Survival and productivity benefits to social nesting in the sweat bee <Emphasis Type="Italic">Megalopta genalis</Emphasis> (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Facultatively solitary and eusocial species allow for direct tests of the benefits of group living. We used the facultatively social sweat bee Megalopta genalis to test several benefits of group living. We surveyed natural nests modified for observation in the field weekly for 5 weeks in 2003. First, we demonstrate that social and solitary nesting are alternative behaviors, rather than different points on one developmental trajectory. Next, we show that solitary nests suffered significantly higher rates of nest failure than did social nests. Nest failure apparently resulted from solitary foundress mortality and subsequent brood orphanage. Social nests had significantly higher productivity, measured as new brood cells provisioned during the study, than did solitary nests. After accounting for nest failures, per capita productivity did not change with group size. Our results support key predictions of Assured Fitness Return models, suggesting such indirect fitness benefits favor eusocial nesting in M. genalis. We compared field collections of natural nests to our observation nest data to show that without accounting for nest failures, M. genalis appear to suffer a per capita productivity decrease with increasing group size. Calculating per capita productivity from collected nests without accounting for the differential probabilities of survival across group sizes leads to an overestimate of solitary nest productivity.     

水文因素影响稻田氮磷流失的研究进展

水文因素为农田氮磷元素的迁移提供了动力和载体,对稻田氮磷元素的流失具有重要影响。利用新型的稻田水分管理模式以代替传统的水分管理模式,对于有效控制面源污染具有重要意义。在综合调研国内外已有研究成果和最新进展的基础上,阐述了稻田氮磷流失特征、传统水分管理模式的弊端,并从新型稻田水分管理模式的种类、削减氮磷流失的效果与机理、与水平衡模型、营养负荷模型等结合应用等几个方面综述了国内外水文因素影响稻田氮磷流失的研究现状。进行稻田土壤吸附氮磷容量及人工调节机制的研究,在部分地区开展流域化水分管理系统研究,以及适用于我国稻田的水平衡模型和营养负荷模型的建立和深入研究应为今后我国关于水文因素影响稻田氮磷流失方面研究的一些方向。     

异常环境电磁场对生物影响的研究进展

物理学的研究表明,在地球的大气环境中存在一个巨大的电场,大气电离层的电势约为360 kV,地球表面的电势约为130 kV;地球又是一个大磁球,地球表面磁场的磁感应强度约为10~-5T,地球上生物就是在这样的环境电磁场中繁衍和进化.然而,在现代社会中,随着电力和电子信息技术的飞速发     

三种类型油菜(Brassica spp.)和野芥菜(B. juncea var.gracilis Tsen et Lee)杂交亲和性及F1的适合度--潜在基因转移的研究

通过人工去雄授粉，采用荧光显微镜观察了3种类型栽培油菜花粉在两地采集的野芥菜柱头上的萌发生长情况，结合杂交后的结实率，探讨了3种类型油菜和野芥菜杂交的亲和性．结果表明，甘蓝型油菜和芥菜型油菜与野芥菜的亲和性都非常高，亲和性指数达10．0以上，而白菜型油菜和野芥菜的亲和性较低，亲和指数小于0．2．子一代的适合度研究结果表明，芥菜型油菜向野芥菜杂交一代的适合度没有降低，而甘蓝型及白菜型和野芥菜杂交一代的适合度明显下降，表现在花粉活力降低，结实率极低．上述结果表明，白菜型油菜和野芥菜的基因转移可能性最小，甘蓝型居中，而芥菜型极易向野芥菜发生基因转移．     

A nonparametric procedure for analyzing repeated measures of spatially correlated data

Many agricultural, biological, and environmental studies involve detecting temporal changes of a response variable, based on data observed at sampling sites in a spatial region and repeatedly over several time points. That is, data are repeated measures over time and are potentially correlated across space. The traditional repeated-measures analysis allows for time dependence but assumes that the observations at different sampling sites are mutually independent, which may not be suitable for field data that are correlated across space. In this paper, a nonparametric large-sample inference procedure is developed to assess the time effects while accounting for the spatial dependence using a block bootstrap. For illustration, the methodology is applied to describe the population changes of root-lesion nematodes over time in a production field in Wisconsin.     

Why is dominance hierarchy age-related in social insects? The relative longevity hypothesis

In temperate regions, older eusocial hymenopteran females with annual life cycles (annual-temperate) tend to dominate younger females, a behavior demonstrated by many Polistes. However, in queenless ponerine ants and primitively eusocial tropical wasps (perennial/tropical), a younger female can be dominant and occasionally takes over from the older, most dominant reproductive female, the alpha. We investigated these patterns using an inclusive fitness model. The most important difference between the above two cases lay in the length of individual life compared with colony life. Colonies dissolve before winter in the annual-temperate case, so the expected future tenure of the replacement alpha is never longer than that of the original alpha. This makes the non-reproductive subordinate tactic more advantageous for individuals that emerge later in the season because of the fitness cost of superseding. The perennial/tropical case does not have a clear upper limit for colony longevity, so the model predicts that late-born younger daughters are more likely to challenge their mother-alpha because of the expected long future tenure of the new alpha compared with the small indirect cost of the mothers reproductive failure. To switch tactics from being a subordinate to being the new alpha is only optimal in some situations. The high mortality rate of subordinate workers does not qualitatively alter the above pattern. The specific sexual production schedule of the colony sometimes affects the optimal behavior of females in the perennial/tropical case, and older individuals can dominate younger ones when the end of current round of sexual production is imminent.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Absolute configuration of the major sex pheromone component of the satin moth, Leucoma salicis, verified by field trapping test in Hungary

Summary. Male satin moths, Leucoma (Stilpnotia) salicis L. (Lepidoptera, Lymantriidae) were attracted only to (3Z,6R,7S,9R,10S)-isomer out of the four (3Z)-cis-6,7-cis-9,10-diepoxy-3-henicosenes (leucomalure). This was demonstrated by field trapping test with a bivoltine population in a mixed poplar-willow forest along the flood area of the river Danube at Adony, Hungary.     

龙首矿采场通风方案的研究

简介了龙首矿井的通风系统,通过十年的通风实践和调整,实现了机械化采场通风方案,同时,研讨了下向胶结充填采矿法采场的通风机理,并给以论证。     

中国东部季风区末次冰期以来古气候模拟

通过对我国东部季风区现代青土样品孢粉组合与气候因子间的回归分析,分别建立了孢粉组合与一月,七月气温和年降水量的转换函数,进而建立了本区末次冰期以来的孢粉－气候数据库,模拟末次冰期盛冰期,消冰期,全新世前北方期－北方期,大西洋期,亚北方期等五个古气候期的冬季和夏季温度场,降水场。     

油田开发项目中大气环境影响预测方法研究

针对油田开发过程中大气污染源点多面广的特点,选用适当的大气环境预测方法已成为问题关键,使用网格处理,分别计算点源（高斯模式）和面源（Ｈ－Ｇ模式）的污染贡献量,得到预测结果,并佐以百色油田的应用实例,得出：多源扩散模式（Ｈ－Ｇ模式）可以反映油田开发多源污染的叠加效果;Ｈ－Ｇ模式计算简便,要求参数少且容易获得,与复杂模式的计算结果相一致,能满足油田开发项目大气环境影响评价的要求。