Flexible foraging strategies of gentoo penguins <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pygoscelis papua</Emphasis> over 5 years in the South Shetland Islands,Antarctica

Gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua show considerable plasticity in their diet, diving, and foraging behaviors among colonies; we expected that they might exhibit similar variability over time, at a single site, since flexible foraging habits would provide a buffer against changes in prey availability. We examined interannual changes in the foraging strategies and diet of gentoo penguins in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, over 5 years with variable prey abundance. Antarctic krill Euphausia superba was the primary diet item, and fish the secondary, though the importance of these items varied among years. Diving behavior also varied over time: different dive depth distributions were observed among years. Nonetheless, chick-rearing success remained relatively constant, indicating that gentoo penguins were able to maintain chick provisioning by altering their foraging strategy among years. Variable abundance of krill in the region did not have observable impacts on the diet, foraging behaviors or chick-rearing success of gentoo penguins. We suggest that foraging plasticity may be one reason that gentoo penguin populations have remained stable in the region, while their congeners (P. antarctica and P. adeliae) with less flexible foraging strategies have declined.     

Pollution extents of organic substances from a coal gangue dump of Jiulong Coal Mine,China

This paper addresses the distribution and occurrence of harmful organic substances in coal gangue dump from Jiulong Coal Mine and its influence on the environment. The samples were taken from the coal gangue dump and coal waste water stream and analyzed by organic geochemical methods. The results indicate that the coal gangues contain abundant harmful organic substances like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The TOC and sulfur contents of the samples are much higher than those of the background sample except Sample JL7. The contents of organic bulk parameters are relatively high. Ten carcinogenic PAHs were identified and these harmful organic substances have influenced the surrounding area. Along the waste water stream, organic substances pollute at least 1,800 m far from the coal gangue dump.     

Emergy-based urban health evaluation and development pattern analysis

The objective of this study is to measure and evaluate the ecosystem health levels of 31 Chinese capital cities in 2004 through an emergy synthesis framework. A system of indicators was developed corresponding to the four factors of urban ecosystem health including efficiency, structure, impact and flux. Furthermore, combined with individual indices, an emergy-based urban ecosystem health index (EUEHI) was proposed to measure and evaluate the health levels among various typical cities in China, which offers an integrated evaluation tool in view of urban production, trade and consumption. The results showed that there are intrinsic differences among six clusters associated with driving mechanisms distinguishing the rankings of urban health levels. After lining the cities of similar health levels with cluster map, the spatial distribution of the urban health is found to be arch-shaped, increasing initially and then decreasing from coast to inner land. This kind of spatial hierarchy is per se compatible and consistent with the hierarchical theory of emergy synthesis. The results also revealed double restrictions of urban health between economy and environment. Moreover, the interaction analysis was used for mirroring the driving mechanism of urban ecosystem health. Three conclusions were arrived at. Firstly, environmental health is inversely related to the economic health in China, indicating that cities cannot achieve win–win between environment and economy in the current urban development mode. Secondly, based on economy-driven mode, four quadrants were divided in the city division map, wherein 43.33% of the concerned cities developed in high economy-restriction mode, which means low economic level is still an important limiting factor for the major cities of China. Finally, based on environment-driven mode, two sections were divided, of which weak environmental dominance mode expounds the special characteristics of urban environment with obvious fragility. 23.33% of the 30 cities were in the intermediate state, which means a few correspondingly unhealthy cities should develop concrete polices for the urban ecosystem restoration.     

Impacts of Urbanization and Intensification of Agriculture on Transboundary Aquifers: A Case Study

The objectives were to (1) delineate the complex set of rules governing the fate and transfer of water rights as agricultural land is urbanized in Texas and New Mexico in the United States and Chihuahua in Mexico and (2) estimate the change in water use as a result of such urbanization. Important additional determinants of water use in the region include intensification of agriculture and the hydroschizophrenic policy framework. We conducted interviews with key informants to identify the possible outcomes for changes in water rights as land is urbanized. We constructed decision trees for each of the three jurisdictions, Chihuahua, Texas, and New Mexico, that identified the possible outcomes from urbanization. For each of the possible outcomes in the decision tree, we estimated a range of potential water use outcomes and the most likely water use outcome on a per unit of land area basis. Results show that urbanization of agricultural land has almost no impact on the aggregate demand for or use of surface water. However, the impacts of urbanization on groundwater use vary considerably over the region from Texas to New Mexico to Chihuahua. In New Mexico and Chihuahua where groundwater rights can be leased or sold to other users, the likely impact is a net increase in groundwater use as land is urbanized, ranging from 0 to 3,000 m³/ha in New Mexico and averaging 3,000 m³/ha or more in Chihuahua. In Texas, there is a net benefit in groundwater savings, but those savings are subject to being offset by increased groundwater pumping to meet the needs of expanding pecan production. The net result is continued groundwater depletion, threatening the life of the transboundary aquifers, the Hueco Bolson and the Mesilla Bolson, in the Middle Rio Grande basin (defined as the part of the basin between Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico to the confluence of the river with the Rio Conchos from Mexico).     

Impacts of copepods on marine seston,and resulting effects on<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Calanus finmarchicus</Emphasis> RNA:DNA ratios in mesocosm experiments

We investigated the impact of copepods on the seston community in a mesocosm set-up, and assessed how the changes in food quantity, quality and size affected the condition of the grazers, by measuring the RNA:DNA ratios in different developmental stages of Calanus finmarchicus. Manipulated copepod densities did not affect the particulate carbon concentration in the mesocosms. On the other hand, chlorophyll a content increased with higher copepod densities, and increasing densities had a positive effect on seston food quality in the mesocosms, measured as C:N ratios and 3:6 fatty acid ratios. These food quality indicators were significantly correlated to the nutritional status of C. finmarchicus. In contrast to our expectations, these results suggest a lower copepod growth potential on higher quality food. However, in concordance with earlier studies, we found that when copepods were in high densities the large particles (>1000 µm³) decreased and that the smaller particles (<1000 µm³) increased in number. These patterns were closely linked to the condition of C. finmarchicus, which were of better condition (RNA:DNA ratios) with increasing biovolumes of large particles, and, conversely, lower RNA:DNA ratios with increasing biovolumes of smaller particles. Consequentially, the selective grazing by copepods stimulated increased biovolumes of smaller plankton, and this increase was responsible for the increased food quality, in terms of C:N and 3:6 ratios. Thus, we conclude that the decreasing growth potentials of C. finmarchicus were a result of a decrease of favourably sized food particles, induced by copepod grazing.Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe     

Bridging gaps in demographic analysis with phylogenetic imputation

Phylogenetically informed imputation methods have rarely been applied to estimate missing values in demographic data but may be a powerful tool for reconstructing vital rates of survival, maturation, and fecundity for species of conservation concern. Imputed vital rates could be used to parameterize demographic models to explore how populations respond when vital rates are perturbed. We used standardized vital rate estimates for 50 bird species to assess the use of phylogenetic imputation to fill gaps in demographic data. We calculated imputation accuracy for vital rates of focal species excluded from the data set either singly or in combination and with and without phylogeny, body mass, and life-history trait data. We used imputed vital rates to calculate demographic metrics, including generation time, to validate the use of imputation in demographic analyses. Covariance among vital rates and other trait data provided a strong basis to guide imputation of missing vital rates in birds, even in the absence of phylogenetic information. Mean NRMSE for null and phylogenetic models differed by <0.01 except when no vital rates were available or for vital rates with high phylogenetic signal (Pagel's λ > 0.8). In these cases, including body mass and life-history trait data compensated for lack of phylogenetic information: mean normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) for null and phylogenetic models differed by <0.01 for adult survival and <0.04 for maturation rate. Estimates of demographic metrics were sensitive to the accuracy of imputed vital rates. For example, mean error in generation time doubled in response to inaccurate estimates of maturation time. Accurate demographic data and metrics, such as generation time, are needed to inform conservation planning processes, for example through International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessments and population viability analysis. Imputed vital rates could be useful in this context but, as for any estimated model parameters, awareness of the sensitivities of demographic model outputs to the imputed vital rates is essential.     

Isolation,identification, and the degradation characteristics of a BDE-47 degrading strain北大核心CSCD

In an effort to remove BDE-47 residues from the environment, a bacterial strain that is capable of utilizing BDE-47 as the sole carbon source was isolated and screened from soil collected from an e-waste recycling area in Tianjin to analyze the degradation properties. The strain was preliminarily identified as Enterobacter sp. according to a 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. The strain degraded 35.8% of 525 μg/L of BDE-47 in 35 d when the initial concentration of bacteria was 7.1 × 105 cells/ mL. The product of the biodegradation of BDE-47 was BDE-28. The biodegradation of BDE-47 fit well with first-order kinetics, and its degradation kinetics was ln Ct = - 0.104t + 6.22. With the addition of an electron acceptor, such as Fe3+, SO4 2- and NO3 -, the BDE-47 degradation rate was significantly increased to 49.8%, 59.1%, and 67.3%, respectively. The above results revealed that the strain could degrade BDE-47, which is of importance in the application of environmental bioremediation of BDE-47. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

Mapping loci that control lateral spike development in Tibetan barley by bulked segregant analysis (BSA)北大核心CSCD

Fertility of lateral spikelets determines the two-rowed or six-rowed spikes of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), which results in significantly different grain yields. The change in row type from two-rowed to six-rowed shows remarkable domestication characteristics. The Qinghai-Tibet plateau has abundant resources of wild and cultivated barley, and is considered one of the centers of domestication and genetic diversity of cultivated barley. In order to obtain a primary understanding of the genetic basis of lateral spike development regulation and the domestication process in cultivated Tibetan barley, an F2 segregation population was constructed by crossing the two-rowed wild barley accession ZYM0083 with the six-rowed landraces Linzhiheiliuleng. Genetic analysis showed that the row type was controlled by a single gene. Using the specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) technology and bulked segregant analysis (BSA), two DNA pools from 22 two-rowed spike individuals and 22 six-rowed spike individuals of the F2 population were constructed and sequenced. A total of 456 691 SLAF tags were obtained. By adopting the ED and SNP index for association analysis, three candidate regions with a 53.84-Mb interval and containing 536 genes were obtained. Four-hundred thirteen, 189, and 160 annotated genes were acquired by GO, KEGG, and COG libraries, respectively. Loci that control lateral spike development in Tibetan barley were primarily mapped by SLAF-seq, and the results presented in this study will facilitate the fine mapping and cloning of target genes. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

Characteristics of culturable endophytic bacteria of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge with tumor roots北大核心CSCD

Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge with tumor roots was discovered, and the endophytic bacteria that were isolated from the tumor roots were purified and identified. This paper aimed to study the characteristics of endophytic bacteria. The CAS detection plate, Salkowski colorimetry, phosphate solubilizing circle, and molybdenum antimony spectrophotometry were used to analyze endophytic bacteria ability, which produced siderophores, secreted indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and dissolved phosphorus. Strains were isolated from the tumor roots through morphological and molecular identification, and they were named XSB1-XSB9, of which 6 strains belonged to Bacillus sp., 2 strains belonged to Brevibacillus sp., and 1 strain belonged to Pseudomonas sp. All 9 strains produced siderophores; strains XSB3, XSB4, XSB8, and XSB9 were extremely high yielding, and strains XSB5 and XSB6 were high yielding. The strains with high yields were XSB3, XSB4, XSB5, XSB6, XSB8, and XSB9 and accounted for 66.7% of the tested strains. Nine strains secreted IAA; the concentration of IAA secreted by the strains that contained tryptophan was between 15-50 mg/L, and the concentration of IAA secreted by the one strain without tryptophan was between 10-35 mg/L. The IAA ability of the XSB2, XSB3, XSB4, XSB5, and XSB9 strains were significantly different (P < 0.05) after adding tryptophan. These results indicate that the synthesis of IAA may be the tryptophan synthesis pathway where tryptophan is used as a precursor. All 9 strains had some ability to dissolve phosphorus. The concentration of phosphate in the solubilizing strains, XSB1, XSB2, XSB4, and XSB5, were significantly higher than that in the other strains (P < 0.01), and the concentration of phosphate solubilizing was between 50-90 mg/L; the ability to dissolve phosphate was increased by 19-29 times. The XSB4 and XSB5 strains, which produced siderophores, secreted IAA and had a strong capacity to dissolve phosphorus, may be candidate strains for promoting growth. This research provides the foundation for the development and utilization of rhizosphere microbes to understand the resistance mechanisms and cultivation level of X. sorbifolia. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.