This article presents a real engineering project showcasing the application of span-bridge construction technology for building a highway that goes over a solutional cave.An overview of the project and the details of ...This article presents a real engineering project showcasing the application of span-bridge construction technology for building a highway that goes over a solutional cave.An overview of the project and the details of applying this technology in highway construction are provided.Besides,strategies for enhancing its construction quality are also proposed.The objective of this analysis is to improve the safety and quality of similar projects.展开更多
Cave animals are an excellent model system for studying adaptive evolution.At present,however,little is known about the mechanisms that enable surface colonizers to survive in the challenging environment of caves.One ...Cave animals are an excellent model system for studying adaptive evolution.At present,however,little is known about the mechanisms that enable surface colonizers to survive in the challenging environment of caves.One possibility is that these species have the necessary genetic background to respond with plastic changes to the pressures of underground habitats.To gain insight into this process,we conducted a comparative study with the fish species Telestes karsticus,which occurs in a hydrological system consisting of an interconnected stream and a cave.Results showed that T.karsticus resided year-round and spawned in Sušik cave,making it the first known cavefish in the Dinaric Karst.Cave and surface populations differed in morphological and physiological characteristics,as well as in patterns of gene expression without any evidence of genetic divergence.To test whether observed trait differences were plastic or genetic,we placed adult fish from both populations under light/dark or constant dark conditions.Common laboratory conditions erased all morphometric differences between the two morphs,suggesting phenotypic plasticity is driving the divergence of shape and size in wild fish.Lighter pigmentation and increased fat deposition exhibited by cave individuals were also observed in surface fish kept in the dark in the laboratory.Our study also revealed that specialized cave traits were not solely attributed to developmental plasticity,but also arose from adult responses,including acclimatization.Thus,we conclude that T.karsticus can adapt to cave conditions,with phenotypic plasticity playing an important role in the process of cave colonization.展开更多
DEAR EDITOR,The characiform fish Astyanax is a well-studied model system for understanding evolutionary development and genomics in cave biology.Nonetheless,considerable gaps remain in our understanding of its field e...DEAR EDITOR,The characiform fish Astyanax is a well-studied model system for understanding evolutionary development and genomics in cave biology.Nonetheless,considerable gaps remain in our understanding of its field ecology.Here,we conducted a fouryear field study and found that while cavefish spawned yearround,reproductive peaks occurred in January to February.展开更多
A hill can be regarded as an environmental carrier of heat.Water,rocks and the internal moisture naturally pre-sent in such environment constitute a natural heat accumulator.In the present study,the heat and moisture ...A hill can be regarded as an environmental carrier of heat.Water,rocks and the internal moisture naturally pre-sent in such environment constitute a natural heat accumulator.In the present study,the heat and moisture trans-fer characteristics in a representative hill cave have been simulated via a method relying on the Darcy’s law.The simulations have been conducted for both steady and unsteady conditions to discern the influence of permeability and geometric parameters on the thermal and moisture transfer processes.The reliability of the simulation has been verified through comparison of the numerical results with the annual observation data.As revealed by the numericalfindings,the internal temperature of the hill accumulator is proportional to the permeability,outside surface temperature,overground height,underground constant temperature layer depth,and underground tem-perature of the hill,and it is inversely proportional to the horizontal size of the hill.Moreover,in the considered case,the order of magnitude of the permeability of the hill is contained in the range 10-15–10-13,and displays a certain sensitivity to the rainwater seepage.展开更多
文摘This article presents a real engineering project showcasing the application of span-bridge construction technology for building a highway that goes over a solutional cave.An overview of the project and the details of applying this technology in highway construction are provided.Besides,strategies for enhancing its construction quality are also proposed.The objective of this analysis is to improve the safety and quality of similar projects.
基金supported by the Tenure Track Pilot Programme of the Croatian Science FoundationEcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Project TTP-2018-07-9675 Evolution in the Dark,with funds from the Croatian-Swiss Research Programme
文摘Cave animals are an excellent model system for studying adaptive evolution.At present,however,little is known about the mechanisms that enable surface colonizers to survive in the challenging environment of caves.One possibility is that these species have the necessary genetic background to respond with plastic changes to the pressures of underground habitats.To gain insight into this process,we conducted a comparative study with the fish species Telestes karsticus,which occurs in a hydrological system consisting of an interconnected stream and a cave.Results showed that T.karsticus resided year-round and spawned in Sušik cave,making it the first known cavefish in the Dinaric Karst.Cave and surface populations differed in morphological and physiological characteristics,as well as in patterns of gene expression without any evidence of genetic divergence.To test whether observed trait differences were plastic or genetic,we placed adult fish from both populations under light/dark or constant dark conditions.Common laboratory conditions erased all morphometric differences between the two morphs,suggesting phenotypic plasticity is driving the divergence of shape and size in wild fish.Lighter pigmentation and increased fat deposition exhibited by cave individuals were also observed in surface fish kept in the dark in the laboratory.Our study also revealed that specialized cave traits were not solely attributed to developmental plasticity,but also arose from adult responses,including acclimatization.Thus,we conclude that T.karsticus can adapt to cave conditions,with phenotypic plasticity playing an important role in the process of cave colonization.
基金supported by Marist College and its School of Science(to L.E.),an ANR grant(BLINDTEST),an FRM grant(Equipe FRM)(to S.R.),and a collaborative exchange program(Ecos-Nord)to S.R.and Patricia Ornelas-Garcia。
文摘DEAR EDITOR,The characiform fish Astyanax is a well-studied model system for understanding evolutionary development and genomics in cave biology.Nonetheless,considerable gaps remain in our understanding of its field ecology.Here,we conducted a fouryear field study and found that while cavefish spawned yearround,reproductive peaks occurred in January to February.
文摘A hill can be regarded as an environmental carrier of heat.Water,rocks and the internal moisture naturally pre-sent in such environment constitute a natural heat accumulator.In the present study,the heat and moisture trans-fer characteristics in a representative hill cave have been simulated via a method relying on the Darcy’s law.The simulations have been conducted for both steady and unsteady conditions to discern the influence of permeability and geometric parameters on the thermal and moisture transfer processes.The reliability of the simulation has been verified through comparison of the numerical results with the annual observation data.As revealed by the numericalfindings,the internal temperature of the hill accumulator is proportional to the permeability,outside surface temperature,overground height,underground constant temperature layer depth,and underground tem-perature of the hill,and it is inversely proportional to the horizontal size of the hill.Moreover,in the considered case,the order of magnitude of the permeability of the hill is contained in the range 10-15–10-13,and displays a certain sensitivity to the rainwater seepage.
