Assessing the efficacy and impact of management of an invasive species in a protected area: Poa annua on sub‐Antarctic Macquarie Island

Plant eradication is difficult, particularly in remote, protected areas. The Southern Ocean Islands are very isolated and highly protected, but the flora contains many alien plants. Small restricted populations have been eradicated, but eradication of established species has proven difficult. A better understanding of the efficacy of control methods at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and their off‐target impacts may increase eradication success. With interest in controlling non‐native Poa annua in the region, we aimed to determine if physical and chemical methods can control P. annua (the sub‐Antarctic biotype) in sub‐Antarctic conditions and examined their impact on native plants. We quantified the effectiveness of physical control methods on P. annua in situ on sub‐Antarctic Macquarie Island through field‐based experiments and assessed their selectivity on P. annua compared with native grasses. We also quantified the effectiveness of several herbicides on P. annua at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and assessed their selectivity on native grasses. Of the four physical disturbance methods tested, none effectively reduced P. annua cover as one‐off treatments. Of the herbicide treatments, glyphosate and trifloxysulfuron sodium were effective and were less damaging to native grass species, indicating potential selectivity. Physical control was of limited effectiveness, but did not affect native species richness. An integrated weed management programme utilising the strategic use of selective herbicides with follow‐up chemical and physical intervention may balance control and biodiversity outcomes. This research highlights the importance of site‐specific testing of control methods and understanding off‐target impacts of control when managing alien plant species in protected areas.     

Fluorescence of Extracts from Argentine Hake (Merluccius hubbsi) Muscle and Its Correlation with Quality Indices During Chilled Storage

Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) was stored chilled for 8 days. The evolution of fluorescence of the aqueous and organic extracts of muscle during storage at 4°C was studied and correlated with common damage indices; pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, free fatty acids, and the fluorescence intensity of the aqueous phase showed a good correlation with storage time. The excitation-emission matrices of the aqueous extracts were also obtained. A fluorescence landscape that could be attributed to tryptophan decreased with storage time, meanwhile a peak (around 340 and 400 nm for excitation and emission wavelengths, respectively) is developed during chilled storage.     

不同种类浮游植物对CO2浓度升高的响应

本研究采用实验生态学的方法，以金藻、硅藻、绿藻3个门中的4种常见饵料藻叉鞭金藻(Dicrateria sp.)、三角褐指藻(Phaeodactylum tricornutum)、小球藻(Chlorella vulgaris)和亚心形扁藻(Platymonas subcordiformis)为研究对象，分析比较不同浮游植物的细胞数量和质量对CO2浓度升高引起的海水酸化的响应情况。结果显示，与对照组相比，(1) CO2浓度升高显著提高了这4种藻的生长速率(P<0.05)；其中，亚心形扁藻平均比生长速率最高，比对照组高出13.5%；小球藻次之，为5.9%；叉鞭金藻和三角褐指藻均为2.2%。(2) CO2浓度升高使浮游植物细胞内的碳(C)含量增加、氮(N)含量降低，C/N提高；种间差异较大，其中，亚心形扁藻的C/N、C/P值、小球藻的C/P值和三角褐指藻的C/N值显著提高，叉鞭金藻不显著。(3) CO2浓度升高使小球藻单位细胞叶绿素a含量显著提高，小球藻通过提高光合作用能力促进生长，而另外3种藻叶绿素a含量与对照组无显著差异；三角褐指藻最大光化学量子产量(Fv/Fm)在实验初期显著升高；叉鞭金藻非光化学淬灭(NPQ)显著降低，快速光曲线初始斜率(α)显著增加；三角褐指藻和亚心形扁藻潜在的最大光合作用能力(rETRmax)显著升高(P<0.05)，但CO2浓度升高对4种藻的光化学淬灭(qP)均没有显著影响(P>0.05)。可见，亚心形扁藻、小球藻和三角褐指藻在高CO2浓度下虽然生长速率加快，但营养质量降低。不同种类的浮游植物对CO2浓度升高的响应不同，这种差异可能会使未来海洋浮游植物群落结构发生变化；浮游植物C/N、C/P值的改变可能通过食物链对次级生产者，诸如浮游动物、滤食性贝类等产生影响。     

Standard for Bamboo and its International Trend

1 INTRODUCTIONNational forestry ecological engineering, as afundamental affair for environmental protectioncontains combating desertification, soil and waterconservation. Two measures might be taken to preventsoil and water losses. One measure is to enlarge theforest area and to stop cutting or to decrease cuttingforest so as to make forest coverage keep rising at astable speed, forest resources should be examined byremote sensing technology. The other is to control thecirculation of wood…     

The importance of environment and life stage on interpretation of silky shark relative abundance indices for the equatorial Pacific Ocean

Recent large fluctuations in an index of relative abundance for the silky shark in the eastern Pacific Ocean have called into question its reliability as a population indicator for management. To investigate whether these fluctuations were driven by environmental forcing rather than true changes in abundance, a Pacific‐wide approach was taken. Data collected by observers aboard purse‐seine vessels fishing in the equatorial Pacific were used to compute standardized trends in relative abundance by region, and where possible, by shark size category as a proxy for life stage. These indices were compared to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), an index of Pacific Ocean climate variability. Correlation between silky indices and the PDO was found to differ by region and size category. The highest correlations by shark size category were for small (<90 cm total length [TL]) and medium (90–150 cm TL) sharks from the western region of the equatorial eastern Pacific (EP) and from the equatorial western Pacific. This correlation disappeared in the inshore EP. Throughout, correlations with the PDO were generally lower for large silky sharks (>150 cm TL). These results are suggestive of changes in the small and medium silky indices being driven by movement of juvenile silky sharks across the Pacific as the eastern edge of the Indo‐Pacific Warm Pool shifts location with ENSO events. Lower correlation of the PDO with large shark indices may indicate that those indices were less influenced by environmental forcing and therefore potentially less biased with respect to monitoring population trends.     

Putting the pieces together: Recent growth,nutritional condition,and mortality of Engraulis anchoita larvae in the Southwest Atlantic

Dynamics of clupeiform fish populations such as anchovy are frequently impacted by environmental variations which can affect the success of the species recruitment. Herein, we have analyzed recent otolith growth rate, RNA/DNA nutritional condition index (sRD), and mortality rate of argentine anchovy larvae Engraulis anchoita from three different nursery areas in the Southwest Atlantic. We have evaluated the relationship between the environmental variables (abundance of copepod nauplii, temperature, chlorophyll‐a concentration, and abundance of E. anchoita larvae) and larval endogenous variables (size, weight, age, and otolith radius) to sRD and recent growth rate. Fast larval growth rates were observed toward the northern sector of the studied area, characterized by higher temperature. High values of sRD were associated with higher nauplii abundance in the proximity of coastal fronts. The larvae with the lowest growths and lowest minimum values of nutritional condition coincided with the area where there was less abundance of nauplii and higher larval mortality. Larval size and nauplii abundance were positive explanatory factors for both recent growth rate and sRD index. Temperature had a positive effect on recent growth rate and a negative effect on sRD index. This condition index was poorly explained in terms of model fit in comparison with the growth model. The results herein provided could be significant to better understand the recruitment of the species, as to determining favorable areas for the growth and survival of anchovy larvae.     

Identification of a diverse mini‐core panel of Indian rice germplasm based on genotyping using microsatellite markers

Identification of a small core germplasm set representing the available genetic diversity is essential for its proper evaluation and subsequent utilization in rice improvement programmes. For constituting a small diverse mini‐core panel of Indian rice germplasm, a representative set of 6912 accessions drawn based on their geographic origin from the whole rice germplasm collection available in the National Gene Bank was genotyped using 36 microsatellite markers. Automated fragment analysis of amplicons yielded a total of 435 alleles, with an average 12.4 and range of 3–29 alleles per locus. Polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.08 (RGNMS190) to 0.86 (RM552) with an average of 0.528. Based on genotyping data, a mini‐core consisting of 98 genotypes was identified. Ninety‐four per cent of the alleles present in the core set were present in the mini‐core. The identified small but diverse panel will be useful for further intensive trait‐specific evaluation and utilization in allele mining.     

Endangered economic species of Indian desert

The economically important, naturally occurring species of the Indian desert was surveyed on the basis of the perception of local plant scientists. About one-fourth of the total 84 taxa were seen to be facing varying stages of risk. Of these, 17 species and 8 botanical varieties are endemic to Indian desert. Eighteen species in Bikaner, 21 in Jaisalmer and 19 in Jodhpur divisions were reported to be at risk. Factors responsible for the loss of species diversity have been discussed and appropriate strategies have been suggested for their conservation.     

Carbon sequestration and relationship between carbon addition and storage under rainfed soybean–wheat rotation in a sandy loam soil of the Indian Himalayas

Soil organic matter (SOM) contributes to the productivity and physical properties of soils. Although crop productivity is sustained mainly through the application of organic manure in the Indian Himalayas, no information is available on the effects of long-term manure addition along with mineral fertilizers on C sequestration and the contribution of total C input towards soil organic C (SOC) storage. We analyzed results of a long-term experiment, initiated in 1973 on a sandy loam soil under rainfed conditions to determine the influence of different combinations of NPK fertilizer and fertilizer + farmyard manure (FYM) at 10 Mg ha⁻¹ on SOC content and its changes in the 0–45 cm soil depth. Concentration of SOC increased 40 and 70% in the NPK + FYM-treated plots as compared to NPK (43.1 Mg C ha⁻¹) and unfertilized control plots (35.5 Mg C ha⁻¹), respectively. Average annual contribution of C input from soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) was 29% and that from wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Emend. Flori and Paol) was 24% of the harvestable above-ground biomass yield. Annual gross C input and annual rate of total SOC enrichment were 4852 and 900 kg C ha⁻¹, respectively, for the plots under NPK + FYM. It was estimated that 19% of the gross C input contributed towards the increase in SOC content. C loss from native SOM during 30 years averaged 61 kg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The estimated quantity of biomass C required to maintain equilibrium SOM content was 321 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The total annual C input by the soybean–wheat rotation in the plots under unfertilized control was 890 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Thus, increase in SOC concentration under long-term (30 years) rainfed soybean–wheat cropping was due to the fact that annual C input by the system was higher than the required amount to maintaining equilibrium SOM content.     

东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼栖息地指数的比较研究

根据2000~2007年度东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼的商业捕捞数据,结合海洋环境数据(SST,SSA,SSHG以及等温层深度),运用4种关联建模方法计算其栖息地指数,并使用Surffer 8.0软件绘制出HSI的空间分布图。通过2008年度的捕捞数据进行验证,结果表明4种模型的结果存在明显差异:采用算术平均法和几何平均法时,主要产量分布在0.6HSI0.9的区域;采用最大值法时,主要产量集中在0.8HSI1.0的区域;采用最小值法时,主要产量分布在0.3HSI0.6的区域。通过4种模型的验证结果比较,本文认为算术平均法和几何平均法能较好地反映东南太平洋智利竹筴鱼的中心渔场位置以及分布特征。