Brood ball construction by the non-brooding Coprini Sulcophanaeus carnifex and Dichotomius torulosus (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae)

ABSTRACT.

• 1 Feeding burrows made by S.carnifex and D.torulosus adults consisted of tunnels filled with sausage-shaped masses of dung. Brood balls were made by taking fragments of dung from an adjacent feeding burrow and aggregating them into a small sphere which was gradually enlarged and then coated with soil.
• 2 S.carnifex adult females showed no response to their own eggs (unlike Copris lunaris: Klemperer, H.G. (1982) Ecological Erltonzology, 7, 155–167). S.carnifex larvae made and maintained an air channel to the upper pole of the ball and they are in this respect preadapted to receive parental care.
• 3 Compared with a brood mass, a brood ball was less likely to be attacked by Meptoparasitic larvae. The soil coat retarded drying of the brood ball by increasing the total mass of moisturecontaining material.

     

Negative‐assortative mating for color in wolves

There is strong negative‐assortative mating for gray and black pelage color in the iconic wolves in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first documented case of significant negative‐assortative mating in mammals and one of only a very few cases in vertebrates. Of 261 matings documented from 1995 to 2015, 63.6% were between gray and black wolves and the correlation between mates for color was –0.266. There was a similar excess of matings of both gray males × black females and black males × gray females. Using the observed frequency of negative‐assortative mating in a model with both random and negative‐assortative mating, the estimated proportion of negative‐assortative mating was 0.430. The estimated frequency of black wolves in the population from 1996 to 2014 was 0.452 and these frequencies appear stable over this 19‐year period. Using the estimated level of negative‐assortative mating, the predicted equilibrium frequency of the dominant allele was 0.278, very close to the mean value of 0.253 observed. In addition, the patterns of genotype frequencies, that is, the observed proportion of black homozygotes and the observed excess of black heterozygotes, are consistent with negative‐assortative mating. Importantly these results demonstrate that negative‐assortative mating could be entirely responsible for the maintenance of this well‐known color polymorphism.     

微生物生活周期中的一个新的时期——长期稳定期

传统的对微生物生长时期的认识一般分为4个时期:迟缓期、对数期、稳定期、死亡期。实际上,这种划分不足以使我们认识到微生物生长过程的全貌。近年来许多研究表明,在死亡期之后存在一个完全不同意义的时期——长期稳定期。这个时期可能与微生物在环境中的生存状态更加相似。微生物细胞通过突变得以生存,并在选择中形成稳定期生长优势表型,深入研究微生物长期稳定期具有极其重要的意义。     

Does the handedness of the pebble crab Eriphia smithii influence its attack success on two dextral snail species?

The predaceous crab Eriphia smithii (Xanthidae) has one larger claw with molar teeth on either the right or the left cheliped, which it uses to crush the shell of prey. Whether the handedness of crabs affected successful predation on two snail species, Nerita albicilla (Neritidae) and Planaxis sulcatus (Planaxidae) was experimentally investigated. The fate of snails of each species was analysed by multiple logistic regression with three explanatory variables: handedness, shell-size index and individuality of crabs. No effect of handedness was detected in attacks on N. albicilla , probably as a result of the spherical and more symmetrical shell morphology of this species. In contrast, right-handedness contributed to greater attack success on P. sulcatus , which has more conical shells. Further investigation of how snail shells were broken revealed that left-handed crabs had more difficulty breaking the aperture of larger P. sulcatus , which was thought to cause the difference in attack success between right- and left-handed crabs. The advantages conferred by handedness are discussed.     

Using competitive and facilitative interactions in intercropping systems enhances crop productivity and nutrient-use efficiency

This paper reviews recent research on the processes involved in the yield advantage in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/maize (Zea mays L.), wheat/soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], faba bean (Vicia faba L.)/maize, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)/maize and water convolvulus (Ipomoea aquatica Forsk.)/maize intercropping. In wheat/maize and wheat/soybean intercropping systems, a significant yield increase of intercropped wheat over sole wheat was observed, which resulted from positive effects of the border row and inner rows of intercropped wheat. The border row effect was due to interspecific competition for nutrients as wheat had a higher competitive ability than either maize or soybean had. There was also compensatory growth, or a recovery process, of subordinate species such as maize and soybean, offsetting the impairment of early growth of the subordinate species. Finally, both dominant and subordinate species in intercropping obtain higher yields than that in corresponding sole wheat, maize or soybean. We summarized these processes as the `competition-recovery production principle'. We observed interspecific facilitation, where maize improves iron nutrition in intercropped peanut, faba bean enhances nitrogen and phosphorus uptake by intercropped maize, and chickpea facilitates P uptake by associated wheat from phytate-P. Furthermore, intercropping reduced the nitrate content in the soil profile as intercropping uses soil nutrients more efficiently than sole cropping.     

性的进化:起源和维持

有性繁殖是真核生物生命周期的一个普遍特征。然而,在解释有性繁殖的这种普遍存在时却遇到了许多的困难,包括雄性的双重损失和重组负荷等。那么,有性繁殖是如何起源和维持的？人们提出了许多可能解释的假说,但是到目前为止还没有一个明确的答案。作者就众多的理论做一个简明综述。     

宁波鄞州新城区城市土地利用的空间趋向性

采用梯度分析和城市土地利用程度相结合的分析方法,研究了鄞州新城区居住用地和工业用地的空间布局特征,并选择公共绿地、公共设施用地和道路等作为区位优势因素,探索城市各类用地的区位特征.结果表明： 梯度分析能够有效地与城市土地利用的空间布局相连接,定量描述城市土地利用的空间特征;鄞州新城区城市空间形态中心主要集中在距中心2 km的范围内,即城市发展的十字轴核心片区,区位优势明显,鄞州大道以南将成为新城区发展的腹地.产业结构调整后工业用地的合理变迁、核心区土地刚性条件约束下商务用地的高效集约利用、以及东南部城乡结合带的农田保护将成为鄞州新城区在未来土地利用中需重点考虑的方向.     

Sexual cannibalism and sperm competition in the golden orb-web spider Nephila plumipes (Araneoidea): female and male perspectives

Mating systems are frequently shaped by conflicts over reproductive interests between males and females. Sexual cannibalism canbe an especially dramatic manifestation of such conflicts.However, the resolutions of this conflict differ among sexuallycannibalistic spider species. Cannibalism may be in the interestof both sexes when females consume males as a foraging decisionto improve fecundity and/or males sacrifice their bodies toincrease fertilization success. In other species, females exertsequential choice of partner by selectively terminating copulationthrough cannibalism while males fail to obtain a paternityadvantage. Here, we investigate the adaptive value of cannibalismin the orb-web spider Nephila plumipes where 60% of males donot survive copulation. Virgin females in poor condition aremore frequently cannibalistic and more likely to kill largemales, but the frequency of cannibalism among mated femalesis not influenced by these factors. Instead, males that matewith mated females increase their fertilization success bybeing cannibalized. Cannibalized males generally mate for longer,but longer copulations correspond with increased paternity onlyin mated females. The amount of sperm from particular malesthat a female stored was not influenced by any of the measuredvariables. The number of sperm stored was not related to paternity,nor was there any detectable reduction in sperm number afterfemales had reproduced. Our data suggest that the conflict between the sexes differs between virgin and mated females.Females should always cannibalize a male, but males only gainfrom cannibalism when mating with mated females, not when matingwith virgin females. Interestingly, the frequencies of cannibalismare not different in matings with virgin or mated females.     

不同氮水平下作物养分吸收与利用

玉米与马铃薯间作是重要的间作种植模式,具有较突出的资源利用和产量优势,但养分吸收和利用对作物产量优势的贡献及这种贡献对施氮量的响应机制尚不清楚.本研究采用玉米单作、马铃薯单作和玉米与马铃薯间作3种种植模式,分别设置N₀(0 kg·hm^-2)、N₁(125 kg·hm^-2)、N₂(250 kg·hm^-2)和N₃(375 kg·hm^-2)4个氮水平,通过2年田间小区试验,研究不同氮水平下间作产量优势的营养基础.结果表明: 随着施氮量的增加,氮、磷、钾的单作加权平均吸收量逐渐增加,间作则先增加后减少.间作在N₁水平时具最高的养分吸收优势,分别较单作加权平均值增加氮吸收14.9%、磷吸收38.6%、钾吸收27.8%;间作在N₀和N₃时具有更高的养分利用效率,较单作可提高氮利用效率3.5%～14.3%、磷利用效率3.5%～18.5%、钾利用效率10.6%～31.6%.N₀和N₁时玉米与马铃薯间作具有显著产量优势,其营养基础在N₀时主要是提高了作物养分利用效率,而N₁时则是促进养分吸收的结果.充分发挥间作促进养分吸收对玉米与马铃薯间作产量优势的贡献,需要合理控制氮肥的投入.