Altitudinal Ranging of Black-Crested Gibbons at Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan: Effects of Food Distribution, Temperature and Human Disturbance

We studied the altitudinal ranging of one habituated group of black-crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor) at Dazhaizi, Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan, China, between March 2005 and April 2006. The group ranged from 1,900 to 2,680 m above sea level. Food distribution was the driving force behind the altitudinal ranging patterns of the study group. They spent 83.2% of their time ranging between 2,100 and 2,400 m, where 75.8% of important food patches occurred. They avoided using the area above 2,500 m despite a lack of human disturbance there, apparently because there were few food resources. Temperature had a limited effect on seasonal altitudinal ranging but probably explained the diel altitudinal ranging of the group, which tended to use the lower zone in the cold morning and the higher zone in the warm afternoon. Grazing goats, the main disturbance, were limited to below 2,100 m, which was defined as the high-disturbance area (HDA). Gibbons spent less time in the HDA and, when ranging there, spent more time feeding and travelling and less time resting and singing. Human activities directly influenced gibbon behaviour, might cause forest degradation and create dispersal barriers between populations. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel

Alkaline treatment of the cellulose fiber affecting membrane column behaviour for high-performance immunoaffinity chromatography

The original cellulose fibers and those treated by alkaline solution were both used to prepare the acrylic membranes. The two kinds of membranes were packed into the columns for high-performance immunoaffinity chromatography by the immobilization of protein A on them. It was observed that the alkaline treatment of the cellulose fiber decreased the pressure resistance of the membrane to the mobile phases and greatly increased the accessible volume to the proteins, but affected the adsorption capacity of human IgG on the protein A membrane columns less. There is little difference between those two kinds of membranes on the adsorption capacities of HIgG, which means that the alkaline treatment of the cellulose fiber only significantly changes the void volume inter-membrane, and the porosity and surface area of membrane less. Alkaline treatment of the cellulose fiber reduced the membrane-column efficiency significantly. Some typical examples for the immunoaffinity analysis of IgG from human and dog plasma on the protein A membrane columns are illustrated. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.