四川省自然保护区时空分布与影响因素

自然保护区是为保护具有代表性的生态系统和濒危动植物而划分的特定区域,在涵养水土,防风固沙、净化空气、保护生物多样性等方面发挥着重要作用。四川省有自然保护区166处,类型丰富多样,是中国自然保护地体系的重要组成部分,其保护对象涵盖珍稀动植物,保护功能涉及物种、水源和生态环境,与国家地质公园、湿地公园、森林公园等共同维系着中国西南地区,乃至青藏高原东缘的生态系统。因此,研究四川省自然保护区的空间分布格局及其影响因素具有重要的价值和意义。运用地理空间分析方法对1963-2018年间四川省自然保护区的空间分布和影响因素进行了研究。研究发现:①四川省自然保护区空间分布的总体特征以集聚为主,呈现集聚-随机-集聚的变化特征,且前期变化幅度大,后期变化幅度小,总体发展明显分为1963-1998年的单核形成与发展阶段和1998-2018年的双核阶段;②四川省自然保护区主要分布在成都平原向川西高原的过渡区域,其均衡度类型在时间上表现出由"差距悬殊"到"差距较大"的演变特征;③四川省自然保护区的重心活动范围相对较小,基本稳定在阿坝州南部。标准差椭圆的长短半轴和面积均变化强烈,总体呈现出大幅度的增长,空间分布由南-北向演变为东北-西南向;④自然保护区受到自然因素和社会因素的双重影响,高密度区域分布在地势适中、气候温和、河流众多、土壤肥沃、人口稀少的阿坝州南部与东部地区。未来,四川省生态功能建设应该立足国家公园、自然保护区和自然公园的特点、分布状况,对自然保护区分布较少的川西北、川东北和川南部分地区进行优化布局,以加强这些地区的生态功能建设。同时,探索自然保护区的发展模式,实现自然保护区与周边区域社会经济的协调发展。     

青藏高原草地承载力空间演变特征及其预警

为研究青藏高原草地承载力的空间演变特征并对其进行预警，以已有的青藏高原净初级生产力数据为基础，核算了该地区的草地理论载畜量及演变趋势，并结合县域实际存栏量，划定了草地承载力的预警等级。结果表明：（1）青藏高原草地承载力整体呈东高西低的格局，其中高寒草原和高寒草甸是该地区草地承载力的主要组成部分；（2）2000-2015年，青藏高原理论载畜量由8614.89万羊单位增至9451.53万羊单位；（3）青藏高原整体处于超载状态，2000-2010年超载状况加剧，至2015年超载状况稍有缓解，草畜平衡指数由67.88%增至79.90%，再降至67.91%。目前亟需优先控制72个红色预警县（超载状态正在加剧）的牲畜存栏量，避免超载状况进一步恶化。未来需要通过控制牲畜存栏量、调整畜牧区发展布局和提高草地生产力等多项措施的结合来改善青藏高原地区的草地承载状况，维持草地生态系统的可持续发展。     

Probing the U-Shaped Conformation of Caveolin-1 in a Bilayer

Caveolin induces membrane curvature and drives the formation of caveolae that participate in many crucial cell functions such as endocytosis. The central portion of caveolin-1 contains two helices (H1 and H2) connected by a three-residue break with both N- and C-termini exposed to the cytoplasm. Although a U-shaped configuration is assumed based on its inaccessibility by extracellular matrix probes, caveolin structure in a bilayer remains elusive. This work aims to characterize the structure and dynamics of caveolin-1 (D82–S136; Cav1_82–136) in a DMPC bilayer using NMR, fluorescence emission measurements, and molecular dynamics simulations. The secondary structure of Cav1_82–136 from NMR chemical shift indexing analysis serves as a guideline for generating initial structural models. Fifty independent molecular dynamics simulations (100 ns each) are performed to identify its favorable conformation and orientation in the bilayer. A representative configuration was chosen from these multiple simulations and simulated for 1 μs to further explore its stability and dynamics. The results of these simulations mirror those from the tryptophan fluorescence measurements (i.e., Cav1_82–136 insertion depth in the bilayer), corroborate that Cav1_82–136 inserts in the membrane with U-shaped conformations, and show that the angle between H1 and H2 ranges from 35 to 69°, and the tilt angle of Cav1_82–136 is 27 ± 6°. The simulations also reveal that specific faces of H1 and H2 prefer to interact with each other and with lipid molecules, and these interactions stabilize the U-shaped conformation.     

Deconstructing the long-standing a priori assumption that serial homology generally involves ancestral similarity followed by anatomical divergence

It has long been assumed that serial homologues are ancestrally similar—polysomerism resulting from a “duplication” or “repetition” of forms—and then often diverge—anisomerism, for example, as they become adapted to perform different tasks as is the case with the forelimb and hind limbs of humans. However, such an assumption, with crucial implications for comparative, evolutionary, and developmental biology, and for evolutionary developmental biology, has in general not really been tested by a broad analysis of the available empirical data. Perhaps not surprisingly, more recent anatomical comparisons, as well as molecular knowledge of how, for example, serial appendicular structures are patterned along with different anteroposterior regions of the body axis of bilateral animals, and how “homologous” patterning domains do not necessarily mark “homologous” morphological domains, are putting in question this paradigm. In fact, apart from showing that many so-called “serial homologues” might not be similar at all, recent works have shown that in at least some cases some “serial” structures are indeed more similar to each other in derived taxa than in phylogenetically more ancestral ones, as pointed out by authors such as Owen. In this article, we are taking a step back to question whether such assumptions are actually correct at all, in the first place. In particular, we review other cases of so-called “serial homologues” such as insect wings, arthropod walking appendages, Dipteran thoracic bristles, and the vertebrae, ribs, teeth, myomeres, feathers, and hairs of chordate animals. We show that: (a) there are almost never cases of true ancestral similarity; (b) in evolution, such structures—for example, vertebra—and/or their subparts—for example, “transverse processes”—many times display trends toward less similarity while in many others display trends toward more similarity, that is, one cannot say that there is a clear, overall trend to anisomerism.     

广东省种子植物分布新资料

报道广东省种子植物分布新记录2属——甜茅属(Glyceria R. Br.)及锦鸡儿属(Caragana Fabr.)，2个新记录种——甜茅[Glyceria acutiflora subsp. japonica (Steud.) T. Koyama et Kawano]及锦鸡儿[Caragana sinica (Buc’hoz) Rehder]，均发现于丹霞山国家级自然保护区。新记录的发现对于研究丹霞山的区系发生具有一定指示意义。