Multiphasic Uptake in Plants II. Mineral Cations, Chloride, and Boric Acid

Uptake of alkali cations, metal ions, chloride, and boric acid is shown by reanalysis of available data to be mediated by single, multiphasic mechanisms which may be fundamentally similar in a variety of plants and tissues.     

Effect of calcium on sulfate uptake by barley roots

Abstract Sulfate uptake by excised roots of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was maximal in the presence of about 3x10^-3M CaCl₂. Kinetic studies contraindicate a stoichiometric binding of calcium to the carrier for sulfate, in contrast to findings of Cuppoletti and Segel (Biochemistry 14: 471–4718, 1975) for the filamentous fungus Penicillium notatum. In barley, calcium affects the K_m but not the V_max for sulfate uptake, presumably by altering the conformation and, thereby, the affinity of the carrier. Calcium also affects the transition site for sulfate uptake.     

Isolation of six microsatellite loci in the pollinating fig wasp,Platyscapa awekei

Platyscapa awekei DNA was enriched for several repeat motifs. Sequencing of 48 transformed colonies showed that 22 contained microsatellite loci. Eleven of these loci were tested and six of them proved to be reliable and variable. As expected from these wasps’ biology, F_IS was high (= 0.423), indicating frequent sibmating. Notwithstanding, we estimate that dispersing males may secure as much as 8% of all matings.     

Constitutive Uptake of Choline Sulfate by Roots and Leaf Slices of Barley

Barley roots take up choline sulfate constitutively via 3 separate, homogeneous mechanisms which obey Michaelis-Menten kinetics and have, respectively, low, high, and very high affinity for the sulfate ester. Leaf slices possess only the low-and the high-affinity mechanism. These are both inhibited by dini-trophenol and NaF but are differently affected by solute analogues. Uptake via the high-affinity mechanism is active; the low-affinity mechanism has also characteristics of facilitated diffusion.     

The Lerhamn drill core and its bearing for the graptolite biostratigraphy of the Ordovician Tøyen Shale in Scania,southern Sweden

Maletz, J. & Ahlberg, P. 2011: The Lerhamn drill core and its bearing for the graptolite biostratigraphy of the Ordovician Tøyen Shale in Scania, southern Sweden. Lethaia, Vol. 44, pp. 350–368. A drill core through the Lower Ordovician Tøyen Shale Formation at Lerhamn, NW Scania, southern Sweden, provides important new information for the precise biostratigraphic resolution of the Floian to lower Darriwilian time interval in southern Scandinavia. The Hunnegraptus copiosus, Tetragraptus phyllograptoides, Cymatograptus protobalticus (new), Baltograptus vacillans (new), Baltograptus sp. cf. Baltograptus deflexus (new), Baltograptus minutus (new), Isograptus victoriae, Undulograptus austrodentatus (Arienigraptus zhejiangensis and Undulograptus sinicus Subzones) and the (?)Corymbograptus retroflexus (new) biozones are differentiated in the core and their correlation in Scania is discussed. The Lerhamn drill core provides the most detailed graptolite record of the Floian Stage in Scandinavia. The interval is dominated by a number of species of the genus Baltograptus, endemic to the Atlantic Faunal realm and highly useful for regional biostratigraphic correlation. The biostratigraphic framework is based on endemic and pandemic faunal elements. The mixture of both elements in the drill core allows a more precise inter‐continental correlation of Lower to Middle Ordovician graptolite faunas and may – in the future – provide information as to the climatic history of regions dominated by Baltograptus faunas in the Floian. The (?)C. retroflexus Biozone is based on species originally described from Bohemia, but the record of the zone in the Lerhamn drill core indicates a wider distribution of its fauna. □Biostratigraphy, graptolites, Ordovician, Scania, Sweden.     

A dynamic model for the evolution of sabrecat predatory bite mechanics

The ability of sabretoothed felids to achieve sufficiently high bite forces for predation at extreme gape angles has been the subject of decades of debate. Previous studies have indicated that bite forces in derived sabretoothed felids would have been low, but that they were probably augmented by head depressing muscles. However, bite mechanics is a dynamic process, and mechanical properties change with changes in gape angles. In this study, I present the first comprehensive model of bite mechanics, vector angles, and forces about the temporomandibular joint at gape angles from occlusion to maximal inferred gape in sabretoothed felids. Primitive sabrecats (Machairodus, Paramachairodus) appear broadly comparable to extant large felids (Panthera, Puma), but derived sabrecats in the groups Homotherini (Amphimachairodus, Homotherium, Xenosmilus) and Smilodontini (Megantereon, Smilodon) are often substantially different from either of the former. The ability of the mandibular adductors to generate torque changes with gape angle, indicating that previous models fail to capture potentially important differences in bite function. Inferred muscle sizes and the angles of effective torque from individual adductor fibres in derived sabrecats are different from those of primitive sabrecats and extant large felids, but they had evolved a number of compensatory adaptations for maximizing force output at the canine and carnassial, primarily changes in muscle fibre angles and more compact crania. Inferred outforces at the canines and carnassials were comparable amongst all groups at low gape angles, but at extreme gape angles outforces would have been low, supporting previous hypotheses of head flexor contribution during initial stages of the killing bite in sabrecats. Mandibular adduction in extant carnivores is a complicated pattern of differences in twitch tension and electromyographical activity at different gape angles, and inference of maximal isotonic bite forces from reconstructed mandibular adductor sizes in fossils will give estimates primarily suitable for comparative purposes. Potentially, derived sabrecats could have evolved differences from extant felids in adductor histochemistry or pinnation angle of individual fibres. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 162 , 220–242.     

Long-bone geometry in columnar-limbed animals: allometry of the proboscidean appendicular skeleton

Limb-bone allometry was investigated for 19 species of proboscideans, spanning almost the entire phylogenetic spectrum. More archaic proboscideans ('gompthotheres') have substantially thicker long-bone diaphyses relative to length than elephantids, as has been suggested previously, but contrary to previous suggestions it could not be confirmed that Mammuthus had more massive long-bone diaphyses on average than extant Elephas and Loxodonta . When correcting for phylogeny, the circumference of the limb bones to their length in proboscideans as a group generally scale with negative allometry, becoming stouter with increased length, as would be expected from limb mechanics. Few slopes were, however, statistically significantly negatively allometric. Correcting for phylogeny produced better correlations than traditional regression analyses, in contrast to most other studies where the reverse is the case. Intraspecific analyses of extant Elephas and Loxodonta , in addition to Mammuthus primigenius , Mammut americanum, and Gomphotherium productum , also resulted in negatively allometric regression slopes, frequently conforming to the theory of elastic similarity, as could be expected from the columnar posture of proboscideans. At present the reasons for the more massive limbs of gomphotheres s.l. are not fully understood. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 149 , 423–436.     

鼎湖山森林土壤渗透水酸度和无机氮含量对模拟氮沉降增加的早期响应

在林地分别喷加0、50、100和150kg N hm^-1a^-1,研究鼎湖山马尾松林、马尾松针阔混交林和季风常绿阔叶林中土壤20cm深渗透水酸度和无机氮含量在开始9个月的变化。结果表明,3种森林对照样方土壤渗透水pH值为3．82—4．24,外加氮处理使其平均降低了0．08—0．18。3个森林对照样方土壤渗透水无机氮平均含量分别为6．14、6．66和11．64mg L^-1,铵态氮占15．0％、11．9％和3．0％。外加氮处理使3种森林土壤渗透水铵态氮和硝态氮含量均有不同程度的提高,这表明外加氮处理不但增加了无机氮从森林土壤流失的潜力,而且使土壤进一步酸化。     

Top-down and bottom-up influences on populations of a stream detritivore

1. Knowledge of the influence of predatory fish in detritus‐based stream food webs is poor. We tested whether larval abundance of the New Zealand leaf‐shredding caddisfly, Zelandopsyche ingens (family Oeconesidae), was affected by the presence of predatory brown trout, Salmo trutta and the abundance of their primary detrital resource (Nothofagus leaves). 2. The density of Z. ingens and the biomass of leaves were determined in seven fishless streams and four trout streams in the Cass region, central South Island, on four occasions spanning 5 years. 3. Physicochemical conditions were similar in trout and fishless streams, but ancova indicated that Z. ingens numbers were positively related to leaf biomass and that caddisfly numbers were significantly greater in fishless streams than trout streams for any given biomass of leaf. The cases of trout stream larvae were also heavier per unit length than those in fishless streams. 4. Our results provide evidence for both top‐down and bottom‐up influences on a detritus‐based stream food web. Although stream detritivores may benefit from a habitat that provides both food and a degree of protection from predators, top‐down effects of predators on detritivore population abundance were still important. Thus, detrital resource availability may determine maximum attainable population size, whereas predation is likely to reduce the population to a level below that.