Environmental and genetic influences on mating strategies along a replicated food availability gradient in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Food availability is expected to influence the relative cost of different mating tactics, but little attention has been paid to this potential source of adaptive geographic variation in behavior. Associations between the frequency of different mating tactics and resource availability could arise because tactic use responds directly to food intake (phenotypic plasticity), because populations exposed to different average levels of food availability have diverged genetically in tactic use, or both. Different populations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in Trinidad experience different average levels of food availability. We combined field observations with laboratory “common garden” and diet experiments to examine how this environmental gradient has influenced the evolution of male mating tactics. Three independent components of variation in male behavior were found in the field: courtship versus foraging, dominance interactions, and interference competition versus searching for mates. Compared with low-food-availability sites, males at high-food-availability sites devoted more effort to interference competition. This difference disappeared in the common garden experiment, which suggests that it was caused by phenotypic plasticity and not genetic divergence. In the diet experiment, interference competition was more frequent and intense among males raised on the greater of two food levels, but this was only true for fish descended from sites with low food availability. Thus, the association between interference competition and food availability in the field can be attributed to a genetically variable norm of reaction. Genetically variable norms of reaction with respect to food intake were found for the other two behavioral components as well and are discussed in relation to the patterns observed in the field. Our results indicate that food availability gradients are an important, albeit complex, source of geographic variation in male mating strategies.     

阿特拉津溶液对弹琴蛙(Rana adenopleura)蝌蚪形态发育的影响

研究了弹琴蛙(Rana adenopleura)蝌蚪在不同阿特拉津浓度(p／mg L^-1：5，10，15，20)溶液中经不同时间处理(10d、20d)后的形态发育特征．结果表明：20d处理组蝌蚪的全长增长率和后肢长增长率低于空白对照组(CKH20)，全长出现负增长，而丙酮对照组(CKacetone)蝌蚪的全长增长率高于CKH2o．实验证明，阿特拉津可抑制蝌蚪的生长和发育，而丙酮却促进蝌蚪的生长．各环境因素的多因素方差分析结果显示，pH和电导率与阿特拉津对蝌蚪的生长、发育作用效应相一致．图2表8参14     

Preferences of six leaf beetle species among qualitatively different leaf age classes of three Salicaceous host species

Summary. As Salicaceous plants produce new leaves for a prolonged period of time, they expose a wide range of differentially aged leaves to herbivores during the growing season. In this work, I show that young leaves of three Salicaceous species, Populus tremula L., Salix phylicifolia L. and S. pentandra L., contain more nitrogen than conspecific old leaves. In P. tremula and S. pentandra young leaves also contained more low-molecular weight secondary compounds, phenolic glucosides. Leaves of S. phylicifolia did not contain phenolic glucosides in detectable amounts. Furthermore, in P. tremula and S. pentandra young leaves contained less polymeric digestability-reducing phenolics, condensed tannins, than old leaves. In S. phylicifolia, higher concentrations of condensed tannins were found in young leaves. In laboratory feeding trials with six leaf beetle species, young leaves of the studied plants were invariably preferred in all tested herbivore × host species combinations. In particular, it is remarkable that three leaf beetle species with known different overall relationships to phenolic glucosides equally preferred more glucoside-containing young S. pentandra leaves over conspecific old ones. Four beetle species were found to prefer young leaves of S. phylicifolia despite the higher content of condensed tannins in young leaves. These results indicate that the general preference of leaf beetles for young leaves of Salicaceous plants probably does not primarily result from variable distribution of secondary compounds. Apparently, the preference for young leaves is fundamentally due to variation in leaf nutritive traits, such as nitrogen content. Received 9 February 2001.     

Populations of Pecos pupfish (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyprinodon pecosensis</Emphasis>) differ in their susceptibility to hybridization with sheepshead minnow (<Emphasis Type="Italic">C. variegatus</Emphasis>)

The importance of sexual selection in hybridization between species that evolved in allopatry is poorly understood. Even less is known about differences between populations in their resistance or susceptibility to genetic introgression with a congener. Here we examine behavioral differences between populations of the native Pecos pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis) and their potential effects in facilitating or retarding hybridization with an introduced congener, the sheepshead minnow (C. variegatus). We quantified competitive interactions, establishment of territories, and mating success of several naturally occurring C. pecosensis populations and an artificially created laboratory population (control) against C. variegatus. Experiments were conducted in large outdoor tanks during the summer months when high temperatures favor breeding activity in pupfish. C. pecosensis populations differed in agonistic behavior, territoriality, and in mating success when competing against C. variegatus. Differences in the competitive ability of males from different C. pecosensis populations suggest that the rate of introgression with C. variegatus may vary, depending on the population of C. pecosensis it comes in contact with. Our results suggest that large, stable C. pecosensis populations may be relatively resistant to hybridization with C. variegatus. Interpopulation variation in male behavior, shaped by sexual selection, may be important in determining the incidence and rate of hybridization between the two congeners. Experimental studies are a powerful tool in elucidating behavioral processes, such as the action of intrasexual selection, that facilitate or retard the coalescence of lineages through initial hybridization and subsequent genetic introgression after secondary contact between allopatric species.Communicated by M. Abrahams     

Preferential incubation positions for different sized eggs and their influence on incubation period and hatching asynchrony in Snares crested (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eudyptes robustus</Emphasis>) and yellow-eyed penguins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Megadyptes antipodes</Emphasis>)

In crested penguins (Eudyptes spp.), second-laid eggs typically hatch before first eggs. Amongst a variety of factors that have been considered as mechanisms underlying this reversal, has been the idea that crested penguins can adjust the degree of hatching asynchrony by manipulating egg positions (i.e. placing the smaller first egg in the supposedly thermally disadvantaged anterior position) during incubation (termed Preferential Incubation Hypothesis). We tested this in the Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) and the closely related, but synchronously-hatching, yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Snares crested penguins were more likely to place their first eggs, which are smaller than second eggs, in the anterior incubation position than were yellow-eyed penguins, which have a clutch of two similar-sized eggs. But when yellow-eyed penguins, a non-brood reducing species, were provided with an artificial size-dimorphic clutch, they also placed smaller eggs more frequently in the anterior position, suggesting that a general preference exists among penguins to place smaller eggs in the anterior position. Egg temperatures of small first eggs of Snares crested penguins were higher in the anterior than in the posterior position. Large first eggs in lesser size-dimorphic clutches experienced high temperature differences in relation to position, while small first eggs in greater size-dimorphic clutches were incubated at similar temperatures. In yellow-eyed penguins, large eggs within clutches generally had higher egg temperatures than small eggs. Incubation periods of second eggs declined with increasing egg size. Egg-size variation, rather than egg positioning behaviour, influenced hatching patterns in Snares crested penguins. In lesser size-dimorphic clutches, second eggs were more likely to hatch first while in greater size-dimorphic clutches, small first eggs were more likely to hatch at the same time or before the second eggs. This was similar in yellow-eyed penguins, where second eggs hatched earlier in clutches with large first eggs. Our data contradicts the Preferential Incubation Hypothesis and we conclude that this hypothesis is unlikely to explain the reversed hatching asynchrony in crested penguins.Communicated by C. Brown     

施灰田土壤及所产蔬菜铀、钍和钾、钼、镁、锌含量变化及影响评价

U和Th是放射性元素,K、Fe、Mo、Mg和Zn是植物生长需要的必要营养元素。粉煤灰中U、Th、Fe和Mo的含量略高于空白土壤中Fe和Mo的含量,K、Mg和Zn的含量低于空白土壤中K、Mg和Zn的含量。掺施粉煤灰并没有引起施灰土壤及所产蔬菜中各元素含量的明显变化。与国家土壤环境质量标准及食品、卫生标准的限值相比,施灰土壤及所产蔬菜的U、Th、K、Fe、Mo、Mg和Zn的含量均在正常范围内波动。     

不同环境下包装容器内温湿度变化试验研究

目的 探究不同环境下密闭容器内微环境的变化规律.方法 通过连续采集室内存放、户外遮盖、户外暴露3个包装容器内外11个监测点的温湿度数据,对比分析不同容器内温度、湿度的分布与变化规律.结果 户外容器日间温度梯度大,昼夜温差高达30℃,温度波动远大于室内容器的1.1℃,篷布遮盖能降低20％的温度波动.容器内相对湿度不受环境湿度影响,但与温度强烈负相关.结论 太阳辐射的热效应对包装容器内温湿度的变化与分布有决定性影响,应加强防护措施.     

Progressively narrow the gap of PM2.5 pollution characteristics at urban and suburban sites in a megacity of Sichuan Basin, China

Nowadays, the fine particle pollution is still severe in some megacities of China, especially in the Sichuan Basin, southwestern China. In order to understand the causes, sources, and impacts of fine particles, we collected PM_2.5 samples and analyzed their chemical composition in typical months from July 2018 to May 2019 at an urban and a suburban (background) site of Chengdu, a megacity in this region. The daily average concentrations of PM_2.5 ranged from 5.6-102.3 µg/m³ and 4.3-110.4 µg/m³ at each site. Secondary inorganics and organic matters were the major components in PM_2.5 at both sites. The proportion of nitrate in PM_2.5 has exceeded sulfate and become the primary inorganic component. SO₂ was easier to transform into sulfate in urban areas because of Mn-catalytic heterogeneous reactions. In contrast, NO₂ was easily converted in suburbs with high aerosol water content. Furthermore, organic carbon in urban was much greater than that in rural, other than elemental carbon. Element Cr and As were the key cancer risk drivers. The main sources of PM_2.5 in urban and suburban areas were all secondary aerosols (42.9%, 32.1%), combustion (16.0%, 25.2%) and vehicle emission (15.2%, 19.2%). From clean period to pollution period, the contributions from combustion and secondary aerosols increased markedly. In addition to tightening vehicle controls, urban areas need to restrict emissions from steel smelters, and suburbs need to minimize coal and biomass combustion in autumn and winter.     

Seasonal variations of monoterpene emissions from coniferous trees of different ages in Korea

Seasonal variations of emission rates and compositions from coniferous species were measured under controlled conditions using a vegetation enclosure method. Total emission rates and compositions of monoterpene compounds from young and adult trees in different seasons were compared.

It was found that the total emission rates and the components of monoterpene varied significantly with tree species, age, and season. Total emissions from C. japonica and P. koraiensis were higher for older trees than for younger trees; however, significantly higher emissions were found from younger trees for C. obtusa. Higher monoterpene emission rates from each plant were found in spring and summer compared with autumn and winter emissions.     

Analysis of heavy metal distribution in superficial estuarine sediments (estuary of Bilbao, Basque Country) by open-focused microwave-assisted extraction and ICP-OES

Open-focused microwave-assisted extraction and ICP-OES determination of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn from surface sediments of the estuary of Bilbao (Basque Country, North of Spain) was carried out. All the samples were collected at three different tributaries of the estuary (Asua, Galindo and Nerbioi-Ibaizabal) every two months during 1999. The digestion procedure was proposed from the conclusions of a fractionated factorial design, and the precision and accuracy of the method was verified using a certified reference sediment (RTC008-050). The results of the analysis were statistically treated by means of principal component analysis and correlation analysis. The principal component analysis of sediment data (32 samples × 9 metals) indicated different patterns of contamination regarding the tributary and sampling station. The two main patterns observed were a steady increment of the metal concentration along all the campaigns in the samples collected in the Galindo River and a seasonal variation in the Nerbioi-Ibaizabal River, with higher metallic content during summertime and lower content during wintertime.