Restoring deadwood habitat is vital in order to recreate fully functioning forest ecosystems. Letting this process occur naturally can take in excess of one hundred years, thus management practises typically try to ac...Restoring deadwood habitat is vital in order to recreate fully functioning forest ecosystems. Letting this process occur naturally can take in excess of one hundred years, thus management practises typically try to accelerate this via the artificial addition of deadwood. Since the species which rely on deadwood often have poor dispersal abilities, restoring deadwood habitat rarely results in the full restoration of the saproxylic fauna. Furthermore, standard deadwood monitoring protocol only records the amount and type of substrate available and is not capable of determining whether saproxylic insects have been restored. Full species inventories are time-consuming, costly and require great expertise. We present a rapid biodiversity assessment tool which we believe is the first protocol for measuring saproxylic activity which is accessible to non-specialists. Utilising the exit bore holes which saproxylics create on deadwood can provide an indication of the density, richness and diversity of species present;we call this the Saproxylic Activity Index. We show that this index can detect differences in the activity of insects between substrates. As saproxylic insects provide important ecosystem functions, such as aiding in the decay of deadwood and recycling nutrients, a measure of their activity levels may indicate the rate of restoration of these ecosystem processes. We believe that further exploration of this method provides an exciting opportunity for the functional restoration of saproxylic fauna to become incorporated into mainstream forest management.展开更多
This paper presents results concerning energy efficiency of wheat production considered in the context of specific energy input variation in different climatic conditions of Europe as well as case studies on implement...This paper presents results concerning energy efficiency of wheat production considered in the context of specific energy input variation in different climatic conditions of Europe as well as case studies on implementation of selected energy saving measures in practice. The source data collected from the six european union （EU） countries represent five agricultural regions of continental Europe and three climates： continental, temperate and Mediterranean. The life cycle assessment （LCA） methodology was applied to analyze the data excluding of pre-farm gate activities. The total primary energy consumption was decomposed into main energy input streams and it was regressed to yield. In order to compare energy efficiency of wheat production across the geographical areas, the data envelopment analysis （DEA） was applied. It was shown that the highest wheat yield （6.7 t/ha to 8.7 t/ha） at the lowest specific energy input （2.08 GJ/t to 2.56 G J/t） is unique for temperate climate conditions. The yield in continental and Mediterranean climatic conditions is on average lower by 1.3 t/ha and 2.7 t/ha and energy efficiency lower by 14% and 38%, respectively. The case studies have shown that the energy saving activities in wheat production may be universal for the climatic zones or specific for a given geographical location. It was stated that trade-offs between energy, economic, and environmental effects, which are associated with implementation of a given energy saving measure or a set of measures to a great extent depend on the current energy efficiency status of the farm and opportunity for investment, which varies substantially across Europe.展开更多
Secondarily thickened cell walls of water-conducting vessels and tracheids and support-giving sclerenchyma cells contain lignin that makes the cell walls water impermeable and strong. To what extent laccases and perox...Secondarily thickened cell walls of water-conducting vessels and tracheids and support-giving sclerenchyma cells contain lignin that makes the cell walls water impermeable and strong. To what extent laccases and peroxidases contribute to lignin biosynthesis in muro is under active evaluation. We performed an in silico study of Norway spruce （Picea abies （L.） Karst.） laccases utilizing available genomic data. As many as 292 laccase encoding sequences （genes, gene fragments, and pseudogenes） were detected in the spruce genome. Out of the 112 genes annotated as laccases, 79 are expressed at some level. We isolated five fun-length laccase cDNAs from developing xylem and an extracellular lignin-forming cell culture of spruce. In addition, we purified and biochemically characterized one culture medium laccase from the lignin-forming cell culture. This laccase has an acidic pH optimum （pH 3.8-4.2） for coniferyl alcohol oxidation. It has a high affinity to coniferyl alcohol with an apparent Km value of 3.5μM; however, the laccase has a lower catalytic efficiency （Vmax/Km） for coniferyl alcohol oxidation compared with some purified culture medium peroxidases. The properties are discussed in the context of the information already known about laccases/coniferyl alcohol oxidases of coniferous plants.展开更多
This paper proposes a supervised classification approach for the real-time pattern recognition of sows in an animal supervision system(asup).Our approach offers the possibility of the foreground subtraction in an asup...This paper proposes a supervised classification approach for the real-time pattern recognition of sows in an animal supervision system(asup).Our approach offers the possibility of the foreground subtraction in an asup’s image processing module where there is lack of statistical information regarding the background.A set of 7 farrowing sessions of sows,during day and night,have been captured(approximately 7 days/sow),which is used for this study.The frames of these recordings have been grabbed with a time shift of 20 s.A collection of 215 frames of 7 different sows with the same lighting condition have been marked and used as the training set.Based on small neighborhoods around a point,a number of image local features are defined,and their separability and performance metrics are compared.For the classification task,a feed-forward neural network(NN)is studied and a realistic configuration in terms of an acceptable level of accuracy and computation time is chosen.The results show that the dense neighborhood feature(d.3×3)is the smallest local set of features with an acceptable level of separability,while it has no negative effect on the complexity of NN.The results also confirm that a significant amount of the desired pattern is accurately detected,even in situations where a portion of the body of a sow is covered by the crate’s elements.The performance of the proposed feature set coupled with our chosen configuration reached the rate of 8.5 fps.The true positive rate(TPR)of the classifier is 84.6%,while the false negative rate(FNR)is only about 3%.A comparison between linear logistic regression and NN shows the highly non-linear nature of our proposed set of features.展开更多
The cuticle is the outer physical barrier of aerial plant surfaces and an important interaction point between plants and the environment. Many environmental stresses affect cuticle formation, yet the regulatory pathwa...The cuticle is the outer physical barrier of aerial plant surfaces and an important interaction point between plants and the environment. Many environmental stresses affect cuticle formation, yet the regulatory pathways involved remain undefined. We used a genetics and gene expression analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana to define an abscisic acid （ABA） signaling loop that positively regulates cuticle formation via the core ABA signaling pathway, including the PYR/PYL receptors, PP2C phosphatase, and SNF1-Related Protein Kinase （SnRK） 2.21SnRK2.3/SnRK2.6. Downstream of the SnRK2 kinases, cuticle formation was not regulated by the ABA-responsive element-binding transcription factors but rather by DEWAX, MYB16, MYB94, and MYB96. Additionally, low air humidity increased cuticle formation independent of the core ABA pathway and cell death/reactive oxygen species signaling attenuated expression of cuticle-biosynthesis genes. In Physcornitrella patens, exogenous ABA suppressed expression of cuticle- related genes, whose Arabidopsis orthologs were ABA-induced. Hence, the mechanisms regulating cuticle formation are conserved but sophisticated in land plants. Signaling specifically related to cuticle deficiency was identified to play a major role in the adaptation of ABA signaling pathway mutants to increased humidity and in modulating their immunity to Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis. These results define a cuticle-specific downstream branch in the ABA signaling pathway that regulates responses to the external environment.展开更多
Research on the many aspects of the plant cell wall has experienced reiuvenation during the past few years. This is perhaps mainly due to the commercial interest in the chemical components of the cell wall that have p...Research on the many aspects of the plant cell wall has experienced reiuvenation during the past few years. This is perhaps mainly due to the commercial interest in the chemical components of the cell wall that have potential for industrial use＂ Cellulose for fibers and together with hemicelluloses for bioethanol, lignin for plastics or biofuel, pectins as gel agents, let alone woody cell wall material for construction or pulp production and for intelligent materials for electronics - the new uses are mindboggling!展开更多
文摘Restoring deadwood habitat is vital in order to recreate fully functioning forest ecosystems. Letting this process occur naturally can take in excess of one hundred years, thus management practises typically try to accelerate this via the artificial addition of deadwood. Since the species which rely on deadwood often have poor dispersal abilities, restoring deadwood habitat rarely results in the full restoration of the saproxylic fauna. Furthermore, standard deadwood monitoring protocol only records the amount and type of substrate available and is not capable of determining whether saproxylic insects have been restored. Full species inventories are time-consuming, costly and require great expertise. We present a rapid biodiversity assessment tool which we believe is the first protocol for measuring saproxylic activity which is accessible to non-specialists. Utilising the exit bore holes which saproxylics create on deadwood can provide an indication of the density, richness and diversity of species present;we call this the Saproxylic Activity Index. We show that this index can detect differences in the activity of insects between substrates. As saproxylic insects provide important ecosystem functions, such as aiding in the decay of deadwood and recycling nutrients, a measure of their activity levels may indicate the rate of restoration of these ecosystem processes. We believe that further exploration of this method provides an exciting opportunity for the functional restoration of saproxylic fauna to become incorporated into mainstream forest management.
文摘This paper presents results concerning energy efficiency of wheat production considered in the context of specific energy input variation in different climatic conditions of Europe as well as case studies on implementation of selected energy saving measures in practice. The source data collected from the six european union （EU） countries represent five agricultural regions of continental Europe and three climates： continental, temperate and Mediterranean. The life cycle assessment （LCA） methodology was applied to analyze the data excluding of pre-farm gate activities. The total primary energy consumption was decomposed into main energy input streams and it was regressed to yield. In order to compare energy efficiency of wheat production across the geographical areas, the data envelopment analysis （DEA） was applied. It was shown that the highest wheat yield （6.7 t/ha to 8.7 t/ha） at the lowest specific energy input （2.08 GJ/t to 2.56 G J/t） is unique for temperate climate conditions. The yield in continental and Mediterranean climatic conditions is on average lower by 1.3 t/ha and 2.7 t/ha and energy efficiency lower by 14% and 38%, respectively. The case studies have shown that the energy saving activities in wheat production may be universal for the climatic zones or specific for a given geographical location. It was stated that trade-offs between energy, economic, and environmental effects, which are associated with implementation of a given energy saving measure or a set of measures to a great extent depend on the current energy efficiency status of the farm and opportunity for investment, which varies substantially across Europe.
基金supported by University of Helsinki Research Funds (to A.K.)Academy of Finland (grant 251390 to A.K.)Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (to H.A.M.)
文摘Secondarily thickened cell walls of water-conducting vessels and tracheids and support-giving sclerenchyma cells contain lignin that makes the cell walls water impermeable and strong. To what extent laccases and peroxidases contribute to lignin biosynthesis in muro is under active evaluation. We performed an in silico study of Norway spruce （Picea abies （L.） Karst.） laccases utilizing available genomic data. As many as 292 laccase encoding sequences （genes, gene fragments, and pseudogenes） were detected in the spruce genome. Out of the 112 genes annotated as laccases, 79 are expressed at some level. We isolated five fun-length laccase cDNAs from developing xylem and an extracellular lignin-forming cell culture of spruce. In addition, we purified and biochemically characterized one culture medium laccase from the lignin-forming cell culture. This laccase has an acidic pH optimum （pH 3.8-4.2） for coniferyl alcohol oxidation. It has a high affinity to coniferyl alcohol with an apparent Km value of 3.5μM; however, the laccase has a lower catalytic efficiency （Vmax/Km） for coniferyl alcohol oxidation compared with some purified culture medium peroxidases. The properties are discussed in the context of the information already known about laccases/coniferyl alcohol oxidases of coniferous plants.
文摘This paper proposes a supervised classification approach for the real-time pattern recognition of sows in an animal supervision system(asup).Our approach offers the possibility of the foreground subtraction in an asup’s image processing module where there is lack of statistical information regarding the background.A set of 7 farrowing sessions of sows,during day and night,have been captured(approximately 7 days/sow),which is used for this study.The frames of these recordings have been grabbed with a time shift of 20 s.A collection of 215 frames of 7 different sows with the same lighting condition have been marked and used as the training set.Based on small neighborhoods around a point,a number of image local features are defined,and their separability and performance metrics are compared.For the classification task,a feed-forward neural network(NN)is studied and a realistic configuration in terms of an acceptable level of accuracy and computation time is chosen.The results show that the dense neighborhood feature(d.3×3)is the smallest local set of features with an acceptable level of separability,while it has no negative effect on the complexity of NN.The results also confirm that a significant amount of the desired pattern is accurately detected,even in situations where a portion of the body of a sow is covered by the crate’s elements.The performance of the proposed feature set coupled with our chosen configuration reached the rate of 8.5 fps.The true positive rate(TPR)of the classifier is 84.6%,while the false negative rate(FNR)is only about 3%.A comparison between linear logistic regression and NN shows the highly non-linear nature of our proposed set of features.
文摘The cuticle is the outer physical barrier of aerial plant surfaces and an important interaction point between plants and the environment. Many environmental stresses affect cuticle formation, yet the regulatory pathways involved remain undefined. We used a genetics and gene expression analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana to define an abscisic acid （ABA） signaling loop that positively regulates cuticle formation via the core ABA signaling pathway, including the PYR/PYL receptors, PP2C phosphatase, and SNF1-Related Protein Kinase （SnRK） 2.21SnRK2.3/SnRK2.6. Downstream of the SnRK2 kinases, cuticle formation was not regulated by the ABA-responsive element-binding transcription factors but rather by DEWAX, MYB16, MYB94, and MYB96. Additionally, low air humidity increased cuticle formation independent of the core ABA pathway and cell death/reactive oxygen species signaling attenuated expression of cuticle-biosynthesis genes. In Physcornitrella patens, exogenous ABA suppressed expression of cuticle- related genes, whose Arabidopsis orthologs were ABA-induced. Hence, the mechanisms regulating cuticle formation are conserved but sophisticated in land plants. Signaling specifically related to cuticle deficiency was identified to play a major role in the adaptation of ABA signaling pathway mutants to increased humidity and in modulating their immunity to Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis. These results define a cuticle-specific downstream branch in the ABA signaling pathway that regulates responses to the external environment.
文摘Research on the many aspects of the plant cell wall has experienced reiuvenation during the past few years. This is perhaps mainly due to the commercial interest in the chemical components of the cell wall that have potential for industrial use＂ Cellulose for fibers and together with hemicelluloses for bioethanol, lignin for plastics or biofuel, pectins as gel agents, let alone woody cell wall material for construction or pulp production and for intelligent materials for electronics - the new uses are mindboggling!
