Are There Ecological Foundations for Ecosystem Health?

We present a critical introduction to the problems shared by ecologists and ecosystem health researchers who attempt to integrate applied ecology with other disciplines. The importance of the concept of ecosystem health as an approach to environmental problems is presented, and the difficulties in integrating ecology into the concept are outlined. A rigorous ecological and evolutionary basis for ecosystem health is introduced through diversity abundance models and especially by the outcome of competitive exclusion, niche hierarchy, and log normality. The importance of defining functional groups for assessing the effects of disturbance (e.g., on pollinators, macrolepidoptera, diatoms, gut bacteria) and in the broader context of ecosystem health (e.g., through pollinating bees) is stressed.     

古尔班通古特沙漠公路扰动带植被恢复研究

古尔班通古特沙漠区域伴随多条沙漠公路的修筑，公路沿线形成了生态扰动带（包括施工扰动带和运营扰动带）。它使地表空气流场改变、地表覆被剥离、风沙源出现、地表径流过程受阻、地表水分重分配以及生境隔离。野外考察和样品分析表明，扰动带的植被恢复取决于消面稳定性、降水的地表分配、时间、地下水位、种源和风场等因素，并初步总结出如下规律：①草方格内部表面沙层的有机质随时间逐渐增多；②草方格固沙措施加速了植被恢复的速度；③迎风坡自然覆沙，种子易于着床和萌发；④路肩上形成长营养期的中生植物，边坡形成旱生植物，路边优动带内的植被恢复情况因水分条件而变化；⑤植被恢复与时间成正比，演替过程为：短命植物、三芒草→蒿类→梭梭或白梭梭。最后提出改进草方格沙障的材料、增加土壤的有机质含量、使用干水、适时播种等恢复措施。     

火焰原子吸收法测定土壤中的铬

本文采用火焰原子吸收分光光度法测定土壤样品中铬的含量,对测定中涉及的主要影响因素,乙炔流量、燃烧头高度以及共存元素Al、Ca、Mg、Fe等对Cr测定时的影响规律及原因进行了研究和讨论,并通过实验发现以1%H2SO4-1%Na2SO4作为抗干扰剂,能较好地消除Al、Ca、Mg、Fe对Cr测定的影响,确定了以1%H2SO4-1%Na2SO4为抗干扰剂时仪器的最佳分析条件.加标回收实验及标准样品的分析表明,该方法具有待测液稳定,准确度和精密度高的特点.     

Functional Homogenization Effect of Urbanization on Bird Communities

Abstract:  We studied the community richness and dynamics of birds in landscapes recently affected by urbanization to test the prediction that biotic communities living in degraded landscapes are increasingly composed of generalist species. We analyzed bird communities in 657 plots monitored by the French Breeding Bird Survey from 2001 to 2005, accounting for the probability of species detection and spatial autocorrelation. We used an independent land-cover program to assess urbanization intensity in each FBBS plot, from 1992 to 2002. We found that urbanization induced community homogenization and that populations of specialist species became increasingly unstable with increasing urbanization of the landscape. Our results emphasize that urbanization has a substantial impact on the spatial component of communities and highlight the destabilizing effect of urbanization on communities over time. These results illustrate that urbanization may be a strong driving force in functional community composition and that measuring community homogenization is a powerful tool in the assessment of the effects of landscape changes and thus aides sustainable urban planning.     

Possibilities for management of coastal foredunes with deteriorated stands ofAmmophila arenaria (marram grass)

Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) is the most important plant species for sand stabilization in European coastal foredunes. Stand degeneration due to poor supply of wind-blown sand enhances the susceptibility for wind erosion when successional species do not become established. ReplantedA. arenaria often fails to become established. In the present study we examined whether management practices such as mowing, fertilizing, burning or below-ground cutting of plants may be applied to re-establish the vigour ofA. arenaria. Field experiments performed at exposed sites, where naturally succeeding plant species are not supposed to become established due to salt spray, showed that none of the applied methods resulted into enhanced tiller density ofA. arenaria. Thus, further studies are necessary to solve this type of management problem. At the leeward side of foredunes, the successional speciesFestuca rubra ssp.arenaria andElymus athericus could be established successfully as both pre-grown seedlings and planted bundles of cuttings (all further experiments were fertilized). When planted in spring, cuttings of successional plant species established less than those planted in early winter. Water repellency of the sand surface is supposed to be the main cause for this. Pre-grown seedlings were less susceptible for the season of planting. Direct sowing was not effective. Rabbit browsing had to be omitted to obtain successful establishment. When living rhizomes of successional plant species were still present in the soil profile, fencing alone turned out to be effective to re-establish vegetation at initially bare sites.     

AQUATIC HABITAT CONDITION INDEX,STREAM TYPE,AND LWESTOCK BANK DAMAGE IN NORTHERN NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: The quality of stream habitat varies for a variety of natural and anthropogenic reasons not identified by a condition index. However, many people use condition indices to indicate management needs or even direction. To better sort natural from livestock influences, stream types and levels of ungulate bank damage were regulated to estimates of aquatic habitat condition index and stream width parameters in a large existing stream inventory data base. Pool/riffle ratio, pool structure, stream bottom materials, soil stability, and vegetation type varied significantly with stream type. Pool/riffle ratio, soil and vegetation stability varied significantly with ungulate bank damage level. Soil and vegetation stability were highly cross-correlated. Riparian area width did not vary significantly with either stream type or ungulate bank damage. Variation among stream types indicates that riparian management and monitoring should be stream type and reach specific.     

Edge-Related Variation in Medicinal and Other "Useful" Wild Plants of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Abstract:  Harvesting of wild plants for nontimber uses is widespread in the tropics, but its impact is usually quantified only for one or a few species at a time. Thus, forest managers are never clear about how well their efforts are protecting such plants. We quantified abundance and edge-related variation in 91 species of useful wild plants commonly harvested by communities around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Uganda, to evaluate the effect of their harvest. Forty percent of these species were harvested exclusively for medicines, 22% for weaving, and 24% for other uses. Fourteen percent were harvested for combinations of uses. Plants were surveyed around the entire periphery of the park transects that extended out 1 km into the forest interior from the edge. Analyses of edge and interior distribution were controlled for effects of topography. Individually, nine (10%) species were very rare, occurring in <0.5% of the plots searched. Of the remaining 82 species, most (50%) decreased significantly away from the park boundary, whereas 4.9% increased and 45.1% showed no pronounced edge-related distributions. Rarer species were no more likely to be less abundant near the edge than commoner species. These results suggest that most plants used for nontimber purposes in BINP are not currently being harvested unsustainably. In this respect many of the species of useful wild plants we examined resembled animals commonly hunted in tropical forests for bushmeat because they increased in abundance in disturbed habitat. Conservation action should initially aim to understand what influences distributions of very rare species. Edge-based assessments of distributions may be valuable for revealing harvest impact on species of useful wild plants commonly harvested by people living around forest islands in the tropics.