线蚓科分类学研究进展

线蚓科隶属于环节动物门环带纲,迄今共记录32属650余种,是该纲的第二大科。它们广泛分布于土壤、海洋、淡水、河口和冰川等。其中,约2/3的线蚓科物种(近500种)为陆生种类,100余种仅分布在海洋中。尽管经历了200多年的探索,线蚓科仍然是认知最少的类群之一。尝试回顾人类对线蚓科环带动物分类学和系统发育学方面的认知历程和积累的知识体系,描述线蚓科关键的形态学分类特征以及线蚓科分类研究遇到的主要问题和障碍,展望了线蚓科分类学未来的研究方向。线蚓科的分类研究尚处于α分类阶段,体现在以物种探索为主和大量的已描述的物种需要验证等。而基于生物学物种概念(生殖隔离)的线蚓科物种探索,虽然有一些合理的逻辑解释,但缺乏严格的科学验证。线蚓科内多数属为复系,表明已建立的线蚓科分类系统仍然不能很好的反映线蚓科的自然进化历史。线蚓科分类面临的主要问题和障碍是未描述种类亟待发掘、已描述的物种需要验证、属/种的厘定以及现代属级概念的建立、DNA分类在线蚓科的应用和线蚓科内的系统发育关系研究亟待开展,以及物种探索的不平衡、经费和研究人才匮乏以及网络分类的缺失等。将分子学数据和系统发育物种概念纳入线蚓科的分类学研究,应该是线蚓科分类的一个方向。通过解读保守基因的信息,可以揭示线蚓科的祖先与它们生活的古环境长期斗争的历史,以及将优良的性状遗传给后代的过程和驱动力。而系统发育物种概念认为物种是拥有共同祖先的,物种仅能通过生殖隔离与系统发育重建一起加以验证。基于系统发育物种概念而构建的线蚓科分类系统,必将能真实的反映线蚓科内各分类单元的亲缘关系和进化轨迹。而将最新的线蚓科分类学知识传播于分类学知识的终端使用者,是线蚓分类学家的职责。这些知识将有助于提高人们对线蚓类在生态系统中功能的了解,如土壤有机质分解、养分矿化和健康评价以及评估气候变化等。     

The conservation value of South East Asia's highly degraded forests: evidence from leaf-litter ants

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.     

The effects of fire on the frillneck lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii) in northern Australia

Abstract A population of frillneck lizards, Chlamydosaurus kingii, was monitored by radio telemetry and mark-recapture techniques between April 1991 and April 1994, as part of a landscape-scale fire experiment, in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. The study aimed to investigate both the short- and longer-term effects of fire on a lizard species in a tropical savanna where fires are frequent and often annual. Frillneck lizards are able to survive fires that occur in the first few months of the dry season by remaining perched in trees. A high level of mortality (29%) occurred during late dry-season fires, along with changes in their behavioural response to fire: sheltering in either larger trees or hollow termite mounds. Food is more accessible after fires due to the removal of ground vegetation. This is reflected in greater volume and diversity of prey in stomach contents after fires. This increase is more pronounced after late dry-season fires, possibly due to increased accessibility of prey caused by more complete vegetation removal. Frillneck lizards show an overall preference for trees with a dense canopy cover located in an area with a low density of grass. Fire has an effect on this relationship. Frillneck lizards in habitat unburnt for a number of years tend to perch in trees with a smaller canopy, whereas lizards in annually burnt habitat perch in trees with a dense canopy. Volume and composition of lizard stomach contents was broadly similar among fire treatments over a 2 year period, although termites were more predominant in stomach contents of lizards in unburnt habitat. Wet-season body condition is lower in lizards from unburnt habitat, although the reason for this is unclear. These results demonstrate the importance of different fire intensities and regimes on the ecology of a lizard species in a tropical savanna.     

Effects of selective logging (50 years ago) on habitat use and ranging behaviour of a forest understorey bird (red-tailed bristlebill, Bleda syndactyla) in Uganda

To understand the effects of selective logging on animals we compared habitat use and ranging behaviour of a common understorey passerine bird, the red‐tailed bristlebill (Bleda syndactyla), in logged and unlogged forest in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. The secondary forest had been selectively logged about 50 years ago, and differed in vegetation structure from the unlogged, primary forest in particular by having a denser understorey. Home range size of radio‐tagged bristlebills was 10–20% larger (depending on data sample used) in unlogged forest compared with logged forest, but the difference was not significant. Movement rates during 1‐h observation periods were highest in unlogged forest. The bristlebill has been characterized as a bird of dense understorey vegetation, and data from unlogged forest in the present study suggested that areas with dense understorey were used more often than expected. In logged forest, no habitat preferences were found, probably because the forest had a dense understorey throughout. Assuming that smaller home ranges and lower movement rates indicate better habitat, there was no evidence that bristlebills were negatively affected by logging. The preference for dense understorey in unlogged forest suggests that the bristlebill may benefit from selective logging because this leads to an increase in dense understorey.     

A taxonomic revision of the genus Agave (Agavaceae) in the Lesser Antilles, with an ethnobotanical hypothesis

The genusAgave (Agavaceae) is revised taxonomically for the Lesser Antilles. All 12 previously recognized species are placed into synonymy underAgave karatto Miller. A neotype is selected for the nameAgave karatto, and lectotypes are designated forA. barbadensis Trel.,A. medioxima Trel.,A. obducta Trel.,A. vangrolae Trel., andA. ventum-versa Trel. Specimens are cited for most of the Lesser Antillean islands. That the Caribbean agaves are similar to the MexicanAgave nayaritensis Gentry is supported. The hypothesis that the pattern of partial sterility, clonality, and minimal morphological differentiation of the Lesser Antillean agaves is related to prehistoric human activity is developed based on similar patterns among mainland agaves and historical information. Uses for the archaeological “Barbados shell tool” may have included decorticating agave leaves for fiber extraction.     

Cryptic diversity in vertebrates: molecular data double estimates of species diversity in a radiation of Australian lizards (Diplodactylus,Gekkota)

A major problem for biodiversity conservation and management is that a significant portion of species diversity remains undocumented (the ‘taxonomic impediment’). This problem is widely acknowledged to be dire among invertebrates and in developing countries; here, we demonstrate that it can be acute even in conspicuous animals (reptiles) and in developed nations (Australia). A survey of mtDNA, allozyme and chromosomal variation in the Australian gecko, genus Diplodactylus, increases overall species diversity estimates from 13 to 29. Four nominal species each actually represent multi-species complexes; three of these species complexes are not even monophyletic. The high proportion of cryptic species discovered emphasizes the importance of continuing detailed assessments of species diversity, even in apparently well-known taxa from industrialized countries.     

The importance of crevices to the intertidal snail Littoraria articulata (Philippi) in a tropical mangrove forest

The intertidal gastropod, Littoraria articulata (Philippi), is common on the trunks of mangroves at Coorooman Creek, Central Queensland. Individuals of shell length less than 3 mm were only found in empty tests of the barnacle Hexaminius popeiana (Foster). Larger snails were exposed on the trunk or occasionally in crevices such as knot holes. The relationship between shell length and shell strength differed between barnacle dwelling and larger L. articulata: in both cases it was linear, but the rate of increase of strength with increasing length was significantly greater for barnacle dwelling snails than for exposed ones. In contrast, there was an exponential relationship between shell strength and length for the weaker shelled Littoraria filosa (Sowerby), which occurs higher on the tree and does not inhabit barnacles. The survival of L. articulata was affected by the presence of crevices: significantly fewer disappeared from posts with artificial crivices than from those which lacked them, and some snails testhered to posts appeared to have been eaten by fish. The importance of crevices is discussed in relation to predation pressure, growth and habitat selection by larval L. articulata. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

热带岩溶森林内露石表面微生境及其殖居植物

露石是岩溶生态系统的一个典型特征物,其上发育着多样的微生境并殖居着多样的植物,但殖居植物与微生境之间的关系尚不清楚。该研究以西双版纳的一片发育在石灰山上的热带季节性湿润林为研究对象,测量586个露石微生境的自身特征与外界环境因子,并调查其殖居维管束植物的物种组成情况,采用Pearson相关性分析与冗余分析(RDA)来揭示露石微生境特征和环境因子与维管束植物丰富度之间的关系。结果表明:(1)热带岩溶森林中露石微生境的体积(5 148.33±31 501.92)cm³、面积(532.28±1 575.10)cm²等特征值的变异性较大。(2)微生境中共调查到44科82属90种1 518株乔木、灌木和草木植物,其中在岩溶基质中具有优势的适宜种占总物种数的35.6%。(3)RDA模型表明微生境的面积与土深对殖居植物物种组成及丰富度的解释度大于70%。(4)露石微生境内的殖居植物物种丰富度与面积之间存在明显的递衰指数型种-面积关系。综上认为,热带岩溶森林内露石表面微生境存在高度异质性,面积和土深是影响植物殖居的关键因子,种-面积关系主导了露石表面微生境的物种丰富度格局。     

Transatlantic migration and deep mid-ocean diving by basking shark

Despite being the second largest fish, basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) have been assumed to remain in discrete populations. Their known distribution encompasses temperate continental shelf areas, yet until now there has been no evidence for migration across oceans or between hemispheres. Here we present results on the tracks and behaviour of two basking sharks tagged off the British Isles, one of which released its tag off Newfoundland, Canada. During the shark's transit of the North Atlantic, she travelled a horizontal distance of 9589 km and reached a record depth of 1264 m. This result provides the first evidence for a link between European and American populations and indicates that basking sharks make use of deep-water habitats beyond the shelf edge.