Establishing Restoration Strategy of Eastern Oyster via a Coupled Biophysical Transport Model

For marine fish and invertebrates, larval dispersal plays a critical role in determining connections among source and sink habitats, and the lack of a predictive understanding of larval dispersal is a fundamental obstacle to the development of spatially explicit restoration plans for marine populations. We investigated larval dispersal patterns of eastern oyster in an estuary along the Northern Gulf of Mexico under different simulation scenarios of tidal amplitude and phase, river discharge, wind direction, and larval vertical migration, using a coupled biophysical transport model. We focused on the dispersal of larvae released from the commercially exploited (Cedar Point, CP) and non‐exploited (Bon Secour Bay, BSB) oyster populations. We found that high flushing rates through the dominant inlet prevented larval exchange between the commercially exploited and non‐exploited populations, resulting in negligible connectivity between them. Variations in tidal amplitude, river discharge and wind direction played a more important role in the amount of larvae retained in Mobile Bay when they are released from CP than from BSB. Under most of the scenarios, larvae from BSB were retained around the spawning area, while larvae from CP showed a predominant westward flow. Net sinking behavior of late‐stage larvae increased larval retention in the bay, but physical transport showed a higher impact in the amount of larvae retained. These findings have enhanced our understanding of larval dispersal of eastern oyster in a wide, shallow estuarine system, and been used to establish spatially explicit strategies for oyster restoration in the Mobile Bay system, Alabama.     

Integration of Biological Control and Native Seeding to Restore Invaded Plant Communities

Disturbed natural areas frequently experience invasion by introduced plant species that can reduce native biodiversity. Biological control can suppress these introduced species, but without restoration another introduced species can invade. Integration of biological control with concurrent revegetation can both aid in weed reduction via interspecific plant competition and establish a restored native plant community. This 3‐year study investigated an integrated approach to controlling the introduced annual Mile‐a‐minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata [L.] H. Gross [Polygonaceae]) using the biocontrol weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and restoration planting using a native seed mix. A fully factorial design tested weevils and seeding, separately and together, using insecticide to eliminate weevils. The weevils together with the native seed mix reduced P. perfoliata percent cover in 2009 and 2010, and peak seed cluster production in 2010, compared to the insecticide ? no seed control treatment. Persicaria perfoliata final dry biomass was reduced by 75% in 2010 and by 57% in 2011 in the weevils plus seed treatment compared to the control, with weevils having the greatest effect in 2010 and the seed treatment having the greatest impact in 2011. Results suggest an additive effect of biocontrol and seeding in suppressing P. perfoliata. Seeded treatments also developed the highest native plant species richness and diversity, comprised of spontaneous recolonization in addition to species from the seed mix. Results support the use of integrated management of this invasive weed, with suppression through biological control and native revegetation together helping prevent reinvasion while restoring native plant biodiversity.     

Selecting Species for Passive and Active Riparian Restoration in Southern Mexico

In revegetation projects, distinguishing species that can be passively restored by natural regeneration from those requiring active restoration is not a trivial decision. We quantified tree species dominance (measured by an importance value index, IVI_i) and used abundance–size correlations to select those species suitable for passive and/or active restoration of disturbed riparian vegetation in the Lacandonia region, Southern Mexico. We sampled riparian vegetation in a 50 × 10–m transect in each of six reference (RE) and five disturbed (DE) riparian ecosystems. Those species representing more than 50% of total IVI in each ecosystem were selected, and Spearman rank correlation between abundance and diameter classes was calculated. For eight species, it was determined that passive restoration could be sufficient for their establishment. Another eight species could be transplanted by means of active restoration. Five species regenerate well in only one ecosystem type, suggesting that both restoration strategies could be used depending on the degree of degradation. Finally, two species were determined to not be suitable for restoration in the RE (based on the above selection criteria) and were not selected during this initial stage of our restoration project. The high number of tree species found in the RE suggests that the species pool for ecological restoration is large. However, sampling in both ecosystem types helped us reduce the number of species that requires active restoration. Restoration objectives must guide the selection of which methods to implement; in different conditions, other criteria such as dispersal syndrome or social value could be considered in the species selection.     

草鱼促性腺激素基因的原核表达及多克隆抗体的制备

选用原核表达载体pGEX-4T-1,分别插入草鱼GTH和FSHβ的cDNA序列,构建成N端含有GST融合蛋白标签的表达质粒,分别转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),在IPTG诱导下表达出2个融合蛋白,SDS-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳显示重组融合蛋白GST-GTHα和GST-FSHβ的相对分子质量大约为35、38 kD.用抗GST标签的单克隆抗体分别对2个表达蛋白进行Western blot鉴定,结果显示重组蛋白表达正确.利用制备型SDS-PAGE纯化回收的蛋白并免疫新西兰大白兔,分别制备了抗GTH和抗FSHβ的具有较高效价的多克隆抗体.该结果为纯化天然GTH蛋白提供了有效的检测手段,也为进一步制备GTH单克隆抗体奠定了基础.     

过表达胃泌素促进胃癌细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭

胃癌患者转移淋巴结中胃泌素基因的表达量是原发胃癌组织的42倍,推测胃泌素可能与胃癌转移密切相关. 本文通过构建含胃泌素基因的真核表达载体,成功获得过表达胃泌素的稳转胃癌细胞株AGS和SGC-7901, 并用MTT、细胞伤愈实验、Transwell 小室实验及ELISA检测过表达胃泌素对细胞迁移、侵袭及转移相关蛋白基质金属蛋白酶2（MMP-2）分泌能力的影响. 结果显示,过表达胃泌素稳转细胞的相对增殖率、 迁移入细胞致伤区的相对距离比对照组高,迁移和侵袭到Transwell下室面的细胞, 以及培养液中每mg蛋白质的MMP-2浓度也高于对照组的细胞. 结果提示,胃泌素通过促进胃癌细胞分泌MMP-2来增强细胞的迁移和侵袭能力. 该研究对揭示胃癌转移的分子机制具有重要意义.     

On the genetic parameter determining the efficiency of purging: an estimate for Drosophila egg‐to‐pupae viability

The consequences of inbreeding on fitness can be crucial in evolutionary and conservation grounds and depend upon the efficiency of purging against deleterious recessive alleles. Recently, analytical expressions have been derived to predict the evolution of mean fitness, taking into account both inbreeding and purging, which depend on an ‘effective purging coefficient (d_e)’. Here, we explore the validity of that predictive approach and assay the strength of purging by estimating d_e for egg‐to‐pupae viability (EPV) after a drastic reduction in population size in a recently captured base population of Drosophila melanogaster. For this purpose, we first obtained estimates of the inbreeding depression rate (δ) for EPV in the base population, and we found that about 40% was due to segregating recessive lethals. Then, two sets of lines were founded from this base population and were maintained with different effective size throughout the rest of the experiment (N = 6; N = 12), their mean EPV being assayed at different generations. Due to purging, the reductions in mean EPV experienced by these lines were considerably smaller than the corresponding neutral predictions. For the 60% of δ attributable to nonlethal deleterious alleles, our results suggest an effective purging coefficient d_e > 0.02. Similarly, we obtain that d_e > 0.09 is required to roughly account for purging against the pooled inbreeding depression from lethal and nonlethal deleterious alleles. This implies that purging should be efficient for population sizes of the order of a few tens and larger, but might be inefficient against nonlethal deleterious alleles in smaller populations.     

Gene flow across a hybrid zone maintained by a weak heterogametic incompatibility and positive selection of incompatible alleles

Hybridization between incipient species is more likely to produce sterile or inviable F₁ offspring in the heterogametic (XY or ZW) sex than in the homogametic (XX or ZZ) sex, a phenomenon known as Haldane's rule. Population dynamics associated with Haldane's rule may play an important role in early speciation of sexually reproducing organisms. The dynamics of the hybrid zone maintained by incomplete hybrid inferiority (sterility/inviability) in the heterogametic sex (a ‘weak’ Haldane's rule) caused by a Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibility was modelled. The influences and interplays of the strengths of incompatibility, dispersal, density‐dependent regulation (DDR) and local adaptation of incompatible alleles in a scenario of short‐range dispersal (the stepping‐stone model) were examined. It was found that a partial heterogametic hybrid incompatibility could efficiently impede gene flow and maintain characteristic clinal noncoincidence and discordance of alleles. Density‐dependent regulation appears to be an important factor affecting hybrid zone dynamics: it can effectively skew the effects of the partial incompatibility and dispersal as measured by effective dispersal, clinal structures and density depression. Unexpectedly, local adaptation of incompatible alleles in the parental populations, which would be critical for the establishment of the incompatibility, exerts little effect on hybrid zone dynamics. These results strongly support the plausibility of the adaptive origin of hybrid incompatibility and ecological speciation: an adaptive mutation, if it confers a marginal fitness advantage in the local population and happens to cause epistatic inferiority in hybrids, could efficiently drive further genetic divergence that may result in the gene becoming an evolutionary hotspot.     

Evolution of egg dummies in Tanganyikan cichlid fishes: the roles of parental care and sexual selection

Sexual selection has been suggested to be an important driver of speciation in cichlid fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa, and the presence of male egg dummies is proposed to have played a key role. Here, we investigate how mouthbrooding and egg dummies have evolved in Tanganyikan cichlids, the lineage which seeded the other African radiations, with a special emphasis on the egg dummies. Using modern phylogenetic comparative analyses and a phylogeny including 86% of the 200 described species, we provide formal evidence demonstrating correlated evolution between mouthbrooding and egg dummies in Tanganyikan cichlids. These results concur with existing evidence, suggesting that egg dummies have evolved through sensory exploitation. We also demonstrate that there is a strong evolutionary correlation between the presence of egg dummies and both pre‐ and post‐copulatory sexual selection. Moreover, egg dummy evolution was contingent on the intensity of pre‐ and post‐copulatory sexual selection in Tanganyikan cichlids. In sum, our results provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of egg dummies evolving through sensory exploitation and highlight the role of sexual selection in favouring the evolution and maintenance of this trait.     

Spatial and seasonal distribution of the tuna catch on floating objects in the eastern pacific ocean during 1992–1993

An analysis of the catch associated with floating objects by the Mexican tuna purse‐seine fleet in the eastern Pacific Ocean during 1992–1993 was made to determine the spatial and seasonal distribution. The information used was generated by observers of the Programa Nacional de Aprovechamiento del Atun y Protección a los Delfines (PNAAPD). There was no clear seasonal and spatial distribution of floating objects examined in this study, however there were areas where floating objects were more common; the mouth of the Gulf of California, waters offshore Peru, and in oceanic waters. The largest catch of yellowfin tuna was offshore of Peru in winter. Two areas with largest (length) yellowfin tuna were the mouth of the Gulf of California and offshore Peru. For skipjack tuna, the largest catch was offshore Peru in winter, but the largest skipjack were caught between 120° and 130°W along 10°N in spring. The largest yellowfin tuna were captured by sets on bamboo, fish aggregating devices (FADs), planks and boards, and logs (trees or parts). The largest skipjack were captured by sets on dead whales, kelp paddies, planks and boards, and pallets and crates. Most of the sets were made during the early hours of the day but an important number of log sets were made in the early afternoon. For the period analyzed, floating objects were more frequent during fall and winter with the area offshore of Peru the most important.