In many arid ecosystems, vegetation frequently occurs in high-cover patches interspersed in a matrix of low plant cover. However, theoretical explanations for shrub patch pattern dynamics along climate gradients remain unclear on a large scale. This context aimed to assess the variance of the Reaumuria soongorica patch structure along the precipitation gradient and the factors that affect patch structure formation in the middle and lower Heihe River Basin (HRB). Field investigations on vegetation patterns and heterogeneity in soil properties were conducted during 2014 and 2015. The results showed that patch height, size and plant-to-patch distance were smaller in high precipitation habitats than in low precipitation sites. Climate, soil and vegetation explained 82.5% of the variance in patch structure. Spatially, R. soongorica shifted from a clumped to a random pattern on the landscape towards the MAP gradient, and heterogeneity in the surface soil properties (the ratio of biological soil crust (BSC) to bare gravels (BG)) determined the R. soongorica population distribution pattern in the middle and lower HRB. A conceptual model, which integrated water availability and plant facilitation and competition effects, was revealed that R. soongorica changed from a flexible water use strategy in high precipitation regions to a consistent water use strategy in low precipitation areas. Our study provides a comprehensive quantification of the variance in shrub patch structure along a precipitation gradient and may improve our understanding of vegetation pattern dynamics in the Gobi Desert under future climate change.
Yanchi County is located in the agro-pastoral ecotone and belongs to the ecologically fragile area of Northwest China.It is important to study the evolution of landscape pattern to curb its environmental degradation.In order to intuitively show how the landscape pattern of the study area changes over time,Landsat Thematic Mappers(TM)and Landsat Operational Land Imager(OLI)data of 1991,2000,2010 and 2017 were used.This paper attempts to apply niche theories and methods into landscape ecology,and constructs a niche model of landscape components by using"n-dimentional hypervolume niche theory"and landscape pattern indices.By evaluating the spatial and temporal evolution of niche from the perspective of two-dimensional space to reflect the changes of landscape pattern in the study area over the past 26 years,new theories and methods were introduced for the characterization of landscape pattern.The results indicate that:1)The larger the attribute and dominance value of landscape components,the higher the ecological niche and the stronger the control effect on the overall landscape.2)The ecological niche of each landscape component was significantly different,just as its control effect on the overall landscape.3)The dynamic change of the ecological niche of each landscape component was different,with grassland,unused land and arable land always in a high dominant position,although the ecological niche of construction land and water area was always low.In general,the introduction of niche theory into the landscape ecology provided a new method to study the changes in regional landscape pattern. 相似文献
It is shown in this paper how to build a canonical transformation of variables, so that the eccentric anomaly becomes the new independent variable. In the case of eccentric elliptical orbits it changes the equations of motion so, that they can be integrated analytically to any order of approximation comparatively easy. 相似文献
All gravity field functionals obtained from an Earth gravitational model (EGM) depend on the underlying terrestrial reference
frame (TRF), with respect to which the EGM’s spherical harmonic coefficients refer to. In order to maintain a coherent framework
for the comparison of current and future EGMs, it is thus important to investigate the consistency of their inherent TRFs,
especially when their use is intended for high precision studies. Following the methodology described in an earlier paper
by Kleusberg (1980), the similarity transformation parameters between the associated reference frames for several EGMs (including
the most recent CHAMP/GRACE models at the time of writing this paper) are estimated in the present study. Specifically, the
differences between the spherical harmonic coefficients for various pairs of EGMs are parameterized through a 3D-similarity
spatial transformation model that relates their underlying TRFs. From the least-squares adjustment of such a parametric model,
the origin, orientation and scale stability between the EGMs’ reference frames can be identified by estimating their corresponding
translation, rotation and scale factor parameters. Various aspects of the estimation procedure and its results are highlighted
in the paper, including data weighting schemes, the sensitivity of the results with respect to the selected harmonic spectral
band, the correlation structure and precision level of the estimated transformation parameters, the effect of the estimated
differences of the EGMs’ reference frames on their height anomaly signal, and the overall feasibility of Kleusberg’s formulae
for the assessment of TRF inconsistencies among global geopotential models. 相似文献