Suitability of terrestrial laser scanning for studying surface roughness effects on concentrated flow erosion processes in rangelands

Surface roughness is thought to affect concentrated flow erosion – a major mechanism of soil loss on disturbed rangelands. However, quantifying surface roughness in the field at appropriately fine spatial scales is laborious and the scale at which to conduct meaningful roughness measurements is difficult to discern. Rapid, objective, and repeatable field methods are therefore needed to accurately measure surface roughness across a range of spatial scales to advance our understanding and modeling of concentrated flow erosion processes. Surface roughness can be derived from surface topography mapped at the sub-cm level using a field-portable terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). To test the suitability of terrestrial laser scanning for studying surface roughness effects on erosion processes in rangelands, we used concentrated flow simulation techniques at 8.5 m² plots that were randomly placed at rangeland sites in southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho, USA. Local surface roughness (locRMSH) was calculated as the standard deviation of TLS mapped surface heights within moving windows varying in size from 30 × 30 to 90 × 90 mm. The mean locRMSH of the eroded area and entire plot were negatively correlated (r² > 0.71, RMSE < 95.97 g min^− 1, and r² > 0.74, RMSE < 90.07 g min^− 1, respectively) with concentrated flow erosion. The strength of the locRMSH–erosion relationship and regression model parameters were affected by the moving window size, emphasizing the scale dependence of the locRMSH–erosion relationship. Adjusting locRMSH for slope effects decreased the strength of the locRMSH–erosion relationship from r² < 0.83 to < 0.26. Our results indicate that TLS is a useful tool to enhance our current understanding of the effect of surface roughness on overland flow erosion processes and advance hydrologic and erosion model parameter development. Further research is needed to evaluate the locRMSH – concentrated flow erosion relationship over a wider range of soil properties, surface conditions, and spatial extents.     

Pathology of experimentally-induced, acute toxoplasmosis in macropods

SUMMARY Thirteen Tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii) were dosed orally with 500, 1000 or 10 000 oocysts of Toxoplasma gondii, as part of a vaccination trial. Eleven animals died of acute toxoplasmosis 9 to 15 days after challenge. The lesions were similar in all animals, consisting of foci of necrosis and inflammation in the intestines, lymphoid tissue, adrenal cortex, heart, skeletal muscle and brain, and severe generalised pulmonary congestion and oedema. Free and intracellular tachyzoites of Toxoplasma were associated with the lesions. The remaining 2 animals had shown no signs of disease when euthanased four months after challenge. Small, focal, non-suppurative inflammatory lesions were seen in brain, heart and skeletal muscle of these animals and chronic Toxoplasma infection was confirmed by mouse inoculation.     

传染性法氏囊病病毒VP2-4-3 cDNA的分子克隆和序列分析

从法氏囊组织分离IBDV超强毒株HK46并提取基因组RNA。以RNA为模板进行反转录合成cDNA第一链。采用长PCR扩增技术获得VP2－4－3 cDNA全长片段。将PCR产物克隆到pcDNA3.1( )载体，得到重组质粒pPP1。对pPP1插入片段全长序列进行了测序并对其序列进行了分析。结果表明，VP2－4－3 cDNA阅读框架由3039bp组成，可编码1012个氨基酸组成的前体多聚蛋白。经比较得知，HK46超强毒株VP2－4－3氨基酸序列与经典毒株间存在19－28个氨基酸的差异；与Harbin强毒株相差32个氨基酸；而与超强毒株OKYM和UK661分别相差2和6个氨基酸，且它们的VP2序列完全相同。在HK46超强毒株所特有的9个氨基酸中，3个位于VP2可变区，显示超强毒株其抗原性存在着变异。     

Initiation of Plant Disease Resistance by Physical Interaction of AvrPto and Pto Kinase

Resistance to bacterial speck disease in tomato occurs when the Pto kinase in the plant responds to expression of the avirulence gene avrPto in the Pseudomonas pathogen. Transient expression of an avrPto transgene in plant cells containing Pto elicited a defense response. In the yeast two-hybrid system, the Pto kinase physically interacted with AvrPto. Alterations of AvrPto or Pto that disrupted the interaction in yeast also abolished disease resistance in plants. The physical interaction of AvrPto and Pto provides an explanation of gene-for-gene specificity in bacterial speck disease resistance.     

Yard Waste Composting: Studies Using Different Mixes of Leaves and Grass in a Laboratory Scale System

Composting has become a widely used method of recycling yard wastes such as leaves and grass. However, very little information is available on the chemical changes that occur during the composting of different mixtures of leaves and grass. In this study, three different mixes of leaves and grass were composted at approximately 60% moisture in a temperature controlled laboratory scale system. The mixes, which consisted of all leaves (Mix 1); 2/3 leaves + 1/3 grass (Mix 2); and 1/3 leaves + 2/3 grass (Mix 3), had initial C:N ratios of 48, 30 and 22, respectively. The compost process was monitored by measuring the rate of CO₂ evolution, pH, stability, the degree of humification and changes in polysaccharide, carbon, nitrogen and organic matter content. Results showed that the greater the grass content of the mix, the higher the initial pH and the faster the rate of CO₂ evolution, organic matter loss and nitrogen loss. After 43 days of composting, Mixes 1, 2 and 3, lost, respectively 61%, 74% and 78% of the cellulose, 57%, 79% and 82% of the hemicellulose and 40%, 49% and 42% of the acid-insoluble organic matter. Humification indices and stability tests indicated that composts produced from the three mixes were well humified and stable.     

Influences of Thinning,Chipping, and Fire on Understory Vegetation in a Sierran Mixed Conifer Stand

Thinning implemented with a cut-to-length harvesting system coupled with on-site slash chipping and redistribution and followed by prescribed underburning were assessed for their impacts on a shrub understory in an uneven-aged Sierra Nevada mixed conifer stand. Overstory species consisted of California white fir (Abies concolor var. lowiana [Gord.] Lemm.), Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi Grev. & Balf.), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Dougl.), incense-cedar (Libocedrus decurrens Torr.), and red fir (Abies magnifica A. Murr.), while huckleberry oak (Quercus vacciniifolia Kellogg) was predominant among 10 understory shrubs. Herbaceous species were entirely absent from the site for the 4-yr duration of the study. The mechanized treatments exerted minimal detriment effects on overall understory cover and weight, and for prostrate ceanothus (Ceanothus prostratus Benth.) and creeping snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis Nutt.)—two of the lesser shrubs—were stimulatory. In contrast, losses to the total understory from the underburn amounted to two-thirds of cover and weight in the absence of the mechanized treatments and more than three-quarters where they had been implemented, with huckleberry oak prevalence especially diminished. For almost all of the understory species individually as well as for the total, greater pretreatment abundance predisposed greater posttreatment prevalence. Results of this study provide insight into the understory impacts of restoration treatments that are deemed especially appropriate for sensitive sites in western U.S. forests.