DRAMATIC CONSEQUENCES OF FOOD HANDOUTS TO MACACA-THIBETANA AT MOUNT-EMEI, CHINA

Food handouts to Macaca thibetana at Mt. Emei have had dramatic consequences for both man and monkey as tourism has increased over the last decade. Food handouts and human submissive behaviour facilitate beg-robbing by the monkeys. which can be regarded as a mixed conditioning chain. Because of their lack of understanding of primate behaviour and resulting inappropriate responses, many visitors have lost possessions and have been severely frightened or even injured; in fact there have been 1 0 deaths as an indirect result over that past 8 years. The appropriate human response proved to be the display of dominance to maintain a distance from a beg-robbing monkey. Road-ranging macaques have also been injured or killed by visitors to obtain meat or bones or merely for amusement. Attempts should be made to eliminate the negative effects of food handouts by increasing visitors' awareness of behavioural and ecological aspects and through aversive conditioning of the macaques.

SCALING OF LIMB PROPORTIONS AND LIMB BONE DIAMETERS IN 3 SPECIES OF CHINESE SNUB-NOSED LANGURS (GENUS RHINOPITHECUS)

In this study, aspects of the structural mechanics of the upper and lower limbs of the three Chinese species of Rhinopithecus were examined. Linear regression and reduced major axis (RMA) analyses of natural log-transformed data were used to examine the dimensions of limb bones and other relationships to body size and locomotion. The results of this study suggest that: (1) the allometry exponents of the lengths of long limbs deviate from isometry, being moderately negative, while the shaft diameters (both sagittal and transverse) show significantly positive allometry; (2) the sagittal diameters of the tibia and ulna show extremely significantly positive allometry - the relative enlargement of the sagittal, as opposed to transverse, diameters of these bones suggests that the distal segments of the fore- and hindlimbs of Rhinopithecus experience high bending stresses during locomotion; (3) observations of Rhinopithecus species in the field indicate that all species engage in energetic leaping during arboreal locomotion. The limbs experience rapid and dramatic decelerations upon completion of a leap. We suggest that these occasional decelerations produce high bending stresses in the distal limb segments and so account for the hypertrophy of the sagittal diameters of the ulna and tibia.

Effect of dietary supplementation of vitamins A, D-3, E, and C on yearling rice field eel, Monopterus albus: Serum indices, gonad development, and metabolism of calcium and phosphorus

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of dietary vitamins A, D-3, E, and C on the gonad development, lipid peroxidation, and immune response of yearling rice field eel, Monopterus albus. A 6-wk feeding trial was designed according to an L-16(4(5)) orthogonal design, in which four vitamins, each at four supplementation levels, were arranged. Sixteen diets were mixed with the different vitamin levels and randomly assigned to 16 groups of fish. Increasing dietary vitamin E supplementation level significantly (P <= 0.05) increased the gonadosomatic index and lowered the serum content of malondialdehyde of rice field eel. Increasing dietary vitamin A and C levels also showed similar effect, but the differences were not statistically significant. Serum immunoglobulin M content increased significantly (P <= 0.01) as dietary vitamin C supplementation levels increased. The concentrations of calcium in bones showed significant (P <= 0.05) trend with vitamin D-3 and A supplementation levels, but the bone phosphorus content was not affected by the dietary vitamin levels.

K/E之交环境地球化学元素的演化与全球变化及恐龙绝灭的关系-以黑龙江中下游地区和俄罗斯远东地区为例

In this paper, We analyzed the geological and geographical settings of dinosaurs extinction at the end of Cretaceous, especially the effect of the change of the elements contents on dinosaurs extinction. We studied basis on the two typical sections-Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary (Baishantou section (in Jiayin, Heilongjiang province of China) and Arkhara-Boguchan Coal Mine section (in Far East of Russian)) and Longgushan section (in Jiayin, Heilongjiang province of China) mainly. This work provided some evidences for forecasting the effects of global environmental change on bio-circle. The followings are the primary gains: According to the paleo-climate indexes (CaO/MgO,Sr/Ba) and the results of Factor Analysis, we found that there were similar climate in Baishantou section and Arkhara-Boguchan Coal Mine section near the K/E boundary, and both of them took on the trend of temperature declining and precipitation heightening after transitory high-temperature and drought. There are similar change and evlution rule of the elements contents near the boundary in the both sections (Baishantou section and Arkhara-Boguchan Coal Mine section). Both iron group elements and chalcophile elements appeared obvious abnormity. There are not visible correlation between the change of elements contents and climate indexes. This shows that the elements abnormity maybe came from the factors excluding climate or the factors were too many to conceal the influence of climate. --The result of cluster analysis showed that the boundary between BST3-8 and BST3-9 may be the K/E boundary of Baishantou section, and the top of twofold coal were the K/E boundary of Arkhara-Boguchan Coal Mine section which was consistent with accepted conclusion formerly. By contrast of elements contents in dinosaur bones and general organism, in surrounding rock and general sand stone, the regulation of the change of elements contents in dinosaur bones and surrounding rock, we confirmed that dinosaur extinction in Jiayin were relative with the high abnormities of Sr, Ba, Pb, Cr and the low abnormity of Zn, at least, it was them which speeded up dinosaurs extinction. After a series of analysis, we concluded that dinosaurs extinction of this areas tied up with the relative high background values of geo-chemical elements , paleo-climate and disaster incidents. First of all, high background values provided the necessary condition for the accumulation of the elements. Secondly, the drought climate adverse to the survival of dinosaurs, and led them to extinct gradually. finally, disaster incidents, the eruption of volcano or the collision of aerolites, made them exit this planet.