The Sunda Shelf—A Submerged Amazon Basin?

A crucial and debatable issue in paleoclimatology is the change of terrestrial vegetation and the role of its carbon storage in glacial cycles. In the modern world, the Amazon Basin hosts the largest tropical rainforest and plays a major role of carbon sink, but during the glacial times another large tropical rainforest must have formed in the then emerged Sunda Shelf, SE Asia, and significantly changed the global carbon cycling. Accordingly, ocean drilling expeditions to the Sunda Shelf are being proposed in order to investigate the sea level changes, evolution of river network, vegetation and carbon storage, as well as biogeography of the tropical region over the last millions of years.     

生态环境变化夺雾的影响

西双版纳地区是的著名的热带雨林多雾区,但７０年代末以来,雾日明显减少,德层明显减弱。１９９７年１１月２３－３０日,实施了一项雾的外场试验计划,本文利用景洪（生态环境变化较大）和勐养９生态环境变化不大）的宏、微观观测资料,对比分析了雾的宏、微观结构和物理过程,并结合气候资料,讨论了生态环境变化对雾的影响。     

西双版纳原始热带季节雨林净初级生产力

研究了西双版纳原始热带季节雨林生物量增量、凋落量、叶虫食量和净初级生产量.该雨林年平均净初级生产量为25.764 t/hm2.a,其中各层次的净初级生产量分别为:乔木层23.972 t/hm2.a(占总净初级生产量的93.04 %)、灌木层0.749 t/hm2.a (占2.91 %)、木质藤本层0.431 t/hm2.a(占1.67 %)、草本层0.612 t/hm2.a(占2.38 %).乔木层净初级生产量分配为:凋落量11.566 t/hm2.a、叶虫食量0.694 t/hm2.a和生物量增量11.712 t/hm2.a.     

1980-2005年海南岛尖峰岭热带山地雨林区气候突变与异常的初步研究

海南尖峰岭热带山地雨林作为典型的热带雨林生态系统之一,其长期的气候动态变化研究对全球变化研究有着重要的作用。采用1980--2005年海南尖峰岭森林生态系统国家野外科学观测研究站天池气象站地面常规气象观测资料,利用累积距平法和Mann—Kendall检验法分析了尖峰岭热带山地雨林区气候突变和气候异常。结果表明：近26a来,该区年平均气温、年平均地温、年平均最高最低气温、年积温和平均水汽压在1990年前后经历一次由低到高的突变,年平均风速在1993年经历由大到小的突变。在高强度ENSO事件发生的1998年,气温、地温均出现异常偏高,这些都表明该林区的森林气候变化正是对全球气候异常的明显响应过程。     

Lake George revisited: New evidence for the origin and evolution of a large closed lake,Southern Tablelands,NSW, Australia

Lake George contains the longest continuous sedimentary record of any Australian lake basin, but previous age models are equivocal, particularly for the oldest (pre-Quaternary) part of the record. We have applied a combination of cosmogenic nuclide burial dating, magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy to determine the age of the basal (fluvial) unit in the basin, the Gearys Gap Formation. Within the differing resolutions achievable by the three dating techniques, our results show that (i) the Gearys Gap Formation, began accumulating at ca 4 Ma, in the early Pliocene (Zanclean), and (ii) deposition had ceased by ca 3 Ma, in the mid late Pliocene (Piacenzian). Whether the same age control provides an early Pliocene (Zanclean) age for the formation of the lake basin is uncertain. During the Piacenzian, the vegetation at the core site was a wetland community dominated by members of the coral fern family Gleicheniaceae, while the surrounding dryland vegetation was a mix of sclerophyll and temperate rainforest communities, with the latter including trees and shrubs now endemic to New Guinea–New Caledonia and Tasmania. Mean annual rainfall and temperatures are inferred to have been ～2000–3000 mm, although probably not uniformly distributed throughout the year, and within the mesotherm range (>14°C <20°C), respectively. Unresolved issues are: (1) Does the basal gravel unit predate uplift of the Lake George Range and therefore provide evidence that one of the proposed paleo-spillways of Lake George, that above Geary's Gap, has been elevated up to 100–200 m by neotectonic activity over the past 4 million years? (2) Did a shallow to deepwater lake exist elsewhere in the lake basin during the Pliocene?     

热带雨林景观区土壤测量的应用效果

老挝中部、北部热带雨林地区的大地构造位置大致处于北西向长山岩浆—构造带和北东向琅布拉邦岩浆—构造带的交汇部位。该区域地表土壤测量分析表明,Cu与Pb、Zn、Ag、Sn、Mo、Sb、Hg、As、Cd、Co、B i总体呈共消长关系,为最佳元素组合。本区Cu、Pb、Zn等主要成矿元素沿花岗岩与灰岩接触带分布,Cu、Pb、Zn相关性不大并具有明显的分带性,Cu分布于接触带靠近花岗岩一侧,Pb、Zn分布于接触带靠近灰岩一侧,共伴生组分Mo、Sn、B i、Ag、Cd等异常明显。本区的元素组合可划分为5类:①Cu与Ag;②Pb与B i;③Zn与Cd;④Sn与Mo;⑤Sb与Hg、As。从元素分布特征看,本区具有矽卡岩的成矿特征,同时又可能有斑岩成矿的潜力。     

Changes in post world war ii distribution and status of monsoon rainforests in the Darwin area

Monsoon rainforests in the Darwin area occur as isolated patches ranging in size from 2 to 112 ha. Aerial photographic records over a 45 year period indicate a 60 per cent reduction in the cover of pre‐1945 rainforest. Urban development, cyclone damage, weed invasion and wildfire were identified as the major causes of this contraction. Urban development contributed 40 per cent of the total rainforest loss during this period. Rainforests occurring on dry substrates have been most affected by urban development. Cyclonic storm damage and indirect human affects such as weed invasion and anthropogenic fires continue to disturb the remaining rainforest patches. Although the largest expanses of rainforest presently occur within parks and reserves, providing adequate protection from further urban encroachment, smaller remnants occurring on vacant crown land are vulnerable to changes in land use. As well as the introduction of appropriate legislation, the control of fire and weeds should be given the highest priority by land managers to ensure the stability and long‐term maintenance of this remnant vegetation.     

Fire and vegetation change during the Early Pleistocene in southeastern Australia

Early Pleistocene vegetation in upland southeastern Australia included diverse rainforests and sclerophyll forests, which alternated on precessional timescales. The nature and timing of transitions between these biomes, and the role of fire in maintaining or driving transitions between them, are uncertain. Here we present a high‐resolution pollen record from Stony Creek Basin, a small Early Pleistocene palaeolake in southeastern Australia. The pollen record documents a pattern of vegetation change, over ca. 10 ka at ca. 1590–1600 ka, between sclerophyll forests, dominated by Eucalyptus, Callitris (Cupressaceae) or Casuarinaceae, and rainforests dominated by either angiosperms or conifers of the family Podocarpaceae. Transitions between these biomes typically occurred within ca. 1–2 ka. The associated charcoal record suggests that greatest biomass combustion occurred when local vegetation was dominated by Eucalyptus, and the least biomass combustion occurred when local vegetation was dominated by Podocarpaceae. However, local fires burnt in both sclerophyll and angiosperm‐dominated rainforest vegetation, at least once every several centuries. Fire was very rare (less than about one fire per millennium) only when the local vegetation was rainforest dominated by Podocarpaceae. This suggests that fire was an irregular presence in both sclerophyll‐ and angiosperm‐dominated rainforest biomes during the late Neogene, though was largely absent in Podocarpaceae‐dominated rainforests. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water and nutrient fluxes in a cool temperate rainforest at the Cordillera de la Costa in southern Chile

Water and nutrient fluxes were studied during a 12-month period in an alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) forest, located in a remote site at the Cordillera de la Costa (40°05′S) in southern Chile. Measurements of precipitation, throughfall, stemflow, effective precipitation, soil infiltration and stream flow were carried out in an experimental, small watershed. Simultaneously, monthly water samples were collected to determine the concentrations and transport of organic-N, NO₃-N, total-P, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺ and Mg²⁺ in all levels of forest. Concentration of organic-N, NO₃-N, total-P and K⁺ showed a clear pattern of enrichment in the throughfall, stemflow, effective precipitation and soil infiltration. For Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, enrichment was observed in the effective precipitation, soil infiltration and stream flow. Annual transport of K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ showed that the amounts exported from the forest via stream flow (K⁺=0·95, Na⁺=32·44, Ca²⁺=8·76 and Mg²⁺=7·16 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) are less than the inputs via precipitation (K⁺=6·39, Na⁺=40·99, Ca²⁺=15·13 and Mg²⁺=7·61 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). The amounts of organic-N and NO₃-N exported via stream flow (organic-N=1·04 and No₃-N=3·06 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) were relatively small; however, they represented greater amounts than the inputs via precipitation (organic-N=0·74 and NO₃-N=0·97 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), because of the great contribution of this element in the superficial soil horizon, where the processes of decomposition of organic material, mineralization and immobilization of the nutrients occurs. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hillslope hydrology in tropical rainforest steeplands in Brunei

Many remaining areas of tropical rainforest in south‐east Asia are located on landscapes dominated by deep valleys and very steep slopes. Now that logging activities are extending into these steeplands, it is essential to understand how the natural rainforest system behaves if any kind of realistic assessment of the effects of such disturbance is to be made. This paper examines the hydrological behaviour of an undisturbed rainforest system on steep topography in the Temburong District of Brunei, north‐west Borneo. The physical and hydrological properties of the regolith material are generally typical of tropical residual soils. The regolith has a clay texture and a low dry bulk density beneath a superficial litter/organic horizon. The infiltration capacity of the surface soil was several hundred mm h⁻¹. That of the exposed mineral subsoil was an order of magnitude less, similar to the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sat) of around 180 mm h⁻¹ at a depth of 150 cm. There was no indication that K_sat reduced with depth except very near the bedrock interface. Soil tensions were measured using a two‐dimensional array of tensiometers on a 30° slope. During dry season conditions, infiltrating rain‐water contributes to soil moisture, and drying of the soil is dominated by transpiration losses. During wet season conditions, perched water tables quickly develop during heavy rainfall, giving rise to the rapid production of return flow in ephemeral channels. No infiltration excess or saturation overland flow was observed on hillslopes away from channel margins. Subsurface storm flow combined with return flow produce stream flow hydrographs with high peak discharges and very short lag times. Storm event runoff coefficients are estimated to be as high as 40%. It is concluded that the most distinctive feature of the hydrology of this ‘steepland rainforest’ is the extremely ‘flashy’ nature of the catchment runoff regime produced by the combination of thin but very permeable regolith on steep slopes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.