稀有植物太行花的保护生物学研究

悬崖代表着一个残遗的、较少受到干扰的古生境，悬崖也是生物多样性的避难所。这个特殊生境中分布种类丰富的稀有植物和特有植物，而这些稀有和特有植物又往往以悬崖为唯一的生境，在长期的演化历史进程中形成彼此相互适应的关系。这种分布在特殊生境中的稀有植物为保护研究提出了新的研究方向和问题。本文以蔷薇科的中国特有植物太行花（Taihangia rupestris Yü et Li）为对象，对这个仅分布在有限的地理范围内悬崖上的稀有物种进行了保护生物学的研究。 利用RAPD分子标记技术对太行花8个居群的遗传多样性和遗传结构进行了检测分析。结果表明太行花居群内维持着较高的遗传多样性水平，未显示遭受过严重遗传瓶颈的迹象。同时，居群间遗传分化显著，与居群间的地理距离相关，聚类分析得到的树系图与太行花种下两个变种（太行花原变种Taihangia rupestris var. rupestris和缘毛太行花Taihangia rupestris var. ciliate Yü et Li）的划分相符。 通过栽培实验，研究了太行花对光照和养分的反应，从生态学角度检测植物对环境因子变化的适应能力。结果表明光照处理显著影响太行花的气体交换参数，且显示出随季节不同而变化的趋势。在8月第一次测量时，光合速率随着光照水平的增加而增加;而在9月底第二次测量时，高光下植株的光合速率反低于中光条件下的植株。光合光反应曲线表明太行花对不同光照水平（高光、中光和低光）均显示出一定的光合适应性。 光照对太行花的生长反应、形态、解剖等指标均具有显著的作用。在收获时，高光下植物形成小而厚的叶片，更快的叶片形成速率足以弥补单叶面积上光合速率的下降，使植株维持最大的总生物量。中光条件下的植株具有更长的叶柄，更大的叶面积，大而薄的叶片，和更大的叶面积比，被认为是对较弱光照环境适应的表现。而光照对叶片的气孔指标（气孔密度、气孔指数和大小）没有作用，养分施加对太行花的影响也甚微。总体来说，太行花显示出对光照变化的生理适应性和形态可塑性，光照和养分这两个环境条件均非影响太行花局限分布的关键因素。 同时，我们采用扫描电镜手段跟踪观察了太行花的花的早期发育过程。太行花早期发育过程中苞片内残留的退化花痕迹表明，太行花的顶生单花其实是有限聚伞花序中其它花芽败育的结果，显示出从花序向单花演化的趋势。同时，雌蕊的发育在早期是正常的，未显示出退化痕迹。 根据以上结果表明，局限分布在特殊生境上的太行花并未显示出生理适应幅度的狭窄性和遗传多样性水平的降低，因此，太行花在长期的进化过程中形成了对特殊生境——悬崖的适应性，遗传衰退和缺乏适应性不是稀有植物太行花局限分布的原因。在对太行花的保护中应进一步加强对其生境的保护，并在进行迁地保护和回归引种时应兼顾不同变种和地理分布的居群，以实现对其遗传完整性的有效保护。

Seasonal and interannual variation in juvenile salmonids and associated fish assemblage in open waters of the lower Columbia River estuary

The transition between freshwater and marine environments is associated with high mortality for juvenile anadromous salmonids, yet little is known about this critical period in many large rivers. To address this deficiency, we investigated the estuarine ecology of juvenile salmonids and their associated fish assemblage in open-water habitats of the lower Columbia River estuary during spring of 2007–10. For coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), sockeye (O. nerka), chum (O. keta), and yearling (age 1.0) Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon, and steelhead (O. mykiss), we observed a consistent seasonal pattern characterized by extremely low abundances in mid-April, maximum abundances in May, and near absence by late June. Subyearling (age 0.0) Chinook salmon were most abundant in late June. Although we observed interannual variation in the presence, abundance, and size of juvenile salmonids, no single year was exceptional across all species-and-age classes. We estimated that >90% of juvenile Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead were of hatchery origin, a rate higher than previously reported. In contrast to juvenile salmonids, the abundance and composition of the greater estuarine fish assemblage, of which juvenile salmon were minor members, were extremely variable and likely responding to dynamic physical conditions in the estuary. Comparisons with studies conducted 3 decades earlier suggest striking changes in the estuarine fish assemblage—changes that have unknown but potentially important consequences for juvenile salmon in the Columbia River estuary.

Motor task variation induces structural learning.

When we have learned a motor skill, such as cycling or ice-skating, we can rapidly generalize to novel tasks, such as motorcycling or rollerblading [1-8]. Such facilitation of learning could arise through two distinct mechanisms by which the motor system might adjust its control parameters. First, fast learning could simply be a consequence of the proximity of the original and final settings of the control parameters. Second, by structural learning [9-14], the motor system could constrain the parameter adjustments to conform to the control parameters' covariance structure. Thus, facilitation of learning would rely on the novel task parameters' lying on the structure of a lower-dimensional subspace that can be explored more efficiently. To test between these two hypotheses, we exposed subjects to randomly varying visuomotor tasks of fixed structure. Although such randomly varying tasks are thought to prevent learning, we show that when subsequently presented with novel tasks, subjects exhibit three key features of structural learning: facilitated learning of tasks with the same structure, strong reduction in interference normally observed when switching between tasks that require opposite control strategies, and preferential exploration along the learned structure. These results suggest that skill generalization relies on task variation and structural learning.

Habitat and diet overlap of 4 piscivorous fishes: variation on the inner continental shelf off New Jersey

Piscivorous fishes, many of which are economically valuable, play an important role in marine ecosystems and have the potential to affect fish and invertebrate populations at lower trophic levels. Therefore, a quantitative understanding of the foraging ecology of piscivores is needed for ecosystem-based fishery management plans to be successful. Abundance and stomach contents of seasonally co-occurring piscivores were examined to determine overlap in resource use for Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus; 206–670 mm total length [TL]), Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis; 80–565 mm TL), Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix; 55–732 mm fork length [FL]), and Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis; 422–920 mm FL). We collected samples from monthly, fishery-independent trawl surveys conducted on the inner continental shelf (5–27 m) off New Jersey from June to October 2005. Fish abundances and overlaps in diet and habitat varied over this study period. A wide range of fish and invertebrate prey was consumed by each species. Diet composition (determined from 1997 stomachs with identifiable contents) varied with ontogeny (size) and indicated limited overlap between most of the species size classes examined. Although many prey categories were shared by the piscivores examined, different temporal and spatial patterns in habitat use seemed to alleviate potential competition for prey. Nevertheless, the degree of overlap in both fish distributions and diets increased severalfold in the fall as species left estuaries and migrated across and along the study area. Therefore, the transitional period of fall migration, when fish densities are higher than at other times of the year, may be critical for unraveling resource overlap for these seasonally migrant predators.