Responses of ground-dwelling spiders to four hedgerow species on sloped agricultural fields in Southwest

Spiders are important predators in aeroecosystems and contribute to the control of agricultural nect nnnulatinns.Hahitat manage-ment such as the creation of new semi-natural habitats around or within fields enhances spider abundance and species diversity.Using pitfall traps,we investigated the effects of four hedgerow plant svecies.which serve as undisturhed and permanent semi-narimal habitats,on ground-dwelling spider activity density(a parameter of nonulation density and relative activitv)and species richness.Samples were ollected over two winter wheat and two summer maize growing seasons druing 2005-2007 in trial field 1(slope gradient of 20%)and field 2(slope gradient of 12%)at the Ziyane Experimental Site in Sichuan Province,China.The hedgerow species evaluated were Amorpha fruticosa(field 1).Vetiveria zizanioides(field 1),EulahODsis binata (field 2),and Afediraon sativa(field 2).CnmnareA to rnntrnl plots,hedgerow plots had significantly higher activity density and species richness of ground-dwelling spiders within strips in both fields 1 and 2 during the wheat growing season.The presence of hedgerow strins did not augment the activity density and species richness of ground-dwelling spiders within the crop fields during the wheat or maize growing seasons.The ground-dwelling spider activity density within hedgerow strips was significantly higher in the Vetiveria than in the AmorDha nlots and in the Medicago than in the Eulaliopsis plots,and the species richness was significantly higher in the Vetiveria than in the Amornha plots during the wheat season. Our results suggest that hedgerows may serve as important overwinterine sites for ground-dwelling spiders durinjthe wheat growing season.In addition,the diversification of agroecosystems by using hedgerow strips may be a viable strategy for maintaining ground-dwelling spider populations in agricultural areas.However,ground-dwelling spiders did not move into adiacent crop fields;therefore,future work should address the mechanisms of attracting spiders into crop fields,thereby contributing to the bio-control of pests.     

Species Diversity Based on Vertical Structure as Indicators of Artificial Restoration for Coniferous Forests in Southwest China

0IntroductionConiferous forest in Southwest China con-stitutes the bulk of the second largestforest region(the so-calledsouthwest forest re-gion)of the country.As Southwest Chinais atthe southeastern fringe of the Qinghai-TibetanPlateau andthe source area of many major riv-ers,forestsinthis region playanextremelyi m-portant role in preserving water and soil,pre-venting mountain disasters and regulating cli-mate[1-3]and act as an“ecological shield”forthe upper reaches of rivers such as the …     

Climate change threats to protected plants of China: an evaluation based on species distribution modeling

Climate change poses major new challenges to biodiversity conservation. Distribution ranges of species have been proven to be affected by climate anomalies. Detecting the extent of protected species response to climate change can help formulate flexible conservation strategies to overcome the changing climate. Using species distribution modeling and high resolution climate data, we simulated current distribution patterns of 233 protected plants in China. Those patterns were then projected into future suitable habitats for each species under nine climate change scenarios, with no migration or full migration hypotheses. Under the most extreme climate change scenario （CGCM-B2a）, we evaluated species extinction risks. Sixteen percent of protected plants are expected to lose more than 30 % of their current ranges. By calculating areal shifts, hotspots for emigrants, immigrants, and persistent species were identified under climate change. Flexible conservation strategies were addressed for those regions. Those strategies strongly depend on the migration types of species and sensitivity of the hotspots to changing climate. In hotspots for emigrants, the main conservation strategy is ex situ protection; protected species from these regions should be stored in seed banks or botanical gardens. For hotspots of immigrants, enough space should be maintained for new species, and some measures are necessary to assist dispersal. For hotspots of persistent species, more natural reserves are needed. We highlight related fields that can help conserve protected species in the future, such as conserving the soil seed bank and understanding of the effects of migration ability and interactions between protected species.     

营养元素添加对青藏高原亚高寒草甸物种多度分布格局的影响

以青藏高原亚高寒草甸为研究对象,基于N,P,N+P耦合营养元素添加的控制实验,研究了群落内全部物种、常见种和稀有种的物种多度分布格局以及物种丰富度对N,P,N+P耦合营养元素添加的响应规律,并选取对数正态模型、幂分割模型、几何级数模型、Zipf模型以及中性模型对物种多度数据进行拟合.结果表明:1)P添加对物种丰富度的影响不显著,全部物种、常见种与稀有种的物种多度分布曲线的陡缓程度基本相同.随N,N+P耦合添加量的增大,全部物种与常见种的物种多度分布曲线都越来越陡峭,物种丰富度也都显著下降,表明在青藏高原亚高寒草甸N,N+P耦合添加会导致物种多样性的降低.2)比较CK,N15,P15,N15P15的物种多度分布曲线发现N+P耦合处理的物种多度分布曲线的陡峭度较CK,N15,P15处理的要陡,表明N+P耦合对物种多度分布格局的影响效应要强于单独的N,P的.3)分析施肥对物种多度分布模式的影响发现,全部物种的多度分布符合统计模型的对数正态模型以及基于生态位理论的幂分割模型、几何级数模型与Zipf模型.常见种的多度分布符合几何级数模型与Zipf模型,而稀有种在同时符合这两种基于生态位分化的模型外,呈现出符合中性模型的趋势.说明多种不同模型可以拟合同一生境的物种多度分布,常见种和稀有种通过不同的响应方式共同维持着亚高寒草甸生态系统的物种多样性.     

2009-2011年中国西南五省的降水异常

针对2009年开始的我国西南地区大旱, 选择云南、广西、四川、重庆、贵州5个省份作为研究区域, 利用西南五省126个气象站1970-2011年逐日降水数据, 计算并分析西南五省2009-2011年逐旬的降水变率情况。结果表明这3年中西南五省大部分时间降水变率都为负, 即降水量比往年少, 而且从10月至来年3月是降水量减少最严重的时期, 这几个月正好是西南地区的干季, 干季更干的状况加剧了此次旱灾的危害程度。旱情的发生在空间分布上有一些规律, 基本上都是广西先出现旱情, 然后扩展到云南、四川, 结束时也是广西首先得到缓解。此外, 通过环流参数相关分析, 发现西南五省降水受到西太平洋副高以及西藏高原气压场的影响, 不同的环流参数影响的地区和时间不尽相同。