Rural depopulation and recent landscape changes in a Mediterranean region: Consequences to the breeding avifauna

We studied the vegetational and avifaunistic changes following rural depopulation in an area covering 2,600 ha north of Montpellier (Southern France). The study area is covered by a mosaic of Mediterranean habitats that includes cultivation, grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands and is representative of the natural features present and of the human usage practiced so far in this part of the Mediterranean. We sampled the vegetation and the bird fauna in the same 193 census plots in 1978 and in 1992. At both the habitat and landscape scales the cover of woody plants increased significantly. Open habitats tend to disappear. As a consequence the abundance of open-habitat bird species decreased significantly whereas the abundance of forest birds increased significantly. These changes favor a pool of forest species widespread in western Europe and reduce habitat availability for open habitat and shrubland species. Many of the latter are Mediterranean species whose distribution in Western Europe could become reduced under current landscape dynamics. Our observation of more woodlands and their typical birds and of less open habitats and their associated avifauna is not consistent with the traditional worry shown by the public and the managers about the regression of forests and woodlands in the Northern Mediterranean as a consequence of fire.     

Some determinants of the spatio-temporal fire cycle in a mediterranean landscape (Corsica,France)

Based on recent needs to accurately understand fire regimes and post-fire vegetation resilience at a supra-level for carbon cycle studies, this article focusses on the coupled history of fire and vegetation pattern for 40 years on a fire-prone area in central Corsica (France). This area has been submitted since the beginning of the 20^th century to land abandonment and the remaining land management has been largely controlled by frequent fires. Our objectives were to rebuild vegetation and fire maps in order to determine the factors which have driven the spatial and temporal distribution of fires on the area, what were the feed backs on the vegetation dynamics, and the long-term consequences of this inter-relationship. The results show a stable but high frequency of small fires, coupled with forest expansion over the study period. The results particularly illustrate the spatial distribution of fires according to topography and vegetation, leading to a strong contrast between areas never burnt and areas which have been burnt up to 7 times. Fires, when occuring, affect on average 9 to 12% of the S, SE and SW facing slopes (compared to only 2 to 5% for the N facing slopes), spread recurrently over ridge tops, affect all the vegetation types but reburn preferentially shrublands and grasslands. As these fire-proning parameters have also been shown to decrease the regeneration capacity of forests, this study highlights the needs in spatial studies (both in terms of fire spread and vegetation dynamic) to accurately apprehend vegetation dynamic and functionning in fire-prone areas.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

黑河流域水资源开发利用现状及存在问题分析

本文根据有关资料对黑河流域水资源的数量、分布与变化特征进行了较为详细的阐述 ,并且从可持续发展的内涵出发 ,分析了该地区水资源开发利用中出现的问题及对策。结果表明 ,黑河流域水资源开发利用中所出现的种种问题固然与西北内陆地区气候干旱等先天不利条件有很大的关系 ,但最主要的原因还是人类对水资源的开发利用不当所造成的。因此 ,必须改变传统的以牺牲生态环境为代价的经济发展模式 ,社会经济发展应充分考虑流域水资源的制约条件。     

柴达木盆地家畜育肥饲草料营养成份分析

对柴达木盆地地产育肥饲草料进行了营养成份分析，结果表明，柴达木盆地地产饲草料育肥家畜的日粮配方，与省内其他地区育肥家畜日粮配方的营养水平基本相当，只是磷含量较少，应适当增加磷比例。     

Food resources and cyprinid diet in permanent and temporary Mediterranean rivers with natural and regulated flow

This study addresses the differences in food availability, diet and feeding activity of the Iberian barbel, between permanent and temporary nonregulated rivers, and the effect of flow regulation on feeding parameters. A total of 267 adult barbels were seasonally collected in four nonregulated and regulated rivers from permanent and temporary basins, and their gut content was analysed. Locally available food sources were evaluated across sites and seasons. Barbels from the permanent nonregulated river exhibit a more variable and diversified diet in which invertebrates assumed a large importance, especially during high flows. Barbels from the temporary nonregulated river presented a more uniform diet composed of plant material and detritus, particularly in drought seasons. Flow regulation affected different flow components in both systems, but the effects on food resources and barbels' diet were similar, resulting in an intra‐annual stabilisation of resource availability and fish diet, with a higher consumption of plants and detritus. Changes in fish diet and feeding activity in both nonregulated and regulated rivers were strongly associated with the seasonal variability of streamflow components, particularly between low‐ and high‐flow periods, and with the reduction in flow variability in the case of dam regulation. Results from this study can be used to improve guidelines for flow requirement implementation.     

Strong functional stability of soil microbial communities under semiarid Mediterranean conditions and subjected to long-term shifts in baseline precipitation

We investigated the effect of soil microclimate on the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities in a Mediterranean Holm-oak forest subjected to 10 years of partial rain exclusion manipulations, simulating average drought conditions expected in Mediterranean areas for the following decades. We applied a high throughput DNA pyrosequencing technique coupled to parallel measurements of microbial respiration (R_H) and temperature sensitivity of microbial respiration (Q₁₀). Some consistent changes in the structure of bacterial communities suggest a slow process of community shifts parallel to the trend towards oligotrophy in response to long-term droughts. However, the structure of bacterial communities was mainly determined by short-term environmental fluctuations associated with sampling date (winter, spring and summer) rather than long-term (10 years) shifts in baseline precipitation. Moreover, long-term drought did not exert any chronic effect on the functioning of soil microbial communities (R_H and Q₁₀), emphasizing the functional stability of these communities to this long-term but mild shifts in water availability. We hypothesize that the particular conditions of the Mediterranean climate with strong seasonal shifts in both temperature and soil water availability but also characterized by very extreme environmental conditions during summer, was acting as a strong force in community assembling, selecting phenotypes adapted to the semiarid conditions characterizing Mediterranean ecosystems. Relations of climate with the phylogenetic structure and overall diversity of the communities as well as the distribution of the individual responses of different lineages (genera) to climate confirmed our hypotheses, evidencing communities dominated by thermotolerant and drought-tolerant phenotypes.     

基于SPEI_PM指数的渭河流域气象干旱时空演变特征

利用渭河流域25个气象站点1980−2018年月值气象数据集，基于Penman-Monteith蒸散模型计算多个时间尺度的标准化降水蒸散发指数（SPEI），分析渭河流域气象干旱的演变、趋势、影响范围、发生频率和持续时间等时空变化特征，以期为渭河流域防灾减灾管理提供科学依据。结果表明：（1）近39a来渭河流域有明显的干湿周期变化，但整体上呈变干的趋势，干旱时段主要集中在1995−2009年，其中以2000−2009年的干旱站次比最大，平均达到36%，且干旱持续时间最长，约3.6个月，1980−1989年干旱持续时间最短，约1.6个月；（2）渭河流域秋季总体呈湿润变化趋势，而春季和夏季干旱在不断加剧，是区域年际干旱的主要驱动力；（3）渭河流域干旱以危害性较小的轻中旱为主，但2000年前后出现严重及极端干旱的站次相对较多，其中1997年研究区内发生的干旱程度较高，影响范围较广；（4）不同时间尺度各等级干旱发生频率的变化规律表现一致，均呈现出干旱等级越高发生频率越低的态势，且极端干旱在年际尺度内发生次数较为频繁，从空间上看渭河流域东北部是干旱多发区。总之，近39a来渭河流域总体干旱较为严重的时段为2000−2009年，且研究区内干旱呈北重南轻特征，因此北部地区仍需加强防灾管理。     

基于层次分析法的辽河干流水环境承载力评价研究

目前,水生态文明建设提出后,水环境承载力成为衡量地区可持续发展能力的一项重要指标。为了解辽河干流沿岸城市的水环境承载状况,以辽河干流为研究区域,采用层次分析法,建立以水资源、社会、经济、生态环境为子系统的评价体系。代入各行政分区的样本值,进行辽河干流水环境综合承载能力计算。评价了各行政分区不同现状年的承载状况。     

乌江流域茶园土壤理化性状对茶叶品质影响的研究

对乌江流域主要茶场茶园土壤理化性状、茶叶生化成份测定结果表明：不同母岩发育的土壤理化性状各不相同，其对应的茶叶品质也不相同。土壤理化性状及茶叶品质优劣依序为硅质黄壤＞砂页岩黄壤＞第四纪粘质黄壤＞小黄泥＞黄棕壤