Morphometric and phylogenetic analysis of theDaviesia ulicifolia complex (Fabaceae, Mirbelieae)

Daviesia ulicifolia is a widespread species that exhibits complex variation throughout its range. Using ordination and cluster analysis of morphometric characters we resolved ten terminal taxa for phylogenetic analysis. A data set including these and five closely related species was coded for a combination of morphometric and qualitative characters and analysed using parsimony. This revealed thatD. ulicifolia is paraphyletic by inclusion ofD. acicularis, D. arenaria andD. microcarpa. One terminal cluster is more similar to an outgroup species (D. arthropoda) than toD. ulicifolia and should be treated as a new species. Given recent theoretical and empirical studies showing paraphyly to be both expected and observed at species level, we propose that all existing species in this group continue to be recognised taxonomically. We suggest subdividingD. ulicifolia into several subspecies.     

不同改良措施对太子参根际土壤酚酸含量及特异菌群的影响

太子参为石竹科多年生草本植物,以根部入药,药用价值高,市场需求大,但其栽培过程中存在严重的连作障碍问题,连作导致产量品质严重下降,病虫害猖獗,探索太子参连作障碍形成的机制及其消减措施意义重大.本研究以广泛栽培的“柘参2号”为试验材料,采用土壤农化分析、高效液相色谱(HPLC)分析、荧光定量PCR(qPCR)等技术对不同连作年限或不同消减措施下太子参根际土壤的主要养分、酚酸含量动态及特异菌群变化进行分析.结果显示: 太子参连作导致产量显著下降,与正茬相比产量下降达43.5%,而水旱轮作和微生物菌肥处理可不同程度缓解其障碍效应.太子参连作土壤主要养分(如速效氮、速效磷、速效钾、全钾)未降反升,但导致土壤酸化.HPLC分析表明,太子参连作下或者随生长时期的推进,土壤酚酸类物质并未表现出明显的积累效应,膨大中期和收获期重茬土壤中大部分酚酸含量甚至低于正茬土壤.进一步荧光定量PCR分析发现,太子参连作导致前期分离筛选到的几类病原菌(如尖孢镰刀菌、踝节霉菌、Kosakonia sacchari)的绝对含量显著上升,而水旱轮作和微生物菌肥处理可有效降低3类病原菌的含量,改善微生态结构.综上认为,太子参连作障碍的发生并非由土壤养分匮乏或者酚酸持续积累直接造成,可能主要与连作下土传病原微生物的大量繁殖爆发有关,本研究结果为深入揭示太子参连作障碍的形成机制及消减修复机制提供了理论依据.     

Reasons People Surrender Unowned and Owned Cats to Australian Animal Shelters and Barriers to Assuming Ownership of Unowned Cats

Most cats surrendered to nonhuman animal shelters are identified as unowned, and the surrender reason for these cats is usually simply recorded as “stray.” A cross-sectional study was conducted with people surrendering cats to 4 Australian animal shelters. Surrenderers of unowned cats commonly gave surrender reasons relating to concern for the cat and his/her welfare. Seventeen percent of noncaregivers had considered adopting the cat. Barriers to assuming ownership most commonly related to responsible ownership concerns. Unwanted kittens commonly contributed to the decision to surrender for both caregivers and noncaregivers. Nonowners gave more surrender reasons than owners, although many owners also gave multiple surrender reasons. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of the decision-making process leading to surrender and demonstrate that recording only one reason for surrender does not capture the complexity of the surrender decision. Collecting information about multiple reasons for surrender, particularly reasons for surrender of unowned cats and barriers to assuming ownership, could help to develop strategies to reduce the number of cats surrendered.     

Kin Discrimination in Protists: From Many Cells to Single Cells and Backwards

During four decades (1960–1990s), the conceptualization and experimental design of studies in kin recognition relied on work with multicellular eukaryotes, particularly Unikonta (including invertebrates and vertebrates) and some Bikonta (including plants). This pioneering research had an animal behavior approach. During the 2000s, work on taxa‐, clone‐ and kin‐discrimination and recognition in protists produced genetic and molecular evidence that unicellular organisms (e.g. Saccharomyces, Dictyostelium, Polysphondylium, Tetrahymena, Entamoeba and Plasmodium) could distinguish between same (self or clone) and different (diverse clones), as well as among conspecifics of close or distant genetic relatedness. Here, we discuss some of the research on the genetics of kin discrimination/recognition and highlight the scientific progress made by switching emphasis from investigating multicellular to unicellular systems (and backwards). We document how studies with protists are helping us to understand the microscopic, cellular origins and evolution of the mechanisms of kin discrimination/recognition and their significance for the advent of multicellularity. We emphasize that because protists are among the most ancient organisms on Earth, belong to multiple taxonomic groups and occupy all environments, they can be central to reexamining traditional hypotheses in the field of kin recognition, reformulating concepts, and generating new knowledge.     

Can puzzle feeders be used as cognitive screening instruments? Differential performance of young and aged female monkeys on a puzzle feeder task

Conventional cognitive testing of monkeys is time‐consuming and involves single‐caging and food or water deprivation. Here we report a novel test of global cognitive performance that can be completed in a short time period without food/water or social restrictions. Nine mazes of increasing difficulty were developed using a standard puzzle feeder, and the maze‐solving performance of ten young and five aged female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) was tested. The young monkeys solved maze configurations at higher levels of difficulty and solved the first level of difficulty more quickly than aged monkeys. This task discriminated performance by age in nonhuman primates as do more conventional forms of cognitive testing and indicates that this task may be a quick and easy assessment of global cognitive function. Am. J. Primatol. 49:195–202, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Bayesian Inference for the Ratio of the Means of Two Normal Populations with Unequal Variances

The problem of making inferences about the ratio of two normal means has been addressed, both from the frequentist and Bayesian perspectives, by several authors. Most of this work is concerned with the homoscedastic case. In contrast, the situation where the variances are not equal has received little attention. Cox (1985) deals, within the frequentist framework, with a model where the variances are related to the means. His results are mainly based on Fieller's theorem whose drawbacks are well known. In this paper we present a Bayesian analysis of this model and discuss some related problems. An agronomical example is used throughout to illustrate the methods.     

石蒜属植物生物学特性及栽培技术研究进展(综述)

综述了石蒜属植物栽培技术和繁殖方法等研究,同时,结合生产实践经验对目前石蒜属植物栽培中存在的问题进行探讨,为更加合理有效地利用石蒜属植物资源提供理论与技术依据。     

连作障碍因素对大豆养分吸收和固氮作用的影响

采用分室装置,利用不同孔径的膜研究大豆连作条件下,化感物质、土壤有害生物和大豆胞囊线虫等因素不断累加对植株生长、生物固氮作用和矿质养分吸收和分配的影响。结果表明,随着各因素不断累加,植株的地上部、根系和根瘤干重逐渐降低;除Ca元素外,植株组织的P、K等矿质元素单位含量下降,吸收总量下降,地上部分配的养分比例下降。在化感物质和土壤有害生物因素的基础上接种线虫,对生物固氮和矿质养 分的吸收和分配影响明显。     

A new solution for maximal clique problem based sticker model

In this paper, we use stickers to construct a solution space of DNA for the maximal clique problem (MCP). Simultaneously, we also apply the DNA operation in the sticker-based model to develop a DNA algorithm. The results of the proposed algorithm show that the MCP is resolved with biological operations in the sticker-based model for the solution space of the sticker. Moreover, this work presents clear evidence of the ability of DNA computing to solve the NP-complete problem. The potential of DNA computing for the MCP is promising given the operational time complexity of O(nxk).