Analysis of the causal components of assortative mating in water striders

Field studies demonstrate that natural populations of a group of water striders (Heteroptera: Gerridae) that share a common mating system are characterized by weak assortative mating by size and by large sizes of mating males and females relative to single individuals. This study presents an experimental assessment of the components of mating that may contribute to these mating patterns. The effects of male and female body size on each of three components of mating were studied in three water strider species in the laboratory. Large females of all three species mated more frequently, copulated for longer and were guarded longer than small females. Large males mated more frequently than small males in all three species, and also guarded females for longer in the two species where the average of mate guarding was long. However, we found an antagonistic effect of male size on copulation duration: small males copulated for longer than large males in all three species. We show that the combined effects of these size biases mimic the mating patterns found in the wild, e.g. weak and variable assortative mating, and stronger and less variable size ratios of mating versus non-mating females relative to males. We suggest that the antagonistic effects of male size on copulation and guarding duration may be a key source of interpopulational variation in assortative mating and sexual selection on male size. Further, neither spatial or temporal covariation in size, nor mechanical constraints, caused the assortative mating observed here in this group of water striders. Some combination of male and female choice (either active or passive forms) of large mates and male-male exploitation competition for mates play potentially important roles in producing population level assortative mating in water striders. Received: 17 March 1995/Accepted after revision: 28 October 1995     

Monopolization in a resource queue: water striders competing for food and mates

The monopolization of resources plays an important theoretical role in the literature on competition for food and mates. We used 12 groups of male water striders (Aquariusremigis) to: (1) test the general prediction that monopolization of both food and mates decreases as the temporal clumping of resources increases, (2) compare the efficiency of two indices of resource monopolization, coefficient of variation and Q (Ruzzante et al. 1996), and (3) quantitatively assess the resource queue model of Blanckenhorn and Caraco (1992). Each group of six males competed for both food items and mates released from the upstream end of a laboratory stream. The mean inter-arrival time for resource units (food or females) was 10 min, with four levels of temporal clumping (variance in inter-arrival time: 0, 25, 50 or 320 min²). As predicted, the monopolization of both food and mates decreased as the temporal clumping of resource arrival increased, although monopolization was greater for food than for mates. Q detected the difference in monopolization of food and mates, whereas the coefficient of variation did not, because Q is independent of mean resource abundance. The resource queue model successfully predicted monopolization of both resource types, explaining 89% and 76% of variation in the proportion of food and mates acquired by the six males. The success of the model suggests that the scaling of handling time to the variance in resource inter-arrival time should play an important role in any general theory of resource monopolization. Received: 28 February 1997 / Accepted after revision: 26 September 1997     

Anthropogenic influence on surface water quality of the Nhue and Day sub-river systems in Vietnam

In order to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of 14 physical and chemical surface water parameters in the Nhue and Day sub-river systems of Vietnam, surface water samples were taken from 43 sampling sites during the dry and rainy seasons in 2007. The results were statistically examined by Mann–Whitney U-test and hierarchical cluster analysis. The results show that water quality of the Day River was significantly improved during the rainy season while this was not the case of the Nhue River. However, the river water did not meet the Vietnamese surface water quality standards for dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD₅), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients, total coliform, and fecal coliform. This implies that the health of local communities using untreated river water for drinking purposes as well as irrigation of vegetables may be at risk. Forty-three sampling sites were grouped into four main clusters on the basis of water quality characteristics with particular reference to geographic location and land use and revealed the contamination levels from anthropogenic sources.     

Foraging in groups of water striders (Gerris remigis): effects of variability in prey arrivals and handling times

Summary In many species, socially subordinate individuals frequently remain in a group despite their lower priority of access to food and mates. This is expected to occur when the net benefits of staying in the group exceed those of a solitary existence. Analogously, territorial foragers surrounded by conspecific competitors are faced with tradeoffs as to patch tenacity. In either case, spatio-temporal variability in resource availability directly affects behavioral patterns and payoffs, particularly of individuals with low priority of access to the resource. However, such individuals may take advantage of natural environmental fluctuations in resource supply in cases where dominants are preoccupied. This arises regularly if two resource items cannot be handled simultaneously and if a second item arrives before handling of the first has been completed. I advance a heuristic model that predicts that foraging or mating success of individuals with low priority of access to resources may increase both with higher variance in inter-arrival times of the resource (given the same mean) and with an increase in the average handling time of the resource. I tested both predictions with two associations of individually marked, naturally foraging water striders (Gerris remigis) in the field. In natural streams individual water striders tend to occupy consistent positions that they may defend, resulting in priority of access to prey items floating downstream for individuals further up front. I manipulated the variance in prey inter-arrival times given the same mean, and the prey handling times by offering larger prey. The outcome was in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the model.     

Spatial distribution of calcium in food, water and soil and its possible influence on rickets disease in Northern Nigeria

Since the 1990s, children of the Gbagyi tribe in Northern Nigeria have been suffering severe rickets with an incidence of up to 40% in the children's generation. The disease seems to be prevalent in an area of approximately 100 km(2) south-east of Kaduna. According to broad medical studies in that area, there is no evidence for a genetic disposition but for a nutritional cause of the disease. A lack of calcium was found in blood and was calculated to originate from diet. We therefore checked parent material, soil, maize cobs (Zea mays) and drinking water for their specific Ca contents from a region with rickets problem (study area A) and compared the results to Ca amounts in similar samples from a region where rickets is unknown among the Gbagyi population (study area B). It thereby became apparent that there are no differences in mineralogical composition of the parent material between the study areas, but that Ca contents in soil, maize cobs and drinking water are 47.6%, 26.6%, respectively, 79.1% lower in study area A compared to study area B. This result suggests that there may indeed be a nutritionally and/or environmentally influence on rickets disease. Nevertheless, further research on this topic is required.     

Impact of water on CO2 capture by amino acid ionic liquids

The reversible capture of CO₂ from fossil-fueled industries and the absorption of CO₂ for natural-gas-sweetening purposes are industrial issues closely related to very important environmental, economical, and technological concerns. Biological amino acids can be used for task-specific ionic liquids for reversible CO₂ capture. Several groups have reported efficient and reversible CO₂ capture by such ionic liquids under rigorously dry conditions. However, we have observed that CO₂ capture by amino acid ionic liquids is hugely impacted by the presence of water. In addition, the amino acid anions appear to play only a transitory role in the CO₂ capture in the first minutes of exposure to a wet CO₂ stream. Here, we studied the interaction of two ionic liquids—tetramethylammonium glycinate ([N₁₁₁₁][Gly]) and tetraethylammonium prolinate ([N₂₂₂₂][Pro])—with CO₂ under wet conditions, by ¹³C-NMR. Results show that CO₂ is initially captured in a carbamate form by the amine-functionalized anions of these salts. This capture mode is unambiguously confirmed by a single-crystal X-ray study of the CO₂-ionic liquid complex. However, in solution, as additional CO₂ is added, the carbamate releases the covalently bound CO₂, and the CO₂ remaining in solution shifts in form to an equilibrium mixture of carbonate and bicarbonate. Indeed, when the amount of CO₂ present in the system exceeds about one-half mole per mole of ionic liquid present, the ionic liquid–carbamate complex is detected in only trace amounts, and the neutralized amino acids are readily identifiable by NMR.     

稻季田面水不同形态氮素变化及氮肥减量研究

通过氮肥减量田间小区试验,研究了稻季3次施肥后田面水不同形态氮素的变化特征、水稻产量与氮肥农学效率和环境效应的关系。结果表明：施氮显著增加了田面水的氮素质量浓度,且氮素质量浓度随施氮量的减少而降低。田面水总氮,有机氮在施氮后1 d达到最大,随后快速下降;铵态氮和无机氮在基肥和分蘖肥施用1 d后也达到最大,而在穗肥施用后经历了一个先升后降的变化过程;无机氮是田面水氮素的主要形态,应将无机氮作为农田排水污染检测的主要指标;施氮后1周是防止稻田田面水氮素大量流失的关键时期;随着施氮量的增加,氮肥农学效率不断下降,氮素径流损失不断增大,综合水稻产量、农学效率和环境效应,试验区氮肥减量50%是可行的,但其产量持续性仍需进一步验证。     

Arsenic and other toxic elemental contamination of groundwater, surface water and soil in Bangladesh and its possible effects on human health

The problems of contamination caused by arsenic (As) and other toxic metals in groundwater, surface water and soils in the Bengal basin of Bangladesh have been studied. Altogether 10 groundwater, seven surface water and 31 soil samples were collected from arsenic-affected areas and analysed chemically. The geologic and anthropogenic sources of As and other toxic metals are discussed in this paper. The chemical results show that the mean As concentrations in groundwater in the Char Ruppur (0.253mg As L^–1), Rajarampur (1.955mg As L^–1) and Shamta areas (0.996mg As L^–1) greatly exceed the WHO recommended value, which is 0.01mg As L^–1. The concentrations of As in groundwater are very high compared to those in surface water and in surface soil in the three (As-affected) areas studied. This indicates that the source of As in groundwater could be bedrock. The relatively high concentrations of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in surface water, compared to world typical value, are due to the solubility of metal ions, organometalic complexes, coprecipitation or co-existance with the colloidal clay fraction. In the soil, the elevated concentrations of As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn are due to their strong affinity to organic matter, hydrous oxides of Fe and Mn, and clay minerals.     

Effects of floaters on the free surface profiles of river flows

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The presence of floaters should be taken into account when dealing with hydraulic analyses, e.g. when boats are moored along the river banks or large wood is...     

Trihalomethane formation in ozonated and chlorinated surface water

The relatively recent discovery of disinfection by-products has driven the main regulatory organisms to set maximum contaminant levels for certain substances in drinking water. Trihalomethanes can be deemed as the most important group of by-products in chlorinated surface waters. The present work has focused on trihalomethane formation in a full-scale water treatment plant. We studied the effect of several factors, including ozonation, on trihalomethane levels in chlorinated treated water. The treatment scheme also includes an ozonation step. Electronic Publication     

The influence of pH and household plumbing on water lead concentration

The water lead concentrations measured in the homes of children who were part of the Edinburgh Lead study are related to the characteristics of the water supply and the household plumbing. At the time of the study one of the City of Edinburgh's two water supplies was lime treated to reduce plumbosolvency but in the second supply this treatment had not yet become effective. This allows us to estimate the extent to which this type of water treatment reduces water lead concentrations, in houses with lead plumbing, to comply with existing and proposed limits for lead in water. The kitchen cold water was supplied from a lead storage tank in 69 (15%) of the houses. These houses had the highest lead concentrations and water treTo whom correrspondence should be addressed.     

The development of a multi-species algal ecodynamic model for urban surface water systems and its application

An ecodynamic model that can simulate four phytoplankton species has been developed to deal with the unique characteristics of urban river systems which has manmade river profile, flow controlled by gates, severe eutrophication status, and fragile aquatic ecosystem. The ecodynamic model was developed referencing two typical models: the water quality simulation model WASP and ecological model CAEDYM. The model can simulate 11 state variables: dissolved oxygen, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, organic nitrogen, inorganic phosphorus, organic phosphorus and four phytoplankton species with zooplankton as a boundary condition. The ecodynamic model was applied to Sihai section of the Beijing urban river system, where serious algal blooms broke out in recent years. The dominant phytoplankton species are Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, and Cryptophyta. Site-specific data on geometry, meteorology, pollution sources, and existing ecosystem parameters were collected and used for model calibration and verification The model results mimic observed trends of water quality and phytoplankton species succession and can be used for forecasting algal blooms as well as assessment of river management measures.     

红壤双季稻田不同施肥下的氨挥发损失及其影响因素

在红壤双季稻田上采用密闭气室法测定了施用等氮量化肥(尿素)、有机肥(猪粪)及化肥有机肥(有机氮无机氮各占一半)配施下氨挥发及其田间表面水NH4 -N含量、温度和pH动态变化,研究氨挥发损失及影响因素.结果表明,与施用尿素相比,单施有机肥及化肥有机肥配施显著降低了稻田氨挥发,施用尿素的早稻和晚稻氨挥发损失率分别达41.4%和39.9%,单施有机肥的分别为0.3%和0.9%,化肥有机肥配施的分别为19.6%和8.9%.施肥后,短期内田面水NH4 -N含量和pH均显著上升,其与氨挥发速率均呈显著正相关.     

Heavy metals in surface water and stream sediments in Jamaica

The levels of heavy metals in water and stream sediments in Jamaica are presented and compared to levels in soils and environmental standards. Heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc) appear to be less of a problem to Jamaica's freshwater environment than might be expected given the concentrations in soils. This can be explained by taking into account the dynamics of the Jamaican water environment and the relative absence of anthropogenic sources. The dynamics of the freshwater system on the other hand, could pass any environmental threat to the coastal environment. Because the stream sediments are relatively coarse and contain little organic material the bio-availability of micropollutants such as heavy metals from the sediments can be expected to be relatively high.     

污染水体中鱼体内三聚氰胺的累积及其在清洁水体中的消除

以吉富罗非鱼（Oreochromis niloticus）为受试动物,在室内用水族箱进行模拟养殖试验,设定污染水体中三聚氰胺初始浓度为0.2 g·L-1,考察罗非鱼在其中饲养1周期间体内三聚氰胺的累积情况。再将鱼转移至不含三聚氰胺的清洁水体中饲养1周,考察鱼体内三聚氰胺在其中的消除情况。结果表明,三聚氰胺能在鱼体内迅速富集,鱼肉及内脏中三聚氰胺的含量均与鱼在污染水体中暴露的时间成正相关。其中,鱼肉中三聚氰胺的浓度几乎成线性增大,拟合所得方程为y=5.598 8x＋12.897,相关系数为0.995 9。内脏对三聚氰胺的富集速率先快后慢,且其中三聚氰胺的浓度为鱼肉的2~3倍。在试验后期,鱼肉及内脏中三聚氰胺的浓度分别高达51.55 mg·kg-1和93.89 mg·kg-1,此时罗非鱼表现出明显的中毒迹象。将罗非鱼转移至清洁水体中养殖后,鱼肉及内脏中三聚氰胺的残留量均迅速下降,尤其是后者的消除速度甚快,一周后两者的浓度分别降至0.13 mg·kg-1和0.21 mg·kg-1。此时,罗非鱼中毒症状逐渐消失,活动趋向正常。     

The influence of acidic mine and spoil drainage on water quality in the mid-Wales area

The many abandoned base metal mines of the mid-Wales ore field are sources of extensive pollution. Some of the mineralised veins contain large amounts of pyrite and marcasite and oxidative weathering of these produces sulphuric acid resulting in very acidic mine drainage waters. In addition, the spoil tips associated with these mines can contain abundant iron sulphides. Drainage waters from these sources have pH values as low as 2.6 and are heavily contaminated with metals such as Al, Zn, Cd and Ni.Two of the main rivers of the area, the Rheidol and Ystwyth, intercept heavily contaminated acidic drainage which has a marked effect on water quality. The Rheidol contains over 100 g L^–1 Zn for 16 km downstream of the acid water influx. This level is over three times the recommended EEC limit for Zn in salmonoid waters of low hardness.     

不同水深条件下狐尾藻生长对沉积物氮磷的影响

采用巢湖原位试验研究了80、160和240 cm 3个水深条件下生长的沉水植物狐尾藻(Myriophyllum spicatum L.)对沉积物和间隙水中氮磷的影响。结果表明,狐尾藻的株高和生物量随着水深的增加总体呈下降趋势,并且其差异随着生长期的延长而加大,水深为240 cm的条件下狐尾藻具有最小的株高和生物量,即240 cm的大水深条件不利于狐尾藻的个体形态构建;而相对浅的水深条件(80和160 cm)则是其生长的较佳生境。狐尾藻的生长过程中能够通过根系吸收和根际环境的改变使沉积物和间隙水中的氮磷含量明显下降,一定程度上降低了沉积物氮磷向上覆水体释放的风险,并且其抑制能力随着不同水深条件下植株的长势不同而有所差异,即在植株生长良好的浅水条件下其对沉积物和间隙水中氮磷的抑制效果更佳。因此,较浅的水环境有利于沉水植物的生长,同时还能充分发挥植物对沉积物氮磷的控释作用。     

An instance of bacterial inhibition in oceanic surface water

Water from the 150 surface film 50 miles north of Puerto Rico at 19°30 N, 66°30W supported only a negligible microflora compared to that of adjacent stations. Bacteriostasis was indicated when a ten-fold dilution of the sample resulted in a ninety-fold increase in cultivable microorganisms. The surviving organisms, atypical pseudomonads, were biochemically inactive in comparison to isolates from the other stations. Net phytoplankters at this station were similar in relative composition and abundance to those at the adjacent station.     

Enhancement of association of organic molecules on silica gel by surface water: surface photoreaction of stilbene

Here, we show that association of stilbene molecules is facilitated by water on silica gel because of hydrophobic interaction and photodimerization becomes the main photochemical process. Irradiation of trans-stilbene (t-1) on silica gel gives cis-stilbene (c-1), phenanthrene (2), benzaldehyde (3), and dimers r-ctt-4 and r-tct-4. The yields of the dimers increase and those of 2 and 3 decrease with an increase in the amount of t-1 loaded on silica gel. Atmospheric oxygen is responsible for the formation of 2 and 3. The yields of the dimers also increase with an increase in the water on a silica-gel surface and change drastically at the point where the percentage of water to silica gel is around 25 wt%. All active sites on a silica-gel surface would be covered completely with 25 wt% of water.     

Nitrogen pollution and source identification of urban ecosystem surface water in Beijing

Nitrogen contamination of surface water is a worldwide environmental problem with intensive agricul- ture and high population densities. We assessed the spatial and seasonal variation in concentrations of total nitrogen and different nitrogen species present in surface-water in Beijing, China. Also, chemical （NO3-N/C1-） and isotopic （615Nnitrate） indicators were used to identify nitrate sources. The results showed that, during 2009 and 2010, nitrate nitrogen concentrations ranged from 0.7 to 7.6 mg· L^-1, ammonium nitrogen from 0. I to 3.4 mg· L^-1, and total nitrogen from 2.4 to 17.0mg· L^-1. Inorganic nitrogen accounted for between 60 and 100% of total nitrogen at the ten monitoring sites. Nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and total nitrogen concentrations at the 2 downstream monitoring sites in south-eastern Beijing were significantly higher than those at the other eight upstream monitoring sites （P 〈 0.01）. Examination of seasonal variation showed that there was a significant inverse relationship between nitrate nitrogen concentrations and precipitation, and that nitrate nitrogen concentrations peaked in the dry seasons. The information given by the 15Nnitrate values and nitrate nitrogen concentrations, combined with the NO3-N/C1- ratio distribution, showed that domestic sewage was the major source of nitrate in Beijing. Methods to control and reduce sewage pollution are urgently needed to help manage surface water quality in Beijing.