Earth’s tropical savannas typically support high biomass of diverse grazing herbivores that depend on a highly fluctuating resource: high-quality forage. An annual wet–dry cycle, fire and herbivory combine to influence forage quality and availability throughout the year. In the savannas of northern Australia, a depauperate suite of large native (marsupial) herbivores (wallaroos [Osphranter spp.] and the agile wallaby [Notamacropus agilis]) compete for resources with non-native large herbivores introduced in the late nineteenth century, particularly bovines (feral and managed cattle [Bos spp.] and feral water buffalo [Bubalus bubalis]) that now dominate the landscape. Anecdotal reports of recent population declines of large macropods and negative impacts of bovines highlight the need to better understand the complex relationship between forage, fire and abundance of native and introduced large herbivores. The pyric herbivory conceptual model, which posits complex feedbacks between fire and herbivory and was developed outside Australia, predicts that native and introduced large herbivores will both respond positively to post-fire forage production in Australian savannas where they co-occur. We used grazing exclosures, forage biomass and nutrient analyses and motion-sensor camera-trapping to evaluate the overall robustness of the pyric herbivory model in the Australian context, specifically whether forage quantity and quality are impacted by herbivory, season and fire activity, and which forage attributes most influence large grazing herbivore abundance. Forage quantity, as measured by live, dead and total herbaceous biomass and proportion of biomass alive, was higher inside herbivore exclosures, even at relatively low densities of herbivores. Forage quality, as measured by fibre content, was not affected by herbivory, however, crude protein content of live herbaceous biomass was greater outside herbivore exclosures. Recent fire was an important predictor of all measures of forage quantity and quality. Recent fire occurrence decreased overall quantity (biomass) but increased quality (decreased fibre content and increased crude protein content); late dry season fires resulted in forage with the highest crude protein content. The predictions of the pyric herbivory conceptual model are consistent with observations of the feeding behaviour of introduced bovines and some large macropods in northern Australian savannas, lending support to the global generality of pyric herbivory in fire-prone grassy biomes.
The syntheses and pharmacological activity of a series of diol sulfonamides which function as inhibitors of human renin are described. The most potent compound in this series, compound 20 (SQ 33,800), is a subnanomolar inhibitor of human renin (IC50 = 0.35 × 10−9 M). 相似文献
Summary Clothed men at rest were exposed to two conditioning indoor environments (British, coolmoist; American, warm dry) for 45 minutes, and then to a cold environment (36°F) at moderate and high relative humidity (50% and 85%). The following measurements were taken: Temperature—skin, rectum and clothing gradients; nude body weight change and metabolism; subjective data. An attempt was made to measure clothing humidity gradients. The results showed that warm conditioning kept the clothing and skin at a higher temperature for a matter of 1 1/2 hours or more during cold exposure. The physiological value of such conditioning may be less marked under field conditions. No physiological objective or subjective differences of practical importance were found between the effects of still air at 36°F at moderate or high humidity, except for the finding of a slightly warmer skin of the chest at the high humidity. These results agree fairly well with those of other workers for nude men.From the date obtained there is no clear evidence that sorption heat of wool is an important factor in keeping the body warm at resting conditions. Under field conditions, sorption heat might be of still less value. There is no basis for the supposition that moist air is either a better thermal conductor or a more efficient heat convector than dry air. The physiological difference between dry cold and damp cold is not due to properties of humid air, but to the associated weather or climatic differences (solar radiation, cloud cover, wind, barometric pressure, etc.) and, to some extent, to the mode of living indoors. Data from physical models and from physiological experiments in climatic chambers cannot be directly transposed into the realities of weather and climate out of doors.With statistical design and analysis by J. Draper 相似文献
In view of the unsatisfactory appearance, under the electron microscope, of liver mitochondria isolated in isotonic sucrose medium, alternative media have been examined. It was found to be advantageous to replace sucrose by raffinose, and to add levan or, preferably, dextran, together with heparin in suitable concentration. With the optimal medium, the constituents of which are raffinose, versene (optional), dextran of high molecular weight, heparin, and AMP (optional), most of the mitochondria in the osmium-fixed pellet are apparently intact, and show the membranes characteristic of mitochondria as seen in cell sections. The optimal medium has no adverse effect on the activity of the several tissue enzymes which have been studied, except that Mg++-activated ATPase is partially inhibited if the medium is present in high concentration in the assay system. Mitochondrial fractions isolated in the new medium have, in common with sucrose fractions, appreciable "free" ATPase activity, this activity being evidently a poor criterion of mitochondrial integrity. Use of the new medium does not decrease the proportion of cytoplasmic ATPase which fails to sediment with the mitochondria, but does give a mitochondrial fraction low in RNA and in acid phosphatase activity and little contaminated with microsomal material. Particles tentatively identified as "lysosomes" have been seen in certain sections. 相似文献
This paper reviews recent developments in the use of molecular probes for analyzing the genetic makeup of somatic hybrids. Successful application of somatic hybridization to the interspecific transfer of traits encoded in the nucleus is still having limited success. A major difficulty is hybrid infertility, particularly in hybrids between sexually incompatible species. The formation of asymmetric hybrids is being explored as an approach for improving hybrid fertility. Evaluation of the degree of chromosome elimination and chromosome stability and instability in asymmetric hybrids is difficult when the traditional approaches of chromosome counting and isozyme analysis are used. Two new approaches are resolving this difficulty. The use of species-specific repetitive DNA probes in dot blotting and in situ hybridization to chromosomes is providing quantitative data on chromosome elimination and allows detection of translocations. Use of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) probes for analysis of hybrids between genetically mapped species makes it possible to account for the presence or absence of individual chromosomes and chromosomes arms. Wider use of such molecular probes should greatly improve our understanding of the genetics of both symmetric and asymmetric somatic hybrids and may lead to new strategies for the effective interspecific transfer of nucleus-encoded traits by protoplast fusion. 相似文献
A “common garden” experiment using artifical ponds was performed to test if differences in frequency of paedomorphosis and metamorphosis among six natural populations of the salamander Ambystoma talpoideum resulted from the drying regime of the aquatic habitat acting as an agent of selection. Our experiment supports the hypothesis of genetic differentiation in the propensity to metamorphose among the populations, but gave mixed evidence that pond-drying regime is the selective force directing evolution of this trait. Some populations appear to have evolved phenotypic plasticity whereas others may have a genetic polymorphism in their propensity to metamorphose as ponds dry. 相似文献
The levels of GA1, 3-epiGA1 and GA8 in genotypes Le, le and led of Pisum sativum L. were determined by gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring (GC-SIM) after feeds of [3H, 13C]-GA20 to each genotype. The levels of endogenous and [13C]-labelled metabolites were determined by reverse isotope dilution with unlabelled GA1, 3-epiGA1 and GA8. The results demonstrate a quantitative relationship between the level of GA1 and the extent of elongation both on a per plant and a per g fresh weight basis. These results are consistent with previous findings in peas and other species possessing a predominant early 13-hydroxylation pathway for GA biosynthesis. The levels of 3-epiGA1 also decreased in the genotypic sequence Le, le, led although not as rapidly as for the level of GA1. This may suggest that the alleles at the le locus also influence the formation of 3-epiGA1. 相似文献
An example from the genus Eucalyptus is used to argue that hybridization may be of evolutionary significance as a means of gene dispersal where seed dispersal is limited. A previous study of regeneration of E. risdonii and E. amygdalina indicated that the current selective regime was favoring E. risaonii. However, the dispersal of E. risdonii by seeds is shown to be limited (s, = 4.6 m). By comparison, the flow of E. risdonii genes into the range of E. amygdalina by pollen dispersal and F1 hybridization is widespread (sp = 82 m). While the actual level of hybridization is low, interspecific hybridization effectively doubles the dispersal of E. risdonii genes into the range of E. amygdalina. This pollen flow can have a significant genetic impact, since isolated hybrids or patches of abnormal phenotypes have been found 200–300 m from the species boundary. Based on lignotuber size, some of these patches appear to have been founded by F1 hybrids. The frequency of E. risdonii types in the patches appears to increase with patch size suggesting that there is selection for this phenotype in subsequent generations. E. risdonii-like individuals were recovered in the progeny from both intermediate and E. risdonii backcross phenotypes. These results suggest that E. risdonii may invade suitable habitat islands within the E. amygdalina forest, independently of seed migration, by long-distance pollen migration followed by selection for the gene combinations of the pollen parent. 相似文献
The gibberellin (GA)-biosynthesis mutations, lhi, ls and Ie5839 have been used to investigate the role(s) of the GAs in seed development of the garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). Seeds homozygous for lhi possess reduced GA levels, are more likely to abort during development, and weigh less at harvest, compared with wild-type seeds due to expression of the lhi mutation in the embryo and/ or endosperm. Compared with wild-type seeds, the lhi mutation reduces endogenous GA1 and gibberellic acid (GA3) levels in the embryo/endosperm a few days after anthesis and fertilizing lhi plants with wild-type pollen dramatically increases GA1 and GA3 levels in the embryo/ endosperm and restores normal seed development. By contrast, the ls and le5839 mutations do not appear to reduce GA levels in the embryo/endosperm of seeds a few days after anthesis, and do not affect embryo or endosperm development. However, both the ls and lhi mutations substantially reduce endogenous GA levels in embryos at contact point (the first day the liquid endosperm disappears). Levels of GAs in seeds from crosses involving the ls and lhi mutations suggest that GAs are synthesised in both the embryo/endosperm and testa and that the expression of ls depends on the tissue and developmental stage examined. These results suggest that GAs (possibly GA1 and/or GA3) play an important role early in pea seed development by regulating the development of the embryo and/or endosperm. By contrast, the high GA levels found in wild-type seeds at contact point (and beyond) do not appear to have a physiological role in seed development.Abbreviations GAn
gibberellin An
- DAA
days after anthesis
- WT
wild-type
We thank Noel Davies, Katherine McPherson and Peter Bobbi for technical assistance, Professor L. Mander (ANU, Canberra) for dideuterated GA standards, and the Australian Research Council and Frontier Research Program, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN, Japan), for financial support. 相似文献
Genetic and cytological studies were conducted with a new male-sterile, female-fertile soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] mutant. This mutant was completely male sterile and was inherited as a single-recessive gene. No differences in
female or male gamete transmission of the recessive allele were observed between reciprocal cross-pollinations in the F1 or F2 generations. This mutant was not allelic to any previously identified soybean genic male-sterile mutants: ms1, ms2, ms3, ms4, ms5, or ms6. No linkage was detected between sterility and flower color (W1 locus), or between sterility and pubescence color (T1 locus). Light microscopic and cytological observations of microsporogenesis in fertile and sterile anthers were conducted.
The structure of microspore mother cells (MMC) in male-sterile plants was identical to the MMCs in male-fertile plants. Enzyme
extraction analyses showed that there was no callase activity in male-sterile anthers, and this suggests that sterility was
caused by retention of the callose walls, which normally are degraded around tetrads at the late tetrad stage. The tapetum
from male-sterile anthers also showed abnormalities at the tetrad stage and later stages, which were expressed by an unusual
formation of vacuoles, and by accumulation of densely staining material. At maturity, anthers from sterile plants were devoid
of pollen grains.
Received: 13 May 1996 / Revision accepted: 19 August 1996 相似文献