Songs of two starling species: common traits versus adaptations to the social environment

We analysed, for the first time, songs of the African Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio and compared their general characteristics with those of the European Starling Sturnus vulgaris. Both species are gregarious during the non-breeding season, but European Starlings tend to nest in colonies, form unstable pair-bonds and are occasionally polygynous, whereas Red-winged Starlings form long-term pair-bonds and occupy exclusive nesting territories. Red-winged Starlings produced the same basic song categories as European Starlings: warbles and whistles. These two categories appeared to be involved in similar social interactions in the two species. However, several aspects of song behaviour differed between the two species: Red-winged Starlings, breeding in isolated nests, preferentially used whistles for long-distance communication and showed a simpler organization of warbling song. Whistles in the Red-winged Starling were mostly shared between birds and, in contrast to the European Starling, were not indicators of individual identity. Also in contrast to the European Starling, female song in Red-winged Starlings appeared very important throughout the breeding period. Our results suggest that some song characteristics in the two species are phylogenetically conserved whereas others are affected by the distinct social systems of the two species.     

封闭群稀有鮈鲫对几种常见化学品的敏感性

采用96h急性毒性试验检测了稀有鮈鲫封闭群和野生群对重铬酸钾、五氯酚、氯化汞、对氯苯胺、氯化镉等几种常见化学品的敏感性差异,并通过7d亚慢性毒性试验以及胚胎-卵黄囊吸收阶段毒性试验检测了对氯苯胺、氯化镉对稀有鮈鲫封闭群的亚慢性毒性.急性毒性试验结果表明,Cr6+、五氯酚、Hg2+、对氯苯胺和Cd2+对稀有鮈鲫封闭群的96h LC50分别为69.0mg/L,111.4,56.9μg/L,35.5,12.2mg/L;Cr6+对封闭群的96h LC50低于野生群(99.8mg/L)(P0.05).胚胎-卵黄囊吸收阶段和7d亚慢性毒性测试结果表明,Cd2+和对氯苯胺暴露后封闭群在孵化率、畸形率、死亡率、生长等方面均表现出毒性效应,其中生长指标更为敏感.以生长为观测指标,2种试验的结果无显著差异,对Cd2+的NOEC均为0.1mg/L,胚胎-卵黄囊吸收阶段试验中对氯苯胺的NOEC为2mg/L,7d亚慢性毒性试验中对氯苯胺的NOEC为4mg/L.本研究证明了稀有鮈鲫封闭群对化学药品的敏感性高,可作为化学品生态毒理学测试的种源.     

浅谈有毒有害液体化学品溢漏的应急反应技术

分析了有毒有害化学品海上溢漏的行为状态，简要介绍了针对海上溢漏的几种应急反应技术。     

Flavonoid wing pigments increase attractiveness of female common blue (Polyommatus icarus) butterflies to mate-searching males

 Common blue butterflies (Polyommatus icarus) sequester flavonoids from their larval host plants and allocate these UV-absorbing pigments to the wings. In field experiments using dummies constructed from female butterflies, mate-searching males inspected flavonoid-rich dummies more intensively than those with little or no flavonoids. Flavonoid content as signalled by UV-wing pattern may indicate ontogenetically determined female quality or enhance detectability to males. Received: 21 March 2000 / Accepted in revised form: 17 May 2000     

Response of runoff and soil loss to reforestation and rainfall type in red soil region of southern China

To evaluate the long-term effects of reforestation types on soil erosion on degraded land, vegetation and soil properties under conventional sloping farmland (CSF) and three different reforestation types including a Pinus massoniana secondary forest (PSF), an Eucommia ulmoides artificial economic forest (EEF) and a natural succession type forest (NST), were investigated at runoff plot scale over a six-year period in a red soil region of southern China. One hundred and thirty erosive rainfall events generating runoff in plots were grouped into four rainfall types by means of K-mean clustering method. Erosive rainfall type I is the dominant rainfall type. The amount of runoff and the soil loss under erosive rainfall type III were the most, followed by rain-fall type II, IV and I. Compared with CSF treatment, reforestation treatments decreased the average annual runoff depth and the soil loss by 25.5%–61.8% and 93.9%– 96.2% during the study period respectively. Meanwhile, runoff depth at PSF and EEF treatments was significantly lower than that in NST treatment, but no significant difference existed in soil erosion modulus among the three reforestation treatments. This is mainly due to the improved vegetation properties (i.e., vegetation coverage, biomass of above- and below-ground and litter-fall mass) and soil properties (i.e., bulk density, total porosity, infiltration rate and organic carbon content) in the three reforestation treatments compared to CSF treatment. The PSF and EEF are recommended as the preferred reforestation types to control runoff and soil erosion in the red soil region of southern China, with the NST potentially being used as an important supplement.     

掺铜可溶玻璃微粒去除海洋原甲藻赤潮生物的研究

在研究高岭土、蒙脱土、CuSO4和可 溶玻璃粉的基础上提出并研究了掺铜和铜银混合可溶玻璃微粒对赤潮生物的去除。结果表明，对于海洋原甲藻（Prorocentrum micans)体系，在含铜可溶玻璃中引入一定量的Ag2O，可以减少除藻材料中CuSO4的用量。由于其具有同时缓释Cu^2 、Au^ 的作用，用量为2.0mg/L时，藻细胞的去除率在12h内可达到96.8%，并维持7d以上时间藻细胞数目没有明显增加。掺铜可溶玻璃除藻剂较CuSO4避免了投药过程中易造成局部Cu^2 浓度过高而伤害鱼类的缺点。     

富营养水体浮游植物群落对新型生态浮床的响应

通过围隔水泥池模拟试验,研究了富营养化水体中浮游植物群落对新型组合型生态浮床系统净化水质的响应. 每隔2周对水体中各水质指标、浮游植物及浮游甲壳动物群落进行检测,结果显示:①3种不同覆盖率(以浮床面积计)处理下,组合型生态浮床对氮、磷的去除率表现为39%覆盖率>26%覆盖率>13%覆盖率. ②3种覆盖率下水体中的浮游植物群落结构复杂性和生物多样性指数均显著高于空白对照组,其中,26%和13%覆盖率对浮游植物生物量的抑制效果比39%覆盖率好;同时,26%覆盖率比39%覆盖率水体中的浮游植物生物多样性指数要高,群落结构更复杂,随后是13%覆盖率处理. ③浮游植物生物量的变化与浮游甲壳动物表现出明显的相反时间趋势. 尽管26%覆盖率对氮、磷的去除量不是最大,但却更利于形成较为稳定的浮游植物群落结构,促进水体生态系统的平衡与健康发展;浮游植物生物量与营养盐的显著相关性及与浮游甲壳动物的相反时间趋势显示,生态浮床对浮游植物群落的改善可能是通过营养盐的上行效应与浮游甲壳动物的下行效应等因素得以实现.      

Seasonal changes in burrow geometry of the common mole rat (Rodentia: Bathyergidae)

Sociality in mole rats has been suggested to have evolved as a response to the widely dispersed food resources and the limited burrowing opportunities that result from sporadic rainfall events. In the most arid regions, individual foraging efficiency is reduced, and energetic constraints increase. In this study, we investigate seasonal differences in burrow architecture of the social Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus in a mesic region. We describe burrow geometry in response to seasonal weather conditions for two seasons (wet and dry). Interactions occurred between seasons and colony size for the size of the burrow systems, but not the shape of the burrow systems. The fractal dimension values of the burrow systems did not differ between seasons. Thus, the burrow complexity was dependent upon the number of mole rats present in the social group.     

Response of the sediment geochemistry of the Changjiang River (Yangtze River) to the impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam

Based on the measurement of major and trace elements in suspended sediments in the low reaches of the Changjiang River during throughout a whole hydrologic year, the origins, seasonal variations, and fluxes of multielements and the human impacts on multielements transport processes have been analyzed along with the influence of weathering in the Changjiang River basin. The results show that most element contents were high in both autumn and winter and low in summer, which was largely caused by the dilution of discharge. Weathering detritus in the Changjiang River basin is the main source of most elements in suspended sediments. However, riverine pollution could bring more loadings of Cd, Pb, As and Zn into river water than it did a few decades ago. The annual average fluxes of Cd, Pb and Zn, which are major contamination elements, to the sea were 179 ± 21 tons/year, 7810 ± 675 tons/year, and 12,000 ± 1320 tons/year,respectively, in which approximately 8.7%, 11.9% and 2.7% of their loadings, respectively,were contributed by pollution inputs. Element exports mainly occurred in the summer(44.4%–57.4%) in the lower part of the Changjiang River. A general relationship between sediment retention and element content suggests a positive feedback mechanism for the decreased number of particles, in which element riverine loadings are reduced due to the enhanced trapping effect by the Three Gorges Dam(TGD). Compared to those in 1980,current element shares of the Changjiang River compared to the global budget have declined due to the construction of the TGD.     

Response mechanism of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to nanoscale bismuth oxyiodide (nano-BiOI): Integrating analysis of mineral nutrient metabolism and metabolomics

Nanoscale bismuth oxyiodide (nano-BiOI) is widely studied and applied in environmental applications and biomedical fields, with the consequence that it may be deposited into aquatic environments. However, the impact of nano-BiOI on aquatic ecosystems, especially freshwater microalga, remains limited. Herein, the nano-BiOI was synthesized and its response mechanism towards microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was evaluated. Results showed that a low concentration of nano-BiOI (5 mg/L) could stimulate algal growth at the early stage of stress. With the increase in concentration, the growth rate of algal cells was inhibited and showed a dose effect. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly induced and accompanied by enhanced lipid peroxidation, decreased nonspecific esterase activity, and significantly upregulated glutathione S-transferase activity (GST) activity. Mineral nutrient metabolism analysis showed that nano-BiOI significantly interfered with the mineral nutrients of the algae. Non-targeted metabolomics identified 35 different metabolites (DEMs, 22 upregulated, and 13 downregulated) under 100 mg/L BiOI stress. Metabolic pathway analysis demonstrated that a high concentration of nano-BiOI significantly induced metabolic pathways related to amino acid biosynthesis, lipid biosynthesis, and glutathione biosynthesis, and significantly inhibited the sterol biosynthesis pathway. This finding will contribute to understanding the toxicological mechanisms of nano-BiOI on C. reinhardtii.     

紫云英(Astragalus siniucus L.)对重金属胁迫的响应

为探明铜冶炼厂附近农田重金属污染对冬季绿肥作物的毒害作用,通过盆栽试验,研究了浙江富阳铜冶炼厂附近的铜、锌、铅等重金属离子混合污染的水稻土上,紫云英的生长,根、茎、叶、果各部位重金属积累量和细胞超微结构的变化.结果表明,在供试土壤重金属混合污染下,紫云英根系生长缓慢,主根细小、侧根稀少,根瘤生长受抑制;地上部分枝减少,长势矮小,叶片黄化,花期推迟.土壤中铜、锌、铅被紫云英吸收后主要分布于紫云英根部;根中铜含量明显高于锌和铅,茎、叶中锌含量最高,果中铜含量最低.透射电镜(TEM)观察结果表明,重金属混合污染主要毒害叶绿体、线粒体、细胞核等细胞器的超微结构,使叶绿体膨胀变形,基粒片层解体,外膜结构消失,类囊体模糊不清,腔内空泡化或形成大脂类;使线粒体变形、脊突膨胀或消失、外膜解体;使细胞核核膜破裂、核仁膨胀消失并与染色质凝集在一起.供试土壤重金属混合污染对紫云英各部位细胞的破坏程度为根>叶>茎.     

人类活动对浙江近海赤潮发生频率的影响分析

根据1933年到2004年间的统计资料,以10 a为周期分析了浙江沿岸赤潮的发展变化历程,并进一步以1997～2004年的统计资料为基础,采用灰色系统关联分析法研究了的浙江近海赤潮的发生频率和人类活动引起的营养物质输入的关系.结果表明,各相关因子对赤潮发生频率影响的关联序为:海水养殖产量(0.03)＞海水养殖面积(0.99)＞工业废水(0.89)＞生活污水(0.88)＞生活COD(0.79)＞总悬浮颗粒物(0.75)＞工业COD(0.72)＞降雨量(0.71)＞粉尘(0.69)＞烟尘(0.68).可见,赤潮发生与人类活动关系密切,其中海洋养殖自身污染是赤潮发生频率的主要诱因,陆源污染和大气湿沉降起着重要作用.     

Habitat quality of wildflower strips for common voles (Microtus arvalis) and its relevance for agriculture

Ecological compensation areas have been widely promoted in agriculture in the last decade. Besides their positive effects on biological diversity they also bear a risk of sheltering potential pest species such as common voles (Microtus arvalis). To assess the influence of wildflower strips on the spatio-temporal behavior of voles and their impact on adjacent crop fields, a common vole population living in a wildflower strip was monitored from May to October 2000 and from March to September 2001. A new system for automatic radio tracking was used which allowed tracking at 1 min intervals and up to 1000 bearings per vole per day. Voles showed small home ranges with a median size of 125 m² (minimum convex polygon) and 30 m² (Kernel), respectively. Home ranges were stable with a median overlap of 90% for consecutive days, were almost exclusively within the wildflower strip and contained several core areas per range. A polyphasic activity pattern with a phase length of 1.7 h was found during summer with a trend towards diurnal activity. Overall wildflower strips were high-quality habitats for voles and sustained high population densities without increased risk of voles dispersing into adjacent fields.     

Review of epidemiological factors (other than maternal age) that determine the prevalence of common autosomal trisomies

The birth prevalence of each common autosomal trisomy (21, 18 and 13) increases with advancing maternal age and this is the most important epidemiological risk factor. Prevalence during pregnancy is also dependent on gestational age. Other factors claimed to influence prevalence include paternal age, ethnicity, family history, premature reproductive aging, parity, twinning, smoking, environmental exposures, maternal medical conditions, and predispositions. We review the evidence for these associations since they may provide insights into causal mechanisms. When investigating potential co-factors it is important to adequately allow for maternal age and minimize its confounding contribution. This is well illustrated by reports of an inverse paternal age effect where there is strong correlation between parental ages. Gestational age at diagnosis, availability of prenatal screening, diagnostic testing, and elective termination of affected pregnancies and healthcare disparities also confound the studies on ethnicity, medical conditions, and predispositions or environmental factors. Data from twin zygosity studies demonstrate the importance of differences in fetal viability for affected pregnancies. We conclude that existing epidemiological evidence for most of the co-factors discussed should currently be considered tenuous; history of Down syndrome, albeit biased, may be an exception. The co-factors may yet provide clues to hitherto poorly understood causal pathways.     

膜-生物反应器和传统活性污泥法去除两种内分泌干扰物的对比研究

采用不主动排泥的运行模式,在相同污泥负荷条件下,对比研究了膜-生物反应器(MBR)与传统活性污泥反应器(CASR)对两种典型内分泌干扰物--双酚A(BPA)与壬基酚聚氧乙烯醚(NPnEO,n=1～4)的去除效果.结果表明,在BPA-污泥负荷与NPnEO-污泥负荷分别为0.046～10.2 g·kg-1·d-1与0.097-0.701 g·kg-1·d-1的范围内,MBR与CASR均能有效去除这2种内分泌干扰物.随着运行时间的延长,污泥对目标物质的去除能力逐渐加强;相比CASB,MBR对目标物质的去除更强且稳定.在获得相同的出水目标物质浓度条件下,MBR可以耐受更高的容积负荷.2种内分泌干扰物的投加对MBR和CASR的COD和NH4-N的去除均没有明显影响.     

Ecological toxicity of reactive X-3B red dye and cadmium acting on wheat (Triticum aestivum)

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Sex,age, spleen size,and kidney fat of red deer relative to infection intensities of the lungworm <Emphasis Type="Italic">Elaphostrongylus cervi</Emphasis>

We analyzed the relationships among spleen size, body condition (measured as kidney fat), and larval counts of the nematode Elaphostrongylus cervi in red deer (Cervus elaphus). The aim was to investigate the interaction between host body condition and intensity of infection with parasites. As red deer are highly polygynous, we also tested whether these relationships varied with sex and age of the hosts. Kidney fat and spleen size were positively correlated in subadults (2–3 years old) and adults (>3 years old), but not in calves (<1 year old) or yearlings (1–2 years old). Spleen size was negatively associated with nematode load in subadult females and in adult males. These two age classes are potentially the most nutritionally stressed, as subadult hinds are still growing and often engaging in rearing their first calf, and adult stags were sampled just after the rut, which is recognized as a substantial energy drain in this age–sex class, as they compete to hold females during the mating season. Body condition related negatively to parasite count only in adult males. In the context of red deer life history, these findings suggest that spleen size is dependent on body condition and that it could be affected by variation in resource partitioning among immune defense, growth, and reproductive effort in red deer. For the first time in a wild mammal, the spleen mass is shown to be positively related to body condition and negatively related to parasite infection. We conclude that elucidating whether spleen mass reflects immune defense investment or a measure of general body condition should contribute to understanding topical issues in mammal ecology.