Hunting Increases Dispersal Limitation in the Tree Carapa procera, a Nontimber Forest Product

Abstract:  The sustainability of seed extraction from natural populations has been questioned recently. Increased recruitment failure under intense seed harvesting suggests that seed extraction intensifies source limitation. Nevertheless, areas where more seeds are collected tend to also have more intense hunting of seed-dispersing animals. We studied whether such hunting, by limiting disperser activity, could cause quantitative dispersal limitation, especially for large crops and for crops in years of high seed abundance. In each of four Carapa procera (Meliaceae) populations in French Guiana and Surinam, two with hunting and two without, we compared seed fate for individual trees varying in crop size in years of high and low population-level seed abundance. Carapa seeds are a nontimber forest product and depend on dispersal by scatter-hoarding rodents for survival and seedling establishment. Hunting negatively affected the proportion of seeds dispersed and caused greater numbers of seeds to germinate or be infested by moths below parent trees, where they would likely die. Hunting of seed-dispersing animals disproportionally affected large seed crops, but we found no additional effect of population-level seed abundance on dispersal rates. Consistently lower rates of seed dispersal, especially for large seed crops, may translate to lower levels of seedling recruitment under hunting. Our results therefore suggest that the subsistence hunting that usually accompanies seed collection is at the cost of seed dispersal and may contribute to recruitment failure of these nontimber forest products. Seed extraction from natural populations may affect seedling recruitment less if accompanied by measures adequately incorporating and protecting seed dispersers.     

浙产白术市售种子质量的鉴定

根据试验,浙江产白术种子的净度可分为3个等级：一级净度为95％以上,二级净度90％～95％,三级净度90％以下.其发芽率为45％～59％,与种子批次的千粒重密切相关.种子在室外阳光下晒干.含水量可控制在8％～10％,而在室内阴干则与环境的相对湿度密切相关.其千位重的差异与该种子批次内大.中、小粒种子的比例有关,一般种子千粒重为25.60～37.50g.     

Effects of seed aerosols on the growth of secondary organic aerosols from the photooxidation of toluene

Hydroxyl radical （.OH）-initiated photooxidation reaction of toluene was carried out in a self-made smog chamber. Four individual seed aerosols such as ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, sodium silicate and calcium chloride, were introduced into the chamber to assess their influence on the growth of secondary organic aerosols （SOA）. It was found that the low concentration of seed aerosols might lead to high concentration of SOA particles. Seed aerosols would promote rates of SOA formation at the start of the reaction and inhibit its formation rate with prolonging the reaction time. In the case of ca. 9000 pt/cm^3 seed aerosol load, the addition of sodium silicate induced a same effect on the SOA formation as ammonium nitrate. The influence of the four individual seed aerosols on the generation of SOA decreased in the order of calcium chloride〉sodium silicate and ammonium nitrate〉ammonium sulfate.     

Second organic aerosol formation from the ozonolysis of -pinene in the presence of dry submicron ammonium sulfate aerosol

An indoor chamber facility is described for investigation of atmospheric aerosol chemistry. Two sets of α-pinene ozonolysisexperiments were conducted in the presence of dry ammonium sulfate seed particle: ozone limited experiments and α-pinene limitedexperiments. The concentration of gas phase and particle phase species was monitored continuously by on-line instruments andrecorded automatically by data sampling system. The evolution of size distribution was measured by a scanning mobility particlesizer (SMPS), and α-pinene consumed was measured using GC-FID. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) produced for seed-free systemis 100% organic in content, resulting from a sufficient supersaturation of low volatility organics to produce homogeneous nucleationfollowed by condensation to the aerosol. Secondary organic aerosol produced in seeded system is a mixture of organic and inorganicconstituents, initially forms via condensation onto the inorganic particles, and subsequent growth occurs via absorption into the organicsurface coating the inorganic core. Although the formation process and the size distribution for seed-free system and seeded system isdifferent, the ultimate mass of SOA formed is equal, and SOA yield for the two system located in the same regression line when usingone-product model, suggesting that the presence of dry ammonium sulfate seed has no measurable effect on the total aerosol yield, and the dry seed particle acts solely as a site upon which organic deposition occurs.     

土霉素对小麦种子发芽与幼苗生长发育的生态毒性

研究了土霉素对小麦种子发芽以及早期幼苗生长发育的生态毒性效应.结果表明,土霉素对小麦种子芽长及根长的抑制效应显著(p<0.01),而且它们之间具有良好的剂量-效应关系.根据线性回归方程得出土霉素对小麦种子芽长和根长的半抑制浓度为65.5 mg/L和34.7 mg/L.然而,土霉素对小麦种子的发芽率并没有显著的影响.研究还表明,0.15~2.4 mg/L土霉素暴露21 d后,小麦叶片中的叶绿素含量降低了35.6%~47.3%,叶片及根部的可溶性蛋白含量也均呈显著下降趋势.暴露7 d后,0.15~2.4 mg/L土霉素对小麦叶片和根部SOD与POD活性的抑制效应不显著,但随着暴露时间的延长,土霉素对小麦的SOD与POD酶活性抑制率显著下降;2.4 mg/L土霉素暴露21 d后,小麦根部的SOD活性下降72.3%,说明土霉素对小麦幼苗体内的抗氧化系统具有破坏作用.该实验结果显示,低浓度土霉素长期暴露对小麦幼苗的生长发育具有不良的生态毒性效应.     

上流式多级处理厌氧反应器（UMAR）处理棉浆黑液

棉浆黑液是高浓度有机废水,有较好的厌氧可生化性。利用上流式多级处理厌氧反应器处理棉浆黑液,容积负荷在14．4—24kg／（m^3·d）之间,平均COD去除率可达到80％,同时可产生沼气,具有很好的应用前景。     

Effect of seed sludge on characteristics and microbial community of aerobic granular sludge

Aerobic granular sludge was cultivated by using different kinds of seed sludge in sequencing batch airlift reactor.The influence of seed sludge on physical and chemical properties of granular sludge was studied;the microbial community structure was probed by using scanning electron microscope and polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(PCR-DGGE).The results showed that seed sludge played an important role on the formation of aerobic granules.Seed sludge taken from beer wastewater treatment plant(inoculum A) was more suitable for cultivating aerobic granules than that of sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant(inoculum B).Cultivated with inoculum A, large amount of mature granules formed after 35 days operation, its SVI reached 32.75 mL/g, and SOUR of granular sludge was beyond 1.10 mg/(g·min).By contrast, it needed 56 days obtaining mature granules using inoculum B.DGGE profiles indicated that the dominant microbial species in mature granules were 18 and 11 OTU when inoculum A and B were respectively employed as seed sludge.The sequencing results suggested that dominant species in mature granules cultivated by inoculum A were Paracoccus sp., Devosia hwasunensi, Pseudoxanthomonas sp., while the dominant species were Lactococcus raffinolactis and Pseudomonas sp.in granules developed from inoculum B.     

西南部分地区麻疯树种子油的理化性质及脂肪酸组成分析

从西南6个地区采集了麻疯树种子并分析比较了其生物学性状和种子油的理化性质及脂肪酸组成.所有样品的百粒重范围为41.80~71.39g,出仁率60.02%~81.43%,种仁含油率51.76%~57.93%,种子含油率31.07%~47.17%,不饱和脂肪酸含量74.89%~79.68%.其中永胜产麻疯树的种子品质最好,其出仁率为81.43%,种仁含油率57.93%,种子含油率47.17%,不饱和脂肪酸含量79.68%.攀枝花和宁南产麻疯树的种子品质次之.双柏和罗甸麻疯树的种子油酸值为0.81,在所有样品(0.81~9.46)中最低.对麻疯树种子及种子油性质的相关数据进行方差分析,结果表明,产地不同,麻疯树种子的生物学性质、种子油理化性质和脂肪酸组成都有一些差异.图2表3参18     

Changes in the structure of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dactylorhiza incarnata</Emphasis> (L.) Soó population during the overgrowing of a meadow-bog community complex in the Moscow region

The overgrowing of meadow-bog communities by shrubs and trees (age 5–40 years, crown closure 0.4–0.9) leads to a decrease in incident illumination. As a consequence, juvenile and generative plants disappear from D. incarnata population loci, their average ecological density decreases, and the loci enter the state of regression. The digging activity of wild boars disrupts phytocenotically closed groups of longirhizomatous herbs, thereby creating favorable conditions for seed reproduction of D. incarnata. The species begins to form population loci with a complete ontogenetic spectrum and high ecological density, eventually restoring the normal (definitive) population structure.     

Reproduction of the Siberian spruce in the timberline ecotone of the Iremel’ Massif

Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of cones and seeds and the emergence and survival of seedlings in the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) were studied in different parts of the timberline ecotone on the Iremel’ Massif, the Southern Urals, from 2003 to 2006. In the productive year 2003, a decrease in the number of cones (from 110000 to 3000 per hectare), the yield of seeds (from 13 × 10⁶ to 0.09 × 10⁶ per hectare), and their laboratory germination rate (from 34 to 14%) with an increase in elevation above sea level was recorded. In 2004, significant differences in the number of seedlings per hectare were revealed between the lower, middle, and upper parts of the ecotone (85 200, 19 800, and 0–400 ind., respectively). It has been shown that the greater part of seedlings (76–96%) perish during the first cold period. New generations of spruce trees are formed only after productive years. Seed production and seedling mortality in spruce apparently depend not only on air temperature and soil moistening but also on snow depth and soil temperature, which change more abruptly along the altitudinal gradient.