Seasonality and microhabitat selection in a forest-dwelling salamander

Many small terrestrial vertebrates exhibit limited spatial movement and are considerably exposed to changes in local environmental variables. Among such vertebrates, amphibians at present experience a dramatic decline due to their limited resilience to environmental change. Since the local survival and abundance of amphibians is intrinsically related to the availability of shelters, conservation plans need to take microhabitat requirements into account. In order to gain insight into the terrestrial ecology of the spectacled salamander Salamandrina perspicillata and to identify appropriate forest management strategies, we investigated the salamander’s seasonal variability in habitat use of trees as shelters in relation to tree features (size, buttresses, basal holes) and environmental variables in a beech forest in Italy. We used the occupancy approach to assess tree suitability on a non-conventional spatial scale. Our approach provides fine-grained parameters of microhabitat suitability and elucidates many aspects of the salamander’s terrestrial ecology. Occupancy changed with the annual life cycle and was higher in autumn than in spring, when females were found closer to the stream in the study area. Salamanders showed a seasonal pattern regarding the trees they occupied and a clear preference for trees with a larger diameter and more burrows. With respect to forest management, we suggest maintaining a suitable number of trees with a trunk diameter exceeding 30 cm. A practice of selective logging along the banks of streams could help maintain an adequate quantity of the appropriate microhabitat. Furthermore, in areas with a presence of salamanders, a good forest management plan requires leaving an adequate buffer zone around streams, which should be wider in autumn than in spring.     

Postnatal nutrition influences male attractiveness and promotes plasticity in male mating preferences

Poor early-life nutrition could reduce adult reproductive success by negatively affecting traits linked to sexual attractiveness such as song complexity. If so, this might favor strategic mate choice, allowing males with less complex songs to tailor their mating tactics to maximize the reproductive benefits. However, this possibility has been ignored in theoretical and empirical studies. By manipulating the micronutrient content of the diet (e.g., low or high) during the postnatal period of male zebra finches, we show for the first time (1) that males reared on a poor (low) micronutrient diet had less complex songs as adults; (2) that these males, in contrast to the high micronutrient diet group, were more selective in their mating strategies, discriminating against those females most likely to reduce their clutch size when paired with males having less complex songs; and (3) that by following different mating strategies, males reared on the contrasting diets obtained similar reproductive benefits. These results suggest that early-life dietary conditions can induce multiple and long-lasting effects on male and female reproductive traits. Moreover, the results seem to reflect a previously unreported case of adaptive plasticity in mate choice in response to a nutritionally mediated reduction in sexual attractiveness.     

Alteration of dominant cyanobacteria in different bloom periods caused by abiotic factors and species interactions

Freshwater cyanobacterial blooms have drawn public attention because they threaten the safety of water resources and human health worldwide. Heavy cyanobacterial blooms outbreak in Lake Taihu in summer annually and vanish in other months. To find out the factors impacting the cyanobacterial blooms, the present study measured the physicochemical parameters of water and investigated the composition of microbial community using the 16S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer amplicon sequencing in the months with or without bloom. The most interesting finding is that two major cyanobacteria, Planktothrix and Microcystis, dramatically alternated during a cyanobacterial bloom in 2016, which is less mentioned in previous studies. When the temperature of the water began increasing in July, Planktothrix appeared first and showed as a superior competitor for M. aeruginosa in NO₃^?-rich conditions. Microcystis became the dominant genus when the water temperature increased further in August. Laboratory experiments confirmed the influence of temperature and the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) form on the growth of Planktothrix and Microcystis in a co-culture system. Besides, species interactions between cyanobacteria and non-cyanobacterial microorganisms, especially the prokaryotes, also played a key role in the alteration of Planktothrix and Microcystis. The present study exhibited the alteration of two dominant cyanobacteria in the different bloom periods caused by the temperature, TDN forms as well as the species interactions. These results helped the better understanding of cyanobacterial blooms and the factors which contribute to them.     

安全农居四字歌

.....口..农村震害,建造街房,农民盖房,建址不当,建筑材料,物筑堵体,农居工租,场址选择,地羞安全,用料保质,堵体构架,结构科学,房塌最‘漆,大计育年,常按习惯,河启暗边,旧瓦碎砖,结构松傲,地震安全,德定地段,沟柑要宽,更乃关健,紧密相联,层层梁圈,人财     

浅析紧急救援的综合性

2006年初,国务院发布了《国家突发公共事件总体应急预案》。其目的是要提高政府保障公共安全和处置突发公共事件的能力,最大程度地预防和减少突发公共事件及其造成的损害,保障公众的生命财产安全,维护国家安全和社会稳定,促进经济社会全面、协调、可     

植树节所不能拯救的森林病

发现一个“有趣”的现象。打开某知名网站的环保频道,有关于植树造林的专题。近期的新闻有一些,大抵是有关植树节活动。再看早期的新闻,居然一下就上跨到去年的同一时期。当然,去年的同一时期也要迎接植树节。     

Study of the pyrolysis of ionic liquid [Bmim]Cl-pretreated mango pit at low temperature

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In the present work, mango pit was used to study the feasibility of converting ionic liquid-pretreated biomass into biofuel and activated biochar...     

Large-scale utilization of desulfurization ash and fly ash for unfired production of high-strength road-base stones

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This paper utilizes desulfurization ash (DA), fly ash (FA) and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) to prepare unfired high-strength road-base stones by...     

Biochar and cattle manure amendments improve the quality of green waste compost as growing substrate for Centaurea cyanus

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This study aimed at investigating the impacts of different percentages of biochar (BC) (at 0, 15, and 25%; by vol.) and/or cattle manure (CM) (at...     

焦化场地典型多环芳烃类污染物精细化风险评估

为准确评估多环芳烃(PAHs)污染土壤对人体的健康风险,解决目前基于总量风险评估导致土壤PAHs修复目标值过严的问题,采用德国标准研究院颁布的生物可给性测试方式研究了石家庄某焦化厂土壤中苯并[b]荧蒽(BBF)、苯并[k]荧蒽(BKF)、苯并[a]芘(BAP)、茚并[1,2,3-cd]芘(IPY)和二苯并[a,h]蒽(...