First record of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Grewia tenax</Emphasis> (Forssk.) Fiori in northern Oman,a valuable fruit producing shrub

Grewia tenax (Forssk.) Fiori is a wild fruit species with multiple uses in different parts of the Tropics and Subtropics. It is common on the Arabian Peninsula and has also been recorded in southern Oman. To date, no record of the species exists for the northern part of this country. To close this distributional gap, three sites in the al-Hajar mountains of northern Oman were surveyed in summer 2005 and spring 2006. During the botanical fieldwork, several flowering and fruiting plants were found in Wadi Bani Awf and Wadi Muaydin. In the latter area G. tenax fruits are eaten by local people. In addition to G. tenax, nine woody perennials with edible fruit were recorded. In northern Oman, fruits of Sideroxylon mascatense (A. DC.) Penn. and Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf. are widely collected and sold on local markets. G. tenax shrubs were found to be heavily grazed indicating its high palatability to goats and sheep. The occurrence of G. tenax in the al-Hajar mountains is a new record to the flora of northern Oman and calls for further investigation of botanists and germplasm collectors.     

Declining plant species richness of grassland ditch banks—a problem of colonisation or extinction?

Small-scale landscape elements, such as ditch banks are an important remaining source of biodiversity in many agricultural landscapes, including the Western Peat District in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, plant species richness is declining even in these habitats. To understand the factors threatening biodiversity, we studied demographic traits (occupancy, trend, colonisation and extinction) for a large number of plant species, in a 25-year long data set. We developed a method to investigate the relative importance of colonisation and extinction for species increase and decrease in multi-species assemblages. We show that colonisation has been more important for determining species trends than extinction. Decreasing species were small and characterised by low nutrient tolerance and high light requirements, indicating that competitive ability influences species trends. The mechanism by which high nutrient levels reduce plant diversity appears to be closely related to colonisation (germination and seedling establishment). Local management should therefore continue to focus on nutrient reduction and the creation of regeneration sites. Yet, these measures will be insufficient for restoring species richness since isolation also hampers species increase. Therefore, to maximise the effects of local management, additional regional management solutions are required to improve seed dispersal for example, from nature reserves.     

Spatial structure of multispecies distributions in southern California, USA

Analysis of the spatial distribution of all species of conservation importance within a region is necessary to augment reserve selection strategies and habitat management in biodiversity conservation. In this study, we analyzed the spatial aggregation, spatial association, and vegetation types of point occurrence data collected from museum and herbaria records for rare, special concern, threatened, and endangered species of plants, reptiles, mammals, and birds in western Riverside County in southern California, USA. All taxa showed clumped distributions, with aggregation evident below 14 km for plants, 12 km for reptiles, 2 km for mammals, and 10 km for birds. In addition, all combinations of the different species groups showed high positive spatial association. The Santa Rosa Plateau exhibited the highest number of rare, special concern, threatened, and endangered species, and shrubland (coastal sage and chaparral) was the vegetation type inhabited by the most species. Local land use planning, zoning and reserve design should consider the spatial aggregation within and between species to determine the appropriate scale for conservation planning. The higher spatial association between species groups in this study may indicate interdependence between different species groups or shared habitat requirements. It is important to maintain diverse communities due to potential interdependence. The results of the study indicate that concentrating preservation efforts on areas with the highest number of species of concern and the restoration of native shrublands are the most appropriate actions for multiple species habitat conservation in this area.     

黄土高原植被的发展分析

由一些概念,阐述了黄土高原植被发展的特点及其背景条件和依据。表明植被建设是植被发 展的前提,它其实和生态修复是一致的。植被建设具有多种环节,需要既突出植被的个性,又要强调 植被的整体性。在大面积的植被建设中,自然植被是基础,而人工植被是对它的补充、改良或完善,适 当而合理的配置是允许的。以农田为代表的人工植被有其正面积极意义。自然植被和人工植被以及 生态型植被和经济型植被,并非非此即彼,它们之间的中间类型植被有着较大的发展空间。植被建设 最终是要形成生态型植被为框架的景观格局。农区应当是人类生产经济活动的主要区域。与黄土高 原山区及城镇、工矿相比,农区是植被建设的关键。     

植被退化对土壤性质的影响及防治对策

植被和土壤在生态系统中相互影响、相互作用。由于植被老化、气候变化、载畜量过大、人类活动等因素的影响,破坏了植被的生存与发展,土壤性质也随之发生了变化并趋于恶化。分析了植被退化的概念、原因及其对土壤性质的影响,并提出了防治对策。     

杂谷脑河流域河谷区植被及其生物多样性

对岷江上游杂谷脑河流域干旱河谷区典型地段植被及其生物多样性进行了研究。结果表明：岷江上游杂谷脑河流域干旱河谷区植物种类较少，且具有荒漠化半荒漠化性质，阴坡植被明显比阳坡丰富；该区植被及其生物多样性指数在阴坡和阳坡均表现出随海拔升高而增大的趋势；该区域植被恢复宜从阴坡着手。     

黄河上游贵德--民和段两岸植被分布特征

根据黄河上游贵德—民和段河岸植被类型的垂直带谱变化规律,采用样地调查方法,分荒漠草原、温性灌丛草原、山地森林草原、高山灌丛和高山草甸等植被带对植被分布特征进行了研究分析。     

河北省森林植被恢复研究现状

简述当前河北省荒漠化和水资源的现状和特点,指出河北森林植被恢复的历史机遇,同时指出河北森林恢复过程中存在的主要问题,重点论述森林恢复过程中植被恢复与水资源的关系、乔木与灌木的作用、自然恢复与人工恢复的关系、常规技术应用与新技术应用、生态建设与经济建设的关系、森林植被恢复的长期性与短期性关系和森林的主体作用。     

玉米不同播种期对生长发育和产量性状的影响

以玉米杂交种桂顶一号,于1988～1989年在广州作分期播种试验。结果表明,全生育期、产量、株高和果穗位高受播期的影响较大,变化差异明显,而植株总叶片数和果位高/株高比值的变化较小。全生育期以2～3月和9月播种的较长,4～8月播种的较短。产量以3～4月上旬和7、8、9月播种的较高,5～6月播种最低。影响生育期长短的主要因子是温度条件,较低温延长生育,较高温促进生育,从而影响产量。构成产量的主要性状,以千粒重和行粒数变化最大,与产量相关最密切。     

昆明岩溶山地植物资源调查研究及园林应用价值

石灰岩地区岩溶山地是一种较为特殊的生境类型,土壤含钙高,土壤水分难以保存,环境干燥,该地貌在云南地质中占很重要的地位。研究生长其上的植物及其在园林中的开发利用有特殊意义。通过对昆明周边岩溶地区植物资源进行设置样地调查,对其中部分园林开发利用价值较高的植物资源进行了统计、归纳,对其前景提出了看法。