Can mobile sandy land be vegetated in the cold and dry Tibetan Plateau in China?

Desertification has taken place in the overgrazed grassland of the Tibetan Plateau,China,and the area of mobile sandy land has increased in recent decades.The challenging problem about desertification control is how to restore the vegetation of mobile sandy lands caused by severe desertification.Sand drifting is now regarded as the limiting factor of vegetation restoration in such lands.The initial phase of vegetation restoration is plant colonization,but it is often aborted due to sand drifting,and then vegetation restoration fails to proceed.For the sake of revegetation,the first step is to stop sand drifting to ensure plant colonization.In the northeastern Tibetan Plateau,China,feasible approaches have been found through long-term experiments,and the vegetation is being restored satisfactorily with these approaches in experimental sandy lands.The approaches comprise three types:enclosure,mechanical barriers and biological barriers.Different sandy lands require dissimilar combinations of these approaches.Enclosures may be adequate to revegetate inter-dunes or degraded grassland even in cold regions like the Tibetan Plateau,China,but it is deficient for revegetation of the shifting sand dunes unless mechanical and biological barriers are established simultaneously.     

Women,mobile phones,and M16s: Contemporary New Guinea highlands warfare

This paper reports upon a series of recent developments in New Guinea highlands warfare. Building upon existing literature highlighting the deep influence of modernity within this context, we draw attention to two particular developments yet to be reported in the literature and which appear to be of special significance. Through an analysis of Aiya warfare, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, we document the direct and increasing involvement of women within warfare, as well as the important role played by mobile phones used by warriors to communicate before and during fighting. These two developments are situated in relation to broader shifts currently reshaping Melanesian sociality, namely, the ambivalent and fraught position of women within an emergent PNG society, as well as the rapid diffusion of mobile phone technology throughout the region.     

Drosophila oogenesis as a bio-marker responding to EMF sources

The model biological organisms Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila virilis have been utilized to assess effects on apoptotic cell death of follicles during oogenesis and reproductive capacity (fecundity) decline. A total of 280 different experiments were performed using newly emerged flies exposed for short time daily for 3–7?d to various EMF sources including: GSM 900/1800?MHz mobile phone, 1880–1900?MHz DECT wireless base, DECT wireless handset, mobile phone-DECT handset combination, 2.44?GHz wireless network (Wi-Fi), 2.44?GHz blue tooth, 92.8?MHz FM generator, 27.15?MHz baby monitor, 900?MHz CW RF generator and microwave oven’s 2.44?GHz RF and magnetic field components. Mobile phone was used as a reference exposure system for evaluating factors considered very important in dosimetry extending our published work with D. melanogaster to the insect D. virilis. Distance from the emitting source, the exposure duration and the repeatability were examined. All EMF sources used created statistically significant effects regarding fecundity and cell death-apoptosis induction, even at very low intensity levels (0.3?V/m blue tooth radiation), well below ICNIRP’s guidelines, suggesting that Drosophila oogenesis system is suitable to be used as a biomarker for exploring potential EMF bioactivity. Also, there is no linear cumulative effect when increasing the duration of exposure or using one EMF source after the other (i.e. mobile phone and DECT handset) at the specific conditions used. The role of the average versus the peak E-field values as measured by spectrum analyzers on the final effects is discussed.     

Dynamics of inorganic ions in microspore and pollen grain during development of the tobacco male gametophyte

We studied the dynamics of mobile potassium, chloride, and nitrate ions during development of the microspore and differentiation of the pollen grain inNicotiana tabacum L. by measuring their concentration in aqueous extracts from cells destroyed by freezing-thawing using ion-selective electrodes. Stage-specific changes in the ion content and intracellular concentration in the male gametophyte were found. A relationship of the dynamics of ions to growth processes and changes in metabolic activity during gametophytogenesis has been discussed. The changes in the potassium and chloride ion concentrations have been interpreted as regulatory changes controlling protein synthesis in the pollen grain vegetative cell. Deceased.     

生态环境移动数据采集系统研究与实现

针对快速、实时、有效采集并录入生态环境野外调查大样本量、多源数据的需求,充分应用移动GIS技术、移动智能终端、3G等现代信息技术优势,提出了基于ArcGIS for Mobile的移动数据采集方案,研究解决了包括系统运行机制、数据访问模式、移动数据库技术等面向全国生态环境野外调查的移动GIS关键技术,设计并研发野外调查移动数据采集系统。该系统采用C#和Java语言,以SQL Server 2008 为服务器端的数据库环境,在Microsoft Visual Studio 2008集成开发环境上实现设计开发,并在全国生态环境10年变化遥感调查与评估项目土地覆盖类型地面核查、生态系统参数野外观测等工作中予以应用。实践检验表明：该系统实现了野外调查数据的数字采集、智能校验、实时上传与有效管理,简化了填报程序,规范了填报内容,提高了工作效率,能够为生态环境相关的调查数据采集提供信息化支持。     

城市绿色开敞空间可达性研究——以南京市中心城区为例

城市绿色开敞空间是城市公共空间的重要组成部分,合理配置城市绿色开敞空间对城市宜居环境建设至关重要。空间可达性常用于评价公共服务设施空间布局的合理性,两步移动搜索法即是一种直观、运算简便、应用广泛的可达性计算方法,但该方法未考虑需求主体之间的差异性。本研究以南京市中心城区为例,利用手机信令数据提取需求者属性特征以及空间分布,通过分类细化需求主体改进搜索策略,改善两步移动搜索法传统研究未考虑不同群体差异性、统计数据滞后、空间尺度粗等弊端。结果表明,南京市中心城区绿色开敞空间可达性呈现出明显的空间分异特征,江南主城可达性总体比江北新区高,低值区集中在人口密度高、绿色开敞空间资源规模小的中心城区周边;不同人群的绿色开敞空间可达性总体格局相似,但在数值上老年人可达性均值是其他年龄段的14.60%,工作人群可达性均值是居住人群的86.02%,老年人作为弱势群体在享受绿色开敞空间服务中被边缘化。研究结果可为优化南京市绿色开敞空间布局提供科学依据,也可为其他公共服务设施可达性评价提供借鉴。     

Specific endonuclease activity of integrase encoded by the mdg4 (gypsy) retrotransposon

To study the mechanism of precise excision ofgypsy from genomic sites, the integrase domain ofgypsy pol was cloned and expressed inEscherichia coli. The endonuclease activity of recombinant integrase was assayed with synthetic substrates corresponding to 3′-U5 ofgypsy LTR and to the known genomic insertion sites ofgypsy. Integrase nicked the 5′-A ⇓ YR-3′ triplet in the (+) strand of the double-stranded substrates; cleavage of a single-stranded substrate was nonspecific. Cleavage proved to be affected by the local conformation of the substrate: the (+) strand was cleaved more efficiently when the (−) strand had an unpaired base in the triplet and was not cleaved when the (−) strand was interrupted or branched. The triplet corresponded to the consensus region ofgypsy insertion (5′-YRYR ⇓ YR-3′), the site of cleavagein vitro coinciding with the site of insertionin vivo. The unique mechanism ofgypsy excision was assumed to depend to a great extent on the enzymic properties of its integrase.     

沙丘微地形生境蚁丘分布特征及其对恢复过程的响应

为了阐明沙丘微地形生境蚁丘特征及分布规律对沙丘固定过程的响应规律,以科尔沁沙地为研究区,选择不同固沙阶段沙丘的4个方位（西北、东南、西南、东北）布设调查样地,测定了不同样地的蚁丘密度、直径和高度,分析了不同样地蚁丘特征及空间分布规律。结果表明：（1）流动沙丘背风向（即东南方位）蚁丘密度显著高于其他方位,但从流动沙丘到半流动沙丘,背风向（即东南方位）蚁丘密度显著低于其他方位;从半固定沙丘开始,半固定和固定沙丘微地形对蚁丘密度分布的影响较小。（2）在流动沙丘、半流动沙丘、半固定沙丘,不同微地形生境中蚁丘直径和高度均呈现出相似的分布规律,即东南方位均小于其他方位。在固定沙丘,蚁丘高度表现为东南方位亦较低,但蚁丘直径表现为西南和东北方位显著小于西北方位。（3）在流动沙丘,西北、西南和东南方位上蚁丘空间分布均表现为均匀分布型,而在半流动、半固定和固定沙丘,4个方位上蚁丘空间分布均表现为聚集分布型。（4）相关性分析表明,不同固沙阶段不同微生境下蚁丘密度、高度、直径与植物密度、多样性间的相关性不同。随着固沙阶段演替,不同微生境下蚁丘特征与植物密度、多样性的相关性增强。研究表明,在科尔沁沙地,随着流动沙丘固定和生境逐渐恢复,沙丘不同空间方位上蚁丘密度分布差异缩小,而蚁丘直径和高度仍存在沙丘微地形间显著差异性,并且蚁丘空间方位上均呈现聚集分布状态。     

Effectiveness of mobile apps in teaching field-based identification skills

It has been suggested that few students graduate with the skills required for many ecological careers, as field-based learning is said to be in decline in academic institutions. Here, we asked if mobile technology could improve field-based learning, using ability to identify birds as the study metric. We divided a class of ninety-one undergraduate students into two groups for field-based sessions where they were taught bird identification skills. The first group has access to a traditional identification book and the second group were provided with an identification app. We found no difference between the groups in the ability of students to identify birds after three field sessions. Furthermore, we found that students using the traditional book were significantly more likely to identify novel species. Therefore, we find no evidence that mobile technology improved students’ ability to retain what they experienced in the field; indeed, there is evidence that traditional field guides were more useful to students as they attempted to identify new species. Nevertheless, students felt positively about using their own smartphone devices for learning, highlighting that while apps did not lead to an improvement in bird identification ability, they gave greater accessibility to relevant information outside allocated teaching times.