Sleeping sites of Rhinopithecus bieti at Mt. Fuhe, Yunnan

Data on sleeping site selection were collected for a group of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti; around 80) at Mt. Fuhe, Yunnan, China (99degrees20'E, 26degrees25'N, about 3,000 m asl) from November 2000 to January 2002. At the site mainly three vegetation types were present in an elevation-ascending order: deciduous broad leaf forest, mixed coniferous and broad leaf forest, and dark coniferous forest. In addition, bamboo forest presented in areas burned in 1958. Sleeping sites (n = 10) were located in the coniferous forest, where trees were the tallest, bottommost branches were the highest, the diameter of crowns was the second largest, and the gradient of the ground was the steepest. Monkeys usually kept quiet during entering and staying at a sleeping site. The site choice and the quietness may be tactics to avoid potential predators. In the coniferous forest, however, monkeys did not sleep in the valley bottom where trees were the largest, but frequently slept in the middle of the slope towards the east/southeast, in the shadow of ridges in three other directions, to avoid strong wind and to access sunshine; in winter-spring, they ranged in a more southern and lower area than in summer-autumn. These may be behavioral strategies to minimize energy stress in the cold habitat. Monkeys often slept in the same sleeping site on consecutive nights, which reflected a reduced pressure of predation probably due to either the effectiveness of anti-predation through sleeping site selection, or the population decline of predators with increasing human activities in the habitat. The group's behavioral responses to interactive and sometimes conflicting traits of the habitat are site-specific and conform to expectations for a temperate zone primate.

Enhanced expression of antifreeze protein genes drives the development of freeze tolerance in an Antarctica isolate of Chlorella vulgaris

In adaptation to new environments, organisms may accumulate mutations within encoding sequences to modify protein characteristics or acquire mutations within regulatory sequences to alter gene expression levels. With the development of antifreeze capability as the example, this study presents the evidence that change in gene expression level is probably the most important mechanism for adaptive evolution in a green alga Chlorella vulgaris. C. vulgaris NJ-7, an isolate from Antarctica, possesses an 18S rRNA sequence identical to that of a temperate isolate, SAG211-11b/UTEX259, but shows much higher freeze tolerance than the later isolate. The chromosomal DNA/cDNA of four antifreeze genes, namely hiC6, hiC12, rpl10a and hsp70, from the two isolates of C. vulgaris were cloned and sequenced, and very few variations of deduced amino acid sequences were found. In contrast, the transcription of hiC6, hiC12 and rpl10a was greatly intensified in NJ-7 compared to that in UTEX259, which is correlated to the significantly enhanced freeze tolerance of the Antarctica isolate. (C) 2009 National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science in China Press. All rights reserved.

The distribution and economic losses of alien species invasion to China

Invasive alien species have become one of the most serious environmental issues in the world. Data of taxon, origin, pathway, and environmental impacts of invasive alien microorganisms, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, fish, birds, mammals, herbs, trees, and, marine organisms in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems of China were analyzed during 2001 and 2003, based on literature retrieval and field survey. There were 283 invasive alien species in China, and the number of species of invasive alien microorganisms, aquatic plants, terrestrial plants, aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, fish, and mammals were 19, 18, 170, 25, 33, 3, 10, and 5, respectively. The proportion of invasive alien species originated from America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania were 55.1, 21.7, 9.9, 8.1, and 0.6%, respectively. Methods for estimation of direct economic losses to agriculture, forestry, stockbreeding, fishery, road and water transportation, storage, water conservancy, environment and public facilities, and human health were established. Methods for estimation of indirect economic losses caused by invasive alien species to service functions of forest ecosystems, agricultural ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, and wetland ecosystems were also established. The total economic losses caused by invasive alien species to China were to the time of USD 14.45 billion, with direct and indirect economic losses accounting for 16.59% and 83.41% of total economic losses, respectively.

Biological mechanisms driving the seasonal changes in the internal loading of phosphorus in shallow lakes

Because of the obvious importance of P as a nutrient that often accelerates growth of phytoplankton (including toxic cyanobacteria) and therefore worsens water quality, much interest has been devoted to P exchange across the sediment-water interface. Generally, the release mode of P from the sediment differed greatly between shallow and deep lakes, and much of the effort has been focused on iron and oxygen, and also on the relevant environmental factors, for example, turbulence and decomposition, but a large part of the P variation in shallow lakes remains unexplained. This paper reviews experimental and field studies on the mechanisms of P release from the sediment in the shallow temperate (in Europe) and subtropical (in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China) lakes, and it is suggested that pH rather than DO might be more important in driving the seasonal dynamics of internal P loading in these shallow lakes, i.e., intense photosynthesis of phytoplankton increases pH of the lake water and thus may increase pH of the surface sediment, leading to enhanced release of P (especially iron-bound P) from the sediment. Based on the selective pump of P (but not N) from the sediment by algal blooms, it is concluded that photosynthesis which is closely related to eutrophication level is the driving force for the seasonal variation of internal P loading in shallow lakes. This is a new finding. Additionally, the selective pump of P from the sediment by algal blooms not only explains satisfactorily why both TP and PO4-P in the hypereutrophic Lake Donghu declined significantly since the mid-1980s when heavy cyanobacterial blooms were eliminated by the nontraditional biomanipulation (massive stocking of the filter-feeding silver and bighead carps), but also explains why TP in European lakes decreased remarkably in the spring clear-water phase with less phytoplankton during the seasonal succession of aquatic communities or when phytoplankton biomass was decreased by traditional biomanipulation. Compared with deep lakes, wax and wane of phytoplankton due to alternations in the ecosystem structure is also able to exert significant influences on the P exchange at the sediment-water interface in shallow lakes. In other words, biological activities are also able to drive P release from sediments, and such a static P release process is especially more prominent in eutrophic shallow lakes with dense phytoplankton.

Enhancement of Moina micrura by the filter-feeding silver and bighead carps in a subtropical Chinese lake

The changes of cladoceran zooplankton from 1980 to 1996 were studied in a hypereutrophic subtropical Chinese lake, Lake Donghu, and an enclosure experiment was conducted to examine the possible role of the increased fish production in the enhancement of Moina micrura in the lake after mid-1980s. During the 1980s, the most striking event of the cladoceran community in the lake was that dominance of Daphnia was replaced by Moina following a steady increase in the production of planktivorous fish. This replacement was a direct result of increased fish predation, since our enclosure experiment indicates that Moina are less vulnerable to fish predation than Daphnia, and that increase in fish-stocking rate favors the development of M. micrura. The stronger resistance of M. micrura to fish predation may be attributed to its smaller body size and higher intrinsic growth rate than the daphnids. The present study has a strong parallel with the responses of zooplankton community to predators observed in many temperate lakes, and perhaps the only real difference is that in our lake the small rapidly growing cladoceran is Moina, rather than Bosmina or some other typical temperate take species. In the present study, the strong fish predation caused a shift from Daphnia to small zooplankton but not a corresponding increase in phytoplankton, which is in sharp contrast to what is expected with the classic "trophic cascade" process.

Manipulation of host density affects infestation of a peritrich ciliate (Epistylis lacustris) on a calanoid copepod (Leptodiaptomus minutus) in Crystal Lake, Wisconsin, USA

Specimens of the calanoid copepod, Leptodiaptomus minutus, collected in June 1994 in oligotrophic: north temperate Crystal Lake, were infested with the stalked ciliate Epistylis lacustris. E. lacustris was highly specific to L. minutus and no other coexisting zooplankters were infested. Excluding nauplii, nearly 70% of copepods carried 1-20 ciliates, although the maximum load was as high as 250 ciliates. A lower percentage of nauplii were infested by the ciliate; those that were infested had a lower ciliate load than other copepod stages. Infestation by ciliates had no significant influence on the average egg number of female copepods. In a field experiment, higher copepod densities in enclosures resulted in a significantly higher infestation rate, but the ciliate load per individual copepod did not differ significantly among treatments.

陕西省米脂县耕地动态变化与粮食安全研究

根据米脂县1990—2007年粮食生产的相关数据,对该县耕地、人口和粮食生产动态变化以及粮食总产与其影响因素进行了灰色关联度分析。结果表明,退耕还林还草工程是耕地总面积迅速减少的主要原因;提高粮食单产保障粮食总产是实现粮食安全的最关键因子;持续增长的人口造成耕地的承载压力越来越大,并对该区实现粮食安全提出了更大的挑战。最后,根据分析结果提出了增加科技投入,提高单产,保护耕地,挖掘耕地潜力等措施以保障该区域的粮食安全,为政府部门制定相关粮食安全政策提供科学的理论依据。

黄土区人工与天然植被对凋落物量和土壤有机碳变化的影响

在黄土丘陵区选择从耕地、草地、灌木林到乔木林样地,不同样地内设立1m×1m(乔木10m×10m)的样方,分析样方内凋落物积累量、碳氮含量、土壤有机碳(SOC)和可溶性碳(DOC)含量变化。结果表明:天然草地、灌木林、乔木林凋落物积累量依次为5.3,12.1和32.4t.hm-2;但人工灌木林和乔木林的凋落物积累量分别为6.7和11.4t.hm-2,分别是天然灌木林和乔木林的1/2和1/3。随着植被的恢复,天然植被凋落物的C/N高于人工植被(刺槐林除外)。与耕地SOC(4.67g·kg-1)相比,天然灌木林地SOC提高5.9倍,人工灌木林地提高1.8倍;天然乔木林地提高8.0倍,而人工乔木林地仅提高4.0倍。凋落物积累量与0～20cm土层土壤有机碳存在显著线性相关关系(R2>0.83),但20cm以下线性相关关系不显著。凋落物积累量与0～10cm土壤可溶性碳含量存在显著线性相关关系(R2>0.893),与10～60cm土层线性相关关系不显著,与80～100cm土壤可溶性碳存在显著线性负相关关系。

云雾山草原区不同植被恢复阶段土壤团聚体活性有机碳分布特征

以宁夏云雾山草原自然保护区不同植被群落为研究对象,对0～20cm土层土壤团聚体活性有机碳分布特征进行分析。结果表明:(1)不同植被群落土壤团聚体活性有机碳含量顺序为退耕草地<百里香群落<铁杆蒿群落<大针茅群落<长芒草群落,与退耕草地相比,封育草地各粒径团聚体活性有机碳含量均显著提高(P<0.05),表明随着植被的恢复土壤团聚体活性有机碳含量提高并趋于稳定,土壤碳汇效应有可能增强。(2)植被恢复主要影响大团聚体(>0.25mm)中活性有机碳含量,其中0.5～0.25mm粒径团聚体中活性有机碳含量最高,微团聚体(<0.25mm)中活性有机碳含量最低。(3)植被恢复前期(退耕草地-铁杆蒿群落)0～10cm土层>0.5mm粒径团聚体中活性有机碳含量较10～20cm土层有所增加,<0.5mm粒径团聚体活性有机碳含量变化不大,恢复至后期到长芒草阶段时,0～10cm土层<0.5mm粒径团聚体中活性有机碳含量也开始提高,各粒径0～10cm土层团聚体活性有机碳含量均比10～20cm土层有所提高。(4)相关性分析表明,土壤团聚体活性有机碳含量与土壤团聚体总有机碳含量呈极显著线性正相关关系(r=0.9394),团聚体活性有机碳含量...

典型黄土坡面天然草地产流产沙规律试验

通过野外模拟降雨试验,研究黄土区天然草坡的产流、产沙规律。试验设2个地类(草地和裸地)、3个降雨强度水平和3个坡度水平。结果表明:坡面初始产流时间与降雨强度呈负相关关系,与裸地相比,草地在降雨强度较大时(>2.0 mm/min)加快坡面产流,在中(1.0~2.0 mm/min)、小等级降雨强度(<1.0 mm/min)下则延缓产流;降雨强度较大时,裸地大坡度的产流强度随时间呈对数函数形式增长,中小等级降雨强度下的增长方式不符合这一规律;与中、小等级降雨强度不同,裸地在降雨强度较大时的产流产沙过程不一致;与裸地相比,草地的产流过程更为复杂,并不符合产流强度随时间呈对数函数形式增长的一般规律,草地产沙过程线与产流过程线的相对吻合程度受降雨强度的影响不明显。

吴起县退耕还林(草)政策实施情况调查研究

吴起县退耕还林(草)政策经过8 a的实施取得了显著成效。项目实施区生态环境得到明显改善,农业综合生产能力得到很大的提高,农民通过退耕补助得以直接增收,为形成面对农户的生态补偿制度探索了经验。然而政策实施过程中仍然存在着诸如退耕地块分布和林分结构不合理,草畜业发展滞后,牧草资源利用率不高,退耕政策不够灵活,补偿标准缺乏弹性等问题。建议在以后退耕政策中注重加强规划指导,合理确定退耕范围,在生态补偿制度框架下优化退耕补助标准,通过深化土地产权改革,促进退耕土地合理流转和规模化经营,继续推动农业后续产业发展,巩固退耕成果。

黄土丘陵区草地土壤微生物C、N及呼吸熵对植被恢复的响应

以野外样地调查和室内分析法研究了黄土丘陵区不同植被恢复年限下草地土壤微生物C、N及土壤呼吸熵的变化。结果表明,土壤微生物量碳明显地随着植被恢复年限的增加而增加。在恢复前23a,土壤微生物量碳在0～20cm土层年增加率为24.1%;20～40cm为104.4%。植被恢复23a后,0～20cm土层增长率为0.83%,20～40cm为0.19%。土壤微生物量N表现为在植被恢复的初期略有下降,3a后,开始出现明显增加。0～20cm土层年增长率为20.14%,20～40cm为15.11%。在植被恢复23a后,0～20cm土层的年增长率为0.14%,20～40cm变化不大。土壤微生物呼吸强度随着恢复年限的增加逐渐加强;土壤呼吸熵随植被封育时间的增加而呈对数降低趋势。土壤呼吸熵(qCO2)在反映土壤的生物质量变化时,显得更加稳定,受植物生长状况影响较小。相关分析表明,土壤微生物量和土壤微生物活性与土壤有机质、碱解氮和粘粒含量显著正相关;与土壤粉粒含量明显负相关;表层土壤pH值对其也有明显影响。草地植被自然恢复过程可增加土壤微生物活性,有利于土壤质量的提高。

云雾山不同草地群落土壤活性有机碳分布特征

为探讨黄土高原草地植被演替过程活性有机碳的变化规律,揭示草地退耕后的分布特征,在云雾山草原区采集不同草地群落土壤,采用高锰酸钾氧化法对0~100 cm土层活性有机碳进行分析。结果表明:不同草地群落土壤活性有机碳含量均高于坡耕地,活性有机碳含量大小顺序为:长芒草(Stipa bungeanaTrin.)群落>大针茅(Sti-pa grandisP.Smirn.)群落>铁杆蒿(Artemisia gmeliniiWeb.ex Stechm.)群落>百里香(Thymus mongolicusRonn.)群落>退耕草地>坡耕地,且群落间差异达极显著水平(P<0.01);在恢复初期(坡耕地-退耕草地-百里香)活性有机碳含量增加较多,恢复到长芒草群落活性有机碳含量达到最大值,趋于稳定;活性有机碳的密度与含量表现出相同的变化规律,并随着土层的加深而呈现减小趋势。相关性分析表明,活性有机碳含量与土壤总有机碳含量呈极显著线性正相关关系(r=0.9742),土壤活性有机碳比总有机碳更能反映草地植被恢复初期土壤有机碳库的变化。

云雾山草地植被恢复过程土壤水库特性及影响因素

为了了解植被恢复过程土壤水库特征的变化及其驱动因子,为半干旱典型草原区植被恢复的土壤环境效应提供评价依据,研究了宁南半干旱典型草原区植被恢复80 a对土壤水库库容、实际贮水量和贮水效率的影响及驱动因子。结果表明:土壤水库总库容、吸持库容、实际贮水量、贮水效率以及土壤物理性质均在草原植被恢复25 a内不断提高,经37 a略微下降后随植被演替土壤水库特征和土壤物理性质继续改善。通过逐步回归分析,容重、有机质含量和水稳性团聚体分形维数是影响土壤水库总库容的主要因子,毛管孔隙度则是影响土壤实际贮水量和贮水效率的主要因子。土壤有机质含量与容重、分形维数呈显著负相关(P<0.05),与毛管孔隙度呈极显著正相关(P<0.01)。植被恢复促使有机质积累,从而改善了土壤结构状况,提高了土壤土壤贮水能力、贮水量和贮水效率。可以认为土壤有机质积累是土壤水库功能提高的直接动力。

环境因素影响草地柠条生长的主成分及典型相关分析

Principal Component and Canonical Correlation Analysis of the Environmental Factors Influencing the Growth of Caragana korshinskii Kom. in Grassland