火烧强度对中亚热带人工造林初期土壤呼吸的影响

在热带和亚热带森林中,火烧是一种清理采伐迹地的有效管理措施。尽管许多研究表明,火烧刺激了土壤的碳排放,但对亚热带火强度对土壤呼吸的影响还缺乏了解。在中亚热带米槠常绿阔叶次生林采伐迹地上,设置高火烧强度（HF）、低火烧强度（LF）炼山造林处理,利用LI-8100对造林初期（2012年3月-2012年12月）土壤呼吸进行测定,同时监测观测期土壤温度、含水量以及降雨量等气象因子,分析不同火烧强度对中亚热带造林初期土壤呼吸及排放量的影响,同时探讨影响土壤呼吸变化的主要因素。结果表明：（1）观测期间不同火烧强度对土壤呼吸的影响呈现出明显的时间变化特征：与对照（CT）相比,土壤呼吸在火烧后2个月以内显著增加（P<0.05）,HF和LF分别增加76.3%和55.3%;在火烧后2-5个月内三种处理间没有显著差异（P>0.05）;但之后,火烧处理土壤呼吸显著低于CT （P<0.05）,HF和LF分别降低40%和32.6%;在观测期间火烧处理没有导致土壤CO₂累计排放量的增加。（2）火烧处理下,仅HF处理中土壤呼吸与土壤温度显著相关（P<0.05）,但拟合决定系数较低。（3）单次降水事件会导致火烧处理下土壤呼吸的增加,而对照无明显增加;但连续性降水事件中,降雨早期促进土壤呼吸,而后期呈现出抑制作用。     

微生物水泥相关酶的研究进展

微生物诱导碳酸钙沉积(microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation,MICP)是微生物通过新陈代谢在其周围微环境中形成碳酸钙沉积的一种自然现象,根据其原理目前研发出了“微生物水泥”。因其具有绿色环保、经济高效的特点,已成为生物、土木、环境等领域的研究热点。文中就与微生物水泥密切相关的关键酶——脲酶、碳酸酐酶的研究进展进行了系统综述,主要包括两种酶的基因、蛋白结构、调控机制、工程菌的构建以及脲酶与碳酸酐酶在MICP过程中的协同关系等,并对MICP未来的发展作出展望。在现有研究基础上,借助生物信息学、合成生物学等前沿技术,开发能适应广泛环境、高性能的生物水泥,这将开启MICP研究的一个新阶段。     

Are regional precipitation–productivity relationships robust to decadal-scale dry period?

降水-生产力的空间关系是否稳定不变？ 降水是全球陆地生态系统中植被生长和净初级生产力的主要驱动因素。因此,探究降水和生产力关系有助于深入了解气候变化如何改变生态系统功能。降水-生产力的空间关系在全球不同草地上非常相似,但在连续多年气候异常的情况下,这种关系是否会发生变化以及如何变化尚不清楚。本研究利用 利用中国北方温带草地长达10年低于多年平均降水的时期,基于遥感植被指数数据,量化了区域尺度上降水-植被生产力关系在持续多年的干湿期之间将如何变化。结果表明,在连续10年的干期,降水-生产力空间相关性急剧下降,而该空间关系的下降主要是由于不同草原类型对干旱的响应在空间上存在高度的异质性,即不同生态系统对干旱的响应程度存在差异。因此,如果未来气候变化进一步加剧全球草地的干旱,那么基于历史时期(平水期)得到的降水-生产力空间关系推测区域尺度植被生产力可能导致误差。     

A novel Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation of p53 inhibits its interaction with MDM2

Purpose: Crosstalk between Aurora-A kinase and p53 has been proposed. While the genetic amplification of Aurora-A has been observed in many human cancers, how p53 is regulated by Aurora-A remains ambiguous. In this study, Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation of p53 was analyzed by mass spectrometry in order to identify a new phosphorylation site. Subsequently, the functional consequences of such phosphorylation were examined. Experimental design: In vitro phosphorylation of p53 by Aurora-A was performed and the phosphorylated protein was then digested with trypsin and enriched for phosphopeptides by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Subsequently, a combination of β-elimination and Michael addition was applied to the phosphopeptides in order to facilitate the identification of phosphorylation sites by MS. The functional consequences of the novel phosphorylation of p53 on the protein–protein interactions, protein stability and transactivation activity were then examined using co-immunoprecipitation, Western blotting and reporter assays. Results: Ser-106 of p53 was identified as a novel site phosphorylated by Aurora-A. A serine-to-alanine mutation at this site was found to attenuate Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation in vitro. In addition, phosphate-sensitive Phos-tag SDS-PAGE was used to confirm that the Ser-106 of p53 is in vivo phosphorylated by Aurora-A. Finally, co-immunoprecipitation studies suggested that Ser-106 phosphorylation of p53 decreases its interaction with MDM2 and prolongs the half-life of p53. Conclusions: The inhibition of the interaction between p53 and MDM2 by a novel Aurora-A-mediated p53 phosphorylation was identified in this study and this provides important information for further investigations into the interaction between p53 and Aurora-A in terms of cancer biology.     

Influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the persistence of a Beauveria bassiana biopesticide in laboratory and high-rise poultry house settings

Recent studies suggest the potential for use of oil formulations of the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, as residual sprays for control of house flies in poultry production facilities. The current study investigated the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on biopesticide persistence. We found that flies physically removed and deactivated conidia, with higher fly densities and greater cumulative exposure hastening the decline. Nonetheless, very low densities of viable conidia were still able to cause rapid mortality, suggesting the potential for relatively long re-treatment intervals as fly populations are controlled. Considering abiotic factors, we found that fungal spray treatments remained viable for up to 13 weeks under laboratory conditions. Periodic exposure of flies to the spray residue showed high levels of mortality, with very little decline in mortality rate over time. Equivalent treatments placed in a commercial poultry house showed much more rapid decline. One trial at the end of summer showed conidia to remain viable up to seven weeks. However, repeats during the winter months revealed decay in 1–2 weeks, with fly mortality rates influenced accordingly. The exact reasons for the more rapid decay remain unclear but could be linked to high concentrations of ammonia in the basement areas, especially during winter when ventilation is minimal. The combined data suggest the potential for adaptive treatment regimes with weekly spray intervals in conditions with very high fly populations and/or high ammonia levels, and potentially monthly spray intervals when fly populations and ammonia levels are reduced.     

Characterizing a hybrid zone between a cryptic species pair of freshwater snails

Characterizing hybrid zones and their dynamics is a central goal in evolutionary biology, but this is particularly challenging for morphologically cryptic species. The lack of conspicuous divergence between parental types means intermediate hybrid forms often go undetected. We aimed to detect and characterize a suspected hybrid zone between a pair of morphologically cryptic lineages of the freshwater snail, Radix. We sampled Radix from across a contact zone between two mitochondrial lineages (Radix balthica and an undescribed lineage termed ‘MOTU3’) and detected admixture between two nuclear genotype clusters, which were significantly but not categorically associated with the mitochondrial lineages. Using a model selection approach, we show that the admixture cline is best explained by an interaction between precipitation and temperature gradients over the area, rather than geographic distance. We thus hypothesize that the correlation with climatic gradients suggests environmental selection has played a role in maintaining the hybrid zone. In a 2050 climate change scenario, we furthermore predict an expansion of one of the nuclear clusters and a widening of the hybrid zone as the climate warms and dries.     

中国西北地区降水量及极端干旱气候变化特征

采用1960—2011年西北地区111个观测站逐日气象资料,利用FAO Penman-Monteith模型,计算出各气象站的潜在蒸散量,由此计算出各站的湿润指数,并对其进行标准化,统计极端干旱发生频率。对西北全区和不同自然区的降水量及极端干旱发生频率的时空变化特征进行了探讨分析。结果表明:近52年来西北全区年降水量变化倾向率表现出微弱的上升趋势,平均每年上升0.17 mm。由该区年降水量变化的空间差异,可将研究区划分为3个部分:明显增加区、轻度增加区、减少区。西北全区极端干旱发生频率的平均值为3.8月/a,气候变化倾向率总体上表现出明显的下降趋势,平均每年下降0.011月。根据西北地区极端干旱发生频率变化的空间差异,也可将研究区划分为3个部分:明显减少区、轻度减少区、增加区。极端干旱发生频率与降水量和平均气温表现为显著的负相关性,与无雨总日数呈现出显著的正相关性。     

基于δD和δ18O的青海湖流域芨芨草水分利用来源变化研究

水分条件是限制干旱半干旱地区植物生长重要的生态因子,为了揭示青海湖流域典型生态系统下芨芨草植物的水分利用来源及其如何响应水分条件的变化,选择了自然和干旱控制条件下芨芨草植物,通过测定芨芨草植物茎水和各潜在水源(土壤水、地下水及降水)中δD、δ~(18)O组成,并利用直接比较分析法和多源混合模型计算芨芨草植物对土壤水的利用比例。研究结果表明:表层土壤水分和土壤水中δD、δ~(18)O值表征出较大波动范围,其直接受降水和蒸发作用影响,土壤蒸发线的斜率和截距明显小于大气水线斜率和截距,表明土壤水中同位素组成经历了强烈的蒸发分馏过程,而芨芨草茎水中δD、δ~(18)O值都集中分布土壤水蒸发线附近,说明芨芨草根系主要利用不同深度的土壤水。自然条件下芨芨草在生长季初期(6月)利用表层土壤水(0—10cm,45.1%),8—9月份大降水事件影响土壤含水量和同位素组成,降水入渗深度较深且芨芨草根系对土壤水分吸收的比例相差不大,表明根系在土壤含水量较高时均能吸水不同深度土壤水。在干旱控制条件下芨芨草在7月初主要利用表层土壤水(0-30cm),随着表层土壤水分的减少,根系吸收深度转向较深土壤层,而灌溉后表层土壤水分明显增加,其吸收深度又转向表层,表明芨芨草根系吸收深度能敏感地响应土壤水分的变化。另外还发现芨芨草在生长季内并未直接利用地下水。     

内蒙古地带性针茅植物对CO2和气候变化的适应性研究进展

收集了1992—2013年关于模拟CO2浓度升高及气候变化(温度升高、降水变化)对内蒙古地带性草原群落的5个建群种针茅植物(贝加尔针茅、本氏针茅、大针茅、克氏针茅、短花针茅)影响的实验研究结果表明,模拟CO2浓度升高、增温和增雨将提高针茅植物的光合作用和株高生长,但CO2处理时间延长会导致光合适应;温度和降雨变化将改变针茅植物的物候进程,但物种之间反应有差异;CO2浓度升高有助于针茅植物生物量增加,增温和干旱则相反,CO2浓度升高对干旱的影响具有补偿作用;干旱和涝渍胁迫将提高针茅植物植株C/N,CO2浓度升高将加剧水分胁迫下针茅植物植株C/N的增加效应,导致牧草品质下降。由于当前在适应性指标、针茅植物对气候变化协同作用的适应机理及其敏感性研究等方面存在的不足,导致目前无法全面比较各针茅植物对CO2和温度、降水变化的响应差异及其敏感性,因而无法预测未来在全球变化背景下,这几种针茅植物的动态变化及其在地理分布上的迁移替代规律。为科学应对气候变化,未来应加强内蒙古地带性针茅植物的适应性指标、针茅植物对多因子协同作用的适应机理及敏感性研究。