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     

皆伐对青藏高原东部银露梅种群生长与繁殖的影响

调查了青藏高原东部川西云杉原始林下优势灌木银露梅及其在皆伐7 a后迹地上的种群结构、生长与繁殖状况,并进行了对比研究.发现(1)皆伐迹地生境中的银露梅灌丛年龄结构、萌生株年龄结构、萌生株数大小结构和冠幅结构与原始林下相比均存在着较大的差异;(2)在皆伐生境中,与林下同龄的银露梅丛冠幅、基径总和以及株高总和均显著增加,皆伐显著促进了银露梅的无性萌生能力和结实数量的增加.综合分析表明,银露梅能有效适应迹地退化形成的阳性生境,因此可作为高海拔地区皆伐迹地植被恢复中先锋灌木种.图2表1参21     

Photoenhanced toxicity of a weathered oil onCeriodaphnia dubia reproduction

Traditionally, the toxic effects of petroleum have been investigated by conducting studies in the absence of ultraviolet radiation (UV). Photomediated toxicity is often not considered, and the toxic effects of an oil spill can be grossly underestimated. The toxicity of a weathered oil collected from a monitoring well at an abandoned oil field toCeriodaphnia dubia was examined in the presence of UV. A solar simulator equipped with UVB, UVA, and cool white lamps was used to generate environmentally comparable solar radiation intensities.C. dubia were exposed to six concentrations of water accommodated fractions (WAF) of weathered oil in conjunction with three levels of laboratory simulated UV (Reference = < 0.002 μW/cm²UVB; 3.0 μW/cm² UVA; Low = 0.30 μW/cm² UVB; 75.0 μW/cm² UVA; High = 2.0 μW/cm² UVB; 340.0 μW/cm² UVA) and visible light. Seven day static renewal bioassays were used to characterize WAF/UV toxicity. WAF toxicity significantly (p < 0.05) increased when the organisms were exposed to WAF in the presence of UV. The photoenhanced toxicity of the WAF increased with WAF concentration within each UV regime. Relative to the reference light regime, the average number of neonates from adults exposed to 1.6 mg TPH/L decreased significantly by 20% within the low light regime, and by 60% within the high light regime. These results indicate that organisms exposed to dissolved-phase weathered oil in the presence of environmentally realistic solar radiation, exhibit 1.3–2.5 times greater sensitivity, relative to organisms exposed under traditional laboratory fluorescent lighting.     

微型裸腹蚤的生长,生殖和种群增长

年龄为５±２ｈ的纯系微型裸腹蚤置于２５±１℃、主要含斜栅藻的培养液、静置换水的条件下培养时,其体长（ｌｔ）增长模式为ｌｔ＝１．３０－０．７９７６ｅ－０．３６８２ｔ（ｌｔ为体长,ｔ为时间）,各龄蚤平均体长为１．０８ｍｍ,平均寿命为１９．１ｄ,生殖高峰发生在第５龄期,累计生殖量为１０１．２１个．从初始２０个体的种群计算,种群生长曲线呈ｌｏｇｉｓｔｉｃ型：ｙ＝２０２４／（１＋ｅ４．１３６－０．５３７ｔ）（ｙ为总个体数）,内禀增长能力ｒｍ＝０．９８５／ｄ,净生殖率Ｒ０＝８２．２５３／世代,世代平均周期Ｔ＝４．７２ｄ．     

Evaluation of the fish short term reproduction assay for detecting endocrine disrupters

In a fish testing strategy, positive results of the fish short term reproduction assay (FSTR), often trigger a definitive test like the fish sexual development test (FSDT) or the fish full life cycle test (FFLC), entailing ethical and economic problems. This study analysed 137 studies encompassing 35 chemicals with different modes of actions (MOAs). Variability is quantified for MOA endpoints vitellogenin (VTG) and secondary sex characteristics (SSCs) as well as for apical endpoints. Two MOA endpoints could indicate estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, androgenic, anti-androgenic and steroidogenesis activities. Great variability, however, has been observed for chemicals with anti-androgenic and steroidogenesis activities, suggesting that TG229/230 may not be sensitive enough to detect these types of chemicals and may produce false negatives. Changes in apical endpoints like fecundity are not limited to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Non-EDCs could induce the similar effects on these apical endpoints. If elucidating MOA is needed, targeted in vitro MOA tests are suggested. Positive in vitro MOA results trigger a definitive test, which could be used for confirmation of the MOA in vivo and for deriving a no observed effect concentration (NOEC). Based on positive MOA results of TG229, a definitive test such as the FSDT or the FFLC is still needed, because the current TG229 has limitation on the derivation of a NOEC. An extended TG229 with more power to detect reproduction effects, as recently proposed in the OECD test guideline program, would improve the possibility to derive a NOEC and increase its usefulness in risk assessment.     

Effects of cultivation conditions on the diversity of microbes involved in the conversion of rice straw to fodder

To confirm the optimum cultivation conditions for analyzing lactic acid bacterial communities and to provide the cultivation foundation for lactic acid bacterial communities that were used to convert straw into fodder, fermented rice straw was inoculated into 13 different broths. After 48 h of cultivation, pH values, volatile products, and microbial diversity were analyzed. Except for LAB broth, the pH values of the other broths could decrease to approximately 4.5. GC/MS analysis showed that lactic acid in Tomato MRS broth, MRS broth, LAB broth, and Tomato juice broth was higher than that in the other broths. DNA concentration analysis showed that the counts of microbes in Tomato MRS broth were 2.5 times of those in other broths and that tomato juice favored the reproduction of the microbes. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） analysis showed that the number of lactic acid bacterial species in HYA broth, Tomato juice broth, and Tomato MRS broth were higher than those in the other broths.     

Multi-biological defects caused by lead exposure exhibit transferable properties from exposed parents to their progeny in Caenorhabditis elegans

Whether the multi-biological toxicity from lead exposure could be transferred to progeny has not been clarified.In the present study,we explored the Caenorhabditis elegans to analyze the multiple toxicities from lead exposure and their possibly transferable properties.The lead exposure could cause series of severe multi-biological defects with a concentration-dependent manner by affecting the endpoints of life span,development,reproduction and locomotion behaviors in nematodes.Moreover,most of these toxicities could be transferred to progeny from lead exposed animals and some of the defects in progeny appeared even more severe than in their parents,such as the body sizes and mean life spans.We summarized the defects caused by lead exposure into three groups according to their transferable properties or rescue patterns.That is,the defects caused by lead exposure could be largely,or partially,or became even more severe in progeny animals.Therefore,our results suggest that lead exposure can cause severely multi-biological defects,and most of these multiple toxicities can be considered as transferable for exposed animals in C.elegans.     

宜宾夜鹭卵中有机氯农药及其代谢物的赋存特征

于2017年在四川省宜宾市采集黑冠夜鹭(Nycticorax nycticorax)卵样30枚(包括9枚无胚卵和21枚胚胎卵),分析了样品中有机氯农药(OCPs)的残留状况.结果表明,宜宾夜鹭卵中检出了8种OCPs残留物,总含量为4.76～97.9 ng·g~(-1)(以湿重计).其中,p,p′-滴滴伊(p,p′-DDE)含量最高((20±18) ng·g~(-1)),其次为六氯苯(HCB,(5.3±3.4) ng·g~(-1))和β-六六六(β-HCH,(1.1±0.8) ng·g~(-1));滴滴涕类(∑DDTs)中的稳定代谢物p,p′-DDE和六六六类(∑HCHs)中的稳定同分异构体β-HCH占比均在99%以上.p,p′-滴滴涕(p,p′-DDT)和p,p′-DDE在无胚卵蛋液中的残留水平比在胚胎卵蛋液中更高一些,而反式九氯则相反,其余OCPs无差别,这说明鹭卵在孵化过程中p,p′-DDT可能易于代谢,而稳定的p,p′-DDE更容易向胚胎传递.宜宾夜鹭卵中p,p′-DDE的最高含量为84 ng·g~(-1),远低于鹭科繁殖效应阈值(1000 ng·g~(-1)).总体上,夜鹭卵中OCPs的赋存状况较好地反映出长江上游地区OCPs污染水平较低,对夜鹭繁殖的影响较小.     

马齿苋有性繁殖特性研究

马齿苋有性繁殖特性研究结果表明，马齿苋的第1朵花在播种后44d开始开放，以后不断地形成花蕾和开花，并且边开花边结籽、种子成熟后即自行开裂、散落，这种特性给种子收集和生产大量用种带来许多困难，成为制约马齿苋规模化栽培的重要因子．因此，如何找到一套简单易行、操作方便、省时省力、能用于大量生产马齿苋种子的方法，是需要继续在生产实践中探索的问题．     

三种双酰胺类杀虫剂制剂对大型溞生长发育和繁殖的影响

为探索双酰胺类杀虫剂对大型溞的慢性毒性,本文采用氟虫双酰胺、氯虫苯甲酰胺和溴氰虫酰胺3种双酰胺类杀虫剂制剂,测定其对大型溞生长发育和繁殖的影响,明确其对大型溞的慢性毒性以及大型溞对该类杀虫剂敏感的端点指标。结果表明,氟虫双酰胺、氯虫苯甲酰胺和溴氰虫酰胺3种制剂对大型溞的寿命、体长、蜕皮数、首胎时长、产胎数、单雌产溞数等端点指标具有不同程度的影响。3种杀虫剂显著减少大型溞蜕皮数的最低浓度分别为1.00×10-2mg·L~(-1)、1.00×10-4mg·L~(-1)、1.25×10-3mg·L~(-1);显著缩短寿命的最低浓度分别为5.00×10-3mg·L~(-1)、1.00×10~(-4)mg·L~(-1)和1.25×10-3mg·L~(-1);显著缩短体长的最低浓度分别为5.00×10-3mg·L~(-1)、8.00×10-4mg·L~(-1)和1.00×10~(-2)mg·L~(-1);显著减少产胎数的最低浓度分别为1.00×10-2mg·L~(-1)、4.00×10-4mg·L~(-1)和1.00×10-2mg·L~(-1);显著减少单雌产溞数的最低浓度分别为1.00×10~(-2)mg·L~(-1)、8.00×10-4mg·L~(-1)和5.00×10-3mg·L~(-1);但是,除溴氰虫酰胺外,其他2种杀虫剂制剂对首胎时长却没有显著影响。端点指标中对氟虫双酰胺的敏感性为寿命和体长蜕皮数、产胎数和单雌产溞数首胎时长;对氯虫苯甲酰胺为蜕皮数和寿命产胎数体长和单雌产溞数首胎时长;对溴氰虫酰胺为蜕皮数和寿命单雌产溞数体长、首胎时长和产胎数。研究结果说明,3种双酰胺类杀虫剂对大型溞的生长发育和繁殖具有不同程度的抑制作用,寿命是评价该类杀虫剂制剂对大型溞慢性毒性的最敏感端点指标。