Does song reflect age and viability? A comparison between two populations of the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus

Song complexity is often regarded as a sexually selected trait that reflects the overall quality of a male. In many passerine species, old males possess larger song repertoires than younger males. This may be either because individual males improve their performance as they get older (longitudinal increase) or because poor singers have reduced viability and, hence, are underrepresented in old age classes (cross-sectional increase). We studied the age dependence of repertoire size and other song traits in a German and a Swedish great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) population. We found marked differences between longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches, as well as between the two study populations. In the German population, we found that syllable switching, a measure of immediate versatility and strophe length, increased with age in a cross-sectional analysis. This was not because birds improved with age (longitudinally) but because syllable switching was positively correlated with male longevity. However, in Sweden, syllable switching seemed to be unrelated to age and longevity. In the Swedish population, individual males increased their repertoire size as they got older (longitudinal increase), but this did not happen in the German population. Hence, two populations, even when belonging to the same subspecies, may differ in whether or not they show delayed song maturation.     

聚醚砜超滤膜的研制

以聚醚砜为原料，二甲基乙酰胺为溶剂，研究了铸膜液组成和若干因素对膜性能的影响。选择适当的膜液组成和制备条件，可制得截留分子量分别为２０００，６０００，１００００的超滤膜，用该膜对α－干扰素进行分离。截留率均可达到９９％以上。     

Using the bootstrap with two-phase adaptive stratified samples from multiple populations at multiple locations

Recently the two-phase adaptive stratified sampling design proposed by Francis (1984) has been extended by Manly et al. (2002) for situations where several biological populations are sampled simultaneously, and where this is done at several different geographical locations in order to estimate population totals or means. The method uses the results from a first phase sample to decide how best to allocate a second phase sample to locations and strata, in order to maximise a criterion (based on estimated coefficients of variation) that measures the accuracy of estimation for population totals, for all variables at all locations. One potential problem with this method is bias in the estimators of the population totals and means. In this paper bootstrapping is considered as a means of overcoming these biases. It is shown using model populations of Pacific walrus and shellfish, based on real data, that bootstrapping is a useful tool for removing about half of the bias. This is also confirmed from some simulations using artificial data.     

4个岷江柏种群的球果和种子形态特征及其地理空间差异

研究了我国四川和甘肃地区特有珍稀濒危植物岷江柏(Cupressus chenggiana S.Y.Hu)的4个地理种群球果和种子的形态特征，分析了不同生境条件下岷江柏的地理差异．结果表明：岷江柏球果呈椭球形，长(l)为1．5～2．5cm，宽(6)为1．5～2．0cm，重(m)为1．5～4．5g，球果鳞片数为8～11片，球果内种子粒数为40～70粒．在调查的4个岷江柏种群中，小金县种群的球果最大、球果内种子数最多，马尔康县种群和金川县种群的球果重量、球果内种子数居中，理县种群的球果最小、球果内种子数最少．讨论认为，4个种群球果和种子大小特征存在极显著差异，不同种群球果和种子的形态差异与岷江柏的种群遗传特征、气候特征和生境特征有着密切的关系．图3表7参25     

Benefits and costs of earwig (Forficula auricularia) family life

The evolution of parental care and family group formation critically depends on offspring survival benefits and parental fecundity costs of care under given ecological conditions. Investigations of the functional significance of care in insect species that exhibit facultative parental care have been relatively rare but may be of particular interest for better understanding of benefit and cost schedules at an early evolutionary stage. In this study, aspects of benefits and costs of care were addressed in the sub-social European earwig (Forficula auricularia; Dermaptera: Forficulidae) by manipulating the presence of tending mothers and brood size in a fully crossed experimental design. Larvae growing in broods tended by their mother or of reduced size showed a higher survival probability than larvae growing in untended or large broods, as predicted if maternal care is beneficial and shaped by a trade-off between number and quality of offspring. Analysis of patterns of food consumption and developmental time further suggested that the benefit of maternal attendance is mediated by the maternal provisioning of food, while the quality–quantity trade-off seemed to be driven by sibling rivalry. Further, tending mothers delayed the production of a second clutch, indicating a potential cost of care in terms of lifetime fecundity. This study experimentally shows benefits and potential costs of maternal care and family group formation in the European earwig. More detailed behavioural experiments will be required to fully understand how behavioural interactions among family members mediate these reproductive outcomes.     

Extra-pair paternity and the evolution of testis size in a behaviorally monogamous tropical mammal,the large treeshrew (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tupaia tana</Emphasis>)

Monogamy is rare in mammals (<5% spp.) but occurs in greater frequency among primates (15%) and their close relatives, the treeshrews (100%; Order: Scandentia). Two genetic studies of parentage in monogamous primates revealed high rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP), but to date parentage has not been studied in a treeshrew species. I analyzed the genetic parentage of 22 offspring from two populations of large treeshrews in Sabah, Malaysia (NE Borneo), using seven autosomal microsatellite loci and one mitochondrial DNA marker. Half of these offspring were sired by males that were not the presumed partner of the mother (50% EPP), and three litters exhibited evidence of multiple paternity. However, comparative analysis indicated that the high rate of EPP in Tupaia tana is not associated with intense sperm competition. Relative testis size of treeshrews was similar to testis size in 22 primate species with uni-male mating systems but smaller than 44 primates with multi-male mating systems. After factoring out the effects of body size and phylogeny, I also found that the evolution of multi-male mating systems was significantly associated with the evolution of larger testis size. Male–female pairs of T. tana occupy joint territories but forage and sleep alone (“dispersed pair-living”), and I argue that this form of behavioral monogamy renders mate guarding ineffective. The adaptive advantages of behavioral monogamy likely differ from the advantages driving EPP in large treeshrews. However, small testis size suggests that behavioral monogamy is not masking a dispersed multi-male mating system in this species.     

黄泥土微团聚体颗粒组对Cu2+的吸附与解吸研究

采用低能量超声波分散和冷冻机干燥法提取太湖地区黄泥土不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组样品,用平衡液吸附法和CaCl2与HCl溶液的连续解吸法研究原土和不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组对重金属Cu2 的吸附和解吸特征。结果表明,对于Cu2 的吸附,原土用Langmuir方程拟合最佳,而不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组用Freundlich方程拟合最佳。原土和不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组吸附量大小顺序为粘粒级>砂粒级>原土>粉砂级>粗粉砂级,这与其游离氧化铁和有机质含量呈显著正相关。原土和不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组对Cu2 的专性吸附质量分数随吸附量增加而减少,而非专性吸附质量分数则相反。不同粒径微团聚体颗粒组吸附总量小于原土,所以传统风干磨细的研究方法可能高估了土壤对铜固持能力。     

Constraints on foraging success due to resource ecology limit colony productivity in social insects

The benefit of group living is a fundamental question in social evolution. For sociality to evolve, each individual must gain in terms of some fitness component by living in larger groups. However, in social insects, a decrease in per capita success in brood production has been observed in larger groups. While it has been proposed that this decrease could be outweighed by an increase in the predictability of success, a functional basis to this hypothesis has so far never been demonstrated. In this paper, using foraging economics as a functional proxy to colony productivity, we construct a model to explore how number of foragers in the colony interacts with the ecology of resources to influence per capita foraging success and its predictability. The results of the model show that there is no increase in per capita foraging success in larger colonies under most circumstances, though there is an increase in its predictability. We then test the model with empirical data on the foraging behavior of the primitively eusocial wasp, Ropalidia marginata. The consistency between the data and the model suggests that foraging economics could provide a robust functional basis in explaining the relationship between colony size and productivity.     

Selection on social traits in greater spear-nosed bats, Phyllostomus hastatus

Many studies assume that selection molds social traits and have investigated the manner in which this occurs, yet very few studies have measured the strength of selection on social traits in natural populations. In this paper, I report results of phenotypic selection analyses on two social traits – the size of social groups and the frequency of group foraging – in Phyllostomus hastatus, the greater spear-nosed bat. I found significant positive directional selection on individual group foraging frequency, but no directional selection on individuals in different-sized social groups. These results have implications for the structure of social groups, cooperative behavior among group mates, and maternal investment strategies. I argue that combining studies of natural selection on wild populations with experiments to identify the agents and mechanisms of selection can do much to increase our understanding of social evolution.