东江河流生态评价及其修复方略

本文通过对大型无脊椎底栖动物状况的调查对东江河流水生态状况进行了分析,并在此基础上提出了生态修复方略。从上游到河口选12个点采集底栖动物样本,发现东江流域底栖动物生物多样性在上游和中游保持在较高水平,而到下游则迅速降低到零。对增江湾、西枝江牛轭湖等处的取样进行分析并探讨改善东江生态的方法。针对不同生态应力提出了3种生态修复方略:1.创造多样性的生物栖息地,开发和形成一系列类似增江湾那样的缓流滞流区,把已经隔离的牛轭湖和江边湖泊湿地重新与江水连通;2.调整大坝运用方式,采取大坝泄放的流量逐渐增加和减少的方式,给生物发出流速增大和降低的信号,使其得以准备和躲避;3.稳定岸坡、控制侵蚀、保护和发育河边植被。     

山东南四湖湿地生物多样性及保护措施

南四湖湿地由湖泊、沼泽湿地和人工湿地构成,生物多样性十分丰富。其湿地生态系统具有生境脆弱性、物种多样性、生物稀有性、生态自然性等特点,是我国华北平原最大的具有良好湿地植被的天然湿地生态系统,同时也是众多候鸟的越冬地、繁殖区及迁徙必经的中转站。分析了湿地生物多样性现状及保护中存在的主要问题,提出了相应的湿地保护措施。     

Stay with the flow: How macroinvertebrate communities recover during the rewetting phase in Alpine streams affected by an exceptional drought

Droughts are affecting an increasing number of lotic ecosystems worldwide due to the combined effects of climatic and anthropogenic pressures. Unlike naturally intermittent rivers, where the drying phase is a part of the annual flow regime, water scarcity in Alpine rivers represents a relatively recent phenomenon and, therefore, a major threat for the biodiversity of these lotic ecosystems. However, Alpine stream community response to drought is still poorly investigated. Here, we assess the recovery of macroinvertebrates in two Alpine streams after a supraseasonal drought. As water returned, a total of 10 sampling sessions were carried out, and temporal patterns in diversity, density, and taxonomic composition of benthic communities, as well as in the percentage of functional feeding groups, were investigated. We found that the resistance of invertebrate communities in Alpine streams is generally low: drought markedly reduced the diversity and density of macroinvertebrates. Conversely, our results suggest that the passive dispersal by drift from the upstream river sections seems the most probable mechanism promoting the post‐drought recovery. Nevertheless, this resilience ability appears to be stream specific and influenced by intrinsic stream characteristics, including the flow permanence and distance from the nearest upstream perennial reach. This work sheds light on the ecological consequences of droughts on macroinvertebrate communities. As flow intermittency in Alpine areas is expected to intensify under current global change scenarios, results of this study provide important information to predict changes in the taxonomic composition and diversity of macroinvertebrate communities.     

阳宗海浮游生物群落结构研究

采用生物多样性指数方法,对2013年阳宗海湖泊的浮游生物群落结构进行研究。结果表明,阳宗海湖泊共检出浮游植物7门39属,蓝藻门的拟鱼腥藻和泽丝藻为优势种群;浮游动物鉴定出33种,轮虫为优势种;浮游植物和浮游动物的香浓多样性指数在1.10~2.83之间,均匀度指数在0.37~0.88之间,属于中度污染,阳宗海湖泊已处于中营养状态,并有向富营养化过渡的趋势。     

大型底栖无脊椎动物在河流健康评价中的发展趋势

现从河流健康的内涵出发,回顾河流健康评价指标的发展历史,通过分析单一生物指数、生物多样性指数以及生物完整性指数的研究进展,评述了大型底栖无脊椎动物作为生物监测工具在河流健康评价之中的重要作用。针对其存在的问题,从技术、方法等方面提出建议,并展望大型底栖无脊椎动物在河流健康评价中的发展趋势,力求为我国河流健康评价工作提供借鉴,以便能够更好的进行流域管理和生态修复。     

LINKING RIVER MANAGEMENT TO SPECIES CONSERVATION USING DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE‐SCALE MODELS

Efforts to conserve stream and river biota could benefit from tools that allow managers to evaluate landscape‐scale changes in species distributions in response to water management decisions. We present a framework and methods for integrating hydrology, geographic context and metapopulation processes to simulate effects of changes in streamflow on fish occupancy dynamics across a landscape of interconnected stream segments. We illustrate this approach using a 482 km² catchment in the southeastern US supporting 50 or more stream fish species. A spatially distributed, deterministic and physically based hydrologic model is used to simulate daily streamflow for sub‐basins composing the catchment. We use geographic data to characterize stream segments with respect to channel size, confinement, position and connectedness within the stream network. Simulated streamflow dynamics are then applied to model fish metapopulation dynamics in stream segments, using hypothesized effects of streamflow magnitude and variability on population processes, conditioned by channel characteristics. The resulting time series simulate spatially explicit, annual changes in species occurrences or assemblage metrics (e.g. species richness) across the catchment as outcomes of management scenarios. Sensitivity analyses using alternative, plausible links between streamflow components and metapopulation processes, or allowing for alternative modes of fish dispersal, demonstrate large effects of ecological uncertainty on model outcomes and highlight needed research and monitoring. Nonetheless, with uncertainties explicitly acknowledged, dynamic, landscape‐scale simulations may prove useful for quantitatively comparing river management alternatives with respect to species conservation. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

GigaMatrix: an ultra high-throughput tool for accessing biodiversity

Recombinant approaches for tapping into the biodiversity present in nature for the discovery of novel enzymes and biosynthetic pathways can result in large gene libraries. Likewise, laboratory evolution techniques can result in large but potentially valuable libraries. Thorough screening of these libraries requires ultra high-throughput methods. The GigaMatrix^™ screening platform addresses this opportunity using reusable high-density plates with 100,000 to 1,000,000 through-hole wells in a microplate footprint. In addition to throughputs of over 10⁷ wells per day, the platform offers a significant reduction in reagent use and waste, has fully integrated automated “cherry picking,” and uses no complicated dispensing equipment. Wells containing putative hits from targeted fluorescent liquid phase assays are revealed by a fluorescent imaging system. Vision-guided robotics are utilized to recover hits by accessing individual 200 μm and smaller wells with a disposable sterile needle. The GigaMatrix platform has proven to be an effective and efficient tool for screening gene libraries for both discovery and evolution applications.     

Chemical warfare and survival strategies in bacterial range expansions

Dispersal of species is a fundamental ecological process in the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity. Limited control over ecological parameters has hindered progress in understanding of what enables species to colonize new areas, as well as the importance of interspecies interactions. Such control is necessary to construct reliable mathematical models of ecosystems. In our work, we studied dispersal in the context of bacterial range expansions and identified the major determinants of species coexistence for a bacterial model system of three Escherichia coli strains (toxin-producing, sensitive and resistant). Genetic engineering allowed us to tune strain growth rates and to design different ecological scenarios (cyclic and hierarchical). We found that coexistence of all strains depended on three strongly interdependent factors: composition of inoculum, relative strain growth rates and effective toxin range. Robust agreement between our experiments and a thoroughly calibrated computational model enabled us to extrapolate these intricate interdependencies in terms of phenomenological biodiversity laws. Our mathematical analysis also suggested that cyclic dominance between strains is not a prerequisite for coexistence in competitive range expansions. Instead, robust three-strain coexistence required a balance between growth rates and either a reduced initial ratio of the toxin-producing strain, or a sufficiently short toxin range.     

生物多样性影响人类健康：机制假说及 关键问题

生物多样性与人类健康休戚与共，在中国大力开展生物多样性保护和健康中国建设的背景下，实现二者的协同具有重要意义，但中国的相关研究和实践仍处于起步阶段，有必要回顾国际经验、探索前进方向。梳理了生物多样性与人类健康关系的认知发展历程，辨析了“同一健康”“生态健康”“星球健康”3种主流整体健康思想的异同，总结了当前有关生物多样性影响人类健康的医学和心理学机制、假说与理论模型。在此基础上，从阐释现象、理论机制、调节优化3个层面提出了生物多样性影响人类健康领域的15组关键研究问题，并提出了加强生物多样性促进人类健康能力的绿色空间规划设计策略。系统地展现了生物多样性影响人类健康领域的认知历程、作用机制、关键问题及实现路径，以期为后续研究和实践提供借鉴。     

Land use/cover dynamics and their effects in the Gerado catchment,northeastern Ethiopia

This paper analyses the land use/cover dynamics of land degradation through the interpretation of aerial photographs (1958 and 1980) and 2006 SPOT-5 satellite image of the Gerado catchment. Other, non-visual data were gathered from personal interview and focus group discussions conducted in 2010 and 2011 with local elders, farmers and development (agricultural extension) agents. The results identified the presence of cultivated and rural settlement land, shrubland, woodland, bare land, grassland, urban built up area and forest. Throughout the period 1958–2006, urban built-up area, forest and cultivated and rural settlement land expanded at an average rate of 6.85%, 1.85% and 0.14% per year at the expense of shrub, wood and grasslands, which declined by 0.77%, 0.21%, 0.65% per year, respectively. The land use/cover dynamics of 1958–2006 resulted in the reduction/loss of biodiversity, occurrence of high soil erosion and ramification of gullies. The triggers for these changes were population growth, land cultivation, expansion of farmland, inappropriate land management, civil war and fuel wood demand. These led to further land degradation and more food insecurity among many farming households. Land resources have to be used according to their suitability. Thus, the exposed and steep mountains of the area have to be protected from cultivation and should be re-afforested. The paper discusses other implications for management and policy formulation also.