93份叶用枸杞农艺性状分析及综合评价

为客观评价叶用枸杞种质资源多样性和筛选综合性状优异种质,初步筛选出综合性状优异的叶用枸杞新品种。以93份叶用枸杞种质8个农艺性状,利用变异系数、模糊数学隶属函数和聚类分析方法进行分析。变异系数分析显示变异系数范围为5.25%～73.52%,其中变异系数最大的为单株产量, 最小的为叶鲜干比,Shannon多样性指数范围为1.77～5.73,其中Shannon多样性指数最大的为地径,最小的为茎鲜干比;相关性分析显示单株产量与叶面积、叶鲜干比、株高和地茎显著正相关（P ≤0.05）,与叶形指数、茎鲜干比和叶/茎显著负相关（P ≤0.05）;隶属函数分析显示筛选出综合性状优异的叶用枸杞新品种9份,即Z88、Z76、Z100、Z58、Z32、Z54、Z57、Z85和Z69;聚类分析将种质分为五类,第Ⅰ类材料的特征为单株产量最高,株高、地径和叶面积等较大,包含品系Z88和Z76等,第Ⅱ类材料特征为地径最大,株高、叶形指数和叶面积等较大,包含品系Z58和Z32等,第Ⅲ类材料特征为叶面积最大,株高、叶鲜干比等较大,包含品系Z57和Z85等,第Ⅳ类材料特征为叶鲜干比最大,叶形指数和单株产量等较大,第Ⅴ类材料特征为叶/茎最大,叶形指数、茎鲜干比和株高等较大。93份通过杂交获得的叶用枸杞种质资源较为丰富,单株产量、地径、叶面积、叶鲜干比和叶/茎性状是作为评价叶用枸杞种质的重要农艺性状指标,模糊数学隶属函数和聚类分析方法能够准确、可靠地综合评价叶用枸杞种质资源。     

Isoflavone profiles of red clovers and their distribution in different parts harvested at different growing stages

The isoflavone compositions and concentrations in the leaf, flower, petiole, and stem of 13 red clover cultivars were studied using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array and a mass spectrometric detector with negative electrospray ionization. Different cultivars showed significantly different concentrations of individual and total isoflavones. The leaf contained the highest overall concentration, followed by the stem, petiole, and flower. Biochanin A and formononetin were the predominant isoflavones in all cultivars and all parts, along with eight other minor aglycones, daidzein, genistein, glycitein, irilone, orobol, pratensein, pseudobaptigenin, and prunetin, and four minor malonylglycosides, genistein-7-glucoside-6' '-malonate, orobol-7-glucoside-6' '-malonate, formononetin-7-glucoside-6' '-malonate, and biochanin A-7-glucoside-6' '-malonate. The isoflavone compositions and concentrations were also found to be different between red clover parts harvested at the early bud stage and the late flowering stage. Sample storage and handling prior to analysis were also found to be important. Samples in this study were kept at -5 degrees C for a few days before being freeze-dried and were found to contain mainly the aglycones of isoflavones. This may actually be an advantage in that "natural" and more bioactive isoflavones can be obtained without using chemical hydrolysis. Findings in this study therefore provide important information for developing isoflavone-rich red clovers and for optimizing harvest timing and choosing the right part of the red clover plant.     

自然的平衡——亚洲蜜蜂防御天敌和寄生生物

在自然界中,动物所面临的生存威胁主要来自于捕食者和寄生生物.蜜蜂蜂群中贮存着丰富的食物,吸引众多的敌害.列举了亚洲蜜蜂所面临的几种主要敌害生物,阐述了亚洲蜜蜂的防御策略和机制.认为在漫长的自然选择过程中,亚洲蜜蜂与各种天敌昆虫协同进化,建立了一种自然的平衡,使其生生不息,在生态系统中发挥着极其重要的作用.在温室效应引起的气候条件日趋恶劣,全世界生态系统逐渐恶化的今天,蜜蜂的生存受到了极大的威胁.因此.研究亚洲蜜蜂的生存状况对保护蜜蜂,维持生物多样性和生态平衡具有十分重要的意义.     

Variation in diosgenin levels among 10 accessions of fenugreek seeds produced in western Canada

A collection of 10 accessions of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.), an annual legume, was grown during two summers at three plot locations in western Canada to assess whether genetic (accession) and environmental factors (site and year of production) influenced levels of diosgenin, a steroidal sapogenin. The 60 harvested seed samples, each analyzed by single determinations on three subsamples of defatted and dried seed material, were hydrolyzed by a microscale procedure in water containing 2-propanol (70%) and sulfuric acid (1 M). The extracts were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography with 6-methyldiosgenin as internal standard. Diosgenin levels from mature seeds ranged from 0.28 to 0.92% (28-92 microg/10 mg). Analysis of variance on combined diosgenin levels from the three sites and two years revealed that accession, accession x year, and site x year effects were significant for diosgenin content, whereas site, year, and site x accession effects were not. Four accessions, CN 19062, CN 19067, CN 19070, and CN 19071, were identified with high levels of diosgenin on the basis of the 2-year data set. In these accessions, mean levels of diosgenin plus yamogenin from seven site years were estimated at 0.70, 0.98, 0.84, and 0.87%, respectively.     

Landscape improvement, or ongoing degradation – reconciling apparent contradictions from the arid rangelands of Western Australia

Recent quantitative site-based monitoring and qualitative aerial and ground traverses provide contrasting assessments of the health of much of the arid shrublands of Western Australia extensively grazed by livestock (‘rangelands’). Although these results seem incompatible, we explain the apparent contradictions based on landscape succession processes operating at multiple levels of ecological organisation. Specifically, we suggest that the intact areas in which site-based monitoring is conducted are contracting as catchment canalisation and desiccation increase. However, the impacts of these processes have not yet become manifest at the site scale. The site-based system addresses important regional questions. These relate to the large, relatively intact areas away from most active surface flows, which should be a focus for resource conservation, given practical limits to repairing widespread degradation with low management inputs. We provide a complementary set of questions to provide a more comprehensive audit of rangeland dynamics in the context of underlying hierarchical landscape patterns and processes that might threaten intact areas. We recognise the need to match questions and levels of ecological organisation and the implications these have for sampling. We also recognise the difficulty in producing concise statements of change for clients when reporting on complex ecological issues and processes. Without a clearly articulated, and well understood, hierarchical model of pattern and process within which apparently contradictory findings can be reported meaningfully, policy makers may be confused by the results, with the consequent risk of policy inaction.