Comparison of leaf litter ant communities in woodlands, lowland forests and montane forests of north-eastern Tanzania

Ants were extracted in Winkler bags from sifted leaf litter sampled in arange of forest and woodland types in and around Mkomazi Game Reserve innorth-eastern Tanzania, including the Eastern Arc Mountains of South Pare andWest Usambara. A total of 87 ant species were recorded, of which 32.2% were onlyrecorded from montane forests (1400–1850 m altitude), 6.9%only from lowland forest (540–810 m), 19.5% only fromwoodland (300–1080 m), and 16.1% in all three forest types.Of the 28 species recorded only from montane forests, 12 species were only foundin the Mkomazi forests, four only in the Pares and seven species only in theUsambaras. Sites of similar altitude grouped together in a cluster analysis, andspecies richness decreased with an increase in altitude. The lowland forest andclosed woodland sites did not form distinct communities. To ensure preservationof ant species, forests from a full range of altitudes need to be conserved.This study confirms the status of the West Usambara forests as having a highlyendemic biota, and the critical need to adequately conserve the remainingvestiges of montane forest within Mkomazi Game Reserve.     

Archaeobotany of capers (Capparis) (Capparaceae)

The origins of capers, their use and cultivation are discussed. Capers seeds and charcoal are often recovered from archaeological sites of the Mediterranean and West Asia. These are referred to as C. Spinosa L. This is mostly a group of cultivars restricted to localities surrounding the Western Mediterranean and some places in the Eastern Mediterranean. Identification of the findings is discussed in terms of seed morphology, present distribution and ancient uses of C. aegyptia Lam., C. sicula Veill., C. cartilaginea Decne, C. orientalis Veill., C. decidua (Forssk.) Edgew. and other species. Citations of Capparis in early Rabbinic, Mesopotamian and Greco-Roman texts are presented. Received June 3, 2002 / Accepted October 8, 2002 Correspondence to: D. Rivera     

Pyrenomycetes of the Russian Far East—Additions and corrections. 1.Rossmania ukurunduensis gen. et sp. nov.

Rossmania ukurunduensis gen. and sp. nov. collected in the reverve Bolshekhekhtsirsky (Khabarovsk Territory, Russian Far East) is described and illustrated.Rossmania aculeata comb. Nov. is indicated as the second species of the genus.     

Bats as animal reservoirs for the SARS coronavirus: Hypothesis proved after 10 years of virus hunting

Recently,the team led by Dr.Zhengli Shi from Wuhan Institute of Virology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Dr.Peter Daszak from Ecohealth Alliance identified SL-CoVs in Chinese horseshoe bats that were 95%identical to human SARS-CoV and were able to use human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 （ACE2） receptor for docking and entry.Remarkably,they isolated the first known live bat SL-CoV that replicates in human     

崇明东滩南部盐沼植被空间分布及影响因素分析

崇明东滩南部滩面高程、土壤盐度在空间上呈明显的梯度变化规律。高程整体西高东低、北高南低, 盐度东北高、西南低, 两者共同限制着盐沼植物在空间上的分布。该文围绕崇明东滩南部主要植被类群及其空间分布, 探讨了土壤盐度、潮滩高程两大环境因子与植物种群分布的对应关系。基于2013年夏、秋季植被空间网格采样和空间插值, 分析了东滩南部植物的空间分布现状, 发现不同植物类群在高程和土壤盐度上存在极显著的差异(p < 0.01)。高程差异: 莎草科类群主要分布于高程区间2.93-4.07 m的低潮滩, 禾本科主要集中分布在高程3.13-4.31 m的中、高潮滩; 盐度差异: 海三棱藨草(Scirpus mariqueter)和互花米草(Spartina alterniflora)优势种群植被覆盖区表层30 cm的平均土壤盐度为(3.2 ± 0.6) g·kg^-1, 显著高于其他类群植物分布区的平均土壤盐度(2.0 ± 0.3) g·kg^-1 (p < 0.01)。崇明东滩湿地生态系统的关键种兼先锋种——海三棱藨草, 分布高程介于2.53-3.97 m, 而互花米草能适应海三棱藨草80%的高程区间, 两者在高程上存在竞争关系。统计数据显示, 研究区域中近90%的海三棱藨草分布在研究区东北部, 土壤盐度范围为1.6-4.5 g·kg^-1, 海三棱藨草、互花米草能较好地适应该空间内的盐度胁迫, 两种植物在此交替出现。但是在高程和土壤盐度的综合作用下, 互花米草的生长状况更好, 因此该区的海三棱藨草很可能会被互花米草逐步取代。对各类群植被分布和优势面积的研究发现, 海三棱藨草总分布面积为294 hm², 优势群落面积120 hm², 海三棱藨草仅占莎草科植物总优势面积的15.7%, 占研究区总面积的6.9%, 在6种主要植物(芦苇(Phragmites australis)、白茅(Imperata cylindrica)、互花米草、糙叶薹草(Carex scabrifolia)、藨草(Scirpus triqueter)、海三棱藨草)中比重最小, 这给保护区内海三棱藨草种群的恢复和保护带来极大的挑战。     

基于空间自相关的东海带鱼聚集特征年代际变化

海洋鱼类通常以集群的形式分布在特定空间内,具有高度的空间异质性特征.基于1971—2011年中国机轮拖网渔业捕捞统计及底拖网科学调查获取的东海带鱼数据,并结合夏季研究水域内海表温度及黑潮区PN断面表层盐度数据,利用空间统计方法对东海带鱼资源的聚集特征进行年代际分析.全局自相关性分析显示,1971—2011年Moran I指数先减小再增大且均为正值,表明东海带鱼聚集性呈先减弱再增强的趋势;PN断面表层盐度均值变化趋势与之相反.局部自相关性分析显示,除1971年带鱼热点分布受作业水域范围限制而集中在中部外,1981—2011年带鱼分布热点区域呈现先向南部外海移动,随后逐步向北部外海移动的格局,且相应的热点分布范围亦呈现先集中后扩散的趋势.带鱼热点分布区域随海表温度第一模态变化做适应性移动,且均靠近黑潮北分支左侧水域.     

东辽河流域河湖光学吸收特性的季节变化

吸收特性是水体重要的光学特性,也是建立水色反演分析模型的基本参数.本文利用2011年6、9、10月在二龙湖和2012年10月在东辽河的实测数据,通过测定水体营养水平和颗粒物、有色可溶性有机物(CDOM)等光学活性物质的吸收系数,分析了东辽河河湖的光学物质吸收特性和季节变化.结果表明: 二龙湖水体9月处于富营养状态,6月营养水平较低,10月则处于中营养水平;东辽河随采样点位置的差异呈现不同程度的富营养化.水体各组分的吸收系数均随营养水平的增加而逐渐增大.6、10月二龙湖水体总悬浮颗粒物吸收光谱与非色素颗粒物吸收光谱相似,在总吸收中占主导作用的是CDOM;9月总悬浮颗粒物吸收光谱则与浮游植物吸收光谱类似,浮游植物的吸收对总吸收的贡献率最大.6、9月二龙湖浮游植物吸收系数[a_ph(440)]与总磷(TP)呈正相关,6月二龙湖a_ph(440)与溶解有机碳(DOC)呈正相关,非藻类颗粒物吸收系数[a_d(440)]仅与叶绿素a浓度(Chl a)具有相关性.二龙湖(9月)与东辽河a_ph(675)均与Chl a、卡尔森指数(TLI)相关性较好.东辽河流域的河湖水体光学特性存在比较明显的差异:东辽河水体的浮游植物吸收光谱曲线展现出了两种不同类型,浮游植物、非藻类颗粒物、CDOM的贡献率随采样点的不同而相差较大;营养水平较高的9月二龙湖与东辽河水体浮游植物主导了水体光谱吸收,而在二龙湖营养水平较低的月份中(6、10月),颗粒物与CDOM共同主导水体光谱吸收;6月二龙湖与10月东辽河水体CDOM的组成为大分子颗粒物,而9与10月其组成更趋向于小分子颗粒物.     

Molecular phylogeny of the tribe Erotini with description of a new genus from China (Coleoptera: Lycidae)

Erotini is a small tribe of net‐winged beetles known from the northern temperate zone. We investigated relationships and limits of tribes and genera using a molecular phylogeny inferred from rrnL, cox1 and nad5 mtDNA fragments. Lopheros Leconte, 1881 and Pseudaplatopterus Kleine, 1940 were inferred in current molecular analyses as terminal lineages within Erotini. Therefore, we consider Lopherotini Kazantsev, 2012 and Pseudaplatopterina Kazantsev, 2012 as junior synonyms of Erotini Leconte, 1881. The Platycis genus group comprises 19 species representing several genus‐group taxa previously placed in Platycis s. l. Konoplatycis Nakane, 1969 was recovered as a deeply rooted lineage of Erotini and we inferred another independent lineage for which we propose a new genus Sinoplatycis gen. nov. Additionally, we studied the diversity of Platycis s. l. in Asia, found their highest diversity in the temperate forest habitats of Eastern Asia and inferred the paraphyletic character of the subgenus Erotides s. str. Five new species are described from China: Sinoplatycis cardinalis sp. nov. , S. zhani sp. nov. (type species of Sinoplatycis gen. nov. ), Erotides brunnescens sp. nov. , E. pusillus sp. nov. and E. slipinskii sp. nov. The molecular phylogeny shows deep splits of Japanese species with respect to the continental Eurasian fauna and the role of shallow seas and mountain systems in the diversification of the Platycis genus group.     

Multi‐century tree‐ring precipitation record reveals increasing frequency of extreme dry events in the upper Blue Nile River catchment

Climate‐related environmental and humanitarian crisis are important challenges in the Great Horn of Africa (GHA). In the absence of long‐term past climate records in the region, tree‐rings are valuable climate proxies, reflecting past climate variations and complementing climate records prior to the instrumental era. We established annually resolved multi‐century tree‐ring chronology from Juniperus procera trees in northern Ethiopia, the longest series yet for the GHA. The chronology correlates significantly with wet‐season (r = .64, p < .01) and annual (r = .68, p < .01) regional rainfall. Reconstructed rainfall since A.D. 1811 revealed significant interannual variations between 2.2 and 3.8 year periodicity, with significant decadal and multidecadal variations during 1855–1900 and 1960–1990. The duration of negative and positive rainfall anomalies varied between 1–7 years and 1–8 years. Approximately 78.4% (95%) of reconstructed dry (extreme dry) and 85.4% (95%) of wet (extreme wet) events lasted for 1 year only and corresponded to historical records of famine and flooding, suggesting that future climate change studies should be both trend and extreme event focused. The average return periods for dry (extreme dry) and wet (extreme wet) events were 4.1 (8.8) years and 4.1 (9.5) years. Extreme‐dry conditions during the 19th century were concurrent with drought episodes in equatorial eastern Africa that occurred at the end of the Little Ice Age. El Niño and La Niña events matched with 38.5% and 50% of extreme‐dry and extreme‐wet events. Equivalent matches for positive and negative Indian Ocean Dipole events were weaker, reaching 23.1 and 25%, respectively. Spatial correlations revealed that reconstructed rainfall represents wet‐season rainfall variations over northern Ethiopia and large parts of the Sahel belt. The data presented are useful for backcasting climate and hydrological models and for developing regional strategic plans to manage scarce and contested water resources. Historical perspectives on long‐term regional rainfall variability improve the interpretation of recent climate trends.     

Identification and characterization of a fusarium head blight resistance gene TaACT in wheat QTL‐2DL

Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in wheat is considered to be polygenic in nature. Cell wall fortification is one of the best resistance mechanisms in wheat against Fusarium graminearum which causes FHB. Metabolomics approach in our study led to the identification of a wide array of resistance‐related (RR) metabolites, among which hydroxycinnamic acid amides (HCAAs), such as coumaroylagmatine and coumaroylputrescine, were the highest fold change RR metabolites in the rachis of a resistant near‐isogenic line (NIL‐R) upon F. graminearum infection. Placement of these metabolites in the secondary metabolic pathway led to the identification of a gene encoding agmatine coumaroyl transferase, herein referred to as TaACT, as a candidate gene. Based on wheat survey sequence, TaACT was located within a FHB quantitative trait loci on chromosome 2DL (FHB QTL‐2DL) between the flanking markers WMC245 and GWM608. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that TaACT shared closest phylogenetic relationship with an ACT ortholog in barley. Sequence analysis of TaACT in resistant and susceptible NILs, with contrasting levels of resistance to FHB, led to the identification of several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and two inversions that may be important for gene function. Further, a role for TaACT in FHB resistance was functionally validated by virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) in wheat NIL‐R and based on complementation studies in Arabidopsis with act mutant background. The disease severity, fungal biomass and RR metabolite analysis confirmed TaACT as an important gene in wheat FHB QTL‐2DL, conferring resistance to F. graminearum.