Distribution and population dynamics of Porphyra (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) in the southern Western Cape, South Africa

Although Porphyra is commercially farmed in many countries, in South Africa only small harvests of wild populations for sale as nori have been carried out. The discovery that Porphyra improves growth of South African abalone (Haliotis midae) farmed inland-based tanks has led to increased pressure to harvest wild populations. This paper reports on a survey of the distribution and seasonality of Porphyra in the southern Western Cape. Porphyrawas present at all sites surveyed, and showed considerable temporal variation. A significant amount of the Porphyra present is in reserves and therefore protected from harvesting. Close rexamination of one site revealed seasonal populations of Porphyra that occupied different niches dependent on season. Recruitment peaked in spring and autumn, leading to dense summer and winter populations. Summer populations generally grew lower in the eulittoral than winter populations. No pattern in the mortality of larger thalli wasde tected, though sporeling mortality was high following recruitment peaks. Although it seems that most sites in the southern Western Cape are suitable for harvesting, the taxonomy of the genus in the region urgently needs revision if populations are to be appropriately managed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Apolipophorin II/I, Apolipoprotein B, Vitellogenin, and Microsomal Triglyceride Transfer Protein Genes Are Derived from a Common Ancestor

Large lipid transfer proteins (LLTP) are nonexchangeable apolipoproteins and intracellular lipid-exchange proteins involved in the assembly, secretion, and metabolism of lipoproteins. We have identified contiguous conserved sequence motifs in alignments of insect apolipophorin II/I precursor (apoLp-II/I), human apolipoprotein B (apoB), invertebrate and vertebrate vitellogenins (VTG), and the large subunit of mammalian microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP). Conserved motifs present in the N-terminal part of nonexchangeable apolipoproteins encompass almost completely the large subunit of MTP, suggesting a derivation from a common ancestral functional unit, termed large lipid transfer (LLT) module. Divergence of LLTP from a common ancestor is supported by (1) the statistical significance of the combined match scores obtained after motif-based database searches, (2) the presence of several identical amino acid residues in all LLTP sequences currently available, (3) the conservation of hydrophobic clusters in an α-helical domain, (4) the phylogenetic analysis of the conserved sequences related to the von Willebrand factor D (VWD) module identified in nonexchangeable apolipoproteins, and (5) the presence of four and one ancestral exon boundaries in the LLT and VWD modules, respectively. Our data indicate that the genes coding for apoLp-II/I, apoB, VTG, and the MTP large subunit are members of the same multigene superfamily. LLTP have emerged from an ancestral molecule designed to ensure a pivotal event in the intracellular and extracellular transfer of lipids and liposoluble substances. Received: 8 June 1998 / Accepted: 15 February 1999     

Why the Phylogenetic Species Concept?—Elementary

Although species play a number of unique and necessary roles in biology, none are more important than as the elements of phylogeny, nomenclature, and biodiversity study. Species are not divisible into any smaller units among which shared derived characters can be recognized with fidelity. Biodiversity inventory, assessment, and conservation are dependent upon a uniformly applicable species concept. Species are the fundamental units in formal Linnaean classification and zoological nomenclature. The Biological Species Concept, long given nominal support by most zoologists, forced an essentialy taxonomic problem (what are species?) into a population genetics framework (why are there species?). Early efforts at a phylogenetic species concept focused on correcting problems in the Biological Species Concept associated with ancestral populations, then applying phylogenetic logic to species themselves. Subsequently, Eldredge and Cracraft, and Nelson and Platnick, each proposed essentially identical and truly phylogenetic species concepts that permitted the rigorous recognition of species prior to and for the purposes of phylogenetic analysis, yet maintained the integrity of the Phylogenetic Species Concept outside of cladistic analysis. Such phylogenetic elements have many benefits, including giving to biology a unit species concept applicable across all kinds of living things including sexual and asexual forms. This is possible because the Phylogenetic Species Concept is based on patterns of character distributions and is therefore consistent with the full range of possible evolutionary processes that contribute to species formation, including both biotic and abiotic (even random) factors.     

Three New Species of Nothacrobeles (Nemata: Cephalobidae) from the Mojave Desert, California

Three new species of Nothacrobeles are described from localities in the Mojave Desert, southern California. Nothacrobeles triniglarus n. sp. is characterized by the presence of a long post-vulval sac and three tubular adoral projections. Both N. spatulatus n. sp. and N. nanocorpus n. sp. are smaller than any other known species within the genus. Nothacrobeles spatulatus n. sp. has labial probolae that are short and spatulate without a basal ridge, whereas those of N. nanocorpus n. sp. are flattened and plate-like. Furthermore, N. nanocorpus n. sp. is unique by its extremely short esophageal corpus (less than 25 µm long in adult females) and the small size of its guard processes. An emended diagnosis of the genus is given to accommodate distinctive characteristics of these new species. A table comparing the 11 valid species of Nothacrobeles is presented.     

Study of the Rotatoria‐Fauna of the Littoral of the Rio Branco,South of Boa Vista,Northern Brazil

From a study of the permanent shallow water in the savanna near Boa Vista, Brazil, a littoral sample was brought back by Dr. G.‐O. Brandorff ; Ahrensburg, which he gave me to examine. The analysis of the material, about 50 ml, showed 149 identifiable species as well as some preservative artifacts. Six species were hitherto unknown to that area. They were identified as the following: Cephalodella brandorffi nov. sp., Dicranophorus difflugarium (Penard , 1924), Eothinia triphea (Harring and Myers , 1924), Lecane bulla papillosa nov. ssp., Macrochaetus paggiensae nov. sp., Notommata falcinella (Harring and Myers , 1922), and Habrotrocha pusilla pusilla (Bryce , 1893).     

In situ hybridization (FISH) maps chromosomal homologies between Alouatta belzebul (Platyrrhini,Cebidae) and other primates and reveals extensive interchromosomal rearrangements between howler monkey genomes

We hybridized whole human chromosome specific probes to metaphases of the black-and-red howler monkey Alouatta belzebul in order to establish chromosomal homology between humans and black-and-red howlers. The results show that the black-and-red howler monkey has a highly rearranged genome and that the human chromosome homologs are often fragmented and translocated. The number of hybridization signals we obtained per haploid set was 40. Nine human chromosome probes gave multiple signals on different howler chromosomes, showing that their synteny is disturbed in A. Belzebul. Fourteen black-and-red howler autosomes were completely hybridized by one human autosomal paint, six had two signals, three had three signals, and one chromosome had four signals. Howler chromosomes with multiple signals have produced 12 chromosomal syntenies or hybridization associations which differ from those found in humans: 1/2, 2/20, 3/21, 4/15, 4/16, 5/7, 5/11, 8/18, 9/12, 10/16, 14/15, and 15/22. The hybridization pattern was then compared with those found in two red howler taxa and other mammals. The comparison shows that even within the genus Alouatta numerous interchromosomal rearrangements differentiate each taxa: A. belzebul has six unique apomorphic associations, A. seniculus sara and A. seniculus arctoidea share seven derived associations, and additionally A. seniculus sara has four apomorphic associations and A. seniculus arctoideaseven apomorphic associations. A. belzebul appears to have a more conserved karyotype than the red howlers. Both red and black-and-red howlers are characterized by Y-autosome translocations; the peculiar chromosomal sex system found in the red howler taxa could be considered a further transformation of the A. belzebul sex system. The finding that apparently morphologically similar or even identical taxa have such extreme genomic differences has important implications for speciation theory and neotropical primate conservation. Am. J. Primatol. 46:119–133, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

中国灵芝属真菌的多样性与资源

灵芝属是大型真菌的一个重要类群,具有重要的经济价值、生态价值和文化价值。尽管国内外对灵芝属真菌的研究较多,但灵芝属真菌的分类一直存在诸多问题,我国过去报道的灵芝属真菌有114个分类单元,但其中很多的分类地位存在争议。本文基于凭证标本,确认我国目前发现的灵芝种类有40种,其中具有ITS分子序列的种类有39种,其他74个分类单元或为同物异名或为待定种。本文提供的中国39种灵芝的ITS序列可为今后准确鉴定灵芝的野生和栽培种类提供依据。     

中国哥纳香属(番荔枝科)植物新资料

番荔枝科(Annonaceae)是基部被子植物木兰目(Magnoliales)中较进化且物种数最多的科。目前的系统发育研究将番荔枝科划分为4个亚科,即蒙蒿子亚科(Anaxagoreoideae)、澄光木亚科(Ambavioideae)、番荔枝亚科(Annonoideae)和排石木亚科(Malmeoideae),有107属,2 400多种,中国原产21 属约110 种。番荔枝科泛热带分布,是热带植物区系的优势类群,中国云南盈江位于云南省最西部边境,与缅甸东北部接壤,并与印度的东阿萨姆较近,植物区系处于东南亚(印度—马来西亚)热带生物区系向东亚亚热带-温带生物区系的过渡地带,属典型热带北缘性质,在植被地理和生物地理上十分重要,成为生物多样性保护的关键和热点地区。该区的热带雨林是印度阿萨姆和缅甸北部的热带雨林向东和向北扩散分布的边缘类型,是东南亚热带雨林在纬度和海拔分布上的极限类型。该文报道了采自中国云南省盈江县,引种保存于中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园的番荔枝科哥纳香属2个中国新记录种,即皱叶哥纳香 [Goniothalamus sesquipedalis(Colebr. ex Wall.)Hook. f. & Thomson]和长梗哥纳香(G. peduncularis King & Prain)。Flora of China将盈江哥纳香(G. lii X. L. Hou & Y. M. Shui)处理为云南哥纳香(G. yunnanensis W. T. Wang)的异名,基于活植物观察、馆藏标本和文献研究,该文对盈江哥纳香的分类地位进行了澄清,将其处理为长梗哥纳香的异名。皱叶哥纳香原记载产于印度、孟加拉国和缅甸等地,长梗哥纳香仅产于缅甸,该文对它们进行了补充描述,并提供彩色图版以便于鉴别。凭证标本存放于中国科学院西双版纳热带植物园标本馆(HITBC)。哥纳香属2个新记录的发现,丰富了中国番荔枝科植物多样性的认识,为中国云南热带植物区系属于热带亚洲(印度—马来西亚)植物区系,以及与缅甸北部、印度东北部植物区系的关系增加了例证。