世外桃源——湖南桃源洞国家级自然保护区记略

正大约1 600年前,东晋文学家陶渊明的一篇《桃花源记》,让无数人对那想象中的超脱尘世纷争、安宁自由的世外桃源痴迷不已。然而,在我国湖南省株洲市炎陵县境内,有一个名叫桃源洞的国家级自然保护区,真实地存在于现实中。桃源洞保护区始建于1982年,由湖南省人民政府批准建立,是湖南省最早的自然保护区之一,2002年经国务院批准晋升为国家级,总面积为23 786     

探访羚牛

6月中旬,我们佛坪保护区羚牛课题组一行四人再次登上了光头山。光头山我们去过多次,海拔2838米,它在秦岭山中只能算小字辈。但由于它地处秦岭腹地,南坡是佛坪自然保护区,北坡是周至和老县城自然保护区,西面又紧邻着长青自然保护区,四个保护区相拥,加上交通闭塞,得到了较好的保护,不大出名的光头山倒成了中外生物学家魂牵梦绕的地方。     

探访保德

保德是山西省西北角的一个县,位于黄河晋陕峡谷北端的东岸、黄土高原的腹地。在古生物学上,保德是中国新近纪最名的一个哺乳动物化石地点。1914年,曾担任瑞典地质调查局局长的安德生博士来到中国,并被聘为中国政府的矿业顾问和中国地质调查局博物馆馆长。1919年,安德生的两位     

世外桃源成就生物科技热点——法国留尼旺岛亮相世博会法国馆

法国留尼旺岛双周展于2010年8月15日在世博会法国馆聚焦厅开幕。在8月15日至31日期间,观众在参观法国馆的同时,将有机会近距离感受到留尼旺岛秀美风景和多元文化的独特魅力。     

探访动物乐园

<正>南亚最适合观赏野生动物的国家之一,约有400种鸟类、近100种哺乳动物及160多种爬行动物,其中60%的两栖动物和49%的爬行动物为其特有物种,大约14%的陆地面积被划为保护区。斯里兰卡是全球25个生物多样性保护的热点地区之一,是全亚洲最绿色的岛屿,面积65610平方千米,岛上植物独特性高达23%以上。斯里兰卡的中南部高地,占地537平方千米,包括了斯里兰卡山麓和山区中最大和无干扰的雨林保护区,拥有极为丰富的动植物资源,入选2010年《世界遗产名录》。     

动物遗传学研究室探访

本期采访的是京都大学灵长类研究所从事动物遗传多样性研究的村山美穗副教授。自从开发了猴子的父子鉴定法以后,接着又把研究的对象扩大到牛、狗等家畜,进行有关家畜优良性状的基因多态性的研究。作为她上级的雉科专家伊藤慎一教授则掌握有多个鹌鹑的变异系统。[编者按]     

冬季探访五指山雨林

海南省水满乡的冬季仿佛是人间仙境，林木苍翠，白云缭绕。站在这里可以清晰地看见五指山的全貌。这座象征着海南岛的大山覆盖着无数百年不朽的绿色植物，到处都充满了独特的树脂清香。如此独特的物候当然是珍禽异兽的乐园，这里生活着上千种野生动物和植物，即使到目前为止，该地区的物种还是没有全部被人类认识。     

探访维也纳垃圾焚烧站

<正>随着维也纳第六次登顶世界最宜居城市后,我们不禁要问,究竟怎样才算是宜居呢?其实,宜居最起码的保证就应该是干净环保,那么维也纳是多么干净环保呢?当一座垃圾焚烧站矗立于闹市中央,并成为一个城市知名的旅游景点时,或许就是最好的答案了。一方面,是国内忍受严重雾霾的侵袭;另一方面,是维也纳的蓝天白云。让我们跟随奥中科技交流协会,一起来探访这座童话城堡般的垃圾焚烧站,并一窥世界     

标本探访之旅 ——黑龙江省猛犸象动物群之奥妙

<正>猛犸象动物群概述猛玛象动物群是包括中-晚更新世散布到欧亚大陆北部一带的真猛玛象在内的适应于寒冷～凉爽气候的哺乳动物群。最初用这个名称的是当时曾作为中国科学院古脊椎动物研究室的研究员的裴文中先生。1957年,他用英文作了中国的第四纪哺乳类的地理分布的发言报告。其发言报告中指出,分布在东北部的黑龙江省以及     

Experiments in a Monastery Garden

SYNOPSIS. After a brief account of my early education, studyat the University of Wien, and preliminary experiments on hybridizationconducted at the Augustinian Monastery in Brünn, Austria,I state the reasons for selecting certain features of the ediblepea, Pisum sativum, for extensive investigation of their inheritance.After eight years I reported my results to the Brünn Societyfor the Study of Natural Science, and they were published inthe following year (1866) in the Proceedings of the Society.I discovered two basic principles of inheritance: the law ofsegregation and the law of independent assortment of hypotheticalunits of heredity that I called Elemente. I conclude with someremarks on the possible relation of my work to the evolutionof organic form and on my disappointment that my studies donot seem to be known or understood, and that because of my administrativeduties at themonastery, now being the Abbot, I have no timefor further investigations.     

Turbidity reduces hatching success in Threatened Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus)

Turbidity, and associated sedimentation, is increasing in aquatic ecosystems globally and is thought to be a major driver of aquatic biodiversity loss. In this study, hatching success of Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), a Threatened species in Canada, is reported for eggs held under clear and turbid conditions. Spotted Gar embryos were held in either clear or mildly turbid water (～5 NTU). Fertilized eggs held in turbid water exhibited a final 24?% reduction in hatching success by the end of the hatching period. Turbidity is identified as a potential threat for this species in Canada. The decrease in hatching success found here indicates that this early life history stage is particularly vulnerable to disturbance by turbidity and sedimentation.     

Accurate placement of substrate RNA by Gar1 in H/ACA RNA-guided pseudouridylation

H/ACA RNA-guided ribonucleoprotein particle (RNP), the most complicated RNA pseudouridylase so far known, uses H/ACA guide RNA for substrate capture and four proteins (Cbf5, Nop10, L7Ae and Gar1) for pseudouridylation. Although it was shown that Gar1 not only facilitates the product release, but also enhances the catalytic activity, the chemical role that Gar1 plays in this complicated machinery is largely unknown. Kinetics measurement on Pyrococcus furiosus RNPs at different temperatures making use of fluorescence anisotropy showed that Gar1 reduces the catalytic barrier through affecting the activation entropy instead of enthalpy. Site-directed mutagenesis combined with molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated that V149 in the thumb loop of Cbf5 is critical in placing the target uridine to the right position toward catalytic D85 of Cbf5. The enzyme elegantly aligns the position of uridine in the catalytic site with the help of Gar1. In addition, conversion of uridine to pseudouridine results in a rigid syn configuration of the target nucleotide in the active site and causes Gar1 to pull out the thumb. Both factors guarantee the efficient release of the product.     

Migration Amidst Social-Ecological Regime Shift: The Search for Stability in Garífuna Villages of Northern Honduras

Environmental migration, in its different forms, is an aspiration toward stability domains amidst dynamic system change. This paper assesses critical system relationships that couple human and natural systems and change in due course of a regime shift affecting Garífuna villages in Northern Honduras. The specified resilience of these relationships influences the course that migration takes after a flooding event. In impacted villages, migration is a mechanism for demographic fragmentation, ‘downgrades’ livelihood chains, and reinforces a class divide. Villages systems that experience a shift to uninhabitable and unproductive state spaces become shallow stability domains and consequently, perpetual exporters of migrants over an extended period of time. In the end, migration itself is a cascading aspect of a regime shift that is both ecological and social, forced and chosen.     

关注青海

青海是我们国家一个很重要的水资源发源地。这里不但有长江、黄河、澜沧江,它们的径流量黄河占了49％,长江和澜沧江也有相当的水量来自青海;另外还有两条河,一条是黑河,一条是石羊河,也是水流量相当丰富的大河。黑河起源于青海省的祁连山,对河西走廊的农牧业生产影响非常大,它除了对甘肃省的粮仓——张掖一带的农业生产起支撑作用外,     

The modeled structure of the IgG Gar VL region and its implications for anti-flavin and anti-DNP fine specificities

The interaction of the purified C1q component of human C with synchronized, quiescent human gingival fibroblasts was investigated, and the presence of a specific binding site was demonstrated. Quantitative binding studies with radioiodinated C1q showed that binding was specific, saturable, and reversible upon addition of unlabeled C1q or by increasing the salt concentration. Scatchard plot analysis of the data yielded an affinity constant of 2 X 10(7) M-1 for all cell strains examined. The capacity for C1q binding varied among the eight cell strains examined. The number of binding sites per cell ranged from 2.6 to 17.7 X 10(6) with an average of 8.4 X 10(6). The receptor was insensitive to trypsin digestion, and it bound the collagen-like portion of the C1q molecule. Specific immunofluorescence staining showed that virtually all the viable cultured fibroblasts were able to bind added C1q. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated a spectrum of fluorescence intensity among the cell strains, and there was a positive correlation between fluorescence intensity and the number of binding sites detected by using radiolabeled C1q.