Reproductive conflict in honey bees: a stalemate of worker egg-laying and policing

 Using electrophoretic markers, eggs laid by workers were identified in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies with a queen. Based on extrapolation, these represented about 7% of the unfertilized (male) eggs laid in the colonies. A very small proportion of workers (of the order of 0.01%) lay these eggs. Worker-laid eggs are rapidly removed, so that very few sons of workers are reared. Thus the reproductive cooperation in bee colonies is maintained by ongoing antagonistic interactions among the members of the colony, with worker laying and egg removal policing by other workers being relatively common. Received: 24 November 1995/Accepted after revision: 25 May 1996     

基于神经网络的城市夜间环境监控与预测

因夜间天空亮度分布具有非线性变化特点,故引入神经网络算法,建立基于时间序列的夜天空亮度预测模型,夜天空亮度预测模型可为城市光污染防治提供评价依据.文章对神经网络的原理进行了论述,建立了基于时间序列预测模型.以测试数据为训练样本集,基于MATLAB(矩阵实验室,Matrix Laboratory的简称),采用改进的BP算法(误差反向传播算法)对网络进行学习训练,并对存在的误差进行了分析.基于时间序列BP神经网络的夜天空预测模型,当隐含层神经元数目为5,训练函数为L-M优化算法(trainlm)时,最大绝对误差可达到0.003 6 cd/m2,最大相对误差达到2.361 4%.结果表明,模型的运行结果与试验数据比较吻合,输出与目标矢量之间相关性也较好.     

重金属对秀丽隐杆线虫繁殖的影响

为了探究重金属单独及联合暴露对秀丽隐杆线虫(Caenorhabditis elegans)繁殖的影响及其作用机制,采用96孔板液相暴露试验,以环境相关浓度(0.1~50.0 μg/L)的Cd、Hg、Pb暴露同步化处理秀丽隐杆线虫,24 h后统计其怀卵数及阴门畸形率,以及连续记录72 h内子一代秀丽隐杆线虫的个体数,最后利用2×2析因设计方差分析阐明重金属的两两联合作用模式. 结果表明:与对照组相比,Cd、Hg、Pb单独及联合暴露对秀丽隐杆线虫的繁殖具有显著抑制作用,ρ(Cd)为50.0 μg/L、ρ(Hg)为10.0 μg/L、ρ(Pb)为50.0 μg/L暴露组秀丽隐杆线虫子一代数量分别降低了43.5%、33.8%、51.0%;Cd-Hg暴露组〔当ρ(Cd)、ρ(Hg)分别为50.0、10.0 μg/L时〕、Hg-Pb暴露组〔当ρ(Hg)、ρ(Pb)分别为10.0、50.0 μg/L时〕、Cd-Pb暴露组〔当ρ(Cd)、ρ(Pb)分别为50.0、50.0 μg/L时〕秀丽隐杆线虫子一代个体数分别降低了44.7%、61.0%、53.3%. 进一步研究发现,Cd、Hg、Pb单独及联合暴露会引起秀丽隐杆线虫子宫内受精卵数量降低以及产卵器阴门结构畸形率升高. 2×2析因设计方差分析结果发现,Cd、Hg、Pb两两联合暴露对秀丽隐杆线虫的繁殖表现为没有交互作用或者交互方式为拮抗. 研究显示,秀丽隐杆线虫子宫内怀卵数的降低是其子一代数量显著减少的主要原因,而阴门结构的损伤可能使产卵行为受损,从而进一步加剧重金属对秀丽隐杆线虫繁殖的抑制作用.      

Chemical egg defense in Photuris firefly “femmes fatales”

Summary. Female Photuris fireflies contain defensive chemicals of two types. They sequester steroidal pyrones (lucibufagins) from male fireflies of the genus Photinus that they eat, and themselves produce the defensive betaine N-methylquinolinium 2-carboxylate. Chemical analyses of Photuris eggs showed that females that fed on Photinus males endow their eggs with both lucibufagin and the betaine, while those that did not feed on Photinus lay eggs that contain betaine, but virtually no lucibufagin. Photuris females collected in the field during the Photinus flight season laid eggs that invariably contained betaine, but lucibufagin only at times. Predation experiments showed that Photuris eggs are essentially unacceptable to larvae of a coccinellid beetle (Harmonia axyridis) and an ant (Leptothorax longispinosus), but moderately acceptable to an earwig (Forficula auricularia). When applied experimentally to palatable insect eggs, lucibufagin proved deterrent to these three predators, while the betaine proved deterrent to the ant and coccinellid larva only. Both types of defensive compound decreased egg predation in the field. By endowing their eggs with both exogenous and endogenous chemicals, Photuris females are essentially “maximizing their options”– when feeding on Photinus, their eggs are doubly protected, but they are not entirely defenseless when the females are unable to procure lucibufagin. Received 12 August 1999; accepted 27 August 1999     

Performance of a water hyacinth （Eichhornia crassipes） system in the treatment of wastewater from a duck farm and the effects of using water hyacinth as duck feed

Nowadays, intensive breeding of poultry and livestock of large scale has made the treatment of its waste and wastewater an urgent environmental issue, which motivated this study. A wetland of 688 m2 was constructed on an egg duck farm, and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was chosen as an aquatic plant for the wetland and used as food for duck production. The objectives of this study were to test the role of water hyacinth in purifying nutrient-rich wastewater and its effects on the ducks’ feed intake, egg laying performance and egg quality. This paper shows that the constructed wetland removed as much as 64.44% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 21.78% of total nitrogen (TN) and 23.02% of total phosphorus (TP). Both dissolved oxygen (DO) and the transparency of the wastewater were remarkably improved, with its transparency 2.5 times higher than that of the untreated wastewater. After the ducks were fed with water hyacinth, the average daily feed intake and the egg-laying ratio in the test group were 5.86% and 9.79% higher, respectively, than in the control group; the di erences were both significant at the 0.01 probability level. The egg weight in the test group was 2.36% higher than in the control group (P < 0.05), but the feed conversion ratios were almost the same. The eggshell thickness and strength were among the egg qualities significantly increased in ducks fed with water hyacinth.We concluded that a water hyacinth system was e ective for purifying wastewater from an intensive duck farm during the water hyacinth growing season, as harvested water hyacinth had an excellent performance as duck feed. We also discussed the limitations of the experiment.     

Why do Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chalcites basalis</Emphasis> eggs mimic those of their hosts?

The Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites basalis) egg closely matches the appearance of its host fairy-wren (Malurus spp.) eggs. Mimicry of host eggs by cuckoos is usually attributed to coevolution between cuckoos and hosts, with host discrimination against odd-looking eggs selecting for ever better mimicry by cuckoos. However, this process cannot explain Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo egg mimicry because fairy-wren hosts rarely reject odd-looking eggs from their nest. An alternative hypothesis is that cuckoos have evolved egg mimicry to disguise their eggs from other cuckoos. Female cuckoos remove one egg from the nest during parasitism and would potentially benefit by selectively removing any cuckoo egg that has already been laid in the nest because otherwise, their egg will be evicted by the first nestling cuckoo along with the host clutch. We used painted, non-mimetic eggs to test whether cuckoos selectively remove odd-looking eggs during parasitism. We found that they were no more likely to remove a non-mimetic egg from a superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus clutch than would be expected by chance. Thus, our study does not support the cuckoo egg replacement hypothesis to explain mimicry of host eggs by cuckoos.     

应用EM生物技术降低鸡蛋胆固醇的试验研究

应用EM生物技术饲养蛋鸡,可以降低鸡蛋胆固醇含量52.05 %?67. 78 %,同时可以保障高蛋白营养,降低脂肪含量,成为老少皆宜的 健康食品。      

Residues of Organochlorinated Pesticides in Eggs of Water Birds from Tai Lake in China

The levels of organochlorine compounds in eggs of water birds from the colony on Tai Lake in China were studied. The eggs were collected in 2000 and belonged to the following species: 65 samples of black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), 36 samples of little egret (Egretta garzetta), 26 samples of cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) from 13 clutches and 43 samples of Chinese pond heron (Ardeola bacchus) from 17 clutches. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its derivates (DDE and DDD), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and its isomers (-HCH, -HCH, -HCH, -HCH), heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, -endosulfan, -endosulfan, and endosulfan sulfate were determined in the laboratory by gas chromatography. The data showed that DDE had the highest levels in all the samples, followed by -HCH. The mean levels of DDE among the water bird species were in the order as follows: black-crowned night heron (5464.26ng/g, dry weight) > Chinese pond heron (2791.12ng/g, dry weight) > little egret (1979.97ng/g, dry weight) > cattle egret (660.11ng/g, dry weight). DDT and its metabolites accounted for 90% of the total organochlorines, except that it was only 73% for cattle egret. The differences of the residue among the bird species were statistically significant and could be attributed to their variations in prey and habitat. Although the DDE burdens in Tai Lake were much lower than 8 g/g (wet weight) which are thought to have significant adverse effects on black-crowned night herons, they would be expected to increase the risk of adverse effects on survival of chicks of herons and egrets, particularly black-crowned night heron, based on the critical value of 1 g/g (wet weight) DDE. The burdens of HCHs in this study were higher and the cyclodienes were lower than those found elsewhere.     

Hatching with the enemy: Daphnia diapausing eggs hatch in the presence of fish kairomones

Summary. Infochemicals are known to play a key role in mediating predator-prey interactions, both in aquatic and terrestrial communities. However, state-dependent variation may exist in how effectively individuals can use this information, depending on genotype, life stage and experience. For our study, we used the predator-prey model system fish-waterflea Daphnia magna Straus (Cladocera, Daphniidae). Adult Daphnia use fish-derived infochemicals, so-called kairomones, as indicators of predation risk, and exhibit a spectrum of morphological, behavioural and life-history responses to the presence of fish kairomones. Here, we investigate whether diapausing eggs, an embryonic resting stage in the life cycle of D. magna, also use fish kairomones and tune their hatching to the risk of fish predation, as reported for diapausing stages of dinoflagellates. In two laboratory experiments, we studied hatching proportion and time until hatching of D. magna diapausing eggs in the absence and presence of fish kairomones. D. magna families differed significantly in their response to the presence of fish kairomones; some families reduced hatching proportion, whereas others increased it. Our results imply genotype-dependent differences in the hatching reactions to fish kairomones as observed for other traits in adult Daphnia.     

自然条件下植物叶片CO2同化率昼夜变化的生理生态特性

本文利用二氧化碳分析仪及开放式叶室，分别于旱、温季节在野外观测１３种乔木树种的叶片ＣＯ２同化速率的全天变化，分析各种植物白天净光合速率曲线类型的特点和夜间呼吸与气温的回归关系．结果：７月份植物白天光合时间相对较长，中午，植物光合曲线的午休现象表现不一，曲线特征取决于种的生物特性及环境因子．在气温较高的范围内（２５～３０℃）夜间阔叶树种的呼吸与气温呈负相关，但在１月份却不明显，针叶树种的夜间呼吸无论在高温、潮湿的７月份还是低温、干旱的１月份都不与温度呈现线性关系．