Feedback with soil biota contributes to plant rarity and invasiveness in communities

Understanding the relative abundance of species in plant communities is an unsolved problem. Mechanisms such as competition, resource partitioning, dispersal ability and predation tolerance do not adequately explain relative abundance under field conditions. Recent work suggests that interactions between plants and soil microbes is important. Here I show that such interaction explains a significant proportion of the variance in the relative abundance of species in plant communities. Rare plants exhibited a relative decrease in growth on 'home' soil in which pathogens had had a chance to accumulate, whereas invasive plants benefited from interactions with mycorrhizal fungi. Some plant species accumulate pathogens quickly and maintain low densities as a result of the accumulation of species-specific pathogens, whereas others accumulate species-specific pathogens more slowly and do not experience negative feedback until plant densities reach high levels. These results indicate that plants have different abilities to influence their abundance by changing the structure of their soil communities, and that this is an important regulator of plant community structure.     

Experimental evidence for apparent competition in a tropical forest food web

The herbivorous insects of tropical forests constitute some of the most diverse communities of living organisms. For this reason it has been difficult to discover the degree to which these communities are structured, and by what processes. Interspecific competition for resources does occur, but its contemporary importance is limited because most pairs of potentially competing insects feed on different host plants. An alternative way in which species can interact is through shared natural enemies, a process called apparent competition. Despite extensive theoretical discussion there are few field demonstrations of apparent competition, and none in hyper-diverse tropical communities. Here, we experimentally removed two species of herbivore from a community of leaf-mining insects in a tropical forest. We predicted that other species that share natural enemies with the two removed species would experience lower parasitism and have higher population densities in treatment compared with control sites. In both cases (on removal of a dipteran and a coleopteran leaf-miner species) we found significantly lower parasitism, and in one case (removal of the dipteran) we found significantly higher abundance a year after the manipulation. Our results suggest that apparent competition may be important in structuring tropical insect communities.     

Diversity of Plant Species of Alpine Grassland in Nakchu of Tibet, China

0Introduction Biologicaldiversityconcernedwiththesumofvariouslivingbeingsandtheirprocesses,aswellasthebasisofharmonious coexistencebetweenmanandnatureplaysanimportantroleinecology,economy,esthetics,ethics,etc.Duetodeteriorationofglobal environment,acceler…     

Competition and phylogeny determine community structure in Müllerian co-mimics

Until recently, the study of negative and antagonistic interactions (for example, competition and predation) has dominated our understanding of community structure, maintenance and assembly. Nevertheless, a recent theoretical model suggests that positive interactions (for example, mutualisms) may counterbalance competition, facilitating long-term coexistence even among ecologically undifferentiated species. Müllerian mimics are mutualists that share the costs of predator education and are therefore ideally suited for the investigation of positive and negative interactions in community dynamics. The sole empirical test of this model in a Müllerian mimetic community supports the prediction that positive interactions outweigh the negative effects of spatial overlap (without quantifying resource acquisition). Understanding the role of trophic niche partitioning in facilitating the evolution and stability of Müllerian mimetic communities is now of critical importance, but has yet to be formally investigated. Here we show that resource partitioning and phylogeny determine community structure and outweigh the positive effects of Müllerian mimicry in a species-rich group of neotropical catfishes. From multiple, independent reproductively isolated allopatric communities displaying convergently evolved colour patterns, 92% consist of species that do not compete for resources. Significant differences in phylogenetically conserved traits (snout morphology and body size) were consistently linked to trait-specific resource acquisition. Thus, we report the first evidence, to our knowledge, that competition for trophic resources and phylogeny are pivotal factors in the stable evolution of Müllerian mimicry rings. More generally, our work demonstrates that competition for resources is likely to have a dominant role in the structuring of communities that are simultaneously subject to the effects of both positive and negative interactions.     

Disentangling nestedness from models of ecological complexity

Complex networks of interactions are ubiquitous and are particularly important in ecological communities, in which large numbers of species exhibit negative (for example, competition or predation) and positive (for example, mutualism) interactions with one another. Nestedness in mutualistic ecological networks is the tendency for ecological specialists to interact with a subset of species that also interact with more generalist species. Recent mathematical and computational analysis has suggested that such nestedness increases species richness. By examining previous results and applying computational approaches to 59 empirical data sets representing mutualistic plant–pollinator networks, we show that this statement is incorrect. A simpler metric—the number of mutualistic partners a species has—is a much better predictor of individual species survival and hence, community persistence. Nestedness is, at best, a secondary covariate rather than a causative factor for biodiversity in mutualistic communities. Analysis of complex networks should be accompanied by analysis of simpler, underpinning mechanisms that drive multiple higher-order network properties.     

Biodiversity as a barrier to ecological invasion

Biological invasions are a pervasive and costly environmental problem that has been the focus of intense management and research activities over the past half century. Yet accurate predictions of community susceptibility to invasion remain elusive. The diversity resistance hypothesis, which argues that diverse communities are highly competitive and readily resist invasion, is supported by both theory and experimental studies conducted at small spatial scales. However, there is also convincing evidence that the relationship between the diversity of native and invading species is positive when measured at regional scales. Although this latter relationship may arise from extrinsic factors, such as resource heterogeneity, that covary with diversity of native and invading species at large scales, the mechanisms conferring greater invasion resistance to diverse communities at local scales remain unknown. Using neighbourhood analyses, a technique from plant competition studies, we show here that species diversity in small experimental grassland plots enhances invasion resistance by increasing crowding and species richness in localized plant neighbourhoods. Both the establishment (number of invaders) and success (proportion of invaders that are large) of invading plants are reduced. These results suggest that local biodiversity represents an important line of defence against the spread of invaders.     

青海高山植物解剖特点的研究

青海高原属青藏高原的一部分,生长在高山的植物的解剖构造,既不同于中生、旱生、湿生或沼生植物,又与之有相似之处,形成了高山植物独特的结构。它们突出的特点是:普遍具有发达的通气组织;叶片栅栏组织通常有2层或2层以上;机械组织在茎中一般较强劲,而在叶脉中则纤弱。高山植物有独特的外部形态。以上这些特点是植物长期适应高山缺氧、强辐射、干旱、寒冷、劲风等生态条件的结果。本文为了解青藏高山植物发展演化的趋势,研究植物区系成分,提供有关的科学依据。     

青藏高原高寒草甸不同海拔梯度上增温和优势植物物种去除对生态系统碳通量的影响

在青藏高原高寒草甸的两个海拔梯度(3200 m 和 4000 m)上开展实验, 研究增温和优势植物物种去除对净生态系统CO₂交换量(NEE)、生态系统呼吸(ER)和生态系统总初级生产力(GEP)的影响。结果表明: 在2017年生长季, 两个海拔的GEP均高于ER, 表明这两个生态系统在生长季均表现为碳汇。低海拔(3200 m)的增温对生态系统C通量没有显著的作用, 原因可能是增温引起的水分限制。在较湿润的高海拔(4000 m)地区, 增温显著提高了生态系统C通量, 平均而言, 增温引起的GEP增加量(2.30 mg CO₂/(m²·s))高于ER (0.62 mg CO₂/(m²·s)), 导致NEE增加。两个海拔优势植物物种的去除对生态系统C通量均没有显著的作用, 原因可能是剩余物种的补偿作用, 因为去除处理对两个海拔的地上生物量(AGB)和地下生物量(BGB)的影响都不显著。增温和优势物种去除对两个海拔生态系统C通量没有显著的交互作用。研究结果揭示土壤湿度在调节高寒草甸生态系统C通量对气候变暖响应方面的重要性, 单一优势植物物种的去除可能不会对物种丰富的生态系统C通量产生较大的影响。     

阿尔金山自然保护区植物物种多样性分析

我国西北羌塘高原的阿尔金山自然保护区,计有种子植物２６０种,隶属于３１科、１０８属。在区系组成上,以北温带成分占绝对优势,华夏成分占显著地位;组成群落的优势植物为青藏高原或青藏高原—帕米尔—亚洲中部高山成分,且为适应高原隆起发展起来的年轻成分。该保护区由于地处极端的高寒位置,故蕴育出了耐高寒、抗干旱及抗紫外线的饲用植物、药用植物、花卉及谷类作物野生近缘种等极端环境植物资源。     

草原退化过程中植物群落的结构异质性分析——以家庭牧场为例

以内蒙古呼伦贝尔草原某家庭牧场作为研究尺度,以卧羊圈为中心沿辐射状将该家庭牧场划分为重牧区、中牧区、轻牧区和无牧区(围栏内),同时与村落自由放牧区(即过牧区)进行比较,开展植物群落结构空间异质性研究。结果表明:该家庭牧场植物群落种类较为丰富,多年生草本植物居多,一年生草本植物随放牧强度的减弱,比例也随之增加;轻牧条件下群落地上生物量最高,适度的放牧干扰有助于植物干物质的积累;轻牧区禾本科植物的重要值较大,说明轻度放牧干扰有利于群落发生恢复演替;重牧区和轻牧区Simpson集中性概率指数、Shannon-Wiener指数、均匀度指数高于过牧区,重牧区和轻牧区植物群落由于竞争达成了较稳定状态,群落较为集中,空间异质性高。     

Resource-based niches provide a basis for plant species diversity and dominance in arctic tundra.

Ecologists have long been intrigued by the ways co-occurring species divide limiting resources. Such resource partitioning, or niche differentiation, may promote species diversity by reducing competition. Although resource partitioning is an important determinant of species diversity and composition in animal communities, its importance in structuring plant communities has been difficult to resolve. This is due mainly to difficulties in studying how plants compete for below-ground resources. Here we provide evidence from a 15N-tracer field experiment showing that plant species in a nitrogen-limited, arctic tundra community were differentiated in timing, depth and chemical form of nitrogen uptake, and that species dominance was strongly correlated with uptake of the most available soil nitrogen forms. That is, the most productive species used the most abundant nitrogen forms, and less productive species used less abundant forms. To our knowledge, this is the first documentation that the composition of a plant community is related to partitioning of differentially available forms of a single limiting resource.     

Balance between facilitation and competition determines spatial patterns in a plant population

A considerable challenge in plant ecology is to understand how interactions,such as competition or facilitation,shape the spatial distribution of plants.The‘‘stress gradient hypothesis’’predicts that facilitation and competition will vary inversely across gradients of abiotic stress or consumer pressure.Surprisingly,few previous studies have explored how the balance between facilitation and competition affects spatial patterns along gradients of stress in a plant population based on field experiments.In order to investigate the effects of consumer pressure,facilitation,and competition on the spatial pattern of plant populations,we conducted a restoration succession series field experiment in the Inner Mongolian steppe in which sample sites of graded consumer pressure,specifically grazing stress,were established.We chose to examine the spatial patterns of Leymus chinensis,a dominant species in our experimental site.In order to test the‘‘stress gradient hypothesis,’’we applied the univariate O-ring statistic to analyze local neighborhood density at different spatial scales.We used the pair-correlation function to detect the characteristics of point patterns using complete spatial randomness,the Poisson cluster process,and the nested double-cluster process.We found that the local densities of L.chinensis were higher under high stress than lower stress environments.This demonstrated the‘‘stress gradient hypothesis’’in that facilitation and competition varied inversely across gradients of consumer pressure.However,we found nodifferences in the spatial patterns of L.chinensis based on complete spatial randomness when interactions shifted from facilitation to competition along gradients of consumer pressure.Furthermore,we detected the characteristics of point patterns using the Poisson cluster and nested doublecluster processes.The results showed the spatial patterns of L.chinensis to fit well with the nested double-cluster model under highly stressful conditions,while in lower stress environments they were best approximated by the Thomas process.Our results illustrate that a shift in interactions from facilitation to competition along gradients of consumer pressure can shape spatial patterns and that a combination of the Poisson cluster process and nested doublecluster process can detect spatial pattern characteristics which cannot be detected by complete spatial randomness.     

杭州雨水花园植物应用现状研究

【目的】运用实地调研法,针对已建成的城市雨水花园项目,从植物资源应用的角度进行多指标调查评价,分析存在的问题,为相关研究提供参考。【方法】依据杭州市雨水花园分布情况,选取17个代表性雨水花园,从植物资源的总体应用现状、植物观赏特性、不同场地植物种数及结构模式、不同雨水处理区植物生态特性和种类等方面进行研究。【结果】①雨水花园灌木和草本的种类较多,草本植物数量最多,乔木应用较少;②在蓄水区以耐干旱、耐水湿、抗污染能力及净化能力强的植物为主,在缓冲区以较耐干旱、耐短期水湿及抗雨水冲刷能力强的植物为主,在边缘区以较耐干旱、较耐水湿的植物为主;③植物有66种,隶属于36科51属,被子植物种类最多,占比在90%以上;④应用较多的主要有禾本科、蔷薇科、莎草科、杉科、豆科植物;⑤草本植物以多年生为主,灌木的常绿和落叶比例相差不大,乔木以落叶植物为主;⑥观花植物占比最大(53.03%),色系较丰富,其中紫色系和白色系植物最多。【结论】杭州市雨水花园植物资源总体应用现状良好,但也存在部分问题有待改进。本研究将为雨水花园植物资源的应用和优化提供启示和借鉴。     

Consequences of a biological invasion reveal the importance of mutualism for plant communities.

Seed-dispersal mutualisms have a fundamental role in regenerating natural communities. Interest in the importance of seed dispersal to plant communities has been heightened by worldwide declines in animal dispersers. One view, the 'keystone mutualist hypothesis', predicts that these human-caused losses will trigger a cascade of linked extinctions throughout the community. Implicitly, this view holds that mutualisms, such as seed dispersal, are crucial ecological interactions that maintain the structure and diversity of natural communities. Although many studies suggest the importance of mutualism, empirical evidence for community-level impacts of mutualists has remained anecdotal, and the central role of mutualism, relative to other species interactions, has long been debated in the theoretical literature. Here I report the community-level consequences of a biological invasion that disrupts important seed-dispersal mutualisms. I show that invasion of South African shrublands by the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) leads to a shift in composition of the plant community, owing to a disproportionate reduction in the densities of large-seeded plants. This study suggests that the preservation of mutualistic interactions may be essential for maintaining natural communities.     

Competition and mutualism among the gut helminths of a mammalian host

Most animal species are infected with multiple parasite species; however, the role of interspecific parasite interactions in influencing parasite dynamics and shaping parasite communities has been unclear. Although laboratory studies have found evidence of cross-immunity, immunosuppression and competition, analyses of hosts in the field have generally concluded that parasite communities are little more than random assemblages. Here we present evidence of consistent interspecific interactions in a natural mammalian system, revealed through the analysis of parasite intensity data collected from a free-ranging rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) population, sampled monthly for a period of 23 yr. The wild rabbit plays host to a diverse gut helminth community that reflects the communities seen in other economically important domestic herbivores. These findings suggest that parasite interactions could have profound implications for the dynamics of parasite communities. The efficacy of parasite control programmes could be jeopardized if such interactions are not taken into account. In contrast, a clear understanding of such interactions may provide the basis for the development of more environmentally acceptable methods of parasite control.     

西藏红景天植物资源及其利用

红景天属(Rhodiola L.)植物共有90余种,主要分布于北半球的高寒地带,生长于海拔3500-5000米左右的高山带。西藏自治区有该属植物32种,几乎遍及全区各县级行政区。作为一种重要的药用植物,从上个世纪八十年代末起被开发为多种高原保健品。然而,野生资源处于严重威胁的境地,其资源永续利用问题已受到广泛关注。文章概述了西藏红景天的生物学特征和地理分布。针对当前对红景天植物的利用,提出了保护野生资源的若干建议。     

荆州城市公园植物群落多样性研究

目的分析荆州城市公园植物群落物种多样性,为荆州及周边地区城市公园绿地规划和植物多样性保护提供参考依据.方法采用典型样方法,对荆州市7个城市公园选取235个样方开展植物多样性现状调查,分析其群落特征.结果荆州城市公园植物物种丰富,共有植物96科248属351种,植物群落优势种明显,植物多样性总体趋势依次为:灌木层,乔木层,草本层,但各公园之间又有差异,以中山公园和荆襄河湿地公园为最高;植物多样性指数大小依次为:综合公园,带状公园,专类公园.结论荆州城市公园植物群落物种组成较为丰富,物种多样性较高,但专类公园植物单一性较高,故选择适宜的植物品种,增加乡土植物的运用,提高群落的稳定性.     

Proximity signal and shade avoidance differences between early and late successional trees.

Competitive interactions between plants determine the success of individuals and species. In developing forests, competition for light is the predominant factor. Shade tolerators acclimate photosynthetically to low light and are capable of long-term survival under the shade cast by others, whereas shade avoiders rapidly dominate gaps but are overtaken in due course by shade-tolerant, later successional species. Shade avoidance results from the phytochrome-mediated perception of far-red radiation (700-800 nm) scattered from the leaves of neighbours, provides early warning of shading, and induces developmental responses that, when successful, result in the overgrowth of those neighbours. Shade tolerators cast a deep shade, whereas less-tolerant species cast light shade, and saplings tend to have high survivorship in shade cast by conspecific adults, but high rates of mortality when shaded by more-tolerant species. Here we report a parallel relationship in which the shade-avoidance responses of three tree species are inversely proportional to proximity signals generated by those species. On this basis, early successional species generate small proximity signals but react strongly to them, whereas late successional species react weakly but generate strong signals.     

高速公路边坡植被恢复过程中植物群落特征

分析了高速公路建成后不同恢复年限边坡植物群落特征,结果表明:在不同恢复年限及原生植被中共有61种植物,分属18个科.不同恢复年限的植物群落在物种组成、群落结构、群落物种多样性及群落演替等方面变化明显.随着恢复年限的增加,植物群落物种组成逐渐丰富,物种丰富度指数、Shannon-weine多样性指数及Simpson多样性指数增加显著,群落层次向成层的方向发展,群落向进展演替方向发展.     

天山北部拟南芥分布群落的物种多样性特征及生态适宜性分析

本文采用物种重要值、丰富度指数、多样性指数和均匀度指数对新疆北部的石河子、伊犁果子沟、额敏、阿勒泰等7个地区的拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）生存群落的群落结构和物种组成进行了研究,比较了不同样地间的物种多样性和相似性指数,并采用生态位适宜度模型,分析了天山北部拟南芥生存群落的生态位适宜度及其限制因子。结果表明：研究区科、属、种结构较简单。天山中部4个样地均为草本群落,优势种相似,与其它3地不同。伊犁果子沟地区物种多样性最高,额敏地区其次,阿勒泰样地较低;总体上天山中部4个样地的物种多样性均不高,而其群落间物种相似性较高。天山中部4个样地与伊犁果子沟、额敏、阿勒泰3样地间的物种相似性均较差,但后3个样地间的物种相似性稍大。拟南芥生存群落的生态位适宜度较高,均在0.885以上,仅沙湾与独山子、伊犁果子沟之间达到了显著性差异（P〈0.05）,显示了拟南芥生存群落在天山北部较好的适应性。分析发现土壤养分（速效磷、速效钾）及土壤电导率是影响天山北部拟南芥种群分布、数量及重要性差异的主要小环境限制因子,但最终要受到水分因子的制约,降水、地理位置等大环境因素以及群落内物种相互关系具有重要作用,同时,拟南芥的分布与其生存群落的优势种,尤其与如新疆绢蒿的多年生草本依赖关系较为密切。