金沙江干旱河谷退化草地群落对氮磷施肥的反应

在云南省境内的金沙江干旱河谷区, 选择退化严重的草地群落研究氮磷施肥对群落动态的影响。经过一个生长季的施肥处理, 结果表明, 除大量施磷肥处理(20 g·a^-1·m^-2)时, 可能因施磷过多群落生物量和密度没有出现增加外。其余的施氮和施磷处理均导致群落地上生物量和密度增加, 而且施氮处理引起群落地上生物量和密度增加的程度都高于施磷处理。说明在干旱河谷退化严重的草地生态系统, 氮是限制系统恢复的主要因素。施肥后禾本科草本植物密度大量增加, 而乔灌木密度增加不明显, 群落在短期内变成以禾本科草本植物为主的状态。施氮和施磷没有引起群落种数量和植物多样性指数的明显变化。试验结束时土壤的铵态氮、硝态氮和有效磷浓度没因施肥而增加, 但施肥处理的植物体氮和磷浓度增加。     

受精环境对哺乳动物性别形成的影响

性别控制是人类很早就关心的研究领域, 许多重要的经济性状与性别有直接的关系。控制受精环境即可控制性别, 这种方法不需昂贵的仪器设备或者药品, 易实践, 可普遍应用, 其经济效益和社会效益难以估量。文章综述了受精环境对哺乳动物性别形成影响的研究进展。这些环境因素包括母体生殖道中精氨酸含量、胚胎发育过程中子宫内葡萄糖浓度、输精时卵母细胞成熟程度以及哺乳动物受孕时生殖激素的水平等方面, 为进一步开展性别控制研究积累一定的资料。     

半湿润农田生态系统长期施肥对土壤团聚体中有机氮组分的影响

通过对黄土高原半湿润农田生态系统25年的田间肥料定位试验,研究了长期不同施肥模式对土壤有机氮组分及其在各级团聚体中分布的影响.结果表明:长期施肥对水解氨态氮、水解未知氮在土壤各级团聚体中分布的影响最大,对氨基酸态氮的分布有一定影响,而对氨基糖态氮分布的影响较小.长期施用化肥和有机肥能有效地影响水解氨态氮和水解未知氮与团聚体的结合作用,而氨基糖态氮在土壤氮循环转化过程中具有较强的稳定性.长期施肥条件下土壤水解全氮与有机碳、全氮以及团聚体分形维数均呈极显著正相关,其r分别为0.942,0.981,0.910(P<0.001),说明土壤有机氮组分对土壤团聚体的形成和性质具有显著影响.相关分析表明,土壤全氮或有机质对1～2mm和0.25～1mm土壤团聚体中各有机氮组分的影响较大.     

Multiple paternity occurs with low frequency in the territorial roe deer, Capreolus capreolus

An explanation for female multiple mating when males offer no material benefits but sperm remains elusive, largely because of a lack of empirical support for the genetic benefits hypothesis. We used 21 microsatellite markers to test for multiple paternities among 88 litters of roe deer, Capreolus capreolus , and to investigate the inbreeding avoidance hypothesis as a potential mechanism for the evolution of female multiple mating. From paternity analyses, we found that 13.5% of polytocous litters were sired by more than one male. We also found that a half-sib relationship was more likely than a full-sib relationship for 20.5% of all litters. This is the first report of multiple paternities in a territorial ungulate species. In support of the inbreeding avoidance hypothesis, we found that parents who were strongly related produced offspring with lower individual heterozygosity that survived less well during their first summer than fawns with unrelated parents. In addition, fawns from multiple paternity litters survived their first summer better than fawns from single paternity litters. However, it remains unclear whether all female multiple paternity events in this species are provoked by an initial consanguineous mating.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2009, 97 , 128–139.     

Pre‐copulation intervals,copulation frequencies,and initial progeny sex ratios in two biotypes of whitefly,Bemisia tabaci

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) is a species complex, and its systematic classification requires controlled crossing experiments among its genetic groups. Accurate information on pre‐copulation intervals, copulation frequencies, and initial frequency of egg fertilization of newly emerged adults is critical for designing procedures for collecting the virgin adults necessary for these experiments. In the literature, considerable variation is reported between B. tabaci populations, with respect to the length of the pre‐copulation interval and the initial frequency of egg fertilization. Here, we used a video‐recording method to observe continuously the copulation behaviour of the Mediterranean/Asia Minor/Africa (B biotype) and the Asia II (ZHJ1 biotype) groups of B. tabaci. We also recorded the initial frequency of egg fertilization, as determined by the sex of the progeny. When adults were caged in female–male pairs on leaves of cotton plants, the earliest copulation events occurred 2–6 h after emergence; at 12 h after emergence 56–84% of the females had copulated at least once, and nearly all (92–100%) had copulated at least once by 36 h after emergence. Both females and males copulated repeatedly. Approximately 80 and 20% of copulation events occurred during the photophase and scotophase, respectively. By 72 h post‐emergence, the females of the B and ZHJ1 biotypes had copulated on average 6.1 and 3.9 times, respectively. When adults were caged in groups on plants 1–13 h after emergence, 30–35% of the eggs deposited during this period were fertilized, and approximately 90% of females were fertilized by the end of the 13 h. Although timing of copulation differed in detail between the two genetic groups, the results demonstrate that B. tabaci adults can start to copulate as early as 2–6 h post‐emergence and the majority of females can become fertilized on the day that they emerge.     

Advancing Forest Cover Development on a High‐Elevation Sierra Nevada Mine Site with Nutritional Amendments

Selected nutrient amendments were evaluated for their capacity to enhance growth and nutrition of established but stunted Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi Grev. & Balf.) saplings on an acidic Sierra Nevada surface mine. The amendments were applied by topdressing at three rates each and consisted of Forestcote 22‐4‐6 + Minors, a controlled‐release formulation; Free Flow 29‐3‐4 and Hydro Agri 21‐7‐14, two conventional fertilizers, with the former featuring urea as the predominant N source, whereas that for the latter was exclusively ammoniacal and nitrate forms; and Milorganite 6‐2‐0 + Iron, an organic amendment based on municipal biosolids. All formulations reinvigorated sapling growth, generally more so as the amounts supplied increased, with the Free Flow and Hydro Agri amendments marginally more stimulative than Forestcote and Milorganite. Foliar analysis revealed that fertilized saplings had more N, with concentrations that generally rose with amounts supplied, and P but less Mn and Al than the control. Enhanced N nutrition in particular but also that of P probably accounted for most of the growth stimulation by the amendments, as availability of both in the soil was limiting. Of the two metallic elements, reduced Mn was likely most critical because concentrations encountered here were exceedingly elevated overall, including that in the soil, although soil Al was also high. These results suggest that a variety of nutritional amendments can be employed in forest restoration on surface mine sites and those similarly degraded, including sites for which dry climates greatly influence the selection of remedial practices.     

Reproduction systems of representatives of the genus Rosa L. under conditions of continental climate

The features of reproductive biology of rose plants from the sections Caninae Crep., Indocae Thory, Cinnamomae DC., Synstylae DC. were studied by cytological methods and with the help of scanning electron microscopy for many years. The results obtained are reported.     

Comparative Detection of Calcium Fluctuations in Single Female Sex Cells of Tobacco to Distinguish Calcium Signals Triggered by in vitro Fertilization

Double fertilization is a key process of sexual reproduction in higher plants. The role of calcium in the activation of female sex cells through fertilization has recently received a great deal of attention. The establishment of a Ca²⁺-imaging technique for living, single, female sex cells is a difficult but necessary prerequisite for evaluating the role of Ca²⁺ in the transduction of external stimuli, including the fusion with the sperm cell, to internal cellular processes. The present study describes the use of Fluo-3 for reporting the Ca²⁺ signal in isolated, single, female sex cells, egg cells and central cells, of tobacco plants. A suitable loading protocol was optimized by loading the cells at pH 5.6 with 2 μM Fluo-3 for 30 min at 30  °C. Under these conditions, several key factors related to in vitro fertilization were also investigated in order to test their possible effects on the [Ca²⁺]_cyt of the female sex cells. The results indicated that the bovine serum albumin-fusion system was superior to the polyethlene glycol-fusion system for detecting calcium fluctuations in female sex cells during fertilization. The central cell was fertilized with the sperm cell in bovine serum albumin; however, no evident calcium dynamic was detected, implying that a transient calcium rise might be a specific signal for egg cell fertilization.     

Identification of superoxide dismutase isoenzymes in tobacco pollen

We investigated the possible existence of superoxide dismutase (SOD; EC 1.15.1.1) isoenzymes in the pollen of Nicotiana tabacum (Petit Havana SR-1 cultivar). To detect SOD activity, crude extracts from tobacco pollen were subjected to native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by staining with nitroblue tetra-zolium (NBT). The presence of six SOD isoenzymes was detected in tobacco pollen. Treatment with SOD inhibitors indicated the presence of one manganese SOD (Mn SOD), five copper-zinc SOD (Cu/Zn SOD) isoenzymes, and the absence of iron SOD (Fe SOD).