Tree species identity determines wood decomposition via microclimatic effects

Empirical evidence suggests that the rich set of ecosystem functions and nature's contributions to people provided by forests depends on tree diversity. Biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research revealed that not only species richness per se but also other facets of tree diversity, such as tree identity, have to be considered to understand the underlying mechanisms. One important ecosystem function in forests is the decomposition of deadwood that plays a vital role in carbon and nutrient cycling and is assumed to be determined by above‐ and belowground interactions. However, the actual influence of tree diversity on wood decay in forests remains inconclusive. Recent studies suggest an important role of microclimate and advocate a systematical consideration of small‐scale environmental conditions. We studied the influence of tree species richness, tree species identity, and microclimatic conditions on wood decomposition in a 12‐year‐old tree diversity experiment in Germany, containing six native species within a tree species richness gradient. We assessed wood mass loss, soil microbial properties, and soil surface temperature in high temporal resolution. Our study shows a significant influence of tree species identity on all three variables. The presence of Scots pine strongly increased wood mass loss, while the presence of Norway spruce decreased it. This could be attributed to structural differences in the litter layer that were modifying the capability of plots to hold the soil surface temperature at night, consequently leading to enhanced decomposition rates in plots with higher nighttime surface temperatures. Therefore, our study confirmed the critical role of microclimate for wood decomposition in forests and showed that soil microbial properties alone were not sufficient to predict wood decay. We conclude that tree diversity effects on ecosystem functions may include different biodiversity facets, such as tree identity, tree traits, and functional and structural diversity, in influencing the abiotic and biotic soil properties.     

桑树内生拮抗菌的分离鉴定及其对桑断枝烂叶病的生防初探

【目的】本研究从健康桑树茎中分离筛选对桑断枝烂叶病菌具显著拮抗作用的内生细菌,为该病生物防治奠定研究基础。【方法】采用组织培养法分离桑树内生菌,抑菌圈法和平板对峙法筛选抑菌活性稳定的内生拮抗菌;根据形态学、生理生化特征检测和基于16SrDNA、gyrA和gyrB基因的系统发育分析对拮抗菌进行菌种鉴定;利用抑菌圈法测定拮抗菌株活性发酵液热稳定性,菌丝生长速率法检测活性发酵液抑菌谱;并通过观察拮抗菌对桑断枝烂叶病菌BoeremiaexiguaGXH1菌株生长及菌丝形态的影响,扩增抑菌活性物质合成关键基因,以及采用酸沉淀法提取拮抗菌株脂肽类化合物并进行高效液相色谱串联质谱分析(LC-MS),初步探究可能的抑菌机制。【结果】从健康桑树茎中共分离获得17株桑树内生细菌,并从中筛选获得一株对桑断枝烂叶病菌B.exiguaGXH1有稳定拮抗作用的桑树内生细菌NPJ13菌株。该菌株形态学、生理生化特征与芽孢杆菌属一致,基于16SrDNA、gyrA和gyrB基因序列的系统发育分析结果显示该菌株与贝莱斯芽孢杆菌(Bacillusvelezensis)的亲缘关系最近,且处于系统发育树的最小分枝,故将NPJ13菌株鉴定为贝莱斯芽孢杆菌,命名为B. velezensis NPJ13。NPJ13菌株对灰霉病菌SWU5、核地杖菌SXSG-5、核盘菌PZ-2及烟草疫霉SWU20等12种病原真菌具有不同程度的拮抗作用,其活性发酵液具有较好的热稳定性。NPJ13菌株会导致桑断枝烂叶病菌GXH1菌丝发生扭曲、膨大、透明度增加、断裂等畸变现象;基因检测结果显示NPJ13菌株基因组中具有PKSI、NRPS、Sfp、ItuD、Srfc等5种抑菌活性物质合成关键基因,LC-MS检测结果表明菌株NPJ13脂肽类粗提物中含有表面活性素和伊枯草菌素。【结论】本研究分离筛选获得一株对桑断枝烂叶病菌具有显著拮抗作用的桑树内生细菌B. velezensis NPJ13菌株,为桑断枝烂叶病的生物防治提供了候选菌株。     

Thermal niche variation among individuals of the poison frog,Oophaga pumilio,in forest and converted habitats

The conversion of natural habitats to human land uses often increases local temperatures, creating novel thermal environments for species. The variable responses of ectotherms to habitat conversion, where some species decline while others persist, can partly be explained by variation among species in their thermal niches. However, few studies have examined thermal niche variation within species and across forest‐land use ecotones, information that could provide clues about the capacity of species to adapt to changing temperatures. Here, we quantify individual‐level variation in thermal traits of the tropical poison frog, Oophaga pumilio, in thermally contrasting habitats. Specifically, we examined local environmental temperatures, field body temperatures (T_b), preferred body temperatures (T_pref), critical thermal maxima (CT_max), and thermal safety margins (TSM) of individuals from warm, converted habitats and cool forests. We found that frogs from converted habitats exhibited greater mean T_b and T_pref than those from forests. In contrast, CT_max and TSM did not differ significantly between habitats. However, CT_max did increase moderately with increasing T_b, suggesting that changes in CT_max may be driven by microscale temperature exposure within habitats rather than by mean habitat conditions. Although O. pumilio exhibited moderate divergence in T_pref, CT_max appears to be less labile between habitats, possibly due to the ability of frogs in converted habitats to maintain their T_b below air temperatures that reach or exceed CT_max. Selective pressures on thermal tolerances may increase, however, with the loss of buffering microhabitats and increased frequency of extreme temperatures expected under future habitat degradation and climate warming. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.     

Sexual signal loss in field crickets maintained despite strong sexual selection favoring singing males

Evolutionary biologists commonly seek explanations for how selection drives the emergence of novel traits. Although trait loss is also predicted to occur frequently, few contemporary examples exist. In Hawaii, the Pacific field cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus) is undergoing adaptive sexual signal loss due to natural selection imposed by eavesdropping parasitoids. Mutant male crickets (“flatwings”) cannot sing. We measured the intensity of sexual selection on wing phenotype in a wild population. First, we surveyed the relative abundance of flatwings and “normal‐wings” (nonmutants) on Oahu. Then, we bred wild‐mated females’ offspring to determine both female genotype with respect to the flatwing mutation and the proportion of flatwing males that sired their offspring. We found evidence of strong sexual selection favoring the production of song: females were predominantly homozygous normal‐wing, their offspring were sired disproportionately by singing males, and at the population level, flatwing males became less common following a single sexual selection event. We report a selection coefficient describing the total (pre‐ and postcopulatory) sexual selection favoring normal‐wing males in nature. Given the maintenance of the flatwing phenotype in Hawaii in recent years, this substantial sexual selection additionally suggests an approximate strength of opposing natural selection that favors silent males.     

Frontiers in research on biodiversity and disease

Global losses of biodiversity have galvanised efforts to understand how changes to communities affect ecological processes, including transmission of infectious pathogens. Here, we review recent research on diversity–disease relationships and identify future priorities. Growing evidence from experimental, observational and modelling studies indicates that biodiversity changes alter infection for a range of pathogens and through diverse mechanisms. Drawing upon lessons from the community ecology of free‐living organisms, we illustrate how recent advances from biodiversity research generally can provide necessary theoretical foundations, inform experimental designs, and guide future research at the interface between infectious disease risk and changing ecological communities. Dilution effects are expected when ecological communities are nested and interactions between the pathogen and the most competent host group(s) persist or increase as biodiversity declines. To move beyond polarising debates about the generality of diversity effects and develop a predictive framework, we emphasise the need to identify how the effects of diversity vary with temporal and spatial scale, to explore how realistic patterns of community assembly affect transmission, and to use experimental studies to consider mechanisms beyond simple changes in host richness, including shifts in trophic structure, functional diversity and symbiont composition.     

Identifying new sex-linked genes through BAC sequencing in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia

Background

Silene latifolia represents one of the best-studied plant sex chromosome systems. A new approach using RNA-seq data has recently identified hundreds of new sex-linked genes in this species. However, this approach is expected to miss genes that are either not expressed or are expressed at low levels in the tissue(s) used for RNA-seq. Therefore other independent approaches are needed to discover such sex-linked genes.

Results

Here we used 10 well-characterized S. latifolia sex-linked genes and their homologs in Silene vulgaris, a species without sex chromosomes, to screen BAC libraries of both species. We isolated and sequenced 4 Mb of BAC clones of S. latifolia X and Y and S. vulgaris genomic regions, which yielded 59 new sex-linked genes (with S. vulgaris homologs for some of them). We assembled sequences that we believe represent the tip of the Xq arm. These sequences are clearly not pseudoautosomal, so we infer that the S. latifolia X has a single pseudoautosomal region (PAR) on the Xp arm. The estimated mean gene density in X BACs is 2.2 times lower than that in S. vulgaris BACs, agreeing with the genome size difference between these species. Gene density was estimated to be extremely low in the Y BAC clones. We compared our BAC-located genes with the sex-linked genes identified in previous RNA-seq studies, and found that about half of them (those with low expression in flower buds) were not identified as sex-linked in previous RNA-seq studies. We compiled a set of ~70 validated X/Y genes and X-hemizygous genes (without Y copies) from the literature, and used these genes to show that X-hemizygous genes have a higher probability of being undetected by the RNA-seq approach, compared with X/Y genes; we used this to estimate that about 30 % of our BAC-located genes must be X-hemizygous. The estimate is similar when we use BAC-located genes that have S. vulgaris homologs, which excludes genes that were gained by the X chromosome.

Conclusions

Our BAC sequencing identified 59 new sex-linked genes, and our analysis of these BAC-located genes, in combination with RNA-seq data suggests that gene losses from the S. latifolia Y chromosome could be as high as 30 %, higher than previous estimates of 10-20 %.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1698-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.