The relationship between the reduction of nonstructural carbohydrate induced by defoliator and the growth and mortality of trees

Large scale herbivorous insect outbreaks can cause death of regional forests, and the events are expected to be exacerbated with climate change. Mortality of forest and woodland plants would cause a series of serious consequences, such as decrease in vegetation production, shifts in ecosystem structure and function, and transformation of forest function from a net carbon sink into a net carbon source. There is thus a need to better understand the impact of insects on trees. Defoliation by insect pests mainly reduces photosynthesis (source decrease) and increases carbon consumption (sink increase), and hence causes reduction of nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC). When the reduction in NSC reaches to a certain level, trees would die of carbon starvation. External environment and internal compensatory mechanisms can also positively or negatively influence the process of tree death. At present, the research of carbon starvation is a hotspot because the increase of tree mortality globally with climate change, and carbon starvation is considered as one of the dominating physiological mechanisms for explaining tree death. In this study, we reviewed the definition of carbon starvation, and the relationships between the reduction of NSC induced by defoliation and the growth and death of trees, and the relationships among insect outbreaks, leaf loss and climate change. We also presented the potential directions of future studies on insect-caused defoliation and tree mortality.     

弓形虫SAGI基因的克隆与原核表达

华中农业大学农业微生物学国家重点实验室和该校动物医学院的王金苹、赵俊龙、江涛等7位科学工作者利用PCR技术从弓形虫RH株基因组中扩增出SAGI部分基因片段,亚克隆入表达载体pGEXKG,将重组质粒导入大肠杆菌BL21,IPTG诱导表达,SDS-PAGE电泳显示表达的重组蛋白的分子量为56ku。     

《昆虫知识》2010年第47卷第3期要目预告

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研究表明蝗虫走路不凭“感”觉靠“视觉”

一项新研究发现，蝗虫并不是靠“感觉”走路，而是依靠“视觉”精确定位自己的每一步，这表明人类可能低估了蝗虫的视觉导向系统。此前研究表明，昆虫大多靠触角等器官凭“感觉”行走或飞行，依靠视觉引导行走对于脑部较小的昆虫来说似乎过于高级。     

昆虫与寄主植物的适应性及协调进化

昆虫与寄主植物的适应性及协调进化钦俊德（中国科学院动物研究所北京１０００８０）昆虫和植物都是地球上起源很早的生物类群。从化石的证据来推断，它们至少在３亿多年前已生活在一起，在不同地域建立起密切关系的生物群落。它们中不同的种类为了自身的生存和发展，并根...