Diversity of Bird Communities in Tea (Camellia sinensis) Plantations in Fujian Province, South-Eastern China

Habitat conversion in mountain areas threatens their biodiversity. The effect on biodiversity of creating a mountain landscape with a network of forest fragments and a cultivated habitat matrix is poorly documented in China. Bird communities in forest fragments and tea plantations were censused by field observations in two years (2018–2019) in three tea-growing locations, Anxi, Beifeng, and Wuyishan in Fujian Province, south-eastern China. Out of a potential pool of 247 forest-associated bird species, we detected the presence of 82, mostly resident species, 32–47 of those regularly visiting tea plantations. Species-accumulation curves indicated the near-completeness of the census. The Rényi diversity profiles indicated a more diverse community in forest fragments than nearby tea plantations at Anxi and Beifeng, but the tea plantations at Wuyishan supported a more diverse bird community than the forest. Avian communities in tea plantations were a significantly nested subset of the forest communities. Tea plantations can provide resources for forest-associated birds, but the effectiveness of preserving avian diversity depends on natural forest fragments and can be enhanced by landscape-scale management, when the biocontrol potential of birds can also be enhanced.National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2019YFD1002100); Development and Reform Commission of Fujian Province, China (Minfa Reform Agriculture grant no. [2017]410).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Current Advances in Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Insect Physiology and Metabolism

Research regarding the distribution of metabolites is a vital aspect of insect molecular biology. However, current approaches (e.g., liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry or immunofluorescence) have cons like requirement of massive tissues, low efficiency, and complicated operating processes. As an emerging technology, mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) can visualize the spatiotemporal distribution of molecules in biological samples without labeling. In this chapter, we retrospect the major types of in situ measurement by MSI, and the application of MSI for investigating insect endogenous and exogenous metabolites and monitoring the dynamic changes of metabolites involved with the interactions between insects and plants. Future studies that combine MSI with other genetic tools can facilitate to better explore the underlying mechanisms concerning insect physiology and metabolism

Correlation of the Cerebral Microvascular Blood Flow with Brain Temperature and Electro-Acupuncture Stimulation

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between the temperature and the microvascular blood flow of the cerebral cortex, and the influence of electro-acupuncture (EA) on the cortical microcirculation.MethodsHigh temperature spots on the anterior ectosylvian and low temperature spots on the posterior suprasylvian on the cortical surface of 20 cats were identified using cortical infrared thermography (CIT); the blood flow in the microcirculation on these spots was measured with laser-Doppler flowmetry. EA was given at Zusanli (ST 36) and changes in the blood flow in the cerebral cortex microcirculation were detected.Results1) The mean temperatures on the high (34.83±0.24°C) and low (32.28±0.27°C) temperature spots were significantly different (P<0.001); this was indicative of a temperature difference on the cortical surface; 2) The average blood flow in the microcirculation of the high (266.8±19.2 PU) and low (140.8±9.9 PU) temperature spots was significantly different (P<0.001). 3) On the cortical high temperature spots, the mean blood flow in the microcirculation significantly increased from 266.8±86.8 PU before EA, to 422.5±47.4 PU following 5 minutes of EA (58.35%; P<0.01), and 431.8±52.8 PU 5 minutes after ceasing EA (61.84%; P<0.01). 4) On the low temperature spots, there were no significant differences in blood flow following 5 minutes of EA (146.3±11.5 PU), and 5 minutes after ceasing EA (140.5±11.6 PU), when compared with that before acupuncture (140.8±9.9 PU; P>0.9).ConclusionThe high temperature spots of the cortex are active functional regions of neurons with higher blood flow and a stronger response to EA. EA induces a significant increase in blood flow in the high temperature spots of the cortex

Holographic Storage of Biphoton Entanglement

Coherent and reversible storage of multi-photon entanglement with a multimode quantum memory is essential for scalable all-optical quantum information processing. Although single photon has been successfully stored in different quantum systems, storage of multi-photon entanglement remains challenging because of the critical requirement for coherent control of photonic entanglement source, multimode quantum memory, and quantum interface between them. Here we demonstrate a coherent and reversible storage of biphoton Bell-type entanglement with a holographic multimode atomic-ensemble-based quantum memory. The retrieved biphoton entanglement violates Bell's inequality for 1 microsecond storage time and a memory-process fidelity of 98% is demonstrated by quantum state tomography.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Are Yellow Sticky Cards and Light Traps Effective on Tea Green Leafhoppers and Their Predators in Chinese Tea Plantations?

In Chinese tea plantations, yellow sticky cards and light traps are increasingly used to control insect pests, especially the tea green leafhopper . In this study, a 16-week open-field experiment with daily weather monitoring was designed to test the responses of tea green leafhopper, parasitoids and spiders to yellow sticky cards and three light traps with different wavelengths (covered with sticky cards). An exclosure experiment was also designed to further test the influence of the three light systems (without sticky card) on the same species. The results showed that all three light emitting diode (LED) light traps (white, green and yellow) and yellow sticky cards attracted many more male adults than females during the course of the open field experiment, with less than 25% of trapped adults being females. Parasitoids and spiders were also attracted by these systems. Weather variables, especially rainfall, influenced the trapping efficiency. In the exclosure experiment, the population of leafhoppers in the yellow sticky card treatment did not decline significantly, but the number of spiders significantly decreased. The green and white light treatments without sticky cards showed a significant control of and no obvious harm to spiders. These results suggest that yellow sticky cards and light traps have limited capacity to control tea green leafhoppers. However, light, especially green light, may be a promising population control measure for tea green leafhoppers, not as killing agents in the traps, but rather as a behavioral control system

Magnetic field annihilation and reconnection driven by femtosecond lasers in inhomogeneous plasma

The process of fast magnetic reconnection driven by intense ultra-short laser pulses in underdense plasma is investigated by particle-in-cell simulations. In the wakefield of such laser pulses, quasi-static magnetic fields at a few mega-Gauss are generated due to nonvanishing cross product ∆(n /γ) × p. Excited in an inhomogeneous plasma of decreasing density, the quasi-static magnetic field structure is shown to drift quickly both in lateral and longitudinal directions. When two parallel-propagating laser pulses with close focal spot separation are used, such field drifts can develop into magnetic reconnection (annihilation) in their overlapping region, resulting in the conversion of magnetic energy to kinetic energy of particles. The reconnection rate is found to be much higher than the value obtained in the Hall magnetic reconnection model. Our work proposes a potential way to study magnetic reconnection-related physics with short-pulse lasers of terawatt peak power only