The costs of male parental care and its evolution in a neotropical frog

Summary Parental care is practiced exclusively by males of the Puerto Rican frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui. Males brood clutches of direct-developing eggs in non-aquatic nest sites and defend eggs against cannibalistic nest intruders. Here, I report on energetic and mating costs incurred by males that provide parental care, and suggest how these proximate costs affect male fitness and the evolution of male parental care in this species. Energetic costs are small for brooding males in comparison to non-brooding, calling males. Brooding males had a higher frequency of empty stomachs and lost small, but significant, fractions of their initial body mass during parental care. Abdominal fat bodies of brooding males during the middle third of parental care were significantly smaller than those of calling males; those of males brooding eggs in earlier or later stages were not different. The mating cost of parental care is greater. Most brooding males cease calling during parental care. However, gravid females are available (i.e., known to mate) on most nights during the principal breeding season; hence non-calling males miss potential opportunities to mate. A mating cost was estimated by calculating nightly mating probabilities for calling males in a plot where nightly calling male densities and daily oviposition schedules were known. On average, a male exhibiting normal calling behavior would be expected to obtain a new mate once every 35.7 days. Hence a brooding male that ceased calling for a 20-day parental care period would miss, on average, 0.56 additional mates. Males that were more successful than average in attracting mates could miss up to 1.63 matings. A marginal value model (Fig. 1) is used to analyze the net effect on male fitness of parental care benefits and costs in E. coqui (Fig. 3). The model indicates that males garner the highest reproductive success by providing care from oviposition through hatching. There is no stage during the pre-hatching period at which a desertion strategy would yield higher reproductive success. In fact, the model suggests that males should provide full parental care even in the face of much higher mating costs than currently obtain in the system.     

江苏农村地区能源消费与可持续发展

江苏是中国经济发展较为迅速的省份 ,为了研究农村地区经济发展过程中能源消费的变化规律 ,本文在大量调查数据分析的基础上 ,对江苏农村地区乡镇工业、农村生活和农业生产能源消费水平和结构及其发展变化进行了研究 ,提出了农村地区能源问题的可持续发展战略     

1998年临猗5.0级地震前Q值的前兆异常

利用西安数字地震遥测台网记录的数字地震资料,采用P波初动半周期残差法求得了1998年7月临猗5.0级地震前后不同路径的Q值变化.发现在地震发生前Q在87(203之间,震后Q在67～164之间,震前震中区附近出现了明显的高Q值异常,表明地震前的高Q值异常可以作为地震预测的一种手段.     

美国在环境议题上的分歧及对中国的启示

美国曾经在环境保护和治理污染上做出了卓越的成绩,但是如今环境议题成为撕裂美国的重要议题。美国的共和党和民主党在环境议题上互相牵制,难以达成共识。最近,美国特朗普总统宣布退出应对气候变化的《巴黎协定》就是这种分歧的表现。但当美国1970年代开始环境立法治理污染的时候,美国社会上下和两大党之间高度一致。在此后,因为环境思想上的差异和代际转变,政党斗争、选举体制、利益集团等多方面原因,美国不同政治势力在环境议题上越发分裂。美国在环境议题上的分歧对中国如今解决环境问题有重要的启示意义:首先,现在我国社会上下一致应对环境问题的广泛共识很宝贵,应该抓住难得的机遇期,为未来环境治理积极立法,留下宝贵法治遗产。另一方面,随着人们在环境议题上的利益变得多元,中国应该在环境治理上整合各方面利益,防止中国未来的环保事业被利益集团绑架。最后,中国应该明确环境议题的概念远远大于治理污染,为未来环境事业扩展空间。     

中国风电产业链的垂直结构研究

大力发展风电产业有利于降低碳排放,对于保持经济社会可持续发展具有重要意义.跟其他的产业一样,产业组织结构是影响风电产业发展速度的决定因素之一.产业组织理论认为,产业的垂直结构影响着产业资源的配置效率、产业利润的分配和下游企业的定价.本研究回答两个问题:①风电制造企业市场集中度与风电场的利润率之间的关系;②它们之间的关系还受到哪些因素的影响.本文从中国风电产业链的垂直结构入手,分析了风电设备制造市场的市场集中程度对风电场利润的影响.理论模型的推导结果表明风电设备制造企业的市场集中度和风电场的利润率之间呈负相关关系,且影响程度随风电场对风电设备需求弹性的降低而加强.因此,本文认为政府可以通过给予风电设备制造企业税收优惠、在风电制造业中实施必要的反垄断措施和制定并实施中国风电产业标准等措施,吸引新的企业进入风电设备制造市场,降低设备制造市场的市场集中度,增加风电场对特定风电设备的需求弹性.从而提高风电场的利润,加快风电产业的健康发展.     

Steady-state design of vertical wells for liquids addition at bioreactor landfills

The rate at which liquids can be added to a vertical well, the lateral zone of impact of the well, and the liquids volume needed to wet the waste within the zone of impact of the well are the key inputs needed to design a vertical well system. This paper presents design charts that can be used to estimate these inputs as a function of municipal solid waste properties (porosity, hydraulic conductivity, and anisotropy ratio), well dimensions (radius and screen length), and injection pressure. SEEP/W modeling was conducted to estimate the key design inputs for a range of conditions practically encountered for a vertical well installed in landfilled waste. The flow rate, lateral zone of impact of a well, liquids volume added, and injection pressure were normalized with the waste properties and well dimensions to formulate dimensionless variables. A series of design charts were created to present dimensionless steady-state flow rate, lateral zone of impact, and the dimensionless liquid volume needed to reach a steady-state condition, as a function of dimensionless input variables. By using dimensionless variables formulated for this work, these charts permit the user to estimate the steady-state design variables described above for a wide range of configurations and conditions beyond those simulated without the need for further modeling. The results of the study suggest that the lateral extent of the well can be estimated using Darcy’s equation and assuming saturated unit-gradient vertical flow regime below the well bottom. An example problem is presented to illustrate the use of the design charts. The scenario described in the example problem was also modeled with SEEP/W, and the results were compared with those obtained from the design charts to demonstrate the validity of design charts for scenarios other than those used for the development of the design charts. The methodology presented in this paper should be thought of as a means to provide a set of bounds that an engineer can use along with their judgment in the design of a system for a specific site.     

杭州市工业锅炉经济运行情况及节能增效的对策

通过对杭州市在用锅炉运行情况的普查、调研和数据分析,对杭州市在用工业锅炉和电站锅炉存在的主要问题及原因进行了归类分析,并从8个方面对杭州市工业锅炉的节能降耗提出了可行的实施措施,为杭州市政府从宏观经济推动等调整政策的出台提供了事实依据.     

CCA-treated wood disposed in landfills and life-cycle trade-offs with waste-to-energy and MSW landfill disposal

Chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood is a preservative treated wood construction product that grew in use in the 1970s for both residential and industrial applications. Although some countries have banned the use of the product for some applications, others have not, and the product continues to enter the waste stream from construction, demolition and remodeling projects. CCA-treated wood as a solid waste is managed in various ways throughout the world. In the US, CCA-treated wood is disposed primarily within landfills; however some of the wood is combusted in waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities. In other countries, the predominant disposal option for wood, sometimes including CCA-treated wood, is combustion for the production of energy. This paper presents an estimate of the quantity of CCA-treated wood entering the disposal stream in the US, as well as an examination of the trade-offs between landfilling and WTE combustion of CCA-treated wood through a life-cycle assessment and decision support tool (MSW DST). Based upon production statistics, the estimated life span and the phaseout of CCA-treated wood, recent disposal projections estimate the peak US disposal rate to occur in 2008, at 9.7 million m(3). CCA-treated wood, when disposed with construction and demolition (C&D) debris and municipal solid waste (MSW), has been found to increase arsenic and chromium concentrations in leachate. For this reason, and because MSW landfills are lined, MSW landfills have been recommended as a preferred disposal option over unlined C&D debris landfills. Between landfilling and WTE for the same mass of CCA-treated wood, WTE is more expensive (nearly twice the cost), but when operated in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) regulations, it produces energy and does not emit fossil carbon emissions. If the wood is managed via WTE, less landfill area is required, which could be an influential trade-off in some countries. Although metals are concentrated in the ash in the WTE scenario, the MSW landfill scenario releases a greater amount of arsenic from leachate in a more dilute form. The WTE scenario releases more chromium from the ash on an annual basis. The WTE facility and subsequent ash disposal greatly concentrates the chromium, often oxidizing it to the more toxic and mobile Cr(VI) form. Elevated arsenic and chromium concentrations in the ash leachate may increase leachate management costs.     

我国大陆未来几年的地震形势与灾害分析

依据中国大陆的地震活动必将受到全球地震活动的制约,要分析中国大陆未来的地震趋势必须研究全球的地震活动的思路,通过对全球地震活动趋势以及近期大陆和周边地震活动的概况分析,认为大陆第五活跃期已基本结束,但并不意味着地震灾害水平随之降低,防震羊城灾任务依然严峻。     

江苏省高宝湖区湖泊群富营养化特征分析

对江苏省高宝湖区高邮湖、宝应湖、邵伯湖和白马湖湖泊富营养化共性与差异性特征进行了分析。结果表明,2009—2014年,4个湖泊总体处于中营养—轻度富营养之间,综合富营养状态指数值在年内均呈波动变化,丰水期明显大于枯水期;主要营养因子水平在4个湖泊之间均存在较明显的差异,尤其是TN和SD 2项指标阶梯状差异较为明显,Chl-a也呈现不同程度的年内分布水平差异,并在春、夏季存在藻类暴发风险;各湖泊Chl-a与环境因子相关性差异较大,宝应湖、白马湖以及总体分析的高宝湖群Chl-a均与水温、TP相关性显著,TP应是高宝湖群藻类生长限制的主导营养因子;各湖泊富营养化特征存在差异性,总体上宝应湖与白马湖富营养化特征较为类似,与高邮湖差异较大,邵伯湖富营养化特征与高邮湖接近,又兼有与宝应湖、白马湖相似性特征。