General lecture in natural environmental studies

Shiro Tsuyuzaki, GSEES, HU

The abstracts of lecture will be introduced in

http://hosho.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/~tsuyu/index.html (English version),

or

http://hosho.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/~tsuyu/index-j.html (Japanese version)

Terrestrial ecosystems

Expected background

Knowing “Fundamental ecology”and/or related subjects

自然環境学総論

What lectures I have in this semester

Introduction to environmental science (intensive course)2nd class (10:30-) on Monday, Rm# C204-1One turn

General lecture in natural environment studies2nd class (10:30-) on Friday, Rm# D102Last five turns

Advanced course in watershed environmental science2nd class (10:30-) on Wednesday, Rm# C202Full (12 or more) turns

Advanced course in environmental conservation2nd class (10:30-) on Thursday, Rm #C202First six turns

Do it for me

Please do not call me ‘sensei (先生 )’.

Because my definition of ‘sensei’ = armchair scientist/professor

Tsuyuzaki Guidance (Terrestrial ecosystem and climate)Sato Solar radiation and climate Energy budget at land surface Atmospheric boundary layer and regional climate Land surface processes and climateNegishi Controlling factors of ecosystem structure Food web and material cycling Ecosystem response to environmental fluctuationsTsuyuzaki Photosynthesis and primary production Estimation of primary production Ecosystem responses to global warming Fundamental concept of modeling on temporal ecosystem changes

Syllabus

Biome (introduction)How to measure (fine-scale)

Biomass estimation - AllometryHow to measure (global-scale)

Remote sensing and geographical information systemResults

Plant growthPrimary productionBiogeochemical cycle

Field experiments and controversial ProblemsPseudo-alpine zoneNot only CO2 … but also methane(Skislope vegetation)

Warming experimentsGlobal-warming models

Content (of my turn)

Human disturbances

Scale Example

Large Global warming (+ Ozone hole) (Environmental hormone)Desertification DeforestationAcidic rain Forest ecosystem changeHeat island Urban ecosystem changeForest cutting (including skislope construction)GrazingTrampling

Small Clipping

Occurring with various scales = “Biological invasion”

Grazing,Coppice,Slush-and-burn agriculture,and others

pH < 5.6SOx, NOx brown forest soil

Ecosystem or biosysteman ecological system that includes all the organisms and their environment within which they occur naturally.

+ Plant community+ Animal community+ Environment

= Ecosystem

If you think protecting species is hard, just wait until we try to protect whole ecosystems.

Noss (1996)

Fig. 9.11. Movements of nutrients from a stream to fish, bears, and eagles; nutrients are then deposited in the uplands and absorbed into the terrestrial biota. (Turner et al. 2001)

Terrestrial ecosystem

Mountainous ecosystem

Stream ecosystem

Oceanic ecosystem

Landscape unit

Biome (formation)

a major regional ecological community of organisms usually defined by the botanical habitat in which they occur and determined by interaction of the substrate, climate, fauna, and flora.

Examples Tundra Taiga Summergreen forest Grassland Desert Tropical rain forest

(Clements 1916, Clements & Shelford 1932)

Figure 28.16 Temperature and rainfall determine the biome to a large extent. For example, rain forests are found in tropical regions where temperatures are warm and rainfall plentiful year round. Deserts, on the other hand, are found in tropical and temperate regions where rainfall is minimal. (Mader 1985)

Biome along the gradients of temperature and precipitation

Dec

reas

ing

tem

pera

ture

→

Increasing dryness →

Tropical

Temperate

Subarctic

Arctic

taiga

tundra

forestgrassland

semidesertdesert

semidesertdesertsavanna

rain forestseasonal forest

ForestsBoreal forestTemperate forestTropical forest

Precipitation = highTemperature = various

Net primary productivity = highBiomass = high

Coniferous forestA coniferous forest encircles the globe in the northern temperate zone.

Water works for gold mine

One year after a forest fire

Photo taken in Boston Creek near Fairbanks, AK, on May, 2005 (by ST)

GrasslandsPrimary regions:

Rainfall is intermediatebetween that of deserts and forests

Productivity = highBiomass = low

Savannah (Africa)Steppe (eastern Europe and Asia)Prairie (north America)Pampas (south America)

Desertification

Deserts, Semi-desert and shrubland

So-called arid regions

Precipitation = extremely lowTemperature

hot dayscold nights

Productivity depends on rainfall

TundraVegetation and animal life on the tundra. Notice that the lack of trees, which are unable to root successfully, because the ground is always frozen beneath the surface.

Sept. 29, 2006 (Asahi Newspaper)

植生調査は 10 四方ごと。パルサに生える植物の種類とその㌢割合を調べる =米国立北極行き野生生物保護区で、山本壮一郎撮影

アラスカ

植生多様なツンドラ

　

北大

　

温暖化の影響把握へ

　

米アラスカ州に広がる米国立北極域野生生物保護区のツンド

ラ平原にこの夏、

北海道大の環境調査隊が入っ

た。

ツン

ドラの植生の変化を人工衛星などで監視し、

地球温暖化の影響を

いち早く検地するのが狙いだ。

(

ワシントン=

上田俊秀

)

Primary regionsArctic tundraAlpine tundra

Temperature = lowPrecipitation = low

(< 250 mm), mainly as snow

Productivity = lowBiomass = lowSpecies richness = high

+ consider “Permafrost”

Fig. Schematic illustration of species richness-area curves in two different habitats (A and B).

Area

Sp

ecie

s ri

chn

ess

Habitat A

Habitat Be.g, tundra

Productivity Carbon fluxBiomass Carbon sink/source

Diversity in tundra

Scale-dependent diversity

(Raunkiaer 1934)

Avoid stressful periods (cool/hot temperature, or drought) by dormant organs

Position of dormancy budP: Phanerophytes MM: Macrophanerophytes > 8 m in height Trees M: Mesophanerophytes = 2-8 m + Epiphytes + SclerophytesN: Nanophanerophytes = 30 cm – 2 m ShrubsCh: Chamaephytes < 30 cmH: Hemicryptophytes Ground surface PerennialsG: Geophytes UndergroundHH: Helophytes UnderwaterTh: Therophytes Producing seeds Annuals

Raunkiaer’s life form or dormancy form spectra

Raunkier’s classification of life forms

(a) Trees, shrubs Warm, moist(b) Perennials Cool, dry(c) Perennials Cold, moist(d) Perennials Cold, moist(e) Annuals Deserts and grasslands(f) Epiphytes Warm, humid

Raunkiaer’s life form spectrum in the world

Ph Ch H G/HH Th

World standard 46 9 26 6 13

Tropical 61 6 12 5 16Desert 10 17 20 6 46Mediterranean 12 6 29 11 42Warm temperate 8 6 50 18 19Arctic 1 22 66 15 2Alpine - 25 68 4 4

Mean annual temperature (Co)

An

nu

al p

reci

pit

atio

n (

mm

)Summary Determinants on distribution of biome = Global scale

Temperature vs Water (precipitation)

AnnualsShrubs

Trees

Perennials

Figure 1. The distribution of traditionally defined biomes in terms of annual temperature and precipitation. The shaded area includes all biomes that contain trees. (Modified from Woodward & Lomas 2004)

Fig. 2. Net energy balance of a species along a geographical gradient, showing the thresholds for reproduction and survival (Keddy 2001)

Environmental condition

Org

anis

m p

erfo

rman

ce(K

cal/

orga

nis

m)

Growth range

Potential geographical range

Energetic costs of competitionOnly the green region will support reproducing populations. By increasing the costs of survival, that is, decreasing the net energy balance, competition reduces performance and narrows distributional ranges.

Reproductive range