Warm Mixed Forest Research Articles

Patterns of diversity change for forest vegetation across different climatic regions - A compound habitat gradient analysis approach

Biotic diversity of ecological communities can be driven by a mixture of climatic, soil and biotic factors from local to regional scales. Patterns of diversity change were often examined along latitudinal or elevational gradients, which were mainly driven by climatic factors. However, few studies have assessed biodiversity patterns along both abiotic and biotic gradients simultaneously. Here, we established 309 forest dynamics plots of typical forest vegetation types (tropical rainforest, subtropical evergreen deciduous broad-leaf mixed forest, warm temperate conifer broad-leaf mixed forest, and temperate conifer forest) in seven biogeographic regions across four climatic regions (tropical, subtropical, warm temperate, and temperate regions) in China. A total of 46,280 tree individuals of 801 species in these plots were tagged, investigated and mapped, and six functional traits and seven soil factors were sampled and measured, in addition, data on three climatic factors were extracted from Worldclim. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to build the compound habitat gradient (CHG) combining the biotic and abiotic factors. Patterns of changes in species and functional diversity along the CHG were analyzed. Results showed that species richness, Shannon-Wiener index and functional richness (FRic) increased but functional divergence (FDiv) decreased along the first axis of the CHG. The models using the first four PCA axes of the CHG and models with the individual variables had more power to explain species diversity than functional diversity. PC1 was the most important predictor in explaining patterns of diversity variation. The null models of FRic and FDiv were significantly negatively correlated with PC1 in the compound habitat gradient, and not with other axes. Our study demonstrates that the compound habitat gradient analysis is an effective approach of exploring patterns of biodiversity change and understanding both the abiotic and biotic factors driving community assembly across different climatic regions.

Quantifying regional vegetation changes in China during three contrasting temperature intervals since the last glacial maximum

The need to reduce the uncertainty of predictions of vegetation change under global warming highlights the importance of understanding the vegetation patterns and possible mechanisms of vegetation response during past warming intervals. Here, we present quantitative regional vegetation reconstructions for China during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18 ± 2 14C kyr B.P.), early Holocene (EH, 8.5 ± 0.5 14C kyr B.P.), and mid-Holocene (MH, 6 ± 0.5 14C kyr B.P.), using the biomization method and based on 249 pollen records. In addition, we used an inverse vegetation modeling approach to investigate the effect of climate change and CO2 concentration on the observed vegetation changes. The results demonstrate that during the LGM, steppe expanded southeastwards, reaching the present-day temperate deciduous forest (TEDE) zone; in contrast, the forest in eastern China underwent a substantial southward retreat and its percentage reached a minimum. The warm mixed forest (WAMF) and TEDE shifted southwards of ∼10° N relative to today, and tropical seasonal rain forest (TSFO) was almost absent. In addition, the forest-steppe boundary shifted southwards to near the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. During the EH and MH, the TSFO, WAMF, and TEDE exhibited respective northward shifts of 2°, 4° and 5° relative to today. In MH, the percentage of forest sites increased and reached a maximum, and the forest-steppe boundary had shifted northwestwards to near the present-day 300 mm isohyet. Our palaeovegetation reconstructions and model sensitivity experiments suggest that temperature was the dominant factor controlling the vegetation distribution during the LGM, while precipitation became increasingly more important during the Holocene throughout China. We further show that precipitation was the primary factor controlling palaeovegetation distribution in northern China, while temperature became increasingly more important in southern China. Our findings are potentially important for understanding the evolution of vegetation in China in response to ongoing global warming.

Warm-cold colonization: response of oaks to uplift of the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains.

Clarifying the relationship between distribution patterns of organisms and geological events is critical to understanding the impact of environmental changes on organismal evolution. Quercus sect. Heterobalanus is now distributed across the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM) and warm lowland in East China, yet how the distribution patterns of this group changed in response to the HHM uplift remains largely unknown. This study examines the effect of tectonic events in the HHM region on the oaks, providing a biological perspective on the geological history of this region. Fifty-six populations of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus were genotyped using four chloroplast DNA regions and nine nuclear simple sequence repeat loci to assess population structure and diversity, supplemented by molecular dating and ancestral area reconstructions. The underlying demographic dynamics were compared using ecological niche models of the species distributions during the last glacial maximum and the present. These analyses illustrate that Quercus sect. Heterobalanus diversified as the HHM uplifted and climatic cooling during the mid-Miocene, colonizing the cold habitats from warm broadleaf mixed forests. Lineages in cold highlands and warm lowlands have diverged as a consequence of local adaptation to diverging climates since the late Miocene. Our results suggest that continuous uplift of the HHM in the late Miocene to early Pliocene accompanied by simultaneous cooling triggered the differentiation of oaks. The biogeography of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus illuminates the geological events responsible for the modern-day HHM.

Pollen-based biome reconstructions over the past 18,000 years and atmospheric CO2 impacts on vegetation in equatorial mountains of Africa

This paper presents a quantitative vegetation reconstruction, based on a biomization procedure, of two mountain sites in the west (Bambili; 5°56′ N, 10°14′ E, 2273 m) and east (Rusaka; 3°26′ S, 29°37′ E, 2070 m) Congo basin in equatorial Africa during the last 18,000 years. These reconstructions clarify the response of vegetation to changes in climate, atmospheric pressure, and CO 2 concentrations. Two major events characterize the biome changes at both sites: the post-glacial development of all forest biomes ca. 14,500 years ago and their rapid collapse during the last millennium. The rates of forest development between the biomes are different; a progressive expansion of lowland biomes and an abrupt expansion of montane biomes. The trends of pollen diagrams and biome affinity scores are not always consistent in some periods such as the Younger Dryas interval and end of the Holocene Humid Period, because the biomization method is not a simple summarization of the pollen data, but also takes biodiversity into consideration. Our sensitivity experiment and inverse-vegetation modeling approach show that changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentration unequally influence vegetation in different local environments. The study also suggests that the biome changes prior to the Holocene result from both changes in the atmospheric CO 2 concentration and climate. The development of warm-mixed forest from xerophtic vegetation results from increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentration and near-surface air temperature. Difference in local dryness results in the different biome distributions, with more forest-type biomes at Bambili and more grass/shrub-type biomes at Rusaka.

Vegetation and environmental dynamics in the southern Black Sea region since 18 kyr BP derived from the marine core 22-GC3

Sediments from the Black Sea, a region historically dominated by forests and steppe landscapes, are a valuable source of detailed information on the changes in regional terrestrial and aquatic environments at decadal to millennial scales. Here we present multi-proxy environmental records (pollen, dinoflagellate cysts, Ca, Ti and oxygen isotope data) from the uppermost 305cm of the core 22-GC3 (42°13.53′N, 36°29.55′E) collected from a water depth of 838m in the southern part of the Black Sea in 2007. The records span the last ~18kyr (all ages are given in cal kyr BP). The pollen data reveal the dominance of the Artemisia-steppe in the region, suggesting rather dry/cold environments ~18–14.5kyr BP. Warming/humidity increase during melt-water pulses (~16.1–14.5kyr BP), indicated by δ18O records from the 22-GC3 core sediment and from the Sofular Cave stalagmite, is expressed in more negative δ13C values from the Sofular Cave, usually interpreted as the spreading of C3 plants. The records representing the interstadial complex (~14.5–12.9kyr BP) show an increase in temperature and moisture, indicated by forest development, increased primary productivity and reduced surface run-off, whereas the switch from primary terrigenous to primary authigenic Ca origin occurs ~500yr later. The Younger Dryas cooling is clearly demonstrated by more negative δ13C values from the Sofular Cave and a reduction of pines. The early Holocene (11.7–8.5kyr BP) interval reveals relatively dry conditions compared to the mostly moist and warm middle Holocene (8.5–5kyr BP), which is characterized by the establishment of the species-rich warm mixed and temperate deciduous forests in the low elevation belt, temperate deciduous beech-hornbeam forests in the middle and cool conifer forest in upper mountain belt. The border between the early and middle Holocene in the vegetation records coincides with the opening of the Mediterranean corridor at ~8.3kyr BP, as indicated by a marked change in the dinocyst assemblages and in the sediment lithology. Changes in the pollen assemblages indicate a reduction in forest cover after ~5kyr BP, which was likely caused by increased anthropogenic pressure on the regional vegetation.

Towards a general relationship between climate change and biodiversity: an example for plant species in Europe

Climate change is one of the main factors that will affect biodiversity in the future and may even cause species extinctions. We suggest a methodology to derive a general relationship between biodiversity change and global warming. In conjunction with other pressure relationships, our relationship can help to assess the combined effect of different pressures to overall biodiversity change and indicate areas that are most at risk. We use a combination of an integrated environmental model (IMAGE) and climate envelope models for European plant species for several climate change scenarios to estimate changes in mean stable area of species and species turnover. We show that if global temperature increases, then both species turnover will increase, and mean stable area of species will decrease in all biomes. The most dramatic changes will occur in Northern Europe, where more than 35% of the species composition in 2100 will be new for that region, and in Southern Europe, where up to 25% of the species now present will have disappeared under the climatic circumstances forecasted for 2100. In Mediterranean scrubland and natural grassland/steppe systems, arctic and tundra systems species turnover is high, indicating major changes in species composition in these ecosystems. The mean stable area of species decreases mostly in Mediterranean scrubland, grassland/steppe systems and warm mixed forests.

Pollen-based biome reconstructions for Latin America at 0, 6000 and 18 000 radiocarbon years ago

Abstract. The biomisation method is used to reconstruct Latin American vegetation at 6000±500 and 18 000±1000 radiocarbon years before present (14C yr BP) from pollen data. Tests using modern pollen data from 381 samples derived from 287 locations broadly reproduce potential natural vegetation. The strong temperature gradient associated with the Andes is recorded by a transition from high altitude cool grass/shrubland and cool mixed forest to mid-altitude cool temperate rain forest, to tropical dry, seasonal and rain forest at low altitudes. Reconstructed biomes from a number of sites do not match the potential vegetation due to local factors such as human impact, methodological artefacts and mechanisms of pollen representivity of the parent vegetation. At 6000±500 14C yr BP 255 samples are analysed from 127 sites. Differences between the modern and the 6000±500 14C yr BP reconstruction are comparatively small; change relative to the modern reconstruction are mainly to biomes characteristic of drier climate in the north of the region with a slight more mesic shift in the south. Cool temperate rain forest remains dominant in western South America. In northwestern South America a number of sites record transitions from tropical seasonal forest to tropical dry forest and tropical rain forest to tropical seasonal forest. Sites in Central America show a change in biome assignment, but to more mesic vegetation, indicative of greater plant available moisture, e.g. on the Yucatán peninsula sites record warm evergreen forest, replacing tropical dry forest and warm mixed forest presently recorded. At 18 000±1000 14C yr BP 61 samples from 34 sites record vegetation reflecting a generally cool and dry environment. Cool grass/shrubland is prevalent in southeast Brazil whereas Amazonian sites record tropical dry forest, warm temperate rain forest and tropical seasonal forest. Southernmost South America is dominated by cool grass/shrubland, a single site retains cool temperate rain forest indicating that forest was present at some locations at the LGM. Some sites in Central Mexico and lowland Colombia remain unchanged in the biome assignments of warm mixed forest and tropical dry forest respectively, although the affinities that these sites have to different biomes do change between 18 000±1000 14C yr BP and present. The "unresponsive" nature of these sites results from their location and the impact of local edaphic influence.

Economic Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services: Methodology and Monetary Estimates

By using ad hoc value transfer protocols, this paper offers a methodological contribution and provides accurate per hectare estimates of the economic value of some selected ecosystem services for all forest biomes in the world, identified following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment taxonomy MEA. The research also estimates potential total economic losses from policy inaction in year 2050. Final results show that total losses are significant. The total figure is €78 billion, the greatest losses coming from North America and Mexico, followed by Africa, Russia and some Asiatic countries. Most of this loss is attributable to provisioning services and carbon sequestration, while only a minor part is due to loss of cultural services. In terms of biomes the greatest losses are from boreal and warm mixed forests, followed by tropical forests. These results may be surprising to some who argue that it is the loss of tropical forests, particularly the Amazon, that is the most significant. A detailed analysis, shows, however, that this is not the case. The best estimates point to greater losses in areas where use and non-use values are highest, which includes North America.

Biomization and quantitative climate reconstruction techniques in northwestern Mexico—With an application to four Holocene pollen sequences

New paleovegetation and paleoclimatic reconstructions from the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) in northwestern Mexico are presented. This work involves climate and biome reconstruction using Plant Functional Types (PFT) assigned to pollen taxa. We used fossil pollen data from four Holocene peat bogs located at different altitudes (1500‑2000 m) at the border region of Sonora and Chihuahua at around 28° N latitude (Ortega-Rosas, C.I. 2003. Palinología de la Ciénega de Camilo: datos para la historia de la vegetación y el clima del Holoceno medio y superior en el NW de la Sierra Madre Occidental, Sonora, Mexico. Master Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.; Ortega-Rosas, C.I., Peñalba, M.C., Guiot, J. Holocene altitudinal shifts in vegetation belts and environmental changes in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Northwestern Mexico. Submitted for publication of Palaeobotany and Palynology). The closest modern pollen data come from pollen analysis across an altitudinal transect from the Sonoran Desert towards the highlands of the temperate SMO at the same latitude (Ortega-Rosas, C.I. 2003. Palinología de la Ciénega de Camilo: datos para la historia de la vegetación y el clima del Holoceno medio y superior en el NW de la Sierra Madre Occidental, Sonora, Mexico. Master Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.). An additional modern pollen dataset of 400 sites across NW Mexico and the SW United States was compiled from different sources (Davis, O.K., 1995. Climate and vegetation pattern in surface samples from arid western U.S.A.: application to Holocene climatic reconstruction. Palynology 19, 95–119, North American Pollen Database, Latin-American Pollen Database, personal data, and different scientific papers). For the biomization method (Prentice, I.C., Guiot, J., Huntley, B., Jolly, D., Cheddadi, R., 1996. Reconstructing biomes from paleoecological data: a general method and its application to European pollen data at 0 and 6 ka. Climate Dynamics 12, 185–194), we modified the pollen-PFT and PFT-biomes assignation of Thompson and Anderson (Thompson, R.S., Anderson, K.H., 2000. Biomes of western North America at 18,000; 6000 and 0 14C yr BP reconstructed from pollen and packrat midden data. Journal of Biogeography 27, 555–584) for a better representation of the modern vegetation of NW Mexico. The biome reconstruction method was validated with the modern pollen sites and applied to the fossil sites. Our results show that, during the early Holocene, a cool conifer forest extended at least down to 1700 m, while today this biome is present above 2000 m in the Chihuahua state. The Younger Dryas event was recorded in one site with cold and dry conditions. The reconstructed annual temperature for this period was 3°–6 °C colder than today, and annual precipitation was 250 mm lower than at present (900 mm/yr). The middle Holocene after 9200 cal yr BP was marked by a warming trend, reaching temperatures 2 °C warmer than today at 7000 cal yr BP, and by the installation of a warm mixed forest, the present day biome, at 1700 m elevation, while at higher elevations (1900 m) the cool conifer forest was still present. Summer precipitation was 200 mm/yr above the early Holocene values, suggesting that monsoon-like conditions strengthened since 9200 cal yr BP at this region. During the last 4000 yr, the same warm mixed forest was reconstructed below 1700 m and a conifer forest above 1700 m. A great variability of vegetation and climate patterns was recorded for the last 3000 yr particularly at high elevation sites, where warming and cooling trends would be coeval of the Medieval warm period and Little Ice Age, likely related to ENSO variability.

A high-resolution Late Holocene landscape ecological history inferred from an intramontane basin in the Western Taurus Mountains, Turkey

Late Holocene vegetation and geomorphological history is reconstructed from a 800 cm long high-resolution palynological and sedimentological record sampled from Bereket, a 6.3 km 2 semi-arid to sub-humid intramontane basin in the Western Taurus Mountains (southwest Turkey). The well-dated Bereket record provides from cal. 360 BC to cal. AD ∼400 a unique record of biennial-to-decadal landscape changes caused primarily by intensive human impacts against a background of global climate variations. During this period, land clearance with multiple fire episodes, intensive agricultural practices and grazing pressure profoundly altered the pre-existing warm mixed forest. Increasing moisture availability since cal. ∼280 BC has acted as a trigger to crop cultivation and mountain-adapted arboriculture starting with Juglans regia during the Beyşehir Occupation Phase. Pollen from olive groves have been recorded above 1400 m a.s.l. only at cal. ∼23 BC and have disappeared definitively at cal. AD ∼294. During this phase, the sediment accumulation rate was extremely high, reflecting landscape instability. From cal. AD 450 to recent times, the area has mainly recorded pasture and minor cultivation activities reflected in stable soils and thin colluvial depths.

バイオマイゼーション（Ｂｉｏｍｉｚａｔｉｏｎ）法を用いた日本列島の過去２万年間のバイオーム分布復元―（Ｉ）―

In order to construct past biome distributions on Kyushu Island, we compiled fossil pollen data that record vegetation changes during the past 20, 000 years. Age models estimated using 14C dates and/or Tephrochronology allowed the data digitized from published pollen diagrams to be compiled in 1000-year intervals from 20, 000 years ago to the present day.We applied a method for identifying biomes from Japanese modern pollen data (Gotanda et al., 2002) to the fossil pollen data set. We obtained 20 biome maps that show the spatial changes in biome distribution through time. During the Last Glacial Maximum, Kyushu Island was covered with cool-mixed forest, and therefore the climate was estimated to be about 7°C cooler than the present. After 17, 000 yr BP cool-mixed forest retreated and warm-mixed forest migrated northward in western Kyushu. In eastern Kyushu, warm-mixed forest had not yet become established, and temperate deciduous forest started grewing. The appearance of warm-mixed forest in eastern Kyushu was delayed until 7, 000 yr BP This late appearance suggests that the refugia of warm-mixed forest during the Last Glacial Maximum not only existed in Yaku Island and southern Kyushu, but also on the Koshiki Islands in western Kyushu. Warm-mixed forest spread over the Kyushu Island, and its maximum coverage occurred at 4, 000 yr BP, which is much later than the interpreted climatic optimum at 6, 000 yr BP. This time lag may reflect the fact that winter temperature at 6, 000 yr BP was too cold for warm-mixed forest to grow and only became warm enough by 4, 000 yr BP.

The Future of Vascular Plant Diversity Under Four Global Scenarios

Biodiversity is of crucial importance for ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Using quantitative projections of changes in land use and climate from the four Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) scenarios, we project that reduction of habitat by year 2050 will result in a loss of global vascular plant diversity ranging from 7–24% relative to 1995, after populations have reached equilibrium with the reduced habitat. This range includes both the impact of different scenarios and uncertainty in the SAR relationship. Biomes projected to lose the most species are warm mixed forest, savannahs, shrub, tropical forest, and tropical woodlands. In the 2000–2050 period, land-use change contributes more on a global scale to species diversity loss than does climate change, 7–13% vs. 2–4% loss at equilibrium for different scenarios, respectively. However, after 2050, climate change will become increasingly important.

Biome classification from Japanese pollen data: application to modern-day and Late Quaternary samples

Thirty four arboreal pollen taxa were assigned to plant functional types and then classified to eight forest biomes in Japan and adjacent areas. When applied to 285 surface pollen spectra from Japan, the method assigns 78% (222 sites) of the samples to the correct biome. The method is particularly good at reconstructing warm-mixed, temperate deciduous, temperate conifer and cool-mixed forests, but the reconstruction of cool-conifer forest was difficult. The method has been applied to the late Quaternary pollen record from Lake Mikata, central Japan (35°33’22” N, 135°53’40” E, 0 m a.s.l.) to reconstruct vegetation changes since ca 40,000 yr BP. The reconstruction shows that temperate deciduous forest dominated around Lake Mikata before 25,000 yr BP. A phase of cool-mixed forest (now present only in Hokkaido, 1000 km to the northeast) is reconstructed between ca 22,000 and ca 18,000 yr BP, corresponding to the coldest stage of the Last Glaciation. This coldest phase is bound by two transition phases that are characterized by co-dominance of cool-mixed and temperate deciduous forest vegetation. The Holocene vegetation is represented by warm-mixed forest that grows around the site today.

Vegetation and climate since the last interglacial in the Vienne area (France)

Biomes and climate reconstructions are based on variations of the pollen content of the sediments. Pollen analysis was conducted on sediment deposits sampled at Chantemerle site (Vienne department, France). The pollen diagram covered only the last 7200 years BP. Consequently, additional pollen sequences, derived from the European Pollen Database, have been used to provide a first climate and biome reconstruction on a longer period, from the Riss (ca 140 ka BP) to the present-day. These pollen sequences show that the succession of the biomes and of the climate has been similar throughout a large part of France since about 140 000 years BP. However it is noteworthy that near the Atlantic coast, a warmer biome is recorded during the temperate periods: the warm mixed biome. This homogeneity allows us to extrapolate the results obtained from all these sequences to the Vienne region. The climate was warmer and more humid than today, or equivalent, during the Eemian, Saint-Germain I and Saint-Germain II. These periods were characterised by temperate deciduous or mixed forests with warmer episodes of warm mixed forests. On the other hand, climate was colder and dryer than today during the glacial phases (Melisey I, Melisey II, Würm, Late Glacial) which were characterised by cold steppes and/or tundra.

Biome reconstruction from pollen and plant macrofossil data for Africa and the Arabian peninsula at 0 and 6000 years

Biome reconstruction from pollen and plant macrofossil data provides an objective method to reconstruct past vegetation. Biomes for Africa and the Arabian peninsula have been mapped for 6000 yearsbpand provide a new standard for the evaluation of simulated palaeovegetation distributions. A test using modern pollen data shows the robustness of the biomization method, which is able to predict the major vegetation types with a high confidence level. The application of the procedure to the 6000 years data set (pollen and plant macrofossil analyses) shows systematic differences from the present that are consistent with the numerous previous regional and continental interpretations, while providing a more extensive and more objective basis for such interpretations. Madagascar, eastern, southern and central Africa show only minor changes in terms of biomes, compared to present. Major changes in biome distributions occur north of 15°N, with steppe in many low‐elevation sites that are now desert, and temperate xerophytic woods/scrub and warm mixed forest in the Saharan mountains. These shifts in biome distributions imply significant changes in climate, especially precipitation, between 6000 years and present, reflecting a change in monsoon extent combined with a southward expansion of Mediterranean influence.

A method to determine warm and cool steppe biomes from pollen data; application to the Mediterranean and Kazakhstan regions

An objective method for the assignment of pollen spectra to appropriate biomes has been published recently. The aim of this paper is to improve the distinction between warm and cool steppes, thus refining vegetation and climate reconstruction, particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. A set of modern pollen spectra from the Mediterranean and Kazakhstan regions, dominated today by open vegetation types, has been analysed statistically in order to relate pollen taxa abundances to warm acid cool grass/shrub plant functional types (PFTs). A statistical test using modern pollen data shows that the method is able to distinguish between cool and warm steppe biomes with a high degree of confidence. The method has been applied to two fossil pollen records. The results of this exercise showed that cool steppe dominated in central Greece between 18 000 and 13 000 yr BP, while in western Iran the vegetation was at the boundary between cool and warm steppes. These vegetation types were replaced by warm mixed forest in Greece and warm steppe in Iran after that time span. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On traffic accidents of birds on Ise highway, Mie Prefecture

1. Bird accidents recorded during 1965-1972 on highway passing 8km through the warm zone mixed forest of Ise Shrine ground were investigated 563 times in total.2. This highway, with the width of 6.5m had a traffic of average 1, 500 cars/day in 1965 when it was opened. The traffic increased about 3.5 times by 1972 and the bird accidents (the annual relative kill) also increased 3.2 times during these 8 years.3. The frequencies of No. bird kill/No. observation were 2/48 (1965), 6/120 (1966), 8/118 (1967), 8/95 (196), 8/80 (1969), 5/65 (1970), 5/37 (1972), with the total of 42 birds killed/365 observations (1965-1972), and increase from 7.4% annual relative kill in 1965 to 23.5% in 1972.4. Bird accidents included 10 families, 18 species, comprising 72.2% residents, 16.7% winter visitors and 1/3 of the total of 42 kills were young birds.5. The species of highest kill rate was 21.4% of redstart Phoenicurus auroreus, the 14% of Emberiza cioides, 7.1% of Cettia diphone, Parus varius and Streptopelia orientalis etc. and ground feeding Turdus included three species.6. Seasonally, the highway kill of 19% of the total in March was the highest and the monthly kill was 10% during November to February, the winter kills from November to April occupying 87% of the total, which was about 3 times more frequent than in summer period.7. The cause of death confirmed included 33% cranial internal hoemorrhages, and 14% visceral haemorrhages, which were caused by liver or even aortic breaks.8. The accidents of birds were concentrated at 9 places along the highway of 8km. At these points small valley (s) with the width of 2-5m crossed the road at right angle, but at a broad open cross point of two big roads birds that move by low flight, such as bush warbler, pale ouzel, etc., were found dead.9. Some observations showed that road-side birds would take off with the speed of 30-60km/h, and car speed retained at about 40km/h may usually be safe for the birds from being struck at.