云南省六个国家级自然保护区外来入侵草本植物与本地植物的关系

为明确不同自然保护区外来入侵草本植物及其与本地植物多样性之间的关系,以我国生物多样性丰富的云南省为研究对象,于2014年对云南省6个国家级自然保护区的82个1 m2小样方(78个100 m2大样方)中外来入侵草本植物和本地植物物种丰富度和密度进行调查,并分析外来入侵草本植物物种丰富度与本地草本植物物种丰富度、外来入侵草本植物密度与本地草本植物密度的关系及对不同自然保护区外来入侵草本植物物种丰富度的差异进行分析。结果显示,共调查发现22种外来入侵草本植物,其中纳板河流域国家级自然保护区种类最多,达14种,金平分水岭国家级自然保护区仅有2种;6个国家级自然保护区本地草本植物的物种丰富度与外来入侵草本植物的物种丰富度之间、本地草本植物密度与外来入侵草本植物密度之间均呈现正、负2种相关关系,其中哀牢山国家级自然保护区本地草本植物的物种丰富度与外来入侵草本植物物种丰富度呈显著负相关,其它5个国家级自然保护区的相关性均不显著。简单回归分析表明自然保护区外来入侵草本植物物种丰富度与本地草本植物物种丰富度、本地草本植物盖度、本地乔灌木物种丰富度呈显著负相关,多元回归分析结果表明乔灌木物种丰富度和经纬度是造成不同自然保护区外来入侵草本植物物种多样性差异的主要原因。     

Larger body size with higher predation rate

Abstract –  Many studies have reported that prey fish increase in body size with an increase in piscivore abundance, and this change may be explained mainly by two processes: release from intraspecific competition because of a reduction in the prey fish population and size-dependent selection by the piscivore. However, the evolutionary mechanism is not yet fully understood. Here, we first show the body-size dynamics of the semelparous gobiid fish Gymnogobius isaza , which is one of the prey fishes of the introduced largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides . The data show the possibility that the goby body size might have changed in parallel to the number of largemouth bass from 1975 to 2002, which may be one of the best examples of the positive relationship between body size and predation rate. Furthermore, we explored a mathematical model to consider a body-size change of semelparous fish from an evolutionary viewpoint. The model provided the following qualitative predictions: (1) the optimal assimilation rate increases with predation pressure; (2) a rapid large-scale increase in predation pressure may exterminate the prey fish because of delayed evolution of the assimilation rate; and (3) the optimal assimilation rate increases when the prey fish is more likely to die through predation than through natural mortality or when it is difficult to grow larger because of low resource availability or insufficient foraging efficiency. Moreover, we propose a theoretical framework to evaluate the relative effects of ecological and evolutionary processes over the long term.     

Vegetation development of sown grass margins in arable fields under a countrywide agri-environment scheme

Farmers were paid to establish 6 m wide sown grass strips in arable field margins under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in England, UK. One hundred and sixteen sites in eight regions were surveyed to determine if grass margins had been established successfully and the extent to which they were colonised by forbs. Sown margins had more grass and fewer weed species than naturally regenerated sites. Grass margins contrasted with normally cropped sites, having greater species richness of grasses, forbs and perennials and more bird, butterfly larva and bumblebee foodplants. Mesotrophic grassland forbs were scarce in margins established from basic grass seed mixtures but significantly more abundant if included in the seed mixture. Annuals were more prevalent in sites up to 2 years old but species composition was not related to age in sites over 2 years old. Variation partitioning showed that overall species composition was related to seed mixture type, region and soil properties but there was little overlap in the variation explained by these environmental variable sets. Habitat context and management practices did not explain any variation in species composition. Perennial grassy vegetation was established successfully using basic grass seed mixes but only competitive species colonised subsequently. Diverse seed mixtures containing mesotrophic grassland forbs merit support in agri-environment schemes because they do enhance the botanical diversity of sown grass margins.     

外来植物豚草入侵机制

豚草(Ambrosia artemisiifolia)是世界公认的恶性入侵杂草,其花粉是影响人类健康的高致敏原,豚草入侵到农业生态系统和自然生态系统中威胁当地的农业生产和生物多样性。本文综述了国内外学者的研究,发现豚草的成功入侵与其自身入侵性、生境可入侵性和人类干扰密切相关:1)豚草的入侵性在于其具有的高繁殖体压力、高水肥利用效率、化感作用、表型可塑性和遗传多样性;2)生境的可入侵性是由于具有适宜豚草生长的气候条件和可利用资源,生物多样性较低,且缺乏天敌和高竞争力的土著植物;3)国际贸易、耕作等人类活动及全球变化对豚草的入侵性和生境的可入侵性具有促进作用。建议今后应加强豚草可控试验,以探究豚草入侵的地下过程,研究豚草的成功入侵与其生物学特征、表型可塑性、遗传多样性和本地植物多样性之间的关系。     

Growth traits of the exotic plant Hydrocotyle vulgaris and the evenness of resident plant communities are mediated by community age,not species diversity

Biological invasions are determined by interactions between resident plant communities and exotic plants. Time of invasion and species diversity of resident plant communities may greatly affect exotic plant invasions. We assembled low‐ and high‐diversity resident plant communities by sowing seeds of four and eight grassland species, respectively, and at each of three time periods (1, 4 and 7 weeks after sowing), the resident communities were invaded by Hydrocotyle vulgaris or not. We also constructed a plant community with H. vulgaris alone. Presence of H. vulgaris had no effect on biomass of the resident communities or biomass of each component species. Community age significantly affected biomass and evenness of the resident communities, and their competition with H. vulgaris, but the priority effect of the resident communities was slight. Increasing species richness did not change the interaction between H. vulgaris and the resident plant communities. These findings suggest a weaker competitive exclusionary effect of H. vulgaris on the resident communities with early germination, and H. vulgaris tended to have no significant impact on intact resident terrestrial plant communities. Thus, the potential risk of H. vulgaris invasion is low, especially in the communities with young age.