Risk Assessment of Inbreeding and Outbreeding Depression in a Captive‐Breeding Program

Captive‐breeding programs can be implemented to preserve the genetic diversity of endangered populations such that the controlled release of captive‐bred individuals into the wild may promote recovery. A common difficulty, however, is that programs are founded with limited wild broodstock, and inbreeding can become increasingly difficult to avoid with successive generations in captivity. Program managers must choose between maintaining the genetic purity of populations, at the risk of inbreeding depression, or interbreeding populations, at the risk of outbreeding depression. We evaluate these relative risks in a captive‐breeding program for 3 endangered populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). In each of 2 years, we released juvenile F₁ and F₂ interpopulation hybrids, backcrosses, as well as inbred and noninbred within‐population crosstypes into 9 wild streams. Juvenile size and survival was quantified in each year. Few crosstype effects were observed, but interestingly, the relative fitness consequences of inbreeding and outbreeding varied from year to year. Temporal variation in environmental quality might have driven some of these annual differences, by exacerbating the importance of maternal effects on juvenile fitness in a year of low environmental quality and by affecting the severity of inbreeding depression differently in different years. Nonetheless, inbreeding was more consistently associated with a negative effect on fitness, whereas the consequences of outbreeding were less predictable. Considering the challenges associated with a sound risk assessment in the wild and given that the effect of inbreeding on fitness is relatively predictable, we suggest that risk can be weighted more strongly in terms of the probable outcome of outbreeding. Factors such as genetic similarities between populations and the number of generations in isolation can sometimes be used to assess outbreeding risk, in lieu of experimentation. Evaluación del Riesgo de Depresión por Endogamia y Exogamia en un Programa de Reproducción en Cautiverio     

Postfire Logging in Riparian Areas

Abstract:  We reviewed the behavior of wildfire in riparian zones, primarily in the western United States, and the potential ecological consequences of postfire logging. Fire behavior in riparian zones is complex, but many aquatic and riparian organisms exhibit a suite of adaptations that allow relatively rapid recovery after fire. Unless constrained by other factors, fish tend to rebound relatively quickly, usually within a decade after a wildfire. Additionally, fire and subsequent erosion events contribute wood and coarse sediment that can create and maintain productive aquatic habitats over time. The potential effects of postfire logging in riparian areas depend on the landscape context and disturbance history of a site; however, available evidence suggests two key management implications: (1) fire in riparian areas creates conditions that may not require intervention to sustain the long-term productivity of the aquatic network and (2) protection of burned riparian areas gives priority to what is left rather than what is removed. Research is needed to determine how postfire logging in riparian areas has affected the spread of invasive species and the vulnerability of upland forests to insect and disease outbreaks and how postfire logging will affect the frequency and behavior of future fires. The effectiveness of using postfire logging to restore desired riparian structure and function is therefore unproven, but such projects are gaining interest with the departure of forest conditions from those that existed prior to timber harvest, fire suppression, and climate change. In the absence of reliable information about the potential consequence of postfire timber harvest, we conclude that providing postfire riparian zones with the same environmental protections they received before they burned is justified ecologically. Without a commitment to monitor management experiments, the effects of postfire riparian logging will remain unknown and highly contentious.     

A reactor system combining reductive dechlorination with cometabolic oxidation for complete degradation of tetrachloroentylene

A laboratory sequential anaerobic-aerobic bioreactor system, which consisted of an anaerobic fixed film reactor and two aerobic chemostats, was set up to degrade tetrachloroethylene (PCE) without accumulating highly toxic degradation intermediates. A soil enrichment culture, which could reductively dechlorinate 900/zM ( ca. 150 mg/L) of PCE stoichiometrically into cis-l, 2-dichloroethylene ( cis-DCE), was attached to ceramic media in the anaerobic fixed film reactor. A phenol degrading strain, Alcaligenes sp. 115, which can efficiently degrade cis-DCE by co-metabolic oxidation, was used as inocuhim for the aerobic chemostats consisted of a transformation reactor and a growth reactor.The anaerobic fixed film bioreactor showed more than 99 % of PCE transformation into cis-DCE in the range of influent PCE concentration from 5μM to 35μM at hydraulic retention time of 48h. On the other hand, efficient degradation of the resultant cis-DCE by strain R5 in the following aerobic system could not be achieved due to oxygen limitation. However, 54% of the maximum cis-DCE degradation was obtained when 10μmol of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 ) was supplemented to the transformation reactor as an additional oxygen source. Further studies are needed to achieve more efficient co-metabolic degradation of cis-DCE in the aerobic reactor.     

MOVEMENT BEHAVIOUR OF MEDAKA (Oryzias latipes) IN RESPONSE TO SUBLETHAL TREATMENTS OF DIAZINON AND CHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITY IN SEMI-NATURAL CONDITIONS

Behavioural changes of medaka (Oryzias latipes) treated with an anticholinesterase insecticide, diazinon (0.1 mg L^{- 1}), were continuously observed for 4 days in semi-natural conditions. Although variations occurred in individual specimens, the movement tracks appeared differently with typical short-range movement with irregular turns and shaking after the treatments. Eight movement patterns frequently observed before and after the treatments were selected, and the variables characterising the movement patterns were compared quantitatively. The variables were clearly differentiated when the movement patterns were correspondingly matched before and after the treatments (e.g., vertical movements, horizontal movements, etc). Meander and stop duration were highly different among the selected movement patterns. Additionally, different degree of toxic response behaviours could also be detected by quantitative characterisation of the variables. Response behaviour was confirmed with toxicological experiments that show the decrease in the acetylcholine esterase activity in the head and body of specimens. Quantitative investigations on the variables of the movement tracks suggested the usefulness of response behaviour as a monitoring tool for environmental assessment.     

裂解温度对新疆棉秆生物炭物理化学性质的影响

生物质的裂解温度影响其所生产的生物炭炭的物理和化学性质,进而影响其田间应用效果。棉花秸秆是干旱区特别是新疆地区的主要农业生物质资源,其生物炭利用途径有望克服现有秸秆利用途径的不足,但对棉秆生物炭理化性质及其变化的认识还很缺乏。本文在不同的裂解温度下对新疆棉秆生物炭物理和化学性质进行研究,发现随着裂解温度的升高,生物炭的产率、阳离子交换量、O/C和H/C值降低,p H、电导和持水性能提高,Na+、K+趋势不明显,Cl-和SO2-4等盐碱化离子以及Ca~(2+)、Mg~(2+)营养元素含量随温度的升高降低;C、N、S、C/N和灰分等均提高,NH+4-N在550℃碳化条件下含量最高。因此在田间应用中,应针对土壤特点和解决的问题,调控碳化温度,从而达到趋利避害的目的。     

四种改良剂对酸性黄壤土壤酸度和肥力的影响

针对贵州黄壤酸和瘠的特点,采用正交实验设计方法对牛粪、生物炭、磷矿粉和钾长石粉四种改良剂对黄壤酸度和氮磷钾含量的改良效果进行了探索,分析了它们对黄壤氮磷钾含量的影响。结果显示,四种改良剂不仅能有效调节黄壤酸度,将酸性黄壤改变为中性或弱碱性土壤,而且能够有效改善黄壤氮磷钾养分含量。生物炭、牛粪、磷矿粉和钾长石粉混合施用能提高土壤肥力,与原始黄壤相比,混合后土壤的有效氮提升近10倍,有效磷提高达百倍,速效钾提高9倍。通过回归分析,给出了氮磷钾养分含量与改良剂之间的关系式。     

气溶胶有机碳元素碳基本特征研究的前沿动向

综述国外气溶胶有机碳(OC)和元素碳(EC)的五大特征(粒径分布、物质组成、时空分布、室内室外关系、排放源分析的)研究的进展;概述了国内OC、EC相关研究情况,展示了国内外OC、EC基本特征研究的发展重点和趋势。     

水汽源地和局地蒸发对大气降水氢氧稳定同位素组分的影响

降水氢氧稳定同位素组分是一种良好的示踪剂,对水汽循环的研究有重要意义.本研究基于2016年在南京、溧阳、宜兴和东山这4个站点按降水事件采集的降水样品,测定了降水HDO和H_2~(18)O组分,分析了降水HDO、H_2~(18)O组分以及过量氘的时间变化特征;探讨了水汽源地和局地蒸发对降水稳定同位素组分的影响.结果表明:(1)冬夏季风期间水汽源地的差异使4个站点降水HDO、H_2~(18)O组分及过量氘有明显的季节变化,主要表现为HDO和H_2~(18)O组分夏季风期间贫化,冬季风期间富集;过量氘夏季风期间小于冬季风期间;(2)夏季风期间,太湖蒸发补给使下游地区的降水过量氘变大,局地大气降水线方程的截距变高;冬季风期间,局地蒸发对降水同位素影响很小,降水HDO、H_2~(18)O组分以及过量氘的空间变化不明显;(3) 4个站点局地大气降水线方程的斜率和截距均较高,原因可能是冬夏季风期间的降水水汽来源的差异和冬季风期间水汽再循环过程的影响.