退化高寒草甸斑块根—土复合体特征研究

高寒草甸斑块的根-土复合体对局部水土流失过程具有调控作用,为研究其特征及抗侵蚀效应,本研究选取三江源区达日县境内典型中度退化草甸的植被斑块为研究对象,调查草甸斑块中心与边缘植物群落特征,测定斑块边缘0～10 cm土层和斑块中心0～20 cm土层的容重、含水率、毛管孔隙度等土壤物理性质,并开展单根拉伸和根-土复合体直剪试验。结果表明：受优势种矮嵩草的分布影响,地上生物量主要分布在斑块中心,根系主要分布在0～10 cm土层;斑块中心区域土壤抗剪强度、内摩擦角和粘聚力均随土层深度的增加而减小;斑块边缘区域土壤粘聚力,抗剪强度明显高于斑块中心区域,草甸斑块植物根系是土壤抗剪强度的主要影响因素。草甸斑块根-土复合体能明显增加退化草甸土壤的抗侵蚀能力,研究结果可为深入研究高寒草甸根系固土功能及水土流失调控提供科学依据。     

东北地区沼泽湿地景观动态特征及驱动力分析

以土地变化科学理念为指导,遥感和GIS为技术支持,应用景观生态学的理论和方法,定量化分析和研究1986~2000年东北地区沼泽湿地动态变化特征及其时空分布格局。通过对研究区域内沼泽湿地时空动态变化程度、动态方向、动态变化形式以及景观格局变化和景观转化特征的分析后得出结论。研究表明,15年来东北地区沼泽湿地面积和斑块数总体呈下降趋势。景观动态变化方面,虽然后5年年均缩减速率是前10年的28倍,但前10年是东北地区沼泽湿地景观斑块变化相对剧烈的阶段。纵观近15年来东北沼泽湿地景观总体变化,具有：虽有阶段性扩展但总体减少、局部萎缩、边界扩散程度加强、景观破碎化程度显著等特点。就其驱动因子研究表明,沼泽景观在自然因素和人为因素双重驱力的作用下,形成独特的景观空间格局。     

Patchy weed distribution and site-specific weed control in winter cereals

Site-specific weed control in winter cereals was performed on the same fields every year over a 5-year period (1999–2003). The most common weeds (Apera spica-venti, Galium aparine, Veronica hederifolia, Viola arvensis) were counted by species, at grid points which were georeferenced and the data were analysed spatially. For weed control, weeds were grouped into three classes: grass, broad-leaved weeds (without Galium aparine), and Galium aparine. Based on weed distribution maps generated by the spatial analyses, herbicide application maps were created and site-specific herbicide application was carried out for grouped and or single weed species. This resulted in a significant reduction in herbicide use. Averaging the results for all fields and years, the total field area treated with herbicides was 39% for grass weeds, 44% for broad-leaved weeds (without Galium aparine) and 49% for Galium aparine. Therefore, site-specific weed control has the potential to reduce herbicide use compared to broadcast application, thus giving environmental and economic benefits.     

The influence of forest harvesting on landscape spatial patterns and old-growth-forest fragmentation in southeast British Columbia

Habitat fragmentation is considered one of the major conservation issues of recent decades. We tested predictions of landscape patterns in a 352,253-ha managed forest area in southeast British Columbia. We did this by focussing on forest fragmentation concerns among old-growth, harvest, and wildfire patches in 44 delineated landscapes using patch indices as measures of landscape pattern. We found no significant association between amount of harvesting and 15 old-growth patch indices. Comparisons among patch types revealed that amounts and spatial patterns of harvest patches differed little from amounts and spatial patterns of old-growth patches in control landscapes. Variability indices revealed similar variability between harvest patches and old-growth patches, and more variability between harvest patches and wildfire patches. Little of the evidence gathered in this study supported predictions of fragmentation of old-growth spatial patterns, or predicted differences between harvest spatial patterns and more naturally occurring spatial patterns. We suggest these results could be due to the relatively small amounts of harvesting and old-growth forest in these landscapes, and therefore habitat amount may be a more important factor than spatial configuration of patches in these landscapes.     

Extent and Implications of Weed Spatial Variability in Arable Crop Fields

Summary

The integration of technologies and principles to assess, manage, and evaluate spatial and temporal variability has enabled the site-specific application of variable rates of agrochemicals. It is referred to as precision management. This article concerns with the potential of precision management for weed control. Weeds are heter-ogeneously distributed and show different levels of spatial aggregation. A better understanding of weed patchiness is necessary for precision weed management. Studies reviewed in this article showed that significant reduction in the amount of herbicide can be achieved when the spatial variability of weeds is taken into account. It is often difficult, however, to obtain information on the spatial distribution of weeds with accuracy because it depends on monitoring techniques, scales of observation, and statistical methods applied. We conclude that the precision application of herbicides is one approach to managing weeds and it will be possible to achieve a drastic reduction in herbicide applications by using a combination of several different types of weed control strategies. Not only farmers with large fields but also those with small fields should have better access to information on spatial variability to make decisions for weed control.     

Comparison and development of new graph-based landscape connectivity indices: towards the priorization of habitat patches and corridors for conservation

The loss of connectivity of natural areas is a major threat for wildlife dispersal and survival and for the conservation of biodiversity in general. Thus, there is an increasing interest in considering connectivity in landscape planning and habitat conservation. In this context, graph structures have been shown to be a powerful and effective way of both representing the landscape pattern as a network and performing complex analysis regarding landscape connectivity. Many indices have been used for connectivity analyses so far but comparatively very little efforts have been made to understand their behaviour and sensitivity to spatial changes, which seriously undermines their adequate interpretation and usefulness. We systematically compare a set of ten graph-based connectivity indices, evaluating their reaction to different types of change that can occur in the landscape (habitat patches loss, corridors loss, etc.) and their effectiveness for identifying which landscape elements are more critical for habitat conservation. Many of the available indices were found to present serious limitations that make them inadequate as a basis for conservation planning. We present a new index (IIC) that achieves all the properties of an ideal index according to our analysis. We suggest that the connectivity problem should be considered within the wider concept of habitat availability, which considers a habitat patch itself as a space where connectivity exists, integrating habitat amount and connectivity between habitat patches in a single measure.