关键词： 树鼩   饲养繁殖   实验动物标准   丙型肝炎   动物模型  

摘要： 目前用于生物医学研究的树鼩大多数来源于野生捕获,由于个体间的差异较大,其实验结果的均匀性和可重复性较差,亟待解决树鼩人工饲养设施条件、繁殖关键技术、动物质量标准等一系列基础科学问题。许多文献报道了树鼩与其他实验动物比较,在肝病研究中具有巨大的开发应用潜力,在丙型肝炎动物模型研究中,亟待解决丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)细胞培养体系、HCV病毒感染剂量与感染途径、HCV病毒对树鼩体外、体内感染后病毒核酸检测、抗体检测和病理检测等技术方法的建立及动物模型评价标准问题。本文就上述问题系统性地进行初步报道,旨在为树鼩早日实现实验动物化和丙型肝炎疾病研究中应用提供科学依据。

关键词： Bush encroachment   Tree-grass competition   Nutrient hotspot   Seedling   Predation  

摘要： In savannas, the tree-grass balance is governed by water, nutrients, fire and herbivory, and their interactions. We studied the hypothesis that herbivores indirectly affect vegetation structure by changing the availability of soil nutrients, which, in turn, alters the competition between trees and grasses. Nine abandoned livestock holding-pen areas (kraals), enriched by dung and urine, were contrasted with nearby control sites in a semi-arid savanna. About 40 years after abandonment, kraal sites still showed high soil concentrations of inorganic N, extractable P, K, Ca and Mg compared to controls. Kraals also had a high plant production potential and offered high quality forage. The intense grazing and high herbivore dung and urine deposition rates in kraals fit the accelerated nutrient cycling model described for fertile systems elsewhere. Data of a concurrent experiment also showed that bush-cleared patches resulted in an increase in impala dung deposition, probably because impala preferred open sites to avoid predation. Kraal sites had very low tree densities compared to control sites, thus the high impala dung deposition rates here may be in part driven by the open structure of kraal sites, which may explain the persistence of nutrients in kraals. Experiments indicated that tree seedlings were increasingly constrained when competing with grasses under fertile conditions, which might explain the low tree recruitment observed in kraals. In conclusion, large herbivores may indirectly keep existing nutrient hotspots such as abandoned kraals structurally open by maintaining a high local soil fertility, which, in turn, constrains woody recruitment in a negative feedback loop. The maintenance of nutrient hotspots such as abandoned kraals by herbivores contributes to the structural heterogeneity of nutrient-poor savanna vegetation.

关键词： Associational resistance   Tree recruitment   Wood pasture   Spiny shrubs   Directed seed dispersal   Wood mouse  

摘要： Spatial associations of tree saplings with spiny or toxic plants in grazed woodlands are generally explained by associational resistance, i.e., protection against grazing via a well-defended neighbor. In this study, we tested whether directed seed dispersal and post-dispersal seed removal by wood mice are additional explanations for the observed spatial association between thorny shrubs and trees, hence before associational resistance. We performed three studies in grazed woodlands in the Netherlands to test this idea. Our first seed dispersal experiment with tagged acorns showed indeed that wood mice disperse acorns directed towards shrubs. The majority of these dispersed acorns were, however, consumed. Our second experiment revealed that post-dispersal removal of cached acorns was higher under shrubs than in grassland and under trees, but also indicated the importance of within-shrub position: shrub centers were faster depleted than shrub edges. Also the number of freshly emerged seedlings and older saplings differed between micro-habitats, being higher under trees and at shrub inner-edges than at shrub outer-edges, shrub centers, and in grassland. The spatial associations with shrubs got stronger with the age of saplings, which probably reflect accumulated grazing effects over time, being higher in the open than in shrubs. We conclude that directed acorn dispersal and post-dispersal acorn removal by wood mice are two additional explaining mechanisms for the spatial associations between thorny shrubs and trees in grazed woodlands, before associational resistance. Our findings change the view that large herbivores are the sole main drivers behind tree recruitment patterns in grazed woodlands.

关键词： PARASITIC plants   PLANT growth   MESQUITE  

摘要： The article presents a study on the parasitic plant, Psittacantus calyculatus, conducted at El Copal in Guanajuato, Mexico. It mentions that the plant is abundant on mesquite trees which often infest 65% and occupy 50& of individual trees' canopy cover. It notes that the plant can kill a 20 year old tree in 3 to 4 years through heavy infestation. It also points out the preference of biological control to it due to its economically unfeasible control in natural ecosystems.

关键词： comparative method   ethology   evolution   literature   phylogeny   Tinbergen   tree  

关键词： Browsing   Elephant   Grazing   Plant community   Soil property   Vascular plant  

摘要： The response of the field layer vegetation to co-varying resource availability (soil nutrients, light) and resource loss (herbivory pressure) was investigated along a landscape gradient highly influenced by elephants and smaller ungulates at the Chobe River front in Botswana. TWINSPAN classification was used to identify plant communities. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were used to explore the vegetation-environment relationships. Four plant communities were described: Panicum maximum woodland, Tribulus terrestris woodland/shrubland, Chloris virgata shrubland and Cynodon dactylon floodplain. Plant height, species richness and diversity decreased with increasing resource availability and resource loss. The species composition was mainly explained by differences in soil resources, followed by variables related to light availability (woody cover) and herbivory, and by interactions between these variables. The vegetation structure and species richness, on the other hand, followed the general theories of vegetation responses to herbivory more closely than resource related theories. The results suggest a strong interaction between resource availability and herbivory in their influence on the composition, species richness and structure of the plant communities. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

关键词： crop tree release   financial analysis   central hardwoods   Quercus  

摘要： We simulated growth and development from 481 plots within 21 even-aged, mixed hardwood stands (21-35 years old) under no treatment and crop tree release (CTR) treatments using the new Central States Variant of the US Forest Service Forest Vegetation Simulator. We assumed a multiobjective approach focused on financial returns (timber production) and wildlife benefits (provision of species that produce hard mast) in crop tree selection. We compared simulation results by age class, site variables, and species groups. All age classes showed returns on investment (ROI) of 7.8% or greater, but stands 26-35 years old exhibited greater net present values (NPVs). CTR treatments across site, as delineated by aspect and slope positions, also exhibited higher NPVs, with ROI of 8.4% or greater. North and east aspects yielded higher NPVs than south and west aspects within both no-thinning and CTR treatments, and no strong patterns of NPV or ROI emerged among slope positions. CTR treatment delayed financial maturity by 5-10 years because of increased growth rates and assumed higher quality stems. Desirable overstory mast trees for wildlife habitat, primarily oaks (Quercus spp.) and hickory (Carp spp.), increased in importance value, and mortality of crop trees declined with CTR in all age classes. Simulated CTR treatments indicated potential benefits to enhance financial and wildlife forest values in even-aged, mixed hardwood stands.

关键词： Aquaporin   Gonadotroph   Pituitary gland   Immunocytochemistry   In situ RT-PCR  

摘要： Aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of water channel proteins that play a major role in maintaining water homeostasis in various organisms. Several AQPs have been identified in the tree frog, Hyla japonica. Of these, AQP-h3BL, which is expressed in the basolateral membrane of the epithelial cells, is a homolog of mammalian AQP3. Using immunohistochemistry and in situ RT-PCR, we have demonstrated that AQP-h3BL is expressed in the anterior pituitary gonadotrophs of the tree frog but not in the other hormone-producing cells of the anterior pituitary. In gonadotrophs labeled for luteinizing hormone subunit-beta (LH beta), AQP-h3BL protein was found to reside in the plasma membrane, the nuclear membrane and the cytoplasm. Double-labeling of AQP-h3BL mRNA and LH beta protein revealed that AQP-h3BL mRNA is expressed in the gonadotrophs. Following stimulation by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), the label for AQP-h3BL localized in the plasma membrane became more intense, concomitant with the transport of LH beta-positive materials to the plasma membrane. These developments coincided with a decrease in the labeling density in the cytoplasm and near the nuclear membrane, suggesting that the latter localizations may function as "storage area" for AQP-h3BL. Immunoelectron microscopy also confirmed these localizations of AQP-h3BL protein. Based on these results, we suggest that AQP-h3BL protein in the frog gonadotrophs is involved in the formation of secretory granules, the swelling and increase in the volume of the granules and exocytosis.

关键词： 丙型肝炎   树鼩   动物模型   受体  

摘要： 丙型肝炎病毒(hepatitis C virus,HCV)全球流行、危害严重,合适的小动物模型的缺乏严重阻碍了药物和疫苗的研发。该文介绍丙型肝炎危害与病毒复制特点,以HCV入胞受体为重点,通过比较现有丙型肝炎动物模型,从分子水平探讨树鼩作为丙型肝炎动物模型的可能性。

关键词： African savanna   Ecosystem engineer   Hwange National Park   Predation risk   Resource selection function   Zimbabwe  

摘要： African elephants can affect the quality of the habitat of other species by breaking or uprooting trees and shrubs in savannas. Their effect on vegetation has been widely studied but less is known about the effects of such vegetation changes on other animals. We studied how changes in the vegetation caused by elephants influence the selection of microhabitats by five African herbivore species (giraffe, kudu, steenbok, impala, and zebra) in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. There was no clear significant effect of overall elephant-induced vegetation changes on microhabitat selection except for the small species (steenbok and impala) that used vegetation modified by elephants preferentially. This is consistent with a medium-term browsing facilitation hypothesis. More subtle possible effects were detected for larger browsers (giraffe and kudu). They selected areas with broken and uprooted plants and avoided coppiced areas. All of the browsers selected sites characterized by plants uprooted and broken by elephants, which were associated with a higher visibility, and ultimately a better probability of detecting an approaching predator, suggesting that perceived predation risk plays an important role in microhabitat selection. These results illustrate how elephants can initiate indirect effects that influence microhabitat selection by other herbivores. Understanding the indirect effects of elephants through changes in food availability and predation risk thus needs further investigation. The results of this study do not provide support for the hypothesis that elephant-induced changes in the structure of habitats have caused the declines in the populations of the other herbivores in the study area. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.