Biogeographic associations of Silurian bryozoan genera in North America, Baltica and Siberia

Six distinct bryozoan paleobiogeographical provinces existed during the Silurian of North America, Baltica and Siberia. These provinces are based on parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE), each supported by a number of endemic genera only present in that assemblage. The area cladogram displays a nested pattern, permitting the clustering of assemblages into larger units that might be indicative of their areas of origin. Paired-group cluster analysis supports the existence of provincial assemblages. Relationships indicate the action of both vicariance and geodispersal. Geographic boundaries between the provinces include land, deep sea, and climate zone boundaries, including barriers created by the Iapetus Ocean and the Tornquist Sea.     

Microplankton associations, biofacies and palaeoenvironment of the type lower Ludlow Series, Silurian

The acritarchs and prasinophyte algae from the type lower Ludlow Series of the Goggin Road section, Ludlow, England, are resolved into seven recurrent associations comprising taxa with similar environmental preferences. Endemic and environmentally sensitive associations of acritarchs and prasinophytes are identified and high-resolution fluctuations in the early Ludlow palaeoenvironment are established. An early Ludlow crisis in the acritarchs is recognized in the lower part of the Middle Elton Formation, when an abrupt palaeoenvironmental change in the Ludlow area resulted in a large decline in the abundance of the acritarchs, but allowed Tasmanites and retiolitid graptolites to flourish briefly. Cymbosphaeridium sp. A, Pulvinosphaeridium ludlowense and Multiplicisphaeridium arbusculum forma A are taxa possibly specialized, or produced as a response, to a stressed palaeoenvironment, as they are most abundant when other acritarchs and prasinophytes are uncommon. The low abundance of acritarchs and prasinophytes in the Upper Elton Formation may be related to high sedimentation rates and to the slumping of sediments caused by instability on the shelf of the Welsh Basin, or to lower plankton productivity.     

A Supposed Eupelycosaur Body Impression from the Early Permian of the Intra-Sudetic Basin,Poland

We describe a new specimen of a supposed Paleozoic tetrapod body impression from the Lower Permian S?upiec Formation in the Intra-Sudetic Basin, Poland. The size, integument morphology of belly and part of tail imprints, and the morphology of a well-preserved pes track diagnose the specimen and readily distinguish it from other described specimens of body impressions of Paleozoic tetrapods. The eupelycosaur identity of this new specimen is based on the identification of the footprint Dimetropus leisnerianus (Geinitz, 1863 Geinitz, H. B. 1863. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der organischen Überreste in der Dyas (oder permischen Formation zum Theil) und über den Namen Dyas. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, : 385–398.  [Google Scholar]), which is connected with the inferred body imprint. The morphology of integument impressions indicates the presence of the various-sized square or rectangular-shaped scales on the bottom part of the belly and tail of this eupelycosaurid trackmaker.     

Wiedemannia pieninensis,a New Species of Aquatic Empidid (Diptera,Empididae) from Poland

Wiedemannia pieninensis spec. nov., a new aquatic dance fly (Diptera, Empididae, Clinocerinae) from Poland is described and figured.     

Lateral plate morph differentiation of freshwater and marine populations of the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, in Poland

The distribution of three main lateral plate morphs of the three–spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus , in the Polish zone of the Baltic Sea and inland waters is surveyed. Most sites are characterized by predominance of the completely plated morph, although it is only in the Vistula River drainage basin where monomorphic complete populations prevail. Polymorphic populations with a high proportion of the non–complete morphs are found in Puck Bay (the Baltic) and in south–west Poland, Possible causes of this pattern are discussed.     

Sea level and faunal change during the late Wenlock and earliest Ludlow (Silurian): A point of view from the Algerian Sahara

A late Wenlock transgression (C. rigidus zone) affecting a large area of the Algerian Sahara has been known for the last thirty years; in this case there is no break at the Wenlock‐Ludlow boundary and the sedimentation is continuous to the earliest Ludlow. But in many other areas of Sahara a late Wenlock regression is observed. This regression may or may not be followed by a latest Wenlock or an early Ludlow transgression. A sedimentary model is proposed in despite of several problems. In order to compare what happens in each region a schematic diagram is used showing the tendencies to shallowing and deepening. Differences observed between the North Sahara basin and the other parts of the Algerian Sahara and comparison between local sea‐level curves and the global sea‐level curve proposed by Johnson et al. (1991) lead to reconsider the evidence of an eustatic early Ludlow event. To end the problem of the disappearance of nearly all graptolites at the end of Wenlock is discussed. The influence of land emergence in the evolution of marine fossil groups in the disturbance that it can bring to the development of the microplankton and the chemistry of the sea seems to have been too neglected.     

A Lower Silurian (Aeronian) radiolarian assemblage from black cherts of the Armorican Massif (France)

The Chalonnes-sur-Loire outcrop is the most complete Llandovery section in the Ligerian domain (Armorican Massif, NW France); it displays a ca. 10 m-thick sequence of organic-rich black bedded cherts alternating with black graptolitic shales, which were deposited above glaciomarine diamictites of the Hirnantian glaciation. It is likely the black cherts accumulated under eutrophic waters, on the outer shelf part (distal offshore) of a Gondwanan margin, situated at intermediate to high latitudes of the Southern hemisphere. Hydrofluoric acid processing allowed the extraction of radiolarians; seven species are identified in the best preserved sample discovered so far. All seven are common species in tropical assemblages known from Alaska and Nevada, which are characteristic of the Orbiculopylorum assemblage, of Aeronian to early Telychian age. This age is in good agreement with independent age control from graptolites in the Chalonnes section, suggestive of an Aeronian age for the radiolarian-yielding level.     

Autogenic succession, land-use change, and climatic influences on the Holocene development of a kettle-hole mire in Northern Poland

We reconstructed the Holocene developmental history of a kettle-hole peatland in the Tuchola Forest of Northern Poland, using pollen, testat amoebae and plant macrofossil indicators. Our aims were to determine the timing and pattern of autogenic succession and natural and anthropogenic influences on the peatland. Northern Poland is under mixed oceanic and continental climatic influences but has so far been less studied in a palaeoecological context than more oceanic regions of Europe. In the first terrestrial developmental phase of the mire, the testate amoebae-inferred depth to water table revealed two major dry shifts at ca. 9400 (end of lake phase) and ca. 7100 cal BP (a period of global cooling and dry shift in Western Europe). Conditions became wetter again in two steps at ca. 6700 and ca. 5800 BP after a dry event at ca. 6100 BP. The timing of the wet shift at 5800 BP corresponds to wet periods in Western Europe. Peat accumulation rates were low (0.1 mm yr^− 1) between ca. 5600 and ca. 3000 BP when sedges dominated the peatland. In the last 2500 yrs surface moisture fluctuated with wet events at ca. 2750–2400, and 2000 BP, and dry events at ca. 2250–2100 and 1450 BP. After 1450 BP a trend towards wetter conditions culminated at ca. 500 cal BP, possibly caused by local deforestation. Over the mire history, pH (inferred from testate amoebae) was mostly low (around 5) with two short-lived shifts to alkaline conditions (7.5) at ca. 6100 and 1450 BP indicating a minerotrophic influence from surface run-off into the mire. Up to about 1000 BP the ecological shifts inferred from the three proxies agree with palaeoclimatic records from Poland and Western Europe. After this date, however correlation is less clear suggesting an increasing local anthropogenic impact on the mire. This study confirms that kettle-hole peatlands can yield useful palaeoenvironmental data as well as recording land-use change and calls for more comparable studies in regions are the interface between major climate influences.     

Multiproxy study of anthropogenic and climatic changes in the last two millennia from a small mire in central Poland

The Żabieniec kettle hole is the first peatland in central Poland analyzed quantitatively with four biotic proxies (plant macrofossils, pollen, testate amoebae and chironomids) to reconstruct the past environmental change. Palaeoecological data were supported by historical and archaeological records. We focused on autogenic vegetation change and human impact in relation to climatic effects. The aims of our study were (a) to describe the development history of the mire during the last 2,000 years, (b) to date and reconstruct the anthropogenic land-use changes and (c) to discuss a possible climatic signal in the peat archive. The combination of proxies revealed dramatic shifts that took place in the peatland since the Roman Period. Żabieniec was a very wet telmatic habitat until ca. AD 600. Then, the water table declined, and the site transformed into a Sphagnum-dominated mire. This dry shift took place mainly during the Early Medieval Period. Human impact was gradually increasing, and it was particularly emphasized by deforestation since AD 1250 (beginning of the Late Medieval Period). Consequently, surface run-off and aeolian transport from the exposed soils caused the eutrophication of the mire. Furthermore, chironomids and testate amoebae reveal the beginning of a wet shift ca. AD 1350. Openness considerably increased in the Late Medieval and the Modern Periods. The highest water table during the last 1,000 years was recorded between AD 1500 and 1800. This wet event is connected with deforestation, but it could be also associated with the Little Ice Age. Our study shows plant succession in the Żabieniec peatland, which can be explained with the recent landscape transformation. However, such changes are also possibly linked with the major climatic episodes during the last two millennia, such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Guest editors: K. Buczkó, J. Korponai, J. Padisák & S. W. Starratt Palaeolimnological Proxies as Tools of Environmental Reconstruction in Fresh Water     

The archaeobotanical record of Staphylea pinnata L. from the 3rd/4th century A.D. in northern Poland

Artefacts made of Staphylea pinnata seeds have been found in a grave dated to the late Roman period discovered in Pruszcz Gdaski (northern Poland). This record is discussed against the background of the present-day distribution range of this species and its Holocene fossil localities. The role of man in the extension of the primary area of occurrence of the species has been emphasised.     

Cyrtocrinids (Crinoidea) and associated stalked crinoids from the Lower/Middle Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) shelfal deposits of southern Poland

Five cyrtocrinid crinoid taxa previously unknown from the epicratonic deposits of Poland, as well as associated millericrinids and isocrinids, are described. The studied materials were derived mainly from the Lower and Middle Oxfordian, but crinoids are also from uppermost Callovian and/or lowermost Oxfordian sediments of the Polish Jura Chain (southern Poland). The crinoids, preserved as more or less complete (e.g., basal circlets) cups, include Lonchocrinus dumortieri, Phyllocrinus belbekensis, Remisovicrinus polonicus, Remisovicrinus aff. polonicus, Tetracrinus moniliformis and Sclerocrinus sp. The occurrence of Remisovicrinus polonicus in the late Middle Oxfordian of the southern Poland is confirmed. Moreover, the present study extends the geographic range of all cyrtocrinid species studied and discusses their unusual environmental adaptations.     

Microfacies and diagenesis of an upper oxfordian carbonate buildup in Mydlniki (Cracow Area,Southern Poland)

Summary A carbonate buildup near the top of the Upper Jurassic limestone sequence in the Cracow area with a rigid framework built ofTubiphytes and thrombolites, and some fragments of encrusted siliceous sponges and serpules is described. The limestones form a dome-like elevation at the eastern wall of a 15 m high quarry flanked on both sides by stratified limestones with cherts. Six microfacies have been distinguished within the buildup: (1)Tubiphytes/thrombolite boundstone and (2) bioclasticTubiphytes/thrombolite wackestone dominate in the central and bottom part of the buildup. They gradually replace the cyanobacterial crusts and siliceous sponges (3. sponge-algal boundstone), which are sporadically the rock-forming elements in the basal part of the buildup as well as the top. Serpules randomly distributed within the buildup also form small cm-sized structures with a rigid framework (4. serpula-peloid boundstone). (5) tuberoid-peloid wackestone/floatstone and (6) ooid intraclastic grainstone exhibit no significant distributional pattern. Bioclastic-peloidal packstone comprising material derived from the destruction of the buildup occurs in the highest part of the outcrop, overlying the buildup. The sediments of the buildup were subject to rapid lithification, evidence by borings and neptunian microdykes filled with internal sediments, as well as by fracturedTubiphytes. Numerous petrographic features indicate probable episodic emergence of the buildup during its growth; these include asymmetric dissolution textures, asymmetric cements, vadose crystal silt and calcite pseudomorphs after gypsum. Upper Oxfordian carbonate buildups in the Cracow area display various stages of evolution. The carbonate buildup in Mydlniki most closely resembles classical Upper Jurassic reefs.     

Food and feeding relationships of young fish in the first weeks after the beginning of exogenous feeding in Lake Opinicon,Ontario

Synopsis Young fish of six species in an open water community all began their exogenous feeding by taking nauplii and small cyclopoids of body length (less tail) of 0.1–0.3 mm. Appearance of larvae of the different species in the system was, however, sequential, the resource being utilized by the different species in turn. The sequence was: Perca flavescens, Percina caprodes, Pomoxis nigromaculatus, Ambloplites rupestris, Lepomisgibbosus and L. macrochirus.The larvae and juveniles changes their diet rapidly as they grew. Fish 10–14 days after hatching and 8–10 mm in length i.e. close to the beginning of the juvenile period, consumed larger-bodied prey items (including several genera of Cladocera) and had more diversified diets than the 4.5–6.0 mm first-feeding larvae. These differences, and progressive dispersal of the larger young from the area, served to minimize the chances of food competition between batches of young of different ages.The composition of the fish community of larvae changed from week to week as new species entered it, increased in size and departed. Patterns of food utilization changed accordingly.Numbers of cyclopoids, their nauplii, and Bosmina longirostris, fell rapidly in May — early June, and did not increase again until August. These changes coincided with the rise and fall in numbers of the young fish in the habitat.Paper presented in the symposium lsEmbryonic and larval periods of fishes: present status and significancers, Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (CCFFR), Fredricton, New Brunswick, January 1977.     

Erotylidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) of Poland - problematic taxa, updated keys and new records

New data concerning the occurrence of pleasing fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) in Poland are given, with a focus on rare and difficult to identify Central European taxa. Cryptophilus cf. integer (Heer) (Cryptophilinae) is reported from the Polish territory for the first time based on adult and larval specimens collected in the Wielkopolska-Kujawy Lowland. Identification problems concerning species of Cryptophilus introduced to Europe are discussed. Triplax carpathica Reitter (Erotylinae) is recorded from the Białowieża Primeval Forest, which is the first known non-Carpathian finding of this species, located in the close proximity of the Polish-Belarussian UNESCO World Heritage Site “Białowieża Forest”. Discussion of Triplax carpathica being conspecific with Siberian Triplax rufiventris Gebler is provided. New Polish localities of several other Erotylidae are reported, and an updated key to Central European species of Triplax is given. The Triplax key is supplemented with dorsal and ventral habitus images of all treated Triplax species. One of the rarest Central European erotyline species Combocerus glaber (Schaller) is recorded from xerothermic grasslands in North-West Poland.     

Detection of Giardia intestinalis assemblages A, B and D in domestic cats from Warsaw, Poland

Giardia intestinalis is a complex species divided into 7 assemblages (A - G). Two of them (A and B) are infective for both humans and animals. In cats four assemblages can occur: A, B, D, and F Assemblages A and B infect either cats, dogs and humans, assemblage D infects cats and dogs and assemblage F only cats. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of G. intestinalis in cats from Warsaw. From November 2006 to March 2007 a hundred sixty samples of stool were collected and examined by light microscopy. G. intestinalis cysts were detected in 3.75% of samples. DNA extracted from positive samples was used as template for PCR-RFLP using Giardia specific primers and the amplicons were sequenced. A comparison of the obtained DNA sequences with the Giardia sequences in the GeneBank database revealed assemblage A in 1.25% of the investigated cats, assemblage B in 1.25% and D in 1.25%.     

The first cytogenetic report of fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae) from Brazilian fauna

The first cytogenetic analysis of fireflies from Brazilian fauna was carried out in this work. The investigation of two species of the subfamily Lampyrinae, Aspisoma maculatum and Photinus sp. (aff. pyralis), showed the diploid number 2n = 19 and an X0 sex determination system in males. These observations are similar to those already described for all the Lampyrinae species previously studied. In contrast, Bicellonycha lividipennis (Photurinae) revealed the karyotype 2n = 16 + neoXY, which has not yet been registered for any firefly species. The neoXY sex determination system encountered in this species probably arose through fusion between an ancestral X sex chromosome, belonging to the X0 system, and an autosomal element. This event also reduced the diploid number from 2n = 19, which is more frequent in the family Lampyridae, to 2n = 18 in B. lividipennis. The analysis of meiotic cells showed that the neoXY sexual bivalent of B. lividipennis exhibited a prominent terminal chiasma, indicating that the sex chromosomes are not wholly differentiated and still retain a region of homology. A review of the cytogenetic data known for the family Lampyridae was also documented in this work, as well as a discussion on the main trends of chromosomal evolution that seem to have occurred in this group.     

Genesis of stromatactis in an upper jurassic carbonate buildup (Mlynka,Cracow region,Southern Poland): Internal reworking and erosion of organic growth cavities

Summary The Middle Oxfordian strata in the southern part of the Cracow-Wielun Upland consist of platy and bedded limestones (‘normal facies’), of massive limestones as well as locally of mass flow sediments. Massive limestones, prevailing in the Upper Oxfordian, form commonly carbonate buildups, which are made up predominantly of cyanobacterial allochems and to a minor amount of siliceous sponges. Stromatactis can be best observed in the Mlynka quarry. They occurs in the uppermost part of slope sediments close to a cyanobacterial-sponge buildup. The bedding-plane of the slope sediments is directly overlain by debris-flow and grain-flow sediments. Fragments of a primary laminar framework rich in growth-cavities occur in the uppermost part of the slope sediments as precondition for the formation of stromatactis. The stromatactis cavities were formed by internal reworking and erosion within these organic growth cavities, caused by strong bottom currents due to mass transport from higher parts of the buildup.     

Applications of Population Genetics to Animal Breeding,from Wright,Fisher and Lush to Genomic Prediction

Although animal breeding was practiced long before the science of genetics and the relevant disciplines of population and quantitative genetics were known, breeding programs have mainly relied on simply selecting and mating the best individuals on their own or relatives’ performance. This is based on sound quantitative genetic principles, developed and expounded by Lush, who attributed much of his understanding to Wright, and formalized in Fisher’s infinitesimal model. Analysis at the level of individual loci and gene frequency distributions has had relatively little impact. Now with access to genomic data, a revolution in which molecular information is being used to enhance response with “genomic selection” is occurring. The predictions of breeding value still utilize multiple loci throughout the genome and, indeed, are largely compatible with additive and specifically infinitesimal model assumptions. I discuss some of the history and genetic issues as applied to the science of livestock improvement, which has had and continues to have major spin-offs into ideas and applications in other areas.THE success of breeders in effecting immense changes in domesticated animals and plants greatly influenced Darwin’s insight into the power of selection and implications to evolution by natural selection. Following the Mendelian rediscovery, attempts were soon made to accommodate within the particulate Mendelian framework the continuous nature of many traits and the observation by Galton (1889) of a linear regression of an individual’s height on that of a relative, with the slope dependent on degree of relationship. A polygenic Mendelian model was first proposed by Yule (1902) (see Provine 1971; Hill 1984). After input from Pearson, Yule again, and Weinberg (who developed the theory a long way but whose work was ignored), its first full exposition in modern terms was by Ronald A. Fisher (1918) (biography by Box 1978). His analysis of variance partitioned the genotypic variance into additive, dominance and epistatic components. Sewall Wright (biography by Provine 1986) had by then developed the path coefficient method and subsequently (Wright 1921) showed how to compute inbreeding and relationship coefficients and their consequent effects on genetic variation of additive traits. His approach to relationship in terms of the correlation of uniting gametes may be less intuitive at the individual locus level than Malécot’s (1948) subsequent treatment in terms of identity by descent, but it transfers directly to the correlation of relatives for quantitative traits with additive effects.From these basic findings, the science of animal breeding was largely developed and expounded by Jay L. Lush (1896–1982) (see also commentaries by Chapman 1987 and Ollivier 2008). He was from a farming family and became interested in genetics as an undergraduate at Kansas State. Although his master’s degree was in genetics, his subsequent Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin was in animal reproductive physiology. Following 8 years working in animal breeding at the University of Texas he went to Iowa State College (now University) in Ames in 1930. Wright was Lush’s hero: ‘I wish to acknowledge especially my indebtedness to Sewall Wright for many published and unpublished ideas upon which I have drawn, and for his friendly counsel” (Lush 1945, in the preface to his book Animal Breeding Plans). Lush commuted in 1931 to the University of Chicago to audit Sewall Wright’s course in statistical genetics and consult him. Speaking at the Poultry Breeders Roundtable in 1969: he said, “Those were by far the most fruitful 10 weeks I ever had.” (Chapman 1987, quoting A. E. Freeman). Lush was also exposed to and assimilated the work and ideas of R. A. Fisher, who lectured at Iowa State through the summers of 1931 and 1936 at the behest of G. W. Snedecor.Here I review Lush’s contributions and then discuss how animal breeding theory and methods have subsequently evolved. They have been based mainly on statistical methodology, supported to some extent by experiment and population genetic theory. Recently, the development of genomic methods and their integration into classical breeding theory has opened up ways to greatly enhance rates of genetic improvement. Lush focused on livestock improvement and spin-off into other areas was coincidental; but he had contact with corn breeders in Ames and beyond and made contributions to evolutionary biology and human genetics mainly through his developments in theory (e.g., Falconer 1965; Robertson 1966; Lande 1976, 1979; see also Hill and Kirkpatrick 2010). I make no attempt to be comprehensive, not least in choice of citations.     

Regional Differentiation in the Dynamics of the Pollen Seasons of Alnus, Corylus and Fraxinus in Poland (Preliminary Results)

In 1995–1996 a study of pollen concentrations of Corylus, Alnus and Fraxinus was performed at seven sites in regions of different climatic and natural conditions. The aim of the study was to determine whether regional differences in the course and duration of pollen seasons occur in Poland. The study was performed using a volumetric method. Several phases during the pollen season were defined for each taxon (1, 2.5, 5, 25, 50, 75, 95, 97.5, 99% of annual total) and duration of the pollen seasons was calculated using 98 and 90% methods. Dynamics and duration of the pollen seasons and a start of particular phases of the season were compared among sites. On the basis of the preliminary analysis it could be supposed that regional differences were most evident in the case of Corylus. The pollen season of this taxon started the earliest in Pozna where thermal conditions were most favourable and the latest in Gdask, a place at the furthest to the north ( ², 0.05). In montane regions (Zakopane, Rabka) last phases of the season were significant extended ( ², 0.05). Probably it results from secondary pollen deposition and a long-distance transport by montane wind. In case of Fraxinus the significant regional differences in the start of the pollen season were not found. The study supported that weather conditions have the substantial influence on the start of consecutive phases of the pollen season.