Ecological and landscape effects on genetic distance in an assemblage of headwater fishes

Environmental divergence along hierarchically structured longitudinal gradients may constitute barriers to gene flow in river networks for headwater specialised species. While known, this phenomenon has not been well studied, especially with regard to degree of headwater specialisation. We examined six headwater species that differ in habitat specialisation to assess whether patterns of differentiation vary according to geographic or environmental distance. We also identified regional environmental or anthropogenically induced fragmentation effects by comparing within‐drainage patterns of genetic distance across replicate watersheds. We used a comparative modelling framework to determine whether isolation by distance or isolation by resistance of large river habitats was a better predictor of genetic distance across species. The influence of reservoir presence and regional network characteristics that may influence the hydrology and size of large river habitats were also assessed. Resistance effects from large rivers were closely related to headwater specialisation, with increased specialisation leading to increased resistance and loss of drainagewide population connectivity. These results affirm that dendritic networks naturally fragment headwater specialised species. Further isolation from anthropogenic fragmentation was detected in two of the six drainages, indicating interactions with system‐specific conditions. Landscape variables related to the hydrology of large rivers also affected genetic distance in predicted ways, supporting the importance of large rivers in genetically structuring headwater species in drainage networks.     

采伐干扰下次生林灌木层主要树种的生态位动态

为探讨采伐干扰下的灌木层主要树种的生态适应性,用Levins、Schoener和Pianka等生态位测度公式定量分析闽北天然次生林采伐后灌木层主要树种生态位动态。结果表明:样地中黄绒润楠和刺毛杜鹃的生态位最大,属优势树种;甜槠、石栎和映山红为衰退树种,在林分生产作业中需加以保护。采伐干扰促进了灌木层主要树种的生态位释放,各树种的生态位宽度在伐后10~15 a达到峰值,随后下降,伐后20 a接近于未采伐林的生态位;各树种弱度和中度择伐的生态位宽度值约占其生态位宽度总值的50%。生态位重叠值在伐后10 a最大,随后下降,到伐后20 a趋于稳定状态。因此灌木层主要树种生态位的最优期为伐后10~15 a,最佳采伐干扰强度为弱度和中度择伐。     

Quantifying trophic interactions and niche sizes of juvenile fishes in an invaded riverine cyprinid fish community

Quantifying feeding interactions between nonindigenous and indigenous fishes in invaded fish communities is important for determining how introduced species integrate into native food webs. Here, the trophic interactions of invasive 0+ European barbel Barbus barbus (L.) and the three other principal 0+ fishes in the community, Squalius cephalus (L.), Leuciscus leuciscus (L.) and Phoxinus phoxinus (L.), were investigated in the River Teme, a River Severn tributary in Western England. B. barbus has been present in the River Teme for approximately 40 years. Analyses of stomach contents from samples collected from three sites between June and September 2015 revealed that, overall, fishes displayed a generalist feeding strategy, with most prey having low frequency of selection. Relationships of diet composition versus body length and gape height were species‐specific, with increasing dietary specialisms apparent as the 0+ fishes increased in length and gape height. The trophic niche size of invasive B. barbus was always significantly smaller than S. cephalus and L. leuciscus and was significantly smaller than P. phoxinus at two sites. This was primarily due to differences in the functional morphology of the fishes; 0+ B. barbus were generally restricted to foraging on the benthos, whereas the other fishes were able to forage on prey present throughout the water column. Nevertheless, the invasive B. barbus were exploiting very similar prey items to populations in their native range, suggesting these invaders were strongly pre‐adapted to the River Teme and this arguably facilitated their establishment and invasion.     

Ontogenetic resource use and trophic dynamics of endangered juvenile Tachypleus tridentatus among diversified nursery habitats in the northern Beibu Gulf,China

Horseshoe crabs, the most well-known example of “living fossils”, are iconic and ecologically important macroinvertebrates in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Their blood is a crucial resource for manufacturing Limulus or Tachypleus amebocyte lysate to detect bacterial endotoxins or fungal contamination in drug and medical devices. An enhanced understanding of their ecological roles and trophic interactions in the food webs is fundamental to facilitate resource management for the declining populations in Asia. Foraging information of the Asian species, however, is mainly derived from preliminary, scattered reports from a limited number of study locations. In this study, resource utilization, trophic niche dynamics, and trophic interaction of the juvenile tri-spine horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus (instars 1–12, approximately 0.5–8 years old) across ontogeny was assessed in diversified nursery habitats along the northern Beibu Gulf, China, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Our results suggest that: (i) T. tridentatus are ecological generalists given the vast range of carbon isotopic values and trophic niche width estimates exhibited between multiple instar groups; (ii) juvenile T. tridentatus across most habitat types predominantly assimilated energy from a variety of basal production sources in the food web, but primarily depended on sedimentary organic matter and seagrass resource pools; (iii) ontogenetic shifts in juvenile dietary proportions were evident, with decreased reliance on sedimentary organic matter, coupled with increased reliance on benthic macroinvertebrate grazers, detritivores, and omnivores with age; and (iv) nearly all juvenile instars occupied similar trophic positions in the food web with slight shifts in trophic position present with increasing size. Our findings indicate that resource availability and ontogenetic diet shifts strongly influence horseshoe crab trophic dynamics, and age should be accounted when formulating habitat conservation measures based on resource use for Asian horseshoe crabs.     

Distribution and diversity of leaf-cutting ants in Northeastern Argentina: species most associated with forest plantations

Abstract

Leaf-cutting ants (LCA) are considered one of the main herbivores and one of the most destructive pest insects of the Neotropics. Northeastern Argentina harbors the greatest species richness of these ants and in turn comprises the highest surface with forest plantations. Our aim was to establish which species of leaf-cutting ants are most commonly associated with forest plantations by analyzing their geographic distribution using published and unpublished species occurrence data. Also, estimate their potential areas of distribution along a latitudinal gradient that entirely encompasses northeastern Argentina using Ecological Niche Modeling. Only seven of the 20 species recorded were strongly associated with productive systems along the gradient, but only 2–3 species in each region could be considered high-risk species for forest plantations. High-risk species composition shows a turnover between regions. Our models show the potential distribution areas where LCA could become more abundant and dominant, and possibly causing a detrimental effect on the forest plantations in the studied region. We find that ecological niche models are useful tools to assess the environmental suitability of important LCA.     

凤凰县刺楸天然种群主要物种的生态位特征

以湖南省凤凰县刺楸(Kalopanax septemlobus)天然种群分布相对集中的9个样地作为资源位,按重要值总和排序确定主要植物种,应用Levins、Shannon–Wiener、Pianka和Schoener公式分析群落乔木层和灌木层总计29个主要植物种的生态位。结果表明:在乔木层中,刺楸的重要值总和最高(1.345),杉木、柞木、刺楸的生态位宽度较大;乔木层多数种对间的生态位重叠程度较高,对环境需求存在较高的相似性,高重叠种对的相似度为69.23%,高相似种对的相似度为52.75%;刺楸和其他物种的生态位重叠与其他物种的生态位宽度呈正相关;灌木层种间生态位分化不明显,在资源不足时极易产生竞争;生态位宽度值与生态位重叠值、生态位相似比例值关系复杂;刺楸生态位宽度较宽,当资源不足时,刺楸在竞争中不占优势,其种群更新会受到其他物种的影响。     

Effects of different variable sets on the potential distribution of fish species in the Amazon Basin

Estimating species’ potential distribution is one of the main objectives of macroecology, especially when sampling biases can affect knowledge on how environmental variables affect species distribution. Ecological niche models estimate species’ environmental niches from different variables and their occurrences. Using the presence-only data from eight Amazonian fish species, which inhabit rivers and streams, we aimed to (a) explore the effect of different sets variables on the spatial distributions of target species and (b) evaluate the predictive responses of MaxEnt to sets of variables with different degrees of complexity. MaxEnt has high flexibility in relation to the input data and its performance is influenced by a moderate number of adjustable parameters, allowing for high precision results when balancing underestimation and overestimation errors. We used environmental predictors in MaxEnt the principal components of climatic, topographic and edaphic variables as inputs. The combination of topographic and edaphic variables produced more precise and spatially restricted distribution ranges for all species when compared to those generated with climatic variables. All models reached high AUC values, especially for stream species. Modelled range sizes were broader for the river species, suggesting different tolerance thresholds and habitat preferences when compared to stream species. The complexity of the different variables sets did not affect MaxEnt's prediction capacity. However, for stream species, MaxEnt showed a greater predictive power. This work increases the knowledge with regards to the influence of different environmental predictors on the spatial patterns of the distribution of Amazonian fish.     

Seasonal variations in the diet and food selection of the Algerian hedgehog Atelerix algirus

The Algerian hedgehog Atelerix algirus is an insectivorous species. However, the exact composition of its natural diet remains largely undetermined, especially in relation to seasonal variations in food availability. From March to November, we simultaneously analysed the composition of 180 hedgehog faecal samples and food availability in the Soumman Valley, Algeria to assess food selection in this species. The faeces contained 196 different prey species, of which 92% belonged to the class Insecta. The highest prey species diversity was found in the Coleoptera order (100 species recorded) and the highest species occurrence was found in Hymenoptera (65% of the prey items, mainly represented by the harvester ant Messor barbarus, a crop-ravaging species). This study shows that the Algerian hedgehog is mainly a generalist species with a diet that is strongly linked to food availability. However, seasonal variations were observed in prey selection, and a notable shift in food preference was observed during autumn. The exact nature of these changes in feeding behaviour remains to be investigated, notably in relation to changes in energy requirements of this species before hibernation, in terms of quantity and/or quality.     

鄱阳湖湿地灰化苔草群落物种多度分布格局沿水分梯度的变化

为揭示鄱阳湖湿地苔草群落的构建机制,选择灰化苔草(Carex cinerascens)群落作为研究对象,通过设立3条样带调查不同水分梯度的群落物种多度,选用断棍模型(BSM)、生态位优先占领模型(NPM)、优势优先模型(DPM)、随机分配模型(RAM)和生态位重叠模型(ONM)5个生态位模型对群落种-多度关系进行拟合,结果表明,1)灰化苔草群落可按土壤水分划分为高湿度、中湿度和低湿度3组,分别对应从湖边、湿地中间和湿地边缘的梯度分布;2)从高到低的水分梯度上,灰化苔草群落的物种数先增加后降低,优势种多度逐渐增加,物种多度分布曲线由相对平缓变为陡峭;3)高湿度灰化苔草群落物种多度分布格局的最佳拟合模型为BSM,中、低湿度的理想模型转变为NPM。研究认为,水分条件的变化是灰化苔草群落物种多度分布格局改变的主因,随着水分梯度降低,群落构建的生态学过程由随机生态位变为生态位优先占领。研究为鄱阳湖湿地多样性保育和生态功能管理提供了理论参考。     

籽粒苋资源及其在林农复合经营中的重要地位

我国有苋属植物１３种,籽粒苋是以籽实利用为主的一类苋植物种和品种的总称。籽粒苋具有营养丰富,产量高,抗逆性强和栽培季节限制小等特点,在林农复合经营中发挥着维持配置要素间物质能量下沉传递的功能,因此成为林农复合经营设计中的优良组成部分。