Abstract:Qinling fir, Abies chensiensis, is endemic to China and has been listed in the China Plant Red Data Book as one of the second class conservation plants. It is found scattered only in the forested pockets of the Qinling, Bashan, and Shennongjia Mountains with altitude from 1 300 m to 2200 m in Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Sichuan, and Hubei Provinces. To conserve and effectively restore this species and explore its processes of reproduction, the production characteristics of cone and seed yields, seed bank dynamics, and seed germination rates of five Abies chensiensis populations (A, B, C, D, and E, respectively, in the Abies chensiensis-Pinus tabulaeformis-Sinarundinaria nitida-Carex lanceolata association, Abies chensiensis-Quercus aliena var. acutserrata-Litsea pungens-Carex lanceolata association, Abies chensiensis-Betula albo-sinensis-Sinarundinaria nitida-Duchesnea indica association, Abies chensiensis-Indigofera amblyantha-Carex lanceolata association and Abies chensiensis-Pinus tabulaeformis-Smilax stans-Carex lanceolata association) were studied in their natural habitats across 18 plots in the Qinling Mountain area. Experiments were carried out in laboratory and field conditions. The results showed that all the five populations had the potential to produce seeds, and higher yields occurred in the lower and middle altitude areas every three to five years. The majority of cones appeared on the upper and middle crown and the west, south, and east faces of the crown, and the majority of full seed appeared on the middle portion of the cone. The weight per 1000 seeds was 43.2 g, in which 44.8% had growing potential. The germination rate of seeds in the natural forest was 6.1% and the proportion of seeds lost or destroyed in different populations in the natural forest was 93.9%. The germination rate of seeds planted in the nursery was higher than that in the natural forest, and the germination rate in the lower or middle altitude populations was higher than that in the upper altitude populations. The course from seed to seedling was the critical period in the life cycle of A. chensiensis populations under natural conditions. Reproduction courses were influenced positively by an abundant coverage of tree layer, organic material in the soil, thick soil, and a dense population of parent trees, whereas they were influenced negatively by human disturbance and light. In situ conservation of A. chensiensis should be carried out in the future so as to promote expansion of the population. Thinning the shrub layer and grass layer will also help seeds to penetrate the soil, promoting seed germination. The artificial population should be expanded by collecting seeds in the harvest years. Fast-growing and high-yield plantations should be developed on cloudy slopes at lower or middle altitudes.

Abstract:Habitat degradation and loss had been widely recognized as the main cause for the decline of wildlife population. Habitat assessment can provide essential information for wildlife refuge design and management. In this article, a systematic study on the black muntjac distribution, habitat quality, and spatial pattern was conducted. Initially, the main factors that influence the black muntjac habitat quality were identified, and habitat assessment criteria were set up. The vegetation, topographic, river, road, and village maps were then digitized by the geographical information system (GIS). Finally, the habitat distribution and quality were assessed based on the combination of vegetation, elevation, river system, and impact of human activities. The result showed that the potential habitat for black muntjac covered an area of 3172.6 hm², and 501.5 hm² of habitat in the Jiulong Mountain Natural Reserve was lost because of the degradation caused by human activities. The existing suitable habitat is 2671.1 hm², mostly distributed in Shangliaokeng, Jiulongshan, Neibeiping, Waijiulong, and Dayanqian in Gutian, Zhejiang Province, China.

Abstract:Soil seed bank plays an important role in the composition of different plant communities, especially in their conservation. Although soil seed bank, aboveground vegetation and their relationship have been the subject of much recent attention, little is known about the size and species composition of the soil seed bank and about the aboveground vegetation in the semiarid hillslope grasslands. There is limited understanding of how these components interact to determine the importance of seed banks in regeneration. In this study, the size and species composition of a soil seed bank and aboveground vegetation have been assessed in an experiment using 36 vegetation quadrats and 108 soil samples in terrace, slope, gully, and grazing land. This land represents a range of habitats within a hillslope grassland in Jinshajing hot-dry river valley of Yunnan, China. Terrace, slope, and gully represent restored sites and grazing land typifies unrestored sites. Twenty-one taxa in the seed bank were identified with a median and median density of 7 species/m² and 5498 seeds/m², respectively, whereas in the aboveground vegetation, 19 species were observed with a median and median density of 6 species/m² and 1088 plants/m², respectively. Both seed bank density and aboveground vegetation density among grazing land, gully, slope, and terrace differed significantly. There was an absolutely high proportion of herbaceous species in the seed bank and aboveground vegetation. Gramineae predominated over both seed bank and vegetation. The most frequent seeds and plants were Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv that had the highest individual number, importance value, and biomass. In the seed bank, the seeds of Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv accounted for 50.68% and 33.10% of the total seeds, respectively. In the aboveground vegetation, the individual number of Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv accounted for 55.66% and 29.86% of the total, respectively. The biomass of Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv accounted for more than 70% of the total, reaching 206.71 g/m² and 147.76 g/m², respectively. Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv had the highest importance value of 193.01 and 159.99, respectively. Density, biomass, species richness, species diversity, and evenness were the highest in terrace land, whereas these were lowest in grazing land. Similarities between the seed bank and the aboveground vegetation were moderately high and not very different among slope, gully, and terrace lands, while for grazing land, they tended to increase when the restorative stage progressed. This result contrasts with some other studies where the seed bank contributes very little to the seedling flora and the vegetative growth clearly overwhelms sexual reproduction. The hypothesis about significant functional correlation between soil seed bank density and aboveground vegetation density is conformed. Correlation between soil seed bank density and aboveground vegetation density can be described in quadratic and cubic curves. The strong similarity between the vegetation and the seed bank is attributed to a large proportion of the species Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A. Camus and Heteropogon contortus (L.) Beauv., which are seed profusive and whose seeds have a significant viability in the ground. The high density, biomass, species richness, species diversity, and uniformity of the reclaimed site are related to the sufficiency of heat and water supplies for species establishment and growth in the site, which partly reflects the effective efforts for hillslope grassland restoration. It is believed that the efforts for vegetation restoration have altered the microhabitat conditions of the site and have provided a favorable habitat for species to establish and grow.

Abstract:The carbonic anhydrase (CA) activities were determined in three cyanobacterial species, namely Microcystis aeruginosa Kütz., Microcystis viridis (A.Br.) Lemm, and Microcystis wesenbergii (Kom.) Kom, which were dominant in a lake (Dianchi Lake) subject to major blooms. In more detailed experiments on M. aeruginosa, the effects of inorganic carbon, pH, temperature, nitrogen/phosphorus ratio, glucose, and light intensity on CA activity were also investigated. Because of the relatively alkaline pH value of the culture media for the optimum growth of algal cells, bicarbonate ions were the main form of exogenous inorganic carbon. The results showed that the CA activity of M. aeruginosa was influenced dramatically by the concentration of bicarbonate. Consequently, it was suggested that bicarbonate ions were the main form of exogenous inorganic carbon that M. aeruginosa could utilize. Cultures grown in the dark exhibited CA activity six times higher than that of cells cultured mixotrophically with the addition of glucose. Features of eutrophic water bodies promoted an increase in CA activity, and the resulting higher CA activity would accelerate the utilization of inorganic carbon and favor the growth and blooming of Microcystis spp. in eutrophic lakes. Although the experiments were carried out under controlled experimental conditions, they could provide some basic data that would prove useful for the control of cyanobacterial blooms in nature.

Abstract:Water-vapor flux over a planted coniferous forest ecosystem near Qianyanzhou, Jiangxi Province, China, was continuously measured with the eddy covariance technique for 2004. How environmental variables, including net radiation, air temperature, and soil moisture, affected water-vapor flux variation was studied in detail. Results showed that winter had the lowest monthly water-vapor flux value, whereas summer had the highest. The diurnal variation of water-vapor flux showed different patterns for clear and cloudy days. The annual total evapotranspiration was 736.1 mm. Regression analysis showed that daily water-vapor flux was significantly correlated with net radiation, air temperature, soil temperature, and soil heat flux on both clear and cloudy days, all in quadratic relationships. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that a different set of environmental factors controlled water-vapor flux on days with different weather conditions. From this study, it was clear that these environmental variables, especially net radiation and soil temperature, regulated water-vapor flux over the planted coniferous ecosystem.