Sperm precedence, mating interval, and a novel mechanism of paternity bias in a beetle (Tenebrio molitor L.)

When females mate with more than one male, the ensuing sperm competition leads to the evolution of male mechanisms that skew paternity. Males of the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) transfer a spermatophore to females during copulation, but sperm release and storage occur later. We investigated how the interval between two matings with different males affects sperm precedence by varying the interval between the copulations so that the second mating was either: (1) before sperm release from the first spermatophore (<5 min); (2) after sperm release but before spermatophore ejection (15–20 min); (3) after spermatophore ejection but before sperm storage (4 h), or (4) after complete sperm storage (24 h). We collected offspring over a period of 2 weeks and determined paternity by protein electrophoresis. There was second-male sperm precedence in all treatments, but when the interval was <5 min, the second male usually (86% of cases) had complete sperm precedence (i.e., P ₂=1). Investigations into the mechanism of second-male sperm precedence during <5-min mating intervals indicate that sperm release from the first spermatophore is inhibited, a phenomenon which has not been previously documented. Received: 31 January 2000 / Revised: 9 June 2000 / Accepted: 26 August 2000     

Scientific collectives in region-building processes

During the last 30 years, growing demand for science-based policy making has contributed to the mobilization of scientific cooperation alongside transnational political arrangements for addressing environmental issues. Following the contemporary trend toward regionalizing environmental policy and practice, many of these scientific joint efforts have focused on a regional scale. This article examines regional scientific cooperation in the context of the institutionalization of mountain regions in Europe. Such cooperation can be observed from the Pyrenees to Central Asia, albeit with a degree of variation that largely remains unexplored in scientific research. Sometimes scientific cooperation served to lay the groundwork of a mountain policy initiative, other times it appeared in its wake; some examples appear as loose networks of individual scientists, others are set up as formalized monitoring and observation centers; finally, some scientific joint efforts are formally linked to, or incorporated in a mountain policy initiative, while others are largely independent. The article proposes a new typology for understanding the interactions between regional scientific mobilization and regional policy making and provides up-to-date portraits of six main cases.     

Potential mechanisms for the communication of height and distance by a stingless bee, Melipona panamica

This study investigates the recruitment communication mechanisms of a stingless bee, Melipona panamica, whose foragers can evidently communicate the three-dimensional location of a good food source. To determine if the bees communicate location information inside or outside the nest, we conducted removal experiments by training marked foragers to one of two identical feeders and then separating these experienced foragers from potential recruits as they left the nest. The feeders were positioned to test the communication of each dimension. The results show that recruits do not simply follow experienced foragers to the food source. Height and distance are communicated within the nest, while direction is communicated outside the nest. We then examined the pulsed sounds produced by recruiting foragers. While unloading food, recruiting foragers produced several short pulses and one or more very long pulses. On average, the longest unloading pulse per performance was 31–50% longer (P ≤ 0.018) for bees foraging on the forest floor than for bees foraging at the top of the forest canopy (40 m high). While dancing, recruiting foragers produced sound pulses whose duration was positively correlated with the distance to the food source (P < 0.001). Dancing recruiters also produced several short sound pulses followed by one or more long pulses. The longest dance pulse per performance was 291 ± 194 ms for a feeder 25 m from the nest and 1858 ± 923 ms for a feeder 360 m away from the nest. The mechanism of directional communication remains a mystery. However, the direction removal experiment demonstrates that newcomers cannot use forager-deposited scent marks for long-distance orientation (>100 m from the nest). Received: 25 September 1997 / Accepted after revision: 31 May 1998     

Tolerating castration by hiding flowers in plain sight

A key challenge in the study of inter-specific cooperation, or mutualisms, is to understand the mechanisms that prevent cheating. However, many mutualisms are still invaded by parasites, and we propose that plant ‘tolerance strategies’, which allow an individual to re-grow and/or reproduce after damage, might have evolved to recover some of the fitness lost to parasitism. We focus on the ant plant Cordia nodosa and its protecting ant symbionts Allomerus octoarticulatus and Azteca spp. Allomerus is a castration parasite, destroying host flowers. However, some flowers are produced on new branch shoots, where they escape castration. Here, we ask whether C. nodosa tolerates castration by directing floral growth to new shoots. We find that C. nodosa produces four times more floral buds on the new shoots of Allomerus-inhabited plants, compared to Azteca-inhabited plants. Additionally, on Allomerus-inhabited plants, the production of floral buds is three times greater on new than on mature shoots, and more floral buds are grown on plants with new shoots than on those without. We conclude therefore that C. nodosa tolerates castration by re-allocating floral resources to new shoots. We also test whether tolerance exploits behavioural differences between the brood-tending ‘nurse’ ant worker caste, which is active on mature shoots, and the new shoot-protecting ‘patroller’ caste. Behavioural assay experiments reveal that nurse ants are strongly attracted to extracts of flowers, whereas patrollers are not, suggesting that nurses are the primary castrating caste. Thus, producing flowers on new shoots avoids the castrating caste. We finish by proposing that tolerance strategies can promote the evolution and maintenance of mutualism.     

水质条件对膜-羧基官能团之间微观作用力的影响特征

为了探讨pH值、离子强度及膜材料对膜-污染物间相互作用力的影响特征,利用自制的典型膜污染物羧基官能团胶体探针,结合原子力显微镜定量考察了羧基官能团与PVDF及EVOH超滤膜间的相互作用力随pH值及离子强度的变化特征.结果表明:带有羧基基体的污染物与PVDF及EVOH超滤膜之间的相互作用力皆随着pH值的增大而减小;但是上述作用力随着离子强度的增加呈现特殊的变化趋势:在离子强度为0~10mmol/L时,膜-带有羧基基体的污染物之间相互作用力随着离子强度的增加而增大;在离子强度为10~500mmol/L时,膜-羧基之间相互作用力随着离子强度的增大而减小.在特定的水质条件下,EVOH-羧基间的作用力远小于PVDF-羧基之间的作用力.     

垂直流人工湿地系统工程的污染物净化效率研究

将传统污水处理技术与人工湿地工艺相结合,通过将强化型前处理系统引入到高效垂直流人工湿地水质净化系统,从而提高了人工湿地的处理效率.9个月的实际运行证明,该预处理装置的设置降低了湿地负荷,提高了人工湿地对污水的净化效率,特别是对有机污染物有较好的去除效果.改良后的湿地系统对合流制污水污染物净化具有良好效果,且运行成本低,适用于土地资源比较丰富、资金紧张的地区.      

Flow and transport in fractured tuff at Yucca Mountain: numerical experiments on fast preferential flow mechanisms

Recent discovery of bomb-related ³⁶Cl at depth in fractured tuff in the unsaturated zone at the Yucca Mountain candidate high-level waste (HLW) repository site has called into question the usual modeling assumptions based on the equivalent continuum model (ECM). A dual continuum model (DCM) for simulating transient flow and transport at Yucca Mountain is developed. In order to ensure properly converged flow solutions, which are used in the transport simulation, a new flow solution convergence criteria is derived. An extensive series of simulation studies is presented which indicates that rapid movement of solute through the fractures will not occur unless there are intense episodic infiltration events. Movement of solute in the environs of the repository is enhanced if the properties of the tuff layer at the repository horizon are modified from current best-estimate values. Due to a large advective–dispersive coupling between the matrix and fractures, the matrix acts as a major buffer which inhibits rapid transport along the fractures. Consequently, fast movement of solutes through the fractures to the repository depth can only be explained if the matrix–fracture coupling term is significantly reduced from a value that would be calculated on the basis of data currently available.     

Parameterization of the roughness length over the sea in forced and free convection

In the condition of free convection, the Charnock relation is inadequate. In this paper we extend the Charnock relation to include the effect of free convection on the roughness length. As a result, the singularity in the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory can be avoided. This paper shows two approaches to derive the roughness length formula in the forced and free convections. The first approach is based on the mixing length theory and the use of the observational data of the vertical velocity variance. We introduce a new vertical velocity scale based on the vertical velocity variance; this velocity variance is well behaved in the atmospheric boundary layer and easy to obtain from field experiments. The second approach is based on the theoretical framework of Sykes et al. (Q R Met Soc, 119: 409–421). From that framework, we develop a theory to obtain the roughness length formula. The results of these two approaches are in agreement with each other. In the past, a multiplication factor associated with free convection was considered to be a constant. This paper shows that this multiplication factor is, in fact, also dependent on the depth of the mixing height. In previous studies, experimental works were often conducted without taking into account the depth of the mixing height. Not taking into account the mixing height in the estimation of the roughness length in free convection would result in an inaccurate estimate of the roughness length and hence the drag coefficient. An erratum to this article can be found at     

道路行车安全性虚拟评价方法研究

针对在道路建成之前很难对设计道路进行有效的安全性评价的问题,在介绍运行车速评价法、速度分布评价法、线形指数评价法和驾驶人工作负荷评价法等国外道路安全评价方法的基础上,提出包括运行车速与设计车速差、相邻路段运行车速差、速度降低因子、横向力系数变化因子以及路段间的加速度值等5个评价因子在内的道路安全评价模型,并确定了相应指标的评价标准.该方法的评价过程包括自行模式和互动模式.自行模式是在驾驶员模糊车速控制模型的基础上预测路段的运行车速,从而进行线形的安全评价;交互模式主要是在虚拟仿真的基础上对道路、隧道、桥梁的交通工程设施、照明等系统进行安全性评价.通过该评价方法可以在道路的设计阶段发现存在的行车安全性问题,通过修改设计或进行安全改善,提高道路的运营安全性.     

江苏省大雾的变化特征及气溶胶对其影响

通过分析近50年江苏长序列大雾日数、持续时间、时空分布规律以及其成因,探讨气溶胶对大雾形成的可能机制.研究结果表明:大雾可能出现在任何时候,但在清晨和秋季出现的频率最多.它们的变化可从该区的季节环流背景特征和雾的形成机理得以解释.年代际大雾日变化大体呈现出抛物线(先升后降)分布特征,而大雾持续时间一直呈波动增长趋势,气象因素不能全部解释其变化特征.气溶胶对大雾形成和持续时间可能有重要影响,气象因素和气溶胶共同作用可解释江苏省年际大雾日变化和大雾持续的变化特征.