Natural regeneration in Mongolian pine,Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica, forest at honghuaerji of China (the original of the natural Mongolian pine, forest on sandy land) was studied in 2004. The total mean values of regeneration indexes were higher in mature stands (more than 80% individual stems were older than 50 years), the maximum of regeneration index reached 29 seedlings·m⁻², with lowest values in the younger stand, e.g., in 32-year old and 43-year old stands. The stand age was an important factor determining the natural regeneration, which was the best in the older stands in this investigation (e.g. about 80-year old). The regeneration index seemed not to be closely in relation to canopy openness although Mongolian pine is a photophilic tree species. In each type of gaps, natural regeneration was very well. Regeneration indexes were satisfactory at the south and east edges in the circle gaps; and at the east edge of the narrow-square gaps. Results indicated that Mongolian pine, seedlings could endure shading understory, but it would not enter the canopy layer without gap or large disturbance, e.g., fire, wind/snow damage or clear cutting etc. These results may provide potentially references to the management and afforestation of Mongolian pine, plantations on sandy land in arid and semi-arid areas. Researches such as the comprehensive comparisons on regeneration, structure and ecological conditions and so on between natural Mongolian pine, forests and plantations should be conducted in the future.

Anarom gene was cloned from genomic DNA ofScleortinia sclerotiorum by inverse PCR. The evolutionary relationships ofS. sclerotiorum and other fungi inarom gene were studied. Results showed that thearom gene from ofS. sclerotiorum has a single open reading frame of 4773 bp and does not include any introns. The derived amino acid sequence consists of 1 590 residues, and it is homologous to all fungal AROM proteins studied so far. The theoretical isoelectric point (pI) and molecular weight (Mw) is 6.5 and 172.66 kD, respectively. GC percentage of thearom gene is 44.94. According to the results of searching from CDD and Prosite database, AROM protein ofS. sclerotiorum contains five conserve domains: 3-dehydroquinate synthase domain, 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase (3-dehydroquinase) domain, shikimate 5-dehydrogenase domain, shikimate kinase domain, and-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP sythase) domain, and four motifs: two EPSP synthase signatures, dehydroquinase class I active site, shikimate kinase signature. According to the PIR Site Rule PIRSR000514-1, four functionally important amino acid residues are found by alignment. Putative TATA box and CAAT box locate separately in −23 and −77 loci in 5′ un-translated region, and two loci found in downstreamarom gene are likely polyadenylation signals. In addition, phylogeny ofarom gene is analyzed.

Safe and economical disposal of paper mill sludge is a key consideration for forest products industry. A study was conducted to examine the effects of amendments of sludge and nutrients on soil surface CO₂ flux (R_s) in northern hardwood forests and to quantify the relat among R₅, soil temperature, and moisture in these stands. The experiment was a randomized complete block design that included sludge-amended, fertilized, and control treatments in sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) dominated hardwood forests in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. Results showed that R_s was positively correlated to soil temperature (R²=0.80, p<0.001), but was poorly correlated to soil moisture. Soil moisture positively affected the R_s only in the sludge-amended treatment. The R_s was significantly greater in the sludge-amended treatment than in the fertilized (p=0.033) and the control (p=0.048) treatments. The maximum R_s in the sludge-amended treatment was 8.8 μmol CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹, 91% and 126% greater than those in the fertilized (4.6 μmol CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹) and control (3.9 μmol CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹) treatments, respectively. The R_s did not differ significantly between the fertilized and control treatments. The difference in R_s between sludge-amended and the other treatments decreased with time following treatment.

The dynamics of soil seed banks and seed movement was investigated in three bare alkali-saline patches in Songnen grassland, Northeast China, for exploring their potential role in the vegetation restoration of bare alkali-saline patches. The results showed that the seed banks and the seed movement in these patches were very similar to each other, and to some extent the seed movement was related to patch-side vegetation there. Seed movement across the soil surface of these bare alkali-saline patches was abundant and dominated by the seeds of pioneer species, such asChloris virgata andSuaeda corniculata, which accounted for over 96% of these trapped seeds. In the contrast, soil seed banks of bare patches were extremely small, in different seasons, especially in May and June, even no any seed have been found, mainly due to lowest retaining capacity of surface soil to those abundant seed movement. Both soil seed banks and seed, movement showed seasonal variation, and usually reached the maximum in October. Soil seed banks of bare alkali-saline patches, which were extremely small and difficult to recruit naturally, may inhibit speed of vegetation restoration. It is suggested that seed movement would be the potential seed source and play a potentially important role in the process of vegetation restoration of bare alkali-saline patches by enhancing the soil retaining capacity to seed movement.

The major goal for long-term poplar breeding can be formulated as maximizing annual progress in Group Merit Gain at a given annual budget (GMG/Y ^*). To evaluate different breeding scenarios, a deterministic simulator BREEDING CYCLE ANALYZER covering the most important aspects (gain, cost, time, technique, and gene diversity) of a full breeding cycle was used. The breeding strategies considered was based on pairwise crossing of the selected breeding population and balanced within family selection for the next breeding population. A main scenario and a number of alternative scenarios within these constraints were evaluated using estimates of the best available inputs for poplars. In focus was a comparison between three different testing scenarios for selecting the parents mated to create future breeding generations, thus selecting based on phenotype, clone test or progeny test. For the main scenario, the highestGMG/Y, and the optimal selection age for clone, phenotype and progeny strategies were 0.7480%, 0.6989% and 0.4675%; 7, 6, and 11 years respectively. Clone test was best except when heritability was high, plant price was high or total budget was low; phenotype strategy was the second except for the case of extremely low narrow-sense heritability, for which the progeny strategy was a little more efficient than phenotype strategy.GMG/Y was markedly affected by narrow-sense heritability, additive variance at mature age, rotation age, plant-dependent cost, total budget and the time needed to produce the test plants, while diversity loss and recombination cost had rather weak effect onGMG/Y. Short rotation age and cheap testing cost favoured all three testing strategies. Comparably short rotation age, low plant-dependent cost and high total budget seem to promote early selection for progeny strategy.

The 276 pair-primers (nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite) developed from seven species of Pinaceae were selected and identified for cross-species transferability to tenPinus species (P. massoniana, P. kesiya, P. tabulaeformis, P. densiflora, P. thunbergii, P. caribaea, P. taeda, P. yunnanensis, P. densata, P. sylvestris) belonging to Sect.Pinus by BSA (bulked segregate analysis) method. The results showed that 23 of 276 (8.0%) markers were successful to have amplification product in ten species, and 5 of 23 (21.7%) were polymorphic cross species and lack of polymorphic within species. Eight of 10Pinus species were identified by using single primer, two and more combination of primers, but there were still no effective SSR primers for identifying other 2 species (P. kesiya andP. densata).

A study was conducted to detect the effect of water extracts from different parts such as root, bark, branch and leaf, of adult larch,Larix gmelini, trees on growth of Manchurian walnut,Juglans mandshurica, seedlings and the allelopathy between the two tree species. Four concentrations (100 g·kg⁻¹, 50 g·kg⁻¹, 25 g·kg⁻¹ and 12.5 g·kg⁻¹) were prepared for each kind of extracts. Result showed that the water extracts with low and moderate concentrations accelerated the growth of collar diameter and increased biomass and root/shoot ratio of walnut seedlings. The water extracts from branches and barks with low and moderate concentrations accelerated the height growth of the seedlings, while those from leaves and roots slightly decreased the height growth of seedlings. The fact that application of water extracts of larch improved the growth of manchurian walnut attributes possibly to the allelopathy between the two tree species.

Afforestation in sandy soils can cause soil acidification and affect Cu and Zn release. The behaviors of Cu and Zn release from contaminated arable sandy soils were investigated in the laboratory with the methods of simulated acidification of the soils. The results showed that soil acidification could change chemical forms of Cu and Zn in the soils, impel the transformation of Cu and Zn from carbonate associated fractions to exchangeable, organic matter and oxides associated fractions, and thus increase the release potential of Cu and Zn in the soils. The effect of the acidification on Zn leaching was more significant than that of Cu. Water solubility of Cu and Zn in the soils was increased with decreasing pH, and the solubility of Cu and Zn was increased exponentially at pH 3.8–4.5, and 6.2–6.5, respectively.

A comparative study was conducted on liquid penetration of the freeze-drying and air-drying sapwood and heartwood lumber of plantation Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata). The maximum amount of dyeing solution uptake by the capillary rise method was used to evaluate the liquid penetration properties of the treated wood. The pit aspiration ratio was, determined by semithin section method. Changes in wood microstructure were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that compared with air drying, the freeze drying had a significant effect on liquid penetration of sapwood and heartwood of Chinese fir. The liquid penetration of sapwood is significantly higher than that of the heartwood for both drying treatments. Low pit aspiration ratio and cracks of pits membrane of some bordered pits are the main reasons for increasing liquid penetration after freeze drying treatment.

It was discussed how refiner plate is produced by a new process, such as three dimension making die with computer technology, shell molding, optimizing the alloy and controlling shakeout time with computer. Results confirmed that lead-time was decreased and product customization was improved in making die by using computer technology. At the same time, precision molding can decrease the reject ratio of refiner plates, and optimizing the alloy and shakeout time can eliminate the need for heat treatment. The new fabricating process showed several advantages over the traditional process in increasing toughness, better casting precision, elimination of the annealing treatment stage and raising production efficiency.

Hem-fir plywood were exposed to two brown rot fungi,Gloeophyllum trabeum andPostia placenta, and one white rot fungus,Trametes versicolor, to investigate the effect of fungal decay on mechanical properties of plywood. Results showed that modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of hem-fir plywood declined significantly by inoculating fungi, and weight loss of sample had a modest decrease. The fungi also made a greater effect on MOR than on MOE. Of three fungi,Postia placenta caused a most significant weight loss, andGloeophyllum trabeum resulted in a largest flexural properties loss. Substantial declines in MOR and MOE of hem-fir plywood were also observed when the plywood samples were stored under wet conditions over 15 weeks, even in, the absence of fungal attack.

A study was conducted to determine the influence of forest road on breeding of tits in artificial nest boxes in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests in the Gwanak Arboretum (37° 25′ 05′' N, 126° 56′ 85″ E) of Seoul National University, Anyang, Korea from November 2002 to June 2003. Three tits species, varied tit (Parus varius), marsh tit (P. palustris) and great tit (P. major), breeding in artificial nest boxes were investigated on number of breeding pairs, cultch size, and egg measurement. Resuls showed that the breeding pairs of varied tit was more in 75–150 m area than in 0–75m area from forest road for all the three study sites, and the clutch size and egg measurements (weight, Major axis and Minor axis) of varied tit was also higher in the area of 75–150 m than in the area of 0–75 m, while no differences in number of breeding pairs and clutch size were found for, marsh tit and great tit between the two areas. Egg measurement of great tit was also higher in forest interior area than in forest edge area. It is concluded that varied tit were most significantly influenced by forest road, followed by great tit, whereas marsh tit were not influenced by forest road. Artificial nest box is roved to be good for cavity nester in disturbed areas by human activities. Supply of artificial nest can help population protection and management of bird species.

The turbulence statistics parameters (variables) of natural airflow within a large Open Top Chamber (OTC), 4 m in high height and 3 m in diameter, were measured with a three-dimensional ultrasonic anemometer/thermometer at Research Station of Changbai Mountain Forest Ecosystems Jilin Province, China in May 2004, for improving the field application of OTP. Results showed that because of the physical limitation, turbulence within OTC exhibited unique map compared with that of natural environments. There were clear daily patterns for most parameters. Turbulence here seemed to be isotropic and closely linked at all directions. Shape of eddies looked like a ’cylinder‘ which was very similar to the shape of OTC. Continuous airflow was always interpreted by large scale eddies from top of OTC and showed high interactive intermittence at all directions.

Eucalyptus species are the native and major plant group in Australian landscapes. Since European settlement, eucalypt trees heavily decline in the tablelands of New South Wales. Tree recruitment bog down and the landscape ecosystem hardly recovers to the original state. This paper introduces the history of eucalypt trees and native shrubs decline, analyzes reasons of seedling recruitment decrease in this region, such as clearing grazing, fire, competition from exotic species, dieback, insects, drought and so on, and summarizes the probable conditions of eucalypt tree recruitment, such as suitable conditions of seedling survival, sufficient seed supply, keep from predation, suitable germination conditions, non-grazed environment, mechanical treatment, weed control, fire regime, disease control etc, lending suggests how to preserve and encourage eucalypt trees recruitment in the area.

This paper summarizes the fuel type systems currently adopted by the fire danger rating systems or fire behavior prediction systems of some countries, such as Canada, the United States, Australia, Greece, and Switzerland. As an example, the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System organizes fuel types into five major groups, with a total of 16 discrete fuel types recognized. In the United States National Fire Danger Rating System, fuel models are divided into four vegetation groups and twenty fire behavior fuel models. The Promethus System (Greece) divides fuels into 7 types, and Australia has adopted only three distinct fuel types: open grasslands, dry eucalyptus forests, and heath/shrublands. Four approaches to mapping fuels are acceptable: field reconnaissance, direct mapping methods, indirect mapping methods, and gradient modeling. Satellite remote-sensing techniques provide an alternative source of obtaining fuel data quickly, since they provide comprehensive spatial coverage and enough temporal resolution to update fuel maps in a more efficient and timely manner than traditional aerial photography or fieldwork. Satellite sensors can also provide digital information that can be easily tied into other spatial databases using Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, which can be used as input in fire behavior and growth models. Various fuel-mapping methods from satellite remote sensing are discussed in the paper. According to the analysis of the fuel mapping techniques worldwide, this paper suggests that China should first create appropriate fuel types for its fire agencies before embarking on developing a national fire danger rating system to improve the current data situation for it's fire management programs.

This paper introduces the state of waterlands in China and discribes the applications of Remote Sensing (RS), Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) in wetland research, including land-coverclassification and change detection, wetland evolutionary processes, landscape-change analyses, channel migration, flood and wetlands resource monitoring and spatial quantitative analyses/modeling, ecosystem service evaluation, ecological processes and risk assessments, disease control, water quality monitoring/modeling, pollution monitoring/modeling, wetlands hydrology, wetland information systems and WebGIS. The limitations and needs for optimal use of these technologies are discussed, such as the limited advanced technical knowledge and skills, low awareness and capacity, unclear link between GIS output and policy making, lack of supporting policies and standards, lack of a wetlands geo-information networklimite, and the use of these techniques in wetland research. It is suggested that for realising true applications of RS, GIS and GPS technologies, the availability, accessibility, reliability, homogeneity, and continuity of wetlands-related geo-information, enabling environment, policies and standards, and funding are needed.

Plant leaves may emit a substantial amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere, which include isoprene, terpene, alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, eters, esters and carboxylic acids. Furthermore, most of these compounds actively participate in tropospheric chemistry. Great progresses have been made in linking emission of these compounds to climate. However, the VOCs emission function in plant is still not clear. Recently, some evidence has emerged that the production and the emission of VOCs, such as isoprene and monoterpenes, which account for 80% of total VOCs, exhibit plant protection against high temperatures. These increases in VOCs emissions could contribute in a significant way to plant thermotolerance. This perspective summarizes some latest literatures regarding the VOCs emission-dependent thermoprotection in plant species subjected to high temperature stress, presents the achievement in studies concerning plant VOCs emission-dependent thermotolerance, and then exhibits the proposed mechanisms of such plant thermotolerance. Finally, open questions regarding the plant VOCs emission were shown, and the future researches were proposed.

Microbial biomass represents a relatively small standing stock of nutrients, compared to soil organic matter, but it can act as a labile source of nutrients for plants, a pathway for incorporation of organic matter into the soil, and a temporary sink for nutrients. This review describes several factors controlling the dynamics of soil microbial biomass. These factors mainly include organic carbon and nitrogen limitation, residue and nutrient management, differences in plant species, soil texture, soil moisture and temperature. On the basis of detailed analysis, it is reasonable that future research would be focused on the impact of land use change on soil MB in tropical and subtropical ecosystems.

This paper reviews various forestry practices in Jilin Province, China. The authors emphasize the rich natural diversity of Jilin and the need to focus research efforts on understanding the potential of native species to meet the needs of land-management agencies involved in forest resource exploitation and ecological restoration. The native species of China hold great potential, and deserve more research attention, for meeting these needs. The introduction and testing of exotic species should be done only under rigorous scientific testing and after comparison with native species prior to operational introduction into forestry in order to avoid unwanted ecological consequences, including potential problems with alien invasives and pest introductions. The authors also emphasize the need to maintain viable (e.g., genetically diverse and reproductively fit) natural populations of native species in order to protect China's valuable natural diversity and maintain the potential of native species to function as future seed sources for local forest and ecological restoration activities.

As the seventh member of Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) family, Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF or FGF-7) is observed to mediate epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation in a variety of tissues. In this article, such following issues within KGF research were reviewed, as (1) KGF functioning pathways: experimental results demonstrated the paracrine pathway of KGF played main role in mesenchymal-epithelial interactions whereas KGF itself was under the control of a feedback regulation, autocrine provided KGF alternative functioning way particularly in tumourogenesis; (2) KGF in apoptosis: a few of investigations recently illustrated KGF mediated cell survival was based on its mitogenic function via stimulating cell growth, moreover KGF could inhibit the ROS-induced apoptosis through Nrf-2 pathway; (3) KGF during tumourogenesis: high expression of KGF enhanced progression, motility and invasiveness of tumor cells and various cancers, in company with paracrine loop replaced by autocrine loop, meanwhile KGF clearly played the early signal in the progression of breast cancer; (4) Medical application and administration of KGF: KGF had been successfully used in several preclinical models of radiation and chemotherapy-induced mucositis, and developed into commercial medicine (i.e. Palifermin), however more effective delivery systems are still under trial.

In comparison with integrated pest management and chemical control, the authors put forward a new strategy of forest pest control, named ecological control of forest pest (ECFP). This paper reviewed the development history, summarized the concept and principles of ECFP, discussed the technology and methods of ECFP, and evaluated the ECFP and its application conditions.