基于最大熵模型(MaxEnt)预测暗紫贝母的潜在分布

暗紫贝母(Fritillaria unibracteata)干燥的鳞茎是市场名贵药材"川贝"的主要来源,目前由于人们的过度挖采及环境的恶化,使得其野生资源已近枯竭,被列为国家三级濒危保护药材物种。该研究通过收集暗紫贝母的地理分布点经纬度,结合26项生态因子,运用最大熵模型(MaxEnt)并结合地理信息系统(ArcGIS),对其在中国的潜在分布区域进行了预测。结果表明:暗紫贝母的潜在适生区主要分布在四川西部和北部、青海南部、甘肃南部,其中四川阿坝藏族羌族自治州的理县、茂县、松潘县、红原县、黑水县等地区,青海省果洛藏族自治州的久治县、玛沁县、同德县、兴海县、河南县地区以及甘肃省甘南藏族自治州地区是暗紫贝母最佳适生区。此外,在西藏和云南也有零星的分布。对暗紫贝母的分布贡献率较大的主要生态因子有5个,分别是海拔(40.8%),年均降水量(28%),1月最高温度(7.1%),最干季平均温度(6.6%)和昼夜温差日均值(6.6%)。其中,海拔为2700~4 500m、年均降水量为400~1 400mm,是暗紫贝母最适宜生长的生态位参数。该研究结果为暗紫贝母的野生抚育和人工栽培提供了重要的科学依据。     

Crystal structure of Brugia malayi venom allergen-like protein-1 (BmVAL-1), a vaccine candidate for lymphatic filariasis

Brugia malayi is a causative agent of lymphatic filariasis, a major tropical disease. The infective L3 parasite stage releases immunomodulatory proteins including the venom allergen-like proteins (VALs), which are members of the SCP/TAPS (Sperm-coating protein/Tpx/antigen 5/pathogenesis related-1/Sc7) superfamily. BmVAL-1 is a major target of host immunity with >90% of infected B. malayi microfilaraemic cases being seropositive for antibodies to BmVAL-1. This study is part of ongoing efforts to characterize the structures and functions of important B. malayi proteins. Recombinant BmVAL-1 was produced using a plant expression system, crystallized and the structure was solved by molecular replacement and refined to 2.1?Å, revealing the characteristic alpha/beta/alpha sandwich topology of eukaryotic SCP/TAPS proteins. The protein has more than 45% loop regions and these flexible loops connect the helices and strands, which are longer than predicted based on other parasite SCP/TAPS protein structures. The large central cavity of BmVAL-1 is a prototypical CRISP cavity with two histidines required to bind divalent cations. The caveolin-binding motif (CBM) that mediates sterol binding in SCP/TAPS proteins is large and open in BmVAL-1 and is N-glycosylated. N-glycosylation of the CBM does not affect the ability of BmVAL-1 to bind sterol in vitro. BmVAL-1 complements the in vivo sterol export phenotype of yeast mutants lacking their endogenous SCP/TAPS proteins. The in vitro sterol-binding affinity of BmVAL-1 is comparable with Pry1, a yeast sterol transporting SCP/TAPS protein. Sterol binding of BmVAL-1 is dependent on divalent cations. BmVAL-1 also has a large open palmitate-binding cavity, which binds palmitate comparably to tablysin-15, a lipid-binding SCP/TAPS protein. The central cavity, CBM and palmitate-binding cavity of BmVAL-1 are interconnected within the monomer with channels that can serve as pathways for water molecules, cations and small molecules.     

云南中度退化的喀斯特天坑草地植物群落优势种种间关系

喀斯特天坑作为独特的宏大地表负地形,其坑底生境与外界环境相互独立,呈现出独特的植物群落格局及特征.本研究选取云南沾益天坑群中可进入性较强的中度退化天坑--巴家陷塘为对象,筛选出重要值大于1的优势种,结合总体关联性分析、χ²检验、AC联结系数及Spearman秩相关系数对巴家陷塘退化天坑植物群落中11种优势种的种间关联性和相关性进行研究.结果表明: 巴家陷塘退化天坑植物群落种间联结指数VR=1.377>1,总体呈显著正关联,但正负关联差异较大,阳生型植物和阴生型植物呈极显著负关联,现阶段仍具有独立的分布格局,但呈逐渐趋于稳定的趋势;Spearman分析中种间正相关对数(26对)少于种间负相关对数(29对),结合天坑微环境的差异,将退化天坑的优势物种划分为3个生态种组,群落总体呈现出一定的圈层分布规律.     

黄土丘陵区植被与地形特征对土壤和土壤微生物生物量生态化学计量特征的影响

研究黄土丘陵区植被与地形特征对土壤和土壤微生物生物量生态化学计量特征影响有助于深入理解黄土丘陵区不同植被带下土壤和土壤微生物相互作用及养分循环规律.选择黄土丘陵区延河流域3个植被区(森林区、森林草原区、草原区)和5种地形部位(阴/阳沟坡、阴/阳梁峁坡、峁顶)的土壤作为研究对象,利用生态化学计量学理论研究植被和地形对土壤和土壤微生物生物量生态化学计量特征的影响.结果表明: 土壤及土壤微生物生物量碳、氮、磷含量在不同地形之间的差别主要表现在沟坡位置和阴坡高于其他坡位和阳坡.植被类型的变化对两个土层(0～10、10～20 cm)土壤和土壤微生物生物量碳、氮、磷的影响均达到显著水平,坡向对表层(0～10 cm)土壤和土壤微生物生物量碳、氮、磷的影响强于坡位,而在10～20 cm土层,坡位对土壤和土壤微生物生物量碳、氮、磷影响更显著.植被类型显著影响土壤C∶N、C∶P、N∶P和土壤微生物生物量C∶N、C∶P,坡向和坡位仅影响土壤C∶P和N∶P,植被类型的变化是影响土壤C∶N的主要因素.同时,植被类型对土壤养分和微生物生物量碳、氮、磷含量及其生态化学计量特征的影响大于地形因子.标准化主轴分析结果表明,黄土丘陵区不同植被带土壤微生物具有内稳性,特别在草原带,土壤微生物生物量生态化学计量学特征具有更加严格的约束比例.在黄土丘陵区,土壤微生物生物量N∶P或许可以作为判断养分限制的另一个有力工具,若将土壤微生物生物量N∶P与植物叶片N∶P配合使用可能有助于我们更加精确地判断黄土丘陵区的土壤养分限制情况.     

生物降解膜对甘肃河西棉花的生态生物学效应

为研究生物降解膜对甘肃河西棉田的保温保墒、棉花生长发育和产量的影响,于2016年和2017年设置厚度为0.012 mm的生物降解膜A、厚度0.008 mm的生物降解膜B、普通地膜、裸地4个处理,分析降解膜的降解性能及其对棉田土壤温度、水分、产量和相关因子及杂草防效的影响.结果表明: 降解膜B早于降解膜A 3～5 d进入诱导期,降解速率高于降解膜A.填埋180 d时,降解膜A和B失重率分别达到95.6%和94.5%;降解膜A在棉花苗期增温保水性效果较好,与普通地膜无显著差异;而降解膜B由于降解速率快,在苗期增温保水性显著低于普通地膜.覆盖降解膜较普通地膜延长了棉花生育期,但棉花出苗率、单株铃数、铃质量和衣分无显著差异,而霜前花率和杂草防效显著降低.产量结果显示,两年间降解膜A较普通地膜籽棉产量分别降低3.8%和3.1%,差异不显著,较裸地处理分别增产73.1%和59.9%,增产显著,而降解膜B较普通地膜减产11.8%和7.1%,差异显著.综上,降解膜A具有较好的增温保墒和增产效应,可在甘肃河西农业区推广应用.     

Distinct colonization waves underlie the diversification of the freshwater sculpin (Cottus gobio) in the Central European Alpine region

Ecological speciation and adaptive radiation are key processes shaping northern temperate freshwater fish diversity. Both often involve parapatric differentiation between stream and lake populations and less often, sympatric intralacustrine diversification into habitat‐ and resource‐associated ecotypes. However, few taxa have been studied, calling for studies of others to investigate the generality of these processes. Here, we test for diversification within catchments in freshwater sculpins in a network of peri‐Alpine lakes and streams. Using 8047 and 13 182 restriction site‐associated (RADseq) SNPs, respectively, we identify three deeply divergent phylogeographic lineages associated with different major European drainages. Within the Aare catchment, we observe populations from geographically distant lakes to be genetically more similar to each other than to populations from nearby streams. This pattern is consistent with two distinct colonization waves, rather than by parapatric ecological speciation after a single colonization wave. We further find two distinct depth distribution modes in three lakes of the Aare catchment, one in very shallow and one in very deep water, and significant genomewide differentiation between these in one lake. Sculpins in the Aare catchment appear to represent an early‐stage adaptive radiation involving the evolution of a lacustrine lineage distinct from parapatric stream sculpins and the repeated onset of depth‐related intralacustrine differentiation.     

Web building and silk properties functionally covary among species of wolf spider

Although phylogenetic studies have shown covariation between the properties of spider major ampullate (MA) silk and web building, both spider webs and silks are highly plastic so we cannot be sure whether these traits functionally covary or just vary across environments that the spiders occupy. As MaSp2‐like proteins provide MA silk with greater extensibility, their presence is considered necessary for spider webs to effectively capture prey. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) are predominantly non‐web building, but a select few species build webs. We accordingly collected MA silk from two web‐building and six non‐web‐building species found in semirural ecosystems in Uruguay to test whether the presence of MaSp2‐like proteins (indicated by amino acid composition, silk mechanical properties and silk nanostructures) was associated with web building across the group. The web‐building and non‐web‐building species were from disparate subfamilies so we estimated a genetic phylogeny to perform appropriate comparisons. For all of the properties measured, we found differences between web‐building and non‐web‐building species. A phylogenetic regression model confirmed that web building and not phylogenetic inertia influences silk properties. Our study definitively showed an ecological influence over spider silk properties. We expect that the presence of the MaSp2‐like proteins and the subsequent nanostructures improves the mechanical performance of silks within the webs. Our study furthers our understanding of spider web and silk co‐evolution and the ecological implications of spider silk properties.     

The SER Standards: a globally relevant and inclusive tool for improving restoration practice—a reply to Higgs et al.

In response to a critique by Higgs et al., this article clarifies the content and intent of the Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration. Higgs et al. expressed concern that the SER Standards are not sufficiently underpinned by principles and risk disenfranchising some practitioners by narrowing what qualifies as ecological restoration. To demonstrate that these concerns are unfounded, we discuss the policy context and principles on which the Standards are based, its organizational structure, the innovative and inclusive approach used for development, and highlight significant errata by Higgs et al.