Response of photosynthesis,growth,and acorn mass of pedunculate oak to diff erent levels of nitrogen in wet and dry growing seasons

The objective was to examine the effects of optimal leaf nitrogen levels>2.0%and suboptimal levels<2.0%,nitrogen nutrition on net photo synthetic rate,stem diameter increment,height growth increment and acorn mass of pedunculate oak during 2010 in the absence of drought stress and during 2011 under the impact of moderate drought stress.According to the results,moderate drought stress significantly reduced net photo synthetic rate,stem diameter increment and height growth increment,while acorn mass was not affected.Suboptimal nitrogen nutrition significantly reduced the net photo synthetic rate and stem diameter increment only in the wet year,acorn mass in both wet and dry years,while height growth increment was not significantly reduced by suboptimal nitrogen nutrition in either year.The results indicate that optimal nitrogen levels can stimulate photo synthetic rate and stem diameter increment of pedunculate oak only in the absence of moderate drought stress.Moreover,the results show that moderate drought stress is a more dominant stressor for photosynthesis and growth of pedunculate oak than suboptimal nitrogen nutrition,while for acorn development,it is the more dominant stressor.

Growth marks in eyestalks of Portunus trituberculatus:A development of technique and evidence of molting

The analysis of growth bands in the eyestalk has been increasingly used for estimating crustacean ageing and molting.In this study,we developed an effective method to process and observe the eyestalk microstructure of the swimming crab(Portunus trituberculatus).We found that dark pigmentation as a result of boiling has an influence on the observation of the eyestalk microstructure.Choosing an unboiled eyestalk,this study compared the cross section and longitudinal section,and concluded that the cross section is suitable for the observation of growth increments with 6.1%CV(coefficient of variation),and growth bands are suitable for the observation of the longitudinal section with 5.4%CV.The width of growth increments near the edge of the endocuticle is small,and the width of growth increments of the middle part of the endocuticle is large.Relationship of number of growth bands to molting time was fitted to a linear function with the slope not significantly different from 1,indicating that growth bands are formed associated with molting.Periodicity of growth increment formation was calculated as 3.7 d,however was not verified.Our results provide a new improved technique for identification of crustacean molting and growth.