Evaluation of theories and calculation tools in ecology

The concept of validation is inappropriate for the evaluation of ecological models. Classification of models into logical, theoretical, and calculation tool (predictive) types provides a sounder basis for choosing an evaluation technique. The dangers of model “tuning” are presented.     

Privacy-seeking behavior in an elementary classroom

This study observed privacy-seeking behavior in an elementary classroom, investigated individual differences in privacy seeking, and compared preferences for private spaces varying in degree of enclosure. Four privacy booths were placed in a fourth-grade classroom. A ticket system was used to assess booth use. Information on personality and background variables was obtained with self-report, peer, teacher, and parent questionnaires. After an initial period of enthusiasm, overall booth use declined sharply. However, analysis revealed substantial individual variation in booth use that remained consistent throughout the study. For boys, booth use was significantly correlated with teachers' ratings of sociability, aggressiveness, and distractibility. For girls, a significant positive relationship was found between privacy seeking at home and in school. Self-reported desire for privacy was uncorrelated with actual privacy-seeking behavior in the classroom. No significant differences in the use of the various booths were found, although self-reported preferences clearly favored the booth that allowed visual access to the rest of the classroom when desired.     

The prediction of scenic beauty from landscape content and composition

Two studies were conducted to examine distance classes of vegetation (foreground, middleground and background) and scene composition (presence of vegetation in left, center or right section of the image) as predictors of perceived scenic beauty. In study one, 41 students rated 63 landscape scenes with regard to scenic beauty. The Scenic Beauty Estimation Method was used to derive interval scale beauty values (SBEs). For each landscape image, areal measures of vegetation in each distance class and for each vertical section were taken and used as predictors. Presence of haze, clouds and human impacts were also recorded. Among the most important contributors to scenic beauty were amount of center middleground vegetation, and center background vegetation. Left foreground vegetation and right foreground vegetation were found to have significant and opposing regression weight signs—negative for the left and positive for the right. Study two was conducted to determine whether these opposing regression weight signs for foreground vegetation were due to a perceptual right-left bias or to some specific content in the image itself. In the second study, the photographic slides used to present landscape scenes to subjects were reversed so that the content which was previously on the right was now left, and vice versa. Thirty-nine students rated the reversed slides with regard to their scenic beauty. The signs of the regression weights in study two shifted such that left foreground was now positively valued and right foreground was negatively valued. This finding suggests that viewers are sensitive to foreground content and its placement in the image, and not simply to one side of the field of vision.     

National parks legislative mandate in the United States of America

Natural areas of national parks constitute unique ecological and aesthetic resources. Since the inception of national parks, it has been apparent that they are susceptible to threats that result in significant change and damage. Today, major issues concerning management of parks relate to questions of expanded visitor use and what types of facilities are to be deemed appropriate, that is, the dilemma of preservation versus use. In the United States of America, resolution of this dilemma must, strictly speaking, be based upon intent and meaning of Congressional legislation. The traditional interpretation of legislation in the U.S. has been to provide for a balance of use and preservation. However, extensive review of the literature of national park policy reveals a remarkable lack of elaboration and clarification of legislative meaning. Based upon a critical analysis of pertinent legislation, which has heretofore been ignored, we provide an interpretation of legislative meaning which strongly supports a policy of preservation of park resources.     

疏棉状嗜热丝孢菌Thermomyces lanuginosus YNUCC4154耐碱热稳定木聚糖酶的特性及其产生菌的系统发育分析

从云南洱源县热泉中分离到一株产木聚糖酶嗜热真菌Thermomyces lanuginosus YNUCC4154．对其28S rDNA的5‘端约900bp的片段进行了扩增和测序，并与GenBank中最相似的12个分类单位进行了比较，邻近接合法构建的系统发育树显示T.lanuginosus YNUCC4154与几个产木聚糖酶的嗜热真菌关系较近．在30L全自动发酵罐中55℃发酵50h后，木聚糖酶酶活达1032 U mL^-1．该木聚糖酶最适反应温度为73℃，最适pH为6，5，在10-67℃和pH3～12时比较稳定，表明这是一种热稳定耐碱木聚糖酶，在造纸工业中具有良好的应用前景．图7表1参24     

2—氨基—5—萘酚—7—磺酸生产废液的资源回用工艺研究

本文应用有机胺的离子缔合萃取作用回收了２－氨基－５－萘酚－７－磺酸生产废液中的９８％以上的有用成分，结果可从号产品吕废液中获取５７２３元的净效益，实现了治理资源回收的双重目的。从萃取体系的特性及其影响因素入手，深入研究了萃取剂浓度，待萃物含量及萃取效率的关系，建立了萃取体系的等温方程：１／Ｘ／Ｍ＝７．１９＋３１２．９１／Ｃ，ｒ＝０．９９９７。     

Alkaloid tolerance in Manduca sexta and phylogenetically related sphingids (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)

Summary. Nicotine tolerance is well known for Manduca sexta. It also occurs in several other sphingids of the subfamilies Macroglossinae and Sphinginae. Only members of the subfamily Smerinthinae appear to be more susceptible to nicotine intoxication. Phylogenetic trees have been reconstructed from mitochondrial 16S rDNA and nuclear DNA to map nicotine tolerance.?The nicotine binding site of both α-subunits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) have been amplified and sequenced. No apparent amino acid substitution can be seen in the putative nicotine binding site of the α-subunits of nAChR from nicotine tolerant and nicotine sensitive sphingids. Thus, a simple target-site modification can be ruled out as a cause for nicotine tolerance. This finding agrees with feeding experiments: larvae of M. sexta and other sphingids of the Macroglossinae and Sphinginae not only tolerated nicotine, but also many other alkaloids that affect neuroreceptors other than acetylcholine receptors (nAChR, mAChR).?Only 10 to 20% of nicotine injected into larvae of nicotine-tolerant taxa could be recovered later as free nicotine, nicotine N-oxide or cotinine, i.e., 80 to 90% must have been converted to polar conjugates or degradation products which are not detectable with the methods applied. Usually more than 98% of the recoverable alkaloids were found in the faeces. Excretion reached a maximum 6 h after injection in tolerant taxa. Larvae of Manduca sexta, which were reared on a nicotine-rich diet, showed higher nicotine degradation and faster nicotine elimination than na?ve larvae. Application of the cytochrome P450 inhibitor SKF 525A (proadifen) reduced the formation of nicotine N-oxide and the rate of alkaloid degradation. Thus, an inducible detoxification mechanism, coupled with a rapid and inducible excretion, appear to be a strategy in Sphingidae that helps them to live on host plants rich in otherwise toxic secondary metabolites. Received 23 March 2001; accepted 4 August 2001.     

一株降解除草剂膦化麦黄桐(PPT)菌的筛选与鉴定

从喷洒有除草剂的土壤中分离到一株能分解膦化麦黄桐(PPT)的细菌.该菌在以PPT为唯一碳源的培养基上生长,能利用PPT的最高浓度为2. 7g/L.采用常规生理生化鉴定方法,并结合16SrDNA序列分析法对该菌进行鉴定.结果表明,该菌与生癌肠杆菌(Enterobactercancerogenus)序列相似性为99. 3%,在细菌分类学上属于肠杆菌.将它命名为Enterobactersp. PPT. 图4表2参7     

Residential Radon in U.S. Counties V Lung Cancer in Women Who Predominantly Never Smoked

Previous studies have found that mean-residential-radon (Rn) levels for U.S. counties are negatively associated with age-adjusted county rates of lung-cancer mortality (LCM), after adjustments for potentially confounding factors. Those results may be due to (a) confounding unaddressable by any county-level (ecological) study design, or (b) county-level factors such as Rn/smoking or age/radon correlations or exposure misclassifications from the use of disparate data sources. Possibilities (b) were addressed by comparing age-specific LCM rates for white women in 2821 U.S. counties who died in 1950–54 at age 40+ (11% of whom ever smoked), or at age 60+ (% of whom ever smoked), to county Rn levels newly estimated from U.S. Rn, climatic and geological-survey data. Significant negative LCM v Rn trends were found for both age groups, after adjusting for age and subsets of 21 county-level socioeconomic, climatic and other factors. Negative trends were largest for counties with 100 Bq m^–3 Rn (p 0.00087; 420 analyses). Adjusted relative risk (RR_adj) for LCM was significantly elevated (1 < [95% conf. limits on RR_adj] 1.46) in 43 of 210 analyses comparing LCM rates in counties with > 150 Bq m^–3 v 65–100 Bq m^–3 Rn, most involving adjustment for climate- and education-related factors likely to have influenced exposure to indoor air contaminants such as Rn and cigarette smoke. Though inconclusive due to potential ecological-fallacy-related confounding that could not be controlled, results from this ecological study are most consistent with a U-shaped dose-response relationship between 1950–54 LCM risk and U.S. residential radon in white women who predominantly never smoked.