Review of several problems on the study of eco-hydrological processes in arid zones

Ecosystem degradation is a common and cardinal environmental problem in arid zones. The change in the eco-hydrological processes is the basic cause responsible for such a problem. The study on the eco-hydrological processes in arid zones has become a forefront and focus of the eco-environmental research. Recent studies on eco-hydrological processes in arid zones show that the primary vegetation pattern and its eco-hydrological effect are of the most stable state of the ecosystem in arid zones. Special water absorption ways of plants in arid zones and the hydraulic lift and reverse hydraulic lift functions of some plants are the key mechanisms to maintain the stability of the ecosystem in arid zones. In the case of water shortage, ensuring ecological water requirement and maintaining proper ecological ground- water table are the prerequisite to keep healthful operation of the ecosystem in arid zones. The paper reviews some advances in the study of eco-hydrological processes in arid zones. It puts forward the concepts of critical ecological water requirement, optimal ecological water requirement and saturated ecological water requirement, and discusses their determination methods. It also emphasizes that the studies on natural vegetation pattern and eco-hydrological effect, on plants with hydraulic lift function, on water sources for plant absorption, on ecological water requirement and ecological groundwater table for different plant species should be strengthened to determine the species composition and pattern suitable for the restoration and reestablishment of vegetation in different arid zones in China.     

井冈山大学校园湿地松人工林植物多样性研究

植物多样性对于区域生态平衡和生态功能的维护以及生物资源的可持续性有重要意义。湿地松(Pinus elliottii)是我国南方丘陵区主要的造林树种,具有显著的经济效益,且发挥着维护生态环境的重要作用。本试验对井冈山大学校园湿地松人工林的植物多样性进行研究,结果表明湿地松人工林的植物物种有37种,Margalef物种丰富度指数(12.302±1.450)与江西省吉安县湿地松人工林的物种多样性丰富度指数相近,Shannon-Wiener多样性指数(0.444±0.219)和Simpson多样性指数(0.972±0.011)均低于相同气候区湿地松人工林植物多样性指数,说明试验区湿地松人工林群落结构单一,不利于植物群落的稳定和正常生态功能的发挥。应合理配置一些阔叶树种来形成异龄混交林结构,以提高植物多样性、系统稳定性及生态系统服务功能。     

林火对森林生态系统碳氮磷生态化学计量特征影响研究进展

林火可以改变森林生态系统元素的生态化学计量特征,反映火后森林生态系统环境中生物地球化学循环变化模式,阐明林火干扰下森林生态系统碳(C)氮(N)磷(P)生态化学计量特征,对于理解森林生态系统对林火干扰的响应机理至关重要。笔者通过查阅大量相关文献,总结与分析了林火干扰对森林生态系统C-N-P生态化学计量特征影响模式,以及林火干扰对植物C-N-P生态化学计量特征、凋落物C-N-P生态化学计量特征、土壤C-N-P生态化学计量特征的影响,认为森林生态系统C-N-P生态化学计量特征主要受到火烧因子(火烧强度、火烧频率、火烧后恢复时间)、植被类型及土壤性质3个方面的影响,针对林火对森林生态系统生态化学计量学研究亟待解决的科学问题,从林火干扰对植物生态化学计量内稳性的影响机制、林火干扰下多重元素生态化学计量学研究、建立林火干扰下植物-凋落物-土壤复合系统生态化学计量学关系等3个方面进行了展望,以期深入了解林火干扰下植物调控策略,明确林火干扰后多重化学元素间相互耦合机制,完善以植物-凋落物-土壤为复合整体的地上地下养分输入输出的关系,对于深刻理解全球气候变化背景下森林生态系统养分循环和平衡,以及合理制定林火管理措施具有重要作用。     

Diversity and dispersal interactively affect predictability of ecosystem function

Theory and small-scale experiments predict that biodiversity losses can decrease the magnitude and stability of ecosystem services such as production and nutrient cycling. Most of this research, however, has been isolated from the immigration and emigration (dispersal) processes that create and maintain diversity in nature. As common anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity change--such as habitat fragmentation, species introductions and climate change--are mediated by these understudied processes, it is unclear how environmental degradation will affect ecosystem services. Here we tested the interactive effects of mobile grazer diversity and dispersal on the magnitude and stability of ecosystem properties in experimental seagrass communities that were either isolated or connected by dispersal corridors. We show that, contrary to theoretical predictions, increasing the number of mobile grazer species in these metacommunities increased the spatial and temporal variability of primary and secondary production. Moreover, allowing grazers to move among and select patches reduced diversity effects on production. Finally, effects of diversity on stability differed qualitatively between patch and metacommunity scales. Our results indicate that declining biodiversity and habitat fragmentation synergistically influence the predictability of ecosystem functioning.     

Plant communities: ecosystem maturity and performance

The effect of maturity, or successional stage, on ecosystem performance (measured as productivity or stability, for example) is important for both basic ecology and ecosystem management. On the basis of the results of a long-term study of two different plant communities at two sites in the Inner Mongolia grassland, Bai et al. claim that these communities simultaneously achieve high species richness, productivity and ecosystem stability at the late successional stage. However, I question their interpretation of the data and suggest that this claim is undermined by evidence from other empirical and theoretical studies.     

成都市生态系统服务功能价值探讨

运用生态经济学原理与方法,阐释了成都市生态系统调节气候、固碳释氧、保持土壤、涵养水源、净化环境和减弱噪声等生态服务功能,对其经济价值进行评估.结果表明,成都市生态系统服务功能年总价值为11 524.79亿元,该市2004年国内生产总值(GDP)2 185.7亿元.巨大的生态服务潜力,为成都市可持续发展提供了广阔的空间.依据重要性,由大到小依次为固碳释氧功能、调节气候功能、涵养水源功能、保持土壤功能、净化空气功能与减弱噪声功能.污水治理与土壤重金属降解是成都市下一阶段景观管理与生态建设中需要重点保障的生态系统服务功能.     

Species-diversified plant cover enhances orchard ecosystem resistance to climatic stress and soil erosion in subtropical hillside

Naturally occurring plants in agroecosystem evidently play an important role in ecosystem stability. Field studies on the ecological effects of native plants conserved in orchard and their resistance to adverse climatic stress, and soil erosion were conducted from 1998 to 2001 in a newly developed Changshan-huyou (Citrus changshan-huyou Y.B. Chang) orchard. The experimental area covered 150 ha in typical red soil hilly region in southeastern China. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with six combinations of twelve plant species with four replications. All species used were native in the orchard. Plots were 15 x 8 m2 and separated by 2 m buffer strips. Precipitation, soil erosion in rainstorm days and aboveground biomass of plant community when rainstorm days ended, soil temperature and moisture under various plant covers during seasonal megathermal drought period, antiscourability of soil with different root density under various simulated rainfalls were measured. Plant cover significantly decreased the daily highest and mean soil temperature and its daily variation in hot-drought season, but there was no significant difference of the alleviation among various plant covers. Plant covers significantly increased the soil moisture in seasonal megathermal drought period. Better moisture maintenance and soil erosion reduction was found when the plant species numbers in cover plant communities increased from one to eight. Higher root density in plant communities with higher species richness increased significantly the antiscourability of the soil. It was suggested that conserving plant communities with diversified native species could produce the best positive ecological effects on citrus orchard ecosystem stability.     

上海崇明县湿地生态系统服务功能价值评价

【目的】对崇明县湿地生态系统服务功能价值进行核算,一方面为湿地生态系统生态价值核算提供参考依据,另一方面可以为崇明县湿地保护、恢复与可持续发展提供指导。【方法】基于上海市第2次(2011—2013年)湿地资源调查数据,将崇明县湿地划分为3类10型; 根据《千年生态系统评估》,结合崇明县实际,将崇明县湿地生态系统服务功能分为4大类共13项,并估算了崇明县湿地的价值。【结果】崇明县湿地生态系统服务功能总价值为124.13亿元。在各湿地类型中,近海与海岸湿地的服务功能价值最大为51.53亿元,其次是人工湿地的服务功能价值为24.74亿元,沼泽湿地的服务价值最小仅为2.61亿元; 湿地生态系统的各项服务功能价值大小顺序为:调节服务价值(48.25亿元)＞支持服务价值(43.81亿元)＞供给服务价值(22.57亿元)＞文化服务价值(9.50亿元)。【结论】调节服务和支持服务是崇明县湿地生态系统的主导服务功能,因此,在坚持优先保护的原则下,合理高效利用湿地资源,可提高该县湿地服务总价值量。     

基于生境质量与生态区位的海口市生态系统服务价值估算

通过市场价格法、机会成本法、影子工程法等常用生态服务价值评估方法计算出自然、农业和城市生态系统的生态服务基准价值, 利用生境质量系数和生态区位系数对海口市1998, 2004和2008年生态系统服务基准价值进行空间调整, 得到3个时期海口市生态系统服务价值的空间分布情况。结果显示, 单位面积服务价值除针叶林、红树林和橡胶林2008年较1998年减少外, 其他生态系统呈增加趋势。3期生态系统服务价值分别为58.09, 83.40和106.02亿元, 比相应年份基准价值增加?2.82%, 21.62%和30.59%; 价值构成中农业生态系统服务价值所占比例最高, 1998, 2004和2008年分别占总价值的78.60%, 80.07%和81.89%, 自然和城市生态系统服务价值增加趋势相对缓慢。     

基于流量恢复法的黄河下游鱼类生态需水研究

运用流量恢复(the flow restoration methodology)方法研究黄河下游鱼类生态需水,其基本思路是:首先获得所保护鱼类生态习性相关的流量信息,包括水深、流速、水量等.然后建立概念性模型,确定鱼类和特定流量组分之间的联系.在此基础上,确定流量目标,每一个流量目标被赋予一些水力指标,作为获得满足这个目标的环境流量计算的依据.运用水文学、水力学模型确定满足这些流量目标需要的水流条件,包括数量、持续时间、频率和发生时间,给出满足鱼类生长需要的生态流量.最后给出不同水资源管理情景下可接受的鱼类生态需水.     

居民对城市湿地公园生态系统服务功能认知的分析

【目的】研究和分析居民对城市湿地公园生态系统服务功能的认知程度及影响因素,为城市湿地公园的建设、管理提供依据。【方法】以贵州贵阳市花溪湿地公园和小车河湿地公园为例,采用问卷调查方式,获取居民对城市湿地公园生态系统服务功能的认知程度,分析城市湿地生态系统服务功能认知的影响因素。【结果】①居民对花溪湿地公园和小车河湿地公园净化空气、旅游休闲、调节气候服务功能高度认知,对废弃物处理、水产品服务功能认知度较低。居民对花溪湿地公园服务功能认知度略高于小车河湿地公园。②影响居民对花溪湿地公园服务功能认知的主要因素是年龄、职业,而影响对小车河湿地公园服务功能认知的因素主要是教育水平、收入。【结论】居民的教育、收入水平与城市湿地生态系统服务功能认知呈正相关,不同地域居民对城市湿地生态系统服务功能认知存在差异。     

水岸带研究综述

水岸生态系统是介于陆地与河流、湖泊、溪流或水塘之间的过渡地带,是非常重要的典型的生态交错区。水岸带具有重要的生态、社会、经济和旅游价值。水岸带研究以生态学、水文学和地貌学为基础涉及多种学科和技术。我国城市水岸多使用混凝土等人工建筑材料,结果导致水岸植物群落丧失,破坏了水岸连接水生生态系统和陆地生态系统的纽带作用,其生态作用越来越小。由于自然和人为因素的影响,退化水岸带的生态恢复与重建较为复杂,我国水岸带及其退化生态系统重建理论与实践研究均较为薄弱。为此,笔者总结目前国内外有关水岸生态系统的研究现状及未来发展方向,对我国水岸生态系统的研究提供参考。     

城市生态系统服务功能价值评估初探——以深圳市为例

综述国内外生态系统服务功能价值评估相关研究进展,以深圳市为例,运用生态经济学原理与方法,阐释了生态系统调节气候、固碳释氧、保持土壤、涵养水源、净化环境和减弱噪声等生态服务功能,对其经济价值进行评估。结果表明,深圳市生态系统服务功能具有巨大的生态经济效益,2000年总价值为1265.29亿元,与深圳市当年国内生产总值1665.24亿元相当。同时,城市生态系统各生态服务功能的重要性,由大到小依次为固碳释氧功能、调节气候功能、涵养水源功能、保持土壤功能、净化空气功能与减弱噪声功能。而减弱噪声与净化空气是深圳市下一阶段景观管理与生态建设中需要重点保障的生态系统服务功能。     

Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on multitrophic interactions in a biodiversity experiment

Biodiversity is rapidly declining, and this may negatively affect ecosystem processes, including economically important ecosystem services. Previous studies have shown that biodiversity has positive effects on organisms and processes across trophic levels. However, only a few studies have so far incorporated an explicit food-web perspective. In an eight-year biodiversity experiment, we studied an unprecedented range of above- and below-ground organisms and multitrophic interactions. A multitrophic data set originating from a single long-term experiment allows mechanistic insights that would not be gained from meta-analysis of different experiments. Here we show that plant diversity effects dampen with increasing trophic level and degree of omnivory. This was true both for abundance and species richness of organisms. Furthermore, we present comprehensive above-ground/below-ground biodiversity food webs. Both above ground and below ground, herbivores responded more strongly to changes in plant diversity than did carnivores or omnivores. Density and richness of carnivorous taxa was independent of vegetation structure. Below-ground responses to plant diversity were consistently weaker than above-ground responses. Responses to increasing plant diversity were generally positive, but were negative for biological invasion, pathogen infestation and hyperparasitism. Our results suggest that plant diversity has strong bottom-up effects on multitrophic interaction networks, with particularly strong effects on lower trophic levels. Effects on higher trophic levels are indirectly mediated through bottom-up trophic cascades.     

Effects of macrophyte species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services

Wetlands provide many important ecosystem services to human society, which may depend on how plant diversity influences biomass production and nutrient retention. Vascular aquatic plant diversity may not necessarily enhance wetland ecosystem functioning, however, because competition among these plant species can be strong, often resulting in the local dominance of a single species. Here we have manipulated the species richness of rooted, submerged aquatic plant (macrophyte) communities in experimental wetland mesocosms. We found higher algal and total plant (algal plus macrophyte) biomass, as well as lower loss of total phosphorus, in mesocosms with a greater richness of macrophyte species. Greater plant biomass resulted from a sampling effect; that is, the increased chance in species mixtures that algal production would be facilitated by the presence of a less competitive species-in this case, crisped pondweed. Lower losses of total phosphorus resulted from the greater chance in species mixtures of a high algal biomass and the presence of sago pondweed, which physically filter particulate phosphorus from the water. These indirect and direct effects of macrophyte species richness on algal production, total plant biomass and phosphorus loss suggest that management practices that maintain macrophyte diversity may enhance the functioning and associated services of wetland ecosystems.     

片断化对常绿阔叶林种类组成的影响

森林片断化可能对植物群落带来不利的影响，该文调查片断化、半岛型和连续常绿阔叶林的五种丰富度和物种组成来衡量片断化的影向。片段化林地比相同面积的连续森林有更高的物种丰富度，物种丰富度最低的是半岛型样地。片断化林地和半岛型林地含有较多的外来种。结果表明，片断大小一物种丰富度有关，同时周围生态系统类型、经历片断化时间也影向物种丰富度和组成。干扰程度较高的半岛型林地中藤本植物很少，反映了林地质量较差，表明藤本植物可能可以作为我国东部人类干扰地区常绿阔叶林保护和管理的指示种。     

Biodiversity and ecosystem stability in a decade-long grassland experiment

Human-driven ecosystem simplification has highlighted questions about how the number of species in an ecosystem influences its functioning. Although biodiversity is now known to affect ecosystem productivity, its effects on stability are debated. Here we present a long-term experimental field test of the diversity-stability hypothesis. During a decade of data collection in an experiment that directly controlled the number of perennial prairie species, growing-season climate varied considerably, causing year-to-year variation in abundances of plant species and in ecosystem productivity. We found that greater numbers of plant species led to greater temporal stability of ecosystem annual aboveground plant production. In particular, the decadal temporal stability of the ecosystem, whether measured with intervals of two, five or ten years, was significantly greater at higher plant diversity and tended to increase as plots matured. Ecosystem stability was also positively dependent on root mass, which is a measure of perenniating biomass. Temporal stability of the ecosystem increased with diversity, despite a lower temporal stability of individual species, because of both portfolio (statistical averaging) and overyielding effects. However, we found no evidence of a covariance effect. Our results indicate that the reliable, efficient and sustainable supply of some foods (for example, livestock fodder), biofuels and ecosystem services can be enhanced by the use of biodiversity.     

High plant diversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services

Biodiversity is rapidly declining worldwide, and there is consensus that this can decrease ecosystem functioning and services. It remains unclear, though, whether few or many of the species in an ecosystem are needed to sustain the provisioning of ecosystem services. It has been hypothesized that most species would promote ecosystem services if many times, places, functions and environmental changes were considered; however, no previous study has considered all of these factors together. Here we show that 84% of the 147 grassland plant species studied in 17 biodiversity experiments promoted ecosystem functioning at least once. Different species promoted ecosystem functioning during different years, at different places, for different functions and under different environmental change scenarios. Furthermore, the species needed to provide one function during multiple years were not the same as those needed to provide multiple functions within one year. Our results indicate that even more species will be needed to maintain ecosystem functioning and services than previously suggested by studies that have either (1) considered only the number of species needed to promote one function under one set of environmental conditions, or (2) separately considered the importance of biodiversity for providing ecosystem functioning across multiple years, places, functions or environmental change scenarios. Therefore, although species may appear functionally redundant when one function is considered under one set of environmental conditions, many species are needed to maintain multiple functions at multiple times and places in a changing world.     

国外典型河流生态流量管理实践及启示

 生态流量是河流开发与生态环境保护协调发展的关键指标和难点问题。目前,河流生态流量理论方法体系尚不完善,不足以全面指导生态流量管理实践,导致部分河流、河段的生态系统服务功能退化。虽然生态流量的理论体系和计算方法已开展了较多研究,中国学者对国外生态调度也做了回顾和梳理,但是对生态流量的管理目标仍未形成统一认识。通过梳理国外7条典型河流的生态流量管理实践,从珍稀濒危洄游性鱼类、国际重要湿地、珍稀濒危鸟类等多种生态保护目标,以及流域综合管理机制、水权交易、国际投资等政策管理的多个方面,分析了不同河流的生态流量实施过程和效果,归纳总结了7条典型河流生态流量管理实践的成功经验和不足,进而提出了对政府、管理部门、研究机构、水电企业和非政府组织等多个利益相关方在生态流量研究与管理方面的启示。     

广西近海海洋生态系统服务功能价值评估

参照《千年生态评估项目》的生态系统服务分类体系,构建了广西近海海洋生态系统服务功能体系.以2010年为评价基准年,采用市场价格法、替代成本法、成果参照法等评估方法,对广西近海海洋生态系统的10个核心服务价值进行了初步估算.结果：（1）广西近海海洋生态系统服务总价值为6.5228×1010元/a,相当于2010年广西全区GDP的6.82％,其中调节服务价值最大,占60.87％,其次为文化服务,占27.74％;（2）供给服务价值较小,占11.38％;（3）各亚类服务价值的排序为：气体调节＞食品供给＞气候调节＞污染物处理＞旅游娱乐＞基因资源供给＞干扰调节＞科研文化＞生物控制＞原材料供给;（4）广西近海生态资源开发水平较低,但潜力巨大,同时要注重区域海洋生态环境保护.