Effect of spatial scale and topography on spatial heterogeneity of soil seed banks under grazing disturbance in a sandy grassland of Horqin Sand Land, Northern China

Soil seed banks play an important role in the distribution and composition of plant communities in semiarid grassland ecosystems. However, information on how spatial scale influences the spatial heterogeneity of soil seed banks in a grassland under grazing disturbance is still lacking. Based on field sampling and greenhouse germination, we measured the species composition and seed density of soil seed banks at different spatial scales （30 mx30 m, 30 mx60 m and 30 mx90 m） along a topographical gradient in a sandy grassland in Horqin Sand Land, Northern China. By applying geostatistical methods, we examined how spatial scale and topography affected the spatial distribution of soil seed banks in the study area. Our results showed that the total number of species in soil seed banks, as well as the number of dominant annuals, increased with the increase of spatial scales. Seed density in soil seed banks decreased with the increase of spatial scales due to an increase in the slopes and relative heights of the sampling points. Geostatistical analysis showed that the relative structural variance （C/（C0＋C）） of seed density and species richness were over 65% for all spatial scales, indicating that these variables had an ob- vious spatial autocorrelation and the spatial structured variance accounted for the largest proportion of the total sample variance. Spatial autocorrelation of seed density in soil seed banks increased with the increase of measured scales, while that of species richness showed a reverse trend. These results suggest that the total number of spe- cies in soil seed banks is spatial scale dependent and lower topography may accommodate more seeds. Spatial distribution of seed density in soil seed banks is also scale dependent due to topographic variation. Grassland management, therefore, needs to consider local grazing disturbance regime, spatial scale and topography.

Effects of size variation and spatial structure on plastic response of plant height to light competition

Plants only interact with neighbors over restricted distances,so local conditions are of great significance for plants.In this study,a spatially-explicit,individual-based model was constructed to explore the effects of size variation and spatial structure on adaptive plasticity of plant height in response to light competition.In the model a plant maintains its height at an optimal value in order to maximize its growth rate,and this optimal height increases with the increase of the intensity of light competition experienced by the individual plant.When the spatial pattern of the population is non-uniform or there is size variation among individual plants,the height growth curves of individuals different from each other vary due to the differences in the local light environment,and there is also variation in the allocation of photosynthate to height growth among the individual plants.There is no ESS height or height growth strategy on which all plants will converge.Our results indicate that the plasticity of plants' height growth reactions to the light competition should be considered at the individual level and they argue strongly for the importance of the spatial pattern and neighborhood effects in generating the diversity of heights and height growth strategies in plant population.

Covariance of Floral and Vegetative Traits in Four Species of Ranunculaceae:A Comparison between Specialized and Generalized Pollination Systems

Theory predicts that tighter correlation between floral traits and weaker relationship between floral and vegetative traits more likely occur in specialized flowers than generalized flowers, favoring by precise fit with pollinators. However, traits and trait correlations frequently vary under different environments. Through detecting spatiotemporal variation in phenotypic traits （floral organ size and vegetative size） and trait correlations in four Ranunculaceae species, we examined four predictions. Overall, our results supported these predictions to a certain degree. The mean coefficient of variation （CV） of floral traits in two specialized species （Delphinium kamaonense and Aconitum gymnandrum） was marginally significantly lower than that of another two generalized species （Trollius ranunculoides and Anemone obtusiloba）. The two specialized species also showed marginally significantly smaller CV in floral traits than vegetative size across the two species. The absolute mean correlation between floral and vegetative traits, or that between floral traits in species with specialized flowers was not significantly lower, or higher than that in generalized plants, weakly supporting the predictions. Furthermore, we documented a large variation in trait correlations of four species among different seasons and populations. Study of covariance of floral and vegetative traits will benefit from the contrast of results obtained from generalized and specialized pollination systems.

Ethylene Production and 1-Aminocyclopropane-l-Carboxylate （ACC） Synthase Gene Expression in Tomato （ L ycopsicon esculentum Mill.） Leaves Under Enhanced UV-B Radiation

Tomato （Lycopslcon esculentum Mill.） plants grown in a greenhouse were irradiated with two different levels of UV-B, namely 8.82 （T1） and 12.6 kJ/m^2 per day （T2）. Ethylene production, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate （ACC） content, 1-（malonylamino） cyclopvopane-1-carboxylic acid （MACC） content, gene expression of ACC aynthase （EC 4.4.1.14）, and ACC oxidase activity in tomato leaves were determined. The results Indicated that ACC content, the activity of ACC synthase and ACC oxidase, and ethylene production Increased continuously under low doses of UV-B radiation, whereas at high doses of radiation these parameters Increased during the first 12 d and then started to decrease. The MACC content increased continuously over 18 d under both doses of UV-B irradiation. The changes in ACC content, ACC synthaae activity, ACC oxidase activity, the transcriptional level of the ACC synthase gene, and ethylene production were consistent with each other, suggesting that ACC synthase was the key enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis and that ethylene production in tomato leaf tissues under UV-B radiation could be regulated by the expression of the ACC synthase gene. The results also indicate that the change in ethylene metabolism may be an adaptive mechanism to enhanced UV-B radiation.