Fluctuating salinity effect on Sphoeroides annulatus (Jenyns 1842) physiological responses

Euryhaline fish, such as the Bullseye puffer Sphoeroides annulatus (Jenyns 1842), experience sudden salinity changes in their natural environment, which is more common than the exception, so they must adapt to survive and cope with extreme salt conditions. Therefore, Bullseye puffer juveniles were exposed to short‐term stress (39 hr) by fluctuating salinity conditions (41, 35, 29, 23, 17, 11, 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 35, 41 psu) with a 3‐hr interval between each point at 26 ± 1ºC in a respirometer chamber and acclimation reservoirs. Responses to oxygen consumption rate (OCR: 23–35 mg O₂ h^–1 kg^–1), ammonium excretion rate (AER: 1–1.85 mg NH4⁺ h^?1 kg^?1), oxygen‐nitrogen atomic ratio (O:N 17–30), osmoregulatory pattern (blood osmotic pressure from 342.4 to 332.8 mmol/kg) and changes in expression levels of Na⁺/K⁺‐ATPase in the gills (higher values at higher salinities) were measured. Although some signs of stress were detected below the iso‐osmotic point (11.4 psu), the puffer fish is a strong euryhaline fish that survives under these conditions. Nonetheless, it could recover when salinity returned to the initial acclimation point because Sphoeroides annulatus is able to live in a wide range of environments with wide natural salinity fluctuations; thus, a common practice in aquaculture has been to expose fish to low salinity for several reasons discussed in this study. This capacity reveals its high plasticity to saline adaptation from 41 to 5 psu an up from 5 to 41 psu, all in less than 2 days.     

Effects of nitrogen and water stress on the rehydration,endogenous hormonal regulation and yield of maize

Water scarcity is known to be a strong limiting factor affecting maize grown and yield in cold semi-arid regions. Numerous studies have shown that rehydration improves maize growth. Our study aimed to explore the effects of rehydration treatments on maize growth and yield under water and nitrogen stress during different growth stages. We selected the drought-tolerant maize variety Nendan 19 (ND19) and subjected it to water stress during the V6 (sixth-leaf), R2 (filling) and R6 (maturity) growth stages and a rehydration treatment after each stress stage. Our results indicated that N1 (N100 kg N ha⁻¹) and N3 (N300 kg N ha⁻¹) treatments significantly increased the leaf moisture status relative to water content (RWC), bound water content (BWC), free water content (FWC) and water potential (WP)) at different growth stages. Similar trends were observed in the accumulation of plant leaf and root hormones (zeatin+zeatin riboside, indole-3-acetic acid, abscisic acid and gibberellic acid), photosynthetic pigments and chlorophyll fluorescence. However, under the same water stress conditions, they decreased as the N rate increased and reached a minimum value in the S3 (water stress for N3) treatments. In addition, with growth stage advancement and extension of the rehydration time, both showed a gradual upward trend. The results showed that to save water resources in the cold semi-arid region, rehydration treatments (R2S1 and R2S3) significantly increased the photosynthetic pigments and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, leaf moisture status, biomass, 100-grain weight, hormone content, ear characteristics and grain yield of maize.     

Effects of Feeding Levels on Growth Response,Body Composition,and Energy Expenditure in Blackspot Seabream,Pagellus bogaraveo,Juveniles

Although reported as a slow growing species, to date information regarding nutritional dynamics of blackspot seabream, Pagellus bogaraveo, is limited, especially during ongrowing phase. This study determined the effects of different feeding levels on growth response, body composition, and energy expenditure of blackspot seabream juveniles (initial weight = 64 g). Fish were allocated in nine indoor tanks (15 fish per tank) and fed a basal diet twice daily at increasing levels (2.5, 3.3, and 4.1 g feed/kg^0.8/d) for 138 d. Growth response decreased with decreasing feeding levels, but only at 2.5 g feed/kg^0.8/d (P < 0.001). Differences in growth rates were positively correlated with body lipid content (r² = 0.90). Net protein utilization decreased with each increase in feeding level. The energy requirement for zero growth (maintenance) and the estimated energy loss on starvation were calculated as 22.6 and 17.9 kJ/kg^0.8/d, respectively. The energy cost for protein and lipid gain was calculated as 3.8 and 1.4 kJ/kJ energy deposited, respectively. This study suggested that blackspot seabream may grow slower than the other close‐related species because of its higher demand of dietary protein energy in favor of lipid deposition.     

Sri Lankan reservoir fishery: a case for introduction of a co-management strategy

The inland fisheries of Sri Lanka are essentially artisanal on most of the reservoirs in the country. The annual inland fish production declined dramatically after 1990, when state patronage for the development of the inland fisheries was discontinued for 4 years. This decline was shown to be a result of growth overfishing of the two dominant cichlid species which accounted for over 90% of landings. This was a result of using small mesh ( < 6.9 cm) gillnets in the absence of the State-sponsored monitoring procedure in the fishery after 1990. This indicates that it is necessary to monitor inland fisheries management in Sri Lanka through a centralized authority in the current situation. However, in some Sri Lankan reservoirs, fishing communities can be categorized as 'organized' because they collectively make decisions to define procedures for the rational exploitation of the fishery resources. In reservoirs with 'organized' fishing, the communities themselves have developed mechanisms to regulate the landing sizes of dominant cichlid fish species through community-based fisheries management strategies. In such reservoirs, over-exploitation of fish stocks was not evident, even after 1990, when state-sponsored monitoring procedures were suspended. Based on these observations, an alternative approach is recommended for the management of Sri Lankan reservoir capture fisheries in which the Government and resource-users have equal responsibilities in the management of the resources.     

霜霉病菌侵染的黄瓜叶片cDNA文库的构建及抗病相关基因筛选

以接种黄瓜霜霉病菌的抗病黄瓜品种‘649’的叶片为材料,使用改良SDS法提取总RNA,构建黄瓜叶片全长cDNA文库,得到的原始文库滴度为5.5 × 106 pfu • mL-1,扩增后的文库滴度达6.5 × 109 pfu • mL-1,重组率约为99%,插入片段在0.5 ~ 2.0 kb之间,大多在1.0 kb左右。随机选取3 360个克隆进行测序,共拼接出2 507个unigenes,其中包括211个重叠群（Contigs）和2 296个单拷贝EST（Singlets）。生物信息学分析显示：这些unigenes中存在427条与植物防御/抗病相关的基因,其中包括两类抗病基因和细胞程序性死亡相关基因,这些基因的发现为下一步研究黄瓜抗病机理,克隆抗霜霉病相关基因提供了重要的参考。     

70%吡虫啉水分散粒剂(艾美乐)防治小麦穗蚜药效试验

试验结果表明,70%吡虫啉水分散粒剂（艾美乐）在4～5g/667m^2的剂量下,对小麦穗蚜的防治效果优良,药后1～21d的防效均在91%以上,兼有持效性较长、对小麦安全、对环境友好及使用方便等优点,是防治小麦穗蚜的较好药剂.     

Monitoring the performance of wild-born and introduced lizards in a fragmented landscape: Implications for ex situ conservation programmes

Ex situ conservation of animal populations may benefit from captive-breeding programmes, but these are criticised because they are assumed to be difficult, time-consuming and expensive, while they do not guarantee success. However, such assumptions remain untested in most organisms; for example, introductions could be very useful for recovering populations of small-sized species with short generation time, no learned behaviours, and ease to rear in captivity. Here, we document an easy, cheap and successful reintroduction programme of the lacertid lizard Psammodromus algirus. Two captive-bred cohorts (178 juveniles in 2001 and 187 in 2002) were released in four woodland fragments (0.9-5.2 ha) at two localities (B and V); B housed a stable lizard population whereas V apparently lacked a viable population of lizards. We monitored introduced and native lizards during 2002 and 2003, and carried out a corroborative searching in 2006 which confirmed the existence of a lizard population at site V. Introduced lizards had higher activity and dispersed more frequently among woodland fragments than native ones. Survivorship and growth rates were similar for both groups, but introduced juveniles were about 25% larger than native ones, due to both early hatching and better rearing conditions. The whole procedure was easily implemented in our Faculty facilities (mean hatching and hatchling survival rates of 0.90 and 0.87), and cost less than 20,000 € (excluding salaries). Therefore, similar programmes may be of wide application in small animals and of practical importance for species with a meta-population structure living in fragmented landscapes.     

Comparison of Unifactorial and Mixture Approaches for Optimization of Mixing Time and Flour and Water Contents in Breadmaking Formulas

A unifactorial approach was compared with a multifactorial approach, based on mixture theory, using bread optimization. The effects of dough weight and formula, as well as mixing time, on bread properties were investigated. The unifactorial approach indicated that increasing the weight of water added to flour increased bread weight. Changing the weight of water in dough also changed the proportion of all the ingredients and total dough weight. The unifactorial approach could not unequivocally indicate the variable responsible for increases in bread weight. Conversely, the multifactorial approach clearly indicated that increased dough weight increased bread weight.     

Sterol composition of isolates of Erysiphe graminis f.sp. tritici differing in sensitivity to fenpropimorph

Isolates of Erysiphe graminis f.sp. tritici with wild-type or reduced sensitivity to fenpropimorph were similar in sterol composition, viz. ergosta-5,24(28)-dienol (±90%) and episterol (±10%). Following treatment with fenpropimorph, the relative content of episterol increased in conidia of all isolates tested, while that of ergosta-5,24(28)-dienol decreased. These results suggest that fenpropimorph, under the test conditions used, does not inhibit activity of sterol Δ¹⁴-reductase or Δ⁸→Δ⁷-isomerase but probably interferes with the final part of the demethyl sterol synthesis. However, modifications in this part of the pathway are probably not responsible for the decreased sensitivity of the pathogen to the fungicide. © 1998 SCI.     

国际发展项目评估比较分析及其对亚太森林组织的启示

亚太森林组织是亚太地区最具活力和影响力的涉林国际组织之一,完善亚太森林组织评估体系是当前的重点工作。文中在总结国际发展项目评估主要理论框架和方法的基础上,分析比较7个具有代表性的国际组织和发展援助机构的评估管理构架、评估政策与实践方面的特点,以及各机构评估体系的共性和差异。结果发现,各机构评估体系特点与其机构性质,管理架构,项目和活动类型、规模等因素密切相关。借鉴成熟国际组织评估管理的成功经验和做法,结合亚太森林组织评估工作现状和问题,提出完善亚太森林组织评估体系的思考和建议。