EcoLens: Integration and interactive visualization of ecological datasets

Complex multi-dimensional datasets are now pervasive in science and elsewhere in society. Better interactive tools are needed for visual data exploration so that patterns in such data may be easily discovered, data can be proofread, and subsets of data can be chosen for algorithmic analysis. In particular, synthetic research such as ecological interaction research demands effective ways to examine multiple datasets. This paper describes our integration of hundreds of food-web datasets into a common platform, and the visualization software, EcoLens, we developed for exploring this information. This publicly-available application and integrated dataset have been useful for our research predicting large complex food webs, and EcoLens is favorably reviewed by other researchers. Many habitats are not well represented in our large database. We confirm earlier results about the small size and lack of taxonomic resolution in early food webs but find that they and a non-food-web source provide trophic information about a large number of taxa absent from more modern studies. Corroboration of Tuesday Lake trophic links across studies is usually possible, but lack of links among congeners may have several explanations. While EcoLens does not provide all kinds of analytical support, its label- and item-based approach is effective at addressing concerns about the comparability and taxonomic resolution of food-web data.     

Blood group, serum protein and red cell enzyme polymorphisms in a population from the Seychelle Islands.

161 inhabitants of the Seychelle Islands have been examined for blood group, serum protein, and red cell enzyme polymorphisms. The gene frequency data obtained from this survey supports the anthropological view that the present-day Creole-speaking inhabitants of the Seychelle Islands result from a admixture of African and European stock.     

Passage of sugars across the plasmalemma of carrot callus cells

In pieces of carrot callus, the regions exterior to the plasmalemma were washed out in running tap-water within 15 min. The effect of temperature on sugar efflux and influx, suggests that the passage of sugars across the plasmalemma occurs mainly, if not entirely, by passive diffusion. The results of other workers are considered, and we conclude that the reported apparent active uptake across the plasmalemma may in reality have been due to active uptake across the tonoplast. Estimates of the apparent free space were unaffected by the sugar used, or the temperature, and we suggest that the apparent free space includes most, if not all of the metabolic compartment.     

Abiotic factors elicit sesquiterpenoid phytoalexin production but not alkaloid production in transformed root cultures of Datura stramonium

The treatment of root cultures of Datura stramonium with copper and cadmium salts at external concentrations of approximately 1mM has been found to induce the rapid accumulation of high levels of sesquiterpenoid defensive compounds, notably lubimin and 3-hydroxylubimin. These compounds were undetectable in unelicited cultures. No net change was seen in the alkaloid content of the system following treatment with Cu²⁺ or Cd²⁺, the tropane alkaloid titre apparently being insensitive to elicitation. However, a considerable rapid and, in some instances, reversible release of alkaloid was observed. This resulted in the appearance of up to 50–75% of the total alkaloid in the medium after 40–60 h. Subsequently, in cultures treated with Cu²⁺ ions, though not in cultures treated with Cd²⁺ ions, this alkaloid was re-absorbed. These observations show how, in a single system, different groups of secondary products can show distinct differences in their responses to potential elicitors.Abbreviations FW fresh weight