炔雌醚对长爪沙鼠种群数量和性比的影响

: 炔雌醚是一种激素类新型鼠类不育剂,已有研究表明,炔雌醚对某些鼠类种群繁殖具有良好的控制成效。为检验新型不育剂对长爪沙鼠种群的控制效果,2006年5月在内蒙古锡林郭勒盟锡林浩特市农牧交错带开展了炔雌醚对野外长爪沙鼠种群的控制实验,本次实验设投药区和对照区2个组别,5-8月开展逐月的夹线调查以及四分之一圆洞口计数法,对样地内长爪沙鼠进行系统的追踪调查,分析炔雌醚对长爪沙鼠种群数量以及种群性比的作用。结果显示:投药1个月之后,投药区雌鼠比例(16.3%)不及对照组雌鼠比例(51.9%)的三分之一,投药区的雌鼠比例(16.3%)仅为雄鼠比例(83.7%)的五分之一;与对照区相比,投药区长爪沙鼠的密度下降达60%以上。这表明:炔雌醚对野外长爪沙鼠种群的不育控制具有良好效果,且炔雌醚对长爪沙鼠的种群性比影响很大,过量投放炔雌醚可造成雌鼠死亡,单独使用炔雌醚可降低野外不育剂的药物成本。     

Changes in abundance and spatial distribution of geese molting near Teshekpuk Lake,Alaska: interspecific competition or ecological change?

Goose populations molting in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska have changed in size and distribution over the past 30 years. Black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) are relatively stable in numbers but are shifting from large, inland lakes to salt marshes. Concurrently, populations of greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) have increased seven fold. Populations of Canada geese (Branta canadensis and/or B. hutchinsii) are stable with little indication of distributional shifts. The lesser snow goose (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) population is proportionally small, but increasing rapidly. Coastline erosion of the Beaufort Sea has altered tundra habitats by allowing saltwater intrusion, which has resulted in shifts in composition of forage plant species. We propose two alternative hypotheses for the observed shift in black brant distribution. Ecological change may have altered optimal foraging habitats for molting birds, or alternatively, interspecific competition between black brant and greater white-fronted geese may be excluding black brant from preferred habitats. Regardless of the causative mechanism, the observed shifts in species distributions are an important consideration for future resource planning.     

Using counts of begging young to estimate post-fledging survival in Tawny Owls Strix aluco

Capsule The method reliably accounted for variation in brood size when used by a ‘naive’ observer.     

禽流感及其免疫防制研究

禽流感一直是严重危害世界各国养禽业发展的头号大敌,近期又成为继严重急性呼吸道综合症(SARS)后又一严重威胁人类生命安全的重要疾病,由于禽流感病毒抗原及其致病力的易变性,这就要求未来的防制策略要采取快速检测,并用先进的分子生物学技术进行病毒鉴定、检疫及免疫保护等措施,建立全国性甚至全球性禽流感检测防制网络,并且搞清禽流感与人类流感的关系,从而保证人和动物的安全.     

Coliphages and indicator bacteria in birds around Boston Harbor

Droppings from feral populations of pigeons, geese and herring gulls from the urban/suburban environment around Boston Harbor, MA, USA contained up to 10⁶ somatic coliphages, 10⁸ enterococci, 10⁹ thermotolerant coliforms and 10² F-specific coliphages per gram of feces. Somatic coliphages, enterococci and thermotolerant coliforms were common in the feces of all three kinds of birds but F-specific coliphages were found in droppings from only three of 32 gulls. Thus these sources of bacterial and viral indicators should be considered when dealing with the ecology of fecal pollution indicators. Moreover, microbial indicators of fecal or sewage pollution originating from bird droppings may be mistaken for indicators that come from humans. This may cause an overestimate of the hazard from human pathogens in water and confound attempts to locate sources of fecal or sewage pollution. Received 12 May 1998/ Accepted in revised form 15 July 1998     

Interactions between land use,habitat use,and population increase in greater snow geese: what are the consequences for natural wetlands?

The North American greater snow goose population has increased dramatically during the last 40 years. We evaluated whether refuge creation, changes in land use on the wintering and staging grounds, and climate warming have contributed to this expansion by affecting the distribution, habitat use, body condition, and migration phenology of birds. We also reviewed the effects of the increasing population on marshes on the wintering grounds, along the migratory routes and on the tundra in summer. Refuges established before 1970 may have contributed to the initial demographic increase. The most important change, however, was the switch from a diet entirely based on marsh plants in spring and winter (rhizomes of Scirpus/Spartina) to one dominated by crops (corn/young grass shoots) during the 1970s and 1980s. Geese now winter further north along the US Atlantic coast, leading to reduced hunting mortality. Their migratory routes now include portions of southwestern Québec where corn production has increased exponentially. Since the mid‐1960s, average temperatures have increased by 1–2.4°C throughout the geographic range of geese, which may have contributed to the northward shift in wintering range and an earlier migration in spring. Access to spilled corn in spring improved fat reserves upon departure for the Arctic and may have contributed to a high fecundity. The population increase has led to intense grazing of natural wetlands used by geese although these habitats are still largely undamaged. The foraging in fields allowed the population to exceed limits imposed by natural marshes in winter and spring, but also prevented permanent damage because of their overgrazing.