Field and experimental evidence for competition's role in phenotypic divergence

Resource competition has long been viewed as a major cause of phenotypic divergence within and between species. Theory predicts that divergence arises because natural selection favors individuals that are phenotypically dissimilar from their competitors. Yet, there are few conclusive tests of this key prediction. Drawing on data from both natural populations and a controlled experiment, this paper presents such a test in tadpoles of two species of spadefoot toads (Spea bombifrons and S. multiplicata). These two species show exaggerated divergence in trophic morphology where they are found together (mixed-species ponds) but not where each is found alone (pure-species ponds), suggesting that they have undergone ecological character displacement. Moreover, in pure-species ponds, both species exhibit resource polymorphism. Using body size as a proxy for fitness, we found that in pure-species ponds disruptive selection favors extreme trophic phenotypes in both species, suggesting that intraspecific competition for food promotes resource polymorphism. In mixed-species ponds, by contrast, we found that trophic morphology was subject to stabilizing selection in S. multiplicata and directional selection in S. bombifrons. A controlled experiment revealed that the more similar an S. multiplicata was to its S. bombifrons tankmate in resource use, the worse was its performance. These results indicate that S. multiplicata individuals that differ from S. bombifrons would be selectively favored in competition. Our data therefore demonstrate how resource competition between phenotypically similar individuals can drive divergence between them. Moreover, our results indicate that how competition contributes to such divergence may be influenced not only by the degree to which competitors overlap in resource use, but also by the abundance and quality of resources. Finally, our finding that competitively mediated disruptive selection may promote resource polymorphism has potentially important implications for understanding how populations evolve in response to heterospecific competitors. In particular, once a population evolves resource polymorphism, it may be more prone to undergo ecological character displacement.     

我国高校人力资源开发的问题及其对策

分析了当前我国高校人力资源开发的重要性和存在的主要问题,并运用现代管理理论,提出了树立以人为本的管理理念、建立有利于人才成长的机制、运用柔性化管理模式的措施来促进我国高校人力资源的进一步开发利用。     

黄河上游兰州-西宁城市群资源环境承载力时空分异及障碍因子诊断

基于PSR模型构建资源环境承载力评价体系,利用熵权法、综合指数模型和GIS的空间分析功能对兰州-西宁(兰西)城市群资源环境承载力进行时空动态剖析,并运用障碍度模型识别其障碍因子。结果表明: 2005—2018年,兰西城市群资源环境承载力呈波动上升态势,资源环境承载力状况较好;资源环境承载力变异系数亦有波动上升趋势,区域差异逐步扩大。资源环境承载力空间上总体呈现以兰州与西宁主城区为中心的“双核”结构特征,高水平区主要集中于以兰州市和西宁市为中心的河湟谷地及其周边部分县区,低水平区集中于城市群中部、南部地区。其中,资源环境承载力子系统指数的时空分异特征显著,压力指数呈波动下降态势,空间上呈现以兰州与西宁市区为中心向外围地区递减的分布特征;状态指数呈波动上升态势,呈东西两翼高、中部低的空间演化特征;响应指数整体呈上升态势,空间上呈东高西低、中高外低的格局特征。城镇化率、人均工业废水排放量、生活垃圾无害化处理率、水耗指数和环保投资占GDP比重是制约兰西城市群资源环境承载能力提升的主要障碍因子。     

祁连山气候变化特征及其对水资源的影响

祁连山作为我国重要的生态功能区、西北地区重要的生态安全屏障和河流产流区,是气候变化敏感区和生态环境脆弱区,其生态环境对西北地区经济发展起着重要作用。本研究利用祁连山区气温和降水观测数据、MOD10A2积雪产品以及石羊河、黑河和疏勒河流量资料,系统分析了1961—2020年祁连山区的气候变化特征,以及在气候变暖背景下,气候变化对祁连山区水资源的影响。结果表明: 1961—2020年,祁连山区平均气温呈显著上升趋势,升温速率达0.39 ℃·(10 a)^-1,西段升温速率最大,中、东段次之,冬季升温趋势最显著,春季最小;祁连山区平均气温在1997年发生突变。祁连山区年降水量总体呈波动增加趋势[10 mm·(10 a)^-1],中段增加最明显,2004年以来祁连山区处于多雨时期,气候呈暖湿化趋势;四季降水量均呈增加趋势,夏季降水增加对年降水贡献最大;年降水以年际尺度变化为主,2.8年的年际尺度贡献率高达64.3%。祁连山积雪面积受气温和降雪影响明显,与夏季气温存在负相关,与降雪量存在正相关;2016—2020年,祁连山增温趋缓、降雪增多,积雪面积呈增加趋势。2000年以来,祁连山升温加剧,降水增多,冰雪融水增加,石羊河、黑河和疏勒河出山径流均呈增加趋势。研究结果对祁连山区生态文明建设和应对气候变化具有重要意义。     

长江源区同域分布兔狲、藏狐和赤狐的时空重叠度

兔狲(Otocolobus manul)、藏狐(Vulpes ferrilata)和赤狐(V. vulpes)是青藏高原三江源区域分布的重要小型食肉兽。本研究于2014年6月至2019年9月在青海省长江源区沱沱河和通天河沿岸选取208个位点布设红外相机, 通过所获取的时空分布数据比较了上述3种同域分布小型食肉兽的时空利用情况。通过空间重叠度系数的比较分析, 兔狲和藏狐、兔狲和赤狐以及藏狐和赤狐之间的空间重叠度系数分别为0.25、0.48和0.17, 这表明兔狲、藏狐和赤狐三者在空间利用上存在一定的差异。通过核密度估计方法分析, 兔狲和藏狐属典型的昼行性动物, 而赤狐以夜行性活动为主。兔狲、藏狐和赤狐每个物种在冷暖两季的日活动节律重叠指数分别为0.83、0.78和0.88。两两比较分析表明, 兔狲和藏狐二者的日活动节律重叠指数最高(0.84), 兔狲和赤狐在夜间活动时段存在一定重叠(0.63), 而藏狐和赤狐的时间生态位分化最明显, 重叠指数最低(0.48)。此外, 在暖季, 两两物种之间的日活动节律重叠指数均小于其冷季的重叠指数。综上所述, 长江源区兔狲、藏狐和赤狐3种小型食肉兽可通过空间和时间资源的利用差异来降低物种间的干扰和竞争, 从而达到同域物种共存的目的。     

紫外指纹图谱结合化学计量学对黄精基原植物的鉴别

运用紫外光谱技术结合化学计量学,建立快速鉴别不同基原黄精的方法。通过单因素实验确定黄精最佳提取溶剂、时间和用量,制备测试液,采用紫外光谱技术建立3种基原黄精的紫外指纹图谱,光谱数据转化后进行主成分(PCA)和系统聚类分析(HCA)。该方法重现性、精密度、稳定性较好,结果表明不同种类黄精紫外指纹图谱具有指纹特性,3种基原植物黄精紫外光谱图在210 nm、220 nm、280 nm附近差异明显;聚类分析和主成分分析三维投影图反映出不同种类黄精的化学成分积累具有差异,能较好地区分滇黄精(Polygonatum kingianum)、黄精(P. sibiricum)与多花黄精(P. cyrtonema)。紫外光谱结合化学计量学能快速鉴别不同种类黄精,可作为黄精的鉴别和质量控制新方法,为黄精临床应用、资源开发及黄精属植物分类提供辅助方法。     

Segregation in space and time explains the coexistence of two sympatric sub‐Antarctic petrels

Biological communities are shaped by competition between and within species. Competition is often reduced by inter‐ and intraspecific specialization on resources, such as differencet foraging areas or time, allowing similar species to coexist and potentially contributing to reproductive isolation. Here, we examine the simultaneous role of temporal and spatial foraging segregation within and between two sympatric sister species of seabirds, Northern Macronectes halli and Southern Macronectes giganteus Giant Petrels. These species show marked sexual size dimorphism and allochrony (with earlier breeding by Northern Giant Petrels) but this is the first study to test for differences in foraging behaviours and areas across the entire breeding season both between the two species and between the sexes. We tracked males and females of both species in all breeding stages at Bird Island, South Georgia, to test how foraging distribution, behaviour and habitat use vary between and within species in biological time (incubation, brood‐guard or post‐brood stages) and in absolute time (calendar date). Within each breeding stage, both species took trips of comparable duration to similar areas, but due to breeding allochrony they segregated temporally. Northern Giant Petrels had a somewhat smaller foraging range than Southern Giant Petrels, reflecting their greater exploitation of local carrion and probably contributing to their recent higher population growth. Within species, segregation was spatial, with females generally taking longer, more pelagic trips than males, although both sexes of both species showed unexpectedly plastic foraging behaviour. There was little evidence of interspecific differences in habitat use. Thus, in giant petrels, temporal segregation reduces interspecific competition and sexual segregation reduces intraspecific competition. These results demonstrate how both specialization and dynamic changes in foraging strategies at different scales underpin resource division within a community.     

Using spotlight observations to predict resource selection and abundance for white-tailed deer

Spotlight surveys for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can yield large presence-only datasets applicable to a variety of resource selection modeling procedures. By understanding how populations distribute according to a given resource for a reference area, density and abundance can be predicted across new areas assuming the relationship between habitat quality (measured by an index of selection) and species distribution are equivalent. Habitat-based density estimators have been applied to wildlife species and are useful for addressing conservation and management concerns. Although achieving reliable population estimates is a primary goal for spotlighting studies, presence-only models have yet to be applied to spotlight data for estimating habitat selection and abundance for deer. From 2012 to 2017, we conducted spring spotlight surveys in each of 99 counties in Iowa, USA, and collected spatial locations for 20,149 groups of deer (n = 71,323 individuals). We used a resource selection function (RSF) based on deer locations to predict the relative probability of use for deer at the population level and to estimate statewide abundance. The number of deer observed statewide increased significantly with increasing RSF value for all years and the mean RSF value along survey transects explained 59% of the variability in county-level deer counts, indicating that a functional response between habitat quality and deer distribution existed at landscape scales. We applied our RSF to a habitat-based density estimator (extrapolation) and zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and negative binomial (ZINB) count models to predict statewide abundance from spotlight counts. Population estimates for 2012 were variable, indicating that atypical weather conditions may affect spotlight counts and population estimates in some years. For 2013–2017, we predicted a mean population of 439,129 (95% CI ∼ ± 55,926), 440,360 (∼ ± 43,676), and 465,959 (∼ ± 51,242) deer across years for extrapolation, ZIP, and ZINB models, respectively. Estimates from all models were not significantly different than estimates from an existing deer population accounting model in Iowa for 2013 and 2016, and differed by <76,000 deer for all models from 2013–2017. Extrapolation and ZIP models performed similarly and differed by <2,897 deer across all years, whereas ZINB models showed inconsistencies in model convergence and precision of estimates. Our results indicate that presence-only models are capable of producing reliable and precise estimates of resource selection and abundance for deer at broad landscape scales in Iowa and provide a tool for estimating deer abundance in a spatially explicit manner. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.