The Sensitivity and Adaptation of Ecosystems to the Disturbances: A Case Study in Northeastern Estonia

The study focused on the problem of the response and adaptation of an ecosystem to natural fire in case of greenhouse warming. The palaeoecological approach was used and reconstructions were made for timeca 6000 years ago, when the human impact in the studied area was absent or very weak and the summer temperatures were about 2.4 degrees higher than at the present time. The palaeoreconstructions were compliled using the charcoal, pollen and diatoms data from the sediments of a northeast Estonian lake. The results show that forest fires influenced the biota of the lake mainly through evapotranspiration and the accompanying erosional changes. The impacts of the fire directly to the lake ecosystem were short-term and the primary diatom association was restored after 10–15 years. The pollen influx was influenced by the fires mainly through the changes in the openness of the landscape and the composition of the pollen spectra was restored over a period of 50–60 years. The data demonstrate the high ability of the studied ecosystem to adapt to the impact of natural fires in the climatic environment comparable with that predicted for the future.     

Spinal deformities in the black-striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster (Pisces, Syngnathidae) from the Tunis North Lake, Tunisia

Spinal deformities are seen in fishes. Deformities in the family Syngnathidae is rarely reported. Spine curvatures in natural population of pipefish, Syngnathus abaster are reported from the Tunis North Lake. The species is euryhaline and occurs along the Mediterranean coasts. Four hundred specimens of S. abaster were collected from January 2006 to December 2007 from the Tunis North Lake. Two specimens with skeletal abnormalities were described for the first time. X-rays radiographies revealed several vertebral deformities for each deformed specimen, especially at five curvation places of the caudal part. Several factors are believed to be the cause of spinal deformities of S. abaster in the Tunis North Lake, such as environmental disturbances, parasitism infection and nutritional factors.     

西南喀斯特石漠化治理植物选择与生态适应性

在概述喀斯特生境特征和主要石漠化治理模式的基础上,对石漠化主要治理植物物种进行了统计分析,从干旱、土壤质量、小生境异质性和地形海拔等方面对石漠化治理植物物种的生态适应性研究进了简要评述。结合现有研究基础和国家对西南喀斯特石漠化区主体生态功能的定位,提出了加强石漠化治理特色植物物种选育研究;治理植物物种生境适应性研究;石漠化治理过程中的植被演替规律研究;不同石漠化治理植被恢复模式的适用性与治理综合效益的监测与评价研究等四个主要研究方向。