The silver spoon hypothesis proposes that individuals which develop under favorable conditions will gain fitness benefits throughout their lifetime. Hatching order may create a considerable size hierarchy within a brood and lead to earlier-hatched nestlings having a competitive advantage over their siblings, which has been illustrated in some studies. However, there have been few explorations into the effect on subsequent generations. Here, using a 15-year-long study, we investigated the long-term fitness consequences of hatching order in the endangered crested ibis, Nipponia nippon, a species with complete hatching asynchrony. In this study, we found strong support for silver spoon effects acting on hatching order. Compared with later-hatched nestlings, first-hatched nestlings begin reproduction at an earlier age, have higher adult survival rates, possess a longer breeding life span, and achieve higher lifetime reproductive success. Interestingly, we found carry-over effects of hatching order into the next generation. Nestlings which hatched earlier and became breeders in turn also produced nestlings with larger tarsus and better body condition. Additionally, we found a positive correlation among life-history traits in crested ibis. Individuals which started reproduction at a younger age were shown to possess a longer breeding life span, and the annual brood size increased with an individual's breeding life span. This suggests that the earlierhatched nestlings are of better quality and the "silver spoon" effects of hatching order cover all life-history stages and next generation effects.

Constructed wetland technology is regarded as an important ecological restoration technology and used widely in sewage disposal. In order to give them a wider scope of application and to improve their performance in water restoration, the current experiment was designed. Four aquatic macrophytes (dwarf cattail (TM), yellow-flowered iris (WI), water shallot (ST) and watermifoil (MS)) were picked and planted in artificial floating islands (AFIs) in different configurations (TM + WI, ST + MS and TM + WI + MS) and two patterns, radiation pattern (RP) and annular pattern (AP), for a 60-day experiment. Then, water quality and growth were monitored every 10 days. The results indicate that the different configurations performed diversely on waste water purification. First, a composite plant configuration removed more pollutant than a single one with the same total increment of biomass. Second, the plant configuration of MS + ST was most effective in total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) or PO4(3-) removal, and TM + IW + MS was good at chemical oxygen demand (COD) and NO3(-) removal. However, different patterns comprised from the same species had a certain effect on absorption of pollutants. Generally speaking, plant configurations with a RP were better than an AP in purification. Accordingly, these provided the methods for the pollution wetland restoration.

This paper had selected watermifoil (Myriophyllum veticillatumLinn Kertas ini telah memilih tumbuhan watermifoil (Myriophyllum veticillatum Linn.), softstem bulrush (Scirpus validus Vahl) dan yellow-flowered iris (Iris wilsonii) yang menulenkan air melalui konfigurasi berbeza. AFI dengan kombinasi berbeza tumbuhan akuatik disediakan bagi menulenkan air selama 50 hari. Kajian ini bertujuan menilai ciri kimia dan vegetatif setiap tumbuhan yang dikaji di samping mencari konfigurasi tumbuhan akuatik bagi memaksimumkan kecekapan penyingkiran bahan cemar melalui pulau terapung buatan (AFI