长白山哈泥泥炭地持久孢子库的实验证据

有性繁殖体库对于植物种群的长存具有重要意义,迄今为止,泥炭地尚无苔藓植物长期的持久孢子库的直接实验证据。在长白山哈泥泥炭地,钻取50 cm表层泥炭样品,运用落叶松测年法推算泥炭地地层泥炭藓孢子的埋藏时间,经逐层提取和培养尖叶泥炭藓孢子,研究埋藏时间对孢子萌发率的影响。结果表明,随着埋藏时间的增加,尖叶泥炭藓孢子萌发率呈现对数函数递减的趋势。研究获得泥炭地苔藓植物具有长期的持久孢子库的实验证据,即埋藏112年的尖叶泥炭藓孢子仍具萌发潜力。据推算,泥炭藓孢子最大寿命可达396.4年。     

Plastome phylogenomics of Cephalotaxus (Cephalotaxaceae) and allied genera

Background and Aims Cephalotaxus is a paleo-endemic genus in East Asia that consists of about 7–9 conifer species. Despite its great economic and ecological importance, the relationships between Cephalotaxus and related genera, as well as the interspecific relationships within Cephalotaxus, have long been controversial, resulting in contrasting taxonomic proposals in delimitation of Cephalotaxaceae and Taxaceae. Based on plastome data, this study aims to reconstruct a robust phylogeny to infer the systematic placement and the evolutionary history of Cephalotaxus.MethodsA total of 11 plastomes, representing all species currently recognized in Cephalotaxus and two Torreya species, were sequenced and assembled. Combining these with previously published plastomes, we reconstructed a phylogeny of Cephalotaxaceae and Taxaceae with nearly full taxonomic sampling. Under a phylogenetic framework and molecular dating, the diversification history of Cephalotaxus and allied genera was explored.Key ResultsPhylogenetic analyses of 81 plastid protein-coding genes recovered robust relationships between Cephalotaxus and related genera, as well as providing a well-supported resolution of interspecific relationships within Cephalotaxus, Taxus, Torreya and Amentotaxus. Divergence time estimation indicated that most extant species of these genera are relatively young, although fossil and other molecular evidence consistently show that these genera are ancient plant lineages.ConclusionsOur results justify the taxonomic proposal that recognizes Cephalotaxaceae as a monotypic family, and contribute to a clear-cut delineation between Cephalotaxaceae and Taxaceae. Given that extant species of Cephalotaxus are derived from recent divergence events associated with the establishment of monsoonal climates in East Asia and Pleistocene climatic fluctuations, they are not evolutionary relics.     

Pigment stratigraphy and trophic status: An evaluation of radionuclide‐dated lacustrine sediment

Sediment cores from the profundal region of relatively young (ca. 45 years), warm‐monomictic Lake Vechten were dated with Cs and ²¹⁰Pb and analyzed for major carotenoids, chlorophyll, and pheophytin. Vertical sediment accretion rates determined from a clay/sand horizon and from the radionuclide datings varied between 0.60 and 0.74 cm/year. Sedimentation rates based on paniculate matter collected in sediment traps agreed with results of the ¹³⁷Cs method with average values of respectively 2.9 and 2.3 kg dry weight m^‐2 year^‐1. It was concluded that the profundal sediment is fairly undisturbed. Pigments showed a severalfold increase from the deepest to the superficial sediment layers. Their profiles were compared with limnological data obtained during previous studies of Lake Vechten. Evidence was provided that the distribution of pigments reflected grossly the trophic history of the lake, which became more eutrophic during the last two decades. Pigment analyses of sediment cores may be a useful tool to rapidly obtain rough basic information on the recent trophic development of stratified lakes liable to eutrophication.     

Provenance of the Hangu Formation,Lesser Himalaya,Pakistan: Insight from the detrital zircon U-Pb dating and spinel geochemistry

Clastic rich Hangu Formation of the Early Paleocene exposed at the apex of Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis, is significant in providing evidence of the regional Mesozoic–Cenozoic unconformity and nature of detritus supplied. The current study focuses on U-Pb age dating of the detrital zircons along with spinel geochemistry to interpret tectonic implications on provenance. The Hangu Formation is composed of coarse grained sandstone, arenaceous limestone, carbonaceous shale and laterite around the Paras region and rests unconformably over Mesozoic Samana Suk Formation. The probability density plots of the detrital zircons of the Hangu Formation exhibit strong similarity to the Tethyan Himalayan detrital record. The younger Mesozoic detrital zircons exhibit resemblance to Tethyan Himalayan as well as ophiolitic detrital suites, but are very few compared to their coeval Stumpata, Jidula and Denggeng/Sangdanlin formations. The quantitative comparison reflects strong resemblance to the Tethyan Himalaya, whereas, the ophiolitic component relationship is quite poor. Comparison of spinel geochemical data with Northwestern ophiolites (Chilas Ophiolites) and Tethyan Himalaya exhibits mixed source regime of the Hangu sediments. However, the combined U-Pb dating, sandstone petrography and spinel geochemical data suggest that the detritus of the Hangu Formation is mainly derived from the Tethyan Himalayan source (Indian source). The absence of ophiolitic signature in petrography and U-Pb geochronology may suggest that the northern ophiolites were not exposed to provide detritus to the Early Paleocene Hangu Formation. This may also be interpreted that the ophiolites were emplaced during the Late Cretaceous on the northern Indian margin but uplifted and eroded later with the final India–Eurasia collision, which is clearly recorded in various studies all along the Indian margin. This fact also intimates the ophiolite emplacement as a possible cause of the regional Mesozoic–Cenozoic unconformity.     

Revisiting taxonomy, morphological evolution, and fossil calibration strategies in Chloranthaceae

Chtoranthaceae is one of the earliest diverging angiosperm families and is comprised of approximately 75 species in four genera (Chloranthus,Sarcandra,Ascarina,and Hedyosmurn).This family has received considerable attention because of its seemingly primitive morphology,disjunct tropical distribution in Asia and America,and extensive fossil record from the Early Cretaceous.In the present study,we reconstructed the phylogeny of Chloranthaceae based on a combined dataset of three plastid DNA regions and 56 species.We then estimated divergence times in the family using two relaxed molecular clock methods (BEAST and penalized likelihood).We focused on testing the influence of fossil taxa in calibrating the molecular phylogeny,and on assessing the current taxonomy of the family in light of the phylogenetic results.Our results indicate that most intrageneric divisions within Ascarina and Hedyosmum are not monophyletic.The results from the dating analysis suggest that the Hedyosmum-like fossil Asteropollis represents a stem lineage of Hedyosmum,as has been suggested previously from morphological analyses.In contrast,our results indicate that the Chloranthus-like fossil Chloranthistemon,previously suggested on morphological grounds to be a stem relative of Chloranthus,may,instead,belong to the branch leading to the clade Chloranthus + Sarcandra.The median crown ages of Chloranthus,Sarcandra,Ascarina,and Hedyosmum estimated in the BEAST analysis were 26.3,9.5,31.0 and 45.8 million years ago (Ma),respectively,whereas the divergence between Chloranthus and Sarcandra,the splitting of Ascarina with the former two genera,and Hedyosmum separating from the three genera were estimated to 63.8,95.7 and 111.1 Ma.The present study sheds further light on the temporal evolution of Chloranthaceae and exemplifies how molecular dating analyses may be used to explore alternative phylogenetic placements of fossil taxa.     

Molecular phylogenetics of Linaceae with complete generic sampling and data from two plastid genes

The phylogeny of Linaceae is examined, with sampling from the 13 commonly recognized genera of the family and sequence data from the plastid genes matK and rbcL. Representatives of 24 additional families of the order Malpighiales are included in the analyses, with members of Celastrales, Fabales, Fagales, Oxalidales and Rosales used as outgroups. Linaceae and both subfamilies, the temperate Linoideae and the tropical Hugonioideae, are found to be monophyletic in likelihood‐ and parsimony‐based analyses, although the monophyly of Hugonioideae is not well supported. Average divergence time estimates using rbcL indicate that the subfamilies diverged from each other during the Palaeocene, approximately 60 million years ago. No sister group to Linaceae is consistently identified in these analyses, and relationships among families of Malpighiales are not well resolved. In accord with previous estimates of Linoideae phylogeny, Linum is shown to be nonmonophyletic, with several segregate genera nested within it, but the relationships of the south‐east Asian genera, Anisadenia, Reinwardtia and Tirpitzia, remain uncertain. In Hugonioideae, Indorouchera and Philbornea are found to be closely related to members of Hugonia section Durandea. Relationships of the neotropical genera Hebepetalum and Roucheria to the palaeotropical hugonioids are not consistently resolved. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 165 , 64–83.     

Precision dating of the Palaeolithic: a new radiocarbon chronology for the Abri Pataud (France), a key Aurignacian sequence

This paper presents a new series of AMS dates on ultrafiltered bone gelatin extracted from identified cutmarked or humanly-modified bones and teeth from the site of Abri Pataud, in the French Dordogne. The sequence of 32 new determinations provides a coherent and reliable chronology from the site’s early Upper Palaeolithic levels 5–14, excavated by Hallam Movius. The results show that there were some problems with the previous series of dates, with many underestimating the real age. The new results, when calibrated and modelled using a Bayesian statistical method, allow detailed understanding of the pace of cultural changes within the Aurignacian I and II levels of the site, something not achievable before. In the future, the sequence of dates will allow wider comparison to similarly dated contexts elsewhere in Europe. High precision dating is only possible by using large suites of AMS dates from humanly-modified material within well understood archaeological sequences modelled using a Bayesian statistical method.     

Paleontological evidence to date the tree of life

The role of fossils in dating the tree of life has been misunderstood. Fossils can provide good "minimum" age estimates for branches in the tree, but "maximum" constraints on those ages are poorer. Current debates about which are the "best" fossil dates for calibration move to consideration of the most appropriate constraints on the ages of tree nodes. Because fossil-based dates are constraints, and because molecular evolution is not perfectly clock-like, analysts should use more rather than fewer dates, but there has to be a balance between many genes and few dates versus many dates and few genes. We provide "hard" minimum and "soft" maximum age constraints for 30 divergences among key genome model organisms; these should contribute to better understanding of the dating of the animal tree of life.     

Y-chromosomal variation in the Czech Republic

To analyze the contribution of the Czech population to the Y-chromosome diversity landscape of Europe and to reconstruct past demographic events, we typed 257 males from five locations for 21 UEPs. Moreover, 141 carriers of the three most common haplogroups were typed for 10 microsatellites and coalescent analyses applied. Sixteen Hg's characterized by derived alleles were identified, the most common being R1a-SRY(10831) and P-DYS257*(xR1a). The pool of haplogroups within I-M170 represented the third most common clade. Overall, the degree of population structure was low. The ages for Hg I-M170, P-DYS257*(xR1a), and R1a-SRY(10831) ap peared to be comparable and compatible with their presence during or soon after the LGM. A signal of population growth beginning in the first millennium B.C. was detected. Its similarity among the three most common Hg's indicated that growth was characteristic for a gene pool that already contained all of them. The Czech population appears to be influenced, to a very moderate extent, by genetic inputs from outside Europe in the post-Neolithic and historical times. Population growth postdated the archaeologically documented introduction of Neolithic technology and the estimated central value coincides with a period of repeated changes driven by the development of metal technologies and the associated social and trade organization.