James's rule and causes and consequences of a latitudinal cline in the demography of John's Snapper (Lutjanus johnii) in coastal waters of Australia

Demographic parameters were derived from sectioned otoliths of John’s Snapper (Lutjanus johnii) from 4 regions across 9° of latitude and 23° of longitude in northern Australia. Latitudinal variation in size and growth rates of this species greatly exceeded longitudinal variation. Populations of John’s Snapper farthest from the equator had the largest body sizes, in line with James’s rule, and the fastest growth rates, contrary to the temperature-size rule for ectotherms. A maximum age of 28.6 years, nearly 3 times previous estimates, was recorded and the largest individual was 990 mm in fork length. Females grew to a larger mean asymptotic fork length (L∞) than did males, a finding consistent with functional gonochorism. Otolith weight at age and gonad weight at length followed the same latitudinal trends seen in length at age. Length at maturity was ~72–87% of L∞ and varied by ~23% across the full latitudinal gradient, but age at first maturity was consistently in the range of 6–10 years, indicating that basic growth trajectories were similar across vastly different environments. We discuss both the need for complementary reproductive data in age-based studies and the insights gained from experiments where the concept of oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance is applied to explain the mechanistic causes of James’s rule in tropical fish species.

Movements of bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis) and greenspotted (S. chlorostictus) rockfishes in a Monterey submarine canyon: implications for the design of marine reserves

In August and September of 1997 and 1998, we used SCUBA techniques to surgically implant Vemco V16 series acoustic transmitters in 6 greenspotted rockfish (Sebastes chlorostictus) and 16 bocaccio (S. paucispinis) on the flank of Soquel Canyon in Monterey Bay, California. Fish were captured at depths of 100–200 m and reeled up to a depth of approximately 20 m, where a team of SCUBA divers anesthetized and surgically implanted acoustic transmitters in them. Tagged fish were released on the seafloor at the location of catch. An array of recording receivers on the seafloor enabled the tracking of horizontal and vertical fish movements for a three-month period. Greenspotted rockfish tagged in 1997 exhibited almost no vertical movement and showed limited horizontal movement. Two of these tagged fish spent more than 90% of the time in a 0.58-km2 area. Three other tagged greenspotted rockfish spent more than 60% of the time in a 1.6-km2 area but displayed frequent horizontal movements of at least 3 km. Bocaccio exhibited somewhat greater movements. Of the 16 bocaccio tagged in 1998, 10 spent less than 10% of the time in the approximately 12-km2 study area. One fish stayed in the study area for about 50% of the study time. Signals from the remaining 5 fish were recorded in the study area the entire time. Bocaccio frequently moved vertically 10–20 m and occasionally displayed vertical movements of 100 m or greater.

土地利用变化对西双版纳地区土壤及植被碳含量的影响

土地利用变化，尤其是热带地区森林生态系统土地利用方式的变化极大地改变了全球碳循环，对大气CO2浓度的升高，气候变暖等全球性环境问题起着不可忽视的作用。同时，森林的大面积破坏，引起土壤流失，营养元素含量降低，土壤健康状况恶化，最终大幅度降低生态系统的生产力。本文主要结合野外实地调查和室内分析的方法，研究森林砍伐后转变为农田和橡胶园对西双版纳热带地区土壤碳、氮、磷含量以及有机质化学结构的影响，天然次生林恢复、橡胶园建设对大气CO2的蓄积作用。 森林砍伐后转变为农田和橡胶园，显著地改变了土壤的理化特性。研究结果表明，与次生林相比，农田和橡胶园表层土壤容重、pH值升高，含水量降低，有机质、全氮、全磷、速效氮、有效磷含量显著降低。土地利用变化对土壤特性的影响主要发生在0-40 cm 表层土壤，而对40 cm以下土层影响较小。 土地利用变化改变土壤碳含量，同时影响土壤有机质的化学结构。胡敏酸紫外-可见光谱(UV-VIS)、傅利叶变换红外光谱 (FT-IR) 分析发现，不同生态系统表层土壤 (0-20 cm) 胡敏酸光谱学特性存在明显差异。次生林E4/E6值高于农田和橡胶园。与次生林相比，农田和橡胶园表层土壤有机质中酚基相对含量显著降低，脂肪族、芳香族、羧基以及多聚糖等化合物相对含量增加。 运用样地调查、生物量模型模拟和室内土壤样品分析方法，研究了次生林恢复和橡胶园建设对大气CO2的汇集作用。结果表明：退化土壤恢复为次生林、农田建设橡胶园能够有效促进植被和土壤中碳的汇集。次生林和橡胶林生物量增长速率分别为9.8，10.2 （9.4）t•ha-1•yr-1, 1 m表层土壤有机碳汇集速率分别为0.7和1.1 t•C•ha-1•yr-1。模拟结果显示，40年橡胶林生物量为327 (324) t•ha-1, 恢复50年后天然次生林生物量为395 t•ha-1。加之土壤有机碳，40年橡胶园约汇集碳190 t•ha-1, 次生林恢复50年碳汇集潜力为250 t•ha-1。

全球气候变化条件下新疆天山云杉林生长的分析与模拟

气候变化对人类赖以生存的陆地生态系统尤其是森林会产生很大的影响。本论文选择新疆天山东部的伊吾、中部的天池和小渠子、西部的昭苏四个代表性样点，利用BIOME-BGC模型和树木年轮分析方法探讨1961 ~ 2000年间气候变化和大气CO2浓度增高对天山北坡地带性植被天山云杉林（Picea schrenkiana）生长的影响，并利用BIOME-BGC模型预测未来气候变化条件下天山云杉林生产力的可能变化。 利用BIOME-BGC模型模拟了当前气候和CO2浓度条件下四个研究样点净初级生产力（NPP）特征。比较BIOME-BGC模型模拟值与实测NPP、树木年轮指数，结果表明该模型适用于天山北坡天山云杉林的模拟研究。 以BIOME-BGC模型模拟的NPP和树木年轮宽度指数作为生长指标，分析了天山云杉林过去40年的生长特点和趋势。结果表明近40年来天山云杉林生长总体上呈现上升趋势，尤其是自1987年以后，变化幅度更大。天山云杉林的生长对气候变化的反应很敏感，年降水量与当年的NPP呈现显著正相关关系（R=0.774 ~ 0.882，P < 0.001）。年降水量与树木年轮宽度指数也呈现出相似的相关关系，但相关系数相对较小（0.305 ~ 0.544），其中只有昭苏和小渠子样点达到显著水平。在昭苏和伊吾，年平均温度与对应年份的NPP相关关系微弱，相关系数仅分别为0.036和0.159。而天山中部的小渠子和天池年平均温度与对应年份的NPP呈显著负相关关系（相关系数分别为-0.324和-0.322;P <0.05）,这可能是由于温度的升高加剧水分胁迫，导致NPP下降。年平均温度与树木年轮宽度指数的相关关系与NPP的基本一致。同时，年平均温度也表现出比较强的滞后效应,尤其是滞后两年的效应，这可能是由于温度的升高，加速养分循环产生施肥效应，从而间接促进天山云杉林的生长。近40年来，大气CO2浓度的增高对天山云杉林生长具有一定促进作用，NPP升高的幅度为1.85 ~ 4.51%,根据树木年轮估算大气CO2施肥效应β相对比较小,仅为0.133。进一步分析表明大气 CO2浓度主要是通过提高水分利用效率的途径促进天山云杉林生长。 利用RegCM2区域气候模式模拟的大气CO2倍增时（大约2070年）的气候变化情形作为输入参数，应用BIOME-BGC模型预测了在未来气候状况发生改变，而大气CO2浓度没有变化的情况下（C0T1P1），天山云杉林的NPP增长幅度为13.33 ~ 29.11%,其中对东部伊吾NPP的促进作用最大，其次是中部的小渠子和天池，而对西部昭苏NPP的影响最小;结合当前气候条件和大气CO2浓度加倍情形（C1T0P0），模拟结果表明NPP在比较温暖的天山中部和西部将会有所增加，增加幅度为1.17 ~ 8.62%，而在寒冷的东部伊吾，NPP则会下降2.50%, CO2的施肥效应表现出很大的温度依赖性;结合气候变化和大气CO2浓度加倍情形（C1T1P1），模拟结果表明NPP的增加幅度将会上升为26.43 ~ 37.24%，温度、降水和大气CO2浓度对NPP的影响存在较强的交互作用。 研究表明树木年轮真实记录了树木在自然条件下长期的生长特征，是验证生态系统模型比较理想的材料之一。生态系统模型可以从机理上对生态系统的生物物理过程以及影响因子进行分析和模拟。本研究利用生态系统模型与树木年轮方法相结合很好地揭示天山云杉林的生长与全球气候变化之间的相互关系。同时，研究表明未来气候变化有利于天山云杉林的生长，天山云杉林可能会成为一个重要的碳汇而在碳循环研究中倍受关注。

Detecting positive darwinian selection in brain-expressed genes during human evolution

To understand the genetic basis that underlies the phenotypic divergence between human and non-human primates, we screened a total of 7176 protein-coding genes expressed in the human brain and compared them with the chimpanzee orthologs to identity genes