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    18 June 2016, Volume 27 Issue 6
    Greenhouse gas emissions and net carbon sequestration of “Grain for Green” Program in China.
    LIU Bo-jie, ZHANG Lu, LU Fei, WANG Xiao-ke, LIU Wei-wei, ZHENG Hua, MENG Ling, OUYANG Zhi-yun
    2016, 27(6):  1693-1707.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.004
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    Based on the estimation of carbon cost from afforestation in project boundary and carbon leakage out of boundary in the construction period of “Grain for Green” Program (GGP) (2000-2010), the annual variance and composition of the carbon cost and carbon leakage, as well as characters of variance of net carbon sequestration were analyzed for GGP and respective program regions. Results showed that the carbon costs in northwest region, southwest region, northeast region, north region and central south and east region were 3.38, 3.64, 1.03, 1.66 and 4.38 Tg C, respectively, totaling 14.09 Tg C. Meanwhile the carbon leakages of the above regions were 21.33, 4.60, 5.50, 1.32 and 3.78 Tg C, respectively, and 36.53 Tg C in total. The composition characters of the carbon costs of the GGP and the respective regions were similar. Carbon emissions from afforestation were the largest carbon cost, and afforestation on converted farmland was the main carbon emission source. Accordingly, among the materials consumed, fertilizer brought about the largest carbon cost, followed by building materials, while carbon emissions from fuels, irrigation, herbicides and pesticides only accounted for about 10% for respective regions. The carbon cost and carbon leakage of the GGP were 50.62 Tg C in total, which counteracted 19.9% of the sequestered carbon in the program. In northwest region, southwest region, northeast region, north region and central south and east region, carbon emissions (including cost and leakage) accounted for 38.9%, 10.4%, 26.1%, 8.9% and 15.5% of the carbon sequestration, respectively. The net carbon sequestration of the GGP was 203.50 Tg C with an annual average of 18.50 Tg C·a-1. The carbon cost and leakage offset a minor part of the carbon sequestration of the GGP. Therefore, the GGP contributed significantly to greenhouse gas mitigation in China as well as global climate warming mitigation. Adopting precision fertilization in economic forest afforestation and supplying alternative livelihoods to farmers in the program could be the potential measures to reduce carbon cost and carbon leakage.
    Effect of irregular bedrock topography on the soil profile pattern of water content in a Karst hillslope.
    JIA Jin-tian, FU Zhi-yong, CHEN Hong-song, WANG Ke-lin, ZHOU Wei-Jun
    2016, 27(6):  1708-1714.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.005
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    Based on three manually excavated trenches (projection length of 21 m, width of 1 m) along a typical Karst hillslope, the changing trends for soil-bedrock structure, average water content of soil profile and soil-bedrock interface water content along each individual trench were studied. The effect of irregular bedrock topography on soil moisture distribution was discussed. The results showed that the surface topography was inconsistent with the bedrock topography in the Karst hill-slopes. The bedrock topography was highly irregular with a maximum variation coefficient of 82%. The distribution pattern of soil profile of moisture was significantly affected by the underlying undulant bedrock. The soil water content was related to slope position when the fluctuation was gentle, and displayed a linear increase from upslope to downslope. When the bedrock fluctuation increased, the downslope linear increasing trend for soil water content became unapparent, and the spatial continuity of soil moisture was weakened. The soil moisture was converged in rock dents and cracks. The average water content of soil profile was significantly positively correlated with the soil-bedrock interface water content, while the latter responded more sensitively to the bedrock fluctuation.
    Dynamic changes of landscape connectivity for ecological lands and distance thresholds in the middle reaches of the Heihe River, Northwest China.
    MENG Ji-jun, WANG Xiao-dong, YOU Nan-shan, ZHU Li-kai
    2016, 27(6):  1715-1726.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.015
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    Landscape connectivity describes the organic connections of landscape components in terms of landscape pattern, process, and function. We used land-cover data in 1986, 2000, and 2011, to study the changes of landscape connectivity for ecological lands (forest, grassland, and wetland) in the middle reaches of the Heihe River based on graph theory. The appropriate landscape threshold was determined by analyzing landscape connectivity changes for different thresholds. Our results indicated that the area of ecological patches, which strongly influenced landscape connectivity, decreased from 1986 to 2011 in our study area. For wetland patches, the area declined more significantly from 2000 to 2011. For grassland, the number of patches decreased and then increased. The area of grassland patches changed slightly, but some patches were fragmented. Distance thresholds had a positive relationship with landscape connectivity. 400 to 800 m was the appropriate distance threshold for the research on species dispersal and ecological flows in the middle reaches of the Heihe River. When 600 m was chosen as the distance threshold, the large patches exerted the most significant influence on regional landscape connectivity level, suggesting they played a key role in regional ecosystem stability and health. Although small ecological patches occupied a small proportion of the total area of ecological patches, it was still necessary to protect and manage these small patches given that they also influenced the maintenance and improvement of regional ecological security pattern. The research was of great importance for ecosystem management in arid areas.
    Variation characteristics and influencing factors of actual evapotranspiration under various vegetation types: A case study in the Huaihe River Basin, China.
    WU Rong-jun, XING Xiao-yong
    2016, 27(6):  1727-1736.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.040
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    The actual evapotranspiration was modelled utilizing the boreal ecosystem productivity simulator (BEPS) in Huaihe River Basin from 2001 to 2012. In the meantime, the quantitative analyses of the spatial-temporal variations of actual evapotranspiration characteristics and its influencing factors under different vegetation types were conducted. The results showed that annual evapotranspiration gradually decreased from southeast to northwest, tended to increase annually, and the monthly change for the average annual evapotranspiration was double-peak curve. The differences of evapotranspiration among vegetation types showed that the farmland was the largest contributor for the evapotranspiration of Huaihe Basin. The annual actual evapotranspiration of the mixed forest per unit area was the largest, and that of the bare ground per unit area was the smallest. The changed average annual evapotranspiration per unit area for various vegetation types indicated an increased tendency other than the bare ground, with a most significant increase trend for the evergreen broadleaf forest. The thermodynamic factors (such as average temperature) were the dominant factors affecting the actual evapotranspiration in the Huaihe Basin, followed by radiation and moisture factors.
    Effects of soil data and map scale on assessment of total phosphorus storage in upland soils.
    LI Heng-rong, ZHANG Li-ming, LI Xiao-di, YU Dong-sheng, SHI Xue-zheng, XING Shi-he, CHEN Han-yue
    2016, 27(6):  1737-1749.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.006
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    Accurate assessment of total phosphorus storage in farmland soils is of great significance to sustainable agricultural and non-point source pollution control. However, previous studies haven’t considered the estimation errors from mapping scales and various databases with different sources of soil profile data. In this study, a total of 393×104 hm2 of upland in the 29 counties (or cities) of North Jiangsu was cited as a case for study. Analysis was performed of how the four sources of soil profile data, namely, “Soils of County”, “Soils of Prefecture”, “Soils of Province” and “Soils of China”, and the six scales, i.e. 1:50000, 1:250000, 1:500000, 1:1000000, 1:4000000 and1:10000000, used in the 24 soil databases established for the four soil journals, affected assessment of soil total phosphorus. Compared with the most detailed 1:50000 soil database established with 983 upland soil profiles, relative deviation of the estimates of soil total phosphorus density (STPD) and soil total phosphorus storage (STPS) from the other soil databases varied from 4.8% to 48.9% and from 1.6% to 48.4%, respectively. The estimated STPD and STPS based on the 1:50000 database of “Soils of County” and most of the estimates based on the databases of each scale in “Soils of County” and “Soils of Prefecture” were different, with the significance levels of P<0.001 or P<0.05. Extremely significant differences (P<0.001) existed between the estimates based on the 1:50000 database of “Soils of County” and the estimates based on the databases of each scale in “Soils of Province” and “Soils of China”. This study demonstrated the significance of appropriate soil data sources and appropriate mapping scales in estimating STPS.
    Estimation of net primary productivity in arid region based on coupling model.
    YANG Hui-jin, LI Xiao-yu, LIU Li-juan, MA Jin-long, WANG Jin
    2016, 27(6):  1750-1758.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.008
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    Net primary productivity (NPP), as the base for the research of matter recycling and energy flow in terrestrial ecosystem, is sensitive to the changes of environment and climate in arid region, and also is an important indicator of eco-environmental characteristics. Based on remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS), using meteorological data, eddy cova-riance data, Landsat 8 and MODIS data, this study coupled SEBAL model and light utility efficiency model to estimate the NPP of vegetation in Manas River Watershed, and the spatial pattern of NPP and the relationships between NPP and terrain factors (elevation and slope) were analyzed. Results showed that the estimated result of NPP in Manas River Watershed by coupling model was reasonable and could actually reflect the NPP of vegetation. The total annual NPP of vegetation and the mean annual NPP in Manas River Watershed in 2013 were 7066.72 Tg C·a-1 and 278.06 g C·m-2·a-1 respectively. With the variation of geomorphic type and land cover, the NPP changed remarkably from south to north in a trend of increase-decrease-increase-decrease pattern. The temporal variations of NPP were also obvious, with the NPP in July and August accounting for 52.2% of total annual NPP. With the increase of the elevation and slope, the mean annual NPP decreased as a whole with fluctuations induced by different land covers and environmental factors.
    Differences of soil nutrients among different vegetation types and their spatial prediction in a small typical karst catchment.
    WANG Miao-miao, CHEN Hong-song, FU Tong-gang, ZHANG Wei, WANG Ke-lin
    2016, 27(6):  1759-1766.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.033
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    Vegetation types restrict soil structure and heterogeneous processes of elements, which result in difference in spatial distribution of soil nutrients. In this study, the differences in contents of soil nutrients, TN, TP, TK, and soil organic matter (SOM) among different vegetation types were analyzed, and the accuracy of ordinary kriging, regression model and regression model based on vegetation type in predicting soil nutrients was compared. The results showed that, TN, TK and SOM were significantly (P<0.05) correlated to vegetation type, and TP had no significant correlation with vegetation type (P=0.390). TN and SOM had significant difference between shrubbery and arable land. TK had significant difference between arbor and scrub-grassland, shrubbery and arable land, and scrub-grassland and arable land, respectively. In a non-continuous typical small karst catchment, because of high spatial heterogeneity of terrain, the accuracy of multivariate linear regression model based on the real terrain factors of various points was considerably higher than that of ordinary kriging prediction method considering the locations of the known points and prediction points. Moreover, the regression model based on vegetation type improved the prediction accuracy of the TN.
    Assessment of the social values of ecosystem services based on SolVES model: A case study of Wusong Paotaiwan Wetland Forest Park, Shanghai, China.
    WANG Yu, FU Bi-tian, LYU Yong-peng, YANG Kai, CHE Yue
    2016, 27(6):  1767-1774.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.011
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    Human demand for various ecosystem services continues to increase. The previous studies focused mainly on using economic methods to assess ecosystem service values, but few studies took social attributes and spatial heterogeneity into consideration. In this paper, we selected Wusong Paotaiwan Wetland Forest Park in Shanghai as the study area, and used Social Values for Ecosystem services (SolVES) model to assess the social values of several ecosystem services, such as aesthetic, biodiversity, cultural, recreation, etc. The results showed that the “hotspots” were situated in the places which were close to the water landscape with a broad vision such as the lawn park, Wusong Fort memorial square and waterfront observation deck. Aesthetic, historic, biodiversity, cultural, recreation and therapeutic values were the visitors’ preference values. Visitors’ prefe-rences could be influenced by the water landscape and the roads significantly. The value indexes of aesthetic, biodiversity, recreation and therapeutics had a significant negative correlation with the distance to water (DTW) and the value indexes of aesthetic and therapeutics had a significant negative correlation with the distance to roads (DTR). Visit frequency could influence visitors’ attitudes and preferences towards biodiversity and therapeutics. SolVES had the potential to explicitly assess the social values of ecosystem services at a small scale.
    Estimating heavy metal concentrations in topsoil from vegetation reflectance spectra of Hyperion images: A case study of Yushu County, Qinghai, China.
    YANG Ling-yu, GAO Xiao-hong, ZHANG Wei, SHI Fei-fei, HE Lin-hua, JIA Wei
    2016, 27(6):  1775-1784.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.030
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    In this study, we explored the feasibility of estimating the soil heavy metal concentrations using the hyperspectral satellite image. The concentration of As, Pb, Zn and Cd elements in 48 topsoil samples collected from the field in Yushu County of the Sanjiangyuan regions was measured in the laboratory. We then extracted 176 vegetation spectral reflectance bands of 48 soil samples as well as five vegetation indices from two Hyperion images. Following that, the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method was employed to estimate the soil heavy metal concentrations using the above two independent sets of Hyperion-derived variables, separately constructed the estimation model between the 176 vegetation spectral reflectance bands and the soil heavy metal concentrations (called the vegetation spectral reflectance-based estimation model), and between the five vegetation indices being used as the independent variable and the soil heavy metal concentrations (called synthetic vegetation index-based estimation model). Using RPD (the ratio of standard deviation from the 4 heavy metals measured values of the validation samples to RMSE) as the validation criteria, the RPDs of As and Pb concentrations from the two models were both less than 1.4, which suggested that both models were incapable of roughly estimating As and Pb concentrations; whereas the RPDs of Zn and Cd were 1.53, 1.46 and 1.46, 1.42, respectively, which implied that both models had the ability for rough estimation of Zn and Cd concentrations. Based on those results, the vegetation spectral-based estimation model was selected to obtain the spatial distribution map of Zn concentration in combination with the Hyperion image. The estimated Zn map showed that the zones with high Zn concentrations were distributed near the provincial road 308, national road 214 and towns, which could be influenced by human activities. Our study proved that the spectral reflectance of Hyperion image was useful in estimating the soil concentrations of Zn and Cd.
    Sustainable development of the three economic patterns in China: The application of genuine progress indicator in the sustainability assessment of six typical cities.
    LI Jing, HUANG Lu, YAN Li-jiao
    2016, 27(6):  1785-1794.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.021
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    Three economic patterns, i.e., Zhujiang Model, Wenzhou Model and Sunan Model, were all generated in the developed areas of China. Sustainability assessment of those areas plays an important role in guiding future development of the economy of China. Genuine progress indicator (GPI) was adopted in this study to evaluate the sustainability of 6 typical cities (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wenzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou) of the three economic patterns from 1995 to 2012. During the study period, the values of GDP for the six cities had experienced exponential growth, while the values of GPI started to increase since 2005 after a relatively constant period between 1995 and 2005. The gap between GPI and GDP had been widening from a historical perspective. Zhujiang Model made great progress in economic growth, however, the economic, social, and environmental costs were evident. It should tackle income inequality, traffic jam, and environmental pollution to reach sustainability. The development of Wenzhou Model slowed down in the late pe-riod, with inadequate potential to develop. Its income inequality was tough, social and economic development was slow, and the economic development pattern needed to be urgently changed. Sunan Model had a higher value of GPI and the potential to reach sustainability, with remarkable growth of economy, median level of the GPI costs, and steady improvement of social development, although its natural resources were depleted. Three economic patterns should focus on the three dimensions of sustainability (economy, environment, and society), and Zhujiang Model and Wenzhou Model needed to be more active to search for transition of their development.
    Effects of environmental and biotic factors on soil respiration in a coastal wetland in the Yellow River Delta, China.
    CHEN Liang, LIU Zi-ting, HAN Guang-xuan, CHU Xiao-jing, SUN Bao-yu, LIU Hai-fang, LI Jian-wen
    2016, 27(6):  1795-1803.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.003
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    Using the Li-8150 multichannel automatic soil CO2 efflux system, soil respiration was measured continuously over a one-year period in a coastal wetland in the Yellow River Delta, China. Environmental and biological factors were measured simultaneously, including temperature, soil water content, aboveground biomass and leaf area index. The results showed that the diurnal variation of soil respiration presented a single-peak curve, but it appeared as multiple peaks when disturbed by soil freezing and surface flooding. Soil respiration showed obvious seasonal dynamics and a single peak curve. The average annual soil respiration was 0.85 μmol CO2·m-2·s-1, and the mean soil respiration rate was 1.22 μmol CO2·m-2·s-1 during the growing season. On one-year scale, soil temperature was a major factor influencing soil respiration in the coastal wetland, which explained 87.5% of the variation in soil respiration. On the growing season scale, soil water content and leaf area index accounted for 85% of the seasonal variation of soil respiration.
    Soil moisture estimation method based on both ground-based remote sensing data and air temperature in a summer maize ecosystem.
    WANG Min-zheng, ZHOU Guang-sheng
    2016, 27(6):  1804-1810.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.016
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    Soil moisture is an important component of the soil-vegetation-atmosphere continuum (SPAC). It is a key factor to determine the water status of terrestrial ecosystems, and is also the main source of water supply for crops. In order to estimate soil moisture at different soil depths at a station scale, based on the energy balance equation and the water deficit index (WDI), a soil moisture estimation model was established in terms of the remote sensing data (the normalized difference vegetation index and surface temperature) and air temperature. The soil moisture estimation model was validated based on the data from the drought process experiment of summer maize (Zea mays) responding to different irrigation treatments carried out during 2014 at Gucheng eco-agrometeorological experimental station of China Meteorological Administration. The results indicated that the soil moisture estimation model developed in this paper was able to evaluate soil relative humidity at different soil depths in the summer maize field, and the hypothesis was reasonable that evapotranspiration deficit ratio (i.e., WDI) linearly depended on soil relative humidity. It showed that the estimation accuracy of 0-10 cm surface soil moisture was the highest (R2=0.90). The RMAEs of the estimated and measured soil relative humidity in deeper soil layers (up to 50 cm) were less than 15% and the RMSEs were less than 20%. The research could provide reference for drought monitoring and irrigation management.
    Observation of ozone dry deposition in the field of winter wheat.
    LI Shuo, ZHENG You-fei, WU Rong-jun, YIN Ji-fu, XU Jing-xin, ZHAO Hui, SUN Jian
    2016, 27(6):  1811-1819.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.037
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    Ozone is one of the main atmospheric pollutants over surface layer, and its increasing surface ozone concentration and its impact on main crops have become the focus of the public. In order to explore ozone deposition law and environmental factors influencing ozone deposition process, this study used the micrometeorological methods and carried out the experiment under natural conditions. The results showed that during the observational period (the vigorously growing season of wheat), the mean value of ozone flux was -0.35 μg·m-2·s-1(the negative sign indicated that the deposition direction was toward the ground). The mean rate of ozone deposition was 0.55 cm·s-1. The mean value of aerodynamic resistance was 30 s·m-1, the mean value of sub-layer resistance was 257 s·m-1, and that of the canopy layer stomatic resistance was 163 s·m-1. All the test parameters presented distinct diurnal fluctuation. The ozone deposition resistance was influenced by friction velocity, solar radiation velocity, temperature, relative humidity and other factors.
    Natural distribution and community ecological characteristics of Taxus chinensis var. mairei in Shanxi Province, China.
    GAO Run-mei, SHI Xiao-dong, FAN Lan-ying, SUN Yue-yan, GUO Xiao-hong
    2016, 27(6):  1820-1828.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.029
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    Taxus chinensis var. mairei is a national Category Ⅰ protective species in China, with its northernmost natural distribution to the southeast of Shanxi Province, China. This study was conducted to investigate the natural distribution of T. chinensis var. mairei in Shanxi Province. The community classification, species diversity, population structure and competition intensity of T. chinensis var. mairei were studied. The results showed that T. chinensis var. mairei mainly formed four community types, including the community of T. chinensis var. mairei + Carpinus turczaninowii, the community of T. chinensis var. mairei - Vitex negundo var. heterophylla, the community T. chinensis var. mairei - Clerodendrum trichotomum and the community of T. chinensis var. mairei + Quercus variabilis. T. chinensis var. mairei was concentratedly distributed in Mohe of Linchuan County and Manghe Nature Reserve of Yangcheng County, and scattered in some other areas. The communities had an obviously vertical structure, with T. chinensis var. mairei trees growing into main canopy which were about 8-10 m high in mixed forests and 5-6 m high in pure forests. The species diversity index and evenness index had significant difference among the four community types. The average height of T. chinensis var. mairei was 5.16 m. The individuals in tree layer and succession layer were 43.4% and 56.6%, respectively, while they were scarce in the regeneration layer. 67.6% of the trees were small-diameter (DBH<16 cm) and only 4.0% were large-diameter (32 cm≤DBH<40 cm). T. chinensis var. mairei was considered to be lack of seedlings because only 4 seedlings were found, which might result in the declination of this species in future. T. chinensis var. mairei in Shanxi Province showed relatively concentrated distribution, with most individuals being small-diameter, resulting in tense intraspecific competition which accounted for 61.8% of the total intensity. The interspecific competition to T. chinensis var. mairei was mainly from C. turczaninowii and Q. variabilis, which were two dominant tree species with larger population in this area.
    Genetic diversity and genetic structure in Sassafras tsumu populations along altitudinal gra-dients in Tianmushan Mountain, China.
    JIANG Ai-ping, JIANG Jing-min, LIU Jun
    2016, 27(6):  1829-1836.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.012
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    To analyze the genetic diversities and structures of Sassafras tsumu and to explore their changing patterns at five different altitudes, Bioptic Qsep 100 DNA fragment analyzer combined with 13 SSR primers was applied. The results showed that S. tsumu in Tianmushan Mountain had a relatively high genetic diversity, with the expected heterozygosity (He) and observed heterozygosity (Ho) being 0.84 and 0.61, respectively. According to Shannon index (I), the diversity of S. tsumu at middle altitude (500-800 m) was higher than that at low (200 m) and high altitudes (1100-1400 m). The coefficient of genetic differentiation and AMOVA results indicated that the genetic variation of S. tsumu was mainly distributed within populations. UPGMA cluster analysis and STRUCTURE analysis showed that S. tsumu populations at the middle and lower altitudes were similar, but different from that at higher altitude. The differences in genetic distance of S. tsumu populations at middle and low altitudes revealed that human disturbance posed a negative effect on the diversity, whereas, natural reserve played a significant positive role in protecting species diversity.
    Responses of chilling resistance to photoperiodic dormancy induction in peach leaf.
    LI Dong-mei, ZHANG Hai-sen, TAN Qiu-ping, GAO Dong-sheng, CHEN Xiu-de, LI Ling
    2016, 27(6):  1837-1844.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.002
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    Taking 6-year-old “Chunjie” peach as test material, and the peach in natural condition as the control, this paper investigated induced effects of long-day and short-day photoperiod on dormancy and responses of chilling resistance to photoperiodic induction during dormancy induction process. The results showed that the trees of long-day and short-day treatments could both enter dormancy induction under the gradually decreasing temperature. The long-day treatment was 1 week later than the control, while the short-day treatment was 1 week earlier. The total water content and free water content both decreased, and the bound water content and the ratio of bound water/total water increased with the development of dormancy. SOD and CAT activities changed as unimodal curve during dormancy induction, and the peak values appeared at the late stage of dormancy induction, POD activity decreased rapidly after the start of dormancy induction, and rebounded to form a small peak at the late stage of dormancy induction. The soluble protein content declined, proline and malonaldehyde (MDA) increased continuously, and the injury rate increased. Long-day could increase SOD and CAT activities and proline content, alleviate the decline of POD activity and soluble protein content, and reduce the growth rate of MDA and injury rate, which indicated leaf damage was lighter in long-day treatment than in the control. However, they changed differently under short-day treatment, especially the leaf injury rate was higher than the control, exhibiting a lower chilling resistance. Prolonging illumination was suggested to improve leaf chilling resistance in practical production if environmental temperature permitted.
    Effects of forest regeneration patterns on the quantity and chemical structure of soil solution dissolved organic matter in a subtropical forest.
    YUAN Xiao-chun, LIN Wei-sheng, PU Xiao-ting, YANG Zhi-rong, ZHENG Wei, CHEN Yue-min, YANG Yu-sheng
    2016, 27(6):  1845-1852.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.023
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    Using the negative pressure sampling method, the concentrations and spectral characte-ristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) of soil solution were studied at 0-15, 15-30, 30-60 cm layers in Castanopsis carlesii forest (BF), human-assisted naturally regenerated C. carlesii forest (RF), C. carlesii plantation (CP) in evergreen broad-leaved forests in Sanming City, Fujian Pro-vince. The results showed that the overall trend of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in soil solution was RF>CP>BF, and the concentration of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was highest in C. carlesii plantation. The concentrations of DOC and DON in surface soil (0-15 cm) were all significantly higher than in the subsurface (30-60 cm). The aromatic index (AI) was in the order of RF>CP>BF, and as a whole, the highest AI was observed in the surface soil. Higher fluorescence intensity and a short wave absorption peak (320 nm) were observed in C. carlesii plantation, suggesting the surface soil of C. carlesii plantation was rich in decomposed substance content, while the degree of humification was lower. A medium wave absorption peak (380 nm) was observed in human-assisted naturally regenerated C. carlesii forest, indicating the degree of humification was higher which would contribute to the storage of soil fertility. In addition, DOM characte-ristics in 30-60 cm soil solution were almost unaffected by forest regeneration patterns.
    Evaluation of drought-resistant physiological characteristics of roots and leaves for main greening tree species in Northwest Liaoning Province, China in spring.
    WANG Kai, LEI Hong, LIU Jian-hua
    2016, 27(6):  1853-1860.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.022
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    In the present study, the effects of spring drought stress on physiological characteristics of leaves and roots for Populus alba, Ulmus pumila, Syringa oblata and Prunus sibirica were analyzed in Northwest Liaoning Province. The relationships between leaves and roots under drought stress were explored, and drought resistance of the four tree species was evaluated with the method of subordinate function and the gray correlative analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in osmotic substances contents (soluble sugar, soluble protein and proline), antioxidative enzymes activities (SOD, POD and CAT) and malondialdehyde content among the four tree species and different organs (leaves and roots) (P<0.05). The average subordinative value in leaves increased in a sequence of P. sibirica (0.245), P. alba (0.346), S. oblata (0.412) and U. pumila (0.673), but it increased in roots in an order of U. pumila (0.315), P. sibirica (0.383), S. oblata (0.552) and P. alba (0.558). Meanwhile, the average subordinative value in leaves of P. alba, S. oblata and P. sibirica was lower than in roots, but it was higher in leaves than in roots of U. pumila. The association between physiological indexes and drought resistance showed an order of malondialdehyde > SOD > CAT > soluble protein > proline > soluble sugar > POD in leaves, and an order of malondialdehyde > soluble protein > soluble sugar > CAT > POD > proline > SOD in roots. These results indicated that the drought-resistant capability was different in leaves and roots of the four tree species. The roles of drought-resistance indexes were different between leaves and roots of the four tree species. Different management measures should be selected according to different organs of various tree species.
    Leaf economics spectrum among different plant functional types in Beijing Botanical Garden, China.
    SONG He, YU Hong-ying, CHEN Ying-ting, XU Zhen-zhu, ZHOU Guang-sheng
    2016, 27(6):  1861-1869.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.010
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    We measured leaf photosynthetic and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters as well as leaf area, dry biomass, and nitrogen content of different plant functional types (PFTs) at the Beijing Botanical Garden, and analyzed the leaf economics spectrum (LES) among different PFTs. The results showed that the plants with the life form of grasses, those with an annual type of life history, and with a C4 photosynthetic pathway might provide a quick return on investment for the species located at one end of the LES. Similarly, the plants with a life form of trees and shrubs, with a perennial type of life history, and with a C3 photosynthetic pathway might provide a slower return on investment for the species located at the other end of the LES. This indicated that plants with different PFTs might have diverse strategies that allowed them to adapt to the environment through a trade-off among leaf traits. The results showed that the LES existed among different PFTs. Remarkable diffe-rences were observed in most of the leaf traits among different PFTs. The various life forms analyzed here were ranked in the order of grasses > vines > shrubs > trees based on specific leaf area (SLA), mass-based nitrogen concentration (Nmass), mass-based photosynthetic capacity (Amass), and photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE). Among the different life histories, SLA, Nmass, Amass, and PNUE in annual species were significantly higher than those in perennial species. In addition, Amass, PNUE, and the quantum yield of PSⅡ electron transport (ΦPS) were higher in C4 species than in C3 species. Nmass, Amass, and SLA were significantly positively correlated with each other. SLA was significantly negatively correlated with the photochemical efficiency of PSⅡ in the light (Fv′/Fm), whereas it was significantly positively correlated with PNUE.
    Effects of age classes on metabolic exponents of Salix psammophila branches.
    CHEN Guo-peng, ZHAO Wen-zhi
    2016, 27(6):  1870-1876.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.001
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    Metabolisms are fundamental processes of organisms. They are related to carbon and water cycling of a plant. The relationship between the metabolic rate and the body size of an organism has been a hot spot in ecological research. The typical WBE model with 3/4 power has been controversial. This study tested the applicability of WBE model and examined the change of metabolic exponents with the age class at branch scale in a typical plant, Salix psammophila in the southern edge of the Mu Us desert. The results showed that the estimated metabolic exponent based on the leaf biomass and total biomass was 0.97 for all branches of the S. psammophila. This was significantly greater than the constant power of 3/4 proposed by the WBE model. The branching radius exponent and branching length exponent were 2.67 and 3.83, respectively, being significantly greater than the constant values of 2.0 and 3.0, respectively. The ranges of branching radius exponents and branching length exponents among the age classes were 2.64-3.24 and 2.86-4.30, respectively. Meanwhile, the estimated values and calculated values of metabolic exponents ranged from 1.01-1.29 and 0.94-1.13, respectively. The values of all above were statistically indistinguishable among the six age classes. The common slopes among the six age classes for estimated values and calculated values of metabolic exponents, branching radius exponents and branching length exponents were 1.08, 1.00, 2.84 and 3.35, respectively. These values were significantly greater than the constant values. The changes of the intercept at the y-axis shifted negatively at the common slope of estimated metabolic exponents with significant elevation shift between groups, and the higher age class branches had the greater shift. These indicated that the age classes did not change the metabolic exponents, but changed the metabolic constant significantly. The older branches had lower metabolic activity than the younger branches.
    Characteristics of phosphate-solubilizing microbial community in the soil of poplar plantations under successive-planting and rotation.
    MA Xue-song, WANG Wen-bo, WANG Yan-ping, WANG Hua-tian, YI Wen-hui
    2016, 27(6):  1877-1885.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201607.028
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    The metagenome sequencing was used to compare the difference of six soil samples, the rhizosphere soil of the first and the second rotation poplar plantations (RSP1, RSP2), the bulk soil of the first and the second rotation poplar plantations (BSP1, BSP2), the soil of rotated peanut field (RPS) and the abandoned land soil (ALS) after poplar clear cutting, in phosphate-solubili-zing microbial community and abundance of phosphatase gene (PG) in a poplar plantation. The results showed that microorganisms from nine genera were related to phosphorus cycle with Bacillus and Pseudomonas being the dominant. The abundance of PSMs was highest in ALS, followed by RPS, RSP2 and BSP2, RSP1 and BSP1, respectively. There was a significant difference of PSMs among the six soil samples. After poplar clear cutting, the abundance of Bacillus and Pseudomonas in RPS and ALS increased significantly, whereas that of Arthrobacter, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces decreased. However, in the rhizosphere soil of poplar plantations, an opposite pattern appeared when comparing RSP2 to RSP1. Bacillus and Pseudomonas were more abundant in rhizosphere soils than in bulk soil, while Arthrobacter, Bradyrhizobium and Streptomyces were higher. The abundance of PG presented the regularity of RSP1 and BSP1 > ALS > RSP2 and BSP2 > RPS. Rhizosphere had a more significant effect in the successive rotation poplar plantations than in the second rotation plantation. An even lower phosphatase gene’s abundance was shown in rhizosphere soil than in bulk soil. The number of PSMs was negatively correlated with the content of phenolic acids but positively correlated with pH value.
    Estimating aboveground biomass of Trifolium repens community using measuring plates.
    WANG Yu-xia, LIANG Wei-wei, CHEN Jun, GUAN Qing-qing, WEI Zhi-cheng, BAI Hui-min, FENG Zhao-jia
    2016, 27(6):  1886-1892.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.014
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    Aboveground biomass is an important indicator of grassland community. Direct harvesting has a great damage to the fragile ecosystem. In order to estimate the aboveground biomass of Trifolium repens community more effectively without destroying herbaceous community, various handmade measuring plates were used to study the community height and aboveground biomass of T. repens community in Duzhai Village, Dazhai Town, Yangling Zone, Shaanxi Province. Measuring plates used for trials were made of 17 kinds of specifications of aluminum-plastic and polymer plates. The plate was laid flat on the community crown, the height of plant community from ground level to the plate was measured and recorded, and measurements were repeated 20 times for each specification of plate. Then the plants of whole areal part below the measuring plate were cut to ground level from the corresponding quadrat, and the biomass was obtained after oven-drying and weighing. Finally, the modeling and correlation analysis were made, and the best estimate model was verified. The results showed that multiple regression equations were established with aboveground biomass of corresponding area as dependent variable, and community height below the measuring plate as indepen-dent variable. The independent variable was positively correlated with the dependent variable, and the determination coefficients, R2, ranged from 0.37 to 0.76. Compared with the polymer plates, the aluminum-plastic plates performed better on coefficients of variation of biomass, determination coefficients of regression equations, R2, and degree of accuracy. The best measuring plate was circular aluminum-plastic plate with diameter of 35 cm, and its best regression model was y=1.6460x-3.3462, where the R2 was 0.76 and the prediction accuracy was 92.1%.
    Ecological compensation standards and compensation methods of public welfare forest protected area.
    WANG Ya-jing, XIE Bing-geng, LI Xiao-qing, LIAO Hong-ying, WANG Jin-yan
    2016, 27(6):  1893-1900.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.013
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    With a special focus on Jiangkou County in Guizhou Province, this paper explored the ecological compensation standards and compensation methods of local key public welfare forest protected area by using questionnaire and contingent valuation method. The results showed that the minimum compensation which the local foresters could accept was 314.14-365.15 yuan·hm-2 per year, and the opportunity cost was 9750 yuan multiplied by the protected forest area. The willingness to accept of foresters was affected by many factors, such as health status, education level, ethnicity and local township. The compensation methods local foresters expected were various, but mainly were cash and technology compensation. Finally, this paper put forward some policy suggestions on improving system, increasing compensation standards, strengthening propaganda, and enriching compensation methods.
    Characteristics of ammonia volatilization and nitrous oxide emission from a paddy soil under continuous application of different slow/controlled release urea.
    SUN Xiang-xin, LI Dong-po, WU Zhi-jie, CUI Ya-lan, HAN Mei, LI Yong-hua, YANG De-fu, CUI Yong-kun
    2016, 27(6):  1901-1909.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.039
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    The characteristics of ammonia volatilization and nitrous oxide emission from a paddy soil were examined under 9-year application of different slow/controlled release urea with the common large granule urea (U) as the control. The results showed that compared with the control, all slow/controlled release urea treatments, except 25.8% increase of ammonia volatilization under 1% 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP)+U, could decrease the ammonia volatilization. Polymer coated urea (PCU) dominated the highest reduction of 73.4% compared to U, followed by sulfur coated urea (SCU) (72.2%), 0.5% N-(N-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT)+1% DMPP+U (71.9%), 1% hydroquinone (HQ)+3% dicyandiamide (DCD)+U (46.9%), 0.5% NBPT+U (43.2%), 1% HQ +U (40.2%), 3% DCD+U (25.5%), and the ammonia volatilization under different slow/controlled release urea treatments were statistically lower than that of U (P<0.05). 1% DMPP+U caused the lowest emission of N2O under different slow/controlled release urea treatments. The slow/controlled release urea also had a significant potential of N2O emission reduction: 1% DMPP+U showed the highest reduction of 74.9% compared to U, followed by PCU (62.1%), 1% HQ+3% DCD+U (54.7%), 0.5% NBPT+1% DMPP+U (42.2%), 3% DCD+U (35.9%), 1% HQ +U (28.9%), 0.5% NBPT+U (17.7%), SCU (14.5%), and N2O emissions under different slow/controlled release urea treatments were statistically lower than that of U (P<0.05). The comprehensive analysis showed that 0.5% NBPT+1% DMPP+U, SCU and PCU had similar effects on decreasing the ammonia volatilization and N2O emission and were remarkably better than the other treatments. The slow release urea with the combination of urease and nitrification inhibitors should be the first choice for reducing N loss and environmental pollution in paddy field, in view of the higher costs of coated urea fertilizers.
    Difference in nitrogen accumulation and translocation between semi-winterness and springness wheat.
    DONG Zhao-di, GUO Ming-ming, YI Yuan, ZHANG Ming-wei, ZHU Xin-kai,FENG Chao-nian, GUO Wen-shan
    2016, 27(6):  1910-1916.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.032
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    Nitrogen accumulation, translocation and allocation were investigated in a field experiment to find out the difference between six semi-winterness wheat cultivars and nine springness wheat cultivars that are mainly grown in Jiangsu. Results indicated that the average nitrogen accumulation amount (NAA) in the semi-winterness wheat cultivars was lower from the beginning of wintering to jointing stage, but higher from booting to maturity stage, compared with the springness wheat cultivars tested under the same rate of nitrogen fertilization. The amount of nitrogen accumulated between the beginning of wintering and jointing stage showed no significant difference between the two types of wheat cultivars, but that accumulated between anthesis and maturity in the semi-winterness wheat cultivars was higher than that in the springness wheat cultivars. The total N translocation amount (TNTA) and N accumulation amount to grains after anthesis (NAAA) were significantly higher in the semi-winterness wheat cultivars than those in the springness wheat cultivars, but the total N translocation efficiency (NTE), the contribution proportion of accumulated N (ANCP), and the contribution proportion of translocated N (TNCP) did not show significant difference between the two types of wheat cultivars. In leaves, the semi-winterness wheat cultivars showed lower TNTA, NTE and TNCP than the springness wheat cultivars, but in stem and sheath these N indexes were higher in the semi-winterness wheat cultivars, with a significant level for TNTA. These were significant differences in NAA, NAAA, TNTA and TNCP among cultivars with the same spring type or semi-winter type. According to the differences in nitrogen absorption, utilization and translocation among different wheat cultivars, nitrogen utilization efficiency could be improved by using approp-riate amount and reasonable proportion of nitrogen fertilizers at different developmental stages of wheat.
    Soil nitrogen content and enzyme activities in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere of summer maize under different nitrogen application rates.
    LIANG Guo-peng, Houssou A. Albert, WU Hui-jun, WU Xue-ping, CAI Dian-xiong, GAO Li-li, LI Jing, WANG Bi-sheng, LI Sheng-ping
    2016, 27(6):  1917-1924.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.031
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    A field experiment was conducted on fluvo-aquic soil in the North China Plain to study the effects of nitrogen application rate on soil nitrogen contents and enzyme activities in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere of summer maize. The results showed that the soil enzyme activities under different nitrogen application rates showed similar seasonal patterns. In comparison to no nitrogen ferti-lizer treatment, all nitrogen application treatments significantly increased NO3--N contents in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils, NH4+-N content in rhizosphere soil and the activities of β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, β-glucosidase, β-xylosidase and Cellobiohyrolase. During the whole summer maize growing season, the NO3--N content in non-rhizosphere soil was significantly higher than that in rhizosphere soil. The NH4+-N content in non-rhizosphere soil was also significantly higher than that in rhizosphere soil at filling stage but significantly lower at seedling and maturity stages. Furthermore, soil enzyme activities in rhizosphere soil were significantly higher than those in non-rhizosphere soil. Effect of nitrogen application on soil organic carbon content was not significant. Soil total nitrogen content increased significantly when the nitrogen application rate was 0-180 kg·hm-2 but decreased significantly when the rate was higher than 180 kg·hm-2. Generally, a proper rate of nitrogen fertilizer application could significantly increase soil enzyme activities and total nitrogen content, and then improve soil biochemistry properties.
    Influences of micro-irrigation and subsoiling before planting on enzyme activity in soil rhizosphere and summer maize yield.
    ZHANG Ming-zhi, NIU Wen-quan, XU Jian, LI Yuan
    2016, 27(6):  1925-1934.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.035
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    In order to explore the influences of micro-irrigation and subsoiling before planting on enzyme activity in soil rhizosphere and summer maize yield, an orthogonal experiment was carried out with three factors of micro-irrigation method, irrigation depth, and subsoiling depth. The factor of irrigation method included surface drip irrigation, subsurface drip irrigation, and moistube-irrigation; three levels of irrigation depth were obtained by controlling the lower limit of soil water content to 50%, 65%, and 80% of field holding capacity, respectively; and three depths of deep subsoiling were 20, 40, and 60 cm. The results showed that the activities of catalase and urease increased first and then decreased, while the activity of phosphatase followed an opposite trend in the growth season of summer maize. Compared with surface drip irrigation and moistube-irrigation, subsurface drip irrigation increased the average soil moisture of 0-80 cm layer by 6.3% and 1.8% in the growth season, respectively. Subsurface drip irrigation could significantly increase soil urease activity, roots volume, and yield of summer maize. With the increase of irrigation level, soil phosphatase activity decreased first and then increased, while urease activity and yield increased first and then decreased. The average soil moisture and root volume all increased in the growth season of summer maize. The increments of yield and root volume from subsoiling of 40 to 20 cm were greater than those from 60 to 40 cm. The highest enzyme activity was obtained with the treatment of subsoiling of 40 cm. In terms of improving water resource use efficiency, nitrogen use efficiency, and crop yield, the best management strategy of summer maize was the combination of subsurface drip irrigation, controlling the lower limit of soil water content to 65% of field holding capacity, and 40 cm subsoiling before planting.
    Effects of different cultivation patterns on yield, nitrate accumulation and nitrogen balance in winter wheat and summer maize rotation system.
    YANG Xiao-qia, MI Hui-ling, GAO Han-yu, XIN Si-ying, MA Wen-qi, WEI Jing
    2016, 27(6):  1935-1941.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.036
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    This study investigated the impacts of four cultivation patterns including farmer practice, high yield and high efficiency practice, super high yield practice, and super high yield and high efficiency practice on yields, soil nitrate and nitrogen (N) balances in 3 winter wheat-summer maize rotations with straw returning in Hebei Province. Results showed that the super high yield practice was identified with greatest winter wheat and summer maize yields, followed by high yield and high efficiency practice, and super high yield and high efficiency practice, which were all greater than that of farmer practice. The N use efficiency of high yield and high efficiency practice was significantly greater than the other cultivation patterns. The total nitrate accumulation in 0-400 cm soil of these cultivation patterns reached 768.4-1133.3 kg·hm-2, where 80%-85% of the accumulated nitrate were in 90-400 cm soil. Meanwhile, the nitrate leaching was observed in all cultivation patterns and nitrate accumulation peaks at 120-150 cm and 270-330 cm were found. Soil nitrate content of high yield and high efficiency practice was less than 30 mg·kg-1 and generally lower than other cultivation patterns, which to some extent reduced the environmental risk. In addition, nitrate surplus in 0-90 cm soil during winter wheat season was lower than that during summer maize season, and the high yield and high efficiency practice had the lowest apparent nitrogen loss. Overall, the high yield and high efficiency practice was evaluated to be the best cultivation pattern in consi-deration of yield, nitrogen use efficiency and nitrate accumulation in soil, but there was still certain achievable improvement potential.
    Physiological responses and tolerance to drought stress of different watermelon genotypes.
    MO Yan-ling, ZHENG Jun-xian, YANG Rui-ping, LIU Chang-ming, GU Xiu-rong, ZHANG Xian, WEI Chun-hua
    2016, 27(6):  1942-1952.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.034
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    With the continuous drought stress treatment to 12 pot-grown watermelon genotypes originated from different regions, the influence of drought stress on plant height, root length, fresh mass and dry mass was studied, and the physiological responses of these genotypes to drought stress were compared. Drought resistance of these watermelon genotypes was preliminarily determined according to the drought injury, and then confirmed by membership function evaluation method. We found that the watermelon genotypes exhibited great difference in drought tolerance based on the occurrence of drought injury and the degree of injury severity. Drought stress reduced plant height, shoot- and root- fresh mass as well as shoot- and root- dry mass, while increased the root/shoot ratio for most genotypes; but for root length and root dry mass, it had both positive and negative effects depending on the tested genotype. Compared with the control, all drought-treated watermelon genotypes exhibited a decline in leaf relative water content and chlorophyll content, as well as increases in MDA, H2O2, O2 and proline contents. Different watermelon genotypes displayed diversity in soluble protein content and antioxidant enzyme activity. Our results showed that three wild watermelon genotypes including M20, Y-2, and KY-3 were drought tolerant while Y34, 04-1-2 and Golden Girl were drought sensitive, and the rest genotypes were among the medium.
    Small mammals burrow selection and habitat characteristics in an alpine forest of eastern Tibet Plateau, China.
    FU Chang-kun, YANG Wan-qin, ZHANG Jian, XU Zhen-feng, TAN Bo, WU Fu-zhong
    2016, 27(6):  1953-1958.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.018
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    The burrows of small mammals are one of the obvious landscapes in the forest floor, and play important roles in understanding the distribution patterns of small mammals and their ecological functions in the high-frigid regions. Therefore, the burrow selection and habitat characteristics of small mammals were investigated in an alpine forest of eastern Tibet Plateau from July to September in 2015. The results indicated that the average density of small mammals burrow was 182.8 entrances per hectare. Forest vegetation had significant effects on burrow entrances density, which showed the order of coniferous vegetation (328.6 burrow entrances per hectare) > broad-leaved and coniferous mixed vegetation (160.0 burrow entrances per hectare) > shrubbery (125.0 burrow entrances per hectare) > broad-leaved vegetation (81.5 burrow entrances per hectare) > bamboo ve-getation (66.7 burrow entrances per hectare). Mann-Whitney U Test and PCA analysis displayed that the arbor canopy, arbor height, arbor DBH, arbor density, ground-plant cover, fallen log cover, fallen log density and shrub height in the small mammals utilized habitat plots were significantly higher than those in other habitat plots (P<0.05). Compared with other factors, arbor was the primary factor in dominating the selection of small mammal burrows, showing the contribution rate with 44.8%. The following dominant factors were fallen log and shrub, with the contribution rates being 23.2% and 13.9%, respectively. In summary, there were numerous small mammal burrows in the alpine forest floor, which were primarily dominated by vegetation and fallen logs.
    Effects of temperature and photoperiod on body mass, energy budget and digestive tract morphology in Pycnonotus sinensis.
    WANG Run-mei, WU Yu-nan, LIANG Hong-ji, LIN Lin, ZHENG Wei-hong, LIU Jin-song
    2016, 27(6):  1959-1967.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.026
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    Temperature and photoperiod are proximate environmental factors that have an important influence on the morphological, physiological and behavioral adjustments animals performance du-ring seasonal acclimatization. In this study, the effects of temperature and photoperiod on phenotypic flexibility in body mass, energy budget and digestive tract morphology in the Chinese bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) were examined, and the relationship between energy budget and digestive tract morphology was analyzed. Twelve male and sixteen female Chinese bulbuls were randomly assigned into 4 experimental groups so that each group was comprised of three males and four females. The groups were: 1) a warm and long photoperiod (30 ℃, 16 light: 8 dark) group, 2) a warm and short photoperiod (30 ℃, 8 light: 16 dark) group, 3) a cold and long photoperiod (10 ℃, 16 light:8 dark) group, and 4) a cold and short photoperiod (10 ℃, 8 light: 16 dark) group. Each group was acclimated to its respective temperature and photoperiod for 4 weeks. Birds in the cold temperature and short photoperiod group underwent a significant increase in body mass, gross energy intake (GEI) and digestible energy intake (DEI) compared to the other three groups, and there was a significant interaction between temperature and photoperiod on gross energy intake and diges-tible energy intake. The mass of the stomach, small intestine, rectum, and total digestive tract, all increased significantly in cold temperature treatment groups compared to those acclimated to a relatively warm temperature. There was a significant, positive correlation between GEI and DEI resi-duals and those of the length and dry mass of the small intestine and total digestive tract. These results suggested that the Chinese bulbul met the increased energy demands of winter (colder tempe-ratures and reduced foraging time due to shorter day-length) by increasing its body mass, digestible energy intake and digestive tract size.
    Potential nest predators of Syrmaticus reevesii based on camera traps and artificial nests.
    WANG Qin-yun, ZHAO Yu-ze, LUO Xu, HUA Jun-qin, LI Zhong, XU Ji-liang
    2016, 27(6):  1968-1974.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.020
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    In order to understand the background of the field breeding ecology of Reeves’s pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) inside and outside of protected area, an investigation on nest predation rate, potential nest predators and the habitat factors affecting nest predation was conducted at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve, Henan Province and Pingjingguan Village, Hubei Province, which were protected and non-protected area, respectively. The fieldwork was conducted from March to July 2014, and artificial nests (taking eggs as bait), camera traps and habitat plots were used at these two sites to catch information about nest predation. Experiments were designed in two rounds, including the early-breeding stage (March to April) and mid-breeding stage (May to June). We placed 149 artificial ground nests with 62 randomly picked nest sites, each monitored by one camera. The working days of all cameras were 1315 days, and we finally obtained 7776 pictures and 6950 video clips. The results showed that the rate of nest predation outside the protected areas (Pingjingguan) was higher than that in nature reserve (Dongzhai), with highly significant diffe-rences both in early-breeding and mid-breeding stages. In two stages, more nest predator species (11 and 6 species in two stages, respectively) occurred in Pingjingguan than in Dongzhai (7 and 5 species, respectively). In Pingjingguan, Glires and Corvidae were top predators, while in Dongzhai Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) was firstly ranked. Slope degree and arbor canopy cover were positively related with the nest predation rate in Pingjingguan, while fallen leaves coverage had significant influence on nest predation in Dongzhai. We also found wild Reeves’s pheasant paid visits to 13 artificial nests for 18 times by viewing the pictures and video clips.
    Effect of effective microorganisms (EM)compost on micro- and medium-sized soil faunal communities in black soil farmland.
    DONG Cheng-xu, ZHAI Qing-ming, LIN Lin, ZHANG Xue-ping, GAO Mei-xiang
    2016, 27(6):  1975-1983.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201607.027
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    In May, July and September 2012, four treatment plots with different concentrations of effective microorganisms (EM) compost were established (control, low, medium, and high concentration) in a typical black soil farmland in Harbin. We investigated the effects of different EM compost concentrations on the composition, vertical structure, seasonal dynamics, and diversity of micro- and medium-sized soil faunal communities. A total of 7860 individuals (with the average density of 49125 ind·m-2) were captured which were classified into 30 groups, belonging to ten classes and three orders. Overall, the number of group and density of fauna increased with the increasing concentration of EM compost. However, the density was lower in the low concentration plot than in the control. The vertical distribution of faunal communities was characterized by surface clustering and there was a strong seasonal variation. The diversity indices of faunal communities increased with increasing the EM compost concentration, and the soil organic matter had a relatively greater contribution to such diversity changes. The response of groups to EM treatment was species-dependent. Frequent and dominant groups had strong adaptability to changes in the soil environment, while the rare groups were more sensitive. This study revealed that EM compost could promote the community structure and increase the diversity of the faunal community in the black soil farmland.
    Microbial and physiological mechanisms for alleviating fusarium wilt of faba bean in intercropping system.
    DONG Yan, DONG Kun, YANG Zhi-xian, ZHENG Yi, TANG Li
    2016, 27(6):  1984-1992.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.019
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    A field trial was conducted to investigate effects of wheat and faba bean intercropping on incidence and index of fusarium wilt, amount of Fusarium oxysporum of faba bean, oxidase activity and membrane peroxidation of faba bean roots. Functional diversity of microbial community in rhizosphere soil of faba bean was analyzed by using Biolog microbial analysis system, contents of pheno-lic acids in faba bean rhizosphere soil were determined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that in comparison with that of monocropped faba bean, wheat and faba bean intercropping tended to reduce the incidence and disease index of faba bean. The fusarium wilt was significantly decreased by 15.8% and 22.8% during the peak infection and late infection stages, and the average well color development (AWCD value) was promoted obviously. The Shannon diversity (H) and richness (S) increased by 4.4% and 19.4% during the peak infection stage and 5.3% and 37.1% during the late infection stage, respectively. Principal component analysis demonstrated that intercropping significantly changed the rhizospheric microbial community composition. The amount of F. oxysporum in rhizosphere soil of intercropped faba bean was significantly decreased by 53.8% and 33.1%, respectively, during the peak infection and late infection stages, and contents of 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, ferulic acid, benzoic acid and cinnamic acid also significantly decreased, peroxidase (POD), catalases (CAT) activities in roots of intercropped faba bean increased significantly by 20.0% and 31.3%, respectively during the peak infection stage and 38.5% and 66.7% respectively during the late infection stage, and the malondialdehyd (MDA) content decreased significantly by 36.3% and 46.3%, respectively during peak infection stage and late infection stage. It was concluded that wheat with faba bean intercropping could significantly promote the soil microbial activity and diversity, reduce the accumulation of phenolic allelochemicals and the amount of F. oxysporum in rhizosphere soil, increase the activities of CAT and POD, reduce MDA content in roots, and thus promote the resistance of faba bean to F. oxysporum infection.
    Biological characteristics, temporal-spatial distribution of Portunus trituberculatus and relationships between its density and impact factors in Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, China.
    WU Qiang, WANG Jun, CHEN Rui-sheng, HUANG Jing-xian, ZUO Tao, LUAN Qing-shan, JIN Xian-shi
    2016, 27(6):  1993-2001.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.017
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    Biological characteristics, density and its spatial distribution of Portunus trituberculatus in Laizhou Bay, together with the impact of environmental factors, were analyzed based on the bottom trawl data of 9 surveys from May 2011 to April 2012, in order to provide scientific basis for utilizing and protecting the resource of P. trituberculatus. The monthly variation of biomass density could be described as September > October > July > August > June > November > March > May > April. The average values were highest in August 2011 and lowest in April 2012, for body mass, width and length, respectively. The individual fatness coefficient was highest in August 2011 both for the female (1.030) and the male (1.023), lowest in July both for the female (1.007) and the male (1.007). The difference of fatness coefficient was not significant (P>0.05) between the female and the male. The sex ratio (female/male) was less than 1.0 in most of all months except June, July and August. P. trituberculatus was mainly distributed in the Yellow River estuary and the offshore off Longkou in May-July, in offshore off Weifang and Longkou in August-September, and in deep-water area of the Laizhou Bay mouth from October to next April. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that environmental factors that best matched the density of P. trituberculatus were sea surface temperature (SST), dissolved oxygen (DO) and water depth (Dep), followed by salinity (Sal) and zooplankton density, the last were phytoplankton density and the number of other demersal fisheries species. The body length of P. trituberculatus in 2011 was significantly smaller (P<0.01) compared with that in 1981. To sustainably utilize the resource of P. trituberculatus in Laizhou Bay, we suggested that the fishing effort should be reduced, the catchable size should be raised, the research of enhancement basements should be promoted and more reasonable releasing quantity should be proposed.
    Effects of starvation and re-feeding on survival rate, growth and digestive enzyme activities of juvenile Sepia pharaonis.
    LE Ke-xin, WANG Yuan, PENG Rui-bing, LIANG Jing-jing, JIANG Xia-min, HAN Qing-xi
    2016, 27(6):  2002-2008.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.009
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    To investigate the effects of starvation and re-feeding on survival rate, behavior, growth and digestive enzyme activities of juvenile Sepia pharaonis, the manipulative laboratory experiments were conducted with 0-6 days of starvation and 15 days of re-feeding to reveal the mechanism of compensatory growth. The results showed that starvation exerted a significant negative effect on the survival rate, growth, hepatosomatic index and digestive enzyme activities (P<0.05). The survival rate and digestive enzyme activities declined during the whole starvation process. After 3 days, the survival rate began to decline significantly, the decrease rate of body mass increased obviously and juveniles experienced some abnormal behaviors, such as inkjet, fighting and so on. The effects of starvation on digestive enzyme activities of juveniles were significant, and the digestive enzyme activities declined and then rose during the whole starvation process. The lowest amylase activity occurred after 4 days of starvation (0.07±0.02 U·mg-1·prot-1). The lowest lipase activity occurred after 2 days of starvation (18.47±2.07 U·g-1·prot-1), and the highest after 6 days (57.60±3.98 U·g-1·prot-1). The lowest pepsin and trypsin activities occurred after 5 days (1.98±0.59 U·mg-1·prot-1) and 4 days (186.68±20.72 U·mg-1·prot-1) of starvation, respectively. The effects of re-feeding on survival rate, growth, hepatosomatic index and digestive enzyme activities of juveniles were significant. The survival rate, specific growth rate, hepatosomatic index and feeding rate were negatively correlated with hunger processing duration. The survival rate, specific growth rate and hepatosomatic index showed no significant difference between 1 day starvation group and 2 days starvation group (P>0.05). The survival rate, specific growth rate and hepatosomatic index of 3 days to 6 days starvation groups were significantly lower than the control group. The feeding rates of 1 day and 2 days starvation groups were obviously higher than that of the control group. The feeding rate of 6 days starvation group was significantly lower than that of the control group. The amylase and lipase activities were not significantly different among different starvation treatments, whereas the pepsin and trypsin activities were significantly different, with the highest value in the control group (pepsin 7.06±0.64 U·mg-1·prot-1, trypsin 914.67±26.54 U·mg-1·prot-1) and the lo-west value in the group with 6 days of starvation (pepsin 3.21±0.57 U·mg-1·prot-1, trypsin 660.04±37.92 U·mg-1·prot-1). Six days of starvation would be the point of no-return for the juveniles, without any compensatory effect after starvation and re-feeding.
    Potential recruitment into planktonic population and influencing factors on the hatching of copepod resting eggs in ponds.
    TIAN Tian, WANG Qing, LUO Hong-tian, YANG Yu-feng
    2016, 27(6):  2009-2014.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.024
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    The formation of resting eggs is an important survival strategy for copepods. The abundance of resting eggs in sediment is of great significance to the recruitment of copepod population in aquatic environment. Desiccation is an important approach of aquaculture management in ponds, which has great influences on pond ecosystem. Surface sediments of aquaculture ponds in Nansha, Guangzhou were sampled before (15th Feberary 2014) and after (2nd March 2014) the desiccation separately to explore the potential recruitment of resting eggs into planktonic copepod population, and environmental factors influencing the hatching success of copepod resting eggs. Results showed that without desiccation and cooling, the highest potential recruitment and immediate hatching rates of resting eggs were observed at the salinity of 20 experimental group, while after cooling to 4 ℃ for four weeks, the hatching rate was highest at the salinity of 15. When exposed to desiccation, the highest potential immediate recruitment and hatching rate of resting eggs were observed at the salinity of 15, while after cooling to 4 ℃ for four weeks, the highest hatching rates were observed at the salinity of 20. It was concluded that desiccation reduced the potential recruitment of resting eggs in sediment significantly (P<0.05), and desiccation had a negative impact on their hatching duration.
    Physical and chemical maturity indexes and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)spectroscopy of animal manures during composting.
    YU Zi-xuan, YANG Jing-jing, WANG Yu-yan, ZHANG Li-gan, CHANG Jiang, GAO Hong-jian, SUN Ye-di
    2016, 27(6):  2015-2023.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.038
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    The composting experiments on three manures (cattle, pig and chicken manures) were carried out to study the maturity indexes by monitoring their physical and chemical properties, seed germination index (GI), and characterizing chemical structures using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Results showed that temperature changed during composting, and the numbers of peak temperatures for cattle, chicken, and pig manures were 1, 2 and 2, respectively. The duration with temperature higher than 50 ℃ was longer than 10 days for all the three manures. This indicated that temperature was the most intuitive maturity index. The pH of pig and chicken manures increased from 6.63 to 7.74 and from 7.73 to 8.66, respectively, while that of cattle manure first increased from 7.86 to 8.36 and then decreased to 7.52. The organic carbon content decreased by23.3%, 28.2%, and 31.7%, respectively, for cattle, pig and chicken manures. In addition, the NH4+-N concentrations decreased by 87.8%, 73.6%, and 79.7%, and the NO3--N increased by 56.81, 6.49, and 4.85 times for cattle, pig, and chicken manures, respectively. The ratio of NH4+-N/NO3--N of piles decreased below 2. Our study indicated that temperature, pH, organic carbon content, and ratio of NH4+-N/NO3--N were closely related to maturity index and correlated with seed germination rate (P≤0.05). The FIIR spectra revealed that in the cattle and pig manures aliphatic compounds and polysaccharides decreased but aromatics increased during the process of composting, suggesting enhanced humification. However, the trend was reversed for chicken manure. Therefore, it was necessary to take into account the stability of composts while maturity indexes were sought.
    Reviews
    Review on studies of anthropogenic heat emission.
    WANG Ye-ning, SUN Ran-hao, CHEN Li-ding
    2016, 27(6):  2024-2030.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.007
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    With the rapid development of metropolises worldwide, the urban heat island (UHI) effect is becoming a serious environmental problem in recent years. The rapidly increasing anthropogenic heat (AH) from human activities has more significant impacts on urban microclimate which aggravates the UHI effect. The characteristics of AH emissions at different scales may vary according to different natural backgrounds. Therefore, the calculation of AH is complicated and uncertain due to the temporal and spatial variation. This review presented different methods of AH calculation according to specific case studies at home and abroad. We summarized the scales of different methods and required data set as well as the certainty of error sources. Last we discussed the advantages, limitations, and potential improvements for different approaches. By the review, we suggested that the AH research should first choose a reasonable calculation method based on spatial and temporal scales to guarantee the accuracy. The calculation of AH could provide useful information to better understand the AH emissions of specific areas, which bring more potentials to improve the living environment through rational urban planning.
    Dilemma of null hypothesis in ecological hypothesis’s experiment test.
    LI Ji
    2016, 27(6):  2031-2038.  doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201606.025
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    Experimental test is one of the major test methods of ecological hypothesis, though there are many arguments due to null hypothesis. Quinn and Dunham (1983) analyzed the hypothesis deduction model from Platt (1964) and thus stated that there is no null hypothesis in ecology that can be strictly tested by experiments. Fisher’s falsificationism and Neyman-Pearson (N-P)’s non-decisivity inhibit statistical null hypothesis from being strictly tested. Moreover, since the null hypothesis H0(α=1, β=0) and alternative hypothesis H1′(α′=1, β′=0) in ecological progresses are diffe-rent from classic physics, the ecological null hypothesis can neither be strictly tested experimentally. These dilemmas of null hypothesis could be relieved via the reduction of P value, careful selection of null hypothesis, non-centralization of non-null hypothesis, and two-tailed test. However, the statistical null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) should not to be equivalent to the causality logistical test in ecological hypothesis. Hence, the findings and conclusions about methodological studies and experimental tests based on NHST are not always logically reliable.