Evaluation of state and community/private forests in Punjab, Pakistan using geospatial data and related techniques

Background： Forests are fundamental in maintaining water supplies, providing economic goods, mitigating climate change, and maintaining biodiversity, thus providing many of the world＇s poorest with income, food and medicine. Too often, forested lands are treated as ＂wastelands＂ or ＂free＂ and are easily cleared for agricultural and infrastructure expansion. Methods： In this paper, the sustainability of two forest ecosystems （state and community/private owned） was evaluated using SPOT-5 satellite images of 2005 and 2011. This study was conducted in a sub-watershed area covering 468 km2, of which 201 km2 is managed by the state and 267 km2 by community/private ownership in the Murree Galliat region of Punjab Province of Pakistan. A participatory approach was adopted for the delineation and demarcation of forest boundaries. The Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis （GEOBIA） technique was used for identification and mapping of ten Land Cover （LC） features. Results： The results show that between the years 2005 to 2011, a total of 55 km2 （24 km2 in state-owned forest and 31 km2 in community/private forest） was converted from forest to non-forest. The conclusion is that conservation is more effective in state-owned forests than in the community/private forests. Conclusions： These findings may help to mobilize community awareness and identify effective initiatives for improved management of community/private forest land for other regions of Pakistan.

Root Endophyte Shift and Key Genera Discovery in Rice under Barnyardgrass Stress

Despite increasing knowledge of barnyardgrass(Echinochloa crus-galli) interference with rice, relatively little is known how endophytes improve the ability of rice against barnyardgrass stress. Here, we provided a detailed temporal characterization of rice root-associated microbiomes during co-cultivation with barnyardgrass and a comparison with the microbiomes of weed-free rice plants. Alpha diversity analysis indicated that barnyardgrass had the opposite effects on endophytic bacteria and fungi in rice roots, in terms of the community diversity, richness and coverage at the rice seedling stage. Principal coordinate analysis showed that barnyardgrass had only a minor effect on the community composition of endophytes in rice roots at the rice seedling stage, but showed a significant and maximum interference at the heading stage. Rice recruited many endophytes to resist biotic stress from barnyardgrass, especially for fungi. PICRUSt(phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states) predictive analysis indicated that 23 metabolic pathways of bacteria were overrepresented in rice. In addition, the main trophic mode of fungi was pathotroph according to FUNGuild analysis. A positive correlation between bacteria and fungi in rice roots was found via network analysis. Anaeromyxobacter, Azospira and Pseudolabrys were the vital bacteria, Phaeosphaeria and Funneliformis were the dominant fungi in maintaining the stability of the ecological network. These results provided data and a theoretical basis for the in-depth understanding of what role endophytes play in rice resistance to barnyardgrass stress and will have implications on improving the resistance of rice against biotic stress using root microbiota.

Exploring seasonal acidification in the Yellow Sea

The Yellow Sea on the western continental margin of the North Pacific Ocean is of major ecological and economic importance. Four field surveys were conducted during May and November 2012, August 2015, and January 2016, investigating seasonal variations in dissolved oxygen and carbonate system parameters of this marginal sea. Results showed that the Yellow Sea cold water mass accumulated respiration-induced CO_2 in subsurface and bottom waters in summer and autumn, leading to acidified seawaters with critical carbonate saturation states of aragonite(Ω_(arag)) of less than 1.5. These seriously acidified seawaters occupied one third of surveyed areas in summer and autumn, likely affecting local calcified organisms and benthic communities. In a future scenario for the 2050 s, in which the atmospheric CO_2 mole fraction increases by 100 μmol mol-1, half of the Yellow Sea benthos would be seasonally covered by acidified seawater having a critical Ω_(arag) of less than 1.5. The corresponding bottom-water p H_T would be around 7.85 in summer, and 7.80 in autumn. Of the China seas, the Yellow Sea cold water mass represents one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to ocean acidification.