基因学与动物生态学相结合:了解动物育种中的驯化、行为及可持续性的新途径

动物行为是动物福利的核心部分,是可持续的动物育种的基础.在驯化过程中,动物已在行为和一系列其它显著特性方面产生适应性.我们对原鸡和白莱亨蛋鸡(为产蛋而选,间接为产肉而选)的行为进行了比较.原鸡在群居、探索、抗捕食和进食试验方面表现出更积极的行为.对一只原鸡与白莱亨鸡杂交后代进行的定量特性位点(QTLs)基因组扫描显示,不同的特性具有一些明显的或启示性的QTLs.一些生产QTLs与行为QTLs相重合,表明生物多向性效应对育种显型的发展也许是重要的.我们定位了一种基因,它对成为啄毛行为受害者方面有强烈影响,而啄毛是一种有害的行为紊乱现象.现代基因学配以行为分析,也许有益于未来设计出更加可持续的育种方式,培育出耐力更强的动物.     

Are politicians office or policy motivated? The case of U.S. governors' environmental policies

Are elected politicians primarily motivated by holding office, thus choosing environmental policies accordingly? Or are they motivated by the chance to implement their preferred environmental policies? Do governors have character, in the sense that they promise and implement environmental policies consistent with their own preferences? To answer these questions, we study the differences in environmental spending across both re-electable and lame duck governors from the two main political parties. In our empirical analysis, we make use of parametric and non-parametric regression-discontinuity approaches. While re-electable governors do not set significantly different policies, lame duck governors do. We argue that in the area of environmental policy governors appear to be primarily office motivated and lack character.     

落叶林在瑞典针叶林区乡村中的分布

在自然林火不再发生的同时,人们为了促进针叶树木的生长清除了落叶树种,并人为地将丰饶的森林变成了农地,由此,欧洲北部原有的针叶林景观发生了很大变化,一些地区的落叶林成分大大减少.然而,在乡村中落叶树种和落叶林得以保存下来,在一些弃耕的农田中也通过自然更新产生了新的落叶林木.我们在研究中做出以下假设,不同地区落叶林目前的分布格局与乡村中农业区和非农业区的分布相关,这种分布的形成又与当地的自然条件和以土地利用变化的形式表现的近期经济发展密切相关.我们的研究对象包括了瑞典北方针叶林和半北方针叶林区域中的6个地点--北博滕(Norrbotten)、翁厄曼兰(Angermanland)、耶姆特兰(Jamtland)、达拉纳(Dalarna)、Bergslagen和斯莫兰(Smaland),分析了乡村内农业区和非农业区中落叶林的空间分布.在每个地区,选择了6个以乡村为中心的5×5km样带.研究结果表明,在不同地区乡村中的不同景观区域,落叶林的分布和组成存在着明显差异.从单个乡村来看,翁厄曼兰中DEC(即落叶林成分)所占的比例平均最高(17%),而耶姆特兰则最低(2%).然而,农业区内和非农业区内DEC的数量却存在着规律性的地区差异,DEC在南方农业区内(斯莫兰)所占的比例最高,北方通常很低.对比之下,非农业区内DEC的数量在北方最高.相对较多的DEC出现在农业大量减少的地区的森林边缘地带(翁厄曼兰、达拉纳、Bergslagen).由于乡村在与落叶林有关的生物多样性中有着重要作用,因此本项研究的结果表明了对整个景观中的落叶林进行综合管理的必要性.通过本项研究,我们还可以看到卫星遥感数据可用于分析景观尺度上落叶树木和林分的空间分布.为了进行更为深入的研究,我们需要改进的专题分辨率以区分落叶林具相关生物特性意义的林分质量.     

土壤中污染物迁移模型在油田环境影响评价中的应用

在石油的生产、运输、贮存以及炼制等过程中都存在泄油、漏油风险,各生产过程中的废弃物,如油类、重金属等各种化学物质也会危害水土环境,进而危及当地地下水源。文章分析了油田企业污染物对土壤及地下水的主要污染途径,提出了将污染物在土壤中的迁移模型用于预测污染物浓度的方法。建立了污染物由土壤迁至室内空气、地下水、农作物及由地下水转移到地表水的迁移数学模型,该模型可以运用于油田环境影响评价。     

Afforestation Planning and Biodiversity Conservation: Predicting Effects on Habitat Functionality in Lithuania

Habitat re-creation is one of the multiple faces of biodiversity restoration and encompasses the attempts to reconstruct an ecosystem on severely disturbed sites with little left to restore. Afforestation of abandoned or marginal agricultural land is an important tool for the re-creation of forest ecosystems and re-establishment of functional habitat networks for the maintenance of biodiversity. This study was performed in the context of the Danish-Lithuanian project ‘Afforestation of abandoned agricultural land based on sustainable land use planning and environmentally sound forest management’. The study assessed how habitat re-creation as designed in alternative afforestation plans for two administrative regions in Lithuania will affect the functionality of the landscapes for bird species of conservation concern. Spatial analysis of the forest cover was performed under existing and proposed conditions using general landscape ecological principles concerning core and edge habitats as well as nearest-neighbour metrics. The results show that the use of general criteria may result in proportionally negative changes in the availability of some forest habitats relative to changes in total forest cover, thus leading to less significant improvements in the habitats of many naturally occurring (and even protected) species compared to what would be expected from changes in forest cover alone. To solve this dilemma it is suggested that the requirements of focal species and quantitative conservation objectives should be considered in a spatially explicit – each main forest type. It is concluded that to ensure functionality of habitat networks, knowledge and experience from the fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology should be more commonly incorporated into afforestation planning.     

EIA as Regulation: Does it Work?

Since its introduction into Danish planning in 1989, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been widely discussed. At the centre of the debate the question has been whether EIA has actually offered anything new and there has been a great deal of scepticism about the efficacy of the instrument. Although, in principle EIA offers a holistic and proactive methodology, it does not seem to lead to a more holistic and proactive regulation which covers more ground than traditional planning and environmental regulation. In an evaluation of Danish experiences, this study has looked more closely at the effects of EIA. Three types of effects on projects have been examined: changes occurring prior to the formal application; changes during the EIA process; and the mitigation measures that are demanded of projects. The general conclusion is that EIA does generate a significant number of changes to projects. In approximately half of the cases studied, modifications are made prior to the formal application. During the formal EIA process, modifications were made in more than 90% of the cases. However, most of these could be considered as minor. EIA is characterized by being based upon a broad concept of the environment. It was found that a progressive narrowing of the concept of environment takes place during the course of the EIA process.     

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Nutrient Levels in the Nemunas River (Lithuania and Belarus)

There are discordant results on trends in nutrient river water quality from the economical transition countries in Europe. The present study assessed the impact of these economical changes on the load and concentration at 17 monitoring stations along the Nemunas River and its major tributaries (Lithuania and Belarus). Three time periods were evaluated: the Soviet rule command system period 1986–1991, the transfer to market economy period 1992–1996 and the post reform period 1997–2002. The most surprising result in this study, was the increased area-specific load of NO₃-N from the first to the third period at almost all the sampling sites. The increase was particularly large (43–78%) at the sites in the Lithuanian part of the river. The corresponding load increase in the Belarussian part of the river was only 1–15%. The statistical analyses of concentration data confirm the strong upward NO₃-N trend at the Nemunas mouth and at 5 of the 6 tributaries in the lower part of Nemunas. Temporal and spatial analysis of nitrates transport in the Nemunas River and its main tributaries revealed that nitrates mainly originate from agricultural areas. The upward trends were most likely an effect of ploughing of pastures and unbalanced crop fertilisation in combination with large storage and accumulation of soil-nitrogen during the Soviet period.On contrary to nitrate-N, the area-specific load of PO₄-P decreased significantly from the first to the third period at all sites along the Nemunas River (31–86%). Seasonal (SMK) and Partial (PMK) Mann-Kendall tests on PO₄-P concentrations also showed significant downward trend at 14 of 16 investigated sites. The decrease of PO₄-P levels was attributed to the reduction of municipal and industrial point source emissions and to the decreased livestock numbers.The NH₄-N load showed the same pattern as PO₄-P. At the river mouth the load was 90 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ during the first period compared to only 20–30 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ in the third period. The trend test on NH₄-N concentrations detected significant downward trends at 5 out of 16 sites. The declines were explained by decreased emissions from cities and large animal breeding farms.This study showed that trend analysis at multiple sites in a river basin is crucial for the understanding of the variability in time and space. Such analysis is also important for our interpretation of underlying sources and fluxes in a drainage basin over time. This is particularly important for compounds that have different source origin.     

Genetic Variability in Swayne's Hartebeest, an Endangered Antelope of Ethiopia

Abstract: Swayne's hartebeest ( Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei ) is an endangered antelope that survives in four or five relict populations in Ethiopia. We examined the two main populations (Senkele and Nechisar) for mitochondrial (D-loop) and nuclear (microsatellite) variability in order to measure levels of genetic variation within the subspecies and degree of differentiation between populations. For comparison, we examined samples from a large population of red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus buselaphus caama ). Both swaynei and caama exhibited high levels of variation. There was significant differentiation between the populations of swaynei at Senkele and Nechisar, and gene diversity in Nechisar, the smaller of the two populations, was significantly lower than that in Senkele. Many mitochondrial haplotypes and microsatellite alleles present at high frequencies among the Senkele individuals were missing in Nechisar, suggesting that the translocation of animals from Senkele undertaken in 1974 did not contribute notably to the gene pool in Nechisar. Subsamples taken from Senkele in 1988 and 1995 showed a significant change in allele frequencies, a change that probably can be attributed to a massive population decline during this period. We recommend that both populations be protected in situ to maintain as much as possible of the diversity that exists within the taxon and that a breeding program be established. In spite of the earlier unsuccessful attempt, we argue that translocation of animals for enhancement of population size as well as genetic variation in Nechisar should be considered.     

The Introduction of the Precautionary Principle in Danish Environmental Policy: The Case of Plant Growth Retardants

In this paper, we investigate the Precautionary Principle (PP) in action. Precaution is a fairly new concept in environmental policy. It emerged back in the 1960s but did not consolidate until the 1980s, as it formed part of the major changes taking place in environmental policies at that time. The PP is examined in three contexts. Firstly, we look at the meaning of the concept and how it is disseminated through the media and public discourses to the political arenas of Denmark. Then we examine how the idea is adopted to the political level. Thirdly, we look briefly at the first Danish translation of the principle into a practical context, which includes translations into concrete scientific practices. It is concluded that if the PP shall be more than a simple “idea” or a frequently used “term,” emphasis must be put on the transformation of the concept into concrete practices, like e.g., the alternative testing regimes that we show in the case of plant growth-retarding pesticides presented in this paper.     

Secondary ozonides of substituted cyclohexenes: a new class of pollutants characterized by collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry using negative chemical ionization

Recent studies indicate that secondary ozonides of cyclic alkenes are formed in atmospheric reactions and may be relatively stable. The secondary ozonides (SOZs) of cyclohexene (1), 1-methylcyclohexene (2), 4-isopropyl-1-methylcyclohexene (3) and 4-isopropenyl-1-methylcyclohexene (limonene) (4) have been characterized by rapid gas chromatography electron ionization (EI), negative and positive chemical ionization (CI: ammonia, isobutane and methane) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectrometry. Both EI and positive CI spectra were found unsuitable for reproducible analysis. However, negative CI showed stable (M−H)⁻ ions with minor fragmentation. CID of the (M−H)⁻ ions resulted in simple and reproducible fragmentation patterns for all four SOZs with loss of m/z 18, 44 and 60, tentatively assigned as H₂O, CO₂ and C₂H₄O₂ or CO₃, respectively. Thus, negative CI-MS–MS in combination with rapid gas chromatography is the preferred method for identification of secondary ozonides of cyclohexenes.