INFLUENCE OF VEGETATION,ROCK COVER,AND TRAMPLING ON INFILTRATION RATES AND SEDIMENT PRODUCTION1

ABSTRACT: This study evaluated the impact of selected soil surface characteristics on infiltration rates and sediment production from interrill erosion from loam soil. Treatments were two different grass species (crested wheatgrass and intermediate wheatgrass), three levels of grass cover (30, 50, and 80 percent), four levels of rock cover (5, 10, 15, and 20 percent), and six levels of simulated trampling (10 to 60 percent of the respective plot area by 10 percent increments). Results indicated that plots with sod forming grass infiltrated only slightly more water than plots with bunchgrass, though the differences were significant. Trampling reduced infiltration rates significantly. On uncompacted soil, infiltration rates increased as percentage of rock cover increased. Trampling gradually destroyed this relationship however. Rock cover did not significantly affect sediment production. The tradeoff between vegetal cover and rock cover was affected by simulated trampling. Once trampling disturbance reached 20 percent, no relationship between vegetal cover and rock cover existed. Trampling was the most important factor influencing infiltration rates, explaining 35 to 48 percent of the variation in infiltration rates. The most important factor influencing sediment production was grass cover, which explained 40 to 62 percent of the variations associated with sediment yield at various trampling percentages. Results strongly suggest that, for slopes and soils as used here, adequate watershed protection may be obtained by maintaining 50 percent protective ground cover. Additional validation studies are recommended.     

Examination of the effects of disturbance on birds with reference to its importance in ecological assessments

National, European and International legislation regarding the conservation of species and habitats requires professional statements to be made in respect of land use change, as, for example, illustrated by developments. Some developments may cause disturbance to wildlife. Knowledge of the way in which species respond to disturbance has been fragmented, yet is an important consideration in environmental impact assessments. This paper reviews what is known about disturbance factors on the best studied group, birds. A set of extensive appendices summarize the literature on disturbance effects on breeding, breeding success, nest-site choice, population density, community structure, distribution and habitat use. The paper considers human-induced disturbance, public access, water-based recreation, shooting and industrial developments. Mitigation measures are discussed.Human-induced disturbance can have a significant negative effect on breeding success by causing nest abandonment and increased predation. Outside the breeding season, recreation (particularly power boating, sailing and coarse fishing on wetlands) reduces the use of sites by birds. Compensatory feeding at night by some species can probably recoup some of the energy losses caused by disturbance. Public and vehicular access to open landscapes has been shown negatively to affect grazing geese in winter and lowland and upland waders during breeding. Shooting disturbance has been shown to be most important for herbivore feeders which need to spend long periods of the day feeding in order to maintain their energy balance, e.g. wigeon. The provision of refuges devoid of shooting has been fundamental in attracting wildfowl away from non-refuge sites. The response of birds to scaring devices and other control measures is discussed.Effects from industrial developments include direct loss of habitat, disturbance through the presence of humans during the construction process and the presence of artificial light used to illuminate construction sites. On estuaries, engineering operations should avoid the proximity to established roost sites of wading birds. A number of studies showed increased vigilance (and hence reduced feeding time) in flock members feeding near structures which impede their vision of the approach of potential predators.A number of principal management techniques used to reduce disturbance on a site, or to attempt to compensate for habitat loss, are given. For wetland sites, these include excavating new shallow lagoons and grading bank sides, flooding of low-lying pasture, reducing salinity levels in coastal lagoons thereby making them more attractive to the birds' food invertebrates, manipulating water levels to expose mud regularly and creating feeding areas for geese and wigeon, using manipulative livestock grazing. Also used are increasing nesting cover, planting macrophytes, providing islands, spits and promontories, purchasing more land to make a refuge bigger, concealing observers with banks and screens, zoning activities and prohibiting access and avoiding the obstruction of flyways between feeding and roosting areas.     

Impact of Grazing Intensity during Drought in an Arizona Grassland

Abstract:  The ecological benefits of changing cattle grazing practices in the western United States remain controversial, due in part to a lack of experimentation. In 1997 we initiated an experimental study of two rangeland alternatives, cattle removal and high-impact grazing, and compared grassland community responses with those with more conventional, moderate grazing practices. The study was conducted in a high-elevation, semiarid grassland near Flagstaff, Arizona (U.S.A.). We conducted annual plant surveys of modified Whittaker plots for 8 years and examined plant composition shifts among treatments and years. High-impact grazing had strong directional effects that led to a decline in perennial forb cover and an increase in annual plants, particularly the exotic cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum L.). A twofold increase in plant cover by exotic species followed a severe drought in the sixth year of the study, and this increase was greatest in the high-impact grazing plots, where native cover declined by one-half. Cattle removal resulted in little increase in native plant cover and reduced plant species richness relative to the moderate grazing control. Our results suggest that some intermediate level of cattle grazing may maintain greater levels of native plant diversity than the alternatives of cattle removal or high-density, short-duration grazing practices. Furthermore, episodic drought interacts with cattle grazing, leading to infrequent, but biologically important shifts in plant communities. Our results demonstrate the importance of climatic variation in determining ecological effects of grazing practices, and we recommend improving conservation efforts in arid rangelands by developing management plans that anticipate this variation.     

岷江上游祁连山圆柏群落优势种群间的联结性

应用方差分析X^2-测验、点相关系数和Jaccard指数等技术对岷江上游祁连山圆柏群落中12个优势种群的种间联结性进行了研究．结果表明：①12个优势种群在总体上呈显著的负联结，这跟该群落目前所处的演替状态及十扰造成的环境不稳定有密切的关系．②在66个种对中，经X^2-检验联结性达到显著的有4对，即西南樱桃与多叶飞蓬，腋花马先蒿和甘川紫菀，黄总花与银莲花，多叶飞蓬和甘川紫菀．这4个种对显著的联结性跟物种本身的生物学习性有关．③金花小檗、川西锦鸡儿是该群落逆行演替的代表种，由二者之一参与形成的各种对联结性最弱，这两种植物与群落中的其它物种形成较强的联系，还需要一个过程．图1表5参36     

Does male harassment of females contribute to reproductive synchrony in the grey seal by affecting maternal performance?

We investigated the possibility that male harassment of lactating females differed in relation to time of birth in the grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. This was done by comparing the frequency of male disturbances, maternal performance and pup growth for females that either gave birth during the peak of the pupping season or after the peak. Of the females, 58% gave birth in a 7-day period near the beginning of the pupping period, when the operational sex ratio was 2–4 females per male. Late in the pupping period the operational sex ratio reversed to about 1 female for every 2 males. The relative frequency of disturbances by males was significantly greater for late-pupping mothers than for peak-pupping ones (1.9 vs. 1.4 encounters/h). Females that gave birth late also were disturbed by males 3 times more often than females that gave birth during the peak (3.4 vs. 1.1 % of observation time). Late-pupping mothers spent 22% less time suckling (4.0 vs. 5.1 % of observation time), had 30% slower growing pups (1.7 vs. 2.4 kg/d), and weaned pups that were 16% lighter (45.6 vs. 54.0 kg). The effect of birth time on pup mass gain and weaning mass was not attributable to factors such as maternal mass, pup birth mass or pup sex. We conclude that the reduced maternal performance is likely the result of the increased male harassment. As reduced weaning mass can lead to reduced juvenile survival, male harassment may have contributed to the enhanced reproductive synchrony in this species.     

Modeling the Hydroclimatic Disturbance of Soil Landscapes in the Southern Canadian Plains: The Problems of Scale and Place

The sensitivity of soil landscapes to climatic variability andhydroclimatic events can be expressed as a landscape change safety factor, the ratio of potential disturbance to resistance to change. The use of a geographic information system (GIS) enables the spatially-explicit modeling of landscape sensitivity, but also raises the risk of violating the characteristic scales of disturbance and resistance, because the GIS technically simplifies the extrapolation of models, and associated concepts, to landscapes and scales notrepresented by the digital data base. Embedding landscape sensitivity into hierarchy theory, the formal analysis of the hierarchical structure of complex systems, provides a conceptual framework for the transfer of models and variablesamong landscape scales. In the subhumid southern Canadian plains, major hydroclimatic events (strong winds, intense rain,rapid snow melt) cause much of the physical disturbance of soillandscapes and terrestrial ecosystems. Prolonged dry or wet weather influences the resistance of soil and vegetation to these events. The potential disturbance of soil landscapes therefore can be derived from the probabilities of extreme events and seasonal conditions, as recorded in instrumental and proxy climate records. This time series analysis can belinked to the modeling of landscape sensitivity by establishingthe probabilities of hydroclimatic events and climatic conditions which may exceed or lower the resistance of individual soil landscapes.     

扰动方式对太湖藻类胞外多糖浓度的影响

频繁的风浪扰动是影响大型浅水湖泊生态系统最重要环境因素之一.为了解风浪扰动对富营养化大型浅水湖泊——太湖蓝藻EPS（extracellular polysaccharide,胞外多糖）的影响,试验设置了对照组（不扰动）、间歇扰动组和持续扰动组3种处理组,研究扰动方式及理化因子对蓝藻EPS的影响.结果表明:①第1~7天,3种处理组之间的ρ（EPS）、ρ（sEPS）（soluble extracellular polysaccharide,溶解性胞外多糖）和ρ（bEPS）（bound extracellular polysaccharide,固着性胞外多糖）差异均不显著（P>0.05）;第10~19天,对照组的ρ（EPS）、ρ（sEPS）和ρ（bEPS）均显著低于间歇扰动组和持续扰动组（P < 0.05）;第19天,持续扰动组的ρ（sEPS）和ρ（bEPS）均显著高于间歇扰动组（P < 0.05）.②3种处理组的ρ（EPS）及单位藻细胞EPS含量与ρ（TDN）（TDN为溶解性总氮）及ρ（TDP）（TDP为溶解性总磷）均呈显著负相关;3种处理组的ρ（EPS）与ρ（SS）（SS为悬浮颗粒物）均呈显著正相关;此外,两个扰动组的ρ（EPS）均与藻细胞密度呈显著负相关.研究显示,扰动在一定程度上促进了蓝藻EPS的分泌.      

青海玉树川西云杉树线种群结构与空间格局

青海玉树拥有典型的川西云杉树线,是开展树线种群结构与空间格局研究的理想场所。在青海玉树调查了3个受放牧干扰的川西云杉树线样地（30 m×200 m）。基于样地数据,分析了种群径级结构和更新状况;利用O-ring函数,在0—15 m尺度上,计算了种群的空间格局。结果表明：种群径级结构均呈增长型,但缺少≤10年树苗;树苗在0—4 m尺度上呈集群分布,在其余尺度上呈随机分布;成年树、老树主要呈随机分布。树木间空间关联主要发生在小尺度上：树苗与成年树在2—6 m为正相关,树苗与老树在9—14 m为正相关。本研究为理解藏东树线种群的空间分布特征和种内关系奠定了基础,同时为山地森林管理提供参考依据。     

Keeping pace with technology: drones,disturbance and policy deficiency

This paper analyses regulatory responses to rapid intensification of the use of drones/remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in the context of wildlife protection. Benefits and disadvantages of the technology to wildlife are examined, before three key limitations in policy and law are identified: failure to address wildlife disturbance in RPA regulation; reliance upon insufficiently comprehensive existing wildlife protection legislation to manage disturbance effects; and limited species-specific research on disturbance. A New Zealand case study further reveals an inconsistent regulatory approach struggling to keep pace with innovation, inadequate regulatory capture of environmental effects due to exemption as “aircraft”, and no recognition that specific geographical locations, such as coastal areas, distinguished by recreational pressures and high numbers of threatened species require special consideration. Recommendations include acknowledging the impact on wildlife in policy, gap analysis of legal arrangements for protection from disturbance (including airspace), and adoption of minimum approach distances to threatened species.     

Copper pollution decreases the resistance of soil microbial community to subsequent dry–rewetting disturbance

Dry–rewetting(DW) disturbance frequently occurs in soils due to rainfall and irrigation, and the frequency of DW cycles might exert significant influences on soil microbial communities and their mediated functions. However, how microorganisms respond to DW alternations in soils with a history of heavy metal pollution remains largely unknown.Here, soil laboratory microcosms were constructed to explore the impacts of ten DW cycles on the soil microbial communities in two contrasting soils(fluvo-aquic soil and red soil)under three copper concentrations(zero, medium and high). Results showed that the fluctuations of substrate induced respiration(SIR) decreased with repeated cycles of DW alternation. Furthermore, the resistance values of substrate induced respiration(RS-SIR)were highest in non-copper-stressed(zero) soils. Structural equation model(SEM) analysis ascertained that the shifts of bacterial communities determined the changes of RS-SIR in both soils. The rate of bacterial community variance was significantly lower in noncopper-stressed soil compared to the other two copper-stressed(medium and high) soils,which might lead to the higher RS-SIR in the fluvo-aquic soil. As for the red soil, the substantial increase of the dominant group WPS-2 after DW disturbance might result in the low RS-SIR in the high copper-stressed soil. Moreover, in both soils, the bacterial diversity was highest in non-copper-stressed soils. Our results revealed that initial copper stress could decrease the resistance of soil microbial community structure and function to subsequent DW disturbance.