Application of molybdenum fertilizer enhanced quality and production of alfalfa in northern China under non-irrigated conditions

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential micro-mineral nutrient for plant growth and development. As an important legume forage, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is frequently planted in marginal lands of northern China where water scarcity and infertile soil are limiting factors for alfalfa production. Mo plays an important role in nitrogen (N) metabolism in general and N fixation in legume species in particular. To evaluate the role of Mo fertilizer in alfalfa quality and production in semi-arid areas of northern China, we conducted a three-year field experiment in Inner Mongolia from 2012 to 2014. Mo fertilizer at the doses of 0, 150 g hm^?2, 300 g hm^?2yr^?1 was applied consecutively across the three years. Application of Mo at 300 g hm^?2yr^?1 significantly increased dry yield of alfalfa in 2014. Crude protein (CP) content of alfalfa without application of Mo exhibited a decline trend from 2012 to 2014. Application of Mo significantly enhanced total CP in 2012 and 2014, and delayed the reduction in total CP across the three years. In contrast to CP, Mo fertilizer had no significant effects on neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber content. In addition, we found that nitrate reductase activity of alfalfa was increased by Mo fertilizer, which may account for the enhanced CP content in alfalfa. These findings highlight that application of Mo fertilizer can be an effective way to improve alfalfa production and quality in semi-arid areas in northern China.     

Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) abundance within the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary,Scotland: recent trends and extrapolation to extinction

1. Aerial surveys have detected alarming declines in counts of harbour seals in several regions across Scotland.
2. Demographic data and simple models were used to examine the recent decline in the numbers of harbour seals counted in one population within a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) on the east coast of Scotland. The models suggest that the continuation of current trends would result in the species effectively disappearing from this area within the next 20 years.
3. While the cause of the decline is unknown, it must be reducing adult survival because the high rate of decline cannot be wholly accounted for by changes in other demographic parameters.
4. Recovery of the population to the abundance recorded at the time the SAC was designated (2005) is likely to take at least 40 years, even if the cause of the decline is immediately identified and removed.
5. The models suggest that partial removal of the cause can have only limited benefits to population recovery, and there are unlikely to be any long‐term benefits from introducing or reintroducing additional individuals while the underlying problem persists. Therefore, if the population of harbour seals in this area is to recover it is essential that the sources of the increased mortality are identified and measures are put in place to manage these.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does full protection count for the maintenance of β‐diversity patterns in marine communities? Evidence from Mediterranean fish assemblages

1. Although it is widely recognized that protection may enhance size, abundance, and diversity of fish, its effect on spatial heterogeneity of fish assemblages and species turnover is still poorly understood.
2. Here the effect of full protection within a Mediterranean marine protected area on β‐diversity patterns of fish assemblages along a depth gradient comparing a no‐take zone with multiple unprotected areas is explored. The no‐take zone showed significantly higher synecological parameters, higher β‐diversity among depths, and lower small‐scale heterogeneity of fish assemblages relative to unprotected areas.
3. Such patterns might likely depend on the high level of fishing pressure outside the no‐take zone, as also abundance‐biomass curves seemed to indicate. Results suggested that full protection could play a role in maintaining high β‐diversity, thus reducing the fragility of marine communities and ecosystems, and spatial heterogeneity may represent a reliable predictor of how management actions could provide insurance against undesirable phase shifts.

     

黑龙江省国有林区脆弱异质性家庭对停伐政策的态度及影响因素研究

基于2016年黑龙江省重点国有林区348户家庭的微观调查数据,实证分析黑龙江省国有林区脆弱异质性家庭对停伐政策的态度及影响因素。采用因子分析与综合评价法将348户职工家庭分为脆弱性家庭和非脆弱性家庭,描述性分析2组样本家庭对停伐政策的态度及认知情况,利用多元有序logit模型分析脆弱性与非脆弱性家庭对停伐政策态度的影响因素。结果表明:非脆弱性家庭对停伐政策的了解程度及执行情况的评价均高于脆弱性家庭,脆弱性家庭相对非脆弱性家庭对停伐政策的认可度较高,但是应对风险冲击的能力相对较低。脆弱性家庭和非脆弱性家庭对停伐政策的态度受户主特征、家庭特征以及政策认知特征变量的显著影响,但脆弱性家庭变量参数估计绝对值相对更大,因而停伐政策对脆弱性家庭有着更为敏感和强烈的冲击。     

基于PSR模型的黄河陕西段鱼类增殖放流生态安全评价

基于压力、状态、响应模型(PSR)和层次分析法(AHP),确定17项指标通过数据的标准化处理,指标权重赋值、权重一致性检验、评价等级确定以及评价模型的构建,用生态安全评价黄河陕西段鱼类增殖放流效果,分析生态安全所面临的主要问题。结果表明:黄河陕西段2013年增殖放流生态安全度(ESI)评价等级为Ⅱ级,为良好状态;2014年评价等级为Ⅲ级,处于一般状态;2015年评价等级为Ⅳ级,处于较差状态,属于临界不安全状态以下水平。生态安全形势呈现出逐年下降局势。不安全状态受到影响较大的前3个指标是:黄河径流量变化影响、重要生境保持率和公众资源环境保护意识的影响,3个指标下降值占到下降ESI值的64.93%。其次还受到污水排放达标率、鱼类增殖放流量、政策和管理水平、鱼类生物多样性指数、保护区建设、水质综合污染指数、群落结构等诸多因素影响。研究显示,现阶段增殖放流对黄河生态安全有一定影响,还存在一定提升空间。     

Polymerisation of gluten proteins in developing wheat grain as affected by desiccation

The breadmaking quality of wheat is affected by the composition of gluten proteins and the polymerisation of subunits that are synthesised and accumulated in developing wheat grain. The biological mechanisms and time course of these events during grain development are documented, but not widely confirmed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to monitor the accumulation of gluten protein subunits and the size distribution of protein aggregates during grain development. The effect of desiccation on the polymerisation of gluten proteins and the functional properties of gluten were also studied. The results showed that the size of glutenin polymers remained consistently low until yellow ripeness (YR), while it increased during grain desiccation after YR. Hence, this polymerisation process was presumed to be initiated by desiccation. A similar polymerisation event was also observed when premature grains were dried artificially. The composition of gluten proteins, the ratios of glutenin to gliadin and high molecular weight-glutenin subunits to low molecular weight-glutenin subunits, in premature grain after artificial desiccation showed close association with the size of glutenin polymers in artificially dried grain. Functional properties of gluten in these samples were also associated with polymer size after artificial desiccation.     

Disulphide structure of high-molecular-weight (HMW-) gliadins as affected by terminators

This study aimed at elucidating SS-bonds of HMW-gliadins (HGL) from wheat with the focus on terminators of glutenin polymerisation. HGL from wheat flour extracts non-treated or treated with the S-alkylation reagent N-ethylmaleinimide (NEMI) were compared. HGL from wheat flour Akteur were isolated, hydrolysed with thermolysin and the resulting peptides pre-separated by gel permeation chromatography and analysed by liquid chromatography/mass-spectrometry using alternating electron transfer dissociation/collision-induced dissociation. Altogether, 22 and 28 SS-peptides from samples without and with NEMI treatment, respectively, were identified. Twenty-six peptides included standard SS-bonds of α- and γ-gliadins, high-molecular-weight and low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits. Eleven SS-bonds were identified for the first time. Fifteen peptides unique to HGL contained cysteine residues from gliadins with an odd number of cysteines (ω5-, α- and γ-gliadins). Thus, gliadins with an odd number of cysteines, glutathione and cysteine had acted as terminators of glutenin polymerisation. Decisive differences between samples without and with NEMI treatment were not obvious showing that the termination of polymerisation was already completed in the flour. The two HGL samples, however, were different in the majority of ten peptides that included disulphide-linked low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols such as glutathione and cysteine with the former being enriched in the non-treated HGL-sample.     

A rapid extensigraph protocol for measuring dough viscoelasticity and mixing requirement

The extensigraph is particularly useful in characterizing dough viscoelastic properties; however, testing throughput for standard method is low due to the prerequisite for farinograph water absorption, long dough resting and milling to prepare large amounts of flour. Therefore, a rapid extensigraph method was developed that reduced sample size (165 g wheat) for milling and more than tripled throughput. Wheat is milled in Quadrumat Junior mill with a modified sieving system. The resulting flour (100 g) was mixed with a pin mixer at constant water absorption to allow the evaluation of wheat genotypes at the absorption level they are expected to perform. Dough was subsequently stretched by an extensigraph after 15 min of floor time and 30 min resting. Strong correlations for extensigram R_max (r > 0.93), extensibility (r > 0.64) and area (r > 0.88) were found for the proposed method compared to the standard method. Mixing parameters (time and energy) obtained during dough preparation provided further information about dough strength and mixing requirement. By significantly reducing sample size requirement and increasing testing throughput, this rapid extensigraph method can be widely adopted in milling and baking industry and meets the need for a fast evaluation of dough strength in breeding trials.     

Three‐dimensional visualization of green fluorescence protein‐labelled Edwardsiella tarda in whole Medaka larvae

The invasive fish pathogen Edwardsiella tarda is common in aquatic environments and causes the environmentally and economically destructive emphysematous putrefactive disease called edwardsiellosis. In order to understand the organism's infection pathway, medaka larvae (Oryzias latipes) were immersion‐infected with E. tarda labelled with green fluorescence protein (GFP) and then visualized in three dimensions under confocal laser microscopy and light‐sheet fluorescence microscopy. Confocal microscopy revealed GFP‐labelled E. tarda in the mouth, head, gill bridges, gill cover, skin, membrane fin, gastrointestinal tract and air bladder, and in the caudal vein, somite veins, caudal artery and caudal capillaries. Light‐sheet microscopy additionally showed GFP‐labelled E. tarda in the pharyngeal cavity, muscle of the pectoral fin and cardiac atrium and ventricle. These findings suggest that during its infection of fish, E. tarda initially adheres to, and invades, the epithelial cells of the skin, gills and gastrointestinal tract (through the pharyngeal cavity); E. tarda then enters the blood vessels to access organs, including the air bladder and heart.