Decoupled plant and insect diversity after the end-Cretaceous extinction

Food web recovery from mass extinction is poorly understood. We analyzed insect-feeding damage on 14,999 angiosperm leaves from 14 latest Cretaceous, Paleocene, and early Eocene sites in the western interior United States. Most Paleocene floras have low richness of plants and of insect damage. However, a low-diversity 64.4-million-year-old flora from southeastern Montana shows extremely high insect damage richness, especially of leaf mining, whereas an anomalously diverse 63.8-million-year-old flora from the Denver Basin shows little damage and virtually no specialized feeding. These findings reveal severely unbalanced food webs 1 to 2 million years after the end-Cretaceous extinction 65.5 million years ago.     

福州市生物多样性保护与重建

通过分析福州市生物多样性特点,探讨保护与重建所应遵循的原则,提出关键策略,为恢复和重建福州市生物多样性提供参考。     

神经视蛋白的结构及其生物学功能研究进展

神经视蛋白(OPN5)是非视觉成像视蛋白的重要成员之一,是可以感受紫外光的一种丝氨酸蛋白酶,能够介导光信号传输并引起节律相位的漂移。OPN5具有参与调控生物节律、动物繁殖、神经元生长发育、突触可塑性、记忆获得以及介导皮肤光信号转导等功能。文章综述了OPN5基因的结构与分布、生物学功能及其作用机制的研究现状,最后对其将来研究方向进行了展望。     

寄主龄期对菜蛾绒茧蜂生物学特性的影响

观察了小菜蛾(Plutella xylostella)被寄生时的龄期对菜蛾绒茧蜂(Cotesia plutellae)发育历期、结茧率及羽化雌蜂寄生能力的影响.结果发现：寄生于3龄小菜蛾幼虫的菜蛾绒茧蜂其卵—幼虫期的发育较寄生于2龄或4龄个体的要快，结茧率及羽化后雌蜂寄生能力要高，但寄生不同龄期寄主个体间的成蜂羽化率没有差异，表明小菜蛾3龄幼虫较2、4龄幼虫对菜蛾绒茧蜂的适合性要高.不同龄期被寄生的小菜蛾幼虫均有部分个体在寄生蜂幼虫成熟啮出前死亡，这种死亡在2龄、3龄时被寄生的个体中主要发生在幼虫期，而4龄幼虫被寄生的个体死亡发生期则逐渐向蛹期转移，4龄第三天被寄生的小菜蛾蛹期死亡率达62.5%，表明小菜蛾4龄幼虫对菜蛾绒茧蜂的适合性随年龄增加迅速下降.文中还讨论了寄主龄期适合性与该蜂产卵选择性的关系.     

Dyslexia: cultural diversity and biological unity

The recognition of dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been hampered by the belief that it is not a specific diagnostic entity because it has variable and culture-specific manifestations. In line with this belief, we found that Italian dyslexics, using a shallow orthography which facilitates reading, performed better on reading tasks than did English and French dyslexics. However, all dyslexics were equally impaired relative to their controls on reading and phonological tasks. Positron emission tomography scans during explicit and implicit reading showed the same reduced activity in a region of the left hemisphere in dyslexics from all three countries, with the maximum peak in the middle temporal gyrus and additional peaks in the inferior and superior temporal gyri and middle occipital gyrus. We conclude that there is a universal neurocognitive basis for dyslexia and that differences in reading performance among dyslexics of different countries are due to different orthographies.     

GABA在植物体内的合成代谢及生物学功能

GABA(γ-氨基丁酸)是普遍存在于生物体内的一类小分子物质,生物学功能十分广泛。它是哺乳动物中枢神经的首要神经传递抑制素,在植物中参与了对逆境胁迫响应、生长发育、信号传递和碳、氮营养平衡等一系列重要生命活动。重点介绍植物GABA合成途径和生物学功能两方面的最新研究进展。     

人工抚育对桉树人工林林下生物多样性的影响

[目的]探讨桉树林人工抚育对林下生物多样性的影响,为桉树人工林的科学经营提供参考依据.[方法]选择具代表性的典型林分设置调查样地,分别调查灌木层和草本层的植物名称、株数、高度、盖度和密度等指标,通过计算物种的重要值和多样性指数,对比分析人工抚育桉树林对林下植物多样性的影响程度.[结果]4年生人工抚育桉树林和未抚育桉树林的灌木植物分别为29和53种,草本植物分别为10和16种.经人工抚育的桉树林灌木个体密度、高度和草本植物个体密度均最小,分别是未抚育桉树林的40.8％、28.8％和11.9％.人工抚育桉树林林下灌木植物分布的均匀性比未抚育桉树林高17.2％,对灌木层和草本层的多样性指数H′、D、J影响不明显.[结论]人工抚育导致灌木植物的个体密度、高度和草本植物的个体密度显著降低和物种丰富度降低,造林整地时适度抚育是人工林生物多样性保育和维持的有效措施.     

Zuni farming and united states government policy: The politics of biological and cultural diversity in agriculture

Indigenous Zuni farming, including cultural values, ecological and biological diversity, and land distribution and tenure, appears to have been quite productive and sustainable for at least 2000 before United States influence began in the later half of the 18th century. United States Government Indian agriculture policy has been based on assimilation of Indians and taking of their resources, and continues in more subtle ways today. At Zuni this policy has resulted in the degradation and loss of natural resources for farming, reduction in the number of Zuni farmers and their control over farming resources, individualization of rights in farmland, consolidation of farm fields, and declining biological diversity in agriculture. The Zuni Sustainable Agriculture Project with the Zuni Irrigation Association and the Zuni community, are now working to revitalize sustainable Zuni farming, based on traditional values, knowledge, and technology, combined with modern knowledge and technology where appropriate. The United States government can support these efforts through appreciation of the need for Zuni control and the potential value of cultural and biological diversity.     

有机荔枝园区生物多样性初步研究

调查了有机荔枝园区的生物多样性,结果表明,在有机荔枝园区中,生物群落包括昆虫纲12目62科,非昆虫纲动物7目。其中害虫群落以鞘翅目的科数最多,其次是鳞翅目和直翅目,其科数分别占害虫总科数的31.8%、18.2%和18.2%。天敌的种类相当丰富,天敌昆虫包括7目15科23种,蜘蛛12种。天敌昆虫中鞘翅目的种数占总种数的52.2%,其次是膜翅目,占21.7%。有机荔枝园区的昆虫群落中,害虫占30.9%,天敌占28.4%,40.7%为中性昆虫。     

PCR-DGGE技术分析生物膜工艺微生物群落多样性

为了揭示生物膜法工艺处理模拟生活废水过程总细菌群落结构的多样性,分别取系统启动初期和运行后期瓷板滑面、瓷板粗面、白胶板和黑实验台板上的附着生物膜,通过细胞裂解直接提取基因组DNA,以细菌通用引物进行16S rRNA基因V3区域PCR扩增,将PCR产物进行变性梯度凝胶电泳,获得微生物群落的DNA特征指纹图谱.结果表明,不同区段微生物群落间相似度最高达78.3％,最低达41.4％,不同生物膜样品既存在共同的微生物种属也存在特异微生物种属.但系统启动初期运行后期的生物膜群落结构较稳定,演替不明显.另外,对该生物膜群落的部分优势细菌进行了克隆测序和系统发育树分析,通过鉴定获得5条细菌16S rDNA序列,它们分别与梭状芽孢杆菌属、梭菌属和单胞菌属的同源性在97％以上,这些优势微生物在生物膜工艺去除有机物的过程中起重要作用.     

间作与覆盖对茶园生物多样性及茶叶产量的影响

探讨了幼龄茶树与山毛豆、花生间作及覆盖蔗叶、芦苇叶对生物多样性和茶叶产量的影响。结果显示:幼龄茶园中茶行间种豆科作物并覆盖后,能提高茶园生物多样性,特别有利于增进蜘蛛等天敌的种类与数量及对害虫的生态控制能力,从而增加茶叶产量。其中,覆盖甘蔗叶与间作山毛豆效果更好,节肢动物多样性为0.8156,蚯蚓种群数量增加显著,产量明显提高。     

植物多糖的生物学功能及其在家禽生产中的应用研究进展

植物多糖是一种从植物中提取的具有生物学活性的天然高分子聚合物,具有调节肠道菌群、维持肠道黏膜完整性、调节免疫活性、提高机体抗氧化能力和促进生长等功能,因其具有来源广泛、高效、副作用小等特点而备受关注。植物多糖作为新型饲料添加剂在家禽生产中具有较好的应用前景,其也为免疫佐剂和疫苗研发提供了新的研究方向。该研究从植物多糖的单糖组成、结构分类、测定方法以及生物学功能方面进行综述,并对其应用前景及存在问题进行了展望,为多糖的相关研究与生产应用提供参考。     

覆盖作物多样性对猕猴桃园土壤微生物群落功能的影响

以丹江口水源涵养区猕猴桃园为研究对象,运用Biolog微平板技术,研究不同种类覆盖作物处理(2、4、8种和清耕对照)下土壤微生物群落功能多样性的差异。结果表明,覆盖作物处理土壤微生物群落对碳源的利用程度、功能多样性指数和丰富度指数均高于清耕对照。覆盖作物及清耕对照处理土壤微生物Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、丰富度指数与土壤含水量、有机碳、pH、微生物量碳氮呈显著正相关关系。主成分分析与碳代谢图谱分析表明,猕猴桃园增加覆盖作物种类提高了土壤微生物对碳源的利用能力,且对D-甘露醇、L-精氨酸、L-天门冬酰胺、L-苯丙氨酸、γ-羟丁酸、α-丁酮酸、4-羟基苯甲酸、吐温40的利用能力显著高于清耕对照。此外,4种覆盖作物处理对猕猴桃园土壤生态环境的影响优于2种和8种。研究表明,猕猴桃园增加覆盖作物多样性改变了土壤环境因子,影响了土壤微生物群落的代谢活性和功能多样性。