How Kentish plovers,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Charadrius alexandrinus</Emphasis>, cope with heat stress during incubation

Biparental incubation is frequent among shorebirds and is expected when the survival prospects of offspring increase relative to uniparental incubation. To understand why this occurs, it is important to identify the factors that constrain uniparental incubation. It is assumed that birds choose nesting sites that provide an appropriate microclimate for incubation. Many shorebirds nest in sites with no or little cover, where ambient temperatures at ground level might be >50°C during very hot days. Shorebirds nest in exposed sites because predation risk on incubating adults is higher in covered sites. In hot environments, incubating shorebirds might experience heat stress in exposed sites, and this may compromise nesting success if adults are unable to attend their nests continuously, limiting the possibilities of uniparental incubation and thus the expression of a sexual conflict over incubation. The operative temperatures of Kentish plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) were recorded in exposed and covered sites, and the thermal behaviour and incubating tactics of pair members were studied in a hot environment. During the hottest part of the day, there was a difference of 10–15°C in the operative temperatures of plovers between covered and exposed sites. Plovers in covered sites did not exhibit any thermoregulatory behaviour indicative of thermal stress, probably because the thermal range encountered by them in such places during most of the daytime was close to the thermo-neutral zone. The frequency with which plovers in exposed sites exhibited thermoregulatory behaviour was related to ambient temperature. Under very hot conditions, incubating birds were probably unable to maintain homeostasis for long periods and pair members resorted to shortening incubation bouts. Female Kentish plovers mainly incubate in the daytime and males during the night. However, the probability of diurnal incubation by males increased with ambient temperature in exposed nests, but not in covered ones. In fact, the frequency of participation in diurnal incubation by males was greater in exposed than in covered sites, suggesting that the participation of males in diurnal incubation may be related to the inability of females to stay at the nest during long periods when the ambient temperature is high. Even after resorting to shortened incubation bouts, the plovers may be unable to attend their nests continuously during heat waves, and the nests may be deserted. The propensity of plovers to desert their nests was affected by proximity to water, with nests located close to water being deserted less frequently. It seems likely that susceptibility to thermal stress changed in relation to proximity to water because in sites close to water it was possible to belly-soak, which would allow a more continuous nest attendance. Therefore, despite the adoption of behavioural solutions to face heavy heat loads, nesting success was vulnerable to these solutions because heat stress during extended periods may constrain parental nest attendance, and this may limit the opportunities for sexual conflicts over incubation.Communicated by J. Graves     

云南粳稻耐低磷特性的主基因加多基因遗传分析

磷高效水稻培育是提高土壤潜在磷利用效率的一种途径,通过对云南粳稻耐低磷特性的主基因加多基因遗传分析,可以明确耐低磷特性主基因的存在、对数及遗传效应的大小,为磷高效育种提供理论依据。本试验通过云南主栽粳稻品种合系35(Oryza sativa)与耐低磷极强早旱谷(Oryza sativa)配制P1、P2、F1、F2或F3世代,在云南省农科院进行低磷胁迫试验,对耐低磷鉴定和主基因加多基因联合遗传分析,结果表明:早旱谷的分蘖和株穗产量基因受两对主效基因 多基因相互配合遗传控制的,两对主基因间存在上位性效应,两主基因间效应差异较大。分蘖力F2主基因遗传率为58.82%~72.13%,F3主基因遗传率为45.88%~57.96%;株穗产量F2主基因遗传率60.94%~83.08%,F3主基因遗传率为62.20%~75.80%。因此育种中应当充分重视主基因的利用,利用主基因应以第一对主基因的加性效应为主,对后代耐低磷性状的选择宜从F2代开始,杂交的后期世代也要注意耐性的选择。     

红豆杉内生真菌发酵培养基和原生质体制备酶系统的筛选

在对红豆杉内生真菌(Ozoniumsp.)适生碳源、氮源和生长情况研究的基础上,通过正交试验筛选了其发酵培养基和原生质体制备的酶系统;用L9(34)安排了四因素三水平并考虑交互作用的正交试验,对实验结果进行了分析.结果表明,最优的发酵培养基为果糖1%、蔗糖1%、蛋白胨0.2%、酵母粉0.5%、KH2PO40.5%、MgSO4·7H2O0.3%、VB10.001%;分离原生质体的最优酶系统为1.5%溶壁酶 0.5%蜗牛酶 1.5%纤维素酶 1.0%溶菌酶;用此酶系统在30℃条件下酶解3h,原生质体的产量达6.55×107个/mL酶液;经荧光素二醋酸酯(FDA)染色评估原生质体活力,表明该条件下分离的原生质体活力较高,原生质体的再生率为2.56%.该研究为利用生物技术手段改良紫杉醇生产菌奠定了基础.图6表4参32     

高效染料降解真菌的分离及其在印染废水生物处理中的强化作用

用选择培养基从污水处理厂污泥中筛选出能降解3种染料(OrangeⅠ,OrangeⅡ和酸性大红)的菌株.通过梯度驯化,优选出1株适应能力强、活力旺盛的菌株F2,初步鉴定为腐霉菌.以OorangeⅡ为模式染料,比较不同培养基对降解的影响,发现PDA培养基最合适.通过对降解产物的紫外可见光谱分析,发现腐霉菌F2能彻底降解染料,并优先降解简单结构.另外通过用该菌株作为外源菌强化原染料废水处理的混合菌群,得到良好的处理效果.图5参10     

Comparison of Spatial Methods for the Assessment of Planktonic Patches

Planktonic patches are defined as areas where the abundance of plankters is above a threshold value τ. The estimation of patch size and shape can be approached using spatial statistical tools, using truncated random fields or indicator random fields as classifiers. In all cases there is the risk of false positive and false negative errors. In this paper we present the results of a comparative study on the performance of four commonly used methods: conditional simulation and kriging, both in the original measurement units of the data and under an indicator transform. We used a misclassification cost function to compare the four methods. Our results show that conditional simulation in the original measurement units attains the lowest misclassification cost. We also illustrate how the point at which this minimum is attained can be used to chose an optimal cut-off value for binary classification. Received: December 2003 / Revised: June 2005     

智能大厦综合布线系统的实施

从综合布线工程系统的需求分析和设计原则出发，介绍了综合布线系统的设计方案、施工方案、测试方案，提出了智能大厦典型的综合布线系统的实施方案．     

广州市城市森林的空间特征与发展研究

应用城市林业的基本理论和ＧＩＳ技术，广州市城区森林的空间分布以两山（白云山、越秀山）两河（珠江、流溪河）为核心，辅之公共绿地和道路绿化，形成多功能、多类型的网络式结构。近郊森林建设好风暴旅游林以及环绕卫星城镇和重点工业镇的生态公益林。远郊森林保障了“菜蓝子”工程，促进森林旅游及其相关产业的发展。     

Control of reproduction in social insect colonies: individual and collective relatedness preferences in the paper wasp, Polistes annularis

Social insect colonies often have one or a few queens. How these queens maintain their reproductive monopoly, when other colony members could gain by sharing in the reproduction, is not generally known. DNA microsatellite genotyping is used to determine reproductive interests of various classes of colony members in the paper wasp, Polistes annularis. The relatedness estimates show that the best outcome for most individuals is to be the reproductive egg-layer. For workers, this depends on the sex of offspring: they should prefer to lay their own male eggs, but are indifferent if the queen lays the female eggs. The next-best choice is usually to support the current queen. As a rule, subordinates and workers should prefer the current queen to reproduce over other candidates (though subordinates have no strong preference for the queen over other subordinates, and workers may prefer other workers as a source of male eggs). This result supports the theory that reproductive monopoly stems from the collective preferences of non-reproductives, who suppress each other in favor of the queen. However, we reject the general hypothesis of collective worker control in this species because its predictions about who should succeed after the death of the present queen are not upheld. The first successor is a subordinate foundress even though workers should generally prefer a worker successor. If all foundresses have died, an older worker succeeds as queen, in spite of a collective worker preference for a young worker. The results support the previous suggestion that age serves as a conventional cue serving to reduce conflict over queen succession. Received: 3 May 1996 / Accepted after revision: 22 September 1996     

Does the great spotted cuckoo choose magpie hosts according to their parenting ability?

When brood parasites are about to lay an egg, they have to decide which nest to parasitize. The best nest in which to lay will depend on the parenting ability of the host. We have studied selection of magpie (Pica pica) hosts by great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius). Great spotted cuckoos preferentially parasitize large host nests. Nest volume in magpies is a good indicator of territory quality, since there is a negative relationship between magpie nest size and breeding date, and timing of breeding in magpies is known to be positively related to territory quality. Moreover, magpies occupying high-quality territories have high breeding success. Therefore, nest size is positively related to the quality of magpies. Parasitized magpie nests were of greater volume than the nearest neighbouring nest not parasitized by the great spotted cuckoo. In order to test whether the great spotted cuckoos might select high-quality magpie hosts, we manipulated pairs of parasitized and non-parasitized nests with identical laying dates and habitats, introducing into each of the nests the same number of parasitic and non-parasitic eggs. The number of fledglings reared (magpie plus great spotted cuckoo chicks) in naturally parasitized nests was higher than in experimentally parasitized nests. Thus, the probability of survival of the parasite chicks increased if cuckoo eggs were laid in the nests of high-quality hosts originally chosen by the parasite.     

Neural tube defects in trisomy 18

Central nervous system anomalies in trisomy 18 are usually confined to structural abnormalities of brain development. Despite the recognized association of neural tube defects and trisomy 18, primary (true) anencephaly is uncommon in the classical trisomy 18 phenotype. A case of anencephaly with trisomy 18, diagnosed prenatally, is presented with a review of the literature of this association.