Eutrophication causes speciation reversal in whitefish adaptive radiations

Species diversity can be lost through two different but potentially interacting extinction processes: demographic decline and speciation reversal through introgressive hybridization. To investigate the relative contribution of these processes, we analysed historical and contemporary data of replicate whitefish radiations from 17 pre-alpine European lakes and reconstructed changes in genetic species differentiation through time using historical samples. Here we provide evidence that species diversity evolved in response to ecological opportunity, and that eutrophication, by diminishing this opportunity, has driven extinctions through speciation reversal and demographic decline. Across the radiations, the magnitude of eutrophication explains the pattern of species loss and levels of genetic and functional distinctiveness among remaining species. We argue that extinction by speciation reversal may be more widespread than currently appreciated. Preventing such extinctions will require that conservation efforts not only target existing species but identify and protect the ecological and evolutionary processes that generate and maintain species.     

Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals

The precise hierarchy of ancient divergence events that led to the present assemblage of modern placental mammals has been an area of controversy among morphologists, palaeontologists and molecular evolutionists. Here we address the potential weaknesses of limited character and taxon sampling in a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of 64 species sampled across all extant orders of placental mammals. We examined sequence variation in 18 homologous gene segments (including nearly 10,000 base pairs) that were selected for maximal phylogenetic informativeness in resolving the hierarchy of early mammalian divergence. Phylogenetic analyses identify four primary superordinal clades: (I) Afrotheria (elephants, manatees, hyraxes, tenrecs, aardvark and elephant shrews); (II) Xenarthra (sloths, anteaters and armadillos); (III) Glires (rodents and lagomorphs), as a sister taxon to primates, flying lemurs and tree shrews; and (IV) the remaining orders of placental mammals (cetaceans, artiodactyls, perissodactyls, carnivores, pangolins, bats and core insectivores). Our results provide new insight into the pattern of the early placental mammal radiation.     

二维Ising模型的并行计算

本文使用蒙特卡罗方法研究了二维Ising模型的磁场和温度对热力学量的影响,并讨论了并行计算技术在数值模拟中的应用.     

Evolution of homeothermy in mammals

We propose that mammalian homeothermy was was acquired in two steps. The first step enabled mammals to invade a nocturnal niche without an increase in resting metabolic rate. The second step enabled them to invade a diurnal niche and involved the acquisition of higher body temperatures and metabolic rates.     

多核系统上任意2序列公共元素的并行查找

文章依据多核系统共享二级缓存和私有一级缓存的容量,采用数据多级分块技术、数据局部性原理和循环并行优化方法,设计了多核系统上存储高效、线程级并行、扩展性好的任意2序列公共元素的并行查找算法。结果表明,该文所给算法充分发挥了多核系统的软硬件特性,获得了良好的加速比和可扩展性。     

Progress in interspecies cloning of mammals

Interspecies mammalian cloning can be achieved by application of two key techniques, i.e.the technique of interspecies nuclear transfer and the technique of interspecies pregnancy.The general principles, problems and possible solutions, as well as the recent advances of interspecies mammalian cloning have been summarized in this review.     

2003年10月与11月两次主要日冕物质抛射事件的空间天气效应比较

研究了分别发生在2003年10月28日和2003年11月18日的两次相似的强烈日冕物质抛射(CME)事件.通过比较这两次CME事件以及它们的行星际响应,分析了其伴随的两种主要空间天气效应:太阳高能粒子事件和地磁暴.这两次CME事件均伴随有一个强耀斑和一次暗条爆发,并且之前都有一个较弱的CME从同一源区产生.第一个CME事件引起了一次极大的太阳高能粒子事件,而第二个则没有引起明显的太阳高能粒子事件.这两次CME事件均引起了大的地磁暴,且第二个CME所引起的地磁暴比第一个CME所引起的地磁暴更强.通过比较分析这两次CME事件,以及与之相关的活动现象和对应的行星际磁云(MC),讨论了这两次CME引起不同空间天气效应的原因:形成不同强度的太阳高能粒子事件在于CME爆发过程中的能量释放率在这两次事件中显著不同,而地磁暴强度的差异则是由行星际MC轴的方向以及MC经过地球时的相对位置不同造成的.     

Coordination of circadian timing in mammals

Time in the biological sense is measured by cycles that range from milliseconds to years. Circadian rhythms, which measure time on a scale of 24 h, are generated by one of the most ubiquitous and well-studied timing systems. At the core of this timing mechanism is an intricate molecular mechanism that ticks away in many different tissues throughout the body. However, these independent rhythms are tamed by a master clock in the brain, which coordinates tissue-specific rhythms according to light input it receives from the outside world.     

Evolutionary radiations and convergences in the structural organization of mammalian brains

The sizes of mammalian brain components seem to be mostly related to the sizes of the whole brain (and body), suggesting a one-dimensional scale of encephalization. Previous multivariate study of such data concludes that evolutionary selection for enlargement of any one brain part is constrained to selection for a concerted enlargement of the whole brain. However, interactions between structurally related pairs of brain parts confirm reports of differential change in brain nuclei, and imply mosaic rather than concerted evolution. Here we analyse a large number of variables simultaneously using multi-dimensional methods. We show that the relative proportions of different systems of functionally integrated brain structures vary independently between different mammalian orders, demonstrating separate evolutionary radiations in mammalian brain organization. Within each major order we identify clusters of unrelated species that occupy similar behavioural niches and have convergently evolved similar brain proportions. We conclude that within orders, mosaic brain organization is caused by selective adaptation, whereas between orders it suggests an interplay between selection and constraints.     

Mosaic evolution of brain structure in mammals

The mammalian brain comprises a number of functionally distinct systems. It might therefore be expected that natural selection on particular behavioural capacities would have caused size changes selectively, in the systems mediating those capacities. It has been claimed, however, that developmental constraints limited such mosaic evolution, causing co-ordinated size change among individual brain components. Here we analyse comparative data to demonstrate that mosaic change has been an important factor in brain structure evolution. First, the neocortex shows about a fivefold difference in volume between primates and insectivores even after accounting for its scaling relationship with the rest of the brain. Second, brain structures with major anatomical and functional links evolved together independently of evolutionary change in other structures. This is true at the level of both basic brain subdivisions and more fine-grained functional systems. Hence, brain evolution in these groups involved complex relationships among individual brain components.     

一种抑制周期性干扰的二级自适应时间延迟估计方法

当接收信号中伴有周期性干扰时，相关时延估计方法会受到严重的影响而不能有效工作，采用二级自适应时间延迟估计方法，可以有效地去除周期性干扰对时延估计的影响，在较强的干扰下仍可得到准确的时延估值，其中第一级为干扰对消器，第二级为ＬＭＳ自适应时延估计器。     

陕西秦岭地区兽类多样性分析

陕西秦岭山地是东洋界和古北界的交汇地带,物种多样性较为丰富.有兽类7目28科82属125种,占陕西省兽类总种数的85.0%.兽类区系组成十分复杂:北方分布型有57种,南方分布型有68种,特有种23种.列入国家重点保护名录、中国物种红色名录和CITES附录的物种有54种,占该区总种数的43.2%.这些珍稀、特有动物主要分布在秦岭地区15个自然保护区内.导致众多物种濒危的原因,主要是栖息地变化和人猎杀等.