高温对莲草直胸跳甲两个地理种群体重和体型的影响

体型大小与昆虫在温度胁迫下的适应性有关。本文旨在研究入侵杂草空心莲子草Alternanthera philoxeroides生防天敌莲草直胸跳甲Agasicles hygrophila SelmanVogt不同地理种群对高温的形态响应机制。以恒温25℃作为对照,分别测定莲草直胸跳甲长沙种群和海南种群在模拟夏季特定12∶00-16∶00时段30℃、33℃、36℃高温条件下的幼虫体重、初羽化成虫体重、后足胫节长、鞘翅长、前胸背板宽等指标。结果表明,莲草直胸跳甲两地理种群幼虫体重均随温度升高而增加。两种群雌虫及长沙种群雄虫的体重、后足胫节长、鞘翅长、前胸背板宽度随温度上升显著下降;海南种群雄虫的后足胫节长、鞘翅长、前胸背板宽在各温度处理间无显著差异。在33℃、36℃高温条件下,长沙种群的幼虫体重、雌虫体重及雌虫的后足胫节长、鞘翅长、前胸背板宽显著高于海南种群,而长沙种群雄虫的后足胫节长、鞘翅长、前胸背板宽显著低于海南种群。试验表明,不同地理种群的莲草直胸跳甲形态大小对高温的响应存在差异。本研究结果为探究莲草直胸跳甲种间进化以及人工培育耐热种群的实践提供了一定的参考依据。     

三唑锡亚致死浓度对土耳其斯坦叶螨运动速率的影响

【目的】通过研究三唑锡亚致死浓度LC10、LC20及致死中浓度LC50对土耳其斯坦叶螨Tetranychus turkestani运动速率的影响,为杀螨剂对土耳其斯坦叶螨在行为学方面影响提供科学依据,并将此作为评价药剂的作用机理的理论依据。【方法】采用叶片浸渍法,明确致死中浓度和亚致死浓度,使用LC-100昆虫行为记录仪对土耳其斯坦叶螨在受到三唑锡亚致死浓度LC10、LC20和LC50刺激下其运动速率进行记录,观察其运动速率在三唑锡不同浓度、不同天数、不同时间段的变化规律。【结果】在三唑锡不同亚致死浓度作用下,第1天到第3天的10:00―12:00,其运动速率比对照低,从第3天10:00―12:00期间到第5天20:00―22:00期间,其运动速率与对照没有显著性差异。在相同亚致死浓度作用下,第1天10:00―12:00期间,土耳其斯坦叶螨的运动速率显著高于15:00―17:00期间和20:00―22:00期间,而在第3天和第5天的3个时间段,对土耳其斯坦叶螨的运动速率没有显著影响。当作用的时段不同时,LC10第1天10:00―12:00显著高于第3天和第5天,而LC20、LC50在10:00―12:00没有显著性差异。三种浓度的第1天15:00―17:00显著低于第3天和第5天。第3及第5天20:00―22:00没有显著性差异。【结论】总体来看,3唑锡亚不同致死浓度对土耳其斯坦叶螨的运动速率影响受浓度、时间影响,浓度越高土耳其斯坦叶螨运动速率越慢;随着时间延长,农药亚致死浓度对土耳其斯坦叶螨的运动速率基本没有影响。     

转基因植物环境安全评价策略

构建完善的转基因植物环境安全评价技术体系是保障转基因生物产业健康发展的重要组成部分。本文综述了转基因植物环境安全评价技术发展历程与趋势,归纳了转基因植物环境安全评价的思路与内容。转基因植物环境安全评价应分为潜在风险分析、风险假设验证、风险特征描述等3个步骤,并采用逐层评价模式;安全评价应贯穿转基因植物新品种研发与产业化全程,包括应用前预测、研发中筛选、推广前评价、推广后监测。此外,基于科学性和个案分析原则,本文对复合性状、非生物胁迫抗性等新型转基因植物环境安全评价策略进行了探讨。     

长爪沙鼠脑底动脉Willis环变异缺失遗传特性分析及脑缺血模型高发群体的初步培育

目的研究长爪沙鼠脑底动脉Willis环遗传特性,并定向培育脑缺血高发种群。方法通过对5代定向培育的长爪沙鼠高发群动物共398只动物的右侧颈总动脉结扎模型进行观察,比较长爪沙鼠亲代与子代间脑底动脉Willis环的变异缺失类型,探求其遗传特性,并根据该遗传特性将Willis环后交通支缺失且前交通支缺失或细小的同类型的长爪沙鼠父母所生的子代雌雄个体配对繁殖,定向培育长爪沙鼠半脑缺血模型高发生率种群。结果当双亲的Willis环类型一致时,其子代大部分与其父母一致;而当双亲的Willis环类型不一致时,Willis环前交通支与母亲一致率为60.4%,前交通支与父亲的一致率为48.2%,两者的差异有显著性意义（P=0.015）。长爪沙鼠半脑缺血模型高发生率种群定向培育5代后,行单侧颈总动脉结扎时,一侧脑缺血造模成功率由F1代的40%提高到F5代的75%。结论长爪沙鼠脑底动脉Willis环变异有明显的遗传性,初步培育出了长爪沙鼠半脑缺血模型高发生率种群。     

Carnivorous Utricularia: The buckling scenario

We review recent results about the functioning of aquatic carnivorous traps from the genus Utricularia. The use of high speed cameras has helped to elucidate the mechanism at the origin of the ultra fast capture process of Utricularia, at a millisecond time scale. As water is pumped out of the trap, pressure decreases inside the trap and elastic energy is stored due to the change of shape of the trap body. This energy is suddenly released when the trap is fired: the trap door undergoes an elastical instability: buckling, which allows its fast and passive opening and closure. This mechanism is used by Utricularia both to catch preys touching its trigger hairs and to fire spontaneously at regular time intervals. The results leading to this interpretation are reviewed and discussed and suggestions for further work are briefly presented.     

Origins of female genital diversity: Predation risk and lock‐and‐key explain rapid divergence during an adaptive radiation

The study of male genital diversity has long overshadowed evolutionary inquiry of female genitalia, despite its nontrivial diversity. Here, we identify four nonmutually exclusive mechanisms that could lead to genital divergence in females, and potentially generate patterns of correlated male–female genital evolution: (1) ecological variation alters the context of sexual selection (“ecology hypothesis”), (2) sexually antagonistic selection (“sexual‐conflict hypothesis”), (3) female preferences for male genitalia mediated by female genital traits (“female‐choice hypothesis”), and (4) selection against inter‐population mating (“lock‐and‐key hypothesis”). We performed an empirical investigation of all four hypotheses using the model system of Bahamas mosquitofish inhabiting blue holes that vary in predation risk. We found unequivocal support for the ecology hypothesis, with females exhibiting a smaller genital opening in blue holes containing piscivorous fish. This is consistent with stronger postmating female choice/conflict when predators are present, but greater premating female choice in their absence. Our results additionally supported the lock‐and‐key hypothesis, uncovering a pattern of reproductive character displacement for genital shape. We found no support for the sexual conflict or female choice hypotheses. Our results demonstrate a strong role for ecology in generating female genital diversity, and suggest that lock‐and‐key may provide a viable cause of female genital diversification.     

The evolution of avian migration

The study of avian migration has reached sophisticated levels in many areas, including ecology, behaviour, and physiology. Traditional discussions of the evolution of migration, however, have been compromised for several reasons. Previous ideas concerning the ancestral home of migrant species, southern or northern, and whether a partially migratory stage always precedes a fully migratory stage, were not expressed as testable hypotheses. Plotting migratory behaviour on phylogenetic trees has become commonplace and allows tests of traditional hypotheses. Some of these studies are reviewed, lending some support for almost all of the previous ideas. Although phylogenetic mapping helps to frame questions about the evolution of migration in a testable framework, there are two serious issues. First, experimental and observational studies reveal that the expression of migratory behaviour can change rapidly within a lineage, which can violate assumptions of character mapping. In addition, a species distribution model is used to show that current conditions for obligate migratory populations of the chipping sparrow were much restricted at the Last Glacial Maximum, and that the species might have been considered a partial migrant at that time. The expression of migratory behaviour in an extant species might be an artefact of the current inter‐glacial period. Only if the rate of gains and losses of migratory behaviour can be incorporated into a phylogenetic mapping exercise will the actual evolutionary pattern of migration be revealed. For example, reconstruction of the ancestral area and the evolutionary history of migratory categories in a clade of New World warblers depended on the assumptions of character state transitions. A second concern is that the trait ‘migratory’ is too broad for evolutionary analysis and that, if possible, the expression of hyperphagia, Zugunruhe, and navigation could be mapped individually. Loss or suppression of any of these components can lead to sedentary populations, revealing how migratory behaviour can appear and disappear rapidly. A report of low levels of Zugunruhe in a sedentary bird, Saxicola torquata, is reconstructed as derived in a clade of otherwise migratory populations, suggesting that the loss of migration was a result of suppression (but not elimination) of Zugunruhe. When researchers mention the independent origin of migration in a clade, they are most likely referring to the gain or loss of the expression of the ancestral migratory programme, not the de novo evolution of migration per se. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 104 , 237–250.