Female grouping best predicts lekking in blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)

The study of intraspecific variation can provide insights into the evolution and maintenance of behavior. To evaluate the relative importance of ecological, demographic and social conditions thought to favor lekking, I studied variation in mating behavior among and within populations of the blackbuck, Antilope cervicapra, an Indian antelope. Rather than viewing lekking as a discrete mating strategy, I took a continuous approach and treated lekking as a question of the clustering of mating territories, with leks representing one extreme in a range of territory distributions. I surveyed nine blackbuck populations, which differed in population density and in habitat conditions. For each population, I described the mating system in terms of the clustering of mating territories, and measured various factors suggested to favor lekking. I found that large-scale, among-population variation in territory clustering was most strongly related to female group size. Territory clustering was not related to population density. Female group size, in turn, was best explained by habitat structure. Interestingly, these among-population patterns were repeated at a finer spatial scale within one intensively studied population. These findings suggest that territorial males respond to local patterns in female distribution (represented by group size) when making decisions regarding territory location. Finally, although female distribution may explain territory clustering at the population level and more locally within a population, other selective factors (e.g., female preference, male competition, male harassment) are likely to shape the clustering and size of territories at even finer scales.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at .Communicated by T. Czeschlik     

The selective advantages of cannibalism in a Neotropical mosquito

We investigated the benefits of larval cannibalism in the Neotropical mosquito Trichoprosopon digitatum. The clutch size of the mosquito in the field was strongly correlated with adult female size, indicating a fitness advantage to being large. In controlled laboratory experiments, we compared the survivorship and eventual adult sizes of larvae that were given the opportunity to cannibalise conspecifics throughout their lifetimes with the survivorship and adult sizes of larvae that were prevented from cannibalising. Since the benefits of cannibalism are likely to depend on the context in which it occurs, the experiment was conducted at two levels of alternative food availability. When food availability was high most larvae survived to adulthood, females cannibalised more than males and there was no measurable advantage to cannibalism in terms of survival rate, emergence time or adult size. Larvae were significantly more cannibalistic when food availability was lower, although under these conditions no larvae survived to adulthood. Nevertheless, under low food an important fitness benefit to cannibalism was revealed: individuals which had the opportunity to cannibalise survived significantly longer as larvae than those which did not. This increased longevity is likely to provide an important advantage to mosquito larvae when they wait for the input of unpredictable food sources. Received: 7 October 1995/Accepted after revision: 13 April 1996     

Parameterizing,evaluating and comparing metapopulation models with data from individual-based simulations

Due to the lack of sufficient data and appropriate ecological information parameterizing predictive population dynamical models usually is a difficult task. The approach proposed in this study is meant to overcome this problem by using detailed individual-based simulations to generate artificial data. With short-term data samples, the models to be investigated can be parameterized and their predictions be compared. The flexibility of individual-based simulations as experimental tools also facilitates the evaluation and comparison of different (aggregated) model types. The presented approach is a step towards unifying models of different complexity. As an example we applied it to two metapopulation models of insect species in a highly fragmented landscape: the well-known incidence function model with a patch-based representation of space and a grid-based analogue. The models are tested with respect to their data requirement and recommendations for a better data sampling are derived.     

基于改进灰色模型的管壁蜡沉积厚度预测研究

为对含蜡原油管道中的蜡沉积厚度进行准确预测,在函数cot(x2)变换的基础上,结合平移变换思想,利用cot(x2+c)变换建立新的改进GM(1,1)模型。以现场管道结蜡数据和室内环道结蜡数据为例,对比改进GM(1,1)模型、基于函数cot(x2)变换建立的GM(1,1)模型及传统GM(1,1)模型之间的预测精度,并分析平移量c对改进GM(1,1)模型预测精度的影响。结果表明:改进GM(1,1)模型的预测精度最高,其次是基于函数cot(x2)变换建立的GM(1,1)模型,而传统GM(1,1)模型的预测精度最低;随着平移量的增大,改进GM(1,1)模型的平均相对预测误差呈现出先减小后增大的趋势,因此合理的平移量有助于模型精度的提高。应用改进GM(1,1)模型来预测管道蜡沉积厚度是可行的,该方法可为含蜡原油管道蜡沉积厚度的准确预测提供参考和借鉴。     

中国煤矿员工文化程度及对安全的影响分析

我国煤矿员工文化程度低一直被看作是煤炭企业的安全生产的重要制约因素之一,而把事故归咎于矿工的文化水平也引起了广泛争议。本文通过广泛收集国内外相关文献信息,将我国煤矿员工与美国、加拿大和南非的煤矿员工及国内其他行业的员工文化程度进行对比,发现我国煤矿员工平均收教育年限较国外少3.3年,与国内其他高危行业持平,但低于全国劳动力平均受教育水平。在现场调研数据的基础上,分析了员工文化程度对安全生产的影响情况,发现煤矿员工的文化程度与企业总体安全文化水平呈正相关关系,而且文化程度与煤矿的安全生产状况互为因果。     

Patterns of sperm use in the scorpionfly Panorpa germanica L. (Mecoptera: Panorpidae)

Sperm competition can be a powerful selective force in the evolution of reproductive strategies and mating systems. In studies on sperm competition, patterns of sperm use are typically reported as the mean species value of P ₂, determined as the proportion of offspring sired by the second male to copulate with a doubly mated female. However, the within-species variance in P ₂ has mostly been ignored, although taking this variance into account may be crucial for understanding the underlying mechanisms of sperm competition. Paternity analysis among the offspring of doubly mated females of Panorpa germanica (Mecoptera, Panorpidae) revealed a relationship between relative copulation durations of both males and the proportion of offspring each male will sire. This correlation between proportional copulation durations and paternity suggests mixing of sperm from different males inside the female’s spermatheca. Yet, sperm mixing appears to be incomplete, as paternity was overall slightly shifted towards the second male on average fathering a higher proportion of the offspring than its relative copulation duration would predict in case of complete sperm mixing. For individual males, however, the outcome of sperm competition is rather unpredictable as the intraspecific variance in P ₂ was found to be very high, irrespective of copulation durations. Possible causes of the observed variance in P ₂ and the partial last male sperm precedence are discussed.     

一种赤腹松鼠种群数量的估计方法

赤腹松鼠剥食树皮的行为对林木危害严重,根据野外长期的观察和研究发现,赤腹松鼠在剥落树皮上遗留下来的上门齿齿印间距具有个体差异,可以用作个体识别的依据.对2003年监测样地内赤腹松鼠在剥落树皮上的齿印间距测量记录,并统计分析以估计赤腹松鼠的个体数量.结果表明:种群数量与危害率的相关系数为0.876,P=0.01,表现出很强的正相关关系;显示在较小面积内,该方法可以用来估计赤腹松鼠的个体数量.同时对该方法的基本条件和局限进行了讨论.图2表4参10     

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     

鸡贫血病毒(CAV)vp1基因的克隆及与其他CAV vp1基因的比较

把一个新鸡贫血病毒(CAV)的vp1基因通过PCR扩增，然后克隆到质粒载体pUC18上．vp1基因包含1347个碱基对，并且推定的VP1蛋白氨基酸序列含有449个氨基酸．通过DNA BLAST软件把该基因的序列数据与在GenBank中发表的其他vp1基因比较显示，克隆的vp1基因与已发表的其他vp1基因之间存在许多核甘酸差异．核甘酸的变异导致其编码蛋白质的某些氨基酸发生改变．氨基酸的改变主要集中在VP1蛋白的29、75、125、141、144、251、254、447位．在这些变异中，许多氨基酸的电荷和／或疏水性发生了改变，例如：Gly→Glu、Val→Glu、Ala→Thr、Leu→Gln、Cys→Trp、Leu→Arg、Arg→Ala、Gly→Ser、Ser→Ala、Glu→Gly、Gly→Thr等．通过CLUSTAL X软件比较了6个不同的vp1基因．该vp1基因已被GenBank登录(登录编号：AF448446)．VP1蛋白是CAV的唯一衣壳蛋白，因此VP1的氨基酸变异可能影响该蛋白质的抗原特征．对该vp1基因进一步进行免疫学研究具有重要意义，并且有可能应用该基因构建CAV基因工程疫苗．图1表3参20     

测定甲醛标样的两种方法比较

通过两种测定甲醛标样方法的比较，指出用水中测定甲醛的方法测定“空气中的甲醛”标样，测试方法更加简单、方便，结果较好。