Investigation of environmental and land use impacts in forested permafrost headwaters of the Selenga-Baikal river system,Mongolia - Effects on discharge,water quality and macroinvertebrate diversity

Headwater streams play a major role for provision of ecosystem services, e.g. drinking water. We investigated a high-altitude headwater catchment of the Kharaa River (including 41 1st-order rivers) to understand the impact of land cover (especially forest cover), environment and human usage on runoff, chemical water quality and macroinvertebrate fauna in a river basin under discontinuous permafrost conditions in an arid, sparsely populated region of Mongolia. To verify our hypotheses that different landuses and environmental impacts in permafrost headwaters influence water quality, we investigated 105 sampling sites, 37 of them at intermittent stream sections without water flow. Discharge was positively impacted by land cover types steppe, grassland and forest and negatively by shrubland, forest burnt by wild fires (indicating a reduction of permafrost) and slope. Water quality was affected by altitude, longitude and latitude, shrub growth and water temperature. Shannon diversity of macroinvertebrates was driven by water temperature, iron content of the water, flow velocity, and subbasin size (adjusted R² = 0.54). Sample plots clustered in three groups that differed in water chemistry, macroinvertebrate diversity, species composition and bio-indicators. Our study confirms that steppes and grasslands have a higher contribution to runoff than forests, forest cover has a positive impact on water quality, and diversity of macroinvertebrates is higher in sites with less nutrients and pollutants. The excellent ecological status of the upper reaches of the Kharaa is severely threatened by forest fires and human-induced climate change and urgently needs to be conserved.     

柯桥区茶叶气候风险区划

本文研究了茶叶种植区的主要气象灾害,为各种植区提供不同类型的精细化气象服务做准备。利用浙江省区域气象自动站2004—2016年的数据、地理信息数据,对柯桥区茶叶气象灾害风险进行评估,并在此基础上划分气候风险区划。结果发现：柯桥区南北地势不同带来了气候的明显差异,针对茶叶生长发育的需求,对柯桥区南北气候进行对比分析,发现南部虽然易发生气象灾害,但在气候适宜性综合评价上更适合茶叶生长。因此,本研究有助于为当地茶叶风险预报提供理论依据,有助于整体上优化茶叶生产布局。     

土壤氮素内循环对生态覆被变化响应的研究进展

随着人口增长对粮食需求的不断提高,人类对自然生态系统扰动频繁,生态覆被/土地利用变化伴随着土壤活性氮库、氮形态组分及氮素内循环过程的改变,直接影响生态系统的持续与稳定,进而引起全球气候变暖,生物多样性减少等诸多生态环境问题。生态覆被/土地利用变化是全球生态系统变化的重要内容。本综述探讨了活性氮的基本概念及其引发的环境效应,国内外自然生态系统中森林与草地间转换、自然生态系统开垦为农田、弃耕撂荒或退耕还林还草、城市化发展等生态覆被/土地利用变化对土壤氮库消长、氮矿化产物形态变化以及影响氮循环的关键土壤微生物影响等,并探讨了制约氮循环的土壤微生物研究进展。指出农业开垦或农田弃耕撂荒会导致土壤全氮大幅度下降,同时引起土壤硝态氮(NO3--N)增加,造成环境活性氮增加的风险;退耕还林修复生态覆被过程中氮库完全恢复需要漫长的时间;运用现代微生物分子生态学的前沿技术是研究土壤氮循环对生态覆被/土地利用变化响应机理的关键。本综述为自然生态系统的保护与开发利用、退化生态系统的修复与重建以及人工生态系统的科学规划等提供了理论依据。     

建德市公益林生态系统服务价值评价

对公益林生态系统服务功能和价值评估进行研究,为建德市公益林保护、规划和管理提供科学指导和理论依据。本文依据《生态系统服务功能评估规范》,结合涵养水源、保育土壤等8项指标,评价建德市公益林生态系统服务价值。结果表明,建德市公益林生态系统服务总价值81.64亿元,其中涵养水源效益25.22亿元,固土保肥效益4.43亿元,固碳释氧效益12.53亿元,积累营养效益0.48亿元,森林游憩效益22.19亿元,净化大气效益3.21亿元,生物多样性保护效益12.13亿元,森林防护效益1.45亿元。公益林生态系统服务价值远高于其直接利用价值,表明应继续实施生态补偿政策,努力提高生态补偿标准。     

生态系统服务权衡最新研究进展

生态系统服务权衡研究对协调生态环境保护和社会经济发展至关重要。为推动生态系统服务管理和提升人类福祉,本文以Web of Science核心合集(WOS)和中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)为数据源,运用文献计量分析法,系统梳理和总结生态系统服务权衡研究的学科知识基础、科学领域结构和热点变化等发展现状以及最新研究进展。研究表明:1)不同研究层面上,生态系统服务间的权衡关系受外部风险和人类需求、参数选取和服务提供者及区域差异性和不均衡性的影响。2)研究方法主要有基于关系识别和具体表征的权衡分析、权衡模拟和预测的模型量化分析和生态系统服务权衡管理优化的多准则分析3类。3)生态系统服务权衡关键驱动因子为城市化、生态工程和气候变化。基于此,我们认为把握生态系统服务权衡不同研究层面的关联特征、创新和优化生态系统服务权衡研究方法、准确甄别生态系统服务权衡关键驱动因子以及充分整合多维生态系统服务权衡资源搭建数据共享平台是未来研究的重点。     

Organic farming fosters agroecosystem functioning in Argentinian temperate soils: Evidence from litter decomposition and soil fauna

Benefits of organic farming on soil fauna have been widely observed and this has led to consider organic farming as a potential approach to reduce the environmental impact of conventional agriculture. However, there is still little evidence from field conditions about direct benefits of organic agriculture on soil ecosystem functioning. Hence, the aims of this study were to compare the effect of organic farming versus conventional farming on litter decomposition and to study how this process is affected by soil meso- and macrofauna abundances. Systems studied were: (1) organic farming with conventional tillage (ORG), (2) conventional farming with conventional tillage (CT), (3) conventional farming under no-tillage (NT), and (4) natural grassland as control system (GR). Decomposition was determined under field conditions by measuring weight loss in litterbags. Soil meso- and macrofauna contribution on decomposition was evaluated both by different mesh sizes and by assessing their abundances in the soil. Litter decomposition was always significantly higher after 9 and 12 months in ORG than in CT and NT (from 2 to 5 times in average), regardless decomposer community composition and litter type. Besides, mesofauna, macrofauna and earthworm abundances were significantly higher in ORG than in NT and CT (from 1.6 to 3.8, 1.7 to 2.3 and 16 to 25 times in average, respectively for each group). These results are especially relevant firstly because the positive effect of ORG in a key soil process has been proved under field conditions, being the first direct evidence that organic farming enhances the decomposition process. And secondly because the extensive organic system analyzed here did not include several practices which have been recognized as particularly positive for soil biota (e.g. manure use, low tillage intensity and high crop diversity). So, this research suggests that even when those practices are not applied, the non-use of agrochemicals is enough to produce positive changes in soil fauna and so in decomposition dynamics. Therefore, the adoption of organic system in an extensive way can also be suggested to farmers in order to improve ecosystem functioning and consequently to achieve better soil conditions for crop production.     

Artificial neural network modeling of microbial community structures in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

Microbial communities vary across the landscape in forest soils, but prediction of their biomass and composition is a difficult challenge due to the large numbers of variables that influence their community structures. Here we examine the use of artificial neural network (ANN) models for extraction of patterns among soil chemical variables and microbial community structures in forest soils from three regions of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. At each location, variations in soil chemical properties and FAME profiles of microbial community structures were mapped at 20 × 20 m intervals within 10 ha parcels. Geostatistical analyses showed that spatial variability in soil physical and chemical variables could be mapped at scale distances of 20 m, but that FAME profiles representing the microbial communities were highly variable and had no spatial dependence at the same scale in most cases. RDA analysis showed that FAME signatures representing different microbial groups were positively associated with soil pH, OM, P and base cations concentrations, whereas microbial biomass was negatively associated with the same environmental factors. In contrast, ANN models revealed clear relationships between microbial community structures at each parcel location, and generated verifiable predictions of variations in FAME profiles in relation to soil pH, texture, and the relative abundances of base cations. The results suggest that ANN modeling provides a useful approach for describing the relationships between microbial community structures and soil properties in tropical forest soils that were not able to be captured using geostatistical and RDA analyses.     

Indicators and trade-offs of ecosystem services in agricultural soils along a landscape heterogeneity gradient

Soil functions can be classified as supporting (nutrient cycling) and provisioning (crop production) ecosystem services (ES). These services consist of multiple and dynamic functions and are typically assessed using indicators, e.g. microbial biomass as an indicator of supporting services. Agricultural intensification negatively affects indicators of soil functions and is therefore considered to deplete soil ES. It has been suggested that incorporating leys into crop rotations can enhance soil ES. We examined this by comparing indicators of supporting soil services – organic carbon, nitrogen, water holding capacity and available phosphorous (carbon storage and nutrient retention); net nitrogen mineralisation rate and microbial biomass (nutrient cycling and retention) – in barley fields, leys and permanent pastures along a landscape heterogeneity gradient (100, 500 and 1000 m radii). In addition, barley yields (provisioning service) were analysed against these indicators to identify trade-offs among soil services. Levels of most indicators did not differ between barley and ley fields and were consistently lower than in permanent pastures. Leys supported greater microbial biomass than barley fields. Landscape heterogeneity had no effect on the indicators or microbial community composition. However, landscape heterogeneity correlated negatively with yield and soil pH, suggesting that soils in heterogeneous landscapes are less fertile and therefore have lower yields. No trade-offs were found between increasing barley yield and the soil indicators. The results suggest that soil ES are determined at the field level, with little influence from the surrounding landscape, and that greater crop yields do not necessarily come at the expense of supporting soil services.     

A trait-based characterization of cover plants to assess their potential to provide a set of ecological services in banana cropping systems

Cover plants are one of the means to increase the functional biodiversity of fields and to enhance the ecological functions of the communities. However, the design of cropping systems including cover plants relies largely on expert knowledge. There is a lack of methods to select the best suited cover plants according to their role in the agrosystem. We propose to use functional traits to select cover plants suited to sustain ecological services in the banana agrosystems of the French West Indies. Our objectives were (i) to characterize a collection of cover plants on a trait basis, according to their potential to provide the services expected in a banana agrosystem and (ii) to discuss the potential use of this characterization for the design of innovative multi-species banana cropping systems. In these systems, four main services are targeted, i.e. controlling weeds, controlling plant-parasitic nematodes, improving soil fertility and particularly N availability, and avoiding competition with banana for resource acquisition. Three experiments were conducted, under field and controlled conditions, to evaluate the potential of a collection of 28 tropical cover plants to achieve the functions related to these services. For each cover plant, a functional profile was constructed from a combination of plant traits that are easy to assess experimentally. It described plants’ potential to achieve the functions expected in a banana agrosystem. Functional profiles required for cover plant usages were also identified. The comparison of the plant functional profiles and the functional profiles required for their usages enabled us to select the best suited plants for each usage. However, these functional profiles rarely corresponded, meaning that a cover plant is rarely sufficient to achieve all the functions required for a usage. Functional complementarities obtained by the mixture of different species of cover plants are thus often required. Compared to classical approaches of innovative cropping system design based on the experimental testing of spatial and temporal plant combinations, such a trait-based approach saves time by focusing on a shortlist of cover plants best suited according to their functions in the agrosystem.     

生态系统管理的原则——以美国黄石国家公园为例

讨论了生态系统管理的定义及原则,以美国黄石公园为例,阐述了黄石公园现状及管理目标,分析在建设过程中运用的生态系统管理原则,总结黄石公园目前存在的问题以及未来发展方向,为我国生态系统管理提供参考。