双色蜡蘑对黑松幼苗生长量及其根系形态的影响

为研究双色蜡蘑(Laccaria bicolor)对黑松(Pinus thunbergii)幼苗生长及其根系形态的影响,在营养杯培育条件下,用双色蜡蘑液体菌剂对黑松幼苗进行接种处理,接种第15、30、60、90、120天时取样,比较接种和未接种黑松幼苗的生物量、根系形态及根系分形维数的差异。结果表明:双色蜡蘑在黑松幼苗地上植株、地下根系的生长及其生物量的积累方面都表现出明显的促进作用。接种双色蜡蘑也显著改善了根系总长度、分支数、表面积、体积等参数和根系分形维数,并对地下根系生长的促进作用时间早于地上部分,且效应显著高于地上部分。接种双色蜡蘑第15~30天时对地上部分基本无影响,但对根系促进作用明显,而地上部分在第60天时开始表现出显著的生长效应。研究发现,双色蜡蘑能够成功定殖于黑松根部,促进黑松幼苗生长及其生物量的积累,同时显著促进根系总长度、分支数、表面积和体积增加,并使根系分形维数增大,表现出明显的促生作用,且对根系发育的显著促进作用早于地上部分。     

A holistic approach to determine tree structural complexity based on laser scanning data and fractal analysis

The three‐dimensional forest structure affects many ecosystem functions and services provided by forests. As forests are made of trees it seems reasonable to approach their structure by investigating individual tree structure. Based on three‐dimensional point clouds from laser scanning, a newly developed holistic approach is presented that enables to calculate the box dimension as a measure of structural complexity of individual trees using fractal analysis. It was found that the box dimension of trees was significantly different among the tested species, among trees belonging to the same species but exposed to different growing conditions (at gap vs. forest interior) or to different kinds of competition (intraspecific vs. interspecific). Furthermore, it was shown that the box dimension is positively related to the trees’ growth rate. The box dimension was identified as an easy to calculate measure that integrates the effect of several external drivers of tree structure, such as competition strength and type, while simultaneously providing information on structure‐related properties, like tree growth.     

Fractal geometry of bean root systems: correlations between spatial and fractal dimension

An obstacle to the study of root architecture is the difficulty of measuring and quantifying the three-dimensional configuration of roots in soil. The objective of this work was to determine if fractal geometry might be useful in estimating the three-dimensional complexity of root architecture from more accessible measurements. A set of results called projection theorems predict that the fractal dimension (FD) of a projection of a root system should be identical to the FD of roots in three-dimensional space (three-dimensional FD). To test this prediction we employed SimRoot, an explicit geometric simulation model of root growth derived from empirical measurements of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). We computed the three-dimensional FD, FD of horizontal plane intercepts (planar FD), FD of vertical line intercepts (linear FD), and FD of orthogonal projections onto planes (projected FD). Three-dimensional FD was found to differ from corresponding projected FD, suggesting that the analysis of roots grown in a narrow space or excavated and flattened prior to analysis is problematic. A log-linear relationship was found between FD of roots and spatial dimension. This log-linear relationship suggests that the three-dimensional FD of root systems may be accurately estimated from excavations and tracing of root intersections on exposed planes.     

Variation of folded polypeptide surface area with probe size

Three types of polypeptide surface area (contact, accessible, and molecular) have been studied as a function of the radius of a probe sphere used to map the surface. The surfaces are: (1) three alpha-helices, the H-helix of myoglobin, the E-helix of leghemoglobin, and an artificial polyalanine helix, each with 26 residues; (2) two globins, myoglobin and leghemoglobin, each with 153 residues; and (3) a two-center model system for which the three types of surface area have been calculated analytically. The two globin helices have almost identical surface areas as a function of probe size as do the two globins. The polyalanine helix surface area is smaller but similar in shape to the globin helix areas. All three helix contact areas tend to the same limit as the probe size increases, and the globin contact areas behave similarly. Fractal dimensions were calculated for the helix and globin contact and molecular surfaces. All fractal dimensions showed strong dependence on probe size. The contact fractal dimension peaks at larger values for both the helices and globins. Most residues do not make contact with large probes (15 A).     

Fractal analysis of the Orce skull sutures

Methods of fractal geometry (Mandelbrot, 1983) are used here to analyse the relative complexity of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures visible in the skull fragment formed by parts of an occipital squame and parietals found in a sealed deposit at the early Lower Pleistocene site of Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, Spain), generally regarded as human bone but occasionally suggested as belonging to an equid. For comparison with the fossil, corresponding sutures of various primates (hominids, pongids and cercopithecids) and two other groups of mammals (equids and ruminants) were analysed using the computer program FRACTAL-D (Slice, 1989) in order to determine their fractal dimensions as a measure of differential sutural design complexity. The results show that the fractal dimension of the Venta Micena skull sutures lies within the range of variation for infant specimens of both modern and Plio-Pleistocene hominids. Sutural complexity in young pongids and cercopithecids overlaps the range of fractal dimensions found in hominids, whereas values obtained from equids and ruminants are significantly greater than those for all the primates analysed here. Therefore, in terms of fractal dimension measures of relative complexity, the sutures preserved in the Venta Micena fossil could not have belonged to an equid (pace Agusti & Moyà-Sola, 1987); rather, its fractal dimension is consistent with the attribution of the fossil to an infant of Homo sp.     

砒砂岩区沙棘根系的生境适应性

以人工种植在内蒙古砒砂岩区3年生中国沙棘根系为研究对象,运用分形理论和统计分析方法,对不同生境条件下沙棘根系分形参数、根长、根数、根系质量、根冠比等进行研究.结果表明: 土壤水分对砒砂岩区沙棘根系构型影响最显著,其次是坡度,坡位对沙棘根系构型影响最小.砒砂岩区沙棘适宜种植在土壤含水率为8%左右的坡腰或坡底,坡腰坡度以30°～35°为宜.随土壤含水率的增加沙棘根冠比逐渐减小,随坡度的增加根冠比先增大后减小,随坡位的上升根冠比也表现出先增后减的趋势.沙棘在干旱贫瘠的坡腰具有根系发达、根冠比高的特征,符合固土护坡树种的基本特征与要求.     

放牧对大针茅草原建群种与优势种空间分布关系的影响

为探讨放牧下大针茅草原建群种大针茅(Stipa grandis)和优势种羊草(Leymus chinensis)及糙隐子草(Cleistogenes squarrosa)种群空间分布特点及关系,本实验以内蒙古自治区锡林郭勒盟毛登牧场大针茅草原建群种大针茅、优势种羊草和糙隐子草为研究对象,通过野外试验,以地统计学为基础,采用半方差函数、分形维数及克里格插值法,分析了围封(CK)和放牧(G)样地大针茅、羊草及糙隐子草种群小尺度空间分布关系。结果表明:围封样地大针茅、羊草及糙隐子草植株密度分别为10.94株/m~(2 )、12.95株/m~(2 )、13.60株/m~(2 ),放牧样地植株密度分别为16.84株/m~(2 )、48.28株/m~(2 )、28.63株/m~(2 ),放牧显著增加大针茅、羊草及糙隐子草种群密度(P0.05);半方差函数进行模型拟合发现,大针茅、羊草及糙隐子草种群空间分布函数关系均符合高斯模型;通过对空间分布函数关系分析,围封和放牧样地结构比为G (93.3%) CK(60.4%),表明放牧样地大针茅种群空间分布主要受结构性因素影响,而围封大针茅种群则受随机性因素影响较大;围封和放牧样地分形维数值为CK(1.796) G(1.361),表明放牧样地大针茅、羊草和糙隐子草所形成的空间分布格局相比围封样地较为复杂,大针茅空间分布对羊草和糙隐子草空间分布的依赖性较弱;通过立体图分析,在放牧利用过程中,羊草处于中低密度时,及糙隐子草处于高密度时,均与大针茅种群间的关系从围封中的竞争关系变为放牧过程中的亲和关系,可见放牧导致种间关系改变。     

Human mitotic chromosomes consist predominantly of irregularly folded nucleosome fibres without a 30-nm chromatin structure

How a long strand of genomic DNA is compacted into a mitotic chromosome remains one of the basic questions in biology. The nucleosome fibre, in which DNA is wrapped around core histones, has long been assumed to be folded into a 30-nm chromatin fibre and further hierarchical regular structures to form mitotic chromosomes, although the actual existence of these regular structures is controversial. Here, we show that human mitotic HeLa chromosomes are mainly composed of irregularly folded nucleosome fibres rather than 30-nm chromatin fibres. Our comprehensive and quantitative study using cryo-electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray scattering resolved the long-standing contradictions regarding the existence of 30-nm chromatin structures and detected no regular structure >11 nm. Our finding suggests that the mitotic chromosome consists of irregularly arranged nucleosome fibres, with a fractal nature, which permits a more dynamic and flexible genome organization than would be allowed by static regular structures.