Soil pathogens and spatial patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree

The Janzen-Connell hypothesis proposes that host-specific, distance- and/or density-dependent predators and herbivores maintain high tree diversity in tropical forests. Negative feedback between plant and soil communities could be a more effective mechanism promoting species coexistence because soil pathogens can increase rapidly in the presence of their host, causing conditions unfavourable for local conspecific recruitment. Here we show that a soil pathogen leads to patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree (Prunus serotina) as predicted by the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. In the field, the mean distance to parent of seedling cohorts shifted away from maternal trees over a period of 3 years. Seedlings were grown in soil collected 0-5 m or 25-30 m from Prunus trees. Sterilization of soil collected beneath trees improved seedling survival relative to unsterilized soil, whereas sterilization of distant soil did not affect survival. Pythium spp., isolated from roots of dying seedlings and used to inoculate healthy seedlings, decreased survival by 65% relative to controls. Our results provide the most complete evidence that native pathogens influence tree distributions, as predicted by the Janzen-Connell hypothesis, and suggest that similar ecological mechanisms operate in tropical and temperate forests.     

Theoretical biology: comparing models of species abundance

Ecologists are struggling to explain how so many tropical tree species can coexist in tropical forests, and several empirical studies have demonstrated that negative density dependence is an important mechanism of tree-species coexistence. Volkov et al. compare a model incorporating negative density dependence with a dispersal-limited neutral model and claim that each predicts six empirical species-abundance distributions of tropical-tree communities equally well. However, we show here that their main conclusion is premature: when the two models are compared in an improved analysis, we find that the dispersal-limited model outcompetes the density-dependent model in all six cases. Hence, although density dependence is certainly an important diversity-maintaining mechanism, our improved approach indicates that the dispersal-limited model provides a more parsimonious explanation of empirical species-abundance distributions.     

Host specificity of Lepidoptera in tropical and temperate forests

For numerous taxa, species richness is much higher in tropical than in temperate zone habitats. A major challenge in community ecology and evolutionary biogeography is to reveal the mechanisms underlying these differences. For herbivorous insects, one such mechanism leading to an increased number of species in a given locale could be increased ecological specialization, resulting in a greater proportion of insect species occupying narrow niches within a community. We tested this hypothesis by comparing host specialization in larval Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at eight different New World forest sites ranging in latitude from 15 degrees S to 55 degrees N. Here we show that larval diets of tropical Lepidoptera are more specialized than those of their temperate forest counterparts: tropical species on average feed on fewer plant species, genera and families than do temperate caterpillars. This result holds true whether calculated per lepidopteran family or for a caterpillar assemblage as a whole. As a result, there is greater turnover in caterpillar species composition (greater beta diversity) between tree species in tropical faunas than in temperate faunas. We suggest that greater specialization in tropical faunas is the result of differences in trophic interactions; for example, there are more distinct plant secondary chemical profiles from one tree species to the next in tropical forests than in temperate forests as well as more diverse and chronic pressures from natural enemy communities.     

云南地区种子植物属多样性的纬度格局与区系起源的关系

利用大尺度的种子植物物种分布信息,探讨了云南地区种子植物属多样性的纬度分布格局与区系起源的关系.结果表明:起源于热带地区的种子植物属多样性与纬度梯度呈负相关关系,这在一定程度上暗示着该植物类群存在着北上扩散的趋势;起源于温带地区的植物属多样性与纬度梯度呈正相关关系,暗示着其南下扩散的趋势.热带区系属的多样性纬度格局可能在一定程度上造成了总体属多样性在纬度梯度上递减.Rapoport法则可能更适用于起源于热带地区物种多样性格局的解释.     

Pervasive density-dependent recruitment enhances seedling diversity in a tropical forest

Negative density-dependent recruitment of seedlings, that is, seeds of a given species are less likely to become established seedlings if the density of that species is high, has been proposed to be an important mechanism contributing to the extraordinary diversity of tropical tree communities because it can potentially prevent any particular species from usurping all available space, either in close proximity to seed sources or at relatively larger spatial scales. However, density-dependent recruitment does not necessarily enhance community diversity. Furthermore, although density-dependent effects have been found at some life stages in some species, no study has shown that density-dependent recruitment affects community diversity. Here we report the results of observations in a lowland, moist forest in the Republic of Panamá in which the species identities of 386,027 seeds that arrived at 200 seed traps were compared with the species identities of 13,068 seedlings that recruited into adjacent plots over a 4-year period. Across the 200 sites, recruit seedling diversity was significantly higher than seed diversity. Part of this difference was explained by interspecies differences in average recruitment success. Even after accounting for these differences, however, negative density-dependent recruitment contributes significantly to the increase in diversity from seeds to seedling recruits.     

Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests

The recurrent patterns in the commonness and rarity of species in ecological communities--the relative species abundance--have puzzled ecologists for more than half a century. Here we show that the framework of the current neutral theory in ecology can easily be generalized to incorporate symmetric density dependence. We can calculate precisely the strength of the rare-species advantage that is needed to explain a given RSA distribution. Previously, we demonstrated that a mechanism of dispersal limitation also fits RSA data well. Here we compare fits of the dispersal and density-dependence mechanisms for empirical RSA data on tree species in six New and Old World tropical forests and show that both mechanisms offer sufficient and independent explanations. We suggest that RSA data cannot by themselves be used to discriminate among these explanations of RSA patterns--empirical studies will be required to determine whether RSA patterns are due to one or the other mechanism, or to some combination of both.     

Drought sensitivity shapes species distribution patterns in tropical forests

Although patterns of tree species distributions along environmental gradients have been amply documented in tropical forests, mechanisms causing these patterns are seldom known. Efforts to evaluate proposed mechanisms have been hampered by a lack of comparative data on species' reactions to relevant axes of environmental variation. Here we show that differential drought sensitivity shapes plant distributions in tropical forests at both regional and local scales. Our analyses are based on experimental field assessments of drought sensitivity of 48 species of trees and shrubs, and on their local and regional distributions within a network of 122 inventory sites spanning a rainfall gradient across the Isthmus of Panama. Our results suggest that niche differentiation with respect to soil water availability is a direct determinant of both local- and regional-scale distributions of tropical trees. Changes in soil moisture availability caused by global climate change and forest fragmentation are therefore likely to alter tropical species distributions, community composition and diversity.     

环境因子对滇西北地区植物多样性分布格局的影响

利用一元回归分析和偏回归分析,探讨了滇西北地区温、热带植物的分布格局及其控制因素.结果表明,温带植物多样性的高值主要出现在研究区域北部,而热带植物多样性则未呈现明显的纬度趋势.热带植物比重高值主要出现在研究区域南部,而温带植物比重高值主要出现在北部.生境异质性对温带植物多样性的解释率明显高于对热带植物多样性的解释率.这意味着,生境异质性对多样性格局的影响力可能在一定程度上取决于植物的生物地理分布区性质.气候因子对温、热带植物比重的解释率明显高于对温、热植物多样性的解释率.相比气候因子与温、热带植物多样性的关系,气候因子与温、热带植物比重之间关系可能更能反映滇西北地区温、热带植物的生态位保守性.     

Stage-structured cycles promote genetic diversity in a predator-prey system of Daphnia and algae

Competition theory predicts that population fluctuations can promote genetic diversity when combined with density-dependent selection. However, this stabilizing mechanism has rarely been tested, and was recently rejected as an explanation for maintaining diversity in natural populations of the freshwater herbivore Daphnia pulex. The primary limitation of competition theory is its failure to account for the alternative types of population cycles that are caused by size- or stage-dependent population vital rates--even though such structure both explains the fluctuating dynamics of many species and may alter the outcome of competition. Here we provide the first experimental test of whether alternative types of cycles affect natural selection in predator-prey systems. Using competing Daphnia genotypes, we show that internally generated, stage-structured cycles substantially reduce the magnitude of selection (thereby contributing to the maintenance of genetic diversity), whereas externally forced cycles show rapid competitive exclusion. The change in selection is ecologically significant, spanning the observed range in natural populations. We argue that structured cycles reduce selection through a combination of stalled juvenile development and stage-specific mortality. This potentially general fitness-equalizing mechanism may reduce the need for strong stabilizing mechanisms to explain the maintenance of genetic diversity in natural systems.     

热带雨林冠层树木和藤本之间光合作用特征参数比较

 丰富的藤本是热带雨林的一个典型特征,但对藤本丰富发育的原因众说纷纭.季节性干旱假说认为干旱条件下藤本具有更强的光合作用而产生竞争优势.但是,由于热带雨林树木高大,冠层浓密,对叶片光合能力的测定往往选取幼苗,或采用离体方式,而且采样过程中极难采集到冠上的阳生叶片.这些局限性降低了前期研究结果的可信度.有鉴于此,我们选择干湿季分明的热带季节雨林为研究对象,在旱季的中期,通过在热带雨林中搭建的大型冠层监测平台,原位测定了热带季节雨林代表乔木绒毛番龙眼成年株及其上缠绕的典型藤本扁担藤的光合特性.结果表明:木本绒毛番龙眼的最大羧化速率(V_cmax)、电子传输速率(J_max)、最大光合速率(A_max)和表观量子效率(AQY)方面皆较藤本植物扁担藤高,但是木本植物的暗呼吸则明显低于藤本植物.据此推测,旱季中期木本植物净碳吸收和物质积累明显优于藤本植物.这些结果与前期离体或幼苗测定的结果相反,暗示回答该问题还需要进一步的深入探讨.     

Consequences of climate change on the tree of life in Europe

Many species are projected to become vulnerable to twenty-first-century climate changes, with consequent effects on the tree of life. If losses were not randomly distributed across the tree of life, climate change could lead to a disproportionate loss of evolutionary history. Here we estimate the consequences of climate change on the phylogenetic diversities of plant, bird and mammal assemblages across Europe. Using a consensus across ensembles of forecasts for 2020, 2050 and 2080 and high-resolution phylogenetic trees, we show that species vulnerability to climate change clusters weakly across phylogenies. Such phylogenetic signal in species vulnerabilities does not lead to higher loss of evolutionary history than expected with a model of random extinctions. This is because vulnerable species have neither fewer nor closer relatives than the remaining clades. Reductions in phylogenetic diversity will be greater in southern Europe, and gains are expected in regions of high latitude or altitude. However, losses will not be offset by gains and the tree of life faces a trend towards homogenization across the continent.     

河南小秦岭自然保护区天然混交林物种多样性研究

应用物种丰富度指数、多样性指数和均匀度指数等指标对小秦岭国家级自然保护区西枣香林区1 hm固定样地内的植物区系组成和物种多样性进行研究分析.结果表明,样地内共有胸径≥1 cm的木本植物54种3514株,隶属于28科41属;区系成分较为复杂,以广布分布成分为主,同时含有一定比例的温带和热带区系分布,体现了该区南北过渡,东西交汇的特征.群落各层次的Shannon—Wiener多样性指数(H)表现为乔木层>灌木层>层间植物层;Hurlbert指数(DH)表现为乔木层>灌木层>层间植物层;Margalef丰富度指数(D2)表现为乔木层>灌木层>层间植物层;Pielou均匀度指数(J)表现为乔木层>灌木层>层间植物层;Simpson优势度指数(D1)表现为层间植物层>灌木层>乔木层.为认识和研究小秦岭物种多样性特点提供参考.     

广西马尾松人工林林下木本植物径级结构特征

为了解广西马尾松Pinus massoniana人工林林下木本植物的径级结构特征,采用样地调查法对马尾松人工林林下木本植物进行每木调查,分析不同林龄、不同造林密度和不同气候条件的林下木本植物径级结构。结果表明：（1）不同林龄马尾松人工林林下木本植物径级结构皆有不同,随着近自然恢复的进行,阔叶树密度、径级和木本植物个体之间分化程度呈先减小后增大的趋势,过熟林林下木本植物个体生长分化程度最高;（2）两种造林密度中,高密度林林下木本植物株数更多,胸径分化程度更大,生境多样性更高;（3）在不同气候条件下,随着纬度的降低,马尾松人工林中龄林和过熟林林下木本植物的平均胸径增大,且生长分化程度变低。初步研究发现,马尾松人工林随着近自然恢复的进行具有演替为地带性顶极群落的趋势。相对较大的造林密度有利于马尾松人工纯林林下木本植物生长,不同气候条件对马尾松人工林林下木本植物的径级结构有着明显影响,水热条件相对更丰富的北热带气候林下木本植物生长更好且个体分化程度更低。     

Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity

Human-driven land-use changes increasingly threaten biodiversity, particularly in tropical forests where both species diversity and human pressures on natural environments are high. The rapid conversion of tropical forests for agriculture, timber production and other uses has generated vast, human-dominated landscapes with potentially dire consequences for tropical biodiversity. Today, few truly undisturbed tropical forests exist, whereas those degraded by repeated logging and fires, as well as secondary and plantation forests, are rapidly expanding. Here we provide a global assessment of the impact of disturbance and land conversion on biodiversity in tropical forests using a meta-analysis of 138 studies. We analysed 2,220 pairwise comparisons of biodiversity values in primary forests (with little or no human disturbance) and disturbed forests. We found that biodiversity values were substantially lower in degraded forests, but that this varied considerably by geographic region, taxonomic group, ecological metric and disturbance type. Even after partly accounting for confounding colonization and succession effects due to the composition of surrounding habitats, isolation and time since disturbance, we find that most forms of forest degradation have an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on tropical biodiversity. Our results clearly indicate that when it comes to maintaining tropical biodiversity, there is no substitute for primary forests.     

Palaeovegetation. Diversity of temperate plants in east Asia

The exceptionally broad species diversity of vascular plant genera in east Asian temperate forests, compared with their sister taxa in North America, has been attributed to the greater climatic diversity of east Asia, combined with opportunities for allopatric speciation afforded by repeated fragmentation and coalescence of populations through Late Cenozoic ice-age cycles. According to Qian and Ricklefs, these opportunities occurred in east Asia because temperate forests extended across the continental shelf to link populations in China, Korea and Japan during glacial periods, whereas higher sea levels during interglacial periods isolated these regions and warmer temperatures restricted temperate taxa to disjunct refuges. However, palaeovegetation data from east Asia show that temperate forests were considerably less extensive than today during the Last Glacial Maximum, calling into question the coalescence of tree populations required by the hypothesis of Qian and Ricklefs.     

Low host specificity of herbivorous insects in a tropical forest

Two decades of research have not established whether tropical insect herbivores are dominated by specialists or generalists. This impedes our understanding of species coexistence in diverse rainforest communities. Host specificity and species richness of tropical insects are also key parameters in mapping global patterns of biodiversity. Here we analyse data for over 900 herbivorous species feeding on 51 plant species in New Guinea and show that most herbivorous species feed on several closely related plant species. Because species-rich genera are dominant in tropical floras, monophagous herbivores are probably rare in tropical forests. Furthermore, even between phylogenetically distant hosts, herbivore communities typically shared a third of their species. These results do not support the classical view that the coexistence of herbivorous species in the tropics is a consequence of finely divided plant resources; non-equilibrium models of tropical diversity should instead be considered. Low host specificity of tropical herbivores reduces global estimates of arthropod diversity from 31 million (ref. 1) to 4 6 million species. This finding agrees with estimates based on taxonomic collections, reconciling an order of magnitude discrepancy between extrapolations of global diversity based on ecological samples of tropical communities with those based on sampling regional faunas.     

福建永定县的常绿阔叶林

据对永定县常绿阔叶林的31处共3100m~2典型样地统计,共含维管束植物136种,分属43科86属.单种和两种属共占总属数的93%.群落区系以樟、壳斗、山茶和茜草等科以及热带,泛热带地理成分(分别占总属数的43.0%和31.4%)为主.优势树种有栲属多种、木荷、青冈、蕈树和马尾松.群落类型有槠林等12个群系并具中、南亚热带植被过渡性特点.树种年龄结构和乔灌木多样性分析表明,群落已趋向中一晚年发育期并开始转为恢复发展的前期阶段.     

热带亚热带喀斯特森林树种的水分生理研究进展

热带亚热带喀斯特地区具有丰富且独特的自然资源,是我国重要的生态功能区,但也面临严重的石漠化问题。水分是影响该地区天然林结构功能和石漠化植被修复的关键环境因素。基于树木水分生理的研究有助于深入地了解喀斯特树种干旱适应策略,可为气候变化背景下喀斯特地区森林(天然林和人工林)的可持续发展提供理论依据。本文从水分来源、木质部水力结构以及蒸腾耗水等方面总结了近年来该区域喀斯特天然林树种在水分适应策略方面的研究进展,发现典型喀斯特树种能够稳定地利用岩溶水,其蒸腾耗水量的季节动态较小,且其茎木质部的抗栓塞能力强,在极端干旱时期可通过脆弱性分割维持水力安全。另外,基于树木水分生理的研究还能够为石漠化生态恢复适宜树种的筛选和人工林的经营管理提供科学依据。部分抗性强、耗水少的珍贵用材树种兼顾生态和经济效益,可用于石漠化地区的植被修复。建议今后的研究结合控制实验平台,长期监测树种生长和水分动态变化,基于多重机制系统阐明喀斯特森林树种的生态适应策略。     

Increasing dominance of large lianas in Amazonian forests

Ecological orthodoxy suggests that old-growth forests should be close to dynamic equilibrium, but this view has been challenged by recent findings that neotropical forests are accumulating carbon and biomass, possibly in response to the increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. However, it is unclear whether the recent increase in tree biomass has been accompanied by a shift in community composition. Such changes could reduce or enhance the carbon storage potential of old-growth forests in the long term. Here we show that non-fragmented Amazon forests are experiencing a concerted increase in the density, basal area and mean size of woody climbing plants (lianas). Over the last two decades of the twentieth century the dominance of large lianas relative to trees has increased by 1.7-4.6% a year. Lianas enhance tree mortality and suppress tree growth, so their rapid increase implies that the tropical terrestrial carbon sink may shut down sooner than current models suggest. Predictions of future tropical carbon fluxes will need to account for the changing composition and dynamics of supposedly undisturbed forests.     

天目山第三纪孑遗植物缺萼枫香的群落特征及其生态学意义

通过选择代表性地段,设置第三纪孑遗植物缺萼枫香群落样方,开展群落学调查,分析群落的物种组成、外貌及结构特征等.研究结果表明,群落中生长维管束植物177种,分属65科128属,科属组成较为复杂.在该地区,物种的区系地理成分丰富多样,以温带成分占优势,并含有较多古老属种.群落外貌由中、小型草质单叶的高位芽植物占优势,其中落叶成分所占比例相对较高.群落垂直结构分化明显,可以分为乔木层、亚乔木层、灌木层和草本层,树冠分布较为连续.天目山缺萼枫香群落是以落叶成分为主的、由中小型草质单叶的高位芽植物决定的常绿落叶阔叶混交林,具有古老性和残遗性.缺萼枫香林集中分布在中亚热带南部和中亚热带北部,种类组成表现较强的替代规律,随纬度升高落叶成分比例增加,常绿树种由适生冷凉气候的种类替代,常伴生有丰富的第三纪孑遗植物.应进一步研究缺萼枫香林群落的演替规律和演变历史,探讨枫香属植物的起源和进化以及冰期对第三纪森林的影响.