常绿杜鹃亚属麻花杜鹃亚组11种3变种植物叶片微形态特征及其分类学意义

杜鹃花属种类繁多,广泛分布于欧亚大陆和北美大陆,由于种间变异大、过渡特征丰富,其分类鉴定一直存在较多争议。该研究通过扫描电镜对常绿杜鹃亚属(subgen. Hymenanthes）麻花杜鹃亚组（subsect. Maculifera）的11种3变种植物的叶表皮微形态特征进行观察,为麻花亚组的分类与鉴定提供新的依据。结果显示：麻花杜鹃亚组植物上表皮表面平滑或粗糙、无表皮毛,具有条状、分枝状或短杆状初级蜡质纹饰;下表皮表面有或无分枝状蜡质纹饰,少部分具有表皮毛,不具有指状或乳状突起、亦无腺体;气孔器形状为圆形或椭圆形,内外拱盖表面粗糙或光滑,周围无间断的条形突起环绕。研究表明,麻花杜鹃亚组植物叶片微形态特征表现出一定的共性与多样性,可为麻花杜鹃亚组植物的分类和进化研究补充形态学依据。依据本研究观察结果对麻花杜鹃亚组进行了分类检索,并讨论了叶表皮微形态特征在该亚组近缘物种和种下类群研究中的分类学意义。     

Links between morphology and function of the pollen wall: an experimental approach

The wall of pollen grains exhibits morphological variation in many features including apertures, ornamentation and thickness, but the function of these characters remains to be clarified. It has been suggested that they are involved in the accommodation of volume changes (harmomegathy). To investigate this further, we developed a protocol that induces a controlled hydration of the pollen without affecting its metabolism and we applied it to six species differing in their pollen wall morphology. The entry of water caused pollen swelling and volume increase leading to breakage of the wall and/or of the plasma membrane, such that the per cent of intact grains was negatively correlated with the level of hydration. Qualitative and quantitative differences were observed between the species. Breakage of the exine was observed only in pollen lacking apertures and with thin exine. Variation in the exine ornamentation and thickness could explain the interspecific differences observed for the rates of breakage of the plasma membrane. Our results suggest that pollen wall morphology matters for survival and maintenance of pollen integrity further to volume increase due to hydration. We propose a rationale for future studies that should allow disentangling the contribution of different pollen morphological and physiological features to harmomegathy.     

中国壳斗科栎亚科花粉形态研究

本文应用光学显微镜与扫描电子显微镜观察了壳斗科所属栎亚科2属26种2变种的花粉形态,并以本科其它属一些代表种作对比,试图从孢粉学方面为栎亚科的系统分类提供依据。 花粉外壁纹饰在扫描电镜下可分三种类型,即水青冈型(含水青冈属),栎型(含栎属和三棱栎属),栗型(含栗属、锥属和柯属),花粉的类型与植物形态分类的三个亚科一致。 栎亚科的花粉外壁纹饰在扫描电镜下为颗粒聚集成的种种形状。栎属可区分为四种类型,即颗粒状、颗粒——蠕虫状、聚颗粒及芽孢状,其中类型一、二、三为常绿种类,类型四为落叶种类。花粉纹饰在常绿与落叶种类之间有较明显的差异,而青冈亚属和栎亚属之间却没有界线。因此,栎属仍以包含两个亚属为宜。三棱栎属花粉纹饰则介于栎属的类型二与三之间。     

A model descriptive of gregariousness of colonial insect larvae

A model is constructed to describe gregariousness of colonial insect larvae which occure in discrete natural habitat units. The model is based on the assumption that the distribution of individuals in a clump is determined by a balance between aggregative and dispersing movements of individuals. The model includes three parameters, i.e., clump size, carrying capacity of habitat units and intensity of aggregation against dispersal. The modes of effects of these parameters on the distribution of individuals are analyzed. Several methods are developed to estimate these parameters from observed data, and their applicabilities are investigated. Application of these methods are described on the larval distribution of a colonial insect Pryeria sinicaMoore .     

Male-like ornamentation in female hummingbirds results from social harassment rather than sexual selection

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Prototyping kinase inhibitor-cytotoxin anticancer mutual prodrugs activated by tumour hypoxia: A chemical proof of concept study

Amide- and ester-linked kinase inhibitor-cytotoxin conjugates were rationally designed and synthesised as prototype hypoxia-activated anticancer mutual prodrugs. Chemical reduction of an aryl nitro trigger moiety was shown to initiate a spontaneous cyclisation/fragmentation reaction that simultaneously released the kinase inhibitor semaxanib (SU5416) and the amine- or alcohol-linked cytotoxin from the prodrugs. Preliminary cell testing and reduction potential measurements support optimisation of the compounds towards tumour-selective mutual prodrugs.     

Stabilizing sexual selection for female ornaments in a dance fly

Ornamental traits function by improving attractiveness and are generally presumed to experience directional selection for mating success. However, given the greater investment of females in offspring than males, female-specific ornaments can in theory signal fecundity yet be constrained by fecundity costs. Theoretical work predicts that such constraints can lead to stabilizing selection via male choice for intermediately ornamented females. Female dance flies Rhamphomyia longicauda (Diptera: Empididae) display two female-specific ornaments in mating swarms - inflatable abdominal sacs and pinnate tibial scales. We investigated the intensity and form of sexual selection on female traits including ornaments and found no evidence for directional sexual selection. Instead, we found marginally nonsignificant quadratic selection for all three measures of ornament expression. Canonical analysis confirmed that the strongest vectors of nonlinear selection were associated with ornamental traits, although the significance of the quadratic coefficients associated with these vectors depended on the statistical approach. Direct Mitchell-Olds and Shaw tests for the location of the maximum fitted fitness value for both raw morphological traits and canonical axes revealed only one marginally nonsignificant result for the multivariate axis loading most heavily on pinnate leg scales. Together, these results provide the first tentative support for stabilizing selection on female-specific ornaments.     

Balance between noise and adaptation in competition models of perceptual bistability

Perceptual bistability occurs when a physical stimulus gives rise to two distinct interpretations that alternate irregularly. Noise and adaptation processes are two possible mechanisms for switching in neuronal competition models that describe the alternating behaviors. Either of these processes, if strong enough, could alone cause the alternations in dominance. We examined their relative role in producing alternations by studying models where by smoothly varying the parameters, one can change the rhythmogenesis mechanism from being adaptation-driven to noise-driven. In consideration of the experimental constraints on the statistics of the alternations (mean and shape of the dominance duration distribution and correlations between successive durations) we ask whether we can rule out one of the mechanisms. We conclude that in order to comply with the observed mean of the dominance durations and their coefficient of variation, the models must operate within a balance between the noise and adaptation strength—both mechanisms are involved in producing alternations, in such a way that the system operates near the boundary between being adaptation-driven and noise-driven.     

Correlations between ultraviolet coloration, overwinter survival and offspring sex ratio in the blue tit

We studied the correlations between offspring sex ratio, UV coloration and overwinter survival in a population of blue tits, breeding in Gotland, Sweden, over three consecutive breeding seasons. In 2 of 3 years, we found that females paired to males with relatively brighter UV-coloration produced a greater proportion of sons in their broods, and that this effect was significant with all 3 years combined, despite a significant year by male UV interaction. In addition, we found other correlates of sex ratio (breeding time, female age and clutch size) in some, but not all years, and some of these showed significantly different relationships with sex ratio between years. In both years for which data were available, there were indications that males with relatively brighter UV coloration, and that paired with females that produced male-biased clutches, were more likely to survive to the next year. In addition, we also found that in both males and females, individuals produced similar sex ratios in consecutive years. Because correlations with the sex ratio may be expected to be weak, variation in results between years within the same population may be explained by low statistical power or genuine biological differences. Our results suggest that conclusions about sex ratio variation in birds should be based on multiple years. The correlations that we found in some years of this study are consistent with models of adaptive sex ratio adjustment in response to mate quality. However, careful experimental work is required to provide tests of the assumptions of these models, and should be a priority for future work.     

A survey of osteoderm histology and ornamentation among Crocodylomorpha: A new proxy to infer lifestyle?

Osteoderms of eight extant and extinct species of crocodylomorphs are studied histologically and morphologically. Most osteoderms display the typical “crocodilian” structure with a woven-fibered matrix surrounded by an upper and a lower parallel fibered matrix. The dorsal ornamentation of those specimens consists of a pit-and-ridge structure, with corresponding remodeling mechanisms. However, an osteoderm of Iberosuchus, studied here for the first time, differs in being nearly devoid of ornamentation; moreover, it shows strong bundles of straight Sharpey's fibers perpendicular to the surface in its lateral and dorsal walls, along with a rough plywood-like structure in its basal plate. This suggests that this osteoderm was more deeply anchored within the dermis than the other osteoderms studied hitherto. This peculiar structure might have been linked to a terrestrial ecology and a specific thermoregulation strategy. Some other notosuchians in our sample do not exhibit ornamentation on their osteoderms, as opposed to neosuchians. Considering current interpretations of osteoderm function(s) in crocodilians, our observations are discussed in reference to possible ecophysiological peculiarities of Notosuchia in general, and Iberosuchus in particular.