Late Quaternary diatom response to vegetation and climate change in a subalpine lake in Banff National Park, Alberta

The late Quaternary diatom record from subalpine Crowfoot Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta (lat. 51° 61N; long. 116° 31W) has been analyzed. Results are related to independently inferred vegetation and climate changes. No diatoms were found in the basal diamict that predates 11330 ¹⁴C yr BP. Very few occur until ca. 10 100¹⁴ C yr BP probably due to the short time between de-glaciation and an advance of the Crowfoot Glacier during the Younger Dryas Chron. Initial pioneering species were characteristic of alkaline water and calcareous organic sediments. They appeared as sediments became organic and laminated suggesting increasing water clarity, and as the Pinus-dominated forest expanded and the climate warmed. After ca. 9060 ¹⁴C yr BP diatom numbers increased rapidly, reaching a maximum prior to the Mazama tephra; they remained high until ca. 3500 ¹⁴C yr BP. The period between ca. 9060 and 3500 ¹⁴C yr saw timberline elevation increase and the dominance of xerophytic taxa. These are consistent with early to mid-Holocene warmth and aridity. Diatom productivity reflects the warm climate and presumably longer ice-free season, a stable catchment and transparent water. Decreases in diatom productivity coincide with a vegetation change with reduction of xerophytic taxa and the appearance of a closed Picea-Abies forest, hence a cooler, wetter climate at ca. 4100 to 3500 ¹⁴C yr BP. The diatom numbers during the Neoglacial were of the same magnitude as prior to ca. 9060 ¹⁴C yr BP. Small species of Fragilaria (overwhelmingly Fragilaria construens v. venter) became extremely dominant during the period of high diatom productivity, and remained so thereafter. Recovery of the lake appears to have been rapid after deposition of the Mazama tephra. Maximum occurrence of Cyclotella radiosa occurred ca. 8000 ¹⁴C yr BP during the warm early Holocene and may reflect this warmer climate, a longer ice-free season than presently, perhaps less turbid water, or it may reflect a subtly higher nutrient status of the lake water. The diatom record of Crowfoot Lake has responded with sensitivity, particularly in terms of productivity, to the Holocene vegetation and climate changes.     

The weak effects of fencing on ecosystem respiration, CH4, and N2O fluxes in a Tibetan alpine meadow during the growing season

Fencing is the most common land-management practice to protect grassland degradation from livestock overgrazing on the Tibetan Plateau. However, it is unclear whether fencing reduces CO_2, CH_4, and N_2O emission. Here, we selected four vegetation types of alpine meadow(graminoid, shrub, forb, and sparse vegetation) to determine fencing effects on ecosystem respiration(Re), CH_4, and N_2O fluxes during the growing season. Despite increased average monthly ecosystem respiration(Re) for fenced graminoid vegetation at the end of the growing season, there was no significant difference between grazing and fencing across all vegetation types. Fencing significantly reduced average CH_4 uptake by about 50% in 2008 only for forb vegetation and increased average N_2O release for graminoid vegetation by 38% and 48% in 2008 and 2009,respectively. Temperature, moisture, total organic carbon, C/N, nitrate, ammonia, and/or bulk density of soil, as well as above-and belowground biomass, explained 19%~71% and 6%~33% of variation in daily and average Re and CH_4 fluxes across all vegetation types, while soil-bulk density explained 27% of variation in average N_2O fluxes. Stepwise regression showed that soil temperature and soil moisture controlled average Re, while soil moisture and bulk density controlled average CH_4 fluxes. These results indicate that abiotic factors control Re, CH_4, and N_2O fluxes; and grazing exclusion has little effect on reducing their emission—implying that climatic change rather than grazing may have a more important influence on the budgets of Re and CH_4 for the Tibetan alpine meadow during the growing season.     

青藏高原高寒草甸区土壤水分的空间异质性

通过网格(10m×10m)取样,用地统计学方法研究了青藏高原高寒草甸覆盖区域(110m×90m)浅层剖面(0~40cm)土壤水分的空间异质性特征。结果表明:在高寒草甸覆盖区0~30cm深度范围内,土壤水分均存在高度空间异质性,其中87.3%~74.9%的空间异质性是由空间自相关部分引起的,主要体现在201m以下尺度,10m以下随机因素对空间异质性作用较小;30~40cm土壤水分空间异质性由10m以下尺度随机因素导致的占42.3%,而自相关部分的空间异质性(57.7%)体现在10~87.2m尺度。随土层深度的增加,分维数D有逐渐增大的趋势,说明随深度增加高寒草甸区土壤水分自相关空间异质性程度在降低,而随机因素导致的空间异质性程度在增加。从4层的C₀/(C+C₀)值来看,10~20cm这一层的值最小,表明在这一层的系统变量的空间自相关性程度最高。说明高寒草甸区0~30cm土层的土壤水分含量是受降水、植被发育、根系分布、土壤特性和人为干扰等影响,其空间异质性主要受自相关因素控制,而30cm以下的土壤水分受自相关因素和随机因素共同控制。     

高寒草甸土壤水分的影响因子及其空间变异研究

以黄河源区典型高寒草甸草地类型为对象,运用旋转主成分分析法对影响高寒草甸土壤水分的植被盖度、群落高度、土层根系深度、草地类型等9个环境因子进行了分析,将这些环境因子分为4个主成分因子依次为:立地与草地类型因子、植被因子、坡向风速因子和地形因子.同时,采用统计方法对于不同深度土壤水分进行了统计分析,揭示了土壤水分在整个土壤剖面上的空间变异可划分为:速变层(0~30 cm)、活跃层(40 cm)、次活跃层(50 cm)和相对稳定层(60 cm).     

黑河高山草甸冻土带水热传输过程

以黑河源区高山草甸冻土带的基本气象参数、植被参数和土壤水热性质参数为输入条件,利用CoupModel模型计算了试验点两个完整年度日尺度上的各种基本水热状况,计算结果较符合实测值(7层地温和土壤液态含水量平均R2分别为0.95和0.83).利用模型输出的土壤热通量和土壤水迁移分析了试验点季节性冻土区的水热传输过程:在土壤层开始冻结期,下层土壤液态水向冻结锋面集结,集结期向上的地热通量急剧增加;在冻结期,土壤热传导主要与上下层的土壤温度有关,土壤水迁移基本处于零通量状态;在融化期,在融化锋面未出现液态水分集结现象,融化层土壤水热传输过程迅速改变并与非冻结土壤一致,向下的地热通量急剧增加.     

祁连山疏勒河上游高寒草甸CO2通量变化特征

采用涡动相关法对疏勒河上游高寒草甸生态系统2009年CO2通量进行连续观测.结果表明:疏勒河上游高寒草甸CO2通量呈明显的日和月变化特征.生长季CO2通量具有明显的日变化过程,其中吸收峰值从5月的10:00时逐步推后到7月的12:00左右,CO2通量排放峰值则出现在21:00-22:00.其中,最大吸收和排放速率均出现...     

临泽边缘绿洲区盐化草甸开垦后土壤质量演变

 以黑河中游临泽边缘绿洲区为分析样区,研究了绿洲盐化草甸开垦后,不同开垦年限土壤的物理化学性状特征。结果表明,盐化草甸土壤中的黏粒从开垦前的9.18％增加到开垦30 a后的12.93％;除速效钾从开垦前的1315.50 mg·kg-1降至开垦30 a后的240.84 mg·kg-1外,土壤养分含量均有不同程度的增加;由于采取了工程、生物及农业措施来治理盐渍化,土壤全盐量明显降低,从开垦前的70.28 g·kg-1减至开垦30 a后的2.00 g·kg-1,减小了97.15％。土壤理化性状随开垦年限的增加而逐步改善。     

生长旺盛期呼伦贝尔草甸草原生态系统呼吸与CH_4吸收通量的日变化研究

利用静态箱法于2011年结实期和2012年开花期与结实期分别对不同人类活动(自由放牧和刈割)影响下的呼伦贝尔草甸草原及相应的封育草原的CH4通量和植物土壤系统呼吸作用排放的CO2通量进行野外定位观测研究。结果表明:呼伦贝尔草甸草原(放牧和刈割及其对应的封育样地)均表现为CH4的汇,3个观测时期汇强的变化范围为:-23.98±6.40~-95.96±28.57μg Cm-2 h-1。呼伦贝尔草甸草原CH4通量的日变化对温度的响应较为复杂。不同时期呼伦贝尔草甸草原的植物土壤系统呼吸速率的日变化存在差异,水分和温度的共同影响造成2012年结实期日均CO2排放量低于2011年结实期。放牧对呼伦贝尔草甸草原CH4吸收通量的日变化模式的影响较小,但在2011年结实期和2012年开花期促进了CH4日均通量(促进幅度12.05%~93.35%),2012年结实期放牧降低了CH4日均通量(降低幅度23.32%~30.43%);刈割降低CH4吸收日均通量11.55%~60.62%。呼伦贝尔草甸草原日均累计碳排放量中CH4所占比例为0.35%~2.62%,而放牧和刈割行为对呼伦贝尔草甸草原的日均累计碳排放的影响结果在不同物候期以及不同植被群落类型均有不同。     

Unpalatable weed Stellera chamaejasme L. provides biotic refuge for neighboring species and conserves plant diversity in overgrazing alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau in China

Steller chamaejasme L. (S. chamaejasme for short) is one of the most noxious unpalatable weeds in China, which has been frequently reported its negative interaction (i.e. competition and allelopathy) with other herbaceous species in grasslands. This study compared species diversity, biomass and sexual reproduction of herbaceous plants in meadows with S. chamaejasme and in open meadows without S. chamaejasme in overgrazing meadows on the Tibetan Plateau in China to determine whether positive facilitation exist between S. chamaejasme and other herbaceous species under livestock’s overgrazing. The results showed that there are more herbaceous species in meadows with S. chamaejasme than those in open meadows (35s and 30s, respectively). Diversity index and above-ground biomass were also significantly higher in meadows with S. chamaejasme. There were 39% (11/28) of all species with sexual reproduction found in meadows with S. chamaejasme, which was 7 times more than those in open meadows. Our study showed that S. chamaejasme could provide biotic refuge for neighboring plants and preserve plant diversity from livestock’s overgrazing in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau. It also suggested that inter-specific facilitation between S. chamaejasme and other herbaceous species may play a key role in overgrazing alpine meadows.     

A 7000-Year Record of Environmental Change,Bear Lake,Rocky Mountain National Park,USA

Few long-term records of the fire history of Rocky Mountain National Park exist. Data from a lake sediment core was used to reconstruct changes in vegetation and fire frequencies over the last 7000 cal yr. Bear Lake is a high-elevation lake surrounded by subalpine vegetation in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Pollen data indicate that a warm and dry climate prevailed between ca. 7000 and 5000 cal yr BP. Temperatures increased until shortly before ca. 3500 cal yr BP when evidence for a marked decline is seen. Cooler-than-present conditions were maintained until ca. 1700 cal yr BP, when conditions transitioned to more like those of the present-day climate. Based on macroscopic charcoal analyses, fire frequency had varied between two and five episodes per 1000 years. The largest peak in charcoal was at ca. 590 cal yr BP. The fire return interval has varied with climate over time; however, we calculate a fire return interval of 325 years over the past 7000 years. Given these results, fire activity is likely to increase under current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate projections of an increase in annual temperatures.