Floristic composition, life forms for C4 species, and the pattern of altitude distribution were studied on Tibetan Plateau. 79 species, in 7 families and 46 genera, were identified with C4 photosynthesis. 95 % of these C4 species belong to Gramineae (51 species), Cyperaceae (14 species), and Chenopodiaceae (10 species), indicating that C4 plants mainly occur in very few families (7 of 204) on the Tibetan Plateau. High altitude distribution for all the Chenopodiaceae C4 species (> 3 000 m above sea level) suggests that plants of this kind have large tolerance to cold, dryness, and strong ultraviolet radiation. Most Gramineae and Cyperaceae C4 species occurrences are consistent with extensive distribution of steppes and meadows in the vast flat of the central Plateau (1 000-3 000 m a.s.l.). Relatively high amount of hemicryptophyte form plants (44 %) in the region indicates that the vegetation, especially grassland, meadows, and steppe, are in good condition. There is a strong relationship between numbers of C4 species and altitude in the Tibetan Plateau. Occurrence of C4 species is significantly less in both high and low altitude plateaux in Tibet. Altitude distribution pattern for C4 species in the region is not only consistent with the altitude and climate, but also with the vegetation types in altitude gradient.
The goal of this paper was to test the hypothesis that weather conditions, such as temperature and rainfall, affect egg colouration in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus. We failed to find strong support for this hypothesis; nevertheless, our results indicate that temperature has an effect on some egg colour characteristics. Eggshell brightness (PC1) increased with increasing temperature at laying and eggs were darker in the colder year of the two-year study. On the other hand, UV-blue colouration (PC2) scores were higher in the warmer year. The amount of rainfall, however, had no effect on eggshell colouration. As there is an indication from other studies that weather may have an effect on egg appearance through the food availability, we encourage further testing the environmental hypothesis in other bird species. If this holds for more bird species, this would have important implications for the hypotheses about the adaptive function of bright eggshell colouration.
We investigated the strategies of four co-occurring evergreen woody species Quercus ilex, Quercus coccifera, Pinus halepensis, and Juniperus phoenicea to cope with Mediterranean field conditions. For that purpose, stem water potential, gas exchange, chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence, and Chl and carotenoid (Car) contents were examined. We recognized two stress periods along the year, winter with low precipitation and low temperatures that led to chronic photoinhibition, and summer, when drought coincided with high radiation, leading to an increase of dynamic photoinhibition and a decrease of pigment content. Summer photoprotection was related to non-photochemical energy dissipation, electron flow to alternative sinks other than photosynthesis, decrease of Chl content, and proportional increase of Car content. Water potential of trees with deep vertical roots (Q. coccifera, Q. ilex, and P. halepensis) mainly depended on precipitation, whereas water potential of trees with shallow roots (J. phoenicea) depended not only on precipitation but also on ambient temperature. and F. J. Baquedano, F. J. Castillo.
The interception process in subalpine Norway spruce stands plays an important role in the distribution of throughfall. The natural mountain spruce forest where our measurements of throughfall and gross precipitation were carried out, is located on the tree line at an elevation of 1,420 m a.s.l. in the Western Tatra Mountains (Slovakia, Central Europe). This paper presents an evaluation of the interception process in a natural mature spruce stand during the growing season from May to October in 2018–2020. We also analyzed the daily precipitation events within each growing season and assigned to them individual synoptic types. The amount and distribution of precipitation during the growing season plays an important role in the precipitation-interception process, which confirming the evaluation of individual synoptic situations. During the monitored growing seasons, precipitation was normal (2018), sub-normal (2019) and above-normal (2020) in comparison with long-term precipitation (1988–2017). We recorded the highest precipitation in the normal and above-normal precipitation years during the north-eastern cyclonic synoptic situation (NEc). During these two periods, interception showed the lowest values in the dripping zone at the crown periphery, while in the precipitation sub-normal period (2019), the lowest interception was reached by the canopy gap. In the central crown zone near the stem, interception reached the highest value in each growing season. In the evaluated vegetation periods, interception reached values in the range of 19.6–24.1% of gross precipitation total in the canopy gap, 8.3–22.2% in the dripping zone at the crown periphery and 45.7–51.6% in the central crown zone near the stem. These regimes are expected to change in the Western Tatra Mts., as they have been affected by windstorms and insect outbreaks in recent decades. Under disturbance regimes, changes in interception as well as vegetation, at least for some period of time, are unavoidable.
Sand burial is a ubiquitous disturbance that influences the ecological and hydrological properties of moss crusts in many sandy desert areas. There is little available information regarding the effect of sand burial on the water repellency (WR) of moss crusts in desert areas. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of sand burial (sand depths of 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 10 mm) followed by three simulated precipitation regimes (through applying 4 and 6 mm, 2 and 3 mm, and 1 and 1.5 mm of distilled water at 8-day intervals in spring and autumn, respectively) on the WR of a widespread moss crust dominated by Bryum argenteum Hedw. in a revegetated area of the Tengger Desert, China. The results showed moss crust WR remained subcritical during the whole experiment, and that it considerably decreased immediately after sand burial, even though the values of WR were significantly higher in autumn than those in spring under the same treatment (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the depth threshold (TD) values for sand burials that reduced WR to zero were 1 and 2 mm in spring and autumn, respectively. After a recovery period of nearly one-season (72 days), the WR of the moss crust significantly increased (p < 0.05). In addition, sand burial had two separate effects on moss crust WR. Specifically, shallower sand burial (burial depth less than 0.5 mm) increased moss crust WR, whereas deeper sand burial (burial depth exceeds 0.5 mm) decreased it. The TD values also significantly increased to 2 and 4 mm in spring and autumn, respectively. These findings about the effects of sand burial on moss crust WR provide additional information that can be used to better understand the influence of sand burial on moss crust colonization and maintenance in arid sandburial- stressed ecosystems, and to help explain why there are some contrasting viewpoints on biocrust WR.
The experimental basins in the Jizera Mountains were established at the beginning of the 1980th as a result of the forest devastation due to acid rain and repercussions of following human activities during its disposal with the aim to gain data for the quantification of runoff conditions changes in a changing environment. Seven small catchments with an area from 1.87 km2 to 10.6 km2 are situated in the spring regions in an elevation from 700 m a.s.l. to 1100 m a.s.l. in the catchments of the Černá Nisa, Kamenice, Jizerka and Směda streams. The long-term average annual temperature in the elevation of 780 m a.s.l. is +4.4°C, the long-term annual precipitation sum fluctuates between 1300 mm and 1800 mm. The Jizera Mountains are known for numerous intensive rainfalls in the summer period. The administrator of the experimental basins is the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI), Department of Hydrological Research, Experimental Base Jablonec nad Nisou, which performs all operative activities and basic processing of data. In the basins, the monitored elements are water stages and discharges in rivers, surface water quality, rainfall, snow depth and snow water equivalent and climatological parameters. The following contribution gives an overview of information obtained from the hydrological research in the period 1981 - 2004. and Příspěvek se zabývá přehledem poznatků z hydrologického výzkumu v období let 1982-2005 v experimentálních povodích Českého hydrometeorologického ústavu (ČHMÚ) v imisně poškozené oblasti Jizerských hor. Základnu tvoří 7 malých povodí s rozlohou od 1,87 km2 do 10,6 km2 celkové plochy 37 km2 . Všechna povodí leží ve vrcholové části Jizerských hor v Chráněné krajinné oblasti Jizerské hory, na rozvodí řek Labe a Odry. Nadmořská výška povodí se pohybuje mezi 700 až 1100 m. Správcem povodí je Oddělení hydrologického výzkumu, pracoviště Jablonec nad Nisou. Zpočátku byly práce zaměřeny převážně na získání co největšího počtu informací o srážkách, sněhu, množství a jakosti povrchové vody. Po roce 1995 byl monitoring rozšířen na více parametrů hydrologické bilance, sledování klimatických prvků a složek hydrologického procesu. Následně byl upřesňován jejich režim i jejich prostorové rozložení. Byla studována problematika rozdílnosti akumulace a odtávání sněhu na mýtině a v lese a odtoková a kvalitativní odezva na srážkovou činnost a tání sněhu. Za pomoci hydrologických a chemických modelů byly hledány odhady změn jejich závislosti na změně vegetačního pokryvu.
Foliar δ13C values of Calligogum kozlovi and Haloxylon ammodendron ranged from -13.13 to -15.11 ‰, while those of the rest 11 species were in the range of -22.22 to -27.73 ‰. This indicates that two of 13 dominant plant species in the Qaidam Basin possess a C4 photosynthetic pathway. Significant differences were observed for the average foliar δ13C values between C3 or C4 plant communities, between grass and shrub communities, even between the same species derived from different sites. Precipitation accounted for the major part of the differences. and H. Chen ... [et al.].
Photosynthetic pathways (C4, C3, and CAM species) and plant life forms of three grassland types in North China were compared. Of the total 201 species, 144 species in 78 genera and 34 families had C3 photosynthetic pathway, 56 species in 35 genera and 11 families had C4 photosynthetic pathway, and 1 species had CAM photosynthetic pathway. The number of C4 species in Songnen meadow was 70-80 % greater than that in Xilinguole steppe and Hunshandak desert grassland, but that for C3 species did not differ significantly among the three grassland types. The number of therophytes in the Songnen meadow was relatively greater than that of the other two grassland types, but that of hemicryptophytes was lower. Thus the distribution of C4 species and plant life form is probably related to precipitation.
Hydrologic cycle in the Liz catchment is described with an anomaly in the vegetation seasons 1992-1996. Experimental catchment Liz is located in the Šumava Mts. in the Czech Republic. The fully forested watershed is covered by mature spruce forest, and its basic characteristics are as follows: drainage area 0.99 km2, mean discharge 0.01m3 s-1, runoff coefficient 0.38, mean annual air temperature 6.30 oC, average slope 17 %, basin length 1.45 km, water course length 1.43 km, elevation 828-1074 m a.s.l., precipitation sum 851 mm year-1, and runoff depth 324 mm year-1. Air temperature, precipitation, global radiation, and discharge in the closing profile are measured in the catchment. It is characteristic for hydrologic cycle in the catchment that the share of seasonal sums of both the global radiation and temperature was nearly constant in 1983-2000. However, the seasonal sums of both the global radiation and temperature were changed considerably in 1983-2000. Similarly, the share of seasonal sums of both the rainfall and runoff was nearly constant in 1983-1991 and 1997-1999. An anomalous course of climate was registered in 1992-1996, manifested by a deviation on the double mass curve of the seasonal sums of rainfall and runoff. Stabilised elsewhere, the ratio of rainfall and runoff is changed during the vegetation seasons 1992-1996. Starting from the 1997 season, this ratio has obtained the value held before 1992. The reason of the 1992-1996 anomaly of hydrologic cycle in the experimental catchment had to be significant external phenomenon, most likely explosion of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in Philippines on June 15, 1991. and Hydrologic cycle in the Liz catchment is described with an anomaly in the vegetation seasons 1992- 1996. Experimental catchment Liz is located in the Šumava Mts. in the Czech Republic. The fully forested watershed is covered by mature spruce forest, and its basic characteristics are as follows: drainage area 0.99 km2 , mean discharge 0.01m3 s -1, runoff coefficient 0.38, mean annual air temperature 6.30 ºC, average slope 17 %, basin length 1.45 km, water course length 1.43 km, elevation 828-1074 m a.s.l., precipitation sum 851 mm year-1, and runoff depth 324 mm year-1. Air temperature, precipitation, global radiation, and discharge in the closing profile are measured in the catchment. It is characteristic for hydrologic cycle in the catchment that the share of seasonal sums of both the global radiation and temperature was nearly constant in 1983-2000. However, the seasonal sums of both the global radiation and temperature were changed considerably in 1983-2000. Similarly, the share of seasonal sums of both the rainfall and runoff was nearly constant in 1983-991 and 1997-1999. An anomalous course of climate was registered in 1992-1996, manifested by a deviation on the double mass curve of the seasonal sums of rainfall and runoff. Stabilised elsewhere, the ratio of rainfall and runoff is changed during the vegetation seasons 1992-1996. Starting from the 1997 season, this ratio has obtained the value held before 1992. The reason of the 1992-1996 anomaly of hydrologic cycle in the experimental catchment had to be significant external phenomenon, most likely explosion of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in Philippines on June 15, 1991.
Below-average precipitation and above-average air temperature are important factors in the occurrence and intensity of drought. In the context of global climate change, air temperature increase, as a key climatological parameter, has to be considered when calculating the drought index. We introduce a new method of drought analysis, relying on standardized values of precipitation and mean air temperatures for a certain period. The standardized value is calculated by subtracting the average value for each period from each measured value and dividing the obtained value by the standard deviation of the sample. Next, the New Drought Index (NDI) is calculated by subtracting the standardized temperature value from the standardized precipitation value. NDI values were determined for the monthly and annual precipitation time series and mean monthly and annual air temperatures measured at the stations Split-Marjan and Zagreb-Grič between 1948 and 2020. The NDI indicates that the risk of drought has intensified significantly in recent decades, which may be related to the effect of global warming.