Life history costs of olfactory status signalling in mice

Large body size confers a competitive advantage in animal contests but does not always determine the outcome. Here we explore the trade-off between short-term achievement of high social status and longer-term life history costs in animals which vary in competitive ability. Using laboratory mice, Mus musculus, as a model system, we show that small competitors can initially maintain dominance over larger males by increasing investment in olfactory status signalling (scent-marking), but only at the cost of reduced growth rate and body size. As a result they become more vulnerable to dominance reversals later in life. Our results also provide the first empirical information about life history costs of olfactory status signals. Received: 15 December 1999 / Revised: 6 June 2000 / Accepted: 24 June 2000     

考虑应变速率影响的混凝土重力坝非线性地震响应分析

通过引入应变速率、损伤变量以及刚度退化指标等参数,建立了应变率相关的混凝土弹塑性损伤模型。运用该模型对某重力坝厂房坝段分别就率相关及率无关两种情况进行了三维非线性地震响应时程分析。深入研究了混凝土应变速率等相关特性对结构动力响应的影响。结果表明,应变速率对混凝土的力学性能有一定的影响,随着应变速率的增加,坝体结构的变形减小,主拉应力有所提高,应变能有所减小以及开裂损伤有一定的降低。所得结论对混凝土重力坝的震害研究有一定的参考价值。     

洱海沉积物重金属地球化学相及其污染历史研究

高原封闭、半封闭型湖泊是气候和环境演化的敏感指示器，其沉积物记录具有连续性、敏感性和高分辨率的特点。高原湖泊沉积记录在恢复和重塑各种短时间尺度（千年、百年、十年）的气候和环境演化序列上，具有其它自然历史记录无法替代的优势，尤其在揭示近代环境污染历史方面更有其独到之处。本文通过对洱海沉积物重金属地球化学相的研究，利用因子分析方法，识别了沉积物重金属的主要来源和影响其分布的主要因素，即：流域侵蚀作用、大气沉降作用、工业废水与生活污水的排放，以及早期成岩作用。同时，结合沉积物柱芯210PBex计年结果，本文初步评价了洱海150多年来的重金属污染历史：1958年以来．因为化石燃料使用量的增加．洱海湖区大气污染日趋严重；1982年后，由于西洱河水电站的建成运行和湖区植被的破坏，流域侵蚀作用显著加强，应当引起重视。     

Tree ring analysis for determination of pollution history of Chengde City, north China

ＴｒｅｅｒｉｎｇａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｆｏｒｄｅｔｅｒｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎｏｆｐｏｌｌｕｔｉｏｎｈｉｓｔｏｒｙｏｆＣｈｅｎｇｄｅＣｉｔｙ，ｎｏｒｔｈＣｈｉｎａ￥ＪｉａｎｇＧａｏｍｉｎｇ（ＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅｏｆＢｏｔａｎｙ，ＣｈｉｎｅｓｅＡｃａｄｅｍｙｏｆＳｃｉ...     

"机零机原"课的教学创新

将中国机械史及国情教育融入机零机原课教学中,无疑对加强和改进大学生思想政治教育,能起到很好的推动作用.中国机械史,内涵丰富;国情教育,贴近实际;是提高大学生素质的重要内容.     

Is Ammophila arenaria (Marram grass) a threat to South African dune fields?

Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) was introduced to South Africa from Europe as a means of stabilizing the Cape Flats in the 1870s, but was only successfully established in the 1890s as it was found that seeds from the first introductions did not readily germinate. By the end of the last century, it was successfully used as a dune stabilizing grass. It is now widely used in stabilization projects along the Cape coastline, being established by planting cuttings or whole plants. Because of problems experienced of marram becoming invasive, especially on the west coast of North America, and the fact that we have many invasive species which threaten our indigenous dune fields, studies have been initiated on this plant in South Africa. Most work to date has involved investigating the methods used to establish the plant in stabilization sites, and very little has been done on the biology of the species in this country. Marram is generally thought not to seed in South Africa, and thus its spread has been limited. However, in the light of recent reports of successful germination of the seed, detailed studies on the phenology of seed production and establishment in natural areas will be undertaken. Studies on the natural control by fungal species and nematodes will be carried out in conjunction with work done in the Netherlands, so that a comparison of the biology of the species in South Africa can be made with that in Europe, where it is used extensively to stabilize dunes.     

南岳自然保护区人文资源的调查研究

南岳自然保护区素为天下名山,层峦叠翠,风光旖旎,灵动俊秀的自然景观,源远流长的宗教文化,古朴神奇的历史遗迹,形成了博大精深的旅游资源.我国加入WTO后,随着世界旅游业的蓬勃发展,一个全新的旅游分支文化旅游正呈现出迅猛的发展势头.南岳作为素有文明奥区之称,进行文化资源的调查,构筑系统的旅游文化体系,开拓旅游市场,提升旅游品位,做好保护与利用旅游资源这篇文章有着重要意义.     

Caste allocation in litter Pheidole: lessons from plant defense theory

The allocation to growth, defense and reproduction varies in social insects within a species' life cycle and between species. A life cycle model (Oster and Wilson 1978) generally failed to predict caste allocation in small litter-nesting colonies of Neotropical Pheidole. Two of its assumptions were often invalid: food was unlikely to be limiting in four of five populations, and sexual biomass production accelerated, not decelerated, with colony size in three of five populations. One of five Pheidole populations studied had higher caste ratios (soldiers /workers) in reproductive colonies as predicted, and in no species did caste functions conform to predictions. We also adapted three models from plant defense theory to study between-species patterns of caste allocation. Among 12 litter Pheidole the amount of sterile biomass devoted to soldiers varied from 18 to 62%. Queen size, growth rate, and soldier investment positively covaried. Only one model, the cost of replacement hypothesis (McKey 1979), correctly predicted that species with costly female alates invest more in defense. The two hypotheses linking apparency to defense may also be valid if fast-growing colonies are more likely to attract the attention of predators.     

Intermittent breeding as a cost of site fidelity

Intermittent breeding (skipping a breeding season) can be the result of an adaptive decision by a focal individual, trading current reproductive success in favour of future reproductive success (residual reproductive value hypothesis). In contrast, an individual can also be forced by conspecifics to abandon the familiar breeding site and refrain from breeding due to lack of suitable alternative breeding sites or mates (competition hypothesis). I studied intermittent breeding in the territorial and site-faithful Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus, using a dataset covering 20 years. Intermittent breeding (in total 86 cases) occurred among breeders that formerly bred in high- as well as low-quality territories. The main factor associated with intermittent breeding in high-quality sites was death of a mate, while in low quality sites divorce was the most prominent factor. In 93% of the cases birds were forced to cease breeding due to pressure from conspecifics consistent with the competition hypothesis. There was no association between intermittent breeding and promotion to a territory of better quality. Instead, oystercatchers returned to breeding habitat of similar quality and at a very close distance (median distance 128 m) from the previous breeding location. Breeding absences lasted on average 2.4 years, with a maximum of 9 years, and the quality of the territory obtained after the absence varied with the duration of it. Birds who re-bred in a high-quality territory acquired this on average faster than those that re-bred in a low-quality territory, indicating that birds in high-quality sites are better competitors.     

南岳自然保护区宗教文化资源的调查研究

南岳宗教文化历史悠久，最早进入南岳的宗教是中国土生土长的道教，据史载，西汉时道家就在南岳活动，到东汉时道教天师张道陵从天目山来南岳谒青玉坛和祭祀祝融神后，道教正式进入南岳活动，约在两晋南北朝时期，佛道传入南岳，至今已有1700年历史；佛道两家虽然信仰不同，追求各异，但友好相处，佛、道共存一山，共荣一庙(南岳庙)，佛道共荣的宗教文化尤为国内外宗教名山所罕见，极盛时期，有宫观41所，佛寺150所；基督教于清末传入南岳，也有一定影响，南岳宗教文化的表现形式有：香期、庙会．