浑善达克沙地优势豆科植物 光合生理特性研究

　　氮素是植物光合生产的决定性因素，尤其是在沙地草地生态系统中，氮素贫乏往往限制植物的生长发育。因此，研究沙地植物光合作用与叶片N含量之间的关系，以及不同植物功能型氮素利用效率，有助于理解不同植物资源利用效率的差异。以浑善达克沙地分布的80种植物为研究对象，对不同生境(固定沙丘、丘间低地和湿地)、不同生活型(乔、灌、草)、不同光合途径(C3和C4)以及豆科和非豆科植物等功能型进行研究，结果表明：无论在单位叶面积水平还是单位干重水平上的叶片氮含量，均与光合速率成极显著正相关，但单位氮素的光合利用效率在不同生境以及不同功能型之间差异很大;光合氮素利用效率表现为：湿地植物>沙丘>丘间低地植物;草本植物>灌木>乔木;C4草本>C3草本植物，非豆科植物>豆科植物。 　　为了验证浑善达克沙地豆科植物是否比非豆科植物具有更高的光合潜力，我们比较研究了3种优势豆科植物小叶锦鸡儿(Caragana microphylla)、木岩黄芪(Hedysarum fruticosum var. lignosum)、披针叶黄华(Thermopsis lanceolata)和2种非豆科植物羊草(Leymus chinensis)和黄柳(Salix gordejeviii)，结果表明并非所有豆科植物都比非豆科植物有着显著高的光合速率，仅木岩黄芪表现出较高的光合速率，其它两种豆科植物的光合速率和羊草、黄柳的差异并不显著(P>0.05)，甚至低于后者，这是因为氮素利用效率(PNUE)在其中起关键作用，通过对影响PNUE的几个主要因素进行分析得出：叶绿素对光能的吸收、光化学转换效率和CO2分压并不是构成豆科和非豆科植物PNUE差异的主要因素，而Rubisco羧化效率决定了所实验的5种植物对氮素利用效率的高低。 　　木岩黄芪在浑善达克沙地的沙丘上为优势种，甚至成为流动沙丘的先锋种。除了其显著高的氮含量外，对沙丘胁迫生境的光合适应性是我们关注的另一个重点。通过对木岩黄芪和其伴生种黄柳的光反应曲线以及光合日动态的研究，发现木岩黄芪具有显著高的光合速率、水分利用效率和PSII 光化学效率，其忍受中午强光和高温的能力较强(即“光合午休”现象不明显)。另外，该物种还表现出了显著高的光饱和点和低光补偿点。 对木岩黄芪的模拟降雨试验结果表明：气体交换参数以及叶绿素荧光参数均受到干旱和模拟降雨的影响，其中气孔因素和非气孔因素共同决定了干旱条件下木岩黄芪光合速率的降低;但降雨解除干旱后，气孔导度恢复较快，而PSII 潜在活性和PSII 光能转换效率的恢复却比较缓慢。在0-15mm的降雨量范围内，随降雨量的增加各项生理指标不断升高，但大于15mm的降雨量对木岩黄芪影响不大，因此木岩黄芪可被视为低耗水型植物。 　　对木岩黄芪光合酶的研究结果表明，其C4光合酶的活性很高，磷酸稀醇式丙酮酸羧化酶(PEPcase)、NAD-苹果酸酶(NAD-ME)、NADP-苹果酸酶(NADP-ME)、NAD-苹果酸脱氢酶(NAD-MDH)、NADP-苹果酸脱氢酶(NADP-MDH) 和丙酮酸磷酸双激酶(PPDK)等酶的活性，在整个生育期内为黄柳的5倍以上，但稳定性碳同位素测定结果却表明木岩黄芪为C3植物。因此，我们认为C3豆科植物木岩黄芪体内可能存在着C4光合途径，这种机制使得其对于流动沙丘的胁迫环境有着很强的适应性和很高的资源利用效率。

科尔沁沙地人工固沙群落草本植物种群生态位特征

运用Levins生态位宽度和Pianka生态位重叠公式,计测分析了科尔沁沙地流动沙丘以及山竹子Hedysarum fruticosum、柠条锦鸡儿Caragana korshinskii、黄柳Salix gordejevii和小叶锦鸡儿C.micro-phylla人工固沙群落内草本植物种群的生态位宽度和生态位重叠。研究结果表明:在不同的生境条件下物种的生态位宽度存在差异,沙蓬Agriophyllum squarrosum在流动沙丘上的生态位宽度最大,狗尾草Setar-ia viridis、毛马唐Digitaria ciliaris分别在山竹子群落和黄柳群落中的生态位宽度最大,烛台虫实Corispermum candelabrum在柠条锦鸡儿群落和小叶锦鸡儿群落中占据着最宽的生态位。各群落中生态位宽的物种对生态位重叠值较大,但有些较窄的生态位物种对之间也出现较大的生态位重叠,这种现象从另外的角度表明各群落内环境资源存在一定的空间异质性。不同固沙群落中相同物种的生态位宽度和生态位重叠的差异在一定程度上反映了各群落内不同的区域环境特征。

Somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis and plant regeneration in taro (Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta)

Callus was initiated in three different ‘‘esculenta’’ taro cultivars by culturing corm slices in the dark on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) for 20 days followed by subculture of all corm slices to half-strength MS medium containing 1.0 mg/l thidiazuron (TDZ). Depending on the cultivar, 20–30% of corm slices produced compact, yellow, nodular callus on media containing TDZ. Histological studies revealed the presence of typical embryogenic cells which were small, isodiametric with dense cytoplasms. Somatic embryos formed when callus was transferred to hormone-free medium and *72% of the embryos germinated into plantlets on this medium. Simultaneous formation of roots and shoots during germination, and the presence of shoot and root poles revealed by histology, confirmed that these structures were true somatic embryos. Plants derived from somatic embryos appeared phenotypically normal following 2 months growth in a glasshouse. This method is a significant advance on those previously reported for the esculenta cultivars of taro due to its efficiency and reproducibility.

Improving taro (Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta) production using biotechnological approaches

Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) is an important crop worldwide but is of particular significance in many Pacific Island countries where it forms part of the staple diet and serves as an export commodity. Escalating pest and disease problems are jeopardizing taro production with serious implications to food security and trade. Biotechnological approaches to addressing pest and disease problems, such as somatic embryogenesis and transgenesis, are potentially viable options. However, despite biotechnological advancements in higher profile agronomic crops, such progress in relation to Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta has been slow. This paper reviews taro biology, highlights the cultural and economic significance of taro in Pacific Island countries and discusses the progress made towards the molecular breeding of this important crop to date.

Initiation of embryogenic cell suspensions of taro (Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta) and plant regeneration

Embryogenic callus was initiated by culturing in vitro taro corm slices on agar-solidified half-strength MS medium containing 2.0 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) for 20 days followed by transfer to 1.0 mg/L thidiazuron (TDZ). Callus was subsequently proliferated on solid medium containing 1.0 mg/L TDZ, 0.5 mg/L 2,4- D and 800 mg/L glutamine before transfer to liquid medium containing the same components but with reduced glutamine (100 mg/L). After 3 months in liquid culture on an orbital shaker, cytoplasmically dense cell aggregates began to form. Somatic embryogenesis was induced by plating suspension cells onto solid media containing reduced levels of hormones (0.1 mg/L TDZ, 0.05 mg/L 2,4-D), high concentrations of sucrose (40–50 g/L) and biotin (1.0 mg/L). Embryo maturation and germination was then induced on media containing 0.05 mg/L benzyladenine (BA) and 0.1 mg/L indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Histological studies of the developing embryos revealed the presence of typical shoot and root poles suggesting that these structures were true somatic embryos. The rate of somatic embryos formation was 500–3,000 per mL settledcell volume while approximately 60% of the embryos regenerated into plants.

An efficient hybrid evolutionary optimization algorithm for daily volt/var control at distribution system including DGs

This paper presents a new hybrid evolutionary algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) for daily Volt/Var control in distribution system including Distributed Generators (DGs). Due to the small X/R ratio and radial configuration of distribution systems, DGs have much impact on this problem. Since DGs are independent power producers or private ownership, a price based methodology is proposed as a proper signal to encourage owners of DGs in active power generation. Generally, the daily Volt/Var control is a nonlinear optimization problem. Therefore, an efficient hybrid evolutionary method based on Particle Swarm Optimization and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), called HPSO, is proposed to determine the active power values of DGs, reactive power values of capacitors and tap positions of transformers for the next day. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated and compared with methods based on the original PSO, ACO and GA algorithms on IEEE 34-bus distribution feeder.

Effect of Oil Price on Emissions Trading Market: VAR Analysis

In this study, we investigated the relationship of European Union carbon dioxide CO2 allowances EUAs prices and oil prices by employing a VAR analysis, Granger causality test and impulse response function. If oil price continues increasing, companies will decrease dependency on fossil fuels because of an increase in energy costs. Therefore, the price of EUAs may be affected by variations in oil prices if the greenhouse gases discharged by the consumption of alternative energy are less than that of fossil fuels. There are no previous studies that investigated these relationships. In this study, we analyzed eight types of EUAs EUA05 to EUA12 with a time series daily data set during 2005-2007 collected from a European Climate Exchange time series data set. Differentiations in these eight types were redemption period. We used the New York Mercantile Exchange light sweet crude price as an oil price. From our examination, we found that only the EUA06 and EUA07 types of EUAs Granger-cause oil prices and vice versa and other six types of EUAs do not Granger-cause oil price. These results imply that the earlier redemption period types of EUAs are more sensitive to oil price. In employing the impulse response function, the results showed that a shock to oil price has a slightly positive effect on all types of EUAs for a very short period. On the other hand, we found that a shock to price of EUA has a slightly negative effect on oil price following a positive effect in only EUA06 and EUA07 types. Therefore, these results imply that fluctuations in EUAs prices and oil prices have little effect on each other. Lastly, we did not consider the substitute energy prices in this study, so we plan to include the prices of coal and natural gas in future analyses.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of Value-at-Risk (VaR) models for Australian banks under Basel III

This study compares Value-at-Risk (VaR) measures for Australian banks over a period that includes the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to determine whether the methodology and parameter selection are important for capital adequacy holdings that will ultimately support a bank in a crisis period. VaR methodology promoted under Basel II was largely criticised during the GFC for its failure to capture downside risk. However, results from this study indicate that 1-year parametric and historical models produce better measures of VaR than models with longer time frames. VaR estimates produced using Monte Carlo simulations show a high percentage of violations but with lower average magnitude of a violation when they occur. VaR estimates produced by the ARMA GARCH model also show a relatively high percentage of violations, however, the average magnitude of a violation is quite low. Our findings support the design of the revised Basel II VaR methodology which has also been adopted under Basel III.

Rhizoctonia crown and root rot of the pasture legume, sulla (Hedysarum coronarium)

Rhizoctonia solani AG-2-2 was isolated from wilting and dying plants of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium), which is currently being assessed in eastern and southern Australia for its potential as a pasture and forage legume. Infected plants in the field had extensive rotting of the taproot, lateral roots and crown. Koch's postulates were fulfilled using three inoculation methods. The disease may pose a considerable threat to the potential use of H. coronarium in the dryland, grazing farming systems of Australia, with resistance offering the most viable option for minimising its impact.

The freezing of mango slices (Mangifera indica var. Kensington)

'Kensington' mango slices were frozen with sucrose syrup, with dry sucrose and without sugar addition, using blast freezing at -30°C, and still air freezing at -18°C. According to taste panel assessment, slices frozen in syrup were best. A syrup strength of 200 g/L was sufficient to produce a high quality product. the blast-frozen slices had a higher texture score than the still air-frozen slices.

Urana subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L. var. subterraneum)

Urana is a hardseeded, moderately early flowering F-5-derived crossbred subterranean clover of var. subterraneum [( Katz. et Morley) Zohary and Heller] developed by the collaborating organisations of the National Annual Pasture Legume Improvement Program. It has been selected for release as a new cultivar on the basis of its high winter and spring herbage production and overall field performance relative to other subterranean clovers of similar maturity. Urana is recommended for sowing in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland. It is best suited to well-drained, moderately acidic soils in areas with a growing season of 5 - 7 months, which extends into mid-October. Urana is suited to phase farming and crop rotations. It has been granted Plant Breeders Rights in Australia.