Structure of macrozoobenthos of the East Dongting nature reserve, with emphasis on relationships with environmental variables

Ecological survey of macrozoobenthos assemblages was carried out at 32 sites in the East Dongting Nature Reserve, located in the northern region of the East Dongting Lake in the middle basin of the Yangtze River, China. All total 51 taxa including 18 oligochaetes, 15 mollusks, 14 insects and four other animals were recorded. Mollusks composed the dominant group and accounted for more than 70% of the total abundance. Assemblages were composed mainly of scrapers (66.7%) and collector-gatherers (nearly 20%), and to a lesser extent collector-filterers (roughly 12%), predators (ca. 7%), and shredders (ca. 6%). Two-way indicator species analysis, detrended correspondence, and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were employed to identify the relationships between macrozoobenthos assemblages and environmental variables. Thirty-two sites were separated into four site groups based on composition and relative abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates. CCA detected that water depth, pH, conductivity, SiO2, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, alkalinity, hardness, and Ca2+, were significant environmental factors influencing the pattern of macozoobenthos. In this minimal subset, water depth, pH, alkalinity and hardness were the most influential variables.

The environment effect on fish assemblage structure in waters adjacent to the Changjiang (Yangtze) River estuary (1998-2001)

We collected fish abundance data in the Changjiang (Yangtze River) estuary and adjacent waters in November 1998, May 1999, November 2000, and May 2001. Using the data, we evaluated the characteristics of the fish assemblages at each site and investigated the effect of several environmental factors. We used a multivariate analysis, including community ordination methods such as detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), and two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN). We analyzed the biological community structure and environmental factors to determine their spatial distributions, temporal dynamics, and seasonal variations. Among the fish species, five exceeded 5% of the total abundance: Harpodon nehereus (42.82%), Benthosema pterotum (13.85%), Setipinna taty (11.64%), Thryssa kammalensis (9.17%) and Apogonichthys lineatus (6.49%). These were separated into four ecological assemblages: hypsithermal-saline, hypsithermal-brackish, hypothermal-brackish, and hypothermal-saline. We evaluated the degree of influence of environmental factors on the fish community. Our analyses suggested that environmental factors including water depth, salinity, turbidity, transparency, nutrient, and suspended matter formed a synthetic spatial gradient between the coastal and pelagic areas. Ecological and environmental factors changed temporally from 1998 to 2001, and drove the fish community succession. The environmental factors driving the fish community structure included bottom temperature, water depth, bottom and surface pH, surface total phosphorous, and bottom dissolved oxygen. This investigation was completed before completion of the Three Gorges Dam; therefore the results of this study provide an important foundation for evaluating the influence of the human activities.

Effect of imitated global warming on Delta C-13 values in seven plant species growing in Tibet alpine meadows

Open-top chambers were used to estimate the possible effects of global warming on delta C-13 of seven plant species grown in alpine meadow ecosystem. The delta C-13 values of plant species were lower after long-term growth in open-top chambers. In the course of experiment, temperature significantly increased inside the chambers by 4 degrees C. Plant species grown at a lower elevation above sea level had higher delta C-13 values as compared to those grown at a higher elevation. This was in accordance with the effect of open-top chamber on delta C-13 values in plants. Greater availability of CO2 and lower water vapor as indicated by an increase in discrimination against (CO2)-C-13, probably result in more negative delta C-13 values of plants because higher stomatal conductance increases availability of CO2 and causes greater discrimination against (CO2)-C-13. The plant species studied could be the indicator species for testing global warming by the change in carbon isotope ratios at the two growth temperatures.

外来种紫茎泽兰对入侵地土壤动物群落及多样性的影响

在云南省澜沧县对草地、以紫茎泽兰群落以及次生林地中的土壤动物一步甲和蚯蚓群落进行动态取样调查，来探讨紫茎泽兰入侵后对群落结构、生物多样性的影响。 在紫茎泽兰和草地群落中共捕获2253头步甲，35个种，其中草地上捕获1574头步甲，28个种，紫茎泽兰样地中有679头步甲，34个种;紫茎泽兰群落中步甲个体数量少，但物种数多，多样性也比较高;草地中步甲优势物种为Harpalus indicus和Tetragonoderus arcuatus占总数的59％;而紫茎泽兰中的优势物种比较分散;紫茎泽兰群落中步甲个体体型较大，而草地中体型小的步甲所占比例较高;步甲分布与落叶层厚度、土壤全磷含量、植被高度、地上生物量及土壤pH和土壤全钾含量有一定的相关性;紫茎泽兰群落与草地中的指示物种也不同，Hyphaereon masumotoi和Cosmodiscus sp．是紫茎泽兰的指示物种，而草地的指示物种有Aephnidius adelioides，Tetragonoderus arcuatus，Harpalus indicus，Harpaliscus birmanicus，Chlaenius cambodiensi。 受紫茎泽兰入侵的林地边缘步甲群落的分布规律表明，步甲个体数量排序：林地内部>紫茎泽兰群落>林地边缘：三者步甲优势种的组成，既有交叉也有区别;三者的步甲物种数及多样性指数差异不显著，步甲群落的时间动态也相似;林地边缘、内部及紫茎泽兰群落在步甲个体体型结构上差异不大，具有指示作用的步甲种少。 在草地、紫茎泽兰及次生林地三种植被类型中，共采集到3546条蚯蚓，8个种。其中，紫茎泽兰群落有1663条蚯蚓，远高于次生林及草地。多裂远盲蚓和娇小远盲蚓是当地蚯蚓群落的优势种;紫茎泽兰入侵地的蚯蚓物种数、Shannon-Wiener多样性指数大于草地及次生林地;蚯蚓数量及生物量的时间动态受月份降雨量的影响很大，体型大小不同的蚯蚓受降雨变化影响的程度不同：蚯蚓的分布与落叶层厚度、土壤全氮含量、土壤pH及有机质含量相关性较强;蚯蚓群落中只有大唇远盲蚓是紫茎泽兰样地中的指示物种。 在紫茎泽兰控制实验样地内，步甲的数量及物种数的排序是原始紫茎泽兰>半密度紫茎泽兰>去除处理。优势物种都为Anisodactylus karennius，所占比例高，其在原始紫茎泽兰群落中的分布数量远高于半密度及去除样地;步甲群落多样性指数(H’)和物种数差异不显著;三种处理的步甲群落时间动态不同，表现出不同的高峰期;Galeritula feoe和Nanodiodes piceus是原始和半密度紫茎泽兰样地中的指示物种。 总之，紫茎泽兰入侵相对单一草地后，会引起步甲个体数量下降，物种数和多样性上升，群落结构发生很大变化;紫茎泽兰入侵的林地边缘及外部草地后，林地边缘的环境变化幅度减小，林地的边际效应趋于不明显;紫茎泽兰单优群落有利于蚯蚓生存于生活，与草地及林地相比，能增加蚯蚓鲜重及多样性水平。

黄土丘陵沟壑区退耕地植被自然恢复过程——以吴起县双树沟流域为例

采用TWINSPAN分类法对黄土丘陵沟壑区吴起县双树沟流域30个自然恢复草地植被进行分类,并对分类后各植被群落特征和地上生物量进行统计分析。结果表明:在自然恢复条件下,随着退耕年限的不断增加,退耕地植被自然恢复依次经历了猪毛蒿群落—赖草+长芒草群落—赖草+铁杆蒿群落—铁杆蒿群落—铁杆蒿+茭蒿群落5个发展阶段,地带性植被类型铁杆蒿+茭蒿群落在研究区内开始出现,并且已经占有一定优势;随着退耕地植被自然恢复的不断进行,Margalef等丰富度指数以及Shannon-wiener等多样性指数、Pielou等物种均匀度指数和地上生物量都呈现出先减小后增大的发展趋势;在植被自然恢复的稳定阶段,虽然物种丰富度指数和物种多样性指数有一定的增加,但是相对恢复初期来讲还是有所下降,并且有达到与初期相当水平的趋势;物种丰富度指数均在第1恢复阶段最大,而均匀度指数Jsw以及Shannon-wiener指数在第5恢复阶段最高。随着退耕地植被自然恢复的不断进行,植被群落总盖度随着退耕年限的延长而不断增大。

Geological records of marine environmental changes in the southern Okinawa Trough

Indexes of sediment grain size, sedimentation rates, geochemical composition, heavy minerals, benthic foraminiferal fauna, indicator species of the Kuroshio Current, paleo-SST and carbonate dissolution of core E017 conformably suggest a great marine environmental change occurring at about 10.1-9.2 cal. kaBP in the southern Okinawa Trough, which may correspond to the strengthening of the Kuroshio Warm Current and re-entering the Okinawa Trough through the sea area off northeast Taiwan. The invasion of Kuroshio current has experienced a process of gradual strengthening and then weakening, and its intensity became more fluctuation during the last 5000 years. Compared to the transition of sediment grain size, geochemical composition and heavy minerals, the foraminiferal faunas show a 900-year lag, which may indicate that the invasion of Kuroshio Current and the consequent sea surface and deep-water environmental changes is a gradual process, and fauna has an obvious lag compared to environment altering. The carbonate dissolution of the Okinawa Trough has had an apparent strengthening since 9.2 cal. kaBP, and reached a maximum in the late 3000 years, which may be caused by the deep-water environmental changes due to the invasion of Kuroshio Current.

NATURAL FOODS AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR MACACA-THIBETANA AT MOUNT EMEI, CHINA

Natural food plants of partly provisioned groups of Macaca thibetana included about 196 species belonging to 135 genera and 72 families. The macaques consumed mainly bamboo shoots and fruits for about 2 months in autumn, whereas they relied on active or passive provisions from visitors, a variety of structural parts of plants and a small amount of invertebrates in late spring and summer and ate mainly mature leaves and bark for the rest of the year. About half of the species eaten came from the dense herb and shrub layers. This forest-dwelling species shows a distinctive feeding and foraging pattern in comparison with other macaques, explaining why M. thibetana has the largest body weight of all macaques.

The youngest split in sympatric schizothoracine fish (Cyprinidae) is shaped by ecological adaptations in a Tibetan Plateau glacier lake

Although new empirical evidence shows that sympatric speciation has occurred in some species, there are few indisputable model organisms for this process of speciation. The two subspecies (Gymnocypris eckloni eckloni and G. e. scoliostomus) of the schizothoracine Gymnocypris fish species complex from a small glacier lake in the Tibetan Plateau, Lake Sunmcuo, fit several of the key characteristics of the sympatric speciation model. We used combined mitochondrial control region sequences and the cytochrome b gene (1894 bp) to address the phylogenetics and population genetics of 232 specimens of G. e. eckloni and G. e. scoliostomus, as well as all of its closely related sister species. We found that: (i) a total of four old lineages were uncovered in the widespread G. e. eckloni, of which only one was shown to be shared with all G. e. scoliostomus individuals and (ii) the new subspecies (G. e. scoliostomus) evolved in Lake Sunmcuo from the ancestral G. e. eckloni population within approximately 0.057 Ma. These two taxa of the species complex are morphologically distinct, and reproductive isolation is further suggested. Ecological disruptive selection based on morphological traits (e.g. mouth cleft characters) and food utilization may be a mechanism of incipient speciation of two sympatric populations within Lake Sunmcuo. This study provides the first genetic evidence for sympatric speciation in the schizothoracine fish.

Diel isotopic fluctuation in surface seston and its physiological and ecological implications

We reported diet fluctuation in isotopic composition of surface seston from two connected lakes in China, oligotrophic Lake Fuxian and eutrophic Lake Xingyun. The decrease in nighttime and the increase in daytime of isotope signatures of seston might be attributed to the light-dependent balance between the photosynthesis and the respiration of phytoplankton and to the changes in the species composition and the relative abundance of phytoplankton functional groups at the water's surface in diel growth. The relatively high isotopic signatures and the large-extent diel fluctuation of phytoplankton in the eutrophic lake could be due to utilization of heavy-isotope-enriched inorganic sources and the high primary productivity. Extent of diel fluctuation in delta C-13 and delta N-15 of phytoplankton were relatively small compared with the isotopic enrichment per trophic transfer and thus might have negligible effect on the source identification and the trophic evaluation of consumers.