Aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria, recovered from two sites located on the west coast of Scotland, were compared to cultures obtained in a similar way from industrial, aquacultural and clean sites in the vicinity of Qin...Aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria, recovered from two sites located on the west coast of Scotland, were compared to cultures obtained in a similar way from industrial, aquacultural and clean sites in the vicinity of Qingdao, Shandong, P.R. China. Gram-negative bacterial cultures were examined by BIOLOG-GN, and the data analysed by the simple matching (S SM) and Jaccard coefficients (S J) and unweighted average linkage clustering using NTSys. The output revealed that 20% of the bacteria, namely, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Aquaspirillum dispar, Pseudomonas spp. (two groups), Sphingobacterium sp., Vibrio sp., V. campbellii, V. mimicus and V. hollisae, were common between the two geographical locations. However, the study revealed shortcomings with the BIOLOG-GN system for the study of coastal Gram-negative bacteria.展开更多
Trawl is a main fishing gear in Chinese fishery,capturing large fish and letting small ones at large.However,long-term use of trawl would result in changes of phenotypic traits of the fish stocks,such as smaller size-...Trawl is a main fishing gear in Chinese fishery,capturing large fish and letting small ones at large.However,long-term use of trawl would result in changes of phenotypic traits of the fish stocks,such as smaller size-at-age and earlier age-at-maturation.In this study,we simulated a fish population with size characteristics of trawl fishing and the population produces one generation of offspring and lives for one year,used trawl to exploit the simulated fish population,and captured individuals by body size.We evaluated the impact of the changes on selectivity parameters,such as selective range and the length at 50% retention.Under fishing pressure,we specified the selectivity parameters,and determined that smaller selection rates and greater length at 50% retention were associated with an increased tendency towards miniaturization.展开更多
We propose a solvable aggregation model to mimic the evolution of population A, asset B, and the quantifiable resource C in a society. In this system, the population and asset aggregates themselves grow through selfex...We propose a solvable aggregation model to mimic the evolution of population A, asset B, and the quantifiable resource C in a society. In this system, the population and asset aggregates themselves grow through selfexchanges with the rate kernels Kl（k,j） = K1kj and K2（h,j） = K2kj, respectively. The actions of the population and asset aggregations on the aggregation evolution of resource aggregates are described by the population-catalyzed monomer death of resource aggregates and asset-catalyzed monomer birth of resource aggregates with the rate kerne/s J1（k,j）=J1k and J2（k,j） = J2k, respectively. Meanwhile, the asset and resource aggregates conjunctly catalyze the monomer birth of population aggregates with the rate kernel I1 （k,i,j） = I1ki^μjη, and population and resource aggregates conjunctly catalyze the monomer birth of asset aggregates with the rate kernel /2（k, i, j） = I2ki^νj^η. The kinetic behaviors of species A, B, and C are investigated by means of the mean-field rate equation approach. The effects of the population-catalyzed death and asset-catalyzed birth on the evolution of resource aggregates based on the self-exchanges of population and asset appear in effective forms. The coefficients of the effective population-catalyzed death and the asset-catalyzed birth are expressed as J1e = J1/K1 and J2e= J2/K2, respectively. The aggregate size distribution of C species is found to be crucially dominated by the competition between the effective death and the effective birth. It satisfies the conventional scaling form, generalized scaling form, and modified scaling form in the cases of J1e〈J2e, J1e=J2e, and J1e〉J2e, respectively. Meanwhile, we also find the aggregate size distributions of populations and assets both fall into two distinct categories for different parameters μ,ν, and η： （i） When μ=ν=η=0 and μ=ν=η=1, the population and asset aggregates obey the generalized scaling forms; and （ii） When μ=ν=1,η=0, and μ=ν=η=1, the population and asset aggregates experience gelation transitions at finite times and the scaling forms break down.展开更多
Cervus sichuanicus is a species of sika deer （Cervus nippon Group）. To date, research has mainly focused on quantity surveying and behavior studies, with genetic information on this species currently deficient. To p...Cervus sichuanicus is a species of sika deer （Cervus nippon Group）. To date, research has mainly focused on quantity surveying and behavior studies, with genetic information on this species currently deficient. To provide scientific evidence to assist in the protection of this species, we collected Sichuan sika deer fecal samples from the Sichuan Tiebu Nature Reserve （TNR） and extracted DNA from those samples. Microsatellite loci of bovine were used for PCR amplification. After GeneScan, the genotype data were used to analyze the genetic diversity and population structure of the Sichuan sika deer in TNR. Results showed that the average expected heterozygosity of the Sichuan sika deer population in TNR was 0.562, equivalent to the average expected heterozygosity of endangered animals, such as Procapra przewalsldi. Furthermore, 8 of 9 microsatellite loci significantly deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and two groups existed within the Sichuan sika deer TNR population. This genetic structure may be caused by a group of Manchurian sika deer （Cervus hortulorum） released in TNR.展开更多
A marine red tide algae denominated as Heterocapsa circularisquama was cultured under the control factors. And the ecological function of nutrient salts such as nitrogen （mg/L）, phosphorus （rag/L） as well as silic...A marine red tide algae denominated as Heterocapsa circularisquama was cultured under the control factors. And the ecological function of nutrient salts such as nitrogen （mg/L）, phosphorus （rag/L） as well as silicon （rag/L） in different consistency on the population growth of H. circularisquama was investigated. The results showed that overtop or too low consistency of nutrient salts both delayed the population multiplication of the red tide algae, and different nutrient factors as nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon all had significant effects on the population amplification of H.circularisquama （p〈0.01）. The optimal concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon in the culture medium for the algae propagation and growth were 10 mg/L, 1-5 mg/L and 0 mg/L respectively.展开更多
We investigate statistical properties of multispecies competition ecosystems subjected to both symmetric and asymmetric dichotomous noises. The expression of the stationary probability distribution function （SPDF） i...We investigate statistical properties of multispecies competition ecosystems subjected to both symmetric and asymmetric dichotomous noises. The expression of the stationary probability distribution function （SPDF） is analytically derived by means of mean-field approximation, and verified by stochastic simulations. The results indicate that： （i） A noise amplitude （a0）, a noise autocorrelation time （τ0） and a noise symmetry parameter （k） all can affect the SPDF; （ii） There is an optimal τ0, which makes the mean value of population density be maximal, near which a transition takes place, i.e., the stationary mean value of species density （（x）st） suddenly falls to a lower constant, （iii） As k decreases, the maximum of （x）xt and the optimal 70 increase. The parameter planes of TO -- a20 and τ0- k for the transition are plotted.展开更多
The Municipality of Puebla is today＇s capital of the fourth most important city of Mexico. During 2009, its city hall ranked infirst place in category of metropolitan city as information and communication technologie...The Municipality of Puebla is today＇s capital of the fourth most important city of Mexico. During 2009, its city hall ranked infirst place in category of metropolitan city as information and communication technologies to reach part of ＂Digital City Award＂. From the strategy to use governmental efficiency, as well as interact with the population and socioeconomic development of the zone, free wireless internet was implemented in 39 areas to facilitate the access to training of citizenship by using this new form of media. The municipality has a population with great economic disparity, which is translated in strong social exclusion, located mainly in housing units and popular colonies with people in situation of hereditary poverty. Because of that, the need of knowing the profile and the consumer habits of mass media communication emerges. The research evaluates identification of actual and potential users of the web2.0, so it can be possible to recognize the chances of intervention in this segment and increase its participation on public character programs and promoting equality of opportunities and the possibility being a participative citizenship that contributes to the local human development.展开更多
We propose a metapopulation model with two geographical scales. In a regional scale, the model describes the dynamics of a collection of habitats connected by migratory movements. In a local scale, we consider some gr...We propose a metapopulation model with two geographical scales. In a regional scale, the model describes the dynamics of a collection of habitats connected by migratory movements. In a local scale, we consider some granularity within each habitat, in the sense that each habitat is itself a collection of patches linked by dispersal. The whole ensemble can be seen as a metapopulation composed by local metapopulations. We analyze the synchronization of the model in the two geographical scales. We present an analytic criterion for synchronization where only the habitats in the regional scale evolve with the same dynamics. Through numerical simulations, we discuss the different synchronization modes. It depends on how the individuals are distributed in the local patches that compose a habitat after migration takes place in the regional scale.展开更多
Understanding how population sizes vary over time is a key aspect of ecological research. Unfortunately, our under- standing of population dynamics has historically been based on an assumption that individuals are ide...Understanding how population sizes vary over time is a key aspect of ecological research. Unfortunately, our under- standing of population dynamics has historically been based on an assumption that individuals are identical with homogenous life-history properties. This assumption is certainly false for most natural systems, raising the question of what role individual variation plays in the dynamics of populations. While there has been an increase of interest regarding the effects of within popula- tion variation on the dynamics of single populations, there has been little study of the effects of differences in within population variation on patterns observed across populations. We found that life-history differences （clutch size） among individuals ex- plained the majority of the variation observed in the degree to which population sizes of eastern fence lizards Sceloporus undula- tus fluctuated. This finding suggests that differences across populations cannot be understood without an examination of differences at the level of a system rather than at the level of the individual展开更多
When hybridization results in reduced fitness, natural selection is expected to favor the evolution of traits that minimize the likelihood of hybridizing in the first place. This process, termed reinforcement （or, mo...When hybridization results in reduced fitness, natural selection is expected to favor the evolution of traits that minimize the likelihood of hybridizing in the first place. This process, termed reinforcement （or, more generally, reproductive character displacement）, thereby contributes to the evolution of enhanced reproductive isolation between hybridizing groups. By enhancing reproductive isolation in this way, reinforcement plays an important role in the final stages of speciation. However, reinforcement can also contribute to the early stages of speciation. Specifically, because selection to avoid hybridization occurs only in sympatric populations, the unfolding of reinforcement can lead to the evolution of traits in sympatric populations that reduce reproduction between conspecifics in sympatry versus those in allopatry. Thus, reinforcement between species can lead to reproductive isolation--and possibly speciation-between populations in sympatry versus those in allopatry or among different sympatric populations. Here, I describe how this process can occur, the conditions under which it is most likely to occur, and the empirical data needed to evaluate the hypothesis that reinforcement can initiate speciation.展开更多
The dynamics of a bacterial population exposed to the minimum inhibitory concentration （MIC） of an antibiotic is an important issue in pharmacological research. Therefore, a novel antibiotic susceptibility test is u...The dynamics of a bacterial population exposed to the minimum inhibitory concentration （MIC） of an antibiotic is an important issue in pharmacological research. Therefore, a novel antibiotic susceptibility test is urgently needed that can both precisely determine the MIC and accurately select antibiotic-resistant strains from clinical bacterial populations. For this purpose, we developed a method based on Fick＇s laws of diffusion using agar plates containing a linear gradient of antibiotic. The gradient plate contained two layers. The bottom layer consisted of 15 mL agar containing the appropriate concentration of enrofloxacin and allowed to harden in the form of a wedge with the plate slanted such that the entire bottom was just covered. The upper layer consisted of 15 mL plain nutrient agar added with the plate held in the horizontal position. After allowing vertical diffusion of the drug from the bottom agar layer for 12 h, the enrofloxacin concentration was diluted in proportion to the ratio of the agar layer thicknesses. The uniform linear concentration gradient was verified by measuring the enrofloxacin concentration on the agar surface. When heavy bacterial suspensions were spread on the agar surface and incubated for more than 12 h, only resistant cells were able to form colonies beyond the boundary of confluent growth of susceptible cells. In this way, the true MIC of enrofloxacin was determined. The MICs obtained using this linear gradient plate were consistent with those obtained using conventional antibiotic susceptibility tests. Discrete colonies were then spread onto a gradient plate with higher antibiotic concentrations; the boundary line increased significantly, and gene mutations conferring resistance were identified. This new method enables the rapid identification of resistant strains in the bacterial population. Use of the linear gradient plate can easily identify the precise MIC and reveal the dynamic differentiation of bacteria near the MIC. This method allows the study of genetic and physiological characteristics of individual strains, and may be useful for early warning of antibiotic resistance that may occur after use of certain antirnicrobial agents, and guide clinical treatment.展开更多
文摘Aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria, recovered from two sites located on the west coast of Scotland, were compared to cultures obtained in a similar way from industrial, aquacultural and clean sites in the vicinity of Qingdao, Shandong, P.R. China. Gram-negative bacterial cultures were examined by BIOLOG-GN, and the data analysed by the simple matching (S SM) and Jaccard coefficients (S J) and unweighted average linkage clustering using NTSys. The output revealed that 20% of the bacteria, namely, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Aquaspirillum dispar, Pseudomonas spp. (two groups), Sphingobacterium sp., Vibrio sp., V. campbellii, V. mimicus and V. hollisae, were common between the two geographical locations. However, the study revealed shortcomings with the BIOLOG-GN system for the study of coastal Gram-negative bacteria.
基金Supported by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest of China(No.201203018)the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China(No.2006BAD09A05)
文摘Trawl is a main fishing gear in Chinese fishery,capturing large fish and letting small ones at large.However,long-term use of trawl would result in changes of phenotypic traits of the fish stocks,such as smaller size-at-age and earlier age-at-maturation.In this study,we simulated a fish population with size characteristics of trawl fishing and the population produces one generation of offspring and lives for one year,used trawl to exploit the simulated fish population,and captured individuals by body size.We evaluated the impact of the changes on selectivity parameters,such as selective range and the length at 50% retention.Under fishing pressure,we specified the selectivity parameters,and determined that smaller selection rates and greater length at 50% retention were associated with an increased tendency towards miniaturization.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 10775104, 10275048, and 10305009the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 102067
文摘We propose a solvable aggregation model to mimic the evolution of population A, asset B, and the quantifiable resource C in a society. In this system, the population and asset aggregates themselves grow through selfexchanges with the rate kernels Kl（k,j） = K1kj and K2（h,j） = K2kj, respectively. The actions of the population and asset aggregations on the aggregation evolution of resource aggregates are described by the population-catalyzed monomer death of resource aggregates and asset-catalyzed monomer birth of resource aggregates with the rate kerne/s J1（k,j）=J1k and J2（k,j） = J2k, respectively. Meanwhile, the asset and resource aggregates conjunctly catalyze the monomer birth of population aggregates with the rate kernel I1 （k,i,j） = I1ki^μjη, and population and resource aggregates conjunctly catalyze the monomer birth of asset aggregates with the rate kernel /2（k, i, j） = I2ki^νj^η. The kinetic behaviors of species A, B, and C are investigated by means of the mean-field rate equation approach. The effects of the population-catalyzed death and asset-catalyzed birth on the evolution of resource aggregates based on the self-exchanges of population and asset appear in effective forms. The coefficients of the effective population-catalyzed death and the asset-catalyzed birth are expressed as J1e = J1/K1 and J2e= J2/K2, respectively. The aggregate size distribution of C species is found to be crucially dominated by the competition between the effective death and the effective birth. It satisfies the conventional scaling form, generalized scaling form, and modified scaling form in the cases of J1e〈J2e, J1e=J2e, and J1e〉J2e, respectively. Meanwhile, we also find the aggregate size distributions of populations and assets both fall into two distinct categories for different parameters μ,ν, and η： （i） When μ=ν=η=0 and μ=ν=η=1, the population and asset aggregates obey the generalized scaling forms; and （ii） When μ=ν=1,η=0, and μ=ν=η=1, the population and asset aggregates experience gelation transitions at finite times and the scaling forms break down.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(30870308 and 31071944)the Shanghai Rising-Star Program(10QA1402200)
文摘Cervus sichuanicus is a species of sika deer （Cervus nippon Group）. To date, research has mainly focused on quantity surveying and behavior studies, with genetic information on this species currently deficient. To provide scientific evidence to assist in the protection of this species, we collected Sichuan sika deer fecal samples from the Sichuan Tiebu Nature Reserve （TNR） and extracted DNA from those samples. Microsatellite loci of bovine were used for PCR amplification. After GeneScan, the genotype data were used to analyze the genetic diversity and population structure of the Sichuan sika deer in TNR. Results showed that the average expected heterozygosity of the Sichuan sika deer population in TNR was 0.562, equivalent to the average expected heterozygosity of endangered animals, such as Procapra przewalsldi. Furthermore, 8 of 9 microsatellite loci significantly deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and two groups existed within the Sichuan sika deer TNR population. This genetic structure may be caused by a group of Manchurian sika deer （Cervus hortulorum） released in TNR.
文摘A marine red tide algae denominated as Heterocapsa circularisquama was cultured under the control factors. And the ecological function of nutrient salts such as nitrogen （mg/L）, phosphorus （rag/L） as well as silicon （rag/L） in different consistency on the population growth of H. circularisquama was investigated. The results showed that overtop or too low consistency of nutrient salts both delayed the population multiplication of the red tide algae, and different nutrient factors as nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon all had significant effects on the population amplification of H.circularisquama （p〈0.01）. The optimal concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon in the culture medium for the algae propagation and growth were 10 mg/L, 1-5 mg/L and 0 mg/L respectively.
基金Supported by the Yunnan Provincial Foundation of China under Grant Nos.2009CD036 and 08Z0015the National Natural Science Foundations of China under Grant Nos.50734009 and 10865006
文摘We investigate statistical properties of multispecies competition ecosystems subjected to both symmetric and asymmetric dichotomous noises. The expression of the stationary probability distribution function （SPDF） is analytically derived by means of mean-field approximation, and verified by stochastic simulations. The results indicate that： （i） A noise amplitude （a0）, a noise autocorrelation time （τ0） and a noise symmetry parameter （k） all can affect the SPDF; （ii） There is an optimal τ0, which makes the mean value of population density be maximal, near which a transition takes place, i.e., the stationary mean value of species density （（x）st） suddenly falls to a lower constant, （iii） As k decreases, the maximum of （x）xt and the optimal 70 increase. The parameter planes of TO -- a20 and τ0- k for the transition are plotted.
文摘The Municipality of Puebla is today＇s capital of the fourth most important city of Mexico. During 2009, its city hall ranked infirst place in category of metropolitan city as information and communication technologies to reach part of ＂Digital City Award＂. From the strategy to use governmental efficiency, as well as interact with the population and socioeconomic development of the zone, free wireless internet was implemented in 39 areas to facilitate the access to training of citizenship by using this new form of media. The municipality has a population with great economic disparity, which is translated in strong social exclusion, located mainly in housing units and popular colonies with people in situation of hereditary poverty. Because of that, the need of knowing the profile and the consumer habits of mass media communication emerges. The research evaluates identification of actual and potential users of the web2.0, so it can be possible to recognize the chances of intervention in this segment and increase its participation on public character programs and promoting equality of opportunities and the possibility being a participative citizenship that contributes to the local human development.
文摘We propose a metapopulation model with two geographical scales. In a regional scale, the model describes the dynamics of a collection of habitats connected by migratory movements. In a local scale, we consider some granularity within each habitat, in the sense that each habitat is itself a collection of patches linked by dispersal. The whole ensemble can be seen as a metapopulation composed by local metapopulations. We analyze the synchronization of the model in the two geographical scales. We present an analytic criterion for synchronization where only the habitats in the regional scale evolve with the same dynamics. Through numerical simulations, we discuss the different synchronization modes. It depends on how the individuals are distributed in the local patches that compose a habitat after migration takes place in the regional scale.
文摘Understanding how population sizes vary over time is a key aspect of ecological research. Unfortunately, our under- standing of population dynamics has historically been based on an assumption that individuals are identical with homogenous life-history properties. This assumption is certainly false for most natural systems, raising the question of what role individual variation plays in the dynamics of populations. While there has been an increase of interest regarding the effects of within popula- tion variation on the dynamics of single populations, there has been little study of the effects of differences in within population variation on patterns observed across populations. We found that life-history differences （clutch size） among individuals ex- plained the majority of the variation observed in the degree to which population sizes of eastern fence lizards Sceloporus undula- tus fluctuated. This finding suggests that differences across populations cannot be understood without an examination of differences at the level of a system rather than at the level of the individual
文摘When hybridization results in reduced fitness, natural selection is expected to favor the evolution of traits that minimize the likelihood of hybridizing in the first place. This process, termed reinforcement （or, more generally, reproductive character displacement）, thereby contributes to the evolution of enhanced reproductive isolation between hybridizing groups. By enhancing reproductive isolation in this way, reinforcement plays an important role in the final stages of speciation. However, reinforcement can also contribute to the early stages of speciation. Specifically, because selection to avoid hybridization occurs only in sympatric populations, the unfolding of reinforcement can lead to the evolution of traits in sympatric populations that reduce reproduction between conspecifics in sympatry versus those in allopatry. Thus, reinforcement between species can lead to reproductive isolation--and possibly speciation-between populations in sympatry versus those in allopatry or among different sympatric populations. Here, I describe how this process can occur, the conditions under which it is most likely to occur, and the empirical data needed to evaluate the hypothesis that reinforcement can initiate speciation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.81171621)Shandong Province Young and Middle-Aged Scientists Research Awards Fund (Grant No.2006BS02008)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Grant No.20080440451)
文摘The dynamics of a bacterial population exposed to the minimum inhibitory concentration （MIC） of an antibiotic is an important issue in pharmacological research. Therefore, a novel antibiotic susceptibility test is urgently needed that can both precisely determine the MIC and accurately select antibiotic-resistant strains from clinical bacterial populations. For this purpose, we developed a method based on Fick＇s laws of diffusion using agar plates containing a linear gradient of antibiotic. The gradient plate contained two layers. The bottom layer consisted of 15 mL agar containing the appropriate concentration of enrofloxacin and allowed to harden in the form of a wedge with the plate slanted such that the entire bottom was just covered. The upper layer consisted of 15 mL plain nutrient agar added with the plate held in the horizontal position. After allowing vertical diffusion of the drug from the bottom agar layer for 12 h, the enrofloxacin concentration was diluted in proportion to the ratio of the agar layer thicknesses. The uniform linear concentration gradient was verified by measuring the enrofloxacin concentration on the agar surface. When heavy bacterial suspensions were spread on the agar surface and incubated for more than 12 h, only resistant cells were able to form colonies beyond the boundary of confluent growth of susceptible cells. In this way, the true MIC of enrofloxacin was determined. The MICs obtained using this linear gradient plate were consistent with those obtained using conventional antibiotic susceptibility tests. Discrete colonies were then spread onto a gradient plate with higher antibiotic concentrations; the boundary line increased significantly, and gene mutations conferring resistance were identified. This new method enables the rapid identification of resistant strains in the bacterial population. Use of the linear gradient plate can easily identify the precise MIC and reveal the dynamic differentiation of bacteria near the MIC. This method allows the study of genetic and physiological characteristics of individual strains, and may be useful for early warning of antibiotic resistance that may occur after use of certain antirnicrobial agents, and guide clinical treatment.
