内蒙古多伦草原土壤微生物多样性对全球变化的响应

气候变暖和氮沉降是全球变化现象中最为重要和广为关注的两个方面，它们给陆地生态系统带来了深刻的影响。目前，已有众多研究就二者对地上植被的影响展开了大量工作;而作为陆地生态系统的另一重要生命组分，土壤微生物群落对二者的响应与适应机制还不明了，还需要相关工作的不断补充和完善。本文正是在温带典型草原通过设置增温、施氮等模拟控制实验，探讨增温、施氮及其交互效应对草原生态系统土壤微生物群落多样性和功能多样性的影响，使我们对该地区土壤微生物群落的响应与适应有了一个初步的了解，有助于全面分析和评估气候变化对温带典型草原生态系统的影响。 目前，全球变暖表现出时间上的不均衡性，即夜间增温的幅度要大于白天增温的幅度，而且这种现象在欧亚大陆尤为普遍。这种气候变暖的不均衡性是否会给草原生态系统土壤微生物群落带来显著的影响是我们所关注的问题之一。在第二章中，于多伦典型草原设置了对照、白天增温、夜间增温和全天增温处理，处理时间起始于2006 年5 月，并通过磷脂脂肪酸和BIOLOG 分析方法分别对土壤微生物的群落多样性和碳源利用能力（即功能多样性）进行分析。结果表明，不同增温处理对土壤微生物群落组成的影响均不显著，而夜间增温对土壤细菌群落的碳源利用能力具有显著的促进作用。这说明土壤微生物群落结构对短期增温处理的响应要滞后于功能的响应，而功能上的响应又首先出现在细菌群落，并且这种响应表现为白天增温和夜间增温的非加和效应。 气候变暖往往与降雨的变化相伴而生，而水分又是半干旱典型草原重要限制因子，因此探讨降雨的变化对土壤微生物的影响有助于更深入的了解土壤微生物对气候变暖的响应。在第三章中，分别设置了对照、增温、夏季增雨及增温×夏季增雨处理，处理时间起始于2005 年4 月，并同样分析了土壤微生物的群落组成和功能多样性。结果表明，增温和夏季增雨对土壤微生物群落结构和功能的影响具有明显的一致性，二者均降低了革兰氏阴性菌的相对含量，并且促进了细菌群落的碳源利用能力。增温和增雨在影响细菌群落结构（即，革兰氏阴性菌与阳性菌之比）上具有一定程度的交互效应。 陆地生态系统生产力普遍受到土壤氮素的限制，由于人类活动的干扰，尤其是农业生产和化石燃料燃烧，使土壤氮素含量增加，改变土壤理化环境和地上植物群落，这将直接或间接地影响土壤微生物群落结构和功能。就已有的研究结果来看施氮究竟如何影响土壤微生物群落尚无定论。第四章主要是针对相关研究结果上的分歧，在2003 年设置的0-64 g N m-2 yr-1 的指数施氮梯度实验上进行土壤理化因子、微生物量、净氮矿化和微生物碳源利用能力的分析。结果表明，土壤微生物群落对施氮的响应存在一个介于16 和32 g N m-2y-1 最优施氮量，即低于最优施氮量施氮处理表现为对土壤微生物的促进作用，而过高的施氮量则表现为抑制作用。这一结果说明施氮量是影响土壤微生物对施氮处理做出响应的重要方面之一，有助于解释目前相关研究中出现的结果分歧。 第五章的研究则是考虑了地形和火烧这两个草原生态系统普遍存在的干扰因素，比较分析二者与施氮处理对土壤微生物群落结构的影响。实验设置在多伦典型草原一个坡度为15﹪的南向阳坡，坡上坡下分别设置对照、施氮和火烧处理，处理的起始时间为2005 年4 月。结果表明，土壤微生物群落结构存在地形上的显著差异，表现为坡下以细菌类群占优势，而坡上真菌类群的相对优势较大;火烧对土壤微生物群落结构的影响显著，并表现出明显的地形上的差异，即坡下微生物对火烧的响应敏感性要高于坡上;而短期的施氮处理对土壤微生物群落结构的影响不显著。第六章的研究主要是针对增温、施氮和增温×施氮处理对土壤微生物群落结构和功能的影响，处理时间起始于2006 年5 月。结果表明，土壤微生物群落结构和功能年际变化显著;增温和施氮对土壤微生物的影响均不显著，但增温复合施氮处理中的土壤微生物群落结构表现出一定的响应趋势。

内蒙古典型草原的群落物种组成对割草、施肥、増雨以及加热的响应

随着温室气体的大量排放、土地利用方式的改变以及气温的逐步升高，全球变化对自然生态系统的影响也日益加强，全球变化背景下植物群落物种组成的改变能够引起整个生态系统功能的变化。本论文的研究以内蒙古多伦县十三里滩全球变化多因子实验基地为依托，研究割草、施肥、増雨以及红外加热对内蒙古温带典型草原群落物种组成的影响。本研究采用传统的植物调查方法，比较样方中所有物种和功能型的变化，最终揭示植物群落结构对上述四个处理的响应状况。 研究结果表明：氮素作为中国北方典型草原生产力的重要限制因子，增加了禾草优势物种克氏针茅和冰草的盖度，提高了禾草植物盖度和群落总盖度。施磷提高了群落中豆科植物的盖度。 种群水平上，割草提高了乳白花黄芪、苔草和冷蒿等矮小植物盖度；群落水平上，提高了群落总盖度，增加了群落的物种数。但是仅仅在施氮处理下，割草显著地影响了种群和群落水平的指标。 除了氮以外，土壤水分含量也是草原生态系统的限制因素之一。虽然不同增雨方式之间对群落的影响无显著差异，但是增雨都显著地增加了群落中禾草植物和群落的总盖度。在氮肥处理样地，增雨对禾草植物的正效应更加显著。增雨单独对群落的物种丰富度没有显著的影响。 加热减少了土壤水分含量，降低了群落物种数和群落的总盖度。加热提高了群落中非禾草杂类草的比例，降低了群落中禾草植物的比例。 总之，土壤水分和活性氮含量左右了草原植物群落的物种组成。全球变化的四个主要驱动因子正是通过影响生态系统中水分和氮的有效含量来影响群落结构。施氮和增雨降低了土壤水分和氮含量的限制，割草、加热增强了土壤水分和氮的限制。基于四个驱动因子对草原生态系统相反的作用和影响，有必要进行长期的控制实验，充分了解全球变化下，内蒙古典型草原群落物种组成的变化规律。

Spatial and temporal relationships between precipitation and ANPP of four types of grasslands in northern China

Precipitation is considered to be the primary resource limiting terrestrial biological activity in water-limited regions. Its overriding effect on the production of grassland is complex. In this paper, field data of 48 sites (including temperate meadow steppe,temperate steppe, temperate desert steppe and alpine meadow) were gathered from 31 published papers and monographs to analyze the relationship between above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and precipitation by the method of regression analysis. The results indicated that there was a great difference between spatial pattern and temporal pattern by which precipitation influenced grassland ANPP. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) was the main factor determining spatial distribution of grassland ANPP (r~2 = 0.61,P ＜ 0.01); while temporally, no significant relationship was found between the variance of AN PP and inter-annual precipitation for the four types of grassland. However, after dividing annual precipitation into monthly value and taking time lag effect into account, the study found significant relationships between ANPP and precipitation. For the temperate meadow steppe, the key variable determining inter-annual change of ANPP was last August-May precipitation (r~2= 0.47, P = 0.01); for the temperate steppe, the key variable was July precipitation (r~2 = 0.36, P = 0.02); for the temperate desert steppe, the key variable was April-June precipitation (r~2 = 0.51, P ＜0.01); for the alpine meadow, the key variable was last September-May precipitation (r~2 = 0.29, P ＜ 0.05). In comparison with analogous research, the study demonstrated that the key factor determining inter-annual changes of grassland ANPP was the cumulative precipitation in certain periods of that year or the previous year.

Effects of vegetation control on ecosystem water use efficiency within and among four grassland ecosystems in China

Through 2-3-year (2003-2005) continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes, we examined the seasonal, inter-annual, and inter-ecosystem variations in the ecosystem-level water use efficiency (WUE, defined as the ratio of gross primary production, GPP, to evapotranspiration, ET) at four Chinese grassland ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and North China. Representing the most prevalent grassland types in China, the four ecosystems are an alpine swamp meadow ecosystem, an alpine shrub-meadow ecosystem, an alpine meadow-steppe ecosystem, and a temperate steppe ecosystem, which illustrate a water availability gradient and thus provide us an opportunity to quantify environmental and biological controls on ecosystem WUE at different spatiotemporal scales. Seasonally, WUE tracked closely with GPP at the four ecosystems, being low at the beginning and the end of the growing seasons and high during the active periods of plant growth. Such consistent correspondence between WUE and GPP suggested that photosynthetic processes were the dominant regulator of the seasonal variations in WUE. Further investigation indicated that the regulations were mainly due to the effect of leaf area index (LAI) on carbon assimilation and on the ratio of transpiration to ET (T/ET). Besides, except for the swamp meadow, LAI also controlled the year-to-year and site-to-site variations in WUE in the same way, resulting in the years or sites with high productivity being accompanied by high WUE. The general good correlation between LAI and ecosystem WUE indicates that it may be possible to predict grassland ecosystem WUE simply with LAI. Our results also imply that climate change-induced shifts in vegetation structure, and consequently LAI may have a significant impact on the relationship between ecosystem carbon and water cycles in grasslands.

中国北方典型生态区表土孢粉组合特征及其与现代植被和气候的关系

Surface pollen assemblages and their relationhips with the modern vegetation and climate provide a foundation for investigating palaeo-environment conditions by fossil pollen analysis. A promising trend of palynology is to link pollen data more closely with ecology. In this study, I summarized the characteristics of surface pollen assemblages and their quantitative relation with the vegetation and climate of the typical ecological regions in northern China, based on surface pollen analysis of 205 sites and investigating of modern vegetation and climate. The primary conclusions are as follows:The differences in surface pollen assemblages for different vegetation regions are obvious. In the forest communities, the arboreal pollen percentages are more than 30%, herbs less than 50% and shrubs less than 10%; total pollen concentrations are more than 106 grains/g. In the steppe communities, arboreal pollen percentages are generally less than 5%; herb pollen percentages are more than 90%, and Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are dominant in the pollen assemblages; total pollen concentrations range from 103 to 106 grains/g. In the desert communities, arboreal pollen percentages are less than 5%. Although Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia still dominate the pollen assemblages, Ephedra, Tamaricaceae and Nitraria are also significant important in the pollen assemblages; total pollen concentrations are mostly less than 104grains/g. In the sub-alpine or high and cold meadow communities, arboreal pollen percentages are less than 30%. and Cyperaceae is one of the most significant-taxa in the pollen assemblages. In the shrub communities, the pollen assemblages are consistent with the zonal vegetation; shrub pollen percentages are mostly less than 20%, except for Artemisia and Hippophae rhamnoides communities.There are obvious trends for the pollen percentage ratios of Artemisia to Chenopodiaceae (A/C), Pinus to Artemisia (P/A) and arbor to non-arbor (AP/NAP) in the different ecological regions. In the temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest region, the P/A ratios are generally higher than 0.1, the A/C ratios higher than 2 and the AP/NAP ratios higher than 0.3. In the temperate steppe regions, the P/A ratios are generally less than 0.1, the A/C ratios higher than 1 and the AP/NAP ratios less than 0.1. In the temperate desert regions, the P/A ratios are generally less than 0.1, the A/C ratios less than 1, and the AP/NAP ratios less than 0.1.The study on the representation and indication of pollen to vegetation shows that Pinus, Artemisia, Betula, Chenopodiaceae, Ephedra, Selaginella sinensis etc. are over-representative in the pollen assemblages and can only indicate the regional vegetation. Some pollen types, such as Quercus, Carpinus, Picea, Abies, Elaeagus, Larix, Salix, Pterocelis, Juglans, Ulmus, Gleditsia, Cotinus, Oleaceae, Spiraea, Corylus, Ostryopsis, Vites, Tetraena, Caragana, Tamaricaceae, Zygophyllum, Nitraria, Cyperaceae, Sanguisorba etc. are under-representative in the pollen assemblages, and can indicate the plant communities well. Populus, Rosaceae, Saxifranaceae, Gramineae, Leguminosae, Compositae, Caprifoliaceae etc. can not be used as significant indicators to the plants.The study on the relation of pollen percentages with plant covers shows that Pinus pollen percentages are more than 30% where pine trees exist in the surrounding region. The Picea+Abies pollen percentages are higher than 20% where the Picea+Abies trees are dominant in the communities, but less than 5% where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Larix pollen percentages vary from 5% to 20% where the Larix trees are dominant in the communities, but less than 5% where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Betula pollen percentages are higher than 40% where the Betula trees are dominant in the communities" but less than 5% where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Quercus pollen percentages are higher than 10% where the Quercus trees are dominant in the communities, but less than 1% where the parent plants sparse or absent. Carpinus pollen percentages vary from 5% to 15% where the Carpinus trees are dominant in the communities, but less than 1% where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Populus pollen percentages are about 0-5% at pure Populus communities, but cannot be recorded easily where the Populus plants mixed with other trees in the communities. Juglans pollen accounts for 25% to 35% in the forest of Juglans mandshurica, but less than 1% where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Pterocelis pollen percentages are less than 15% where the Pterocelis trees are dominant in the communities, but cannot be recorded easily where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Ulmus pollen percentages are more than 8% at Ulmus communities, but less than 1% where the Ulmus plants mixed with other trees in the communities. Vitex pollen percentages increase along with increasing of parent plant covers, but the maximum values are less than 10 %. Caragana pollen percentages are less than 20 % where the Caragana plant are dominant in the communities, and cannot be recorded easily where the parent plants are sparse or absent. Spiraea pollen percentages are less than 16 % where the Spiraea plant are dominant in the communities, and cannot be recorded easily where the parent plants are sparse or absent.The study on the relation of surface pollen assemblages with the modern climate shows that, in the axis 1 of DCA, surface samples scores have significant correlation with the average annual precipitations, and the highest determination coefficient (R2) is 0.8 for the fitting result of the third degree polynomial functions. In the axis 2 of DCA, the samples scores have significant correlation with the average annual temperatures, average July temperatures and average January temperatures, and the determination coefficient falls in 0.13-0.29 for the fitting result of the third degree polynomial functions with the highest determination coefficient for the average July temperature.The sensitivity of the different pollen taxa to climate change shows that some pollen taxa such as Pinus, Quercus, Carpinus, Juglans, Spiraea, Oleaceae, Gramineae, Tamariaceae and Ephedra are only sensitive to the change in precipitation.

Drivers of soil net nitrogen mineralization in the temperate grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China

Soil net nitrogen mineralization (NNM) of four grasslands across the elevation and precipitation gradients was studied in situ in the upper 0-10 cm soil layer using the resin-core technique in Xilin River basin, Inner Mongolia, China during the growing season of 2006. The primary objectives were to examine variations of NNM among grassland types and the main influencing factors. These grasslands included Stipa baicalensis (SB), Aneulolepidum Chinense (AC), Stipa grandis (SG), and Stipa krylovii (SK) grassland. The results showed that the seasonal variation patterns of NNM were similar among the four grasslands, the rates of NNM and nitrification were highest from June to August, and lowest in September and October during the growing season. The rates of NNM and nitrification were affected significantly by the incubation time, and they were positively correlated with soil organic carbon content, total soil nitrogen (TN) content, soil temperature, and soil water content, but the rates of NNM and nitrification were negatively correlated with available N, and weakly correlated with soil pH and C:N ratio. The sequences of the daily mean rates of NNM and nitrification in the four grasslands during the growing season were AC > SG > SB > SK, and TN content maybe the main affecting factors which can be attributed to the land use type.

Particulate air pollution and cardiorespiratory hospital admissions in a temperate Australian city: A case-crossover analysis

Although ambient air pollution exposure has been linked with poor health in many parts of the world, no previous study has investigated the effect on morbidity in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. To explore the association between particulate matter (PM) and hospitalisations, including respiratory and cardiovascular admissions in Adelaide, South Australia. Methods: For the study period September 2001 to October 2007, daily counts of all-cause, cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions were collected, as well as daily air quality data including concentrations of particulates, ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Visibility codes for presentweather conditions identified dayswhen airborne dust or smoke was observed. The associations between PM and hospitalisations were estimated using timestratified case-crossover analyses controlling for covariates including temperature, relative humidity, other pollutants, day of the week and public holidays. Mean PM10 concentrations were higher in the warm season, whereas PM2.5 concentrations were higher in the cool season. Hospital admissions were associated with PM10 in the cool season and with PM2.5 in both seasons. No significant effect of PM on all-age respiratory admissions was detected, however cardiovascular admissions were associated with both PM2.5 and PM10 in the cool season with the highest effects for PM2.5 (4.48%, 95% CI: 0.74%, 8.36% increase per 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5). These findings suggest that despite the city's relatively low levels of air pollution, PMconcentrations are associated with increases in morbidity in Adelaide. Further studies are needed to investigate the sources of PM which may be contributing to the higher cool season effects.

Carbohydrate gel ingestion and immunoendocrine responses to cycling in temperate and hot conditions

PURPOSE: Heat stress might attenuate the effects of carbohydrate on immunoendocrine responses to exercise by increasing endogenous glucose production and reducing the rate of exogenous carbohydrate oxidation. The authors compared the efficacy of carbohydrate consumption on immune responses to exercise in temperate vs. hot conditions. METHODS: Ten male cyclists exercised on 2 separate occasions in temperate (18.1 +/- 0.4 degrees C, 58% +/- 8% relative humidity) and on another 2 occasions in hot conditions (32.2 +/- 0.7 degrees C, 55% +/- 2% relative humidity). On each occasion, the cyclists exercised in a fed state for 90 min at approximately 60% VO2max and then completed a 16.1-km time trial. Every 15 min during the first 90 min of exercise, they consumed 0.24 g/kg body mass of a carbohydrate or placebo gel. RESULTS: Neutrophil counts increased during exercise in all trials (p < .05) and were significantly lower (40%, p = .006) after the carbohydrate than after the placebo trial in 32 degrees C. The concentrations of serum interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and IL-10 and plasma granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor, myeloperoxidase, and calprotectin also increased during exercise in all trials but did not differ significantly between the carbohydrate and placebo trials. Plasma norepinephrine concentration increased during exercise in all trials and was significantly higher (50%, p = .01) after the carbohydrate vs. the placebo trial in 32 degrees C. CONCLUSION: Carbohydrate ingestion attenuated neutrophil counts during exercise in hot conditions, whereas it had no effect on any other immune variables in either temperate or hot conditions.

Climatic records over the past 30 ka from temperate Australia – a synthesis from the Oz-INTIMATE workgroup

Temperate Australia sits between the heat engine of the tropics and the cold Southern Ocean, encompassing a range of rainfall regimes and falling under the influence of different climatic drivers. Despite this heterogeneity, broad-scale trends in climatic and environmental change are evident over the past 30 ka. During the early glacial period (∼30–22 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (∼22–18 ka), climate was relatively cool across the entire temperate zone and there was an expansion of grasslands and increased fluvial activity in regionally important Murray–Darling Basin. The temperate region at this time appears to be dominated by expanded sea ice in the Southern Ocean forcing a northerly shift in the position of the oceanic fronts and a concomitant influx of cold water along the southeast (including Tasmania) and southwest Australian coasts. The deglacial period (∼18–12 ka) was characterised by glacial recession and eventual disappearance resulting from an increase in temperature deduced from terrestrial records, while there is some evidence for climatic reversals (e.g. the Antarctic Cold Reversal) in high resolution marine sediment cores through this period. The high spatial density of Holocene terrestrial records reveals an overall expansion of sclerophyll woodland and rainforest taxa across the temperate region after ∼12 ka, presumably in response to increasing temperature, while hydrological records reveal spatially heterogeneous hydro-climatic trends. Patterns after ∼6 ka suggest higher frequency climatic variability that possibly reflects the onset of large scale climate variability caused by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation.

Respiratory illness during winter : a cohort study of urban children from temperate Australia

Objective: To examine the epidemiology and burden of respiratory illness during winter in urban children from temperate Australia. Methods: We conducted a cohort study of healthy Melbourne children, aged from 12 to 71 months. Parents kept a daily respiratory symptom diary and recorded resource use when an influenza-like illness (ILI) occurred. Results: One-hundred and eighteen children had 137 ILI episodes over 12 weeks for a rate of 0.53 ILI episodes per child-month (95% CI 0.44-0.61). Risk factors for ILI included younger age, fewer people residing in the household, structured exposure to other children outside the home, and a higher household income. Episodes had a mean duration of 10.4 days with 64 visits to a general practitioner (46.7 GP visits per 100 episodes), 27 antibiotic courses prescribed (19.7 antibiotic courses per 100 episodes), and three overnight hospitalizations (2.2 admissions per 100 episodes). Parents reported an average of 11.7 h excess time spent caring for a child per episode. Conclusions: Respiratory illnesses are a common and largely neglected cause of illness in Australian children. Pathogen-specific data are required to better assess the likely impact of available and developing vaccines and other treatment options.

Spatially-explicit modelling of grassland classes - an improved method of integrating a climate-based classification model with interpolated climate surfaces

Spatially-explicit modelling of grassland classes is important to site-specific planning for improving grassland and environmental management over large areas. In this study, a climate-based grassland classification model, the Comprehensive and Sequential Classification System (CSCS) was integrated with spatially interpolated climate data to classify grassland in Gansu province, China. The study area is characterized by complex topographic features imposed by plateaus, high mountains, basins and deserts. To improve the quality of the interpolated climate data and the quality of the spatial classification over this complex topography, three linear regression methods, namely an analytic method based on multiple regression and residues (AMMRR), a modification of the AMMRR method through adding the effect of slope and aspect to the interpolation analysis (M-AMMRR) and a method which replaces the IDW approach for residue interpolation in M-AMMRR with an ordinary kriging approach (I-AMMRR), for interpolating climate variables were evaluated. The interpolation outcomes from the best interpolation method were then used in the CSCS model to classify the grassland in the study area. Climate variables interpolated included the annual cumulative temperature and annual total precipitation. The results indicated that the AMMRR and M-AMMRR methods generated acceptable climate surfaces but the best model fit and cross validation result were achieved by the I-AMMRR method. Twenty-six grassland classes were classified for the study area. The four grassland vegetation classes that covered more than half of the total study area were "cool temperate-arid temperate zonal semi-desert", "cool temperate-humid forest steppe and deciduous broad-leaved forest", "temperate-extra-arid temperate zonal desert", and "frigid per-humid rain tundra and alpine meadow". The vegetation classification map generated in this study provides spatial information on the locations and extents of the different grassland classes. This information can be used to facilitate government agencies' decision-making in land-use planning and environmental management, and for vegetation and biodiversity conservation. The information can also be used to assist land managers in the estimation of safe carrying capacities which will help to prevent overgrazing and land degradation.

Soil moisture variability in a temperate deciduous forest: insights from electrical resistivity and throughfall data

Hydrogeophysics is a growing discipline that holds significant promise to help elucidate details of dynamic processes in the near surface, built on the ability of geophysical methods to measure properties from which hydrological and geochemical variables can be derived. For example, bulk electrical conductivity is governed by, amongst others, interstitial water content, fluid salinity, and temperature, and can be measured using a range of geophysical methods. In many cases, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is well suited to characterize these properties in multiple dimensions and to monitor dynamic processes, such as water infiltration and solute transport. In recent years, ERT has been used increasingly for ecosystem research in a wide range of settings; in particular to characterize vegetation-driven changes in root-zone and near-surface water dynamics. This increased popularity is due to operational factors (e.g., improved equipment, low site impact), data considerations (e.g., excellent repeatability), and the fact that ERT operates at scales significantly larger than traditional point sensors. Current limitations to a more widespread use of the approach include the high equipment costs, and the need for site-specific petrophysical relationships between properties of interest. In this presentation we will discuss recent equipment advances and theoretical and methodological aspects involved in the accurate estimation of soil moisture from ERT results. Examples will be presented from two studies in a temperate climate (Michigan, USA) and one from a humid tropical location (Tapajos, Brazil).

Females as mobile resources: communal roosts promote the adoption of lek breeding in a temperate bat

Males of lek-breeding species defend clustered territories from which they display to visiting females. However, the mechanisms leading to the adoption of clustered male display sites are often unknown. In this study, we examined the possibility of a resource-based lek in New Zealand’s lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) (Mammalia: Chiroptera), by assessing the placement of “singing roosts” used by males in relation to communal roosting sites used by females. The “resource-based lek” model posits that males settle near resources required by females to increase female encounter rates. For most bat species, where females are highly mobile and widely dispersed across landscapes while foraging, communal daytime roosts dominated by females may represent such a resource. Through use of video footage, spatial analyses of singing-roost locations, and passive-integrated transponder tags we confirmed that M. tuberculata employs a lek mating system. We found that male singing roosts were significantly clustered in space, were defended by resident individuals, and were visited by females (who did not receive resources from males) for mating purposes. Transponder records also indicated that some singing roosts were shared between multiple males. Spatial logistic regression indicated that singing-roost locations were associated with communal roosting sites. Communal roosts are selected based on criteria independent of the locations of singing roosts, suggesting that males responded to the location of communal roosts and not the reverse. Mystacina tuberculata thus provides evidence of a resource-based lek, and is only the second bat species worldwide confirmed to use a lek-mating system.

Developing improved supply chains for temperate fruits in transitional Asian economies of Thailand and Vietnam.

Asia's increasing demand for both tropical and temperate fruit is projected to grow significantly. Compared with most developed countries, the production of temperate fruits (peach, nectarine, plum and apple) has expanded rapidly in China over the past 20 years. In contrast, current production of plums and peaches in neighbouring countries (Thailand and Vietnam) is very low but their fruit enters the market earlier. Thailand and Vietnam have enormous potential to satisfy a market window in the northern hemisphere period from March to May inclusive when there is little or no stone fruit on the Asian market. In Vietnam, fruit is harvested in an immature state to avoid disease and fruit fly problems and consequently lacks size and flavour. Approximately 30-40% of locally produced fruit in Vietnam does not reach market due to disease and poor handling during picking and transport. In Thailand, much of the infrastructure needed to transport, store, process and market temperate fruits successfully are now in place. However, there are currently no cool chain management or quality assurance systems to ensure a fresh product reaches the consumer with minimal deterioration. In Vietnam, growing stone fruit under the traditional system with little or minimal inputs, the farmer may receive between AUD3,000-5,000 per ha. In comparison, under higher input systems incorporating fertiliser, irrigation and pest and disease management, net returns can be increased seven-fold. Strengths and weaknesses of the current supply chains in these two countries are discussed.