Velocity of temperature and flowering time in wheat – assisting breeders to keep pace with climate change

By accelerating crop development, warming climates may result in mismatches between key sensitive growth stages and extreme climate events, with severe consequences for crop yield and food security. Using recent estimates of gene responses to vernalization and photoperiod in wheat, we modelled the flowering times of all ‘potential’ genotypes as influenced by the velocity of climate change across the Australian wheatbelt. In the period 1957–2010, seasonal increases in temperature of 0.012 °C yr^?1 were recorded and changed flowering time of a mid‐season wheat genotype by an average ?0.074 day yr^?1, with flowering ‘velocity’ of up to 0.95 km yr^?1 towards the coastal edges of the wheatbelt; this is an estimate of how quickly the given genotype would have to be ‘moved’ across the landscape to maintain its original flowering time. By 2030, these national changes are projected to accelerate by up to 3‐fold for seasonal temperature and by up to 5‐fold for flowering time between now and 2030, with average national shifts in flowering time of 0.33 and 0.41 day yr^?1 between baseline and the worst climate scenario tested for 2030 and 2050, respectively. Without new flowering alleles in commercial germplasm, the life cycle of wheat crops is predicted to shorten by 2 weeks by 2030 across the wheatbelt for the most pessimistic climate scenario. While current cultivars may be otherwise suitable for future conditions, they will flower earlier due to warmer temperatures. To allow earlier sowing to escape frost, heat and terminal drought, and to maintain current growing period of early‐sown wheat crops in the future, breeders will need to develop and/or introduce new genetic sources for later flowering, more so in the eastern part of the wheatbelt.     

Evidence for climate‐driven synchrony of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in northwest Australia

The effects of climate change are difficult to predict for many marine species because little is known of their response to climate variations in the past. However, long‐term chronologies of growth, a variable that integrates multiple physical and biological factors, are now available for several marine taxa. These allow us to search for climate‐driven synchrony in growth across multiple taxa and ecosystems, identifying the key processes driving biological responses at very large spatial scales. We hypothesized that in northwest (NW) Australia, a region that is predicted to be strongly influenced by climate change, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon would be an important factor influencing the growth patterns of organisms in both marine and terrestrial environments. To test this idea, we analyzed existing growth chronologies of the marine fish Lutjanus argentimaculatus, the coral Porites spp. and the tree Callitris columellaris and developed a new chronology for another marine fish, Lethrinus nebulosus. Principal components analysis and linear model selection showed evidence of ENSO‐driven synchrony in growth among all four taxa at interannual time scales, the first such result for the Southern Hemisphere. Rainfall, sea surface temperatures, and sea surface salinities, which are linked to the ENSO system, influenced the annual growth of fishes, trees, and corals. All four taxa had negative relationships with the Niño‐4 index (a measure of ENSO status), with positive growth patterns occurring during strong La Niña years. This finding implies that future changes in the strength and frequency of ENSO events are likely to have major consequences for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Strong similarities in the growth patterns of fish and trees offer the possibility of using tree‐ring chronologies, which span longer time periods than those of fish, to aid understanding of both historical and future responses of fish populations to climate variation.     

基于标记重捕法的沙蒿金叶甲种群扩散研究

沙蒿金叶甲是沙蒿的主要害虫之一,近年来在我国西北荒漠地区危害严重,导致大量沙蒿死亡。本文在宁夏灵武白芨滩国家级自然保护区荒漠景观中选择了一块以沙蒿为主要建群种的实验样地,2013年7月利用标记重捕技术调查了该样地沙蒿金叶甲的种群数量变动及其扩散规律。结果显示,该样地沙蒿金叶甲的种群总数为1505.13±1184.90,平均种群密度为4.79头/m2,平均存活率为0.7605,平均迁入率为0.5488,平均新增数量为741.72头。沙蒿金叶甲扩散距离主要集中在距中心点0-900 cm之间,但在100 cm范围内扩散的个体最多;扩散方位主要集中在东北方向,向其他方位扩散数量相对较少。沙蒿金叶甲的扩散规律与其生物学特性以及沙蒿的空间分布有密切关系。     

基于SSR标记的荷花品种遗传多样性及群体结构分析

采用SSR标记技术对42个荷花品种( Nelumbo spp.)的基因组DNA进行扩增,在此基础上,对供试品种进行UPGMA聚类分析、群体结构分析和主坐标分析( PCoA)。结果表明：采用17对SSR引物从42个荷花品种的基因组DNA中扩增出77个位点,多态性位点百分率为88.31%;每对引物可扩增出1~9个多态性位点。根据Nei's遗传距离,供试的42个荷花品种可被分成Ⅰ和Ⅱ两组,分别包含3和39个品种;在Nei's遗传距离0.150处,Ⅱ组被进一步分成Ⅱa、Ⅱb和Ⅱc 3个亚组,分别包含3、16和20个品种。群体结构分析结果表明：组分概率高于等于0.80时,供试的42个荷花品种被分成Pop1、Pop2和混合群3个亚群,分别包含17、16和9个品种。 PCoA分析结果表明：在F1水平上,供试的42个荷花品种被分成2个部分;其中,Pop1亚群的品种均分布在第二和第三象限,而Pop2亚群的品种则分布在第一和第四象限。总体来看,聚类分析、群体结构分析和PCoA分析的结果基本一致。综合分析结果表明：玉组包含美洲黄莲( N. lutea Pers.)品种‘艾江南',且与传统中国莲( N. nucifera Gaertn.)品种的亲缘关系最远,故认为该组为美洲黄莲;Ⅱ组为中国莲,其中,Ⅱc亚组以传统中国莲品种为主,而Ⅱb亚组则偏重于美洲黄莲。总体上看,供试的42个荷花品种主要被分为中国莲和美洲黄莲两组,而中美杂交莲并没有独立成组,其成因有待进一步研究。     

Variables associated with the occurrence of Ips beetles,red turpentine beetle and wood borers in live and dead ponderosa pines with post‐fire injury

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Production of greenhouse‐grown biocrust mosses and associated cyanobacteria to rehabilitate dryland soil function

Mosses are an often‐overlooked component of dryland ecosystems, yet they are common members of biological soil crust communities (biocrusts) and provide key ecosystem services, including soil stabilization, water retention, carbon fixation, and housing of N₂ fixing cyanobacteria. Mosses are able to survive long dry periods, respond rapidly to precipitation, and reproduce vegetatively. With these qualities, dryland mosses have the potential to be an excellent dryland restoration material. Unfortunately, dryland mosses are often slow growing in nature, and ex situ cultivation methods are needed to enhance their utility. Our goal was to determine how to rapidly produce, vegetatively, Syntrichia caninervis and S. ruralis, common and abundant moss species in drylands of North America and elsewhere, in a greenhouse. We manipulated the length of hydration on a weekly schedule (5, 4, 3, or 2 days continuous hydration per week), crossed with fertilization (once at the beginning, monthly, biweekly, or not at all). Moss biomass increased sixfold for both species in 4 months, an increase that would require years under dryland field conditions. Both moss species preferred short hydration and monthly fertilizer. Remarkably, we also unintentionally cultured a variety of other important biocrust organisms, including cyanobacteria and lichens. In only 6 months, we produced functionally mature biocrusts, as evidenced by high productivity and ecosystem‐relevant levels of N₂ fixation. Our results suggest that biocrust mosses might be the ideal candidate for biocrust cultivation for restoration purposes. With optimization, these methods are the first step in developing a moss‐based biocrust rehabilitation technology.     

Harvest management affects biomass composition responses of C4 perennial bioenergy grasses in the humid subtropical USA

Elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) and energycane (Saccharum spp. hybrid) are high‐yielding C4 grasses that are attractive biofuel feedstocks in the humid subtropics. Determining appropriate harvest management practices for optimal feedstock chemical composition is an important precursor to their successful use in production systems. In this research, we have investigated the effects of harvest timing and frequency on biomass nutrient, carbohydrate and lignin composition of UF1 and cv. Merkeron elephantgrasses and cv. L 79‐1002 energycane. Biomass properties under increased harvest frequency (twice per year) and delayed harvest (once per year after frost) were compared with a control (once per year prior to frost). There were no differences between elephantgrass entries in structural carbohydrates; however, elephantgrasses had greater structural hexose concentration than energycane for single‐harvest treatments (avg. 398 vs. 366 mg g^?1), a trait that is preferred for biofuel production. Delayed harvest of energycane decreased structural hexose compared with the control (374 vs. 357 mg g^?1) because nonstructural components accumulated in energycane stem as harvest was delayed. Frequent defoliation (2X) increased N, P, and ash concentrations (75% for N and P and 58% for ash) in harvested biomass compared with single‐harvest treatments. We conclude that multiple harvests per year increase the harvest period during which feedstock is available for processing, but they do not result in optimal feedstock composition. In contrast, extending the period of feedstock supply by delaying a single harvest to after first freeze did not negatively affect cell wall constituent properties, while it increased length of the harvest period by ~30 days in the southeast USA.     

Microbial interference ameliorates essential oil yield and diminishes root-knot infestation in sweet basil under field conditions

Despite the vast exploration of bioinoculants for disease resistance and crop yield enhancement, knowledge about their impact on quality and quantity of essential oil as well as induction of antioxidant is scarce, especially in medicinal and aromatic crops. In the present two-year field experimentation, a subset of Bacillus spp., namely Bacillus flexus, B. subtilis, B. megaterium and B. aryabhattai, was evaluated against the most devastating root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood infestation and essential oil yield enhancement in Ocimum basilicum var. CIM-Soumya (Sweet basil). The plants treated with B. subtilis showed significant (P < 0.05) enhancement in fresh biomass (42%), essential oil content (121%), nutrient uptake (83%) and reduced root-knot infestation (54%) as compared to untreated control. The defence afforded by bioinoculants was observed based on augmentation of the phenolic (97%), flavonoid (93%), free radical scavenging activity (34%) and total antioxidant (33%) in Bacillus-treated infected plants as compared to untreated infected plants. The higher concentration of essential oil constituents, namely linalool (54%) and methyl chavicol (33%), was also recorded in same treatment. An increase in essential oil yield was reflected by induction of antioxidant machinery. The present study for the first time delineates nematicidal potentials of B. flexus and B. aryabhattai. Altogether these findings suggest that exploitation of bioinoculants could be helpful for effective management of the root-knot nematode infestation along with higher qualitative and quantitative essential oil yield with augmented antioxidants in sweet basil.