Spatio-temporal variability of small fishes related with environmental factors in a typical domestic tap water lake,Eastern China

The knowledge of prey small fish stock, distribution and abundance is necessary to guide stocking of piscivorous fish for the biomanipulation in domestic tap water lakes. This study describes the current status of small fish community in Lake Kuilei (China), and examines the spatial and seasonal variations of the community in relation to key environmental factors. Based on submerged macrophyte cover and water depth, the lake was divided into five major habitats: (1) macrophyte covered shallow habitat of water depth < 2.00 m, (2) uncovered or less-covered shallow habitat (2.00 m–3.50 m), (3) uncovered medium shallow habitat (3.50 m–5.00 m), (4) uncovered medium deep habitat (5.00 m–6.50 m) and (5) uncovered deep habitat (6.50 m–8.50 m). The abundance and composition of small fish were monitored by benthic fykenet sampling from April 2013 to January 2014. A total of 2881 individuals belonging to 5 families and 21 species were collected. Based on their abundance (accounted for 88.96% of the total) and occurrence (more than 33.33%), Acheilognathus chankaensis, Acheilognathus macropterus, Microphysogobio microstomus, Pseudorasbora parva and Rhinogobius giurinus were recognized as dominant small fish species. The results of correlation analysis identified that species richness ( Sr ), Shannon-Wiener diversity index ( H′ ) and Margalef′s richness index ( D ) were significantly negatively correlated with water depth, but positively correlated with biomass of submerged macrophytes.Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the spatial distributions of most small fishes were negatively associated with water depth. The details of these findings are beneficial to understanding the adaptation of the small fishes in degraded environments, and to developing suitable biomanipulation strategies for the management of fish resources and water quality in the lakes along the lower reach of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River basin.

     

Fish Assemblage Responses to a Low-head Dam Removal in the Lancang River

Dam removal is becoming an effective approach for aquatic biodiversity restoration in damming river in order to balance the aquatic ecosystem conservation with large-scale cascade damming. However, the effects of dam removal on fish communities in Asian mountainous rivers, which are dominated by Cypriniformes fishes, are still not well known. To determine whether dam removal on a mountainous river benefit restoration of fish diversity, we investigated the response of fish assemblage to dam removal using a before-after-control-impact design in two tributaries of the Lancang River(dam removal river: the Jidu River, and control river: the Fengdian River). Fish surveys were conducted one year prior to dam removal(2012) and three years(2013–2015) following dam removal. We observed rapidly and notably spatio-temporal changes in fish biodiversity metrics and assemblage structure, occurring in the Jidu River within the first year after dam removal. Overall, fish species richness, density and Shannon-Wiener diversity all increased immediately in above-and below-dam sites, and maintained a stable level in subsequent years, compared to unchanged situation in the control river. All sites in the Jidu River experienced shifts in fish composition after dam removal, with the greatest temporal changes occurred in sites below-and above-the former dam, resulting in a temporal homogenization tendency in the dam removed river. These findings suggest that dam removal can benefit the recovery of habitat conditions and fish community in Asian mountainous rivers, but the results should be further evaluated when apply to other dammed rivers since the dam age, fluvial geomorphology and situation of source populations could all affect the responses of fish assemblages.     

Spatial patch structure and adaptive strategy for desert shrub of Reaumuria soongorica in arid ecosystem of the Heihe River Basin

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.

     

Developing a comprehensive evaluation method for Interconnected River System Network assessment: A case study in Tangxun Lake group

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The Interconnected River System Network (IRSN) plays a crucial role in water resource allocation, water ecological restoration and water quality improvement. It...     

Multiscale geographically and temporally weighted regression: exploring the spatiotemporal determinants of housing prices

Understanding scale effects is important and indispensable for geography studies. However, spatial and spatiotemporal statistical tools for measuring the operational scales of different processes are rather limited. This article extends the popular geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model to consider operational scale effects by proposing multiscale GTWR (MGTWR), which offers a flexible and scalable framework for identifying and analysing multiscale processes by specifying flexible bandwidths for various covariates. Then, MGTWR is employed to explore spatiotemporal variations and how influential factors are associated with housing prices in Shenzhen. This article attempts to extend GTWR to MGTWR in consideration of scale effects, thereby highlighting the importance of different levels of spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Furthermore, the empirical results of this study can provide valuable policy implications for real estate development in areas where urban planning should address multiscale effects in both temporal and spatial dimensions.     

Novel Hybrid Integration Approach of Bagging-Based Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Function for Groundwater Potential Analysis

Natural Resources Research - Groundwater is a vital water source in the rural and urban areas of developing and developed nations. In this study, a novel hybrid integration approach of...     

Consumption of Ecosystem Services in Laos

The exponential increase of ecosystem utilization has instigated a serious conflict between ecosystem services and residents’ needs. The Belt and Road Initiative has greatly influenced Laotian production and living, and the scientific assessment of the consumption of ecosystem services in Laos is important for exploring residents’ influence on the ecosystem. Based on data for the Laotian consumption of agricultural products, fruits and livestock products during 1961-2013, normalized by either harvest index or feed conversion ratio, this study draws three main conclusions. 1) Ecosystem service consumption in Laos is centered on the consumption of farmland, forestry and grassland ecosystem services, which account for over 80%, over 10% and under 2%, showing downward, upward and constant trends, respectively. The consumption of these ecosystem services shows a trend of increasing first, then fluctuating, and finally increasing. 2) The consumption of ecosystem services in Laos was characterized by the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services” from 1961 to 2008, and the mode of “balanced development of consumption of farmland, forest and grassland ecosystem services” from 2008 to 2013, with a trend of transformation from the former into the latter. 3) The formation and change in the consumption mode of Laotian ecosystem services have been affected by both supply and trade. Laos developed agriculture mainly during the period from 1961 to 2008, forming the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services”. This development benefited from the enriched varieties of imports as well as the increased value of trade and import volume. However, the consumption of ecosystem services in Laos after 2008 changed from the mode of “dominance of consumption of the farmland ecosystem services” to one of “balanced development of consumption of farmland, forest and grassland ecosystem services”. This study provides an empirical reference for research on the consumption of ecosystem services.     

Response of Microbial Communities in Soil to Multi-level Warming in a Highland Barley System of the Lhasa River

No studies have examined the effect of experimental warming on the microbial biomass and community composition of soil in agricultural ecosystem on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Thus it is unclear whether the influences of experimental warming on microbial communities in soil are related to warming magnitude in croplands on this Plateau. This study performed warming experiment (control, low- and high-level) in a highland barley system of the Lhasa River in May 2014 to examine the correlation between the response of microbial communities in soil to warming and warming magnitude. Topsoil samples (0-10 and 10-20 cm) were collected on September 14, 2014. Experimental warming at both low and high levels significantly increased soil temperature by 1.02 ℃ and 1.59 ℃, respectively at the depth of 15 cm. Phospho lipid fatty acid (PLFA) method was used to determine the microbial community in soil. The low-level experimental warming did not significantly affect the soil’s total PLFA, fungi, bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), actinomycetes, gram-positive bacteria (G⁺), gram-negative bacteria (G^-), protozoa, the ratio of fungi to bacteria (F/B ratio), and ratio of G⁺ to G^- (G⁺/G^- ratio) at the 0-10 and 10-20 cm depth. The low-level experimental warming also did not significantly alter the composition of microbial community in soil at the 0-10 and 10-20 cm depth. The high-level experimental warming significantly increased total PLFA by 74.4%, fungi by 78.0%, bacteria by 74.0%, AMF by 66.9%, actinomycetes by 81.4%, G⁺ by 67.0% and G^- by 74.4% at the 0-10 cm depth rather than at 10-20 cm depth. The high-level experimental warming significantly altered microbial community composition in soil at the 0-10 cm depth rather than at 10-20 cm depth. Our findings suggest that the response of microbial communities in soil to warming varied with warming magnitudes in the highland barley system of the Lhasa River.     

Farmland Abandonment Research Progress: Influencing Factors and Simulation Model

Farmland abandonment is a global problem and considered one of the most important areas in land use change research. Farmland abandonment research currently focuses on understanding the factors that affect farmland abandonment and developing scientific models to simulate farmland abandonment. The study reviewed the natural and political factors driving farmland abandonment and summarized the main models for farmland abandonment simulation together with their advantages and disadvantages. We discuss the main ecological effects of farmland abandonment and propose farmland abandonment research directions. The study found that: (1) the influence of labor cost change and ageing labor force on farmland abandonment needs further investigation, (2) simulation models for farmland abandonment must include the decision-making mechanism of individual farmers and focus on macro large-scale abandonment prediction models, and (3) the influence of farmland abandonment on landscape culture must be investigated in detail.     

中国半干旱草原施氮梯度下的土壤激发效应（英文）

为了探究施氮对土壤有机质(SOM)的激发效应,本研究在施氮梯度样地(0、4和16 g N m^–2 yr^–1)上进行了¹³C标记葡萄糖的原位添加实验,并对土壤CO_2排放量和磷脂脂肪酸(PLFA)含量进行了测定。研究发现施氮降低了土壤CO_2排放、土壤PLFA含量以及土壤真菌细菌比。在0 g N m^–2 yr^–1样地上葡萄糖添加导致的正向激发效应最强,同时4 g N m^–2 yr^–1样地释放的葡萄糖来源的碳最多。因此,施氮减少了土壤中SOM转化产生的CO_2,微生物碳的来源由SOM转变为添加的易分解碳。本研究采样早期土壤微生物生物量和群落结构稳定,表明该草原存在"表观激发效应",因此未来研究应着重对微生物功能的多样性进行探讨。