北京西山侧柏林冠层不同高度处叶片水分利用效率

以北京西山广泛分布的侧柏林为研究对象,综合考虑冠层不同高度处气象因子、大气CO₂浓度以及大气CO₂中碳同位素组成的差异,对其冠层不同高度处叶片的瞬时水分利用效率和短期水分利用效率分别进行了测定,以期为区域森林生态系统固碳与耗水研究提供理论依据,为区域森林生态系统经营与维护提供技术支撑.结果表明: 侧柏林冠层不同高度处叶片的瞬时水分利用效率随冠层高度的变化规律表现为上层>中层>下层,多种气象因子协同影响气孔运动,使瞬时水分利用效率受气孔限制;侧柏林冠层不同高度处的环境因子、大气CO₂浓度以及大气CO₂的δ13C均存在一定差异,导致了林冠各层叶片的短期水分利用效率的变化.林冠上层叶片通过提高水分利用效率适应环境.     

The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection

We examined the conditions under which a feature value in visual working memory (VWM) recruits visual attention to matching stimuli. Previous work has suggested that VWM supports two qualitatively different states of representation: an active state that interacts with perceptual selection and a passive (or accessory) state that does not. An alternative hypothesis is that VWM supports a single form of representation, with the precision of feature memory controlling whether or not the representation interacts with perceptual selection. The results of three experiments supported the dual-state hypothesis. We established conditions under which participants retained a relatively precise representation of a parcticular colour. If the colour was immediately task relevant, it reliably recruited attention to matching stimuli. However, if the colour was not immediately task relevant, it failed to interact with perceptual selection. Feature maintenance in VWM is not necessarily equivalent with feature-based attentional selection.     

Complications of nonionizing radiofrequency on divided attention

Exposure to electromagnetic fields is considered as a potential hazard for biological systems. The objective of our investigation is the study of probable consequences of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from Wi-Fi router devices on the short-term memory, and attention's levels. A population consisting of 312 female college students (14 to 17 years old) was elected by cluster random sampling. Teenagers were divided into two groups of control group (Wi-Fi nonusers; n = 138), and experiment group (Wi-Fi users; n = 174). Both groups have been examined using short-term memory tests; selective attention, and also divided attention tests. According to the results, there was no significant difference between using Wi-Fi router devices on levels of selective attentions and short-term memory of the sample students with the control group. However, analyses revealed that there is a significant correlation between the use of Wi-Fi routers and declining levels of divided attentions. Our investigation has demonstrated the adverse consequences of 2.4-2.48 GHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields of Wi-Fi router devices on divided attention levels of female university students that should be mentioned as a technological risk factor and taken into account by healthcare organizations.     

Learning Proteome Domain Folding Using LSTMs in an Empirical Kernel Space

The recognition of protein structural folds is the starting point for protein function inference and for many structural prediction tools. We previously introduced the idea of using empirical comparisons to create a data-augmented feature space called PESS (Protein Empirical Structure Space)¹ as a novel approach for protein structure prediction. Here, we extend the previous approach by generating the PESS feature space over fixed-length subsequences of query peptides, and applying a sequential neural network model, with one long short-term memory cell layer followed by a fully connected layer. Using this approach, we show that only a small group of domains as a training set is needed to achieve near state-of-the-art accuracy on fold recognition. Our method improves on the previous approach by reducing the training set required and improving the model’s ability to generalize across species, which will help fold prediction for newly discovered proteins.     

Patterns of livestock depredation and cost‐effectiveness of fortified livestock enclosures in northern Tanzania

Human–carnivore conflicts and retaliatory killings contribute to carnivore populations' declines around the world. Strategies to mitigate conflicts have been developed, but their efficacy is rarely assessed in a randomized case–control design. Further, the economic costs prevent the adoption and wide use of conflict mitigation strategies by pastoralists in rural Africa. We examined carnivore (African lion [Panthera leo], leopard [Panthera pardus], spotted hyena [Crocuta crocuta], jackal [Canis mesomelas], and cheetah [Acinonyx jubatus]) raids on fortified (n = 45, total 631 monthly visits) and unfortified (traditional, n = 45, total 521 monthly visits) livestock enclosures (“bomas”) in northern Tanzania. The study aimed to (a) assess the extent of retaliatory killings of major carnivore species due to livestock depredation, (b) describe the spatiotemporal characteristics of carnivore raids on livestock enclosures, (c) analyze whether spatial covariates influenced livestock depredation risk in livestock enclosures, and (d) examine the cost‐effectiveness of livestock enclosure fortification. Results suggest that (a) majority of boma raids by carnivores were caused by spotted hyenas (nearly 90% of all raids), but retaliatory killings mainly targeted lions, (b) carnivore raid attempts were rare at individual households (0.081 raid attempts/month in fortified enclosures and 0.102 raid attempts/month in unfortified enclosures), and (c) spotted hyena raid attempts increased in the wet season compared with the dry season, and owners of fortified bomas reported less hyena raid attempts than owners of unfortified bomas. Landscape and habitat variables tested, did not strongly drive the spatial patterns of spotted hyena raids in livestock bomas. Carnivore raids varied randomly both spatially (village to village) and temporally (year to year). The cost‐benefit analysis suggest that investing in boma fortification yielded positive net present values after two to three years. Thus, enclosure fortification is a cost‐effective strategy to promote coexistence of carnivores and humans.     

Methyl bromide emissions to the atmosphere from temperate woodland ecosystems

The environmental importance of methyl bromide (CH₃Br) arises from its contribution to stratospheric ozone loss processes and, as a consequence, its emissions from anthropogenic sources are subject to the Montreal Protocol. A better understanding of the natural budget of CH₃Br is required for assessing the benefit of anthropogenic emission reductions and for understanding any potential effects of environmental change on global CH₃Br concentrations. Measurements of CH₃Br flux in temperate woodland ecosystems, in particular, are very sparse, yet these cover a large fraction of terrestrial land surface. Results presented here from 18 months of field measurements of CH₃Br fluxes in four static flux chambers in a woodland in Scotland and from enclosures of rotting wood and deciduous and coniferous leaf litter suggest net emissions from temperate woodlands. Net CH₃Br fluxes in the woodland varied between the chambers, fluctuating between net uptake and net emissions (?73 to 279 ng m^?2 h^?1 across 161 individual measurements), and with no strong seasonality, but with time‐averaged net emission overall [27±57 (1 SD)] ng m^?2 h^?1]. This work demonstrates that scale‐up needs to be based on sufficient individual measurements to provide a reasonably constrained estimate of the long‐term mean. Mean (±1 SD) net CH₃Br emissions from deciduous and coniferous leaf litter were 43 (±33) ng kg^?1 (dry weight) h^?1 and 80 (±37) ng kg^?1 (dry weight) h^?1, respectively, and ～1–2 ng kg^?1 (fresh weight) h^?1 from rotting woody litter. Despite the intrinsic variability, data obtained here consistently point to the conclusion that the temperate forest soil/litter ecosystem is a net source of CH₃Br to the atmosphere.     

封育对科尔沁沙地小叶锦鸡儿群落植被特征及空间异质性的影响

以科尔沁沙地小叶锦鸡儿群落为对象,分析了放牧和不同封育年限下小叶锦鸡儿群落的植被特征及植被分布的小尺度空间异质性.结果表明:放牧和封育样地内植被均以1年生草本植物为主,物种数没有明显差异;封育6年、封育12年样地的植株密度分别为(124.46±5.22)株·m~(-2)和(203.05±10.38)株·m~2,显著高于放牧样地(P<0.05);封育样地的Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Simpson多样性指数、Pielou均匀度指数均低于放牧样地,并随着封育年限的增加而减小;封育样地植被分布的小尺度空间异质性小于放牧样地,并且封育年限越长,空间异质性越小.

Abstract：

This paper studied the vegetation characteristics and small-scale spatial heterogeneity of Caragana mirophylla community in Horqin Sandy Land in northeast Inner Mongolia of China under grazing and under 6-and 12 years enclosure, aimed to assess the effects of grazing and enclosure on vegetation restoration. In the sampling plots of grazing and different years enclosure, the species composition of C. mirophylla community all dominated by annual herbaceous plants. The species richness in grazed plot and in the plots enclosed for 6 and 12 years was 22, 19, and 20, respectively, with no significant difference. In the plots enclosed for 6 and 12 years, the plant density was (124.46±5.22) plants·m~(-2) and (203. 05±10. 38) plants·m~(-2), respec- tively, being significantly higher than that in grazed plot, which suggested that enclosure was an effective method to accelerate the vegetation restoration in Sandy Land. The Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson species diversity, and Pielou evenness in enclosed plots were lower than those in grazed plot, and decreased with increasing enclosure duration. The small-scale spatial heteroge-neity of vegetation in enclosed plots was smaller than that in grazed plot. The longer the enclosure duration, the smaller the spatial heterogeneity was.     

Genetic variation and drought response in two Populus × euramericana genotypes through 2-DE proteomic analysis of leaves from field and glasshouse cultivated plants

Genotype and water deficit effects on leaf 2-DE protein profiles of two Populus deltoides × Populus nigra, cv. ‘Agathe_F’ and ‘Cima’, were analysed over a short-term period of 18 days in glasshouse using 4-month-old rooted cuttings and over a long-lasting period of 86 days in open field using 4-year-old rooted cuttings. Leaf proteomes were analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and proteins were identified after database searching from MS peptide spectra.A reliable genotype effect was observed in the leaf proteome over experiment locations, water regimes and sampling dates. Quantitative differences between genotypes were found. Most of them corresponded to proteins matching isoforms or post-translational modification variants. However, ‘Cima’ displayed the highest abundance of antioxidant enzymes.In response to water deficit, about 10% of the reproducible spots significantly varied regardless of the experiment location, among which about 25% also displayed genotype-dependent variations. As a whole, while ‘Cima’ differed from ‘Agathe_F’ by increased abundance of enzymes involved in photorespiration and in oxidative stress, ‘Agathe_F’ was mainly differentiated by increased abundance of enzymes involved in photosynthesis.