Anther-mimicking floral guides exploit a conflict between innate preference and learning in bumblebees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis>)

Bee-pollinated plants are frequently dichogamous: e.g. each flower has a discernable male and female phase, with only the male phase offering a pollen reward. Pollen-collecting bees should therefore discriminate against female-phase flowers to maximise their rate of pollen harvest, but this behaviour would reduce plant fitness due to inferior pollination. Here, we test the hypothesis that flowers use pollen-mimicking floral guides to prevent flower-phase discrimination. Such floral guides resemble pollen in spectral reflection properties and are widespread among angiosperm flowers. In an array of artificial flowers, bumblebees learned less well to discriminate between flower variants simulating different flowering phases when both flower variants carried an additional pollen-yellow guide mark. This effect depended crucially on the pollen-yellow colour of the guide mark and on its spatial position within the artificial flower. We suggest that floral guides evolved to inhibit flower-phase learning in bees by exploiting the innate colour preferences of their pollinators.     

DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT OF WATER IN ONTARIO MUNICIPALITIES: STATUS,PROGRESS, AND OPPORTUNITIES1

ABSTRACT: Demand side management is being used increasingly by Ontario municipalities as a way to improve the efficiency of water use, defer the costs associated with constructing new water treatment works, and minimize the environmental impacts associated with supplying water. A comprehensive survey of 153 Ontario municipalities was completed in mid‐1998. These ranged in size from small rural townships (with populations as low as 500 people) to the province's largest urban center, Metropolitan Toronto, with a population of approximately 2.5 million people. The questionnaire measured the use of six broad types of demand side measures, including water pricing and metering; municipal by‐laws (ordinances) that promote water conservation; operational and maintenance measures to reduce water losses and consumption; water‐saving plumbing fixtures and devices; public participation programs that encourage water conservation; and other measures, such as water audits. Additionally, the survey collected data on implementation barriers and opportunities. Since the last comprehensive Ontario survey, conducted in 1987 by Kreutzwiser and Fea‐gan (1989), there has been an increase in the use of basic tools such as metering and pricing, plumbing fixtures, and public participation programs. Additionally, new initiatives, such as water audits and computerized monitoring equipment, are being used. However, in many areas opportunities exist to make better use of demand side measures. Unfortunately, municipal capacity to do so often is constrained by (among other factors) limited finances, lack of political will, and public resistance. Demonstration of real cost savings to consumers, and the development of specific goals and objectives for demand side management programs, are two important steps needed to overcome these challenges.     

Spectrum of selection: new approaches to detecting the scale-dependent response to habitat

Detecting habitat selection depends on the spatial scale of analysis, but multi-scale studies have been limited by the use of a few, spatially variable, hierarchical levels. We developed spatially explicit approaches to quantify selection along a continuum of scales using spatial (coarse-graining) and geostatistical (variogram) pattern analyses at multiple levels of habitat use (seasonal range, travel routes, feeding areas, and microsites). We illustrate these continuum-based approaches by applying them to winter habitat selection by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) using two key habitat components, Cladina lichens and snow depth. We quantified selection as the reduction in variance in used relative to available sites, thus avoiding reliance on correlations between organism and habitat, for which interpretation can be impeded by cross-scale correlations. By consistently selecting favorable habitat features, caribou experienced reduced variance in these features. The degree to which selection was accounted for by the travel route, feeding area, or microsite levels varied across the scale continuum. Caribou selected for Cladina within a 13-km scale domain and selected shallower snow at all scales. Caribou responded most strongly at the dominant scales of patchiness, implicating habitat heterogeneity as an underlying cause of multi-scale habitat selection. These novel approaches enable a spatial understanding of resource selection behavior.     

北京市PM2.5对DNA的氧化性损伤规律分析

运用质粒DNA损伤评价法,在北京市2010年6月至2011年6月全年的大气PM2.5样品中,选取每月的2个样品(包括正常和雾霾天气),共24个样品进行实验,分析其氧化性损伤能力的变化规律及其与采样条件的相互关系.结果表明,北京市大气颗粒物全样的氧化性损伤能力等于或略大于相应的水溶组分,说明颗粒物氧化性损伤能力多来自于水溶组分,大气颗粒物对DNA损伤率呈现在50,100,150, 200mg/mL剂量水平下依次递增的规律,即随剂量的增加而增加;雾霾天气下DNA损伤率出现高值;4月和6月的DNA损伤率在全年中较高.其他月份正常天气条件下损伤率均较低,在200mg/mL剂量下损伤率基本低于50%;损伤率与环境平均温度和湿度呈正相关,与平均大气压强和日平均风速呈负相关,相关性大小顺序为:环境平均温度>平均大气压强>平均湿度>日平均风速.     

Brazil's National Atlantic Forest Policy: A Challenge for State-level Environmental Planning. The Case of Santa Catarina,Brazil

Formulating effective national forest policy in lesser developed countries is complex and needs to take into account the social as well as the biophysical dimensions which impact on forest resources. Deforestation continues to be a serious concern in many of these countries and most national forest policy seeks to curb the devastationof forest resources. Due to different social groups competing for use of the forest resources, however, designing effective policy is challenging. The needs of these different social groups must be considered.Unless this is done, the forest policy itself can be an impetus for deforestation.In the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, deforestation in the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica) is occurring at a rapid rate, threatening the richness of biodiversity. There are a number of causes for deforestation in Santa Catarina, one being Brazil's national Atlantic forest policy. Unintentionally, the structure of this conservation-focusedpolicy has declared all of Santa Catarina's native forests off-limits to any type of exploitation, the only state in Brazil where this has occurred, and has actually precipitated deforestation. Challenges for state-level planning include addressing the national forest policy as well as the state-levelimpacts resulting from the policy. The history of the policy, the social groups affected and challenges for planning are discussed, as are proposed solutions.