Ecology: the proximate cause of frog declines?

Pounds et al. argue that global warming contributes to amphibian declines by encouraging outbreaks of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Although our findings agree with the climate-linked epidemic hypothesis, this pathogen is probably not the only proximate factor in such cases: in the Trasimeno Lake area of Umbria in central Italy, for example, the water frog Rana lessonae first declined in the late 1990s, yet chytridiomycosis was not observed until 2003 (refs 5, 6). Here we show that the chytrid was common there throughout 1999-2002, in a previously unknown form that did not cause disease. We therefore think that the focus by Pounds et al. on a single pathogen is hard to justify because the host-parasite ecology is at present so poorly understood.     

Ecology. Global amphibian population declines

The decline and disappearance of relatively undisturbed populations of amphibians in several high-altitude regions since the 1970s suggests that they may have suffered a global decline, perhaps with a common cause or causes. Houlahan et al. examined means of trends for 936 amphibian populations and concluded that global declines began in the late 1950s, peaked in the 1960s, and have continued at a reduced rate since. Here we re-analyse their data using a method that accounts for the sampling of different populations over different time periods, and find evidence of a mean global decline in monitored populations only in the 1990s. However it is calculated, the global mean not only masks substantial spatial and temporal variation in population trends and sampling effort, but also fails to distinguish between a global decline with global causes and the cumulative effects of local declines with local causes.     

Response of global lightning activity to air temperature variation

It is an issue of great attention but yet not very clear whether lightning activities increase or decrease on a warmer world. Reeve et al. presented that lightning activities in global land and the Northern Hemisphere land have positive response to the increase of wet bulb temperature at 1000hPa. Is this positive response restricted only to wet bulb temperature or in land？ What is the response of global lightning activities （in both land and ocean） to the global surface air temperature variation like？ This paper, based on the 5-year or 8-year OTD/LIS satellite-based lightning detecting data and the NCEP reanalysis data, makes a reanalysis of the response of the global and regional lightning activities to temperature variations. The results show that on the interannual time scale the global total flash rate has positive response to the variation in global surface air temperature, with the sensitivity of 17±7% K^-l. Also, the seasonal mean flash rate of continents all over the world and that of continents in the Northern Hemisphere have sensitive positive response to increase of global surface air temperature and wet bulb temperature, with the sensitivity of about 13±5% K^-1, a bit lower than estimation of 40% K^-1 in Reeve et al. However, the Southern Hemisphere and other areas like the tropics show no significant correlation.     

盲走螨属四新种和二新记录种(蜱螨亚纲:植绥螨科)

在整理我们收藏的植绥螨科标本中,发现有盲走螨属四个新种和二个新记录种,记述如下。本文采用Rowell et al(1978)的毛序命名系统和Chant et al.(1994)的植绥螨科分类系统。长度测量单位为微米。模式标本保存于广东省昆虫研究所。     

一种理想准晶格的数学模型

本文提出了一种理想准晶格的数学模型,它的平面投影图中,平行的水平直线上结点服从Fibonacci排列;而每个分离的呈环状结点的中心都是局部5次对称中心;两个相叠(相分离)的环状结点外层均布着14(16)个结点,很圆满地描述了Hiraga等人的锰—铝准晶体高分辨图。     

连通图中长圈交集的研究

关于图中长圈交集的研究,ScottSmith提出了著名的Smith猜想,J.Chen等提出了一个更强的猜想.证明了当k=5时,J.Chen等提出的猜想成立,即证明对任意5-连通图G,C1和C2是G中任意2个圈,则G中一定存在2个圈C1＊和C2＊,满足V（C1＊）∪V（C2）V（C1）∪V（C2）和V（C1＊）∩V（C...     

益母草碱的新合成工艺研究

益母草碱是唇型科益母草属植物中含有的生物碱,是益母草中具有活血化淤、抑制血小板聚集等主要有效成分之一;本文中以丁香酸为原料,用醋酐进行乙酰化、酰氯化、盖布瑞尔等六步反应得到益母草碱,总收率为18.95%。     

两个基于双线性对数字签名方案的伪造攻击

分析了Gorantla等利用双线性对构造的无证书签名方案和Selvi等利用双线性对构造的基于身份的聚合签名方案,指出两个方案都是不安全的,并分别给出了有效的伪造攻击.     

判别分析法在环境质量评价中的应用

孙成宝等人用主成分分析与全局主成分分析的方法研究了沈阳、广州、桂林等七座城市环境空气质量,得到了一些有价值的结论,但考虑的污染因子太多,将对测量数据、处理数据等带来很多不便。本文用逐步判别法克服了这一不足,将该文的6个污染因子减少到3个,然后对这7座城市环境空气质量进行评价,得到了与孙成宝等相吻合的结论。     

贵州遵义下寒武统牛蹄塘组生物群中的海绵化石

遵义松林中南村下寒武统牛蹄塘组中下部,特别是下部黑色泥岩中产有大量的海绵骨针,形态多样,初步研究有多达10属以上的海绵动物,与澄江生物群的海绵相比,牛蹄塘组的海绵动物化石其组合特征以六射海绵动物为主,它的发现增添了寒武纪生物组成的信息,为海绵动物从晚新元古代的发生以至穿越寒武纪的演化过程及寒武纪生物大爆发的定性,量度提供了重要信息及资料,描述了4属2个种。1个相似种和1个未定种。Hyalosinica sp.;Saetaspongia densa Mehl et Reitner,1993;Leptomitus teretiusculus CHen,Hou et Lu.1989;Crumillospongia cf.biporosa Righy,1986,它们分属于海绵动物的六射海绵纲和普通海绵纲。     

Evolutionary biology: evidence for sympatric speciation?

Sympatric speciation is difficult to demonstrate in nature and remains a hotly debated issue. Barluenga et al. present a case of putative sympatric speciation for two cichlid species in the Nicaraguan crater lake Apoyo, but they overlook or reinterpret some key published information on the system. Although sympatric speciation is possible in theory, we show here that, when this information is taken into account, the results of Barluenga et al. do not provide conclusive evidence for sympatric speciation: this is because the null hypothesis of multiple invasion with introgression cannot be rejected.     

Crystallography: crystallographic evidence for deviating C3b structure

Activation of the protein C3 into C3b in the complement pathway is a crucial step in the complement immune response against pathogenic, immunogenic and apoptotic particles. Ajees et al. describe a crystal structure for C3b that deviates from the one reported by Janssen et al. and by Wiesmann et al.. We have reanalysed the data deposited by Ajees et al. and have discovered features that are inconsistent with the known physical properties of macromolecular structures and their diffraction data. Our findings therefore call into question the crystal structure for C3b reported by Ajees et al..     

内蒙古野豌豆属7种2变种染色体核型研究

本文研究了内蒙古野豌豆属7种2变种的染色体核型,其中Vicia pseudorobus,V.costata,V.gi-gantae,V.japonics,V.amaena ver.oblangifotia的核型为首次报道;同时对该属的染色体基数与核型之间的关系进行了讨论,认为其染色体基数与核型组成及结构特征之间具有一定相关性.     

带跳的非线性SPDE解的存在惟一性

利用压缩映射原理研究了一类由布朗运动与Poisson点过程所驱动的随机偏微分方程弱解及mild解的存在惟一性,并证明了弱解与mild解等价,推广了Denis等的结果．     

Configuration of the magnetic field and reconstruction of Pangaea in the Permian period

The virtual geomagnetic poles of Laurasia and Gondwanaland in the Carboniferous and Permian periods diverge significantly when these continents are reassembled according to the fit calculated by Bullard et al. Two interpretations have been offered: Briden et al. explain these divergences by a magnetic field configuration very different from that of a geocentric axial dipole; Irving (and private communication), Van der Voo and French(4) suggest a different reconstruction and it is shown here that these two interpretations are not incompatible and that the first may help the second.     

愿望在3-4岁儿童信念理解中的作用

研究考察愿望在3-4岁儿童信念理解中的作用。采用两个得到不同结果的错误信念任务变式,即Cassidy(1998)和Ziv等(2003)使用的任务,在被试和实验条件相同的情况下对结果进行比较。结果发现,两个任务得分没有差异,即愿望性对3-4岁儿童错误信念任务得分没有影响,将经典错误信念任务中的愿望性加以控制没有提高3岁儿童的表现。但是,与Ziv(2003)范式中被试处于机率水平的通过率不同,Cassidy(1998)的范式通过率低于机率水平,结合以往研究结果分析,愿望对信念理解的影响可能会出现在处于错误信念理解的最近发展区的个体身上。     

Measurement of the intracellular free calcium concentration in salamander rods

Measurement of the free calcium concentration within a photo-receptor outer segment has been considered an important aim since the proposal by Hagins and Yoshikami that the primary event in phototransduction is a release of Ca (2+) inside the cell. More recent evidence has cast doubt on the calcium hypothesis, and the observations of Yau and Nakatani and Matthews et al. suggest that the internal Ca (2+) concentration ([Ca (2+)]i), may decrease after a flash of light. In the present study we have measured [Ca (2+)]i directly by using a new method for incorporating the Ca-sensitive photoprotein aequorin into an isolated rod. We report that the light response is accompanied by a decrease in [Ca (2+)]i, caused by the closure of light-sensitive channels which are the main route for Ca (2+) entry into the outer segment. Of the Ca (2+) entering through light-sensitive channels, about 95% is sequestered by a rapid and reversible buffering mechanism. Calcium is removed from the cell by an electrogenic pump in which 3 Na (+) ions are exchanged for each Ca (2+); the pump is highly active and the free Ca (2+) in the cell declines with a time constant of ~0.5 s after a flash of light.     

Plant genetics: increased outcrossing in hothead mutants

Arising from: S. J. Lolle, J. L. Victor, J. M. Young & R. E. Pruitt 434, 505-509 (2005); Lolle et al. reply. Lolle et al. report that loss-of-function alleles of the HOTHEAD (HTH) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana are genetically unstable, giving rise to wild-type revertants. On the basis of the reversion of many other genetic markers in hth plants, they suggested a model in which a cache of extragenomic information could cause genes to revert to the genotype of previous generations. In our attempts to reproduce this phenomenon, we discovered that hth mutants show a marked tendency to outcross (unlike wild-type A. thaliana, which is almost exclusively self-fertilizing). Moreover, when hth plants are grown in isolation, their genetic inheritance is completely stable. These results may provide an alternative explanation for the genome wide non-mendelian inheritance reported by Lolle et al.     

KcsA一种新型的K离子通道

Declan A Doyle et al于1998年利用X射线结晶分析在Streptomyces lividans(变铅青链霉菌)中发现的KcsA(K^ conduction and selectivity architecture)是一种新型的K^ 通道。它由四个亚基组成，每个亚基含有两个α—螺旋，在KcsA的中央有一个选择性滤膜，对K^ 具有特殊的通透性。本文仅对KcsA的结构及其对K^ 选择性介导的作用机制进行综述。     

地核物质的状态方程和参数

 解释了3种地核物质状态方程的异同,验证了Vinet et al. EOS(equation of state)比Shanker et al.EOS更接近Stacy EOS的结论,后者与高压极限的热动力学一致、而且与来源于地震波的数据完全匹配;同时与地震波测量数据进行了对照;给出了内核边界压力下物质摩尔体积随温度的变化函数,预言了密度亏损的温度变化.这对于揭示地球深部物质特性、研究地核内的轻物质组分以及深部动力学原理具有重要意义.