Agroforestry techniques for the rehabilitation of degraded salt-affected lands in India

The development of appropriate technologies for the judicious use of India's 8.11 million ha of salt-affected lands would give increased food, fodder and fuelwood production. A sizeable portion of the salt-affected lands of the Indo-Gangetic plain have been reclaimed through chemical amendments and are being commercially used for arable farming. However, large areas of salt-affected common lands, village and government lands and waste lands near cities, along railway tracks and roads do not have any productive use. Owing to their sparse vegetative cover such lands are vulnerable to further degradation and can be a source of runoff causing floods, especially where cows congregate. Research at the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal has generated agroforestry techniques which could enable the economic exploitation of such marginal lands. This paper deals with various aspects of these techniques, which have been applied to over 50 000 ha by 1994. Based on eight to ten years of growth and biomass figures, the most salt-tolerant woody species identified were: Prosopis juliflora, Acacia nilotica, Casuarina equisetifolia, Tamarix articulata, Leptochloa fusca (a palatable forage grass which was found to be a promising primary colonizer of salt lands). Agronomic practices for the successful establishment of trees such as planting methods, amendment use, irrigation, spacing and lopping schedules are discussed. A Prosopis juliflora-leptochloa fusca silvipastoral model was found to be excellent for fuelwood and forage production and for the amelioration of high pH soils. This system, when followed for little more than four years, reclaims alkali soils to such an extent that normal agriculture crops such as Trifolium alexandrinum and T. resupinatum can be grown successfully. A ridge-trench system of tree planting was found to be helpful in alkali soils, the in situ rainwater conservation it led to assisting biomass production. Eucalyptus tereticornis, Populus deltoides and Tectona grandis based agroforestry were promising for reclaimed salt-affected lands. The short- and long-term effects of various tree plantations on the physicochemical properties of the soil and on soil-water relations are also discussed. Agroforestry options for the development of salt-affected lands found in various agroclimatic zones of India are explored.     

北京八达岭植物群落多样性特征分析

根据34个样地的调查资料,分析了该地区森林植物群落物种多样性的特征:群落内各层物种丰富度指数的大小为草本层>灌木层>乔木层;多样性指数的大小为乔木层<灌木层和草本层。灌木层与草本层的多样性指数随林分郁闭度变化而变化,在林分郁闭度为25%的侧柏黄栌混交林中,灌木层的多样性指数和丰富度指数小于草本层;在郁闭度53%的杂木林中,灌木层和草本层的多样性指数接近;在郁闭度53%以上的各个群落内,草本层的多样性指数和丰富度指数基本上都大于灌木层。人工林中的物种多样性变化多样,明显低于天然林,林分层次单一,更新不良,缺乏灌木层和地被植物,生态系统很不稳定。     

Discovery of a synergistic effect of oxytocin on the efficacy of Alpha-Chloralose,a drug used for capturing and controlling birds

Overdose and death of both target and non-target species are not uncommon when α–chloralose is used for animal control. Alpha–chloralose appears to depress the central nervous system by having an affect on the GABA-A receptor in a manner similar to ethanol. Recently central administration of oxytocin was shown to block ethanol-induced impairment in rodents. Our study investigates whether IM administration of oxytocin speeds avian recovery from α–chloralose and reduces mortality under simulated field conditions. We found that when injected twice with oxytocin (30 uL/kg) chickens entered α–chloralose narcosis more quickly and showed greater behavioral impairment. When fed the LD₅₀ dose of α–chloralose, repeated injection with oxytocin produced no significant difference in mortality rate or time to death in comparison to the control group. The effects of peripheral oxytocin on female chicks were different than results found previously in cockerels given oxytocin centrally. Oxytocin is not a suitable antidote for α–chloralose overdose during animal capture in the field but instead accentuates α–chloralose narcosis, making capture more likely and efficient.     

中国含笑属植物繁殖技术研究及其应用

综述了中国木兰科含笑属植物繁殖技术研究及其应用,探讨了今后的研究方向和重点.     

Fish assemblages in the Southern California Current: relationships with climate, 1951–2008

We examined the dominant patterns of variability in the fish fauna of the southern California Current based on a principal component (PC) analysis of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations ichthyoplankton data set, 1951–2008. Eighty‐six taxa were analyzed, including all ecologically dominant fish species, both exploited and unexploited. The first three PCs accounted for 20.5, 12.4 and 6.8% of the variance of the data, respectively (total: 39.7%). Each was dominated by taxa from particular adult or larval habitats. PC 1 predominantly represented the coherent response of 24 mesopelagic taxa from 10 families and was most highly correlated with long‐term trends in midwater oxygen levels. PC 2 was dominated by six of the seven most abundant ichthyoplankton taxa in the region, predominantly California Current endemics including key pelagic species (northern anchovy, Pacific sardine and Pacific hake), rockfishes (genus Sebastes) and two midwater taxa. It was correlated primarily with sea surface temperature and exhibited a significant declining trend. PC 3 was dominated by coastal and reef‐associated fishes with predominantly southerly affinities. It was positively correlated with sea surface temperature and sea level height, a proxy for diminished flow of the California Current. The taxa dominating PCs 2 and 3 mostly spatially co‐occur as ichthyoplankton. These results suggest that fish assemblages in the California Current are predominantly influenced by environmental forcing of their ocean habitats as adults or larvae, or both.     

Chemical and Thermal Properties of Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) Meat

Chemical compositions and thermal properties of cultured freshwater prawn meat (FPM) were studied. FPM contained 83.2% protein (dry basis), 62.7% of which was myofibrillar protein. Pepsin-soluble collagen (PSC) and insoluble collagen (ISC) contents were 0.63 and 0.32%, respectively. Both collagens were similar to type V collagen from porcine placenta. Glutamic acid/glutamine, arginine, aspartic acid/?asparagine, and lysine were abundant amino acids in FPM. Glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and aspartic acid/?asparagine were predominant in both collagens. FPM exhibited thermal transition temperatures (T_max) of 48.3 and 64.7°C, whereas T_max of PSC and ISC were 43.0 and 46.0°C, respectively. Textural changes in FPM during post-mortem storage on ice are plausibly dependent upon its compositional and thermal properties.     

Identification of ommastrephid squid paralarvae collected in northern Hawaiian waters and phylogenetic implications for the family Ommastrephidae using mtDNA analysis

ABSTRACT:   A total of 110 adult individuals from four ommastrephid (family Ommastrephidae) squid species ( Ommastrephes bartramii, Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis, Eucleoteuthis luminosa, and Hyaloteuthis pelagica ) were used to obtain diagnostic DNA markers for species identification. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of a partial segment (855 bp) of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed that the restriction profiles of two endonucleases ( Alu  I and Tsp 509 I) were diagnostic for species identification. The restriction assay partially supplemented with nucleotide sequence analysis successfully assigned 69 damaged and morphologically equivocal ommastrephid paralarvae collected in northern Hawaiian waters, identifying 60 O. bartramii , eight S. oualaniensis , and one E. luminosa . The family Ommastrephidae appears to be monophyletic. Although the phylogenetic relationships among genera were not resolved well due to apparent homoplasy and large genetic divergence between species, COI sequence data without transitions provided support for subfamily level relationships.     

Breaking the ice: the introduction of biofouling organisms to Antarctica on vessel hulls

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南太平洋延绳钓长鳍金枪鱼生物学组成及其与栖息环境关系

长鳍金枪鱼(Thunnus alalunga)经济价值高,是我国延绳钓渔业重要的目标鱼种。根据2013年9月~2014年1月和2014年4~8月我国金枪鱼观察员在南太平洋东部海域收集的长鳍金枪鱼样本和海洋环境数据,对其生物学组成和栖息环境进行了研究。结果表明:叉长(FL,cm)与体质量(WW,kg)的关系为:WW=3×10-5×FL2.909 9(雌雄性,R2=0.915 3);体长(TL,cm)与叉长(FL,cm)关系为:TL=1.033 6FL+2.555(R2=0.961 4);叉长(FL,cm)与两背鳍间距(LD1D2,cm)的关系为:LD1D2=0.248 5FL+1.238 1(R2=0.815 1);利用各水层长鳍金枪鱼渔获率(catch per unit effort,CPUE)推测其主要的栖息水层为150~270 m,栖息水层温度范围16~22℃,盐度范围35.0~35.6,其中最高资源丰度主要分布在190~230 m的水层,对应的温度为18~20℃,盐度为35.2~35.4。研究结果可为掌握南太平洋长鳍金枪鱼栖息环境提供基础数据。