Comparisons between the influence of habitat type, season and body size on the dietary compositions of fish species in nearshore marine waters

Fish were collected from over bare sand in nearshore shallow waters at three sites that varied in the extent to which they were exposed to wave activity and which were located within a 45-km stretch on the lower west coast of Australia. Sampling was undertaken within a 4-6-week period in each season. The volumetric contributions of different prey to the stomach contents and the mouth characteristics of four species, i.e. Sillago bassensis and Sillago vittata (Sillaginidae), Spratelloides robustus (Clupeidae) and Pseudorhombus jenynsii (Bothidae), were determined. Overall, the dietary compositions of the four species differed significantly from each other and those of fish at both the three different sites and in four consecutive seasons were also significantly different. In comparison with S. bassensis, the morphologically similar S. vittata fed to a relatively greater extent on polychaetes than zooplankters, presumably reflecting in part its greater ability to extend its upper jaw downwards towards the benthos. S. robustus typically targeted calanoid copepods in the plankton, whereas P. jenynsii fed on larger benthic prey taxa, reflecting the large differences in mouth morphology and feeding behaviour of these species. Although the diets of S. bassensis and S. vittata were strongly influenced by habitat type and season, the former variable was slightly more important for both of these species. However, the reverse applied with S. robustus. Season strongly influenced the dietary composition of P. jenynsii at the one site at which it was regularly caught. The diets of the two Sillago species and P. jenynsii underwent pronounced size-related changes, which would help distribute the food resources among the individuals of the different size classes of each of these species. In contrast, all size classes of S. robustus fed predominantly or exclusively on calanoid copepods at all sites and in all seasons, except at the most sheltered site in winter when these zooplankters were not found in samples taken from the water column. The seasonal and habitat variations recorded in the diets of the fish species in this study imply that these species are able to feed opportunistically, a characteristic that would be of particular value to fish that live in nearshore waters where the relative abundance of the different prey types varies with habitat type and season.     

内蒙古锡林河流域不同生境中羊草的克隆构型和分株种群特征

 克隆植物的形态可塑性在基株和种群水平上分别表现为克隆构型和分株种群特征的变化。研究对象为内蒙古锡林河流域草地、林地、沙地3种生境下的羊草(Leymus chinensis)种群,通过对羊草根茎节间长度、间隔子长度、分枝强度、分枝角度、株高和分株密度等指标的测定和分析,对这3种不同生境中羊草的克隆构型及分株种群特征进行了研究。结果表明羊草克隆构型相关特征,如,根茎节间长度,根茎节间长度频次分布格局、间隔子长度、间隔子长度频次分布格局,在不同生境差异较大。同时,羊草的分枝角度在不同生境间差异显著。而每间隔子所     

普氏蹄蝠(Hipposideros pratti)回声定位声波、形态及捕食策略

研究了普氏蹄蝠(Hipposideros pratti)不同状态(飞行、悬挂)下的回声定位声波特征、形态特征和生态特征(捕食策略、捕食地和食物类型).结果表明,普氏蹄蝠的回声定位声波为CFFM型,在不同状态下,主频率有一定的差异,飞行状态的主频率略低于悬挂状态,表明普氏蹄蝠是利用多谱勒补偿效应来适应飞行速度引起的主频率变化,以进行准确的定位和有效的捕食;同时飞行状态下声脉冲时间、声脉冲间隔时间及FM带宽略低于悬挂状态,而声脉冲重复率和能率环略高于悬挂状态,表明普氏蹄蝠在不同状态下利用不同特征的声波进行捕食.由回声定位声波推断和野外观察可知,普氏蹄蝠可能在树冠周围以盘旋方式(在昆虫高峰期)或以捕蝇器式(在昆虫高峰期之后)捕食中等偏大的振翅昆虫(如甲虫).     

A fluvial population of Cottus pollux (middle-egg type) from the Honmyo River, Kyushu Island, Japan

 Specimens of the Cottus pollux species' group collected from the upper part of the Honmyo River, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, were subjected to morphological and allozyme analyses to place them into one of the recognized valid taxa, viz. small-egg type (SE type), middle-egg type (ME type), or large-egg type (LE type). They were identified as ME type on the basis of specific morphological characteristics, such as laterally depressed cross-sectional shape at posterior half of the body and deep caudal peduncle, and by having a diagnostic allozyme allele (MEP ^* 54). This ME-type population is the first recorded from Kyushu Island, Japan. An ecological survey of the population revealed that females spawned larger eggs (2.8–3.2 mm in diameter) than those of other amphidromous populations, from which well-developed yolk-sac larvae of about 8.0 mm TL were hatched out. In addition, ME-type specimens collected on 25 and 26 May 2001 included 15 sex-unknown juveniles ranging from 18.8 to 30.2 mm SL, suggesting that they represented larvae hatched out on a nearby spawning ground, with no experience of downstream migration into Isahaya Bay. This observation strongly suggests that the ME-type population in the Honmyo River has a fluvial lifestyle, being different from other amphidromous populations. The former population may have arisen from an amphidromous ancestor through changes in egg size and early ontogenetic development. Received: February 25, 2002 / Revised: May 21, 2002 / Accepted: June 17, 2002 Acknowledgments We thank Professor M. Azuma, Nagasaki University, for his kind guidance of our field survey in the Honmyo River and Dr. G.S. Hardy, Thames, New Zealand, for correcting the English. Thanks are also offered to Mrs. Y. Miyajima and Y. Masaoka, Kyushu Branch of Construction and Technology Institute Co., for their helpful cooperation in the field survey. Drs. H. Sakai, National Fisheries University and Y. Yamazaki, Toyama University, and Mrs. N. Okabe and Y. Suzuki of Yamagata Prefecture are thanked for their help in sample collection. This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid (No. 13660171) from the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to A. Goto. Correspondence to:Akira Goto     

大肠杆菌甲基转移酶dcm基因的表达对变铅青链霉菌的多效性影响

【目的】大肠杆菌的dcm基因编码的DNA甲基转移酶可以特异性地将5′CCWGG3′(W=A/T)序列中第二个胞嘧啶变成5-甲基胞嘧啶。Dcm甲基转移酶发现已有37年了,但其确切的功能不明,本篇主要研究其对变铅青链霉菌的影响。【方法】通过构建克隆、接合转移、异源表达及HPLC、酶切、Southern杂交等方法研究dcm基因的表达对变铅青链霉菌的多效性影响。【结果】首次发现变铅青链霉菌基因组中不含5-甲基胞嘧啶修饰,将dcm基因导入变铅青链霉菌后,接合子菌落比正常菌落小很多,并有放线紫红素产生。【结论】基因组的表观遗传修饰能激活沉默放线紫红素基因簇的表达这一现象,为基因组挖掘隐藏的活性天然产物提供了一条新途径。     

De novo MECP2 duplication derived from paternal germ line result in dysmorphism and developmental delay

Xq28 duplications encompassing the methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) in males exhibit a distinct phenotype, including developmental delay, facial dysmorphism, muscular hypotonia, intellectual disability, poor or absent speech, recurrent infections and early death. The vast majority of affected males inherit the MECP2 duplication from their usually asymptomatic carrier mothers. Only a few cases with Xq28 duplication originating from de novo unbalanced X/Y translocation have been reported and the paternal origin of the aberration has only been validated in three males in the related literature. Here we present a karyotypically normal male with features characteristic of the MECP2 duplication syndrome. The genome-wide SNP genotyping shows a de novo 2.26-Mb duplication from Xq28 to the terminus. The genotypes of the SNPs within the duplicated region indicated a paternal origin. Furthermore, the results of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) indicated a novel Xq:Yp translocation, characterized as der(Y)t(Y;X)(p11.32;q28), which suggests an aberrant that occurred during spermatogenesis. The phenotype is compared to the previously reported cases with Xq28 duplication originated from an unbalanced X/Y translocation, and there was no specific part of the phenotype that could be contributed to the origin of parental imbalances. This report further highlights the capacity of high-molecular cytogenetic methods, such as SNP array and FISH, in the identification of submicroscopic rearrangement, structural configuration and parental origin of aberrant while in the evaluation of children with idiopathic developmental delay and intellectual disability.     

Ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) on Fagus crenata Blume: community structure,seasonal population trends and resource utilization patterns

Ambrosia beetles (many Scolytinae and all Platypodinae) are one of the most important insect pests for forestry worldwide, but little is known about the community structure of ambrosia beetles in terms of their vertical variations and resource utilization. We clarified the community structure and seasonal population trends of ambrosia beetles on 11 living and three newly dead Fagus crenata Blume trees using individual tube traps placed up to 10 m high from May to November in 2007 and 2008. We captured seven scolytine species (Ambrosiodmus lewisi (Blandford), Euwallacea validus (Eichhoff), Trypodendron proximum (Niisima), Xyleborinus saxeseni (Ratzeburg), Xyleborus atratus Eichhoff, Xylosandrus brevis (Eichhoff) and Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford)) and three platypodine species (Crossotarsus niponicus Blandford, Platypus hamatus Blandford and Platypus severini Blandford). The ambrosia beetles were suggested to breed at species‐specific height ranges, with the equal host resource use per individual among the species. Of the three major species, C. niponicus, P. hamatus and P. severini, two (C. niponicus and P. hamatus) had male‐biased sex ratios, which is considered a reproductive strategy to increase maternal fitness. Morphological characteristics of the mandibles may play an important role in the difference of sex roles on reproduction in the three major species.     

Analysis of the tradeoffs between provisioning and regulating services from the perspective of varied share of net primary production in an alpine grassland ecosystem

Because ecosystems are complex, tradeoffs exist among supplies of multiple ecosystem services, especially between the provisioning and regulating services. In ecosystem processes, net primary production (NPP) is connected with many other processes such as respiration and evapotranspiration. As one key supporting service, NPP is also related to other provisioning and regulating services. This study introduces an analysis framework of ecosystem services tradeoffs from the perspective of varied share of NPP, in the alpine grassland ecosystem of Damxung County on the Tibetan plateau, China. Total NPP was divided into the share of NPP spent on supplying provisioning services and the share used in supporting regulating services. Tradeoffs between provisioning and regulating services were analyzed by quantifying the change of meat provisioning service and the remaining share of NPP used in other ways; the corresponding change in the share of NPP used to support regulating services was also analyzed and compared with other changes in regulating services, such as carbon sequestration and water conservation services. The results show, from 2000 to 2010, the meat provisioning service increased by 199%, but this was at a cost of additional livestock feeding, which used more NPP of the alpine grassland ecosystem. As a result, by 2010 the remaining NPP used for supporting regulating services shrank to 77% of the 2000 level, which was accompanied by a decrease in carbon sequestration and water conservation services by 90% and 67%, respectively. The analysis of tradeoffs from the perspective of variations in the share of NPP used for various services will contribute to the study of mechanisms involved in providing ecosystem services, interactions between the provisioning of various services, and will also help land managers improve the management of ecosystems.