Visible injury caused by ozone is recorded every year in native plant species growing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (USA). One of the most sensitive species, cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata L.), shows great variation in symptoms between and within populations but the causes of this variation and its ecological significance are currently unknown. This paper presents data relating to genetic variation, ozone concentrations, stomatal conductance and light (PAR) within populations. The data show that populations differ in genetic diversity, one consisting of only three genets while another was very diverse. In the former population, symptoms varied greatly within a single genet, pointing to a large micro-environmental influence. Measurements of ozone, stomatal conductance and PAR within plant canopies suggest that variation in symptom expression is unlikely to be due to differences in ozone flux and more likely to be due to variation in light. The variation in visible symptoms raises the question of what bioindicators actually indicate, and it suggests that symptoms should be interpreted with great caution until the underlying causes of that variation are fully understood. 相似文献
Shellfish are an important cause of foodborne viral illness. Consumer-friendly cooking recommendations for shellfish could
improve food safety and decrease the risk for infection from contaminated products. Thermal inactivation parameters were established
for hepatitis A virus (HAV) in mussels and validated with cooking experiments. Steaming for only 2–5 min was not sufficient
to inactivate HAV in mussels in all layers of a steamer. Steaming mussels for 6 min was sufficient to inactivate HAV in all
layers. These cooking guidelines produce shellfish with a reduced risk for foodborne virus transmission. 相似文献
Genetic variability among males is a necessary precondition for the evolution of female choice based on indirect genetic benefits.
In addition to mutations and host–parasite cycles, migration of locally adapted individuals offers an explanation for the
maintenance of genetic variability. In a previous study, conducting a reciprocal transplant experiment on a grasshopper, Chorthippus biguttulus, we found that environmental conditions significantly influenced not only body condition but also an important trait of male
calling song, the amplitude of song. Although not significant, all other analysed physical and courtship song traits and attractiveness
were superior in native than in transferred males. Thus, we concluded that local adaptation has a slight but consistent influence
on a range of traits in our study populations, including male acoustic attractiveness. In our present study, we scanned male
grasshoppers from the same two populations for amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) loci connected with acoustic
attractiveness to conspecific females. We found greater differences in allele frequencies between the two populations, for
some loci, than are expected from a balance between drift and gene flow. These loci are potentially connected with locally
adapted traits. We examined whether these alleles show the proposed genotype environment interaction by having different associations
with attractiveness in the two populations. One locus was significantly related to sexual attractiveness; however, this was
independent of the males’ population affiliation. Future research on the evolution of female choice will benefit from knowledge
of the underlying genetic architecture of male traits under intraspecific sexual selection, and the ‘population genomics’
approach can be a powerful tool for revealing this structure. 相似文献
This article highlights the relationship between walruses and humans in and around the North Water polynya in a long-term perspective. The present study draws on a combination of biological, archaeological, archaeo-zoological, historical, and ethnographic sources covering the period from the 8th century ad to the late 20th century. The study demonstrates that the walrus was an important resource of meat, blubber, and other products throughout all the studied periods, if always supplemented by other kinds of game. It is suggested that walrus distribution and behaviour, as well as hunting strategies and technologies historically constituted a powerful component not only in forming human action and social life in the region but also in serving as an imaginative resource. It is further argued that the walrus and the walrus hunt still play a significant role in the present community living on the edge of the North Water, even if the hunt is increasingly circumscribed due to changing ice conditions. 相似文献
The occurrence and rates of terminal electron acceptor processes, and recharge processes in the unsaturated zone of a boreal site contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons in the range C(10) to C(40) were examined. Soil microcosms were used to determine the rates of denitrification, iron (Fe) reduction, sulfate (SO(4)) reduction, and methanogenesis in two vertical soil profiles contaminated with oil, and in a noncontaminated reference sample. Furthermore, the abundances of the 16S rRNA genes belonging to Geobacteracaea in the samples were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Analyses of ground water chemistry and soil gas composition were also performed together with continuous in situ monitoring of soil water and ground water chemistry. Several lines of evidence were obtained to demonstrate that both Fe reduction and methanogenesis played significant roles in the vertical profiles: Fe reduction rates up to 3.7 nmol h(-1) g(-1) were recorded and they correlated with the abundances of the Geobacteracaea 16S rRNA genes (range: 2.3 x 10(5) to 4.9 x 10(7) copies g(-1)). In the ground water, ferrous iron (Fe(2+)) concentration up to 55 mg L(-1) was measured. Methane production rates up to 2.5 nmol h(-1) g(-1) were obtained together with methane content up to 15% (vol/vol) in the soil gas. The continuous monitoring of soil water and ground water chemistry, microcosm experiments, and soil gas monitoring together demonstrated that the high microbial activity in the unsaturated zone resulted in rapid removal of oxygen from the infiltrating recharge thus leaving the anaerobic microbial processes dominant below 1.5 m depth both in the unsaturated and the saturated zones of the subsurface. 相似文献
For marine organisms, decoupling between the planktonic larval stage and the benthic-associated juvenile stage can lead to
variable patterns of population replenishment, which have the potential to influence the effectiveness of marine reserves.
We measured spatial and temporal variability in larval supply and recruitment of fishes to coral reefs of different protection
levels and tested whether protection level influenced the relationship between supply and recruitment. We sampled pre-settlement
larvae and newly settled recruits from four reefs (two reserves and two non-reserves) in the Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary, USA. Replicate point measures of larval supply over 14 months and 17 monthly measurements of recruitment varied
significantly among months and sites. Sites with the same protection level had significantly different patterns of larval
supply as well as larval and recruit diversity, but recruitment magnitude differed only by protection level, where densities
were greater at reserves. Differences in larval supply among sites included two particularly large peaks in larval abundance
at one site, possibly associated with the observed passage of small-scale oceanographic features. To examine whether relationships
between larval supply and recruitment varied by protection level, we selected one species that was present in both the light
trap samples and the monthly recruitment surveys. Recruitment of the bicolor damselfish Stegastes partitus was significantly and positively related to larval supply at three of the four sites thus, protection level did not influence
this linkage. Since local variability among sites can lead to spatial differences in population replenishment, characterization
of larval supply and recruitment to potential marine reserve sites may help to identify optimal locations in a region and
contribute to more effective reserve design. 相似文献
This paper presents a Life Cycle Assessment of a hemp fibre reinforced component for automotive parts. Its aim is to identify the optimisation strategies within the product system and also provide decision support for automotive engineers for or against the employment of renewable raw materials within the production process. The investigated life cycle contains the agricultural cultivation of the fibre plant, the method of harvesting and the processing of the crop. The analysis includes the further processing of the fibre, i.e. the manufacturing of the fibre composite matrix, on which the production of form press components for the automotive industry is based. Manufacturing the required preproducts is also taken into account. The differences of energy demand (CED) and emission amount during the use phase of a passenger car and different disposal options for the end of the life cycle (deposition or incineration) are assessed as well. It is shown that the natural fibre composite is ecologically preferable to the injection moulded reference as the results of the Eco-indicator 95 method show. Optimisation is necessary for the epoxy-resin-hardener system, although the cultivation of fibre plants is ecologically an insignificant process regarding the system boundaries. The weight difference and resulting energy savings during the use phase of a car reveal further advantages of a fibre panel. 相似文献
The presented research concerned the compatibility of cosolvents with in situ alkaline hydrolysis (ISAH) for treatment of organophosphorous (OPP) pesticide contaminated sites. In addition, the influence of moderate temperature heat increments was studied as a possible enhancement method. A complex dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) of primarily parathion (~50 %) and methyl parathion (~15 %) obtained from the Danish Groyne 42 site was used as a contaminant source, and ethanol and propan-2-ol (0, 25, and 50 v/v%) was used as cosolvents in tap water and 0.34 M NaOH. Both cosolvents showed OPP solubility enhancement at 50 v/v% cosolvent content, with slightly higher OPP concentrations reached with propan-2-ol. Data on hydrolysis products did not show a clear trend with respect to alkaline hydrolysis reactivity in the presence of cosolvents. Results indicated that the hydrolysis rate of methyl-parathion (MP3) decreased with addition of cosolvent, whereas the hydrolysis rate of ethyl-parathion (EP3) remained constant, and overall indications were that the hydrolysis reactions were limited by the rate of hydrolysis rather than NAPL dissolution. In addition to cosolvents, the influence of low-temperature heating on ISAH was studied. Increasing reaction temperature from 10 to 30 °C provided an average rate of hydrolysis enhancement by a factor of 1.4–4.8 dependent on the base of calculation. When combining 50 v/v% cosolvent addition and heating to 30 °C, EP3 solubility was significantly enhanced and results for O,O-diethyl-thiophosphoric acid (EP2 acid) showed a significant enhancement of hydrolysis as well. However, this could not be supported by para-nitrophenol (PNP) data indicating the instability of this product in the presence of cosolvent.
Resilience thinking has developed separately in the bodies of literature on social-ecological systems, and that published principally within developmental psychology and mental health on the resilience of individuals. This paper explores what these bodies of literature might learn from the other towards a more integrated and enriched understanding of both social-ecological systems and social resilience. The psychology-based literature recognises a strong set of factors that enhance the strengths of individuals and communities, but lacks a sophisticated integration of the physical environmental context. The social-ecological systems literature offers an excellent foundation in complex adaptive systems, but tends to superimpose ecological concepts of system function onto the human domain, and needs to include an array of core social science concepts that are important to a full understanding of social-ecological systems. An example on north eastern Australia suggests how a converged understanding of social resilience could assist managers to acknowledge, enhance and foster social resilience in linked social-ecological systems. 相似文献