种子大小变异的进化生态学研究现状与展望

种子大小是植物生活史的核心特征之一。从4个方面综述种子大小变异进化生态学研究：(1)理论及研究方法;(2)环境、系统发育和母系影响;(3)进化机制;(4)生态学和进化意义。分析目前研究中存在的问题,并提出今后的研究方向。     

昆虫的夏滞育

夏滞育作为昆虫越夏的生态策略 ,已广泛引起昆虫学家的重视。本文就几十年来夏滞育研究的进展进行综述。着重讨论诱导、维持、终止夏滞育的主要环境因子 ,夏滞育的生态特征和它的生态适应意义。     

BAYESian Point Estimation of the Unknown Upper Limit of a Uniform Distribution

BAYESian fixed sample size and sequential procedures are considered for the estimation of the unknown parameter v of a uniform distribution over (0, v), under several loss functions.     

What do men want? Re-examining whether men benefit from higher fertility than is optimal for women

Several empirical observations suggest that when women have more autonomy over their reproductive decisions, fertility is lower. Some evolutionary theorists have interpreted this as evidence for sexual conflicts of interest, arguing that higher fertility is more adaptive for men than women. We suggest the assumptions underlying these arguments are problematic: assuming that women suffer higher costs of reproduction than men neglects the (different) costs of reproduction for men; the assumption that men can repartner is often false. We use simple models to illustrate that (i) men or women can prefer longer interbirth intervals (IBIs), (ii) if men can only partner with wives sequentially they may favour shorter IBIs than women, but such a strategy would only be optimal for a few men who can repartner. This suggests that an evolved universal male preference for higher fertility than women prefer is implausible and is unlikely to fully account for the empirical data. This further implies that if women have more reproductive autonomy, populations should grow, not decline. More precise theoretical explanations with clearly stated assumptions, and data that better address both ultimate fitness consequences and proximate psychological motivations, are needed to understand under which conditions sexual conflict over reproductive timing should arise.     

The effects of drought on Ngatatjara plant use: An evaluation of optimal foraging theory

The different responses of plants to drought conditions are examined in the Western Desert of Australia to demonstrate the necessity of considering plant food availability prior to optimal foraging applications involving human hunter-gatherers. The correspondence of Ngatatjara dietary breadth changes to optimal foraging predictions is explained as an adaptive response to the unpredictable Western Desert rainfall. By minimizing the time allocated to food procurement, energy-efficient foraging reduces the risk involved in the exploitation of scattered, ephemeral water sources. Further applications of optimal foraging models to hunter-gatherers is one line of promising investigation to address behavioral variability among human foragers.     

豚草条纹萤叶甲各虫态的空间分布型

豚草条纹萤叶甲Ophraella communa LeSage是恶性入侵豚草(Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.)的天敌,用频次分布拟合和多种聚集指数测度等方法对该叶甲的成虫、幼虫和蛹、卵的空间分布型进行研究。结果表明,豚草条纹萤叶甲卵、幼虫+蛹、成虫的空间分布符合负二项分布,种群个体的空间分布为聚集分布。用几种衡量聚集度的指标,对上述各虫态分布的聚集程度进行测定;然后计算出各虫态田间最适理论抽样数。     

Bayesian Methods for Examining Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium

Summary .  Testing for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium is ubiquitous and has traditionally been carried out via frequentist approaches. However, the discreteness of the sample space means that uniformity of  p -values under the null cannot be assumed, with enumeration of all possible counts, conditional on the minor allele count, offering a computationally expensive way of  p -value calibration. In addition, the interpretation of the subsequent  p -values, and choice of significance threshold depends critically on sample size, because equilibrium will always be rejected at conventional levels with large sample sizes. We argue for a Bayesian approach using both Bayes factors, and the examination of posterior distributions. We describe simple conjugate approaches, and methods based on importance sampling Monte Carlo. The former are convenient because they yield closed-form expressions for Bayes factors, which allow their application to a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in particular in genome-wide contexts. We also describe straightforward direct sampling methods for examining posterior distributions of parameters of interest. For large numbers of alleles at a locus we resort to Markov chain Monte Carlo. We discuss a number of possibilities for prior specification, and apply the suggested methods to a number of real datasets.