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.     

On-demand single-electron transfer between distant quantum dots

Single-electron circuits of the future, consisting of a network of quantum dots, will require a mechanism to transport electrons from one functional part of the circuit to another. For example, in a quantum computer decoherence and circuit complexity can be reduced by separating quantum bit (qubit) manipulation from measurement and by providing a means of transporting electrons between the corresponding parts of the circuit. Highly controlled tunnelling between neighbouring dots has been demonstrated, and our ability to manipulate electrons in single- and double-dot systems is improving rapidly. For distances greater than a few hundred nanometres, neither free propagation nor tunnelling is viable while maintaining confinement of single electrons. Here we show how a single electron may be captured in a surface acoustic wave minimum and transferred from one quantum dot to a second, unoccupied, dot along a long, empty channel. The transfer direction may be reversed and the same electron moved back and forth more than sixty times-a cumulative distance of 0.25 mm-without error. Such on-chip transfer extends communication between quantum dots to a range that may allow the integration of discrete quantum information processing components and devices.     

Global environmental controls of diversity in large herbivores

Large mammalian herbivores occupy half of the earth's land surface and are important both ecologically and economically, but their diversity is threatened by human activities. We investigated how the diversity of large herbivores changes across gradients of global precipitation and soil fertility. Here we show that more plant-available moisture reduces the nutrient content of plants but increases productivity, whereas more plant-available nutrients increase both of these factors. Because larger herbivore species tolerate lower plant nutrient content but require greater plant abundance, the highest potential herbivore diversity should occur in locations with intermediate moisture and high nutrients. These areas are dry enough to yield high quality plants and support smaller herbivores, but productive enough to support larger herbivores. These predictions fit with observed patterns of body size and diversity for large mammalian herbivores in North America, Africa and Australia, and yield a global map of regions with potentially high herbivore diversity. Thus, gradients of precipitation, temperature and soil fertility might explain the global distribution of large herbivore diversity and help to identify crucial areas for conservation and restoration.     

Terahertz semiconductor-heterostructure laser

Semiconductor devices have become indispensable for generating electromagnetic radiation in everyday applications. Visible and infrared diode lasers are at the core of information technology, and at the other end of the spectrum, microwave and radio-frequency emitters enable wireless communications. But the terahertz region (1-10 THz; 1 THz = 10(12) Hz) between these ranges has remained largely underdeveloped, despite the identification of various possible applications--for example, chemical detection, astronomy and medical imaging. Progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of compact, low-consumption, solid-state terahertz sources. Here we report a monolithic terahertz injection laser that is based on interminiband transitions in the conduction band of a semiconductor (GaAs/AlGaAs) heterostructure. The prototype demonstrated emits a single mode at 4.4 THz, and already shows high output powers of more than 2 mW with low threshold current densities of about a few hundred A cm(-2) up to 50 K. These results are very promising for extending the present laser concept to continuous-wave and high-temperature operation, which would lead to implementation in practical photonic systems.     

Erasable electrostatic lithography for quantum components

Quantum electronic components--such as quantum antidots and one-dimensional channels--are usually defined from doped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures using electron-beam lithography or local oxidation by conductive atomic force microscopy. In both cases, lithography and measurement are performed in very different environments, so fabrication and test cycles can take several weeks. Here we describe a different lithographic technique, which we call erasable electrostatic lithography (EEL), where patterns of charge are drawn on the device surface with a negatively biased scanning probe in the same low-temperature high-vacuum environment used for measurement. The charge patterns locally deplete electrons from a subsurface two-dimensional electron system (2DES) to define working quantum components. Charge patterns are erased locally with the scanning probe biased positive or globally by illuminating the device with red light. We demonstrate and investigate EEL by drawing and erasing quantum antidots, then develop the technique to draw and tune high-quality one-dimensional channels. The quantum components are imaged using scanned gate microscopy. A technique similar to EEL has been reported previously, where tip-induced charging of the surface or donor layer was used to locally perturb a 2DES before charge accumulation imaging.     

Successful establishment of Wolbachia in Aedes populations to suppress dengue transmission

Genetic manipulations of insect populations for pest control have been advocated for some time, but there are few cases where manipulated individuals have been released in the field and no cases where they have successfully invaded target populations. Population transformation using the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia is particularly attractive because this maternally-inherited agent provides a powerful mechanism to invade natural populations through cytoplasmic incompatibility. When Wolbachia are introduced into mosquitoes, they interfere with pathogen transmission and influence key life history traits such as lifespan. Here we describe how the wMel Wolbachia infection, introduced into the dengue vector Aedes aegypti from Drosophila melanogaster, successfully invaded two natural A. aegypti populations in Australia, reaching near-fixation in a few months following releases of wMel-infected A. aegypti adults. Models with plausible parameter values indicate that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes suffered relatively small fitness costs, leading to an unstable equilibrium frequency <30% that must be exceeded for invasion. These findings demonstrate that Wolbachia-based strategies can be deployed as a practical approach to dengue suppression with potential for area-wide implementation.     

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