A test of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity

One of the fundamental questions of ecology is what controls biodiversity. Recent theory suggests that biodiversity is controlled predominantly by neutral drift of species abundances. This theory has generated considerable controversy, because it claims that many mechanisms that have long been studied by ecologists (such as niches) have little involvement in structuring communities. The theory predicts that the species abundance distribution within a community should follow a zero-sum multinomial distribution (ZSM), but this has not, so far, been rigorously tested. Specifically, it remains to be shown that the ZSM fits the data significantly better than reasonable null models. Here I test whether the ZSM fits several empirical data sets better than the lognormal distribution. It does not. Not only does the ZSM fail to fit empirical data better than the lognormal distribution 95% of the time, it also fails to fit empirical data better even a majority of the time. This means that there is no evidence that the ZSM predicts abundances better than the much more parsimonious null hypothesis.     

Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity

The global decline of coral reefs highlights the need to understand the mechanisms that regulate community structure and sustain biodiversity in these systems. The neutral theory, which assumes that individuals are demographically identical regardless of species, seeks to explain ubiquitous features of community structure and biodiversity patterns. Here we present a test of neutral-theory predictions with the use of an extensive species-level data set of Indo-Pacific coral communities. We show that coral assemblages differ markedly from neutral-model predictions for patterns of community similarity and the relative abundance of species. Within local communities, neutral models do not fit relative abundance distributions as well as the classical log-normal distribution. Relative abundances of species across local communities also differ markedly from neutral-theory predictions: coral communities exhibit community similarity values that are far more variable, and lower on average, than the neutral theory can produce. Empirical community similarities deviate from the neutral model in a direction opposite to that predicted in previous critiques of the neutral theory. Instead, our results support spatio-temporal environmental stochasticity as a major driver of diversity patterns on coral reefs.     

实验检验累积前景理论

累积前景理论是前景理论的改进版本.前者使用CE范式对美国被试进行研究,得出如下几点结论:(1)人们的风险态度呈四分模式;(2)概率中大时,得时的风险回避比失时的风险寻求更明显;(3)价值函数的指数、权重函数的指数都小于1.采用相同的范式对中国被试进行考察,发现:(1)仍适用;(3)并不总是适用;(2)总是并不适用.     

Towards a general theory of biodiversity

The study of patterns in living diversity is driven by the desire to find the universal rules that underlie the organization of ecosystems. The relative abundance distribution, which characterizes the total number and abundance of species in a community, is arguably the most fundamental measure in ecology. Considerable effort has been expended in striving for a general theory that can explain the form of the distribution. Despite this, a mechanistic understanding of the form in terms of physiological and environmental parameters remains elusive. Recently, it has been proposed that space plays a central role in generating the patterns of diversity. Here we show that an understanding of the observed form of the relative abundance distribution requires a consideration of how individuals pack in time. We present a framework for studying the dynamics of communities which generalizes the prevailing species-based approach to one based on individuals that are characterized by their physiological traits. The observed form of the abundance distribution and its dependence on richness and disturbance are reproduced, and can be understood in terms of the trade-off between time to reproduction and fecundity.     

Neutral theory: the stability of forest biodiversity

The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography provides a dynamic null hypothesis for the assembly of natural communities. It is also useful for understanding the influence of speciation, extinction, dispersal and ecological drift on patterns of relative species abundance, species-area relationships and phylogeny. Clark and McLachlan argue that neutral drift is inconsistent with the palaeorecord of stability in fossil pollen assemblages of the Holocene forests of southern Canada. We show here that their analysis is based on a partial misunderstanding of neutral theory and that their data alone cannot unambiguously test its validity.     

按空间桁架理论设计的桩筏基础现场试验研究

提出了按空间桁架理论设计桩筏基础的建议，并对18层框-筒结构进行了试设计和施工全过程的现场实测．实测结果表明，桩筏基础按空间桁架理论通过荷载等效简化并划分成有代表性局部模型的设计方法是可行的，据此，提出了扣除直接传递的荷载设计筏板以减少板厚和配筋等相应的设计建议．     

Spatial scaling laws yield a synthetic theory of biodiversity.

Ecologists still search for common principles that predict well-known responses of biological diversity to different factors. Such factors include the number of available niches in space, productivity, area, species' body size and habitat fragmentation. Here we show that all these patterns can arise from simple constraints on how organisms acquire resources in space. We use spatial scaling laws to describe how species of different sizes find food in patches of varying size and resource concentration. We then derive a mathematical rule for the minimum similarity in size of species that share these resources. This packing rule yields a theory of species diversity that predicts relations between diversity and productivity more effectively than previous models. Size and diversity patterns for locally coexisting East African grazing mammals and North American savanna plants strongly support these predictions. The theory also predicts relations between diversity and area and between diversity and habitat fragmentation. Thus, spatial scaling laws provide potentially unifying first principles that may explain many important patterns of species diversity.     

教育测量理论在网络考试系统中的应用

网络考试系统以新的技术、新的模式成为现代教育的主要测试手段之一。通过将教育测量理论应用于网络考试系统中，实现以考察学生的能力导向、学习的发展性和规范性为目的的新考试模式，使网络考试系统更适应现代教学，成为教育评价体系的重要参考依据。     

贝尔不等式及其实验验证

阐述了关于量子力学完备性问题的争论和EPR论证、尤其重点讨论了贝乐不等式的建立及其与量子力学基本解释的关系，也较详尽地介绍了20世纪70年代以来贝尔不等式的实验验证情况（特别是奥地利因斯布鲁克小组的实验情况）。结果表明，贝尔不等式明显不成立，这一事实既体现了对量子力学完备性的支持，同时也反映出更深刻的科学含义，这些无论对量子力学的进一步发展，还是对未来的量子通信，都是具有重大意义的。     

Testing the neutral theory of molecular evolution with genomic data from Drosophila

Although positive selection has been detected in many genes, its overall contribution to protein evolution is debatable. If the bulk of molecular evolution is neutral, then the ratio of amino-acid (A) to synonymous (S) polymorphism should, on average, equal that of divergence. A comparison of the A/S ratio of polymorphism in Drosophila melanogaster with that of divergence from Drosophila simulans shows that the A/S ratio of divergence is twice as high---a difference that is often attributed to positive selection. But an increase in selective constraint owing to an increase in effective population size could also explain this observation, and, if so, all genes should be affected similarly. Here we show that the difference between polymorphism and divergence is limited to only a fraction of the genes, which are also evolving more rapidly, and this implies that positive selection is responsible. A higher A/S ratio of divergence than of polymorphism is also observed in other species, which suggests a rate of adaptive evolution that is far higher than permitted by the neutral theory of molecular evolution.     

电路原理实验箱的创新性改进设计

KHDL-1型教学电路原理实验箱,实验板密集度高,但由于其元器件固定在面板上而无法进行准确的误差分析,故将介绍一种自主创新的电路原理实验箱:将实验箱面板上的各个实验电路与箱体分离,做成插槽式实验电路板。此方案利用电路仿真软件Proteus7Professional对直流电压源、电流表进行仿真设计,同时又可测得分离元件的实验参数,可进一步对数据误差进行分析处理。这样使实验简单明,同时实验者能自主设计焊接电路,增强了同学们的动手能力和创新意识。     

开展创新性实验教学实现理论到创新的有效对接

课内实验教学是实践育人的基础,科技创新是学生素质提高的重要环节.将实验室开放,设立创新性实验教学项目,对接了实验课堂和科技创新,夯实了学生基本理论知识和实践基础,培养了学生科技创新兴趣,让学生提前感受科学研究,为学生开展科技创新做好了铺垫.     

An experimental test of non-local realism

Most working scientists hold fast to the concept of 'realism'--a viewpoint according to which an external reality exists independent of observation. But quantum physics has shattered some of our cornerstone beliefs. According to Bell's theorem, any theory that is based on the joint assumption of realism and locality (meaning that local events cannot be affected by actions in space-like separated regions) is at variance with certain quantum predictions. Experiments with entangled pairs of particles have amply confirmed these quantum predictions, thus rendering local realistic theories untenable. Maintaining realism as a fundamental concept would therefore necessitate the introduction of 'spooky' actions that defy locality. Here we show by both theory and experiment that a broad and rather reasonable class of such non-local realistic theories is incompatible with experimentally observable quantum correlations. In the experiment, we measure previously untested correlations between two entangled photons, and show that these correlations violate an inequality proposed by Leggett for non-local realistic theories. Our result suggests that giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient to be consistent with quantum experiments, unless certain intuitive features of realism are abandoned.     

中微子的理论假设和实验验证

介绍了决定宇宙构成和演化的基本粒子———中微子的理论假设和实验验证,以及测定中微子静止质量的最新方法———中微子振荡.     

土工格栅加筋路堤现场试验研究

对包裹式加筋路堤进行了现场试验测试分析.试验分别对2种格栅类型、3种不同加筋间距等工况下的土压力、格栅应变、路堤沉降进行了跟踪观测,研究了加筋层数及加筋类型对路堤结构性能的影响.通过试验结果的比较分析发现,包裹式柔性支挡结构土压力受加筋形式及加筋率的影响,双向格栅在降低土压力方面作用更为显著,水平土压力在加筋路堤坡面处接近静止土压力,而加筋体后部则较接近朗肯主动土压力,其分布同时还受到加筋形式和加筋率的影响.应变沿格栅分布并不均匀且各层的分布规律也不尽相同;应变随时间持续会增大,且早期增长快.包裹式加筋对于早期沉降及冻胀的限制作用并不明显.试验显示了加筋路堤的真实工作状态,结果可为土工格栅加筋结构的后续研究和工程实践提供参考.     

船体固有频率预报及实验验证

以J型巡逻艇作为研究对象，并利用比利时LMS公司的SCADAⅢ数据采集器及CADA-X信号分析系统对其进行激振实验和模态分析．利用美国ANSYS大型结构分析软件，以三维有限元模型为基础。利用三维有限元方法，做模态计算，对其进行总振动预报．将激振实验获得的数据和有限元法获得的计算结果进行比较，验证了三维有限元法的可靠性，并获得了一些关于全船振动的有意义的研究成果．     

“自动控制理论”课程实验教学改革的研究与实践

针对"自动控制理论"课程本科教学的现状,围绕培养创新型与应用型人才培养模式,研究了高等学校课程实验教学改革的思路,并提出了合理设置实验项目,整合实验教学内容,采取分层教学模式、实施开放式实验教学,并建立科学合理的考核评价体系等措施。     

Governance and the loss of biodiversity

Most of the world's biodiversity occurs within developing countries that require donor support to build their conservation capacity. Unfortunately, some of these countries experience high levels of political corruption, which may limit the success of conservation projects by reducing effective funding levels and distorting priorities. We investigated whether changes in three well surveyed and widespread components of biodiversity were associated with national governance scores and other socio-economic measures. Here we show that governance scores were correlated with changes in total forest cover, but not with changes in natural forest cover. We found strong associations between governance scores and changes in the numbers of African elephants and black rhinoceroses, and these socio-economic factors explained observed patterns better than any others. Finally, we show that countries rich in species and identified as containing priority areas for conservation have lower governance scores than other nations. These results stress the need for conservationists to develop and implement policies that reduce the effects of political corruption and, in this regard, we question the universal applicability of an influential approach to conservation that seeks to ban international trade in endangered species.