Early nutritional conditions, growth trajectories and mate choice: does compensatory growth lead to a reduction in adult sexual attractiveness?

It is well documented that poor early nutrition can have profound negative effects on adult life-history traits. However, it has also been demonstrated that organisms can undergo compensatory resource allocation strategies (such as an accelerated growth rate) if food availability improves, so as to mitigate the effects of the poor early conditions. Previous research has indicated that elevated growth rates can incur costs in the longer term, such as an increased rate of senescence and shorter lifespan. We tested whether a phase of compensatory growth after a period of reduced food availability earlier in life affected the sexual attractiveness of adult male green swordtails Xiphophorus helleri, a species in which it has previously been documented that females prefer larger-bodied and longer-tailed males. The experiment compared the attractiveness of size-matched brothers that had experienced contrasting growth trajectories as juveniles; the experiments were initially conducted in the middle of a male’s sexually reproductive life and were then repeated towards the very end of life. At both ages, males that had undergone compensatory growth were equally as attractive as their brothers that had grown normally. These results suggest that the growth compensation benefits males through an increase in their attractiveness over that which they would have had if they had remained on their original growth trajectory. The lack of change in relative attractiveness with age indicates that the compensation does not cause greater deterioration in secondary sexual characters at older ages than in continuously well-fed males.     

生态监测指标选择一般过程探讨

本文对生态监测指标体系设计的一般过程进行了详细的分析和论述。主要包括生态监测目标、生态系统所受的环境压力、生态系统模型的提出以及生态监测指标的分类。旨在为我国生态监测规划和设计进行初步的探索。     

中国泰和鸡种质资源开发史

泰和鸡是我国著名的观赏及药用鸡种,是著名中成药“乌鸡白凤丸”的主要配方用料之一。本文根据实地考察和大量历史资料的分析研究,论述了泰和鸡品种的开发历史及其选育过程。指出泰和鸡在我国已有1300多年的饲养及药用历史。在距今400多年前,泰和鸡始由雏型到品种的初步形成,由血缘紊乱,遗传性状极不稳定至遗传性伏的相对统一,大体约经过了240年的自然选择与人工选择,而品种特征的相对固定,又经过了200多年的选育过程。这是我国劳动人民辛勤培育的结果。本文为进一步合理利用泰和鸡种质资源和发挥我国特有种质资源的生产潜力特提供一些科学依据,这对泰和鸡的深入研究将具有一定的参考价值。     

PRIORITIZING WATER MANAGEMENT PROJECTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY

ABSTRACT: Southeast Asian nations with extensive water management systems have numerous candidate and ongoing programs and projects. They cannot possibly all be funded and implemented simultaneously in any serious way. Choices must be made. But how to select? What criteria can assist with the screening in an acceptable manner, particularly in the near absence of useful technical and economic information across them all. This paper suggests a methodology by which assessment criteria can be constructed which conforms to any given national information base and development needs. Criteria can be weighted one against the other in their relative importance. For each criterion a ranking scale puts the “best” (most, highest) at one end and the “worst” (least, lowest) at the other. Each candidate project is then subjected to these consistent assessment methods for a weighted “score.” Key criteria normally have surrogate measures depending on information available. Criteria are of three sorts: sheer volume, e.g., of a specific use, a benefit; ratios and relations, e.g., A as percent of B; and other more subjective criteria, e.g., regional or income distribution impacts. The basic criteria include, for example, time to full benefits (minimize), OM & R as percent of investment (minimize), and permanent rural jobs created (maximize).     

氨氮浓度对活性炭深度处理工艺选择的影响

在广东省北江水源佛山段水质深度处理实验中,采用活性炭(GAC)和臭氧(O3)-生物活性炭(BAC)深度处理工艺,比较了两者对不同进水浓度下氨氮的去除效果,并对前加氯预处理工艺于氨氮的活性炭深度处理效果的影响进行了分析.结果表明:GAC和O3-BAC工艺对突发性氨氮污染具备耐冲击负荷能力.低氨氮浓度下,GAC和O3-BAC对氨氮的去除率接近(约40%),并随着进水氨氮浓度的增大而增加.两者出水中CHCl3浓度均未超标,但O3-BAC处理后的浓度更低.基于GAC工艺处理成本低于O3-BAC,建议优先采用GAC工艺.高氨氮浓度下,O3-BAC工艺除氨氮效果显著优于GAC,消毒后出水中CHCl3浓度也低于GAC的情况,建议优先采用O3-BAC工艺.若使氨氮去除率达最佳,则合适的氨氮浓度范围是:对O3-BAC工艺:0.57～0.62 mg/L,去除率高于93%.在0.43～0.62 mg/L时,去除率高于70%;对GAC工艺:0.5～0.57 mg/L,去除率介于70%～76.3%.O3-BAC工艺的适用范围宽.在合适浓度的沉淀池出水余氯下,可以在O3-BAC工艺前采用前加氯预处理工艺.     

The effects of colony-level selection on the social organization of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies: colony-level components of pollen hoarding

Two-way selection for quantities of stored pollen resulted in the production of high and low pollen hoarding strains of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Strains differed in areas of stored pollen after a single generation of selection and, by the third generation, the high strain colonies stored an average 6 times more pollen than low strain colonies. Colony-level organizational components that potentially affect pollen stores were identified that varied genetically within and between these strains. Changes occurred in several of these components, in addition to changes in the selected trait. High strain colonies had a significantly higher proportion of foragers returning with loads of pollen, however, high and low strain colonies had equal total numbers of foragers Colony rates of intake of pollen and nectar were not independent. Selection resulted in an increase in the number of pollen collectors and a decrease in the number of nectar collectors in high strain colonies, while the reciprocal relationship occurred in the low strain. High and low strain colonies also demonstrated different diurnal foraging patterns as measured by the changing proportions of returning pollen foragers. High strain colonies of generation 3 contained significantly less brood than did low strain colonies, a consequence of a constraint on colony growth resulting from a fixed nest volume and large quantities of stored pollen. These components represent selectable colony-level traits on which natural selection can act and shape the social organization of honey bee coloniesCommunicated by R.F.A. Moritz     

Carotenoid-derived ornaments reflect parental quality in male and female yellow-eyed penguins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Megadyptes antipodes</Emphasis>)

The handicap principle suggests that ornamental traits that function as honest signals in mate selection must be costly to be effective. We evaluated in the sexually monochromatic yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) whether the carotenoid-derived plumage and eye coloration predicts parental quality and whether males and females within pairs mate assortatively in relation to these carotenoid-derived ornaments. In addition, we investigated whether age or body condition was related to the coloration of the ornamental traits. In yellow-eyed penguins, parental quality of males and females was predicted by eye and head plumage coloration. Even when we controlled for gender- and age-specific differences, eye and head plumage coloration reflected honestly parental quality. Males and females mated assortatively in relation to these ornamental traits. While age influenced coloration of both the eye and head plumage, body condition was related only to the saturation of plumage coloration. These results provide evidence that the carotenoid-derived ornaments in yellow-eyed penguins reflect the parental abilities of birds and, therefore, may be costly signals. Potentially, female and male yellow-eyed penguins could use eye and plumage coloration as an indirect cue in assessing age and quality of individual birds during mate choice. This is only the second study to examine plumage coloration in relation to sexual selection in penguins, while conspicuous ornamental traits in other species of penguin beg the question whether they also play a role in sexual selection.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at Communicated by C.R. Brown     

A／A／O微曝氧化沟处理城市污水的工程设计

以某日处理量为80000m^3城市污水处理厂为例，介绍了A／A／O微曝氧化沟工艺的设计思路及参数选择，能够满足设计要求，且可信度高，有实用参考价值。