Energetic Carrying Capacity of Actively and Passively Managed Wetlands for Migrating Ducks in Ohio

ABSTRACT Habitat conservation strategies of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) are guided by current understanding of factors that limit growth of waterfowl populations. The 1998 implementation plan of the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture (UMR and GLRJV) assumed that availability of foraging resources during autumn in wetlands actively managed for waterfowl was the primary limiting factor for duck populations during the nonbreeding season. We used multistage sampling during autumn and spring 2001–2004 to estimate energetic carrying capacity (ECC) of actively and passively managed wetlands in Ohio, USA, and examine this assumption. Energetic carrying capacity during autumn was similar between actively and passively managed wetlands each year. Averaged across years, energetic carrying capacity was 3,446 and 2,047 duck energy-days (DED)/ha for actively and passively managed wetlands, respectively. These estimates exceeded the UMR and GLRJV assumption that 1,236 DED/ha were provided by managed wetland habitats. Energetic carrying capacity declined each year by >80% between autumn and spring migration. Consequently, ECC of actively and passively managed wetlands was low during spring ( = 66–242 DED/ha). These results suggested that duck foraging resources in actively and passively managed wetland habitats are abundant during autumn, but overwinter declines may create food-limiting environments during spring.     

Photosynthetically versatile thin shade leaves: A paradox of irradiance-response curves

Thick sun leaves have a larger construction cost per unit leaf area than thin shade leaves. To re-evaluate the adaptive roles of sun and shade leaves, we compared the photosynthetic benefits relative to the construction cost of the leaves. We drew photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)-response curves using the leaf-mass-based photosynthetic rate to reflect the cost. The dark respiration rates of the sun and shade leaves of mulberry (Morus bombycis Koidzumi) seedlings did not differ significantly. At irradiances below 250 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹, the shade leaves tended to have a significantly larger net photosynthetic rate (P _N) than the sun leaves. At irradiances above 250 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹, the P _N did not differ significantly. The curves indicate that plants with thin shade leaves have a larger daily CO₂ assimilation rate per construction cost than those with thick sun leaves, even in an open habitat. These results are consistently explained by a simple model of PAR extinction in a leaf. We must target factors other than the effective assimilation when we consider the adaptive roles of thick sun leaves.     

Biochemical characterization of a novel beta-1--3, 1--4 glucan 4-glucanohydrolase from Thermomonospora sp. having a single active site for lichenan and xylan

A bifunctional high molecular weight (Mr, 64,500 Da) beta-1-3, 1-4 glucan 4-glucanohydrolase was purified to homogeneity from Thermomonospora sp., exhibiting activity towards lichenan and xylan. A kinetic method was used to analyze the active site that hydrolyzes lichenan and xylan. The experimental data was in agreement with the theoretical values calculated for a single active site. Probing the conformation and microenvironment at active site of the enzyme by fluorescent chemo-affinity label, OPTA resulted in the formation of an isoindole derivative with complete inactivation of the enzyme to hydrolyse both lichenan and xylan confirmed the results of kinetic method. OPTA forms an isoindole derivative by cross-linking the proximal thiol and amino groups. The modification of cysteine and lysine residues by DTNB and TNBS respectively abolished the ability of the enzyme to form an isoindole derivative with OPTA, indicating the participation of cysteine and lysine in the formation of isoindole complex.     

河西走廊植物群落特征及其与气候的关系初探

对河西走廊荒漠植物的群落类型、盖度、密度、重要值、地上生物量等进行了调查,收集整理各区域的气候资料,对它们的关系进行了初步研究。结果显示:(1)物种种类组成、总密度与海拔、经度呈正相关,与纬度呈负相关,在走廊的东南→西北方向上呈递减趋势。(2)在活动积温(>10℃)>3 200℃的荒漠地区,灌木(包括半灌木)在群落中占有绝对优势,其重要值可达到100;当活动积温在3 000℃左右时,群落往往是一些过渡类型,或以草本为优势种、以半灌木或灌木为伴生种,或以半灌木为优势种、以多年生草本为伴生种。(3)在年降水量110 mm以上的荒漠地区,植物群落生活型主要为半灌木或多年生草本;在年降水量110 mm以下的地区,生活型主要为小灌木或一年生草本;在年降水量小于50 mm的极端干旱地区,只有在雨季时有一年生草本生长。表明荒漠生态系统植被稀疏,生物量小,对气候因子,特别是降水变化敏感,对其保育显得尤为重要。     

施钾对强筋小麦生理特性及产量的效应

以强筋面包小麦临优145为试验材料,于大田生产条件下研究了施用钾肥对强筋小麦叶片光合、膜脂氧化及产量特性的影响.结果显示,适量施钾能显著降低开花14d以后旗叶中超氧阴离子的产生强度和MDA含量,并显著提高旗叶的叶绿素含量、光合速率和籽粒灌浆速率,显著增加千粒重;在施钾(K2O)37.5~150.0kg/hm2范围内,随施钾量增加,各处理产量呈先上升后下降趋势且均比对照极显著增产14.5%~30.7%,各处理间产量差异显著,以施钾(K2O)112.5kg/hm2时籽粒产量最高.结果表明,中产条件下施用钾肥可显著提高强筋小麦籽粒产量,且以施钾(K2O)103.0~112.5kg/hm2为宜.     

呼中自然保护区多年冻土活动层厚度的影响因子分析

以大兴安岭呼中国家级自然保护区为对象,调查了该区多年冻土的活动层厚度,并利用多重对比分析和相关分析方法,对多年冻土活动层的影响因子进行了分析。结果表明,多年冻土活动层厚度与多个环境因子之间存在着复杂的关系。土壤含水量、地形条件和不同群落对于活动层厚度具有重要影响,而活动层厚度也会反作用于这些影响因子。其中,土壤表层含水量与活动层厚度呈极显著负相关(P<0.001)。地形坡度和活动层厚度呈显著正相关(P=0.006)。几乎每个样带的海拔与活动层厚度都有显著的相关性,但在整个研究区域内海拔与活动层厚度不存在相关性。这说明活动层厚度的变异仅在本研究的样带尺度上具有规律性,而这种规律性在稍大尺度上会消失。对于不同的群落活动层厚度的多重对比分析表明,群落的差异对活动层厚度也有明显的影响,其中狭叶杜香-泥炭藓群落更有利于多年冻土的保存。     

微生物采油技术用于聚驱后油藏的研究进展

聚合物驱后仍会有大量的剩余油残留在低渗透层中,而且油层中滞留的聚合物还会给后续的驱油带来负面影响。有很多证据表明,在聚驱油藏中、聚驱油田产出液中、油田土壤中,存在能降解常用驱油聚合物,并以之为唯一营养源的细菌。这样人们就可以利用微生物的降解作用除去油藏中残留聚合物,再结合常规微生物采油技术进一步提高聚驱后油藏的采收率。目前已经进行的室内、现场实验取得了一定成效,但有明显局限性。不过通过进一步的理论研究,大部分问题会得到解决,所以该技术的发展前景仍然广大。     

An alternative excited-state proton transfer pathway in green fluorescent protein variant S205V

Wild-type green fluorescent protein (wt-GFP) has a prominent absorbance band centered at approximately 395 nm, attributed to the neutral chromophore form. The green emission arising upon excitation of this band results from excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) from the chromophore hydroxyl, through a hydrogen-bond network proposed to consist of a water molecule and Ser205, to Glu222. Although evidence for Glu222 as a terminal proton acceptor has already been obtained, no evidence for the participation of Ser205 in the proton transfer process exists. To examine the role of Ser205 in the proton transfer, we mutated Ser205 to valine. However, the derived GFP variant S205V, upon excitation at 400 nm, still produces green fluorescence. Time-resolved emission spectroscopy suggests that ESPT contributes to the green fluorescence, and that the proton transfer takes place approximately 30 times more slowly than in wt-GFP. The crystal structure of S205V reveals rearrangement of Glu222 and Thr203, forming a new hydrogen-bonding network. We propose this network to be an alternative ESPT pathway with distinctive features that explain the significantly slowed rate of proton transfer. In support of this proposal, the double mutant S205V/T203V is shown to be a novel blue fluorescent protein containing a tyrosine-based chromophore, yet is incapable of ESPT. The results have implications for the detailed mechanism of ESPT and the photocycle of wt-GFP, in particular for the structures of spectroscopically identified intermediates in the cycle.     

Analysis and prediction of functionally important sites in proteins

The rapidly increasing volume of sequence and structure information available for proteins poses the daunting task of determining their functional importance. Computational methods can prove to be very useful in understanding and characterizing the biochemical and evolutionary information contained in this wealth of data, particularly at functionally important sites. Therefore, we perform a detailed survey of compositional and evolutionary constraints at the molecular and biological function level for a large set of known functionally important sites extracted from a wide range of protein families. We compare the degree of conservation across different functional categories and provide detailed statistical insight to decipher the varying evolutionary constraints at functionally important sites. The compositional and evolutionary information at functionally important sites has been compiled into a library of functional templates. We developed a module that predicts functionally important columns (FIC) of an alignment based on the detection of a significant "template match score" to a library template. Our template match score measures an alignment column's similarity to a library template and combines a term explicitly representing a column's residue composition with various evolutionary conservation scores (information content and position-specific scoring matrix-derived statistics). Our benchmarking studies show good sensitivity/specificity for the prediction of functional sites and high accuracy in attributing correct molecular function type to the predicted sites. This prediction method is based on information derived from homologous sequences and no structural information is required. Therefore, this method could be extremely useful for large-scale functional annotation.     

A database for medicinal plants used in treatment of asthma

The knowledge of most plants used in the treatment of asthma, the plant part which is effective in treatment is confined to very few persons who are engaged in folklore medicine. However, this form of medicine is not very popular. Therefore, it is of considerable interest to ethno-botanical community to understand the plants and the parts used for treatment. Here, we describe AsthmaPlantBase, a database containing information of medicinal plants for treatment of asthma.

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