数字高程模型在群落内物种共存研究中的应用——以神农架米心水青冈-曼青冈群落的地形模型建立为例

地形是环境异质性产生的原因之一。受技术条件的限制, 以往研究中地形因子只能作为背景因子介入, 无法分析地形的细微变化对植物分布格局的影响。该文将数字高程模型引入群落内物种多样性研究, 以神农架米心水青冈 (Fagusengleriana) _曼青 冈 (Cyclobalanopsisoxyodon) 群落固定样地的地形分析为例, 介绍DEM的建立及地形因素的提取。摸拟 0.96hm2 样地的地形变化, 发现样地总坡向为西偏北 30°, 总坡度为 4 0.0 1°, 最大坡度为74.6°, 最小坡度为 18.2°, DEM的精度为 0.4m。选择群落中 2 4种植物与坡度、坡向及坡位等地形因素进行相关分析, 发现不同的种对地形变化的反应不同。该次研究中, DEM量化了地形数据, 使之可以参与到生物多样性研究中, 为在连续面上分析地形因素对群落内植物分布的影响提供了极大的便利。DEM在小尺度中应用的主要问题是原数据的采集, 该次研究中的地形数据为人工野外测量, 研究规模受到一定限制。     

Pollen and Resource Limitation in Veratrum nigrum L. （Liliaceae）, an Andromonoecious Herb

Pollen limitation and resource limitation were invoked to account for the pattern that flowering plants produce more flowers and ovules than fruits and seeds. This study aimed to determine their relative importance in Veratrum nigrum, a self-compatible, perennial, andromonoecious herb. In order to determine whether female production was limited by pollen grains on stigmas or by available resources, we performed supplemental hand pollination in three populations, male-flower-bud removal in three other populations, and emasculation of hermaphroditic flowers in still another population, resulting in a total of seven populations experimentally manipulated. Across the three populations, supplemental hand pollination did not significantly increase fruit set, seed number per fruit, and total seed production per individual, nor did emasculation of hermaphroditic flowers. Taken together, our results suggest that pollen grains deposited on stigmas were abundant enough to fertilize all the ovules. Male-flower-bud removal significantly increased the mean size of hermaphroditic flowers in all three populations. Female reproductive success was increased in one population, but not in the other two populations possibly due to heavy flower/seed predation. We concluded that the female reproductive success of V. nigrum was not limited by pollen grains but by available resources, which is consistent with Bateman＇s principle. Furthermore, the female reproduction increase of male-flower-bud removal individuals might suggest a trade-off between male and female sexual functions.     

Abundance and community composition of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in two different zones of Lake Taihu

The abundance and community composition of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the surface sediments of 2 different zones (Meiliang Bay and Eastern Lake Taihu) of Lake Taihu were investigated using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and clone libraries. The amoA gene copy numbers in the surface sediment of Meiliang Bay ranged from 4.91?× 10(5) to 8.65?× 10(6) copies/g dry sediment for the archaeal amoA gene and from 3.74?× 10(4) to 3.86?× 10(5) copies/g dry sediment for the bacterial amoA gene, which were significantly higher than those of Eastern Lake Taihu (P?< 0.05). Concentrations of ammonia (NH(4)(+)), total nitrogen, organic matter, and pH of the sediments exhibited significantly negative correlations with the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea or ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (P?< 0.05 or P?< 0.01, respectively). The potential nitrification rates show remarkable correlations with the copy numbers of the archaeal amoA gene. Diversity of the archaeal amoA gene in Eastern Lake Taihu was significantly higher than that of Meiliang Bay, whereas the bacterial amoA gene diversity was comparable for the 2 lake zones. The data obtained in this study would be useful to elucidate the role of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the nitrogen cycle of freshwater ecosystems.     

The Environment,Not Space,Dominantly Structures the Landscape Patterns of the Richness and Composition of the Tropical Understory Vegetation

The mechanisms driving the spatial patterns of species richness and composition are essential to the understanding of biodiversity. Numerous studies separately identify the contributions of the environment (niche process) and space (neutral process) to the species richness or composition at different scales, but few studies have investigated the contributions of both types of processes in the two types of data at the landscape scale. In this study, we partitioned the spatial variations in all, exotic and native understory plant species richness and composition constrained by environmental variables and space in 134 plots that were spread across 10 counties in Hainan Island in southern China. The 134 plots included 70 rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation plots, 50 eucalyptus (Eucalyptus urophylla) plantation plots, and 14 secondary forest plots. RDA based variation partitioning was run to assess the contribution of environment and space to species richness and composition. The results showed that the environmental variables alone explained a large proportion of the variations in both the species richness and composition of all, native, and exotic species. The RDA results indicated that overstory composition (forest type here) plays a leading role in determining species richness and composition patterns. The alpha and beta diversities of the secondary forest plots were markedly higher than that of the two plantations. In conclusion, niche differentiation processes are the principal mechanisms that shape the alpha and beta diversities of understory plant species in Hainan Island.     

Whole-tissue determination of the rate coefficients of photoinactivation and repair of photosystem II in cotton leaf discs based on flash-induced P700 redox kinetics

Using radioactively labelled amino acids to investigate repair of photoinactivated photosystem II (PS II) gives only a relative rate of repair, while using chlorophyll fluorescence parameters yields a repair rate coefficient for an undefined, variable location within the leaf tissue. Here, we report on a whole-tissue determination of the rate coefficient of photoinactivation k _i , and that of repair k _r in cotton leaf discs. The method assays functional PS II via a P700 kinetics area associated with PS I, as induced by a single-turnover, saturating flash superimposed on continuous background far-red light. The P700 kinetics area, directly proportional to the oxygen yield per single-turnover, saturating flash, was used to obtain both k _i and k _r . The value of k _i , directly proportional to irradiance, was slightly higher when CO₂ diffusion into the abaxial surface (richer in stomata) was blocked by contact with water. The value of k _r , sizable in darkness, changed in the light depending on which surface was blocked by contact with water. When the abaxial surface was blocked, k _r first peaked at moderate irradiance and then decreased at high irradiance. When the adaxial surface was blocked, k _r first increased at low irradiance, then plateaued, before increasing markedly at high irradiance. At the highest irradiance, k _r differed by an order of magnitude between the two orientations, attributable to different extents of oxidative stress affecting repair (Nishiyama et al., EMBO J 20: 5587–5594, 2001). The method is a whole-tissue, convenient determination of the rate coefficient of photoinactivation k _i and that of repair k _r .     

假互补肽核酸及其分子生物学效应

假互补肽核酸（pseudocomplementary peptide nucleic acids,pcPNAs）是肽核酸（peptide nucleic acids,PNA）的一种衍生物,通过碱基修饰可以使pcPNAs 同时与双链DNA两条链中相应的靶序列结合;而在pcPNAs识别靶序列并结合时,pcPNAs自身两条链间由于空间位阻作用,不会自身互补结合. pcPNAs与DNA、RNA甚 至肽核酸相比具有独特的杂交特性,因此具有非常广泛的分子生物学效应.本文就pcPNAs寡聚体的结构、与核酸杂交的特点及杂交模式,分子生物学效应以及应用等 方面进行介绍.     

金花茶花化学成分的研究

采用反复硅胶柱色谱法、Sephadex LH-20柱色谱法、ODS柱色谱法、反复重结晶等方法对金花茶花的化学成分进行分离纯化,并通过理化常数测定和波谱分析等方法进行结构鉴定.从金花茶花的乙醇提取物中分离得到13个化合物,分别鉴定为:槲皮素(1)、槲皮素-7-O-β-D-葡萄糖苷(2)、槲皮素-3-O-β-D-葡萄糖苷(...     

Geographic variation in the structure of oak hybrid zones provides insights into the dynamics of speciation

Studying geographic variation in the rate of hybridization between closely related species could provide a useful window on the evolution of reproductive isolation. Reinforcement theory predicts greater prezygotic isolation in areas of prolonged contact between recently diverged species than in areas of recent contact, which implies that old contact zones would be dominated by parental phenotypes with few hybrids (bimodal hybrid zones), whereas recent contact zones would be characterized by hybrid swarms (unimodal hybrid zones). Here, we investigate how the hybrid zones of two closely related Chinese oaks, Quercus mongolica and Q. liaotungensis, are structured geographically using both nuclear and chloroplast markers. We found that populations of Q. liaotungensis located around the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China, an inferred glacial refugium, were introgressed by genes from Q. mongolica, suggesting historical contact between the two species in this region. However, these introgressed populations form sharp bimodal hybrid zones with Q. mongolica. In contrast, populations of Q. liaotungensis located in North China, which show no sign of ancient introgression with Q. mongolica, form unimodal hybrid zones with Q. mongolica. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that selection against hybrids has had sufficient time to reinforce the reproductive barriers between Q. liaotungensis and Q. mongolica in Northeast China but not in North China.     

The Role of Late-Acting Self-Incompatibility and Early-Acting Inbreeding Depression in Governing Female Fertility in Monkshood,Aconitum kusnezoffii

Reduced seed yields following self-pollination have repeatedly been observed, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive when self-pollen tubes can readily grow into ovaries, because pre-, post-zygotic late-acting self-incompatibility (LSI), or early-acting inbreeding depression (ID) can induce self-sterility. The main objective of this study was to differentiate these processes in Aconitum kusnezoffii, a plant lacking stigmatic or stylar inhibition of self-pollination. We performed a hand-pollination experiment in a natural population of A. kusnezoffii, compared seed set among five pollination treatments, and evaluated the distribution of seed size and seed set. Embryonic development suggested fertilization following self-pollination. A partial pre-zygotic LSI was suggested to account for the reduced seed set by two lines of evidence. The seed set of chase-pollination treatment significantly exceeded that of self-pollination treatment, and the proportion of unfertilized ovules was the highest following self-pollination. Meanwhile, early-acting ID, rather than post-zygotic LSI, was suggested by the findings that the size of aborted selfed seeds varied continuously and widely; and the selfed seed set both exhibited a continuous distribution and positively correlated with the crossed seed set. These results indicated that the embryos were aborted at different stages due to the expression of many deleterious alleles throughout the genome during seed maturation. No signature of post-zygotic LSI was found. Both partial pre-zygotic LSI and early-acting ID contribute to the reduction in selfed seed set in A. kusnezoffii, with pre-zygotic LSI rejecting part of the self-pollen and early-acting ID aborting part of the self-fertilized seeds.     

Syntheses of [12]aneN₃-oligopeptide conjugates as effective DNA condensation agents

With the aim to develop effective and low toxicity DNA condensation agents, a series of oligopeptide derived macrocyclic polyamine [12]aneN(3) conjugates 7a-h·3HCl have been designed and synthesized through multi-step amidation reactions. Structure-property study through gel electrophoresis proved that the conjugates containing high hydrophobic ending amino acids exhibited effective condensation ability at concentration of 150-250 μM, which was further confirmed by dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy experiments. EB displacement assay, ionic salt effect, and structure-property relationship in gel electrophoresis indicated that DNA condensation resulted from both the electrostatic interaction of [12]aneN(3) unit and hydrogen-bonding/hydrophobic multi-interaction of oligopeptide moiety in the conjugates with DNA. The reversible condensation process and their low cytotoxicity suggest that the new condensing agents are potential for the development of non-viral vectors.