Female egg investment in relation to male sexual traits and the potential for transgenerational effects in sexual selection

Life-history theory predicts that individuals should increase their reproductive effort when the fitness return from reproduction is high. Females mated with high-quality males are therefore expected to have higher investment than females mated with low-quality males, which could bias estimates of paternal effects. Investigating the traits females use in their allocation decisions and the aspects of reproduction that are altered is essential for understanding how sexual selection is affected. We studied the potential for differential female allocation in a captive population of a precocial bird, the Chinese quail, Coturnix chinensis. Females paired with males with large sexual ornaments laid larger, but not more, eggs than females paired with males with small sexual ornaments. Furthermore, female egg mass was also significantly positively affected by male testis size, probably via some unknown effect of testis size on male phenotype. Testis size and ornament size were not correlated. Thus, both primary and secondary male sexual traits could be important components of female allocation decisions. Experimental manipulation of hormone levels during embryonic development showed that both male and female traits influencing female egg size were sensitive to early hormone exposure. Differences in prenatal hormone exposure as a result of maternal steroid allocation to eggs may explain some of the variation in reproductive success among individuals, with important implications for non-genetic transgenerational effects in sexual selection.Communicated by C. Brown     

基于遗传算法的大庆市黎明河环境需水量优化配置

为克服水环境管理领域中多目标优化模型加权法求解时主观性强的缺点,将遗传算法与河流水质模拟模型相耦合用于大庆市黎明河生态环境水量优化配置的研究。该模型充分利用遗传算法的开放性和全局搜索的能力,从而得到了较满意的调水方案。对调水方案实施后的河流水质状况进行仿真的结果表明,水质有明显的改善,从而进一步证实了遗传算法应用于城市内河的生态环境水量优化配置的可行性和有效性。     

大气污染物总量分配公平性评价研究

污染物总量的合理分配是总量控制的核心内容,目前对于总量分配方案的公平性评价缺乏定量化依据,文章应用经济学Gini系数和Lorenz曲线的概念定量评价污染物总量分配公平性.以"十一五"期间广东省环保局下达到珠三角各城市的SO2总量分配方案为评价对象,考虑各地的环境容量、排放现状、人口和国内生产总值因素,计算基尼系数.结果表明:分配方案比较合理,能普遍被珠三角各城市所接受,但从社会经济发展和环境属性角度来看分配方案不够均衡,需进一步调整.     

Options for Emission Allowance Allocation Under the Eu Emissions Trading Directive

The article investigates four alternative allocation schemes for emission allowances. The investigated schemes are emission-based allocation, production-based allocation with actor-specific emission factors, production-based allocation with benchmarking and production-based allocation based on data on best available technology (BAT). All the examined schemes apply free allocation based on historical activities. The allocation schemes are evaluated against the criteria for a National Allocation Plan, listed in the Annex III of the EU ETS Directive, and regarding their conformity with the criteria put forward by the Swedish Parliamentary Delegation on Flexible Mechanisms, The FlexMex 2 Commission. No allocation scheme unambiguously meets all criteria. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Emission-based allocation schemes are most straightforward, transparent and are the easiest to implement. Production-based allocation schemes meet more of the criteria, but are more costly to implement and require more data. Data on BAT will not be available to the extent necessary in order to base an allocation scheme implemented for the trading starting 2005 on BAT. It is unlikely that any given allocation scheme will be perceived as fair by all concerned parties, no matter how sophisticated it is. The overall characteristics of the studied allocation schemes are summarised in the paper. Due to the lack of abatement cost curves, it is not possible to accurately model capital flows between the trading sectors. Data availability will most probably limit the options available to the authorities designing the allocation schemes. An erratum to this article is available at .     

中国西部生态系统的水问题综合评估研究——以三工河流域为例

基于中国西部生态系统综合评估的概念框架,提出了该评估的水问题评估目标和概念框架,并以三工河流域为研究对象,通过对不同年份生态系统服务价值的评估,以人工生态系统和天然生态系统服务功能最大化为原则,确定1987年的生态景观状态组合为生态系统保护的最佳生态目标。在此保护目标下,分别估算了河流廊道和河道外生态需水,判定三工河流域生态需水的阈值区间为17%～24%。其后,结合社会经济需水的预测情况,综合分析了当地居民福利变化的情况,并以河流廊道用水和河道外用水平衡、社会经济内部用水平衡以及生态系统和社会经济系统用水平衡为原则,提出了基于人与生态和谐的水资源配置的对策和建议。     

Carbon emission permit allocation and trading

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Intra-specific variations of two Leymus chinensis divergence populations in Songnen Plain, Northeast China

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅｉｎｔｒａ ａｎｄｉｎｔｅｒ ｓｐｅｃｉｆｉｃｖａｒｉａｔｉｏｎｓｏｆｐｌａｎｔｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈａｖｅｂｅｅｎｗｅｌｌｄｏｃｕｍｅｎｔｅｄｆｏｒｍａｎｙｐｌａｎｔｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎｓ (Ｂａｓｓｏｗ ,1 997;Ｃａｌｌａｗａｙ ,1 994;Ｄｅｌｐｈ ,1 993;Ｆｏｒｄ ,1 981 ;Ｊｏｎｅｓ,1 999;Ｍｏｎｓｏｎ ,1 989;Ｐａｖｏｎｅ ,1 985;Ｖａｖｒｅ,1 997) .Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ,ｍｏｓｔｏｆｔｈｅｓｔｕｄｉｅｓｆｏｃｕｓｅｄｏｎｉｎｔｅｒ ｓｐｅｃｉｆｉｃｖａｒｉａｔｉｏｎｓｉｎｍａｌ…     

工程与环境相结合定量化进行评价因子筛选初探

在总结环境影响评价因子筛选方法的基础上 ,提出了“工程与环境相结合 ,定量化进行评价因子筛选”的新方法。同时 ,结合实际工作 ,提出了较复杂项目在报告书阶段进行“环境影响因子再识别和评价因子再筛选”的思路。     

东濮断陷湖盆陡坡带构造演化史恢复研究

陡坡带构造演化史研究对断陷湖盆具有重要意义,平衡剖面技术在面积(体积)守恒的基础上为恢复构造演化史提供了一种科学合理的技术方法。通过对东濮凹陷兰聊陡坡带进行平衡剖面法构造演化史恢复,再现了兰聊断层的活动规律及其对东濮断陷湖盆发展演化的控制作用,明确了东濮凹陷早第三纪层序地层发育特征、坡折带类型及其对砂砾岩扇体的控制作用,指出了隐蔽油气藏发育的有利层段和分布的有利地区。     

Competitive Distortions In An International Emissions Trading Market

The objective of this paper on international greenhouse gasemissions trading is to find the conditions, if any, under which internationaldifferences in domestic permit allocation procedures lead to competitivedistortions.The paper finds that grandfathered firms or sectors do not have a costadvantage over identical auctioned firms or sectors abroad, as long asmarkets are perfectly competitive, because they have to include theopportunity costs of using the permits in the product price. However,grandfathered permits are a capital gift to the firm, inducing a windfallprofit, which implies that a similar firm abroad which has to buy its permitshas a higher cash outflow and hence less financial resources. This aspect ofgrandfathering becomes relevant when considering imperfect competitionor equity.Firstly, it is concluded that competitive distortions may arise underimperfect competition, mainly because the grandfathered firms can outlastthe auctioned firms abroad in a price war. Secondly, it appears thatcompetition (or: the level playing field) is distorted in terms of equity,because the mere process of permit allocation gives the grandfathered firmsa stronger financial position and thus an unfair competitive advantage overtheir auctioned competitors abroad.In legal terms, these findings imply that grandfathering is WTO compatibleif one is only willing to consider efficiency and assume perfect competition.However, grandfathering constitutes an actionable subsidy under WTO lawif one also considers equity or if competition is imperfect, which couldnecessitate some level of international harmonization of domestic permitallocation rules.