[Latitudinal variations of seed functional traits of in Chinese coastal marsh].

Functional traits of seeds reflect plant reproductive strategies adapting to environmental changes, which is an evolutionary behavior in natural selection and genetics. Study on seed functional traits is of great significance to deeply understand the long-term adaptive evolution of plants and seeds. We measured seed functional traits of a main indigenous species , including seed size, seed weight, seed set, and seed production, in nine coastal marshes of the six provinces/cities along the coastal zone of China (21°29'-40°57' N), and analyzed latitudinal variations of functional traits.

Temperature sensitivity of SOM decomposition is linked with a K-selected microbial community.

Temperature sensitivity (Q ) of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition is a crucial parameter to predict the fate of soil carbon (C) under global warming. Nonetheless, the response pattern of Q to continuous warming and the underlying mechanisms are still under debate, especially considering the complex interactions between Q , SOM quality, and soil microorganisms. We examined the Q of SOM decomposition across a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient from -1.

Soil pH and plant diversity shape soil bacterial community structure in the active layer across the latitudinal gradients in continuous permafrost region of Northeastern China.

In the permafrost region of northeastern China, vegetation and soil environment have showed response to permafrost degradation triggered by global warming, but the corresponding variation of the soil microbial communities remains poorly investigated. Here, a field investigation in the continuous permafrost region was conducted to collect 63 soil samples from 21 sites along a latitudinal gradient to assess the distribution pattern of microbial communities and their correlation with environmental factors. High-throughput Illumina sequencing revealed that bacterial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria.

Data in support of environmental controls on the characteristics of mean number of forest fires and mean forest area burned (1987-2007) in China.

Fire frequency and size are two important parameters describing fire characteristics. Exploring the spatial variation of fire characteristics and understanding the environmental controls are indispensable to fire prediction and sustainable forest landscape management. To illustrate the spatial variation of forest fire characteristics over China and to quantitatively determine the relative contribution of each of the environmental controls to this variation, forest fire characteristic data (mean number of forest fires and mean burned forest area) and environmental data (climate, land use, vegetation type and topography) at provincial level were derived.

[Simulating climate change effect on aboveground carbon sequestration rates of main broadleaved trees in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains area, Northeast China].

LANDIS Pro 7.0 model was used to simulate the dynamics of aboveground biomass of ten broadleaved tree species in the Xiao Xing' an Mountains area under current and various climate change scenarios from 2000 to 2200, and carbon content coefficients (CCCs) were coupled to cal- culate the aboveground carbon sequestration rates (ACSRs) of these species. The results showed that in the initial year of simulation, the biomasses and their proportions of Fraxinus mandshurica, Phellodendron amurense, Quercus mongolica, Ulmus propinqua, and Acer mono were relatively low, while those of Betula costata, Betula platyphylla, and Populus davidiana were higher.

Predicting impacts of climate change on the aboveground carbon sequestration rate of a temperate forest in northeastern China.

The aboveground carbon sequestration rate (ACSR) reflects the influence of climate change on forest dynamics. To reveal the long-term effects of climate change on forest succession and carbon sequestration, a forest landscape succession and disturbance model (LANDIS Pro7.0) was used to simulate the ACSR of a temperate forest at the community and species levels in northeastern China based on both current and predicted climatic data.

[Effects of forest ownership regime on landscape pattern and animal habitat: a review].

In some European and North American countries where forestry is highly developed, both public and private forest ownership regimes have being existed for a long time. Currently, the researches about both the dynamics of forest landscape and habitat pattern and the relationship between habitat pattern and biological conservation in multi-ownership forest landscape are increasingly becoming important. This paper reviewed the effects of multi-ownership regime on forest landscape pattern and animal habitat and emphasized on the ecological consequences of forest parcelization and land divestiture, including the provision of diverse habitats and fragmentation of the existing large-area habitat.

[Effects of spatial heterogeneity on spatial extrapolation of sampling plot data].

By using model combination method, this paper simulated the changes of response variable (tree species distribution area at landscape level under climate change) under three scenarios of environmental spatial heterogeneous level, analyzed the differentiation of simulated results under different scenarios, and discussed the effects of environmental spatial heterogeneity on the larger spatial extrapolation of the tree species responses to climate change observed in sampling plots. For most tree species, spatial heterogeneity had little effects on the extrapolation from plot scale to class scale; for the tree species insensitive to climate warming and the azonal species, spatial heterogeneity also had little effects on the extrapolation from plot-scale to zonal scale. By contrast, for the tree species sensitive to climate warming, spatial heterogeneity had effects on the extrapolation from plot scale to zonal scale, and the effects could be varied under different scenarios.

[Interaction between pest and fire disturbances in Huzhong area of Great Xing' an Mountains: long-term simulation].

Forest pest and forest fire are the two major disturbances of forest ecosystem, and there exists definite interaction between the disturbances at large spatial and temporal scales. In this paper, the spatially intuitional landscape model (LANDIS) was adopted to simulate the long-term (300 years) interaction between forest pest and forest fire in Huzhong area of Great Xing' an Mountains. The results showed that pest disturbance decreased the fine fuel load, increased the coarse fuel load at the early (0-100 a) and middle (100-200 a) stages of simulation course, and decreased the fire frequency at the early and middle stages.

[Simulation of timber-harvesting area in Xiao Xing' anling Mountains under climate change].

By using the spatially explicit forest landscape model (LANDIS 6.0 PRO), the percentages of timber-harvesting area in Xiao Xing' anling Mountains under current harvesting scenario and under 11 harvesting scenarios with alternating harvesting intensities (alternating time was 10, 20 and 30 years, respectively) in 2000-2400 under climate change were simulated. Alternating harvesting intensity could increase the harvesting area.

[Effects of eco-protection policy on land use/cover in upper reaches of Minjiang River].

By using CLUE-S model, a scenario analysis was made on the land use/cover change in the upper reaches of Minjiang River from 2000 to 2020, based on the historic development trend and the regulations of policies "natural forest protection" and "grain for green". In 2000-2020, according to the historic development trend, the forestland area (landscape matrix) in the study region would have a continual decrease while the shrub land and grassland areas would be increased, and the landscape pattern would be more fragmental. The implementation of the policies "natural forest protection" and "grain for green" would effectively increase forestland area, being able to reverse the trend of landscape fragmentation and more optimize the landscape pattern.

[Effect zone of forest road on plant species diversity in Great Hing 'an Mountains].

Forest road has far-reaching effects on plant species diversity across varying scales, and the estimation of its effect distance and effect zone is a key issue to integrate the road effect and ecological processes in forest area. In this paper, ten transects, 2 m wide and extending 50 m from varying grade roads including main road, main line for wood transportation, and secondary line for wood transportation in Huzhong forest area of Great Hing' an Mountains were set. The plant composition was investigated in twenty-five 2 m x 2 m plots of each transect.

[Soil respiration of degraded Korean pine forest ecosystem in Changbai Mountains].

Taking the broad-leaved Korean pine forest area in Changbai Mountains, a typical eastern forest belt of Northeast China for global change as test object, and by using the approaches of trenching-plot and infrared gas exchange analyzer, this paper analyzed the soil respiration in a selected series of degraded Korean pine forest ecosystem, i.e., broad-leaved Korean pine forest (CK), poplar-birch forest (Y), hardwood forest (S), Mongolian oak forest (M), and bare land (L).

[Long-term effects of Dendrolimus superans Bulter disturbance on forest landscape in Huzhong Forest Bureau of Great xing' an Mountains: a simulation study].

A spatially explicit landscape model LANDIS was applied to simulate the long-term effects of Dendrolimus superans Bulter disturbance on the forest landscape in Huzhong Forest Bureau of Great Xing' an Mountains. The statistical software pakage APACK was used to calculate the distribution area of D. superans and representative tree species, the aggregation index reflecting the spatial pattern, and the average area of forest patchs.

Assessing the effects of management alternatives on habitat suitability in a forested landscape of northeastern China.

Forest management often has cumulative, long-lasting effects on wildlife habitat suitability and the effects may be impractical to evaluate using landscape-scale field experiments. To understand such effects, we linked a spatially explicit landscape disturbance and succession model (LANDIS) with habitat suitability index (HSI) models to assess the effects of management alternatives on habitat suitability in a forested landscape of northeastern China. LANDIS was applied to simulate future forest landscape changes under four management alternatives (no cutting, clearcutting, selective cutting I and II) over a 200-year horizon.

[Modeling of forest landscape change in Xiaoxinganling mountains under different planting proportions of coniferous and broadleaved species].

With spatially explicit landscape model (LANDIS), the dynamic change of forest landscape in Youhao Forest Bureau in Xiaoxinganling Mountains from 2001-2201 under 5 planting proportions of coniferous and broadleaved species, i.e., 100% broadleaved species, 70% broadleaved and 30% coniferous species, 50% broadleaved and 50% coniferous species, 30% broadleaved and 70% coniferous species, and 100% coniferous species, was studied, taking the forest under natural regeneration after harvesting as the control.

[Effects of different forest management alternatives on Sciurus vulgaris habitat].

A spatially explicit landscape model LANDIS was applied to simulate the forest landscape changes under four management alternatives (no cutting, clear cutting, selective cutting I and II) in Youhao Forestry Bureau located in Small Xing' an Mountain from 2000 to 2200. The outcomes from LANDIS were combined with a landscape-level habitat suitability index (HSI) model in a GIS environment to assess Sciurus vulgaris habitat quality. The results showed that the increase of suitable habitat area and the decrease of marginally suitable area were the fastest under no cutting scenario, and the slowest under clear cutting scenario.

[Spatiotemporal pattern and its driving forces of urban growth in Shenyang City].

By using time series Landsat TM satellite images and adopting GIS spatial analysis and landscape pattern analysis methods, this paper studied the spatiotemporal diversity of urban growth and the evolution of urban landscape pattern in Shenyang, and examined their driving forces. The results showed that in 1988-2004, the urban area in Shenyang increased persistently, and the growth intensity enhanced consistently, with the peaks occured in 2000-2004. The spatial differentiation of urban growth in the City was also distinct, with the southwest direction as the leading orientation, and the urban edges and different level economic development zones as the main growth areas.

[Dynamics and influence width of dry valley landscape boundary in upper reaches of Minjiang River].

Based on RS and GIS techniques, the distribution extent of the dry valley in upper reaches of Minjiang River was determined, with the dynamics and influence width of its landscape boundary analyzed. The results indicated that the dry valley had a gradually expanded distribution, and the total length of its boundary was increased. The boundary complexity increased from 1974 to 1995 but decreased from 1995 to 2000, and the upper boundary of the dry valley ascended rapidly along mountain slope.

[Landscape change and its spatial driving force of farmlands in Wenchuan County of Min-jiang River upper reach].

Based on remote sensing images and geographic information system, and by using landscape metrics and Kappa coefficient, this paper studied the farmland landscape change in Wenchuan County of Minjiang River upper reach. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the driving forces of this change, with elevation, gradient, aspect, and the distances to road, river and settlement as the affecting factors. The results showed that from 1974 to 2000, the farmland area in Wenchuan County kept increasing, with the greatest increment in 1974-1986.

[Dynamics of forest landscape boundary at Changbai Mountain].

By using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technology combined with field investigation and correlation analysis, this study was aimed to explore the dynamics of forest landscape boundary at Changbai Mountain, and to reveal the relationships among landscape fragmentation and changes of landscape boundary indices. The results showed that in the last 20 years or so, tundra decreased by 3694.8 hm2, spruce and fir forest reduced by 130482.

[Scaling effects on landscape pattern indices].

The methods of spatial data aggregation based on majority and random rules were used in this study to reveal the scaling effects on landscape pattern in a classified TM imagery with 8 land cover types. For the majority rule-based aggregations, the proportion of most common cover types increased slowly, while that of less common cover types decreased rapidly with increasing grain. For random rule-based aggregation, each cover remained its original area on the aggregated maps.

[GIS and RS determination of abiotic range of forest landscape distribution in Changbai Mountain Natural Reserve].

Based on landscape classification of remote sensing data and spatial expression of environmental factors, the abiotic ranges of forest landscape distribution in Changbai Mountain Natural Reserve were determined by using GIS. The results showed that the optimum elevation range of tundra, mountain birch forest, evergreen coniferous forest, and broad-leaved Korean pine forest were 1780-2212 m, 1705-1956 m, 1042-1625 m, and 823-1184 m, respectively. The corresponding optimum annual average temperature ranges were -4.

Detecting forest landscape boundary between mountain birch and evergreen coniferous forest in the northern slope of Changbai Mountain.

Boundaries between different forest types in Changbai Mountain Eastern China are results from complex interactions between forest ecosystems, topography, and geomorphology. Detecting and quantifying the transitional zones are highly important since high environmental heterogeneity and biodiversity are often found within these zones. In this study, we used GIS and multivariate statistics techniques (PCA and MSWA) to analyze data from Landsat TM satellite imageries and quantitatively determined the positions and widths of the landscape boundary between mountain birch and evergreen coniferous forests in the northern slope of Changbai Mountain.