土壤钙的生物有效性及与其它元素的相互作用

根据国内有关土壤钙素的研究文献、总结了土壤钙的生物有效性.土壤钙与其它元素的相互作用,以及钙在土壤中的固定、移动的研究进展,提出了钙肥的施用原则.其施用原则应该是平衡且适量。     

铁镍改性膨润土对废水中有机污染物的吸附性能研究

以钠基膨润土为原料,制备了铁镍无机改性土和铁镍有机复合改性土,并应用于造纸废水的处理,探讨了改性土用量、废水pH值、搅拌时间等因素对COD去除率的影响,通过正交实验对实验条件进行了优化.结果表明:铁镍有机复合改性土和铁镍元机改性土对废水的处理效果明显好于原土;膨润土的用量、废水的pH对COD的去除率影响较大;对于铁镍无机改性土,吸附剂用量为12g/L,溶液pH=2,吸附时间为10 min时,对废水中COD的去除率为54.06%;对于铁镍有机复合改性土,吸附剂用量为14g/L,溶液pH=3,吸附时间为20 min时,对废水中COD的去除率为70.10%.     

发酵鸡粪和有机磷肥对土壤中Pb、Cd污染的影响

研究了湘西地区常用的发酵鸡粪和有机磷肥施用对不同程度Pb、Cd复合污染土壤中乙三胺五醋酸(DTPA)提取态Pb(DTPA-Pb)、DTPA提取态Cd(DTPA-Cd)和土壤酶的影响,并研究了对于种植黑麦草(Lolium perenne L.)的影响。结果表明:(1)施用发酵鸡粪和有机磷肥均能显著改善土壤酸性,一定程度上提高土壤有机质含量。在加入质量浓度200mg/kg总Pb、2mg/kg总Cd复合污染土壤中施用有机磷肥,能有效钝化土壤DTPA-Pb、DTPA-Cd,但在400mg/kg总Pb、4mg/kg总Cd复合污染土壤中钝化效果有限,其优先钝化DTPA-Pb。施用发酵鸡粪不能有效钝化土壤DTPA-Pb、DTPA-Cd。(2)施用发酵鸡粪和有机磷肥均显著提高黑麦草鲜重。虽然施用有机磷肥能更有效的钝化土壤DTPA-Pb、DTPA-Cd,但对于黑麦草种植而言,施用发酵鸡粪能更有效的降低其对Pb和Cd的积累,并且主要积累到根部。(3)施用发酵鸡粪对土壤碱性磷酸酶活性、脱氢酶活性和脲酶活性有显著的促进作用。综合而言,湘西地区种植牧草黑麦草,施用发酵鸡粪比较合适,能有效改善土壤酸性,提高黑麦草鲜重和土壤酶活性,降低黑麦草对Pb和Cd的积累。     

Training Captive-Bred or Translocated Animals to Avoid Predators

Abstract: Animal reintroductions and translocations are potentially important interventions to save species from extinction, but most are unsuccessful. Mortality due to predation is a principal cause of failure. Animals that have been isolated from predators, either throughout their lifetime or over evolutionary time, may no longer express appropriate antipredator behavior. For this reason, conservation biologists are beginning to include antipredator training in pre-release preparation procedures. We describe the evolutionary and ontogenetic circumstances under which antipredator behavior may degenerate or be lost, and we use principles from learning theory to predict which elements can be enhanced or recovered by training. The empirical literature demonstrates that training can improve antipredator skills, but the effectiveness of such interventions is influenced by a number of constraints. We predict that it will be easier to teach animals to cope with predators if they have experienced ontogenetic isolation than if they have undergone evolutionary isolation. Similarly, animals should learn more easily if they have been evolutionarily isolated from some rather than all predators. Training to a novel predator may be more successful if a species has effective responses to similar predators. In contrast, it may be difficult to teach proper avoidance behavior, or to introduce specialized predator-specific responses, if appropriate motor patterns are not already present. We conclude that pre-release training has the potential to enhance the expression of preexisting antipredator behavior. Potential training techniques involve classical conditioning procedures in which animals learn that model predators are predictors of aversive events. However, wildlife managers should be aware that problems, such as the emergence of inappropriate responses, may arise during such training.     

An Evaluation of Restoration Efforts in Fishless Lakes Stocked with Exotic Trout

Abstract: Detrimental effects of introduced fishes on native amphibian populations have prompted removal of introduced cutthroat ( Oncorhynchus clarki ), rainbow ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ), and brook trout (  Salvelinus fontinalis ) from naturally fishless lakes at Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington ( U.S.A.). Using paleolimnological indicators (diatoms, invertebrates, and sediment characteristics) in eight 480-year-old sediment cores from eight lakes, we (1) derived estimates of baseline environmental conditions and natural variation, (2) assessed the effects of stocking naturally fishless lakes, and (3) determined whether lakes returned to predisturbance conditions after fish removal (restoration). Diatom floras were relatively stable between 315 and 90 years before present in all lakes; we used this time period to define lake-specific "baseline" conditions. Dissimilarity analyses of diatoms revealed sustained, dramatic changes in diatom floras that occurred approximately 80 years ago (when fish were introduced) in four of five stocked lakes, whereas the diatom floras in two unstocked lakes had not changed significantly in the last 315 years. Diatoms were not preserved in an eighth lake. State changes also occurred in two lakes over 200 years before European settlement of the Pacific Northwest. Preserved invertebrate densities fluctuated dramatically over time in all cores, providing a poor reference for assessing the effects of fishes. Nevertheless, fish-invertebrate interactions have been demonstrated in other paleolimnological studies and may be useful for lower-elevation or more productive lakes. Because diatom communities have not returned to predisturbance assemblages in restored lakes, even 20–30 years after fish removal, we conclude that Mt. Rainier lakes were not successfully restored by the removal of fishes.     

Bushmeat Markets on Bioko Island as a Measure of Hunting Pressure

Abstract: Counts of the number of animal carcasses arriving at Malabo market, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, were made during two, 8-month study periods in 1991 and 1996. Comparisons of the availability and abundance of individual species between years showed that more species and more carcasses appeared in 1996 than in 1991. In biomass terms, the increase was significantly less, only 12.5%, when compared with almost 60% more carcasses entering the market in 1996. A larger number of carcasses of the smaller-bodied species (i.e., rodents and the blue duiker [ Cephalophus monticola ] ) were recorded in 1996 than in 1991. Although an additional four species of birds and one squirrel were recorded in 1996, these were less important in terms of their contribution to biomass or carcass numbers. Concurrently, there was a dramatic reduction in the larger-bodied species, Ogilby's duiker ( C. ogilbyi ) and seven diurnal primates. We examined these changes, especially the drop in the number of larger animals. We considered the possible following explanations: (1) the number of hunters dropped either because of enforced legislation or scarcity of larger prey; (2) a shift in the use of hunting techniques occurred (   from shotguns to snares); or (3) consumer demand for primate and duiker meat dropped, which increased demand for smaller game. Our results suggest that the situation in Bioko may be alarmingly close to a catastrophe in which primate populations of international conservation significance are being hunted to dangerously low numbers. Although there is still a need for surveys of actual densities of prey populations throughout the island, working with the human population on Bioko to find alternatives to bushmeat is an urgent priority.     

Will Observation Error and Biases Ruin the Use of Simple Extinction Models?

Abstract: Estimating the risk of extinction for populations of endangered species is an important component of conservation biology. These estimates must be made from data that contain both environmental noise in the year-to-year transitions in population size (so-called "process error"), random errors in sampling, and possible biases in sampling ( both forms of observation errors). To determine how much faith to place in estimated extinction rates, it is important to know how sensitive they are to observation error. We used three simple, commonly employed models of population dynamics to generate simulated population time series. We then combined random observation error or systematic biases with those data, fit models to the time series data, and observed how close the extinction dynamics of the fitted models compared with the dynamics of the underlying models. We found that systematic biases in sampling rarely affected estimates of extinction risk. We also found that even moderate levels of random observation error do not significantly affect extinction estimates except over a small range of process errors, corresponding to the region where extinction risk is most uncertain. With more substantial sampling error, estimates of extinction risk degraded rapidly. Field census techniques for a variety of taxa often involve observation errors within ±32% of actual population sizes. For typical time series used in conservation, therefore, we often may not need to be overly concerned about observation errors as an extra source of imperfection in our estimated extinction rates.     

Demographic Forecasting in Koala Conservation

Abstract: The koala currently needs conservation intervention. There is clear evidence of decline in many populations, but the existence of other stable or expanding populations offers the possibility of a variety of creative solutions to their conservation problems. The 1998 National Koala Conservation Strategy emphasizes the need to obtain demographic information and to use this information to assess management options for koalas. We need accurate diagnoses of the status of koala populations and forecasts of their demographic future with and without particular management actions. In a qualitative fashion, this process has been undertaken many times on a local and national scale. Quantitative demographic forecasting tools are increasingly available, and koala management could benefit from their application both at the scale of individual populations and more broadly. There is already a considerable body of suitable data on the dispersal, effects of normal and catastrophic environmental variation on reproduction and survival, and on the effects of habitat change. Demographic forecasting, however, is hampered because the full suite of information is rarely available from a single population. In two Queensland populations, retrospective population viability analyses provided forecasts that were in agreement with observed population trends. Work is needed to determine whether data from one population can be applied to other populations. Models can then be developed to make projections at a multipopulation level on the basis of local population dynamics and dispersal. Certain koala populations, because of their long history of study, offer the opportunity to test demographic models retrospectively. These tests will not only aid in fine-tuning the models for koala biology and data but will also assist with the more general process of validating the models.