Sex‐dependent responses of perch to changes in water clarity and temperature

Rising temperatures and decreasing water transparency of lakes have strong wide ranging effects on fish. Fish responses to various changes in the environment are usually species‐dependent, but responses may also vary within species. In general, large individuals are considered to be more sensitive to environmental variation due to higher energy demand, than smaller individuals. Similarly, large individuals require more food to maintain bodily functions and are thus more sensitive to resource and food scarcity. These size‐specific responses to environmental gradients are also sex‐dependent in species that exhibit sexual size dimorphism (SSD). We studied in enclosures with short‐term experiments how rising temperatures and decreasing water transparency regulate the feeding rates of female and male European perch (Perca fluviatilis L.). To explore experimental results, we calculated perch SSD in nine lakes with varying environmental conditions using previously collected field data. The results of the experiments revealed that the combined effect of water transparency and temperature on the feeding rate of fish is gender‐dependent: feeding rate of females decreased more than that of males. The experimental results were also supported by field data that revealed a negative relation between water transparency and the magnitude of SSD in perch. Our results suggest that rising temperatures and decreasing water transparency may potentially decrease fish size in a sex‐dependent manner. As female size is one of the main demographic traits determining the reproductive success of a fish population, changing environments may have unexpected and far‐reaching consequences on fish population dynamics.     

不同配打模块中各尺寸片烟化学成分的变化

【目的】明确不同配打模块烟叶在打叶后片烟质量的变化规律。【方法】以河南中烟工业有限责任公司4个浓香型多等级配打模块片烟为研究对象,从常规化学成分、糖类物质、多酚类物质、非挥发性有机酸4个方面进行分析,研究不同尺寸片烟化学成分的差异。【结果】①不同配打模块中,不同尺寸片烟的还原糖、总糖、烟碱含量存在一定差异,其中25.40 mm片烟和≤25.40～12.70 mm片烟的常规化学成分相对较为协调。②不同配打模块中,不同尺寸片烟的葡萄糖、果糖含量和糖类物质总量存在一定差异,其中25.40 mm片烟和≤25.40～12.70 mm片烟的糖类物质含量较高,≤2.36 mm片烟的糖类物质含量最低。③不同配打模块中,不同尺寸片烟的绿原酸含量和多酚类物质总量存在一定差异,25.40 mm片烟和≤25.40～12.70 mm片烟的多酚类物质含量较高,≤2.36 mm片烟的多酚类物质含量最低。④不同配打模块中,不同尺寸片烟的草酸、苹果酸、柠檬酸含量和非挥发性有机酸总量存在一定差异,其中25.40 mm片烟和≤25.40～12.70 mm片烟的非挥发性有机酸含量较低,≤2.36 mm片烟的非挥发性有机酸含量最高。⑤由主成分分析可知,不同配打模块中,不同尺寸片烟主要化学成分综合得分的变化规律相同,均表现为25.40 mm片烟得分最高,≤25.40～12.70 mm片烟得分仅次于25.40 mm片烟,≤2.36 mm片烟得分最低。【结论】不同尺寸片烟主要化学成分的变化规律不受地区和部位两个因素的影响,且在不同配打模块烟叶中变化规律表现一致,均以25.40 mm片烟的化学成分最协调,综合得分最高,可将该尺寸片烟作为中高档卷烟产品的原料;≤2.36 mm片烟的内在化学品质较差,化学成分综合得分最低,在生产加工过程中可将该尺寸片烟筛分后用作烟草薄片的原料。     

Limited effects of land use on soil dissolved organic matter chemistry as assessed by excitation–emission fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular weight fractionation

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in soil solution represents a complex mixture of organic molecules and plays a central role in carbon and nitrogen cycling in plant–microbial–soil systems. We tested whether excitation–emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to characterize DOM and support previous findings that the majority of DOM is of high molecular weight (MW). EEM fluorescence spectroscopy was used in conjunction with MW fractionation to characterize DOM in soil solution from a grassland soil land management gradient in North Wales, UK. Data analysis suggested that three distinct fluorescence components could be separated and identified from the EEM data. These components were identified as being of humic‐like or fulvic‐like origin. Contrary to expectations, the majority of the fluorescence signal occurred in the small MW (<1 kDa) fraction, although differences between soils from the differently managed grasslands were more apparent in larger MW fractions. We conclude that following further characterization of the chemical composition of the fluorophores, EEM has potential as a sensitive technique for characterizing the small MW phenolic fraction of DOM in soils.     

川西高山树线交错带海拔梯度上土壤有机碳稳定性特征

高山树线交错带是高海拔地带对环境变化最为敏感的生态系统之一，土壤有机碳库及其稳定性在生态系统变化中具有显著指示作用。通过物理-化学方法对土壤不同活性有机碳进行连续分级分离，研究土壤有机碳不同组分在海拔环境梯度下分布特征及稳定性。结果表明，高山树线交错带土壤有机碳主要集中在物理分级组分（≥0.02 mm），且粒径越大有机碳含量越高，即主要以颗粒态有机碳形式存在，占比均高于98%；在<0.02 mm有机-无机复合体中有机碳采用化学分级分离，这部分有机碳占比低于土壤总有机碳2%，且主要以腐殖质（胡敏素）形式存在（占土壤总有机碳0.6%~0.8%），腐殖质占有机碳比例远低于一般土壤；随着海拔升高，土壤有机碳总量上升，颗粒态有机碳（物理分级组分）比例升高，胡敏素类腐殖质比例下降。因此，川西高海拔树线交错带的高寒土壤有机碳，主要以不稳定有机碳（POC）形式存在，随着温度上升（海拔降低）将导致土壤矿质化和腐殖化加剧，有机碳总量下降，土壤不稳定性组分（物理分级组分）降低，土壤稳定性（腐殖化比例）上升。     

The effect of orifice shape and the injection pressure on enhancement of the atomization process for pressure-swirl atomizers

The following paper presents results of studies on the atomization process of water in pressure-swirl atomizers with different shapes of orifice using a laser diffraction technique. The effect of the shape of the orifice and the injection pressure on the droplet size distributions and mean droplet diameters was analyzed. The results obtained showed that droplet size decreases with an increasing injection pressure and droplet size distributions are expanded. The smallest droplet diameters were obtained by atomization in profiled and conical shaped orifice atomizers, however the largest droplet diameters were achieved for plain orifice atomizers. The analysis of the interfacial surface produced by the atomizers has shown that the greater enhancement of the atomization process had occurred using profiled and conical shaped orifice atomizers compared with plain orifice atomizers. The correlation for the Sauter mean diameter as a function of the Reynolds number and the ratio of orifice length to diameter has been proposed. The paper is related to agricultural water management. The data obtained are important from the point of view of the design of atomizers, agricultural treatments and crop protection.     

脉冲式烟雾水雾机热力雾化水剂农药效果分析

针对脉冲式烟雾水雾机在喷施水雾剂农药时常出现滴液、流液或较大雾滴群等雾化不良现象，通过改装6HYW-60S型脉冲式烟雾水雾机，将药液流量设置成可调的测试装置，设定5个油门开度及4个药液流量，测试了脉冲发动机喷药前后的气流速度、温度及各喷药工况下的雾滴粒径分布。结果表明，在最小的油门启动开度到最大的油门工作开度可调范围内，对应的脉冲发动机燃油消耗率变化范围较小（相对变化13.0%），喷管内对应的气流温度与速度也发生同等程度的变化。喷药时，喷管口处的气流温度与速度发生明显变化，由不喷药时约700℃的高温气流下降为75℃左右的雾滴流，相应的气流速度下降了16%左右；油门开度及药液流量对雾滴流温度的影响非常小，但对雾滴流速度的影响非常明显，油门开度增大，雾滴流速度明显增加，药液流量增大，雾滴流速度明显下降。在各油门开度下，对最小药液流量20L/h的雾化效果均不佳，尤其距喷雾出口较近处存在大量的300μm以上的较大雾滴，这些大雾滴极易跌落至地面，无法有效喷施到目标物上；药液流量增大至40L/h及以上时，各油门开度下的雾滴体积中径均较小，同一工况下各位置点的平均值不超过60μm。热力雾化的雾滴粒径分布曲线不是单一峰值的正态分布形态，常会出现不同中心雾滴粒径的雾滴群，且这些雾滴群的中心雾滴粒径基本保持一致。从喷雾出口喷出的雾滴流中，喷管中心轴线上的雾滴细小均匀、雾化充分，中心轴线上方的雾滴一般比中心点处稍大，中心轴线下方雾滴明显增大，且距中心轴线越远的下方，雾滴增大越明显，即雾滴流中较大雾滴群的量逐渐增加。以药液流量60L/h及油门开度90°为最佳雾化工况，在整个喷施区域内均形成了良好的雾化效果。     

Quantitative trait loci for fruit size and flowering time-related traits under domestication and diversifying selection in cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

In cucumber, the genetic basis of traits under domestication and/or diversifying selection is not well understood. Here, we reported QTL mapping for flowering time and fruit size-related traits with segregating populations derived from a cultivated × wild cross. Phenotypic data of flowering time (FT), fruit size (FS), fruit number (FN) and fruit weight per plant (FW) were collected in multiple environments. QTL analysis identified 19 QTL for these traits. We found that the major-effect QTL FT1.1 played an important role in regulating flowering time in cultivated cucumber, whereas the minor-effect QTL FT6.3 contributed to photoperiod sensitive flowering time during domestication. Two novel consensus FS QTL, FS1.4 and FS2.3, seem to be the targets of selection during breeding for the US processing cucumber. All other FS QTL were co-localized with previously detected QTL using populations derived from cultivated cucumbers, suggesting that they were under selection during both initial domestication and subsequent improvement. Results from this study also suggested that the wild cucumber is a useful resource for capturing positive transgressive segregation and novel alleles that could be explored in cucumber breeding.     

Intensive organic vegetable production increases soil organic carbon but with a lower carbon conversion efficiency than integrated management

Intensive vegetable production in greenhouses has rapidly expanded in China since the 1990s and increased to 1.3 million ha of farmland by 2016, which is the highest in the world. We conducted an 11‐year greenhouse vegetable production experiment from 2002 to 2013 to observe soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics under three management systems, i.e., conventional (CON), integrated (ING), and intensive organic (ORG) farming. Soil samples (0–20 and 20–40 cm depth) were collected in 2002 and 2013 and separated into four particle‐size fractions, i.e., coarse sand (> 250 µm), fine sand (250–53 µm), silt (53–2 µm), and clay (< 2 µm). The SOC contents and δ¹³C values of the whole soil and the four particle‐size fractions were analyzed. After 11 years of vegetable farming, ORG and ING significantly increased SOC stocks (0–20 cm) by 4008 ± 36.6 and 2880 ± 365 kg C ha^?1 y^?1, respectively, 8.1‐ and 5.8‐times that of CON (494 ± 42.6 kg C ha^?1 y^?1). The SOC stock increase in ORG at 20–40 cm depth was 245 ± 66.4 kg C ha^?1 y^?1, significantly higher than in ING (66 ± 13.4 kg C ha^?1 y^?1) and CON (109 ± 44.8 kg C ha^?1 y^?1). Analyses of ¹³C revealed a significant increase in newly produced SOC in both soil layers in ORG. However, the carbon conversion efficiency (CE: increased organic carbon in soil divided by organic carbon input) was lower in ORG (14.4%–21.7%) than in ING (18.2%–27.4%). Among the four particle‐sizes in the 0–20 cm layer, the silt fraction exhibited the largest proportion of increase in SOC content (57.8% and 55.4% of the SOC increase in ORG and ING, respectively). A similar trend was detected in the 20–40 cm soil layer. Over all, intensive organic (ORG) vegetable production increases soil organic carbon but with a lower carbon conversion efficiency than integrated (ING) management.