山西五鹿山自然保护区暴马丁香群落木本植物种间联结性分析

通过方差分析,χ²检验、Pearson相关系数和Spearman秩相关系数检验,采用2×2列联表对五鹿山暴马丁香林中频度较高的34个木本植物优势种,561个种对间的关联性进行了研究.分析结果表明: 34个优势种种间总体关联性呈现不显著负关联,表明该群落处于不稳定的顶级状态.χ²检验结果中,有216个种对呈正相关,345个种对呈负相关,正负关联比为0.626; Pearson相关系数检验结果为: 149个种对呈正相关,412个种对呈负相关,正负关联比为0.362; Spearman秩相关系数检验结果为: 206个种对呈正相关,365个种对呈负相关,正负关联比为0.564; Spearman秩相关系数比Pearson相关系数的检验方法灵敏度更高.     

Resilience of a forest fragment exposed to long-term isolation in Singapore

Background: Fragmentation can fundamentally alter the structure of tropical forests. However, the impacts of fragmentation may vary significantly among regions and lead to different outcomes.

Aims: We examined the structure, composition and dynamics of a forest fragment in Singapore to investigate reasons for the apparent resilience of this forest to long-term isolation.

Methods: We conducted 5 censuses of 12,688 trees ≥1-cm dbh in a 2-ha plot on the edge of the fragment between 1993 and 2012.

Results: Stem density and basal area were not significantly different between 1993 and 2012 and were typical of other south-east Asian forests. However, there were short-term decreases in both variables after droughts in 1997 and 2009, both followed by recovery. Total mortality rate over the 19 years was 3.3% year^?1, considerably higher than other tropical forests in Asia, but it was balanced by high recruitment. The 10 most abundant species were primary forest species, pioneer species comprised <5% of all stems, and none of the 338 species in the plot was exotic. However, species abundances changed more than expected by chance for 86 species, and the rank order of the commonest species changed significantly. Species abundance changes were not related to known species traits.

Conclusions: Despite the long period of isolation, we found a surprising level of resilience of the Bukit Timah forest. While the forest may be more sensitive to the effects of climatic fluctuations at decadal time scales, there were very few signs of forest degradation in this diverse fragment of tropical forest.     

Simulated impact of the renewable fuels standard on US Conservation Reserve Program enrollment and conversion

A socioeconomic model is used to estimate the land‐use implications on the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program from potential increases in second‐generation biofuel production. A baseline scenario with no second‐generation biofuel production is compared to a scenario where the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) volumes are met by 2022. We allow for the possibility of converting expiring CRP lands to alternative uses such as conventional crops, dedicated second‐generation biofuel crops, or harvesting existing CRP grasses for biomass. Results indicate that RFS2 volumes (RFS2‐v) can be met primarily with crop residues (78% of feedstock demand) and woody residues (19% of feedstock demand) compared with dedicated biomass (3% of feedstock demand), with only minimal conversion of cropland (0.27 million hectares, <1% of total cropland), pastureland (0.28 million hectares of pastureland, <1% of total pastureland), and CRP lands (0.29 million hectares of CRP lands, 3% of existing CRP lands) to biomass production. Meeting RFS2 volumes would reduce CRP re‐enrollment by 0.19 million hectares, or 4%, below the baseline scenario where RFS2 is not met. Yet under RFS2‐v scenario, expiring CRP lands are more likely to be converted to or maintain perennial cover, with 1.78 million hectares of CRP lands converting to hay production, and 0.29 million hectares being harvested for existing grasses. A small amount of CRP is harvested for existing biomass, but no conversion of CRP to dedicated biomass crops, such as switchgrass, are projected to occur. Although less land is enrolled in CRP under RFS2‐v scenario, total land in perennial cover increases by 0.15 million hectares, or 2%, under RFS2‐v. Sensitivity to yield, payment and residue retention assumptions are evaluated.     

北京雾灵山自然保护区冬春季地面活动鸟兽红外相机初步调查

为了解北京雾灵山自然保护区野生动物资源现状,于2014年11月至2015年4月,在保护区内放置30台红外相机开展调查。结果共记录鸟类5目14科27种,兽类4目8科10种,其中勺鸡(Pucrasia macrolopha)、红角鸮(Otus sunia)、纵纹腹小鸮(Athene noctua)和中华斑羚(Naemorhedus griseus)为国家Ⅱ级重点保护野生动物。鸟类物种数月变化剧烈。相对丰富度最高的6种动物为狍(Capreolus pygargus)(60.19)、红嘴蓝鹊(Urocissa erythrorhyncha)(34.14)、星鸦(Nucifraga caryocatactes)(27.78)、岩松鼠(Sciurotamias davidianus)(23.34)、松鸦(Garrulus glandarius)(23.34)、中华斑羚(21.99)。对狍、岩松鼠、中华斑羚进行日活动节律分析,狍属晨昏活动型;中华斑羚有两个活动高峰;岩松鼠的日活动高峰集中在晨间,为单峰型。本研究提供了北京雾灵山部分鸟兽资源的最新动态现状及活动节律信息,同时表明红外相机在拍摄地栖性鸟类、大中型兽类、夜行性动物方面具有优势,而对于非地栖鸟类和小型兽类,红外相机有一定局限性。本研究为应用红外相机技术开展森林野生动物多样性监测提供了经验。     

Assessing hydrologic alteration: Evaluation of different alternatives according to data availability

The natural flow regime of rivers across the world has been largely modified. Understanding the extent to which the flow regime deviates from natural conditions is necessary for designing sound management and restoration measures. In this regard, ‘Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration’ is currently considered one of the most effective approaches for assessing hydrologic alteration (HA). However, several generalized drawbacks such as the climatic variability between the pre- and post-impacted series and the scarcity of hydrological data in many impaired rivers should be addressed. In this study, a protocol with the following five alternative designs based on data availability is presented: (1) Paired-Before–After Control–Impact (BACIP), (2) Before–After (BA), (3) Control–Impact (CI), (4) Hydrological Classification (HC) and (5) Predicted Hydrological indices (HP). BACIP compares the status of the impacted gauge before and after the perturbation is started, in addition to controlling for natural climatic changes. Hence, it has been considered as the reference benchmark for all other designs. When this protocol was applied to 11 reservoirs situated in the northern third of the Iberian Peninsula, the BA design was able to correctly identify most of the non-significant HA but failed in almost one quarter of the significant alterations. Similarly, BACIP and CI showed an agreement of >80%. This suggests that the method is suitable when proper data are unavailable for BACIP or BA. In addition, our results indicated that the critical thresholds for HA varied depending on the hydrological index being considered. Significant HAs ranged from <5% for the number of days with increasing and decreasing flows to >64% for the duration of low-flow pulses. To delineate adequate thresholds, further research combining hydrological analyses with the biological response to the HA is warranted. Finally, the application of HC and HP designs revealed a significant degree of uncertainty related to the intra-class variability and the predictive error of the models. Therefore, 25% of the analysis could not be evaluated. However, in the evaluable cases, the HC and HP designs correctly assessed >75% of the HA, which highlighted the potential of this method in cases of scarce streamflow data.     

The cost-effectiveness of using raptor nest sites to identify areas with high species richness of other taxa

Given the limited resources available for conservation, it is important that the areas to preserve are selected in a cost effective manner. However, the cost effectiveness of the surrogate species strategy (the use of information on one or more species to identify areas of value for other species for which there is no, or more limited, available information) has seldom been evaluated.In this study, we investigate the opportunity cost of setting aside breeding sites of two forest raptor species (the surrogate species) by evaluating their individual and combined contribution to preserve diversity of polypores (wood-decaying fungi) and birds against the contributions of previously established nature reserves. We use numeric optimization models to compare different reserve selection strategies.Site selection based on nest sites of the dominant raptor species was more cost-effective than strategies using sites of the subordinate species or those processes previously used to select nature reserves in Finland. The inclusion of both raptor species in the reserve selection model further improved its performance relative to other approaches. This indicates that the means by which Finnish reserves are selected could be enhanced by including the breeding sites of these, and maybe other species, among the criteria used to select reserves in the future.These results show that information on charismatic and well-surveyed species could be a cost-efficient add-on to help enhance conservation endeavours. Where there is inter-specific competition for biodiverse sites, and using multiple species is costly, basing reserve selection primarily on breeding sites of a dominant species may be the best strategy. However, further work is required to establish the extent to which dominant species are typically better indicators of conservation relevance.     

Incorporating spatial autocorrelation in rarefaction methods: Implications for ecologists and conservation biologists

Recently, methods for constructing Spatially Explicit Rarefaction (SER) curves have been introduced in the scientific literature to describe the relation between the recorded species richness and sampling effort and taking into account for the spatial autocorrelation in the data. Despite these methodological advances, the use of SERs has not become routine and ecologists continue to use rarefaction methods that are not spatially explicit. Using two study cases from Italian vegetation surveys, we demonstrate that classic rarefaction methods that do not account for spatial structure can produce inaccurate results. Furthermore, our goal in this paper is to demonstrate how SERs can overcome the problem of spatial autocorrelation in the analysis of plant or animal communities. Our analyses demonstrate that using a spatially-explicit method for constructing rarefaction curves can substantially alter estimates of relative species richness. For both analyzed data sets, we found that the rank ordering of standardized species richness estimates was reversed between the two methods. We strongly advise the use of Spatially Explicit Rarefaction methods when analyzing biodiversity: the inclusion of spatial autocorrelation into rarefaction analyses can substantially alter conclusions and change the way we might prioritize or manage nature reserves.     

NK细胞中过表达Livin的实验研究

目的:将携带Livin的质粒pIRES2-EGFP-Livin进行扩增,转染自然杀伤细胞(NK)及胃癌细胞株SGC-7901,并检测其在NK及胃癌细胞株SGC-7901中的表达。方法:将携带Livin基因的质粒p IRES2-EGFP-Livin进行扩增,鉴定质粒纯度与浓度;从健康人外周血中获得NK细胞,应用HP转染试剂将质粒pIRES2-EGFP-Livin转染体外培养的NK及胃癌细胞,对比分析NK及胃癌细胞株SGC-7901中基因转染效率及目的基因的表达情况。结果:用无血清培养基在体外成功的扩增大量的NK细胞;质粒提取试剂盒抽提得到大量无内毒素的质粒,质粒DNA基因序列并未发生突变,浓度和纯度较高。胃癌细胞株SGC-7901中观察到明显的质粒pIRES2-EGFP-Livin绿色荧光表达;而NK中未观察到绿色荧光表达。结论:质粒pIRES2-EGFP-Livin能使Lvin蛋白表达于胃癌细胞株SGC-7901中,而在NK中未表达。     

四川米仓山自然保护区台湾水青冈群落学特征沿海拔梯度的变化

为了解不同生境中台湾水青冈(Fagus hayatae)的群落特征,对四川米仓山国家级自然保护区不同海拔的台湾水青冈群落的物种组成、区系特征、生活型谱、重要值和物种多样性等进行了研究。结果表明,台湾水青冈群落中的植物种类随海拔存在差异。群落中植物区系均以北温带分布类型为主,且其分布比例与海拔呈正相关关系。不同海拔群落的物种生活型谱主要以高位芽植物为主,其它生活型较少。群落乔木层中台湾水青冈的重要值随海拔上升不断增大。中海拔群落中的物种多样性指数均低于高海拔和低海拔,具有物种种类少、多样性低的特点。因此,不同海拔段上的台湾水青冈群落学特征有明显的差异。     

Synthesis and Th1-immunostimulatory activity of α-galactosylceramide analogues bearing a halogen-containing or selenium-containing acyl chain

A novel series of CD1d ligand α-galactosylceramides (α-GalCers) were synthesized by incorporation of the heavy atoms Br and Se in the acyl chain backbone of α-galactosyl-N-cerotoylphytosphingosine. The synthetic analogues are potent CD1d ligands and stimulate mouse invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells to selectively enhance Th1 cytokine production. These synthetic analogues would be efficient X-ray crystallographic probes to disclose precise atomic positions of alkyl carbons and lipid–protein interactions in KRN7000/CD1d complexes.