At the edge and on the top: molecular identification and ecology of Daphnia dentifera and D. longispina in high-altitude Asian lakes

The occurrence of members of the highly diverse Daphnia longispina complex in Southern and Central Asian high-mountain lakes has been recognized for more than a century. Until now, however, no molecular data have been available for these populations inhabiting the “Roof of the World.” Here, we present the first identification for D. gr. longispina from that region based on a molecular phylogeny. Our findings show that alpine lakes in the Pamir and Himalaya mountains host populations of widespread species of the complex, for which these are the highest known localities. A spineless morph from the Himalaya region, previously labeled as D. longispina var. aspina, was clustering tightly with D. dentifera, while a population from the Pamir mountain range was grouped with D. longispina. In addition, we analyzed ecological data available for lakes in the Khumbu region (Himalaya) to investigate ecological preferences of non-pigmented D. gr. longispina. The identified factors can at least partly be related to avoidance of high UV conditions by this species. We conclude that the widespread species D. dentifera and D. longispina also colonized the Asian high-mountain lakes, and identify the need for further research to trace the possible effect of rapid environmental changes in this region on the diversity and ecology of high-altitude Daphnia populations.     

Microbiology of Lonar Lake and other soda lakes

Soda lakes are saline and alkaline ecosystems that are believed to have existed throughout the geological record of Earth. They are widely distributed across the globe, but are highly abundant in terrestrial biomes such as deserts and steppes and in geologically interesting regions such as the East African Rift valley. The unusual geochemistry of these lakes supports the growth of an impressive array of microorganisms that are of ecological and economic importance. Haloalkaliphilic Bacteria and Archaea belonging to all major trophic groups have been described from many soda lakes, including lakes with exceptionally high levels of heavy metals. Lonar Lake is a soda lake that is centered at an unusual meteorite impact structure in the Deccan basalts in India and its key physicochemical and microbiological characteristics are highlighted in this article. The occurrence of diverse functional groups of microbes, such as methanogens, methanotrophs, phototrophs, denitrifiers, sulfur oxidizers, sulfate reducers and syntrophs in soda lakes, suggests that these habitats harbor complex microbial food webs that (a) interconnect various biological cycles via redox coupling and (b) impact on the production and consumption of greenhouse gases. Soda lake microorganisms harbor several biotechnologically relevant enzymes and biomolecules (for example, cellulases, amylases, ectoine) and there is the need to augment bioprospecting efforts in soda lake environments with new integrated approaches. Importantly, some saline and alkaline lake ecosystems around the world need to be protected from anthropogenic pressures that threaten their long-term existence.     

High-resolution analysis of Y-chromosomal polymorphisms reveals signatures of population movements from central Asia and West Asia into India

Linguistic evidence suggests that West Asia and Central Asia have been the two major geographical sources of genes in the contemporary Indian gene pool. To test the nature and extent of similarities in the gene pools of these regions we have collected DNA samples from four ethnic populations of northern India, and have screened these samples for a set of 18 Y-chromosome polymorphic markers (12 unique event polymorphisms and six short tandem repeats). These data from Indian populations have been analysed in conjunction with published data from several West Asian and Central Asian populations. Our analyses have revealed traces of population movement from Central Asia and West Asia into India. Two haplogroups, HG-3 and HG-9, which are known to have arisen in the Central Asian region, are found in reasonably high frequencies (41.7% and 14.3% respectively) in the study populations. The ages estimated for these two haplogroups are less in the Indian populations than those estimated from data on Middle Eastern populations. A neighbour-joining tree based on Y-haplogroup frequencies shows that the North Indians are genetically placed between the West Asian and Central Asian populations. This is consistent with gene flow from West Asia and Central Asia into India.     

Use of marker pigments and functional groups for assessing the status of phytoplankton assemblages in lakes

Phytoplankton is a key biological quality element for the establishment of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) ecological status in reservoirs and lakes. In freshwaters, inverted microscope examination is the traditional standard method for estimating phytoplankton and assessing taxonomic composition. Based on the enumeration of algal units and measurements for biovolume calculation, this technique is cumbersome and time-consuming. In large monitoring programmes, such as the application of the WFD in lakes and reservoirs, chemotaxonomy (HPLC pigment analysis and CHEMTAX treatment) is ideally suited as an alternative method because it allows the rapid processing of large numbers of samples from numerous locations and depths, thereby providing ideal temporal and spatial resolution. The low taxonomical detail obtained by HPLC and CHEMTAX (phytoplankton classes or phyla) can easily be overcome by a rapid inverted microscope screening with identification of the dominant species. Combining HPLC and microscopy provides a useful method for monitoring phytoplankton assemblages, which can be used to implement the WFD with respect to phytoplankton. Here, we present the application of a method combining marker pigments and microscopy to phytoplankton samples from 12 Belgian reservoirs. This method substantially reduced the workload and enabled us to assess the status of the phytoplankton assemblage in these lakes. The method complies with the WFD, as it takes into account taxonomic composition, assesses abundance and biomass of the phytoplankton taxa, and easily detects blooms. Additionally, a set of templates of probability of occurrence of phytoplankton functional groups at the maximal ecological potential for reservoirs from the Central/Baltic region is presented, based on reference conditions defined for natural lakes from other regions.     

Do assemblages of Coregonus (Teleostei: Salmoniformes) in the Central Alpine region of Europe represent species flocks?

To examine models of evolution for Coregonus from the Central Alpine region of Europe, 20 populations from nine lakes were assessed for variation at six microsatellite DNA loci. Patterns of variation were tested against three evolutionary models: phenotypic plasticity, multiple invasions of lakes by divergent forms, and within-lake radiation of species flocks. All sympatric and all but one allopatric pairs of populations were significantly divergent in allele frequencies. Pairwise F -statistics indicated reduced gene flow among phenotypically divergent sympatric populations. These results reject the hypothesis that within-lake morphological and ecological diversity reflects phenotypic plasticity within a single gene pool. Genetic similarity was higher among forms within lakes than between populations of the same form in different lakes. Among-lake divergence was primarily a product of allele size differences. Mantel tests contrasting patterns of genetic divergence against patterns predicted from the multiple invasions and species flocks models indicated that the latter is the best explanation of the observed genetic variation. Thus, reproductively isolated species diverged within lakes, with similar patterns repeatedly emerging among lakes. While this study argues for a particular mode of evolution in Central Alpine Coregonus , the taxonomy of these forms remains unresolved.     

Chlorophyll–nutrient relationships of different lake types using a large European dataset

In Europe there is a renewed focus on relationships between chemical determinands and ecological impact as a result of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this paper we use regression analysis to examine the relationship of growing season mean chlorophyll a concentration with total phosphorus and total nitrogen using summary data from over 1,000 European lakes. For analysis, lakes were grouped into types with three categories of mean depth, alkalinity and humic content. The lakes were also divided into broad geographic regions covering Atlantic, Northern, Central/Baltic and for some types the Mediterranean areas of Europe. Chlorophyll a was found to be significantly related to both total phosphorus and total nitrogen, although total phosphorus was almost always found to be the best predictor of chlorophyll. Different nutrient chlorophyll relationships were found for lakes according to mean depth and alkalinity, although no significant effect of geographic region or humic content was found for the majority of lake types. We identified three groups of lakes with significantly different responses. Deep lakes had the lowest yield of chlorophyll per unit of nutrient, low and moderate alkalinity shallow lakes the highest and high alkalinity lakes were intermediate. We recommend that the regression models provided for these three lake groups should be used for lake management in Europe and discuss the limitations of such models.     

Chemical and biological indicators of soil quality in organic and conventional farming systems in Central Italy

In the past decade, there has been increased scientific interest in the so-called organic farming, especially in comparison with conventional agriculture. Many recent studies compare these two fundamentally different systems for soil properties, in different regions of the world. In this study, two adjacent fields in Central Italy, one managed according to organic, and the other according to conventional farming methods, were studied to determine the effects of these two agricultural systems on soil quality indicators at the farm level. Chemical and microbiological properties were chosen as indicators of soil quality and were measured at soil depth intervals of 5–20 and 20–35 cm, after 7 years of organic certified and conventional management methods. The field under organic management showed significantly better soil nutritional and microbiological conditions; with increased level of total nitrogen, nitrate and available phosphorus, and an increased microbial biomass content, and enzymatic activities (acid phosphatase, protease and dehydrogenase). No consistent increase in total organic carbon was observed. Results of the study suggest that, over the period of 7 year, organic management method strongly affects soil quality indicators. Large differences between the two soils were found in terms of microbiological properties, which are sensitive soil indicators of changes occurred under the different farming systems.     

A Dispersal and Vicariance Analysis of the Genus Caragana Fabr.

The genus Caragana Fabr., consisting of approximately 70 species, has a temperate Asian distribution and occurs mainly in the drought and cold regions of the northwestern and southwestern Tibetan Plateau of China. The distribution pattern of the genus was investigated using dispersal-vicariance analysis （DIVA）, The results indicate that vicariance versus dispersal plays a major role in the evolution of the genus and that short-distance dispersal also exists. There is no fossil record of this genus. Therefore, Caragana is inferred as an advanced taxon in terms of its limited temperate Asian distribution. Based on the morphological variation and ecological adaptation in Caragana, the generic speciation is postulated to be related to the uplifting of the Tibetan Plateau and to the increasing arid conditions of Central Asian lands since the Neogene. The Mongolian Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau are hypothesized as the barriers of vicariance between East Asia and western Central Asia.     

Phenetic analysis in paleoanthropology: phenogeography of peoples of the world

Phenetic diversity of peoples of the world in a system of nonmetric, discrete variable traits has been studied. Sixty-two populations from North, Central, and Southeast Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, America, East Africa, Australia and Melanesia have been examined. The estimates of phenetic diversity within regions (F(st)) and the distances of the regions from the global means (d) proved to be comparable to the corresponding estimates inferred from genetic data. This means that differentiation of populations in discrete variable traits is related to the history of formation of their gene pools. A classification tree of the world peoples constructed using bootstrap implemented in the PHYLIP program package (Felsenstein, 1993) showed that the Australo--Melanesian populations were close to the East African ones but separated from those of the Eurasian region. The results of phylogenetic analysis of the reconstructed phene pools of the regional ancestral populations support the assumptions on the early colonization of Australia and Melanesia and on the later time of divergence of the ancestors of modern Caucasoids and North Asian Mongoloids.     

Land use change in Asia and the ecological consequences

Viewed within a historical context, Asia has experienced dramatic land transformations, and currently more than 50% of Asian land area is under agriculture. The consequences of this transformation are manifold. Southeast Asia has the highest deforestation rate of any major tropical region. Many of the world’s large rivers and lakes in Asia have been heavily degraded. About 11 of 19 world megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants are in Asia. These land use activities have resulted in substantial negative ecological consequences, including increased anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, deteriorated air and water quality, alteration of regional climate, an increase of disease and a loss of biodiversity. Although land use occurs at the local level, it has the potential to cause ecological impact across local, regional and global scales. Reducing the negative environmental impacts of land use change while maintaining economic viability and social acceptability is an major challenge for most developing countries in Asia.     

Hydrobiological Outline of the Mongolian Lakes

The waters of Mongolia can be classified according to their catchment areas into three hydro-geographic regions: basin of the Arctic Ocean, basin of the Pacific Ocean, Central Asian basin without outlet. After a short historical survey of the exploration of the lakes of the Mongolian People's Republic, the formation and the classification of the lake system is briefly dealt with. Recent hydrobiological findings are presented in addition to hydrological data. As far as possible, statements are made on the size and the depth of the waters, the growth of macrophytes and the trophic level of the lakes. A distinction is made between ultraoligotrophic, oligotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic and dystrophic waters. They are characterized by data on the biomass of the plankton and the ichthyofauna. In the zooplankton of the Central Asian basin, 17 copepod, 29 cladoceran and 58 rotatorian species, and in the waters belonging to the drainage basin of the Pacific Ocean 16 copepod, 40 cladoceran and 37 rotatorian species have already been identified. The results represent the basis for an intensification of fishery in the Mongolian People's Republic.     

Creating multithemed ecological regions for macroscale ecology: Testing a flexible,repeatable, and accessible clustering method

Understanding broad‐scale ecological patterns and processes often involves accounting for regional‐scale heterogeneity. A common way to do so is to include ecological regions in sampling schemes and empirical models. However, most existing ecological regions were developed for specific purposes, using a limited set of geospatial features and irreproducible methods. Our study purpose was to: (1) describe a method that takes advantage of recent computational advances and increased availability of regional and global data sets to create customizable and reproducible ecological regions, (2) make this algorithm available for use and modification by others studying different ecosystems, variables of interest, study extents, and macroscale ecology research questions, and (3) demonstrate the power of this approach for the research question—How well do these regions capture regional‐scale variation in lake water quality? To achieve our purpose we: (1) used a spatially constrained spectral clustering algorithm that balances geospatial homogeneity and region contiguity to create ecological regions using multiple terrestrial, climatic, and freshwater geospatial data for 17 northeastern U.S. states (~1,800,000 km²); (2) identified which of the 52 geospatial features were most influential in creating the resulting 100 regions; and (3) tested the ability of these ecological regions to capture regional variation in water nutrients and clarity for ~6,000 lakes. We found that: (1) a combination of terrestrial, climatic, and freshwater geospatial features influenced region creation, suggesting that the oft‐ignored freshwater landscape provides novel information on landscape variability not captured by traditionally used climate and terrestrial metrics; and (2) the delineated regions captured macroscale heterogeneity in ecosystem properties not included in region delineation—approximately 40% of the variation in total phosphorus and water clarity among lakes was at the regional scale. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of this method for creating customizable and reproducible regions for research and management applications.     

微型生物群落eDNA-PFU监测

微型生物群落在水生态系统中起着至关重要的作用, 是水生态系统食物链的关键环节, 其结构和功能可以很好地反映不同生境的水质特征。《水质 微型生物群落监测 PFU法》是我国首个生物监测国家标准, 被证明是一种快速、经济、准确的监测方法。然而, 由于PFU法对专业知识要求较高、费时耗力且不易标准化, 严重阻碍了该方法进一步的推广与应用。近年来, 环境DNA(eDNA)技术的快速发展突破了微型生物形态鉴定的瓶颈, 能高效、准确地鉴定出水环境中包括微型生物在内的各种水生生物。为此, 文章提出微型生物群落eDNA-PFU法, 即基于eDNA技术改进的PFU法, 对微型生物群落进行监测。为了对eDNA-PFU法进行验证, 文章针对武汉东湖水体中的原生动物群落开展了预实验, 结果表明eDNA-PFU法较传统PFU法覆盖度与灵敏度均更高, 可以真实、全面、准确地揭示水体中微型生物群落结构特征。因此, 基于eDNA-PFU法的微型生物群落监测有望为湖泊、河流、水库等水体的生态考核提供新一代的生物监测标准。     

Saline systems of the Great Plains of western Canada: an overview of the limnogeology and paleolimnology

In much of the northern Great Plains, saline and hypersaline lacustrine brines are the only surface waters present. As a group, the lakes of this region are unique: there is no other area in the world that can match the concentration and diversity of saline lake environments exhibited in the prairie region of Canada and northern United States. The immense number of individual salt lakes and saline wetlands in this region of North America is staggering. Estimates vary from about one million to greater than 10 million, with densities in some areas being as high as 120 lakes/km². Despite over a century of scientific investigation of these salt lakes, we have only in the last twenty years advanced far enough to appreciate the wide spectrum of lake types, water chemistries, and limnological processes that are operating in the modern settings. Hydrochemical data are available for about 800 of the lake brines in the region. Composition, textural, and geochemical information on the modern bottom sediments has been collected for just over 150 of these lakes. Characterization of the biological and ecological features of these lakes is based on even fewer investigations, and the stratigraphic records of only twenty basins have been examined. The lake waters show a considerable range in ionic composition and concentration. Early investigators, concentrating on the most saline brines, emphasized a strong predominance of Na⁺ and SO₄ ^-2 in the lakes. It is now realized, however, that not only is there a complete spectrum of salinities from less than 1 ppt TDS to nearly 400 ppt, but also virtually every water chemistry type is represented in lakes of the region. With such a vast array of compositions, it is difficult to generalize. Nonetheless, the paucity of Cl-rich lakes makes the northern Great Plains basins somewhat unusual compared with salt lakes in many other areas of the world (e.g., Australia, western United States). Compilations of the lake water chemistries show distinct spatial trends and regional variations controlled by groundwater input, climate, and geomorphology. Short-term temporal variations in the brine composition, which can have significant effects on the composition of the modern sediments, have also been well documented in several individual basins. From a sedimentological and mineralogical perspective, the wide range of water chemistries exhibited by the lakes leads to an unusually large diversity of modern sediment composition. Over 40 species of endogenic precipitates and authigenic minerals have been identified in the lacustrine sediments. The most common non-detrital components of the modern sediments include: calcium and calcium-magnesium carbonates (magnesian calcite, aragonite, dolomite), and sodium, magnesium, and sodium-magnesium sulfates (mirabilite, thenardite, bloedite, epsomite). Many of the basins whose brines have very high Mg/Ca ratios also have hydromagnesite, magnesite, and nesquehonite. Unlike salt lakes in many other areas of the world, halite, gypsum, and calcite are relatively rare endogenic precipitates in the Great Plains lakes. The detrital fraction of the lacustrine sediments is normally dominated by clay minerals, carbonate minerals, quartz, and feldspars. Sediment accumulation in these salt lakes is controlled and modified by a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Although the details of these modern sedimentary processes can be exceedingly complex and difficult to discuss in isolation, in broad terms, the processes operating in the salt lakes of the Great Plains are ultimately controlled by three basic factors or conditions of the basin: (a) basin morphology; (b) basin hydrology; and (c) water salinity and composition. Combinations of these parameters interact to control nearly all aspects of modern sedimentation in these salt lakes and give rise to four 'end member' types of modern saline lacustrine settings in the Great Plains: (a) clastics-dominated playas; (b) salt-dominated playas; (c) deep water, non-stratified lakes; and (d) deep water, "permanently" stratified lakes.     

Assessment of the Distribution,Sources and Potential Ecological Risk of Heavy Metals in the Dry Surface Sediment of Aibi Lake in Northwest China

The distribution, sources and potential ecological risk of heavy metals in the sediment of lakes in eastern China and other areas of the world that have undergone rapid economic development have been widely researched by scholars. However, this is not true for heavy metals in the sediment of rump lakes in the arid regions of China and world-wide. Because of this, we chose Aibi Lake to serve as a typical rump lake in an oasis in an arid area in northwest China for our study. Sediment samples were collected from the lake and then the quantities of the heavy metals Pb, Ni, Cd, Cu, Zn, Hg and Cr were measured. Then using a variety of statistical methods, we analyzed the distribution, sources, pollution status and the potential ecological risk of these metals. The results show that: (1) The amounts of the seven heavy metals all fell within the Second Soil National Standard, but the average and maximum values were all higher than the background values of Xinjiang in northwest China. (2) Multivariate statistical analysis determined that the Cd, Pb, Hg and Zn in the sediment were mainly derived from man-sources, and Cu, Ni, and Cr were mainly from the natural geological background. (3) Enrichment factor analysis and the geo-accumulation index evaluation method show that Cd, Hg and Pb in the surface sediment of the Aibi Lake were at low and partial pollution levels, while Zn, Cr, Ni and Cu were at no and low pollution levels. (4) Calculation of the potential ecological hazards index found that, among the seven tested heavy metals, Cd, Hg and Pb were the main potential ecological risk factors, and the contribution of each was 42.6%, 28.6%, and 24.0%, respectively. Cd is the main potential ecological risk factor, followed by Hg and Pb. This work revealed that recent economic development of the Aibi Lake Basin has negatively influenced the accumulation of heavy metals in the sediments of the lake, and, therefore, we should pay increasing attention to this problem and take effective measures to protect the ecology of the Aibi Lake Basin. This work can provide a scientific basis for an early warning of heavy metal pollution and for protection of the environment. Furthermore, it can serve as a reference when creating policies for the economic development in Aibi Lake Basin and environmental protection of rump lakes in arid regions of northwest China and other areas of the world.     

Euxinic freshwater hypolimnia promote bacterial endemicity in continental areas

Bacteria and archaea represent the vast majority of biodiversity on Earth. The ways that dynamic ecological and evolutionary processes interact in the microbial world are, however, poorly known. Here, we have explored community patterns of planktonic freshwater bacteria inhabiting stratified lakes with oxic/anoxic interfaces and euxinic (anoxic and sulfurous) water masses. The interface separates a well-oxygenated upper water mass (epilimnion) from a lower anoxic water compartment (hypolimnion). We assessed whether or not the vertical zonation of lakes promoted endemism in deeper layers by analyzing bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences from the water column of worldwide distributed stratified lakes and applying a community ecology approach. Community similarity based on the phylogenetic relatedness showed that bacterial assemblages from the same water layer were more similar across lakes than to communities from different layer within lakes and that anoxic hypolimnia presented greater β-diversity than oxic epilimnia. Higher β-diversity values are attributable to low dispersal and small connectivity between community patches. In addition, surface waters had significant spatial but non-significant environmental components controlling phylogenetic β-diversity patterns, respectively. Conversely, the bottom layers were significantly correlated with environment but not with geographic distance. Thus, we observed different ecological mechanisms simultaneously acting on the same water body. Overall, bacterial endemicity is probably more common than previously thought, particularly in isolated and environmentally heterogeneous freshwater habitats. We argue for a microbial diversity conservation perspective still lacking in the global and local biodiversity preservation policies.     

Alkaline soda Lake Velika Rusanda (Serbia): the first insight into diatom diversity of this extreme saline lake

Alkaline soda lakes are unique habitats found in specific geographic regions, usually with dry climate. The Carpathian Basin is one of those regions very important for habitat and biodiversity conservation in Europe, with natural soda lakes found in Austria, Hungary and Serbia. In comparison to other two countries from Central Europe, algal biodiversity studies of saline soda lakes in Serbia are scarce. Lake Velika Rusanda has the highest measured salinity of all saline lakes in the Carpathian Basin and there were no reports of its diatom species richness and diversity till now. We conducted 2-year investigation programme to study biodiversity and seasonal dynamics of diatoms in this lake. A total of 27 diatom taxa were found, almost all of them attached to reed and much less in benthos and plankton. Five new diatom species for Serbia were recorded, Craticula halopannonica, Navicymbula pusilla, Hantzschia weyprechtii, Nitzschia thermaloides and Navicula staffordiae. The last mentioned is new for Europe as well. Lake Velika Rusanda is inhabited mostly by alkaliphilous and halophilic diatoms. Since diatoms are used as bioindicators in soda lakes, our results will improve their further application in ecological status assessment of these fragile habitats in the Carpathian Basin.

     

The role of environmental factors for the composition of microbial communities of saline lakes in the Novosibirsk region (Russia)

Background

Nothing is currently known about microbial composition of saline lakes of the Novosibirsk region and its dependence on physical-chemical parameters of waters. We studied the structure of microbial communities of saline lakes of the Novosibirsk region and the effect of physical-chemical parameters of waters on microbial communities of these lakes.

Results

According to the ion content, the lakes were classified either as chloride or chloride-sulfate types. Water salinity ranges from 4.3 to 290 g L⁻¹. Many diverse microbial communities were found. Filamentous and colonial Cyanobacteria of the genera Scytonema, Aphanocapsa, and/or filamentous Algae dominated in littoral communities. Spatial and temporal organization of planktonic microbial communities and the quantities of Archaea and Bacteria were investigated using fluorescent in situ hybridization. We have found that the dominant planktonic component is represented by Archaea, or, less frequently, by Bacteria. Various phylogenetic groups (Bacteria, Archaea, Algae, and Cyanobacteria) are nonuniformly distributed. The principal component analysis was used to detect environmental factors that affect microorganism abundance. We found the principal components responsible for 71.1 % of the observed variation. It was demonstrated that two-block partial least squares was a better method than principal component analysis for analysis of the data. We observed general relationships between microbial abundance and water salinity.

Conclusions

We have performed the first-ever study of the structure of the microbial communities of eleven saline lakes in the Novosibirsk region along with their physical-chemical parameters of waters. Our study demonstrates that saline lakes in the Novosibirsk region contain a unique microbial communities that may become a prolific source of microorganisms for fundamental and applied studies in various fields of ecology, microbiology, geochemistry, and biotechnology, and deserve further metagenomic investigation.

     

Alu insertion polymorphisms and an assessment of the genetic contribution of Central Asia to Anatolia with respect to the Balkans

In the evolutionary history of modern humans, Anatolia acted as a bridge between the Caucasus, the Near East, and Europe. Because of its geographical location, Anatolia was subject to migrations from multiple different regions throughout time. The last, well-known migration was the movement of Turkic speaking, nomadic groups from Central Asia. They invaded Anatolia and then the language of the region was gradually replaced by the Turkic language. In the present study, insertion frequencies of 10 Alu loci (A25 = 0.07, APO = 0.96, TPA25 = 0.44, ACE = 0.37, B65 = 0.57, PV92 = 0.18, FXIIIB = 0.52, D1 = 0.40, HS4.32 = 0.66, and HS4.69 = 0.30) have been determined in the Anatolian population. Together with the data compiled from other databases, the similarity of the Anatolian population to that of the Balkans and Central Asia has been visualized by multidimensional scaling method. Analysis suggested that, genetically, Anatolia is more closely related with the Balkan populations than to the Central Asian populations. Central Asian contribution to Anatolia with respect to the Balkans was quantified with an admixture analysis. Furthermore, the association between the Central Asian contribution and the language replacement episode was examined by comparative analysis of the Central Asian contribution to Anatolia, Azerbaijan (another Turkic speaking country) and their neighbors. In the present study, the Central Asian contribution to Anatolia was estimated as 13%. This was the lowest value among the populations analyzed. This observation may be explained by Anatolia having the lowest migrant/resident ratio at the time of migrations.     

Independence of the Central Asian Faunistic Region (According to the Distribution of Lizards (Reptilia,Sauria))

Central Asian area above 2000 m was studied to test the independence of the Central Asian Mountain region in the herpetogeographical map of the Palearctic Region and the neighboring Sahara-Gobi Desert region. According to the range and origin similarity, all species inhabiting this area were assigned to several groups: mountain Central Asian species (the bulk of the range lies within the studied area), Western Asian upland species (the bulk of the range lies in the Near Eastern uplands), plain desert species (the bulk of the range is below 2000 m), Indo-Malayan species (the bulk of the range lies within the Indo-Malayan Kingdom), European species (the bulk of the range lies in the forest and steppe zones of Europe and West Siberia), and mountain desert species (equal parts of the range lie in the deserts and mountains of Central Asia). The distribution of species density was mapped by range superposition for each group. The dominance (over 50% of the total number of species) of mountain Central Asian or other species groups allowed us to assign the studied area to either the Central Asian mountain region or Sahara-Gobi desert region. The areas where neither of the specified groups exceeded the 50% threshold were recognized as transitional. Considering a large number of endemic species (28% of the total fauna), the Central Asian mountain area should be recognized as an independent region rather than a subregion of the Sahara-Gobi Desert region.