浙江宁海早上新世枫香树属和栎属化石木及其古环境意义*

对发现于浙江省宁海县茶园乡道士桥村附近的上新统嵊县群中的多个化石木材料进行了解剖研究,并对其分类和系统位置进行了讨论。根据解剖特征鉴定出2种化石木。一种为久内枫香树（Liquidambar hisauchi）,属于金缕梅科枫香树属,其组合特征为：生长轮明显;散孔材;梯状穿孔板具横隔10～23条;螺纹加厚仅出现在导管末端;导管直径在50～100μm之间;射线宽1～3列。另一种为岛仓栎（Quercus shimakurae）,属于壳斗科栎属,其组合特征为：生长轮极明显;环孔材;单管孔;晚材管孔火焰状径列;早材管孔直径最大达300μm,明显比晚材管孔大;单穿孔;轴向薄壁组织星散聚合状和离管带状;射线具单列和极宽2种类型。本研究从大化石角度进一步证明栎属和枫香树属为当时植被的重要组成成分。     

Species differences in stomatal control of water loss at the canopy scale in a mature bottomland deciduous forest

In order to evaluate factors controlling transpiration of six common eastern deciduous species in North America, a model describing responses of canopy stomatal conductance (G_S) to net radiation (R_N), vapor pressure deficit (D) and relative extractable soil water (REW) was parameterized from sap flux data. Sap flux was measured in 24 mature trees consisting of the species Carya tomentosa, Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Fraxinus americana, Liriodendron tulipifera, and Liquidambar styraciflua in a bottomland oak-hickory forest in the Duke Forest, NC. Species differences in model coefficients were found during the 1997 growing season. All species showed a reduction in G_S with increasing D. R_N influenced G_S in the overstory shade intolerant L. styraciflua to a larger extent than the other species measured. In addition, despite a severe drought during the study period, only L. tulipifera showed a decline in G_S with decreasing REW. The primary effect of the drought for the other species appeared to be early autumn leaf senescence and abscission. As a result, despite the drought in this bottomland forest accustomed to ample water supply, maximum daily transpiration (1.6 mm) and growing season transpiration (264 mm) were similar to a nearby upland forest measured during a year of above average precipitation. These results may aid in assessing differences in water use and the ability of bottomland deciduous species to tolerate alterations in the frequency or amount of precipitation. Results also suggest little variation in water use among forests of similar composition and structure growing in different positions in the landscape and subjected to large interannual variation in water supply.     

Biomolecular Preservation of Miocene Fossil Liquidambar from Tiantai, China and Clarkia, USA: Implications for Palaeoenvironmental Study

Biomolecular characteristics of fossil Liquidambar from the Miocene Shengxian Formation, Tiantai, Zhejiang province in eastern China and Miocene Clarkia sediment, Idaho, U.S.A., are obtained by means of Pyrolysis-Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry analysis (Py-GC-MS). Their modern equivalent (Liquidambar formosana) collected from Nanjing, eastern China, is also analyzed for comparison. The total ion chromatograms (TIC) of modern L. formosana leaves shows abundant pyrolysates of lignin, polysaccharide, aliphatic acid, and amino acid. However, only one polysaccharide molecule, i.e., levoglucosan, is retained in fossil Liquidambar leaves from the two Miocene sites with the Tiantai specimen possessing higher intensity. As expected, some lignin pyrolysates including benzene, phenol, guaiacol, vinylphenol and their derivatives, are detected in Miocene Tiantai L. miosinica. However, the lignin components with large molecular weight other than benzene and phenol compounds, are absent in Miocene Clarkia L. pachyphyllum. Abundant pristene and homologous series of n-alk-1-ene/n-alkane pairs with a long retention time are shown in pyrograms of both Tiantai and Clarkia fossils. Based upon our Py-GC-MS data, the molecular preservation in these Liquidambar leaf samples can be ranked as the following (from high to low quality respectively): modern sample >Tiantai sample >Clarkia sample. Vinyl phenol, an important compound, is present in modern and Tiantai Liquidambar leaves, while absent in Clarkia sample, implying that vinyl phenol may be sourced from lignin for Liquidambar leaves. Our data support the hypothesis of in situ polymerization for the origin of long-chain homologous series of n-alk-1-ene/n-alkane pairs as leaf alteration products. Our data have implications of the impact of leaf degradation toward biases for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using stable carbon isotope of fossil plants, and suggest the importance of evaluating molecular preservation of fossil leaf tissues prior to the application of carbon isotope compositions of fossil leaves.     

Water storage capacity of empty fruiting heads of Liquidambar styraciflua L. (sweetgum) / Capacité de stockage d’eau des bourgeons fruitiers vides de Liquidambar styraciflua L. (le copalme d’Amérique)

Abstract

Abstract The water storage capacity (WSC) of dehiscent fruits that constitute a portion of litter on the forest floor is inadequately understood. This study has quantified the WSC of empty fruiting heads of sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.) in an effort to reduce the data gap on the WSC and interception of fruit litter. In a laboratory experiment, empty fruiting heads of sweetgum were found to have a mean WSC of 399% of their oven-dried weight. The maximum volume of water detained by fruiting heads in the field was 507 ml container^-1. Interception by the empty fruiting heads is considerable, ranging from 2.6 to 218.5% of the incident gross precipitation, with a mean of 42.7%. The data indicate that the interception storage capacity of empty fruiting heads is reached at 2.5 cm depth equivalent of incident gross precipitation. A logarithmic relationship was observed between the volume of water detained by the fruiting heads and the length of time since precipitation. Results of the study suggest that fruit litter may have a considerable influence on the seasonal water balance and ecohydrology of plantations and forests with significant proportions of sweetgum.