Vegetation recovery after fire in mountain grasslands of Argentina

Fire is a natural disturbance occurring every few years in many grasslands ecosystems. However, since European colonization, fire has been highly reduced or even suppressed in Argentinean grasslands, fostering ignitable material accumulation. This has led to occasional catastrophic controldemanding fire events, extended for larger areas. The aims of this work are to study vegetation recovery and change after a non-natural fire event in mountain grasslands. The study area is located in the Ventania mountain system, mid-eastern Argentina. We studied vegetation recovery after fire(January 2014) in two different communities: grass-steppes(grasslands) and shrub-steppes(open low shrublands). We measured vegetation cover, species richness and bare ground percentage in burned and unburned areas 1, 4, 8, 11 and 23 months after fire. Vegetation surveys were also performed at the end of the growing season(December) 11 and 23 months after fire. Data were analyzed using regression analysis, ANOVA and multivariate analysis(NMS, PERMANOVA). Both communities increased their vegetation cover at the same rate, without differences between burned and unburned areas after two years. Species richness was higher in shrublands and their recovery was alsofaster than in grasslands. Considering functional composition, besides transient changes during the first year after fire, there were no differences in abundance of different functional vegetation groups two years after fire. At the same time, shrublands showed no differences in species composition, while grasslands had a different species composition in burned and unburned plots. Also, burned grassland showed a higher species richness than unburned grassland. Data shown mountain vegetation in Pampas grassland is adapted to fire, recovering cover and richness rapidly after fire and thus reducing soil erosion risks. Vegetation in mountain Pampas seems to be well adapted to fire, but in grasslands species composition has changed due to fire. Nonetheless, these changes seem to be not permanent since prefire species are still present in the area.

Submerged vegetation removal promotes shift of dominant phytoplankton functional groups in a eutrophic lake

Historical data indicate that the dominance of submerged plants in Dianchi Lake in the 1960 s was characterized by low algal density with dominance of non-toxic group J（Scenedesmus,Pediastrum,etc.）. The removal of submerged plants,which began in the 1970 s,resulted in the expansion of bloom-forming Microcystis（group M）. Laboratory experiments suggested that Microcystis aeruginosa was inclined to grow and develop at elevated temperatures. The growth of Scenedesmus obliquus was slower than that of co-cultivated M. aeruginosa in the absence of Ceratophyllum demersum,especially at higher temperatures. The existence of submerged plant C. demersum could inhibit the growth of the harmful algae M. aeruginosa and this inhibitory effect by C. demersum was enhanced with an increase in temperature. Instead,with C. demersum,the growth of S. obliquus was not inhibited,but the co-cultivated M. aeruginosa was eliminated in a short time. Combined with the historical data and laboratory experiments,it was indicated that the submerged plants might play important roles in the dominance of the non-toxic group J in the historical succession. Consequently,the introduction of the submerged plant such as C. demersum might alter the dominant phytoplankton functional groups from M to J and benefit the restoration of the eutrophic lake.

Studies on Plasma Norepinephrine and EpinephrineContents and Vegetative Nervous SystemFunction in Various Liver Syndrome

Objective: To study the characteristics of plasma norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) contents alternation and vegetative nervous function disturbance in patients with various Liver Syndrome of TCM.Methods: Subjects were selected on the principle of combination of disease diagnosis and Syndrome Differentiation. Plasma NE and E contents were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrochemical detector. The vegetative nervous function were assessed by comprehensive analysis of sympathetic and parasympathetic hyperfunction symptoms, physiologic indexes and physical loading tests.Results: Patients of Liver Excess Syndrome had an elevated plasma NE and E contents and those with the vegetative nervous system disturbance mainly hypersympathetic. On the contrary, patients of Liver Deficiency Syndrome had lowered plasma NE and E contents and those with the vegetative nervous system disturbance mainly hyper-parasympathetic.Conclusion: Plasma NE and E contents and vegetative nervous function disturbance can be taken as the auxiliary laboratory diagnostic indexes for Syndrome Differentiation of Liver Excess and Liver Deficiency.