Evolution of species diversity of Cretaceous radiolarians from high-latitude paleobiochores

Cretaceous radiolarians of the Boreal regions are considered. Their minimal diversity and low abundance are recorded in stratigraphic intervals corresponding to anoxic events. Paleogeographic and ecostratigraphic distribution trends of Cretaceous radiolarians are established for families Heliodiscidae, Prunobrachidae, Pseudoaulophacidae and some others. The most significant turnovers in evolution of radiolarians are confined to the latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous, Albian-Cenomanian, Cenomanian-Turonian, terminal Santonian-earliest Campanian transitions and to the terminal Late Cretaceous.     

Removal of intertidal algae by herbivores in experimental frames and on shores near Auckland

When grazing animals are excluded from any intertidal area algae grow unchecked. In screened frames on the shore where predation experiments are in progress such growth is undesirable. A number of shore herbivores were tested for their ability to remove such algal growth and prevent its reformation without interfering with the main experiments. Only the browsing species Lunella smaragda and Melagraphia aethiops were capable of removing large algal growths, and these species were acceptable food for some of the predatory species. The complex inter‐relationship between grazing species and shore zonation at several places near Auckland is discussed.     

海南东寨港红树林区底栖节肢动物多样性研究

为了解海南东寨港红树林区节肢动物多样性水平, 作者于2009 年12 月、2010 年3 月和7 月,对海南东寨港红树林区8 个采样点进行节肢动物群落调查, 共获得底栖节肢动物34 种, 隶属2 纲14科; 方蟹科和沙蟹科是主要类群, 其中双齿近相手蟹(Perisesarma bidens)、原足虫(Kalliapseudes tomiokaensis)和锯眼泥蟹(Ilyoplax serrata)为优势种; 不同潮滩间节肢动物的栖息密度差异不显著, 但生物量差异显著; 不同季节间节肢动物的栖息密度和生物量差异显著; 物种种数S、Margalef 丰富度指数d、Shannon-Wiener 物种多样性指数H′和Pielou 均匀性指数J 皆表现为冬季<春季<夏季。     

海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区体系构建及其在泉州湾的应用

基于海岸带综合管理的理念,通过海域生态环境敏感性评价与海域生物多样性保护重要性评价,综合利用地理相关分析法、空间叠置法等定性和定量分区相结合的方法进行海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区划界,提出了海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区体系,将规划区域划分为生物多样性重点保护区、生物多样性养护区和生物多样性保护重点监督区.以福建泉州湾为案例,应用海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区体系,得出泉州湾生物多样性保护极重要地区是泉州湾河口湿地省级自然保护区,泉州湾生物多样性保护比较重要地区是晋江河口、洛阳江河口、晋江南岸地区及清源山.泉州湾海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区方案共划定26个分区,包括生物多样性重点保护区3个,生物多样性养护区14个,生物多样性保护重点监督区9个.泉州湾的应用结果表明,本研究提出的海洋生物多样性保护空间规划分区体系具有一定的可行性和可操作性,可为泉州湾生物多样性保护管理提供重要科学依据.     

生物灭绝与人类存亡

近代由于气候的变暖,工业化进程的加快,人口的激增,森林的过度砍伐,草场的超载过牧,化学制品的滥用,环境的污染,生态环境遭到了严重破坏,生物物种灭绝速度较单纯自然状态下的速度要快1000倍。生物物种灭绝对人类生产、生活,甚至对人类生存都构成巨大的威胁。因此,应对气候变化,保护生物多样性,防止物种灭绝,已成为全球性的紧迫任务;中国是世界生物物种资源最丰富的国家之一。中国生物多样性形势总体严峻。中国政府高度重视生物多样性保护工作,先后颁布一系列法律法规,已收到巨大成效;保护生物多样性确保世界粮食安全,是全球人民的普遍愿望。生物灭绝关系人类存亡。人类要秉承天人合一的理念,与大自然和谐相处。     

Human and Environmental Factors Affect Patterns of Crop Diversity in an Ethiopian Highland Agroecosystem

The Ethiopian highlands are a center of diversity for numerous globally important crops. Heterogeneous landscapes, traditional agricultural practices, and inaccessibility have created and maintained diverse subsistence agroecosystems. We surveyed sixty-three farms in twelve communities of the Gamo highlands and found high levels of on-farm diversity of crop species and varieties. The extent and nature of this diversity are related to both ecological factors, namely elevation, and anthropogenic factors such as land-use history, accessibility to markets and extension, and strength and scale of farmer exchange networks. These human landscape features have the potential to both enhance and mediate effects of elevation and other environmental factors on crop diversity. The interaction of environmental and anthropogenic forces on the diversity of crops grown by farmers affects the strategies farmers employ to adapt their farming to changing conditions.     

An exploratory analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of the ecological status of the Upper Yellow and Yangtze Rivers

This study presents findings of the first systematic analysis of aquatic biotic assemblages in the source region of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. It provides an initial basis with which to select representative organisms as indicators to assess the aquatic ecological status of rivers in this region. Macroinvertebrates are considered to be good indicators of long-term environmental changes due to their restricted range and persistence over time. Field investigations of macroinvertebrates were conducted in August 2009 in the source region of the Yellow River, and in July 2010 in the source region of the Yangtze River. Altogether 68 taxa of macroinvertebrates belonging to 29 families and 59 genera were identified. Among them were 8 annelids, 5 mollusks, 54 arthropods and 1 other animal. In the source region of the Yellow River, taxa number, density and biomass of macroinvertebrates were 50, 329 individuals m2 and 0.3966 g dry weight m2, respectively. Equivalent figures for the source region of the Yangtze River were 29, 59 individuals m2 and 0.0307 g dry weight m-2. The lower benthic animal resources in the source region of the Yangtze River are ascribed to higher altitude, higher sediment concentration and wetland degradation. Preliminary findings of this exploratory study indicate that hydroelectric power stations had a weak impact on benthic dwellers but wetland degradation caused by a series of human activities had a catastrophic impact on survival of macroinvertebrates. Ecological protection measures such as conservative grazing and vegetation management are required to minimize grassland degradation and desertification, and reduce soil erosion rate and river sediment discharge.     

Intermediate disturbance and patterns of species richness

Abstract

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) predicts highest species diversity in environments experiencing intermediate intensity disturbance, after an intermediate timespan. Because many landscapes comprise mosaics with complex disturbance histories, the theory implies that each patch in those mosaics should have a distinct level of diversity reflecting the magnitude of disturbance and the time since it occurred. We model changing patterns of species richness across a landscape experiencing varied scenarios of simulated disturbance in order to predict first the variation of richness through time in individual patches, based on their disturbance histories, and then the changing patterns of richness across the landscape through time, representing the cumulative impact of changing richness within the individual patches. Model outputs show that individual landscape patches have highly variable species richness through time, with the trajectory reflecting the timing, intensity and sequence of disturbances. When the results are mapped across the landscape, the resulting temporal and spatial complexity reveals a distribution of biodiversity that is strikingly contingent on the details of disturbance history. These results illustrate the danger of generalization (in either data interpretation or management decisions), as IDH actually imposes a highly variable pattern of diversity.     

济南市土壤重金属污染现状及其土壤生物学表征

以济南市区及郊区农田土壤为对象,研究土壤中重金属污染的特征,结果表明,土壤重金属污染不仅引起了生态环境的恶化,而且影响土壤生物多样性,降低了土壤活性。济南市土壤动物各类群的数量与土壤重金属元素含量的相关性统计结果显示:土壤原生动物数量与Co、Ni含量呈明显负相关;土壤线虫数量与Cu、Mo含量呈显著负相关;旱生土壤动物数量与Cu含量呈显著负相关;说明重金属元素对土壤动物多样性具有不利影响,土壤线虫是耐污种类,旱生动物多为不耐污种类,土壤线虫与旱生动物密度之比可以作为土壤重金属污染程度的生物学指标。通过对土壤地球化学元素含量与土壤生物学参数的相关性分析,找到了重金属的敏感生物指标:Pb污染的生物学指标为土壤线虫;As污染的生物学指标是真菌PLFA含量等,用土壤生物作为敏感、快速的重金属污染生物毒性的指示物,具有广阔的应用前景。