北草蜥个体发育过程中头部两性异形及食性的变化

报道了北草蜥（Ｔａｋｙｄｒｏｍｕｓ ｓｅｐｔｅｎｔｒｉｏｎａｌｉｓ）的头部大小两性异形和食性在个体发育过程中的变化,讨论该种两性异形的进化选择压力。北草晰成体体长无显著的两性差异,两性异形主要表现为雄性个体有较大的头部（头长和头宽）。头部大小的两性异形在孵出幼体就已经存在。头部随ＳＶＬ的增长速率在个体发育的不同联合体是不同的,并随个体发育的进行变得更为显著。协方差分析显示,成年雌体特定ＳＶＬ的头部     

Intraspecific Variation in Home Range Overlap with Habitat Quality: A Comparison among Brown Bear Populations

We developed a conceptual model of spatial organization in vertebrates based upon changes in home range overlap with habitat quality. We tested the model using estimates of annual home ranges of adult females and densities for 30 populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in North America. We used seasonality as a surrogate of habitat quality, measured as the coefficient of variation among monthly actual evapotranspiration values for areas in which study populations were located. We calculated home range overlap for each population as the product of the average home range size for adult females and the estimated population density of adult females. Home range size varied positively with seasonality; however, home range overlap varied with seasonality in a nonlinear manner. Areas of low and high seasonality supported brown bears with considerable home range overlap, but areas of moderate seasonality supported brown bears with low home range overlap. These results are consistent with behavioural theory predicting a nonlinear relationship between food availability and territoriality.     

黄土高原马栏林区主要植物种的生态位研究

应用L ev ins、Shannon-W iener生态位宽度公式和P ianka生态位重叠公式,定量研究了黄土高原马栏林区主要植物种的生态位宽度和生态位重叠特征,同时对主要种在演替系列上的生态位变化规律进行了分析.结果表明,在该地区森林群落演替系列中,乔木种生态位宽度的平均水平小于灌木种,建群种的生态位宽度小于主要伴生种;生态位宽度较大的种与其它各物种间生态位重叠的平均值较大,生态位宽度较小的种则相反,甚至没有重叠.由于物种生物生态学特性的不同和环境的异质性,具较宽生态位的物种间的生态位重叠也可能较小,生态位宽度较窄的物种间也可能有较大的生态位重叠,同属植物种对间也存在生态位重叠较大的情况.主要乔木和灌木种的生态位特征反映了森林群落演替的变化规律,该地区呈现出以自然恢复为主,同时又伴随着人为干扰的森林群落次生演替系列.     

Causes of the large variation in bryophyte species richness and composition among boreal streamside forests

Questions: Boreal forests along small streams are bryophyte diversity hotspots because they are moist, productive and relatively high pH. Do these factors also explain the large differences in species richness and species composition found among streamside sites? Do the species of species‐poor sites represent nested subsets of the species of more species‐rich sites? How do the results apply to conservation? Location: Forests along small streams in mid‐boreal Sweden. Methods: Survey of the flora of liverworts and mosses and habitat properties, including calculation of a pH‐index based on species indicator values, in 37 sites (1000‐m² plots). Results: The number of bryophyte species per plot ranged from 34 to 125. Neither soil moisture nor basal area of trees (a proxy for productivity) correlated significantly with species richness and composition, whereas pH‐index and cover of boulders did. Species richness and composition were more strongly correlated with pH‐index for mosses than for liverworts. The richness and composition of bryophyte species most frequently found on moist ground, stream channel margins and, most unexpected, woody debris were all more strongly associated with the pH‐index than with other habitat properties. Although species composition was significantly nested, there was still some turnover of species along the first ordination axis. Conclusions To attain high numbers of species, streamside forests need to have boulders and at least pockets with higher soil and stream‐water pH. The number of Red list species was weakly correlated with total species richness and the most species‐rich sites contained many species found more in non‐forest habitats. Hence, bryophyte conservation in streamside forests should not focus on species‐rich sites but on the quality and quantity of substrate available for assemblages of forest species that are strongly disfavoured by forestry.     

Alkylresorcylic acid synthesis by type III polyketide synthases from rice Oryza sativa

Alkylresorcinols, produced by various plants, bacteria, and fungi, are bioactive compounds possessing beneficial activities for human health, such as anti-cancer activity. In rice, they accumulate in seedlings, contributing to protection against fungi. Alkylresorcylic acids, which are carboxylated forms of alkylresorcinols, are unstable compounds and decarboxylate readily to yield alkylresorcinols. Genome mining of the rice Oryza sativa identified two type III polyketide synthases, named ARAS1 (alkylresorcylic acid synthase) and ARAS2, that catalyze the formation of alkylresorcylic acids. Both enzymes condensed fatty acyl-CoAs with three C₂ units from malonyl-CoA and cyclized the resulting tetraketide intermediates via intramolecular C-2 to C-7 aldol condensation. The alkylresorcylic acids thus produced were released from the enzyme and decarboxylated non-enzymatically to yield alkylresorcinols. This is the first report on a plant type III polyketide synthase that produces tetraketide alkylresorcylic acids as major products.     

How to resolve the SLOSS debate: Lessons from species-diversity models

The SLOSS debate - whether a single large reserve will conserve more species than several small - of the 1970s and 1980s never came to a resolution. The first rule of reserve design states that one large reserve will conserve the most species, a rule which has been heavily contested. Empirical data seem to undermine the reliance on general rules, indicating that the best strategy varies from case to case. Modeling has also been deployed in this debate. We may divide the modeling approaches to the SLOSS enigma into dynamic and static approaches. Dynamic approaches, covered by the fields of island equilibrium theory of island biogeography and metapopulation theory, look at immigration, emigration, and extinction. Static approaches, such as the one in this paper, illustrate how several factors affect the number of reserves that will save the most species.This article approaches the effect of different factors by the application of species-diversity models. These models combine species-area curves for two or more reserves, correcting for the species overlap between them. Such models generate several predictions on how different factors affect the optimal number of reserves. The main predictions are: Fewer and larger reserves are favored by increased species overlap between reserves, by faster growth in number of species with reserve area increase, by higher minimum-area requirements, by spatial aggregation and by uneven species abundances. The effect of increased distance between smaller reserves depends on the two counteracting factors: decreased species density caused by isolation (which enhances minimum-area effect) and decreased overlap between isolates. The first decreases the optimal number of reserves; the second increases the optimal number. The effect of total reserve-system area depends both on the shape of the species-area curve and on whether overlap between reserves changes with scale.The approach to modeling presented here has several implications for conservational strategies. It illustrates well how the SLOSS enigma can be reduced to a question of the shape of the species-area curve that is expected or generated from reserves of different sizes and a question of overlap between isolates (or reserves).     

拟南芥和水稻CPP转录因子家族的生物信息学分析

CPP(cystein-rich polycomb-like protein or Tesmin/TOS1-like)家族是含有保守的富含Cystein的CRC结构域的蛋白质的统称,参与花器官的发育,在控制生殖组织发育和细胞分裂过程中起着极其重要的作用。本研究系统鉴定了8个拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)和11个水稻(Orysa sativa japonicacv.Nipponbare)的CPP基因,并对这些基因编码的蛋白质序列进行了序列保守性和系统进化分析,最后对相关基因的表达进行了分析。结果表明,所有的CPP转录因子都具有高度保守的CRC结构域;单子叶和双子叶植物分化之前,植物CPP基因发生过大幅度的扩张;尽管C1域和C2域氨基酸序列一致性较高,但在该蛋白质的生物学功能中可能起着不同的作用;CPP基因主要在花组织中表达,在拟南芥中,AtCPP5、AtCPP6和AtCPP7极有可能存在功能互补作用。     

陕北黄龙山辽东栎群落优势种群生态位研究

经实地踏查,在陕北黄龙林区选择有辽东栎林分布的环境类型6个,设置20 m×20 m的样地共30个,并通过各样地组成种类重要值的计算和排序,确定辽东栎群落中的优势种群,其中乔木层14种、灌木层27种、草本层11种。依此作为统计分析对象,对黄龙山林区辽东栎群落优势种群生态位宽度和生态位重叠状况进行研究,以揭示森林群落内种间竞争的机理。结果显示:乔木层中,辽东栎、白桦、油松种群的生态位宽度较大,LNB值分别为1.4611、1.4132、1.2588,且两两之间生态位重叠值亦较大(Oik>0.7);灌木层中,土庄绣线菊、虎榛子、铁杆蒿和黄蔷薇等的生态位宽度大(LNB>1),是辽东栎林下常见的灌木种类;草本层中,披针叶苔草、华北风毛菊、草地早熟禾和大油芒具有较宽的生态位,LNB值分别为1.4456、1.2841、1.0603、1.0573,是草本层的优势种。结果表明,乔、灌、草三层的优势种群对当地环境具有较高的适应性和环境资源的利用能力;同层之间的生态位重叠表明在辽东栎群落发展过程中种群间对环境资源的利用性竞争不可避免。     

Dissection of genetic overlap of salt tolerance QTLs at the seedling and tillering stages using backcross introgression lines in rice

QTLs for salt-tolerance(ST)related traits at the seedling and tillering stages were identified using 99 BC2F8 introgression lines(IL)derived from a cross between IR64(indica)as a recurrent parent and Binam(japonica)from Iran as the donor parent.Thirteen QTLs affecting survival days of seedlings(SDS), score of salt toxicity of leaves(SST),shoot K concentration(SKC)and shoot Na concentration(SNC) at the seedling stage and 22 QTLs underlying fresh weight of shoots(FW),tiller number per plant(TN) and plant height(PH)at the tillering stage were identified.Most QTLs detected at the tillering stage showed obvious differential expression to salt stress and were classified into three types based on their differential behaviors.Type I included 11 QTLs which were expressed only under the non-stress condition.Type II included five QTLs expressed in the control and the salt stress conditions,and three of them(QPh5,QPh8 and QTn9)had similar quantity and the same direction of gene effect,suggesting their expression was less influenced by salt stress.Type III included six QTLs which were detectable only under salt stress,suggesting that these QTLs were apparently induced by the stress.Thirteen QTLs affecting trait difference or trait stability of ILs between the stress and non-stress conditions were identified and the Binam alleles at all loci except QPh4,QTn2 and QFw2a decreased trait difference.The three QTLs less influenced by the stress and 13 QTLs affecting trait stability were considered as ST QTLs which contributed to ST.Comparing the distribution of QTLs detected at the seedling and tillering stages,most(69%)of them were genetically independent.Only four were the same or adjacent regions on chromosomes 1,2,8 and 11 harboring ST QTLs detected at the two stages,suggesting that partial genetic overlap of ST across the two stages occurs.It is likely,therefore,to develop ST rice variety for both stages by pyramiding of ST QTLs of different stages or selection against the overlapping QTLs between the two stages via marker-assisted selection(MAS).     

The scale-dependent importance of habitat factors and dispersal limitation in structuring Great Lakes shoreline plant communities

Niche-based and neutral models of community structure posit distinct mechanisms underlying patterns in community structure; correlation between species’ distributions and habitat factors points to niche assembly while spatial pattern independent of habitat suggests neutral assembly via dispersal limitation. The challenge is to disentangle the relative contributions when both processes are operating, and to determine the scales at which each is important. We sampled shoreline plant communities on an island in Lake Michigan, varying the extent and the grain of sampling, and used both distance-based correlation methods and variance partitioning to quantify the proportion of the variation in plant species composition that was attributable to habitat factors and to spatial configuration independent of habitat. Our results were highly scale dependent. We found no distance decay of plant community similarity at the island scale (1−33 km). All of the explained variation (32%) in species composition among samples at this scale was attributed to habitat factors. However, at a site intensively sampled at a smaller scale (5−1,200 m), similarity of species composition did decay with distance. Using a coarse sampling grain (transects), habitat factors explained 40% of the variation, but the purely spatial component explained a comparable 22%. Analyzing plots within transects revealed variation in species composition that was still jointly determined by habitat and spatial factors (18 and 11% of the variance, respectively). For both grain sizes, most of the habitat component was spatially structured, reflecting an abrupt alongshore transition from sandy dunes to cobble beach. Space per se explained more variation in species composition at a second site where the habitat transition was more gradual; here, habitat acted as a less selective filter, allowing the signal of dispersal limitation to be detected more readily. We conclude that both adaptation to specific habitat factors and habitat-independent spatial position indicative of dispersal limitation determine plant species composition in this system. Our results support the prediction that dispersal limitation—a potentially, but not necessarily, neutral driver—is relatively more important at smaller scales.