Components of lifetime reproductive success in communally and solitarily nursing house mice — a laboratory study

Under laboratory conditions, communal nursing among familiar and closely related female house mice (Mus domesticus) improved lifetime reproductive success compared to females rearing litters alone or females living with a previously unfamiliar, unrelated partner (reproductive success was measured within an experimental lifespan of 6 months, standardized as 120 days after mating at the age of about 2 months). An analysis of the contribution of three multiplicatively combined components to variation in reproductive success among breeding females revealed that, in all three social groups, survival of young until weaning contributed most to differences in lifetime reproduction (46–64% of the total variance). Females living with a sister had a significantly higher probability of reproducing successfully than females in the other groups, and also reared significantly more litters communally than females sharing nests with an unrelated partner. Weaning probabilities of young were highest in litters cared for by sisters and lowest in nests of unrelated females. Young were found dead either directly after birth (within the first 2 days of lactation) or after they had been cared for and nursed for at least 1 day. The loss of an entire litter typically occurred directly after birth. In monogamous females rearing litters alone the death of almost all young coincided with such early entire-litter mortality. In polygynous groups, however, offspring died at an older age and more litters suffered the loss of some young. Still, rearing young with a sister improved survival directly after birth and fewer litters were lost entirely in comparison with females in the other groups. In polygynous groups, pregnant females were observed to kill some of their partner's dependent young shortly before they gave birth themselves. As a consequence, individual young had reduced survival when they were firstborn in a communal nest (another litter was born within 16 days). Analyzed over a lifetime, communal care among familiar and closely related female house mice seems to be an adaptation to maximize the survival of offspring until weaning.     

Spatial error propagation when computing linear combinations of spectral bands: The case of vegetation indices

The collection of accurate and timely information on land use, crops, forest and vegetation are increasingly based on remote sensing spectral measurements produced by satellites. The most recent spacecrafts like the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) produce a rich source of information being endowed with hyperspectral sensors that can provide up to 200 or more channels. In many instances such a multivariate signal has to be reduced to just one single value per pixel representing a particular characteristic of land. Linear combinations of bands are the general form of many indices. Since each individual image used to construct indices contains errors, when combined they produce a propagation of errors, a process that can distort a final output map. In this paper we measure the extent of error propagation when building linear vegetation indices. We consider three types of indices: the difference vegetation index (DVI), selected Kauth-Thomas indices (SBI, GVI and WET), and principal components, using benchmarking examples taken from the remote sensing literature. The main implication emerging from these examples is that the SBI and the first principal component are the indices more prone to error propagation. The formalization presented here allows a user to derive measures of error propagation in cases where technical characteristics of a sensor and physical characteristics of a landscape are known. These results can help a user to choose between alternative vegetation indices, and to associate a measure of reliability with such indices.     

Analysis of impulse electric field effect on organic exhaust gas decomposition

The technique of organic exhaust gas decomposition with impulse corono-dischrge plasma has been investigated in this study. It has been discovered that the impulse electric fieldaffected the decomposition efficiency with the secondary electron emission coefficient (δ of the corona electrode as an intermediate: when W was fixed the corona electrode material with higher δcould induce higher decomposition efficiency. In these experiments,wolfram electrode which has the highest δhas really induced the highest decomposition efficiency.     

城市环境系统的权重分配--多目标二级决策法

本文将多目标二级决策法用于城市环境系统的权重分配 ,对城市环境系统各要素及各要素的表征参数进行客观自动赋权 ,克服了环境质量评价中权重分配的主观随意性。该方法物理意义清晰 ,算法简便 ,具有较好的应用价值     

新奥法二次衬砌施工中几个问题的探讨

二次衬砌工艺作为新奥法的内容，在永久隧道工程中得到广泛应用，焦晋高速公路隧道全部采用二次衬砌工艺。本文结合该工程二次衬砌的实施，就二次衬砌对初期支护的要求、高压大变形围岩和一般软弱围岩的施作时机以及NTM应用的问题等进行了讨论，得出一些有益的结论。     

高速钢磨屑的再生利用综述

指出了回收利用高速钢磨屑的意义 ,简要叙述了国内外几种不同的再生利用技术 ,且对高速钢磨屑今后的进一步回收利用和发展前景提出了自己的看法。     

重庆市大气TSP特征分析

分析了重庆市工业区(九龙坡)、商住区(渝中区)和清洁对照区(北陪区)的总悬浮颗粒物(TSP)监测结果。结果表明，工业区TSP年均值浓度超过我国空气质量二级标准(0.2mg／m^3)23％，其它两区域未超过此标准。说明重庆市工业生产对颗粒物污染影响严重，空气质量不容乐观。用离子色谱分析了TSP中9种水溶性离子组分，结果显示：各离子年均值浓度顺序为[SO4^2-]＞[NO3^-]＞[Cl^-]＞[F^-]＞[Ca^2 ]＞[NH4^ ]＞[K^ ]＞[Na^ ]＞[Mg^ ]；年均值浓度区域变化为：工业区＞商住区＞对照区。NH4^ 、K^ 、Ca^2 、NO3^-和SO4^2-等离子的浓度季节变化规律相似：春季和秋季高于夏季和冬季。相关分析显示：工业区TSP浓度主要受局地排放的煤烟尘影响；商住区主要受局地稳定性污染源和远距离输送污染物影响；对照点的TSP主要来源于远距离输送的煤烟尘、土壤尘和海盐粒子等微小粒子。     

Sexual dimorphism in amphipods: the role of male posterior gnathopods revealed in Gammarus pulex

In the mate-guarding amphipod, Gammarus pulex, the enlarged male posterior gnathopods have been variously suggested to function to grasp and subdue the female, to be used as weapons in fights between males, to signal to the female the male presence and stimulate moult accelaration, egg development or egg extrusion. These hypotheses were tested in a series of experiments, the results of which reveal an unexpected function. Ablation of the posterior gnathopods of males showed that they were neither necessary for, nor advantageous in, establishment and/or maintenance of precopula mate guarding, with or without competition with intact males. Furthermore, these appendages do not function to advance female moult, or stimulate egg development or extrusion. However, only males with intact posterior gnathopods were able to copulate. We also show that females require a full copulation of several bouts to extrude eggs. We conclude that the function of the posterior gnathopods is to facilitate copulation and suggest future studies focus on the selective pressures acting on copulating males.     

Changes in Forest Use Value through Ecological Succession and Their Implications for Land Management in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract:  Research on local use values of forests across an ecological succession informs land-use decisions and conservation planning. I evaluated use values of three age classes of secondary forest: fallow fields (<5 years old, $8.20/ha/year), young secondary forest (5–20 years old, $20.60/ha/year), and old secondary forest (>20 years old, $6.80/ha/year). I quantified daily forest product use and calculated use values in dollars per hectare per year for three communities in the northern Peruvian Amazon. I made three comparisons between forest types: number of useful species, value based on different use categories, and overall use values. Old secondary forest had the greatest number of total species present and species collected. Wood, food, and medicine were the three most valuable use categories. The value different families extracted from local forests varied enormously, but median forest values were lower for all forest types than potential gains from agricultural land use (e.g., coffee $167/ha/year). Values of different-aged stands on privately owned lands in two communities did not differ significantly, whereas in the third community, young secondary forest had a significantly greater value than other forest types. Old secondary forests were the most valuable source of wood products, and wood was the only use category in which there was any difference in the value of products extracted from different-aged forest stands. The value of all three forest types on open-access (nonprivate) lands was minimal (mean in each forest type, $0/ha/year). Local people can utilize the valuation results to develop land-use strategies that balance forest product use, agricultural productivity, and biodiversity conservation.     

东海大型底栖生物次级生产力研究

根据2000年秋季和2001年春季在东海23个大面站进行的大型底栖生物定量采集样品资料，利用Brey’s（1990）的经验公式对调查海区进行了大型底栖生物栖息密度、生物量、次级生产力和P／B值的研究和计算．结果表明，该海域大型底栖生物平均栖息密度在秋季为87m^-2，远低于春季的138m^-2，而平均生物量以去灰干重计，秋季为1．40gm^-2，高于春季的1．25gm^-2；年平均次级生产力以去灰干重计，为1．62gm^-2a^-1，远低于渤海和南黄海．研究表明，大型底栖生物生物量和次级生产力受水温和水深的影响，平均P／B值在研究海域为1．41a^-1，高于渤海和黄海，表明在东海大型底栖生物中个体小而代谢快、生活史短的种在大型底栖生物中占的比重要大于渤海和南黄海，P／B值随水温升高而升高，图2表2参28