The role of Co-management in enabling livelihoods change in context of creating natural reserves

Nowadays Chinese government pays more and more attention to environmental protection. The number of nature reserves and the size of protected areas have increased sharply in China. The establishment of nature reserves limits economic development of surrounding communities to some extent. Co-management is chosen as a strategy for handling the contradiction between environmental protection and community development. This paper chose NabanHe National Nature Reserve (NNNR) as case study. It overviewed the background of NNNR, and analyzed livelihoods change brought about by activities of co-management. On the basis of this analysis, it discusses how co-management enables livelihoods change in context of creating natural reserves. It also discusses the rights and duties involved in co-management arrangement

Comparison of fluorescence biosensors and whole-cell patch clamp recording in detecting ACh, NE, and 5-HT

The communication between neurons and, in some cases, between neurons and non-neuronal cells, through neurotransmission plays a crucial role in various physiological and pathological processes. Despite its importance, the neuromodulatory transmission in most tissues and organs remains poorly understood due to the limitations of current tools for direct measurement of neuromodulatory transmitters. In order to study the functional roles of neuromodulatory transmitters in animal behaviors and brain disorders, new fluorescent sensors based on bacterial periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs) and G-protein coupled receptors have been developed, but their results have not been compared to or multiplexed with traditional methods such as electrophysiological recordings. In this study, a multiplexed method was developed to measure acetylcholine (ACh), norepinephrine (NE), and serotonin (5-HT) in cultured rat hippocampal slices using simultaneous whole-cell patch clamp recordings and genetically encoded fluorescence sensor imaging. The strengths and weaknesses of each technique were compared, and the results showed that both techniques did not interfere with each other. In general, genetically encoded sensors GRABNE and GRAB5HT1.0 showed better stability compared to electrophysiological recordings in detecting NE and 5-HT, while electrophysiological recordings had faster temporal kinetics in reporting ACh. Moreover, genetically encoded sensors mainly report the presynaptic neurotransmitter release while electrophysiological recordings provide more information of the activation of downstream receptors. In sum, this study demonstrates the use of combined techniques to measure neurotransmitter dynamics and highlights the potential for future multianalyte monitoring

Fertilizer potential of liquid product from hydrothermal treatment of swine manure

Compared with composting, hydrothermal treatment (HTT) technology can dramatically shorten the duration for manure waste treatment. This study firstly investigated the effect of HTT on solubilization of N, P and organics from swine manure, and then evaluated the phytotoxicity of liquid product from hydrothermally treated manure by seed germination test. Results show that 98% of N in manure could be converted into soluble form after HTT at 200 °C for 60 min. Soluble P in hydrothermally treated manure (at 150 °C for 60 min) was 2.7 times that in raw manure. The germination indices (GI) were all greater than 100% when the liquid product (from HTT at 150 °C for 60 min) or its diluted samples being used. Results from this study suggest that HTT could be a promising technology for producing safe and value-added liquid fertilizers from swine manure