How much variation can be explained by seasonal,spatial and environmental effects in nekton assemblages of the Terminos Lagoon?

• 1. The coastline is very sensitive to both climatic and human influences but also provides essential goods and services upon which human welfare depends. Species inhabiting these coastal areas provide valuable resources and enhance ecosystem functioning: it is therefore essential to understand the main factors influencing species abundance patterns. The aim of this study is to estimate the amount of variation in nekton coastal assemblages explained by spatial, temporal and environmental variables.
• 2. Nekton sampling was carried out over 17 months in the Terminos Lagoon, a reserve area situated in the Gulf of Mexico, using a shrimp trawl. At each station, 11 environmental variables were recorded. The influence of seasonal, spatial and environmental variables on nekton species abundance was analysed using Partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis (PCCA).
• 3. The explanatory variables explained only 19.7% of the total observed variation in the nekton community for the Terminos Lagoon. The major part of the explained variation was due to the spatial effect (9.2%), while environmental variables and seasonality explained only 3.6% and 0.8%, respectively, suggesting the necessity to consider experimental fishing design in such artisanal fisheries.
• 4. Results also suggest focusing on more integrative indicators of community structure such as measures of taxonomic diversity based on presence/absence or on measures related to functional attributes of communities rather than using species abundance patterns to predict changes in coastal ecosystems.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blood and haemoglobin meal as protein sources in diets for gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata): effects on growth, nutritive efficiency and fillet sensory differences

Two parallel experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of partial substitution of fish meal by two different animal protein sources, blood meal (B) and haemoglobin meal (H) at 0, 50 and 100 g kg⁻¹ of level inclusion in diets for gilthead sea bream, considering a long feeding period for juveniles (Trial 1) and a short feeding period (Trial 2) for on-growing fish. In Trial 1, 33 g juveniles were fed for 242 days and the fish fed with 5% and 10% of haemoglobin dietary inclusion obtained less growth, although feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio and muscle composition were similar in all diets. In Trial 2, 179 g initial weight fish were fed for 164 days and growth of fish fed H10 showed the lowest growth, although nutrient efficiency and muscle composition were not affected significantly. The results of these experiments demonstrated that blood meal can substitute fish meal (up to 10%) with no effect on performance, but may lead to sensory differences compared with fish fed diet 0, while the inclusion of 5% blood meal had no effect on growth or sensory characteristics. Fish fed 10% haemoglobin inclusion had the poorest growth values.     

平邑甜茶后代双胚苗的倍性鉴定及核型分析

为了确定平邑甜茶双胚苗的倍性特征和核型特点,采用压片和流式细胞仪观测的方法对平邑甜茶后代中双胚苗进行染色体倍性观察和核型分析。结果表明:4株供试材料均为三倍体,2n=3x=51,染色体为小型,染色体长度比差异不大;核型组成由中部着丝点染色体(m)和亚中部着丝点染色体(sm)组成;株系8-1、8-2、12-1和12-2的核型公式分别为2n=3x=45m+6sm,2n=3x=48m+3sm,2n=3x=27m+24sm,2n=3x=33m+18sm;染色体相对长度和着丝点指数的变异范围分别为1.21%～2.68%和34.19%～42.37%,1.44%～2.63%和35.59%～44.08%,1.36%～3.02%和32.85%～42.18%,1.43%～2.87%和34.23%～44.02%;核型分别属于1B、1A、2B和1B类型,表现为株系之间的核型不完全相同。本研究为丰富无融合生殖型砧木的育种理论,获得新的苹果无融合生殖型砧木提供有益的借鉴。     

中国野生葡萄抗黑痘病基因RAPD标记的克隆、序列分析及辅助育种应用

对中国野生葡萄抗黑痘病基因RAPD标记OPS03-1300进行了克隆、测序及序列分析,结果表明该标记实际长度是1354bp,因此更名为OPS03-1354,其GenBank登录号为DQ350885。该标记序列与99条来自欧洲葡萄的EST有同源性,其中与1条来自赤霞珠叶片感染葡萄皮尔斯病病原菌后获得的EST同源性为82%,与2条来自赤霞珠果实在不同发育期获得的EST同源性分别为80%和85%。该序列与1条来自中国野生华东葡萄白河-35-1叶片接种霜霉病病原菌后获得的EST同源性为67%。该序列编码葡萄的一种假定蛋白。此外,应用该标记对中国野生葡萄与欧洲葡萄的种间杂交广西-1×京可晶F1代339株、白河-35-1×佳利酿F2代207株进行了辅助选择。     

Estimating the impacts of water pricing on smallholder irrigators in North West Province, South Africa

Worldwide growing water scarcity has increased the call for economic instruments to stimulate rational water use in agriculture. Furthermore, cost-recovery is now widely accepted as a cornerstone of sustainable water management. In many developing countries, where agricultural water use is often still subsidised, water pricing policies are developed for allocating water efficiently and achieving sustainability of water systems. However, the impacts of water pricing policies on irrigation water use and on farm production systems is mostly unknown. We introduce an innovative two-stage methodology that allows estimating these effects at farm level. Applying the method to small-scale irrigators in South Africa, we show that water demand is quite responsive even to small changes in water price. In addition, the introduction of a water price significantly decreases farm profit. This appears to be a problem primarily for the poorer farmers.     

Image processing-based study of soil porosity and its effect on water movement through Andosol intact columns

The soil pore network and marcoporosity are important factors affecting water and solute transport. The transfer of contaminants to water resources is of particular importance in the Valle de Bravo watershed as it provides 10% of the drinking water for the 20 million inhabitants of Mexico City. This watershed is composed mainly of Andosols with unique mineralogical and physical characteristics. Soil porosity is usually examined on thin sections, using various image analysis techniques. We propose a novel methodology combining image analysis and a displacement experiment to study relationships between soil structure and water tracer transport parameters. H₂¹⁸O displacement experiments were conducted through intact soil columns sampled at three depths from a representative cultivated Andosol profile. The soil structure and pore characteristics were obtained by image analysis on thin sections obtained from each column at the end of the displacement experiment. The total 2D porosity (for pores larger than 50 μm) varied from 80% of the total section area in the topsoil to around 60% in the subsoil. Tubular pores were the most abundant in the soil profile, but ploughing of the topsoil had destroyed sections of these pores and replaced them with packing pores. Water transport in the intact subsoil columns was always in physical non-equilibrium, showing the existence of preferential flow pathways. In the topsoil, one column out of three showed no preferential flow, demonstrating that soil ploughing also homogenised pore connections. Pore connectivity was larger in the ploughed topsoil than in their deeper soil horizon counterparts. Our methodology offers a 2D quantitative characterisation of the macroporous network at 50 μm resolution and the determination of water transport parameters on the same intact soil samples. 3D characterisation of soil porosity using X-ray computed tomography (CT) gives a better picture of pore connection but usually has lower spatial resolution and a larger cost.     

FSWM: A hybrid fuzzy-stochastic water-management model for agricultural sustainability under uncertainty

A hybrid fuzzy-stochastic water-management (FSWM) model is developed for agricultural sustainability under uncertainty, based on advancement of a multistage fuzzy-stochastic quadratic programming (MFSQP) approach. In MFSQP, uncertainties presented in terms of fuzziness and randomness can be incorporated within a multilayer scenario tree, such that revised decisions are permitted in each time period based on the realized values of the uncertain events. Moreover, fuzzy quadratic terms are used in the objective function to minimize the variation of satisfaction degrees among the constraints; it allows an increased flexibility in controlling the system risk in the optimization process. Results of the case study indicate that useful solutions for the planning of agricultural water management have been obtained. In the FSWM model, a number of policies for agricultural water supply are conducted. The results obtained can help decision makers to identify desired water-allocation schemes for agricultural sustainability under uncertainty, particularly when limited water resources are available for multiple competing users.     

基于倍四元数和Groebner基的6R机械手的位置反解

提出了一般6R机械手的位置反解的新算法,该算法是把齐次变换矩阵转以倍四元数形式表示,建立了倍四元数形式的串联6R机械手运动学方程,再通过线性消元和两次应用分次字典序Groebner基消去5个变元,得到一个一元16次方程.此方法没有增根,是一种对空间任意尺寸6R机械手进行建模和求解的新算法.其中求解Groebner基采用了计算机代数系统进行有理数运算,目前的求解速度尚不是很高,需进一步改进.     

草方格铺设机器人多体动力学仿真与试

采用Pro/E和ADAMS软件相结合的方法,建立了草方格铺设机器人动力学模型,同时探讨了二者联合建模仿真的一般步骤.模型添加必要的边界条件后,对纵向压轮和横向插刀正常动作时的草方格铺设机器人振动状态进行了仿真.通过仿真,得到了牵引车、纵向铺设机构、横向铺设机构、纵向压轮和横向插刀质心的位移、速度以及加速度曲线.分析了这些曲线出现波动的原因,为进一步的优化提供了数据.通过试验,得到实际状态下的试验曲线,并与仿真曲线进行对照,证实了草方格铺设机器人仿真模型和仿真结果的合理性和可靠性.     

实现连架杆给定角位移的机构综合方

对于给定的两连架杆4组对应角位移,可综合得到无穷多个机构解,要求设计者快速、准确地从中选取位置点、综合出满足各项设计要求的最优机构比较困难.为此,根据映射理论,提出把无限的布氏曲线所形成的无穷多机构解表示在有限的区间内,进而通过机构解分析得到感兴趣的所有机构属性直观图,包括机构的类型分布、缺陷分布、最小传动角和杆长比等.同时,为避免位置点及机构选取的盲目性,可考虑施加约束条件构成可行机构解区间,在此区间上绘制机构性能分析图,并确定满足实际工程需要的最优机构解.