Influence of a Large Herbivore Reintroduction on Plant Invasions and Community Composition in a California Grassland

Abstract:  Despite many successful reintroductions of large mammalian herbivores throughout the world, remarkably little attention has focused on how these actions affect native and exotic vegetation at reintroduction sites. One such herbivore is tule elk ( Cervus elaphus nannodes ), which was on the brink of extinction in the mid 1800s, but now has numerous stable populations due to intensive reintroduction efforts. Here, we summarize results from a 5-year exclosure experiment that explored the effects of tule elk on a coastal grassland in northern California. Elk significantly altered the species composition of this community; the response of annual species (dominated heavily by exotic taxa) was dramatically different from perennial species. Elk herbivory increased the abundance and aboveground biomass of native and exotic annuals, whereas it either had no effect on or caused significant decreases in perennials. Elk also decreased the cover of native shrubs, suggesting that these herbivores play an important role in maintaining open grasslands. In addition, elk significantly reduced the abundance and biomass of a highly invasive exotic grass , Holcus lanatus, which is a major problem in mesic perennial grasslands. Our results demonstrate that the successful reintroduction of a charismatic and long-extirpated mammal had extremely complex effects on the plant community, giving rise to both desirable and undesirable outcomes from a management perspective. We suspect that these kinds of opposing effects are not unique to tule elk and that land managers will frequently encounter them when dealing with reintroduced mammals.     

重庆市主城区排水管道沉积物性质研究

为了解重庆市主城区排水管道沉积物的性质,调研和采集了生活区、交通区、文教区、商业广场等不同功能区的排水管道沉积物,分析了沉积物的粒径、密度、有机物含量(VSS/TSS)和污染物含量等指标,研究了不同功能区沉积物的差异.结果表明:不同功能区排水管道沉积有不同的理化性质,沉积物的粒径,交通区>文教区>商业广场>居住区.沉积物的密度与有机物含量(VSS/TSS)呈负相关(R2=0.998).沉积物污染物含量空间分异性显著,COD含量,文教区>居住区>商业广场>交通区.TN和TP含量,文教区>商业广场>居住区>交通区,与街尘相比,TP呈现显著富集特点.对于重金属含量,交通区显著高于其他3个功能区,Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd 最大值分别为303.5、539、104、1.14mg/kg.     

枯草芽孢杆菌Bs-15对板栗土壤微生物种群数量及功能多样性的影响

土壤微生物是维持土壤质量的重要组成部分,是土壤中生物活性的具体体现。土壤微生物多样性的变异可反映其对环境的响应与适应,能敏感反映生态系统的功能演变和生态环境的变化。本研究采用固体平板法研究了枯草芽孢杆菌（Bacillus subtilis）Bs-15对板栗（Castanea mollissimaBL）土壤微生物种群数量的影响,并通过BIOLOG ECO微孔板法分析Bs-15对板栗土壤功能多样性的影响。结果表明,接种Bs-15后,土壤中细菌数量比对照略有增加,但差异不显著;接种后放线菌的数量与对照相比有所减少,第7天达到极显著（p〈0.01）差异,之后差异变小,第14 d开始,处理与对照之间放线菌数量基本持平;真菌数量则先增加后减少,第7天开始接种后的真菌数量与对照相比达极显著（p〈0.01）差异。BIOLOG ECO微孔板分析显示,Bs-15使得土壤中微生物的AWCD值变大,72小时以后,AWCD值与对照相比差异达到极显著（p〈0.01）水平;接种Bs-15后增大了土壤微生物多样性指数,其中Shannon多样性指数、Simpson多样性指数和McIntosh多样性指数分别增加了4.09%、6.01%和7.20%,对对照相比差异均达到极显著水平（p〈0.01）,Simpson均匀度和McIntosh均匀度分别增加了2.07%和2.53%,与对照相比差异均达到显著水平（p〈0.05）。本研究结果表明,Bs-15不但提高了板栗土壤微生物的整体活性,丰富了土壤微生物种群,有利于保持和促进土壤肥力和健康状况;还提高了板栗土壤微生物功能多样性,使板栗土壤微生态系统功能更加稳定。     

“平面型”十三聚合铝形态水交换反应的密度泛函研究

采用密度泛函DFT量子化学计算,初步探讨了"平面型"十三聚合铝(F-Al13)的水交换反应.在B3LYP/6-31G水平下模拟了气相体系中全水合F-Al1153+与脱质子形态(F-Al913+和F-Al313+)中η-OH2(1)键合水位点的水交换反应;比较了F-Al13和K-Al13两种不同十三聚合铝形态的水交换反应特点;讨论了不同铝形态(二聚铝Al2、三聚铝Al3、Al6六元环以及Al7Anderson内核等)水交换反应研究对于阐明F-Al13形成机制的重要意义.     

近地层臭氧浓度升高对麦田土壤微生物群落功能多样性的影响

利用中国臭氧FACE(Free-air O3concentration enrichment,开放式空气臭氧浓度增高)试验平台,通过测定麦季土壤水溶性有机碳含量、土壤呼吸强度和BIOLOG指标,研究了近地层臭氧浓度升高50%条件下(~70 nmol mol-1),麦田土壤微生物功能多样性的响应.结果发现,臭氧浓度升高下麦田土壤水溶性有机碳含量提高,土壤微呼吸强度增加,平均吸光值显著高于对照(P<0.05).多样性指数结果显示,臭氧浓度升高对麦田土壤微生物丰富度和优势度指数没有显著影响,但是臭氧处理下均一度指数显著高于对照(P<0.05);主成分分析显示,相对于其它碳源,臭氧浓度升高对麦田土壤微生物的糖类物质利用能力的影响最大.研究揭示了1.5倍的近地层臭氧浓度增强了麦田土壤微生物碳源利用能力,特别是非优势微生物.     

Temporal dimension and water quality control in an emission trading scheme based on water environmental functional zone

Emission trading is one of the most effective alternatives to controlling water pollution. Water environmental functional zone (WEFZ) is used to determine the water quality standard and identify the zone boundary for each river or reach. In this study, a new emission trading scheme was addressed based on WEFZ, accounting for both the temporal dimension and water quality control. A temporal factor of emission trading was proposed based on variations in the environmental capacity within a year by dividing the year into three periods, including high, normal, and low periods of environmental capacity. During each period, emission trading was implemented exclusively. A water quality-control scheme was suggested based on the water quality requirement in the water functional zone, in which the water quality at the downstream boundary of the zone was required to meet the water standard following auto-purification in the stream. Two methods of calculating water quality control are addressed for point-source pollution and non-point-source pollution. The calculated temporal dimension and water quality control were located in Dongxi River of the Daning Watershed in the Three Gorges Watershed. The high period was during June, July, and August, the normal period was during April, May, September, and October, and the low period was during January, February, March, November, and December. The results from the water quality calculation demonstrated that the discharge of point-source and non-point-source pollutions led to an excess of common contaminants at the downstream boundary of WEFZ. The temporal and spatial factors above should be incorporated into the emission trading scheme based on WEFZ.     

The impact of fragmentation and density regulation on forest succession in the Atlantic rain forest

The Atlantic Rain Forest, an important biodiversity hot spot, has faced severe habitat loss since the last century which has resulted in a highly fragmented landscape with a large number of small forest patches (<100 ha). For conservation planning it is essential to understand how current and future forest regeneration depends on ecological processes, fragment size and the connection to the regional seed pool. We have investigated the following questions by applying the forest growth simulation model FORMIND to the situation of the Atlantic Forest in the state of São Paulo, SE Brazil: (1) which set of parameters describing the local regeneration and level of density regulation can reproduce the biomass distribution and stem density of an old growth forest in a reserve? (2) Which additional processes apart from those describing the dynamics of an old growth forest, drive forest succession of small isolated fragments? (3) Which role does external seed input play during succession? Therefore, more than 300 tree species have been classified into nine plant functional types (PFTs), which are characterized by maximum potential height and shade tolerance. We differentiate between two seed dispersal modes: (i) local dispersal, i.e. all seedlings originated from fertile trees within the simulated area and (ii) external seed rain. Local seed dispersal has been parameterized following the pattern oriented approach, using biomass estimates of old growth forest. We have found that moderate density regulation is essential to achieve coexistence for a broad range of regeneration parameters. Considering the expected uncertainty and variability in the regeneration processes it is important that the forest dynamics are robust to variations in the regeneration parameters. Furthermore, edge effects such as increased mortality at the border and external seed rain have been necessary to reproduce the patterns for small isolated fragments. Overall, simulated biomass is much lower in the fragments compared to the continuous forest, whereas shade tolerant species are affected most strongly by fragmentation. Our simulations can supplement empirical studies by extrapolating local knowledge on edge effects of fragments to larger temporal and spatial scales. In particular our results show the importance of external seed rain and therefore highlight the importance of structural connectivity between regenerating fragments and mature forest stands.     

Modelling above-ground herbage mass for a wide range of grassland community types

Whereas it is recognized that management of plant diversity can be the key to reconciling production and environmental aims, most grassland models are tailored for high-value grass species. We proposed to adapt a mono-specific grass model to take into account specific features of species-rich permanent grasslands, especially over the reproductive phase. To this end, we used the concept of plant functional type (PFT), i.e. the grouping of plant species according to plant traits determined by the response of plant species to different management practices (land use and fertilization) and characterizing of agronomic properties of the corresponding species. In the model, weather and nutrient availability act upon rates of biophysical processes (radiation capture and use, plant senescence). These rates are modified over times due to PFT-specific parameters determined experimentally which represent the different strategies of plant species regarding growth. The integration of these parameters into the model made it possible to predict herbage biomass accumulation rate under different management practices for a wide range of plant communities differing in their PFT composition. The model was evaluated in two steps, first by analyzing separately the effects of PFT and an indicator of nutrient availability on herbage accumulation and then by conducting a sensitivity analysis. It was validated using two independent datasets; a cutting experiment running over the whole growing season to examine the consistency of the model outputs under different cutting regimes, and a monitoring of meadows and pastures in spring over a whole growth cycle to assess the model’s ability to reproduce growth curves. Although a good fit was observed between the simulated and observed data, the few discrepancies noticed between field data and predicted values were attributed mainly to the potential presence of non-grass species. More specifically, we noticed that nutrient (mainly nitrogen) availability is the main driver of plant growth rate, and that PFT determines the times at which this rate changes in relation to the phenological characteristics of species present. We concluded that integration of the PFT concept into the initial mono-specific growth model is especially suited to evaluating the consequences of management practices on species-rich permanent grasslands to meet feed production targets.     

Fhhh工程菌株降解PTA废水动力学研究

研究了工程菌株Fhhh降解精对苯二甲酸(PTA)石化废水的动力学.将测得的Fhhh降解废水的6项动力学参数值、废水自然参数值、废水排放标准控制值,输入环境生物技术信息学软件(Ebis)进行计算.结果表明,来源于3种保存方法的Fhhh菌株中,所需反应器的最小体积(V_min)为1309m³,比降解率(q_A)的最高数值为0.0136h^-1,是土著菌YZ1的4倍,高于国内外同类研究的4项数值,低于同类研究的2项数值.结果表明,Fhhh工程菌株具有降解PTA废水的显著优势.     

Comparative effects of different maize straw returning modes on soil humus composition and humic acid structural characteristics in Northeast China

In order to evaluate the effects of different maize straw returning modes on humus composition and humic acid (HA) structural, a field experiment was designed to have five treatments, i.e. Treatment CK (no straw returned), Treatment EIS (straw incorporated evenly into the soil using the crashing-ridging technique), Treatment SP (straw plowed into the soil), Treatment SM (straw returned as mulch) and Treatment SG (straw returned as pellets). Our results showed that Treatment EIS significantly increased the content of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil humus substances (HEC), soil humic acid carbon (HAC) and fulvic acid carbon (FAC) by 27.8%, 47.6%, 63.3% and 33.8%, respectively, as compared with CK. Among all the straw returning treatments, Treatment EIS was the most significant in effect of increasing the content of HEC, HAC and FAC. Moreover, Treatment EIS altered the composition of humus more significantly than all the other treatments, by increasing the proportion of alkyl C and the ratio of aliphatic C/aromatic C. These results suggest that straw returning accelerated the accumulation of soil organic C and various components of humus, significantly improved the structure of soil HA, with the practice of EIS in particular.