Stem and Total Above-Ground Biomass Models for the Tree Species of Freshwater Wetlands Forest, Coastal Areas and Dry Areas of Bangladesh: Using a Non-Destructive Approach

Biomass and carbon stock in a forested areas are now prime important indicators of forest management and climate change mitigation measures. But the accurate estimation of biomass and carbon in trees of forests is now a challenging issue. In most cases, pantropical and regional biomass models are used frequently to estimate biomass and carbon stock in trees, but these estimations have some uncertainty compared to the species-specific allometric biomass model. Acacia nilotica, Casuarina equisetifolia and Melia azedarach have been planted in different areas of Bangladesh considering the species-specific site requirements. While Barringtonia acutangula and Pongamia pinnata are the dominant tree species of the freshwater swamp forest of Bangladesh. This study was aimed to develop species-specific allometric biomass models for estimating stem and above ground biomass (TAGB) of these species using the non-destructive method and to compare the efficiency of the derived biomass models with the frequently used regional and pantropical biomass models. Four Ln-based models with diameter at breast height (DBH) and total height (H) were tested to derive the best fit allometric model. Among the tested models, Ln (biomass) = a + b Ln (D) + c Ln (H) was the best-fit model for A. nilotica, M. azedarach, B. acutangula and P. pinnata and Ln (biomass) = a + b Ln (D2H) was best-fit for C. equisetifolia. Finally, the derived best-fit species-specific TAGB models have shown superiority over the other frequently used pantropical and regional biomass models in relation to model efficiency and model prediction error.

Mapping of Freshwater Lake Wetlands Using Object-Relations and Rule-based Inference

Inland freshwater lake wetlands play an important role in regional ecological balance. Hongze Lake is the fourth biggest freshwater lake in China. In the past three decades, there has been significant loss of freshwater wet- lands within the lake and at the mouths of neighboring rivers, due to disturbance, primarily from human activities. The main purpose of this paper was to explore a practical technology for differentiating wetlands effectively from upland types in close proximity to them. In the paper, an integrated method, which combined per-pixel and per-field classifi- cation, was used for mapping wetlands of Hongze Lake and their neighboring upland types. Firstly, Landsat ETM＋ imagery was segmented and classified by using spectral and textural features. Secondly, ETM＋ spectral bands, textural features derived from ETM＋ Pan imagery, relative relations between neighboring classes, shape fea^xes, and elevation were used in a decision tree classification. Thirdly, per-pixel classification results from the decision tree classifier were improved by using classification results from object-oriented classification as a context. The results show that the technology has not only overcome the salt-and-pepper effect commonly observed in the past studies, but also has im- proved the accuracy of identification by nearly 5%.

Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Tissue Nutrition and Biomass of Freshwater Wetland Plant in Sanjiang Plain,Northeast China

Nitrogen (4, 10, 20 and 40g/m2) and phosphorus (1.2, 4.8 and 9.6g/m2) were applied to tanks to evaluating the effects of N and P additions on plant tissue nutrition and the biomass of two freshwater wetland plants in the Sanjiang Plain of Northeast China, namely Carex lasiocarpa and Carex meyeriana. For C. lasiocarpa, the total N concentration (TN) of plant tissues under the treatment of 10g/m2 was lower compared with the other N treatments. Initially, C. lasiocarpa exhibited a significant increase of biomass as compared with the control value, reaching the maximum of 31.20±4.01g/tank under the treatment of 10g/m2, and then dropped to 18.02±1.53g/tank under the treatment of 40g/m2. For C. meyeriana, TN generally increased with increasing amount of N applied. High N applied produced more aboveground biomass than low N applied. C. meyeriana, as the accompanying species, can adapt itself to the wetland enriched by N, and it may replace C. lasiocarpa as the dominant species of wetland. The total P concentration (TP) in tissues of C. lasiocarpa increased with P addition. The aboveground biomass of C. lasiocarpa increased with P addition, and it changed from 18.77±3.29g/tank to 46.03±3.95g/tank. However, TP of tissue may accelerate the C. meyeriana development under the treatment of 1.2g/m2. P accumulation contributes to the dominance of C. lasiocarpa but limits the production of C. meyeriana, and the latter may disappear gradually from the wetland enriched by P. Increased input of N and P might have an influence on wetland plant community composition and structure, so the effects of nutrient inputs and accumulation should be considered to protect the freshwater wetland.

Microbial Diversity of Planctomycetes and Related Bacteria in Wetlands with Different Anthropogenic Disturbances

The diversity of Planctomycetes and related bacteria in 3 types of freshwater wetlands with different anthropogenic disturbances were investigated by cloning and sequencing PCR-amplified partial 16S rRNA genes. Three clone libraries were constructed using 16S rRNA-targeted forward PCR primer specific for Planctomycetales and general bacterial reverse primer. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences defined 95 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with 163 sequences. The clone libraries covered a wide microbial diversity of Proteobacteria and the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamydiales (PVC) superphylum. The majority of the OTUs were related to the phylum of Planctomycetes (33 OTUs), Proteobacteria (22 OTUs) and Verrucomicrobia (22 OTUs). Four known genera from the Planctomycetes phylum were all detected. The genus Pirellula (18 OTUs) dominated the Planctomycetes community, but different patterns of distribution were observed in the wetlands. The littoral wetlands of Baiyangdian Lake with the least anthropogenic disturbances covered more species and showed the highest biodiversity. However, the Jiaxing paddy fields with the highest anthropogenic disturbances showed a higher biodiversity than that in the riparian wetlands of the North Canal. Bacteria distantly related to anammox bacteria were also detected with a small proportion (4 OTUs). It showed that wetlands hold a great biodiversity of phyla Planctomycetes and related bacteria; furthermore, there is ample opportunity to discover novel phylotypes of Planctomycetes in the wetland ecosystems.