胚胎期及哺乳期全氟辛烷磺酸盐(PFOS)暴露对大鼠长时程突触可塑性影响的miRNA组学研究

为探讨PFOS胚胎期及哺乳期暴露对动物子代学习记忆能力影响的分子机理,采用微小RNA(miRNA)芯片技术检测PFOS胚胎期及哺乳期暴露对出生第1和7天大鼠脑组织miRNA表达的影响,分析突触可塑性相关miRNA表达的差异变化。结果显示,经PFOS暴露后出生第1和7天的大鼠脑组织中分别有24和17个miRNA发生显著性差异表达(p<0.05),其中与突触传递和神经递质转运等相关的miRNA的差异表达最为显著,主要包括miR-466b、miR-672、miR-297、miR-674-3p和miR-207。差异表达miRNA的路径分析显示出生后1和7d的大鼠的长时程增强效应(LTP)均受PFOS显著影响(p<0.05),这说明PFOS胚胎期及哺乳期暴露可能通过影响LTP的形成、发展和维持过程对大鼠子代大脑学习记忆能力造成威胁,并且miR-466b、miR-672、miR-297、miR-674-3p和miR-207可能参与了其中的调控过程。     

土壤水分对外来入侵植物五爪金龙植株表型可塑性和化感作用的影响

外来入侵植物五爪金龙（Ipomoea cairica）对华南地区的生态环境造成严重危害,表型可塑性可增强外来物种的入侵能力。本文通过盆栽试验研究土壤含水量为10%、20%和30%对外来入侵植物五爪金龙种子萌发、植株表型可塑性和化感作用的影响,探讨五爪金龙对土壤水分变化的响应机理,为进一步了解五爪金龙的入侵机理和提高对入侵种的预警和控制能力提供理论依据。结果表明,（1）在土壤含水量为10%,20%和30%条件下,五爪金龙种子的萌发率分别为15.2%、36.4%和33.6%。五爪金龙种子的萌发率随土壤含水量的增加而增加,尤其是在土壤含水量为30%时,五爪金龙种子萌发率最高。（2）土壤含水量为10%、20%和30%时,五爪金龙植株的总生物量分别为0.88、2.26和2.42 g。与土壤含水量为10%相比,土壤含水量为20%和30%条件下五爪金龙的总生物量分别增加了156.8%和175.0%,表明土壤水分增加显著增加了五爪金龙的总生物量。土壤含水量增加显著增加了五爪金龙的叶面积、叶生物量比、比叶面积和茎长,同时减少了根生物量比和根冠比,而对茎生物量比无显著影响。（3）相同浓度的五爪金龙水浸提液对受体植物莴苣（Lactuca sativa）和萝卜（Raphanus sativus）根长和苗高生长的化感抑制作用随着土壤含水量的减少而增强。研究表明：五爪金龙通过改变生物量分配模式和化感潜力对土壤水分变化有一定的适应能力。     

互花米草在不同生境中的形态可塑性与生物量分配

该文以分布于广西合浦山口红树林保护区的互花米草(Spartina alterniflora)为研究对象,研究了不同的生境条件(淤泥质、泥沙质、沙质)对其形态因子和生物量的影响.结果表明:生境条件对互花米草的形态因子和生物量的生长有显著影响.三种生境中,以淤泥质中生长的互花米草的单位面积株数和生物量最高;比较单株的形态因子,则以泥沙质中的互花米草长势最佳,并与淤泥质、沙质相差显著;在淤泥质与沙质中,除地下生物量外,其它形态因子与生物量之间没有显著差异;在不同的生境中互花米草生物量的分配存在一定的差异;土壤透气性及养分含量可能是影响互花米草形态因子和生物量差异的主要因素.     

Effects of within- and among-patch experiences on the patch-leaving decision rules in an insect parasitoid

The present study aimed to address how an insect parasitoid makes patch-departure decisions from various types of host patches and how previous patch experiences in the environment modify this decision-making process. Experiments were done with the parasitic wasp Aphidius rhopalosiphi attacking the grain aphid Sitobion avenae. In the experiments, wasps were observed in a laboratory environment containing several patches of various host densities, and behavioural records were analysed using a Coxs proportional hazards model. Consideration of the effect of the within-patch experience gave a classic pattern of patch-leaving decision rules in parasitoids: A. rhopalosiphi used local information on host quality (i.e. numbers of ovipositions or rejections) and availability (i.e. patch density) to determine departure decision. However, consideration of previous patch experiences provided evidence that these departure rules are fundamentally dynamic, responding to the physiological state of the animal and the information it has about its environment. Results showed that A. rhopalosiphi decreased its tendency to leave the visited patch after an oviposition. However, when a female has already laid several other eggs in the environment, such an incremental mechanism gradually switched to a decremental one. Hence, A. rhopalosiphi responded to egg-load depletion by leaving the visited patches sooner and by depositing a smaller number of eggs in those patches, which probably led to a decreased level of superparasitism. Results also indicated that previous experiences enabled wasps to estimate spatial host distribution and then to adjust their behavioural decisions accordingly. Thus, A. rhopalosiphi was shown to adjust its patch residence time according to the quality and the number of the patches previously visited. These proximate mechanistic rules adopted by A. rhopalosiphi females are discussed in the context of general predictions from optimality models.Communicated by D. Gwynne     

Behavioral responses to a novel predator and competitor of invasive mosquitofish and their non-invasive relatives (Gambusia sp.)

Attributes of the recipient community may affect the invasion success of arriving non-indigenous organisms. In particular, biotic interactions may enhance the resistance of communities to invasion. Invading organisms typically encounter a novel suite of competitors and predators, and thus their invasiveness may be affected by how they cope with these interactions. Behavioral plasticity may help invaders to respond appropriately to novelty. We examined the behavioral responses of highly invasive mosquitofish to representative novel competitors and predators they might encounter as they spread through North America. We compared the behavior of invasive Gambusia holbrooki and G. affinis to that of two close relatives of lower invasive potential (G. geiseri and G. hispaniolae) in order to elucidate whether responses to novelty related to invasiveness. In short-term assays, female Gambusia were paired with a novel competitor, Pimephales promelas, and a novel predator, Micropterus dolomieu. Behavioral responses were measured in terms of foraging success and efficiency, activity, refuge use, predator inspections, and interspecific aggression. Contrary to a priori predictions, invasive and non-invasive responses to novel interactions did not differ consistently. In response to novel competition, both invasive species increased foraging efficiency, but so did G. geiseri. In response to novel predation, only G. holbrooki decreased consumption and activity and increased refuge use. No antipredator response was observed in G. affinis. We found consistent differences, however, between invasives and non-invasives in foraging behavior. Both in the presence and absence of the competitor and the predator, invasives foraged more efficiently and consumed more prey than non-invasives.Communicated by P. Bednekoff     

Patterns of brood division and an absence of behavioral plasticity in a neotropical passerine

Studies of parental behavior in various habitats provide an opportunity to gain insight into how different environments may mold strategies of parental care. Brood division by parents has been hypothesized to occur facultatively within and among species. Brood division occurs when each parent cares for specific offspring within a brood. We studied brood division in a neotropical passerine, the western slaty antshrike (Thamnophilus atrinucha). Our results present a unique picture of a highly specialized example of avian brood division. Division was a fixed behavioral pattern in the population studied: all broods divided by fledging and remained divided during the entire post-fledging period. Brood division before fledging, a previously unreported phenomenon, occurred in 40% of nests observed. Parents that preferentially fed a certain offspring (defined as their focal offspring) in the nest fed the same individual after fledging. Each parent fed only its focal offspring in broods of one and two. The male parent cared for the heavier offspring and the first offspring to leave the nest. Siblings were segregated spatially during the time of highest predation risk. These observations suggest that a consistently high risk of predation on offspring has favored initial spatial segregation and inflexibility of brood division behavior in this species. Factors other than predation risk alone may explain the observed patterns of long-term, perfect brood division. Because high predation is common and relatively predictable in the tropics, selection for fixed brood division may be stronger in tropical birds than in the temperate zone.     

Morphophysiological and Population Adaptations ofAjuga reptansL. at the Northern Boundary of Its Range

The results of comprehensive morphophysiological and population studies on Ajuga reptansL., a species of the nemoral floristic complex, at the northern boundary of its range (in the middle taiga subzone of the Komi Republic) are reviewed. Adaptations at the cell, organism, and biocenotic levels are revealed. The maintenance and survival of the species at the boundary of its range are provided for by its physiological plasticity, resistance to low temperatures, and multiple variants of ontogeny. Prognosis of Ajuga reptansfuture status under conditions of global climate change and expansion of anthropogenically disturbed areas is favorable.     

Interacting Effects of Phenotypic Plasticity and Evolution on Population Persistence in a Changing Climate

Abstract: Climate change affects individual organisms by altering development, physiology, behavior, and fitness, and populations by altering genetic and phenotypic composition, vital rates, and dynamics. We sought to clarify how selection, phenotypic plasticity, and demography are linked in the context of climate change. On the basis of theory and results of recent empirical studies of plants and animals, we believe the ecological and evolutionary issues relevant to population persistence as climate changes are the rate, type, magnitude, and spatial pattern of climate‐induced abiotic and biotic change; generation time and life history of the organism; extent and type of phenotypic plasticity; amount and distribution of adaptive genetic variation across space and time; dispersal potential; and size and connectivity of subpopulations. An understanding of limits to plasticity and evolutionary potential across traits, populations, and species and feedbacks between adaptive and demographic responses is lacking. Integrated knowledge of coupled ecological and evolutionary mechanisms will increase understanding of the resilience and probabilities of persistence of populations and species.     

Effects of colony food shortage on behavioral development in honey bees

Three experiments were conducted to explore the effects of severe food shortage on the control of two important and interrelated aspects of temporal division of labor in colonies of the honey bee (Apis mellifera): the size and age distribution of a colony's foraging force. The experiments were conducted with single-cohort colonies, composed entirely of young bees, allowing us to quickly distinguish the development of new (precocious) foragers from increases in activity of bees already competent to forage. In experiment 1, colony food shortage caused an acceleration of behavioral development; a significantly greater proportion of bees from starved colonies than from fed colonies became precocious foragers, and at significantly younger ages. Temporal aspects of this starvation effect were further explored in experiment 2 by feeding colonies that we initially starved, and starving colonies that we initially fed. There was a significant decrease in the number of new foragers in starved colonies that were fed, detected 1 day after feeding. There also was a significant increase in the number of new foragers in fed colonies that were starved, but only after a 2-day lag. These results suggest that colony nutritional status does affect long-term behavioral development, rather than only modulate the activity of bees already competent to forage. In experiment 3, we uncoupled the nutritional status of a colony from that of the individual colony members. The behavior of fed individuals in starved colonies was indistinguishable from that of bees in fed colonies, but significantly different from that of bees in starved colonies, in terms of both the number and age distribution of foragers. These results demonstrate that effects of starvation on temporal polyethism are not mediated by the most obvious possible worker-nest interaction: a direct interaction with colony food stores. This is consistent with previous findings suggesting the importance of worker-worker interactions in the regulation of temporal polyethism in honey bees as well as other social insects. Received: 17 April 1997 / Accepted after revision: 26 December 1997     

Plasticity in physiological traits in conifers: Implications for response to climate change in the western U.S.

Population variation in ecophysiological traits of four co-occurring montane conifers was measured on a large latitudinal gradient to quantitatively assess their potential for response to environmental change. White fir (Abies concolor) had the highest variability, gross photosynthetic rate (Pg), and foliar carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content. Despite low water use efficiency (WUE), stomatal conductance (gs) of fir was the most responsive to unfavorable environmental conditions. Pinus lambertiana exhibited the least variability in Pg and WUE, and is likely to be the most vulnerable to environmental changes. Pinus ponderosa had an intermediate level of variability, and high needle growth at its higher elevational limits. Pinus Jeffreyi also had intermediate variability, but high needle growth at its southern latitudinal and lower elevational limits. The attributes used to assess tree vigor were effective in predicting population vulnerability to abiotic (drought) and biotic (herbivore) stresses.