Do geographic distribution,niche property and life form explain plants' vulnerability to global change?

We modelled the future distribution in 2050 of 975 endemic plant species in southern Africa distributed among seven life forms, including new methodological insights improving the accuracy and ecological realism of predictions of global changes studies by: (i) using only endemic species as a way to capture the full realized niche of species, (ii) considering the direct impact of human pressure on landscape and biodiversity jointly with climate, and (iii) taking species' migration into account. Our analysis shows important promises for predicting the impacts of climate change in conjunction with land transformation. We have shown that the endemic flora of Southern Africa on average decreases with 41% in species richness among habitats and with 39% on species distribution range for the most optimistic scenario. We also compared the patterns of species' sensitivity with global change across life forms, using ecological and geographic characteristics of species. We demonstrate here that species and life form vulnerability to global changes can be partly explained according to species' (i) geographical distribution along climatic and biogeographic gradients, like climate anomalies, (ii) niche breadth or (iii) proximity to barrier preventing migration. Our results confirm that the sensitivity of a given species to global environmental changes depends upon its geographical distribution and ecological proprieties, and makes it possible to estimate a priori its potential sensitivity to these changes.     

Bridging the Divide: Drinking among Street Drug Users

In this research report, we present findings on drinking among drug users from a larger multimethod study of the public health consequences of emergent, changing, and understudied drug-related behavioral patterns among street drug users in Hartford, CT. Although drinking and illicit drug use traditionally have been studied in anthropology as separate cultural domains, this conceptual division has hindered examination of the significant level of drinking among street drug users, the motivations for heavy drinking in this population, and the public health consequences of mixing alcohol and other drugs, including drug relapse.     

Genomic insights into ayurvedic and western approaches to personalized medicine

Ayurveda, an ancient Indian system of medicine documented and practised since 1500 B.C., follows a systems approach that has interesting parallels with contemporary personalized genomic medicine approaches to the understanding and management of health and disease. It is based on the trisutra, which are the three aspects of causes, features and therapeutics that are interconnected through a common organizing principle termed ‘tridosha’. Tridosha comprise three ascertainable physiological entities; vata (kinetic), pitta (metabolic) and kapha (potential) that are pervasive across systems, work in conjunction with each other, respond to the external environment and maintain homeostasis. Each individual is born with a specific proportion of tridosha that are not only genetically determined but also influenced by the environment during foetal development. Jointly they determine a person’s basic constitution, which is termed their ‘prakriti’. Development and progression of different diseases with their subtypes are thought to depend on the origin and mechanism of perturbation of the doshas, and the aim of therapeutic practice is to ensure that the doshas retain their homeostatic state. Similarly, western systems biology epitomized by translational P4 medicine envisages the integration of multiscalar genetic, cellular, physiological and environmental networks to predict phenotypic outcomes of perturbations. In this perspective article, we aim to outline the shape of a unifying scaffold that may allow the two intellectual traditions to enhance one another. Specifically, we illustrate how a unique integrative ‘Ayurgenomics’ approach can be used to integrate the trisutra concept of Ayurveda with genomics. We observe biochemical and molecular correlates of prakriti and show how these differ significantly in processes that are linked to intermediate patho-phenotypes, known to take different course in diseases. We also observe a significant enrichment of the highly connected hub genes which could explain differences in prakriti, focussing on EGLN1, a key oxygen sensor that differs between prakriti types and is linked to high altitude adaptation. Integrating our observation with the current literature, we demonstrate how EGLN1 could qualify as a molecular equivalent of tridosha that can modulate different phenotypic outcomes, where hypoxia is a cause or a consequence both during health and diseased states. Our studies affirm that integration of the trisutra framework through Ayurgenomics can guide the identification of predisposed groups of individuals and enable discovery of actionable therapeutic points in an individualized manner.     

The Effects of Modifying Sucrose Concentration on the Development of Maize Kernels Grown in vitro

Intact Zea mays L. kernels attached to cob tissue develop tomaturity when grown in vitro. This experiment was designed todetermine if it is possible to prolong kernel growth by refreshingthe culture medium. Blocks of maize kernels were grown in vitroon media containing several concentrations of sucrose. Kernels,at all concentrations of sucrose, developed to maturity at 30–35d post-pollination, indicating that it is not possible to extendthe kernel growth phase by supplying a carbohydrate source.Kernels grown on media containing 80 g 1^–1 or higher sucroseconcentration had a significantly greater percentage of kernelsthat developed to maturity, and had greater weight and starchcontent per seed. Zea mays, kernel culture, seed development, starch     

Floral ecostratigraphy in practice

Fossil plant associations are best named by traditional phytosociological methods from genera or species prominent in a reference collection. The named association then has some stability during later palaeoecological interpretation and threedimensional mapping in sedimentary basins. Biostrati-graphic zones are best established from successions of events in similar associations within a specified area. Such events may not have occurred in other types of association, nor have been contemporaneous in separate areas. These events are most effectively correlated when the likely environment and ecology of the associations are also considered.     

A partial revision of Gyptis (Gyptini,Ophiodrominae, Hesionidae,Aciculata, Annelida), with descriptions of a new tribe,a new genus and five new species

Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data (COI, 16SrDNA, 18SrDNA, and 28SrDNA) show that the hesionid genus Gyptis Marion & Bobretzky in Marion, 1874, and the tribe Gyptini Pleijel, 1998, are nonmonophyletic as currently delineated. We introduce the new tribe Amphidurini and the new genus Neogyptis to accommodate these new findings. Amphidurini is sister to Gyptini and Ophiodromini and includes Amphiduros Hartman, 1959, Amphiduropsis, Pleijel, 2001, Neogyptis gen. nov. , and, possibly, Parahesione Pettibone, 1956. Morphologically, Amphidurini can be separated from Gyptini by the distally, rather than subdistally, inserted ventral cirri, and Neogyptis by the combination of this feature, the presence of a median antenna, and a distal ring with papillae on the proboscis. We redescribe and transfer the four species Gyptis crypta Pleijel, 1993, Gyptis mediterranea Pleijel, 1993, Gyptis plurisetis Hilbig, 1992, and Gyptis rosea (Malm, 1874) from Gyptis to Neogyptis gen. nov. , and describe five new species from shallow waters in Belize, Hong Kong, off Vladivostok, and deep‐sea hydrothermal vents in the Lau Basin off Fiji.     

European rabbit survival and recruitment are linked to epidemiological and environmental conditions in their exotic range

The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, is threatened within its native range, yet it is a highly successful colonizing pest species across its worldwide introduced range, causing large economic losses and widespread environmental degradation. To date, there has been no long‐term empirical evidence documenting the relative roles of climatic, epidemiological and biological factors in limiting life‐history determinants of rabbit range and abundance. Using 12 years of capture–mark–recapture data from their exotic range in Australia, we constructed candidate Cormack–Jolly–Seber models to test the influence of environmental, competition and disease conditions on rabbit survival and recruitment. Our results show that: (i) population‐level disease infection rate has the largest overall impact on rabbit survival, explaining 80% of variance in survival rates; (ii) environmental as well as epidemiological conditions constrain rabbit survival, especially for younger animals; (iii) temporal variation in rabbit kitten recruitment patterns are best described by a combination of climate, competition and disease settings (accounting for 68% of variance), while temperature alone has a strong negative influence on kitten recruitment; and (iv) recruitment responds positively to rabbit haemorrhagic disease, but negatively to myxomatosis – the former, probably being mediated through a disease driven effect on intraspecific competition for food. A strengthened understanding of climate change impacts on rabbit range and abundance can be achieved by accounting explicitly for potential synergisms between disease dynamics and climate. In this analysis, we provide the first step towards such an attempt for this important mammal species. Integrated approaches of this kind are essential for future forecasts of rabbit range and abundance, offsetting the conservation threat faced by O. cuniculus in its native range, and achieving effective management in exotic habitats.     

Recolonization of forest fragments by a native rodent following experimental ‘extinctions’

The movement of organisms between subdivided populations is considered a key influence on the persistence of species in modified landscapes. In particular, the ability to recolonize ‘empty’ fragments of habitat is directly relevant to conservation management, and to understanding the link between pattern and process in metapopulations. We studied the movement and recolonization ability of the bush rat, Rattus fuscipes, in a highly fragmented agricultural landscape in south‐western Victoria, Australia. Populations were monitored in seven small (<2.5 ha) and two large (>49 ha) forest fragments before removal of all residents from four of the small fragments. Subsequent monitoring (for up to 16 months) allowed the detection of colonizing individuals, and comparisons between ‘experimental’ and ‘control’ fragments. Rattus fuscipes readily moved between fragments and successfully recolonized (i.e. both males and females arrived) two of four fragments in which extinctions were simulated. A single male moved into a third experimental fragment. In one fragment, new animals were detected 1 month after the removal of residents, indicating that recolonization can occur rapidly. Dispersers were not a random sample of the population: although both males and females, and adults and sub‐adults were recorded dispersing, adult males in reproductive condition predominated. Functional connectivity appears to be high for R. fuscipes in the study landscape. Results from this manipulative experiment provide direct empirical evidence that a capacity for movement allows recolonization of fragments of suitable habitat and is a key process responsible for species persistence in fragmented landscapes, as predicted by theory.     

New Fabriciola species (Polychaeta, Sabellidae, Fabriciinae) from the eastern Atlantic, with a description of sperm and spermathecal ultrastructure

New species in the genus Fabriciola Friedrich are described. Fabriciola is defined by a single synapomorphy, the presence of non-vascularized, ventral filamentous appendages. Otherwise the genus is variable, with differences among species in chaetae, eyes, and peristomial organization. The new species, Fabriciola flammula, F. liguronis and F. parvus , reflect this heterogeneity. Fabriciola liguronis has spermathecae in the radiolar crown of females, the first record of these structures in Fabriciola , but F. flammula and F. parvus lack spermathecae. Sperm ultrastructure in all three species share apomorphies with other fabriciins, but vary in other respects. Fabriciola may be paraphyletic, but material of the type species F. spongicola (Southern, 1921) has been unobtainable so far, and detailed study of this species is required to define the genus Fabriciola adequately.     

Vulnerability of African mammals to anthropogenic climate change under conservative land transformation assumptions

Recent observations show that human‐induced climate change (CC) and land transformation (LT) are threatening wildlife globally. Thus, there is a need to assess the sensitivity of wildlife on large spatial scales and evaluate whether national parks (NPs), a key conservation tools used to protect species, will meet their mandate under future CC and LT conditions. Here, we assess the sensitivity of 277 mammals at African scale to CC at 10′ resolution, using static LT assumptions in a ‘first‐cut’ estimate, in the absence of credible future LT trends. We examine the relationship between species' current distribution and macroclimatic variables using generalized additive models, and include LT indirectly as a filter. Future projections are derived using two CC scenarios (for 2050 and 2080) to estimate the spatial patterns of loss and gain in species richness that might ultimately result. We then apply the IUCN Red List criteria A3(c) of potential range loss to evaluate species sensitivity. We finally estimate the sensitivity of 141 NPs in terms of both species richness and turnover. Assuming no spread of species, 10–15% of the species are projected to fall within the critically endangered or extinct categories by 2050 and between 25% and 40% by 2080. Assuming unlimited species spread, less extreme results show proportions dropping to approximately 10–20% by 2080. Spatial patterns of richness loss and gain show contrasting latitudinal patterns with a westward range shift of species around the species‐rich equatorial zone in central Africa, and an eastward shift in southern Africa, mainly because of latitudinal aridity gradients across these ecological transition zones. Xeric shrubland NPs may face significant richness losses not compensated by species influxes. Other NPs might expect substantial losses and influxes of species. On balance, the NPs might ultimately realize a substantial shift in the mammalian species composition of a magnitude unprecedented in recent geological time. To conclude, the effects of global CC and LT on wildlife communities may be most noticeable not as a loss of species from their current ranges, but instead as a fundamental change in community composition.