锡林郭勒草原生态系统服务价值评价

锡林郭勒草原是欧亚大陆草原区亚洲东部草原亚区保存比较完整的原生草原部分。区内生态环境类型独特，具有草原生物群落的基本特征，并能全面反映内蒙古高原典型草原生态系统的结构和生态过程。本区拥有目前我国最大的草原与草甸生态系统类型的自然保护区，在草原生物多样性的保护方面占有重要的位置和明显的国际影响。目前，草地退化导致的区域生态问题越来越突出，评价我国草地资源生态服务功能的经济价值，对于制定合理的区域生态保护和经济开发决策、保护和恢复草地生态系统具有重要意义。 针对锡林郭勒草原生态系统服务价值的评估，根据不同的退化强度对锡林郭勒草原植被类型进行定量模拟将其分为正常草地和退化草地，根据退化等级标准划分，将其分为严重退化、中度退化和轻度退化，以锡林郭勒草原有机物生产为基础，分别采用市场价值法、替代市场法和假想市场法等，估算其主要服务功能的经济价值。 本研究选取草地生态系统服务功能价值的功能指标包括食物和原材料生产、旅游和娱乐、有机物质生产、气体调节价值、水土保持、涵养水源价值、以及生物控制及其生物多样性等8类功能进行了评价，基于服务功能机制对其价值量评价方法进行了探索．并在此基础上对其生态经济价值进行了评价，得出锡林郭勒草地生态系统8类服务功能的年生态经济价值分别为元，3.4×108元、6.7×108元、15.8×108元、122.24×108元、3.9×108元107.64×108元、16×108元、36.01×108元，8类功能的总价值为311.69×108。 研究结果表明，草地生态系统除为社会提供直接产品价值外．还具有巨大的间接使用价值，而且这种价值对人类的贡献与提供产品本身同样重要。在各种服务功能中，水土保持价值最为重要;因此，加强草原生态系统环境建设对于维持区域生态安全具有重要意义。今后草地生态系统服务功能及其价值评价工作应注重加强草地生态系统服务功能机制研究。

Assessing resilience and state-transition models with historical records of cheatgrass Bromus tectorum invasion in North American sagebrush-steppe

1. Resilience-based approaches are increasingly being called upon to inform ecosystem management, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. This requires management frameworks that can assess ecosystem dynamics, both within and between alternative states, at relevant time scales. 2. We analysed long-term vegetation records from two representative sites in the North American sagebrush-steppe ecosystem, spanning nine decades, to determine if empirical patterns were consistent with resilience theory, and to determine if cheatgrass Bromus tectorum invasion led to thresholds as currently envisioned by expert-based state-and-transition models (STM). These data span the entire history of cheatgrass invasion at these sites and provide a unique opportunity to assess the impacts of biotic invasion on ecosystem resilience. 3. We used univariate and multivariate statistical tools to identify unique plant communities and document the magnitude, frequency and directionality of community transitions through time. Community transitions were characterized by 37-47% dissimilarity in species composition, they were not evenly distributed through time, their frequency was not correlated with precipitation, and they could not be readily attributed to fire or grazing. Instead, at both sites, the majority of community transitions occurred within an 8-10year period of increasing cheatgrass density, became infrequent after cheatgrass density peaked, and thereafter transition frequency declined. 4. Greater cheatgrass density, replacement of native species and indication of asymmetry in community transitions suggest that thresholds may have been exceeded in response to cheatgrass invasion at one site (more arid), but not at the other site (less arid). Asymmetry in the direction of community transitions also identified communities that were at-risk' of cheatgrass invasion, as well as potential restoration pathways for recovery of pre-invasion states. 5. Synthesis and applications. These results illustrate the complexities associated with threshold identification, and indicate that criteria describing the frequency, magnitude, directionality and temporal scale of community transitions may provide greater insight into resilience theory and its application for ecosystem management. These criteria are likely to vary across biogeographic regions that are susceptible to cheatgrass invasion, and necessitate more in-depth assessments of thresholds and alternative states, than currently available.