Food Habits and Livestock Depredation of Sympatric Jaguars and Pumas in the Iguaçu National Park Area, South Brazil

Understanding coexistence between sympatric felines with similar body sizes, such as jaguars Panthera onca and pumas Puma concolor , requires knowledge of the way these predators consume and partition food resources. Yet the importance of livestock predation on jaguar and puma coexistence is poorly known. I investigated food habits and patterns of livestock depredation of jaguar and pumas in the Iguaçu National Park (INP) in southern Brazil. From 1997 to 2001, I collected scats opportunistically on trails and roads in INP and visited ranches on the border of INP. I found that jaguars relied mostly on large and medium-sized wild prey species, while pumas concentrated on medium-sized prey species. Livestock was the fifth most frequent prey found in jaguar scats but the most important one in terms of biomass consumed. Jaguar and puma diets differed significantly when all prey items were compared and also when livestock was excluded from the jaguar diet. Jaguar predation on livestock was considerably higher than predation by pumas. However, predation was not substantial relative to availability of livestock, and cattle likely constitute an alternative source of prey for jaguars. Degree of diet overlap between jaguar and puma in INP suggests that coexistence was likely driven by exploitative competition through some degree of food partitioning. My results highlight the importance of more actions toward increasing numbers of large ungulates to preserve the population of jaguars in INP.     

Plant stress granules and mRNA processing bodies are distinct from heat stress granules

Similar to the situation in mammalian cells and yeast, messenger ribonucleo protein (mRNP) homeostasis in plant cells depends on rapid transitions between three functional states, i.e. translated mRNPs in polysomes, stored mRNPs and mRNPs under degradation. Studies in mammalian cells showed that whenever the dynamic exchange of the components between these states is disrupted, stalled mRNPs accumulate in cytoplasmic aggregates, such as stress granules (SGs) or processing bodies (PBs). We identified PBs and SGs in plant cells by detection of DCP1, DCP2 and XRN4, as marker proteins for the 5'-->3' mRNA degradation pathway, and eIF4E, as well as the RNA binding proteins RBP47 and UBP1, as marker proteins for stored mRNPs in SGs. Cycloheximide-inhibited translation, stress treatments and mutants defective in mRNP homeostasis were used to study the dynamic transitions of mRNPs between SGs and PBs. SGs and PBs can be clearly discriminated from the previously described heat stress granules (HSGs), which evidently do not contain mRNPs. Thus, the role of HSGs as putative mRNP storage sites must be revised.     

铅色水蛇Enhydris plumbea(Boie, 1827) 的生物学初探(蛇亚目:游蛇科:仰鼻蛇亚科)

根据野外观察和解剖标本, 本文报道蛇亚目、游蛇科、水游蛇亚科中国南方常见优势种铅色水蛇的生物学研究初步结果.1.长度112号雄蛇全长范围286 ～466 mm,151号雌蛇全长范围306～504 mm.海南陵水103号雄蛇最大全长358+54=412 mm,137号雌蛇最大全长443+61=504 mm.2.鳞片的变异根据299号标本观察,数量恒定无变异的鳞片有吻鳞(1), 鼻间鳞 (1), 前额鳞 (2), 额鳞 (1), 顶鳞 (2), 鼻鳞 (每侧1), 颊鳞 (每侧1), 眶上鳞(每侧1), 前颞鳞 (每侧1), 颏鳞 (1), 颔片 (2 对), 背鳞 (19-19-17 行), 肛前鳞 (完整);根据鳞片有变异的67号标本观察, 可出现变异鳞片的变异范围及其频率眶前鳞1(1→2,4.5%),眶后鳞2(2→1,3.0%),后颞鳞2(2→1,1.5%),上唇鳞3-2-3(3-1-4,0.75%),下唇鳞10(9,0.75%;11,2.25%);腹鳞与尾下鳞则绝对有变异腹鳞雄性112号变异幅度124～136 (平均 128.2), 雌性151号变异幅度123～132 (平均 126.1),尾下鳞雄性107号变异幅度36～41 (平均 39.7)对,雌性149号变异幅度31～36 (平均 33.7)对.3.两代之间变异的消失和出现两例母蛇的右侧眶前鳞均变异为2,她们的全部仔蛇21号均正常为1;一例母蛇的下唇鳞为正常的10枚,而她的仔蛇6号中有两号分别有一侧或两侧变异为9.4.垂直分布范围沿海低地到海拔985 m.5.栖息环境各种水域,以静水水域为主,在海南陵水县吊罗山大里乡以灌水后的稻田为主,极少数发现在静水水域或流动缓慢的灌溉渠内.6.摄食和食性每年4月开始摄食,6月为摄食高峰,9月停止;食物以小形蛙类和蝌蚪为主,其次为小鱼.7.繁殖习性二级性征主要反映在雄性尾的比例较长,尾下鳞的数目相应较多;二级性比(出生时的性比)接近11,三级性比在居群较大的情况下也约为11,而在居群较小的情况下统计约为0.51;雌性性成熟期(以开始产仔为依据)全长都在350 mm以上;解剖28号孕雌得知输卵管卵数3～12(平均6.3)枚;卵在母体内发育进程解剖41号成熟雌性得知4月卵尚未发育,5月及6月处于发育中或晚期、产仔或已产出,7月基本都已产毕;统计两窝21仔得知初产出仔蛇全长127～139 mm,母蛇体长大者其仔蛇亦较长;统计同窝9仔得知初生仔蛇重量2.4～2.5 g,平均2.47 g.本文是作者早期未发表的工作,现整理供对蛇类有兴趣的青年同行参考.本研究所用全部标本(包括3号雌蛇及其刚产出的仔蛇) 均保存在中国科学院成都生物研究所两栖爬行动物标本馆.     

莲种子萌发和幼苗生长时期营养物质的代谢变化

莲子叶细胞中储存了丰富的营养物质,主要为蛋白质、淀粉和淀粉质体DNA.这些贮藏物质为种子萌发和幼苗的生长提供必需的能量和养料.通过组织化学和显微镜观察,研究莲从种子萌发到植株生长至具有4个节时,子叶中贮藏物质消耗的全过程.在此过程中,子叶中的贮藏物质不断降解,营养物质发生转运.蛋白体首先发生降解,其大量降解主要发生在幼苗三叶期.淀粉质体降解时会聚集成团,之后体积逐渐减小,最后完全降解.种子萌发后65天是子叶贮藏物质消耗末期,淀粉质体DNA的含量比萌发后20天的三叶期明显减少.细胞壁的形态结构发生多种形式的变化,细胞壁发生的这些变化与子叶细胞间物质的运输有关.含多糖的球形颗粒通过维管束在子叶中运输.     

感受态细胞制备与保存方法的比较研究

目的 :确立一个能制备高转化率感受态细胞并长期维持其感受性的实验方案。方法 :比较CaCl2 法、TSS法、超高效法制备感受态细胞的效果 ,选用三者中较好的方法进一步探讨不同生长期 (OD值 0 .2～ 1.1)的细菌对制备感受态细胞的影响 ,并分别比较了不同冷冻保护剂 (7%DMSO ,10 %甘油 )于 - 2 0℃、- 80℃冰箱保存感受态细胞的效果。结果 :三种方法获得的感受态细胞转化率差异极显著 (P <0 .0 1)。采用超高效法 ,OD值为 0 .36 (或 0 .5 8)时收集菌体可获得 1.1× 10 8的高转化率的感受态细胞 ,以 7%的DMSO为冷冻保护剂保存感受态细胞可维持 10 7以上的转化率 4 0d以上     

不同贮藏温度和时间对钻喙兰人工种子萌发及其幼苗成活的影响

植物人工种子技术已广泛应用于花卉、林木和蔬菜的优良品种快速繁殖以及种质资源的超低温保存等方面[1].     

Scaling up keystone effects from simple to complex ecological networks

Predicting the consequences of species loss requires extending our traditional understanding of simpler dynamic systems of few interacting species to the more complex ecological networks found in natural ecosystems. Especially important is the scaling up of our limited understanding of how and under what conditions loss of ‘keystone’ species causes large declines of many other species. Here we explore how these keystone effects vary among simulations progressively scaled up from simple to more complex systems. Simpler simulations of four to seven interacting species suggest that species up to four links away can strongly alter keystone effects and make the consequences of keystone loss potentially indeterminate in more realistically complex communities. Instead of indeterminacy, we find that more complex networks of up to 32 species generally buffer distant influences such that variation in keystone effects is well predicted by surprisingly local ‘top‐down’, ‘bottom‐up’, and ‘horizontal‘ constraints acting within two links of the keystone subsystem. These results demonstrate that: (1) strong suppression of the competitive dominant by the keystone may only weakly affect subordinate competitors; (2) the community context of the target species determines whether strong keystone effects are realized; (3) simple, measurable, and local attributes of complex communities may explain much of the empirically observed variation in keystone effects; and (4) increasing network complexity per se does not inherently make the prediction of strong keystone effects more complicated.     

蛋白质：生物界中又一类信息的储存者和传递者 ——对 prion 生物学相关知识的重新解读

蛋白质在相当一段时间内一直被认为只是 DNA 或 RNA 等遗传物质的表达形式,其单独不具有储存和传递生物信息的功能,而储存和传递生物信息却是遗传物质的两个基本属性 . 随着近年来 prion 生物学的出现和研究的逐步深入,人们已经认识到蛋白质单独就具有储存和传递生物信息的功能,从这个意义上讲,蛋白质也是一类遗传物质 . 所以很有必要站在这个角度对 prion 生物学的相关知识进行重新的梳理和再认识,通过对哺乳动物 prion 生物学和真菌 prion 生物学各自发展历程的简要回顾和最新研究成果的介绍,以及它们之间相同点和不同点的比较,总结出蛋白质储存和传递生物信息的一般规律并指出其表现形式的多样性 .     

Mycobacterium avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis in the Inflamed Gut Tissues of Patients with Crohn’s Disease in China and its Potential Relationship to the Consumption of Cow’s Milk: A Preliminary Study

Summary Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection in domestic livestock is widespread in many countries throughout the world. Studies in Europe and the USA show that M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis can be cultured from retail pasteurized cow’s milk and that these organisms are being transmitted to humans by this route. Most people with chronic inflammation of the intestine of the Crohn’s disease type are infected with these chronic enteric pathogens. The production and consumption of cow’s milk has increased in China and so also has the incidence of Crohn’s disease. The present preliminary investigation was carried out to determine whether M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis is present in the intestinal tissues of Chinese patients with Crohn’s disease who have never left China. Archival paraffin-embedded surgical pathology blocks from patients having surgery for Crohn’s disease (CD) or for cancer (nIBD) in China were studied. M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis was detected by nested IS900 PCR with Southern blotting and amplicon sequencing. The intestinal tissues of 9 of 13 (69.2%) CD patients and 2 of 14 (14.3%) nIBD patients were IS900 PCR positive (P = 0.0063; odds ratio = 13.5). These initial studies suggest that people in China are exposed to M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis and that as in other countries, the infection is significantly associated with Crohn’s disease. M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis in dairy herds and retail milk in China needs to be investigated.     

东方田鼠种群扩散及活动对外部因子的反应格局

在野外围栏条件下,采用2×2×2析因实验,测定外部因子食物、捕食,以及同域分布物种黑线姬鼠的种间竞争对东方田鼠扩散和活动距离的独立作用及其交互作用的效应。研究结果表明,在所有的扩散个体中,幼体扩散的比例为71.0%。雄体扩散的比例为80.5%。东方田鼠扩散的趋势与其种群密度及补充量的变动一致。食物对扩散具有显著独立作用;捕食对扩散的作用接近显著;种间竞争对扩散的直接效应不显著;食物、捕食与种间竞争交互作用对扩散的效应亦不显著。在诱捕期内雄性的长距离活动比例及其诱捕期间长距离活动比例均显著大于诱捕期内雌性及其诱捕期间的长距离活动比例。不同处理种群间,仅雄体在诱捕期间的长距离活动比例具有显著差异;食物对雄体的长距离活动具有直接和间接(通过密度)的效应;而预防捕食者和竞争物种对不同处理种群雄体的长距离活动则无一致的效应。