Conservation of coral reef biodiversity: a comparison of reserve selection procedures for corals and fishes

A range of different biodiversity-based selection methods for nature reserves has been tested for terrestrial environments, including those based on diversity hotspots, endemicity hotspots and complementarity. In this study, we investigate the utility of these approaches for a coral reef embayment. We compare coral and fish species richness in a random accumulation of reserve sites with (a) hotspots analysis, (b) stratified selection of hotspots, and (c) complementarity. Cumulative species-site curves indicated that complementarity maximized the rate of accumulation of species of both corals and fishes in reserves, while the hotspot approach performed moderately well. An equivalent number of reserve sites supported a greater proportion of the coral biodiversity when compared to fishes, reflecting the broader distribution of corals. Our results indicate that when choosing an indicator group as a proxy for representing overall diversity in a reserve network, the group with the greatest heterogeneity will provide the best results. Our findings also show that although a modest number of protected sites (20%) will incorporate much of the local diversity (>75%), species-specific approaches must be incorporated to target rare species.     

Distribution, abundance and conservation status of dugongs and dolphins in the southern and western Arabian Gulf

The marine mammals of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were censussed by three strip-transect aerial surveys. The Arabian Gulf supports a population of ca. 5800 dugongs (Dugong dugon), which is the largest known outside Australia. The most important habitats occur (1) around Murawah Island (UAE), (2) between Qatar and Bahrain and (3) between Qatar and the UAE. Surveys of the UAE were repeated 13 years apart. The two estimates of the dugong population were not significantly different, suggesting a stable population of ca. 3000 between 1986 and 1999. In the region between Kuwait and Oman, the Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) is the most common cetacean (71% of groups and individuals), followed by the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis; 27%) and finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides; 2%). The estimates of cetacean abundance in the UAE differed significantly between 1986 and 1999 and indicate a population decline of 71%. At least two die-offs of marine mammals occurred between these surveys. The countries of the southern Gulf are developed and affluent and are well positioned to take a lead in marine conservation in the region. A coordinated series of protected areas could greatly enhance the long-term prospects for marine mammals and other components of biodiversity in the region.     

加快广东海水养殖业可持续发展的对策

在分析广东海水养殖业存在的诸多问题的基础上,提出解决问题的措施。     

白血病抑制因子在雌性哺乳动物生殖过程中的作用

白血病抑制因子是一种多功能的细胞因子,与哺乳动物的生殖过程密切相关,在排卵、胚胎发育及胚胎着床等过程中起重要的调节作用。母体激素和细胞因子可通过调控白血病抑制因子的表达而影响生殖过程。在此,对LIF在雌性哺乳动物生殖过程中的作用进行了综述。     

海产品中牛磺酸测定前处理方法探讨

探讨了海产品中牛磺酸测定的三种前处理方法:6%磺基水杨酸热水浴提取法;0.02mol/L盐酸提取法;70%乙醇沸水浴提取法。结果表明:采用6%磺基水杨酸热水浴提取法均比0.02mol/L盐酸提取法和70%乙醇沸水浴提取法测定值高,测定结果精确度高、重现性好、回收率达98%、变异系数(CV)为1.86%。该法试剂成本低,操作简便,且能同时测定其它18种游离氨基酸,是海产品牛黄酸测定的理想方法。     

Consequences of adult and juvenile movement for marine protected areas

Adult and juvenile mobility has a considerable influence on the functioning of marine protected areas. It is recognized that adult and juvenile movement reduces the core benefits of protected areas, namely protecting the full age–structure of marine populations, while at the same time perhaps improving fisheries yield over the no-reserve situation through export of individuals from protected areas. Nevertheless, the study of the consequences of movement on protected area functioning is unbalanced. Significant attention has been paid to the influence of certain movement patterns, such as diffusive movement and home ranges, while the impacts of others, such as density-dependent movements and ontogenetic migrations, have been relatively ignored. Here we review the diversity of density-independent and density-dependent movement patterns, as well as what is currently known about their consequences for the conservation and fisheries effects of marine protected areas. We highlight a number of ‘partially addressed’ issues in marine protected area research, such as the effects of reserves targeting specific life phases, and a number of essentially unstudied issues, such as density-dependent movements, nomadism, ontogenetic migrations, behavioral polymorphism and ‘dynamic’ reserves that adjust location as a realtime response to habitat changes. Assessing these issues will be essential to creating effective marine protected area networks for mobile species and accurately assessing reserve impacts on these species.     

Community-based conservation results in the recovery of reef fish spawning aggregations in the Coral Triangle

In the Coral Triangle community-based marine protected areas (MPAs) are being established at a prolific rate. Their establishment can benefit both fisheries and biodiversity, and they provide both a socially and economically acceptable means of managing coral reefs in developing nations. However, because such MPAs are typically small (usually <0.5 km²), they will rarely provide protection to large mobile fishes. An exception to this limitation may exist when community-based MPAs are established to protect small sites where vital processes occur, such as fish spawning aggregations (FSAs). To test the effectiveness of small (0.1–0.2 km²) MPAs for protecting FSAs, we monitored three FSA sites where brown-marbled grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus), camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) and squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) aggregate to spawn. Sites were monitored during peak reproductive periods (several days prior to each new moon) between January 2005 and November 2009. All three sites are located in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, and had been exploited for decades, but in 2004 two sites were protected by the establishment of community-based MPAs. The third site continued to be exploited. Over the monitoring period densities of E. fuscoguttatus and E. polyphekadion increased at both MPAs, but not at the site that remained open to fishing. At one MPA the densities of E. polyphekadion increased tenfold. Our findings demonstrate that community-based MPAs that are appropriately designed and adequately enforced can lead to the recovery of populations of vulnerable species that aggregate to spawn.     

哺乳动物细胞无血清培养基研究进展

随着哺乳动物细胞培养种类、规模和应用范围的不断扩大以及安全性能要求的不断提高,无血清培养基的研制已经成为细胞工程领域的重要课题.许多类型的哺乳动物细胞无血清培养基配方得到了研究开发和优化,且有些已经进入第3代无蛋白无血清培养基研制阶段.论文重点概述了无血清培养基在添加因子作用机制、细胞分化条件、细胞和组织移植以及肿瘤治...     

哺乳动物原始卵泡生长启动的调控

哺乳动物卵泡发育是一个被众多内分泌、旁分泌和自分泌因素精确调控的生理过程。原始卵泡生长启动可能受卵巢内在因子，如生长因子等的调控，而不是通常认为的FSH(促卵泡素)；原始卵泡细胞连接和原始卵泡的细胞(卵母细胞和颗粒细胞)之间相互作用也参与调节原始卵泡的生长启动