• Snowpack shifts cyanobacterial community in biological soil crusts

    分类: 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间: 2021-04-22 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》

    摘要: Winter snowpack is an important source of moisture that influences the development of biological soil crusts (BSCs) in desert ecosystems. Cyanobacteria are important photosynthetic organisms in BSCs. However, the responses of the cyanobacterial community in BSCs to snowpack, snow depth and melting snow are still unknown. In this study, we investigated the cyanobacterial community composition and diversity in BSCs under different snow treatments (doubled snow, ambient snow and removed snow) and three snow stages (stage 1, snowpack; stage 2, melting snow; and stage 3, melted snow) in the Gurbantunggut Desert in China. In stages 1 and 2, Cyanobacteria were the dominant phylum in the bacterial community in the removed snow treatment, whereas Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were abundant in the bacterial communities in the ambient snow and doubled snow treatments. The relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes increased with increasing snow depth. The relative abundances of Cyanobacteria and other bacterial taxa were affected mainly by soil temperature and irradiance. In stages 2 and 3, the relative abundance of Cyanobacteria increased quickly due to the suitable soil moisture and irradiance conditions. Oscillatoriales, Chroococcales, Nostocales, Synechococcales and unclassified Cyanobacteria were detected in all the snow treatments, and the most dominant taxa were Oscillatoriales and Chroococcales. Various cyanobacterial taxa showed different responses to snowpack. Soil moisture and irradiance were the two critical factors shaping the cyanobacterial community structure. The snowpack depth and duration altered the soil surface irradiance, soil moisture and other soil properties, which consequently were selected for different cyanobacterial communities. Thus, local microenvironmental filtering (niche selection) caused by snow conditions may be a dominant process driving shifts in the cyanobacterial community in BSCs.

  • Effects of drought treatment on photosystem II activity in the ephemeral plant Erodium oxyrhinchum

    分类: 生物学 >> 生态学 提交时间: 2023-06-13 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》

    摘要:Drought is a critical limiting factor affecting the growth and development of plants in arid and semi-arid areas. Photosynthesis, one of the most important physiological processes of plants, can be significantly inhibited by drought. Photosystem II (PSII) is considered the main attack target when photosynthesis is affected by drought. To clarify how PSII components of the ephemeral plant Erodium oxyrhinchum (grown in the Gurbantunggut Desert, China) respond to drought treatment, we evaluated the functional activity of PSII by determining chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange parameters under different drought treatment levels (control (400 mL), moderate drought (200 mL), and severe drought (100 mL)). Under moderate drought treatment, significant decreases were found in net photosynthetic rate (Pn), effective quantum yield of PSII (Y(II)), relative electron transfer rate of PSII (rETR(II)), oxygen-releasing complex, probability of an absorbed exciton moving an electron into the electron transport chain beyond primary quinone receptor QA– (Φ(Eo)), probability of a trapped exciton moving an electron into the electron transport chain beyond primary quinone receptor QA– (ψ(Eo)), and performance index of PSII (PIabs). Compared to control treatment, marked increases were observed in water use efficiency (WUE), relative variable fluorescence at the J step (VJ), initial fluorescence (Fo), and dissipated energy per active reaction center (DIo/RC) under moderate drought treatment, but there were no substantial changes in semi-saturated light intensity (IK), active reaction centers per cross-section (RC/CS), and total performance index of PSII and PSI (PItotal, where PSI is the photosystem I). The changes of the above parameters under severe drought treatment were more significant than those under moderate drought treatment. In addition, severe drought treatment significantly increased the absorbed energy per active reaction center (ABS/RC) and trapping energy per active reaction center (TRo/RC) but decreased the energy transmission connectivity of PSII components, RC/CS, and PItotal, compared to moderate drought and control treatments. Principle component analysis (PCA) revealed similar information according to the grouping of parameters. Moderate drought treatment was obviously characterized by RC/CS parameter, and the values of Fo, VJ, ABS/RC, DIo/RC, and TRo/RC showed specific reactions to severe drought treatment. These results demonstrated that moderate drought treatment reduced the photochemical activity of PSII to a certain extent but E. oxyrhinchum still showed strong adaptation against drought treatment, while severe drought treatment seriously damaged the structure of PSII. The results of this study are useful for further understanding the adaptations of ephemeral plants to different water conditions and can provide a reference for the selection of relevant parameters for photosynthesis measurements of large samples in the field.
     

  • Fabrication of Ti2AlN ceramics with orientation growth behavior by the microwave sintering method

    提交时间: 2017-05-02

    摘要: Porous Ti2AlN ceramic, which was measured to be 3.23 g/cm3 about 74.9% of its theoretical value, was successfully synthesized and simultaneously consolidated from starting raw materials of Ti, Al, and TiN powders with a near-stoichiometric molar ratio of