In this study, we documented the changes in the intestinal bacterial community at four stages in Litopenaeus vannamei: 14 days postlarvae (L14) and 1‐, 2‐ and 3‐month old juveniles (J1, J2, J3), using 454 pyrosequencing techniques. The intestinal bacterial community was dominated by three bacterial phyla, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria at all stages. However, the relative abundance and bacterial lineages varied at the family level. The intestinal bacterial community of L14 and J1 was similar, with dominant members belonging to the Comamonadaceae of Betaproteobacteria. Conversely, bacterial members affiliated to Flavobacteriaceae of Bacteroidetes were dominant in J2 and Vibrionaceae of Gammaproteobacteria was dominant in J3. The abundance of Microbacteriaceae of Actinobacteria also fluctuated during the four stages. Bacterial members of Flavobacteriaceae and Rhodobacteraceae (Alphaproteobacteria) were present through all growth stages, and likely form the intestinal core microbiome of L. vannamei. However, they varied at the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) level through the growth stages. The intestinal bacterial community of pond‐rearing shrimp included the three main bacterial phyla identified above, and an additional group, Mycoplasmataceae of Mollicutes. Our results demonstrate that the intestinal bacterial community of L. vannamei was highly dynamic during the growth stages. Bacterial members belonging to Commamonadaceae dominated in the earlier growth stage of shrimp, possibly influenced by feeding with Artemia nauplii, but there was a shift to Flavobacteriaceae in the mid and Vibrionaceae in the late growth stages.

A stochastic averaging method is proposed to predict approximately the response of quasi-integrable Hamiltonian systems, i.e., multi-degree-of-freedom integrable Hamiltonian systems subject to lightly linear and (or) nonlinear dampings and weakly external and (or) parametric excitations of Gaussian white noises. According to the present method an n-dimensional averaged Fokker-Planck-Kolmogrov (FPK) equation governing the transition probability density of n action variables or n independent integrals of motion can be constructed in nonresonant case. In a resonant case with α resonant relations, an (n + α)-dimensional averaged FPK equation governing the transition probability density of n action variables and α combinations of phase angles can be obtained. The procedures for obtaining the stationary solutions of the averaged FPK equations for both resonant and nonresonant cases are presented. It is pointed out that the Stratonovich stochastic averaging and the stochastic averaging of energy envelope are two special cases of the present stochastic averaging. Two examples are given to illustrate the application and validity of the proposed method.

Limestone hills are an unusual habitat for primates, prompting them to evolve specific behavioral adaptations to the component karst habitat. From September 2012 to August 2013, we collected data on the diet of one group of Assamese macaques living in limestone forests at Nonggang National Nature Reserve, Guangxi Province, China, using instantaneous scan sampling. Assamese macaques were primarily folivorous, young leaves accounting for 75.5% and mature leaves an additional 1.8% of their diet. In contrast, fruit accounted for only 20.1%. The young leaves of Bonia saxatilis, a shrubby, karst-endemic bamboo that is superabundant in limestone hills, comprised the bulk of the average monthly diet. Moreover, macaques consumed significantly more bamboo leaves during the season when the availability of fruit declined, suggesting that bamboo leaves are an important fallback food for Assamese macaques in limestone forests. In addition, diet composition varied seasonally. The monkeys consumed significantly more fruit and fewer young leaves in the fruit-rich season than in the fruit-lean season. Fruit consumption was positively correlated with fruit availability, indicating that fruit is a preferred food for Assamese macaques. Of seventy-eight food species, only nine contributed >0.5% of the annual diet, and together these nine foods accounted for 90.7% of the annual diet. Our results suggest that bamboo consumption represents a key factor in the Assamese macaque's dietary adaptation to limestone habitat.

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To characterize the composition of the intestinal bacterial flora in cage-cultured adult small abalone, Haliotis diversicolor, we used both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. In addition, in order to investigate the presence of probable pathogens, the intestinal bacterial community structures of healthy and diseased adult abalones were compared using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting technique. Bacteria isolated from the healthy abalone intestine belonged to the genera Vibrio, Flammeovirga, Shewanella, Persicobacter and Paraferrimonas. From the 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis, the intestinal bacterial community comprised two groups: the Proteobacteria and Tenericutes. Betaproteobacteria (18.48%), Deltaproteobacteria (30.43%) and Mollicutes (35.87%) were the most dominant components in the clones and the Mollicutes were mainly Mycoplasma-affiliated clones. The DGGE band pattern demonstrated that more bands appeared in the healthy abalones (H group) than in the diseased abalones (D group). Although few potential pathogens were detected from the D group, a clustering dendrogram indicated that individuals of the H and D groups (except for D6) formed two separate clusters. An unidentified Deltaproteobacteria species and Mycoplasma sp. were the dominant components in the intestine of both the H and the D group.Hi-Tech Research and Development (863) Program of China [2006AA10A407]; Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System [nycytx-47]; Innovative Platform for Science and Technology, Fujian Province [2008N2004

The critically endangered white-headed langur (Trachypithecus leucocephalus) is confined to fragmented karst forests of southwest Guangxi Province, China. A lack of information on the influence of habitat fragmentation on langur behavior has prevented a comprehensive understanding of their ranging behavior and the development of effective langur conservation strategies. We collected comparative data on time budgets, daily path lengths, home range and diets of four langur groups inhabiting the lightly fragmented Fusui forest (G1, G2) and the more heavily fragmented Chongzuo forest (G3, G4). The aim was to explore the effect of this fragmentation on langur ranging behavior. Our results showed that the Fusui groups spent more time on moving and less time on feeding and playing than the Chongzuo groups. Daily path lengths were 472.4-536.1 m for the Fusui groups and 449.6-480.7 m for the Chongzuo groups, indicating no marked inter-site variation. The Fusui groups occupied much larger home ranges (23.8-33.8 ha) than the Chongzuo groups (14.5-15.8 ha). However, all groups had similar monthly home ranges. Diets significantly differed among langur groups. The Fusui groups consumed more young leaves and had much lower diet diversity compared with the Chongzuo groups. Our findings indicate that habitat fragmentation is one of the crucial determinants of white-headed langur ranging behavior because fragmentation reduces and restricts the home range. Langurs in fragmented habitat adopt an energy conservation strategy characterized by devoting more time to feeding and less time to moving, with a smaller home range and consumption of more plant species. We argue that linking fragmented forests with corridors should be considered a priority in a wider and comprehensive longer term langur population conservation and habitat management strategy.

Outbreak of luminescent disease was reported from Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp farms in Zhangpu County, Southern China during May–July 2011. The clinical signs included fluorescent, less food consumption and high mortality. Bacteria were isolated from the infected shrimps. The pathogen, a luminescent bacterium named VH1 was identified as Vibrio campbellii based on MLSA analysis (16S rDNA, rpoD and toxR). The haemolysin (hly) gene specific in V. campbellii was detected in strain VH1. Pathogenicity test using immersion infection confirmed that strain VH1 was virulent to L. vannamei postlarvae and juveniles, and the LC50 value was 1.55 × 106 CFU mL−1 and 1.7 × 106 CFU mL−1 respectively.