Heat shock protein of the Hsp70 family in the euryhaline cilate Paramecium nephridiatum and its role in adaptation to salinity changes

The level of the Hsp70 heat shock protein was studied in the cells of euryhaline ciliates Paramecium nephridiatum after environmental salinity changes. Two types of treatment were used: “shock” and “adaptation.” In the former case the ciliates were placed for 1 h into medium with stress salinity, and subsequently returned for 2 h to the medium they were acclimated to. In the latter case the ciliates were placed for 3 h into the medium with the stress level of salinity. The ciliates acclimated to fresh water (0‰ salinity) were shown to have a higher constitutive level of Hsp70 than those acclimated to 10‰. Transfer of the protists from fresh water to medium with 10‰ salinity (the shock medium) did not increase Hsp70 synthesis, whereas the return transfer resulted in induction of Hsp70 in the cells. In both directions of salinity change, “adaptation” led to induction of Hsp70. The obtained results support the hypothesis that salinity of 10‰ is less harmful for the eurihaline ciliate P. nephridiatum, than fresh water is. We also presume that the ability of euryhaline ciliates to survive in a wide salinity spectrum might be determined by the higher constitutive level of their Hsp70 in comparison with that of stenohaline representatives of the same genus.     

Discrete Modeling of Dynamics of Zooplankton Community at the Different Stages of an Antropogeneous Eutrophication

Mathematical modeling is a convenient way for characterization of complex ecosystems. This approach was applied to study the dynamics of zooplankton in Lake Sevan (Armenia) at different stages of anthropogenic eutrophication with the use of a novel method called discrete modeling of dynamical systems with feedback (DMDS). Simulation demonstrated that the application of this method helps in characterization of inter- and intra-component relationships in a natural ecosystem. This method describes all possible pairwise inter-component relationships like “plus–plus,” “minus–minus,” “plus–minus,” “plus–zero,” “minus–zero,” and “zero–zero” that occur in most ecosystems. Based on the results, a working hypothesis was formulated. It was found that the sensitivity to weak external influence in zooplanktons was the greatest during the mid period of eutrophication in Lake Sevan, whereas in the final stages of eutrophication, an outbreak in the biomass production of cyanobacteria was evident. To support this approach, a weak external disturbance in the form of magnetic storm was used to see its effect on species Daphnia longispina sevanica. A statistically significant correlation between the frequency of magnetic storms and the number of this species was revealed and an increase in the number of toxic cyanobacteria species as a consequence of eutrophication. This paper, for the first time, suggests a DMDS method, to diagnose impact of anthropogenic eutrophication on environment.     

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPONTANEOUS MUTATIONS TO THERMAL SENSITIVITY CURVE VARIATION IN DROSOPHILA SERRATA

Many traits studied in ecology and evolutionary biology change their expression in response to a continuously varying environmental factor. One well‐studied example are thermal performance curves (TPCs); continuous reaction norms that describe the relationship between organismal performance and temperature and are useful for understanding the trade‐offs involved in thermal adaptation. We characterized curves describing the thermal sensitivity of voluntary locomotor activity in a set of 66 spontaneous mutation accumulation lines in the fly Drosophila serrata. Factor‐analytic modeling of the mutational variance–covariance matrix, M , revealed support for three axes of mutational variation in males and two in females. These independent axes of mutational variance corresponded well to the major axes of TPC variation required for different types of thermal adaptation; “faster‐slower” representing changes in performance largely independent of temperature, and the “hotter‐colder” and “generalist‐specialist” axes, representing trade‐offs. In contrast to its near‐absence from standing variance in this species, a “faster‐slower” axis, accounted for most mutational variance (75% in males and 66% in females) suggesting selection may easily fix or remove these types of mutations in outbred populations. Axes resembling the “hotter‐colder” and “generalist‐specialist” modes of variation contributed less mutational variance but nonetheless point to an appreciable input of new mutations that may contribute to thermal adaptation.     

The Possible Role of Polyamines to the Recalcitrance of “Kalamata” Olive Leafy Cuttings to Root

The objective of this study was to investigate the role of endogenous polyamines (PAs) (the sum of free plus soluble conjugate plus insoluble bound) on rooting potential of leafy cuttings of an easy, that is,“Arbequina” and a difficult-to-root olive cultivar, that is, “Kalamata”. Subsamples of cuttings were taken for PAs analysis before planting in the mist system and during the early phases of rhizogenesis (EPR). “Arbequina” exhibited higher initial free and total PA content than “Kalamata”. Spermidine (Spd) was the predominant PA observed in both cultivars. A low content of free putrescine (Put) and Spd was found in both cultivars, whereas spermine (Spm) was occasionally detected. “Arbequina” as well as “Kalamata” exhibited the highest free Put and free Spd in summer and Put was the predominant PA among the free PAs. “Arbequina” exhibited the highest individual and total PAs in spring, followed by those in summer and autumn. In contrast, “Kalamata” had the maximum PAs in summer and the lowest in autumn. Changes in the endogenous content of individual and total PAs during the EPR were also observed. Treatment of “Kalamata” cuttings in autumn with both indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and Put increased rooting compared to IBA alone. Among the PAs administered, Put was the most effective, whereas Spd and Spm failed to promote rooting. PAs, especially in their free form, seem to be involved in the rooting process of olive cuttings; Put application enhanced the rooting response of the difficult-to-root “Kalamata” olive cultivar.     

A text mining analysis of the climate change literature in industrial ecology

The literature on climate change research has evolved tremendously since the 1990s. The goal of this study is to use text mining to review the climate change literature and study the evolution of the main trends over time. Specific keywords from articles published in the special issue “ Industrial Ecology for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience” in the Journal of Industrial Ecology are first selected. Details of over 35,000 publications containing these keywords are downloaded from the Web of Science from 1990 to 2018. The number of publications and co‐occurrence of keywords are analyzed. Moreover, latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)—a probabilistic approach that can retrieve topics from large and unstructured text documents—is applied on the abstracts to uncover the main topics (consisting of new terms) that naturally emerge from them. The evolution in time of the importance of some emerging topics is then analyzed on the basis of their relative frequency. Overall, a rapid growth in climate change publications is observed. Terms such as “climate change adaptation” appear on the rise, whereas other terms are declining such as “pollution.” Moreover, several terms tend to co‐occur frequently, such as “climate change adaptation” and “resilience.” The database collected and the LiTCoF (Literature Topic Co‐occurrence and Frequency) Python‐based tool developed for this study are also made openly accessible. This article met the requirements for a gold – gold JIE data openness badge described http://jie.click/badges .     

COVID-19 and “natural” experiments arising from physical distancing: a hypothetical case study from chronobiology

ABSTRACT

With countless “natural” experiments triggered by the COVID-19-associated physical distancing, one key question comes from chronobiology: “When confined to homes, how does the reduced exposure to natural daylight arising from the interruption of usual outdoor activities plus lost temporal organization ordinarily provided from workplaces and schools affect the circadian timing system (the internal 24 h clock) and, consequently, health of children and adults of all ages?” Herein, we discuss some ethical and scientific facets of exploring such natural experiments by offering a hypothetical case study of circadian biology.     

Using a “time machine” to test for local adaptation of aquatic microbes to temporal and spatial environmental variation

Local adaptation occurs when different environments are dominated by different specialist genotypes, each of which is relatively fit in its local conditions and relatively unfit under other conditions. Analogously, ecological species sorting occurs when different environments are dominated by different competing species, each of which is relatively fit in its local conditions. The simplest theory predicts that spatial, but not temporal, environmental variation selects for local adaptation (or generates species sorting), but this prediction is difficult to test. Although organisms can be reciprocally transplanted among sites, doing so among times seems implausible. Here, we describe a reciprocal transplant experiment testing for local adaptation or species sorting of lake bacteria in response to both temporal and spatial variation in water chemistry. The experiment used a –80°C freezer as a “time machine.” Bacterial isolates and water samples were frozen for later use, allowing transplantation of older isolates “forward in time” and newer isolates “backward in time.” Surprisingly, local maladaptation predominated over local adaptation in both space and time. Such local maladaptation may indicate that adaptation, or the analogous species sorting process, fails to keep pace with temporal fluctuations in water chemistry. This hypothesis could be tested with more finely resolved temporal data.     

Improved cryosurvival of stallion spermatozoa after colloid centrifugation is independent of the addition of seminal plasma

Addition of seminal plasma (SP) prior to cryopreservation may influence stallion sperm cryosurvival. The objective of this study was to investigate the addition of pooled SP from “good” or “bad” freezer stallions to spermatozoa selected by single layer centrifugation (SLC) prior to cryopreservation on post-thaw sperm quality. Semen from 12 stallions was collected; 5 mL was frozen as control (C) and the remainder was processed by SLC to remove SP and was divided into three aliquots: i) SLC sample without SP (SLC); ii) SLC plus pooled SP from “good freezer” stallions (SLC-GF); iii) SLC plus pooled SP from “bad freezer” stallions (SLC-BF). After thawing, the following parameters were evaluated: chromatin integrity (DNA fragmentation index; %DFI), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), membrane integrity (MI), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and sperm kinematics. The %DFI was reduced (P < 0.0001) in SLC samples compared to controls. The SLC group showed a lower proportion of spermatozoa with low MMP and a higher proportion of spermatozoa with high MMP than other groups (P < 0.0001), and had lower hydrogen peroxide content than control. Sperm kinematics were not different. In conclusion, selection by SLC prior to cryopreservation improved post-thaw sperm quality; inclusion of SP from “good” and “bad” freezer stallions did not have an additional beneficial effect.     

The terminology and classification of steles: Historical perspective and the outlines of a system

Discussion focuses on the history of classification of the steles of vascular plants, from Jeffrey (1898) to the present. Recent stelar classifications are largely based (1) on Jeffrey’s system (protostele vs. siphonostele, the latter with ectophloic vs. amphiphloic types), (2) on the system developed by the early British morphologists, notably Brebner (1902), Gwynne-Vaughan (1901), Tansley (1907-08), and Tansley and Lulham (1902) (protostele vs. medullated protostele vs. solenostele vs. dictyostele vs. eustele, with various subtypes), or (3) on a combination of the preceding two systems, the British usually superimposed upon the Jeffreyian, although generally erratically so. An extended classification of three main stelar types and 25 stelar subtypes derived from Brebner (1902), Gwynne-Vaughan (1901), Jeffrey (1898), Tansley (1907-08), and others is presented in outline form with accompanying etymology, synonymy, examples, and with detailed notes on controversial taxa, classificatory rationale, and historical aspects. Recognized are (1) “protostele” (divided into “ectophloic,” “endophloic,” and “amphiphloic,” with 7, 1, and 1 subtypes respectively), (2) “siphonostele” (divided into “ectophloic” with 2 subtypes and “amphiphloic,” the latter divided into “solenostele” and “dictyostele” with 3 subtypes each, plus “siphonostele incertae sedis”), and (3) “eustele” (divided into “eustele sensu stricto” with 4 subtypes, “pseudosiphonostele,” “reduced eustele,” and “polycyclic eustele”).     

Differentiation trees,a junk DNA molecular clock,and the evolution of neoteny in salamanders

Obligate neotenic salamanders die if forced to metamorphose. We suggest that this can be explained by assuming: 1) their “excess” DNA is “junk” DNA; 2) the “adult” specifying portion of the DNA becomes junk DNA and is available for repeated duplication. This suggests a “new” junk DNA molecular clock. We obtain remarkable agreement in “predicting” the amount of DNA per nucleus in present day non-obligate neotene salamanders from this molecular clock. These observatons are consistent with the idea that the development of these animals is describable in terms of differentiation trees whose branches (gene cascades) corresponding to adult somatic tissues accumulate deleterious mutations over evolutionary time. We show that the amount of DNA per nucleus increases linearly with the phylogenetic age of salamander families. The lack of constraints by natural selection, on unused adult branches, may account for the large amount of so-called “junk DNA” in obligate neotenic salamanders. The effects of this excess DNA, via increased cell size, suggest a positive feedback, ecophysiological explanation for such junk DNA: adaptation to cool water environments is enhanced by the lower metabolism associated with more DNA, larger cells and slower developmental time.     

A review of published wetland research, 1991–2008: Ecological engineering and ecosystem restoration

An effective bibliometric analysis based on the Science Citation Index (SCI) published by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) was carried out to identify wetland research between 1991 and 2008. The objective was to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis for global trends of wetland-related research. The characteristics related to publications were analyzed. The results showed the significant wetland research issues in the SCI database. From 1991 to 2008, the annual number of journal articles published and the number of articles cited to wetland research increased more than sixfold and ninefold respectively. The USA produced the most single-country articles and international collaborative articles, followed by Canada and UK. The results also showed the significant wetland research issues in SCI database. The most frequently used words were: “water” (or “water quality”), which ranked 3rd, 7th, and 3rd according to the word in article title, author keyword, and keyword plus analysis, respectively. Constructed wetland biodiversity became more active in wetland research. The keywords “constructed wetland” and “constructed wetlands” ranked 58th and 12th in 1991–1996, while they ranked 5th and 4th in 2003–2008; the author keyword “biodiversity” ranked 45th in 1991–1996, while it ranked 23rd in 1997–2002, and 14th in 2003–2008; and keyword plus “diversity” ranked 93rd in 1991–1996, while it ranked 20th in 1997–2002, and 17th in 2003–2008. Moreover, it was proved that article title, author keyword, and keyword plus analysis methods were effective approaches for mapping wetland research. Popular wetland research issues and wetland research changes were also identified by statistical analysis.     

THE ROLES OF LIFE‐HISTORY SELECTION AND SEXUAL SELECTION IN THE ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION OF MATING BEHAVIOR IN A BEETLE

Although there is continuing debate about whether sexual selection promotes or impedes adaptation to novel environments, the role of mating behavior in such adaptation remains largely unexplored. We investigated the evolution of mating behavior (latency to mating, mating probability and duration) in replicate populations of seed beetles Callosobruchus maculatus subjected to selection on life‐history (“Young” vs. “Old” reproduction) under contrasting regimes of sexual selection (“Monogamy” vs. “Polygamy”). Life‐history selection is predicted to favor delayed mating in “Old” females, but sexual conflict under polygamy can potentially retard adaptive life‐history evolution. We found that life‐history selection yielded the predicted changes in mating behavior, but sexual selection regime had no net effect. In within‐line crosses, populations selected for late reproduction showed equally reduced early‐life mating probability regardless of mating system. In between‐line crosses, however, the effect of life‐history selection on early‐life mating probability was stronger in polygamous lines than in monogamous ones. Thus, although mating system influenced male–female coevolution, removal of sexual selection did not affect the adaptive evolution of mating behavior. Importantly, our study shows that the interaction between sexual selection and life‐history selection can result in either increased or decreased reproductive divergence depending on the ecological context.     

Reconciling “stress” and “health” in physical anthropology: What can bioarchaeologists learn from the other subdisciplines?

The concepts of “stress” and “health” are foundational in physical anthropology as guidelines for interpreting human behavior and biocultural adaptation in the past and present. Though related, stress and health are not coterminous, and while the term “health” encompasses some aspects of “stress,” health refers to a more holistic condition beyond just physiological disruption, and is of considerable significance in contributing to anthropologists' understanding of humanity's lived experiences. Bioarchaeological interpretations of human health generally are made from datasets consisting of skeletal markers of stress, markers that result from (chronic) physiological disruption (e.g., porotic hyperostosis; linear enamel hypoplasia). Non-specific indicators of stress may measure episodes of stress and indicate that infection, disease, or nutritional deficiencies were present in a population, but in assessing these markers, bioarchaeologists are not measuring “health” in the same way as are human biologists, medical anthropologists, or primatologists. Rather than continue to diverge on separate (albeit parallel) trajectories, bioarchaeologists are advised to pursue interlinkages with other subfields within physical anthropology toward bridging “stress” and “health.” The papers in this special symposium set include bioarchaeologists, human biologists, molecular anthropologists, and primatologists whose research develops this link between the concepts of “stress” and “health,” encouraging new avenues for bioarchaeologists to consider and reconsider health in past human populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 155:181–185, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sexual behavior in a one-male unit of Rhinopithecus bieti in captivity

Data regarding the sexual behavior of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) were collected in 1998 in a one-male unit in captivity by all-occurrences sampling during the mating season. Before the present study, little was known about the sexual behavior of this species. This study showed that female solicitation is mainly expressed as “prostration plus glancing laterally” (PG) or “sitting plus head moving up and down” (HM), and male solicitation is exhibited by the “grunt bared-teeth display.” The mount-to-ejaculation ratio was 5.2 on average, and single-mount ejaculations (SMEs) were observed in only 4.4% of mounts on days with at least one ejaculation. Therefore, the main copulatory pattern of this species is multiple-mount ejaculation (MME). Females initiated 72% of 18 ejaculatory mounts. Females initiated more ejaculatory mounts than non-ejaculatory ones. In general, the patterns of sexual behavior in this species are similar to those reported for other Colobines. Zoo Biol 23:545–550, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The Clinical Study of the Optimalization of Surgical Treatment and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Intervention on Palmar Hyperhidrosis

To analyze the efficacy of different surgical methods in treating palmar hyperhidrosis and the compensatory hyperhidrosis after surgery and to observe the efficacy of “Energy-boosting and Yin-nourishing anti-perspirant formula” on postsurgical hyperhidrosis patients. Two-hundred patients were randomly assigned to groups A (Chinese and Western medicine, T4 transection plus “Energy-boosting and Yin-nourishing anti-perspirant formula”) and B (Western medicine, T4 transection). The surgical efficiency, recurrence rate, compensatory hyperhidrosis, and the long-term life quality were compared. Another 100 cases (group C, T2 transection) were analyzed as a control group. After surgery, the palmar hyperhidrosis and armpit sweating were relieved in all the three group patients and in 34 % of patients combined with plantar hyperhidrosis, the symptoms were relieved. Transient palmar hyperhidrosis was found in three cases at day 2 to day 5 postoperatively. One case of Horner’s syndrome and one case recurrence were found in group C patients. The compensatory sweating of various degrees occurred in all the three groups. There were 25, 24, and 43 cases in groups A, B, and C, respectively. There is a significant difference between groups C, A, and B. The compensatory sweating in 13 cases of group A and four cases of group B had different degrees of improvement in the follow-up 6 months after surgery. There is a significant difference. Thoracoscopic bilateral T4 sympathetic chain and the Kuntz resection are the optimized surgical treatments for the palmar hyperhidrosis. “Energy-boosting and Yin-nourishing anti-perspirant formula” is effective in treating the postoperative compensatory sweating.     

THE BIOLOGY OF SPECIATION

Since Darwin published the “Origin,” great progress has been made in our understanding of speciation mechanisms. The early investigations by Mayr and Dobzhansky linked Darwin's view of speciation by adaptive divergence to the evolution of reproductive isolation, and thus provided a framework for studying the origin of species. However, major controversies and questions remain, including: When is speciation nonecological? Under what conditions does geographic isolation constitute a reproductive isolating barrier? and How do we estimate the “importance” of different isolating barriers? Here, we address these questions, providing historical background and offering some new perspectives. A topic of great recent interest is the role of ecology in speciation. “Ecological speciation” is defined as the case in which divergent selection leads to reproductive isolation, with speciation under uniform selection, polyploid speciation, and speciation by genetic drift defined as “nonecological.” We review these proposed cases of nonecological speciation and conclude that speciation by uniform selection and polyploidy normally involve ecological processes. Furthermore, because selection can impart reproductive isolation both directly through traits under selection and indirectly through pleiotropy and linkage, it is much more effective in producing isolation than genetic drift. We thus argue that natural selection is a ubiquitous part of speciation, and given the many ways in which stochastic and deterministic factors may interact during divergence, we question whether the ecological speciation concept is useful. We also suggest that geographic isolation caused by adaptation to different habitats plays a major, and largely neglected, role in speciation. We thus provide a framework for incorporating geographic isolation into the biological species concept (BSC) by separating ecological from historical processes that govern species distributions, allowing for an estimate of geographic isolation based upon genetic differences between taxa. Finally, we suggest that the individual and relative contributions of all potential barriers be estimated for species pairs that have recently achieved species status under the criteria of the BSC. Only in this way will it be possible to distinguish those barriers that have actually contributed to speciation from those that have accumulated after speciation is complete. We conclude that ecological adaptation is the major driver of reproductive isolation, and that the term “biology of speciation,” as proposed by Mayr, remains an accurate and useful characterization of the diversity of speciation mechanisms.     

Setting “Spanish legacies” into further context: some findings and thoughts from CILS4EU

This contribution compares some major findings of “Spanish Legacies” to findings from the CILS4EU study that has been conducted in four other European countries. Despite the differences in the immigration history and the composition of the immigrant youth, basic results of psychosocial adaptation are surprisingly similar for England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. This confirms the mostly optimistic picture of the future of the second generation in Europe as drawn for Spain. In a sense, the similarities suggest that the role of the receiving context might be less important than is expected in overarching theoretical frameworks such as “segmented assimilation”. Some aspects of integration that are not covered in “Spanish Legacies” could raise more doubts on the smoothness of the adaptation processes for some immigrants groups.