Phytosociology,structure and dynamics of Pinus roxburghii associations from Northern Pakistan

We investigated the phytosociology, structure and dynamics of Pinus roxburghii in 40 stands in northern areas of Pakistan by using cluster analysis （Ward’s agglomerative clustering） and ordination （Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling）. Cluster analysis revealed three major groups associated with specific environmental characteristics： （1） P. roxburghii （2） Pinus-Quercus baloot and （3） Pinus-Olea ferruginea community types. NMS-ordination showed the major gradient as an amalgam of elevation （r2=0.441, p＆lt;0.01） and slope （r2=0.391, p＆lt;0.05） as the two topographic factors correlated with species distribution. The first ordination axis also showed positive correlation with soil variables like pH and electrical conductivity, suggesting that soil chemistry was related to topographic characteristics and probably acted as a secondary gradient. We also examined size class distributions, age structures and growth rates of the three communities in order to describe community development and dynamics. Total tree density was 14700 plants/ha, with P. roxburghii having a relative density of 82%to 100%. Density of juve-nile and total density and basal area of the subordinate tree species were low. The low density of trees in the smallest diameter size-class sug-gested that the recruitment of small P. roxburghii plants into the adult population may be lower than the required replacement rate for the stands. Pooled size-class distributions for the species showed a multimo-dal pattern with some regeneration gaps. Browsing, heavy logging and＆amp;nbsp;other anthropogenic activities were the overriding factors responsible for the poor recruitment of P. roxburghii. We concluded from the age struc-ture that the forests were characterized by the dominance of young trees. Growth rate analysis revealed that P. roxburghii was the fastest growing species among the conifers species in Pakistan. In view of its relatively fast growth and longevity, P. roxburghii seems to be a suitable choice for short-t     

灌木年轮学研究进展

灌木往往分布在树线以上或以北的高海拔和高纬度地区以及干旱、半干旱区,是把传统上以乔木为主的树轮研究扩展至森林分布界限以外的唯一选择.尽管灌木具有以上研究潜力,迄今用于树木年代学研究的灌木种类仅有30种左右.介绍了灌木年轮研究方法,综述了过去几十年来环北极高纬度地区,干旱、半干旱区以及高海拔地区的灌木年轮研究的主要进展.主要研究进展如下:(1)发掘一些灌木的树木年代学潜力;(2)揭示限制灌木生长的主要环境因子,并尝试利用灌木年轮宽度等指标重建过去区域气候变化历史;(3)探讨全球变暖的背景下,灌木的生长或分布范围的变化;(4)通过人为控制增温来揭示变暖对灌木生理特征和生长的影响.这些研究展示了灌木在扩展传统乔木树轮研究网络方面的潜力,也是树木年代学研究中最有前景的研究方向之一.目前的灌木年轮学研究多集中于环北极苔原带.作为地球的第三极,青藏高原具有广泛的高山灌木分布,具有把青藏高原边缘区以乔木为主的树木年轮网络扩展至更高海拔和高原内部的潜力.青藏高原高山灌木的年轮学研究并没有引起足够的重视.青藏高原高山灌木的生长是如何适应极端环境条件的,全球变暖的背景下,青藏高原高山灌木的分布和生长正在发生哪些变化等,都有待深入研究.     

Impact of defoliation by the pine processionary moth (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Thaumetopoea pityocampa</Emphasis>) on radial,height and volume growth of calabrian pine (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus brutia</Emphasis>) trees in Turkey

An outbreak of the pine processionary moth (PPM),Thaumetopoea pityocampa Schiff. (Lepidoptera: Thaumetopoeidae), began in spring 1998 and lasted 5 years in aPinus brutia Ten. (Calabrian pine) stand. Tree volume and volume elements increments were examined throughout a PPM outbreak cycle from 1981 to 2003, for an even aged, pure, undisturbed, young Calabrian pine stand. Tree ring chronologies of ‘control’ Calabrian pine, which was not defoliated by PPM during the period of 1998–2003, were used to estimate potential growth characteristics in the ‘host’ Calabrian pine (moderate and high defoliation groups) for current and past outbreaks. Increment cores were collected from 70 host and 78 control dominant or co-dominant trees and annual radial growth indices from 1981–2003 were calculated for each defoliation group in a 41 point sampling. Growth functions were defined as the cumulative sum of radial, height, and volume increment, and graphically compared between host Calabrian pine (3 moderate and one high), four control Calabrian pine and one host Crimean pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) sample trees. At least three severe outbreak periods were identified (from 1981–86; 1992–97; and 1998–2003), much of the study area being severely affected by PPM. Tree ring evidence suggests that large scale (in 1981, 1992, 1998) and partial (in 1988) outbreaks occurred in the study area. Negative inflections of host radial growth curves relative to control height and volume indicated PPM activity. The periodic average diameter growth reductions (in %) in 1981, 1988, 1992 and 1998, respectively, were 0, 13, 5 and 0 for control, 12, 8, 7 and 2 for moderate, and 18, 5, 0 and 7 for high defoliation groups. Outbreaks appear to be associated with dry winter and spring weather prior to the autumn and winter in which feeding occurs. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting Sept. 28, 2004.     

Climate–growth relationships for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) across three southeastern USA states

Abstract –  The role of climate variability in the ecology of freshwater fishes is of increasing interest. However, there are relatively few tools available for examining how freshwater fish populations respond to climate variations. Here, I apply tree-ring techniques to incremental growth patterns in largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides Lacepède) otoliths to explore relationships between annual bass growth and various climate metrics in the southeastern USA. Among six rivers and seven reservoirs in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, strong correlations between annual bass growth indices and climate were detected (73 of 96 possible correlations were significant at α < 0.05). All but two ecosystems exhibited the following pattern: annual bass growth was significantly negatively correlated with annual precipitation metrics, and significantly positively correlated with annual temperature metrics. Based on multiple regressions, climate, on average, accounted for ∼50% of variability ( R ²) in bass growth, although these values ranged from 28% to 65% depending on the ecosystem. Furthermore, every population showed significant correlations with at least one of the following global climate factors: El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Arctic Oscillation (AO). Largemouth bass growth in the southeast is apparently influenced by climate in major ways. Fish ecologists and managers in the region should be aware of the strong links between annual climate conditions and annual fish growth.     

树木年轮与气候变化关系研究

综述树木年轮分析在温度、降水序列和大气CO2浓度变化研究中的应用概况,着重探讨气候变化对树轮宽度、密度和稳定同位素组成的影响,如温度、降水对树木生长的"滞后效应"、"幼龄效应",并就树轮年代学在气候变化研究中存在的问题和研究前景作简要探讨,提出今后年轮气候学的研究应结合中、小时间尺度的树木生理生态学特性进行,需阐明树木和环境各因子之间的相互作用机理及量化关系,应加强各类代用资料与仪器观测记录结果的对比分析,并加强对年轮气候模型的验证,研究方法应由经验性分析转向机理性研究,并注重多学科知识的综合运用.     

Multidecadal otolith growth histories for red and gray snapper (Lutjanus spp.) in the northern Gulf of Mexico,USA

Dendrochronology (tree‐ring analysis) techniques were applied to develop chronologies from the annual growth‐increment widths of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) and gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) otoliths sampled from the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA. Growth increment widths showed considerable synchrony within and across species, indicating that some component of environmental variability influenced growth. The final, exactly dated red snapper chronology continuously spanned 1975 through 2003, while the gray snapper chronology continuously spanned 1975 through 2006. To determine baseline climate‐growth relationships, chronologies were compared to monthly averages of sea surface temperatures, U winds (west to east), V winds (south to north), and Mississippi River discharge. The gray snapper chronology significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with winds and temperature in March and April, while the red snapper chronology correlated with winds in March. Principal components regression including springtime winds and temperature accounted for 28 and 52% of the variance in the red and gray snapper chronologies, respectively. These results indicate that snapper growth was favored by warm sea surface temperatures and onshore winds from the southeast to the northwest in March and April. Overall, this study provides preliminary, baseline information regarding the association between climate and growth for these commercially important snapper species.     

Long-term,landscape patterns of past fire events in a montane ponderosa pine forest of central Colorado

Parameters of fire regimes, including fire frequency, spatial extent of burned areas, fire severity, and season of fire occurrence, influence vegetation patterns over multiple scales. In this study, centuries-long patterns of fire events in a montane ponderosa pine – Douglas-fir forest landscape surrounding Cheesman Lake in central Colorado were reconstructed from fire-scarred trees and inferences from forest stand ages. We crossdated 153 fire-scarred trees from an approximately 4000 ha study area that recorded 77 total fire years from 1197 to the present. Spatial extent of burned areas during fire years varied from the scale of single trees or small clusters of trees to fires that burned across the entire landscape. Intervals between fire years varied from 1 to 29 years across the entire landscape to 3 to 58 years in one stand, to over 100 years in other stands. Large portions of the landscape did not record any fire for a 128 year-long period from 1723 to 1851. Fire severity varied from low-intensity surface fires to large-scale, stand-destroying fires, especially during the 1851 fire year but also possibly during other years. Fires occurred throughout tree growing seasons and both before and after growing seasons. These results suggest that the fire regime has varied considerably across the study area during the past several centuries. Since fires influence plant establishment and mortality on the landscape, these results further suggest that vegetation patterns changed at multiple scales during this period. The fire history from Cheesman Lake documents a greater range in fire behavior in ponderosa pine forests than generally has been found in previous studies.     

Otolith biochronologies as multidecadal indicators of body size anomalies in yellowfin sole (Limanda aspera)

Dendrochronology (tree‐ring analysis) techniques have been increasingly applied to generate biochronologies from the otolith growth‐increment widths of marine and freshwater fish species. These time series strongly relate to instrumental climate records and are presumed to reflect interannual variability in mean fish condition or size. However, the relationship of these otolith chronologies to fish somatic growth has not been well described. Here, this issue was addressed using yellowfin sole (Limanda aspera) in the eastern Bering Sea, for which a 43‐yr otolith chronology was developed from 47 otoliths and compared with body size for 6943 individuals collected in 1987, 1994, and 1999 through 2006. Among several metrics of size normalized for age and sex, average body mass index (defined as weight/length) had the strongest relationship to the otolith chronology, especially when the chronology was averaged over the 5 yr preceding fish capture date (R² = 0.88; P < 0.001). Overall, sample‐wide anomalies in otolith growth reflected sample‐wide anomalies in body size. These findings suggest that otolith chronologies could be used as proxies of body size in data‐poor regions or to hind‐cast somatic growth patterns prior to the start of fisheries sampling programs.     

图像识别技术在树木年轮分析中的应用进展

图像识别技术在树木年轮学研究中具有重要的地位和实用价值。在了解树轮图像分析技术发展历程的基础上,介绍了图像处理新技术在树木年轮分析中的应用,综述了国内外的研究进展。从研究区域、思路与方法、应用领域等方面详细综述了国内最新的研究进展。概述了研究存在的问题及未来的展望。结论表明,图像识别技术能够取代树轮实验分析中常规的人工操作,可以大幅度提高实验分析的自动化程度、量测的精准度以及工作效率。虽然图像识别技术在树木年轮实验分析中仍处在起步阶段,但是其超强的技术优势和发展前景已经显现。     

王朗自然保护区紫果云杉径向生长与气候因子的关系

紫果云杉林Picea purpuea是四川王朗国家级自然保护区的重要群落类型。在其主要分布的原始林内设置10个半径为8m的样圆进行树轮取样与分析。研究结果发现:大部分紫果云杉都出现了一次以上的生长释放现象,通过ARSTAN方法建立年表同气候因子进行显著性相关分析发现,影响紫果云杉生长的气象因子是上年7、8月和当年6、10月的气温以及上一年12月的降雨,其中温度是影响树木径向生长的主要气候因子,通过单年分析进一步印证了这种关系。通过开展紫果云杉树轮年代学研究,了解该云杉生长状况,科学认识树木生长对气候变化的响应机制,为预测气候变化对该树种生长、分布影响及保育提供科学依据。