Diversity patterns of free‐living marine nematodes in the southwest continental shelf off Bay of Bengal and their link to abiotic variables

Marine sediments in continental shelf ecosystems harbor a rich biodiversity of benthic communities. In this study, the spatial and temporal diversity and community assemblages of free‐living marine nematodes were studied by sampling at six depths and over 3 years from the southwest continental shelf off Bay of Bengal, one of the least explored tropical shelf ecosystems. The dominant marine nematode species were related with abiotic variables as part of this study. The effects of sediment granulometry generally decreased with increasing depth and the highest nematode density and species diversity were recorded on coarse sand (shallower depths). Multivariate analysis of the nematode community data showed that community structure differed significantly among depths as well as among years. Statistical analyses showed significant correlations between the nematode community and abiotic variables. Sediment texture, organic matter, water pressure and depth profile were crucial factors for determining diversity, vertical profile and feeding types of the nematode community. Other environmental factors, including anthropogenic pressure, did not have an effect on nematode diversity except for the presence of some tolerant species (Metachromadora spp., Sabatieria spp. and Siplophorella sp.). This study represents a baseline of knowledge of free‐living marine nematode communities that can be used in the future to compare nematode assemblages from temperate shelf ecosystems.     

Population genetic diversity and structure of a dominant tropical seagrass,Cymodocea rotundata,in the Western Pacific region

Cymodocea rotundata is an ecologically important tropical pioneer seagrass species distributed in the Indo‐Pacific region. The population genetic diversity and structure of this species were analysed at 46 sites spanning the Philippines, Ryukyu Islands (northern limit) and Hainan Island, by using microsatellite simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Analyses revealed the persistence of C. rotundata likely relies on local population dynamics and fitness influenced by environmental gradients, with sexual reproduction prevalent in the Philippines while the Ryukyu and Hainan populations were predominantly established by clonal spread. Analysis of molecular variance showed significant genetic differentiation (P < 0.001) among three geographic regions: the Philippines, Ryukyu and Hainan. Furthermore, the mean fixation index value was very high (F_ST = 0.36), indicating poor dispersal potential or limited gene flow. Allelic richness and heterozygosity of C. rotundata was comparable in the Philippines and Ryukyu Islands populations. More private alleles were found in the Philippines and excess heterozygotes in the Ryukyu Islands. STRUCTURE analysis revealed that the Ryukyu and Hainan populations were mosaics of admixed alleles of individuals from the Philippines. An assignment test suggested that recruitment occurs from the Northeast Philippines to Ryukyu Islands. These results suggest that the Philippine populations are tropical seagrass hotspots and perhaps the origin of the populations in the Ryukyu and Hainan Islands. This scenario is most likely driven by the Kuroshio Current and island integration events during plate tectonic activities. The Philippine Archipelago is considered of high importance for conservation objectives and management plan of seagrasses. Likewise, the Ryukyu Islands are also important in terms of conserving regional diversity because locally adapted genotypes have important evolutionary potential in the face of environmental change.     

许氏平鲉(Sebastes schlegeli)微卫星标记开发及野生、养殖群体遗传多样性分析

对许氏平鲉进行简化基因组测序,设计微卫星引物200对,可稳定扩增的引物190对,占95%。利用一个荣成野生群体对24个多态性较高的微卫星标记进行了评价,每个位点的等位基因数(Na)为2—21个,观测杂合度(Ho)为0.0417—0.9167,期望杂合度(He)为0.0278—0.9722,多态信息含量(PIC)为0.1948—0.9496,结果显示有20个微卫星位点为中高度多态。利用这些引物对荣成野生群体和烟台养殖群体的遗传多样性进行了比较分析,野生和养殖群体的平均等位基因数(Na)分别为8.5000、6.9583,有效等位基因数(Ne)的均值分别为4.5484、3.6365,期望杂合度(He)均值分别为0.6421、0.5840,多态信息含量均值(PIC)分别为0.6088、0.5490,平均香农-威纳指数均值为1.4605、1.2834,但F检验发现无显著差异,发现两个群体的遗传多样性都处于高度多态水平,但养殖群体遗传多样性水平低于野生群体。本研究结果说明许氏平鲉的人工繁育中,通过使用较大数量的亲本进行繁育可有效防止选育群体的遗传多样性降低,但人工定向选育对选育群体的遗传多样性也产生了一定的影响。Bonferroni校正后在两个群体中各有4个位点偏离Hardy-Weinberg平衡。本研究开发的微卫星标记为许氏平鲉遗传图谱构建、分子标记辅助育种等提供了更多标记选择,对野生和养殖群体遗传多样性分析为下一步的遗传育种提供参考。     

基于微卫星(SSR)分子标记的中国对虾渤海湾增殖亲虾群体及回捕群体的遗传多样性分析

Eight microsatellite markers were used to analyze genetic diversity, level of inbreeding, and effective population size of spawner and recaptured populations of Chinese shrimp(Fenneropenaeus chinensis) during stock enhancement in the Bohai Bay in 2013. A total of 254 and 238 alleles were identified in the spawner and recaptured populations, respectively, and the numbers of alleles(N_a) were 8–63 and 6–60, respectively. The numbers of effective alleles(N_e) were 2.52–21.60 and 2.67–20.72, respectively. The polymorphism information content ranged from 0.529 to 0.952. The observed heterozygosity(H_o) values(0.638–0.910 and 0.712–0.927) were lower than the expected heterozygosity(H_e) values(0.603–0.954 and 0.625–0.952), which indicated that the two populations possessed a rich genetic diversity. In 16 tests(2 populations×8 loci), 13 tests deviated from the HardyWeinberg equilibrium. F_(is) values were positive at seven loci and the inbreeding coefficients(F) of the two populations estimated by trio ML were 13.234% and 11.603%, suggesting that there was a relatively high degree of inbreeding. A certain level of inbreeding depression had occurred in the Chinese shrimp population. F_(st) values ranged from 0 to 0.059, with a mean of 0.028, displaying a low level of genetic differentiation in the two populations. Effective population sizes(3 060.2 and 3 842.8) were higher than the minimum number suggested for retaining the evolutionary potential to adapt to new environmental conditions. For enhancement activity in 2014,the ideal number of captured shrimp spawners should have ranged from 7 686 to 19 214 to maintain genetic diversity and effective population size. Further strategies to adjust the balance of economic cost, fishing effort and ideal number of shrimp spawners to maintain a satisfactory effective population size for ensuring the sustainability of Chinese shrimp are proposed.     

50年来北海市滨海湿地景观格局变化及其驱动机制

以1955~2004年遥感影像为数据源,结合野外调查,运用景观生态学原理,研究50 a间北海市滨海湿地的景观格局及其动态变化。结果表明,50 a间北海市滨海湿地呈整体退化趋势,潮间砂质海滩、潮间淤泥质海滩、红树林滩、小型岛屿湿地减少;景观格局指数显示1977年、1998年是北海市滨海湿地较明显变化的拐点。1977年人类活动影响增加,滨海湿地稍有退化,湿地景观多样性指数减小,优势度指数增加,均匀度指数减小、景观总面积指数降至最低值。1988年湿地保护力度加大,湿地略为好转,景观多样性指数、优势度指数、均匀度指数则呈相反规律。1998年湿地受到的极端气候灾害、人类干扰程度加大,平均斑块分形维数下降,斑块密度指数、景观斑块数破碎化指数呈最高值。湿地景观格局指数的变化,反映了围垦改造、互花米草的生物入侵、城市污染、极端气候灾害等对景观格局的影响,人类活动是北海市滨海湿地景观格局变化的主要驱动因子。     

夏季辽东湾西部海域大型底栖动物群落结构与多样性

为了解夏季辽东湾西部海域大型底栖动物群落结构与多样性,作者于2009年8月对六股河口外海域15个站位进行了大型底栖动物调查。整个研究海域共采到大型底栖动物124种,其总平均丰度为(2824±1537)个/m2,总平均生物量为(22.01±38.58)g/m2。利用相对重要性指数和优势度指数所确定的前三位优势种一致,分别为二齿半尖额涟虫(Hemileucon bidentatus)、深钩毛虫(Sigambra bassi)和独指虫(Aricidea fragilis),其余优势种存在细微差异。各站位香农-维纳多样性指数、Pielou均匀度指数和Margalef丰富度指数均呈现河口和中部海域低,近岸和外围海域高的分布规律。在50%相似度水平上,可将研究海域划分为4个群落。研究结果表明:研究海域底栖环境整体清洁,底层水环境因子对大型底栖动物群落的影响较弱。     

Possibilities of land use change analysis in a mountainous rural area: a methodological approach

Decreasing population density is a current trend in the European Union, and causes a lower environmental impact on the landscape. However, besides the desirable effect on the regeneration processes of semi-natural forest ecosystems, the lack of traditional management techniques can also lead to detrimental ecological processes. In this study we investigated the land use pattern changes in a micro-region (in North-Eastern Hungary) between 1952 and 2005, based on vectorised land use data from archive aerial photos. We also evaluated the methodology of comparisons using GIS methods, fuzzy sets and landscape metrics. We found that both GIS methods and statistical analysis of landscape metrics resulted in more or less the same findings. Differences were not as relevant as was expected considering the general tendencies of the past 60 years in Hungary. The change in the annual rate of forest recovery was 0.12%; settlements extended their area by an annual rate of 3.04%, while grasslands and arable lands had a net loss in their area within the studied period (0.60% and 0.89%, respectively). The kappa index showed a smaller similarity (~60%) between these dates but the fuzzy kappa and the aggregation index, taking into account both spatial and thematic errors, gave a more reliable result (~70–80% similarity). Landscape metrics on patch and class level ensured the possibility of a detailed analysis. We arrived at a similar outcome but were able to verify all the calculations through statistical tests. With this approach we were able to reveal significant (p < 0.05) changes; however, effect sizes did not show large magnitudes. Comparing the methods of revealing landscape change, the approach of landscape metrics was the most effective approach, as it was independent of spatial errors and ensuring a multiple way of interpretation.     

Unsupervised regionalization of the United States into landscape pattern types

We present a pattern-based regionalization of the conterminous US – a partitioning of the country into a number of mutually exclusive and exhaustive regions that maximizes the intra-region stationarity of land cover patterns and inter-region disparity between those patterns. The result is a discretization of the land surface into a number of landscape pattern types (LPTs) – spatial units each containing a unique quasi-stationary pattern of land cover classes. To achieve this goal, we use a recently developed method which utilizes machine vision techniques. First, the entire National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) is partitioned into a grid of square-size blocks of cells, called motifels. The size of a motifel defines the spatial scale of a local landscape. The land cover classes of cells within a motifel form a local landscape pattern which is mathematically represented by a histogram of co-occurrence features. Using the Jensen–Shannon divergence as a dissimilarity function between patterns we group the motifels into several LPTs. The grouping procedure consists of two phases. First, the grid of motifels is partitioned spatially using a region-growing segmentation algorithm. Then, the resulting segments of this grid, each represented by its medoid, are clustered using a hierarchical algorithm with Ward’s linkage. The broad-extent maps of progressively more generalized LPTs resulting from this procedure are shown and discussed. Our delineated LPTs agree well with the perceptual patterns seen in the NLCD map.     

长江口邻近海域夏季大型底栖生物群落特征

本文根据2014年6月长江口邻近海域大型底栖生物的调查资料, 采用优势度指数, 物种多样性指数、丰富度指数、均匀度指数, Bray-Curtis相似性聚类和非参数多维标度排序(nMDS)标序方法, 分析了长江口邻近海域夏季大型底栖生物的群落特征。本次调查共采集大型底栖生物135种, 其中多毛类66种, 甲壳动物33种, 棘皮动物14种, 软体动物13种, 其他类群9种。调查海域的大型底栖生物平均丰度为122.2ind/m₂,平均生物量为7.8g/ m₂。丰度、生物量和多样性指数在不同海区间的空间差异均不显著。大型底栖生物在20%的相似性水平上可以划分为8个群组,各站位间相似性水平较低。ABC曲线表明,伴随海岸带开发及人类活动的持续影响, 长江口邻近海域底栖生境的稳定性受到轻微扰动, 建议继续开展长期连续的监测, 为研究长江口海域环境变化和大型底栖生物群落演替提供基础资料。     

Spatiotemporal change patterns of urban lakes in China’s major cities between 1990 and 2015

China has experienced unprecedented urbanization in the past decades, resulting in dramatic changes in the physical, limnological, and hydrological characteristics of lakes in urban landscapes. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics in distribution and abundance of urban lakes in China remain poorly understood. Here, we characterized the spatiotemporal change patterns of urban lakes in China’s major cities between 1990 and 2015 using remote-sensing data and landscape metrics. The results showed that the urban lake landscape patterns have experienced drastic changes over the past 25 years. The total surface area of the urban lakes has decreased by 17,620.02?ha, a decrease of 24.22%, with a significant increase in the landscape fragmentation and a reduction in shape complexity. We defined three lake-shrinkage types and found that vanishment was the most common lake-shrinkage pattern, followed by edge-shrinkage and tunneling in terms of lake area. Moreover, we also found that urban sprawl was the dominant driver of the lake shrinkage, accounting for 67.89% of the total area loss, and the transition from lakes to cropland was also an important factor (19.86%). This study has potential for providing critical baseline information for government decision-making in lake resources management and urban landscape design.