A simple diffusion test for soil phosphorus availability

The availability of phosphorus to plants was estimated by a new method based on the diffusion of P from a thin layer of water-saturated stationary soil to a disc of iron oxide coated filter paper. Twenty-one acid Finnish soil samples were tested using four modifications of the method which differed in the duration of the diffusion time and in the thickness of the soil layer. The new diffusion tests were compared with other soil P testing methods and evaluated as indicators of the availability of P to pot-grown barley and oats. Close linear correlations were found between the initial (18 or 42 h) P diffusion rate and the water extractable P contents determined at the extraction ratios of 1:10 and 1:60, respectively (r=0.97–0.99). The amounts of P obtained by the new method were small when the diffusion time was short, but after prolonged diffusion (1 week) the test values were close to the amounts of P taken up by plants. The relationships of plant yield and P uptake with soil P test values were affected by soil acidity. Although the original soil P test values were significantly correlated, the accuracy of all methods drastically improved when the interfering effect of soil acidity was taken into account using a simple pH-correction model. The correlation coefficients (r) between the test values of diffusible P in soil and the uptake of P by plants increased up to 0.97.     

Simulated global changes alter phosphorus demand in annual grassland

In the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment – an annual grassland with elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrate deposition, temperature, and precipitation – we used six indices of phosphorus (P) limitation to test the hypothesis that global changes that increase net primary production (NPP) increase P demand or limitation. All indices indicated that nitrate deposition, the only factor that stimulated NPP, increased P demand or limitation: (1) soil phosphatase activity increased by 14%; (2) P concentration in green and (3) senescent leaves of the dominant grass genus, Avena , dropped by 40% and 44%, respectively; (4) N : P ratios in green and (5) senescent Avena widened by 99% and 161%, respectively; and (6) total aboveground plant P decreased by 17% with elevated nitrate deposition. The other three factors, which did not stimulate NPP, did not increase P demand: based on two indices, enhanced precipitation decreased P demand (11% decrease in phosphatase activity, 19% increase in total aboveground P), and there was no evidence that elevated CO₂ or temperature altered P demand. In a meta-analysis to assess the generality of P constraints on growth increases from global change factors, we found that six of 11 N-limited ecosystems responded to N deposition with enhanced P limitation or demand, but did not detect significant effects of elevated CO₂ or warming.     

山东半岛北部黑松海防林幼龄植株生长动态及其种群数量特征

黑松海防林是山东半岛北部海岸带典型的生态系统类型,对于维护沿海地区生态安全具有重要作用。为了对黑松海防林的天然更新动态和生存状况进行评价和预测,在山东半岛北部黑松海防林内设置3个样地,调查黑松幼龄植株的生长动态和种群数量特征。使用查数轮生枝法确定黑松幼龄植株的年龄,以空间代替时间的方法,探讨黑松幼龄植株的生长动态、年龄结构和空间分布特征;以种群生命表及生存分析理论为基础,编绘黑松幼龄植株的时间生命表,绘制存活曲线。结果表明：(1) 3个样地中幼龄植株高生长、基径生长与年龄均分别呈指数函数、直线和二次函数关系;(2) 3个样地黑松幼龄植株年龄结构存在着明显差异,分别表现为纺锤形、残缺型和金字塔型;(3) 幼龄植株主要集中分布在距最近立木0.3～1.2 m,离立木越近或越远幼龄植株均逐渐减少;(4) 对样地Ⅰ和样地Ⅲ黑松幼龄植株 生命表和存活曲线的分析表明,随年龄的增加,黑松幼龄植株生命期望值基本上呈递减趋势,黑松幼龄植株种群存活数也随着年龄的增加而降低;样地Ⅰ和样地Ⅲ黑松幼龄植株种群存活曲线近似于Deevey Ⅱ型,表明2个样地黑松幼龄植株种群处于稳定发展阶段;(5)样地Ⅱ幼龄植株种群结构很不完整,表明该种群属于衰退型,与人为干扰及坡度等有关。     

Regeneration of fertile green plants from oat isolated microspore culture

Regeneration of fertile green plants from isolated oat microspores is reported for the first time. Factors critical for microspore growth and regeneration include cold pre-treatment, pH of culture medium and the use of conditioned culture medium. It was found that cold pre-treatment at 4°C in the dark for a minimum of 6 weeks was necessary to consistently achieve microspore growth into multicellular structures (MCS). Longer pre-treatments of up to 9 weeks were tested and found to be positively correlated with the number of MCS produced. Microspore culture medium with pH 8.0 produced significantly more MCS larger than eight cells in size than media with pH 5.8. The use of medium conditioned by actively growing barley microspores significantly increased the numbers of MCS larger than eight cells in size compared to non-conditioned media. Plants were regenerated only from cultures using conditioned medium. A total of 2 green plants and 15 albinos were regenerated. Of the green plants, one had the haploid chromosome complement (n = 3x = 21) and the other had the parental hexaploid chromosome complement (2n = 6x = 42) which may be due to spontaneous chromosome doubling. The hexaploid plant set seed naturally and the haploid plant set seed after its chromosome complement was doubled with colchicine.     

Separation and toxicity of salithion enantiomers

Enantioseletive toxicities of chiral pesticides have become an environmental concern recently. In this study, we evaluated the enantiomeric separation of salithion on a suite of commercial chiral columns and assessed the toxicity of enantiomers toward butyrylcholinesterase and Daphnia magna. Satisfactory separations of salithion enantiomers could be achieved on all tested columns, that is, Chiralcel OD, Chiralcel OJ, and Chiralpak AD column. However, the Chiralpak AD column offered the best separation and was chosen to prepare micro‐scale of pure salithion enantiomers for subsequent bioassays. The first and second enantiomers eluted on the Chiralpak AD column were further confirmed to be (?)‐S‐salithion and (+)‐R‐salithion, respectively. The half inhibition concentrations to butyrylcholinesterase of racemate, (+)‐R‐salithion, and (?)‐S‐salithion were 33.09, 2.92, and 15.60 mg/l, respectively, showing (+)‐R‐enantiomer being about 5.0 times more potent than its (?)‐S‐form. However, the median lethal concentrations (96 h) of racemate, (+)‐R‐salithion, and (?)‐S‐salithion toward D. magna were 3.54, 1.10, and 0.36 μg/l, respectively, suggesting that (?)‐S‐salithion was about 3.0 times more toxic than (+)‐R‐form. Racemic salithion was less toxic than either of the enantiomers in both bioassays, suggesting that antagonistic interactions might occur between the enantiomers during the toxication action. This work reveals that the toxicity of salithion toward butyrylcholinesterase and D. magna is enantioselective, and this factor should be taken into consideration in the environmental risk assessment of salithion. Chirality 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

4－壬基酚对三种水生生物的毒性影响

环境中的壬基酚(Nonylpheol,NP)主要来自于非离子表面活性剂壬基酚聚氧乙烯醚(NPEO)的生物降解。NPEOS由NP与环氧乙烷反应生成,是目前全球商用第二大类的非离子表面活性剂,因其高效、经济、具有较高性价比而广泛应用于纺织、塑料、造纸等工业、农业和日常生活中。NPEOS进入水体后可经生物降解形成代谢产物NP。众多的体内外试验证明壬基酚是一种环境内分泌干扰物,具有雌激素样活性,且在环境中难降解,造成的环境污染效应非常严重。但目前国内外对4-NP的研究多集中在其对水生生物的环境激素效应及生物累积性方面,如周忠良等就4-NP对…     

Structural characterization and auxin properties of dichlorinated indole-3-acetic acids

The dichlorinated indole-3-acetic acids: 4,5-Cl2-IAA, 4,6-Cl2-IAA, 4,7-Cl2-IAA, 5,6-Cl2-IAA, 5,7-Cl2-IAA and 6,7-Cl2-IAA were synthesized and characterized by X-ray structure analysis to unambiguously identify the substances for bioassays required to establish structure activity relationships of auxins and their analogues. Straight-growth tests were performed on Avena sativa coleoptiles to correlate their auxin activity with molecular properties which could reveal information on the topology of the auxin binding site. Structure/activity correlations revealed that the 5,6-Cl2-IAA molecule, by virtue of its size and shape, fits particularly well into the active site cavity of the receptor protein. The main contact of the substrate or inhibitor in the receptor active site via the carboxylic group determines their orientation in the active site cavity. As a consequence, the 5,6-substituted sites protrude into the widest part of the active site whereas the 7-, 4-, and 5-substituted sites are oriented towards the narrowest part of the active site. These topological parameters are in agreement with the high auxin activity of 5,6-Cl2-IAA and the low activity of 4,7-Cl2-IAA.     

The effects of parasitism and inbreeding on the competitive ability in Daphnia magna: evidence for synergistic epistasis

Synergistic epistasis for fitness is often assumed in models of how selection acts on the frequency and distribution of deleterious mutations. Evidence for synergistic epistasis would exist if the logarithm of fitness declines more quickly with number of deleterious mutations, than predicted by a linear decline. This can be studied indirectly by quantifying the effect of different levels of inbreeding on fitness. Here, six sets (different genetic backgrounds) of three increasingly inbred Daphnia magna clones were used to assess their relative fitness according to changes in frequency in a competition experiment against a tester clone. A novelty of the mating procedure was that the inbreeding coefficients (F) of the three clones belonging to each set increased in steps of 0.25 independent of the (unknown) inbreeding coefficient of the common ancestor. The equal increase of the inbreeding coefficients is important, because deviations influence the quantification of inbreeding depression, its variance and the detection of epistasis. In a simple mathematical model we show that when working with a partially inbred population inbreeding depression is underestimated, the variance of fitness is increased, and the detection of epistasis more difficult. Further, to examine whether an interaction between inbreeding and parasitism exists, each inbred clone was tested with and without a microsporidium infection (Octosporea bayeri). We found a nonlinear decrease of the logarithm of fitness across the three levels of inbreeding, indicating synergistic epistasis. The interaction term between parasitism and inbreeding was not significant. Our results suggest that deleterious mutations may be purged effectively once the level of inbreeding is high, but that parasitism seems not to influence this effect.     

Agalactia in Mares fed with grain contaminated with Claviceps purpurea

This article reports an outbreak of intoxication of female horses with Claviceps purpurea in southern Brazil. The outbreak affected twelve pregnant mares which were fed with black oat (Avena strigosa) during the pre-delivery period. Underdevelopment of the mammary gland in the pre-delivery period resulting in post-delivery agalactia was the most pronounced finding. These mares delivered weak and unviable foals, which showed no suckling reflex and died within a few hours of birth. Laboratory analysis of oat samples fed to the animals resulted in the identification of Claviceps purpurea sclerotia. The fungus was identified in 0.22% of the examined seeds. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.