基于GIS和RS的赣江上游流域土地利用动态趋势分析

利用赣江上游流域1990、1995、2000、2005和2010年5期的TM影像以及2010年的SPOT影像资料,通过目视解译方法及GIS软件的空间叠加分析功能,获取了研究区土地利用覆被变化数据。在此基础上,结合1990—2010年赣江上游流域的统计资料利用灰色关联分析和主成分分析法进行分析,找出引起土地利用变化的主导因素。结果表明:研究区20年来林地和建设用地总量增加,耕地、草地、水域和未利用地总量减少。相同时期不同类型的土地利用变化的驱动因子不相同,不同时期同一类型土地利用变化的驱动因子也不相同。再利用GM(1,1)灰色预测模型预测了2015—2030年间研究区驱动因素和土地利用情况,研究表明主导因素对土地利用变化的影响与1990—2010年间变化趋势一致。     

基于多判据决策的水体营养状态评价

为了准确地评价水生态系统营养状态和综合决策,通过最大熵原理耦合模糊性与随机性,建立了最大熵模糊评价模型(FAME);利用逼近理想解排序法(TOPSIS),以待决策水体样本的实测值为理想解,以评价结果中与实测值相差最大的为负理想解,建立了多判据决策模型(MCDM).经12个湖泊实测数据验证,最大熵模糊评价与随机评价、模糊评价和灰色评价的结果较为一致,但提高了评价水体营养状态问题各层次的分辨力.多判据决策模型可解决多种方法评价结果不相容问题,使评价结果更接近水体实际情况.FAME和MCDM适用于各种水质的综合评价及决策.     

主体功能区视角下的碳排放核算——以广东省为例

区域碳排放核算是当前全球气候变化与碳排放研究的核心内容之一。中国于2010年出台《全国主体功能区规划》,主体功能区是以区域开发程度、资源环境基础和未来开发潜力为依据,县域为基本单位的区域规划方案,这为区域碳排放核算和配额分配提供了全新的视角。鉴于县域的能源数据不够完善,基于经济、人口、省级能耗量等数据构建了适用于主体功能区划分的碳排放核算方法,并确保各主体功能区的碳排放总量和分部门碳排放量都与该省的总碳排放量和分部门的一一对应相等。以中国广东省为案例,对其四类主体功能区在2005—2015年间的碳排放情况进行核算分析。研究发现:四类主体功能区的碳排放总量与经济总量呈现高度正相关性;四类地区中碳排放量从大到小依次为优化、重点、农产品、生态开发区。碳排放强度最大的为生态开发区,其次是重点开发区,农产品开发区和优化开发区。重点开发区和优化开发区的碳排放占全省比值达86%,都应作为未来节能减排措施的最主要的作用对象,需加快产业结构升级,扩大新能源技术的应用。农产品开发区和生态开发区应加快发展循环农业,有机低碳农业生态环境友好型产业。     

不同植物生长调节剂对中华猕猴桃扦插生根的影响

以中华猕猴桃"桂海4号"为试材,采用500mg·L-1、1000mg·L-1、1500mg·L-1三种不同浓度的吲哚丁酸、萘乙酸、和ABT生根粉处理插条,进行了猕猴桃扦插试验。结果表明:吲哚丁酸1500mg·L-1的扦插生根率极显著高于萘乙酸和ABT生根粉的各个处理,显著高于吲哚丁酸1000mg·L-1;吲哚丁酸对根数和根长的促进作用优于萘乙酸和ABT生根粉,ABT生根粉对于根粗的促进作用却较其它两者强;主成分分析结果表明,吲哚丁酸1500mg·L-1处理的插条生长情况最好。     

Using,risking, and consent: Why risking harm to bystanders is morally different from risking harm to research subjects

Subjects in studies on humans are used as a means of conducting the research and achieving whatever good would justify putting them at risk. Accordingly, consent must normally be obtained before subjects are exposed to any substantial risks to their welfare. Bystanders are also often put at risk, but they are not used as a means. Accordingly—or so I argue—consent is more often unnecessary before bystanders are exposed to similar substantial risks to their welfare.     

The dicey dinner dilemma: Asymmetry in predator–prey risk‐taking,a broadly applicable alternative to the life‐dinner principle

Forty years ago, the ‘life‐dinner principle’ was proposed as an example of an asymmetry that may lead prey species to experience stronger selection than their predators, thus accounting for the high frequency with which prey escape alive from interaction with a predator. This principle remains an influential concept in the scientific literature, despite several works suggesting that the concept relies on many under‐appreciated assumptions and does not apply as generally as was initially proposed. Here, we present a novel model describing a very different asymmetry to that proposed in the life‐dinner principle, but one that could apply broadly. We argue that asymmetries between the relative costs and benefits to predators and prey of selecting a risky behaviour during an extended predator–prey encounter could lead to an enhanced likelihood of escape for the prey. Any resulting advantage to prey depends upon there being a behaviour or choice that introduces some inherent danger to both predator and prey if they adopt it, but which if the prey adopts the predator must match in order to have a chance of successful predation. We suggest that the circumstances indicated by our model could apply broadly across diverse taxa, including both risky spatial or behavioural choices.     

Offspring performance and female preference of Pagiophloeus tsushimanus (coleoptera: curculionidae) on three Lauraceae tree species: A potential risk of host shift caused by larval experience

The weevil Pagiophloeus tsushimanus Morimoto (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), native to Eastern Asia, is a wood-boring pest that causes severe damage to camphor trees (Cinnamomum sp.) in Shanghai, China. Other Lauraceae tree species that grew sympatrically with this pest in close proximity could face a potential threat. To assess the potential risks of host shift, we explored the phenotypic associations between preference and performance in P. tsushimanus reared on three Lauraceae tree species. In a no-choice experiment offering branches of each plant as diet material and oviposition sites, we found that individuals reared on Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Presl (Laurales: Lauraceae) exhibited the strongest performance with shorter development time, higher survival and growth rate in the immature stage, longer longevity and greater fecundity in adults. In contrast, those on novel Lauraceae tree species (Cinnamomum chekiangensis Nakai and Phoebe chekiangensis Shang) had difficulty completing their whole life cycle due to significantly lower survival and reproduction. In a multiple-choice experiment, C. camphora was established as the preferred host. However, we found that the larval experiences on the non-preferred host plants contributed to an increased preference for that plant species. These results indicated that both the preference-performance hypothesis and the Hopkins’ host selection principle are applicable in this weevil under experimental conditions. It is possible that although the weevil performed poorly on two novel Lauraceae tree species, under favourable conditions their surviving offspring could evolve into a new host-specific population. Consequently, this weevil pest needs to be monitored on these novel Lauraceae tree species.     

Innate preference hierarchies coupled with adult experience,rather than larval imprinting or transgenerational acclimation,determine host plant use in Pieris rapae

The evolution of host range drives diversification in phytophagous insects, and understanding the female oviposition choices is pivotal for understanding host specialization. One controversial mechanism for female host choice is Hopkins’ host selection principle, where females are predicted to increase their preference for the host species they were feeding upon as larvae. A recent hypothesis posits that such larval imprinting is especially adaptive in combination with anticipatory transgenerational acclimation, so that females both allocate and adapt their offspring to their future host. We study the butterfly Pieris rapae, for which previous evidence suggests that females prefer to oviposit on host individuals of similar nitrogen content as the plant they were feeding upon as larvae, and where the offspring show higher performance on the mother's host type. We test the hypothesis that larval experience and anticipatory transgenerational effects influence female host plant acceptance (no‐choice) and preference (choice) of two host plant species (Barbarea vulgaris and Berteroa incana) of varying nitrogen content. We then test the offspring performance on these hosts. We found no evidence of larval imprinting affecting female decision‐making during oviposition, but that an adult female experience of egg laying in no‐choice trials on the less‐preferred host Be. incana slightly increased the P. rapae propensity to oviposit on Be. incana in subsequent choice trials. We found no transgenerational effects on female host acceptance or preference, but negative transgenerational effects on larval performance, because the offspring of P. rapae females that had developed on Be. incana as larvae grew slower on both hosts, and especially on Be. incana. Our results suggest that among host species, preferences are guided by hard‐wired preference hierarchies linked to species‐specific host traits and less affected by larval experience or transgenerational effects, which may be more important for females evaluating different host individuals of the same species.     

CFD analysis of the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve and design of an alternative device

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling based on a commercial package, FLUENT, has been used in the present study. The primary aim of this study is to develop a novel implant by employing CFD techniques. Firstly, CFD analyses on the best design commercially available, which is the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV^®), are accomplished. In the light of the results, the new design focus is selected as the valve. The new design is analysed using GAMBIT and FLUENT software. CFD analyses of the new design and the AGV^® are compared and the strengths of the new design are revealed. The results are also compared with the experimental studies AGV^® in the literature. It is deduced that the proposed model shows a nonlinear pressure drop response, which is quite similar to that of AGV^®. The optimum combination would be a flow rate of 2.5 μl/min and a pressure drop of 1054.58 Pa for the proposed model.     

A partnership project for a new Red List of the Italian Flora

Abstract

The IUCN Red Lists assessment provides an internationally accepted system to verify the extinction risk of species. Working Groups of the Italian Botanical Society have recently discussed the importance of producing a reliable list of species at the national level. This list could be the starting point for future in situ and ex situ plant conservation activities.