A portable,adjustable finger printing stand

A lightweight finger printing stand is described which can be adjusted to the proper printing height. Based upon experience printing over 1,100 subjects, 12 advantages of using the stand are suggested.     

Individual-based model of spatio-temporal dynamics of mixed forest stands

This research presents the results of constructing and parameterizing an individual-based model of spatiotemporal dynamics of mixed forest stands. The model facilitates computerized experiments with forest stands having different combinations of species and age structures. These forest stands grow on temperate areas where light is the main system-forming factor that shapes and develops forest ecosystems. The model TEMFORM (TEMperate FORests Model) is developed with few equations and parameters, most of which can be estimated using standard forest inventory data. Parameterization of the model used the growth tables of a set of basic forest-forming species in Far East Russia. Simulation results of the development of the natural single- and mixed-species stands and the effects of different types of disturbances on the stand dynamics and compositions are presented.     

Conditional Maximum Likelihood Estimation Following a Group Sequential Test

We consider estimation after a group sequential test. An estimator that is unbiased or has small bias may have substantial conditional bias (Troendle and Yu, 1999, Coburger and Wassmer, 2001). In this paper we derive the conditional maximum likelihood estimators of both the primary parameter and a secondary parameter, and investigate their properties within a conditional inference framework. The method applies to both the usual and adaptive group sequential test designs. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Facultative sex allocation in snow skink lizards (Niveoscincus microlepidotus)

Mathematical models suggest that reproducing females may benefit by facultatively adjusting their relative investment into sons vs. daughters, in response to population‐wide shifts in operational sex ratio (OSR). Our field studies on viviparous alpine skinks (Niveoscincus microlepidotus) document such a case, whereby among‐ and within‐year shifts in OSR were followed by shifts in sex allocation. When adult males were relatively scarce, females produced male‐biased litters and larger sons than daughters. The reverse was true when adult males were relatively more common. That is, females that were courted and mated by few males produced mainly sons (and these were larger than daughters), whereas females that were courted and mated by many males produced mainly daughters (and these were larger than sons). Maternal body size and condition also covaried with sex allocation, and the shifting pattern of sexual size dimorphism at birth may reflect these correlated effects rather than a discrete component of an evolved sex‐allocation strategy.     

Ion accumulation in the cell walls of rice plants growing under saline conditions: evidence for the Oertli hypothesis

Abstract. When plants of rice ( Oryza saliva L.) are subjected to mildly saline (50mol m⁻³ NaCl) conditions, the leaves show symptoms of water deficit, even though ion accumulation has been more than sufficient to adjust to the decrease in external water potential. After a few days of exposure to salt, there is a negative correlation, in a population of leaves, between the leaf water concentration (g water per g dry weight) and their sodium concentration (mmol Na per g dry weight). Ion concentrations in the cell walls and the cytoplasm of cells of plants grown in low salinity were measured by X-ray microanalysis. The NaCl concentration in solution in the apoplast was calculated to be around 600mol m⁻³ in leaves of plants whose roots were exposed to only 50 mol m⁻³ NaCl. This constitutes strong evidence that an important factor in salt damage in rice is dehydration due to the extracellular accumulation of salt as suggested in the Oertli hypothesis. The implication, that changes in tissue ion concentration and solute potentials equivalent to the external medium is not evidence of plant osmotic adjustment to salinity, is discussed.     

Salt tolerance in the halophyte Suaeda maritima L. Dum.

Osmotic potentials and individual epidermal cell turgor pressures were measured in the leaves of seedlings of Suaeda maritima growing over a range of salinities. Leaf osmotic potentials were lower (more negative) the higher the salt concentration of the solution and were lowest in the youngest leaves and stem apices, producing a gradient of osmotic potential towards the apex of the plant. Epidermal cell turgor pressures were of the order of 0.25 to 0.3 MPa in the youngest leaves measured, decreasing to under 0.05 MPa for the oldest leaves. This pattern of turgor pressure was largely unaffected by external salinity. Calculation of leaf water potential indicated that the gradient between young leaves and the external medium was not altered by salinity, but with older leaves, however, this gradient diminished from being the same as that for young leaves in the absence of NaCl, to under 30% of this value at 400 mM NaCl. These results are discussed in relation to the growth response of S. maritima.     

春小麦胚芽伸长过程中渗透调节与能量代谢

本文用PEG模拟水分亏缺对春小麦红芒麦和绵阳11号胚芽伸长过程中生长、膨压、渗透势、水势和渗透调节能力与ATP含量、能荷变化及能量代谢间的关系进行了研究。结果表明,通过降低能荷,改变分解代谢与合成代谢的比率,使渗透调节物质积累,增加了幼苗的吸水能力,从而使其在一定的ATP能量水平上维持缓慢生长;抗旱品种红芒麦在水分亏缺下成苗速率较快,能保持一定的ATP能量水平和能荷值,渗透调节和吸水能力都比较强。     

Responses to water stress of apoplastic water fraction and bulk modulus of elasticity in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) genotypes of contrasting capacity for osmotic adjustment

The responses to water stress of the bulk modulus of elasticity () and the apoplastic water fraction were examined using six sunflower cultivars of differing capacity for osmotic adjustment (OA). Water stress did not affect the partitioning of water between apoplastic (ca. 20%) and symplastic fractions in leaves which expanded during the exposure to stress in any genotype. Hence, no genotype-linked effects on either the buffering of cell water status during stress or on the estimates of bulk leaf osmotic potential could be expected. Genotypes differed in the degree of change in (estimated from pressure/volume [P/V] curves) and OA (estimated using both ln RWC/ ln o plots and P/V curves) induced by exposure to stress. In three genotypes increased significantly (p=0.05) as a consequence of stress, in another three change were small. OA was the only attribute of the three examined that could have contributed to turgor maintenance under stress. There was a strong negative association between leaf expansion and degree of OA across genotypes (r=–0.91) and a strong positive one between OA and (r=0.94). However all genotypes evidenced some degree of OA. These results are consistent with part of the genotype differences in OA being attributable to variations in leaf expansion during exposure to stress.