Biogeographic context is related to local scale tree demography,co-occurrence and functional differentiation

Identifying the drivers of community structure and dynamics is a major pursuit in ecology. Emphasis is typically placed on the importance of local scale interactions when attempting to explain these fundamental ecological patterns. However, regional scale phenomena are also important predictors. The importance of regional scale context should be more evident in assemblages where multiple species are close to their range margins. Here, we test the importance of regional scale context using data from a temperate forest plot that contains two species groups – one near its northern range limit and one near its southern range limit. We show the proximity of species to their southern or northern range margins is linked to local scale co-occurrence, similarity in gene expression responses to a key environmental driver, demographic performance and inter-specific variation in conspecific negative density dependence. In sum, many of the key local scale patterns and processes of interest to community ecologists are linked to biogeographic context that is frequently ignored.     

The ClpE protein involved in biogenesis of the CS31A capsule-like antigen is a member of a periplasmic chaperone family in Gram-negative bacteria

Abstract The putative chaperone-like protein ClpE, required for biogenesis of the Escherichia coli capsule-like antigen CS31A, was compared with ten known periplasmic chaperones from E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bordetella pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae and Yersinia pestis . The amino acid sequence alignment was superimposed onto the three-dimensional structure of the PapD chaperone of uropathogenic E. coli , and amino acid residues involved in maintaining the structure integrity of the suggested binding site were found identical in most of the 11 chaperones. Construction of a phylogenetic tree to investigate the relationship within the chaperone family has revealed interesting degrees of relatedness between the different proteins.     

Mortality rates of desert vegetation during high-intensity drought at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park,Central Australia

Precipitation variability and heatwaves are expected to intensify over much of inland Australia under most projected climate change scenarios. This will undoubtedly have impacts on the biota of Australian dryland systems. However, accurate modelling of these impacts is presently impeded by a lack of empirical research on drought/heatwave effects on native arid flora and fauna. During the 2018–2021 Australian drought, many parts of the continent's inland experienced their hottest, driest period on record. Here, we present the results of a field survey in 2021 involving indigenous rangers, scientists and national parks staff who assessed plant dieback during this drought at Ulur u-Kata Tjut a National Park (UKTNP), central Australia. Spatially randomized quadrat sampling of eight common and culturally important plants indicated the following plant death rates across UKTNP (in order of drought susceptibility): desert myrtle (Aluta maisonneuvei subsp. maisonneuvei) (91%), yellow flame grevillea (Grevillea eriostachya) (79%), Maitland's wattle (Acacia maitlandii) (67%), waxy wattle (A. melleodora) (65%), soft spinifex grass (Triodia pungens) (53%), mulga (A. aneura) (42%), desert oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana) (22%) and quandong (Santalum acuminatum) (0%). The sampling also detected that seedling recruitment was absent or minimal for all plants except soft spinifex, while a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) indicated two-way interactions among species, plant size and stand density as important predictors of drought survival of adult plants. A substantial loss of biodiversity has occurred at UKTNP during the recent drought, with likely drivers of widespread plant mortality being extreme multi-year rainfall deficit (2019 recorded the lowest-ever annual rainfall at UKTNP [27 mm]) and record high summer temperatures (December 2019 recorded the highest-ever temperature [47.1°C]). Our findings indicate that widespread plant death and extensive vegetation restructuring will occur across arid Australia if the severity and frequency of droughts increase under climate change.     

Integrating sample similarities into latent class analysis: a tree-structured shrinkage approach

This paper is concerned with using multivariate binary observations to estimate the probabilities of unobserved classes with scientific meanings. We focus on the setting where additional information about sample similarities is available and represented by a rooted weighted tree. Every leaf in the given tree contains multiple samples. Shorter distances over the tree between the leaves indicate a priori higher similarity in class probability vectors. We propose a novel data integrative extension to classical latent class models with tree-structured shrinkage. The proposed approach enables (1) borrowing of information across leaves, (2) estimating data-driven leaf groups with distinct vectors of class probabilities, and (3) individual-level probabilistic class assignment given the observed multivariate binary measurements. We derive and implement a scalable posterior inference algorithm in a variational Bayes framework. Extensive simulations show more accurate estimation of class probabilities than alternatives that suboptimally use the additional sample similarity information. A zoonotic infectious disease application is used to illustrate the proposed approach. The paper concludes by a brief discussion on model limitations and extensions.     

Osteological and histological comparison of the development of the interphalangeal intercalary skeletal element between hyloid and ranoid anurans

Some frog species have a unique skeletal element, referred to as the intercalary element (IE), in the joints between the terminal and subterminal phalanges of all digits. IEs are composed of cartilage or connective tissue and have a markedly differ shape than the phalanges. IEs are highly related to the arboreal lifestyle and toe pads. The IE is found only in neobatrachian frogs among anurans, suggesting that it is a novelty of Neobatrachia. IEs are widely distributed among multiple neobatrachian lineages and are found in the suborders Hyloides and Ranoides (the two major clades in Neobatrachia). However, it is unclear whether the IEs found in multiple linages resulted from convergent evolution. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to examine how similar or different the developmental trajectories of the IEs are between Hyloides and Ranoides. To that end, we compared the osteological and histological developmental processes of the IEs of the hyloid frog Dryophytes japonicus and the ranoid frog Zhangixalus schlegelii. Both species shared the same IE-initiation site and level of tissue differentiation around the IE when it began to form in tadpoles, although the IE developments initiated at different stages which were determined by external criteria. These results suggest that similar mechanisms drive IE formation in the digits of both species, supporting the hypothesis that the IEs did not evolve convergently.     

Canopy tree mortality depends on the proportion of crown exposed to sunlight,but this effect varies with species' wood density

Understanding what drives changes in tree mortality as well as the covariates influencing trees' response is a research priority to predict forest responses to global change. Here, we combined drone photogrammetry and ground-based data to assess the influence of crown exposure to light (relative to total crown area), growth deviations (relative to conspecifics), tree size, and species' wood density (as a surrogate for light-demanding and shade-tolerant life-history strategies) on the mortality of 984 canopy trees in an Amazon terra firme forest. Trees with lower wood density were less prone to die when their proportion of crown was more exposed to sunlight, but this relationship with relative crown exposure weakened and slightly reversed as wood density increased. Trees growing less than their species average had higher mortality, especially when the species' wood density decreased. The role of wood density in determining the survival of canopy trees under varying light conditions indicates differential responses of light-demanding versus shade-tolerant species. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for life-history strategies, via plant functional types, in vegetation dynamic models aiming to predict forest demography under a rapidly changing climate. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.     

陕西省野生拟黑虫草的多基因分子生物学鉴定

虫草是中国重要的生物资源,为明确从陕西省旬邑县石门山林区采集到的1种野生虫草种类及其虫生真菌(虫草菌DY6F)的分类地位,研究在利用PCR技术对该虫草子实体的核糖体内转录间隔区(internal transcribed spacer, ITS)、延伸因子1α(elongation factor 1α,EF-1α)和RNA聚合酶Ⅱ大亚基(RNA polymeraseⅡlarge subunit, RPB1)的基因片段进行扩增与测序的基础上,分别基于这3个基因片段构建单基因系统进化树,并基于EF-1α和RPB1 2个基因联合序列构建多基因系统进化树。结果显示,该虫草子实体的这些基因序列与线虫草属拟黑虫草菌(Ophiocordyceps nigrella)的相应基因序列相似度为99%～100%,且在进化树上,二者聚于同一分支,支持率均为100%。因此,虫草菌DY6F被鉴定为拟黑虫草菌,该虫草为拟黑虫草。     

茶树品种‘金牡丹’自然杂交后代遗传鉴定

为了对‘金牡丹’茶树自然杂交后代进行遗传鉴定,利用EST-SSR毛细管电泳荧光标记技术对65个金牡丹自然杂交后代进行研究。结果表明,28对SSR标记共扩增出192个等位片段,平均等位基因数(Na)、平均观测杂合度(Ho)及遗传多态信息量(PIC)分别为6.86、0.540、0.532。单亲基因型已知时的累积排除概率为0.999,说明选择的28对SSR标记位点具有高度的多态性和较高的排除概率,适用于遗传分析和个体的亲子鉴定。15个‘金牡丹’自然杂交后代的遗传鉴定结果表明,MD44、JMD45、JMD47、JMD32为早生绿茶类型;JMD51、JMD53为闽北肉桂乌龙茶类型;MD2、JMD56为闽南‘铁观音’乌龙茶类型;JMD24、JMD26、JMD29、JMD55、JMD59、JMD27、JMD61为‘黄棪’乌龙茶类型。     

浙江古田山亚热带常绿阔叶林叶衰老物候影响因子研究

该文选取浙江省古田山亚热带常绿阔叶林72种木本植物,探究气候因素、系统发育关系和功能性状对亚热带常绿阔叶林叶衰老物候的影响。结果表明,叶变色期在9—12月,落叶期在10—12月。每月落叶物种数与月均温、月均降水量和月均日照时数没有显著相关性,每月叶变色物种数与月均温和月均日照时数呈弱相关;落叶性对叶变色期和落叶期具有显著影响;植物间系统发育关系对叶变色期和落叶期没有显著影响。因此,生物和非生物因子都会影响常绿阔叶树种的叶衰老,这对于提高秋季物候预测模型具有重要价值。     

Behavioural responses of the vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus, to semiochemicals from conspecifics, Otiorhynchus salicicola, and host plants

The vine weevil Otiorhynchus sulcatus is a parthenogenetic reproducing species which forages for suitable host plants at night, but is found congregated in dark places during the day. Frass of this weevil species is suspected to contain attractive compounds that are host‐plant related. Using a still‐air olfactometer, we tested adult vine weevils at night for their behavioural response to odours from conspecifics, feeding on a mixture of spindle tree (Euonymus fortunei) and yew (Taxus baccata), and to a sexually reproducing related species (Otiorhynchus salicicola), feeding on a mixture of ivy (Hedera helix) and cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). Their attraction to conspecifics and O. salicicola appeared to be related to frass production. Freshly collected frass from O. sulcatus and from O. salicicola males and females was attractive. Prunus laurocerasus and H. helix have not been observed to be hosts of the vine weevil in the field. However, our tests showed that the vine weevil was attracted to mechanically damaged leaves of both plant species, whereas undamaged leaves were not attractive. Only undamaged young unfolding leaves of H. helix were also attractive. The attraction to odours from mechanically damaged host and non‐host plants suggested the involvement of compounds that are commonly found in many plant species. The involvement of plant compounds and/or aggregation pheromones in attraction to frass of the vine weevil and frass of the related weevil species O. salicicola is discussed.