Plantation rows as dispersal routes: A test with didelphid marsupials in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Anecdotal observations suggest that some vertebrates follow plantation rows when crossing between habitat patches in fragmented landscapes, but the frequency of such behavior was never formally tested despite its potential implications for landscape management. We experimentally tested if the didelphid marsupials Didelphis aurita and Philander frenatus use plantation rows as guidelines when searching for habitat patches in a landscape of fragmented Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Thirty-seven individuals of P. frenatus and 24 of D. aurita were captured in forest fragments and released carrying spool-and-line tracking devices at four distances (30-200 m) from a forest fragment, in a matrix of manioc plantations. Animals of both species used plantation rows to orient their initial movements and used rows as guidelines along their paths for navigating in the matrix. By moving predominantly parallel to the plantation rows animals reduced the tortuosity of their paths and obtained an unobstructed view of the landscape ahead. These results demonstrate that the orientation of linear plantations can strongly influence functional connectivity between habitat fragments. Plantation rows should be oriented to maximize connection between nearby fragments, enhancing dispersal success of these species and probably many other terrestrial vertebrates in agricultural landscapes.     

运用基因组和EST数据库进行电子克隆分离杨树功能基因的策略

杨树是重要的造林绿化树种,也是主要的工业用材树种,还是高大林木的模式树种.进行杨树功能基因的挖掘、克隆和功能的研究,是当前杨树基因组学的首要任务之一,不仅可为杨树品种改良和基因资源的有效利用奠定基础,而且对探讨林木的生理及遗传特性分子机制也具有重要的理论意义.电子克隆是近年来伴随着基因组计划和EST计划发展起来的基因克隆新方法,具有成本低、速度快、技术要求低和针对性强等优点.丰富的杨树EST数据和公布的杨树基因组序列框架图,使得利用电子克隆技术开展杨树功能基因的分离和鉴定已经成为可能.本文阐述了电子克隆分离杨树功能基因的基本方法、相关的生物信息资源,并讨论了电子克隆技术存在的问题和未来发展.     

中华通草蛉幼虫对绣线菊蚜捕食作用的研究

中华通草蛉幼虫1~3龄对绣线菊蚜的功能反应和2龄幼虫的种内干扰效应研究表明:功能反应均属HollingⅡ型,功能反应的参数说明中华通草蛉对控制绣线菊蚜具有保护利用价值;2龄幼虫的干扰效应用Hassell&Varley的模式(E=QP-m)进行模拟,模拟模型为E=0.2651p-0.2106,结果说明,随着2龄幼虫密度的增大,其捕食作用率随之减小。     

黄骅市未利用地开发适宜性分区研究

未利用地作为重要的土地后备资源,研究其开发适宜性及其开发模式是实现土地可持续利用的重要举措,对保障我国粮食安全、实现经济发展和生态文明建设均具有重要意义。同时,科学引导土地开发利用,对未利用地可能的开发利用方向进行适宜性评价,研究确定开发分区,也是推动国土科技创新的重点。在此背景下,本文以河北省黄骅市为例,将未利用地做宜耕、宜建和生态风险三重评价,并结合权衡模型和遗传算法对上述三重评价进行耦合分析,确定开发分区,进而解决多开发方向之间的权衡问题,为全国未利用地开发提供示范。研究表明:1)黄骅市未利用地宜耕开发可分为4个等级,主要为不适宜级宜耕未利用地,集中在市东部沿海;2)宜建开发可分3个等级,主要为低适宜级宜建未利用地,集中分布在市中部和西部;3)生态风险区可分为5级,呈东高西低的空间格局,主要为中低和中高生态风险未利用地;4)黄骅市未利用地资源可分为耕地、建设用地、生态用地3种重点开发区,其中,耕地重点开发区主要分布在中部和西部,建设用地重点开发区主要分布在黄骅镇周围,生态用地重点开发区主要位于东部沿海。研究结果可为破解土地供需两难提供科学支持。     

Biogeography and biophysicochemical traits link N2O emissions,N2O emission potential and microbial communities across New Zealand pasture soils

The process of denitrification has been studied for decades, with current evidence suggesting that an ecosystem's ability to produce and emit N₂O is controlled both by transient ‘proximal’ regulators (e.g. temperature, moisture, N availability) as well as distal regulators (e.g. soil type, microbial functional diversity, geography). In this study we use New Zealand soils as a model system to test the impact of distal regulators (i.e. geography) on microbial communities and their N₂O emission potential. Using gas chromatography, soil chemical analyses, 16S amplicon sequencing, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) on three denitrifier functional genes (nirS, nirK and nosZ), we assessed the factors linked to N₂O emissions across a latitudinal gradient. Results show that soil drainage class, soil texture class, and latitude were powerful regulators of both emissions and emission end products (N₂ vs. N₂O). Mixed models demonstrate that a few variables (including latitude, texture class, drainage class and denitrifier community data [abundance and diversity] amongst others) were enough to predict both the amount and type of gas emitted. In addition we show that microbial community composition (based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing) can also be used to predict both the gas species and quantity emitted.     

Substrate utilisation profiles of microbial communities in peat are depth dependent and correlate with whole soil FTIR profiles

A multiple substrate induced respiration (SIR) assay, using ¹⁴C-labelled carbon sources, was used to evaluate community level physiological profiles (CLPP) of the microbial community in peat horizons of differing degrees of humification. The separation and grouping of the peat horizons by CLPP was similar to the pattern produced by analysis of the organic carbon chemistry of the peat horizons by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and therefore reflected the level of decomposition. Partial redundancy analysis showed that a large proportion (68.7%) of the variability in the CLPP data could be attributed to the ratio of polysaccharide to ‘carboxylate’ FTIR bands alone. The multiple substrate SIR technique may, therefore, be a powerful technique to further elucidate the influence of the microbial constituent of peat on the potential activity and patterns of cycling of labile carbon in peatlands.     

Impact of DNA extraction method on bacterial community composition measured by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

The impact of DNA extraction protocol on soil DNA yield and bacterial community composition was evaluated. Three different procedures to physically disrupt cells were compared: sonication, grinding-freezing-thawing, and bead beating. The three protocols were applied to three different topsoils. For all soils, we found that each DNA extraction method resulted in unique community patterns as measured by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. This indicates the importance of the DNA extraction protocol on data for evaluating soil bacterial diversity. Consistently, the bead-beating procedure gave rise to the highest number of DNA bands, indicating the highest number of bacterial species. Supplementing the bead-beating procedure with additional cell-rupture steps generally did not change the bacterial community profile. The same consistency was not observed when evaluating the efficiency of the different methods on soil DNA yield. This parameter depended on soil type. The DNA size was of highest molecular weight with the sonication and grinding-freezing-thawing procedures (approx. 20 kb). In contrast, the inclusion of bead beating resulted in more sheared DNA (approx. 6-20 kb), and the longer the bead-beating time, the higher the fraction of low-molecular weight DNA. Clearly, the choice of DNA extraction protocol depends on soil type. We found, however, that for the analysis of indigenous soil bacterial communities the bead-beating procedure was appropriate because it is fast, reproducible, and gives very pure DNA of relatively high molecular weight. And very importantly, with this protocol the highest soil bacterial diversity was obtained. We believe that the choice of DNA extraction protocol will influence not only the determined phylogenetic diversity of indigenous microbial communities, but also the obtained functional diversity. This means that the detected presence of a functional gene—and thus the indication of enzyme activity—may depend on the nature of the applied DNA extraction procedure.     

Resistance and resilience of zinc tolerant nitrifying communities is unaffected in long-term zinc contaminated soils

Zinc (Zn) tolerant nitrifying communities were previously identified in soil samples of a long-term Zn contaminated transect towards a galvanised pylon. We questioned whether Zn tolerance increased the vulnerability of the nitrifying communities to stressors. The influence of pesticide addition, freeze-thaw or dry-wet cycles on the soil nitrification (‘functional stability’) was assessed in a series of these soils representing a Zn contamination and Zn tolerance gradient. The immediate effect of the stressors to the nitrification (‘resistance’) and the residual effect after 3 weeks incubation (‘resilience’) were determined. Our results show that neither resistance nor resilience to these stressors was affected by adaptation of the nitrifying communities to elevated Zn concentrations in the long-term contaminated soils.     

Effects of structural and functional connectivity and patch size on the abundance of seven Atlantic Forest bird species

We studied the importance of fragment size and structural and functional connectivity on the occurrence and abundance of seven Atlantic Forest bird species in 13 patches (13-275 ha) and three sites within a continuous forest (10,000 ha). We sampled birds with point counts and evaluated structural connectivity considering the presence of corridors and the degree of isolation. We defined functional connectivity by analyzing species movements using playbacks in forest corridors between fragments and in the surrounding matrix. Species differed in their responses to fragmentation. For the frugivorous species, Trogon surrucura, Carpornis cucullatus and Triclaria malachitacea, patch size was the main factor determining abundance. Two understory insectivorous species, Basileuterus leucoblepharus and Pyriglena leucoptera, were more affected by the degree of patch connectivity, the former by the presence of corridors and the latter by the distance between patches. The capacity of P. leucoptera to use corridors and open areas (i.e. functional connectivity) shaped its abundance pattern. Fragmentation had no effect on the abundance of Chiroxiphia caudata and had a positive effect on Batara cinerea. This study emphasizes the importance of considering species’ perceptions of landscape, especially functional connectivity, in understanding the effects of habitat fragmentation.     

Olfactory cues associated with fungal grazing intensity and secondary metabolite pathway modulate Collembola foraging behaviour

Fungal secondary compounds play an important role for springtail food choice and fitness. Little is known, however, on the role of olfactory cues for Collembola foraging behaviour and whether Collembola can olfactorily perceive volatiles associated with fungal secondary metabolite pathways. We investigated the ability of three species of Collembola (Folsomia candida, Heteromurus nitidus and Supraphorura furcifera) to use olfactory cues for discriminating between fungi of different phylogenetic affiliation (Aspergillus nidulans, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Ascomycota; Laccaria bicolor, Basidiomycota) and toxicity using fungal strains of A. nidulans with reduced secondary metabolite production. Furthermore, we studied if olfactory cues from hyphae injured by grazing affect the foraging behaviour of Collembola. We hypothesized that (i) Collembola are able to olfactorily perceive and respond to fungal species/strains with different secondary metabolite pathways and that (ii) Collembola are able to sense fungal mycelia injured by grazing. Each of the Collembola species studied preferentially oriented their foraging towards fungal strains of A. nidulans with suppressed secondary metabolites, and in particular towards the mutant where the global regulator for secondary metabolites (ΔlaeA) has been silenced. Two of the three Collembola species (H. nitidus and S. furcifera) sensed olfactory cues of previously grazed fungi and moved towards ungrazed fungi, however, the response of S. furcifera was restricted to fungi extensively exposed to grazing (5 days) suggesting that the response varies between Collembola species.Overall, the results support the first and second hypothesis indicating that Collembola (1) are able to olfactorily differentiate fungi of different toxicity and move towards more palatable fungi, and (2) showed a lesser preference for fungi previously exposed to grazing.