The Vegetation of Wet Meadows in Relation to Their Land-use

Wetland biomonitoring approaches are needed to determine when changes in response to stressors are occurring and to predict the consequences of proposed land-use changes. These approaches require an understanding of shifts in biota that occur in response to land-use, data that are lacking for most kinds of wetlands. Changes in floristic composition corresponding to land-use differences at multiple scales (site to 2500 m radius) were characterized for 40 wet meadows associated with prairie glacial marshes in Minnesota (U.S.A.). In general, guild was more useful than species composition for indicating land-use impacts. Site impacts (stormwater, cultivation) and landscape disturbance (agriculture and urbanization, combined), coincide with a reduction in native graminoid and herbaceous perennial abundance (e.g., Carex lasiocarpa, Calamagrostis canadensis, Spartina pectinata). This vegetation is replaced with annuals (e.g, Bidens cernua, Polygonum pensylvanicum) in recently cultivated sites or introduced perennials (e.g., Phalaris arundinacea, Typha angustifolia) and floating aquatics (lemnids) in stormwater impacted wetlands. Ditches also reduce native perennial importance and increase perennials, but only when they are in highly impacted landscapes.     

我国学者在青藏高原生态系统甲烷排放研究方面取得重要成果

中国科学院西北高原生物研究所网页上发布信息:《自然》等著名学术刊物、媒体报道我国科学家在青藏高原生态系统甲烷排放研究方面的最新成果(http://www.nwipb.ac.cn/xwzx/zhxw/200808/t20080829_1674857.html)报道,高寒草甸植物能够释放甲烷,但是草本植物群落和木     

UV-B辐射增强对麻花艽叶片光合作用及相关生理参数的影响

采用20 W和40 W的UV-B灯辐射增强处理,测定分析了UV-B辐射增强对麻花艽(Gentiana straminea Maxim)叶片净光合速率及相关生理参数的影响. 结果显示:2008年8月3日,研究区大气温度从09:00开始上升,到14:00达到最高点,叶温和大气饱和水气压变化与气温变化趋势相似;光合有效辐射强度从07:00开始上升,至13:00达到最高,之后下降;麻花艽叶片净光合作用速率(P_n)、气孔导度(G_s)、胞间CO₂浓度(C_i)、蒸腾速率(E)和水分利用效率在对照下最高,在40 W UV-B辐射下最低;P_n在08:00—10:00最高,G_s在07:00—08:00最高,C_i在日出及日落时最高,E在09:00—13:00及14:00—18:00最高,水分利用效率在日出后最高;P_n与G_s,叶片温度,大气温度,光合有效辐射和大气饱和水气压亏缺呈正相关,与C_i呈负相关,与光合有效辐射强度的相关系数较高. P_n在光合有效辐射强度为0～800 μmol/(m2·s)时随光合有效辐射强度增加而增加,在2 200～3 000 μmol/(m2·s)时变化不大;G_s和E随光合有效辐射强度的增加而增加;C_i在光合有效辐射强度为0～800 μmol/(m2·s)时,随光合有效辐射强度的增加而呈下降趋势;水分利用效率在光合有效辐射强度为0～800 μmol/(m2·s)时随光合有效辐射强度的增加而呈增加的趋势,在800～3 000 μmol/(m2·s)时呈下降趋势. 说明UV-B辐射增强将使高寒草甸植物叶片P_n,G_s,C_i,E和水分利用效率降低.      

The design and implementation of sustainable plant diversity conservation program for alpine meadows and pastures

The paper describes the design and implementation of a plant biodiversity conservation program that was developed under funding and time constraints for diverse ecological, social, and institutional environments. The biodiversity program for alpine meadows and pastures located in the Swiss Canton of the Grisons is used as an example. The design of the sustainable program relied on existing legislation, accounted for limited ecological knowledge and expertise, and considered biodiversity as a common-pool resource. The trend to intensified cultivation of restricted areas required fast action, while the sustainability of the program design had to take into account institutional diversity. Fifteen habitats and plant communities worth conserving were known, and 57 plant species were identified as indicator species for establishing an inventory and for monitoring purposes. A small subset of 16 well known plant species was presented to the farming communities. They were invited to notify the areas in which they observed the presence of these plants. In different regions of the Canton a total number of 39 paraecologists were trained to inspect the areas notified by farmers and to recommend possible incorporation into the Cantonal inventory. This was done once the farmers signed a contract in which they agreed to follow adequate management practices. The farmers received subsidies to compensate for their losses. Communal authorities controlled the fertilizer input and cutting dates, while the paraecologists were trained to monitor plant biodiversity. The program started in 1992 and the initial phase of the inventory was terminated in 1996. At the beginning of 1996, an inventory of 2617.19 ha, most of which are meadows, was taken and managed according to the rules specified in the contract. The program was considered successful because (i) of the size of the area in the inventory, (ii) about 30%of the farmers participated, and (iii) farmers started cultivating previously abandoned farmland.     

Meadow management and occurrence of corncrake Crex crex

The aim of this study was to analyse the occurrence of corncrakes in two Swedish meadow sites managed by mowing and grazing, but also with abandoned meadows. Most corncrakes (58%) on meadows were found in unmanaged areas without subsidies to the farmers (i.e. areas with tall vegetation). Several corncrakes (62%) were found in restored areas, managed for less than 10 of the last 40 years, fewer (38%) in areas under continuous management. Vegetation height was negatively associated with number of years of management the last 40 years, and the continuously managed areas were avoided by corncrakes. Sites where corncrake territories occur regularly should be managed to maintain tall vegetation suitable for the species, which requires increased use of mowing. However, the results from our study also suggest that yearly mowing might result in a vegetation structure that is avoided by corncrakes. To achieve a balance between tall grassy vegetation and prevention of succession to scrub a possible management regime would therefore be mowing at intervals of a few years.     

Changes in the structure of chortobiont invertebrate community exposed to emissions from a copper smelter

The aboveground phytomass of meadow plants and the density of chortobiont invertebrates in secondary upland meadows were estimated using a biocenometer in three areas differing in the level of pollution with emissions from the Middle Ural Copper Smelter (Revda, Sverdlovsk oblast) in 2006 and 2007. As the smelter is approached, the total amount of phytomass (dry weight) decreases by a factor of 1.3–1.9, with the proportion of grasses reaching 100%; the total abundance of invertebrates increases two-to threefold due to sucking phytophages, which account for up to 80% of the invertebrate community. The abundance of gnawing phytophages near the smelter is reduced, with some taxa entirely missing (e.g., mollusks and phalangiid harvestmen). Rearrangements in chortobiont community structure are attributable to changes in the physiological state of plants and in the species diversity and architecture of the herbaceous layer, with consequent modification of hydrothermal conditions in it, as well as by the direct toxic effect of heavy metals.     

Meadow Restoration Increases Baseflow and Groundwater Storage in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California

In mountains of the western United States, channel incision has drawn down the water table across thousands of square kilometers of meadow floodplain. Here climate change is resulting in earlier melt and reduced snowpack and water resource managers are responding by investing in meadow restoration to increase springtime storage and summer flows. The record‐setting California drought (2012–2015) provided an opportunity to evaluate this strategy under the warmer and drier conditions expected to impact mountain water supplies. In 2012, 0.1 km² of meadow floodplain was reconnected by filling an incised channel through Indian Valley in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Despite sustained drought conditions after restoration, summer baseflow from the meadow increased 5–12 times. Before restoration, the total summer outflow from the meadow was 5% more than the total summer inflow. After restoration, total summer outflow from the meadow was between 35% and 95% more than total summer inflow. In the worst year of the drought (2015), when inflow to the meadow ceased for at least one month, summer baseflow was at least five times greater than before restoration. Groundwater levels also rose at four out of five sites near the stream channel. Filling the incised channel and reconnecting the meadow floodplain increased water availability and streamflow, despite unprecedented drought conditions.     

祁连山中部四种典型生态系统土壤氮矿化的研究

水热因素对土壤氮矿化的影响直接关系到陆地生态系统功能对气候变化的响应趋势。祁连山是青藏高原北沿的典型山地,对气候变化影响十分敏感和脆弱,为了定量确定祁连山土壤氮分解对水热因素变化的响应趋势,在人工气候箱内以正交试验设计方法培养土壤,分析了祁连山高寒草甸、山地森林、荒漠草原和干草原土壤氮矿化及其与温度、湿度和土层的关系。结果显示:以土壤氮矿化量极差计,海拔高度影响最大,其次是温度和湿度;以土壤氮矿化比例极差计,温度和海拔高度影响较大。海拔高度对土壤氮矿化量的影响显著(p<0.05)。除湿度外,其它因素对土壤氮矿化比例影响也达到显著程度(p<0.10)。35℃下土壤氮矿化比例显著比5℃下高,而不同湿度下土壤氮矿化及其矿化比例差异不显著(p<0.05)。海拔高度3000m和3300m处土壤氮矿化量比2800m和2200m处高,2800m处比2200m处高,3000m处土壤氮矿化比例显著比2200m和3300m处高(p<0.05)。森林和干旱草原土壤中氮矿化比例较高,荒漠草原和高寒草甸中较低。以土壤氮矿化速率计,5℃升高到15℃下和15℃升到25℃,Q10较低;以土壤氮矿化比例计,5℃升高到15℃下,Q10较高,15℃到25℃较低。研究结果说明高寒草甸和山地森林土壤氮矿化量较高,干旱草原和荒漠草原土壤氮矿化量较低;森林和干旱草原中土壤氮矿化比例较高,荒漠草原和高寒草甸中较低。     

Effects of herbage removal on productivity of selected high-sierra meadow community types

We investigated the effects of herbage removal on three subalpine meadow plant communities in the Rock Creek drainage of Sequoia National Park, California, USA. In the xericCarex exserta Mkze. (short-hair sedge) type, annual aboveground productivity averaged 19 g/m² in control plots (clipped once after plant senescence in late September) over a five-year period. Annual aboveground productivity was enhanced about 30%–35% when plots in this community type were clipped more frequently (i.e., additional herbage removal in the early, mid, and late seasons) during each of four treatment years but was reduced by 13%–19% during a fifth (recovery) year in which all but late September clipping was suspended. In a moderately mesicEleocharis pauciflora (Lightf.) Link. (few-flowered spike rush)-Calamagrostis breweri Thurb. (short-hair grass) type, control plot productivity averaged 115 g/m²/yr and was reduced by 20–30% by the additional herbage removal. A more mesicDeschampsia caespitosa (L.) Beauv. (tufted hairgrass)-Carex rostrata Stokes, (beaked sedge) type had the greatest mean above-ground productivity (169 g/m²/yr) but also showed damage (i.e., decrease in productivity by 15%–20%) caused by the additional herbage removal. These data suggest that longterm, intensive herbage removal may be more detrimental to moderately mesic and mesic subalpine meadow community types than to xeric types.     

Use of fertilization and grazing exclusion in mitigating lost meadow production in the Sierra Nevada,California, USA

The effects of a single fertilizer treatment (ammonium phosphate at 841 kg/ha, plus dolomite at 336 kg/ha) and cattle exclusion were studied in two meadows in the Sierra Nevada of California in the USA. Grazing exclusion had no effects on soil bulk density during the three years of the study. Fertilization had no effect on total soil nitrogen, soil pH, or crude protein concentrations in graminoids or forbs. Saturated soils and the development of anaerobic conditions close to the surface may have led to denitrification and the loss of usable nitrogen. Fertilization did result in short-term (one- to two-year) increases in available soild phosphorus in the drier of the two meadows, and in total phosphorus concentrations in graminoids and forbs, which were otherwise generally deficient in phosphorus. Few changes in plant species composition or production were detected, although a combination of fertilization and grazing exclusion increased forb production in the drier meadow. Based on our initial results, fertilization with phosphorus was the recommended treatment for meadow improvement projects in the central Sierra Nevada.