清水江流域环境保护污染治理经济效益分析

以《贵州省清水江流域环境保护规划(2013-2020年)》为例,分析清水江流域治理主要污染物的削减量和费用支出。从环境经济角度,通过费用-效益分析法以货币量化进行计算,流域治理能带来一定的经济效益、环境效益和社会效益。     

东莞石马河流域水化学特征时空差异及来源辨析

石马河流域对东江饮用水源地城镇供水具有重要战略意义.为研究石马河水化学特征,分别于2012年2月、6月和11月采集石马河河水水样共39个,分析测定了水体主离子(K+、Na+、Ca2+、Mg2+、Cl-、SO2-4和HCO-3)及营养盐(PO3-4、NO-3和NH+4)浓度,探讨了水化学组成的时空差异、控制因素并对其来源进行了初步辨析.结果表明,水化学组成的时空差异显著,不同时期的河水TDS及营养盐平均浓度排序为11月2月6月;河水阴离子以HCO-3为主,2月和11月时,河水阳离子以Na++K+为主,为HCO-3-Na+水,6月时则以Ca2+为主,为HCO-3-Ca2+水;营养盐浓度在空间上的差异主要受人类活动导致N、P废水排放影响,3个时期的石马河出水口处(R7)N∶P为18.4,有利于浮游植物的生长,河道出现了富营养化的现象;Gibbs图显示,2月和11月的河水主离子受蒸发岩溶解的影响较为显著,而蒸发岩和碳酸盐岩风化共同控制6月的水化学组分;海盐沉降对石马河河水物质的贡献率较小;部分Na+、Mg2+、Cl-和SO2-4来自化肥的施用和工业废水的排放;NH+4-N、PO3-4-P和NO-3-N主要分别来源于家禽养殖废水和生活废水.     

小分子有机酸对紫色土及其溶液中Pb的赋存影响

以紫色土中铅(Pb)为研究对象,采用以0.01 mol·L~(-1)硝酸钠(NaNO_3)为背景电解质的一步提取法,研究了不同浓度下乙酸,酒石酸和柠檬酸对土壤中Pb的释放作用,并通过土壤重金属形态的分步提取法和地球化学平衡软件Visual MINTEQ v3.0,进一步分析和预测了小分子有机酸作用下土壤中Pb以及土壤溶液中Pb的形态变化.在此基础上,分析了小分子有机酸对Pb作用的环境意义与环境风险.结果表明,3种小分子有机酸均显著增加了紫色土中Pb的释放量,活化效果表现为柠檬酸酒石酸乙酸.在有机酸作用下,土壤中交换态Pb总量增加,碳酸盐结合态Pb和铁锰氧化物结合态Pb总量降低;土壤溶液中Pb以有机结合态为主,占总Pb质量的45.16%~75.05%,游离态次之,占22.71%~50.25%,且随着浓度增加,柠檬酸和酒石酸作用下的土壤溶液中的游离态Pb和无机结合态Pb增加,而有机结合态Pb减少,乙酸则呈相反趋势.总体上看,小分子有机酸提高了紫色土中Pb的生物有效性,且存在地下水的淋溶风险,其中柠檬酸的淋溶风险远大于酒石酸和乙酸.     

An estimated 400–800 million tons of prey are annually killed by the global spider community

Spiders have been suspected to be one of the most important groups of natural enemies of insects worldwide. To document the impact of the global spider community as insect predators, we present estimates of the biomass of annually killed insect prey. Our estimates assessed with two different methods suggest that the annual prey kill of the global spider community is in the range of 400–800 million metric tons (fresh weight), with insects and collembolans composing >90% of the captured prey. This equals approximately 1‰ of the global terrestrial net primary production. Spiders associated with forests and grasslands account for >95% of the annual prey kill of the global spider community, whereas spiders in other habitats are rather insignificant contributors over a full year. The spider communities associated with annual crops contribute less than 2% to the global annual prey kill. This, however, can be partly explained by the fact that annual crop fields are “disturbed habitats” with a low buildup of spider biomass and that agrobiont spiders often only kill prey over short time periods in a year. Our estimates are supported by the published results of exclusion experiments, showing that the number of herbivorous/detritivorous insects and collembolans increased significantly after spider removal from experimental plots. The presented estimates of the global annual prey kill and the relative contribution of spider predation in different biomes improve the general understanding of spider ecology and provide a first assessment of the global impact of this very important predator group.     

Insights into the role of age and social interactions on the sexual attractiveness of queens in an eusocial bee, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Melipona flavolineata</Emphasis> (Apidae,Meliponini)

The attraction of sexual partners is a vital necessity among insects, and it involves conflict of interests and complex communication systems among male and female. In this study, we investigated the developing of sexual attractiveness in virgin queens (i.e., gynes) of Melipona flavolineata, an eusocial stingless bee. We followed the development of sexual attractiveness in 64 gynes, belonging to seven age classes (0, 3, 6, 9, 15, 18 days post-emergence), and we also evaluated the effect of different social interactions (such as competition between queens and interactions with workers) on the development of attractiveness in other 60 gynes. We used the number of males that tried to mate with a focal gyne as a representative variable of its sexual attractiveness. During the essays, each gyne was individually presented to 10 sexually mature males, and during 3 min, we counted the number of males that everted their genitalia in response to the presence of a gyne. Here, we show that M. flavolineata gynes are capable to (i) maintain their sexual attractiveness for long periods through adult life, (ii) they need a minimum social interaction to trigger the development of sexual attractiveness, and (iii) that gynes express this trait only within a social context. We conclude that the effective occurrence of matings is conditional on potential social interactions that gynes experienced before taking the nuptial flight, when they are still in the nest. These findings bring insights into the factors determining reproductive success in social insects.     

The first direct evidence of a Late Devonian coelacanth fish feeding on conodont animals

We describe the first known occurrence of a Devonian coelacanth specimen from the lower Famennian of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, with a conodont element preserved in its digestive tract. A small spiral and phosphatic coprolite (fossil excrement) containing numerous conodont elements and other unrecognized remains was also found in the same deposits. The coprolite is tentatively attributed to the coelacanth. Although it is unclear whether the Late Devonian coelacanth from Poland was an active predator or a scavenger, these finds provide the first direct evidence of feeding on conodont animals by early coelacanth fish, and one of the few evidences of feeding on these animals known to date. It also expands our knowledge about the diet and trophic relations between the Paleozoic marine animals in general.     

Sexual differences in food preferences in the white stork: an experimental study

Sex differences in the foraging ecology of monomorphic species are poorly understood, due to problems with gender identification in field studies. In the current study, we used experimental conditions to investigate the food preferences of the white stork Ciconia ciconia, an opportunistic species in terms of food, but characterised by a low level of sexual dimorphism. During a 10-day experiment, 29 individuals (20 females and 9 males) were studied by means of a ‘cafeteria test’ in which the storks’ diet consisted of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and earthworms. The storks preferred food characterised by high calorific and protein values such as mammals, birds and fish. Sexes differed strongly in their preferences; males preferred mammals, whereas females preferred birds. Moreover, females consumed insects and earthworms less often than males. Interestingly, males spent significantly less time foraging than females. We have demonstrated that the white stork exhibits clear sexual differences in food preferences which are mostly attributable to differences in parental duties, physiology and anatomy.     

Genetic sex determination in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Astatotilapia calliptera</Emphasis>, a prototype species for the Lake Malawi cichlid radiation

East African cichlids display extensive variation in sex determination systems. The species Astatotilapia calliptera is one of the few cichlids that reside both in Lake Malawi and in surrounding waterways. A. calliptera is of interest in evolutionary studies as a putative immediate outgroup species for the Lake Malawi species flock and possibly as a prototype ancestor-like species for the radiation. Here, we use linkage mapping to test association of sex in A. calliptera with loci that have been previously associated with genetic sex determination in East African cichlid species. We identify a male heterogametic XY system segregating at linkage group (LG) 7 in an A. calliptera line that originated from Lake Malawi, at a locus previously shown to act as an XY sex determination system in multiple species of Lake Malawi cichlids. Significant association of genetic markers and sex produce a broad genetic interval of approximately 26 megabases (Mb) using the Nile tilapia genome to orient markers; however, we note that the marker with the strongest association with sex is near a gene that acts as a master sex determiner in other fish species. We demonstrate that alleles of the marker are perfectly associated with sex in Metriaclima mbenjii, a species from the rock-dwelling clade of Lake Malawi. While we do not rule out the possibility of other sex determination loci in A. calliptera, this study provides a foundation for fine mapping of the cichlid sex determination gene on LG7 and evolutionary context regarding the origin and persistence of the LG7 XY across diverse, rapidly evolving lineages.     

Sexual selection on receptor organ traits: younger females attract males with longer antennae

Sexual selection theory predicts that female choice may favour the evolution of elaborate male signals. Darwin also suggested that sexual selection can favour elaborate receiver structures in order to better detect sexual signals, an idea that has been largely ignored. We evaluated this unorthodox perspective by documenting the antennal lengths of male Uraba lugens Walker (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) moths that were attracted to experimentally manipulated emissions of female sex pheromone. Either one or two females were placed in field traps for the duration of their adult lives in order to create differences in the quantity of pheromone emissions from the traps. The mean antennal length of males attracted to field traps baited with a single female was longer than that of males attracted to traps baited with two females, a pattern consistent with Darwin’s prediction assuming the latter emits higher pheromone concentrations. Furthermore, younger females attracted males with longer antennae, which may reflect age-specific changes in pheromone emission. These field experiments provide the first direct evidence of an unappreciated role for sexual selection in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in moth antennae and raise the intriguing possibility that females select males with longer antennae through strategic emission of pheromones.