Impact of astaxanthin-enriched algal powder of Haematococcus pluvialis on memory improvement in BALB/c mice

The impact of astaxanthin-enriched algal powder on auxiliary memory improvement was assessed in BALB/c mice pre-supplemented with different dosages of cracked green algal (Haematococcus pluvialis) powder daily for 30 days. The supplemented mice were first tested over 8 days to find a hidden platform by swimming in a Morris water maze. Then, for 5 days, the mice were used to search for a visible platform in a Morris water maze. After that, the mice practised finding a safe place-an insulated platform in a chamber-for 2 days. During these animal experimental periods, similar algal meals containing astaxanthin at 0, 0.26, 1.3 and 6.4 mg/kg body weight were continuously fed to each group of tested mice. Profiles of latency, distance, speed and the direction angle to the platforms as well as the diving frequency in each group were measured and analyzed. The process of mice jumping up onto the insulated platform and diving down to the copper-shuttered bottom with a 36 V electrical charge were also monitored by automatic video recording. The results of the Morris maze experiment showed that middle dosage of H. pluvialis meals (1.3 mg astaxanthin/kg body weight) significantly shortened the latency and distance required for mice to find a hidden platform. However, there was no obvious change in swim velocity in any of the supplemented groups. In contrast, the visible platform test showed a significant increase in latency and swim distance, and a significant decrease in swim speed for all groups of mice orally supplemented with H. pluvialis powder compared to the placebo group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Mice supplemented with the algal meal hesitantly turned around the original hidden platform, in contract to mice supplemented with placebo, who easily forgot the original location and accepted the visible platform as a new safe place. These results illustrate that astaxanthin-enriched H. pluvialis powder has the auxiliary property of memory improvement. The results from the platform diving test showed that the low and middle dosage of H. pluvialis powder, rather that the high dosage, increased the latency and reduced the frequency of diving from the safe insulated platform to the electrically stimulated copper shutter, especially in the low treatment group (P < 0.05). These results indicate that H. pluvialis powder is associated with dose-dependent memory improvement and that a low dosage of algal powder (<= middle treatment group) is really good for improving the memory.

Effects of different seed pretreatments on germination of ten Calligonum species

In order to determine the optimum seed pre??sowing treatments and patterns of germination,a greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the effects of abrasion,sulphuric acid,boiling water,cold stratification and seed exudate treatments on the germination of ten Calligonum species.The results showed that the response of seed germination to the different pretreatments was similar for all ten Calligonum species.The abrasion,sulphuric acid and cold stratification treatments significantly promoted overall germinability.Compared with the control,the exudate treatment significantly decreased the percent germination,hampered the rate of germination and bolstered dormancy for almost all species.The cold stratification treatment can break the dormancy of viable Calligonum seeds and increased the germination,but it has a little lethal effect on viable seeds probably as well as the boiling water treatments.The germinaton patterns performed significant difference between the pre-sowing treatments for all ten Calligonum species,and the speed and percent germination of the Calligonum species can be greatly increased by mechanical scarification or sulphuric acid treatments.The results showed that seeds of C.junceum have strong ability of germinating.

Effect of plateau zokors on vegetation characteristics and productivity of alpine meadow

This research was conducted on alpine meadow site at Menyuan county, Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China to determine the effects of native, subterranean rodent of Qinghai-Tibet grasslands, the plateau zokors (Myospalax baileyi), on seasonal above-and below-ground plant biomass, plant species diversity and productivity. Both total peaks of above-and below-ground biomass were the greatest (413.600 g/m~2 and 2297.502 g/m~2) in the patch no any plateau zokors colonized by plateau zokors over 10 years in August and October, respectively. Both above-and below-ground biomass were significantly increased in the patches where plateau zokors were removed or the burrow systems were abandoned for five years compared to the patches plateau zokors colonized over 10 years. However, both above-and below-ground biomass in abandoned patches were significantly lower than that in uncolonized patches. Monocotyledonous biomass was reduced greatly, but the non-palatable dicots were significantly increased in colonized patches. The palatable biomass of monocots and dicots were increased in abandoned patches. Total plant species diversity was the greatest in uncolonized patchesand least in abandoned patch. The total net primary production in colonized patches was reduced by 68.98% compared with uncolonized patches. Although the patches were without any plateau zokors disturbance for fives years, the total net primary production just reached 58.69% of the uncolonized patches. The above-ground net primary production in abandoned patches increased 28.74% and the below-ground increased 54.91% compared with the colonized patches. We suggest that plateau zokor-induced changes in plant above- and below-ground biomass and species diversity may lead to further alterations of nutrient cycling and trophic dynamics in this alpine meadow ecosystem.

Competition between Stipa grandis and Cleistogenes squarrosa

Competitive strategy for resources between Cleistogenes squarrosa (Trin.) Keng which is a dominant species of grasslands degraded by moderate-heavy grazing, and Stipa grandis P. Smirnov, which is a dominant species of ungrazed communities, was studied using a replacement series method in a greenhouse. The knowledge would be helpful in managing grasslands and restoring the degraded C. squarrosa grassland. Although there was neither inter- nor intra-specific competition between the two species when no nutrients were added, intra-specific competition of C. squarrosa was observed and increased with increased nutrient availability and more sulfur (S) was allocated to the aboveground partition of the plant. Relative competitive ability of C. squarrosa was greater than that of S. grandis when nutrients were supplied regardless of S. There was no significant difference between shoot and root competition based on dry matter yields. However, root competition was significantly greater than that of shoot based on S uptake under all treatments. A significant interaction was not observed between shoot and root competition. Therefore, nutrients addition benefits the restoration of degraded grassland of C. squarrosa, which may not exclude S. grandis. Also productivity and forage quality of the community will be increased. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seasonal and interannual variation in water vapor and energy exchange over a typical steppe in Inner Mongolia, China

In this study, we conducted eddy covariance (EC) measurements of water vapor exchange over a typical steppe in a semi-arid area of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, China. Measurement sites were located within a 25-year-old enclosure with a relatively low leaf area index (similar to 1. 5 m(2) m(-2)) and dominated by Leymus chinensis. Energy balance closure was (H + LE) = 17.09 + 0.69 x (Rn - G) (W/m(2); r(2) = 0.95, n = 6596). Precipitation during the two growing seasons of the study period was similar to the long-term average. The peak evapotranspiration in 2004 was 4 mm d(-1), and 3.5 mm d(-1) in 2003. The maximum latent heat flux was higher than the sensible heat flux, and the sensible heat flux dominated the energy budget at midday during the entire growing season in 2003; latent heat flux was the main consumption component for net radiation during the 2004 growing season. During periods of frozen soil in 2003 and 2004, the sensible heat flux was the primary consumption component for net radiation. The soil heat flux component was similar in 2003 and 2004. The decoupling coefficient (between 0.5 and 0.1) indicates that evapotranspiration was strongly controlled by saturation water vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in this grassland. The results of this research suggest that energy exchange and evapotranspiration were controlled by the phenology of the vegetation and soil water content. In addition, the amount and frequency of rainfall significantly affect energy exchange and evapotranspiration upon the Inner Mongolia plateau. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Reproduction and behavior of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae Hodgson) under predation risk: A field experiment

The mixture of the feces and urine of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus) was used to increase the perception of predation risk of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae Hodgson) in the field. The influence of the predation risk on the reproduction and behavior of plateau pikas was examined through comparing reproductive characteristics and five different kinds of behavior between treatment and control plots. The results showed that 1) the body weight of the pikas was not significantly different between treatment and control plots. 2) The reproductive period of the pikas extended from March to later August in both treatment and control plots. The pregnant ratio, developed testes ratio, reproductive success and sex ratio of the pikas were not significantly different between the treatment and control plots. 3) The pikas increased their observing and calling frequencies and decreased their moving and feeding frequencies when exposed to red fox's feces and urine. 4) The increased red fox's feces and urine had no influence on the behavior of the pikas when the number of their natural enemies increased; the pikas obviously increased the observing frequencies and sharply decreased the calling frequency so as to decrease the direct predation risk. 5) There were no significantly behavioral differences between males and females as well as between adults and young. 6) The results reject the hypothesis 1 that the red fox's feces and urine as indirect predation risk suppresses the reproduction of the pikas and support the hypothesis 2 that the pikas can make decision by changing behavior to avoid the predation risk they encountered whenever.

浑善达克沙地全新世气候变化与风沙活动—夏日淖湖泊沉积记录

Atmospheric dust as an important factor for climate feedbacks is mainly derived from and drove by the aeolian activities of the semi-arid regions in Asia. Therefore, reconstructing the history of aeolian activities in this region has a great significance in understanding the dynamics of past and future climate changes. This paper made a systematical sedimentology, geochemisty and high-resolution chronology analysis on the sediments from the Xiarinao Lake, which located in Hunshandake Desert, Inner Mongolia, and compared with the meteorological records for identifying the indicator of aeolian activities and climate changes. Based on above work, the evolution history of the aeolian activities and climate changes since 11,000 a BP was reconstructed and the dynamics of the aeolian activities and climate changes in the Hunshandake Desert was discussed. The indicator of aeolian activities was established through the comparison of the clastic and chemical records with the meteorological registers in recent 50 years: 1. The sediments of Xiarinao Lake are mainly derived from eaolian clastic materials and composed of two major components: one is the sand fraction (<4 ) similar to the composition of sand dunes, the other is the silt fraction (>4 ) similar to the atmospheric dust. The sand content and the median grain size, particularly the sand content, show a close association with the intensity of wind, indicating that the particle-size composition of the sediments reflect the variations of the aeolian activities. 2. The proportion of soluble salts relative to the total carbonates in the sediments was correlated to the arid degree registered in meteorological records, suggesting that arid degree might be associated with changes of wind speed and the relative proportion of soluble salts to the total carbonate could be used as the indicator of aridity. 3. The δ18O of authigenic calcite in the Xiarinao Lake show a well correlation with both the atmosphere precipitation and variation of the moisture indicated by the concentrations of soluble salts, suggesting that δ18O of anthigenic calcite is a reliable indicator of humidity. Based on above studies, the evolution history of the aeolian activities and climate changes since 11,000 a BP was reconstructed. At the same time, their association and underlying dynamics was discussed: 1. The evolution history of the eaolian activity was reconstructed by the sand content and median grain size. The result showed that aeolian activities had experienced several different climate periods in the Holocene: the aeolian activities fluctuated with a 500-year cycles during the interval from 10,900 to 8200 a BP; no significant aeolian activities had been developed from 8200 to 6300 a BP; during the interval of 6300 to 2600 a BP, sand content and media grain size had increased gradually, the sand content increased from about 5% to 25%, indicating the intensity of aeolian activity increased in the Hunshandake Desert; since 2600 a BP, intensity of aeolian activity has become stronger and activated the sand dunes. 2. The relative arid degree indicated by the proportion of soluble salts relative to the total carbonate show that both the wind speed and dry degree had being increased since 11,000 a BP. During the interval of 10900 to 6300 a BP, no detectable soluble salt was found in the sediments, indicating the humidity condition; the proportion increased to 20% from 6300 to 4200 a BP, showing the climate became drier; the little change of proportion (20%) suggest that the climate was relative stable during the interval of 4200 to 2600 a BP; after 2600 a BP, the proportion increased, showing the climate became further dry. 3. The δ18O evolution of the lake water was established through analysis of authigenetic calcite δ18O for revealing the variations of relative effective humidity in the Hunshandake Desert. δ18O maintained around -6 ‰ during the interval of 10900 to 8200 a BP, showing the climate was a little dry relative to that of the whole Holocnene; in the period of 8200 to 6300 a BP, δ18O had the most negative values, indicating that it was the most humid interval in Holocene; from 6300 to 4200 a BP, δ18O increased from about -7.5 ‰ to about -3 ‰ gradually, suggesting increased aridity; since 4200 a BP, the climate has become stable and dry. On the whole, the records in this study show that the variation of the relative humidity and aridity is consistent with that of summer monsoon in the Hunshandake Desert. The relationships among the grain size, soluble salts relative content, and the authigenic calcite δ18O indicate aeolian activities is controlled by the aridity in the studied area, and the increased aeolian activities is closely associated with the temperature changes under the relative dry condition. The high wind speed under the low temperature leads to the increased aeolian activity, and the temperature change associated with the aeolian activities might be related with the perturbations of the Siberian High Pressure.