Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species

Fully mapped tree census plots of large area, 25 to 52 hectares, have now been completed at six different sites in tropical forests, including dry deciduous to wet evergreen forest on two continents. One of the main goals of these plots has been to evaluate spatial patterns in tropical tree populations. Here the degree of aggregation in the distribution of 1768 tree species is examined based on the average density of conspecific trees in circular neighborhoods around each tree. When all individuals larger than 1 centimeter in stem diameter were included, nearly every species was more aggregated than a random distribution. Considering only larger trees (>/= 10 centimeters in diameter), the pattern persisted, with most species being more aggregated than random. Rare species were more aggregated than common species. All six forests were very similar in all the particulars of these results.     

Genetic mosaics in strangler fig trees: implications for tropical conservation

Single trees of six species of strangler figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) in Panama were found to be made up of multiple genotypes, presumably formed by the fusion of different individuals. The phenomenon is frequent enough that strangler fig populations will contain considerably more genetic variation than would be expected from the number of trees. How this cryptic variation affects populations depends on the flowering phonology of composite trees. If the genetically different portions of trees flower asynchronously, populations of pollinating wasps may be more resistant to low host population sizes than previously thought. If different portions flower synchronously, attempts to infer mating-system parameters from the parentage of fruit crops will be misleading. The fruiting of figs, which are considered a keystone species in tropical forests, is important for maintaining biodiversity but is also particularly susceptible to failure at small population sizes. It is therefore important to know both the number of trees and the number of genotypes in a population.     

林木同工酶遗传多样性研究进展

该文着重阐述了林木在同工酶水平上的变异模式,指出林木,特别是裸子植物是生物中遗传变异最大的物种,而且林木种内存在着丰富的变异,群体间分化程度低;等位基因频率及杂合度等多样性指标常与一些环境因子存在相关关系;比较了天然林与人工林（包括种子园、试验林）子代的遗传多样性水平,发现在合理建园并采取适当营林措施时,种子园（或人工林）子代的多样性水平并不会降低．此外,还分析了影响林木遗传变异的因子,并概述了保存林木遗传多样性的几种策略．     

不同类型玉米种质群体的SSR遗传多样性分析

利用SSR标记对人工合成群体、地方种质群体和热带、亚热带群体等3种不同类型群体进行遗传多样性分析,26对SSR引物在供试群体内共扩增出184个等位位点.多态性位点数、多态位点比例、基因型数以及遗传距离等分析表明,三类群体均具有较丰富的遗传变异,且热带、亚热带群体内个体间的遗传距离大于地方种质群体和人工合成群体.这一结果说明热带、亚热带群体内的遗传变异较大,面人工合成群体与地方种质群体内的遗传变异则相对较小且基本相当.     

油松育种系统遗传多样性研究

保持林木育种群体较高的遗传多样性是对林木进一步选择和改良的前提 ,而评价育种系统中遗传多样性变化的工作则很少 .该文以一油松育种系统中 6个群体为研究对象 ,借助水平淀粉凝胶电泳的同工酶分析方法 ,用筛选出的ACP ,ADH ,GOT ,CAT ,MDH ,PGM ,SKD ,MNR ,LAP共 9种酶系统 15个位点 ,分析了各群体间和群体内的遗传多样性状况 .研究结果表明 :①各群体内均有较高的遗传多样性水平 ;②种子园无性系群体的遗传多样性水平高于天然林 ;③种子园不同时期产生的两个自由授粉子代群体的遗传多样性与天然林子代群体相似 ;④遗传多样性参数在P0 到F2 三个世代间表现出递增趋势 ,说明改良群体可以维持较高的遗传多样性水平 ;⑤ 3个亲代群体的多数位点遵循Hardy Weinberg平衡 ,而 3个子代群体则与之相反 .该文对油松改良过程群体的遗传多样性变化及影响因素作了讨论 ,分析了群体是否遵循Hardy Weinberg平衡的原因 ,探讨了如何维持和提高种子园遗传多样性和遗传效率 ,提出了进一步研究的建议 .     

Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs

The commonly observed high diversity of trees in tropical rain forests and corals on tropical reefs is a nonequilibrium state which, if not disturbed further, will progress toward a low-diversity equilibrium community. This may not happen if gradual changes in climate favor different species. If equilibrium is reached, a lesser degree of diversity may be sustained by niche diversification or by a compensatory mortality that favors inferior competitors. However, tropical forests and reefs are subject to severe disturbances often enough that equilibrium may never be attained.     

Global correlations in tropical tree species richness and abundance reject neutrality

Patterns of species richness and relative abundance at some scales cannot be distinguished from predictions of null models, including zero-sum neutral models of population change and random speciation-extinction models of evolutionary diversification. Both models predict that species richness or population abundance produced by independent iterations of the same processes in different regions should be uncorrelated. We find instead that the number of species and individuals in families of trees in forest plots are strongly correlated across Southeast Asia, Africa, and tropical America. These correlations imply that deterministic processes influenced by evolutionarily conservative family-level traits constrain the number of confamilial tree species and individuals that can be supported in regional species pools and local assemblages in humid tropical forests.     

Why are there so many species of herbivorous insects in tropical rainforests?

Despite recent progress in understanding mechanisms of tree species coexistence in tropical forests, a simple explanation for the even more extensive diversity of insects feeding on these plants has been missing. We compared folivorous insects from temperate and tropical trees to test the hypothesis that herbivore species coexistence in more diverse communities could reflect narrow host specificity relative to less diverse communities. Temperate and tropical tree species of comparable phylogenetic distribution supported similar numbers of folivorous insect species, 29.0 +/- 2.2 and 23.5 +/- 1.8 per 100 square meters of foliage, respectively. Host specificity did not differ significantly between community samples, indicating that food resources are not more finely partitioned among folivorous insects in tropical than in temperate forests. These findings suggest that the latitudinal gradient in insect species richness could be a direct function of plant diversity, which increased sevenfold from our temperate to tropical study sites.     

西双版纳热带森林雨季土壤动物群落组成与分布特征

１９９７年雨季,对西双版纳不同类型热带森林干生土壤动物群落的组成与分布特征的研究表明：蜱满目是４类森林土壤动物群落中的主要优势类群,弹尾目,膜翅目和等翅目主次优势类群,土各落类群组成及数量分布变化以２类正处于向顶极群落演替的次生林为最大,而在顶极群落季节雨林中,变化则明显减小,说明土壤土壤的多寡与森林小循环速度密切相关,土壤动物在土壤层中的垂直分布主表层多于底层,但有逆向分布现象。     

海南浆纸林林下植物物种多样性研究

以海南浆纸林为研究对象,研究不同浆纸林类型、不同管理方式等对浆纸林林下植物物种多样性的影响。结果表明,不同密度的桉树浆纸林,虽然其林下植物个体数与物种多样性指数存在差异,但没有明显的规律性。农户经营模式下的林下草本个体数表现出少于公司经营的趋势,但物种丰富度却表现出高于公司经营的趋势。与其他人工经济林、荒坡植被和次生林相比,海南浆纸林没有表现出明显抑制林下物种生长与分布的现象,相反,在大多数对比调查中,表现出浆纸林林下具有更多的物种多样性和个体数。     

Tree dispersion, abundance, and diversity in a tropical dry forest

Patterns of tree abundance and dispersion in a tropical deciduous (dry) forest are summarized. The generalization that tropical trees have spaced adults did not hold. All species were either clumped or randomly dispersed, with rare species more clumped than common species. Breeding system was unrelated to species abundance or dispersion, but clumping was related to mode of seed dispersal. Juvenile densities decreased approximately exponentially away from adults. Rare species gave evidence of poor reproductive performance compared with their performance when common in nearby forests. Patterns of relative species abundance in the dry forest are compared with patterns in other forests, and are explained by a simple stochastic model based on random-walk immigration and extinction set in motion by periodic community disturbance.     

不同油松纯林中油松毛虫的遗传多样性及环境因素分析

采用AFLP技术对平泉县的2个油松纯林中油松毛虫进行了遗传多样性和遗传结构的研究。5组引物组合对90个样品DNA进行PCR扩增,并进行变性聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分析,调查了2个油松林群落的环境条件。结果表明,纯林中松毛虫的遗传分化低于环境复杂的林分类型。运用POPGENE软件对2个油松毛虫种群的遗传多样性进行分析,并运用SPSS软件对影响油松毛虫种群的环境因子进行主成分分析。结果表明:2个油松纯林的油松毛虫的多态位点百分率为81.51%,总基因多样度Ht为0.259 6,基因流Nm为6.280 9,不同油松纯林中影响油松毛虫遗传多样性的各种环境因素中树高得分最高(0.473 6),说明2个油松毛虫种群之间基因交流非常强烈,林木生长状况是影响油松毛虫种群遗传多样性的主要原因,油松林的立地条件也有一定影响,物种多度的影响较小。     

东北温带森林林分结构与生产力关系研究

目的探讨林分结构与森林生产力之间的关系及其驱动机制,为合理改善林分结构,优化森林生态系统功能,提高林分生产力提供科学依据。方法以东北地区温带森林为研究对象,采用机械布点的方式在东北地区7座温带森林分布的主要山脉上设置了327个调查取样点,调查面积共计32.7 hm2。研究以26 348株活立木的野外调查数据为基础,利用结构方程模型探讨了基于大尺度条件下物种多样性和结构多样性对森林生产力的作用路径和大小,分析了温度、降水和林分优势高与森林生产力之间的关系及其驱动机制。结果在结构方程模型中:（1）物种多样性和结构多样性与生产力之间的关系都呈显著正相关,且二者间有很强的相关性;（2）温度和降水对生产力没有直接影响,而是分别通过影响结构多样性和物种多样性作用于生产力;（3）林分优势高对生产力也无直接影响,通过影响林分结构作用于森林生产力,且影响比温度和降水更大。结论中国东北温带森林林分生产力的直接驱动因子是结构多样性和物种多样性,气候和林分优势高是通过作用于林分结构间接影响森林生产力。研究结果为东北地区温带森林的可持续经营和管理提供了理论依据,具有重要的现实意义。      

白龙江林区2种次生林群落组成与结构特征

分析白龙江林区2种次生林群落与结构组成，丰富该地区森林动态资料，为该地区生物多样性保护和生态恢复提供一定的科学依据。采用群落生态学研究方法，于自然恢复林中选取次生林栎林（LL）和桦木林（HM）2种林分，分别设置8块20 m×20 m固定样地，对胸径≥3 cm的林木进行每木检尺，计算群落多样性指数、特征值和相似性系数等指标。结果表明，HM和LL中树种丰富且在群落内空间分布比较均匀。LL中共有植物70种，属于46个属、26个科，以壳斗科、蔷薇科、松科、忍冬科为主；HM中共有植物63种，属于35个属、22个科，以桦木科、蔷薇科、松科、杨柳科为主。LL和HM径级结构均呈倒“J”型，群落个体主要集中在Ⅰ～Ⅲ级，Ⅴ龄级以后个体较少，表明2种群落均为增长型。2种次生林群落树种组成、空间结构存在异同，HM和LL群落均表现出多数种集中在少数科。说明试验林分植被恢复遵循群落演替动态规律，选择起源和演化具有相似性的树种作为建群种。建议在该地区搭配合理的其他树种，提高林分质量，加强次生林优势植物的利用。     

Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest

It is debated whether species-level differences in ecological strategy, which play a key role in much of coexistence theory, are important in structuring highly diverse communities. We examined the co-occurrence patterns of over 1100 tree species in a 25-hectare Amazonian forest plot in relation to field-measured functional traits. Using a null model approach, we show that co-occurring trees are often less ecologically similar than a niche-free (neutral) model predicts. Furthermore, we find evidence for processes that simultaneously drive convergence and divergence in key aspects of plant strategy, suggesting that at least two distinct niche-based processes are occurring. Our results show that strategy differentiation among species contributes to the maintenance of diversity in one of the most diverse tropical forests in the world.     

浙西北马尾松公益林分类研究与评价

为了研究浙江省西北部马尾松Pinus massoniana公益林的生态效益及高效马尾松的群落结构特征,以浙江西北重点区域马尾松公益林群落为对象,利用典型样地调查方法,在聚类分析、多样性分析、相似性分析的基础上对马尾松公益林进行全面剖析。结果表明:浙江省西北部马尾松公益林可分为7个类型,其中以常绿阔叶为主的阔松复合混交林类型(类型Ⅶ)多样性较大、生态效益较高;选用常绿阔叶林和以常绿阔叶为主的阔松复合混交林(类型Ⅶ)等2个类型作为优质高效公益林目标类型,并利用相似性分析将除以常绿阔叶为主的阔松复合混交林类型以外的马尾松公益林类型(类型Ⅰ~Ⅵ)划分为马尾松低效公益林。通过各森林类型物种丰富度、物种多样性分析,对马尾松公益林从演替理论进行剖析,为低效马尾松公益林分类建设提供科学依据。     

人为干扰对油松天然林空间分布格局的影响

以山西黑茶山3种不同干扰强度的油松天然林为研究对象,采用g(r)函数点格局方法,分析不同干扰强度下,油松天然林径级结构和多样性差异,以及优势种群油松不同生长阶段个体(幼树、小树、中树和大树)的空间分布点格局。结果表明:油松径级结构呈单峰型,中径级的林木个体数较多。辛普森多样性和香农-维纳多样性随干扰强度的增加而逐渐减少;0~1 m尺度上,不同生长阶段个体呈聚集分布,随着种群发育(幼树-小树-中树-大树),油松天然林的空间格局趋于随机分布,这体现了种群的一种生存策略或适应机制。     

佛山市公园风景游憩林的群落结构特征

  目的  明确不同生态位风景游憩林的优势树种和结构特征,可揭示风景游憩林构建的规律和存在的问题。  方法  采用群落生态学的方法,以900 m2样方为单元,分别在佛山千灯湖公园(20个样方)、文华公园(40个样方)、平洲公园(20个样方)设置风景游憩林群落样地,结合高分遥感影像,进行每木调查。先对径级、高度级和冠面积划分等级,再进行不同类型风景游憩林的差异分析。  结果  ①千灯湖公园的大径级、大高度级和大冠面积等级的主要树种为非洲楝Khaya senegalensis,均比文华公园和平洲公园单一;②在3个样地的有林地和建筑旁林地中,中径级乔木占相对优势明显,大径级乔木占比最少,疏林地和亲水林地小径级乔木占相对优势明显,大径级乔木占比最少;③在3个样地的有林地和建筑旁林地中,中层乔木占比最多,上层乔木占比最少,疏林地和亲水林地下层乔木相对优势明显,上层乔木占比最少;④在3个样地的风景游憩林中,中冠面积等级乔木占比最多,大冠幅等级占比最少。  结论  3个样地森林群落均具备热带或亚热带季风性气候植物区系特征。3个样地的有林地和疏林地(核心林地)、亲水林地和建筑旁林地(边缘林地)内部径级分布均表现出差异。风景游憩林所在位置由城市核心区、次核心区、城郊的过渡,其高度级分布差异逐渐变小。由于树冠是受人为干扰影响最强的生长指标,须开展长期的动态冠面积监测才能反映真实的分布趋势。图3表4参20     

基于物种空间结构和多样性的改进型混交度研究

混交度是描述混交林中不同树种之间隔离程度的重要空间结构指数。由于忽略对象木周围邻近木的空间分布,传统混交度、树种多样性混交度和树种分隔程度空间测度指数在计算混交度时,使得一些不同混交程度混交林具有相同混交度;全混交度对只有几株对象木的结构单元,不能够体现出完全混交的状态。这些给混交林的混交度调查和不同混交林之间的混交度比较带来困难。鉴于此,依据物种空间结构特征和树种多样性,考虑结构单元中树种类型及分布差异,提出一种更具普遍意义的改进型混交度。通过不同的理论典型混交林和天目山不同混交程度的样地数据对不同混交度指数进行对比分析。结果得到:①对于混交程度不同的混交林,改进型混交度计算结果不同;②对于混交程度不是很强烈的混交林,改进型混交度描述更加准确。所以,该混交度是一个很好区分混交林的空间结构指数。     

Genetic evidence for two species of elephant in Africa

Elephants from the tropical forests of Africa are morphologically distinct from savannah or bush elephants. Dart-biopsy samples from 195 free-ranging African elephants in 21 populations were examined for DNA sequence variation in four nuclear genes (1732 base pairs). Phylogenetic distinctions between African forest elephant and savannah elephant populations corresponded to 58% of the difference in the same genes between elephant genera Loxodonta (African) and Elephas (Asian). Large genetic distance, multiple genetically fixed nucleotide site differences, morphological and habitat distinctions, and extremely limited hybridization of gene flow between forest and savannah elephants support the recognition and conservation management of two African species: Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis.