黄土高原半干旱区林草植被建设措施

水分是黄土高原半干旱区林草植被建设的主要限制因子。在借鉴前人进行林草植被建设取得的经验和教训的基础上,从水分与林草植被建设的相互效应出发,提出了以土壤水分平衡为核心的黄土高原林草植被建设3项措施:1)不同地带天然植被类型的林草植被建设;2)不同植被地带的水分生态条件和立地条件的林草植被建设;3)注重林草植被布局,加强草地建设。认为要提高林草植被的成活率、保存率和最大限度发挥林草植被的生态效益,黄土高原半干旱区林草植被建设必须要仿拟天然植被结构和遵循适地、适树、适草的原则进行,并探讨了今后进行林草植被建设的方向和措施。     

高寒草甸土壤水分空间分布及其影响因子研究进展

高寒地区是全球气候变化极为敏感的区域,分布着大面积的高寒草句、高寒草原和沼泽类草原.近来,高寒草甸严重退化,湿地萎缩加剧.土壤水分对土壤系统养分循环和流动起着十分重要的作用.回顾了高寒草甸土壤水分空间分布及其主要影响因子,包括土壤质地、气候因子、地形、植被及人类活动等.土壤水分有其空间分布规律,随水平位置和土壤深度的变化发生相应变化.土壤质地、气候因子、地形、植被及人类活动等因子对土壤水分空间分布具有重要影响.土壤水分空间分布是各种环境因子及人类活动综合作用的结果.     

黄土高原水蚀风蚀交错区植被恢复中土壤水分变化

针对黄土高原生态恢复与重建过程中水资源短缺问题,本文采用空间代替时间序列的方法对地处黄土高原水蚀风蚀交错区的六道沟小流域在植被恢复过程中的土壤储水量和土壤垂直剖面含水量特征进行了研究,分析了紫花苜蓿地(12,15,17,21,26,41 a)、荒草地(15,32,41 a)、弃耕地(12,21,41 a)、杏树地(14 a)的土壤储水量和土壤垂直剖面含水量特征。结果表明:4种植被恢复方式下,土壤储水量的大小顺序为弃耕地 > 荒草地 > 杏树地 > 苜蓿地;苜蓿地、弃耕地0~200 cm储水量随着生长年限的延长先快速增加后缓慢减少,而荒草地的储水量随着生长年限的延长却持续减少。水蚀风蚀交错区植被恢复过程中,植被恢复方式是该地区土壤水分变化的主要影响因素,生长年限对土壤水分动态变化影响不明显。     

化隆县草地植被类型及其利用

青海省化隆县地处青藏高原和黄土高原的过渡带,受青藏高原和黄土高原的影响,自然植被与青藏高原上的高寒植被和黄土高原上的植被类型有一定联系,从而形成该区较为复杂的植被类型。据调查,该地区的主要草地植被类型包括荒漠草原、草原、山地灌丛和高寒草甸,并在该地区形成明显的垂直分布。在海拔较低的黄河河谷区分布着与黄土高原相连的植被类型;而海拔较高的山地则分布与青藏高原相连的高寒植被,形成独具特色的植被类型。     

荒漠草原区围封草地群落特征及其形成机制

以宁夏盐池9年围封草地为对象,研究围封草地群落特征和土壤水分变化。结果表明,研究区具有异质性较高的植被群落特征,并且呈以长芒草+蒙古冰草群落、白草群落和赖草群落3个群落镶嵌分布的空间格局;土壤水分是影响该地区植被生长的关键生态因子,它对围封草地植物群落特征的影响程度不同,其中对生物量、高度和盖度影响较大,而对物种丰富度影响较小;植物群落的空间分布格局是群落特征形成的主要原因,而3种群落内各自土壤水分的空间变异特性使得各群落内部的植被生长状况差异也较大。     

水蚀风蚀交错区复合植被与单一植被土壤水分特征及其地上生物量差异

采用野外调查的方法,于2013年8月选取位于黄土高原水蚀风蚀交错区的陕西省榆林市神木县六道沟流域典型植被类型样地,研究复合植被与单一植被的土壤水分特征、生物量差异及其影响因素。结果显示:深根型植物与浅根型植物复合后其冠层高度、地表植被盖度、叶面积指数和地上生物量都有显著提高;土壤表层含水量显著增加;物种丰富度也呈增加趋势。影响复合植被和单一植被地上生物量差异的主要因素是其根系对水分吸收利用的差异,以及深根型灌木和浅根型草本植物对不同深度土壤水分的利用差异。草本植被地上生物量随100 cm内土壤含水量的增加而增加,而与容重和导水率相关性不显著。因此在植被恢复建设过程中,深根型植物宜与浅根型植物搭配种植,可以合理有效利用有限水资源,提高植被地上生物量、冠层高度和地表植被盖度,从而可以有效控制水蚀风蚀交错区的土壤侵蚀。     

黄土高原半干旱区集流灌草立体配置与水分调控

该区干旱与水土流失并存,降雨量时空分配不均,且水热并不同步(在春夏,植物常因缺水而枯死),致使生态环境建设中恢复植被的难度大。为此,采用工程整地措施与灌草立体配置模式,发展集流灌草植被,调蓄土壤水分,促进灌草植被的快速恢复。结果表明,在水平阶营造柠条和披碱草,在生长初期0-500cm土层含水量可分为3个明显的层次;在生长的第4年随着灌草根系深扎,土壤水分过耗,出现明显的干土层,分布深度在120-200cm,厚度为100cm。在第8年干土层扩大到100-300cm,厚度为200cm。第14年土壤含水量有所回升,但幅度不大,同第8年相比,仅提高1.5-2.0个百分点。水平阶的柠条灌木林随着生长时间的延续,其水分贮量变化是否增加,仍有待继续研究。该区0-500cm多年土壤贮水量,在生长初期(4月份),15年生柠条480.15mm,12年生沙棘、山桃分别为414.6mm和385.4mm,在生长末期(10月),柠条498.31mm,沙棘423.31mm,山桃445.9mm。仅占田间持水量的30%-58%,接近或略高于凋萎湿度,因此,目前的土壤贮水量并不能满足灌木林的生长,仅能维持其生命。从土壤水分的消耗与贮量分析,柠条与禾本科配置是适宜该区建造的优良灌木类型,其次为山桃和沙?     

贺兰山不同海拔植被生物量与土壤分形特征和土壤水分的相关关系

为了解干旱与半干旱区域山地生态系统植被生物量与土壤分形特征和土壤水分含量的垂直分异规律，探究植被生物量与分形特征和土壤水分的相关关系，选取贺兰山不同海拔典型植被带作为研究区，采用单因素方差分析、Pearson相关分析等方法分析植被生物量、土壤分形特征和土壤水分含量的垂直分异特征及三者间相互关系。结果表明：1）草本植被生物量与灌木植被生物量沿海拔未呈明显的线性变化趋势，灌木植被生物量在浅山灌丛（QSGC）样地具有最大值，草本植被生物量在亚高山灌丛（YGSGC）样地具有最大值，植被条件较好，植被生产力较高。2）贺兰山土壤颗粒以粉粒和极细砂粒为主，随着海拔的升高，土壤质地变细。3）土壤水分含量随海拔增高显著增加，但在青海云杉（QHYS）样地土壤水分含量略低。4）相关分析表明，年降水量以及土壤黏粒含量是影响植被生物量的主要因子。总体上，贺兰山植被生物量、土壤分形特征以及土壤水分含量受多个环境因子共同作用和影响，呈明显的空间异质性。本研究对于揭示贺兰山植被生物量空间变化机制及促进贺兰山退化植被恢复具有重要的意义，可为促进贺兰山山地生态系统植被与土壤资源合理利用提供参考。     

金塔县拐湾坝地区宜建为牧业用地

一、拐湾坝地区自然概况拐湾坝地区位于甘肃省金塔县的东北角,西为黑河东岸的绿洲,东部、北部和南部均为辽阔的戈壁滩.该区地形平坦,由于能引黑河之水进行灌溉造林,因而土壤水分状况良好,杂草丛生。土壤主要为荒漠草甸土和盐化草甸土,局部地方为盐土和沙土。区内植被类型主要为草甸植     

植被类型和降雨量对沟谷地土壤水分和温度空间分布的影响

土壤水分和温度作为反映土壤环境的重要指标,对土壤中各种生物化学过程具有着重要的影响。本文通过对不同植被恢复模式和降雨量梯度沟谷地土壤水分和温度0~500cm剖面分布的研究,结果表明:不同植被恢复模式间沟谷地的土壤水分和温度存在着显著差异(P0.01),土壤水分含量表现为草地沟灌木沟乔木沟,土壤温度表现为乔木沟草本沟灌木沟;这表明不同生活型植物的生物学特性可以对植物群落土壤的水分和温度产生分异影响。不同降雨梯度地区间沟谷地的土壤水分和温度也存在显著差异(P0.01),土壤水分含量与降雨量呈正相关,土壤水量表现为西河口沿河湾镰刀湾;土壤温度表现为镰刀湾西河口沿河湾;这表明降雨量差异可以对沟谷地的土壤水分和温度产生显著影响。因此,在沟谷地植被恢复过程中,需要综合考虑地区降雨条件和植被类型的配置,这将有助于促进该地区生态环境的改善与提升。     

Exploratory spatial relative risk mapping

The many faces of disease mapping include maps of disease case locations, regional counts of cases, and disease risk. Another approach is that of mapping the relative risk. Previous methods to map the relative risk were based on regression models of relative risk, given information about geographical locations and established risk factors. However, spatial epidemiological investigations are often exploratory with limited knowledge about the putative risk factors. Indeed, often the primary motivation for the analysis is to identify unknown geographically varying risk factors.

An exploratory approach to mapping the spatial relative risk is to scale the risk map using the background risk in the unexposed (or less-exposed) population. Exposure to unknown spatial risk factors is defined via specific cluster analysis. Identification of spatial disease clusters separates the population into those inside and those outside high risk areas (the exposed and unexposed populations). This exploratory approach to relative risk mapping gives the investigator an impression about the importance and geographical distribution of the unknown spatial risk factors.

Two examples illustrate the exploratory relative risk mapping approach using a spatial point data set on pseudorabies in pig-herds and a regional count data set on small fox tapeworm infections in red foxes.     

Olfaction alters spatial memory strategy of scatter-hoarding animals

Although it has been suggested that olfaction is closely interconnected with hippocampal systems, whether olfaction regulates spatial memory strategy remains never known. Furthermore, no study has examined how olfaction mediates spatial memory established on the external objects, for example, caches made by scatter-hoarding animals. Here, we experimentally induced nondestructive and reversible olfaction loss of a scatter-hoarding animal Leopoldamys edwardsi, to test whether and how olfaction regulates spatial memory to mediate cache recovery and pilferage. Our results showed that the normal L. edwardsi preferred to pilfer caches of others rather than to recover their own using accurate spatial memory (35.7% vs. 18.6%). Anosmic L. edwardsi preferred to recover the caches they made prior to olfaction loss rather than to pilfer from others relied on spatial memory (54.2% vs. 36.0%). However, L. edwardsi with anosmia showed no preference either to the caches they established after olfaction loss or caches made by others (25.8% vs. 29.1%). These collectively indicate that olfaction loss has a potential to affect new memory formation but not previously established spatial memory on caches. Our study first showed that olfaction modified spatial memory strategy in cache recovery and pilferage behaviors of scatter-hoarding animals. We suggest that future studies pay more attention to the evolution of olfaction and its relationship with spatial memory strategy.     

Static spatial requirements of growing-finishing and heavy pigs

The objective of this study was to estimate the space occupied by a pig, calculated from direct measurements on the animal or from digital images. A total of 100 pigs with body weight (BW) ranging from 47 to 198 kg were individually weighed and measured for body length, back and shoulder height. The area of the rectangle into which each pig can be fitted was calculated, following the same method as Petherick and Baxter [Petherick, J.C., Baxter, S.H., 1981. Modelling the static spatial requirements of livestock. In: MacCormack, J.A.D. (Ed.), Proceedings of the CIGR Section II Seminar on Modelling, Design and Evaluation of Agricultural Buildings, Aberdeen, August 1981, Scottish Farm Buildings Investigation Unit, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, UK. pp 75–82]. In addition, pictures of the pigs were taken with a digital camera at the same distance and resolution to estimate the area of the geometrical shape of each animal by counting the number of pixels. Values of Petherick and Baxter's data space (A = 0.047 × BW^0.67) are significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than those found with our linear measurements (A = 0.041 × BW^0.67). The areas calculated from linear measurements support the EU Council Directive 2001/88/EC for pigs in the weight class of 115–150 kg, but not for growing pigs. This is because the area recommended for pigs of 110 kg corresponds only to our minimum space allowance, as estimated from digital image analysis (A = 0.028 × BW^0.67).     

Descriptive spatial analysis of BSE in western France

The spatial heterogeneity of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was analysed on the 84 cases confirmed in western France (WF) between August and December 2000, when both the Mandatory Reporting System and an active surveillance on cattle at risk were running. Ninety-four percent of these cases were born between June 1993 and June 1996, and we analysed the location at birth. One disease mapping and two clustering methods (Scan of Kulldorff and the method of Besag and Newell) were used. In order to attenuate the contrasts artificially created by the standard disease mapping method (over-dispersion), we estimated the Standard Incidence Ratio (SIR) with a Bayesian method (Poisson-Gamma model) allowing a smoothing of the estimators. The geographical location of interest was the "canton", that divided the total area into 526 geographical units. The background population (2.6 million cattle) was obtained from the Agricultural Census 2000. We tested the hypothesis of a homogenous spatial distribution of the BSE risk where the expected number of BSE cases per unit area was obtained by applying the overall BSE rate in WF to each "canton", standardised on the type of breed, dairy versus beef suckler. The SIR ranged from 0.80 to 2.18 and the spatial distribution of BSE cases was significantly heterogeneous. Two spatial clusters were detected with the spatial scan statistics of Kulldorff and the method of Besag and Newell (18 to 20 observed BSE-cases per cluster with a radius of 45 km) centred on the "département" of C?tes-d'Armor and Mayenne. Another cluster was detected with the method of Besag and Newell (9 observed BSE-cases) in the "département" of Finistère. The results proved that the risk of BSE is linked to the geographical location in the area of the study.     

山地牧道与植被空间异质性研究评述

山地牧道和沿牧道放牧改变植被空间异质性。综合国内外研究进展,将山地牧道的涵义扩展为家畜在山地垂直空间移动的固定路线、放牧往返小道、相对固定的采食路径以及践踏小径等,并总结了山地牧道的形成与分布规律,重点评述了山地牧道与植被空间异质性相互作用机制。山地牧道作为一种线状廊道,为物种扩散提供通道、生境,分割斑块景观,影响植被边界动态,在不同尺度上影响植被空间异质性;家畜沿牧道的选择采食与植被空间异质性相互影响,家畜还通过践踏和排泄改变植被空间异质性;家畜采食、践踏和排泄综合作用于土壤,通过影响土壤异质性间接影响植被的空间分布。山地牧道在动物行为学、放牧生态学研究中具有理论和实践价值,可以为监测植被退化、控制载畜量提供依据。     

基于空间分析的森林土壤养分分级方法

为探索一种适用于森林土壤养分分级方法,本研究以广西乐里林场太阳盘分场为研究区域,通过网格化方式布设土壤采样点,分析土壤有效磷含量并进行空间插值,利用森林资源规划数据,提取速生杉木种植小班平均土壤有效磷含量,选取速效氮、速效钾水平中等的小班,计算各小班杉木(Cuninghamiaspp.)年平均生长量,根据相对产量公式计算小班年相对生长量,以"对数"类型拟合年相对生长量与对应土壤养分值之间的关系,分别以相对生长量为50%、75%、90%和95%计算对应的土壤磷素含量,根据计算结果划分土壤磷素丰缺指标,获得该区域土壤有效磷临界值分为2.6、4.0、5.7和6.3,得出研究区杉木林地土壤有效磷分级指标,为制定区域速生林木施肥配方提供研究基础。     

A spatial factor influencing food consumption in laying hens

1. A reduction in the number of cages occupied by laying hens in a row of battery cages lead to a mean increase in food intake per bird of about 4% compared with birds housed in similar rows in which all the cages were occupied.     

A Bayesian model for spatial wildlife disease prevalence data

The analysis of the geographical distribution of disease on the scale of geographic areas such as administrative boundaries plays an important role in veterinary epidemiology. Prevalence estimates of wildlife population surveys are often based on regional count data generated by sampling animals shot by hunters. The observed disease rate per spatial unit is not an useful estimate of the underlying disease prevalence due to different sample sizes and spatial dependencies between neighbouring areas. Therefore, it is necessary to account for extra-sample variation and spatial correlations in the data to produce more accurate maps of disease incidence. The detection of spatial patterns is complicated by missing data in many of the geographical areas as the complete coverage of all areas is nearly impossible in wildlife surveys. For this purpose a hierarchical Bayesian model in which structured and unstructured over dispersion is modelled explicitly in terms of spatial and non-spatial components was implemented by Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The model was empirically compared with the results of a non-spatial beta-binomial model using surveillance data of pseudorabies virus infections of European wild boars (Sus scrofa scrofa L.) in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany.     

Persistent spatial clusters of plasmacytosis among Danish mink farms

Aleutian disease (Plasmacytosis) is caused by the Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV), an autonomous parvovirus and affects many mustelid species, including the American mink (Neovisonvison). In Denmark, an eradication program reduced the prevalence of test-positive farms from 100% in 1976 to 15% in 1996. Nevertheless, the disease persists in the Vendsyssel district of Northern Jutland, despite the eradication efforts. In this study, we used spatial epidemiological analysis to test for spatial autocorrelation of the distribution of farms positive for the disease. We investigated 2375 farms in Denmark (342 of which were located in the Vendsyssel district), during the period 2000-2008. For the purpose of our study, a farm was considered positive when, on any test conducted in a year, at least three animals were tested positive. To detect spatial clusters, we performed a retrospective analysis with spatial scan statistics. We performed one analysis for each of the nine years (2000-2008). A separate analysis was conducted with only the farms in Vendsyssel included. The spatial cluster analysis revealed a significant cluster throughout the time period studied in Northern Jutland. The only exception was 2002 when an outbreak was detected in the southern part of Jutland, and not in the north. The farm-level prevalence of the disease in Denmark was highest in this year, suggesting that the outbreak in the south could have masked the persistent signal from the north; the northern cluster was still significant when analysing only the Vendsyssel populations. These results confirm that Northern Jutland continues to have a significantly higher number of cases than expected if the disease was randomly distributed.     

Methods to investigate spatial and temporal clustering in veterinary epidemiology

Due to their contagious or point-source nature, ill-health and diseases often cluster in time and/or space. Overlooking this characteristic can lead to a delay in the control or eradication of the health problem. In addition to potentially expediting control efforts, cluster identification techniques enable the researcher or health-care official to identify and adjust for confounding factors and to generate new hypotheses regarding disease transmission. This paper examines a variety of temporal and spatial clustering techniques and focuses on those which have been reported recently in the veterinary literature.