Effects of cover soil stockpiling on plant community development following reclamation of oil sands sites in Alberta

Stockpiling of cover soil can influence vegetation development following reclamation. Cover soil, comprising the upper 15–30 cm of the surface material on sites scheduled for mining, is commonly salvaged prior to mining and used directly or stockpiled for various lengths of time until it is needed. Salvaging and stockpiling causes physical, chemical, and biological changes in cover soils. In particular, stockpiling reduces the availability and vigor of vegetative propagules and seed, and can lead to increases in the abundance of some weedy species. This study uses data from monitoring plots to assess how stockpiling of cover soil impacts plant community development on reclaimed oil sands mine sites in northern Alberta. Development of plant communities differed distinctly between directly placed and stockpiled cover soil treatments even 18 years after reclamation. Direct placement of cover soil resulted in higher percent cover, species richness, and diversity. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and multiresponse permutation procedure revealed compositional differentiation between the treatments. Indicator species analysis showed that direct placement treatment was dominated by perennial species while grasses and annual forb species dominated sites where stockpiled soil was used. Results indicate that stockpiling leads to slower vegetation recovery while direct placement of cover soil supports more rapid succession (from ruderal and annual communities to perennial communities). In addition, direct placement may be less costly than stockpiling. However, scheduling of salvage and placement remains a challenge.     

阿维菌素与植物精油复配对朱砂叶螨杀螨的增效作用研究

为了得到对朱砂叶螨(Tetranychuscinnabarinus)具有较好杀螨活性的植物精油与阿维菌素复配配方,并为杀螨剂开发应用提供指导,本研究采用喷雾法测定了柠檬草、广藿香、山鸡椒、亚洲薄荷植物精油及阿维菌素对朱砂叶螨的毒力,分别采用共毒因子法和共毒系数法评价了山鸡椒和亚洲薄荷精油对阿维菌素的增效作用和复配最佳配比.结果表明,柠檬草精油和广藿香精油基本无杀螨活性,山鸡椒精油、亚洲薄荷精油处理朱砂叶螨24h后LC50分别为772.801mg/L和1040.187mg/L.阿维菌素与亚洲薄荷1∶272,1∶679复配具有增效作用.阿维菌素与亚洲薄荷1∶400复配时共毒系数最大,可达160.因此,阿维菌素与亚洲薄荷1∶400复配防治朱砂叶螨具有明显增效作用,这为杀螨剂的开发应用研究提供了参考.     

食用调和油中花生油含量的近红外光谱分析

采用偏最小二乘法(PLS)等方法建立了食用调和油中花生油含量定量分析的近红外光谱定标模型。采集食用调和油样品在4 000 cm-1~10 000 cm-1范围内的近红外漫反射光谱,光谱经一阶导数处理后,采用偏最小二乘法建立样品中花生油含量的定标模型,并用Leave-one-out内部交叉验证法对模型进行验证。模型相关系数为0.99961,校正均方根RMSEC为0.830%。比较不同光谱预处理方法对定标模型的影响,结果表明一阶导数Corr.coeff最好。采用不同的化学计量学方法建立的定标模型中以偏最小二乘回归法最理想。     

Halting Regime Shifts in Floristically Intact Tropical Forests Deprived of Their Frugivores

Ecological restoration typically focuses on promoting vegetation recovery in degraded habitat or reintroducing endangered animals to enhance their regional or global persistence. Here, we argue that attention should also be devoted to vertebrate reintroductions in overhunted but floristically intact tropical forests in order to prevent insidious regime shifts in these systems. Growing evidence suggests that tropical forests deprived of seed‐dispersing animals exhibit replacement of fleshy fruiting trees by species with abiotic seed dispersal. Left unchecked, this process could eventually render the forest uninhabitable by frugivores through reduced density and diversity of their food plants. In tropical areas where hunting can be controlled, we contend that frugivore reintroduction, regulation of wild fruit harvest by humans, and outplanting of native fruiting trees should be deployed as management tools long before the systems are in need of traditional habitat restoration.     

Mapping QTLs for seed yield and drought susceptibility index in soy-bean（Glycine max L.） across different environments

Drought stress has long been a major constraint in maintaining yield stability of soybean （Glycine max （L.） Merr.） in rainfed ecosystems. The identification of consistent quantitative trait loci （QTL） involving seed yield per plant （YP） and drought susceptibility index （DSI） in a population across different environments would therefore be important in molecular marker-assisted breeding of soybean cultivars suitable for rainfed regions. The YP of a recombinant line population of 184 F2：7：11 lines from a cross of Kefengl and Nannong1138-2 was studied under water-stressed （WS） and well-watered （WW） conditions in field （F） and greenhouse （G） trials, and DSI for yield was calculated in two trials. Nineteen QTLs associated with YP-WS and YP-WW, and 10 QTLs associated with DSI, were identi- fied. Comparison of these QTL locations with previous findings showed that the majority of these regions control one or more traits re- lated to yield and other agronomic traits. One QTL on molecular linkage group （MLG） K for YP-F, and two QTLs on MLG C2 for YP-G, remained constant across different water regimes. The regions on MLG C2 for YP-WW-F and MLG H for YP-WS-F had a pleiotropic effect on DSI-F, and MLG A1 for YP-WS-G had a pleiotropic effect on DSI-G. The identification of consistent QTLs for YP and DSI across different environments will significantly improve the efficiency of selecting for drought tolerance in soybean.     

Antisense inhibition of the plastidial glucose-6-phosphate/phosphate translocator in Vicia seeds shifts cellular differentiation and promotes protein storage

The glucose-6-phosphate/phosphate translocator (GPT) acts as an importer of carbon into the plastid. Despite the potential importance of GPT for storage in crop seeds, its regulatory role in biosynthetic pathways that are active during seed development is poorly understood. We have isolated GPT1 from Vicia narbonensis and studied its role in seed development using a transgenic approach based on the seed-specific legumin promoter LeB4. GPT1 is highly expressed in vegetative sink tissues, flowers and young seeds. In the embryo, localized upregulation of GPT1 at the onset of storage coincides with the onset of starch accumulation. Embryos of transgenic plants expressing antisense GPT1 showed a significant reduction (up to 55%) in the specific transport rate of glucose-6-phosphate as determined using proteoliposomes prepared from embryos. Furthermore, amyloplasts developed later and were smaller in size, while the expression of genes encoding plastid-specific translocators and proteins involved in starch biosynthesis was decreased. Metabolite analysis and stable isotope labelling demonstrated that starch biosynthesis was also reduced, although storage protein biosynthesis increased. This metabolic shift was characterized by upregulation of genes related to nitrogen uptake and protein storage, morphological variation of the protein-storing vacuoles, and a crude protein content of mature seeds of transgenics that was up to 30% higher than in wild-type. These findings provide evidence that (1) the prevailing level of GPT1 abundance/activity is rate-limiting for the synthesis of starch in developing seeds, (2) GPT1 exerts a controlling function on assimilate partitioning into storage protein, and (3) GPT1 is essential for the differentiation of embryonic plastids and seed maturation.     

Recruitment of Black Howler Fruit Trees in Fragmented Forests of Northern Belize

We examined recruitment of trees whose seeds are dispersed by black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) in forest fragments within the Community Baboon Sanctuary in north-central Belize. In the fragments, most other large frugivores are absent and howlers dominate the large frugivore community. Consequently, we expected to observe an increased representation of howler fruit trees among the sapling community. To test this prediction preliminarily we observed howler feeding behavior for one year and conducted adult tree and sapling transects in 6 locations where howlers were present. We sampled a seventh site where howlers were absent for vegetation only. We found that in 4 of 6 sites there were proportionately fewer howler fruit saplings when compared to adult tree samples. However, when recruitment of howler fruit trees in the 6 sites was compared to a site where howlers were absent, 11 of 12 species had relatively higher recruitment. The lack of recruitment among howler fruit trees in general likely reflects differences in responses of individual species, as well as disruptions from human activities to natural processes within the forests. The observed lower recruitment patterns of howler trees suggest that over time, the abundance of the trees will likely decline and thus affect the foraging behavior and possibly survival of howlers in the fragmented forests.     

Chlorophyll reduction in the seed of Brassica napus with a glutamate 1-semialdehyde aminotransferase antisense gene*

Chlorophyll reduction in the seed of Brassica can be achieved by downregulating its synthesis. To reduce chlorophyll synthesis, we have used a cDNA clone of Brassica napus encoding glutamate 1-semialdehyde aminotransferase (GSA-AT) to make an antisense construct for gene manipulation. Antisense glutamate 1-semialdehyde aminotransferase gene (Gsa) expression, directed by a Brassica napin promoter, was targeted specifically to the embryo of the developing seed. Transformants expressing antisense Gsa showed varying degrees of inhibition resulting in a range of chlorophyll reduction in the seeds. Seed growth and development were not affected by reduction of chlorophyll. Seeds from selfed transgenic plants germinated with high efficiency and growth of seedlings was vigorous. Seedlings from T₂ transgenic lines segregated into three distinctive phenotypes: dark green, light green and yellow, indicating the dominant inheritance of Gsa antisense gene. These transgenic lines have provided useful materials for the development of a low chlorophyll seed variety of B. napus.     

Conflicting selection pressures on seed size: evolutionary ecology of fruit size in a bird-dispersed tree, Olea europaea

Recent evidence indicates that fruit size has evolved according to dispersers' size. This is hypothesized to result from a balance between factors favouring large seeds and dispersers setting the maximum fruit size. This hypothesis assumes that (1) the size of fruits that can be consumed by dispersers is limited, (2) fruit and seed size are positively correlated, and (3) the result of multiple selection pressures on seed size is positive. Our studies on the seed dispersal mutualism of Olea europaea have supported the first and second assumptions, but valid tests of the third assumption are still lacking. Here we confirm the third assumption. Using multiplicative fitness components, we show that conflicting selection pressures on seed size during and after dispersal reverse the negative pattern of selection exerted by dispersers.     

The effect of plant growth regulators, nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrite and light on the germination of dimorphic seeds of Suaeda salsa under saline conditions

Suaeda salsa, a leaf succulent shrub in the family Chenopodiaceae, is one of the most important halophytes in China. Suaeda salsa produces dimorphic seeds (soft brown seeds and hard black seeds). Seeds of S. salsa were collected from the coastal salt flats near Huanghua City, China. Experiments were conducted to determine the salinity-alleviating effect of plant growth regulators, nitric oxide, nitrate, nitrite and light on the germination of dimorphic seeds of S. salsa. Brown seeds had a higher germination rate than black seeds in all experiments. Black seeds were more sensitive to salt in the absence of light in comparison to brown seeds. Brown seeds absorbed water more quickly in comparison to black seeds and were found to be more tolerant of salt stress. Our results showed that 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC, the immediate precursor of ethylene), nitrite, GA₄ and BA improved seed germination in the presence of salt. However, nitrate, GA₁, GA₃ failed to alleviate salt stress. ABA inhibited seed germination and seedling growth. Possible mechanisms involved in the alleviation of salt stress in S. salsa seeds and the ecological adaptation of the seeds to the environment are discussed.