湛江硇洲岛海域19种贝类食用部位的重金属含量及评价

测定了湛江硇洲岛海域产的17种腹足类足部肌肉和2种双壳类软体部的Cr、Cu、Zn、Ni、As、Cd、Pd和Hg等8种重金属质量分数。通过对比金属污染指数,发现桶形芋螺Conus betulinus、粗糙滨螺Littorinopsis scabra、鳞片扭蚶Trisidos kiyonoi、可变荔枝螺Thais mutabilis和小结节滨螺Nodilittorina exigua受到的污染较严重;以单因子污染指数为标准,无Cu、Zn和Ni污染,Pd和Hg仅少数种轻微污染,Cr污染较严重,Cd和As污染非常严重;以重金属绝对质量分数来衡量,含As、Cr和Cd最高的贝分别是黑凹螺Chlorostoma nigerrina、粒花冠小月螺Lunella corontat和习见赤蛙螺Bursa rana。     

Colonial recognition of fungus in the fungus-growing ant Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Summary. Leaf cutting ants live in symbiosis with a basidiomycete fungus that is exploited as a source of nutrients for the ant larvae. Tests of fungus transport demonstrated that Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus workers discriminate concolonial fungus from alien fungus, and rejected the latter. Larvae and pupae of the ant were used as controls. Chemical analysis of the fungus revealed a great similarity between its hydrocarbon profile and that found on the ant brood. Experiments with lures showed that chemical extracts from the fungus are responsible for this discrimination process. Moreover, the presence of brood inside the fungus seemed to be important for discrimination of the fungus by workers. Resident workers accepted concolonial broodless fungus less than concolonial fungus inoculated with brood odor. Fungus seems to acquire colonial odor passively, simply by contact with the brood. The impact of fungus volume present in the nest on closure of the colony is discussed. We show here for the first time the importance of a symbiotic vegetal organism in colonial recognition in social insects. Received 14 April 2000; accepted 29 September 2000     

The origin of the chemical profiles of fungal symbionts and their significance for nestmate recognition in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Acromyrmex</Emphasis> leaf-cutting ants

Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles are essential for nestmate recognition in insect societies, and quantitative variation in these recognition cues is both environmentally and genetically determined. Environmental cues are normally derived from food or nest material, but an exceptional situation may exist in the fungus-growing ants where the symbiotic fungus garden may be an independent source of recognition compounds. To investigate this hypothesis, we quantified the chemical profiles of the fungal symbionts of 18 sympatric colonies of Acromyrmex echinatior and Acromyrmex octospinosus and evaluated the quantitative variation of the 47 compounds in a multivariate analysis. Colony-specific chemical profiles of fungal symbionts were highly distinct and significantly different between the two ant species. We also estimated the relative genetic distances between the fungal symbionts using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and correlated these with the overall (Mahalanobis) chemical distances between the colony-specific profiles. Despite the standardized laboratory conditions, the correlations were generally weak, but a statistically significant portion of the total variation in chemical profiles could be explained by genetic differences between the fungal symbionts. However, there was no significant effect of ant species in partial analyses because genetic differences between symbionts tend to coincide with being reared by different ant species. However, compound groups differed significantly with amides, aldehydes, and methyl esters contributing to the correlations, but acetates, alkanes, and formates being unrelated to genetic variation among symbionts. We show experimentally that workers that are previously exposed to and fed with the fungal symbiont of another colony are met with less aggression when they are later introduced into that colony. It appears, therefore, that fungus gardens are an independent and significant source of chemical compounds, potentially contributing a richer and more abundant blend of recognition cues to the colony “gestalt” than the innate chemical profile of the ants alone. Freddie-Jeanne Richard and Michael Poulsen contributed equally to this work.     

How many gamergates is an ant queen worth?

Ant reproductives exhibit different morphological adaptations linked to dispersal and fertility. By reviewing the literature on taxa where workers can reproduce sexually (i.e. become gamergates) we show that (1) species with a single gamergate generally have lost the winged queen caste, whereas only half of the species with several gamergates have, and (2) single-gamergate species have smaller colonies than multiple-gamergate species. Comparison with "classical" ants without gamergates, where having one vs having several winged queens are two distinct syndromes, suggests that having one vs having several gamergates are not. Gamergate number does not affect the success of colony fission, but retention of the queen caste permits the option of independent foundation.     

Learning,retention and coding of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Melophorus bagoti</Emphasis>

A variety of social insects use visual cues for homing. In this study, we examine the possible factors affecting the learning and retention of nest-associated visual cues by the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti and the manner in which such cues are encoded by foraging ants. We placed four prominent cylindrical landmarks around a nest and trained foragers from that nest to a food source. Ants were tested with the landmark array in a distant testing field after (1) a known number of exposures to the landmarks (1, 3, 7 or 15 trials, spread over a period of 1 day, 2 days or ≥3 days) and (2) after a known period of delay (0, 24, 48, 96 or 192 h). The results show that a combination of an increase in training trials and an increase in number of training days affected the acquisition of landmark memory. Moreover, once the landmarks were learnt, they became a part of long-term memory and lasted throughout the ants’ foraging lifetime. To examine visual cue encoding behaviour, ants trained under similar conditions for 4 days were tested with (1) an identical landmark array, (2) landmarks of the same size used in training, but placed at twice the distance from each other, and (3) landmarks whose dimensions were doubled and placed at twice the distance from each other. In conditions (1) and (3), the ants searched extensively at the centre of the four landmarks, suggesting that, similar to the Saharan ant (genus Cataglyphis) and the honeybee, M. bagoti too uses a snapshot to match the view of the landmarks around the nest. But contrary to the snapshot model, in condition (2), the ants did not search extensively at the centre of the landmarks, but searched primarily 0.5 m from the landmark, the distance from each landmark to the nest during training. We discuss how various search models fare in accounting for these findings.     

Behavioral ecology of the neotropical termite-hunting ant Pachycondyla (= Termitopone) marginata: colony founding,group-raiding and migratory patterns

This study provides the first detailed field account of colony founding, group-raiding and migratory habits in the neotropical termite-hunting ant rPachycondyla marginata, in a semi-deciduous forest in south-east Brazil. New colonies can originate by haplometrosis, pleometrosis, or colony fission. Incipient colonies with multiple foundresses persisted longer in the field, and most excavated nests contained more than one dealated female. A total of 202 group raids by P. marginata were registered, and in all cases the raided termite species was Neocapritermes opacus. Nearly 20% of the workers within a colony engage with raiding activity. Colonies of P. marginata hunt for termites approximately every 2–3 weeks, and group-raids may last for more than 24 h. Target termite nests are up to 38 m from the ant colony, and occasionally two nests are simultaneously raided by one ant colony. Raiding ants carry 1 or 2 paralysed prey, and nearly 1600 termites can be captured during a 9-h raid. Migration by P. marginata colonies lasted over 2 days and covered distances of 2-97 m (n = 48). Average residence time at a given location was 150 days. Three basic migratory patterns were noted: colony fission (only part of the colony moves), long-distance migrations, and short-distance migrations. Both raiding and migratory activities appeared to be strongly affected by seasonal factors. The group raiding and migratory patterns of P. marginata are compared with other ant taxa with similar habits. It is concluded that P. marginata presents a rudimentary form of the so-called army ant behavior, which is highly developed in the subfamilies Dorylinae and Ecitoninae. The extremely specialized diet of P. marginata and the associated high costs of migration are features likely to prevent it from evolving a full army ant life pattern.     

清原县山野菜资源的开发利用

本文通过对辽东清原县山野莱的资源条件、开发利用现状和市场的分析，提出了山野菜资源的开发设想和保证措施，以提进当地农业的发展．     

四川野生食用菌初步名录

本文报道了四川食用菌183种,其中属于食、药兼用菌的有84种,我国新记录10种,四川新记录43种。为我省食用菌的开发利用及有关科研、生产等提供了科学依据。     

Reproduction versus work in queenless ants: when to join a hierarchy of hopeful reproductives?

Many animal societies contain few breeders and many helpers. In some species, individuals can become either helpers or breeders, and breeding is often restricted to high rankers in a dominance hierarchy. In social Hymenoptera with no morphological queen caste, all females have the potential to become dominant and reproduce. In our model, females involved in the hierarchy do not work and gain direct fitness if they become alpha following death of the current alpha, while females not in the hierarchy gain indirect fitness by working. Using an inclusive-fitness model combined with models of alpha replacement in slightly different types of near-linear hierarchies, we determined the critical rank (i.e., optimal hierarchy length) for which the gain in fitness by entering the hierarchy as a hopeful reproductive equals the cost caused by a reduced worker force. High relatedness decreases the hierarchy length by lowering the potential benefit of entering the hierarchy. In contrast, large colony size increases the hierarchy length because the cost of each non-working high ranker is relatively lower. The model predicts a hierarchy of five workers in the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps, close to empirical data which show that in a colony of about 100 females, the top 5 carry out 72.8% of the aggressive interactions. The model is also used to make several testable predictions about the effect on hierarchy length of (1) variation in colony size and (2) variation in worker reproductive options between species of the queenless ants genus Diacamma. Received: 16 March 1999 / Received in revised form: 30 June 1999 / Accepted: 11 July 1999     

Characteristics of organic acid profiles in 16 species of wild growing edible mushrooms

The aim of study was to determine 9 organic acids in nine aboveground and seven wood-growing wild edible mushroom species originated from an area under the direct influence of a busy trunk road in Poland. The organic acids in the extracts of samples were identified by reversed-phase column liquid chromatography (RPLC). The presented results show that all the mushroom species were characterized by high variation in the profile and content of the analyzed acids. Each of mushroom species contained oxalic acid, the profiles of the other acids strictly depended on mushroom species. Among aboveground species, the highest total content of organic acids was found in Lepista gilva (267.5 ± 26.6 mg g^?1 dry weight (DW)), while Laccaria amethystina was characterized by the lowest content (37.7 ± 6.5 mg g^?1 DW). Within wood-growing species, the highest content of organic acids was determined in Flammulina velutipes (171.9 ± 26.7 mg g^?1 DW), whereas the lowest content (34.2 ± 2.9 mg g^?1 DW) of the studied acids was observed in Grifola frondosa.