Relationship between physical and chemical soil attributes and plant species diversity in tropical mountain ecosystems from Brazil

Although the high diversity of plant species in the rupestrian fields has been primarily attributed to the existence of a set of distinct habitats, few studies support this assertion. The present study aimed to further investigate the relationship between physical and chemical attributes of soils with the diversity of plant species in this unique ecosystem. The rupestrian field is a unique vegetation formation that covers some of the southeastern Brazilian mountains in the transition of the Atlantic rain forest and the Cerrado （savanna）. Different habitats occur according to soil characteristics （e.g., presence of rocks, sand, fertility, hydrology, etc.）. These attributes ultimately influence the vegetation that is highly adapted to the harsh edaphic and climatic mountain conditions. Five distinct habitats were studied by us： rocky outcrops, peat bogs, sandy bogs, quartz gravelfields, and ＂cerrado＂ （savanna）. A floristic survey indicated that four families are found at greater frequency： Poaceae, Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, and Leguminosae. The greatest diversity of plant species was found in the rocky outcrops habitat, followed by cerrado, peat bog, quartz gravel grassland, and sandy bogs, respectively. The main difference in the floristic composition among these habitats was related to the dominant species. Trachypogon spicatus （Poaceae） was the most dominant species in the rocky outcrops, Axonopus siccus （Poaceae） in the peat bogs, Lagenocarpus rigidus （Cyperaceae） in the sandy bogs, Schizachyrium tenerum （Poaceae） in the cerrado, while Vellozia sp. 8 （Velloziaceae） dominated the vegetation in the quartz gravel grassland. This study demonstrated that physical and chemical soil properties strongly related the diversity of plant species occurring in the different habitats of rupestrian fields.     

Processus de minéralisation de la nappe du Plio-Quaternaire dans la plaine de Segui-Zograta (Sud-Ouest tunisien)

Résumé

La plaine de Segui-Zograta est une cuvette synclinale à remplissage Mio-Plio-Quaternaire où la nappe du Plio-Quaternaire constitue la principale source d’approvisionnement en eau pour l’abreuvement du chaptel et pour l’agriculture. Cette zone présente une hétérogénéité de répartition de la minéralisation des eaux souterraines. L’investigation des outils géochimiques basée sur l’étude des éléments majeurs, des isotopes stables (¹⁸O, ²H) et radioactifs (³H, ¹⁴C) indique la combinaison de différents processus contrôlant la minéralisation de ces eaux. Dans la partie Ouest, les eaux du Plio-Quaternaire présentent un facies de type sulfato-calco-sodique et des salinités élevées. Elles subissent l’effet de la dissolution des minéraux évaporitiques et résultent du mélange par drainance ascendante des eaux fossi des aquifères les plus profonds, à salinité élevée et à faciès chloruro-sulfato-sodique, à travers la faille d’Om Ali où leur contribution peut atteindre 96%. Dans la partie Est, ces eaux sont de type sulfato-calcique, considérées relativement moins minéralisées que celles de la partie Ouest. Elles sont issues de l’infiltration des eaux de pluie récentes et qui ont subi l’effet de l’évaporation.

Editeur Z.W. Kundzewicz     

Thermodynamics of charged and rotating black strings

We study thermodynamics of cylindrically symmetric black holes. Uncharged as well as charged and rotating objects have been discussed. We derive surface gravity and hence the Hawking temperature and entropy for all these cases. We correct some results in the literature and present new ones. It is seen that thermodynamically these black configurations behave differently from spherically symmetric objects.     

A viscous boundary for transient analyses of saturated porous media

An absorbing boundary for saturated porous media is developed that can be used for transient analyses in the time domain. The elastic constitutive equations for the saturated porous media follow Bowen's formulation. The method consists of applying viscous tractions along the artificial boundary. The absorbing boundary behaviour is assumed linear and isotropic. Hadamard's conditions provide the speeds of the dilatational and shear waves that propagate in saturated porous media. Since these expressions are frequency independent, the intensities of the viscous tractions are evaluated in the time domain, and the two dilatational waves are accounted for. The viscous tractions are defined from the drained characteristics, assuming an infinite permeability, at variance with the traditional ‘undrained’ method based on undrained characteristics and a null permeability. Solid media and materials with low permeability are also retrieved as subcases. The results show that, at no additional cost, this ‘drained’ method is more accurate for all permeabilities than the ‘undrained’ method, which disregards the existence of the second dilatational wave. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution of organic matter indicators in response to major environmental changes: The case of a formerly cut-over peat bog (Le Russey, Jura Mountains, France)

To assess whether the biochemical characteristics of peat can provide clues for past ecosystem changes or not, a study was carried out combining elemental analysis, micro-morphological counts and neutral monosaccharide determination of peat organic matter (OM) and the dominant living plants from a formerly cut-over peat bog in the Jura Mountains. Peat profiles (up to 50 cm depth) from two distinctive zones (bare peat, FRA and a regenerating stage, FRC) were compared with the reference profile (FRD) taken from an unexploited area of the bog. The results show contrasting OM composition along the profiles. In the upper sections of the FRD and FRC profiles, high C/N ratios and sugar contents (in the same range as in the source plants) and the large predominance of well preserved plant tissues indicate good preservation of primary biological inputs. In contrast, in peat from the FRA profile and deeper levels of the FRC profile, lower C/N ratios, lower amounts of sugars and a predominance of amorphous OM and mucilage suggest more extensive OM degradation. These features delineate a clear threshold between an uppermost “new” regenerating peat section and an “old” catotelm peat below. Nevertheless, even in the latter, the sugar contents remain relatively high (>80 mg/g) compared with other organic and mineral soils. Analysis of typical peat-forming plants and of bulk peat and fine grained fractions allowed identification of the following source indicators: xylose and arabinose for Cyperaceae; rhamnose, galactose and mannose for mosses; and ribose (and to a lesser extent, hemicellulosic glucose) possibly for microbial synthesis.     

A method to determine warm and cool steppe biomes from pollen data; application to the Mediterranean and Kazakhstan regions

An objective method for the assignment of pollen spectra to appropriate biomes has been published recently. The aim of this paper is to improve the distinction between warm and cool steppes, thus refining vegetation and climate reconstruction, particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. A set of modern pollen spectra from the Mediterranean and Kazakhstan regions, dominated today by open vegetation types, has been analysed statistically in order to relate pollen taxa abundances to warm and cool grass/shrub plant functional types (PFTs). A statistical test using modern pollen data shows that the method is able to distinguish between cool and warm steppe biomes with a high degree of confidence. The method has been applied to two fossil pollen records. The results of this exercise showed that cool steppe dominated in central Greece between 18 000 and 13 000 yr BP, while in western Iran the vegetation was at the boundary between cool and warm steppes. These vegetation types were replaced by warm mixed forest in Greece and warm steppe in Iran after that time span. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of short-term ecosystem experimental warming on water-extractable organic matter in an ombrotrophic Sphagnum peatland (Le Forbonnet, France)

In a future warmer world, peatlands may change from a carbon sink function to a carbon source function. This study tracks changes in water-extractable organic matter (WEOM) after 1 year of in situ experimental warming using open top chambers (OTCs). WEOM was studied in the upper peat layers (0–10 cm) through analysis of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC), stable C isotopic composition (δ¹³C), specific UV absorbance at 280 nm and sugar composition of cores taken from an open bog (DRY sites) and a transitional poor fen (WET sites). At the DRY sites, the impact of OTCs was weak with respect to WEOM parameters, whereas at the WET sites, the air warming treatment led to a decrease in peat water content, suggesting that the supply of heat by OTCs was used mainly for evapotranspiration. OTCs at the WET sites also induced a relative enrichment at the surface (0–5 cm depth) of aliphatic and/or aromatic compounds with concomitant decrease in WEOC, as a result of decomposition. On the contrary, WEOC and sugar content increased in the deeper peat layer (7.5–10 cm depth) probably as a result of increased leaching of phenolic compounds by roots, which then inhibits microbial activity. The different response to experimental warming at DRY and WET sites suggests that the spatial variability of moisture is critical for understanding of the impact of global warming on the fate of OM and the carbon cycle in peatlands.