氟磺酰胺复配毒饵对红火蚁的田间防治效果

在深圳市龙岗区和宝安区对氟磺酰胺复配毒饵进行药效评价,试验结果表明,施药后3～15d,龙岗实验区蚁巢周围均有死亡工蚁陆续出现。第7d时,0.75%氟磺酰胺复配毒饵防治效果为16.99%,第28d时防治效果达47.43%,在试验结束的第140d时防治效果达97.93%;对照药剂0.5%氟磺酰胺毒饵对红火蚁Solenopsis invicta Buren的防除效果迅速,在第7d防治效果达50%以上。在宝安实验区,蚁巢的防治效果也随施药后时间的延长而增加,第28d的防治效果为51.65%,试验结束时防治效果达到94.72%;对照药剂0.5%氟磺酰胺毒饵42d防治效果达最大值为92.88%。上述结果显示,0.75%氟磺酰胺复配毒饵具有较快压低红火蚁种群密度,持效控制实验区红火蚁种群的特点。     

Evaluation of boric acid as toxic sugar bait against resistant Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Current methods of broad area application of contact insecticides used in mosquito control are becoming less effective, primarily due to resistance within mosquito populations. New methods that can deliver ingestible insecticides are being investigated as a means to mitigate resistance. This study evaluated insecticide delivery through toxic sugar baits (TSB) and resulting mortality of susceptible and resistant strains of Aedes aegypti. Two Ae. aegypti strains were evaluated using a 1% boric acid TSB: the susceptible Orlando 1952 (ORL) strain and the resistant Puerto Rican (PR) strain. The TSB resulted in high mortality for both ORL and PR strain of Ae. aegypti. Average mortality of female mosquitoes given TSB was 90.8% for PR and 99.3% for ORL. Our study suggests that targeting resistant mosquitoes with ingestible insecticides through TSBs could be a viable alternative to current mosquito control strategies and should be considered when developing an integrated vector management program.     

Hair type,intake, and detection method influence Rhodamine B detectability

Rhodamine B (RB) is a popular bait-marking tool in wildlife research, although its use has required many assumptions about marking reliability. These assumptions have limited dosage ranges and detection methods in research applications. Identification of alternate detection methods, hair types, and dosage rates could create new opportunities for RB use and potentially reduce adverse effects on target animals. We examined the relationship between hair types, dosage rate, and detection method for RB applications using black rats (Rattus rattus) in laboratory settings. We gave study animals varying doses of RB, and examined vibrissae and guard hairs for the detection of RB bands using ambient light, ultraviolet (UV) light, and fluorescence microscopy techniques. Fluorescence microscopy detected more RB marked hairs than UV light or ambient light. Fluorescence microscopy was more sensitive to RB dose rate detection; with receiver operating characteristic curves suggesting that the minimum dose rates at which RB intake can be correctly detected are 3.9 and 33 mg/kg for vibrissae and guard hairs, respectively. Guard hair RB detection was less reliable under ambient light and UV lamps, but equally detectable as vibrissae under fluorescence microscopy. Our results confirmed the interrelationship between dosage and detection methods in the efficacy of bait markers. We demonstrated that guard hairs can be a reliable hair type for the detection of RB. This application is less invasive than sampling animal tissues to detect bait uptake. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.     

Efficacy of various chemical disinfectants on biofilms formed in spacecraft potable water system components

As the provision of potable water is critical for successful habitation of the International Space Station (ISS), life support systems were installed in December 2008 to recycle both humidity from the atmosphere and urine to conserve available water in the Station. In-flight pre-consumption testing from the dispensing needle at the Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) indicated that bacterial concentrations exceeded the current ISS specifications of 50 colony-forming units (CFU) ml^?1. Subsequent investigations revealed that a corrugated stainless steel flex hose upstream of the dispensing needle in the PWD was filled with nonsterile water and left at room temperature for more than 1 month before launch. To simulate biofilm formation that was suspected in the flight system, sterile flex hoses were seeded with a consortium of bacterial isolates previously recovered from other ISS water systems, including Ralstonia pickettii, Burkholderia multivorans, Caulobacter vibrioides, and Cupriavidus pauculus. After incubation for 5 days, the hoses were challenged with various chemical disinfectants including hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), colloidal silver, and buffered pH solutions to determine the ability of the disinfectants to decrease and maintain bacterial concentrations below ISS specifications. The disinfection efficacy over time was measured by collecting daily heterotrophic plate counts after exposure to the disinfectants. A single flush with either 6% H₂O₂ solution or a mixture of 3% H₂O₂ and 400 ppb colloidal silver effectively reduced the bacterial concentrations to <1 CFU ml^?1 for a period of up to 3 months.     

漫湾水电开发对库区景观动态的影响

基于GIS、RS技术,以云南漫湾水电站为例,对电站建设前后库区景观格局及其变化特征进行了研究.结果表明:1974-2004年的30年中,林地与灌丛面积呈现减少趋势,草地、农田、水域和建设用地呈现增加的趋势;在景观总体呈现破碎化与离散分布的前提下,电站建设后景观多样性和均匀度指数均较电站建设前有所降低,景观破碎化程度和景观类型离散分布的趋势减缓;景观类型相互转化频繁,主要表现为林地、灌丛和草地之间的转化.水电站建设后库区综合景观动态度降低,景观类型动态度以建设用地、草地和农田较高.总之,漫湾水电站建设后库区景观格局发生了显著的变化,研究结果对科学认识水电开发的景观生态效应具有重要的意义.     

Exposure assessment in front of a multi-band base station antenna

This study investigates occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields in front of a multi‐band base station antenna for mobile communications at 900, 1800, and 2100 MHz. Finite‐difference time‐domain method was used to first validate the antenna model against measurement results published in the literature and then investigate the specific absorption rate (SAR) in two heterogeneous, anatomically correct human models (Virtual Family male and female) at distances from 10 to 1000 mm. Special attention was given to simultaneous exposure to fields of three different frequencies, their interaction and the additivity of SAR resulting from each frequency. The results show that the highest frequency—2100 MHz—results in the highest spatial‐peak SAR averaged over 10 g of tissue, while the whole‐body SAR is similar at all three frequencies. At distances >200 mm from the antenna, the whole‐body SAR is a more limiting factor for compliance to exposure guidelines, while at shorter distances the spatial‐peak SAR may be more limiting. For the evaluation of combined exposure, a simple summation of spatial‐peak SAR maxima at each frequency gives a good estimation for combined exposure, which was also found to depend on the distribution of transmitting power between the different frequency bands. Bioelectromagnetics 32:234–242, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Migration potential of the banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus

• 1 The banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a major pest in banana (Musa spp.) growing areas. The weevil is known to be relatively sedentary and closely associated with its host plant but little is known about the species' ability to migrate between banana fields and in nonhost habitats.
• 2 Mark–recapture experiments were conducted to assess the weevils' migration potential, possible differences between the sexes, and the relative attractiveness of pseudostem and pheromone baits.
• 3 One thousand two hundred marked weevils were released in the nonhost habitat at five distances (5, 10, 20, 40 and 70 m) from fresh pseudostem, and from pitfall traps baited with 45 mg of sordidin.
• 4 Two hundred males and 200 females were marked and released at five distances (5, 10, 20, 40 and 70 m) from the pheromone traps.
• 5 Distance and distance/bait interactions had a significant effect on recaptured weevils (binary logistic regression). The two baits were almost equally attractive to weevils in the range 0–10 m, whereas the pheromone was more attractive in the range 10–100 m.
• 6 Distance, bait and distance/bait interactions had a significant effect on the time elapsed from release to recapture (regression with life data) but the pattern observed was not consistent.
• 7 There was no significant difference between males and females with respect to distance or time elapsed from release to recapture.
• 8 The results obtained in the present study show that the migration potential of the banana weevil is greater than previously reported. This should be taken into account when new banana fields are established with clean planting material.

     

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse

Before the present day, when fast-acting and potent rodenticides such as alpha-chloralose were not yet in use, the work of pest controllers was often hampered by a phenomenon known as "bait shyness". Mice and rats cannot vomit, due to the tightness of the cardiac sphincter of the stomach, so to overcome the problem of potential food toxicity they have evolved a strategy of first ingesting only very small amounts of novel substances. The amounts ingested then gradually increase until the animal has determined whether the substance is safe and nutritious. So the old rat-catchers would first put a palatable substance such as oatmeal, which was to be the vehicle for the toxin, in the infested area. Only when large amounts were being readily consumed would they then add the poison, in amounts calculated not to affect the taste of the vehicle. The poisoned bait, which the animals were now readily eating in large amounts, would then swiftly perform its function.Bait shyness is now used in the behavioural laboratory as a way of measuring anxiety. A highly palatable but novel substance, such as sweet corn, nuts or sweetened condensed milk, is offered to the mice (or rats) in a novel situation, such as a new cage. The latency to consume a defined amount of the new food is then measured.Robert M.J. Deacon can be reach at robert.deacon@psy.ox.ac.uk     

Variations in attack behaviours between Glossina palpalis gambiensis and G. tachinoides in a gallery forest suggest host specificity

Tsetse flies Glossina palpalis gambiensis and G. tachinoides are among the major vectors of sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis‐HAT) and nagana (African Animal Trypanosomiasis – AAT) in West Africa. Both riparian species occur sympatrically in gallery forests of south west Burkina Faso, but little is known of their interspecies relationships although different authors think there may be some competition between them. The aim of this study was to check if sympatric species have different strategies when approaching a host. A man placed in a sticky cube (1 m × 1 m × 1 m) and a sticky black‐blue‐black target (1 m × 1 m) were used to capture tsetse along the Comoe river banks in a Latin Square design. The number and the height at which tsetse were caught by each capture method were recorded according to species and sex. Glossina p. gambiensis was more attracted to human bait than to the target, but both species were captured at a significantly higher height on the target compared with the human bait (P < 0.05). No significant difference in heights was found between G. tachinoides and G. p. gambiensis captured on targets (33 and 35 cm, respectively, P > 0.05). However, catches on human bait showed a significant difference in height between G. tachinoides and G. p. gambiensis (22.5 and 30.6 cm, respectively, P < 0.001). This study showed that these sympatric species had different attack behaviours to humans, which is not the case with the target. The implications of these findings are discussed.