Evolutionarily stable stealing: game theory applied to kleptoparasitism

We present an individual-based model of a group of foraginganimals. Individuals can obtain food either by discovering itthemselves or by stealing it from others (kleptoparasitism).Given that challenging another individual for a discovered fooditem costs time (which could otherwise be spent searching foran undiscovered item), attempting to steal from another maynot always be efficient We show that there is generally a uniquestrategy that maximizes uptake rate—always or never challengingothers. For any combination of parameter values, we can identifywhich strategy is appropraite. As a corollary to this, we predictthat small changes in ecolgical conditions can, under some circumstances,cause a dramatic change in the aggressive behavior of individuals.Further, we investigate situations where searching for undiscoveredfood and searching for potential opportunities for stealingare mutually exclusive activities (i.e., success at one canonly be improved at the expense of the other). Using game theory,we are able to find the evolutionarily stable strategy for investmentin these two activities in terms of the ecological parametersof the model.     

应用球孢白僵菌防治马尾松毛虫的策略及其生物多样性基础的研究

对３种不同方式应用球孢白僵菌防治马尾松毛虫的结果表明,３个林场的虫口在连续４年内均被抑制在低水平,但松毛虫种群动态不同：以淹没式施放白僵菌为主,但有时也淹没式施放化学杀虫剂的麻姑山林场平均虫口密度为３．１６±４．９４条·株－１,波动最大;长期接种式应用白僵菌的戴公山林场平均虫口密度只有０．０９±０．１４条·株－１,一直处于低密度状态;以化学农药处理小面积虫源地结合不频繁地淹没式施放白僵菌的金寺山林场平均虫口密度为１．４５±２．２９条·株－１,偶可达防治指标．对群落组成的调查结果表明,从麻姑山、金寺山到戴公山,动物和虫生真菌群落各物种的总个体数递减,而总物种数、总物种数与总个体数的比值,天敌与害虫种数和个体数的比值以及群落多样性指数皆递增,表明群落多样性渐趋丰富,食物链网渐趋复杂,群落稳定性和对害虫的自然控制能力逐渐增强．对群落动态的主成分分析进一步表明,从麻姑山、金寺山到戴公山,动物和虫生真菌群落的演化时序分明,趋于稳定,自我调节力强．     

FEMALE AND MALE GENETIC EFFECTS ON OFFSPRING PATERNITY: ADDITIVE GENETIC (CO)VARIANCES IN FEMALE EXTRA‐PAIR REPRODUCTION AND MALE PATERNITY SUCCESS IN SONG SPARROWS (MELOSPIZA MELODIA)

Ongoing evolution of polyandry, and consequent extra‐pair reproduction in socially monogamous systems, is hypothesized to be facilitated by indirect selection stemming from cross‐sex genetic covariances with components of male fitness. Specifically, polyandry is hypothesized to create positive genetic covariance with male paternity success due to inevitable assortative reproduction, driving ongoing coevolution. However, it remains unclear whether such covariances could or do emerge within complex polyandrous systems. First, we illustrate that genetic covariances between female extra‐pair reproduction and male within‐pair paternity success might be constrained in socially monogamous systems where female and male additive genetic effects can have opposing impacts on the paternity of jointly reared offspring. Second, we demonstrate nonzero additive genetic variance in female liability for extra‐pair reproduction and male liability for within‐pair paternity success, modeled as direct and associative genetic effects on offspring paternity, respectively, in free‐living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). The posterior mean additive genetic covariance between these liabilities was slightly positive, but the credible interval was wide and overlapped zero. Therefore, although substantial total additive genetic variance exists, the hypothesis that ongoing evolution of female extra‐pair reproduction is facilitated by genetic covariance with male within‐pair paternity success cannot yet be definitively supported or rejected either conceptually or empirically.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠南缘三种防护林植物根系构型及其生态适应策略

采用全根挖掘法挖取塔克拉玛干沙漠南缘3种主要防护林植物种——多枝柽柳(Tamarix ramosissima)、梭梭(Haloxylon ammodendron)和新疆杨(Populus albavar. pyramidalis)成年植株根系, 测定并分析了根系构型及其拓扑结构。结果表明: 1)多枝柽柳和梭梭的根系趋向于鱼尾状分支结构, 新疆杨根系为叉状分支结构, 根系分支结构的差异使其资源获取能力和对环境的适应能力有所差异; 2)三种植物最小的根系平均连接长度为33.67 cm, 多枝柽柳和梭梭的根系连接长度大于新疆杨, 增加连接长度对植物在资源贫瘠的沙质土壤环境的生存有利; 3)新疆杨的根系分支率显著高于多枝柽柳和梭梭, 但其对干旱的适应性不如多枝柽柳和梭梭。4)三种植物根系分支均遵循Leonardo da Vinci法则, 且不受根系直径的约束。三种防护林植物在水、养资源获取与土壤空间拓展方面具有差异性, 表明在相似的极端干旱环境中3种植物采取了不同的生态适应策略。     

转基因植物中标记基因的安全性新策略

转基因植物中的除草剂和抗生素抗性标记基因潜在的生态环境和食用安全性令人担忧。解决转基因植物中抗性标记基因安全性问题有两种途径：一是转化时仍使用抗性标记基因,转基因植物再生成功后,在释放大田前将标记基因剔除;二是发展安全性标记基因用于植物遗传转化。本文综述了三种标记基因剔除系统和几种安全性标记基因在植物转化中的应用进展。     

分批发酵生产谷氨酰胺转氨酶的温度控制策略

微生物谷氨酰胺转氨酶 (Ｍｉｃｒｏｂｉａｌｔｒａｎｓｇｌｕｔａｍｉｎａｓｅ ,简称ＭＴＧ ,ＥＣ2 3 2 13)由于能催化许多食品中蛋白质的交联反应 ,改善各种蛋白质的功能性质 ,在食品工业具有广泛的应用潜力[1] ,因而引起了人们的极大兴趣。谷氨酰胺转氨酶的生产通常采用从豚鼠肝脏或组织中提取 ,由于豚鼠肝脏或组织来源稀少 ,谷氨酰胺转胺酶的分离纯化过程复杂 ,因而价格昂贵。 2 0世纪 80年代末 ,Ａｎｄｏ和Ｍｏｔｏｋｉ等人[2 ,3 ] 首先报道了利用微生物发酵法生产谷氨酰胺转胺酶的结果 ;近年来 ,Ｇｅｒｂｅｒ等人[4 ] 对其下游技术进…     

Age‐dependent trajectories differ between within‐pair and extra‐pair paternity success

Reproductive success is associated with age in many taxa, increasing in early life followed by reproductive senescence. In socially monogamous but genetically polygamous species, this generates the interesting possibility of differential trajectories of within‐pair and extra‐pair siring success with age in males. We investigate these relationships simultaneously using within‐individual analyses with 13 years of data from an insular house sparrow (Passer domesticus) population. As expected, we found that both within‐ and extra‐pair paternity success increased with age, followed by a senescence‐like decline. However, the age trajectories of within‐ and extra‐pair paternity successes differed significantly, with the extra‐pair paternity success increasing faster, although not significantly, in early life, and showing a delayed decline by 1.5 years on average later in life compared to within‐pair paternity success. These different trajectories indicate that the two alternative mating tactics should have age‐dependent pay‐offs. Males may partition their reproductive effort between within‐ and extra‐pair matings depending on their current age to reap the maximal combined benefit from both strategies. The interplay between these mating strategies and age‐specific mortality may explain the variation in rates of extra‐pair paternity observed within and between species.     

Resource-dependent reproductive adjustment and the stability of consumer-resource dynamics

This study explored a consumer-resource model including reproductive and nonreproductive subpopulations of the consumer to consider whether resource-dependent reproductive adjustment by the consumer would stabilize consumer-resource dynamics. The model assumed that decreasing (increasing) resource availability caused reproductive suppression (facilitation), and that the reproductive consumer had a higher mortality rate than the nonreproductive one (i.e., a trade-off between reproduction and survival). The model predicted that the variability would be reduced when the consumer had a strong tendency to suppress reproduction in response to low resource availability or when the cost of reproduction was high, although consumer extinction became more likely. Furthermore, when the consumer-resource dynamics converged to limit cycles, reproductive adjustment enhanced the long-term average of the consumer density. It was also predicted that if reproductive suppression enhanced resource consumption efficiency (i.e., a trade-off between reproduction and foraging), then it would destabilize the system by canceling the stabilizing effect of the reproductive adjustment itself. These results suggest that it is necessary not only to identify the costs of reproduction, but also to quantify the changes in individual-level performances due to reproduction in order to understand the ecological consequences of reproductive adjustment.     

Root growth dynamics of Deyeuxia angustifolia seedlings in response to water level

A greenhouse experiment was performed to investigate root growth dynamics, plant growth, root porosity and root morphology of a marsh plant Deyeuxia angustifolia, one of the dominant species in the Sanjiang Plain, China. The aim of this study was to elucidate how this plant adjusts its root system to acclimate to different hydrological environments. Experimental treatments included three water depths: −5, 0 and 5 cm (relative to the soil surface). Biomass accumulation was higher in the −5 cm (0.90 g per plant) and 0 cm water-depth (1.18 g per plant) than that in the 5 cm water-depth treatments (0.66 g per plant), indicating that plant growth was inhibited in the high water level. Root:shoot ratio (0.67 versus 0.42–0.43), the length (16 cm versus 12–13 cm) and diameter of adventitious roots (0.47 mm versus 0.41 mm), and root number (167 versus 81–119 number of roots per plant) were higher in the 0 cm water-depth than those in the high and low water-depth treatments. Enhanced water level led to slightly increased porosity of main roots, but porosity was about 7% in all treatments. After 8 weeks, roots had been distributed into 14, 11 and 7 cm soil depth in the 0, −5 and 5 cm water-depth treatments, respectively, indicating that both high and low water levels led to shallow root systems. Our data suggest that D. angustifolia can adjust root morphology and root growth pattern according to water level, and that this plant has limited oxygen diffusion potential to the roots due to the reduced biomass in the high water level.     

重组毕赤酵母高密度发酵生产碱性果胶酶的策略

重组Pichia pastoris GS115表达碱性果胶酶的诱导阶段, 最佳初始菌体浓度和甲醇诱导浓度分别为122 g/L和20 g/L, 两者之间最佳比值范围是0.16~0.20 g/g (甲醇/菌体浓度). 在此基础上通过生长阶段甘油的指数流加, 以及诱导阶段基于甲醇比消耗速率和溶氧等参数进行甲醇流加的方式, 将甲醇与菌体浓度比例控制在0.171~0.195 g/g之间. 此时, 酶活达到430 u/mL, 生产强度为4.34 u/mL/h, 实现了碱性果胶酶高效生产。