Crop row spacing and its influence on the partitioning of evapotranspiration by winter-grown wheat in Northern Syria

A study was conducted during the 1996–97 crop growth season at ICARDA in northern Syria, to investigate the influence of wheat canopy architecture on the partitioning of moisture between soil evaporation and crop transpiration, on a soil with high hydraulic conductivity. The study was conducted on the long-term two course wheat-lentil rotation trial, established on a swelling clay soil (Calcixerollic xerochrept). The wheat canopy architecture was manipulated by sowing the crop at either of two row-spacings, 0.17 or 0.30 m, both at a constant sowing rate equivalent to 120 kg ha^–1. In this study, evapotranspiration from the crop was inferred from changes in soil moisture content over time, evaporation and rainfall interception were measured daily using microlysimetry, drainage was estimated as being the difference between potential daily evapotranspiration, and the evapotranspiration estimated from the soil water deficit. Between sowing and day 80 (tillering stage), evapotranspiration was calculated to consist mainly of soil evaporation. However, after day 80, transpiration became an increasingly dominant component of evapotranspiration. For both row-spacings, cumulative evapotranspiration over the season was approximately 373 mm. In the narrow-row crop, transpiration and soil evaporation were approximately 185 mm and 183 mm of water respectively. Conversely for the wide row-spaced crop, 172 mm of water was transpired while about 205 mm of water evaporated from the soil surface. While green leaf area index did not differ between row-spacings, the architecture of the crops as a result of sowing affected solar radiation penetration such that more incident radiation was intercepted at the soil surface of the wide row-spaced crop. This is likely to have made some contribution to the elevated levels of evaporation from the soil beneath the canopy of the wide-sown crop.     

Nutrient uptake as a contributing explanation for deep rooting in arid and semi-arid ecosystems

Explanations for the occurrence of deep-rooted plants in arid and semi-arid ecosystems have traditionally emphasized the uptake of relatively deep soil water. However, recent hydrologic data from arid systems show that soil water potentials at depth fluctuate little over long time periods, suggesting this water may be rarely utilized or replenished. In this study, we examine the distributions of root biomass, soil moisture and nutrient contents to 10-m depths at five semi-arid and arid sites across southwestern USA. We couple these depth distributions with strontium (Sr) isotope data that show deep (>1 m) nutrient uptake is prevalent at four of the five sites. At all of the sites, the highest abundance of one or more of the measured nutrients occurred deep within the soil profile, particularly for P, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Phosphate contents were greater at depth than in the top meter of soil at three of five sites. At Jornada, for example, the 2–3 m depth increment had twice the extractable P as the top meter of soil, despite the highest concentrations of P occurring at the surface. The prevalence of such deep resource pools, and our evidence for cation uptake from them, suggest nutrient uptake as a complementary explanation for the occurrence of deep-rooted plants in arid and semi-arid systems. We propose that hydraulic redistribution of shallow surface water to deep soil layers by roots may be the mechanism through which deep soil nutrients are mobilized and taken up by plants.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

脱落酸被土壤“掩盖”了的功能:调节根系构型形态建成

植物根系发育是一个重要的农艺性状。由于根系具有结构和生长模式简单、信号感受灵敏等,有可能成为研究植物发育可塑性的良好材料。通过分析脱落酸在主根、侧根和根毛的发生和生长中及根构型形成中的可能信号转导过程中的作用,提出未来研究应关注的科学问题。对ABA调控根系发育分子机制的探讨不仅有利于阐明如何调控根发育可塑性这一复杂和困难的生物学问题,而且对农业生产也极为重要。     

Litter‐trapping plants: filter‐feeders of the plant kingdom

Litter‐trapping plants have specialized growth habits and morphologies that enable them to capture falling leaf litter and other debris, which the plants use for nutrition after the litter has decayed. Litter is trapped via rosettes of leaves, specially modified leaves and/or upward‐growing roots (so‐called ‘root baskets’). Litter‐trappers, both epiphytic and terrestrial, are found throughout the tropics, with only a few extra‐tropical species, and they have evolved in many plant families. The trapped litter mass is a source of nutrients for litter‐trapping plants, as well as food and housing for commensal organisms. Despite their unique mode of life, litter‐trapping plants are not well documented, and many questions remain about their distribution, physiology and evolution.–© 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 179 , 554–586.     

The genetic architecture of vitiligo

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which destruction of skin melanocytes results in patches of white skin and hair. Genome‐wide linkage studies and genome‐wide association studies in European ancestry cases identified over 50 vitiligo susceptibility loci, defining a model of melanocyte‐directed autoimmunity. Vitiligo heritability is exceedingly high, ~2/3 coming from common and ~1/3 from rare genomic variants; ~20% of vitiligo risk is environmental. Vitiligo genetic risk is polygenic, with greater additive risk in multiplex vitiligo families than simplex cases. Vitiligo age‐of‐onset is bimodal, also involving a major genetic component; a MHC enhancer haplotype confers extreme risk for vitiligo (OR 8.1) and early disease onset, increasing expression of HLA‐DQB1 mRNA and HLA‐DQ protein and thus perhaps facilitating presentation of triggering antigens. Vitiligo triggering also involves a major environmental component; dramatic delay in vitiligo age‐of‐onset, especially from 1973 to 2004, suggests that exposure or response to a key vitiligo environmental trigger diminished during this period. Together, these findings provide deep understanding of vitiligo pathogenesis and genetic architecture, suggesting that vitiligo represents a tractable model for investigating complex disease genetic architecture and predictive aspects of personalized medicine.     

城市公园中慢行系统的选线与设计研究

城市公园作为城市中自然景观的重要组成部分,发挥着为人们提供散步漫游、休憩交往场所的重要作用,其内部慢行系统的研究对提升城市公园整体景观品质和游览体验有着重要的意义。以城市公园慢行系统为研究对象,通过实地调研和理论研究相结合的方法,从选线和设计两大方面探讨了城市公园慢行系统的构建。最后以黄山市滨江游园慢行系统为例,对其内部慢行系统的选线规划、景观规划和细节设计进行了具体的规划和设计,对理论研究结果进行验证和反馈,以期为同类型项目提供指导和借鉴。     

上海南京东路热舒适分析与评价

为探析夏热冬冷地区城市街道的空间因子对小气候与人体热舒适的影响及相互作用规律,通过对上海南京东路步行街中典型的风景园林空间按顶面遮蔽方式分为4种空间类型下的12个测点进行冬夏两季小气候实测及热舒适问卷调查,分析不同顶面遮蔽对风景园林小气候风湿热的影响差异,并结合热舒适评价指标的计算和使用者热舒适问卷,评价不同顶面遮蔽空间下人体热舒适感受。结果显示：1）根据热舒适问卷,建筑遮蔽区位于街道北侧的悬挑区在冬季最舒适,夏季最舒适的是树荫全遮蔽区;2）通过改善空间遮蔽程度与类型,根据风向与距街道十字交叉口的距离合理进行街道设计可以对街道中的太阳辐射与风环境产生显著影响,从而改善街道热舒适;3）采用生理等效温度（PET）指标计算的热中性范围冬季是16.90~28.95℃,夏季是9.05~22.57℃;4）PET评价在高温季节低估了风速对热舒适的影响,提出了基于问卷的热舒适预测方程。可为未来城市街道的舒适性规划建设提供经验与参考。     

Occurrence of the Transition of Apical Architecture and Expression Patterns of Related Genes during Conversion of Apical Meristem Identity in G2 Pea

G2 pea exhibits an apical senescence delaying phenotype under short-day (SD) conditions; however, the structural basis for its apical development is still largely unknown. In the present study, the apical meristem of SD-grown G2 pea plants underwent a transition from vegetative to indeterminate inflorescence meristem, but the apical meristem of long-day (LD)-grown G2 pea plants would be further converted to determinate floral meristem. Both SD signal and GA3 treatment enhanced expression of the putative calcium transporter PPF1, and pea homologs of TFL1 (LF and DET), whereas LD signal suppressed their expression at 60 d post-flowering compared with those at 40 d post-flowering. Both PPF1 and LF expressed at the vegetative and reproductive phases in SD-grown apical buds, but floral initiation obviously increased the expression level of PPF1 compared with the unchanged expression level of LF from 40 to 60 d post-flowering. In addition, although the floral initiation significantly enhanced the expression levels of PPF1 and DET, DET was mainly expressed after floral initiation in SD-grown apical buds. Therefore, the main structural difference between LD- and SD-grown apical meristem in G2 pea lies in whether their apical indeterminate inflorescence medstem could be converted to the determinate structure.     

Metal-organic open frameworks with one-dimension channels assembled with pyridine 2,6-dicarboxylic acid and N-containing auxiliary ligands: Syntheses, crystal structures, and physical characterization

Four new complexes, {[Mn(imH)₂(pdc)]·H₂O}_n (1), [Zn₂(pdc)₂(H₂O)₅]·2H₂O (2), [Zn(imH)₂(pdc)]·H₂O (3), {[Zn₂(pdc)₂(bpy)(H₂O)₂]·5H₂O}_n (4) [imH = imidazole pdc = pyridine 2,6-dicarboxylate, bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine] have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR, PXRD, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analyses. All the four complexes display a three-dimensional (3D) open framework with one-dimensional (1D) channels that are filled with lattice water molecules. Particularly, in 4, the lattice water molecules form an infinite water chain. Both 1 and 4 consist of 1D polymeric chains. While 2 contains a dinuclear Zn(II) unit, and 3 is a mononuclear complex. Further, the result of thermal analysis of 1 and 2 shows the robustness of the overall supramolecular three-dimensional architecture. Complexes 1, 3, and 4 exhibit strong fluorescent emissions in the solid state at room temperature and could be significant in the field of photoactive materials.