土壤中裂隙与其它类型孔隙结构差异的图像比较

裂隙是孔隙的一类。文章利用土壤切片的数字图像,采用目视分离的方法,比较研究了裂隙与其它类型的孔隙在结构上的差异、选择的土样研究结果表明,目视分离裂隙的方法是可行的,土体中的裂隙直径分布曲线是不规则的,而其它类型的孔隙直径分布曲线则类似对数正态分布;土壤总孔隙中直径较大的部分主要由裂隙构成,直径较小的部分则由其它类型孔隙和裂隙共同构成;土壤表面裂隙与土体内部裂隙在结构上可能具有一定差异。     

Males vs workers: testing the assumptions of the haploid susceptibility hypothesis in bumblebees

The haploid state of males in eusocial Hymenoptera—the ants, bees, and wasps—has been proposed as a driving force in the evolution of social behavior under the assumption that haploidy results in higher susceptibility to pathogens. In this study, we present the first test of the assumptions of the “haploid male susceptibility hypothesis”. We challenged males and workers of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris with its parasite Crithidia bombi but found no differences in either initial susceptibility or the intensity of infection between haploid males and diploid females. We reviewed observational studies on parasitism in haplodiploid insects and found that in 15 out of 26 cases, haploid males had lower parasite prevalence. However, the majority of available data related to nontransmissible parasites and thus any general statements about haploid susceptibility remain unclear. Using a simulation model, we studied how diverse genetic mechanisms could affect the values for resistance; results suggest that only a phenomenon that renders workers effectively haploid, e.g., imprinting, could explain our experimental results. A more likely explanation is that, in eusocial Hymenoptera with predominantly female populations, parasites may simply become more adapted to the more common female hosts and, thus, male haploid susceptibility may be hidden due to parasite adaptation. Our results do not support the idea that the haploid susceptibility hypothesis explains the origin or maintenance of social systems in the eusocial Hymenoptera.     

Sex-specific effects of yolk-androgens on growth of nestling American kestrels

Maternally derived androgen hormones concentrate in avian egg yolks as the yolks grow on the female’s ovary, possibly forming a basis for important maternal effects in birds. In the American kestrel (Falco sparverius), experimental elevation of yolk androgens in the first-laid egg of a clutch (a-egg) to the concentrations found naturally in a clutch’s later-laid eggs reduces the growth rate of a-egg nestlings compared to controls. These findings, together with discoveries from other species that the effects of yolk androgens on growth of female nestlings may differ from their effects on growth of male nestlings, raise the hypothesis that natural changes in yolk-androgen concentrations with laying order are ultimately due to a difference between the sexes in their yolk-androgen sensitivity and between early- and late-laid eggs in their sex ratio. By re-analyzing previously published data and adding to the analysis data from previously unanalyzed blood samples used for sex determination, we investigated possible sex-specific effects of yolk-androgens in the context of a potential sex-biased laying order in free-living American kestrels. We used a multi-level, mixed model with a Gompertz function to analyze growth of nestlings hatching from a-eggs that were control-treated or in which we experimentally elevated yolk-androgen concentrations shortly after laying to the higher concentrations naturally found in later-laid eggs. We discovered that male nestlings were more susceptible than female nestlings to growth inhibition by yolk-androgen elevation but did not find a bias in sex ratio with respect to laying order. Together, these findings do not support the above hypothesis. However, they are consistent with the hypothesis that sex differences in yolk-androgen sensitivity enable mothers to economically tune reproductive effort to an individual offspring’s reproductive value, which can vary more for one sex than the other.     

区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系的构建及应用研究

探讨区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系建立的原则、思路和方法,估算各省环境健康综合风险,为制定环境健康政策提供科学依据.运用层次分析法,结合主成分分析和独立性分析,按照"风险压力-风险现状-风险应对"的总体思路构建了23个指标的区域环境健康综合风险评价指标体系及其权重系数.运用2012年31个省(自治区、直辖市)的数据进行实证检验,并将评价结果进行聚类分析探讨地区风险的差异和规律.研究表明全国有9个省区域环境健康综合风险指数超过标准,其中特别发达(北京、天津、上海)及不发达地区环境健康综合风险相对较低,较为发达地区环境健康风险较高.区域环境健康综合风险评价指标较为科学合理,具有较好的推广性和实用性.     

长江三角洲冬季一次低能见度过程的地区差异和气象条件

采用NCEP再分析资料、MICAPS地面、高空气象资料以及国家环保部空气质量监测资料,对2014年2月20~22日长江三角洲地区一次低能见度过程地区差异和气象条件进行了分析.天气形势分析表明,长三角地面处在高压的控制下,地面风速较小,使污染物积累,有利于低能见度(雾-霾)的形成和维持.根据不同区域的雾、霾分布和日变化特征,将长江三角洲地区分为3个子区域:I区为江苏大部(雾霾混合型),II区为上海及其周边(霾类型),III区为浙江大部(雾类型),该区域白天能见度较高,夜间能见度较低的特征是由湿度因子造成的.影响I区能见度变化的主要原因是:热力原因:大气对流层低层的层结稳定;湿度原因为:空气较湿润,气溶胶粒子吸湿性增长;动力原因主要是垂直方向和水平方向的大气扩散能力弱;污染因子对能见度变化的影响较小.影响II区能见度变化的主要原因是PM2.5浓度高导致的污染,热力因子、湿度因子和动力因子对能见度的变化影响很小.影响III区能见度变化的热力原因是:大气对流层低层层结稳定、近地面存在逆温;湿度原因是因为:空气较湿润,气溶胶粒子吸湿性增长;动力原因是因为边界层高度较低导致的垂直扩散能力较差.各个区域的气象因子解释方差的计算结果表明:I区湿度因子和动力因子对能见度的影响更大,III区.湿度因子对能见度的影响更大.     

Is sex-specific mass gain in Cory’s shearwaters <Emphasis Type="Italic">Calonectris diomedea</Emphasis> related to begging and steroid hormone expression?

Mass differences between the sexes of dimorphic bird species often appear early in the nestling development. But how do adults know how much to feed a chick in a sexually dimorphic species? Do chicks of the heavier sex beg more? We studied begging in Cory’s shearwaters Calonectris diomedea, a species with heavier adult and juvenile males than females. We found that begging rates and call numbers were not different between male and female chicks, but parameters of begging intensity differed between the sexes in their relationship to chick body condition. For the same body condition, males had significantly higher begging call numbers and rates. Acoustical parameters, which were analysed semi-automatically, included the lengths of call and silence intervals, the minimum, mean and maximum frequency in a call and the number of frequency peaks within a call. We found no consistent differences of acoustic begging call elements between the sexes. Male and female chicks did not differ in the levels of the steroid hormones testosterone or corticosterone in the second quarter of the nestling period, and the mechanism leading to sex-related differences in begging rates for a given body condition remains unknown.     

Provenance and threat-sensitive predator avoidance patterns in wild-caught Trinidadian guppies

The antipredator behaviour of prey organisms is shaped by a series of threat-sensitive trade-offs between the benefits associated with successful predator avoidance and a suite of other fitness-related behaviours such as foraging, mating and territorial defence. Recent research has shown that the overall intensity of antipredator response and the pattern of threat-sensitive trade-offs are influenced by current conditions, including variability in predation risk over a period of days to weeks. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that long-term predation pressure will likewise have shaped the nature of the threat-sensitive antipredator behaviour of wild-caught Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Female guppies were collected from two populations that have evolved under high- and low-predation pressure, respectively, in the Aripo River, Northern Mountain Range, Trinidad. Under laboratory conditions, we exposed shoals of three guppies to varying concentrations of conspecific damage-released chemical alarm cues. Lower Aripo (high-predation) guppies exhibited the strongest antipredator response when exposed to the highest alarm cue concentration and a graded decline in response intensity with decreasing concentrations of alarm cue. Upper Aripo (low-predation) guppies, however, exhibited a nongraded (hypersensitive) response pattern. Our results suggest that long-term predation pressure shapes not only the overall intensity of antipredator responses of Trinidadian guppies but also their threat-sensitive behavioural response patterns.     

Parental risk perceptions of childhood pedestrian road safety: a cross cultural comparison

INTRODUCTION: This cross-sectional community-based randomized telephone survey, aimed to compare the parental risk perceptions on childhood pedestrian road safety among three different major community language speaking groups and the mainstream English speaking Australians in Sydney, Australia. METHOD: This was a community-based telephone survey with subjects randomly selected from the population of specific cultural languages in Sydney. RESULTS: Results indicated that Chinese and Arabic speaking parents or caregivers perceived the road environments as significantly less hazardous for their 4-12 year old children as pedestrians when compared with Vietnamese and English speaking parents. This was true even after adjusting for the age of child, socioeconomic status, and the living environments of respondents. CONCLUSION: The implication of the results was discussed in light of possible application to childhood safety behavior across different cultures. IMPACT TO THE INDUSTRY: The results obtained have highlighted the importance of cultural factors in risk perceptions, and safety behaviors. Cultural differences in risk perceptions should be taken into consideration in the design of safety education programs.     

SPATIAL VARIABILITY IN SELECTED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PROCESSES IN CROSS LAKE,NEW YORK1

ABSTRACT: Short-circuiting of the inflow occurs from the Seneca River across the southern portion of Cross Lake, New York. Spatial differences in thermal stratification, transparency and light attenuation, and net sedimentation are documented for the lake. The depth of the epilimnion was generally deeper, and the temperature gradient in the metalimnion was at times lower, at a deep-water location proximate to the short-circuiting zone, than at a position more remote from the inflow. Transparency was generally lower, and light attenuation greater, proximate to the short-circuiting zone, indicating the contribution of attenuating components from the river. The net sedimentation rate in the short-circuiting zone was greater and temporally more irregular than for a deep-water position remote from the river inflow. The spatial differences in the physical characteristics and processes in Cross Lake are attributable to the magnitude and position of the inflow from the Seneca River.