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.     

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.     

土壤中四环素类抗生素降解及对小白菜根系生长发育的影响

采用土培试验,分析了小白菜(Brassica campestris L.)的发芽率、生物量和根长指标对3种抗生素胁迫的敏感性,比较了不同土壤中四环素类抗生素污染对小白菜根长生长的影响,并研究了四环素类抗生素在不同土壤中的降解特性.结果表明,小白菜对3种抗生素的敏感性为根长发芽率生物量.抗生素处理土壤30 d时,4种土壤中小白菜根长对3种抗生素胁迫的敏感性均为砖红壤红壤青紫泥黑土;同种抗生素在4种土壤中的降解率为黑土青紫泥红壤砖红壤,同种土壤中3种抗生素的降解率为土霉素金霉素四环素.相关性分析发现,土壤中四环素类抗生素的含量与土壤有机质、氮磷钾含量和阳离子交换量呈显著负相关.     

改性生物炭负载纳米零价铁去除水体中头孢噻肟

抗生素对环境的危害已经引起了人们的广泛重视.本实验以改性生物炭(MB)为载体制备了负载纳米零价铁的功能生物炭(Fe/MB).以头孢噻肟(CFX)为目标抗生素,研究了该材料对头孢噻肟的降解特性及影响因素,并探讨了去除机理.实验结果表明,50 min内头孢噻肟的去除率为92%(Fe/MB用量为0.4 g·L~(-1),溶液p H=5.0,头孢噻肟浓度为20 mg·L~(-1),振荡速率为200 r·min~(-1),柠檬酸浓度为1.47 mmol·L~(-1)).头孢噻肟的去除过程存在改性生物炭的吸附和纳米零价铁还原降解的协同作用,数据符合伪二级反应动力学方程(R20.99).采用紫外可见光谱结合质谱分析了降解产物的结构并提出头孢噻肟的降解途径.     

建筑安全风险因素分级排序的风险矩阵法

为减少风险分级排序时产生的风险结,在引入施工安全事故频率的基础上,采用单元格细化和Borda序值法改进原有的风险矩阵法。改进后的方法使得风险等级数量增加,风险结数量减少。将该方法应用于脚手架工程的风险因素的分级与排序,风险等级分为6级,且实现了12个因素的明确排序。     

考虑岩石抗拉强度受围压影响的地层破裂压模型

预测地层破裂压力是地下流体注入工程中的关键问题,关系到工程的稳定性和安全性。根据地测资料,岩石的抗拉强度会随着围压产生变化,然而目前常见的地层破裂压预测模型均未考虑该因素。基于厚壁圆筒法,针对2种砂岩开展不同围压条件下的砂岩致裂试验,根据试验数据,计算各组试验中试样的抗拉强度,并拟合围压与岩石抗拉强度的关系函数。研究岩石抗拉强度随围压变化的规律,提出能在实际地层中表征该规律的参数,基于该参数对现有的地层破裂压模型进行修正,并结合实测数据验证修正模型的可靠性。研究结果表明:岩石的抗拉强度随着围压的增加呈现明显的线性正相关关系,低围压下,新模型的预测结果与实测数据较为接近。随着围压增加,二者的差异逐渐增大,说明选取的特征参数在低围压下能较好地描述抗拉强度受围压的影响效应,而高围压下参数的取值需进一步研究。     

Eulerian and Lagrangian time scales of the turbulence above staggered arrays of cubical obstacles

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - We present results from water-channel experiments on neutrally-stable turbulent flows over staggered arrays of cubical obstacles modelling idealised urban canopies....     

The Influence of Linear Elements on Plant Species Diversity of Mediterranean Rural Landscapes: Assessment of Different Indices and Statistical Approaches

This paper mainly aims to study the linear element influence on the estimation of vascular plant species diversity in five Mediterranean landscapes modeled as land cover patch mosaics. These landscapes have several core habitats and a different set of linear elements -habitat edges or ecotones, roads or railways, rivers, streams and hedgerows on farm land- whose plant composition were examined. Secondly, it aims to check plant diversity estimation in Mediterranean landscapes using parametric and non-parametric procedures, with two indices: Species richness and Shannon index.Land cover types and landscape linear elements were identified from aerial photographs. Their spatial information was processed using GIS techniques. Field plots were selected using a stratified sampling design according to relieve and tree density of each habitat type. A 50×20 m² multi-scale sampling plot was designed for the core habitats and across the main landscape linear elements. Richness and diversity of plant species were estimated by comparing the observed field data to ICE (Incidence-based Coverage Estimator) and ACE (Abundance-based Coverage Estimator) non-parametric estimators.The species density, percentage of unique species, and alpha diversity per plot were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in linear elements than in core habitats. ICE estimate of number of species was 32% higher than of ACE estimate, which did not differ significantly from the observed values. Accumulated species richness in core habitats together with linear elements, were significantly higher than those recorded only in the core habitats in all the landscapes. Conversely, Shannon diversity index did not show significant differences.     

A Characterization of Selected Endocrine Disruptor Compounds in a Portuguese Wastewater Treatment Plant

Anthropogenic compounds that are able to disrupt the endocrine system of wildlife species are a major cause for concern and have led to a demand for new screening methods. The identification and quantification of endocrine disruptor compounds at wastewater treatment plant is of major interest to assess the endocrine activity of wastewater treatment plant discharges into the environment. This study consists of a preliminary survey of concentrations of previously selected endocrine disruptor compounds, undertaken to establish environmental concentrations and to support a biological program assay exposing freshwater fish to them. Selected endocrine disrupting chemicals (APEs, bisphenol A and 17 β-estradiol) were measured in samples from a wastewater treatment plant located in Lisbon (Portugal), using recent commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and also LC-MS/MS. The results show that the wastewater treatment plant treatment process is efficient on the removal of target endocrine disruptor compounds. However, environmentally significant concentrations are still present in the treated effluent. The results also show that enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit is suitable for routine analysis of the selected compounds. The results are also useful since the wastewater treatment plant is located in a Mediterranean region, which results in an effluent with its own characteristics.