祁连山东部青杄年内径向生长动态对气候的响应

树木径向生长对气候因子的响应是树轮气候学的基础。在我国西北地区,虽然已有大量的树轮-气候响应研究,但是响应分析多基于数理统计结果,缺乏对树木生长过程的理解。基于此,于2013年到2015年在祁连山东部吐鲁沟国家森林公园内通过Dendrometer连续监测了树轮气候重建中常用树种青杄的径向生长,通过平均值法提取2013到2015年生长季内不同时间尺度(1天、7天、10天)的平均径向生长量及对应时间段的平均气候状况。不同时间尺度径向生长量和气候因子的相关分析结果表明,时间尺度的延长削弱了树干水分昼夜变化的干扰,但水分仍然是青杄径向生长的限制因子。为了进一步分析青杄径向生长与气候关系随时间的变化情况,以31天为窗口将日径向生长量与气候要素每隔一天进行滑动相关,结果显示:5、7月青杄的径向生长与降水的关系稳定,都呈显著正相关,但是6月降水的年际变率较大,导致树木可利用水分的变幅也较大,因而树木径向生长与6月水分的响应关系不稳定,存在较大的年际差异,而这可能是一些树轮-气候响应研究中轮宽与6月降水关系不显著的原因。     

Experimental estimation of snare detectability for robust threat monitoring

Hunting with wire snares is rife within many tropical forest systems, and constitutes one of the severest threats to a wide range of vertebrate taxa. As for all threats, reliable monitoring of snaring levels is critical for assessing the relative effectiveness of management interventions. However, snares pose a particular challenge in terms of tracking spatial or temporal trends in their prevalence because they are extremely difficult to detect, and are typically spread across large, inaccessible areas. As with cryptic animal targets, any approach used to monitor snaring levels must address the issue of imperfect detection, but no standard method exists to do so. We carried out a field experiment in Keo Seima Wildlife Reserve in eastern Cambodia with the following objectives: (1) To estimate the detection probably of wire snares within a tropical forest context, and to investigate how detectability might be affected by habitat type, snare type, or observer. (2) To trial two sets of sampling protocols feasible to implement in a range of challenging field conditions. (3) To conduct a preliminary assessment of two potential analytical approaches to dealing with the resulting snare encounter data. We found that although different observers had no discernible effect on detection probability, detectability did vary between habitat type and snare type. We contend that simple repeated counts carried out at multiple sites and analyzed using binomial mixture models could represent a practical yet robust solution to the problem of monitoring snaring levels both inside and outside of protected areas. This experiment represents an important first step in developing improved methods of threat monitoring, and such methods are greatly needed in southeast Asia, as well as in as many other regions.     

PERCHED AT THE MITO‐NUCLEAR CROSSROADS: DIVERGENT MITOCHONDRIAL LINEAGES CORRELATE WITH ENVIRONMENT IN THE FACE OF ONGOING NUCLEAR GENE FLOW IN AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD

Relationships among multilocus genetic variation, geography, and environment can reveal how evolutionary processes affect genomes. We examined the evolution of an Australian bird, the eastern yellow robin Eopsaltria australis, using mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear (nDNA) genetic markers, and bioclimatic variables. In southeastern Australia, two divergent mtDNA lineages occur east and west of the Great Dividing Range, perpendicular to latitudinal nDNA structure. We evaluated alternative scenarios to explain this striking discordance in landscape genetic patterning. Stochastic mtDNA lineage sorting can be rejected because the mtDNA lineages are essentially distinct geographically for > 1500 km. Vicariance is unlikely: the Great Dividing Range is neither a current barrier nor was it at the Last Glacial Maximum according to species distribution modeling; nuclear gene flow inferred from coalescent analysis affirms this. Female philopatry contradicts known female‐biased dispersal. Contrasting mtDNA and nDNA demographies indicate their evolutionary histories are decoupled. Distance‐based redundancy analysis, in which environmental temperatures explain mtDNA variance above that explained by geographic position and isolation‐by‐distance, favors a nonneutral explanation for mitochondrial phylogeographic patterning. Thus, observed mito‐nuclear discordance accords with environmental selection on a female‐linked trait, such as mtDNA, mtDNA–nDNA interactions or genes on W‐chromosome, driving mitochondrial divergence in the presence of nuclear gene flow.     

Towards resolving the systematics of Cerastium subsection Cerastium (Caryophyllaceae): a cytogenetic approach

Analyses of mitotic chromosome numbers and nuclear DNA content were performed for 39 populations of 17 perennial Cerastium taxa from south‐eastern Europe. The DNA content ranged from 2C = 2.43 to 8.78 pg, revealing four ploidy levels corresponding to 4x (2n = 36), 8x, 12x and 16x. High‐polyploid cytotypes with a greater range of ploidy (up to 2n = 144) occur mostly in the central mountainous parts of the Balkan Peninsula. The chromosome number was determined for the first time for C. dinaricum (2n = 36 + 1B), C. decalvans subsp. orbelicum (2n = 36), C. decalvans subsp. glutinosum (2n = 36), C. neoscardicum (2n = 144), C. malyi subsp. serpentini (2n = 144) and C. moesiacum s.s. (2n = 144). New chromosome counts were recorded for C. arvense subsp. strictum (2n = 108), C. banaticum subsp. kosaninii (2n = 36) and C. grandiflorum (2n = 36). For the first time, flow cytometry was used to estimate C values for six species (15 taxonomic entities). The intraspecific variation quotient of C values is high, ranging from 1.003 in C. malyi to 1.306 in C. decalvans subsp. decalvans. The variation in chromosome size among both tetra‐ and octoploid members of Cerastium is much more prominent than in most other angiosperm polyploid series. Significant genome downsizing after polyploidization was observed in some investigated taxa. Differences in ploidy levels and monoploid genome size values confirm the taxonomic status of C. decalvans subsp. glutinosum and C. decalvans subsp. leontopodium. The results obtained indicate a possible close relationship between C. banaticum and C. grandiflorum, but not C. arvense. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 182 , 205–224.     

Midge (Chironomidae,Chaoboridae, Ceratopogonidae) assemblages and their relationship with biological and physicochemical variables in shallow,polymictic lakes

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Killer whale ecotypes: is there a global model?

Killer whales, Orcinus orca, are top predators occupying key ecological roles in a variety of ecosystems and are one of the most widely distributed mammals on the planet. In consequence, there has been significant interest in understanding their basic biology and ecology. Long‐term studies of Northern Hemisphere killer whales, particularly in the eastern North Pacific (ENP), have identified three ecologically distinct communities or ecotypes in that region. The success of these prominent ENP studies has led to similar efforts at clarifying the role of killer whale ecology in other regions, including Antarctica. In the Southern Hemisphere, killer whales present a range of behavioural, social and morphological characteristics to biologists, who often interpret this as evidence to categorize individuals or groups, and draw general ecological conclusions about these super‐predators. Morphologically distinct forms (Type A, B, C, and D) occur in the Southern Ocean and studies of these different forms are often presented in conjunction with evidence for specialised ecology and behaviours. Here we review current knowledge of killer whale ecology and ecotyping globally and present a synthesis of existing knowledge. In particular, we highlight the complexity of killer whale ecology in the Southern Hemisphere and examine this in the context of comparatively well‐studied Northern Hemisphere populations. We suggest that assigning erroneous or prefatory ecotypic status in the Southern Hemisphere could be detrimental to subsequent killer whale studies, because unsubstantiated characteristics may be assumed as a result of such classification. On this basis, we also recommend that ecotypic status classification for Southern Ocean killer whale morphotypes be reserved until more evidence‐based ecological and taxonomic data are obtained.     

New Pliocene remains of Camelus grattardi (Mammalia,Camelidae) from the Shungura Formation,Lower Omo Valley,Ethiopia, and the evolution of African camels

Abstract

Camels are exceptionally rare in the Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of Africa, hindering attempts to understand the evolution of this family on the continent. Here we describe recently collected camel specimens from the Shungura Formation, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia, and attribute these remains to Camelus grattardi. The new specimens date to the late Pliocene (~3 to 2.6 Ma) and consist of three upper molars, one upper premolar, and two proximal metatarsals. The dental specimens confirm this species’ small P4 relative to its molars, a trait that differs significantly from all extant and fossil Old World camels. The metatarsals indicate that C. grattardi was similar in size to the living Bactrian camel, C. bactrianus. Phylogenetically, we find no suitable ancestor, sister, or descendant of the eastern African fossil camel, which suggests greater lineage diversity in Plio-Pleistocene Camelus than previously recognised. Microwear analyses suggest that C. grattardi was likely a mixed-feeder preferring browse, which is consistent with carbon isotopes of enamel from the Turkana Basin. A review of the fossil record of African camels suggests no clear paleoenvironmental association, as fossil camels occur in a range of environments from dry savannas with no permanent water bodies to closed woodlands along the paleo-Omo River.