Respiration of the Roots of Flood-Tolerant and Flood-Intolerant Senecio Species: Affinity for Oxygen and Resistance to Cyanide

The affinity of respiration for oxygen in the roots of six Senecio species studied was low compared with the affinity of cytochrome oxidase for oxygen. Half saturation values of approximately 22 μM oxygen were measured. Root respiration was to a large extent insensitive to cyanide in flood-tolerant as well as in flood-sensitive species. The evidence presented suggests that high activity of salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM)-sensitive oxidase in Senecio roots was the basis for the low oxygen affinity and for the high cyanide-insensitivity of root respiration in the Senecio species. Methods are described to determine the in vivo activity of the SHAM-sensitive oxidase. It was estimated that it contributed 70% to the total root respiration. The presence of SHAM-sensitive oxidase activity could explain a higher efficiency of root growth respiration under a low oxygen tension if this alternate oxidase was inhibited at a low oxygen concentration in the root medium. However, the SHAM-sensitive oxidase was not specifically involved in either growth respiration or maintenance respiration. Its significance in regulation of the redox state of the cells is discussed.     

How common are dot‐like distributions? Taxonomical oversplitting in western European Agrodiaetus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) revealed by chromosomal and molecular markers

Approximately 50 taxa of butterflies in Western Europe have been described as new species or elevated to the level of species during the last 40 years. Many, especially those belonging to the genus Agrodiaetus, have unusually localized, ‘dot‐like’ distributional ranges. In the present study, we use a combination of chromosomal and molecular markers to re‐evaluate the species status of Agrodiaetus distributed west of the 17th meridian. The results obtained do not support the current designations of Agrodiaetus galloi, Agrodiaetus exuberans, and Agrodiaetus agenjoi as endemic species with highly restricted distribution ranges, but indicate that these taxa are more likely to be local populations of a widely distributed species, Agrodiaetus ripartii. Agrodiaetus violetae is shown to be a polytypic species consisting of at least two subspecies, including Agrodiaetus violetae subbaeticus comb. nov. and Agrodiaetus violetae violetae. Agrodiaetus violetae is genetically (but not chromosomally) distinct from Agrodiaetus fabressei and has a wider distribution in southern Spain than previously believed. Agrodiaetus humedasae from northern Italy is supported as a highly localized species that is distinct from its nearest relatives. We propose a revision of the species lists for Agrodiaetus taking these new data into account. The results reported in the present study are relevant to animal conservation efforts in Europe because of their implications for IUCN Red List priorities. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101 , 130–154.     

Relationships between phenology,radiation and precipitation in the Amazon region

In tropical areas, Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) still have deficiencies in simulating the timing of vegetation phenology. To start addressing this problem, standard Fourier‐based methods are applied to aerosol screened monthly remotely sensed phenology time series (Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI) and two major driving factors of phenology: solar radiation and precipitation (for March 2000 through December 2006 over northern South America). At 1 × 1 km scale using, power (or variance) spectra on good quality aerosol screened time series, annual cycles in EVI are detected across 58.24% of the study area, the strongest (largest amplitude) occurring in the savanna. Terra Firme forest have weak but significant annual cycles in comparison with savannas because of the heterogeneity of vegetation and nonsynchronous phenological events within 1 × 1 km scale pixels. Significant annual cycles for radiation and precipitation account for 86% and 90% of the region, respectively, with different spatial patterns to phenology. Cross‐spectral analysis was used to compare separately radiation with phenology/EVI, precipitation with phenology/EVI and radiation with precipitation. Overall the majority of the Terra Firme forest appears to have radiation as the driver of phenology (either radiation is in phase or leading phenology/EVI at the annual scale). These results are in agreement with previous research, although in Acre, central and eastern Peru and northern Bolivia there is a coexistence of ‘in phase’ precipitation over Terra Firme forest. In contrast in most areas of savanna precipitation appears to be a driver and savanna areas experiencing an inverse (antiphase) relationship between radiation and phenology is consistent with inhibited grassland growth due to soil moisture limitation. The resulting maps provide a better spatial understanding of phenology–driver relationships offering a bench mark to parameterize ecological models.     

A reinterpretation of Rangea schneiderhoehni and the discovery of a related new fossil from the Nama Group, South West Africa

Two new specimens of Rangea schneiderhoehni Gürich 1930 and a new fossil are here described from the Nama Group of South West Africa. A careful study of the two Rangea specimens and a reexamination of the holotype shows that R. schneiderhoehni forma plana and R. schneiderhoehni forma turgida are the same species as already suggested by Gürich, Richter, and Pflug, that the puzzling outer flange of forma plana is part of an underlying second leaf-like body, and that the Ediacara 'Rangea' does not belong to the genus Rangea . Here, therefore, it is introduced as the genus Glaessnerina . The new fossil, Nasepia altae , is related to Pteridinium simplex Gürich 1930 and Rangea schneiderhoehni Gürich 1930, and also to the problematic fossil Namalia villiersiensis Germs 1968.     

La Structure Fine de Chlorogonium elongatum. I. Etude Systematique au Microscope Electronique.

The flagellate Chlorogonium elongatum has been studied in the electron microscope by thin-sectioning techniques. The nucleus, limited by a porous membrane, contains a large nucleolus and some dense masses, probably of chromatin. When the medium is rich or the culture young, the chloroplast has few lamellae, and very few pyrenoids. Inversely, when the medium is poor or jthe culture old, the lamellae are abundant, appearing as piled discs or as a tortuous lamellar system. The pyrenoids are then numerous and are surrounded by starch grains. They are composed of an opaque, finely granular substance, and are never traversed by chloroplast lamellae. The stigma, within the chloroplast, is a circular or oval plate composed of a single tier of dense granulations. The cytoplasm contains mitochondria which are concentrated near the pellicle of the cell, an endoplasmic reticulum, an abundance of ribo-nucleoprotein particles or ribosomes, and a Golgi apparatus. These organelles resemble those observed in other protozoa. The two fiagella are encased in cylinders situated at the anterior end of the cell. At the base of the fiagella are the basal corpuscles or kinetosomes, which repose within a cupule. A dense granule which probably corresponds to the centrosome appears near this structure.