The significance of mycorrhizas for protective ecosystems

Summary On the basis of the reviews presented in this issue, the ecological significance of mycorrhizal symbioses is discussed. Mycorrhizas may have some importance in the acquisition of mineral nutrients during the productive phase of ecosystems in early stages of succession, but their main role is played during the protective phase of ecosystems in the final stages of succession when most resources are incorporated into biomass. In these successional stages, mycorrhizas short-circuit nutrient cycles by directly reacquiring nutrients in organic form from plant (and fungal) litter, and they may reallocate resources between different plant individuals, preventing loss of resources from the entire ecosystem.     

Biochemical approaches to the study of plant-fungal interactions in arbuscular mycorrhiza

This communication compares some biochemical methods for quantifying colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The degree of mycorrhizal colonization can conveniently be measured by determining fungal specific sterols. AM-colonized plants show a specific synthesis of 24-methylene cholesterol and an enhanced level of campesterol (=24-methyl cholesterol). A gene probe for nitrate reductase, the key enzyme for nitrogen assimilation, has been developed, which allows the monitoring of the distribution of this enzyme in fungi. Among the phytohormones tested, only abscisic acid (ABA) is found at a considerably higher level in AM-colonized plants than in controls. The concentration of ABA is about twenty times higher in spores and hyphae of the AM fungusGlomus than in maize roots. Other phytohormones (auxins, cytokinins) do not show such alterations after mycorrhizal colonization. The roots of gramineous plants become yellow as a result of mycorrhizal colonization. The yellow pigment(s) formed is (are) deposited in larger quantities in the vacuole(s) of the root parenchyma and endodermis cells during the development of the gramineous plants. A substance isolated from such roots has now been identified as a C-14 carotenoid with two carboxylic groups, and named mycorradicin.     

Influence of phosphorus supply and light intensity on mycorrhizal response inPisum-Rhizobium-Glomus symbiosis

The influence of mycorrhizal colonization withGlomus mosseae on parameters of N₂ fixation and plant growth was studied in pot experiments with pea plants (Pisum sativum L.) infected withRhizobium leguminosarum and supplied with varied levels of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). Reduced light intensities were used to evaluate the dependence of the microsymbionts on assimilate supply. In plants grown with low P supply, mycorrhization increased the concentration of P in shoots, and thus N₂ fixation. Reduced light intensity significantly depressed mycorrhizal colonization and nodule growth in low-P plants. When P supply did not limit plant growth and N₂ fixation, however, the percentage of mycorrhizal colonization was reduced due to the higher P status, and the microsymbionts were not impaired by low light intensities. To maximize carbohydrate supply, another experiment was carried out at high light intensity of 900 mol m^–2s^–1 and with non-limiting P supply. Nitrogen fertilization, given as starter N, enhanced plant growth, but delayed nodule formation. Towards flowering, nodulation rapidly increased, but less so inGlomus inoculated plants. After 28 days mycorrhizal plants were lower in shoot dry weight, nodule dry weight and nitrogenase activity. The results suggest that under many, but not all, environmental conditions the host plant is able to restrict mycorrhizal colonization and, thus, to prevent impairment ofRhizobium symbiosis.deceased in May 1994     

Mycorrhizas and root architecture

Summary Roots function dually as a support system and as the nutrient uptake organ of plants. Root morphology changes in response to the soil environment to minimize the metabolic cost of maintaining the root system, while maximizing nutrient acquisition. In response to nutrient-limiting conditions, plants may increase root fineness or specific root length (root length per gram root weight), root/shoot ratio, or root hair length and number. Each of these adaptations involves a different metabolic cost to the plant, with root hair formation as the least costly change, buffering against more costly changes in root/shoot ratio. Mycorrhizal symbiosis is another alternative to such changes. Plants with high degrees of dependence on the symbiosis have coarser root systems, less plasticity in root/shoot ratio, and develop fewer root hairs in low-fertility soils. In nutrient-limited soils, plants highly dependent on mycorrhiza reduce metabolic cost by developing an even more coarse or magnolioid root system, which is less able to obtain nutrients and thus creates a greater dependence of the plant on the symbiosis. These subtle changes in root architecture may be induced by mycorrhizal fungi and can be quantified using topological analysis of rooting patterns. The ability of mycorrhizal fungi to elicit change in root architecture appears to be limited to plant species which are highly dependent upon mycorrhizal symbiosis.     

Biological interactions in the mycorrhizosphere

Summary Microbial communities in the mycorrhizosphere (i.e. in the small volume of soil immediately surrounding a mycorrhizal root) actively interact with the establishment and functioning of the mycorrhizal symbiosis. Examples of competitive and mutualistic interactions are given, and are discussed in the light of recent observations and experimental results. The significance of biological interactions in the mycorrhizosphere is considered from the standpoints of plant ecology and of practical application.     

Response of maize to different inoculum densities of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal endophytes

Summary The effect of the inoculum density of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal endophytes on growth and development in maize was investigated in sterilized soil under glass-house conditions. Mycorrhizal plants grew robust and produced three times more dry weight than non-mycorrhizal plants. 40 or more endophytes per plant produced the highest mycorrhizal association and the maximum growth in maize. The uninoculated plants exhibited the symptoms of chlorosis.     

Comparative anatomy of the host-fungus interface in mycorrhizas

Summary There are several types of mycorrhizal symbiosis (ectomycorrhiza, endomycorrhiza, ectendomycorrhiza), and the interfaces between the host-plant and the fungal symbiont have different organizations. The interfaces between the partners are always limited on the one side by the fungal plasmalemma and on the other side by the plasmalemma of the host plant or the perisymbiont membrane derived from it The cytoplasms of the partners are therefore separated by a mixed apoplast consisting of a fungal wall and a host wall or an apposition layer.     

生物多样性与针叶林生态系统过程的关系

在过去10年中，生物多样性与生态系统过程的关系成为生态学中最具争议和挑战性的话题。生态学家们围绕植物组成和多样性与生态系统过程的关系、生物多样性与陆地生态系统的生物地球化学循环的关系、土壤生物多样性赇生态系统过程的影响、生态系统的功能多样性和组成对生态系统过程的影响、生物多样性与生态系统的稳定性以及生物多样性与生态系统过程对全球变化的响应等方面做了大量的开创性研究。川西亚高山针叶林是我国的生物多样性宝库和世界生物多样性的热点地区。迄今为止，有关川西亚高山针叶林生物多样性和生态过程的研究还相当有限，有关生物多样性与生态系统过程关系的研究尚未见报道。因此，建议在未来川西亚高山针叶林生态过程研究中加强生物多样性与针叶林生产力的关系，生物多样性和生物地球化学循环的关系、土壤生物多样性与生态系统过程的互动、地下／地上部分生物多样性的关系、生物多样性和生态过程对全球变化的响应等研究。     

Costs and benefits of mycorrhizas: Implications for functioning under natural conditions

Summary It is paradoxical that most plants under natural conditions are infected with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, yet that it is often difficult to demonstrate that infected plants receive any benefit from the association. The costs and benefits of infection are analysed and a hypothesis formulated that infection only yields benefits at times during the life cycle when P demand by the plant exceeds the capacity of the root system. A simulation model is described that suggests that infection density should be more or less constant below a threshold value of root P uptake rate, but that above this value roots should be non-mycorrhizal. More extensive study of mycorrhizas under field conditions is needed to test such predictions.     

Acquisition of nutrients from organic resources by mycorrhizal autotrophic plants

Summary Evidence exists to suggest that mycorrhizal fungi are capable of producing enzymes allowing them to access carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from complex organic resources in soil. This facility is mainly demonstrated in ectomycorrhizal and ericaceous endomycorrhizal fungi associated with highly organic soils and climatically stressed environments. These data support a direct nutrient cycling hypothesis proposed for tropical ectomycorrhizal forests. In terms of forest succession, the evidence agrees with a major contribution of the mycorrhizal symbiosis in late stages of the succession, where elemental cycling becomes increasingly more conservative and process rates limited by biotic factors. Here, tree growth benefits from direct nutrient cycling mediated by their mycorrhizal symbionts.     

Regulation of mycorrhizal infection by hormonal factors produced by hosts and fungi

Summary An overview of current research on hormonal factors produced by plants and fungi in mycorrhizal associations is presented. On the one hand, growth hormones in roots and their exudates influence the metabolism and growth of fungi. On the other, fungal hormones influence root morphology, metabolic changes and the growth of the entire plant.     

川西亚高山针叶林土壤生态过程的研究

土壤生态过程是川西亚高山针叶林生态系统过程研究中最具挑战性的研究领域，也是森林生态系统功能和过程研究中不可或缺的研究重点。土壤生态过程研究将有助于深入了解森林生态系统功能。目前。有关土壤生态过程的研究主要集中在土壤生物对土壤物理、化学和生物过程的影响以及人类活动干扰对土壤生态过程的影响等方面。但迄今为止，有关川西亚高山针叶林土壤生态过程的研究还处于空白。因此，建议在开展川西针叶林生态过程研究时，应加强以下研究领域的工作：土壤生物多样性的功能重要性及其对土壤过程的影响、土壤与植被的互动、土壤生态过程对气候变化的响应、土壤生态过程中土壤酶系统分异以及土壤过程与针叶林生态系统地上过程的关系等。     

亚高山针叶林群落系统的生态学过程和持续性机制

森林生态系统由于其复杂的物质循环与能量转化通道，直接参与地图一生物圈问的生物地球化学循环。因此，对森林生态系统结构与功能的研究一直是研究全球生态环境问题的核心。目前在这个研究领域的共识是：对生态系统功能的了解首先是基于对系统组分过程结构和动态的理解，而生态系统多功能的持续性机制在于确保组成系统的各组分过程结构的维持和良好的协调。在森林群落生态系统中，最基本的植物、生态学过程是能流传输(transfer)和分配(partitioning)过程，碳、养分和水循环过程，生态位的相对稳定和分化过程以及植物的生长，死亡和更新过程。川西亚高山针叶林是我国西部目前唯一保存良好的天然森林。除了它重要的、不可替代的生态、经济和社会地位外，从生态系统本身以及与全球气候变化的联系上，地处高寒环境下的川西亚高山针叶林生态系统有其独特之处：相对简单的层次结构和种丰富度，清晰的更新和演替规律，有意义的地质、气候和区系历史，巨大的土壤冷冻碳库，更加分化的结构和功能类型，复杂的地形、地貌组合以及生态位的多样性等。这些特征一方面给系统生态过程研究带来许多挑战性的问题，另一方面为研究植被动态过程以及植被与气候变化相互作用提供了一个天然实验室。     

植物形态生长对策研究进展

植物在其生长发育的各个阶段的生长行为及生活史策略皆与植物的形态可塑性有很大关系,可在一定程度上决定植物物种在生境中的分布格局及种群行为.植物生活史对策是植物物种维持生长和繁殖的资源最佳分配方式,物种的适应性是物种在进化过程中累积起来的,在形态上有很明显的表现,植物采取不同的形态生长策略就是为了使物种在某些阶段达到最大的适合度.已有的植物形态生长对策研究主要集中在植物繁殖体形态、幼苗形态策略、生长可塑性以及繁殖策略等方面,植物各阶段形态生长策略的权衡以及与植物在群落中的分布关系被认为是今后该方面研究的重要方面.     

植物修复重金属与多环芳烃污染土壤强化措施研究进展

重金属和多环芳烃是土壤环境中的重要污染物,其复合污染土壤的修复已成为环境科学研究的热点问题。植物修复技术是目前修复土壤复合污染重要方法之一,但植物本身修复能力有限,需借助化学、微生物、基因工程等手段对其修复效果进行强化。本文对国内外近几年来植物修复重金属-多环芳烃复合污染强化措施研究成果进行综述,并重点讨论了植物根际生长促进菌及菌根在强化修复中的应用,在此基础上对未来该领域需要深入研究的科学问题进行了阐述。     

升高CO2浓度和温度对针叶林的影响以及在川西亚高山针叶林研究中的展望

以CO2浓度和温度升高为主要特征的全球气候变化受到了世界各国科学家们的普遍关注。目前已经有大量关于森林生态系统对全球变化响应的研究报道和综述性文章,涉及分子、生理生态、种群和群落生态以及区域和全球尺度等微观和宏观领域的研究内容,因而要想对森林生态系统对全球变化的响应研究进行全面的综述是相当困难的。因此,本文只简要评述了森林生态系统对升高CO2浓度和温度响应研究中的诸如CO2浓度和温度升高对森林生长和生产力的影响、森林生态系统物种组成和多样性对升高CO2浓度和温度的响应、植被变化与全球碳循环的互动以及气候变化与森林生态系统生物地球化学循环的关系等几个热点问题。川西亚高山针叶林区为我国的第二大林区,地处高山峡谷地带,是全球变化的敏感地带。相对简单的植物群落结构、较低的物种丰富度和多样性、巨大的冷冻土壤碳库、不同演替阶段和功能的植物群落组合以及分布于林线附近的邻接效应等为研究针叶林系统对升高CO2浓度和温度的响应提供了良好的天然实验室。针叶林生产力、植物群落物种组成和多样性以及土壤碳氮过程等对升高CO2浓度和温度的响应对于预测未来气候变化下针叶林系统的生态过程具有重要意义。     

自平衡法试桩转换系数数值试验

采用三维有限元方法对桩顶压桩和桩底托桩承载特性分别进行模拟分析,研究了自平衡静载试验法中的转换系数。分析桩长、土类对荷载传递特性及转换系数的影响。结果表明：无论是在砂土还是在黏土中,随着桩长的增加,转换系数的变化曲线均呈凹形,类似抛物线形状分布;转换系数存在着极小值,不同土类转换系数的极小值不同,在35～55m桩长范围内可能出现托桩的极限承载力大于压桩的极限承载力的情况。     

Does Information Help Intra‐Day Volatility Forecasts?

While much research related to forecasting return volatility does so in a univariate setting, this paper includes proxies for information flows to forecast intra‐day volatility for the IBEX 35 futures market. The belief is that volume or the number of transactions conveys important information about the market that may be useful in forecasting. Our results suggest that augmenting a variety of GARCH‐type models with these proxies lead to improved forecasts across a range of intra‐day frequencies. Furthermore, our results present an interesting picture whereby the PARCH model generally performs well at the highest frequencies and shorter forecasting horizons, whereas the component model performs well at lower frequencies and longer forecast horizons. Both models attempt to capture long memory; the PARCH model allows for exponential decay in the autocorrelation function, while the component model captures trend volatility, which dominates over a longer horizon. These characteristics are likely to explain the success of each model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

土壤与箭竹群落的互动关系研究进展

由于箭竹独特的生物学特性及其对亚高山森林生态系统功能的影响和作为大熊猫主食竹的保护生物学意义，大熊猫主食竹生态学的研究受到了国内外学者的广泛关注。但迄今为止，有关箭竹生态学的研究主要集中在箭竹群落地上部分的研究，而有关土壤生态条件对箭竹群落的生长、演替和开花影响的研究报道还相当少见。因此，建议在未来的箭竹生态学研究中加强以下几方面的研究：(1)土壤养分库及其有效性与箭竹群落生长和演替之间的互动过程；(2)通过控制实验检验“箭竹开花机理的养分假说”；(3)箭竹群落土壤生态过程。     

Protein localization in the plant Golgi apparatus and the <Emphasis Type="Italic">trans</Emphasis>-Golgi network

This review presents plant-specific characteristics of the Golgi apparatus and discusses their impact on retention of membrane proteins in the Golgi or the trans-Golgi network (TGN). The plant Golgi consists of distinct stacks of cisternae that actively move throughout the cytoplasm. The Golgi apparatus is a very dynamic compartment and the site for maturation of N-linked glycans. It is also a factory for complex carbohydrates that are part of the cell wall. The TGN is believed to be the site from where vacuolar proteins are sorted by receptors towards each type of vacuole. To maintain the structure and specific features of the Golgi, resident proteins ought to be maintained in the proper Golgi cisternae or in the TGN. Two families of membrane proteins will be taken as examples for Golgi/TGN retention: (i) the enzymes involved in N-glycosylation processes and (ii) a vacuolar sorting receptor. Although the number of available plant proteins localized in Golgi/TGN is low, the basis of retention appears to be shared over all kingdoms and may result from pure retention and recycling mechanisms. In this review, we will summarize the characteristics of a plant Golgi and will discuss especially their consequences on on the study of this highly dynamic structure. We then choose membrane proteins with a single transmembrane domain to illustrate the signals and mechanisms involved in plants to localize and maintain proteins in the Golgi and the TGN.