A township-level assessment of forest fragmentation using morphological spatial pattern analysis in Qujing,Yunnan Province,China

Forest fragmentation is an integral part of global change.Understanding forest fragmentation patterns and dynamics are of great significance for maintaining ecosystem stability.There are great differences in the interference of natural and human factors on forests in different towns of mountainous cities,and the characteristics of forest fragmentation are also obviously different.Forest fragmentation has been broadly studied,yet,it remains poorly understood at the township-scale within mountainous cities.In this study,the spatial form of forest landscape and forest fragmentation modes of towns were examined in Qujing City,Yunnan Province,China for the years of 2006 and 2016,relying heavily on the morphological spatial pattern analysis(MSPA)and K-means clustering algorithm.Results in 2016 showed that the forest landscape morphology of Qujing could be divided into seven classes:core,perforation,islet,bridge,edge,branch and ring;with landscape areas of 41.94%,1.22%,7.04%,11.12%,23.26%,11.74%and 3.68%respectively.Compared with 2006,the changes of landscape area were 1.71%,0.02%,0.30%,1.65%,0.20%,0.19%and 0.05%respectively.The townships in Qujing varied significantly in their landscape fragmentation patterns,and these patterns were spatially dependent.Different forest landscape forms have positive spatial correlations and differences.The forest fragmentation modes of towns can be divided into four types:Low anthropogenic towns,high anthropogenic towns,complex terrain towns and gentle terrain towns.Different ways of human activities play a decisive role in forest landscape fragmentation.The expansion of construction land and agricultural land intensifies forest fragmentation;however,man-made orderly and planned ecological restoration will greatly improve the forest coverage and improve the spatial form of urban forest landscape.

Revision of genera in Asterinales

The order Asterinales comprises a single family,Asterinaceae.In this study,types or specimens of 41 genera of Asterinaceae are re-examined and re-described and illustrated by micrographs.Seventeen genera,namely Asterina(type genus),Asterinella,Asterotexis,Batistinula,Cirsosia,Echidnodella,Halbania,Lembosia,Meliolaster,Parasterinopsis,Platypeltella,Prillieuxina,Schenckiella(=Allothyrium),Trichasterina,Trichopeltospora,Uleothyrium and Vizellopsis,are maintained within Asterinaceae.Echidnodes,Lembosiella,Lembosina,Morenoina,and Thyriopsi s are transferred to Aulographaceae based on morphological and molecular characteristics.Anariste is transferred to Micropeltidaceae,while Lembosiopsis is transferred to Mycosphaerellaceae.Placoasterella and Placosoma are morphologically close to taxa in Parmulariaceae,where they are transferred.Aulographina is placed in Teratosphaeriaceae,while Asterodothis,Asterinema,Dothidasteromella,Leveillella,Petrakina and Stephanotheca are transferred to Dothideomycetes,genera incertae sedis.Eupelte,Macowaniella,Maheshwaramyces,Parasterinella,and Vishnumyces are treated as doubtful genera,because of lack of morphological and molecular data.Aphanopeltis,Asterolibertia,Neostomella,Placoasterina,and Symphaster are synonyms of Asterina based on morphology,while Trichamelia,Viegasia,and Yamamotoa are synonyms of Lembosia.The characteristics of each family are discussed and a phylogenetic tree is included.