Demographic Forecasting in Koala Conservation

Abstract: The koala currently needs conservation intervention. There is clear evidence of decline in many populations, but the existence of other stable or expanding populations offers the possibility of a variety of creative solutions to their conservation problems. The 1998 National Koala Conservation Strategy emphasizes the need to obtain demographic information and to use this information to assess management options for koalas. We need accurate diagnoses of the status of koala populations and forecasts of their demographic future with and without particular management actions. In a qualitative fashion, this process has been undertaken many times on a local and national scale. Quantitative demographic forecasting tools are increasingly available, and koala management could benefit from their application both at the scale of individual populations and more broadly. There is already a considerable body of suitable data on the dispersal, effects of normal and catastrophic environmental variation on reproduction and survival, and on the effects of habitat change. Demographic forecasting, however, is hampered because the full suite of information is rarely available from a single population. In two Queensland populations, retrospective population viability analyses provided forecasts that were in agreement with observed population trends. Work is needed to determine whether data from one population can be applied to other populations. Models can then be developed to make projections at a multipopulation level on the basis of local population dynamics and dispersal. Certain koala populations, because of their long history of study, offer the opportunity to test demographic models retrospectively. These tests will not only aid in fine-tuning the models for koala biology and data but will also assist with the more general process of validating the models.     

Maternal investment in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): reproductive costs and consequences of raising sons

Maternal investment in offspring is expected to vary according to offspring sex when the reproductive success of the progeny is a function of differential levels of parental expenditure. We conducted a longitudinal investigation of rhesus macaques to determine whether variation in male progeny production, measured with both DNA fingerprinting and short tandem repeat marker typing, could be traced back to patterns of maternal investment. Males weigh significantly more than females at birth, despite an absence of sex differences in gestation length. Size dimorphism increases during infancy, with maternal rank associated with son’s, but not daughter’s, weight at the end of the period of maternal investment. Son’s, but not daughter’s, weight at 1 year of age is significantly correlated with adult weight, and male, but not female, weight accounts for a portion of the variance in reproductive success. Variance in annual offspring output was three- to fourfold higher in males than in females. We suggest that energetic costs of rearing sons could be buffered by fetal delivery of testosterone to the mother, which is aromatized to estrogen and fosters fat accumulation during gestation. We conclude that maternal investment is only slightly greater in sons than in daughters, with mothers endowing sons with extra resources because son, but not daughter, mass has ramifications for offspring sirehood. However, male reproductive tactics supersede maternal investment patterns as fundamental regulators of male fitness. Received: 23 July 1999 / Received in revised form: 23 February 2000 / Accepted: 13 March 2000     

Reproduction, larval development and functional relationships of the burrowing, spionid polychaete Dipolydora armata with the calcareous hydrozoan Millepora complanata

Dipolydora armata (Langerhans, 1880) is a small (4 to 5 mm) spionid polychaete found burrowing in the calcareous hydrozoan Millepora complanata Lamarck, 1816, on coral reefs at Barbados, West Indies. It excavates complex networks of interconnecting burrows and forms aggregations of worms in cavities within branches of the coral. Adult worms have a mixed feeding mode (suspension feeding and deposit feeding). Size–frequency distributions of worms in branch samples suggest that they mature in a single year and that reproduction occurs throughout the year. Burrow openings on the surface of the coral develop distinctive, erect spines caused by combined growth of worm tubes and host tissue. Millepore zooids were absent in the vicinity of tube openings and on spines, and thus the potential feeding surface of the coral will be reduced in heavily colonized branches. Burrows and openings were densest at the bases of millepore branches where weakening of the skeleton would be expected to occur. The absence of openings near the branch tips suggests difficulty in larval settlement there, amongst stinging zooids. Reproduction␣and larval development of the worms were examined, and a sequence of larval stages from one to 20 segments and a juvenile stage of 22 segments are described. Eggs are deposited in brood sacs attached to the burrow wall, and the larvae feed upon nurse eggs (adelphophagy). The presence of larvae and juveniles occurring free in the burrows suggests that larval development may be completed within the host coral as an alternative or in addition to a planktonic larval phase. Lack of provisional larval setae, early development of adult capillary setae, production of special spermatophores and a protracted breeding cycle in D. armata are all traits which would favour complete development within the host skeleton. Received: 6 March 1997 / Accepted: 25 October 1997     

底泥中重金属毒性的室内孔隙水分析技术

根据孔隙水中重金属的浓度可以判定底泥中重金属的毒性但获得真正的底泥孔隙水十分困难。本文提供了一套简便易行的室内原状孔隙水取样技术,将碳化硅砂芯埋入底泥,添加表层水并静置９０ｄ,通过渗滤获得孔隙水,测定孔隙水中重的浓度,所得结果与微生态系统暴露试验中生物指示的重金属的毒性大小相吻合,与生物积累重金属的浓度显著正相关。     

The role of daytime cues in the development of magnetic orientation in a night-migrating bird

To assess the role of celestial rotation during daytime in the development of the magnetic compass course, pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca Pallas, Muscicapidae) were handraised in Latvia under various celestial and magnetic conditions. Tests were performed during autumn migration in the local geomagnetic field (50 000 nT, 73° inclination) in the absence of celestial cues. A group of birds that had never seen the sky showed a bimodal preference for the migratory southwest-northeast axis, whereas a second group that had been exposed to the natural sky from sunrise to sunset in the local geomagnetic field showed a unimodal preference for the seasonally appropriate southwesterly direction. A third group that had also been exposed to the daytime sky, but in the absence of magnetic compass information, also oriented bimodally along a southwest-northeast axis. These findings demonstrate that observing celestial rotation during daytime enables birds to choose the right end of the migratory axis for autumn migration at the Latvian test location. This transformation of axial behavior into appropriate migratory orientation, however, requires the birds to have simultaneous access to information on both celestial rotation and the geomagnetic field. Received: 19 September 1997 / Accepted after revision: 22 November 1997     

Restricted adaptive cluster sampling

Adaptive cluster sampling can be a useful design for sampling rare and patchy populations. With this design the initial sample size is fixed but the size of the final sample (and total sampling effort) cannot be predicted prior to sampling. For some populations the final sample size can be quite variable depending on the level of patchiness. Restricted adaptive cluster sampling is a proposed modification where a limit is placed on the sample size prior to sampling and quadrats are selected sequentially for the initial sample size. As a result there is less variation in the final sample size and the total sampling effort can be predicted with some certainty, which is impor- tant for many ecological studies. Estimates of density are biased with the restricted design but under some circumstances the bias can be estimated well by bootstrapping. © Rapid Science 1998     

青岛海洋环境碳纤维复合材料与低合金钢电偶腐蚀研究

目的 探究碳纤维复合材料在舰船应用时与金属材料的电偶腐蚀问题。方法 针对一种典型舰船用碳纤维增强乙烯基树脂复合材料,在青岛海洋大气环境下开展0.5、1、1.5、2 a期的自然曝晒试验,进而采用电化学分析手段考察其与低合金钢的电偶腐蚀效应,结合老化机制探究碳纤维复合材料的老化行为对其与钢电偶腐蚀的影响。结果及结论 在青岛大气环境曝晒不同周期的复合材料试样,开路电位与低合金钢相差较大,存在较高的电偶腐蚀倾向。随曝晒时间的延长,复合材料表面微裂纹不断产生、扩展,导致电化学反应活性点增多,两者电偶电流密度随之增大。在青岛海洋大气环境下暴露2 a后,碳纤维增强乙烯基树脂复合材料与低合金钢的电偶电流为0.356 9 μA/cm²,两者的电偶腐蚀敏感性达到B级。     

中药抗菌剂对费氏弧菌的单一及联合毒性效应

抗生素滥用所导致的环境问题日益受到人们的关注,寻找传统抗生素的可能替代品迫在眉睫.从中药中提取的具有抗菌活性的化合物(简称中药抗菌剂)因具有资源丰富、抗菌谱广和不良反应低等特点,有望成为未来替代抗生素的关键.因此,有必要探究中药抗菌剂的毒性效应,这可以对未来中药抗菌剂使用后的生态风险提供指导.本文以费氏弧菌作为模式生物...     

废纸造纸废水结垢原因及防治对策研究

针对无锡某废纸造纸企业产生的污水经厌氧-好氧-化学混凝处理后,出水在放流池产生结垢现状,对各段污水中主要离子浓度进行跟踪分析,并对结垢的组分、结垢原因、机理和防治结垢对策进行了探讨。结果表明:垢样的主要成分为CaCO3;污水中含有较高浓度的钙离子和碳酸氢根离子是导致结垢的主要原因,较高的水温、pH值、流速、流动状态、池壁的粗糙程度以及PAC的投加对结垢也有一定的影响;最佳防治对策为使用Ca(OH)2+PAM代替PAC+PAM混凝,保证COD达标排放同时,也解决了出水结垢问题。     

基于计算模拟与响应面分析漆酶对己烯雌酚的降解作用

己烯雌酚(Diethylstilbestrol,DES)作为水环境中最具雌激素活性的合成化合物之一,其给生物体和环境带来的危害已经引起人们的关注.本研究首先通过分子对接与分子动力学模拟从理论上分析漆酶与DES的相互作用;其次通过实验分析其降解动力学模型及不同反应条件和介质对漆酶催化转化DES的影响;最后使用响应面分析方法优化漆酶-ABTS系统催化转化DES的最佳条件.计算结果表明,漆酶与DES的反应能够自发进行且它们之间主要存在氢键和疏水作用力.实验结果表明,反应6 h左右,50 mg·L^-1的DES的降解率达到93%以上;根据Michaelis-Menten模型得到的动力学参数K_m和V_max分别为36.18 mg·L^-1和45.98 mg·L^-1·h^-1,模型的R²为0.99.漆酶催化降解DES的最佳pH为6,最佳温度为55℃.几种介质中,ABTS对漆酶催化降解DES的作用最强.通过响应面分析发现,在pH=5.5、55.98℃、1....