A cytotaxonomic analysis of Chinese Polygonatum (Asparagaceae) species

Chromosome numbers and karyotype data of 19 Chinese Polygonatum species generated from 51 populations are presented in this paper. Karyograms of P. cirrhifoliodes, P. gracile, P. hookeri, P. jinzhaiense and P. nodosum are reported for the first time. The chromosome numbers 2n = 28 for P. hookeri and 2n = 60 for P. zanlanscianense are reported for the first time. Satellite chromosomes in the analyzed Polygonatum species can be classified into nine types with respect to the position of secondary constrictions. The occurrence of these types correlates with the infrageneric classification. Karyotypes are bimodal in most Polygonatum species. Polyploidy is common in Polygonatum, and polyploid taxa exhibit higher karyotype asymmetry.     

中国的沙蜥属研究

本文对我国迄今所知的１８种沙蜥,进行了生物学特性,地理成分和分布的叙述,并依据其开矿特征分别编制民成,幼体的种类检索表,供分类以及野外采集和生态研究时鉴定蜥种使用。     

Pollen morphology of the Phyllanthus species occurring in the continental United States

Twelve native United States species have been examined. The pollen grains could be divided into five pollen types based on sexine ornamentation, aperture structure, sexine/nexine ratio and sexine 1/sexine 2 ratio. Within these types it was often possible to distinguish the grains of the different species. Two groups of types have been recognized based on the similarities in ornamentation. One group, consisting of the Phyllanthus amarus type, the P. tenellus type and the P. urinaria type, is characterized by the Tilia structure, whereas the second group of types, comprising the P. caroliniensis type and the P. liebmannianus type are microreticulate. The postulation that different subgenera show different pollen types is true in general, but there is one exception: P. niruri, taxonomically belonging to the subgenus Phyllanthus, has pollen grains of the P. caroliniensis type, a type also comprising species from the subgenus Isoclades.     

水龙骨亚科植物叶表皮微形态及其系统学意义

利用光学显微镜对水龙骨亚科（Subfam.Polypodioideae Nayar）4属11种1变种植物,即篦齿蕨、日本水龙骨、光茎水龙骨、栗柄水龙骨、假毛柄水龙骨、假友水龙骨、中华水龙骨、友水龙骨、柔毛水龙骨、喜马拉雅水龙骨、蒙自拟水龙骨和穴果棱脉蕨植物的叶表皮微形态进行了观察比较。结果表明：该亚科植物的叶表皮细胞都为不规则型,垂周壁为波状或深波状。它们的气孔器类型有7种,为极细胞型、共环极细胞型、腋下细胞型、聚腋下细胞型、不等细胞型、不规则四细胞型和不规则细胞型。对篦齿蕨属与多足蕨属、栗柄水龙骨与篦齿蕨、光茎水龙骨与日本水龙骨的亲缘关系进行了讨论。     

中国产委陵菜属叶表皮毛的研究

在光学显微镜和实体解剖镜下对28种和变种国产委陵菜属植物的叶表皮毛进行了研究,结果如下：1．在所观察的植物中,有4种类型叶表皮毛的存在,即：单细胞直的不分支的毛;单细胞卷曲的不分支的毛;腺毛;星状毛。2．叶表皮毛的种类在本属植物中具有稳定性,因此具有一定的分类学价值。3．腺毛在所观察的植物中普遍存在。4．讨论了金露梅、银露梅、小叶金露梅的系统归属。     

Call Characteristics of Two Sympatric and Morphologically Similar Tree Frogs Species,Polypedates megacephalus and Polypedates mutus(Anura: Rhacophoridae), from Hainan,China

Anuran calls are usually species-specific and therefore valued as a tool for species identification. Call characteristics are a potential honest signal in sexual selection because they often reflect male body size. Polypedates megacephalus and P. mutus are two sympatric and morphologically similar tree frogs, but it remains unknown whether their calls are associated with body size. In this study, we compared call characteristics of these two species and investigated any potential relationships with body size. We found that P. megacephalus, males produced six call types which consisting of three distinct notes, while P. mutus males produced five types consisting of two types of notes. Dominant frequency, note duration, pulse duration, and call duration exhibited significant interspecific differences. In P. megacephalus, one note exhibited a dominant frequency that was negatively correlated with body mass, snout-vent length, head length, and head width. In P. mutus, the duration of one note type was positively correlated with body mass and head width. These differences in call characteristics may play an important role in interspecific recognition. Additionally, because interspecific acoustic variation reflects body size, calls may be relevant for sexual selection. Taken together, our results confirmed that calls are a valid tool for distinguishing between the two tree-frog species in the field.     

A spatial analysis of the ecology and morphology of cicadas in the Pauropsalta annulata species complex (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)

The cicada Pauropsalta annulata Goding & Froggatt, 1904 comprises several distinct song types across its known distribution in eastern Australia, with these songs being statistically distinguishable from one another. Here we use spatial analysis of adult morphology and plant species associations to test further the hypothesis that P. annulata song types represent a complex of cryptic species. To structure this investigation we contrast different approaches and expectations given under the framework of ecological speciation with those of the recognition concept of species. Plotting the geographical distributions of these cicadas revealed that each of the P. annulata song types have independent geographical distributions, with relatively small areas of overlap. ‘Predicted distribution’ modelling revealed that the distribution of each song type forms a unique climatic envelope, which suggests that abiotic factors (rather than interactions among the cicadas themselves) influence the geographical representation of the different song types. One song type has consistent differences in male genitalia, and female ovipositor length differs significantly among three of the other song types. Each song type is strongly associated with a small number of tree species, and these associations are maintained in areas of sympatry. The spatial comparisons made in this study suggest that the P. annulata song types investigated actually represent three species. One of these species is represented by two of the song types originally recognized, and these appear to intergrade in sympatry, and thus represent subspecies. The spatial consistency of the plant associations and morphology exhibited by these (sub)species is significant because it represents an ecological measure of species stability. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101 , 553–565.     

Hybridization and introgression in Carpobrotus spp. (Aizoaceae) in California. II. Allozyme evidence

Morphological evidence has indicated that hybridization and introgression are occurring between Carpobrotus edulis L., a nonindigenous, invasive species in California (Bolus), and its putative native congener, C. chilensis. The identification of allozyme markers has enabled us to quantify hybridization and the extent of introgression between these species. Samples from 20 individuals of each of five morphological types (both parent species and three hybrid phenotypes) were collected from 39 populations along the coast of California from the Mexico to Oregon borders. Ten enzyme systems revealed a total of 17 resolvable loci, eight of which were polymorphic for the genus. Five of the polymorphic loci easily differentiate C. edulis and C. chilensis. Allele frequencies among the morphologically defined types are consistent with estimations of allele frequency changes due to first- and second-generation backcrossing. In comparison to long-lived, herbaceous perennials and widespread species, C. edulis and intermediate types have more variation in their populations (P = 41.73, Ap = 2.11, Ho = 0.246, and P = 38.13, Ap = 2.06, Ho = 0.216, respectively) than C. chilensis (P = 11.76, Ap = 2.00, Ho = 0.082). Indirect estimates of gene flow indicate four of the five morphological types are outcrossing. Gene flow between previously allopatric species may have broad implications if it results in an increase in fitness; further experimentation is needed to determine the ultimate ecological consequences of this phenomenon and its possible threat to limited, remaining natural habitat in California.     

Systematic studies on Paeonia sect. Moutan DC. based on RAPD analysis

Plants in Paeonia sect. Moutan DC., whose wild types are endemic to China, are deciduous subshrubs. Taxonomic treatments of most species in this section have long been in dispute. To address this question, both intraspecific and interspecific relationships of the species in this section were analyzed using RAPD markers. The dendrogram constructed by UPGMA showed that the accessions of the same species were always grouped together earlier than those of different species. The intraspecific similarity coefficients ranged from 0.60 to 0.90, grouping precisely those species of the same subsection together. Hence, the seven species under question can be well distinguished from each other. The similarity coefficient between P. delavayi and P. ludlowii was 0.60, and they were clustered in a clade. The similarity coefficients between P. jishanensis and the three species P. rockii, P. ostii, P. qiui, and between P. jishanensis and P. decomposita were both 0.48. These five species were clustered in another clade. These two clades corresponded well to Subsect. Delavayanae and Subsect. Vaginatae. Our results support the taxonomic treatment of Sect. Moutan re- cently proposed by Hong (1998,1997).     

芍药属牡丹组的系统学研究——基于RAPD分析

芍药属牡丹组(Paeonia sect．Moutan DC)是落叶亚灌木,其野生类群为我国特有。长期以来不同 学者根据形态性状对这个组中种的分类处理不断修正,不断有新种描述。我们采用RAPD标记分析了 牡丹组种内与种间遗传关系。从10个RAPD引物获得121个多态位点。用UPGMA方法构建的树系 图表明每个种的所有个体都各自聚为一支,种内的相似性系数为0.60～0.90,因此现有的7个种能很好 地区分开来。P．delavayi与P．ludlowii相似性系数为0.60,聚为一支;P．jishanensis与P．rockii、P. ostii、P．qiui以及P．decomposita之间的相似性系数为0.48,聚为一大支。这两支与肉质花盘亚组和革 质花盘亚组相对应。这些结果与洪德元根据形态性状对该组所做的分类处理基本相符。我们认为RAPD技术用于牡丹基因组分析是灵敏而行之有效的工具。     

东北地区李属(Prunes L.)植物导管分子形态结构研究

利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和树脂铸型法对东北地区10种李属植物导管分子类型、纹孔式、穿孔板类型的微形态结构特征进行了观察,并测量管腔长度、宽度、尾端长度及端壁斜度角的量化数据。结果显示:在不同生境下该属同种植物的导管类型、尾端长度与穿孔板类型较为稳定。所观察的李属植物存在3种导管类型:螺纹、孔纹、网纹导管。除山杏、欧李、东北李3种植物中仅存在网纹与孔纹2种类型的导管外,其余7种植物普遍存在3种类型导管。螺纹加厚在该属导管分子中普遍存在。单穿孔板在李属所观察植物中普遍存在,仅在黑樱桃、毛樱桃和郁李中发现梯状穿孔板。仅在稠李、东北李、郁李及山杏中观察到相对原始的对列—互列同时存在的纹孔式,其余6种均为互列式纹孔式。根据结构分析,认为东北地区10种李属植物中,郁李最为原始,欧李最为进化。同时,发现管腔长度、宽度与端壁面积与生境显著相关。在对尾端长度测量发现,同种植物导管分子的尾端长度在不同生境下长度较为稳定,几乎没有变化,可作为微观植物分类学的分类依据。     

Population genetics of the endangered limpet Patella ferruginea (Gastropoda: Patellidae): taxonomic, conservation and evolutionary considerations

The limpet Patella ferruginea is the most endangered marine invertebrate in the western Mediterranean rocky shores, whereas Patella caerulea is the most common Mediterranean limpet. From Pleistocene to historic age, P. ferruginea was distributed around the whole Mediterranean basin, since the shells of this species are a characteristic feature of Palaeolithic and Neolithic deposits in this area. However, its Mediterranean range has progressively contracted to a few restricted areas. The ancient origin of the species (18 Ma) and the present geographical isolation among relic populations could have led to a great genetic difference among populations, taking into account the supposedly low dispersal ability of the species. However, we have observed a few genetic differences among populations and a 'star phylogeny' of COI haplotypes from the 41 individuals of P. ferruginea analysed; a similar pattern has also been observed for the seven individuals of P. caerulea studied. Genetic evidences show a possible bottleneck event on late Pleistocene that affected the two species. The results have an important implication on the future management of this endangered species. Additionally, two different morphological types of P. ferruginea have been described by Payraudeau in 1826 : lamarcki and rouxi forms. Clear morphological differences occur between these two types and some authors pointed out the hypothesis about the existence of two different species. The results of the present study conclude that the two different forms of P. ferruginea are ecotypes, rather than different species or subspecies, and intermediate steps are an ecological range instead of hybridization events among different species.     

The repertoire of transfer RNA genes is tuned to codon usage bias in the genomes of Phytophthora sojae and Phytophthora ramorum

In all, 238 and 155 transfer (t)RNA genes were predicted from the genomes of Phytophthora sojae and P. ramorum, respectively. After omitting pseudogenes and undetermined types of tRNA genes, there remained 208 P. sojae tRNA genes and 140 P. ramorum tRNA genes. There were 45 types of tRNA genes, with distinct anticodons, in each species. Fourteen common anticodon types of tRNAs are missing altogether from the genome in the two species; however, these appear to be compensated by wobbling of other tRNA anticodons in a manner which is tied to the codon bias in Phytophthora genes. The most abundant tRNA class was arginine in both P. sojae and P. ramorum. A codon usage table was generated for these two organisms from a total of 9,803,525 codons in P. sojae and 7,496,598 codons in P. ramorum. The most abundant codon type detected from the codon usage tables was GAG (encoding glutamic acid), whereas the most numerous tRNA gene had a methionine anticodon (CAT). The correlation between the frequencies of tRNA genes and the codon frequencies in protein-coding genes was very low (0.12 in P. sojae and 0.19 in P. ramorum); however, the correlation between amino acid tRNA gene frequency and the corresponding amino acid codon frequency in P. sojae and P. ramorum was substantially higher (0.53 in P. sojae and 0.77 in P. ramorum). The codon usage frequencies of P. sojae and P ramorum were very strongly correlated (0.99), as were tRNA gene frequencies (0.77). Approximately 60% of orthologous tRNA gene pairs in P sojae and P. ramorum are located in regions that have conserved synteny in the two species.     

Aspects of classification of Hemiptera hemocytes from six triatomine species.

The objective of this work was to characterize, and compare different morphological types of hemocytes of Rhodnius prolixus, Rhodnius robustus, Rhodnius neglectus, Triatoma infestans, Panstrongylus megistus, and Dipetalogaster maximus. This information provides the basis for studying the cellular immune systems of these insects. Seven morphological hemocyte types were identified by phase-contrast microscopy: prohemocytes, plasmatocytes, granular cells, cystocytes, oenocytoids, adipohemocytes and giant cells. All seven types of hemocytes are not present in every species. For example, adipohemocytes and oenocytoids were not observed in P. megistus and P. infestans, and giant cells were rarely found in any of the species studied. The hemocytes of Rhodnius and Dipetalogaster are more similar to each other than those from Triatoma and Panstronglus which in turn closely resemble each other. Emphasis is placed on methodological problems arising in this work which are discussed in detail.     

Proteaceae from phosphorus‐impoverished habitats preferentially allocate phosphorus to photosynthetic cells: An adaptation improving phosphorus‐use efficiency

Plants allocate nutrients to specific leaf cell types; eudicots are thought to predominantly allocate phosphorus (P) to epidermal/bundle sheath cells. However, three Proteaceae species have been shown to preferentially allocate P to mesophyll cells instead. These Proteaceae species are highly adapted to P‐impoverished habitats, with exceptionally high photosynthetic P‐use efficiencies (PPUE). We hypothesized that preferential allocation of P to photosynthetic mesophyll cells is an important trait in species adapted to extremely P‐impoverished habitats, contributing to their high PPUE. We used elemental X‐ray mapping to determine leaf cell‐specific nutrient concentrations for 12 Proteaceae species, from habitats of strongly contrasting soil P concentrations, in Australia, Brazil, and Chile. We found that only species from extremely P‐impoverished habitats preferentially allocated P to photosynthetic mesophyll cells, suggesting it has evolved as an adaptation to their extremely P‐impoverished habitat and that it is not a family‐wide trait. Our results highlight the possible role of soil P in driving the evolution of ecologically relevant nutrient allocation patterns and that these patterns cannot be generalized across families. Furthermore, preferential allocation of P to photosynthetic cells may provide new and exciting strategies to improve PPUE in crop species.     

The genus Polyarthra in Lake Peipsi

In Lake Peipsi (Estonia) Polyarthra species often dominate the rotifer community, and are represented by 6 species: Polyarthra dolichoptera Idelson, P. longiremis Carlin, P. luminosa Kutikova, P. major Burckhardt, P. remata Skorikov, P. vulgaris Carlin. The highest diversity occurs in August–September, with P. remata and P. luminosa most abundant. Morphometric data including measurements of body, fins and various types of eggs are given. The seasonal development of the different species and their life cycles are considered.     

Genetic diversity of Ranunculus acris L. (Ranunculaceae) populations in relation to species diversity and habitat type in grassland communities

Correlates between genetic diversity at intra- and interpopulation levels and the species diversity in plant communities are rarely investigated. Such correlates may give insights into the effect of local selective forces across different communities on the genetic diversity of local plant populations. This study has employed amplified fragment length polymorphism to assess the genetic diversity within and between 10 populations of Ranunculus acris in relation to the species diversity (richness and evenness) of grassland communities of two different habitat types, 'seminatural' and 'agriculturally improved', located in central Germany. Within-population genetic diversity estimated by Nei's unbiased gene diversity (HE) was high (0.258-0.334), and was not correlated with species richness (Pearson's r = -0.17; P = 0.64) or species evenness (Pearson's r = 0.15; P = 0.68) of the plant communities. However, the genetic differentiation between R. acris populations was significantly correlated with the difference in species evenness (Mantel's r = 0.62, P = 0.02), but not with difference in species richness of plant communities (r = -0.17, P = 0.22). Moreover, we also found that populations of R. acris from the 'seminatural' habitat were genetically different (amova, P < 0.05) from those in 'agriculturally improved' habitats, suggesting that gene flow between these habitat types is limited. The results reported in this study may indicate that habitat characteristics influence the genetic diversity of plant species.     

安徽蓼科植物花粉形态的研究

用光学显微镜对安徽省蓼属３８种３变种,酸模属３种,荞麦属１种,金线草属２种,大黄属１种,竹节蓼属１种的花粉形态进行了观察。除了前人报道的３７种外,其中１２种为首次报道。６属的花粉形态多类型,有球型,近球形,近长球形、扁球形、长球形;从萌发孔来看,有３－沟,３（－４）－孔沟,１２－散沟、３０－散沟、９－散孔沟、２０－３０－散孔;外壁纹饰有细网状,粗网状,皱块状,颗粒－穿孔、穿孔、微刺－穿孔－光滑、颗