Genetic diversity and population structure of the sea star Asterias amurensis in the northern coast of China

The sea star Asterias amurensis is widely viewed as a severe“marine pest”because of its broad feeding habits.Over the past few decades,A.amurensis undergoes massive and sporadic population outbreaks worldwide,causing extensive economic and ecological losses to the local aquaculture industry and marine ecosystem.Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of A.amurensis can provide vital information for resource management.By analyzing the polymorphism of the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I(COI)gene and ten simple sequence repeat(SSR)microsatellites markers,the genetic diversity and population structure of A.amurensis of four populations along the northern coast of China was uncovered.A total of 36 haplotypes were identified,and a main haplotype was found in four populations.The Qingdao(QD)population displayed the highest genetic diversity among all the populations.The AMOVA and pairwise F_(st)showed that there was small but statistically significant population differentiation among the four populations,especially between QD and Weihai(WH).Moreover,the principal component analysis(PCA)and admixture analysis showed that several individuals in Yantai(YT)and Dalian(DL)had little genetic association with other individuals.Overall,this study provided useful information of the genetic diversity and population structure of A.amurensis and will contribute to the resource management of A.amurensis in China.

Effects of key species mud snail Bullacta exarata (Gastropoda) on oxygen and nutrient fluxes at the sediment-water interface in the Huanghe River Delta, China

Since the mud snail Bullacta exarata was introduced for economic aquaculture in the Huanghe River(Yellow River) Delta in 2001, its quick population growth and expanded distribution make it a key-species in the intertidal zone of this area. This significantly contributed to the economic income of the local people, but its potential ecological impact on the benthic ecosystem remains unknown. A mesocosm study was conducted to test whether its bioturbation activities affect the microphytobenthos(MPBs;i.e., sedimentary microbes and unicellular algae)productivity and the nutrient exchange between the sediment-water interface. Our results show that the mud snail significantly impacted the dissolved oxygen(DO) flux across the sediment-water interface on the condition of normal sediment and light treatment, and significantly increased the ammonium efflux during recovery period in the defaunated sediment and dark treatment. The presence of micro-and meiofauna significantly increased the NH4-N flux in dark treatment. Whereas, in light treatment, these small animals had less effects on the DO and NH4-N flux between sediment-water interface. Our results provide better insight into the effect of the mud snail B.exarata on the ecosystem functioning via benthic fluxes.

A new oil spill detection algorithm based on Dempster-Shafer evidence theory

Features of oil spills and look-alikes in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar(SAR)images always play an important role in oil spill detection.Many oil spill detection algorithms have been implemented based on these features.Although environmental factors such as wind speed are important to distinguish oil spills and look-alikes,some oil spill detection algorithms do not consider the environmental factors.To distinguish oil spills and look-alikes more accurately based on environmental factors and image features,a new oil spill detection algorithm based on Dempster-Shafer evidence theory was proposed.The process of oil spill detection taking account of environmental factors was modeled using the subjective Bayesian model.The Faster-region convolutional neural networks(RCNN)model was used for oil spill detection based on the convolution features.The detection results of the two models were fused at decision level using Dempster-Shafer evidence theory.The establishment and test of the proposed algorithm were completed based on our oil spill and look-alike sample database that contains 1798 image samples and environmental information records related to the image samples.The analysis and evaluation of the proposed algorithm shows a good ability to detect oil spills at a higher detection rate,with an identifi cation rate greater than 75%and a false alarm rate lower than 19%from experiments.A total of 12 oil spill SAR images were collected for the validation and evaluation of the proposed algorithm.The evaluation result shows that the proposed algorithm has a good performance on detecting oil spills with an overall detection rate greater than 70%.

The behavioral and antioxidant response of the bivalve Gomphina veneriformis to sediment burial effect

A laboratory-based microcosm experiment was carried out to examine both the behavioral and antioxidant response of the clam Gomphina veneriformis under the conditions of 3 types of burial material(sand,silt,silt-sand mixture)with 3 burial depths(5 cm,15 cm,30 cm).The concentration of dissolved oxygen decreased significantly after 3 d of burial in all experimental groups.In silt and sand-silt mixture groups,the interstitial water quality became worsened with lower pH,and higher NH4^(+)-N concentration,where clam mortality occurred simultaneously.However,clam samples in all sand groups and 5 cm,15 cm sand-silt mixture groups survived well for 8 d.Obviously fewer individuals left in the bottom sand in the 15 cm,30 cm silt groups and 30 cm sand-silt mixture groups than in the 5 cm groups.Therefore,it suggests that adding silt and increasing burial depth could stimulate the vertical movement of organisms and cause lethal effects.It was found that the burial depth was the key factor that influenced the activities of antioxidant enzymes,such as superoxide dismutase(SOD)and catalase(CAT).The SOD and CAT activities in the gills and hepatopancreases of organisms both showed significant upregulation in 30 cm burial depth after buried for 8 d.Higher enzyme activities were found in gills than in hepatopancreases,which indicated that the gills of the bivalve G.veneriformis were more susceptible to burial effects than hepatopancreases.Overall,this study shows that sediment burial could cause effects on the biological behavior and antioxidant enzyme activities.

黄河三角洲湿地生态修复区大型底栖动物群落结构与生态健康评价

黄河三角洲国际重要湿地生物多样性保护工程于2019年动工,本研究基于修复区内大型底栖动物群落组成特点及其与环境因子的相关关系,分析大型底栖动物群落恢复特征,了解该地区的生态系统健康状况,评估保护工程实施三年后修复区湿地生态系统演替阶段及修复效果。结果表明:2022年春、夏、秋三季共采集到大型底栖动物16种,隶属于5门6纲15科,昆虫纲动物在物种组成中占据优势地位;大型底栖动物密度和生物多样性指数的时空差异均不显著(P>0.05);大型底栖动物生物量存在显著的季节差异,表现为秋季(2.89 g/m^(2))>夏季(1.95 g/m^(2))>春季(1.90 g/m^(2)),秋季与春季和夏季间均存在显著差异(P<0.05),空间差异不显著(P>0.05)。与环境因子的相关性分析结果显示,蠓科一种(Ceratopogonidae sp.)、石缨虫属一种(Laonome sp.)、椭圆萝卜螺(Radix swinhoei)、尖口圆扁螺(Hippeutis cantori)等物种密度与电导率、盐度、总碳、铵盐和亚硝酸盐等指标显著相关(P<0.01)。快速生物综合评价指数评定修复区为“亚健康”状态。本研究通过对黄河三角洲湿地修复区大型底栖动物群落特征以及生态健康评价的分析,为修复区底栖动物群落的演替规律研究提供基础数据和科学依据,为后续湿地修复工程的实施和管理提供指导和参考,对于黄河三角洲生物多样性的保护具有重要意义。

Phase forming law and electrochemical properties of A2B7-type La-Y-Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys with different La/Y ratios

The effects of different proportions of La and Y elements in the A-side on the structure and properties of A_(2)B_(7)-type La-Y-Ni hydrogen storage alloys were investigated.The(La,Y)_(2)Ni_(7)hydrogen storage alloys with different La/Y ratios were prepared by sintering the Y_(2)Ni_(4)precursor and different AB_(5)-type precursors at 1298 K for 5 h and subsequently annealed for 20 h at 1248 K.All the alloys only contain Ce_(2)Ni_(7)(2H-type)and Gd_(2)Co_(7)(3R-type)phases with different mass ratios.As the La/Y ratio decreases,the cell volume of the two phases declines and the corresponding plateau pressure gradually increases.As the proportion of Y in the alloy increases,the hydrogen storage capacity increases gradually from 1.309 wt%(La/Y=1/1)to 1.713 wt%(La/Y=1/5)and the high-rate discharge(HRD1500)ability of the alloy electrodes increases gradually from 62.7%(La/Y=1/1)to 88.6%(La/Y=1/5).The hydrogen diffusion rate in the bulk of the alloy is the controlling step of hydriding/dehydriding kinetics.The Y ele ment can effectively inhibit the hydrogen-induced amorphous(HIA)of La-Y-Ni alloys,but the poor stability of the Y element in alkaline KOH aqueous solution leads to a decrease in the electrochemical cyclic stability with increasing Y content.

黄河三角洲潮间带及近岸浅海大型底栖动物物种组成及长周期变化

黄河三角洲湿地是渤海重要的生态功能区,在生物多样性保护与生态功能恢复方面发挥着重要作用。为系统研究该区域内大型底栖动物群落物种组成及时空分布,作者在该区域典型潮间带和近岸浅海(5m以浅水域)布设11个断面,分别于2016年8月和11月, 2017年5月、8月和11月进行3个季节取样。结果显示:黄河三角洲潮间带和邻近海域共发现大型底栖动物187种。其中,潮间带分布119种,近岸浅海分布99种。黄河三角洲潮间带和近海大型底栖动物物种组成均具有明显的时空差异。与历史资料相比,黄河三角洲潮间带和近岸浅海大型底栖动物物种组成发生了明显变化,动物个体呈小型化趋势。总体表现为自20世纪90年代末至今,个体大的甲壳动物和软体动物经济类群逐渐被个体小且经济价值较低的多毛类、双壳类和甲壳动物取代。引起上述变化的原因复杂,主要驱动力包括黄河来水量与输沙量的减少、人类活动(过度捕捞、开发力度加大)和互花米草(Spartina alterniflora)入侵。

Fluorescent probe gold nanodots to quick detect Cr(VI) via oxidoreduction quenching process

A method is described here for the quickly(<30 s) accurate determination of Cr(VI)(Cr_2O_7^(2-)), based on fluorescent probes gold nanodots(AuNDs, excitation/emission peaks at 395/604 nm) coated with glutathione(GSH). The fluorescence of the AuNDs responses linearly to Cr(VI) concentrations, ranging widely from 1 nM to 10 m M with detection limit as low as 0.35 nM. At the same time, the AuNDs is demonstrated highly selective for Cr(VI) detection over other acid group ions and metal ions without any masking reagent. These make probability for practical use. The quenching mechanism is investigated deeply via fluorescent lifetime, XPS and TEM analysis. Different from most reported quenching explanation of aggregation derived from charge attraction, these results verify the redox reaction between Cr_2O_7^(2-)and sulfhydryl(–S) of GSH. The Au(I)–S bonds of AuNDs broke, accompanies with the oxidation of –S to form S–S bonds. As a result, AuNDs cross linked to each other. In the end, the fluorescence quenched. Attractively, the present study provides a new strategy for pollutant detection, such as from harmful Cr(VI) of Cr_2O_7^(2-)to nontoxic Cr(III).