Ecological niche and phylogeny: the highly complex echolocation behavior of the trawling long-legged bat, Macrophyllum macrophyllum

Bats produce echolocation signals that reflect the sensory tasks they perform. In open air or over water, bats encounter few or no background echoes (clutter). Echolocation of such bats is the primary cue for prey perception and varies with the stage of approach to prey, typically comprising search, approach, and terminal group calls. In contrast, bats that glean stationary food from rough surfaces emit more uniform calls without a distinct terminal group. They use echolocation primarily for orientation in space and mostly need additional sensory cues for finding food because clutter echoes overlap strongly with food echoes. Macrophyllum macrophyllum is the only Neotropical leaf-nosed bat (Phyllostomidae) that hunts in clutter-poor habitat over water. As such, we hypothesized that, unlike all other members of its family, but similar to other trawling and aerial insectivorous bats, M. macrophyllum can hunt successfully by using only echolocation for prey perception. In controlled behavioral experiments on Barro Colorado Island, Panamá, we confirmed that echolocation alone is sufficient for finding prey in M. macrophyllum. Furthermore, we showed that pattern and structure of echolocation signals in M. macrophyllum are more similar to aerial and other trawling insectivorous bats than to close phylogenetic relatives. Particularly unique among phyllostomid bats, we found distinct search, approach, and terminal group calls in foraging M. macrophyllum. Call structure, however, consisting of short, multiharmonic, and steep frequency-modulated signals, closely resembled those of other phyllostomid bats. Thus, echolocation behavior in M. macrophyllum is shaped by ecological niche as well as by phylogeny.     

Exploitative compensation by subordinate age-sex classes of migrant rufous hummingbirds

Summary The three age-sex classes of rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) that directly interact on southward migratory stopovers in our California study system differ in territorial ability and resource use. Immature males are behaviorally dominant to adult and immature females and defend the richest territories. Here, we test the hypothesis that the territorially subordinate age-sex classes compensate exploitatively for their exclusion from rich resources. Our results show that females were able to accumulate energy stores at rates comparable to males despite their subordinate territorial status. Territorial females gained body mass at the same rate and in the same pattern as males, and resumed migration at the same body masses. Moreover, during periods when birds were nonterritorial and used dispersed resources, adult and immature females maintained or gained body mass, whereas immature males lost mass. We suggest that females may be energetically compensated by (1) lower costs of flight incurred during foraging and defense, resulting from their lower wing disc loading, and (2) greater success at robbing nectar from rich male territories, resulting from duller coloration (immature females), experience (adult females), and, possibly, hormonal differences. In the future, experiments will be necessary to distinguish the various hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in compensation. Correspondence to: F.L. Carpenter     

整合分析在生态学应用中的优势及存在的问题

整合分析(meta-analysis)是对同一主题下多个独立实验结果进行综合的统计学方法，被认为是到目前为止最好的数量综合方法。结合实例讨论了整合分析在生态学应用中的优势及存在的问题，并介绍了一些解决问题的方法。有明确的选择文献标准、给出了测量指标…效应值、设计严密，分析结果客观性强是其优点；在生态学应用中最严重的问题是选择效应值时面临的生物学意义和统计学特性不能兼顾，其它不足之处主要有选择文献时面临的数据缺失、原文献数据的非正态分布、文章的发表偏见、非随机性选择独立研究等。     

地理信息系统支持下的城市生态环境功能区划

本文以马鞍山市为例，利用地理信息系统软件－－ＩＤＲＩＳＩ进行ＧＩＳ支持下的城市生态环境功能区划，以生态环境适宜度分析方法进行了工业用地、居住用地、综合用地的适宜度分析，并以此为基础划分了城市生态环境功能区，最后，讨论了ＧＩＳ支持下的城市生态环境功能区划的优势与不足以及发展趋势。     

国家濒危植物永瓣藤分布的土壤环境特征

永瓣藤(Monimopetalum chinense)是卫矛科(Celastraceae)的一个中国特有单型属植物,被列为国家二级稀有濒危保护物种。本文对永瓣藤分布区14个样地土壤样品的pH值、有机质、全氮、水解氮、硝态氮、全磷、速效磷和全钾进行了检测分析,以期弄清该物种分布与土壤环境因子的关系。结果表明,其pH值的变化幅度为4.55～5.57,主要处于强酸性范围,适应幅度较窄。有机质与氮素非常丰富,相互间具有明显的相关性,有利于永瓣藤的生长与繁衍,但土壤中磷、钾素较为缺乏。土壤酸碱度和有机质的质量分数在某种程度上对永瓣藤的分布范围具有制约作用。     

Active Adaptive Management for Conservation

Abstract:  Active adaptive management balances the requirements of management with the need to learn about the system being managed, which leads to better decisions. It is difficult to judge the benefit of management actions that accelerate information gain, relative to the benefit of making the best management decision given what is known at the time. We present a first step in developing methods to optimize management decisions that incorporate both uncertainty and learning via adaptive management. We assumed a manager can allocate effort to discrete units (e.g., areas for revegetation or animals for reintroduction), the outcome can be measured as success or failure (e.g., the revegetation in an area is successful or the animal survives and breeds), and the manager has two possible management options from which to choose. We further assumed that there is an annual budget that may be allocated to one or both of the two options and that the manager must decide on the allocation. We used Bayesian updating of the probability of success of the two options and stochastic dynamic programming to determine the optimal strategy over a specified number of years. The costs, level of certainty about the success of the two options, and the timeframe of management all influenced the optimal allocation of the annual budget. In addition, the choice of management objective had a large influence on the optimal decision. In a case study of Merri Creek, Melbourne, Australia, we applied the approach to determining revegetation strategies. Our approach can be used to determine how best to manage ecological systems in the face of uncertainty.     

Roads and Landscape Pattern in Northern Wisconsin Based on a Comparison of Four Road Data Sources

Abstract:  Roads are important components of landscapes; they fragment habitat, facilitate invasive species spread, alter hydrology, and influence patterns of land use. Previous research on the ecological impacts of roads may have underestimated their effect because currently available sources of road data do not include the full road network. We compared differences in road density and landscape pattern among U.S. Census Bureau TIGER line files, U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000-scale digital line graphs, and U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000-scale digital raster graphics in northern Wisconsin to road data derived from 1:40,000-scale digital orthophotos. Road density measured from digital orthophotos (2.82 km/km²) was significantly greater than that of digital raster graphics (1.62 km/km²) and more than double that of digital line graphs (1.21 km/km²) and TIGER (1.27 km/km²) data. The increased road densities in raster graphics and orthophoto data were mainly due to the addition of minor roads. When all roads were used to define patch boundaries, landscape metrics produced with orthophoto data showed significantly greater levels of fragmentation than those based on line or raster graphics. For example, maximum patch size was 1074 ha and total edge was 109 km for line graphs, compared with 686 ha and 211 km for orthophoto data. Roads are missing in commonly used data, primarily because mapping standards systematically exclude minor roads. These standards are not ecologically based and may result in false assumptions about the ecological effects of roads. We recommend that future studies take special consideration of the completeness of road data and consider whether all ecologically relevant roads are included.     

城市绿地系统景观生态规划探讨

从景观生态的角度对城市绿地系统进行规划探讨,能够为绿地系统规划布局提供科学的理论指导。在介绍了对绿地系统规划有重要指导意义的景观生态理论的基础上,以常州市新北区为例,进行实证研究,概括了其绿地现状并指出了其存在一系列问题,进而利用景观生态的基本原理,对本区域的绿地系统进行规划研究。将整个研究地区分成“区域层面、分区层面以及具体规划设计层面”3个尺度层面,并且在每个层面利用景观生态中相关原理分别进行研究,最终形成层次分明、在功能上相互补充、有机联系的绿地系统结构。     

常张高速公路岩石边坡仿原生态植被恢复技术的应用研究

介绍了常张高速公路岩石边坡仿原生态植被恢复技术的施工工艺、新型的生态防护技术与传统的边坡防护相比较,具有投资省、见效快,且能稳定表层边坡,综合造价仅为客土喷播植草的50%～60%,能在短期内使边坡整体环境景观效果与周边协调一致,尤其适宜于对客土喷播植草难以成活的极陡边坡(坡率大于1∶0.75)的生态防护,探索出了一条适合我省实际情况的且成本低、效果好的新的生态防护模式.仿原生态植被恢复技术是常张高速公路生态防护措施的典型代表,对今后我省山区高速公路生态防护建设具有一定的指导意义.     

Filling the Gaps in the Risks vs. Benefits of Mammalian Adult-Cell Cloning: Taking Bernard Rollin's Philosophy Its Next Step

A critique is made of Bernard Rollin's examination of the ethics of cloning adult mammalian cells. The primary concern is less to propound an anticloning or procloning position than to call for full exploration of the ethical complexities before a rush to judgment is made. Indeed, the ethical examination in question rushes toward an ethical position in such a way that does not appear consistent with Rollin's usual methodology. By extending this methodology – which entails full weighing of benefits and costs – it becomes apparent that there are real potential risks to this type of cloning in both animals and humans, besides the possible benefits, and that the scientific, political, philosophical, and broader academic communities should explore these risks and benefits extensively. Rollin's usual methodological call for hesitation before risks would translate into hesitation before the ethical risks of adult mammalian cell cloning instead of his paper's curiously laissez-faire stance.