The environmental crisis: quantifying geosphere interactions

Because of increasing population, human activity has become a dominant process modifying the continents and their environment. Understanding the new environmental stresses includes studies of interface processes on all scales. The present scientific effort is inadequate and is not providing the data necessary for rational decision-making in critical areas, such as global energy production, land use, and resource development.     

Methylcyclopentanoid monoterpenes mediate interactions among insect herbivores

Beetles secrete an array of chemicals generally believed to mitigate attack by predators. Methylcyclopentanoid monoterpenes secreted by larvae of the willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora, deter feeding by conspecific adults. Furthermore, the secretion elicits a strong repugnancy response in larvae of another willow herbivore, Nymphalis antiopa. Leaves bearing beetle larvae are less likely than leaves not bearing beetles to be frequented and consumed by Nymphalis larvae. Predator defense may not be the sole function of glandular secretions produced by herbivorous insects; secretions may also mediate interactions among herbivores that use a common resource.     

水体中环境内分泌干扰物(EDCs)污染现状及其对鱼类的生殖危害

越来越多的环境内分泌干扰物(EDCs)不断释放到环境,并通过大气沉降、地表径流、土壤淋溶和直接排放等方式进入水体,从而使水体成为EDCs存在的主要场所之一。为引起社会对水体EDCs污染的广泛关注,并积极采取EDCs危害防治措施,保护鱼类资源和水生态系统,本文介绍了EDCs的分类,详述了自然水体、饮用水源水以及自来水中EDCs污染情况,阐明了EDCs对鱼类的生殖危害。资料分析显示,EDCs能够扰乱生物体内分泌功能,导致生殖器官、生殖机能和生殖行为异常,引起生育力下降,甚至生物繁殖机能损害,并最终导致种群数量下降,以至物种灭绝。虽然国内外已经开展了一些关于EDCs对生物危害等方面的研究,但大都处于起步阶段,存在着基础研究薄弱、识别和鉴定困难或代价太大等问题,有关工作亟需全面、深入开展。     

Nutritional and environmental interactions in the behavioral development of the rat: long-term effects

The behavioral effects of early malnutrition and early environmental isolation were observed in male rats. Dietary and environmental manipulations occurred during the first 7 weeks of life, after which followed a 10-week recovery period. On the basis of several different responses, it was found that the behavioral effects of early malnutrition were exaggerated by the environmental isolation. In most cases, the behavioral effects of early malnutrition were completely eliminated by supplying "additional stimulation" early in life. Two theoretical mechanisms are proposed to explain these findings.     

Interferon induction: tool for establishing interactions among homopolyribonucleotides

Hitherto unrecognized interactions between homopolyribonucleotides and complexes thereof are suggested by interferon induction data obtained in a highly sensitive assay system of primary rabbit kidney cell cultures superinduced by metabolic inhibitors.     

Niche partitioning among Prochlorococcus ecotypes along ocean-scale environmental gradients

Prochlorococcus is the numerically dominant phytoplankter in the oligotrophic oceans, accounting for up to half of the photosynthetic biomass and production in some regions. Here, we describe how the abundance of six known ecotypes, which have small subunit ribosomal RNA sequences that differ by less than 3%, changed along local and basin-wide environmental gradients in the Atlantic Ocean. Temperature was significantly correlated with shifts in ecotype abundance, and laboratory experiments confirmed different temperature optima and tolerance ranges for cultured strains. Light, nutrients, and competitor abundances also appeared to play a role in shaping different distributions.     

中国省域环境负荷拐点测算与比较分析

基于中国1991-2009年29个省级区域的工业污染物排放量与人均GDP的数据,利用工业废水、废气、固体排放物等变量与人均GDP拟合全国和各个省（市、自治区）的方程验证环境库兹涅茨曲线假说。研究结果验证了中国的环境库兹涅茨曲线符合倒U型假说,并且大部分省（市、自治区）适合倒U型假说。根据各省（市、自治区）环境负荷的拐点来比较各省（市、自治区）之间的差异和发展情况,描绘了中国现阶段工业污染与经济增长的空间格局,为进一步协调中国经济发展与环境的关系,提出了相应的对策建议。