local extinction following habitat disturbance. Persistence of species in degraded forest was not related to a species’ trophic position. These results indicate changes in trophic organization that were not apparent from changes in species composition and highlight the importance of focusing on trophic flexibility over the prevailing emphasis on membership of static feeding guilds. Our results thus support the notion that alterations to trophic organization and interactions within tropical forests may be a pervasive and functionally important hidden effect of forest degradation. Flexibilidad Trófica y la Persistencia de Aves de Sotobosque en un Bosque Lluvioso Talado Intensivamente     

Parameterising competing zooplankton for survival in plankton functional type models

Marine plankton ecosystems are an important component of biogeochemical cycling in the oceans. Operational plankton functional type (PFT) models, that group plankton according to their biogeochemical properties, are currently being developed to resolve biogenic gas exchange between the ocean and atmosphere, and to model the lowest trophic levels in fisheries models. A fundamental problem with these models is that PFTs often go extinct in computer simulations, effectively removing the biogeochemical processes from the models. Cropp and Norbury [Cropp, R., Norbury, J., 2009a. Parameterizing plankton functional type models: insights from a dynamical systems perspective. J. Plankton Res. 31, 939-963] demonstrated that parameter combinations that allowed all PFTs to stay extant for all time in stable, homogeneous environments were rare in a PFT model with two competing phytoplankton and one zooplankton (NP₁P₂Z). In this paper, we examine the dynamical properties of a generic predator-predator-prey PFT model, and apply the analysis techniques developed by Cropp and Norbury to a simple example PFT model with one phytoplankton and two zooplankton (NPZ₁Z₂) in order to explore its properties and parameter space. We find that the properties of predator-predator-prey PFT systems are fundamentally different from those of predator-prey-prey PFT systems. The likelihood of parameter combinations for which all PFTs stay extant for all time in predator-predator-prey PFT systems depends critically on the process formulations used, and the properties of co-existing zooplankton (as defined by their parameter values) are quite different to those of co-existing phytoplankton.     

中国地震次生地质灾害分布及地市级危险性区划研究

地震次生地质灾害指由地震活动引起的地质灾害。地震次生地质灾害,主要为崩塌、滑坡,其次为塌陷、地裂缝、砂土液化等。地震次生地质灾害增强了地震的破坏效应,加剧了地震灾害的损失程度,给抢险救灾和灾后重建造成很大困难。一般震级大于5级、烈度超过6度的地震可能引发不同程度的地质灾害,震级和烈度越高,次生地质灾害越严重。本文根据中国历史地震次生地质灾害的活动程度及发生条件,以地(市、区、盟)为单元,进行了危险性评价:高度和中度危险区主要分布在中国中部的陕甘宁川渝滇藏地区,形成一个大致北北东向的高危险带,其余大部分地区为轻度危险区。     

Interactions between plant and rhizosphere microbial communities in a metalliferous soil

In the present work, the relationships between plant consortia, consisting of 1-4 metallicolous pseudometallophytes with different metal-tolerance strategies (Thlaspi caerulescens: hyperaccumulator; Jasione montana: accumulator; Rumex acetosa: indicator; Festuca rubra: excluder), and their rhizosphere microbial communities were studied in a mine soil polluted with high levels of Cd, Pb and Zn. Physiological response and phytoremediation potential of the studied pseudometallophytes were also investigated. The studied metallicolous populations are tolerant to metal pollution and offer potential for the development of phytoextraction and phytostabilization technologies. T. caerulescens appears very tolerant to metal stress and most suitable for metal phytoextraction; the other three species enhance soil functionality. Soil microbial properties had a stronger effect on plant biomass rather than the other way around (35.2% versus 14.9%). An ecological understanding of how contaminants, ecosystem functions and biological communities interact in the long-term is needed for proper management of these fragile metalliferous ecosystems.     

森林旅游地功能分区规划初探

功能分区是协调森林旅游地自然保护和旅游利用之间关系的有效手段和管理工具 ,本文在分析了我国可以开展森林旅游的地区的资源环境、社会经济特征之后 ,探讨了森林旅游地功能分区规划的基本目标、原则及方法。