Selection against immigrants in wild seabird populations

Immigration is a major demographic parameter shaping population dynamics and is an important driver of eco‐evolutionary patterns, but the fitness consequences for individuals following their settlement to a new population (immigrants) remain poorly tested in wild animal populations, particularly among long‐lived species. Here we show that immigrants have a lower fitness than residents in three wild seabird populations (wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, southern fulmar Fulmarus glacialoides, snow petrel Pagodroma nivea). Across all species and during a 32‐year period, immigrants made on average ?9 to 29% fewer breeding attempts, had 5–31% fewer fledglings, had 2–16% lower breeding success and produced 6–46% fewer recruits. Female immigration and male residency were also favored through differences in breeding performance. We provide evidence for selection against immigrants in wild populations of long‐lived species and our results are consistent with female‐biased dispersal in birds being driven by asymmetric limiting resources and the competitive ability of dispersers vs. non‐dispersers.     

黄河首曲玛曲县高寒湿地景观格局演变

高寒湿地是青藏高原地区最重要的生态水源涵养区之一, 也是局部气候的有效调节者, 其动态变化与成因亟待深入研究。该研究基于遥感图像分析、地理信息系统空间分析和景观生态指数分析结合的方法, 以黄河首曲玛曲县高寒湿地为研究对象, 对1995-2018年6期湿地的动态变化进行研究。结果表明, 研究区湿地在1995-2010年间不断退化, 1995-2010年湿地面积总共减少了18 680.31 hm²。在2010-2018年间黄河首曲高寒湿地面积有所增加, 但与20世纪90年代相比, 21世纪初开始湿地的面积普遍呈现下降趋势; 1995-2010年湿地斑块数不断增加, 斑块密度不断增大, 平均斑块面积下降, 景观的破碎度升高; 2010-2015年湿地斑块数和斑块密度减少, 2015-2018年湿地斑块数和斑块密度增加, 平均斑块面积先增大后减小, 景观的破碎度先降低后升高。1995-2010年研究区高寒湿地景观Shannon多样性指数和Shannon均匀度指数均呈现下降的趋势, 湿地的景观结构趋于简单, 景观类型分布更加集中。2010-2018年湿地景观Shannon多样性指数和Shannon均匀度指数均呈现上升趋势, 湿地的景观结构趋于复杂, 景观类型增加且分布更加分散。进一步的驱动力分析表明, 引起黄河首曲高寒湿地景观格局演变的主要因素是蒸发量和降水量, 其次是人口数量和大牲畜数量等人类活动影响。气候因子是影响黄河首曲高寒湿地面积变化的主要原因, 过度的人类经济活动在一定程度上加剧了湿地的变化。     

诱集植物在农业中的应用研究进展与展望

全世界每年因病虫害导致严重的农业经济损失, 为了减少病虫害的发生, 实际生产中通常使用大量化学农药, 然而农药的大量施用, 不仅造成环境污染和农产品安全问题, 还会使病虫害产生抗药性, 天敌种群受损, 从而导致病虫害爆发日益严重。种植诱集植物是一种环境友好型病虫害防控方法, 该方法主要是通过诱集植物吸引虫害和降低病害, 从而减少病虫害对主栽作物的危害, 达到保护主栽作物的目的, 最终减少农业上化学农药的使用。根据诱集植物自身特性, 将其分为五种主导作用类型: 传统诱集植物、致死型诱集植物、基因工程型诱集植物、生物辅助控制型诱集植物、化学信息素辅助作用型诱集植物等, 根据种植和利用方式, 将其分为: 围种诱集、间种诱集、连作诱集、与其它方式结合等。尽管关于诱集植物的研究已有近160年历史, 但有关高效诱集植物的筛选、诱集植物与主栽作物的优化配置模式与配套种植技术、诱集植物对靶标病虫害的作用机理、诱集植物在农业生产中的生态风险评估等仍不清楚, 且诱集植物仍具有较大开发潜力和应用价值, 如(1)开发应用诱集植物的环境污染修复功能及相关技术; (2)开发应用诱集植物的景观生态与休闲旅游功能及相关技术; (3)开发利用诱集植物对土壤的养分转化与固持提升功能(如固氮、固碳、固土功能等)、生物质能源功能、节能减排功能及相关技术; (4)开发应用诱集植物及其废弃物的经济产品功能及其可持续生产技术。论文综述了近年来国内外有关诱集植物的相关研究与实践应用, 旨在为诱集植物在农业生产中进行病虫害防治研究和应用提供相关参考。     

Human‐horse sensory engagement through horse archery

The Mongol horse stems from ancient stock, similar to the first horses ridden on the Central Asian grassland steppe. Mongol horses subsequently migrated with their human counterparts throughout Eurasia, as far to the east as Japan. During archery festivals in Japan, horses gallop along a narrow runway within a temple complex in the heavily populated city of Kyoto. In Mongolia, with the recent re‐emergence of the ancient practice, horse and rider still gallop across the expansive grassland steppe. The euphoria one feels in riding fast on horseback with the wind against one's face can be symbolised by the concept of khii mor’ in Mongolia, which is connected with the vitality between human and horse in the practice of horse archery. Through sensory ethnography, in combination with multi‐species ethnography, this article explores embodiment between horse and rider in two quite different socio‐ecological contexts.     

The power of data synthesis to shape the future of the restoration community and capacity

Restoration efforts will be taking place over the next decade(s) in the largest scope and capacity ever seen. Immense commitments, goals, and budgets are set, with impactful wide‐reaching potential benefits for people and the environment. These are ambitious aims for a relatively new branch of science and practice. It is time for restoration action to scale up, the legacy of which could impact over 350 million hectares targeted for the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. However, restoration still proceeds on a case‐by‐case, trial by error basis and restoration outcomes can be variable even under similar conditions. The ability to put each case into context—what about it worked, what did not, and why—is something that the synthesis of data across studies can facilitate. The link between data synthesis and predictive capacity is strong. There are examples of extremely ambitious and successful efforts to compile data in structured, standardized databases which have led to valuable insights across regional and global scales in other branches of science. There is opportunity and challenge in compiling, standardizing, and synthesizing restoration monitoring data to inform the future of restoration practice and science. Through global collation of restoration data, knowledge gaps can be addressed and data synthesized to advance toward a more predictive science to inform more consistent success. The interdisciplinary potential of restoration ecology sits just over the horizon of this decade. Through truly collaborative synthesis across foci within the restoration community, we have the opportunity to rapidly reach that potential and achieve extraordinary outcomes together.     

Understanding the key characteristics and challenges of pine barrens restoration: insights from a Delphi survey of forest land managers and researchers

Pine barrens are open‐canopy ecological communities once prevalent on sandy soils across the northern Great Lakes Region of the United States and Canada, though fire suppression and plantation forestry have now reduced them to a few isolated areas. Efforts to restore pine barrens are underway on some public lands, but lack of knowledge on the social and ecological issues and challenges that affect these projects impedes fuller progress. As a precursor to designing a public preference survey for pine barrens restoration, we sought input from those with expert knowledge about pine barrens. Using a three‐round modified Delphi survey, forest land managers and researchers identified the key characteristics of pine barrens and important current and future management challenges. Key characteristics were related to fire, landscape structure, plant and animal species, soils, and social themes. Current and future challenges were related to landscape, invasive species, social, economic, climate change, and science themes. Four social issues (education, fire acceptance, fire risk, aesthetics) were rated among the top current challenges but none of them maintained prominence as future challenges. Potential explanations for this shift are that the experts felt these social concerns would be resolved in time or that other issues, such as development pressures and budgets for carrying out restoration, would become greater future challenges. Our approach can be used by managers and researchers to better understand the ecosystems they seek to restore and to communicate with public stakeholders about restoration efforts.     

Curcumin alleviates acute kidney injury in a dry‐heat environment by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in a rat model

Curcumin exhibits anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant activities. We investigated the protective effects of curcumin in a renal injury rat model under dry‐heat conditions. We divided Sprague‐Dawley rats into four groups: dry‐heat 0‐ (normal temperature control group), 50‐, 100‐, and 150‐minute groups. Each group was divided into five subgroups (n = 10): normal saline (NS), sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMCNa), and curcumin pretreated low, medium, and high‐dose (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, respectively) groups. Compared to the normal temperature group, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, urinary kidney injury molecule‐1, and neutrophil gelatinase‐associated load changes in lipoprotein (NGAL) levels were significantly increased in the dry‐heat environment group (P < .05); inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) expression and malondialdehyde (MDA) and related inflammatory factor levels were increased in the kidney tissue. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) levels were decreased. However, following all curcumin pretreatment, the serum levels of kidney injury indicators and NGAL were decreased in the urine compared to those in the NS and CMCNa groups (P < .05), whereas renal SOD and CAT activities were increased and MDA was decreased (P < .05). Renal tissues of the 150‐minute group showed obvious pathological changes. Compared to the NS group, pathological changes in the renal tissues of the 100‐ and 200‐mg/kg curcumin groups were significantly reduced. Furthermore, iNOS and COX‐2 expression and inflammatory factor levels were decreased after curcumin treatment. Curcumin exerted renoprotective effects that were likely mediated by its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory effects in a dry‐heat environment rat model.     

Thymoquinone attenuates doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity in rats

Contrary to the fact that doxorubicin is a powerful chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of neoplastic diseases, cardiotoxicity is too important to be ignored. Thymoquinone serves as a powerful free radical scavenger. In the study, the effects of thymoquinone against doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity will be evaluated. Forty rats were divided into five groups. Group I: control group (n = 8); group II: olive oil group (n = 8); group III: thymoquinone group (n = 8); given 10 mg/kg thymoquinone intraperitoneally per day throughout the experiment; group IV: doxorubicin group (n = 8); injected with a single dose of 15 mg/kg ip doxorubicin on the 7th day of the experiment; group V: doxorubicin + thymoquinone group (n = 8); administered with 10 mg/kg thymoquinone per day during the experiment and 15 mg/kg doxorubicin ip on the 7th day. The experiment was planned for 14 days. Immunohistochemically, heat shock protein (HSP) 70 and HSP90, glucose‐regulated protein 78 (GRP78), caspase‐3 were stained. We made terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling for apoptotic evaluation. Total oxidant status (TOS) levels and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured in the heart tissue. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and pro‐B type natriuretic peptide (proBNP) were evaluated. In the study, HSP70, HSP90, GRP78, and caspase‐3 levels increased in group IV. TOS and TAS levels were significant compared to group I. Doxorubicin significantly increased ANP and NT‐proBNP levels. Thymoquinone revealed significant differences in these values. Thymoquinone can be an important cardioprotective agent against doxorubicin‐cardiotoxicity.     

Reunderstanding Cairo through urban metabolism: Formal versus informal districts resource flow performance in fast urbanizing cities

Urban expansion can be seen as the most pervasive human impact on the environment where its high resource use contributes negatively to climate change and resource scarcity crises. Many experts call for decoupling resource use, economic development, and related urban development especially within cities of the Global South. This paper focuses on investigating resource efficiency through the lens of urban metabolism. It investigates current resource flows, through material flow analysis, from source to sink, in two diverse districts in Cairo: a formal district and an informal one, regarding materials (waste) and mobility. Consequently, the paper discusses locally responsive interventions that address local priorities as opposing to citywide one‐size fits all solution. The paper relies on parcel audits, which are embedded in an Urban Metabolism Information System developed by the Ecocity Builders and their partners, through a joint project with Cairo University. The methodology couples crowd‐sourced data, parcel audits, and experts’ knowledge to better understand resource flows based on a bottom‐up approach, given the unavailability of governmental data on the local level. The paper further correlates the perceived quality of life with the actual resource flows. It utilizes fieldwork investigations to argue against the local misconceptions regarding the inefficiency of informal areas/systems versus the higher efficiency of planned areas/systems. The paper concludes by proposing integrated solutions that respond to local needs and resources. It highlights the challenges and lessons of this tailored bottom‐up approach and its applicability in other cities worldwide.