European springtime temperature synchronises ibex horn growth across the eastern Swiss Alps

Direct effects of climate change on animal physiology, and indirect impacts from disruption of seasonal synchrony and breakdown of trophic interactions are particularly severe in Arctic and Alpine ecosystems. Unravelling biotic from abiotic drivers, however, remains challenging because high‐resolution animal population data are often limited in space and time. Here, we show that variation in annual horn growth (an indirect proxy for individual performance) of 8043 male Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) over the past four decades is well synchronised among eight disjunct colonies in the eastern Swiss Alps. Elevated March to May temperatures, causing premature melting of Alpine snowcover, earlier plant phenology and subsequent improvement of ibex food resources, fuelled annual horn growth. These results reveal dependency of local trophic interactions on large‐scale climate dynamics, and provide evidence that declining herbivore performance is not a universal response to global warming even for high‐altitude populations that are also harvested.     

Incorporating anthropogenic effects into trophic ecology: predator–prey interactions in a human-dominated landscape

Apex predators perform important functions that regulate ecosystems worldwide. However, little is known about how ecosystem regulation by predators is influenced by human activities. In particular, how important are top-down effects of predators relative to direct and indirect human-mediated bottom-up and top-down processes? Combining data on species'' occurrence from camera traps and hunting records, we aimed to quantify the relative effects of top-down and bottom-up processes in shaping predator and prey distributions in a human-dominated landscape in Transylvania, Romania. By global standards this system is diverse, including apex predators (brown bear and wolf), mesopredators (red fox) and large herbivores (roe and red deer). Humans and free-ranging dogs represent additional predators in the system. Using structural equation modelling, we found that apex predators suppress lower trophic levels, especially herbivores. However, direct and indirect top-down effects of humans affected the ecosystem more strongly, influencing species at all trophic levels. Our study highlights the need to explicitly embed humans and their influences within trophic cascade theory. This will greatly expand our understanding of species interactions in human-modified landscapes, which compose the majority of the Earth''s terrestrial surface.     

取食转Bt基因水稻对稻纵卷叶螟幼虫中肠的组织病理学效应

利用透射电镜观察了稻纵卷叶螟 Cnaphalocrocis medinalis（Guenée）幼虫取食转Bt基因水稻后中肠的组织病理变化。结果表明：稻纵卷叶螟幼虫取食转cry1Ab基因水稻后,中肠上皮细胞的线粒体先发生形态变化,随连续取食时间的延长线粒体出现凝聚、内嵴稀疏、空泡化等,在后期还呈凝聚态随突起脱落或沿杯腔边沿单一排列。内质网的变化也很明显,病变过程中伴随着粗糙内质网的肿胀、核糖体脱落,粗糙内质网增多等现象。细胞核的变化较小,在处理后期出现细胞核拉长、核仁聚集等变化。组织病变程度不一,有的细胞在病变早期就出现了空泡化。     

Sentinel systems on the razor's edge: effects of warming on Arctic geothermal stream ecosystems

The Earth is experiencing historically unprecedented rates of warming, with surface temperatures projected to increase by 3–5 °C globally, and up to 7.5 °C in high latitudes, within the next century. Knowledge of how this will affect biological systems is still largely restricted to the lower levels of organization (e.g. species range shifts), rather than at the community, food web or ecosystem level, where responses cannot be predicted from studying single species in isolation. Further, many correlational studies are confounded with time and/or space, whereas experiments have been mostly confined to laboratory microcosms that cannot capture the true complexity of natural ecosystems. We used a ‘natural experiment’ in an attempt to circumvent these shortcomings, by characterizing community structure and trophic interactions in 15 geothermal Icelandic streams ranging in temperature from 5 °C to 45 °C. Even modest temperature increases had dramatic effects across multiple levels of organization, from changes in the mean body size of the top predators, to unimodal responses of species populations, turnover in community composition, and lengthening of food chains. Our results reveal that the rates of warming predicted for the next century have serious implications for the structure and functioning of these fragile ‘sentinel’ ecosystems across multiple levels of organization.     

稳定同位素技术在鲨鱼摄食和洄游行为研究中的应用

随着稳定同位素分析技术的不断成熟,其在生态学领域中的应用也增长迅速,并成为动物摄食生态学的重要研究工具.鲨鱼因其在生物系统进化过程中的独特地位和海洋生态系统中的重要作用已成为海洋食物网研究的重点,然而国内针对鲨鱼摄食习性和洄游行为等方面的研究仍处于起步阶段.本文在总结了国内外鲨鱼稳定同位素分析组织样品选取和样品预处理方法的基础上,系统归纳了稳定同位素技术在鲨鱼摄食生态学,尤其在其摄食和洄游行为研究领域中的应用,着重分析稳定同位素技术在鲨鱼稳定同位素判别值和更新速率、食性分析、营养级评估、洄游路径分析和生态位分布等核心问题上的应用现状和发展前景,以期为国内学者开展鲨鱼类基础生物、生态学研究提供有益参考.     

大豆花叶病毒种子传毒率测定方法的比较

用苗期症状观察和酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)两种方法检查了大豆种子内的大豆花叶病毒(sMV)的传毒率及带毒率,并对两种方法所得的结果进行了比较。带毒大豆种子产生的病苗,其症状主要有花叶、卷叶、叶脉束状、叶脉坏死、凸斑和单叶扭曲等类型。苗期症状观察得到的种子传毒率,与用ELISA法检查去种皮大豆种子的带毒率高度吻合,相关系数r=0.92(n=31),说明此两种方法检查种子传(带)毒率具有相同的生物学和病理学意义。 本文提出了种子“群体病毒浓度”的概念。“群体病毒浓度”=群体内病毒总量/群体内种子总数。38个处理组合和3,591粒种子逐粒用ELISA法检查表明,“群体病毒浓度”与该群体的种子传毒率呈正相关,r=0.93(n=38)。将种子群体作为一个整体用ELISA法检查的结果也证明,“群体病毒浓度”与种子传毒率呈直线相关。因此认为可以用ELISA法对种子群体直接进行测定来估计种子的传毒率。     

α2-HS 糖蛋白基因与中国人群的髋部骨大小的相关性研究

骨大小是一种独立于骨密度（BMD）的骨质疏松性骨折的重要风险因子。由于其高遗传率,充分了解控制骨大小的遗传因素有很重要的临床意义。文章研究目的为检测中国人群中α2-HS糖蛋白基因（AHSG）多态性和腰椎及髋部骨大小变异之间的关联。我们总共征集了来自中国401个核心家庭（包括父母亲及至少一个女儿）的1260个研究样本,并且分型了AHSG基因第7个外显子的Sac Ⅰ位点多态性。该位点核苷酸的替换（C→G）引起第238号丝氨酸被苏氨酸取代,因此可能对基因功能有影响。在任何骨骼位点,没有发现显著的群体分层。发现-HSG基因SacⅠ位点多态性和转子间（P=0．019）以及全髋的（P=0．035）骨大小呈显著性相关。该多态性位点能分别解释转子间和全髋3．74％和3．16％的骨大小变异。连锁分析没有检测到显著性结果,可能的主要原因是样本中同胞对的数目较少,统计效力较低,以及SacⅠ位点多态相对于微卫星标记对连锁分析提供的信息量少。结果表明,月HSG基因多态性可能和中国人群中髋部骨大小变异有关。     

SMV种传特性及其田间流行的种子传毒率预测

SMV感染供试品种种子传毒率最高为29.60％,最低1.04％。SMV弱毒株系的传毒率高于其强毒株系。大豆品种营养生长的V_4时期以前感染SMV种子传毒率最高,花期感染种传率显著下降。供试品种中,有初花期感病种子即不传毒;有盛花期感病仍有很低的种传率;亦有结荚初期感病还有很低种传率的品种。SMV流行的收获种子传毒率高低主要取决于大豆营养生长和花期田间病株率的高低。根据品种间早期感染SMV的最高种传率不同、花期感染种传率显著下降的特性,建立了SMV田间流行的种子传毒率预测模型。     

昆虫与寄主植物营养关系的DNA分子追踪

农田生态系统中昆虫与寄主植物的食物营养关系错综复杂,利用田间直接观察法、肠道内含物形态学分析、同位素标记等方法都难于全面解析,常造成营养关系的缺失。近年来,DNA分子追踪技术迅速发展,利用一段较短的DNA序列能有效鉴别植食性昆虫取食寄主植物的种类,为这一领域研究提供了新方法。本文全面介绍了3种DNA分子追踪技术——诊断PCR技术、克隆测序技术和下一代测序技术(next generation sequencing,NGS)。其中诊断PCR技术包括单一PCR技术和多重PCR技术,适用于目标昆虫与已知寄主植物之间的营养关系分析;克隆测序技术能够在寄主植物种类未知的前提下,解析目标昆虫完整的寄主植物种类信息;下一代测序技术实现了短时间内对混合样品的测序,加之昆虫与植物DNA条形码序列数据库大量扩增,有效地提高寄主植物的鉴别能力。诊断PCR技术和克隆测序技术已在追踪地下害虫的取食行为、植食性昆虫取食范围及其在寄主植物间的转移与选择习性等方面被广泛应用,且进展明显。综合考虑各种技术的优缺点,本文提出将DNA分子追踪技术与同位素标记等其他方法相结合的研究策略,以便系统解析农田生态系统中昆虫与寄主植物之间的营养关系。     

利用反向遗传技术研究H9N2亚型AIV传播途径的分子机制

利用反向遗传技术,通过基因重排方法,产生两个表面基因来自A/Chicken/Guangdong/SS/94(H9N2)禽流感病毒(avian influenza virus,AIV)株和其余基因来自A/Chicken/Shanghai/F/98(H9N2)AIV株的3株H9N2亚型重排AIV,动物传播性试验发现A/Chicken/Shanghai/F/98(H9N2)株、A/Chicken/Guangdong/SS/94(H9N2)AIV株和3株H9N2亚型重排AIV都可以经直接接触途径传播;在粪便接触途径下,3株重排AIV都不经粪便接触传播;只有A/Chicken/Shanghai/F/98(H9N2)株和重排AIV RF7/SSHA能经过气溶胶途径传播。HI试验结果进一步证明了以上的结果。实验结果表明H9N2亚型AIV的NA基因与H9N2亚型AIV气溶胶传播途径有重要的关系,即1998年中国大陆H9N2亚型AIV大流行可能是因为病毒获得气溶胶传播途径的特性,推测病毒的NA基因发挥了重要作用。