人工封育区沙化草地植被生态位研究

采用样线和样方结合法对宁夏人工封育草原进行野外调查,运用重要值、Levins生态宽度指数和Pianka生态位重叠指数对封育外围区、边缘区、核心区3种不同措施下的植物生态位宽度及生态位重叠进行分析,以揭示人工封育区沙化草地植被生态位变化规律。结果表明：在整个人工封育区,重要值之和较大的为黑沙蒿（Artemisia ordosica Krasch.）和刺沙蓬（Salsolaruthenica IIjin.）,分别为689.53、455.83。外围区与边缘区生态位宽度最大的均为黑沙蒿,生态位宽度分别为0.846、0.790,核心区生态位宽度最大的是阿尔泰狗娃花（Heteropappus altaicus（Willd.）Novopokr.）,生态位宽度为0.640,是人工封育区的优势种。生态位重叠计测结果表明,植被的生态位宽度和生态位重叠并不存在直接的线性关系;生态位重叠度平均值和重叠对百分数表现为外围区〉核心区〉边缘区。不同封育措施间生态位宽度和生态位重叠度的差异表明适度封育有利于草地植被恢复,但随着封育时间延长,植物的再生和幼苗的形成会受到一定程度抑制。     

黄土高原草地植被与土壤固碳量研究

在黄土高原自东南向西北,采用样带多点调查与定位监测相结合的研究方法,系统分析了不同草地类型封禁初期和封禁11 a草地生物量与固碳量变化特征。结果表明:4种草地类型地上活体植物、凋落物/地下活体根系和土壤中碳密度与碳储量分布规律均为森林草原＞梁塬典型草原＞丘陵典型草原＞荒漠草原;草地封禁11 a,地上活体植物、凋落物、0~100 cm活体根系和土壤中碳密度总量,森林草原类型为63.38~97.65 t·hm^-2,梁塬典型草原类型为49.04~68.80 t·hm^-2,丘陵典型草原类型为52.33~62.11 t·hm^-2,荒漠草原类型为11.93~19.62 t·hm^-2;碳储量4种草地类型分别为230.287 7 Tg C、332.306 7 Tg C、484.055 5 Tg C和113.856 3 Tg C;黄土高原草地总固碳量为573.10 Tg C,其中:活体植物为42.89 Tg C,占总固碳量的7.48%;凋落物为80.40 Tg C,占14.03%;活体根系为108.66 Tg C,占18.96%;土壤为341.15 Tg C,占59.53%。这充分表明,封禁不仅能使草地植被快速恢复和生物量增加,而且也是提高草地固碳潜力的一条重要途径。     

内蒙古天然草地资源精细化气候区划研究

根据内蒙古107个气象站资料,利用梯度距离平方反比法,推算出内蒙古自治区气候数据的千米网格数据图形。根据内蒙古实际草原类型和畜种结构的分布规律,确定了内蒙古5类草原类型、6个产草量等级和5类主要放牧家畜地理分布的气候区划指标。利用气候区划指标,对栅格点气候数据进行分级,绘制了内蒙古自治区天然草原草地类型、产草量和主要放牧家畜地理分布的区划图,并分区进行评述。研究结果可为内蒙古畜牧业生产区域合理布局提供科学依据。     

西藏当雄县高寒草地NDVI的海拔分异特征及其指示

通过提取西藏当雄县Landsat ETM影像NDVI以及DEM的海拔要素,在坡面的小尺度水平上分析了NDVI的海拔格局,并利用沿海拔梯度的草地地上生物量实测数据进行验证,进一步在全县尺度上分析了当雄NDVI >0.2 的区域内草地NDVI 的海拔分异特征.主要结果如下:①在坡面尺度上,随海拔的增加,不同计算方式的NDVI均表现为先增加后降低的单峰格局,与沿海拔梯度实测的地上生物量格局一致,NDVI最大值与围栏外生物量最大值均出现在4 950 m左右;②在全县尺度上,当雄草地NDVI随海拔的变化略为复杂:在4 300 m以上,NDVI随海拔的增加表现为先升高后降低,最高值出现在4 700 m左右;在4 300 m以下植被可能以湿地草甸为主,形成另一个NDVI高值区,但其分布面积仅为总草场面积的10%左右.上述结果表明,海拔是影响当雄县NDVI 空间分布的重要地形因子,NDVI 的海拔格局体现了较大尺度上草地植被对不同水热组合环境的适应特征,这对于在气候变化背景下实施高寒地区生态保护工程以及制定合理的草场资源配置方案具有重要指导意义.     

新疆草原利用与保护现状及对策建议

通过对新疆目前的草原利用与保护现状及存在的问题进行分析,提出了解决新疆畜牧业发展的思路及实施的牧民定居工程、人工草料地建设工程、牧区水利工程、退牧还草工程和牧民转移等草原建设的五大重点工程。     

Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Forest transitions may significantly contribute to climate change mitigation but also change forest use, affecting the local people benefiting from forests. We analyze forest transitions as contested processes that simplify multifunctional landscapes and alter local livelihoods. Drawing on the Theory of Access, we develop a conceptual framework to investigate practices of multifunctional forest use and the mechanisms that exclude local forest use(r)s during forest transitions in nineteenth century Austria and twenty-first century Lao PDR. Based on historical sources, interviews and secondary literature, we discuss legal, structural and social-metabolic mechanisms to exclude multifunctional forest practices, marginalizing peasants and shifting cultivators. These include, for example, the increasing enforcement of private ownership in forests or the shift from fuelwood to coal in Austria and restrictive land use planning or the expansion of private land concessions in Laos. By integrating political ecology and environmental history in forest transitions research we unravel shifting power relations connected to forest change.     

Causes and consequences of woody plant encroachment into western North American grasslands

As woody plants encroach into grasslands, grass biomass, density and cover decline as wood plant biomass, density and cover increase. There is also a shift in location of the biomass from mostly belowground in the grasslands to aboveground in the woodlands. In addition, species richness and diversity change as herbaceous species are replaced by woody species. This is not a new phenomenon, but has been going on continually as the climate of the Planet has changed. However, in the past 160 years the changes have been unparalleled. The process is encroachment not invasion because woody species that have been increasing in density are native species and have been present in these communities for thousands of years. These indigenous or native woody species have increased in density, cover and biomass because of changes in one or more abiotic or biotic factors or conditions. Woody species that have increased in density and cover are not the cause of the encroachment, but the result of changes of other factors. Globally, the orbit of the Earth is becoming more circular and less elliptical, causing moderation of the climate. Additional global climate changing factors including elevated levels of CO₂ and parallel increases in temperature are background factors and probably not the principal causes directing the current wave of encroachment. There is probably not a single reason for encroachment, but a combination of factors that are difficult to disentangle. The prime cause of the current and recent encroachment appears to be high and constant levels of grass herbivory by domestic animals. This herbivory reduces fine fuel with a concomitant reduction in fire frequency or in some cases a complete elimination of fire from these communities. Conditions would now favor the woody plants over the grasses. Reduced grass competition, woody plant seed dispersal and changes in animal populations seem to modify the rate of encroachment rather than being the cause. High concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ are not required to explain current woody plant encroachment. Changes in these grassland communities will continue into the future but the specifics are difficult to predict. Density, cover and species composition will fluctuate and will probably continue to change. Increased levels of anthropogenic soil nitrogen suggest replacement of many legumes by other woody species. Modification and perhaps reversal of the changes in these former grassland communities will be an arduous, continuing and perhaps impossible management task.     

Traditional olive orchards on sloping land: Sustainability or abandonment?

Traditional olive orchards account for a large share of the area under olives in the EU, particularly in marginal areas, like those analysed in the OLIVERO project. In general, traditional olive growing can be described as a low-intensity production system, associated with old (sometimes very old) trees, grown at a low density, giving small yields and receiving low inputs of labour and materials. Though such systems are environmentally sustainable, their economic viability has become an issue, since EU policies favour more intensive and competitive systems. Orchards that have not been intensified seem to be threatened by the recent reform of the EU olive and olive oil policy, as income support has been decoupled from production. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the present constraints to traditional olive growing, and to recommend some private and public interventions to prevent its abandonment. During the OLIVERO project, traditional olive production systems were identified and described in five target areas (Trás-os-Montes-Portugal, Cordoba and Granada/Jaen-Spain, Basilicata/Salerno-Italy, and West Crete-Greece). The causes and consequences of abandonment are discussed, based on the analysis of the costs and returns, which revealed that these systems are barely economically sustainable. Their viability is only assured if reduced opportunity costs for family labour are accepted, and the olive growing is part-time. Based on these results, recommendations are made to prevent the abandonment of traditional olive growing and to preserve its environmental benefits.     

Testing nickel tolerance of Sorghastrum nutans and its associated soil microbial community from serpentine and prairie soils

Ecotypes of Sorghastrum nutans from a naturally metalliferous serpentine grassland and the tallgrass prairie were assessed for Ni tolerance and their utility in remediation of Ni-polluted soils. Plants were inoculated with serpentine arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) root inoculum or whole soil microbial communities, originating from either prairie or serpentine, to test their effects on plant performance in the presence of Ni. Serpentine plants had marginally higher Ni tolerance as indicated by higher survival. Ni reduced plant biomass and AM root colonization for both ecotypes. The serpentine AM fungi and whole microbial community treatments decreased plant biomass relative to uninoculated plants, while the prairie microbial community had no effect. Differences in how the soil communities affect plant performance were not reflected in patterns of root colonization by AM fungi. Thus, serpentine plants may be suited for reclamation of Ni-polluted soils, but AM fungi that occur on serpentine do not improve Ni tolerance.