生态信息学研究进展

生态信息学是信息科学与生态学的交叉学科。在其产生发展过程中,有学者从不同角度对其概念和框架进行了界定。简要回顾了生态信息学的发展过程,比较了国内研究的进展情况。例举了两个生态信息学应用的实例,以供借鉴。

信息生态学研究的概况与术语界定初探

信息生态学是一门全世界范围内的新兴学科,其目的在于利用生态学的观点与方法,研究人与信息环境的关系,解决信息生态失调现象,保持信息生态系统的平衡。文章系统总结了信息生态学的发展脉络,全面介绍国内外信息生态学的研究进展,对“信息生态学”这一术语进行了深入探讨和界定,并将其与“生态信息学”进行了辨析,明确了“信息生态学”的内涵与外延,对于推动信息生态学的进一步发展具有一定的意义。

基于模型数据融合的我国陆地生态系统碳氮水循环研究应用

以中国生态系统研究网络(CERN)长期定位观测数据为基础,结合多源数据发展了生态模型数据融合方法体系,研发多尺度生态数据产品和生态数据共享、分析与模拟平台,系统评估我国陆地生态系统近30年碳氮水通量的大小、趋势和年际变异及其影响因素,以推动我国生态信息学领域的技术发展,深入认识陆地生态系统碳氮水循环和气候相互关系,提高我国生态系统评估与管理能力。

Bioinformotics Analysis for Coding SNPs of the HLA-DQA1 Gene Involved in Susceptibility to Cervical Cancer

OBJECTIVE To analyze coding SNPs of the HLA-DQA1 gene involved in susceptibility for cervical cancer by a bioinformatics approach, and to choose some SNPs that may have an association with cervical cancer. METHODS By a SNPper tool we extracted SNPs from a public database (dbSNP), exporting them in FASTA formats suitable for subsequent use. Then we used PARSESNP as a tool for the analysis of the cSNPs. RESULTS In the cSNPs of the HLA-DQA1 gene, we find that rs9272693 and rs9272703, are made up of missense mutations which convert a codon for one amino acid into a codon for a different amino acid. We chose a PSSM Difference >10 as a lower level for the scores of changes predicted to be deldterious. CONCLUSION We used a bioinformatics approach for cSNPs analysis of the HLA-DQA1 gene. This method can select the variants in a conserved region, and give a PSSM Difference score. But the results need to be verified in cervical cancer patients and a control population.

Private Topic or Public One： On Topic Sentence Quality

Topic effect on L2 writing has long been an issue of controversy. This study was carried out to investigate the influence of topic type on the quality of topic sentence. The participants, 150 college students at three different proficiency levels, were asked to write both on a private topic and a public topic. The results show that the participants on the whole wrote better on the public topic, and their proficiencies can be differentiated by the quality of their topic sentences. The public topic was conducive to the production of complete English discourse structures, as well as the generation of informative and predictive topic sentences. Moreover, the results also reveal the dynamic nature of contrastive rhetoric

THE LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTAND PLANNING IN THE CONTROL WATERSHED BY RESERVOIR OF ERLONG MOUNTAIN

Based on the theories of landscape ecology, landscape eco environment in the control watershed by reservoir of Erlong Mountain in Heilongjiang Province was analyzed and assessed by using GIS technique and statistical model of Principal Component Analysis and Spatial Cluster Analysis. It is found that 100.08km2(36%)of the total area is in the state of kilter,85.73km2(31%)of the total area is in the state of general,and 47.26km2(17%)and 15.48km2(16%)is in the relatively poor state and ideal state. According to landscape ecological structure,there are three landscape function areas being planned and designed. 1) Agricultural landscape function area: its developmental direction is tour agriculture and high benefit agriculture. 2) Eco environment protected function area:the direction of development and utilization of this region is to develop vigorously forest for soil and water conservation, and try to increase the rate of vegetation cover. 3) Forest landscape function area: rational cut and utilization of forest resources, space optimization disposal of category of forest, foster of forest and protection of wildwood will become the main development directions for this region. This study trys to provide scientific foundation for ecological restoration of the whole valley and its sustainable development.

Focus on the key problems and dilemmas that arise in developing eco-industrial parks in China

Despite the widespread incorporation of sustainable development into policy discourses, actually achieving the win-win-win scenario of economic, environmental and social development continues to be problematic. Advocates of industrial ecology suggest that shifting the basis of industrial production from a linear to a closed loop system, these gains can be achieved. In recent years, concepts drawn from industrial ecology have been used to plan and develop eeo-industrial parks （EIPs） that seek to increase business competitiveness, reduce waste and pollution, create jobs and improve working conditions. Despite a growing interest in EIPs, there have been few empirically informed studies that seek to explore the potential contribution such EIPs may make to sustainable development. This paper contributes to a developing sympathetic critique of industrial ecology by focusing on the key problems and dilemmas that arise in the course of developing eco-industrial parks, drawing upon empirical work conducted in China. The paper draws upon both an extensive survey of EIPs and in-depth interviews conducted with a range of stakeholders at some sites in China. As the paper reveals, EIPs in China are in their early stages and likewise their contribution to economic development and environmental policy, let alone social policies, is complicated and inchoate. The empirical material reveals that key features of industrial ecology such as inter-firm networking and collaboration in the form of materials interchange and energycascading are either absent or in the early planning stages. In each of the cases studied what is emerging is a form of EIP partly determined by the geographic setting and broader economic realities of the locality. While collaborative behavior between firms is central to EIP development if the potential benefits of industrial ecology are to be realized, it is important to realize that such behavior is difficult to develop from scratch through policy intervention. In conclusion, the paper suggests that expectations must be realistic for the community and location in question. As part of that realism, EIP projects must be designed to allow for a gradual approach, and each phase needs to be financially viable.

Brain differences in ecologically differentiatec sticklebacks

Populations that have recently diverged offer a powerful model for studying evolution. Ecological differences are expected to generate divergent selection on multiple traits, including neurobiological ones. Animals must detect, process, and act on information from their surroundings and the form of this information can be highly dependent on the environment. We might expect different environments to generate divergent selection not only on the sensory organs, but also on the brain regions responsible for processing sensory information. Here, we test this hypothesis using recently evolved reproductively isolated species pairs of threespine stickleback fish Gasterosteus aculeatus that have well-described differences in many morphological and behavioral traits corre- lating with ecological differences. We use a state-of-the-art method, magnetic resonance imaging, to get accurate volumetric data for 2 sensory processing regions, the olfactory bulbs and optic tecta. We found a tight correlation between ecology and the size of these brain regions relative to total brain size in 2 lakes with intact species pairs. Limnetic fish, which rely heavily on vision, had relatively larger optic tecta and smaller olfactory bulbs compared with benthic fish, which utilize olfaction to a greater extent. Benthic fish also had larger total brain volumes relative to their body size compared with limnetic fish. These differences were erased in a collapsed species pair in Enos Lake where anthropogenic disturbance has led to intense hybridization. Together these data indicate that evolution of sensory processing regions can occur rapidly and independently.