A craniometric study of the black and white Colobus Illiger 1811 (Primates: Ceropithecoidea).

This study examines the craniometry of Black and White Colobus monkeys using 1072 specimens representing all the recognized subspecies (after Rahm, '70) of the genus. Seventy-six measurements were taken on each individual, and examined using canonical variates analysis and clustering by Ward's Error Sum method. The assumptions of the analytical techniques are shown to be met, and the results demonstrated to be stable. Examination of the populations for statistical difference and taxonomic distinctiveness using a multivariate extension of Mayr's Rule indicates that the taxonomy presented by Rahm ('70) is essentially correct, except that the subspecies of guereza across the northern part of Central Africa should be lumped into a single group--C. g. occidentalis--and the subspecies of montane angolan colobus in Eastern Zaire should all be lumped into C. a. ruwenzorii. The systematic patterns of the genus illustrate the whole range of the process of speciation, from barely distinct subspecies, to subspecies almost as distinct as allopatric species of the genus, and on the fully sympatric species Three major zoogeographic areas may be delineated: an East African area dominated by the effects of the Rift Valley, with a large number of subspecies isolated in forest islands; a Central African area with little subspeciation and sympatric overlap of the major species of Colobus; and a West African area with a clinal pattern of distribution of subspecies, and secondary intergradation. The arbitrary nature of Mary's Rule is also apparent. Lastly, the CVA indicated major differences across the genus to be located in the teeth and jaws, suggesting diet might be an important distinguishing feature in Colobus.     

The Calcaneum—On the Heels of Marsupial Locomotion

The potential for making functional interpretations from a single postcranial element for marsupials was investigated through morphometric analysis of the calcanea of 61 extant species from Australia and New Guinea. Extant species were grouped into locomotor categories and a canonical variates analysis was carried out on measurements of their calcanea. A relationship between measurements of the calcanea and the locomotor behavior of species was found, allowing for prediction of locomotor behavior from calcaneum morphometrics. This was applied to fossil marsupial taxa, from early–late Miocene/?Pliocene deposits at Riversleigh, in an attempt to determine their locomotor behavior. Hopping (saltatorial) taxa are distinguished from quadruped terrestrial taxa and taxa capable of climbing (arboreal and scansorial) by their relatively longer tuber calcis and wider calcaneal head, by their dorso-ventrally thicker calcaneal head, and by their calcaneocuboid facet being less steeply angled antero-posteriorly. Taxa capable of climbing are distinguished from quadruped terrestrial taxa by their shorter tuber calcis relative to the calcaneal head and by their smaller calcaneo-astragalar facet. The locomotor categories distinguished in this study (arboreal/scansorial, quadruped terrestrial, and saltatorial) highlight differences between species in their use of available substrates and thus are informative with regards to the structural components of their habitat. The results of this analysis can be used, in combination with other data, to make inferences about the habitats of paleocommunities at Riversleigh through the Miocene. The calcaneum is a dense and very robust element and, therefore, has a good chance of being preserved. This method provides a quick and easy way of inferring locomotion and has a wide potential for application to many fossil deposits because it requires only a single element.     

Probing time series vegetation data for evidence of succession

A subset of Stephens & Waggoner's (1970) data, spanning 40 years of recording at the same site, is analysed by AOC for trends in density fluctuations. The results suggest that the recording period is sufficiently long for trends to be detected. A dominant trend depicts density changes as simple monotone functions of time. Other lesser trends signify cyclic changes of different lengths. The fact that a dominant monotone trend exists is interpreted as evidence of succession.Nomenclature follows Little (1953)     

Canonical Analysis

Several fundamental properties of canonical variates are developed. In addition, the equivalence of the redundancy coefficient and the composite coefficient of determination is demonstrated; the latter is used in evaluating the prediction of input variables by canonical variates.     

上海地区早春非耕地杂草分布与环境因子关系的统计生态学研究

野外调查发现上海地区早春非耕地杂草共106种,隶属于29科88属．计测了261个样地1305个样方中杂草的生态重要值和6种主要环境因子,应用典范对应分析作出了反映106种杂草与6种环境因子关系的二维排序图,应用双向指示种分析对106种杂草进行了有生态学意义的定量分类．根据6种环境因子与前两个排序轴相关系数的大小,发现土壤水分、土壤翻耕程度、人迹出没程度、交通影响程度是影响上海地区早春非耕地杂草分布的主要环境因素;根据双向指示种分析,结合典范对应分析的结果,可以从106种早春中分出五个生态类群,即类群Ⅰ：湿生淤泥海边滩涂杂草类群,类群Ⅱ：相对干燥海边滩涂杂草类群,类群Ⅲ：干扰相对较小的人工林地杂草类群;类群Ⅳ：干旱、开阔、干扰较重环境中的杂草类群;类群Ⅴ：湿润、开阔、干扰较重的弃耕农田环境中的杂草类群．     

Design of multivariate selection experiments to estimate genetic parameters

Summary The precision of estimates of genetic variances and covariances obtained from multivariate selection experiments of various designs are discussed. The efficiencies of experimental designs are compared using criteria based on a confidence region of the estimated genetic parameters, with estimation using both responses and selection differentials and offspring-parent regression. A good selection criterion is shown to be to select individuals as parents using an index of the sums of squares and crossproducts of the phenotypic measurements. Formulae are given for the optimum selection proportion when the relative numbers of individuals in the parent and progeny generations are fixed or variable. Although the optimum depends on a priori knowledge of the genetic parameters to be estimated, the designs are very robust to poor estimates. For bivariate uncorrelated data, the variance of the estimated genetic parameters can be reduced by approximately 0.4 relative to designs of a more conventional nature when half of the individuals are selected on one trait and half on the other trait. There are larger reductions in variances if the traits are correlated.     

典范指示种分析— 一个新的外在分类方法

 本文描述一个新的外在分类方法—典范指示种分析。它是以典范对应分析排序轴为基础,同时使用植被数据和环境数据,其结果能更好地反映植被与环境的关系。我们用该方法对英国威尔士北部山地草甸的数据进行了分析,结果证明它是较理想的分析方法。     

耕作方法和除草剂对玉米田杂草群落的影响

应用群落生态学方法,在中国科学院沈阳生态实验站对玉米田杂草群落进行了调查研究,探讨了耕作方法和除草剂对杂草群落组成、多样性和生物量的影响.结果表明,玉米田优势种杂草为野黍、苘麻、大狼把草和鸭趾草,其中野黍重要值最高;免耕不施加除草剂处理6月下旬杂草生物量较大,5月末到8月中旬物种丰富度较高(S),7月1日和8月1日均匀度(J)较低,优势集中性(C)较高,均与常规施加除草剂处理有显著差异.施用除草剂可减少免耕玉米田杂草种类,抑制杂草生物量的增长.耕作方法和除草剂可对杂草群落组成、多样性及稳定性产生影响.     

Population genetic structure of the noxious weed Amaranthus retroflexus in Central Europe

Genetic variation was assessed in a range of populations of Amaranthus retroflexus using isoenzyme analysis. Population genetic diversity was measured by evaluating patterns of variation at six putatively neutral isoenzyme loci (comprising 24 putative alleles) within and among 20 populations of A. retroflexus collected in different habitats: ruderal habitats, cereal fields and hop gardens. Amaranthus retroflexus is a noxious weed of North American origin that infests various crops. Overall, A. retroflexus displayed moderate levels of genetic diversity in comparison with other herbaceous plants. The percentage of polymorphic loci was 50.0%, with mean values of 2.01, 0.142 and 0.227 for the average number of alleles per polymorphic locus (A), observed heterozygosity (H_o) and expected heterozygosity (H_e), respectively. A discrepancy between observed and expected heterozygosity and significant differences from H-W expectation indicate that there is an excess of homozygotes in many populations. As a result, there is strong evidence of inbreeding within populations (F_IS = 0.382) and significant population differentiation (F_ST = 0.270). Even though the species is partly autogamous, inbreeding does not lead to strong inbreeding depression resulting from self-pollination, as inbreeding has no effect on the success of the species in today's countryside. Moreover, allele frequencies detected in agricultural habitats (i.e., cereal fields and hop gardens) differed from those detected in populations collected from ruderal habitats, which is probably caused by systematic application of herbicides in agricultural ecosystems.     

Effect of ammonium sulfate on the phytotoxicity, foliar uptake, and translocation of imazamethabenz in wild oat

Experiments were conducted in greenhouse, growth chamber, and laboratory conditions to determine the effect of ammonium sulfate [(NH₄)₂SO₄] on the phytotoxicity, foliar uptake, and translocation of imazamethabenz on wild oat. Rates of (NH₄)₂SO₄ up to 5% (w/v) applied with a greenhouse sprayer did not affect the phytotoxicity of the herbicide when the mix was applied at the one- to two-leaf stage. However, inclusion of 1 and 2% (NH₄)₂SO₄ increased the phytotoxicity of the herbicide when the mix was sprayed at the two- to three-leaf, or the three- to four-leaf stage. At 10%, (NH₄)₂SO₄ decreased the phytotoxicity of the sublethal dosage of the herbicide. When the herbicide was applied as individual drops to the growth chamber-grown plants, inclusion of (NH₄)₂SO₄ at 1% did not affect phytotoxicity as measured by shoot growth. The presence of (NH₄)₂SO₄ did not affect the amount of imazamethabenz retained by wild oat foliage, but it decreased [¹⁴C]imazamethabenz absorption, slightly antagonized acropetal translocation, and increased the basipetal translocation of [¹⁴C]imazamethabenz. It was concluded that application methods greatly modify the effect of (NH₄)₂SO₄ on imazamethabenz phytotoxicity. Herbicide absorption and translocation as determined by one method do not necessarily represent the absorption and translocation patterns when different application methods are used. Absorption and translocation were not the factors that were responsible for the observed effect of (NH₄)₂SO₄ on the herbicide phytotoxicity.Abbreviations SC suspension concentrate     

Bar-expressing peppermint (Mentha × Piperita L. var. Black Mitcham) plants are highly resistant to the glufosinate herbicide Liberty

Weed control is a substantial economic input for production of mint oils, the most commercially important of which are obtained from peppermint. The objective of this research is to obtain peppermint plants resistant to the broad-spectrum herbicide glufosinate, which can be used for development of economically efficacious weed control strategies and, perhaps, serve as a paradigm in perennial crops. The bar gene, which encodes phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) which inactivates glufosinate-ammonium or phosphinothricin (PPT), was constructed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens binary vectors under the nopaline synthase (NOS) or a chimeric promoter containing a trimer of the OCS-upstream-activating sequence (UAS) to a MAS promoter/activator region[(OCS) ₃ MAS]. A total of 142 independent transgenic peppermint (cv. Black Mitcham) plants were obtained (107 and 35 were obtained with pGPTV (and pCAS1) and pATC940 vectors, respectively) and evaluated for herbicide resistance in the greenhouse after foliar application of glufosinate herbicide Liberty as the commercial product. All transgenic plants exhibited substantially less herbicide symptom development than non-transgenic Black Mitcham or untransformed tissue cultured-derived plants, albeit variation for herbicide resistance occurred amongst the transformed lines. Plants from 35 of the 142 lines were selected at random and all were PCR-positive for the presence of bar. Five lines, that were least affected, exhibited no injury symptoms to Liberty concentrations that are 4 times the standard level for control of weeds in peppermint fields. The most resistant transgenic plants had the greatest steady-state PAT mRNA levels and PAT activities. No experimental difference in herbicide resistance was evident between plant populations obtained with pGPTV (pCAS1)-bar or pATC940-bar vector. However, 4 of 35 lines transformed with (ocs) ₃ MAS-bar exhibited maximal resistance while only 1 of 107 NOS-bar lines has comparable resistance. These herbicide resistant peppermint plants will facilitate development of post-emergent herbicide control strategies that use newer generation herbicides, like glufosinate, which have reduced environmental and product residual because of metabolism by microbes and the transgenic plants.     

Towards the analysis of vegetation succession

Attention is drawn to canonical analysis as a plausible model for analyzing vegetation succession. An assessment of the opportunities afforded by canonical analysis for this purpose is then made by reference to two applications of the method. The applications deal with characteristics of hydroseral processes and with the dynamic status of an area of lowland tropical rain forest. On the basis of these and other studies the conclusion is drawn that canonical analysis could contribute usefully in efforts to place the study of dynamic ecosystem processes on a more analytic footing.This work was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council award to L. Orlóci. It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness both to Dr. Orlóci for his support and encouragement and to the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Western Ontario for hospitality and help. Appreciation is expressed also to Dr. John Ogden, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra for kindly placing his rain forest data at my disposal and for his invaluable help in interpreting the results of analyses of these data.     

Structural changes of weed communities and populations

Increasing structural changes of weed communities are to be observed in all countries with highly developed cropping techniques. This paper deals with results of investigations concerning one main source of those changes: the application of herbicides under long-term conditions. The course of changes is characterized by distinct developmental phases depending on intensity and continuation of herbicide stress. It is suggested that an evaluation of the structural changes on the community level has to be based on the analysis of changes on the population level.For cooperation in the experimental program I am indebted to Dr K. Helmecke; for technical assistance in field-and laboratory work to Mrs M. Beyer, Mrs I. Preetz and Mrs H. Schroedter.     

植被生态信息的典范相关分析技术理论

植被生态信息分析中对两（多）组取样集间的相关分析的需求导致了典范相关分析技术的应用和发展。本文对典范相关分析技术的原理、典范参数的生态学意义进行了提示,比较了典范相关分析与ＰＣＡ之间的差异,产在典范相关分析技术的应用过程中,原始数据的预处理提出了建议。     

Patterns of variation in the acoustic calling signals of Chloriona planthoppers (Homoptera: Delphacidae) coexisting on the common reed Phragmites australis

Populations of the Tour species of Chloriona commonly found in the Netherlands C dorsata, C. glaucescens, C. smaragdula and C. vasconica –were cultured in the laboratory on Phragmites australis, their exclusive host plant in the field. The low frequency substrate-transmitted signals produced during the calling phase of mating behaviour were digitally analysed for the males and females of each species. Variables selected to cover most aspects of the call were measured, and variation was quantified within species and statistically tested among species using univariate and multivariate techniques. The calls of the males were more complex in structure than those of the females, with two different phase patterns recognized, and were species-specific. C. glaucescens and C vasconica were also separated on variables of the female call, but C dorsata and C. smaragdula completely overlapped. No significant differences were found between the calls of the long-winged and.short-winged female morphs of C. smaragdula. A possible role for variation in calling signals, and responses to them, in the evolution and maintenance of reproductive isolation in Chlonona is discussed.