Plant cytochrome P450s from moss to poplar

This review represents the first attempt to define the origins of the major P450-containing pathways in plants. Comparative genomics with five complete P450 gene sets from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with 39 sequences, Physcomitrella patens (moss) with 71 sequences, rice with 356 sequences, Arabidopsis with 246 sequences and Populus with 312 sequences is used to estimate how old each gene family is and to identify the most ancient P450s and their pathways. The pathways included are the phenylpropanoid and lignin pathways, the gibberellin pathway, the oxylipin/jasmonate pathway, the basic flavonoid pathway, the brassinosteroid pathway, the abscisic acid pathway and the cutin synthesis pathway. An effort is made to identify at least some examples of P450s that have emerged at many different levels of the evolutionary bush, from the base to the tips.     

Succession-driven changes in soil respiration following fire in black spruce stands of interior Alaska

Boreal forests are highly susceptible to wildfire, and post-fire changes in soil temperature and moisture have the potential to transform large areas of the landscape from a net sink to a net source of carbon (C). Understanding the ecological controls that regulate these disturbance effects is critical to developing models of ecosystem response to changes in fire frequency and severity. This paper combines laboratory and field measurements along a chronosequence of burned black spruce stands into regression analyses and models that assess relationships between moss succession, soil microclimate, decomposition, and C source-sink dynamics. Results indicate that post-fire changes in temperature and substrate quality increased decomposition in humic materials by a factor of 3.0 to 4.0 in the first 7 years after fire. Bryophyte species exhibited a distinct successional pattern in the first five decades after fire that corresponded to decreased soil temperature and increased C accumulation in organic soils. Potential rates of C exchange in mosses were greatest in early successional species and declined as the stand matured. Residual sources of CO₂ (those not attributed to moss respiration or humic decomposition) increased as a function of stand age, reflecting increased contributions from roots as the stand recovered from disturbance. Together, the field measurements, laboratory experiments, and models provide strong evidence that interactions between moss and plant succession, soil temperature, and soil moisture largely regulate C source-sink dynamics from black spruce systems in the first century following fire disturbance.     

Arctic mosses govern below-ground environment and ecosystem processes

Mosses dominate many northern ecosystems and their presence is integral to soil thermal and hydrological regimes which, in turn, dictate important ecological processes. Drivers, such as climate change and increasing herbivore pressure, affect the moss layer thus, assessment of the functional role of mosses in determining soil characteristics is essential. Field manipulations conducted in high arctic Spitsbergen (78° N), creating shallow (3 cm), intermediate (6 cm) and deep (12 cm) moss layers over the soil surface, had an immediate impact on soil temperature in terms of both average temperatures and amplitude of fluctuations. In soil under deep moss, temperature was substantially lower and organic layer thaw occurred 4 weeks later than in other treatment plots; the growing season for vascular plants was thereby reduced by 40%. Soil moisture was also reduced under deep moss, reflecting the influence of local heterogeneity in moss depth, over and above the landscape-scale topographic control of soil moisture. Data from field and laboratory experiments show that moss-mediated effects on the soil environment influenced microbial biomass and activity, resulting in warmer and wetter soil under thinner moss layers containing more plant-available nitrogen. In arctic ecosystems, which are limited by soil temperature, growing season length and nutrient availability, spatial and temporal variation in the depth of the moss layer has significant repercussions for ecosystem function. Evidence from our mesic tundra site shows that any disturbance causing reduction in the depth of the moss layer will alleviate temperature and moisture constraints and therefore profoundly influence a wide range of ecosystem processes, including nutrient cycling and energy transfer.     

Blue light but not red light induces a calcium transient in the moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B., S. & G.

In caulonemal filaments of the moss, Physcomitrella patens, which had been incubated in darkness, 3 s irradiation with blue light (λ_max 450 nm) at fluence rates of 100 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ and above caused a transient␣increase in cytosolic calcium ion concentration, [Ca²⁺]_cyt, which was both intensity- and time-dependent. Measurements of [Ca²⁺]_cyt were made using moss transformed with the cDNA for apoaequorin and reconstituting the Ca²⁺-dependent photoprotein aequorin in the cytosol by incubation in coelenterazine.␣In response to blue light at fluence rates of 100–1000 μmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹, [Ca²⁺]_cyt increased transiently from a basal level of approximately 50 nM to between 200 and 700 nM. Irradiation with red light did not evoke any measurable change in [Ca²⁺]_cyt. The presence of calcium in the incubating medium was not required for the increase in [Ca²⁺]_cyt to occur. A mutant strain, gad-139, was identified which required an irradiance of only 1 s to evoke a response. The kinetics showed a delay of approximately 6 s from the beginning of illumination before the beginning of the increase in [Ca²⁺]_cyt. The data suggest that the activation of a photoreceptor rather than the direct opening of calcium channels is involved in this blue-light response. Received: 4 December 1997 / Accepted: 4 May 1998     

五种藓类植物的孢子萌发与原丝体发育

本文对中华缩叶藓(Ptychomitrium sinense)、狭叶缩叶藓(P.linearifolium)、威氏缩叶藓(P.wilsonii)、葫芦藓(Funaria hygrometrica)和立碗藓(Physcomitrium sphaericum)5种国产藓类植物的孢子萌发和原丝体发育进行研究,结果表明不同藓类孢子萌发和原丝体发育类型不同,孢子萌发和原丝体发育方式与藓类植物的生态环境有关.     

Bryophytes of St Helena,South Atlantic Ocean. 8. Lepidopilidium crispifolium,sp. nov. (Hookeriales,Pilotrichaceae)

Abstract

A new species of Lepidopilidium (Pilotrichaceae, Hookeriales), L. crispifolium, sp. nov. from St Helena, South Atlantic Ocean is described and illustrated.     

Typification,taxonomy, and worldwide distribution of Braunia secunda (Hook.) Bruch & Schimp. (Hedwigiaceae)

Diagnosis and illustrations are given for Braunia secunda (Hook.) Bruch & Schimp., and a Humboldt and Bonpland specimen (BM) is selected as the lectotype. Also a collection by Arséne (BM) is designated as the lectotype for B. secunda var. crassiretis Thér. This variety is retained as synonym of B. secunda. The species concept of B. secunda is revised and a provisional key is provided to help in the identification of 23 species of Braunia, based on examination of herbarium specimens worldwide. About half of specimens from Mexico actually represent another species, B. andrieuxii Lorentz. All material examined from India, previously identified as B. secunda belongs to B. macropelma (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger, whereas collections from Africa are actually B. rupestris (Mitt.) A.Jaeger, B. entodonticarpa Müll.Hal., or B. diaphana (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger. These and other species should no longer be considered synonyms of B. secunda. The worldwide distribution of the species is documented for the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Venezuela, and Bolivia.     

Restoration of pool margin communities in cutover peatlands

Two experiments were conducted for developing restoration techniques for pool margin communities in cutover peatlands. We first aimed to measure the regeneration potential of a typical edge pool liverwort, Cladopodiella fluitans (Nees) H. Buch. We introduced C. fluitans in floating baskets in a restored peatland. We tested three fragment sizes (patches of 2 cm², stretched patches and shredded fine fragments of 0.1-1 mm), two introduction densities (ratio between surface of collected areas and surface of restored areas of 1:5 and 1:10) as well as the effect of a straw mulch. After two years, the percentage covers of C. fluitans were five times larger in experimental units protected with straw than in those without protection. Yet, the fragment sizes and the densities tested had no effect on the regeneration of the liverwort. The second experiment aimed to test a moss layer transfer approach to restore plant diversity around pool margins. We tested four communities, dominated by (1) Sphagnum cuspidatum Hoffman, (2) Sphagnum fallax (H. Klinggraff) H. Klinggraff, (3) Sphagnum papillosum Linberg as well as (4) a mixed community composed of equal quantities of C. fluitans, S. cuspidatum and S. papillosum. We introduced plant material in two density ratios (1:5 and 1:10). Sphagnum mosses did colonize pool margins, and showed even more than 60% cover for some treatments after three growing seasons, but the recovery of the introduced vascular plants remained below 5% for most species. The establishment of pool vascular species thus seems to be more intricate than for bryophytes and specific introduction techniques might be needed.     

新疆天山一号冰川地区12种藓类植物叶形态结构研究

采用石蜡切片和扫描电镜的方法,对新疆天山一号冰川地区的12种藓类植物叶片结构及叶表面微形态进行了观察。结果显示,不同苔藓植物叶细胞、中肋、细胞壁、细胞表面等各项指标在类型、大小、分布、干燥时细胞壁的凹陷程度以及表面角质层纹饰和小孔形态、分布等都明显不同,这些微形态特点不仅在藓类植物属下种间的区分上具有分类学意义,同时也反映出藓类植物叶片为保水抗旱,抵御长期寒冷、多风和强光照射等恶劣环境对其的伤害而形成的生存策略。本研究结果为苔藓植物在极端环境地区的生态学功能研究提供了重要的科学依据。