Loss of allele diversity in introduced populations of the hermaphroditic bay scallop Argopecten irradians

The bay scallop Argopecten irradians is a hermaphroditic bivalve native to the Atlantic coast of the United States that was introduced to China for aquaculture production in 1982. It now supports a major aquaculture industry in China. Introduced species often start with limited genetic variability, which is problematic for the further selective breeding. Bay scallop aquaculture is exclusively hatchery based and as the initial introduction consisted of only 26 scallops, there have been concerns about inbreeding and inbreeding depression in cultured populations in China. In this study, eleven simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to compare genetic variation in cultured populations from China with that in a natural population from the east coast of America. Although the difference in heterozygosity was small, the Chinese populations lost 9 of the 45 alleles (20%) found in the wild population. The reduced allele diversity suggests that the Chinese bay scallop populations experienced a bottleneck in genetic diversity that remains significant despite several recent introductions of new stocks aimed at expanding the gene pool. The loss of allele diversity may affect future efforts in selective breeding and domestication, and results of this study highlight the need for additional introductions, advanced breeding programs that minimize inbreeding and continued genetic monitoring. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Determination of fractional energy loss of waves in nearshore waters using an improved high-order Boussinesq-type model

Fractional energy losses of waves due to wave breaking when passing over a submerged bar are studied systematically using a modified numerical code that is based on the high-order Boussinesq-type equations. The model is first tested by the additional experimental data, and the model's capability of simulating the wave transformation over both gentle slope and steep slope is demonstrated. Then, the model's breaking index is replaced and tested. The new breaking index, which is optimized from the several breaking indices, is not sensitive to the spatial grid length and includes the bottom slopes. Numerical tests show that the modified model with the new breaking index is more stable and efficient for the shallow-water wave breaking. Finally, the modified model is used to study the fractional energy losses for the regular waves propagating and breaking over a submerged bar. Our results have revealed that how the nonlinearity and the dispersion of the incident waves as well as the dimensionless bar height (normalized by water depth) dominate the fractional energy losses. It is also found that the bar slope (limited to gentle slopes that less than 1:10) and the dimensionless bar length (normalized by incident wave length) have negligible effects on the fractional energy losses.

铜管不锈钢管腐蚀性能及铁牺牲阳极保护研究

铜管一直是电厂凝汽器的主要应用管材，但由于其抗冲刷和抵御污染物腐蚀的能力差，特别不耐氨蚀，美国和欧洲大量使用不锈钢管替代铜管作为冷凝管，然而不锈钢管在我国的运用仅处于初步阶段。 常使用锌、铝阳极对铜管进行牺牲阳极保护，然而存在着电位差过大、阳极溶解过快的问题。铁基牺牲阳极与铜电位差适当、来源广泛、价格便宜，在一些工程上有所应用，但是目前针对铁基牺牲阳极的理论研究报道很少。 本文选用紫铜管、304不锈钢管作为实验用管材，首先运用实验室全浸实验、极化曲线和电化学阻抗研究了二者在海水和淡水中的腐蚀性能以及CO2、溶解氧对其腐蚀的影响。结果表明：CO2会加速二者的腐蚀，溶解氧却对它们的腐蚀影响不同，促进铜管的腐蚀却抑制不锈钢管的腐蚀；随浸泡时间的延长，紫铜管由于表面产物膜的生成耐蚀性提高，304不锈钢管的耐蚀性却降低；淡水中，304不锈钢管和紫铜管都具有很好的耐蚀性能。随后，运用失重法和极化曲线对比研究了紫铜管、304不锈钢管的氨蚀性能，运用SEM分析和电化学阻抗研究了紫铜在不同浓度氨溶液中的腐蚀机理。发现，304不锈钢管的耐氨蚀能力远远好于铜管；溶解氧是影响氨蚀的关键因素，其对二者氨蚀的影响也不同；紫铜管在低氨浓度和高氨浓度溶液中腐蚀机理和产物不同，低氨浓度时形成保护性的产物膜（CuO 和Cu(OH)2），高氨浓度时由活化溶解控制，生成可溶的[Cu (NH3)4]2+。 选用工业纯铁、35钢为牺牲阳极材料。恒电流实验结果表明它们具有良好的牺牲阳极性能；通过极化曲线和自腐蚀电位测试分析，认为将二者用于铜管牺牲阳极保护是可行的；实验室阴极保护效果测试表明，工业纯铁和35钢对紫铜管具有良好的保护效果，保护度达90%以上。

Tandem duplication-random loss is not a real feature of oyster mitochondrial genomes

Duplications and rearrangements of coding genes are major themes in the evolution of mitochondrial genomes, bearing important consequences in the function of mitochondria and the fitness of organisms. Yu et al. (BMC Genomics 2008, 9: 477) reported the complete mt genome sequence of the oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis (16,475 bp) and found that a DNA segment containing four tRNA genes (trnK(1), trnC, trnQ(1) and trnN), a duplicated (rrnS) and a split rRNA gene (rrnL5') was absent compared with that of two other Crassostrea species. It was suggested that the absence was a novel case of "tandem duplication-random loss" with evolutionary significance. We independently sequenced the complete mt genome of three C. hongkongensis individuals, all of which were 18,622 bp and contained the segment that was missing in Yu et al.'s sequence. Further, we designed primers, verified sequences and demonstrated that the sequence loss in Yu et al.'s study was an artifact caused by placing primers in a duplicated region. The duplication and split of ribosomal RNA genes are unique for Crassostrea oysters and not lost in C. hongkongensis. Our study highlights the need for caution when amplifying and sequencing through duplicated regions of the genome.

Pure mechanical wear loss measurement in corrosive wear

The method for the measurement of the pure mechanical wear loss for 321 stainless steel, 1045 steel and pure iron in the study of the synergy between corrosion and wear was studied, The methods studied included the measurement in distilled water, by cathodic protection and by adding inhibitor KI, and all were compared with the wear loss in air. The experiment showed that the pure mechanical wear losses and friction coefficients obtained by the three methods were close to each other and can be used to calculate the various wear components in the study of the interaction of corrosion and wear, but the measurements in distilled water for pure iron and 1045 steel are not recommended due to their corrosion.

Experimental warming causes large and rapid species loss, dampened by simulated grazing, on the Tibetan Plateau

We investigated the independent and combined effects of experimental warming and grazing on plant species diversity on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau, a region highly vulnerable to ongoing climate and land use changes. Experimental warming caused a 26-36% decrease in species richness, a response that was generally dampened by experimental grazing. Higher species losses occurred at the drier sites where N was less available. Moreover, we observed an indirect effect of climate change on species richness as mediated by plant-plant interactions. Heat stress and warming-induced litter accumulation are potential explanations for the species' responses to experimental warming. This is the first reported experimental evidence that climate warming could cause dramatic declines in plant species diversity in high elevation ecosystems over short time frames and supports model predictions of species losses with anthropogenic climate change.