scholarly journals Altitudinal Biodiversity Gradient and Ecological Drivers for Different Lifeforms in the Baotianman Nature Reserve of the Eastern Qinling Mountains

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Zhao ◽  
Wang ◽  
Yu ◽  
Zhang ◽  
Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Central China ◽  
Qinling Mountains ◽  
Dissimilarity Index ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Species Overlap ◽  
Predominant Process ◽  
Community Clustering ◽  
The Impact

Variation in species composition between two communities is so-called β diversity, or dissimilarity, and can be separated into two components: turnover and nestedness. However, the mechanisms underlying these two components remain ambiguous, particularly for different lifeforms. In this study, we examined the altitudinal gradient of biodiversity in the Baotianman Nature Reserve of the eastern Qinling Mountains in central China and found that turnover is the predominant process accounting for β diversity, that dispersal limitation is the main factor influencing species diversity, and that its effect on trees is greater than on shrubs, with herbs least affected. Nestedness, in contrast, is less prominent and generally affected by the richness deviation between communities, and the impact of richness deviation is stronger on shrubs than on trees, and in turn, stronger than on herbs. We zoned the altitudinal vegetation communities by pairwise dissimilarity index, and found that the peak value of turnover rather than β diversity indicates the existence of transitional zones; the higher the turnover index, the greater the diversity between communities. Comparatively, nestedness indicates species overlap between communities. The highest nestedness index usually occurs in the interior of vegetation zones. The result of community clustering by pairwise dissimilarity shows that understory species could have been mostly replaced upwards, while the dominant tree species may keep stable, indicating that dispersal limitation works differently for different lifeforms.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change on Potential Distribution of Chinese White Pine Beetle Dendroctonus armandi in China

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 544
Author(s):  
Hang Ning ◽  
Ming Tang ◽  
Hui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Potential Distribution ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Central China ◽  
Qinling Mountains ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality ◽  
Suitable Area ◽  
The Impact

Dendroctonus armandi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytidae) is a bark beetle native to China and is the most destructive forest pest in the Pinus armandii woodlands of central China. Due to ongoing climate warming, D. armandi outbreaks have become more frequent and severe. Here, we used Maxent to model its current and future potential distribution in China. Minimum temperature of the coldest month and precipitation seasonality are the two major factors constraining the current distribution of D. armandi. Currently, the suitable area of D. armandi falls within the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains. The total suitable area is 15.83 × 104 km2. Under future climate scenarios, the total suitable area is projected to increase slightly, while remaining within the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains. Among the climate scenarios, the distribution expanded the most under the maximum greenhouse gas emission scenario (representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5). Under all assumptions, the highly suitable area is expected to increase over time; the increase will occur in southern Shaanxi, northwest Hubei, and northeast Sichuan Provinces. By the 2050s, the highly suitable area is projected to increase by 0.82 × 104 km2. By the 2050s, the suitable climatic niche for D. armandi will increase along the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains, posing a major challenge for forest managers. Our findings provide information that can be used to monitor D. armandi populations, host health, and the impact of climate change, shedding light on the effectiveness of management responses.

scholarly journals Neoglacial trends in diatom dynamics from a small alpine lake in the Qinling mountains of central China

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-554
Author(s):  
Bo Cheng ◽  
Jennifer Adams ◽  
Jianhui Chen ◽  
Aifeng Zhou ◽  
Qing Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Central China ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Qinling Mountains ◽  
Alpine Regions ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Community Restructuring ◽  
Asian Summer ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. During the latter stages of the Holocene, and prior to anthropogenic global warming, the Earth underwent a period of cooling called the neoglacial. The neoglacial is associated with declining summer insolation and changes to Earth's surface albedo. Although impacts varied globally, in China the neoglacial was generally associated with a cooler climate and an attenuated Asian summer monsoon. Few studies in central China, however, have explored the impact of neoglacial cooling on freshwater diversity, especially in alpine regions. Here we take a palaeolimnological approach to characterise multi-decadal variability in diatom community composition, ecological guilds, and compositional turnover over the past 3500 years from the alpine Yuhuang Chi lake on Mount Taibai in the Qinling mountains. Diatoms in the high-profile guild dominate much of the record from 3500 to 615 cal BP, which suggests that few nutrients in the lake were limiting overall, and disturbance and herbivory were likely low. After 615 cal BP, low-profile and planktic guild diatoms increase, suggesting greater turbulence in the lake, alongside a decline in available nutrients. Diatom turnover highlights periods in the lake history when deterministic processes structured diatom communities. For example, an abrupt decline in turnover is coincident with the shift from high- to low-profile diatoms at 615 cal BP, and this is likely due to the onset of the Little Ice Age in the region. We suggest that Yuhuang Chi lake became more shallow during peak regional aridity, which led to the short-lived community restructuring observed in the record.

scholarly journals Neoglacial trends in diatom dynamics from a small alpine lake in the Qinling Mountains of central China

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Cheng ◽  
Jennifer Adams ◽  
Jianhui Chen ◽  
Aifeng Zhou ◽  
Qing Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Alpine Lake ◽  
Central China ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Qinling Mountains ◽  
Diatom Community ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. During the latter stages of the Holocene, and prior to anthropogenic global warming, the Earth underwent a period of cooling called the neoglacial. The neoglacial was associated with declining summer insolation and changes to Earth surface albedo. Although impacts varied globally, in China the neoglacial was generally associated with cooler, more arid climate, which led to renewed permafrost formation, and shifts in vegetation composition. Few studies in central China, however, have explored the impact of neoglacial cooling on freshwater diversity, especially in remote alpine regions. Here we take a palaeolimnological approach to characterise multidecadal variability in diatom community composition, beta-diversity, and flux-inferred productivity over the past 3,500 years in the Qinling Mountains, biodiversity hotspot. We investigate the impact of long-term cooling on primary producers in an alpine lake, which are fundamental to overall aquatic ecosystem function. We show that trends in beta-diversity and shifts in ecological guilds likely reflect changing lake-catchment resource availability, linked to both long-term attenuation of the Asian summer monsoon, and abrupt cool events, linked to a strengthened Siberian High. Important diatom community and productivity responses to the Medieval Climatic Optimum and the Little Ice Age are all apparent in our record, although impact from previous centennial-scale, cool-events are less evident.

Carlisle Museum's Natural History Record Bureau, 1902–1912: Britain's first local environmental records centre

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Robin M. Sellers ◽  
Stephen Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Falco Peregrinus ◽  
Corvus Corax ◽  
Buteo Buteo ◽  
Local Newspaper ◽  
History Record ◽  
Economic Ornithology ◽  
The Impact

Carlisle Museum's Natural History Record Bureau, Britain's first local environmental records centre, collected and collated records, mainly of birds but including also mammals and fishes, from amateur naturalists. It initially covered an area of 80 kilometres around Carlisle, and later from Cumberland, Westmorland and the detached portion of Lancashire north of Morecambe Bay: in effect the modern-day county of Cumbria. At the end of each year, those records which had been accepted were logged in a special “Record Book”, and a summary published. For the first eight years of its ten-year existence (1902–1912), these were printed in the local newspaper, The Carlisle Journal, but from 1908 they also appeared in The Zoologist. Alongside the Record Bureau, the Museum undertook a number of other activities, including a short-lived attempt to establish a bird-ringing project, an investigation into the impact of black-headed gulls ( Chroicocephalus ridibundus) on farming and fisheries interests (an early example of economic ornithology), the setting up of Kingmoor Nature Reserve and the protection of nesting peregrines ( Falco peregrinus), buzzards ( Buteo buteo) and ravens ( Corvus corax). The effectiveness of the Natural History Record Bureau and the reasons for its demise are briefly discussed.

Long-term population dynamics of the red deer and European roe deer at the protected and not-protected areas in Mountain Crimea

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
V. N. Shmagol' ◽  
V. L. Yarysh ◽  
S. P. Ivanov ◽  
V. I. Maltsev
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Roe Deer ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Annual Precipitation ◽  
Population Number ◽  
The Impact

<p>The long-term population dynamics of the red deer (<em>Cervus elaphus</em> L.) and European roe deer (<em>Capreolus</em> <em>capreolus</em> L.) at the mountain and forest zone of Crimea during 1980-2017 is presented. Fluctuations in numbers of both species are cyclical and partly synchronous. Period of oscillations in the population of red deer is about 25 years, the average duration of the oscillation period of number of roe deer is 12.3 years. During the fluctuations in the number the increasing and fall in population number of the red deer had been as 26-47 %, and roe deer – as 22-34 %. Basing on the dada obtained we have assumed that together with large-scale cycles of fluctuations in population number of both red deer and roe deer the short cycles of fluctuations in the number of these species with period from 3.5 to 7.5 years take place. Significant differences of the parameters of cyclical fluctuations in the number of roe deer at some sites of the Mountainous Crimea: breaches of synchronicity, as well as significant differences in the duration of cycles are revealed. The greatest deviations from the average values of parameters of long-term dynamics of the number of roe deer in Crimea are noted for groups of this species at two protected areas. At the Crimean Nature Reserve the cycle time of fluctuations of the numbers of roe deer was 18 years. At the Karadag Nature Reserve since 1976 we can see an exponential growth in number of roe deer that is continued up to the present time. By 2016 the number of roe deer reached 750 individuals at a density of 437 animals per 1 thousand ha. Peculiarity of dynamics of number of roe deer at some sites proves the existence in the mountain forest of Crimea several relatively isolated groups of deer. We assumed that "island" location of the Crimean populations of red deer and European roe deer, their relatively little number and influence of permanent extreme factors of both natural and anthropogenic origination have contributed to a mechanism of survival of these populations. The elements of such a mechanism include the following features of long-term dynamics of the population: the reduction in the period of cyclic population fluctuations, while maintaining their amplitude and the appearance of additional small cycles, providing more flexible response of the population to the impact of both negative and positive environmental factors. From the totality of the weather conditions for the Crimean population of roe deer the recurring periods of increases and downs in the annual precipitation amount may have relevance. There was a trend of increase in the roe deer population during periods of increasing annual precipitation.</p>

scholarly journals Rural-Spatial Restructuring Promoted by Land-Use Transitions: A Case Study of Zhulin Town in Central China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Dong Han ◽  
Jiajun Qiao ◽  
Qiankun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Central China ◽  
Rural Space ◽  
Spatial Restructuring ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Impact

Rural-spatial restructuring involves the spatial mapping of the current rural development process. The transformation of land-use morphologies, directly or indirectly, affects the practice of rural restructuring. Analyzing this process in terms of the dominant morphology and recessive morphology is helpful for better grasping the overall picture of rural-spatial restructuring. Accordingly, this paper took Zhulin Town in Central China as a case study area. We propose a method for studying rural-spatial restructuring based on changes in the dominant and recessive morphologies of land use. This process was realized by analyzing the distribution and functional suitability of ecological-production-living (EPL) spaces based on land-use types, data on land-use changes obtained over a 30-year observation period, and in-depth research. We found that examining rural-spatial restructuring by matching the distribution of EPL spaces with their functional suitability can help to avoid the misjudgment of the restructuring mode caused by the consideration of the distribution and structural changes in quantity, facilitating greater understanding of the process of rural-spatial restructuring. Although the distribution and quantitative structure of Zhulin’s EPL spaces have changed to differing degrees, ecological- and agricultural-production spaces still predominate, and their functional suitability has gradually increased. The spatial distribution and functional suitability of Zhulin are generally well matched, with 62.5% of the matched types being high-quality growth, and the positive effect of Zhulin’s spatial restructuring over the past 30 years has been significant. We found that combining changes in EPL spatial area and quantity as well as changes in functional suitability is helpful in better understanding the impact of the national macro-policy shift regarding rural development. Sustaining the positive spatial restructuring of rural space requires the timely adjustment of local actors in accordance with the needs of macroeconomic and social development, and a good rural-governance model is essential.

Breeding Habitat Survey of Blackthroat (Luscinia obscura) in Foping Nature Reserve of Qinling Mountains

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 279-282
Author(s):  
Hongfeng Zhao ◽  
Ning Han ◽  
Lei Luo ◽  
Leigang Zhao ◽  
Xuebin Gao
Keyword(s):  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Qinling Mountains
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