Brood temperature, task division and colony survival in honeybees: A model

One of the mechanisms by which honeybees regulate division of labour among their colony members is age polyethism. Here the younger bees perform in-hive tasks such as heating and the older ones carry out tasks outside the hive such as foraging. Recently it has been shown that the higher developmental temperatures of the brood, which occur in the centre of the brood nest, reduce the age at which individuals start to forage once they are adult. It is unknown whether this effect has an impact on the survival of the colony. The aim of this paper is to study the consequences of the temperature gradient on the colony survival in a model on the basis of empirical data.We created a deterministic simulation of a honeybee colony (Apis mellifera) which we tuned to our empirical data. In the model in-hive bees regulate the temperature of the brood nest by their heating activities. These temperatures determine the age of first foraging in the newly emerging bees and thus the number of in-hive bees present in the colony. The results of the model show that variation in the onset of foraging due to the different developmental temperatures has little impact on the population dynamics and on the absolute number of bees heating the nest unless we increase this effect by several times to unrealistic values, where individuals start foraging up to 10 days earlier or later. Rather than on variation in the onset of foraging due to the temperature gradient it appears that the survival of the colony depends on a minimal number of bees available for heating at the beginning of the simulation.     

Modeling the refuge effect of submerged macrophytes in ecological dynamics of shallow lakes: A new model of fish functional response

Submerged macrophytes often provide refuge for zooplankton from fish predation in temperate and subtropical shallow lakes. However, since the relationship between submerged macrophyte abundance and its refuge effect has not been well established, the refuge effect is difficult to be simulated. In this paper, we constructed mathematical models to describe the refuge effect of submerged macrophytes on fish foraging activities and ecological dynamics of shallow lakes based on the previous studies. We clarified the underlying behavioral mechanisms of the observed functional responses through analyses of the fish foraging behavior, extracted the affected variables related to the refuge effect, formulized the relationship between the affected variables and submerged vegetation density, and determined parameter values with a compensative procedure. Calibration and validation results indicated that the new functional response model was successful to simulate the refuge effect on interfering with fish foraging behavior. Moreover, the model was cooperated into a minimal ecological model for shallow lakes. Modeling results showed that the model was able to simulate the refuge effect in ecological dynamics, and made the ecological model produce significantly different results from those with the existing functional response models.     

国家公园效果评价体系研究

建立国家公园是保护生物多样性和促进地方发展的重要途径之一,开展国家公园效果评价是了解国家公园功能发挥的有效途径。通过查阅大量文献及德尔菲法（Delphi）,确定了与国家公园效果相关的28个评价指标,同时以功能为主导,将评价指标归纳为5个功能指标群：保护功能指标群（7个评价指标）、科研功能指标群（6个评价指标）、游憩功能指标群（7个评价指标）、教育功能指标群（4个评价指标）和经济发展功能指标群（4个评价指标）,通过对评价指标的赋分（5分制原则）和计算权重,从而达到国家公园效果评价的量化,实现对国家公园建设效果的评价。     

Scramble competition selects for greater tailfin size in male red-spotted newts (Amphibia: Salamandridae)

Darwin predicted that scramble competition for access to reproductive females would result in sexual dimorphism of locomotory structures, but direct evidence for this is extremely rare. I examined the relationship between variation in tailfin size and mating success in a field and laboratory study of red-spotted newts, Notophthalmus viridescens. Over three breeding seasons, male tailfin size was positively correlated with variation in male amplexus frequency, and indirectly correlated with male insemination frequency. In a laboratory study, I confirmed that males' ability to capture females is affected by variation in tailfin size. This is the first study to show that naturally occurring variation in male locomotory structures affects male mating success. It corroborates the prediction that scramble competition leads to sexual selection on locomotory structures and, potentially, to dimorphism in these structures. Received: 16 April 1999 / Received in revised form: 16 May 1999 / Accepted: 12 June 1999     

Tank-dependence of the functionality and network differentiation of activated sludge community in a full-scale anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic municipal sewage treatment plant

● Environmental parameters affected functional bacteria and network associations. ● The structure and interactions of AS networks changed greatly within tanks. ● Anoxic co-occurrence network was more unstable and easily influenced. ● Composition of functional bacteria had a seasonal succession pattern. ● Tetrasphaera was the major PAO in spring and winter leading a better P removal. Understanding the structures and dynamics of bacterial communities in activated sludge (AS) in full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is of both engineering and ecological significance. Previous investigations have mainly focused on the AS communities of WWTP aeration tanks, and the differences and interactions between the communities in anaerobic and anoxic tanks of the AS system remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the structures of bacterial communities and their inter-connections in three tanks (anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic) and influent from a full-scale WWTP with conventional anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (A/A/O) process over a year to explore their functionality and network differentiation. High-throughput sequencing showed that community compositions did not differ appreciably between the different tanks, likely due to the continuous sludge community interchange between tanks. However, network analysis showed significant differences in inter-species relationships, OTU topological roles, and keystone populations in the different AS communities. Moreover, the anoxic network is expected to be more unstable and easily affected by environmental disturbance. Tank-associated environmental factors, including dissolved oxygen, pH, and nutrients, were found to affect the relative abundance of functional genera (i.e., AOB, NOB, PAOs, and denitrifiers), suggesting that these groups were more susceptible to environmental variables than other bacteria. Therefore, this work could assist in improving our understanding of tank-associated microbial ecology, particularly the response of functional bacteria to seasonal variations in WWTPs employing A/A/O process.     

日本第四次修订《食品、农业和农村基本法》及启示

日本政府2015年推出了《食品、农业和农村基本法》的第四次修订,以保证粮食供应和食品安全;推动集约化农业经营,保障农业收入稳定;推动农产品出口和农业技术创新;改善补贴政策,稳定农村人口作为下一阶段日本兴农政策的核心内容。我国农业发展面临许多与日本相似的问题,如农业经营规模小、效率低,务农收入低、人口显著减少等。在我国城镇化和农村劳动力老年化加速的背景下,分析和借鉴日本最新的兴农政策,提出对我国农业政策的若干启示:1以我国近期最新颁布的《食品安全法》和农药残留、化肥实施等国家标准的落实、健全为法制保障基础,推进农业标准化生产和规范化经营管理、建立食品生产全程可追溯机制、加强省县乡三级农产品和食品监测检验能力建设,以尽快提升我国食品安全水平;以培育需求和引导兴趣、技术支持、市场协助建设为手段,激励农户和消费者自主投入生态农业发展。2重点完善国家层面的发展战略统筹和政治、经贸、投资谈判支持,依靠政府的强力支持推动已起步的"一带一路"食品与农业投资发展势头,以壮大我国农产食品出口和农业海外发展。3近期以加强土地流转监管法律政策和财政金融配套扶持政策的建设为主,使支持力度集中于土地实际经营者,以有效提升新型规模化农业经营主体的数量和质量。4将农业补贴由集中于农业生产补贴向兼顾农户收入保障和生态保护、农业发展转移,将农户收入保障形式由财政补贴向保险保障转变,以求农业补贴和保险更高效、长久地兼顾农户收入保障和支持引领农业发展。     

Flexible interval mixed-integer bi-infinite programming for environmental systems management under uncertainty

A number of inexact programming methods have been developed for municipal solid waste management under uncertainty. However, most of them do not allow the parameters in the objective and constraints of a programming problem to be functional intervals (i.e., the lower and upper bounds of the intervals are functions of impact factors). In this study, a flexible interval mixed-integer bi-infinite programming (FIMIBIP) method is developed in response to the above concern. A case study is also conducted; the solutions are then compared with those obtained from interval mixed-integer bi-infinite programming (IMIBIP) and fuzzy interval mixed-integer programming (FIMIP) methods. It is indicated that the solutions through FIMIBIP can provide decision support for cost-effectively diverting municipal solid waste, and for sizing, timing and siting the facilities’ expansion during the entire planning horizon. These schemes are more flexible than those identified through IMIBIP since the tolerance intervals are introduced to measure the level of constraints satisfaction. The FIMIBIP schemes may also be robust since the solutions are “globally-optimal” under all scenarios caused by the fluctuation of gas/energy prices, while the conventional ones are merely “locally-optimal” under a certain scenario.     

厦门海湾型城市战略中新农村生态规划研究

以正处于厦门港湾快速城市化和区域发展极不平衡背景下的山区农村锄山村为例,面向构建和谐社会和新农村建设战略,提出从“三个层次”到“五大层面”的发展思路,包括生态功能区划、规划建设的指标体系以及相应生态工程,为闽南山区新农村建设、山区“三农”问题的解决和山区生态建设提供新的思路与实践经验。     

苏州河的功能定位与综合整治目标

苏州河水“变情”，是上海人民长期以来的一个美好愿望。根据市委、市府确定的苏州河环境综合整治目标，该文论述了苏州河环境综合整治总体规划方案的基本思想，提出苏州河的功能定位要从实际出发，并全面考虑迈向２１世纪的上海城市发展需要，使苏州河综合整治成为上海环境建设的标志性工程。