Rhizoctonia solani and orchid seed

Summary

One hundred and sixty-two agarics are recorded for Hirta and two from Dùn, two islands situated off the West coast of Scotland in the St. Kilda complex. The agarics are described in relation to the ecological noda proposed by McVean for the higher plant communities of the islands. Omphalina ericetorum and Nolanea staurospora were by far the commonest species: eighttaxa which are not in the New British Check List are recorded from Hirta. An appendix dealing with the taxonomy and nomenclature of the more critical species in the list is given.     

滇南勐宋热带山地雨林木质藤本多样性研究

调查滇南勐宋山地雨林沟谷与坡地两种生境中木质藤本种的丰富度、径级分布、攀缘方式以及样地中被藤本缠绕的树木(dbh≥5cm)的数量和比率。结果表明:沟谷与坡地胸径≥1cm的木质藤本平均密度分别为95.7株/0.1hm2、57株/0.1hm2。调查样地内木质藤本共64种,隶属30个科。茎缠绕是最主要的攀缘方式,占总个体数的57%,卷须缠绕种所占比重最小,仅占3%;沟谷与坡地所调查树木被木质藤本缠绕的比例分别为43.7%和28.6%。与亚洲其它热带地区森林相比,勐宋地区藤本的多样性低,但是木质藤本的密度相当高,并且在一些样地中出现了大型木质藤本,这些可能与该地区森林的演替状态有关。     

湖南黄桑国家级自然保护区野生藤本植物多样性和生态特征

采用野外实地调查、标本采集和室内查证相结合的方法,对湖南黄桑国家级自然保护区野生藤本植物多样性和生态特征进行了系统研究,为湖南黄桑野生藤本植物资源的保护与可持续利用提供依据。结果表明:（1）湖南黄桑自然保护区共有藤本植物45科113属250种,分别占该区种子植物科、属、种的21.13%、13.33%、12.32%,其中蕨类植物3科3属3种,被子植物42科110属247种;在被子植物中,双子叶藤本具有明显的优势,有37科105属223种,单子叶藤本处于次要地位,仅有5科5属24种。（2）该保护区的区系藤本植物中,含10个种以下的科和属分别占总科数、总属数的82.22%和97.35%,优势科主要有葡萄科、毛茛科、蝶形花科、蔷薇科、卫矛科、旋花科、薯蓣科、葫芦科等,优势属主要有铁线莲属、悬钩子属、猕猴桃属、葡萄属、菝葜属、薯蓣属等。（3）在观赏特性方面,该保护区的大部分藤本植物都具有2种以上的观赏特性,其中以观叶的最多,占总种数的92.80%,观茎的最少,仅占总种数的2.00%。（4）在攀援方式方面,该保护区的缠绕藤本植物具有优势,占总种数的46.40%,搭靠类、卷曲类和吸固类较少,分别占总种数的24.40%、18.00%和11.20%。（5）在生活型方面,以高位芽藤本植物为主导,占总种数的80.80%,一年生、地下芽和地上芽藤本植物较少,分别占总种数的10.80%、7.60%和0.80%。（6）在繁育系统方面,以两性花为主,单性花中雌雄异株种数多于雌雄同株,两性花、单性花和杂性花分别占70.40%、28.40%和1.20%。（7）湖南黄桑自然保护区的植物区系组成以热带分布类型为主,热带分布属共有72属,占总属数的63.72%。     

广西园林藤本植物的筛选研究

该文报道了广西藤本植物资源概况与园林藤本植物筛选研究成果,简要介绍了广西藤本植物的种质资源及资源藤本植物利用现状,经过引种和调查选择,收集观赏藤本植物62种,通过配置应用试验和决选评价,决选出适合于城市园林建设的10个花卉品种,21个垂直绿化品种,3个地被植物品种。     

Enzyme Kinetics of an Alternative Splicing Isoform of Mitochondrial 8‐Oxoguanine DNA Glycosylase,OGG1‐1b,and Compared with the Nuclear OGG1‐1a

Eight alternatively spliced isoforms of human 8‐oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) (OGG1‐1a to ‐1c and ‐2a to ‐2e) are registered in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. OGG1(s) in mitochondria have not yet been fully characterized biochemically. In this study, we purified mitochondrial recombinant OGG1‐1b protein and compared its activity with nuclear OGG1‐1a protein. The reaction rate constant (k_g) of the 7,8‐dihydro‐8‐oxoguanine (8‐oxoG) glycosylase activity of OGG1‐1b was 8‐oxoG:C >> 8‐oxoG:T >> 8‐oxoG:G > 8‐oxoG:A (7.96, 0.805, 0.070, and 0.015 min^?1, respectively) and that of the N‐glycosylase/DNA lyase activity (k_gl) of OGG1‐1b was 8‐oxoG:C > 8‐oxoG:T ?8‐oxoG:G >> 8‐oxoG:A (0.286, 0.079, 0.040, and negligible min^?1, respectively). These reaction rate constants were similar to those of OGG1‐1a except for k_gl against 8‐oxoG:A. APEX nuclease 1 was required to promote DNA strand breakage by OGG1‐1b. These results suggest that OGG1‐1b is associated with 8‐oxoG cleavage in human mitochondria and that the mechanism of this repair is similar to that of nuclear OGG1‐1a.     

A comprehensive synthesis of liana removal experiments in tropical forests

Lianas are a quintessential feature of tropical forests and are often perceived as being poorly studied. However, liana removal studies may be one of the most common experimental manipulations in tropical forest ecology. In this review, we synthesize data from 64 tropical liana removal experiments conducted over the past 90 yr. We explore the direction and magnitude of the effects of lianas on tree establishment, growth, survival, reproduction, biomass accretion, and plant and animal diversity in ecological and forestry studies. We discuss the geographical biases of liana removal studies and compare the various methods used to manipulate lianas. Overall, we found that lianas have a clear negative effect on trees, and trees benefitted from removing lianas in nearly every study across all forest types. Liana cutting significantly increased light and water availability, and trees responded with vastly greater reproduction, growth, survival, and biomass accumulation compared to controls where lianas were present. Removing lianas during logging significantly reduced damage of future merchantable trees and improved timber production. Our review demonstrates that lianas have an unequivocally detrimental effect on every metric of tree performance measured, regardless of forest type, forest age, or geographic location. However, lianas also appear to have a positive contribution to overall forest plant diversity and to different animal groups. Therefore, managing lianas reduces logging damage and improves timber production; however, the removal lianas may also have a negative effect on the faunal community, which could ultimately harm the plant community.     

广东省木质藤本植物地理成分及园林应用潜力分析

在对广东省木质藤本植物资源进行分析的基础上,结合对广州公园和校园的调查、统计,从区系地理学角度分析木质藤本的地理成分以及在园林应用中的潜力。结果显示,广东省木质藤本共有578种（含亚种、变种、栽培种和变型）,隶属于59科161属。其中,热带性科占总科数的71.12%,热带性属占总属数的81.99%,表明木质藤本的地理成分具有典型的热带性,这与广东省地处东亚季风气候特点相一致。乡土种531种,占91.87%,外来种47种,仅占8.13%,说明广东省木质藤本乡土植物种质资源非常丰富;但应用于广州园林中的木质藤本仅28科46属61种,其中乡土植物34种,外来植物27种,应用种类较少,园林应用潜力较大。建议在园林建设中通过增加优良种类的应用数量和提高应用频率,以及驯化观赏价值高的乡土种等途径来提高木质藤本的种类多样性和景观多样性。     

南岳衡山藤本植物资源特点及其应用

调查分析湖南省南岳衡山藤本植物资源的特性与现状。该区野生藤本植物资源丰富,共有59科129属282种,大多具有重要的观赏与经济价值,主要有药用、食用、饲用、纤维、观赏等几大类;探讨了藤本植物在立体绿化中的应用方式与类型,并对今后开发利用野生藤本植物资源提出建议。     

Annual Rainfall and Seasonality Predict Pan-tropical Patterns of Liana Density and Basal Area

We test the hypotheses proposed by Gentry and Schnitzer that liana density and basal area in tropical forests vary negatively with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and positively with seasonality. Previous studies correlating liana abundance with these climatic variables have produced conflicting results, warranting a new analysis of drivers of liana abundance based on a different dataset. We compiled a pan-tropical dataset containing 28,953 lianas (≥2.5 cm diam.) from studies conducted at 13 Neotropical and 11 Paleotropical dry to wet lowland tropical forests. The ranges in MAP and dry season length (DSL) (number of months with mean rainfall <100 mm) represented by these datasets were 860–7250 mm/yr and 0–7 mo, respectively. Pan-tropically, liana density and basal area decreased significantly with increasing annual rainfall and increased with increasing DSL, supporting the hypotheses of Gentry and Schnitzer. Our results suggest that much of the variation in liana density and basal area in the tropics can be accounted for by the relatively simple metrics of MAP and DSL.     

In vitro propagation of Ancistrocladus abbreviatus Airy Shaw (Ancistrocladaceae)

Ancistrocladus abbreviatus Airy Shaw (Ancistrocladaceae), a West African liana producing naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, was successfully raised from seeds in vitro. Clonal propagation was best achieved growing nodal stem segments on 1/5 Linsmaier and Skoog medium with full strength organics and supplemented with 0.02 μM thidiazuron, 4.44 μM 6-benzylaminopurine and 0.05 μM 1-naphthaleneacetic acid. Detached axillary shoots were grown on Anderson's Rhododendron medium devoid of phytohormones and rooted within one month when dipped in 4.92 μM indole-3-butyric acid. Rooted plants became acclimatized to nonsterile greenhouse conditions. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lianas as a food resource for herbivorous insects: a comparison with trees

Woody climbers or, ‘lianas’, are one of the features that characterise rainforests. They contribute substantially to plant diversity and leaf biomass which makes them a potentially important food source for herbivores. Here, we focus on insect herbivores, folivores in particular, to show how disparities in the quantitative and qualitative availability of leaves between lianas and trees may differentially influence insect folivory and the herbivore communities themselves. We develop a conceptual model and show that lianas in general have lower structural and chemical defences, a greater nutritional profile and a preferable phenology in comparison with trees, which, contrary to our expectations, has led to assemblages of more‐specialised insects. The impacts this has on higher trophic levels and broader ecological networks, however, are poorly known. We show through a study of four tropical floras from different biogeographic realms that lianas are likely to be a target for a wide range of insect herbivore taxa as they are a phylogenetically diverse group and increase diversity of higher taxa at local scales. This, in combination with their highly palatable leaves, may also make them a suitable temporary food source for insects during times when preferred host plants are scarce. This phenomenon has been observed in mammalian herbivores but awaits investigation in insects as does the effects this may have on survival and fitness. Apparent recent increases in liana abundances in some forests, likely due to climate change, makes understanding their role in supporting and maintaining biodiversity an increasingly important and necessary challenge. Since trees or saplings have usually been the subject of studies on insect herbivory, major knowledge gaps remain about the ways in which lianas contribute to, support and maintain the ecosystems in which they exist. We use our conceptual model to guide future research directions and express the necessity for caution when extrapolating explanations of herbivory derived from data on trees to growth forms with fundamentally different ecologies.     

Liana abundance and relationships to sapling and tree hosts in an East African primary forest

Lianas are an important structural component of tropical rain forests. Recent concern regarding a putative global rise in liana abundance, and its implications for forest conservation, calls for data collection across biomes. We here provide a first assessment and baseline data for a geographical gap in liana surveys to date. We surveyed liana (diameter at breast height [DBH] > 1 cm), tree (DBH > 10 cm) and sapling (DBH ≤ 10 cm) abundance and basal area, as well as liana–host relationships, in a tropical East African primary forest. We recorded a total of 347 liana stems (DBH > 1 cm) in 0.31 ha, with an average basal area of 1.21 m²/ha. Lianas were found to be widespread, with 24% of saplings and 57% of trees colonised by at least one liana, independently of bark texture or host diameter. The dominant liana colonisation strategy was to associate with a single host, through stem twining. We found no evidence of liana density being influenced by host density. We synthesised published liana density data across continents and report that our estimate of liana density for Kibale's primary forest fits within the expected range of liana densities for primary tropical forests. This synthesis further highlights a neotropical sampling bias, which our findings make a step towards addressing.     

贵州梵净山自然保护区藤本植物攀援方式及类型的研究

研究了梵净山自然保护区藤本植物的攀援方式及类型。从生物学、生态学角度 ,将梵净山藤本植物依照它们附着于支持物的攀登方法不同而划分为缠绕、攀援、卷须、根系、铺展与匍匐、寄生及兼有 2种以上攀援方式等 7大类型 14个亚型。并对该林区主要植被类型中的藤本植物进行了相应的讨论     

Trubs,but no trianas: filled and empty regions of angiosperm stem length‐diameter‐mechanics space

Discrete plant habit categories such as ‘tree’, ‘shrub’, and ‘liana’ belie continuous variation in nature. To study the evolution of this continuous variation, we gathered data on stem length, diameter and tissue mechanical stiffness across a highly morphologically diverse highland xerophytic scrub on a lava flow in central Mexico. With stem allometric and mechanical data from 1216 segments from 50 species, we examined relationships between stem length–diameter proportions and tissue mechanical stiffness using linear mixed‐effects models. Rather than a series of discrete clouds in stem length–diameter–tissue stiffness space, corresponding to traditional habit categories, the plants of this xerophytic scrub formed a single continuous one. Within this cloud, self‐supporting plants had stems that became predictably longer and tissues that became stiffer for a given diameter increase, and there was no paucity of intermediates between trees and shrubs (‘trubs’). Non self‐supporting plants had a steeper stem length–diameter slope and their tissues did not increase in stiffness with stem size. The area between self‐ and non self‐supporting plants was sparsely occupied as stem size increased. We predict that this ‘empty’ space between lianas and trees is developmentally accessible but of low fitness, meaning that there should be few ‘trianas’ in nature. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 179 , 361–373.     

Colonization and turnover of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis in otitis-prone children

Recurrent otitis media are frequently intractable during childhood. It is unclear whether recurrent otitis media is caused by etiological bacteria colonization or by new infections. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis were isolated from the nasopharynx of 7 otitisprone and 2 non-prone children with recurrent otitis media. Plural bacterial species and strains were found in all children while affected by otitis media. The same strain was repeatedly isolated from all otitisprone children even after administration of antibiotics but was not from the non-prone children. Antibiotic susceptibility did not differ significantly among the same repeatedly isolated strains. This pilot study suggests that the etiological bacteria tend to colonize and is hard to eliminate in otitis-prone children.     

Removing climbers more than doubles tree growth and biomass in degraded tropical forests

Huge areas of tropical forests are degraded, reducing their biodiversity, carbon, and timber value. The recovery of these degraded forests can be significantly inhibited by climbing plants such as lianas. Removal of super‐abundant climbers thus represents a restoration action with huge potential for application across the tropics. While experimental studies largely report positive impacts of climber removal on tree growth and biomass accumulation, the efficacy of climber removal varies widely, with high uncertainty as to where and how to apply the technique. Using meta‐analytic techniques, we synthesize results from 26 studies to quantify the efficacy of climber removal for promoting tree growth and biomass accumulation. We find that climber removal increases tree growth by 156% and biomass accumulation by 209% compared to untreated forest, and that efficacy remains for at least 19 years. Extrapolating from these results, climber removal could sequester an additional 32 Gigatons of CO₂ over 10 years, at low cost, across regrowth, and production forests. Our analysis also revealed that climber removal studies are concentrated in the Neotropics (N = 22), relative to Africa (N = 2) and Asia (N = 2), preventing our study from assessing the influence of region on removal efficacy. While we found some evidence that enhancement of tree growth and AGB accumulation varies across disturbance context and removal method, but not across climate, the number and geographical distribution of studies limits the strength of these conclusions. Climber removal could contribute significantly to reducing global carbon emissions and enhancing the timber and biomass stocks of degraded forests, ultimately protecting them from conversion. However, we urgently need to assess the efficacy of removal outside the Neotropics, and consider the potential negative consequences of climber removal under drought conditions and for biodiversity.     

An assessment of the floristic composition,structure and possible origin of a liana forest in the Guayana Shield

Liana is a life form that possesses high importance in many Neotropical forests. Density of climbers apparently increases with the intervention rate (e.g. logging). The aim of this work is to characterize the structure, floristic composition and soils of a sector classified as Liana Forest (LF). We identified an LF sector in a not-logged area; three 1 ha square plots were measured (individuals ≥ 10 cm dbh, “diameter at breast height”). In each plot, we evaluate four 100 m² square understory subplots (all spermatophyta individuals < 10 cm dbh). LF has a low canopy ( < 15 m) and is dominated by Alexa imperatricis and Pentaclethra macroloba. Basal area (20.4 m²ha^? 1) and diversity (H′ = 2.6) are lower than other surrounding plots. Understory is dominated by gnarled climbers, and the most important are Cheiloclinium hippocrateoides and Bauhinia scala-simiae. Soil is extremely acidic, with very low fertility but is similar to neighboring places. We conclude that LF was neither originated by edaphic restrictions nor logging; LF probably suffered a hurricane wind that fell down most of the canopy trees, thick individuals of climber species also disappeared, and the current successional stage favors a recovery dominated with thin individuals of this life form.