羊尿对典型草原不同生活型草地植物生长特性的影响

连续2a研究了施尿量(4,2,1L/m2和0 L/m2)和施尿期(营养期和生殖期)对典型草原多年生密丛型禾本科植物长芒草(Stipa bungeana)、多年生轴根型菊科植物茵陈蒿(Artemisia capillaries)和多年生半灌木豆科植物胡枝子(Lespedeza davurica)生长特性的影响.结果表明,不同植物对畜尿沉积的响应不同,并受施尿量和施尿时期的作用.畜尿对草地植物具短期(4周内)灼烧作用,灼烧主要发生于尿斑中心;畜尿对长芒草生长具长期正效应(4周后),对茵陈蒿和胡枝子生长具持续负效应,此效应持续至少2a且随施尿量降低而降低.一般尿斑中心(4 L/m2)所有植物伤害,尿斑中心至边缘圈植物局部器官(嫩枝叶)伤害(2～4 L/m2),尿斑外渗区域(1～2 L/m2)所有植物无显著伤害.高施尿量(2～4 L/m2)下,长芒草具较高的年均分蘖数和地上生物量,而胡枝子和茵陈蒿与之相反.尿斑处3种植物具较高的分蘖(枝)死亡率和死物质率.茵陈蒿对各时期施尿均反应敏感,胡枝子和长芒草对生殖期施尿更敏感.尿斑处禾草枯黄期延迟,返青期提前.     

草地放牧系统中土壤-植被系统各因子对放牧响应的研究进展

基于草业系统界面理论,综述了草地放牧系统中草地土壤-植被因子对放牧的响应以及放牧条件下植物的补偿性生长,认为在大气候一致的区域,放牧强度对植物群落的影响大于其他环境因子,从而成为影响植物群落特征的主导因子;科学的放牧制度和合理的放牧强度可以改善土壤结构,增强土壤对外界环境变化的抵抗力,否则会导致土壤质量下降,加速土壤侵蚀与退化;放牧家畜采食对植物生产力的影响和植物的补偿性生长是一般的生态学过程,但超补偿性生长与植物被采食前后的状况和环境条件密切相关,也与草地的放牧史有较强关系。因此,建议在研究草地放牧系统时,应以草场本身的条件和动态特征加以评价,用动态规划和系统优化模型,对草地的持续利用和畜牧业的可持续发展进行动态模拟,建立草地放牧管理专家系统。     

模拟放牧斑块与氮素添加对半干旱草原群落植物生长的影响

放牧时,动物采食及其排泄物会影响植物的生长,但动物彩食及其排泄物的空间异质性可能会影响这咱效应.在位于我国北方典型农牧交错区的内蒙古多伦县,我们研究了模拟入牧斑块和施氧肥对植物生长的影响,实验采用模拟放牧采食斑块(观割半径分别0、10、20、40和8cm)和土壤施氮(分别为0、5、20Gn\m2)两种处理,植物地上部收获后分为绿体和立柯两部分,并分析其含氮量.结果表明,刈割降低了植物的生物量(40.5%),而施氮可增加生物量(57.8%)刈割交通规则植物生长的抑制作用在面积最水又施肥的斑块上表现更明显.土壤施氮可以促进杜物生长并且影响刈割效应.同时植物的绿-枯比阻碍施氮水平的增回而增回,因此氮会延迟植物的衰老.以上结果表明,刈割(模拟动物采食)斑块的大小会影响草原植物的生长,土壤施氮(模拟动物尿氮)可以提高草原生态系统的初级生产力,并影响刈割效应.     

放牧家畜的践踏作用研究评述

放牧家畜的践踏作用是家畜作用于草地的 3个途径之一 ,相对于采食和排泄物的作用具有作用时间长、直接作用的草地组分多和效果持久的特点。家畜践踏损伤牧草、埋实种子、促进萌发 ,减少凋落物的现存量 ,增加土壤的紧实度、容重 ,降低土壤孔隙度、水稳性团聚体、透水性和透气性 ,导致雨后水涝和植物根区缺氧 ,引发水土流失。国内外使用的 4种践踏强度指标分别存在不确定性大、忽视践踏强度的时间依赖性和畜种间差异、没有考虑放牧行为及其时间分配模式等问题 ,分析认为践踏强度应为家畜放牧行为、不同行为的持续时间、家畜体重、放牧地面积和坡度的函数。家畜的践踏作用因草地的健康状况差异而与之存在正或负的反馈机制以及践踏强度阈值 ,可能在草地退化和健康维护中起主导作用。今后需建立严格的研究方法和科学的践踏强度指标 ,重视草地植被对践踏的耐受阈限、践踏对牧草更新的调控机理及其对凋落物产生和分解的影响 ,以及土壤水分与践踏作用的关系 ,确定放牧系统的践踏强度阈值。     

放牧对呼伦贝尔草地植物和土壤生态化学计量学特征的影响

放牧通过畜体采食、践踏和排泄物归还影响草地群落组成、植物形态和土壤养分,植物通过改变养分利用策略适应环境变化。通过分析呼伦贝尔草原放牧和围封样地中的群落植物和土壤的碳氮磷养分及化学计量比,探讨放牧对生态系统化学计量学特征和养分循环速率的影响机制。结果如下:(1)群落尺度上,放牧和围封草地植物叶片C、N和P的含量没有显著差异;但是在种群尺度上,放牧草地植物叶片N含量显著高于围封草地;(2)放牧草地土壤全C、全N、有机C、速效P含量,低于围封草地,硝态N含量高于围封草地;土壤全P和铵态N指标没有显著差异;(3)放牧草地植物C∶N比显著低于围封草地,植物残体分解速率较快,提高了生态系统养分循环速率。     

模拟放牧斑块与氮素添加对半干旱草原群落植物生长的影响(英文)

放牧时,动物采食及其排泄物会影响植物的生长,但动物采食及其排泄物的空间异质性可能会影响这种效应。在位于我国北方典型农牧交错区的内蒙古多伦县,我们研究了模拟放牧斑块和施氮肥对植物生长的影响,实验采用模拟放牧采食斑块(刈割半径分别为0、10、20、40和80 cm)和土壤施氮(分别为0、5、10、20 g N/m2)两种处理,植物地上部收获后分为绿体和立枯两部分,并分析其含氮量。结果表明,刈割降低了植物的生物量(41.5％),而施氮可增加生物量(57.8％)。刈割对植物生长的抑制作用在面积最小又施肥的斑块上表现更明显。土壤施氮可以促进植物生长并且影响刈割效应。同时植物的绿-枯比随施氮水平的增加而增加,因此氮会延迟植物的衰老。以上结果表明,刈割(模拟动物采食)斑块的大小会影响草原植物的生长,土壤施氮(模拟动物尿氮)可以提高草原生态系统的初级生产力,并且影响刈割效应。     

放牧家畜类型对内蒙古典型草原植物多样性和群落结构的影响

放牧家畜是调控草原植物多样性的重要因素, 探究不同家畜类型及其放牧行为下植物多样性的响应, 有助于全面理解草原植物多样性维持机制。该研究以内蒙古大学野外实验基地放牧控制实验为平台, 研究了中等放牧强度下不同家畜类型(牛、山羊、绵羊)及其选择性采食和聚集性放牧行为对植物α、β和γ多样性以及群落结构的影响。结果表明: (1)中等强度放牧牛、山羊和绵羊均在一定程度上提高了植物α、β和γ多样性。其中, 牛对植物多样性的提升作用最大且具有显著性。(2) 3种家畜放牧均显著改变了植物群落结构。绵羊的选择性采食导致下层优势物种糙隐子草(Cleistogenes squarrosa)的相对多度显著降低, 使其与牛或山羊放牧导致的群落结构变化趋势相反。(3) 3种家畜具有不同的牧草选择和放牧聚集行为。牛和山羊放牧使上层优势种羊草(Leymus chinensis)和大针茅(Stipa grandis)以及下层优势种糙隐子草地上生物量均显著降低, 而绵羊放牧仅使糙隐子草地上生物量显著降低。此外, 牛的采食空间聚集性显著低于山羊和绵羊。(4)植物多样性随上层或下层优势种地上生物量增加而显著降低或呈下降趋势, 表明放牧家畜能够通过抑制优势种生物量来提高植物多样性。(5)植物多样性随家畜采食空间聚集程度增加而显著降低或表现出下降趋势, 说明较低的放牧聚集性有利于植物多样性的维持。该研究表明, 内蒙古典型草原植物多样性保护和持续管理体系需要同时考虑放牧强度和家畜类型的影响。     

放牧胁迫下沙质草地植被的受损过程

通过在科尔沁沙地为期5a的放牧试验,分析探讨了过牧条件下沙质草地植被的受损过程。试验结果表明,持续过牧下,植被严重受损。其基本过程是,随着植物茎叶被大量啃食,草地群落盖度、高度和地上现存生物量急剧下降,连续过牧5a已分别较禁牧区低82．1％、94．0％和97．9％。但草地的净初级生产力(现存生物量 家畜采食量)下降幅度较小,第5年仍为禁牧的49．5％,而其被家畜啃食的净牧草量与现存生物量的比值高达23：1,远远高于中牧和轻牧的1：1和0．3：1水平。过牧下,物种丰富度、植物多样性和均匀度也急剧下降。第5年分别为禁牧区的35．0％、29．8％和45．9％,家畜喜食的多年生和1年生植物被不喜食的1年生植物所取代,劣质牧草比例达到86％,草地生活型趋于简单。随着地上净初级生产力的下降,地下生物量也趋于下降．根层分布浅层化。在这一退化过程的后期,由于地面裸露,风沙活动强烈,植被退化进程加速,这和草甸草原植被放牧所引起的退化存在明显区别。轻牧和中牧对草地群落盖度、高度和现存生物量也有很大影响．但试验期内对草地物种丰富度和植物多样性尚未产生明显影响。     

放牧对牧草光合作用、呼吸作用和氮、碳吸收与转运的影响

研究放牧对草地植物生理活动的影响,对于揭示草地放牧演替的生理机制有重要意义.大量研究表明,家畜放牧对牧草光合作用、呼吸作用以及C和N吸收与转运的影响,可以分为生理伤害和生理恢复2个阶段.放牧通过改变草地冠层结构影响牧草光合作用,净光合作用速率短期内迅速下降,随着叶面积指数增加又逐渐上升,呼吸作用有相似的变化趋势.牧草放牧后再生长所需的C和N最初主要来自根系和留茬中的贮藏物质,此后随着牧草生长恢复逐渐由同化作用供给,C代谢与土壤N水平负相关.放牧后牧草生理活动变化与牧草遗传特性、种间竞争、家畜放牧特征、非生物环境等因素密切相关.     

放牧家畜组合对高寒草地植物群落特征及生产力的影响

为明晰中等放牧强度下不同放牧家畜组合如何调控高寒草地地上净初级生产力,进而提高高寒草地管理水平,本研究以青藏高原东端高寒草地为对象,设置中等放牧强度下不同放牧家畜组合样地(牦牛、藏羊单独放牧及1∶2混合放牧)和不放牧样地,分析了不同放牧家畜组合下高寒草地植物群落特征、土壤理化性质及地上净初级生产力变化。结果表明：不同放牧家畜组合对物种丰富度与多样性指数无显著影响,但显著降低高寒草地植物群落的高度与盖度,并改变功能群重要值占比;藏羊单独放牧显著增加高寒草地土壤速效氮、磷含量以及土壤容重;放牧弱化高寒草地植物多样性对地上净初级生产力的调控作用并加强土壤环境因子的作用强度;牦牛、藏羊混合放牧时高寒草地地上净初级生产力、家畜采食量均最高。为提升高寒草地管理水平,建议基于中等放牧强度进行牦牛、藏羊适宜比例的混合放牧,采用植被-家畜-土壤耦合管理方式以实现高寒草地生态功能维持与可持续利用。     

Animal Suffering: Representations and the Act of Looking

Animal advocacy uses images of nonhuman suffering as a form of normative rhetoric and a method of persuasion. Although much attention has been given to various facets of the depiction of human suffering, images of animal suffering have, to a large extent, escaped closer scrutiny. This paper seeks to remedy the situation by investigating four issues—the risk of aesthetics, the risk of perpetuating moral wrongs, the problem of privacy, and compassion fatigue—as they relate to images of farmed animal suffering. The paper will argue that images of nonhuman suffering are in danger of being interpreted as a form of visual intrigue, and that they invite seldom-asked questions concerning the justification of the act of looking, together with the privacy of nonhuman animals. Moreover, it will be maintained that compassion fatigue commonly affects how these images are perceived. Making use of the views of Susan Sontag, J. M. Coetzee, and Stanley Cohen (among others), it will be argued that, in order to escape the problematic connotations and consequences of the aforementioned issues, a normative dimension pointing toward action must be explicated.     

Ethical considerations and animal welfare in ecological field studies

This paper addresses some of the ethical and welfare considerations implicit in the application of general techniques in common use during the course of collecting data in ecological field work. Even if they are not explicitly constructed as manipulative experiments, many field studies involve some degree of intervention during routine monitoring programmes: through disturbance caused merely by the presence of an observer or where specific sampling techniques themselves involve capture, handling and marking. Such interventive techniques may cause discomfort, distress or loss of fitness, even in the extreme may result in incidental mortality — and the ethical scientist should critically evaluate the implications of each methodology before adopting any procedure. The paper reviews by way of example the types of objective information now available for both small and larger mammals in relation to: (i) distress and mortality during capture operations; (ii) mortality or distress caused at the time by marking; (iii) longer-term consequences of handling and marking in terms of subsequent [delayed] mortality or loss of fitness, before considering a formal framework for assessment of costs and benefits of any given field programme.     

我国资源动物的实验动物化潜力与展望

实验动物资源建设不仅是实验动物学科发展的基础性核心工作,也是生命科学发展的关键性支撑保障条件之一。目前,已有的实验动物资源难以解决伴随着生命科学研究快速发展而涌现出来的新问题,因此需要开发新的实验动物品种（实验动物新资源的RD则是当前迫切需要解决的问题）。本文对近年来我国资源动物实验动物化工作的现状及进展做一综述,提出存在的问题和解决问题的建议,与大家共同探讨。     

The ABC-D of animal linguistics: are syntax and compositionality for real?

In several animal species, an alarm call (e.g. ABC notes in the Japanese tit Parus minor) can be immediately followed by a recruitment call (e.g. D notes) to yield a complex call that triggers a third behaviour, namely mobbing. This has been taken to be an argument for animal syntax and compositionality (i.e. the property by which the meaning of a complex expression depends on the meaning of its parts and the way they are put together). Several additional discoveries were made across species. First, in some cases, animals respond with mobbing to the order alarm–recruitment but not to the order recruitment–alarm. Second, animals sometimes respond similarly to functionally analogous heterospecific calls they have never heard before, and/or to artificial hybrid sequences made of conspecific and heterospecific calls in the same order, thus adding an argument for the productivity of the relevant rules. We consider the details of these arguments for animal syntax and compositionality and argue that, with one important exception (Japanese tit ABC-D sequences), they currently remain ambiguous: there are reasonable alternatives on which each call is a separate utterance and is interpreted as such (‘trivial compositionality’). More generally, we propose that future studies should argue for animal syntax and compositionality by explicitly pitting the target theory against two deflationary analyses: the ‘only one expression’ hypothesis posits that there is no combination in the first place, for example just a simplex ABCD call; while the ‘separate utterances’ hypothesis posits that there are separate expressions (e.g. ABC and D), but that they form separate utterances and are neither syntactically nor semantically combined.     

我国实验动物科学带来的动物伦理及福利问题

实验动物是在一定条件下人工饲养繁殖,具有特定的生物学特性,用于科学研究的动物。实验动物是生命科学研究不可缺少的支撑条件,是为人类的健康和发展作出贡献和牺牲的生命体。实验动物科学包括实验动物和动物实验两个方面,是生命科学的重要分支。随着人类社会、经济和文化的发展,动物福利和动物伦理问题已经全面渗透到了实验动物科学乃至生命科学的各个领域之中。在我国,实验动物科学带来的伦理问题主要表现为：缺乏相应的法律法规,对虐杀实验动物的现象缺乏管理,违背实验动物伦理的技术操作现象依然存在,动物保护主义者和实验动物科学工作者之间的矛盾,等等。动物伦理学在中国出现的社会原因是：改革开放后经济的快速发展促使人们的观念转变,与国际的交往促进了东西方文化的交融,同时也是近十几年来教育的结果。近年来,我国实验动物科学领域内关于伦理问题和动物福利的研究进展迅速,实验动物纪念碑的出现和＂3R＂研究概念的传入是其主要表现。改善实验动物的生活条件,杜绝虐杀实验动物的现象,规范动物实验的技术操作,尽快制定和完善相关的法律法规,是进一步努力的目标;而落实组织措施,成立动物伦理委员会及专家组,加强与国际上的交流,推动＂3R＂研究的进展,扩大对社会的宣传,支持爱护动物的行为,注重与动物保护组织的理解及沟通等,是为达到这一目标应采取的措施。     

The Bee Battles: Karl von Frisch,Adrian Wenner and the Honey Bee Dance Language Controversy

In 1967, American biologist Adrian Wenner (1928–) launched an extensive challenge to Karl von Frisch’s (1886–1982) theory that bees communicate to each other the direction and distance of food sources by a symbolic dance language. Wenner and various collaborators argued that bees locate foods solely by odors. Although the dispute had largely run its course by 1973 – von Frisch was awarded a Nobel Prize, while Wenner withdrew from active bee research – it offers us a rare window into mid-twentieth century discussions about animals, language, and cognition. Historians, sociologists, and scientists have commented on the debate and its outcome, but none has seriously questioned why von Frisch and Wenner pursued such different explanations of the bees’ dances. In this paper, I explore von Frisch and Wenner’s differing visions of animals and their behaviors and show how these contributed to their respective positions. Von Frisch’s early-twentieth-century training in experimental physiology disposed him to focus on individual animals, their abilities, and their behaviors’ evolutionary significance. Wenner, by contrast, was trained in mathematics and statistics and the Schneirla school of behavior. He viewed the bees’ behaviors probabilistically with an eye toward the entire hive and its surroundings and ultimately explained them in terms of simple stimulus–response conditioning. Finally, while the debate was resolved in von Frisch’s favor, he neither waged nor won the battle by himself. Instead, I show that practitioners, whose agendas ranged from the nascent fields of sociobiology to cognitive ethology, took up the cause of the communicating bees. Winner of the 2005 International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology Marjorie Grene Graduate Student Essay Prize.     

Sarcocystosis among Wild Captive and Zoo Animals in Malaysia

Sarcocystis sp. infection was investigated in 20 necropsied captive wild mammals and 20 birds in 2 petting zoos in Malaysia. The gross post-mortem lesions in mammals showed marbling of the liver with uniform congestion of the intestine, and for birds, there was atrophy of the sternal muscles with hemorrhage and edema of the lungs in 2 birds. Naked eye examination was used for detection of macroscopic sarcocysts, and muscle squash for microscopic type. Only microscopically visible cysts were detected in 8 animals and species identification was not possible. Histological examination of the sections of infected skeletal muscles showed more than 5 sarcocysts in each specimen. No leukocytic infiltration was seen in affected organs. The shape of the cysts was elongated or circular, and the mean size reached 254 × 24.5 µm and the thickness of the wall up to 2.5 µm. Two stages were recognized in the cysts, the peripheral metrocytes and large numbers of crescent shaped merozoites. Out of 40 animals examined, 3 mammals and 5 birds were positive (20%). The infection rate was 15% and 25% in mammals and birds, respectively. Regarding the organs, the infection rate was 50% in the skeletal muscles followed by tongue and heart (37.5%), diaphragm (25%), and esophagus (12.5%). Further ultrastructural studies are required to identify the species of Sarcocystis that infect captive wild animals and their possible role in zoonosis.     

Attitudes toward Animals of Students at Three European Veterinary Medicine Schools in Italy and Spain

The European Veterinary Code of Conduct recognizes the crucial role of veterinarians in improving animal welfare and maintaining its standards. However, several studies have claimed that veterinary students’ attitudes toward animals may worsen as they progress through their academic training. This study aimed to investigate students’ attitudes toward nonhuman animal use in three European veterinary medicine schools (Italy and Spain). For this purpose, 565 veterinary students completed a questionnaire consisting of a range of items grouped into four animal-use categories: “Research,” “Entertainment,” “Utilitarianism,” and “Veterinary Issues.” Items were scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale, with higher scores indicative of higher concern regarding animal welfare. Results showed that the use of animals for “Entertainment” and questions related to “Veterinary Issues” raised the most concern among the veterinary students, while the use of animals for “Research” was of least concern. Moreover, we also examined some potentially confounding factors: age, academic year (first to fifth), gender, previous experience with pets, and university. Female students had a higher concern for animal welfare compared with their male counterparts. Students in their earlier stages of training as veterinarians also exhibited a greater concern for animal welfare compared with those of later academic years. Other factors affecting students’ attitudes toward animal use were the age of the students and the university they were enrolled at. The findings of this study confirm that attitudes toward animal use are not homogeneous and are associated with students’ demographic, educational, and personal characteristics.     

Pliocene Animal Trackways at Laetoli: Research and Conservation Potential

Laetoli, a paleoanthropological site in Northern Tanzania, is perhaps best known for its famous fossil hominid footprints that were discovered by Mary Leakey and her co-workers in 1978. The site not only preserves the hominid footprints but also trackways, which provide a snapshot of Pliocene faunal communities from East Africa and their inferred environments. Unlike the hominid footprints at site G, which have received tremendous attention, the animal trackways, especially at Localities 7, 8 and 10 have been neglected and are fast disappearing. In this paper, we discuss animal tracks at a newly discovered exposure and provide preliminary data on the tracks at this exposure and other sites. We also discuss the importance of the animal trackways as ecological indicators, which we have investigated as part of ongoing research and conservation efforts initiated by the Tanzania Field School in Paleoanthropology and the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) Tanzania Semester Abroad programs.