不同宿主植物根瘤Frankia及其生物学特性

对从木麻黄、杨梅、桤木和胡颓子等宿主植物根瘤中获得的19株分离菌的离体培养形态特征、生理特性和交叉侵染特性等进行了比较分析.结果表明,各分离菌均有Frankia属所特有的分枝状菌丝、孢囊、泡囊或串珠状菌丝等形态结构;细胞壁类型多属胞壁Ⅲ型,生理类型多属B型,无氮诱导培养下都具有同氮酶活性,在BAP、JA或S培养液中菌体生长较好,以吐温-80和酪蛋白水解物为最佳碳、氮源.但不同宿主分离菌的形态和培养特征差异明显,木麻黄属分离菌菌丝较粗,孢囊数量较少,在BAP培养液中多旱荔肉白絮状颗粒沉淀;杨梅属菌丝较细,孢囊数量较多,在BAP培养液中多是浅红色颗粒沉淀;桤木属和胡颓子属的菌体形态特征在BAP培养液中与木麻黄属的相似,但桤木属菌丝较细,胡颓子属的菌丝较粗.根据回接及交叉侵染特性可将分离菌分为2个宿主特异类群:能侵染木麻黄苗木的木麻黄类群;只侵染原宿主并能在杨梅属、胡颓子属和桤木属间相互侵染,但不能使木麻黄属苗木结瘤的杨梅-桤木-胡颓子类群.图2表5参19     

Are Modern Biological Invasions an Unprecedented Form of Global Change?

Abstract:  The uniqueness of the current, global mass invasion by nonindigenous species has been challenged recently by researchers who argue that modern rates and consequences of nonindigenous species establishment are comparable to episodes in the geological past. Although there is a fossil record of species invasions occurring in waves after geographic barriers had been lifted, such episodic events differ markedly from human-assisted invasions in spatial and temporal scales and in the number and diversity of organisms involved in long-distance dispersal. Today, every region of the planet is simultaneously affected and modern rates of invasion are several orders of magnitude higher than prehistoric rates. In terms of its rate and geographical extent, its potential for synergistic disruption and the scope of its evolutionary consequences, the current mass invasion event is without precedent and should be regarded as a unique form of global change. Prehistoric examples of biotic interchanges are nonetheless instructive and can increase our understanding of species-area effects, evolutionary effects, biotic resistance to invasion, and the impacts of novel functional groups introduced to naïve biotas. Nevertheless, they provide only limited insight into the synergistic effects of invasions and other environmental stressors, the effect of frequent introductions of large numbers of propagules, and global homogenization, all of which characterize the current mass invasion event .     

Biological properties of mud extracts derived from various spa resorts

Spa resorts are known for thousands of years for their healing properties and have been empirically used for the treatment of many inflammatory conditions. Mud is one of the most often used natural materials for preventive, healing and cosmetic reasons and although it has been used since the antiquity, little light has been shed on its physical, chemical and biological properties. In this study we examined the effect of mud extracts on the expression of adhesion molecules (CAMs) by endothelial cells as well as their effects on monocyte adhesion to activated endothelial cells. Most of mud extracts inhibited the expression of VCAM-1 by endothelial cells and reduced monocyte adhesion to activated endothelial cells, indicating a potent anti-inflammatory activity. Furthermore, the mud extracts were tested for their antimicrobial activity; however, most of them appeared inactive against S. aureus and S. epidermidis. One of the mud extracts (showing the best stabilization features) increased significantly the expression of genes involved in cell protection, longevity and hydration of human keratinocytes, such as, collagen 6A1, forkhead box O3, sirtuin-1, superoxide dismutase 1 and aquaporin-3. The present study reveals that mud exerts important beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory and anti-aging activity as well as moisturizing effects, implicating important cosmeceutical applications.     

Use of Approximate Inference in an Index of Completeness of Biological Inventories

Abstract:  To assess the completeness of a floristic or faunal inventory, one may use the ratio of the observed number of species to the true number of species ( C ). If the inventory is complete , C = 1. The estimate of the true number can be obtained from accumulation curves, nonparametric methods, or other techniques. We devised a simple method for computing confidence intervals (CI) for C and for evaluating the null hypothesis that the inventory is complete. The method is based on the assumptions that an estimate of the variance of the true number of species is known and that the distribution of the estimator of the true number of species is approximately normal. We applied our method to bird inventories in the Balsas Basin of Mexico. The completeness index for subtransects were lower (84.0, 85.4, and 89.9%) than for the whole transect (91.6%) (all significantly different from 100%). Thus, these particular inventories were incomplete at 2 spatial resolutions. Our method of estimating CI for C can be used to estimate species richness obtained from databases of different sites or to test the null hypothesis that an inventory derived from a database is complete.     

Homing pigeons do extract directional information from olfactory stimuli

Summary Two groups of pigeons were kept from fledging time in two cages fully exposed to winds. From time to time, the cage containing experimentals was additionally exposed to an artificial air current coming from a specific direction and carrying a scent of benzaldehyde. When both groups were exposed to benzaldehyde scent during transportation and at the release site, the control birds flew homeward, whereas the experimentals oriented in the direction roughly opposite that from which they were used to perceiving the benzaldehyde at the loft. When benzaldehyde was not applied, experimental pigeons were homeward oriented like controls.     

Environmental information stored in otoliths: insights from stable isotopes

The present study compares the stable oxygen-and carbon-isotope ratios (¹⁸0:¹⁶O;¹³C:¹²C) in the otoliths of Atlantic cod,Gadus morhua, with those expected at equilibrium with seawater. Otoliths from juveniles reared for a 3 mo period under controlled conditions indicate that otoliths are formed in isotopic disequilibrium with seawater. This is probably due to positive metabolic fractionating of the heavier isotopes. This vital effect remains constant over the temperature range studied here (9 to 16°C) but may differ among other species. Our data indicate that the concentration of¹⁸O in calcium carbonate is inversely related to temperature and is described as ¹⁸O_a – _w – 3.79 – 0.200(T°C). The¹³C:¹²C ratios of otoliths and body tissues are related to the carbon ratio in the food source, although we found that the¹³C concentration is considerably higher in the otoliths relative te, the body tissues and the diet.     

Proposing an information criterion for individual-based models developed in a pattern-oriented modelling framework

Individual-based models (IBMs) have been improved in quality and reliability in recent years with an approach called pattern-oriented modelling (POM). POM proposes guidelines to develop models reproducing multiple patterns observed on the field and to test systematically how well the IBMs reproduce them. POM studies used generally traditional methods of goodness of fit such as the sum of squares evaluation or ad hoc comparisons of fitting errors and variations. Model selection, however, can be a rigorous statistical approach based on information theory and information criteria such as the Akaike's information criterion (AIC) or the deviance information criterion (DIC). So far, it has not been tried to link POM to these rigorous techniques. The main problems to achieve that are: (a) the difficulty to have likelihood functions for IBMs’ parameters and (b) the possibility to obtain posterior distributions of IBMs’ parameters given the patterns to reproduce. In a first part, this paper answers problem (a) by proposing and explaining how to calculate a deviance measure (POMDEV) for models developed in a context of POM. And while answering the second problem, a second part of the paper proposes an information criterion for model selection in a POM context (the pattern-oriented modelling information criterion: POMIC). This criterion does not yet have the same theoretical foundation as, e.g., AIC, but uses formal analogies to the DIC. In a third part POMIC is tested with a modelling exercise. This exercise shows the potential of POMIC to use multiple patterns for selecting among multiple potential submodels and eventually select the most parsimonious and well fitting model version. We conclude that POMIC, although being a heuristically derived approach, can greatly improve the POM framework.     

Pigeon navigation: Charcoal filter removes relevant information from environmental air

Summary Homing pigeons were displaced and kept until they were released in airtight containers ventilated with environmental air that could be passed through: (a) a filter made of fiberglass paper retaining large portions of the solid and liquid aerosol particles, (b) an additional filter consisting of activated charcoal, or (c) no filter (controls). Before its release, each bird was taken out of the container, and its olfactory epithelium was immediately anesthetized by lidocaine (Xylocaine). Thus, neither experimentals nor controls were able to smell while their initial orientation behavior was being observed.The controls' initial bearings were better homeward-oriented than those of pigeons ventilated with charcoal-filtered air in 14 of 17 releases conducted in Italy and Germany, at distances of 24–155 km. In the final analysis, the bearings of the charcoal-filter birds did not show any relation to the direction toward home, whereas those of the controls did. Pigeons ventilated with air that had passed through only the paper filter did not behave noticeably differently from control pigeons.It is concluded that the material bases of olfactory navigation in pigeons are substances dispersed in the atmosphere, most probably in a molecular state.     

Factors affecting information transfer from knowledgeable to naive individuals in groups

There is evidence that individuals in animal groups benefit from the presence of knowledgeable group members in different ways. Experiments and computer simulations have shown that a few individuals within a group can lead others, for a precise task and at a specific moment. As a group travels, different individuals possessing a particular knowledge may act as temporary leaders, so that the group will, as a whole, follow their behaviour. In this paper, we use a model to study different factors influencing group response to temporary leadership. The model is based on four individual behaviours. Three of those, attraction, repulsion, and alignment, are shared by all individuals. The last one, attraction toward the source of a stimulus, concerns only a fraction of the group members. We explore the influence of group size, proportion of stimulated individuals, number of influential neighbours, and intensity of the attraction to the source of the stimulus, on the proportion of the group reaching this source. Special attention is given to the simulation of large group size, close to those observed in nature. Groups of 100, 400 and 900 individuals are currently simulated, and up to 8,000 in one experiment. We show that more stimulated individuals and a larger group size both induce the arrival of a larger fraction of the group. The number of influential neighbours and the intensity of the stimulus have a non-linear influence on the proportion of the group arrival, displaying first a positive relationship and then, above a given threshold, a negative one. We conclude that an intermediate level of group cohesion provides optimal transfer information from knowledgeable to naive individuals.     

The role of water in the information exchange between the components of an ecosystem

Living organisms and ecosystems have been shown to be sensitive to very weak signals originating very far away. The dynamics governing these phenomena is discussed in the framework of Quantum Field Theory. This phenomenon gives an indication on the dynamics responsible for the exchange of information in ecosystems. The peculiar role of coherent water is stressed. It is shown that energy is able to travel in a coherent medium in form of solitons, without any losses.     

Vegetation Response to Early Holocene Warming as an Analog for Current and Future Changes

Abstract: Temperatures in southwestern North America are projected to increase 3.5–4 °C over the next 60–90 years. This will precipitate ecological shifts as the ranges of species change in response to new climates. During this shift, rapid‐colonizing species should increase, whereas slow‐colonizing species will at first decrease, but eventually become reestablished in their new range. This successional process has been estimated to require from 100 to over 300 years in small areas, under a stable climate, with a nearby seed source. How much longer will it require on a continental scale, under a changing climate, without a nearby seed source? I considered this question through an examination of the response of fossil plant assemblages from the Grand Canyon, Arizona, to the most recent rapid warming of similar magnitude that occurred at the start of the Holocene, 11,700 years ago. At that time, temperatures in southwestern North America increased about 4 °C over less than a century. Grand Canyon plant species responded at different rates to this warming climate. Early‐successional species rapidly increased, whereas late‐successional species decreased. This shift persisted throughout the next 2700 years. I found two earlier, less‐extreme species shifts following rapid warming events around 14,700 and 16,800 years ago. Late‐successional species predominated only after 4000 years or more of relatively stable temperature. These results suggest the potential magnitude, duration, and nature of future ecological changes and have implications for conservation plans, especially those incorporating equilibrium assumptions or reconstituting past conditions. When these concepts are extended to include the most rapid early‐successional colonizers, they imply that the recent increases in invasive exotics may be only the most noticeable part of a new resurgence of early‐successional vegetation. Additionally, my results challenge the reliability of models of future vegetation and carbon balance that project conditions on the basis of assumptions of equilibrium within only a century.     

Biological hydrogen production from organic wastewater by dark fermentation in China: Overview and prospects

Biological hydrogen production by dark fermentation is an important part of biological hydrogen production technologies. China is a typical developing country that heavily relies on fossil fuels; thus, new, clean, and sustainable energy development turns quite urgent. It is delightful that Chinese government has already drawn up several H₂ development policies since 1990s and provided financial aid to launch some H₂ development projects. In this paper, the research status on dark fermentative hydrogen production in China was summarized and analyzed. Subsequently, several new findings and achievements, with some of which transformed into scale-up tests, were highlighted. Moreover, some prospecting coupling processes with dark fermentation of hydrogen production were also proposed to attract more research interests in the future.     

一株大熊猫肠道厌氧纤维素菌的分离鉴定、系统发育分析及生物学特性的研究

从成都动物园健康大熊猫的肠道采集样品,富集分离获得一株典型的厌氧纤维素分解菌PD.分离菌是杆状,革兰氏阳性(G ),菌体大小为0.5μm×(3～5)μm,严格厌氧;生长温度为25～40℃,最适生长温度为38℃;pH范围5.0～9.0,最适pH7.2;在纤维素粉作碳源的琼脂培养基上菌落直径为1～3mm,白色透明斑;分离菌株不仅能利用纤维二糖、葡萄糖、蔗糖、淀粉、松三糖、覃糖等多种可溶性碳源,而且可以利用纤维素粉等不溶性碳源.同时,对菌株PD进行了16SrDNA的PCR扩增,并对扩增产物测序.对16SrDNA部分序列进行了分析,并构建了系统发育树,表明菌株PD属于梭菌属,与Clostridiumlentocellum(T)的16SrDNA序列具有92.2%相似性.图5表1参18     

Prioritizing Conservation Effort through the Use of Biological Soil Crusts as Ecosystem Function Indicators in an Arid Region

Abstract: Conservation prioritization usually focuses on conservation of rare species or biodiversity, rather than ecological processes. This is partially due to a lack of informative indicators of ecosystem function. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) trap and retain soil and water resources in arid ecosystems and function as major carbon and nitrogen fixers; thus, they may be informative indicators of ecosystem function. We created spatial models of multiple indicators of the diversity and function of BSCs (species richness, evenness, functional diversity, functional redundancy, number of rare species, number of habitat specialists, nitrogen and carbon fixation indices, soil stabilization, and surface roughening) for the 800,000‐ha Grand Staircase‐Escalante National Monument (Utah, U.S.A.). We then combined the indicators into a single BSC function map and a single BSC biodiversity map (2 alternative types of conservation value) with an unweighted averaging procedure and a weighted procedure derived from validations performance. We also modeled potential degradation with data from a rangeland assessment survey. To determine which areas on the landscape were the highest conservation priorities, we overlaid the function‐ and diversity‐based conservation‐value layers on the potential degradation layer. Different methods for ascribing conservation‐value and conservation‐priority layers all yielded strikingly similar results (r= 0.89–0.99), which suggests that in this case biodiversity and function can be conserved simultaneously. We believe BSCs can be used as indicators of ecosystem function in concert with other indicators (such as plant‐community properties) and that such information can be used to prioritize conservation effort in drylands.     

Derivation of the Extrinsic Values of Biological Diversity from Its Intrinsic Value and of Both from the First Principles of Evolution

Conservation ethics have been based on 2 philosophical value systems: extrinsic value (defined broadly to include all values that derive from something external to the thing valued) and intrinsic value. Valuing biological diversity on the basis of an extrinsic value system is problematic because measurement is often difficult; extrinsic value changes as spatial or temporal scales change; extrinsic value differs on the basis of external factors; some species have trivial or negative extrinsic values; and extrinsic value varies across human cultures and societies and with such factors as socioeconomic conditions, individual experiences, and educational backgrounds. Valuing biological diversity on the basis of an intrinsic value system also poses challenges because intrinsic value can be seen as a disguised form of human extrinsic value; intrinsic value is initially ambiguous as to which objects or characteristics of biological diversity are to being valued; all aspects of biological diversity (e.g., species and ecosystems) are transitory; species and ecosystems are not static concrete entities; and intrinsic value of one species is often in conflict with the intrinsic value of other species. Extrinsic and intrinsic value systems share a common origin, such that extrinsic values are always derived from intrinsic value and life mutely expresses both intrinsic and extrinsic values—these are derived from and are products of biological evolution. Probing the values that underlie conservation helps the community clearly articulate its aims. Derivación de los Valores Extrínsecos de la Biodiversidad a Partir de sus Valores Intrínsecos y de Ambos a Partir de los Primeros Principios de la Evolución     

Social information and community dynamics: nontarget effects from simulating social cues for management

Artificially creating social stimuli may be an effective tool for facilitating settlement by rare and/or declining species into suitable habitat. However, the potential consequences for other community members have not been explored and should be considered when evaluating the overall utility of using such management strategies. I report on nontarget, community-wide effects that occurred when manipulating social cues of two competitors that are species of concern in the western United States, the dominant Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) and the subordinate American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). The experiment consisted of surveying birds during a pretreatment year, which allows for the control of baseline communities, and a treatment year, in which treatments were applied just prior to settlement by migratory birds. Treatments included broadcasting songs of flycatchers and redstarts and were compared to controls. While the addition of redstart cues did not significantly influence community structure, the addition of flycatcher cues reduced species richness of migratory birds by approximately 30%. This pattern was driven by an absence of local colonizations of small-bodied migrants to sites with added flycatcher cues, rather than by local extinctions occurring from manipulations. The artificial flycatcher stimuli were more responsible for declines in species richness than were changes in actual flycatcher densities. I conclude by identifying some fundamental issues that managers and conservation practitioners should weigh when considering simulating social cues for species conservation prior to implementation.     

Biological and oceanographic insights from larval labrid (Pisces: Labridae) identification using mtDNA sequences

Polymerase chain reaction and direct comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences from a cytochrome b gene fragment were used to identify two morphologically distinct larval types ofXyrichtys, a genus of tropical wrasse (Pisces: Labridae). Both larval types were collected during ichthyoplankton surveys on the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf in the summer of 1988. DNA sequence comparisons indicated that both types were larvae ofXyrichtys novacula (Linnaeus). Back-calculated birthdate distributions for those larvae collected on the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf demonstrated that the two larval types formed two distinct cohorts indicating a biological difference. The two distinct larval types may be a consequence of an ecophenotypic effect, or they may represent offspring from genetically distinct populations. These results emphasize that important biological and oceanographic information can be gained through the use of the polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing for larval identificaiton.