The Evolution of Communication in Two Ant-Plant Mutualisms

Myrmecophytes are plants that provide nesting sites and food to ants that protect them against herbivores. Plant signals function to synchronize ant patrolling with the probability of herbivory. We compared the communication signals in two symbioses involving ant and plant pairs that are closely related. The two plants emitted the same volatile compounds upon damage. These compounds are simple molecules common in the plant kingdom. Electroantennography revealed that the two symbiotic ants, as well as several other ant species, were able to perceive these compounds. However, workers of one species responded only to hexanal, while those of the other species responded mostly to methyl salicylate. The two signals involved in the focal symbioses are ‘cheap’ (low metabolic cost), which is consistent with theoretical predictions for the evolution of signalling between partners with convergent interests. They are also not specific, which is expected between plants and broad-spectrum predators such as ants. The fact that different signals are used in the two sister symbioses suggests different mechanisms underlying similar adaptations in the evolution of communication.     

反应扩散模型的全局渐近稳定性和持续性（英文）

本文主要应用反应扩散方程的不变原理和构造适当的Liapunov泛函方法研究了一类反应扩散模型的唯一齐次正平衡态的全局渐近稳定性.进一步,根据Dunbar et al.（1986）和Hutson与Moran（1987）得出的动力学系统结果,我们得到了判别具有持续性的充分条件.     

反应扩散模型的全局渐近稳定性和持续性

本文主要应用反应扩散方程的不变原理和构造适当的Liapunov泛函方法研究了一类反应扩散模型的唯一齐次正平衡态的全局渐近稳定性.进一步,根据Dunbar et al.(1986)和Hutson与Moran(1987)得出的动力学系统结果,我们得到了判别具有持续性的充分条件.     

n阶食物链反馈控制系统的稳定性与永久持续生存

本文研究了n阶食物链反馈控制系统的稳定性与永久持续生存问题,分别得到了该系统无反馈与有反馈两种情况下存在唯一正平衡点和永久持续生存的几个充要条件。文末的例子表明,本文在无反馈情况下的结果比现有的结果简单,有效,在有反馈情况下的结果填补了目前这一问题的空白。     

Yeast Community Persistence in a Spatially Structured Environment

Abstract Community persistence was investigated in the yeast assemblage inhabiting patches of necrotic stem tissue of the columnar cactus Stenocereus gummosus (pitaya agria). Two surveys, conducted in 1981 and 1996, were compared. The variation in species occurrence in a spatial hierarchy within neuroses, among plants within a location, and among locations, was persistent across the 15-yr time span. The core species had a community similarity coefficient of 0.75, and the rank of their variability was significantly correlated for the two surveys. The physiological potential of the yeasts was distributed in the same manner in 1996 and 1981. Likewise, the rank order of physiological potentials both within plant and between plants was significantly correlated. These results indicate a microbial community that persists regionally, even though individual necroses routinely experience extinction and colonization. The role of an insect vector, Drosophila mojavensis, in community persistence is discussed. Received: 7 July 1997; Accepted: 27 October 1997     

一类捕食者与被捕食者模型的持久性与稳定性

研究了一类捕食者与被捕食者模型,该生态系统是一个食饵种群被一个捕食种群捕食.当给定参数满足一定条件下,利用比较原理和构造Lyapunov函数的方法,证明了系统的持久性和全局渐近稳定性,并讨论了正平衡点的渐近稳定性.     

The Effects of Biogeography and Biotic Interactions on Lemur Community Assembly

Geographic patterns of biodiversity result from broad-scale biogeographic and present-day ecological processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the relative importance of biogeographic history and ecology driving patterns of diversity in modern primate communities in Madagascar. I collected data on endemic lemur species co-occurrence from range maps and survey literature for 100 communities in protected areas. I quantified and compared taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of intra- and intersite diversity. I tested environmental and geographic predictors of diversity and endemism. I calculated deforestation rates within protected areas between the years 2000 and 2014, and tested if diversity is related to forest cover and loss. I found the phylogenetic structure of lemur communities could be explained primarily by remotely sensed plant productivity, supporting the hypothesis that there was ecological differentiation among ecoregions, while functional-trait disparity was not strongly related to environment. Taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity also increased with increasing topographic heterogeneity. Beta diversity was explained by both differences in ecology among localities and potential river barriers. Approximately 3000 km² were deforested in protected areas since the year 2000, threatening the most diverse communities (up to 31%/park). The strong positive association of plant productivity and topographic heterogeneity with lemur diversity indicates that high productivity, rugged landscapes support greater diversity. Both ecology and river barriers influenced lemur community ecology and biogeography. These results underscore the need for focused conservation efforts to slow the loss of irreplaceable evolutionary and ecological diversity.     

Revisiting the Role of Individual Variability in Population Persistence and Stability

Populations often exhibit a pronounced degree of individual variability and this can be important when constructing ecological models. In this paper, we revisit the role of inter-individual variability in population persistence and stability under predation pressure. As a case study, we consider interactions between a structured population of zooplankton grazers and their predators. Unlike previous structured population models, which only consider variability of individuals according to the age or body size, we focus on physiological and behavioural structuring. We first experimentally demonstrate a high degree of variation of individual consumption rates in three dominant species of herbivorous copepods (Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus glacialis, Calanus euxinus) and show that this disparity implies a pronounced variation in the consumption capacities of individuals. Then we construct a parsimonious predator-prey model which takes into account the intra-population variability of prey individuals according to behavioural traits: effectively, each organism has a ‘personality’ of its own. Our modelling results show that structuring of prey according to their growth rate and vulnerability to predation can dampen predator-prey cycles and enhance persistence of a species, even if the resource stock for prey is unlimited. The main mechanism of efficient top-down regulation is shown to work by letting the prey population become dominated by less vulnerable individuals when predator densities are high, while the trait distribution recovers when the predator densities are low.     

多时滞三种群捕食模型的持久性和全局渐近性

研究了一类多时滞非自治三种群捕食模型的持久性和全局渐近稳定性,分别利用比较原理和构造Lyapunov函数方法得到了模型持久生存与全局渐近稳定性的充分条件,并举例说明定理的可行性且利用Matlab绘出图像.     

Interactions between Social Structure,Demography, and Transmission Determine Disease Persistence in Primates

Catastrophic declines in African great ape populations due to disease outbreaks have been reported in recent years, yet we rarely hear of similar disease impacts for the more solitary Asian great apes, or for smaller primates. We used an age-structured model of different primate social systems to illustrate that interactions between social structure and demography create ‘dynamic constraints’ on the pathogens that can establish and persist in primate host species with different social systems. We showed that this varies by disease transmission mode. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) require high rates of transmissibility to persist within a primate population. In particular, for a unimale social system, STIs require extremely high rates of transmissibility for persistence, and remain at extremely low prevalence in small primates, but this is less constrained in longer-lived, larger-bodied primates. In contrast, aerosol transmitted infections (ATIs) spread and persist at high prevalence in medium and large primates with moderate transmissibility;, establishment and persistence in small-bodied primates require higher relative rates of transmissibility. Intragroup contact structure – the social network - creates different constraints for different transmission modes, and our model underscores the importance of intragroup contacts on infection prior to intergroup movement in a structured population. When alpha males dominate sexual encounters, the resulting disease transmission dynamics differ from when social interactions are dominated by mother-infant grooming events, for example. This has important repercussions for pathogen spread across populations. Our framework reveals essential social and demographic characteristics of primates that predispose them to different disease risks that will be important for disease management and conservation planning for protected primate populations.     

Trophic Structure, Stability, and Parasite Persistence Threshold in Food Webs

Food web structure of free-living species is an important determinant of parasite species richness. Downwardly asymmetric predator–prey interactions (where there are more prey than predator species) have been shown, both theoretically and empirically, to harbour more trophically transmitted parasite species than expected due to chance. Here, we demonstrate that this could be due to the increase in the basic reproductive ratio that the addition of non-host prey species to a system creates. However, we note that the basic reproductive ratio is only increased by those prey that stabilise oscillations in a predator–prey system, and is decreased by those that do not.     

基于比率的具有反馈控制的捕食系统的持久性与全局渐近稳定性

研究了一类基于比率的具有反馈控制的非自治捕食模型,得到了系统一致持久和其周期系统存在唯一全局渐近稳定的周期解的充分性条件．     

Disturbance Frequency and Community Stability in Native Tallgrass Prairie

Ecological communities are spatially and temporally variable in response to a variety of biotic and abiotic forces. It is not always clear, however, if spatial and temporal variability leads to instability in communities. Instability may result from strong biotic interactions or from stochastic processes acting on small populations. I used 10-15 yr of annual data from the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research site to examine whether plant, breeding bird, grasshopper, and small mammal communities in tallgrass prairie exhibit stability or directional change in response to different experimentally induced fire frequencies. Based on ordination and ANOVA, plant and grasshopper communities on annually burned sites differed significantly from plant and grasshopper communities on less frequently burned sites. Breeding birds and small mammals differed among sites as well, but these differences were not clearly related to disturbance frequency. A modified time series analysis indicated that plant communities were undergoing directional change (unstable) on all watersheds, regardless of fire frequency. Contrary to expectations, directional change was greatest on the annually burned sites and lowest on the infrequently burned sites. Unlike the plant communities, breeding bird, grasshopper, and small mammal communities were temporally stable, despite high-compositional variability from 1 yr to the next. Stability among the consumer communities within these dynamic plant communities occurs because three-dimensional vegetation structure does not change over time, despite changes in plant species composition. Evidence suggests that instability in the plant community results from strong biotic interactions among temporally persistent core species and stochastic dynamics among infrequent satellite species. Overall, community stability cannot be assessed if the pattern of temporal dynamics is unknown. Long-term empirical studies of different taxa under different disturbance regimes are needed to determine over what time frames and spatial scales communities may be stable. Such studies are essential for the development of generalities regarding the relationship between disturbance frequency and community stability in terrestrial and aquatic systems.     

Stability and Change in Estuarine Biofilm Bacterial Community Diversity

Biofouling communities contribute significantly to aquatic ecosystem productivity and biogeochemical cycling. Our knowledge of the distribution, composition, and activities of these microbially dominated communities is limited compared to other components of estuarine ecosystems. This study investigated the temporal stability and change of the dominant phylogenetic groups of the domain Bacteria in estuarine biofilm communities. Glass slides were deployed monthly over 1 year for 7-day incubations during peak tidal periods in East Sabine Bay, Fla. Community profiling was achieved by using 16S rRNA genes and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S rRNA genes in combination with ribotyping, cloning, and sequencing to evaluate diversity and to identify dominant microorganisms. Bacterial community profiles from biofilms grown near the benthos showed distinct periods of constancy within winter and summer sampling periods. Similar periods of stability were also seen in T-RFLP patterns from floating biofilms. Alternating dominance of phylogenetic groups between seasons appeared to be associated with seasonal changes in temperature, nutrient availability, and light. The community structure appeared to be stable during these periods despite changes in salinity and in dissolved oxygen.     

Nucleosome Interactions and Stability in an Ordered Nucleosome Array Model System

Although it is well established that the majority of eukaryotic DNA is sequestered as nucleosomes, the higher-order structure resulting from nucleosome interactions as well as the dynamics of nucleosome stability are not as well understood. To characterize the structural and functional contribution of individual nucleosomal sites, we have developed a chromatin model system containing up to four nucleosomes, where the array composition, saturation, and length can be varied via the ordered ligation of distinct mononucleosomes. Using this system we find that the ligated tetranucleosomal arrays undergo intra-array compaction. However, this compaction is less extensive than for longer arrays and is histone H4 tail-independent, suggesting that well ordered stretches of four or fewer nucleosomes do not fully compact to the 30-nm fiber. Like longer arrays, the tetranucleosomal arrays exhibit cooperative self-association to form species composed of many copies of the array. This propensity for self-association decreases when the fraction of nucleosomes lacking H4 tails is systematically increased. However, even tetranucleosomal arrays with only two octamers possessing H4 tails recapitulate most of the inter-array self-association. Varying array length shows that systems as short as dinucleosomes demonstrate significant self-association, confirming that relatively few determinants are required for inter-array interactions and suggesting that in vivo multiple interactions of short runs of nucleosomes might contribute to complex fiber-fiber interactions. Additionally, we find that the stability of nucleosomes toward octamer loss increases with array length and saturation, suggesting that in vivo stretches of ordered, saturated nucleosomes could serve to protect these regions from histone ejection.     

樟翠尺蛾种群动态与植物群落结构及气候因子的关系

在昆虫种群的研究中,Ｇｉｅｉｒ和Ｃｌａｒｋ等曾经提出生命系统的基本概念[1,2],认为生命系统由一个对象种群和作用于这个种群的环境所组成。控制昆虫种群增长的有密度制约因子(如食源)和非密度制约因子(如气候环境)。昆虫和植物之间的关系,历来是生态学研究的重要领域。通过长期的定点监测,研究某种昆虫种群动态与各种生态因子之间的关系,不仅可揭示动物和植物及环境之间互相影响的关系,对保护生物学理论的某些方面将有所发展,而且可为林业生产和环保工作提供如何应用生态学原理控制虫害,保护生物多样性和维护生态平衡的理论依据。樟翠尺…     

The Role of Cross-Chain Ionic Interactions for the Stability of Collagen Model Peptides

The contribution of ionic interactions to the stability of the collagen triple helix was studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and biophysical methods. To this end, we examined the stability of a host-guest collagen model peptide, Ac-GPOGPOGPYGXOGPOGPO-NH₂, substituting KGE, KGD, EGK, and DGK for the YGX sequence. All-atom, implicit solvent MD simulations show that the fraction of cross-chain ionic interactions formed is different, with the most pronounced in the KGE and KGD sequences, and the least in the DGK sequence. To test whether the fraction of cross-chain ionic interactions correlates with the stability, experimental measurements of thermostability were done using differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy. It was found that the melting temperature is very similar for KGE and KGD peptides, whereas the EGK peptide has lower thermostability and the DGK peptide is the least thermostable. A novel, to our knowledge, computational protocol termed temperature-scan MD was applied to estimate the relative stabilities of the peptides from MD simulations. We found an excellent correlation between transition temperatures obtained from temperature-scan MD and those measured experimentally. These results suggest the importance of cross-chain ionic interactions for the stability of collagen triple helix and confirm the utility of MD simulations in predicting interactions and stability in this system.