The anammox case-a new experimental manifesto for microbiological eco-physiology

The anaerobic ammonium oxidation process is a new process for ammonia removal from wastewater. It is also a new microbial physiology that was previously believed to be impossible. The identification of Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans and its relatives as the responsible bacteria was only possible with the development of a new experimental approach. That approach is the focus of this paper. The approach is a modernisation of the Winogradsky/Beyerinck strategy of selective enrichment and is based on the introduction of the molecular toolbox and modern bioreactor engineering to microbial ecology. It consists of five steps: (1) postulation of an ecological niche based on thermodynamic considerations and macro-ecological field data; (2) engineering of this niche into a laboratory bioreactor for enrichment culture; (3) black-box physiological characterisation of the enrichment culture as a whole; (4) phylogenetic characterisation of the enriched community using molecular tools; (5) physical separation of the dominant members of the enrichment culture using gradient centrifugation and the identification of the species of interest in accordance with Koch's postulates; (6) verification of the in situ importance of these species in the actual ecosystems. The power of this approach is illustrated with a case study: the identification of the planctomycetes responsible for anaerobic ammonium oxidation. We argue that this was impossible using molecular ecology or conventional ‘cultivation based techniques’ alone. We suggest that the approach might also be used for the microbiological study of many interesting microbes such as anaerobic methane oxidisers. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

达乌尔黄鼠种群空间分布型研究及其应用

本文根据1987年在内蒙古东北部低山丘陵区和平原区草原的调查资料,应用频数分布比较法研究了达乌尔黄鼠的空间分布型。结果表明：在抽样单位(样方)大小为1公项(1OO米×100米)时,4个样地内达乌尔黄鼠交尾期和幼鼠分居期的空间分布型均属poisson分布(随机分布)。环境与密度制约因素的影响不明显。并经回归分析得到：种群密度(m)与零样方频率(Po)和有鼠样方频率(Px )的曲线关系分别为m=4.5451-0.96721nPo和m=4.5451-0.96721n(1-Px)。经X²检验与poisson分布理论曲线基本一致(x²《x^{2 _0.05},P>0.05)。为达乌尔黄鼠种群密度估计提供了理论依据.     

Influence of root density on the critical soil water potential

Estimation of root water uptake in crops is important for making many other agricultural predictions. This estimation often involves two assumptions: (1) that a critical soil water potential exists which is constant for a given combination of soil and crop and which does not depend on root length density, and (2) that the local root water uptake at given soil water potential is proportional to root length density. Recent results of both mathematical modeling and computer tomography show that these assumptions may not be valid when the soil water potential is averaged over a volume of soil containing roots. We tested these assumptions for plants with distinctly different root systems. Root water uptake rates and the critical soil water potential values were determined in several adjacent soil layers for horse bean (Vicia faba) and oat (Avena sativa) grown in lysimeters, and for field-grown cotton (Gossypium L.), maize (Zea mays) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) crops. Root water uptake was calculated from the water balance of each layer in lysimeters. Water uptake rate was proportional to root length density at high soil water potentials, for both horse bean and oat plants, but root water uptake did not depend on root density for horse bean at potentials lower than −25 kPa. We observed a linear dependency of a critical soil water potential on the logarithm of root length density for all plants studied. Soil texture modified the critical water potential values, but not the linearity of the relationship. B E Clothier Section editor     

GABA神经元在金黄地鼠视觉中枢的分布

本文用免疫细胞化学技术研究了GABA在金黄地鼠视觉中枢的分布特征,同时用统计学方法作了定量分析,结果表明:GABA阳性神经元分布在整个视皮层和上丘中,呈不均匀分布,外膝体中GABA阳性神经元密度较低.视皮层中GABA阳性神经元密度为781mm~2,占视皮层细胞总数的19.7%,上丘中其密度为812/mm~2,占22.3%,视皮层Ⅰ层中GABA阳性神经元为52%,上丘表层(浅灰层及视觉层GABA阳性神经元为56%,GABA阳性神经元包括不同类型的细胞.在视皮层中可观察到GABA免疫疫应阳性的锥体细胞.     

Wood density as a proxy of drought-induced forest dieback in silver fir

Drought-induced dieback is a matter of global concern. It has been widely reported and could compromise the climate warming mitigation potential of forests. That is why we need reliable early-warning proxies to achieve better forecasts of forest dieback and tree death. Tree-ring data can provide some of these needed proxies. Here I propose considering minimum (MND) and maximum (MXD) wood density values as proxies of tree vulnerability against drought. This hypothesis is evaluated in silver fir (Abies alba) forests from the western Spanish Pyrenees showing ongoing dieback processes after the severe 1985 drought. MXD increased in response to warm summer conditions in 1985 whereas MND increased in response to growing-season water deficit in 1986. The average between prior MXD (MXD_t-1) and subsequent MND (MND_t) could be used to detect severe drought impacts and forecast dieback.     

Below- and aboveground traits explain local abundance,and regional,continental and global occurrence frequencies of grassland plants

Plants vary widely in how common or rare they are, but whether commonness of species is associated with functional traits is still debated. This might partly be because commonness can be measured at different spatial scales, and because most studies focus solely on aboveground functional traits. We measured five root traits and seed mass on 241 central European grassland species, and extracted their specific leaf area, height, mycorrhizal status and bud-bank size from databases. Then we tested if trait values are associated with commonness at seven spatial scales, ranging from abundance in 16-m² grassland plots, via regional and European-wide occurrence frequencies, to worldwide naturalization success. At every spatial scale, commonness was associated with at least three traits. The traits explained the greatest proportions of variance for abundance in grassland plots (42%) and naturalization success (41%) and the least for occurrence frequencies in Europe and the Mediterranean (2%). Low root tissue density characterized common species at every scale, whereas other traits showed directional changes depending on the scale. We also found that many of the effects had significant non-linear effects, in most cases with the highest commonness-metric value at intermediate trait values. Across scales, belowground traits explained overall more variance in species commonness (19.4%) than aboveground traits (12.6%). The changes we found in the relationships between traits and commonness, when going from one spatial scale to another, could at least partly explain the maintenance of trait variation in nature. Most importantly, our study shows that within grasslands, belowground traits are at least as important as aboveground traits for species commonness. Therefore, belowground traits should be more frequently considered in studies on plant functional ecology.     

Development and validation of an experimental and theoretical method for the chiral discrimination of dinotefuran

Dinotefuran is a low-cost agrochemical considered a highly toxic product. In this sense, there is a need for its constant environmental, biological, and food control, aiming to ensure its use to humans as well as to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems. In the present work, we developed an experimental and theoretical method for dinotefuran chiral discrimination. According to the main results, the dinotefuran enantioselective separation was efficiently optimized by high-performance liquid chromatography evaluating the influence of different percentage compositions in the mobile phase to improve the resolution of the peaks in the chromatogram. The novelty of this work was the proposition of a reduced molecular model for the chiral selector amylose-Tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) polysaccharide that was able to adequately describe at the molecular level its interaction with the dinotefuran enantiomers. Besides, the thermodynamic and structural parameters obtained via density functional theory calculations pointed out the chiral discrimination as well as the enantiomeric elution order of the analyte studied, confirming the experimental data, thus validating our proposed method. Finally, hydrogen bonds and repulsive interactions played a key role in the discrimination between the diastereomeric complexes, and consequently, for the dinotefuran enantioselective separation.     

氧化修饰使HDL促动脉平滑肌细胞胆固醇流出减少

为了研究氧化修饰对高密度脂蛋白（ＨＤＬ）转运细胞胆固醇地＾３Ｈ－胆固醇负荷的培养人动脉平滑肌细胞（ＳＭＣ）分别与天然ＨＤＬ及Ｃｕ＾２＋ａｋｇ ＨＯＣｌ氧化修饰的ＨＤＬ在３７℃温育不同时间后,分别测定细胞＾３Ｈ－胆固醇清除率。结果发现,温育２４ｈ后,经Ｃｕ＾２＋或ＨＯＬｌ氧修饰后的ＨＤＬ其细胞胆因醇清除率分别较天然ＨＤＬ下降了３０．０％和４３．１％（ｐ〈０．０１）。结果还发现,Ｃｕ＾２＋或ＨＯＣｌ氧     

不同林龄杉木氮素的获取策略

为了探讨不同林龄杉木人工林氮素获取策略,选择了江西千烟洲森林生态研究站红壤区的3种林龄杉木人工林(5年生幼龄林、13年生中龄林和30年生成熟林)作为研究对象,利用稳定性同位素~(15)N示踪技术研究了它们的氮素吸收策略。结果表明,杉木对硝态氮的吸收受林龄影响,成熟林的吸收速率最高,为(5.72±0.24)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1),而中龄林和幼龄林的吸收速率相当,分别为(1.57±0.13)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1)和(2.36±0.22)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1)。幼龄林((34.33±1.20)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))和成熟林((34.18±2.32)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))对铵态氮的吸收速率相似,均显著高于中龄林((23.33±1.39)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))。杉木对甘氨酸的吸收不受林龄的影响。3种年龄的杉木均对铵态氮表现出强的获取能力,其中成熟林杉木对硝态氮的获取能力明显弱于对铵态氮的获取,但却强于对甘氨酸的获取。这样的结果反映了林龄能影响杉木人工林对无机氮的吸收,但未影响对有机氮的吸收;杉木偏好吸收铵态氮,对硝态氮和甘氨酸的吸收很少。如果能把氮素形态考虑进对杉木人工林的施肥管理当中,那么可能会极大地改善杉木的生产力。