土壤增氧方式对其氮素转化和水稻氮素利用及产量的影响

以3种不同生态型水稻品种中浙优1号(水稻)、IR45765-3B(深水稻)和中旱221(旱稻)为材料,比较研究了不同增氧方式(T1-增施过氧化钙、T2-微纳气泡水增氧灌溉、T3-表土湿润灌溉和CK-淹水对照)下稻田土壤氮素转化和水稻氮素吸收利用特性。结果表明:1)增氧处理明显改善土壤氧化还原状况,3种增氧方式下土壤氧化还原电位均高于CK。稻田增氧促进土壤氮素硝化,在分蘖期和齐穗期T1、T2和T3的土壤硝化强度和脲酶活性均显著高于CK,反硝化强度显著低于CK。2)不同增氧处理对水稻氮素吸收的影响不同,在拔节期、齐穗期和完熟期3品种的植株氮素积累量均表现为T1、T2显著高于CK,而T3显著低于CK;在完熟期,T1处理下中浙优1号、IR45765-3B和中旱221植株氮素积累量分别较CK增加了21.2%、13.2%和17.0%,而T2处理下3品种的植株氮素积累量分别较CK增加了14.3%、6.9%和9.1%。3)与CK相比,T1和T2显著提高水稻籽粒产量和收获指数,氮素籽粒生产效率与CK无显著差异,而T3显著增加水稻氮素干物质生产效率和氮素籽粒生产效率。可见,施用过氧化钙和微纳气泡水增氧灌溉能有效改善稻田土壤氧化还原状况,不仅显著提高水稻产量,而且显著增强稻田氮的硝化而减少氮素损失,从而提高水稻氮素积累量和氮素收获指数。     

铅锌尾矿中砷代谢功能基因的多样性

Microbial activities impact arsenic (As) transformation in mine tailings substantially,yet little is understood on the functional diversity of As metabolism genes.This study explored this issue using a metagenomic approach coupled by a local BLASTN procedure established in our recent studies.An assembled metagenome,recovered from hypersaline and sulfidic mine tailings,was screened for As metabolism genes aioA,arrA,arsC and arsM.This was done using a local BLASTN procedure against databases of the As metabolism genes built in this study.Putative As metabolism genes detected in the assembled metagenome included 11 arsM,20 arsC and 1 arrA full-length sequences.Together with the rRNA-based phylogenetic profiling results,a picture depicting microbial As cycling in the tailings to the genus level was obtained.It was found that most of the dominant genera in the tailings potentially harboured the genes for As reduction and/or methylation.In particular,a typical pyrite-eater present in the tailings,Thioalkalivibrio sp.,was found to harbour not only arsC and arsM,but also arrA.These results highlight the unexpected diversity of As metabolism genes in the tailings,especially considering the extremely low species diversity therein.The microbial As cycling picture established here has potential use for guiding the purposeful manipulation of As biogeochemistry in the tailings.     

Competition for shifting resources in the southern Benguela upwelling: Seabirds versus purse-seine fisheries

In the southern Benguela upwelling ecosystem off the west coast of South Africa, seabird populations are decreasing dramatically because of reduced availability of pelagic fish. We tested the hypothesis that the west coast fishing industry is competing for the remaining stocks of anchovy and sardine with the largest colony of Vulnerable Cape Gannets (Morus capensis) along the Atlantic coast. Using GPS-tracking of the birds, echo-sounding of pelagic fish, and vessel log books, we located overlap areas between bird foraging ranges, pelagic fish distribution, and fishing activities. We then compared fish catches by gannets and vessels within their joint foraging zones. In October 2007, purse-seine fishing grounds and gannet foraging areas overlapped by only 13%. However, for a 1-month period, the amount of fish removed from this area by purse-seine boats amounted to 41% of the food requirements of the 72,000 gannets breeding on Malgas Island (25% of the world population). The fishery’s catch in this area is significant in terms of its potential impact on gannets, but comprises only 3.6% of total fishery catch. Based on this finding, the rapidly decreasing size of the gannet colony and the stated objectives of South Africa’s Marine Living Resources Act of 1998, the case for considering and experimenting with at-sea ‘no-take’ areas for the purse-seine fishery is strong. Efforts to establish whether ‘no-take’ fishing zones increase food availability for top predators is an important next step in conservation of the southern Benguela Ecosystem.     

Effects of inbreeding on nodal root system morphology and architecture of white clover (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Trifolium repens</Emphasis> L.)

Plants of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) cultivar Crau, a self-fertile Crau genotype, and nine generations of inbred progeny were raised in sand culture in a glasshouse experiment. Digital images of the root systems were made and root morphological characteristics were determined on all the plants. Root architectural parameters were measured on the Crau parent and the S₁, S₄, S₆, and S₉ inbred lines. The clover roots became shorter and thicker with inbreeding but the number of root tips per plant was unchanged. Root architecture (branching pattern) was largely unaffected by inbreeding. It is concluded that inbreeding white clover will lead to shorter, thicker roots, and reduced nutrient uptake efficiency compared with the parent clover. The degree to which these deleterious traits are overcome during the development of F₁ hybrids needs to be determined.     

Estimation of genetic variance components and heritabilities for cut-flower yield in gerbera using least squares and maximum likelihood methods

Summary Genetic variance components and heritability were estimated for cut-flower yield of gerbera in the Davis population using ordinary least squares and maximum likelihood methods. The overall estimate of narrow-sense heritability is 0.33 based on least squares (LS) and 0.31 based on maximum likelihood (ML). The results of the study indicate that (1) ML and LS provide very similar results if sample size is large enough, suggesting both are useful for plant breeding programs; (2) about one third of the variation in gerbera cut-flower yield is additive, implying selection in cut-flower will be successful; and (3) although additive variation gradually decreased, heritability remained near 0.27 suggesting there is still potential variation in the population for further selection.     

Screening for low grain cadmium phenotypes in sunflower, durum wheat and flax

Cadmium (Cd) level in nonoilseed sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), flax (Linum usitatissimum L.), and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) grown on uncontaminated, alkaline soils has exceeded limits established in Northern Europe. Separate field experiments were conducted to investigate variability of grain Cd levels among sunflower, durum wheat and flax germplasm, and to seek an efficient screening method for future breeding. There were large variations in leaf Cd concentration among 200 sunflower lines. These lines performed more consistently for Cd uptake at the R5 stage than at the V8 stage across 4 locations with markedly differing soils. Cd concentration in V8 leaves was not related to Cd in grain. The positive correlation between R5 leaf Cd and kernel Cd level was obtained from nonoilseed hybrid (Sigco 954) (R²; = 0.74**), and 200 lines (R² = 0.44**) tested over 4 locations in 2 field trials, respectively. This indicates that an efficient and low cost screening method can be developed for genotype selection, but plants must be grown to the R5 stage. A preliminary evaluation of 30 durum wheat and 74 flax lines indicated large variations in grain Cd level of durum wheat and flax. Grain Cd concentration ranged from 0.11 to 0.34 mg Cd kg^-1 DW for durum wheat, and 0.14 to 1.37 mg Cd kg^-1 DW for flax, respectively. This variability indicates that breeding for low grain Cd in durum wheat and flax should be feasible. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Upscaling as ecological information transfer: a simple framework with application to Arctic ecosystem carbon exchange

Transferring ecological information across scale often involves spatial aggregation, which alters information content and may bias estimates if the scaling process is nonlinear. Here, a potential solution, the preservation of the information content of fine-scale measurements, is highlighted using modeled net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of an Arctic tundra landscape as an example. The variance of aggregated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), measured from an airborne platform, decreased linearly with log(scale), resulting in a linear relationship between log(scale) and the scale-wise modeled NEE estimate. Preserving three units of information, the mean, variance and skewness of fine-scale NDVI observations, resulted in upscaled NEE estimates that deviated less than 4% from the fine-scale estimate. Preserving only the mean and variance resulted in nearly 23% NEE bias, and preserving only the mean resulted in larger error and a change in sign from CO₂ sink to source. Compressing NDVI maps by 70–75% using wavelet thresholding with the Haar and Coiflet basis functions resulted in 13% NEE bias across the study domain. Applying unique scale-dependent transfer functions between NDVI and leaf area index (LAI) decreased, but did not remove, bias in modeled flux in a smaller expanse using handheld NDVI observations. Quantifying the parameters of statistical distributions to preserve ecological information reduces bias when upscaling and makes possible spatial data assimilation to further reduce errors in estimates of ecological processes across scale.     

Effects of multiple fires on tree invasion in montane grasslands

There is circumstantial evidence that grasslands on the Bunya Mountains were once maintained by Aboriginal burning, and with lack of fire under European management are being colonised by trees. To assess the efficacy of burning for maintaining grasslands, 119 fires were lit between 1996 and 2006. The total area of unburnt grasslands decreased by 27%, while grasslands burnt at least once decreased by 1%. The density of invading trees was recorded from fixed plots on 23 grasslands burnt between one and six times. Cassinia was virtually eliminated and the density of the Rainforest species guild slowly but continually declined. Acacia irrorata exhibited a humped response, with initial increases resulting from vegetative resprouting and gradual decline with persistent burning. Phyllodinous Acacia and Woodland trees were the least fire sensitive guilds, having stable or increased density with repeated burning. Multi-factor regression modelling detected no significant relationships between changes in woody plant density and the interval between fires, fire intensity, the initial density of large trees, an index of soil moisture, or the cumulative number of fires for any species guild. The survivorship of both Cassinia and Rainforest guilds was significantly lower with summer burning than winter burning, but a seasonal effect of burning was not evident for other guilds. The findings suggest that regardless of fire conditions, frequent burning will reduce the number of adult trees, maintain resprouts in an immature state, facilitate further fire and reduce the rate of grassland loss. Woodland species are especially resilient to fire, and burning to maintain grassy ecosystems will be most successful where the main colonisers are rainforest species and burning is conducted in summer. The findings suggest that the montane grasslands of the Bunya Mountains were maintained by anthropogenic burning and active fire management will prolong their existence.     

Towards an integrated understanding of green space in the European built environment

In recent years social, economic and environmental considerations have led to a reevaluation of the factors that contribute to sustainable urban environments. Increasingly, urban green space is seen as an integral part of cities providing a range of services to both the people and the wildlife living in urban areas. With this recognition and resulting from the simultaneous provision of different services, there is a real need to identify a research framework in which to develop multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on urban green space. In order to address these needs, an iterative process based on the delphi technique was developed, which comprised email-mediated discussions and a two-day symposium involving experts from various disciplines. The two outputs of this iterative process were (i) an integrated framework for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and (ii) a catalogue of key research questions in urban green space research. The integrated framework presented here includes relevant research areas (i.e. ecosystem services, drivers of change, pressures on urban green space, human processes and goals of provision of urban green space) and emergent research themes in urban green space studies (i.e. physicality, experience, valuation, management and governance). Collectively these two outputs have the potential to establish an international research agenda for urban green space, which can contribute to the better understanding of people's relationship with cities.