Diets of alpine galaxias (Galaxias paucispondylus Stokell) and longjawed galaxias (G. prognathus Stokell) in a South Island,New Zealand,high‐country stream

Thedietsofthealpinegalaxias(Galaxias paucispondylus Stokell, 1938) and the longjawed galaxias (G. prognathus Stokell, 1940) were studied in Deep Creek, a high‐country stream in the central South Island of New Zealand. Both species are small, slender fish with entirely freshwater life cycles. Their diets were very similar and consisted of aquatic invertebrates, dominated by the larvae of Deleatidium spp. (Ephemeroptera), Hydrobiosis spp. (Trichoptera), and Chironomidae (Diptera). Although diets partly reflected what was available in the stream, both fish selected soft‐bodied prey in preference to cased or harder shelled prey. Both species are probably nocturnal feeders.     

长江黄河源区覆被变化下降水的产流产沙效应研究

在长江和黄河源区的左冒西孔曲和纳通河、垮热洼尔玛河流域的不同植被覆盖下建立了天然径流观测场,利用观测天然降水和人工模拟降水,初步研究了江河源区不同植被覆盖下降水的产流产沙效应。结果表明,长江黄河源区的3个小流域内,在典型高寒草甸草地30°坡面上,退化较为严重的30%覆盖度以下的场地内,地表径流产出量明显大于覆盖度较好的95%、92%和68%场地,同时产沙量显著高于这3个场地,其平均单次降水形成的泥沙量是这三种盖度的2~4倍,由此造成地表侵蚀量平均为这3种盖度的3~10倍。通过对几次典型的降水形态的分析,在长江黄河源区高寒草甸草地的坡面上,不但降水量影响着产流产沙量,降水形态也影响着产流产沙量,降雨仍是引起水土流失的主要降水形态,在降水量相同的条件下,降雪可比降雨和雨加雪增加产流量2.1~3.5倍,可比降雨减少泥沙侵蚀45.4%~80.3%。人工模拟结果表明:对于覆盖度为5%和30%的强度退化草地,次降水量在3.5 mm时,就形成了较为明显的径流和产沙效应,当次降雨量达到7 mm,降雨持续时间15 min,5 m2场地内就会形成1 400 mL以上的径流量;在地表土壤含水量(FDR测0~5 cm平均含水量为36.7%)较高的情况下,次降雨量达4mm,降雨强度超过0.4 mm/min,在5 m2场地内历时5 min就能形成1 060 mL的地表径流,每100 mL径流中含泥沙高达1.6 g。这一试验结果在长江黄河源区3个不同的河源小流域是一致的。     

中国西部天山高山带冷生土壤及相关土壤的地貌发生学

The soil landscape relationship was investigated in the Upper Urumqi River Basin of the Tienshan Mountain Range, Xinjiang, China. Cryosols occurred in glaciated valleys and north-facing toeslopes at elevations above 3 000 m. Most cryosols developed in moraine are Aquiturbels. The microrelief is dominated by earth hummocks, thus the surface organic layers are either discontinuous or broken due to frost action. The Bg horizons are either gleyed or mottled and frost-churned organic matter is common in the lower Bg horizons. Stratified horizons and buried organic or A horizons are also common on gentle sloping or undulating moraines indicating the effects of gelifluction. Reticular structures formed in the lower active layers due to ice lens formation and freeze-thaw cycles. The active layer thickness ranges from 140～200 cm. The organic cryosols (Hemistels) occur in depressions and north-facing toeslopes with an active layer thickness ranging from 90～110 cm. Soils formed on south-facing slopes have a mollic epipedon 20～25 cm thick and a strong brown cambic horizon and are classified as Haplocryolls. The distribution of cryosols is smaller as compared with the extent of permafrost due to the depth requirement of permafrost in cryosol classification. However, the existence of permafrost at greater depth cannot be ignored in land use interpretations.     

那曲高寒草地长时间地面热源特征及其气候影响因子分析

利用中国科学院那曲高寒气候环境观测研究站2002—2015年自动气象塔(AWS_Tower)和2011—2014年涡动相关系统(EC)的观测资料,基于地表能量平衡组合法和涡动相关法计算那曲高寒草地下垫面湍流通量。利用涡动相关法对地表能量平衡组合法计算的感热通量、潜热通量进行校正,并将校正规律外推得到一个长时间连续的地表通量序列,分析那曲高寒草地下垫面感热通量、潜热通量的长时间变化特征以及地面热源与气候影响因子的关系。结果表明,该序列地表能量闭合度在春、夏、秋以及全年接近1,而冬季辐射观测值偏小导致能量闭合度正偏差较大为1. 34。近14年中,感热通量在年际变化上呈上升趋势;潜热通量呈显著减弱趋势,造成地面热源呈减弱趋势。地面热源与风速、地表温度、土壤湿度以及净辐射通量资料的关系显著。其中地面热源全年对净辐射通量响应显著,对地表温度在春、秋以及冬季响应显著,与土壤湿度在春、夏以及秋季响应明显,与风速在春季响应特征较为突出。季节变化上,感热通量在4月达到全年最大值,在7月为最小值;潜热通量在7月为全年最大值,在1月为最小值。     

WHY MONITOR CARBON IN HIGH‐ALPINE STREAMS?

In this short communication, we report on dissolved organic and inorganic carbon concentrations from a summer stream monitoring campaign at the main hydrological catchment of the Tarfala Research Station in northern Sweden. Further, we place these unique high‐alpine observations in the context of a relevant subset of Sweden's national monitoring programme. Our analysis shows that while the monitoring programme (at least for total organic carbon) may have relatively good representativeness across a range of forest coverages, alpine/tundra environments are potentially underrepresented. As for dissolved inorganic carbon, there is currently no national monitoring in Sweden. Since the selection of stream water monitoring locations and monitored constituents at the national scale can be motivated by any number of goals (or limitations), monitoring at the Tarfala Research Station along with other research catchment sites across Fennoscandia becomes increasingly important and can offer potential complementary data necessary for improving process understanding. Research catchment sites (typically not included in national monitoring programmes) can help cover small‐scale landscape features and thus complement national monitoring thereby improving the ability to capture hot spots and hot moments of biogeochemical export. This provides a valuable baseline of current conditions in high‐alpine environments against which to gauge future changes in response to potential climatic and land cover shifts.     

Fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O from alpine grassland in the Tibetan Plateau

Using static chamber technique, fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O were measured in the alpine grassland area from July 2000 to July 2001, determinations of mean fluxes showed that co2 and N2O were generally released from the soil, while the alpine grassland accounted for a weak CH4 sink. Fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O ranged widely. The highest co2 emission occurred in August, whereas almost 90% of the whole year emission occurred in the growing season. But the variations of CH4 and N2O fluxes did not show any clear patterns over the one-year-experiment. During a daily variation, the maximum co2 emission occurred at 16:00, and then decreased to the minimum emission in the early morning. Daily pattern analyses indicated that the variation in co2 fluxes was positively related to air temperatures (R2=0.73) and soil temperatures at a depth of 5 cm (R2=0.86), whereas daily variations in CH4 and N2O fluxes were poorly explained by soil temperatures and climatic variables. co2 emissions in this area were much lower than other grasslands in plain areas.     

A thousand years of environmental change and human impact in the alpine zone at Mt Kosciusko,New South Wales

This study reconstructs erosion, productivity, fire and vegetation records at Club Lake, in the alpine zone of Kosciusko National Park (the highest mountain region in Australia), and uses them to compare the prehistoric and historic periods. While disturbance in the prehistoric period was found to be minimal and mainly activated by fire, the impact of land uses after European arrival initiated a change in the erosion and fire regime and brought new grazing animals and exotic plant species. These triggered temporal changes in eutrophication and the nature of erosion, and significant vegetation changes. There was a reduction in the stability and persistence of species representation, especially in herbfield vegetation, and little recovery is evident despite the cessation of summer grazing. It is apparent that the area is very sensitive to disturbance by human impact and large fires.     

Alpine Ecosystems of Northwest Yunnan, China： an Initial Assessment for Conservation

Implementing conservation actions on-the-ground is not a straightforward process,especially when faced with high scientific uncertainty due to limited available information. This is especially acute in regions of the world that harbor many unique species that have not been well studied,such as the alpine zone of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwest Yunnan (NWY),a global biodiversity hotspot and site of The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project. We conducted a quantitative,but rapid regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across NWY to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the alpine flora,the first large-scale analysis of alpine biodiversity patterns in this region. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community types and link community patterns to habitat variables. Our analysis indicated that most species had small distributions and/or small population sizes. Strong patterns emerged with higher diversity in the more northern mountains,but beta diversity was high,averaging only 10% among sites. The ordinations indicated that elevation and geographic location were the dominant environ-mental gradients underlying the differences in the species composition among communities. The high beta diversity across the alpine of these mountains implies that conservation strategies ultimately will require the protection of large numbers of species over a large geographical area. However,prioritiza-tion should be given to areas where potential payoffs are greatest. Sites with high species richness also have a greater number of endemic species,and,by focusing efforts on these sites,conservation investments would be maximized by protecting the greatest number of unique species.     

Comparison of Methods for Evaluating the Forage-livestock Balance of Alpine Grasslands on the Northern Tibetan Plateau

Livestock grazing is one of primary way to use grasslands throughout the world, and the forage-livestock balance of grasslands is a core issue determining animal husbandry sustainability. However, there are few methods for assessing the forage-livestock balance and none of those consider the dynamics of external abiotic factors that influence forage yields. In this study, we combine long-term field observations with remote sensing data and meteorological records of temperature and precipitation to quantify the impacts of climate change and human activities on the forage-livestock balance of alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau for the years 2000 to 2016. We developed two methods: one is statical method based on equilibrium theory and the other is dynamic method based on non-equilibrium theory. We also examined the uncertainties and shortcomings of using these two methods as a basis for formulating policies for sustainable grassland management. Our results from the statical method showed severe overgrazing in the grasslands of all counties observed except Nyima (including Shuanghu) for the entire period from 2000 to 2016. In contrast, the results from the dynamic method showed overgrazing in only eight years of the study period 2000-2016, while in the other nine years alpine grasslands throughout the northern Tibetan Plateau were less grazed and had forage surpluses. Additionally, the dynamic method found that the alpine grasslands of counties in the northeastern and southwestern areas of the northern Tibetan Plateau were overgrazed, and that alpine grasslands in the central area of the plateau were less grazed with forage surpluses. The latter finding is consistent with field surveys. Therefore, we suggest that the dynamic method is more appropriate for assessment of forage-livestock management efforts in alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau. However, the statical method is still recommended for assessments of alpine grasslands profoundly disturbed by irrational human activities.     

近40 年来青藏高原典型高寒湿地系统的动态变化

选择青藏高原长江源区、黄河源区以及若尔盖地区等典型高寒湿地分布区域, 利用1969、1986、2000 和2004 年多期航片和卫星遥感数据, 从湿地主要组分分布、空间格局以及水生态功能等方面, 分析了近40 年来典型高寒湿地系统动态变化特征及其区域差异性。结果表明: 青藏高原典型高寒湿地退化具有普遍性, 湿地面积萎缩在10%以上。以长江源区的沼泽湿地退化最为严重, 退缩幅度达到29%, 同时大约有17.5%的长江源区内流小湖泊干涸消失, 黄河源区和若尔盖地区湿地系统空间分布格局的破碎化和岛屿化程度显著加剧。高寒 湿地系统退化使其水文功能发生变化, 表现在湿地退化较为强烈的长江源区与若尔盖地区枯 水期流量减少、稀遇较大流量径流发生频率增加而常遇流量发生频率减少、水涵养能力下降。湿地系统变化与区域气温显著升高有关, 在20 世纪80 年代以来区域增温幅度升高到过去40 年平均增温幅度的2.3 倍, 湿地系统退化程度也同步在20 世纪80 年代中期以后明显加剧。在降水量呈现增加以及冰川趋于消融的背景下, 高寒湿地退化是导致其流域径流持续递减的主要因素之一。