瓮安生物群胚胎化石揭示后生动物起源及早期演化历程

包括人类在内的复杂多细胞动物的始祖是什么时候开始出现在地球上的?这是科学界最引人入胜但知之甚少的重大科学问题之一,解决这一难题恐怕只能依靠化石的发现和研究.     

Isolation and identification of a novel coronavirus from wild bird

A novel coronavirus strain was isolated from laryngotracheal swab of wild partridge and designated as partridge/GD/S14/2003 (S14). Its whole genomic sequence was obtained (GenBank Accession number: AY646283) through RT-PCR amplification, cloning, nucleotide sequencing, and analysis by the DNASTAR program. To investigate the origin of the virus, we further analyzed the nucleotide sequences of the main structural proteins, and compared those with other available virus isolates. Our results showed that the highest nucleotide homologies between the S1 gene of S14 strain and those of nephrogenic-type strains JX1-99 and TJ2-96 were 94.6% and 93.4%, respectively. In addition, a relatively high genetic identity, 85% and 84.3%, respectively, was detected between S1 gene of S14 and those of strains QXIBV and LX4. The results suggested that the S14 strain may be originated from or related to nephrogenic-type and proventriculus-type infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The highest nucleotide homology between the S2 gene of S14 strain and those of QXIBV and LX4 was 85% and 84.3%, respectively and all of them belonged to group II coronaviruses. The highest nucleotide homology between the M gene of S14 strain and those of strains SAIB20 and GD6-98 was 90.6% and 90.2%, respectively by which S14 belonged to group III. Although they displayed high level of genetic identity in S1 and S2 gene, there was lower homology of M coding sequences between S14 and BJ, and between S14 and QXIBV strains. Phylogenetic analysis of N gene indicated that group I strains might evolve from RNA recombination between strain H52 and Gray; while group II strains from strain H120 and D1466. S14 strain had the highest N gene homology with strain QXIBV which was 95.7%, thus classified as a group III member. Strains SAIB20 and GD6-98 which were closely related to the M gene of S14 strain belonged to group I and IV, respectively. A possible role of partridge S14 strain may play in the process of coronavirus evolution is discussed.     

A new ichnotaxon of fossil bird track from the Early Cretaceous Tianjialou Formation （Barremian-Albian）, Shandong Province, China

It is well known that fossil bird tracks are geological records of ancient birds walking on the sediments. Prior to the 1980s, little attention was paid to fossil bird tracks partly because of the difficulties of field discrimination. Over the last decade, new discoveries on the bird origin and early evolution, as well as their relation to dinosaurs[1] have greatly stimulated dinosaur and ancient bird studies.Accordingly, the paleoenvironmental, paleoecological and early evolutional significan…     

Endocasts—the direct evidence and recent advances in the study of human brain evolution

Brain evolution is one of the most important aspects of human evolution,usually studied through endocasts.Analysis of fossil hominid endocasts allows inferences on functional anatomy,physiology,and phylogeny.In this paper,we describe the general features of endocast studies and review some of the major topics in paleoneurology.These are:absolute and relative brain size evolution;brain shape variation;brain asymmetry and lateralization;middle meningeal vessels and venous sinuses;application of computed tomography and virtual imaging;the history of Chinese brain endocast studies.In particular,this review emphasizes endocast studies on Chinese hominin fossils.     

无脊椎动物进化中的模糊问题思考

无脊椎动物是动物界的低等类型、最庞大类群。本文根据古生物学、现代生物学和生物进化论研究成就，就无脊椎动物起源、三叶虫、头足类、昆虫进化过程中的模糊问题作了逻辑推理思考。     

生物进化树中的模糊问题浅论

生物进化树是生物进化序列的特殊表现形式,它是生物进化论研究取得的重要成就,但生物进化树仍存在一些模糊问题．本文根据现代生物学、生物进化论、古生物学成就,就存在的模糊问题、产生原因及研究意义进行了浅简的论述.     

鸟类剥制标本制作工艺探究及改进

动物标本在科研、教学和科普等众多领域中占有极其重要的地位。结合鸟类剥制标本制作实践,对鸟类剥制标本制作基本环节如测量、剥制、剔肉、脱脂、脱水、防腐、支架、填充、缝合、安装义眼、整形、贮藏等进行了阐述,并对选材、剥离、取脑、防腐、填充、支架安装和整形等环节做了改进、创新。     

一种摆动式柔性尾部的仿生机器鱼

提出了一种摆动式柔性尾部的仿生机器鱼设计方案,着重解决了机器鱼摆动式推进的问题.在该方案中,应用曲柄摇杆原理,采用了特殊的四连杆摆动机构,结合柔性尾部实现了机器鱼的摆动式推进;巧妙应用了霍尔位置传感器,检测摆杆临界位置,实现了鱼尾位置判断,进而控制鱼尾来转向;研制了以气缸为压缩泵的气路沉浮机构作为"鱼鳔",能使机器鱼进行沉浮动作.实验显示这种机器鱼达到了预期的功能,在水下作业、军事侦察、娱乐等领域有一定的研究应用价值.     

Different fossil brachiopod skeletal microstructure of different information on carbon and oxygen isotope contents

Whether there is isotope fractionation caused by metabolism (vital effect) of bra-chiopods in geologic time with their shells' δ18O and δ13C has been studied intensively in the field of carbonate isotope geochemistry in the last decade. The approach to dealing with the problem is by comparing isotopic compositions between different fossil brachiopods with their secondary shells which usually consist of two kinds of layers: prismatic layer composed of prismatic low-Mg calcite crystals, and fibrous layer comprising fibrous ones. The isotopic compositions of the two secondary layers have been investigated by comparison of carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions between five genera of Atrypidae collected from Givetian, Middle Devonian in Longmenshan, Sichuan Province, China. Due to different microstructures of the two secondary layers, their abilities to prevent from being altered by diagenesis are also different, thus in their state of preservation. The fibrous layer is more susceptible to the diagenetic alternation than the prismatic one in the way of microfracture filling between fibrous crystals in the elongated direction. Consequently, the isotopic compositions of the fibrous layer are systematically lower than those of the prismatic layer in their δ18O and δ13C by (0.53 ± 0.08)‰ and (0. 12 ± 0.04)‰, respectively. This suggests that further studies of vital effects with brachiopod in geological times by comparison of isotopic compositions in the secondary shell take into consideration of the different states of preservation between the fibrous and the prismatic layer.     

车尾水平收缩气动减阻的规律及机理

以MIRA两厢车为对象,采用风洞实验和数值仿真方法,对气动阻力受车尾水平收缩的影响规律进行研究,表明车尾水平收缩提高尾部表面压力水平,有效降低气动阻力;基于可靠性被验证的数值仿真结果,对尾流结构变化规律进行研究,表明车尾水平收缩为尾部死水区提供额外动能,抑制拖曳涡对的形成和发展,减小尾迹区流动能量损失,降低气动阻力.     

聚乙烯型尾形链构象统计 Monte Carlo模拟的理论模型

以聚乙烯型尾形链为例,采用不同于Metropolis原理的一种新理论模型,该模型根据链的实际键长,键角和θ条件下每一链段处于不同旋转异构态的条件概率生成样本链分子;并且论述了该模型的实现步骤、条件概率的计算及构象相关物理量统计平均值的计算公式。