曝气强度对蠕虫捕食污泥过程的影响

利用寡毛纲蠕虫-水丝蚓(Limnodrilus sp.)的捕食实现污泥量的削减,并针对曝气强度对蠕虫捕食污泥过程的影响,考察了不同的曝气强度所引起的蠕虫活性、泥水性质和污泥减量效能等的变化.结果表明:蠕虫对曝气强度的耐受能力有限,其受损程度与曝气强度和时间正相关,低强度的间歇曝气下蠕虫受损数量较低,为总数的1.7%.蠕虫的组织乳酸脱氢酶活力在2.8~9.5m3/(m2·h)的曝气强度下明显升高,表现了较高的物质代谢和能量消耗水平.较低的曝气强度下污泥上清液中硝酸盐氮的累积较轻.蠕虫对污泥的捕食能够抑制低曝气强度下溶氧缺乏所引起的污泥容积指数(SVI)增加,改善污泥的沉降性.在2.8m3/(m2·h)的间歇曝气下,污泥减量效率比连续曝气的污泥减量效率更稳定.     

Provenance and threat-sensitive predator avoidance patterns in wild-caught Trinidadian guppies

The antipredator behaviour of prey organisms is shaped by a series of threat-sensitive trade-offs between the benefits associated with successful predator avoidance and a suite of other fitness-related behaviours such as foraging, mating and territorial defence. Recent research has shown that the overall intensity of antipredator response and the pattern of threat-sensitive trade-offs are influenced by current conditions, including variability in predation risk over a period of days to weeks. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that long-term predation pressure will likewise have shaped the nature of the threat-sensitive antipredator behaviour of wild-caught Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Female guppies were collected from two populations that have evolved under high- and low-predation pressure, respectively, in the Aripo River, Northern Mountain Range, Trinidad. Under laboratory conditions, we exposed shoals of three guppies to varying concentrations of conspecific damage-released chemical alarm cues. Lower Aripo (high-predation) guppies exhibited the strongest antipredator response when exposed to the highest alarm cue concentration and a graded decline in response intensity with decreasing concentrations of alarm cue. Upper Aripo (low-predation) guppies, however, exhibited a nongraded (hypersensitive) response pattern. Our results suggest that long-term predation pressure shapes not only the overall intensity of antipredator responses of Trinidadian guppies but also their threat-sensitive behavioural response patterns.     

A nesting association between semi-colonial Bullock's orioles and yellow-billed magpies: evidence for the predator protection hypothesis

Mixed-species nesting associations have been reported for many birds. However, few studies have shown that one species specifically chooses to nest close to another in order to obtain a direct benefit and only two studies have managed to adequately test the predator protection hypothesis for such associations. Here we demonstrate a nesting association between Bullock's orioles (Icterus galbula bullockii) and yellow-billed magpies (Pica nuttalli). The evidence indicates that this is an active association in which, given a choice of suitable habitat areas in which to nest, orioles choose those areas that contain magpie nests. Oriole nests associated with magpie nests have a significantly reduced predation rate compared to those without associated magpie nests. This suggests that orioles prefer to nest near to magpies and that this preference has evolved due to the protection provided by neighbouring magpies. The nesting association results in the clumping of oriole nests around magpie nests, and therefore provides a possible explanation for the semi-colonial nature of Bullock's orioles. Received: 23 November 1998 / Received in revised form: 25 May 1999 / Accepted: 30 May 1999