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Table of Content

    10 December 2013, Volume 32 Issue 12
    Nutrient stoichiometry of Betula ermanii and Rhododendron aureum and related affecting factors on timberline of Changbai Mountains, Northeast China.
    LIU Jia-qing1,2, MENG Ying-ying1,2, BAO Ye1,2, JIA Juan1,2, ZHOU Li1, ZHOU Wang-ming1, YU Da-pao1**, DAI Li-min1
    2013, 32(12):  3117-3124. 
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    Nutrient limit at high altitude is one of the main formation mechanisms of global timberline. In order to explore the factors limiting the forest distribution at high altitudes in Changbai Mountains of Northeast China, this paper determined the total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (P) contents in the leaves and one-year old branches of the tree species Betula ermanii and its associated bush species Rhododendron aureum in the Mountains, and analyzed the relationships of these nutrients contents with soil nutrients and altitudinal gradient. At altitude 1850-2050 m (timberline), the TC, TN, and TP contents in the two species leaves and one-year old branches had the same variation trend along the altitudinal gradient, and the N/P in all the organs was far less than 14, indicating that the growth of the two species was suffered from N limitation. In the meantime, as compared with that at low altitudes (below 1950 m), the TP content in all the organs of the two species at high altitudes was lower, suggesting that the two species on timberline were suffered from P limitation. The TN and TP contents of the two species had no obvious decreasing trend along the altitudinal gradient, suggesting that below the timberline (2050 m), the N and P limitations had no relationship with low temperature, while the patchy distribution of the two species above the timberline could be related to the soil nutrient supply.
    Responses of typical hygrophytes root growth characteristics to extreme water regimes in beach wetland of Poyang Lake, China.
    YOU Hai-lin1,2, XU Li-gang1, JIANG Jia-hu1, XU Jia-xing1,2, DENG Jian-ming1,2, WANG Xiao-long1**
    2013, 32(12):  3125-3130. 
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    A pot experiment with long-term flooding and drought was conducted to study the root growth characteristics of three typical hygrophytes (Artemisia selengensis, Carex cinerascens, and Phalaris arundinacea) in beach wetland of Poyang Lake. As for C. cinerascens and P. arundinacea, their main root length and weight as well as fibrous root weight and length under long term flooding were obviously greater than those under drought. However, A. selengensi showed an opposite trend to C. cinerascens and P. arundinacea. No significant differences were observed in the main root and fibrous root lengths among the three typical hygrophytes under long term flooding, but the main root length was greater than fibrous root length under drought. Under longterm flooding, the main root weight of the three hygrophytes was decreased in the order of C. cinerascens > P. arundinacea > A. selengensis, while the fibrous root weight was decreased in the order of C. cinerascens > A. selengensis > P. arundinacea. Under drought, obvious differences were observed in the main root and fibrous root weights among the three hygrophytes. The ratios of the belowground and aboveground biomass of the hygrophytes were significantly different under longterm flooding, but not obvious under drought. Additionally, under both longterm flooding and drought, the ratios of the main root length and plant height were not significantly different among the hygrophytes. There existed good correlations between the main root and fibrous root lengths, ratios of main root length to fibrous root length, and main root weights of the hygrophytes.
     
    Nitrogen and phosphorus contents of six woody plant species in riparian zone of Hunhe River, Northeast China.
    YU Shuai1,2, CHEN Wei1, HE Xing-yuan1**, LIU Zhou-li1, HUANG Yan-qing1, YE Yin1,2, SONG Hong1,2, JIANG Zhi-jian3
    2013, 32(12):  3131-3135. 
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    Woody plants play an important role in riparian zone, which can effectively prevent the agricultural non-point source pollution of river body. Studies on the N and P contents of woody plants can help the understanding of the nutritional status of the habitats which the woody plants are growing in, and provide guidance for the ecological restoration of riparian zone. This paper measured the total N (TN) and total P (TP) contents in different organs (root, stem, and leaf) of six woody plant species (Salix babylonica, Ulmus pumila, S. viminalis, Sambucus williamsii, Lonicera chrysantha, and Sorbaria sorbifolia) in a riparian zone in the upstream of the Hunhe River in September, 2011. The TN contents of the six woody plant species varied from 9.02-36.48  mg·g-1, with an average of 17.77 mg·g-1, and the TP contents varied from 3.06-8.19 mg·g-1, with an average of 5.24 mg·g-1. The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the TN and TP contents in the organs of the woody plants all showed significant positive correlations. S. williamsii and S. sorbifolia had relatively higher N and P contents in their root, stem, and leaf, as compared to the four others.
    An ideal spatial structure model for forest ecosystem management in Dongting Lake area of China based on MO-GA.
    CAO Xu-peng1, LI Jian-jun1,2**, LIU Shuai1, ZHANG Jiang1
    2013, 32(12):  3136-3144. 
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    The ideal spatial structure of forest ecosystem and its expression is a hotspot and difficulty in forest management research. Taking the Dongting Lake wetland forest ecosystems as the objects, and selecting the mingling degree, competition index, uniform angle index, neighborhood comparison, stand layer index, spatial density index, and openness comparison index as the multi-objective indices, the multi-objective optimization was transformed into the genetic evolutionary optimization process of populations in this paper, and a multi-objective optimization model for forest spatial distribution was established. The model could output an ideal spatial structure (assemblage) with stable structure and complete ecological function for managing the various natural secondary forests in Dongting Lake area, and provide the target structure and quantitative criteria for the optimized operation of structured forest management, the theoretical basis and technical support for the ecological restoration and healthy management of the secondary forests, and a new thinking about the applications of intelligent information technology in the management of spatial structure optimization of forest ecosystems.
    Responses of Stellera chamaejasme twig and leaf traits to slope aspect in alpine grassland of Northwest China.
    LI Yu, ZHAO Cheng-zhang**, DONG Xiao-gang, HOU Zhao-jiang, MA Xiao-li, ZHANG Qian
    2013, 32(12):  3145-3151. 
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    The relationship between leaf size and twig size reflects the relationship between plant xylem and its supported photosynthesis area allocation ratio, and the variation of the relationship between leaf and twig growth reflects the plant adaptation mode to heterogeneous environment. By using the ArcGISestablished regional digital elevation model (DEM) for a alpine grassland on the northern slope of Qilian Mountains, Northwest China, and by abstracting the slope aspect data of the study area, this paper studied the relationship between the leaf and twig growth of Stellera chamaejasme population at different slope aspects with the method of standardized major axis estimation (SMA). With the slope aspect changed from south  to east, west, and north, the leaf area, leaf number, and twig length of the S. chamaejasme all presented an increasing trend. On all slope aspects, the leaf number, leaf area, and twig length existed allometric relationship, and the growth speed of twig length was greater than that of leaf number and leaf area. With the slope aspect changed from north to east, west, and south, the allometric slope of leaf number and twig length increased, but that of leaf area and twig length decreased. Habitat had significant effects on the leaf and twig growth of S. chamaejasme. Northern slope had more suitable habitat condition for S. chamaejasme growth, while southern slope made the twig and leaf of S. chamaejasme become smaller, and made the twigs per unit length support more leaves due to the soil moisture shortage.
    Quantitative classification of Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis communities and their species richness in relation to the environmental factors in Yunnan Province of Southwest China.
    LI Shuai-feng1,2, SU Jian-rong1,2**, LIU Wan-de1,2, LANG Xue-dong1,2, ZHANG Zhi-jun1,2, SU Lei1,2, YANG Hua-jing3
    2013, 32(12):  3152-3159. 
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    A field survey was conducted on the naturally distributed Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis communities in nine counties of southcentral and southwest Yunnan Province. The twoway indicators species analysis (TWINSPAN) was applied to quantitatively classify the communities, and the principal component analysis (PCA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) were adopted to coordinate the communities, with the relationships between the community type, species distribution, species diversity, and environmental factors analyzed. In the study area, the P. kesiya var. langbianensis communities could be classified into eight major communities. The dominant environmental factors affecting the communities and species distribution were in the order of altitude, mean annual air temperature, mean annual precipitation, and slope. The RDA ordination axes indicated that the distribution of the species, especially of the dominant species, varied with the variations of altitude, mean annual air temperature, mean annual precipitation, and slope. The distribution of P. kesiya var. langbianensis had significant negative correlations with altitude and mean annual precipitation, and significant positive correlations with mean annual temperature and slope. The generalized additive model (GAM) fitted the responses of species richness to various environmental factors, with the effects of altitude and mean annual precipitation on the species richness being significant (P<0.001).
    Relationships between flower size, flower number, and plant size of Stellera chamaejasme population along an altitude gradient of degraded alpine grassland in Northwest China.
    ZHANG Qian, ZHAO Cheng-zhang**, DONG Xiao-gang, MA Xiao-li, HOU Zhaojiang, LI Yu
    2013, 32(12):  3160-3166. 
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    Resource allocation strategy is one of the important contents in the study of plant life history, while the resource allocation between flower size, flower number, and plant size has a close relationship with habitat. By using the method of sampling site investigation, this paper studied the relationships between the flower size, flower number, and plant size (aboveground biomass and plant height) of Stellera chamaejasme population in degraded alpine grasslands at four different altitudes on northern slope of Qilian Mountains, Northwest China. With the increase of altitude, the aboveground biomass, plant height, and flower number of S. chamaejasme population declined gradually, but the reproductive allocation and flower size increased gradually. Along the altitude gradient, the flower number had a significant positive correlation with aboveground biomass (P<0.01), but less correlation with plant height (P>0.05). The flower size had less correlation with aboveground biomass and plant height (P>0.05). The results demonstrated that the flower number of S. chamaejasme population had a significant dependency with aboveground biomass. It was observed that habitat had significant effects on the dependency among flower size, flower number, and plant size. High-altitude environmental stress induced the decrease in plant size. The S. chamaejasme plant ensured its population reproductive success via the resource allocation strategy of increasing flower size and reducing flower number.
    Dynamics of rare clonal plant Linnaea borealis L. sexual reproduction and related affecting factors.
    HOU Zhen-zhen1, HE Shuang1, WANG Feng-lei2, ZHANG Ai-qin1**
    2013, 32(12):  3167-3172. 
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    Sexual reproduction is a crucial process of clonal plant life history, and to evaluate the plant sexual reproduction effort is of significance in judging the fate of species. This paper studied the sexual reproduction dynamics of Linnaea borealis and related affecting factors from the aspects of clonal architecture, ramets, and population. L. borealis had a clonal architecture of “guerilla”, with a quite fast clonal expansion and an obvious patchy distribution. At ramet level, small ramets had a higher reproductive effort than larger ramets. There were significant differences in the number ratio of assimilation shoots to flowering shoots and the mean fruitsetting rate between smaller ramets (L<50 cm, 1.57±0.49, and 57.77%±8.73%) and larger ramets (L >80 cm, 7.51±1.3, and 27.3%±6.52%, respectively) (P< 0.01). At population level, the number of flowering shoots per unit area in the clonal patches with relatively high density was significantly higher than that in the clonal patches with medium density and low density, being 44.2±4.65, 29.8±1.98, and 13.75±2.84, respectively (P<0.05). In the L. borealis patches with the same densities, the patches with more companion species had fewer sexual branch number than the patches with lesser companion species (P<0.01). The interferences coming from visitors activities decreased the flowering shoots number per unit area significantly. Some factors such as population density, interferences from visitors, and companion species affected the sexual reproduction of L. borealis mainly through affecting the number of flowering shoots per unit area.
    Responses of soil respiration to selective cutting intensity in Pinus tabulaeformis plantation in Taiyue Mountain of China during growing season.
    LIU Ke, HAN Hai-rong**, KANG Feng-feng, CHENG Xiao-qin, SONG Ya-li, ZHOU Bin, LI Yong
    2013, 32(12):  3173-3181. 
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    By using LI-8100 system, we measured the soil total and compartment respiration rates and the soil temperature and moisture contents at depth 5 cm in a Pinus tabuliformis plantation under four thinning intensities (0, CK; 20%, slight thinning; 30%, medium thinning; and 40%, intensive thinning) in Taiyue Mountain of Shanxi Province during growth season (from May to September, 2011). The soil respiration characteristics after selective cutting were studied, and the factors affecting the soil respiration were analyzed, aimed to approach the responses of the soil respiration to different forest management measures. As compared to CK, the soil respiration rates after selective cuttings were higher, with the peaks all appeared in August. Selective cutting increased the CO2 flux, and the increment increased with increasing selective cutting intensity. The variation of the soil temperature and moisture conditions induced by selective cutting was one of the main reasons causing the variation of soil respiration. Soil temperature and humidity explained 60.5%-79.8% of the variation of soil respiration rates. The litter layer respiration and root respiration after selective cutting were the important components reflecting the soil respiration rates, while the mineral soil respiration had little effects. Our findings suggested that in order to reduce the forest soil surface CO2 emission after selective cutting, a reasonable thinning intensity about 20% should be adopted.
    Coupling relationships between woody plants in Excentrodendron hsienmu community and related edaphic and topographic factors.
    OU Zhi-yang1,2,3**, ZHU Ji-yu1,2,3, CAO Yan-yun1,2,3, HE Qin-fei1,2,3, HUANG Xiao-rong1,2,3, PENG Yu-hua1,2,3, PANG Shi-long1,2,3
    2013, 32(12):  3182-3189. 
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    Excentrodendron hsienmu is listed in the Chinese National Key Protected Wild Plants (Class II) as a rare species due to the anthropogenic disturbances and the lack of effective protection measures. To understand the relationships between E. hsienmu community and its environmental factors is helpful for the ecological restoration of this community. In this paper, the species composition and structural characteristics of E. hsienmu community and the related edaphic and topographical factors in the karst mountainous region in southwestern Guangxi, China were studied by twoway indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), and their coupling relationships were analyzed by principal component analysis and canonical correlation analysis. A total of 135 woody plant species in the E. hsienmu community were recorded, belonging to 103 genera and 52 families. The E. hsienmu community was divided into six groups, and classified into four ecological types at the third level by TWINSPAN. In the E. hsienmu-Pistacia weinmanniifolia community, the species number was the largest, with the maximum Shannon diversity index in E. hsienmu secondary forest. The higher soil fertility level was found under the better developed plant communities. The PCA showed that the soil exchangeable calcium, total potassium, and available potassium contents were the most important environmental factors in the coordinated variations of environmental factors and plant community structure. The CCA showed that the Shannon index of the plant community was closely correlated with soil organic matter, total potassium, available potassium, and total nitrogen. Elevation had important effects on the species diversity. Soil total nitrogen and phosphorus had close coupling relationships with slope position and elevation.
    Effects of day and night temperature difference on photosynthetic characteristics and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of greenhouse tomato.
    YANG Zai-qiang1,2**, ZHU Kai1, PENG Xiao-dan1, ZHAO Xiang1, WANG Xue-lin1, SUN Qin1
    2013, 32(12):  3190-3196. 
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    In order to explore the effects of day and night temperature difference on tomato growth and development, a controlled experiment with tomato cv. ‘Jinguan 5’ was conducted in an artificial climate chamber (TPG1260, Australia) from July to December, 2012. The daily average temperature was designed at 18 ℃, and the day/night temperatures were designed at 18/18 ℃ (0 ℃ difference), 21/15 ℃ (6 ℃ difference), and 24/12 ℃ (12 ℃ difference), with the effects of these day and night temperature differences on the photosynthesis pigment contents, photosynthesis characteristics, and fluorescence kinetic parameters at seedling stage, flowering stage, young fruit stage, and maturity stage studied. With the increasing temperature difference, the chlorophyll (Chla and Chlb) contents increased gradually, but the Chla/Chlb ratio decreased. The chlorophyll content at 12 ℃ difference increased significantly, as compared with that at 0 ℃ difference. At the same temperature differences, the photosynthesis pigment contents showed a decreasing trend with tomato growth. During the whole growth period of tomato, the leaf Pmax, Amax, Aq, and Ce reached the highest at 6 ℃ difference, followed by at 0 ℃ difference, and the lowest at 12 ℃ difference. The maximum photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), photochemical quenching, and electron transport rate were the maximum at the 6 ℃ difference, and the lowest at the 0 ℃ difference. At the daily average temperature 18 ℃, a 6 ℃ difference could effectively promote the leaf photosynthesis of tomato, being conducive to the tomato growth.
     
    Spatialtemporal distribution and climatic risk zonation of freeze injury of winter wheat during overwintering stage in Beijing region.
    MO Zhi-hong1,2, HUO Zhi-guo2**, YE Cai-hua1, WU Chun-yan1, LI Hui-jun1, QUAN Wei-jun1, TANG Guang1
    2013, 32(12):  3197-3206. 
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    Based on daily observed data of 20 meteorological stations from 1960 to 2011 and historical freeze injury records in Beijing region, freeze injury index (FI) of winter wheat was established by principal component analysis. Methods of empirical orthogonal function (EOF), Morlet wavelet transform analysis and MannKendall test were used to analyze the spatialtemporal distribution characteristics of freeze injury to winter wheat during overwintering stage, and the comprehensive climatic risk index was synthesized to study the climatic risk zonation of freeze injury in the region. Historical freeze injury of winter wheat could be actually characterized by the FI in Beijing region; the greater the FI was, the more serious freeze injury would occur. In the past 52 years, the trend of annual FI was declined significantly (P<0.01), and the variation of annual FI was obviously increased but the main eigenperiod of freeze injury was tended to be shortened. The climatic risk probability of freeze injury ranged from 32.1% to 82.8% in Beijing region, and the probabilities of slight, moderate and severe freeze injury were 21.5%, 17.4% and 17.3%, respectively. The lowrisk area of freeze injury was mainly located in Changping district, while the highrisk areas of freeze injury were mainly located in southeast of Huairou, southwest of Miyun, northeast of Shunyi and Pinggu districts, and the rest of majority areas were moderaterisk zones of freeze injury in wheat production in Beijing region.
    Absorption and physiological responses of rape to excess Mn and Zn.
    WANG Ying1, CHEN Wei-feng1**, HU Lin-lin2, LI Min2, SUN Bin1, LIU Bao-Xian1
    2013, 32(12):  3207-3212. 
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    A germination test and a pot experiment were conducted to study the effects of different concentrations Mn (0-1500 mg·kg-1) and Zn (0-1000 mg·kg-1) on the seed germination and the plant growth and quality as well as the absorption of these two elements by rape plant. Low concentrations Mn and Zn had little effects on the germination rate and germination potential, but slightly increased the plant chlorophyll and Vc contents and photosynthetic rate. High concentrations Mn (>100 mg·kg-1) and Zn (>50 mg·kg-1) stress inhibited the seed germination and the plant growth, and decreased the plant Vc content. The sensitivity of seed germination to Mn was higher than that to Zn. There existed significant positive correlations between the plant and soil Mn and Zn contents. When the soil Mn and Zn contents were >200 mg·kg-1 and >25 mg·kg-1, respectively, the Mn and Zn residues in plant exceeded the safety limit, being not suitable for eating.
    Monitoring of winter wheat chlorophyll content in irrigated and dry lands of Shanxi Province of China based on hyperspectral remote sensing.
    LI Fang-zhou1, FENG Mei-chen1, YANG Wu-de1**, LI Guang-xin1,2, WANG Chao1, SONG Yue-he1, GAO Long-mei1, ZHAGN Kai3
    2013, 32(12):  3213-3218. 
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    Chlorophyll content is one of the important agronomic parameters affecting winter wheat yield and quality, while the difference in the farmland soil moisture content can obviously affect the winter wheat growth. It is of significance to realize the hyperspectral remote sensing monitoring of winter wheat chlorophyll content both in irrigated and dry lands. This paper analyzed the winter wheat canopy characteristics in irrigated and dry lands of Shanxi, extracted the sensitive bands, and constructed the optimal remote sensing models of chlorophyll content through correlation analysis. The spectral reflectance and the first derivative spectra had the similar variation trend, but their values had greater differences for the irrigated and dry lands. The spectral characteristic bands of the winter wheat canopy in irrigated lands and in dry lands were 624, 780, 958, 1053, and 1082 nm, and 691, 848, 871, 1199, and 1212 nm, respectively, and the prediction models for monitoring the chlorophyll content of winter wheat in the irrigated lands and dry lands had the best effect when constructed by FDMSAVI (1082, 624) and FDMSAVI (1082, 624), with the R2 being 0.8447 and 0.8627, respectively. It was considered that to utilize hyperspectral technology to monitor the chlorophyll content of winter wheat both in irrigated and in dry lands would be feasible, and could provide technical supports for the scientific management and decision-making of wheat field.
    Growth and nutritional element absorption of different rice genotypes under cadmium stress.
    CHEN Jing-du, HE Li, XU Ke, DAI Qi-gen**, GUO Bao-wei, ZHANG Hong-cheng, HUO Zhong-yang, WEI Hai-yan
    2013, 32(12):  3219-3225. 
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    A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of Cd on growth and absorption of Ca, Mg, P, and K of five different rice genotypes (Xiushui 63, Yongyou 8, Yangdao 6, Liangyoupeijiu and Shanyou 63). Cd was added into soil at two levels, i.e. 0 (CK) and 25 mg·kg-1. The result showed that the yield, panicle number and filled spikelet rate reduced significantly under Cd stress, but the reduction of grain weight was not significant. The effect of Cd stress on restraining the production of biomass mainly occurred in the early period, and weakened gradually during the growing process. The Cd effect was different among the different rice genotypes. The growth of Shangyou 63 and Xiushui 63 was less affected by Cd while the growth of Liangyoupeijiu, Yongyou 8 and Yangdao 6 was affected a lot. The effect of Cd stress on the absorption of mineral nutrients in different aboveground organs was also observed. When exposed to Cd stress, the absorption of K, P and Mg was lowered, but the absorption of Ca was increased. In addition, under Cd stress the distribution and accumulation of Ca, Mg, P and K in different aboveground organs was also affected to variable extents in the different rice genotypes. Compared with CK, the increase in Ca concentration in the Cd-tolerant variety was more than that of the Cd-sensitive variety, and such a phenomenon was not observed for Mg, P and K. This indicated that the resistance of rice to Cd may be related to Ca metabolism.
    Fish community diversity distribution and its affecting factors based on GAM model.
    ZHAO Jing, ZHANG Shou-yu**, WANG Zhen-hua, LIN Jun, ZHOU Xi-jie
    2013, 32(12):  3226-3235. 
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    To approach the interrelationships between fish community distribution characteristics and environmental factors, the widely used generalized additive model (GAM) was applied to analyze the relationships between the fish community and environment in an archipelago of East China, and to predict the distribution of the fish community. The model performed well. The richness index and diversity index of the model explained 68.9% and 64.6% of variance, respectively, and the correlation coefficient between the predicted and measured values  was 0.53. The distribution of the fish community diversity was mainly affected by habitat type, season, water temperature, and water chlorophyll and oxygen concentrations. There existed slight differences in the factors affecting richness index and diversity index. The main factors affecting the richness index were habitat type, month, water temperature, and water chlorophyll and oxygen concentrations, while the main factors affecting the diversity index were habitat type and water chlorophyll and oxygen concentrations. In the study area, the richness and diversity indices were higher in the central area than in its surrounding areas, and were higher in the sand/mud habitat and rocky habitat.
    Isolation and identification, virulence factor detection, and susceptibility test of pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila isolated from Mylopharyngod piceus.
    LIANG Li-guo, XIE Jun
    2013, 32(12):  3236-3242. 
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    In August 2011, a mass fish kill of the cultured Mylopharyngod piceus occurred in a farm in Qianhuang Town, Wujin District of Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province of East China. The main symptoms of the moribund fish were mainly manifested in the hyperemia of mouth, head, eye, gill cove edge, fin and caudal peduncle, and anal swelling. The postmortem observations showed that the intestine contained no food and was red from hyperemia, there were many yellowish effusion in abdominal, the liver was purple, and the gallbladder swollen. Large amount of bacteria with growth advantage was isolated from the liver and blood of diseased M. piceus, and through artificial infection test, the isolated strain (WJ110801-1) showed very strong pathogenic to M. piceus. The phenotypic characteristics of the isolated strain, including the morphological characteristics, physiological and biochemical characteristics, virulence factor detection, extracellular enzyme analysis, and susceptibility test, were examined, and the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and compared with those sequences deposited in GenBank databases. The 16S rRNA sequence of the pathogen was more than 99% homology with that of Aeromonas hydrophila. The phenotype and molecular biological analyses show that the identified isolate belongs to A. hydrophila. Aerolysin (aer) and cytotoxic enterotoxin (alt) were the main virulence factors of A. hydrophila, which could produce toxins capable of causing death. By using two pairs of specific primers for the PCR amplification of aer gene and alt gene, the 280 bp and 250 bp gene fragments were amplified from the isolate, indicating that the isolated A. hydrophila carried virulence factors aerosol and cell toxin. The extracellular enzyme analysis showed that the isolate had amylase, DNA enzyme, urease, and gelatinase activities. The drug susceptibility test by paper extension methods showed that among the test 37 antibiotics, 12 antibiotics including AmmoniaSouth, Florfenicol, and Gentamicin had obvious inhibitory effect on the strain. This paper reported the mass mortality of M. piceus caused by A. hydrophila in Changzhou City, and conducted a detailed study of the pathogen, which would have reference significance for the disease control and health management during M.piceus culture.
    The structure of mitochondrial DNA control region and the phylogenetic relationship of brown-eared pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum).
    WU Yu-zhen1, FENG Rui-zhi2, ZHANG Feng3**
    2013, 32(12):  3243-3249. 
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    Brown-eared pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) is an endemic and first-class protected bird in China, which only distributes separately in North China. In order to understand the genetic diversity of C. mantchuricum populations and the phylogenetic relationships between the C. mantchuricum populations and between the individuals, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing were adopted to determine the sequence of the mitochondrial DNA control region of 20 browneared pheasants from the Pangquangou Nature Reserve and Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi Province of China, respectively. In comparing with the known structure of mitochondrial DNA control region of the other pheasants, the structure of the mitochondrial DNA control region of brown-eared pheasant was analyzed, and the hyper-variable region III, medium conservative region II, and conservative region I were identified. The phylogenetic trees were constructed with neighborjoining (NJ) method and maximumparsimony (MP) method. The genetic distances of the individuals between the two populations were from 0 to 0.009, with a mean value of 0.002. The genetic flow between the two populations (Nm) was 4.67. Overall, the structure of the mitochondrial DNA control region of the brown-eared pheasant was similar to that of the other pheasants. The genetic distances between the two populations and between the individuals were smaller, and the genetic relationships were closer. This study could provide scientific evidence for the reasonable management of captive brown-eared pheasant and for the eventual reintroduction of the captive brown-eared pheasant to the wild.
    Fatness degree of striped hairy-footed hamster (Phodopus sungorus) in Inner Mongolia, China.
    FAN Zun-long1,2, WANG Yong1**, DU Sen-yun3, WANG Jun3
    2013, 32(12):  3250-3254. 
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    Taking the carcass weight as the index for establishing fatness degree index (K′), this paper analyzed the effects of striped hairy-footed hamster (Phodopus sungorus) age and sex, grazing intensity, and habitat vegetation status on the K′ of the P. sungorus in Inner Mongolia of China. No significant differences were observed in the K′ between the males and females. The age group I had the smallest K′, being significantly different from age groups II, III, and IV. The K′ was higher in immaturity group than in maturity group. The K′ was not significantly different under different grazing intensities. The K′ varied significantly with the plots of different vegetation coverage, being the smallest in the plots of a vegetation coverage >0.61. There was no obvious correlation between the P. sungorusK′ and population size, suggesting that the K′ couldn’t be used as an indicator for the P. sungorus population dynamics.
    Relationships between water temperature and intraspecies standard metabolic rate difference and juvenile Crucian caratus excess oxygen consumption after exhaustive exercise.
    TANG Guo-wei, CAO Zhen-dong**, FU Shi-jian
    2013, 32(12):  3255-3260. 
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    To study the effects of water temperature and intraspecies standard metabolic rate (SMR) difference on the excess oxygen consumption (EPOC) of juvenile Carassius auratus after its exhaustive exercise, this paper measured the SMR and oxygen consumption (MO2) of juvenile C. auratus during the recovery process after exhaustive exercise at 15 and 25 ℃, and calculated the total amount of EPOC after exhaustive exercise and the maximal metabolic rate (MMR), metabolic scope, and recovery duration. The values of SMR, MMR, metabolic scope, and EPOC were significantly higher at 25 ℃ than at 15 ℃ (P<0.01), whereas the recovery duration at 15 ℃ and 25 ℃ showed no significant difference. At the two temperatures, the individuals SMR was positively correlated with MMR but negatively correlated with EPOC, and the variation of temperature had no significant effects on these relationships. The results indicated that water temperature had significant effects on the excessive oxygen consumption parameters except recovery duration after exhaustive exercise, but no significant effects on the relationships between SMR and MMR or EPOC.
    Effects of salinity domestication on serum biochemistry and osmotic pressure of carp Cyprinus carpio.
    SHEN Shuang-ye, ZHANG Sai-sai, XIE Huan, WANG Bing, HE Xu-ying, WANG Wei**
    2013, 32(12):  3261-3267. 
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    Taking 7month old carps as the objects, an acute and chronic salinity domestication experiment was conducted to study the carp 96 h semi-lethal salinity value and the changes of carp serum biochemistry and osmotic pressure in freshwater and at different salinities (3, 6, 9, 12, 14, and 16). The carp 96 h semi-lethal salinity value was 14.33 g·L-1. In each salinity domestication group, the carp lactate dehydrogenase activity decreased after initial increase, and increased after an initial decreased again. The alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and the total protein and albumin contents were peaked at salinity 3, being significantly higher than those in freshwater (P<0.05), and then, followed by a downward trend. The blood content in each domestication group had a trend of increased after an initial decrease, but was significantly lower than that in freshwater group (P<0.05). The changes of urea content were more complicated, being significantly increased at salinity 3 (P<0.05), no significant difference in freshwater and at salinities 6 and 9 (P>0.05), and significantly increased with increasing salinity (P<0.05). With the increase of salinity, the serum osmotic pressure also presented an increasing trend, and was higher than that in freshwater (P<0.05). During the salinity domestication process, the carp osmotic pressure increased with the increase of environmental osmotic pressure. At the same time, due to the salinity change, the carp eat less, leading to the decrease of blood sugar content. The changes of each biochemical indicator showed that the carp was sensitive to the salinity change at the early stage of domestication. The fluctuation of serum urea content was caused by the functional change of the carp kidney induced by the salinity change.
    Nutritional structure and stability of insect community in Luhuatai wetland of Yinchuan, Ningxia of Northwest China.
    YANG Gui-jun1**, WANG Xin-pu2
    2013, 32(12):  3268-3275. 
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    In May-October, 2010, an investigation was conducted on the composition and nutritional structure of insect community in Luhuatai wetland of Yinchuan, Ningxia. A total of 10578 insect individuals were collected, belonging to 217 species, 70 families, and 12 orders. According to the trophic level and feeding mode, three nutritional classes and seven functional groups were established. The temporal dynamics of the diversity in species, functional group, and nutritional class and the insect community stability were analyzed. The bud-eating insects, piercing-sucking insects, and neutral insects were the dominant functional groups in the insect community, accounting for 16.01%, 32.35%, and 33.33% of the total individuals, respectively. The dominant insect groups were aphids and chironomids, and their individual numbers occupied 10.57% and 21.27% of the total, respectively. In different seasons, the basal species of the insect community had the highest abundance, followed by the intermediate species, and the top species. The abundance of the dominant insect groups of different functional groups changed obviously with season. The species diversity and nutritional class diversity had significant correlations with the functional group diversity (P<0.01), and the functional group biodiversity and nutritional class diversity had the similar temporal variation trend as the species biodiversity. The relative stability of the insect community exhibited greater fluctuation during the period of this investigation, but the recovery stability became stronger with the seasonal succession.
    Community structure and biodiversity of soil macrofauna in reclaimed coastal tidal flat in Yancheng of Jiangu, East China in late winter.
    GE Bao-ming**, ZHANG Dai-zhen, TANG Bo-ping, ZHANG Hua-bin, ZHOU Chun-lin
    2013, 32(12):  3276-3280. 
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    In March, 2012, an investigation with hand-sorted method was conducted on the soil macrofauna in five habitat types (virgin land, wheat field, bulrush land, poplar forest land, and metasequoia forest land) in a 30-year reclaimed coastal tidal flat in Yancheng of Jiangu, East China, aimed to approach the community composition and biodiversity of soil macrofauna in coastal tidal flat under effects of different land use types. Five quadrats (each with an area of 25 cm × 25 cm and a depth of 15 cm) were installed for each habitat. A total of 344 soil animals were collected, belonging to 16 orders and 3 phyla. The dominant groups were Hymenoptera (27.62%), Isopoda (16.60%), and Lepidoptera (13.08%). Both the Shannon biodiversity index (H’) and the Margalef richness index (R) of the soil macrofaunal communities showed a trend of poplar forest > metasequoia forest > virgin land > wheat field > bulrush land. Significant differences were observed in the abundance, taxa number, H’, and R of the soil macrofauna among the habitats (P<0.001). The cluster analysis showed that the soil macrofaunal communities could be classified as four groups, i.e., virgin land, wheat field, bulrush land, and forest land. The soil macrofaunal communities in the virgin land and forest land were more similar, but significantly different from those in wheat field and bulrush land. The clustering results were supported by the analysis of the minimum span tree with non-metric multi-dimensional scaling, showing that the biodiversity of the soil macrofaunal communities was affected by soil quality, vegetation characters, and human disturbances. It was considered that adopting the land use types with increased habitat complexity would benefit the maintenance of the biodiversity during the reclamation of coastal tidal flat.
    Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous stoichiometry of herbaceous plant leaf and soil in riparian zone of Taihu Lake basin, East China under effects of different land use types.
    HAN Lin, LI Zheng, ZENG Yan, An Shu-qing, LENG Xin**
    2013, 32(12):  3281-3288. 
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    Taking the herbaceous plant leaf and soil in the typical riparian zone in Taihu Lake basin as the objects, this paper studied the plant and soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in three adjacent land use types (forest land, cropland, and village), and approached the variation patterns of the plant and soil C, N, and P and their stoichiometry. In the cropland of the riparian zone, the soil total phosphorus (TP) content was significantly lower than that in the forest land and village, while the 0-10 cm soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents in the forest land were the highest. The plant leaf total carbon (TC), TN, and TP contents in cropland were significantly higher than those in forest land and village, with a variation pattern different from the that of soil TC, TN, and TP contents. The plant leaf TN content was the highest in cropland, but the plant leaf C:N ratio was significantly lower than that in village. Cropland soil had the highest C:P and N:P ratios, but its C:N ratio was relatively stable. The C:N ratio in 0-10 cm soil layer was significantly higher in forest land than in cropland and village. It was suggested that human disturbance strongly affected the accumulation of litter and the nutrient retention capacity of surface soil. The plant leaf and soil showed different patterns of the nutrient contents among the three land use types, which could be related to the nutrients speciation in manure and the nutrient retention capacity of plant and soil. The plant nutrient limitation status was in consistency among these land use types. The higher surface soil layer C:N ratio in forest land indicated its lower decomposition rate of soil carbon and lower mineralization rate of soil nitrogen.
    Ameliorative effects of biowastes on coastal saline-alkali soil.
    ZHANG Dan1,2, WANG Li-hua1**, KONG Tao1,2, YIN Li-ming1, LIU Li-nan1,2, LIU Ye1
    2013, 32(12):  3289-3296. 
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    In order to explore the new application of biowastes, husk of Xanthoceras sorbifolia, concentrated 2-ketoLgulonic acid residual solution, and fermented wastewater of pleuromutilin were adopted as ameliorants to improve the soil properties of coastal salinealkali land in Liaohe River delta. The effects of these three biowastes on the salinealkali soil were studied to obtain the best combination by three-factor and threelevel orthogonal variance analysis. Results showed that all of these three biowastes could improve the saline-alkali soil properties at different degrees. Using 0 kg·m-2 husk of X. sorbifolia, concentrated gulonic acid residual solution twice (80 mL·time-1) and fermented wastewater of pleuromutilin three times (400 mL·time-1) could significantly decrease pH and ESP of the salinealkali soil. Using 2.5 kg·m-2 husk of X. sorbifolia could significantly decrease the content of soluble salt, and applying 5 kg·m-2 husk of X. sorbifolia, fermented wastewater of pleuromutilin three times could significantly improve the soil nutritional condition. Increased soil contents of total phosphorus, available phosphorus and available potassium were observed in the treatment of concentrated gulonic acid residual solution three times. Based on the influence of the biowastes on soil indicators and economic benefits, the optimal combination to improve the coastal salinealkali soil was 2.5 kg·m-2 husk of X. sorbifolia, concentrated gulonic acid residual solution twice and fermented wastewater of pleuromutilin three times.
    Potential effects of soil moisture variation on soil nitrogen mineralization for Phyllostachys edulis forest and evergreen broadleaved forest in a subtropical region of China.
    SONG Qing-ni1, YANG Qing-pei1**, WANG Bing2, Qi Hong-yan1, OUYANG Ming1, CHEN Fu-sheng1
    2013, 32(12):  3297-3304. 
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    Soil moisture variation exerts strong effects on the soil nitrogen (N) mineralization in forests, and further, affects the structure and function of forest ecosystems. By using laboratory aerobic incubation method, this paper studied the soil N mineralization (ammonification and nitrification) in the Phyllostachys edulis forest (PEF) and evergreen broadleaved forest (EBF) in a subtropical region of China under the soil moisture conditions of 15%, 30% and 45%. The soil cumulative net Nmineralization in the two forests under different soil moisture conditions could be described as Nt=N0(1-e-kt). The soil moisture variation had great effects on the soil N mineralization potential (N0) in the two forests, with the maximum N0 at 30% soil moisture content for both PEF and EBF. When the soil moisture content decreased to 15% (drought) or increased to 45% (waterlogging), the decrement of the soil N0 in PEF was obviously smaller than that in EBF, with the N0 only decreased by 11.7% and 10.4% in PEF, but decreased by 29.0% and 30.2% in EBF under drought and waterlogging, respectively. Soil moisture variation had little effects on the soil nitrification in PEF, but inhibited the soil nitrification in EBF, and thus, altered the soil N mineralization pattern (ammonification/mineralization) in EBF. These findings indicated that the soil N mineralization in PEF was less easily affected by the soil moisture variation than that in EBF, which provided an important reference for the potential expansion of PEF into EBF under the global water change.
    Soil respiration and its relationships with hydrothermic factors in the burned areas of Daxingan Mountain.
    LI Pan1,2, ZHOU Mei1,2**, ZHAO Peng-wu1,2, WEI Jiang-sheng1,2, WANG Qing-hai3, CHEN Xiang1,2, QIN Ke-zhen1,2
    2013, 32(12):  3305-3311. 
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    Forest fire disturbs the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems, and the soil carbon dynamics of forest burned area is an important part in forest carbon cycle process. In this study, the LI-6400-09 soil respiration measurement system was used to measure soil respiration (Rs) of two burned areas during the growing season in northern Daxingan Mountain of Inner Mongolia in 2011. The sites had experienced fires in  2003 and 2008, respectively. The measurements were taken in unburned, lightly burned, and severely burned plots. The results showed that, at a daily time scale, Rs occurred in a unimodal curve with the maximum at 14:00. In the growing months, Rs also showed a unimodal curve with the maximum in August. Rs occurred in the order of 2008 severely burned > 2003 severely burned > 2008 lightly burned > 2003 lightly burned > unburned. The postfire duration and fire intensity significantly affected Rs (P<0.01). By using multi-way ANOVA, it was found that the time of field measurement, postfire duration, and fire intensity significantly affected Rs (P<0.01). Regression analysis showed that an exponential relationship occurred between Rs and soil temperature at 5 cm depth and a quadratic relationship occurred between Rs and soil water at 10 cm depth. When soil water was 30% to 40%, Rs reached the maximum. Our study indicated that soil temperature was one of the main abiotic factors affecting Rs, but the form of soil water was changed by fire disturbance in the permafrost region. This uncertainty between soil respiration and soil water form needs to be further studied.
    Effects of fire on soil properties in desertified steppe of Northwest China.
    HE Hao-yu1,2**, LI Xin-rong2, SU Jie-qiong2
    2013, 32(12):  3312-3317. 
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    Fire is a crucial disturbance factor in desert ecosystem, which has significant effects on vegetation-soil system, playing a key role in ecosystem management. By the artificial burning in spring, this paper studied the effects of fire on the soil moisture and nutrient contents in a desertified steppe of Northwest China. The effects of the fire on the topsoil moisture content were related to precipitation events. The topsoil moisture content in burnt plots had an increasing trend at the stages of the frequent occurrence of precipitation, but decreased during the period of no precipitation. The soil total N and organic matter contents increased in the current year of burning, but decreased in the next year. Fire had no significant effects on soil total phosphorus and total potassium content and soil pH. These findings indicated the definite effects of fire on the soil physical and chemical properties in desertified steppe, and provided reference for the fire management of our desertified steppe.

     
    Soil amelioration effects of calcium cyanamide and its efficiency in controlling vegetable crop soil-borne diseases.
    BEN Hai-yan1,2, CUI Guo-qing2, SHI Yan-xia2, XIE Xue-wen2, LI Bao-ju2**
    2013, 32(12):  3318-3324. 
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    This paper studied the effects of soil solar-disinfection by calcium cyanamide on the soil pH, temperature, and ammonium nitrogen content in vegetable field and the prevention effect of soil solar-disinfection by calcium cyanamide on the soilborne diseases of vegetable crops. During the process of the soil solardisinfection, the decomposed products of calcium cyanamide increased the soil pH value by 1.5-2.0 units and the soil ammonia nitrogen content by 2.0 mg·kg-1, and raised the soil temperature via heat generation by 1-3 ℃. The appropriate duration of this disinfection was 20-25 d. Field experiment results showed that calcium cyanamide could effectively inhibit the cucumber fusarium wilt in 0-20 cm soil layer, with the control effect being increased with increasing disinfection duration. The fatality rate of the cucumber fusarium wilt was 23.6%-31.1% when the disinfection duration was 5 d, and reached 76.5%-84.7% when the disinfection duration was 15 d. The 800-1200 kg·hm-2 field application rate of calcium cyanamide had the best control effect on vegetable root knot nematode, and made the vegetable root knot index decreased by 60%-90%.
    Characteristics of arsenic content and adaptation of bryophytes in acid high-arsenic coal mine.
    GUAN Qing-song1, ZHANG Rui-xue1,2**, WU Pan1,2, ZHANG Meng1
    2013, 32(12):  3325-3329. 
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    An investigation was conducted on the bryophyte communities from stream and waste solid subareas of the upper stream of Cat Stone Reservoir, a high-arsenic coal area in Xingren County, Guizhou Province. It was found that there were 6 species of 6 genera in 5 families in the bryophyte communities, and the dominant species presented more apparent features. Hyophila rosea of Pottiaceae andPolytrichum commune of Polytrichaceae were the dominant species in the stream and waste solid subareas, respectively. Due to the contamination of the acid mine drainage, the electric conductivity and acidity were high in the growth matrix of the bryophyte, which made the species of bryophytes in the study area largely different from those found in other areas. The arsenic (As) concentration ranged from 2.65 to 282.70 mg·kg-1 across different bryophyte species, with an average concentration of 79.28 mg·kg-1. The distribution of As in different parts of the dominant species Hyophila rosea showed that soil matrix was one of the sources of As in the Hyophila rosea.
    Isolation and identification of salt-tolerant hydrocarbondegrading Rhodococcus strain and its roles in bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated saline soil.
    WANG Jun1,2,3**, FAN Yan-hui1,2, WU Tao1,2, XIE Wen-jun1,3, YAO Zhi-gang1,2,3, ZHANG Han-jie1,2
    2013, 32(12):  3330-3335. 
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    A salt-tolerant hydrocarbon-degrading strain which can produce bioemulsifer was isolated from a petroleumcontaminated saline soil in the Yellow River Delta of China. This strain was preliminarily identified to be belonged the genus Rhodococcus, and named as Rhodococcus sp. JK-7. The characteristics of the hydrocarbondegradation and of the produced bioemulsifer of the strain under high concentration NaCl were studied under laboratory conditions, and the bioremediation of the petroleumcontaminated saline soil by the strain JK-7 were simulated. The strain JK-7 could grow with hydrocarbon as the sole carbon source under the NaCl concentration of 0-12%, and the degradation rate of crude oil by the strain reached 74.5%. This strain could produce a bioemulsifer with diesel as the sole carbon source under the NaCl concentration of 0-5%, and this bioemulsifier was characterized by good emiulsification effect, high thermostability, and high resistance to alkali and salt. The simulation results indicated the bioemulsifier produced by the strain JK-7 could obviously promote the strain to degrade crude oil in saline soil. Therefore, the strain JK-7 could have good prospect in the bioremediation of petroleumcontaminated saline soil.
    Spatiotemporal variation characteristics and related affecting factors of actual evapotranspiration in the second tributary of the Songhua and River basin, Northeast China.
    XIE Jin-fan**, WEI Xiao-li, ZHANG Chen-chen, YU Xiu-jing, HU Yi-xin
    2013, 32(12):  3336-3343. 
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    By using the meteorological and hydrological data in 1971-2012 and the AdvectionAridity model which is based on the complementary relationship method, this paper studied the spatiotemporal variation of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and related affecting factors in the second tributary of the Songhua River basin, China by the linear trend analysis, MannKendall rank correlation analysis, Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation method, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. In the second tributary of the Songhua River basin, the average annual actual ETa was 435.99 mm. The actual ETa in 1971-2012 had a significant increasing trend with a rate of 11.82
     mm·10 a-1, and showed a complementary relationship with the decrease of potential evapotranspiration. The increase of the actual annual ETa in spring, summer, and autumn had an obvious contribution to the increase of yearly actual ETa. There were two centers of high ETa in south area (540.7 mm) and north area (461.1 mm), and one center of low ETa (223.0 mm) in the central part of Jilin City. The actual ETa in the whole basin showed a consistent increasing trend, but the confidence was higher in northern basin than in southern basin. The increase of average air temperature, maximum air temperature, minimum air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and actual water vapor pressure in this basin caused the increase of the radiation-energy item, and then, caused the increase of the ETa. The decrease of wind speed and the increase of actual water vapor pressure contributed more to the decrease of the aerodynamics item, and the final effect was to accelerate the increase of the ETa.
    Characteristics of forest landscape pattern and related affecting factors in Loufan County of Shanxi Province, China.
    LIU Guang-lei1, ZHANG Hong2**, HU Guan-chen2
    2013, 32(12):  3344-3350. 
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    To quantitatively describe and analyze the structural composition and spatial configuration of forest landscape is a key approach to effectively realize the link between the forest landscape structure and function. Based on the calculation and analysis on the regional landscape indices with FRAGSTATS, and by using BP artificial neural network as the tool for modeling construction, a response analysis was conducted on the forest landscape pattern to topography, water area, and human activities in Loufan County of Shanxi Province, China. In the study area, the landscape diversity was relatively low, and the bare hill and wasteland for afforestation as well as the shrub land dominated the landscape element composition. The homogeneity index of the landscape in the study area was relatively high, and there was a relative even distribution of the landscape patches among the landscape element types. The BP artificial neural network model could well simulate the response relationships between the landscape indices and their formation factors, with a high fitting precision and small error. When the ecological factors such as residents’ area, elevation, and distances to river and lake water were known, the forest landscape diversity and fractal dimension could be quickly and easily simulated by the BP artificial neural network model. This paper provided a new perspective to study the management, rational use, and conservation of forest resources.
    Spatiotemporal variation characteristics and causes of urban heat islands in Hefei City, Anhui Province of China based on remote sensing.
    YAO Yu-long, LIU Pu-xing**, CHEN Li-li
    2013, 32(12):  3351-3359. 
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    The thermal infrared band data of Landsat6 TM/ETM+ images acquired in 1995, 2002 and 2010 were used to invert the land surface temperature of Hefei. The values of the land surface temperature were normalized, and the grading figure of the land surface temperature was obtained through the standard deviation taxonomy. Furthermore, the NDVI, landuse/landcover change, and social economic development data were used to analyze the spatiotemporal variation and its causes of heat island effect in Hefei. Overall, the urban heat island effect in the city presented a spatial pattern of being higher in northeast-southwest and lower in southeast-northwest. The areas with strong heat island effect were mainly concentrated in the old city, and extend to the eastern and southern new industrial areas, showing a new characteristic of multi-center and patchy distribution. In 1995-2010, the spatial distribution and extension of the heat islands were basically in consonance with the layout of the urban districts in Hefei. The scope of the heat islands was expanding, but the proportions of high temperature area and extremely high temperature area were declined. The intensity of the urban heat islands exhibited a decreasing trend. There existed an obvious negative correlation between the LST and NDVI. The construction land had the highest average land surface temperature, followed by the farmland and woodland, and by the water body. The construction land had the priority position in the highest three grades of land surface temperature, which made a great contribution to the heat island effect. The water body and woodland played the most stable role in reducing the urban surface temperature.
    Development of ecosystem services evaluation models: Research progress.
    HUANG Cong-hong1, YANG Jun2**, ZHANG Wen-juan1
    2013, 32(12):  3360-3367. 
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    Ecosystem services contribute to human well-being. To study and evaluate the ecosystem services can help to achieve the sustainable management of ecosystems. This paper introduced 10 ecosystem services models including InVEST, ARIES, and SolVES, and approached the applicability, requirements for input data, and uncertainty in outputs of the models, aimed to provide references in the introduction and application of ecosystem services models in China. Among the 10 models, InVEST is the most well developed and widely used model. ARIES, MIMES, and other ecosystem service models are still under development but have good prospects in applications. It is suggested that when using these models to evaluate ecosystem services, the users are needed to be paid special attention to uncertainty analysis. The future development in the ecosystem services models was discussed.
    Urban forest carbon sink and its estimation methods: A review.
    ZHOU Jian, XIAO Rong-bo**, ZHUANG Chang-wei, DENG Yi-rong
    2013, 32(12):  3368-3377. 
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    Urban forest is an important component of urban ecosystem, which has significance in reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration, mitigating the negative effects of climate change, and improving regional environmental situation, being a hot topic in related studies. This paper summarized the studies on the urban forest carbon (C) sink, and evaluated the characteristics of urban forest C sink from the aspects of the spatiotemporal distribution of C sink and the relationships between urban forest and low C development. The principles and applications of three main estimation methods widely used for estimating urban forest C sequestration, i.e., sampling site inventory, remote sensing estimation, and microclimatology, were summarized. The shortcomings and development directions of the current researches of urban forest C sequestration were discussed, and the advantages, disadvantages, and applicability of different estimation methods of urban forest C sink were analyzed. It was suggested that the comprehensive application of sampling site inventory, model simulation, and remote sensing analysis would be the main trend for resolving the issues of multiscale coupling, improving the estimation accuracy, and studying the C cycle of urban forest ecosystems.
    Active components and structural features of insect sex pheromones in Pyraloidea.
    MA Tao, ZHANG Meng, ZHU Xue-jiao, YANG Xing-cui, LI Yi-zhen, WEN Xiu-jun**
    2013, 32(12):  3378-3384. 
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    At present, a total of 15576 species in Pyraloidea have been recorded, and many of them are the important agricultural and forest pests. Large areas are infested by these species, giving rise to the serious economic losses in agriculture and forestry. Characterized by high efficiency, environmental protection effect, and specificity, the insect sex pheromones have important application values in the integrated management of Pyraloidea pests. So far, the active components of the sex pheromones in 174 Pyraloidea pest species are understood, and 107 compounds are identified, among which, there are 38 acetates, 22 alcohols, 30 aldehydes, 4 hydrocarbons, and 13 aromatics. These compounds are simpler in structure, with a carbon length of C12 to C18. These pheromone components have a high overlapping ratio between the subfamilies, especially between the genera and the species. Some of the components are found in many insects. The sex pheromone components of different species in the same genus are very similar in structure, and even, the sex pheromone components in some species are identical, but in different proportions. To make a systematic comparison and analysis on the known sex pheromone components of Pyraloidea can provide evidence for the further identification of the sex pheromone components of other Pyraloidea species, and promote the identification and application of the sex pheromone components in Pyraloidea in China.
    Non-receptormediated action mechanisms of endocrine disrupt effect in carbaryl environment.
    LI Wen-ting1, SONG Chao2, LU Zhao1, LIU Ying3, FENG Jia-lin3, CHEN Jia-zhang1,2**
    2013, 32(12):  3385-3391. 
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    As the most worldwide applied carbamates insecticide, carbaryl not only has the neurotoxic effect in inhibiting the activity of acetylcholinesterase, but also has the endocrine disrupt effect. The endocrine disrupt effect of environmental hormones is mainly produced by regulating the molecular expression of hypothalamuspituitarygonad axis (HPG). This paper further elucidated the non-receptormediated action mechanisms under the effects of carbaryl on the pathways of the steroid hormone synthesis of gonad, an important sector of HPG axis, and indicated that these non-receptor-mediated action mechanisms were the sequent results of estrogen effect. This paper would provide a reference to understand the effects of environmental hormones on the reproduction and physiology of animals, and the neuro-endocrine immune effect of carbamates insecticides.
    Bird duet and female song behaviors: A review.
    YANG Can-chao, LIANG Wei**
    2013, 32(12):  3392-3396. 
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    Bird song behavior is an important function for birds to attract their spouse and protect their territories. However, the related researches concentrate in male, especially for the birds of sexual dimorphism, and often neglect female. The song of many females also has the roles of preventing territories and attracting the opposite sex. Some of female song can form duet with male song. This paper reviewed the researches on the bird duet and female song behaviors, and approached their functions and adaptability.
    Refugia and their identification methods: A review.
    HU Zhong-jun1,2, ZHANG Yi-li1**, LIU Lin-shan1, YU Hai-bin1,2
    2013, 32(12):  3397-3406. 
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    As a hotspot in the research of biogeography, refugia have attracted the attention by more and more biogeographic scholars, and the related studies have an accelerated growth trend, adding new vitality to the research of biogeography. After the Earth has withstood the long-standing test by Quaternary Ice Age, numerous species are able to survive because of the protection from glacial refugia, and, after Quaternary Ice Age ended, the refugia have expanded their distribution range, leading to the gradual formation of the present distribution status of global biodiversity. To respond to the present and future climate change, refugia shall continuously play the roles of protecting the endangered species, biota, and biodiversity. Therefore, it is necessary to know the biogeographic characteristics and formation causes and processes of refugia, understand the concepts and significances of refugia, and approach the methods of identifying refugia. At present, the comprehension of refugia is mainly based on the phylogeographic researches of organisms in Europe and North America during the obvious temperature fluctuation periods of Quaternary climate, and the related researches in other regions (including China) are in a very low level, with much room for the improvement. Refugia have already facilitated the survival capacity of biota under the constant changing environmental conditions for millennia, and thus, to identify and protect the refugia should be a priority for ecological conservation. Various methods that progressed for seeking refugia have promoted the identification of refugia in any environment, while the integration of various methods would facilitate the people’s comprehension of refugia and the capacity of refugia in serving as the safe haven for organisms and biodiversity under the condition of climate change.