Application of cryopreservation techniques to islet cell allotransplantation

This study continues our investigations in the area of canine islet cell cryopreservation. Islet cell allografts were frozen using a simple method to ?196 °C with rapid freezing rates and dimethyl sulfoxide as the cryoprotectant. Good in vitro viability was observed using trypan blue dye exclusion. After intrasplenic transplantation, grafts which did not reject were able to maintain normoglycemia for periods of greater than 60 days. The use of either Cy A as an immunosuppressant or ALG as a graft pretreatment contributed to prolongation of allograft survival in these long-term surviving recipients. These results encourage further studies in this area for potential future clinical application of this technique to human pancreas.     

Properties of selected mutations and genotypic landscapes under Fisher's geometric model

The fitness landscape—the mapping between genotypes and fitness—determines properties of the process of adaptation. Several small genotypic fitness landscapes have recently been built by selecting a handful of beneficial mutations and measuring fitness of all combinations of these mutations. Here, we generate several testable predictions for the properties of these small genotypic landscapes under Fisher's geometric model of adaptation. When the ancestral strain is far from the fitness optimum, we analytically compute the fitness effect of selected mutations and their epistatic interactions. Epistasis may be negative or positive on average depending on the distance of the ancestral genotype to the optimum and whether mutations were independently selected, or coselected in an adaptive walk. Simulations show that genotypic landscapes built from Fisher's model are very close to an additive landscape when the ancestral strain is far from the optimum. However, when it is close to the optimum, a large diversity of landscape with substantial roughness and sign epistasis emerged. Strikingly, small genotypic landscapes built from several replicate adaptive walks on the same underlying landscape were highly variable, suggesting that several realizations of small genotypic landscapes are needed to gain information about the underlying architecture of the fitness landscape.     

Microbial community structure in moraine lakes and glacial meltwaters, Mount Everest

The bacterial diversity and abundance in two moraine lakes and two glacial meltwaters (5140, 5152, 5800 and 6350 m above sea level, respectively) in the remote Mount Everest region were examined through 16S rRNA gene clone library and flow cytometry approaches. In total, 247 clones were screened by RFLP and 60 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained, belonging to the following groups: Proteobacteria (8% alpha subdivision, 21% beta subdivision, and 1% gamma subdivision), Cytophaga-Flavobacteria-Bacteroides (CFB) (54%), Actinobacteria (4%), Planctomycetes (2%), Verrucomicrobia (2%), Fibrobacteres (1%) and Eukaryotic chroloplast (3%), respectively. The high dominance of CFB distinguished the Mount Everest waters from other mountain lakes. The highest bacterial abundance and diversity occurred in the open moraine lake at 5152 m, and the lowest in the glacial meltwater at 6350 m. Low temperature at high altitude is considered to be critical for component dominancy. At the same altitude, nutrient availability plays a role in regulating population structure. Our results also show that the bacteria in Mount Everest may be derived from different sources.     

江西九连山常绿阔叶林优势种群的年龄结构与分布格局

以江西九连山常绿阔叶林为研究对象,用"空间序列代替时间变化"的方法,应用统计软件对该地区常绿阔叶林群落优势种群的年龄结构特征和分布格局进行线性回归分析。结果表明:润楠的存活曲线表现为极显著的线性关系,罗浮栲与赤楠等种群的存活曲线表现为显著的线性关系;种群的年龄结构既有稳定型或增长型,也有衰退波动型,如木荷、润楠等种群的年龄结构为稳定增长型,拟赤杨、枫香等种群的年龄结构为衰退型,丝线吊芙蓉、罗浮槭、鹿角栲等种群的年龄结构由稳定型趋向衰退型。应用聚集度指标、方差和均值比率、负二项式分布等方法研究各主要优势种群的分布格局,结果为构成群落乔木层的12个主要优势种群的分布格局均属聚集分布,并符合负二项式分布。     

九连山自然保护区兰科植物资源分布及其特点

九连山自然保护区是江西兰科植物集中分布的地区之一。据调查,保护区有30属63种,以地生兰占优势,有20属（45种）;附生兰9属（15种）;腐生兰2属（3种）。其中单种属16个,占九连山兰科植物总属数的53.3%。与邻近地区相比,九连山自然保护区兰科植物与广东南岭自然保护区共有属最多（24属）,与甘肃麦积山共有属最少（11属）。九连山自然保护区兰科植物属的地理成分可划分为9个分布型和2个变型,种的分布以温带分布为主体,以东亚分布为核心,占总种数的38.1%。     

五台山亚高山土壤真菌海拔分布格局与构建机制

生物多样性的海拔分布格局与维持机制是生物多样性与生态系统功能研究的热点领域。尽管微生物驱动着地球上许多重要的生物地球化学循环,但与大型生物体相比,对微生物多样性海拔梯度分布格局知之甚少。运用Illumina Miseq高通量测序技术,全面分析了五台山亚高山生态系统（海拔2000-3058 m范围内）土壤真菌群落组成和多样性变化特征。结果表明,子囊菌门（Ascomycota）、担子菌门（Basidiomycota）、接合菌门（Zygomycota）、壶菌门（Chytridimycota）为主要的优势菌门。非度量多维尺度分析（NMDS）和相似性分析（ANOSIM）表明真菌群落组成和结构在海拔梯度上存在显著的差异（P<0.05）。典范对应分析（CCA）显示pH、植物丰富度、总碳含量与土壤真菌群落结构存在显著相关性（P<0.05）。局域海拔尺度上,土壤真菌多样性与植物多样性（α和β多样性）呈显著正相关关系（P<0.05）。方差分解分析（VPA）和偏Mantel分析表明土壤真菌群落构建过程中,环境因子和空间变量都起作用,并且环境因子占绝对的优势。土壤真菌群落之间的Bray-Curtis距离与海拔距离呈显著正相关关系（P<0.05）,说明环境选择是亚高山土壤真菌海拔分布格局的决定因素。总之,五台山亚高山沿海拔梯度土壤真菌群落结构和多样性产生明显的变化,群落构建主要由确定性过程和随机过程驱动,但确定性过程占主导地位。土壤pH、植物丰富度、总碳含量是影响土壤真菌群落结构的重要因素。     

Bird pollination syndrome is the plant's adaptation to ornithophily,but nectarivorous birds are not so selective

Many tropical plants are pollinated by birds and several bird phylogenetical lineages have specialised to a nectar diet. The long-assumed, intimate ecological and evolutionary relationship between ornithophilous plants and phenotypically specialised nectarivorous birds has nevertheless been questioned in recent decades, where such plant–pollinator interactions have been shown to be highly generalised. In our study, we analysed two extensive interaction datasets: bird–flower and insect–flower interactions, both collected on Mt Cameroon, west-central Africa. We tested if: 1) insects and birds interact with distinct groups of plants; 2) plants with a typical set of ornithophilous floral traits (i.e. bird pollination syndrome) interact mainly with birds; 3) birds favour plants with bird pollination syndrome and; 4) if and how the individual floral traits and plant level nectar production predict bird visitation. Bird-visited plants were typically also visited by insects, while approximately half of the plants were visited by insects only. We confirmed the validity of the bird pollination syndrome hypothesis, as plants with bird-pollination syndrome traits were visited by birds at a higher rate and mostly hosted a lower frequency of visiting insects. However, these ornithophilous plants were not more attractive than the other plants for nectar-feeding birds. Nectar production per plant individual was a better predictor of bird visitation than any other floral trait traditionally related to the bird pollination syndrome. Our study thus demonstrated the highly asymmetrical relationship between ornithophilous plants and nectarivorous birds.     

五台山文化景观遗产突出普遍价值及其保护探讨

世界文化景观遗产的申报,是近年来国内越来越关注的话题,作为中国第一个成功以文化景观列入世界遗产名录的案例,五台山的申报过程为中国的文化景观遗产申报与研究提供了很多线索,尤其在突出普遍价值的认识及其保护管理方面,更是积累了一定的经验,同时也引发了新的思考。经过申报前后对遗产价值标准的对比研究及对保护管理的重新思考,认识到文化景观必须将自然、文化作为一个整体加以认知和保护,尤其要研究人与自然之间的作用机制,重视其中活态遗产的保护和展示。     

Characteristics of Mount Graham Red Squirrel Nest Sites in a Mixed Conifer Forest

Abstract: The Mount Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) is constrained to the Pinaleño Mountains in southeastern Arizona, USA. The population's endangered status and extensive forest damage from insects and fire warrants a better understanding of habitat variables important for nest site selection. We examined characteristics of cavity (n = 91) and drey (n = 38) nests and compared these to random sites (n = 113). Dreys were found primarily in Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and corkbark fir (Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica). Cavity nests occurred primarily in aspen (Populus tremuloides) and corkbark fir. Squirrels selected nest sites with higher canopy cover and more corkbark fir, decayed logs, and living trees. Forest management plans emphasizing thinning must consider how altering these habitat characteristics could affect availability and suitability of tree stands for nesting squirrels.