Spatial and temporal dynamics at manakin leks: reconciling lek traditionality with male turnover

Leks, display grounds where males congregate and females visit to copulate, are typically traditional in location, despite often high turnover of individual males. How leks can persist in face of male turnover is not well understood, in part due to a lack of detailed field data allowing for a clear understanding of lek dynamics. We followed the fate of individual males at 11 to 15 leks of the blue-crowned manakin Lepidothrix coronata across four breeding seasons to gain insights on how leks are formed and changed in space and time. Between years, leks were traditional in location despite changes in territory ownership due to male disappearance and recruitment. New males were equally likely to recruit by taking over existing territories or by establishing new territories. Recruitment was influenced by age, as recruits were more likely to be adults than subadults. Lek size did not affect the probabilities of a male recruiting or persisting at a territory, and vocalization rate, a correlate of mating success in this population, did not affect male persistence. We used our field data to model changes in lek size and composition over longer periods of time (100 years) to understand how lek traditionality can be reconciled with high male turnover. Our simulations showed that leks in our population rapidly stabilize in size despite changes in territory ownership and that rates of male recruitment and disappearance compensate each other, such that leks have the potential to persist for several decades after the original males have disappeared from them.     

Experimental and molecular dynamic simulation study of perfluorooctane sulfonate adsorption on soil and sediment components

Soil and sediment play a crucial role in the fate and transport of perfluorooctane sulfonate(PFOS) in the environment. However, the molecular mechanisms of major soil/sediment components on PFOS adsorption remain unclear. This study experimentally isolated three major components in soil/sediment: humin/kerogen, humic/fulvic acid(HA/FA), and inorganic component after removing organics, and explored their contributions to PFOS adsorption using batch adsorption experiments and molecular dynamic simulations. The results suggest that the humin/kerogen component dominated the PFOS adsorption due to its aliphatic features where hydrophobic effect and phase transfer are the primary adsorption mechanism.Compared with the humin/kerogen, the HA/FA component contributed less to the PFOS adsorption because of its hydrophilic and polar characteristics. The electrostatic repulsion between the polar groups of HA/FA and PFOS anions was attributable to the reduced PFOS adsorption. When the soil organic matter was extracted, the inorganic component also plays a non-negligible role because PFOS molecules might form surface complexes on SiO 2surface.The findings obtained in this study illustrate the contribution of organic matters in soils and sediments to PFOS adsorption and provided new perspective to understanding the adsorption process of PFOS on micro-interface in the environment.     

组合措施下政府与企业排污行为演化博弈

为研究排污企业应对不同惩罚和补贴组合措施的行为策略，将演化博弈理论与系统动力学方法结合，构建基于政府与排污企业双方的演化博弈模型.以政府和排污企业双方利益为核心，对其在不同惩罚和补贴措施下的企业行为策略和演化稳定性进行分析.结果显示，在静态惩罚补贴措施下，政府和企业策略行为无法达到演化稳定点，政府静态政策不会对企业合法排污行为产生推动作用.在动态惩罚补贴措施下，动态惩罚和动态补贴措施对推动企业合法排污行为更为有效，政府可根据排污企业行为制定双边动态策略.     

Effects of Harvesting Flowers from Shrubs on the Persistence and Abundance of Wild Shrub Populations at Multiple Spatial Extents

Abstract: Wildflower harvesting is an economically important activity of which the ecological effects are poorly understood. We assessed how harvesting of flowers affects shrub persistence and abundance at multiple spatial extents. To this end, we built a process‐based model to examine the mean persistence and abundance of wild shrubs whose flowers are subject to harvest (serotinous Proteaceae in the South African Cape Floristic Region). First, we conducted a general sensitivity analysis of how harvesting affects persistence and abundance at nested spatial extents. For most spatial extents and combinations of demographic parameters, persistence and abundance of flowering shrubs decreased abruptly once harvesting rate exceeded a certain threshold. At larger extents, metapopulations supported higher harvesting rates before their persistence and abundance decreased, but persistence and abundance also decreased more abruptly due to harvesting than at smaller extents. This threshold rate of harvest varied with species’ dispersal ability, maximum reproductive rate, adult mortality, probability of extirpation or local extinction, strength of Allee effects, and carrying capacity. Moreover, spatial extent interacted with Allee effects and probability of extirpation because both these demographic properties affected the response of local populations to harvesting more strongly than they affected the response of metapopulations. Subsequently, we simulated the effects of harvesting on three Cape Floristic Region Proteaceae species and found that these species reacted differently to harvesting, but their persistence and abundance decreased at low rates of harvest. Our estimates of harvesting rates at maximum sustainable yield differed from those of previous investigations, perhaps because researchers used different estimates of demographic parameters, models of population dynamics, and spatial extent than we did. Good demographic knowledge and careful identification of the spatial extent of interest increases confidence in assessments and monitoring of the effects of harvesting. Our general sensitivity analysis improved understanding of harvesting effects on metapopulation dynamics and allowed qualitative assessment of the probability of extirpation of poorly studied species.     

Using environmental DNA to assess population‐wide spatiotemporal reserve use

Scientists increasingly rely on protected areas to assist in biodiversity conservation, yet the efficacy of these areas is rarely systematically assessed, often because of underfunding. Still, adaptive management strategies to maximize conservation success often rely on understanding the temporal and spatial dynamism of populations therein. Examination of environmental DNA (eDNA) is a time and cost‐effective way to monitor species’ distribution, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) provides information on organismal abundance. To date, however, such techniques remain underused for population assessments in protected areas. We determined eDNA concentration of the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) to describe its occurrence, range, and use of the Tian e‐Zhou National Nature Reserve in Hubei, China, across seasons and hydrological depths. Despite the observation that total eDNA concentrations were highest in surface waters in summer, finless porpoise eDNA concentrations were significantly higher in deeper waters than in surface waters in summer. During the breeding season (spring), eDNA signals were site specific and restricted to the core area of the reserve. However, postbreeding eDNA concentrations were widespread across the reserve, encompassing sites previously thought to be unfrequented by the species. Our results suggest spatiotemporal idiosyncrasies in site, depth, and seasonal use of the reserve and a propensity for postbreeding population dispersal. With eDNA and qPCR we were able to assess an entire population's use of a protected area. Illuminating nuances in habitat use via eDNA could be valuable to set pragmatic conservation goals for this, and other, species.     

The narrow-skulled vole (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Microtus gregalis</Emphasis> Pall.) in the dynamics of zonal rodent communities of northern Eurasia

On the basis of abundant fossil and subfossil bone remains, the ecological and faunal role of the narrow-skulled vole in zonal rodent communities of northern Eurasia is analyzed over the period from the Late Pleistocene to the present time. Special attention is given to the correlated dynamics of relative abundance of Microtus gregalis and other rodent species in the course of transition from one zonal type to another and to specific features of this correlation in the southern, middle, and northern parts of the species range. It is shown that distinctive dimensional and morphotypic features of the two currently existing subspecies, Microtus gregalis major Ogn. and M. g. gregalis Pall., are the product of concordant development of the species and environmental conditions in the past 3000–4000 years (transition from the Holocene optimum to the present-day climate and state of the natural environment). Published in Russian in Ekologiya, 2007, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 117–123. The article was translated by the authors.     

Mechanisms Providing for Species Coexistence in the Herb-Dwarf Shrub Layer of a Southern Taiga Birch Forest

Individual species coexisting in the herb-dwarf shrub layer of a mature southern taiga birch forest were studied with respect to their limitation by different environmental resources and differences in the time or localization of the intensive utilization of deficient resources. The results made it possible to estimate the significance of different mechanisms of species coexistence in multispecific communities for herbaceous and dwarf shrub species of the forest phytocenosis studied.     

Relationship between the Population Dynamics of the Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar L., Lymantriidae: Lepidoptera) and the Genetic Polymorphism of the Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus

The population dynamics of the gypsy moth and the genomic DNA of the nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) pathogenic for this insect were simultaneously studied using nucleic acid molecular hybridization (NAMH). It was demonstrated that population outbreaks of the gypsy moth were accompanied by an increase in its sensitivity to NPV and in the genetic polymorphism of NPV strains circulating in the insect populations. The hybridization activity of the virus strains isolated at the phase of gypsy moth population growth was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the activity of the strains isolated at the phase of population decrease.     

安徽寿县黑碳气溶胶浓度观测分析研究

为了研究中国东部典型乡村黑碳气溶胶浓度变化特征,利用2015年11月—2018年11月安徽寿县国家观象台污染物浓度及常规气象观测数据对该地区黑碳气溶胶浓度变化特征及其影响因子进行讨论.结果表明,3年间寿县黑碳气溶胶年平均浓度逐年递减,分别为2.84、2.10和1.31μg·m~(-3).季节变化特征显示,该地区冬季观测结果最高,为3.95μg·m~(-3),是夏季的2.9倍.日变化特征显示,日最大浓度值在春、夏、秋三季通常出现在6:00—10:00,而冬季则出现在20:00.从观测结果的日变化幅度来看,冬季的日变化幅度最大,日较差为1.53μg·m~(-3),春、夏两季次之,秋季最小,为0.48μg·m~(-3).由于人为活动影响小,寿县地区黑碳气溶胶的周末效应不明显.此外,统计结果表明,风向风速对该地黑碳气溶胶浓度的影响最大,西北风天气条件下观测结果通常较高,而其余气象因子的影响相对较小.     

深圳城市大气PM2.5中金属元素的在线测量与来源特征

大气PM_(2.5)中很多金属元素危害人体健康,且具有源示踪性,因此,开展PM_(2.5)中金属在线监测对污染来源分析和大气污染防治有着重要意义.本研究于2017年4—5月使用美国Cooper环境空气多金属在线监测仪对深圳城市大气PM_(2.5)中金属元素进行连续观测.与同步离线采样测量的金属数据进行比对表明,10种元素(K、Zn、Cu、Mn、Fe、V、Ni、Ti、Pb、Cr)呈现良好的相关性,因而用于后续分析.观测期间大气PM_(2.5)的平均浓度24.8μg·m~(-3),其中10种金属元素总浓度为0.72μg·m~(-3),占比2.9%.Mn、Fe、Cu、Zn和Ti的浓度日变化显示了日间高、夜间低的特征,表明受到本地人为源的显著影响;而K、Pb、Cr浓度日变化无明显波动,说明受区域传输影响较大;Ni与V日变化趋势一致,主要来源为船舶排放.主成分因子分析结果表明,观测期间PM_(2.5)中金属污染来源主要为交通和扬尘源、工业排放/废物燃烧和船舶污染,方差贡献依次为54.3%、19.8%和8.8%.