Competition of the active roots of Cassia siamea Lam. and Zea mays L.(cv.Katumani Composite B) in an alley cropping trial in semi arid Kenya

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＯｎｅｏｆｔｈｅｍａｊｏｒｄｒａｗｂａｃｋｓｏｆａｌｌｅｙｃｒｏｐｐｉｎｇｓｙｓｔｅｍｓｉｎｓｅｍｉａｒｉｄｌｏｗｆｅｒｔｉｌｉｔｙｃｏｎｄｉｔｉｏｎｓｉｓｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｏｎｆｏｒａｖａｉｌａｂｌｅｗａｔｅｒａｎｄｎｕｔｒｉｅｎｔｓ．Ｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｏｎｉｓｔｏｂｅｅｘｐｅｃｔｅｄｉｆｔｈｅｔｒｅｅａｎｄｔｈｅｃｒｏｐｈａｖｅｏｖｅｒｌａｐｐｉｎｇａｃｔｉｖｅｒｏｏｔｓｙｓｔｅｍｓｉｎｓｐａｃｅａｎｄｔｉｍｅ．Ａｋｎｏｗｌｅｄｇｅｏｆｔｈｅｓｐａｔｉａｌｄｉｓｔｒ…     

旅游规划中的目的地竞合分析——以芜湖市为例

经过多年旅游开发实践的驱动，我国旅游规划工作有了长足发展，但目前仍存在旅游规划模式化，忽视规划区的“地方性”，缺乏规划区的区际与区内旅游空间竞争与合作关系研究等，使规划区功能、产品、市场等定位不准，策划的项目与周边区域雷同等问题突出。在旅游规划中加强目的地竞合分析是寻求目的地特色、准确定位、优化线路、创新产品体系等的前提和重要、有效的技术手段。阐述了旅游目的地竞合分析的内容和方法，并以芜湖市为例，对芜湖市的区内和区际旅游空间竞合进行分析，提出了芜湖市旅游功能定位、战略目标与空间布局。     

高速铁路对国内民航旅客运输的替代效应测度

中国高速铁路的快速建设,对国内民航客运的发展产生了较大的影响。基于事后分析视角,从直达联系视角建立了国内高铁—民航运输的空间叠合网络,定量分析了高铁建设前后民航旅客运输的变化特征,并基于航空客流增速变化识别出高铁影响下的四种航段类型及其空间分布。在此基础上,基于2007-2014年全国277对高铁—民航运输重叠城市对的8年面板数据,以航空客流为因变量,建立随机效应模型,研究了高速铁路介入后对国内民航客运系统、北上广枢纽机场以及其他机场航线的替代效应。结论表明：（1）高速铁路对重叠网络的民航旅客运输产生了较强的替代效应,且高铁列车速度越快、城市间距离越短,替代效应越明显。（2）由于航班网络联系的多元化、旅客出行偏好选择以及对时间敏感性不同,枢纽机场航线较非枢纽机场航线受高铁建设的影响相对较小。未来随着高铁网络的进一步完善,其对航空客运的影响仍值得持续关注。     

Proximal traits and mechanisms for biasing paternity in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

A comprehensive understanding of sexual selection requires knowledge of the traits and mechanisms responsible for increasing a male’s paternity share (proportion of progeny sired) relative to that of other males mating with the same female. In this study we manipulated by starvation the expression of traits that might influence male paternity share in Tribolium castaneum. We then conducted experiments to examine how male starvation affects male performance during sequential episodes of sexual selection from mating to progeny production, and investigated female control over specific stages by using live vs dead females. Comparison of starved vs fed males revealed that T. castaneum females have control over spermatophore transfer during mating, as live females rejected inseminations by starved (“low quality”) males. None of the measured male copulatory behaviors (leg-rubbing frequency, asymmetry, and percent of time spent rubbing) affected the probability of successful insemination, but the last two were positively associated with male paternity share. Spermatophore positioning within the female reproductive tract was not affected by male treatment (starved/fed), by female treatment (live/dead), or by male copulatory behaviors. Starvation, however, had a dramatic effect on male reproductive physiology, decreasing both accessory gland size and total number of sperms transferred (but not sperm viability in seminal vesicles). In addition, females who mated to starved males stored fewer sperms in their spermathecae, which, together with decreased ejaculate size, may explain the reduced paternity share of starved males compared to fed males. This study elucidates some cryptic mechanisms influencing male reproductive success and aids our understanding of trait evolution through sexual selection.     

The reproductive dilemmas of queenless red dwarf honeybee (Apis florea) workers

Honeybee (Apis) workers cannot mate, but retain functional ovaries. When colonies have lost their queen, many young workers begin to activate their ovaries and lay eggs. Some of these eggs are reared, but most are not and are presumably eaten by other workers (worker policing). Here we explore some of the factors affecting the reproductive success of queenless workers of the red dwarf honeybee Apis florea. Over a 2-year period we collected 40 wild colonies and removed their queens. Only two colonies remained at their translocated site long enough to rear males to pupation while all the others absconded. Absconding usually occurred after worker policing had ceased, as evidenced by the appearance of larvae. Dissections of workers from eight colonies showed that in A. florea, 6% of workers have activated ovaries after 4 days of queenlessness, and that 33% of workers have activated ovaries after 3 weeks. Worker-laid eggs may appear in nests within 4 days and larvae soon after, but this is highly variable. As with Apis mellifera, we found evidence of unequal reproductive success among queenless workers of A. florea. In the two colonies that reared males to pupation and which we studied with microsatellites, some subfamilies had much higher proportions of workers with activated ovaries than others. The significance of absconding and internest reproductive parasitism to the alternative reproductive strategies of queenless A. florea workers is discussed.     

Suitability of Golf Course Ponds for Amphibian Metamorphosis When Bullfrogs Are Removed

Abstract:  Managing areas designed for human recreation so that they are compatible with natural amphibian populations can reduce the negative impacts of habitat destruction. We examined the potential for amphibians to complete larval development in golf course ponds in the presence or absence of overwintered bullfrog tadpoles ( Rana catesbeiana ), which are frequently found in permanent, human-made ponds. We reared larval American toads ( Bufo americanus ), southern leopard frogs ( R. sphenocephala ), and spotted salamanders ( Ambystoma maculatum ) with 0 or 5 overwintered bullfrog tadpoles in field enclosures located in ponds on golf courses or in experimental wetlands at a reference site. Survival to metamorphosis of American toads, southern leopard frogs, and spotted salamanders was greater in ponds on golf courses than at reference sites. We attributed this increased survival to low abundance of insect predators in golf course ponds. The presence of overwintered bullfrogs, however, reduced the survival of American toads, southern leopard frogs, and spotted salamanders reared in golf course ponds, indicating that the suitability of the aquatic habitats for these species partly depended on the biotic community present. Our results suggest that ponds in human recreational areas should be managed by maintaining intermediate hydroperiods, which will reduce the presence of bullfrog tadpoles and predators, such as fish, and which may allow native amphibian assemblages to flourish.     

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     

Small testes size despite high extra-pair paternity in the pair-living nocturnal primate Phaner furcifer

Sperm competition will be the inevitable consequence of polyandrous mating behavior if two or more males inseminate a single female. It has been demonstrated for a wide variety of animals that males adapt to this situation behaviorally, physiologically and morphologically, e.g. by evolving relatively large testes size to produce more sperm. All pair-living primates investigated so far were found to have relatively small testes, suggesting a monandrous mating system. We investigated the relationship between extra-pair paternity (EPP) rate as a measure of sperm competition intensity and relative testes size in a pair-living primate, the fork-marked lemur (Phaner furcifer). Paternity exclusion analyses for seven offspring using six polymorphic DNA-microsatellite markers suggested a high EPP rate. Female nocturnal travel distances were longer during the mating season, suggesting that females take an active role in achieving extra-pair copulations (EPCs). Surprisingly, fork-marked lemur testes size was relatively small compared to 23 other lemuroid primates, a result that is in contrast to predictions of sperm competition theory. Neither possible behavioral and morphological adaptations to an alternative paternity guard (i.e. mate guarding), nor sampling biases, phylogenetic constraints, and population density effects explain the absence of large testes in a species with high EPP, a phenomenon also known from birds with moderate to low EPP rates. We conclude that more data are needed on the frequency of EPCs, the timing of in-pair and extra-pair copulations, as well as the role of female choice, to explain why males of some species apparently do not adapt to sperm competition.Communicated by S. Alberts     

Maintenance of variance in sperm transfer rates in a scorpionfly: food availability,genetic basis,and heritability

Variation in traits closely related to fitness is expected to be low. This is because these traits are under directional selection and the best genotype should prevail. However, there have been a number of studies demonstrating the existence of considerable variance in sexually selected traits, which is generally known as the lek paradox. Accordingly, earlier studies found substantial variation in sperm transfer rates in Panorpa vulgaris. Aiming at finding the mechanism that maintains this variation, we analyzed the condition dependence and the narrow sense heritability of sperm transfer rates. Food deprivation in the larval/adult phase caused a decrease in the males’ capability of saliva secretion resulting in shorter copulations and a reduced number of transferred sperm. There was a positive correlation between mean sperm transfer rates and mean body mass. Additionally, intermale variation in sperm transfer rates decreased with increasing food availability. Hence, we suggest that sperm transfer rates in P. vulgaris are influenced by adult feeding history. Heritability analyses of sperm transfer rates did not provide significant results, which is consistent with the general hypothesis that additive genetic variance in traits closely related to fitness is small. Since a trait’s potential to respond to selection is proportional to the amount of contained additive genetic variance, the ascertained small heritability provides a satisfying explanation for the maintenance of substantial variation in sperm transfer rates.