A Holocene sequence of vegetation change at Lake Eteza, coastal KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Palynological and sedimentological data from a core extracted from Lake Eteza shed new light on the Holocene vegetation and climate history in KwaZulu-Natal and can be linked to regional and global climate change. A 2072 cm core with nineteen radiocarbon dates and chronological extrapolation to the bottom of the sequence suggests that sedimentation started ca. 10 200 cal yrs BP. Between ca. 10 200 and 6800 cal yrs BP pollen indicators point to a change from intermediately humid conditions to comparatively drier grassy environments. This is in good agreement with Sea Surface Temperature (SST) fluctuations from a core in the Mozambique Channel which influence precipitation in coastal KwaZulu-Natal, and the beginning of the Holocene Thermal Maximum ca. 10 500 cal yrs BP. The lower section of the core corresponds to gradually increasing Holocene sea levels along the coast and development of freshwater or estuarine conditions at Lake Eteza. The middle Holocene (ca. 6800-3600 cal yrs BP), when the sea level reached its highest stand and SST peak, indicate humid climatic conditions that favoured an increase of forest trees, e.g. Podocarpus, and undergrowth plants like Issoglossa. As a consequence of higher precipitation and increase of the water table, conditions were favourable for the spread of mangrove, swamp and possibly riverine forest. During the late Holocene after ca. 3600 cal yrs BP a decrease of Podocarpus and other trees as well as an increase of Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, grasses and Phoenix coincide with a return to lower sea levels and drier conditions. The decrease of all trees including Phoenix at ca. 700 cal yrs BP, accompanied by rapid sedimentation rates, possibly reflect forest clearing and upland erosion induced by activities of Iron Age settlers. A dry period at the globally recognized onset of the Little Ice Age might have contributed to these changes. Late Iron Age settlers have probably already introduced Zea mays, which was detected in the profile since ca. 210 BP. The appearance of neophytes like Pinus, Casuarina and pollen of Ambrosia-type in the youngest sediments indicates increased disturbance of European settlements and land use since ca. 100 cal yrs BP.     

Leghemoglobin-like sequences in the DNA of four actinorhizal plants

Summary A cloned cDNA partial copy of a soybean leghemoglobin mRNA was used to probe genomic DNA of four species of actinorhizal plants. Southern blot hybridization revealed the presence of sequences with homology to the leghemoglobin probe in DNA from Alnus glutinosa, Casuarina glauca, Ceanothus americanus and Elaeagnus pungens. The hybridization patterns of the restriction fragments revealed some fragment size conservation between the DNA of soybean and the DNA of four actinorhizal plants which are taxonomically unrelated to soybean or to each other. The results presented here indicate that globin gene sequences are much more widely distributed in the plant kingdom than has previously been thought. Furthermore, if sequence conservation is actually as high as the restriction fragment patterns suggest, the evolution of the DNA surrounding the globin sequences has been highly constrained.     

玉米种质资源抗南方锈病鉴定

玉米南方锈病已成为近几年我国夏玉米生产区间歇性暴发流行的病害,对玉米生产构成严重威胁,病害流行年份可造成10%以上的产量损失。目前,已确认的抗病自交系非常有限,而抗病育种急需不同抗性控制背景的自交系。为发掘和丰富可利用的南方锈病抗源,于2008～2012年,在广西南宁采用田间人工接种方法对1589份玉米种质资源进行抗南方锈病鉴定。通过高病害压力和连续多年的鉴定,从1589份玉米种质中鉴定出高抗（HR）材料26份,占鉴定总数的1.64%;抗病（R）材料137份,占鉴定总数的8.62%;中抗（MR）水平的材料382份,占鉴定总数的24.04%;感病（S）材料489份,占鉴定总数的30.77%;高感（HS）材料555份,占鉴定总数的34.93%。总体上抗南方锈病种质较少,引进种质中抗病类型材料的比例略高。经重复鉴定,筛选出赤556等18份自交系、老来秕等3份地方品种、A69等4份来自津巴布韦的材料、引自CIMMYT的Dr11表现稳定高抗南方锈病,为今后我国玉米抗南方锈病育种提供了新的抗性资源。     

华南植物的增补

报道华南地区3种植物：山柚子科的茎花山袖（Champereiamanillanavar．longistamined）是新组合的变种,其花序和嫩叶可供蔬食;大朝科的美洲珠子草（Phyllanthusamarus）是具有药用价值的归化种;台湾核果木（Drypetesformosana）生长于珠江口东侧的海岛,为广东新纪录种。     

Late‐glacial recolonization and phylogeography of European red deer (Cervus elaphus L.)

The Pleistocene was an epoch of extreme climatic and environmental changes. How individual species responded to the repeated cycles of warm and cold stages is a major topic of debate. For the European fauna and flora, an expansion–contraction model has been suggested, whereby temperate species were restricted to southern refugia during glacial times and expanded northwards during interglacials, including the present interglacial (Holocene). Here, we test this model on the red deer (Cervus elaphus) a large and highly mobile herbivore, using both modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA from the entire European range of the species over the last c. 40 000 years. Our results indicate that this species was sensitive to the effects of climate change. Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) haplogroups restricted today to South‐East Europe and Western Asia reached as far west as the UK. During the LGM, red deer was mainly restricted to southern refugia, in Iberia, the Balkans and possibly in Italy and South‐Western Asia. At the end of the LGM, red deer expanded from the Iberian refugium, to Central and Northern Europe, including the UK, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany, Poland and Belarus. Ancient DNA data cannot rule out refugial survival of red deer in North‐West Europe through the LGM. Had such deer survived, though, they were replaced by deer migrating from Iberia at the end of the glacial. The Balkans served as a separate LGM refugium and were probably connected to Western Asia with genetic exchange between the two areas.     

Assessing morphological and DNA-based diet analysis techniques in a generalist predator, the arrow squid Nototodarus gouldi

Establishing the diets of marine generalist consumers is difficult, with most studies limited to the use of morphological methods for prey identification. Such analyses rely on the preservation of diagnostic hard parts, which can limit taxonomic resolution and introduce biases. DNA-based analyses provide a method to assess the diets of marine species, potentially overcoming many of the limitations introduced by other techniques. This study compared the effectiveness of morphological and DNA-based analysis for determining the diet of a free-ranging generalist predator, the arrow squid (Nototodarus gouldi). A combined approach was more effective than using either of the methods in isolation. Nineteen unique prey taxa were identified, of which six were found by both methods, 10 were only detected using DNA and three were only identified using morphological methods. Morphological techniques only found 50% of the total number of identifiable prey taxa, whereas DNA-based techniques found 84%. This study highlights the benefits of using a combination of techniques to detect and identify prey of generalist marine consumers.     

Blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid in the San Pedro Channel and Los Angeles harbor areas of the Southern California Bight, 2003–2004

Abundances of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and concentrations of particulate domoic acid (DA) were determined in the Southern California Bight (SCB) along the coasts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties during spring and summer of 2003 and 2004. At least 1500 km² were affected by a toxic event in May/June of 2003 when some of the highest particulate DA concentrations reported for US coastal waters were measured inside the Los Angeles harbor (12.7 μg DA L⁻¹). Particulate DA levels were an order of magnitude lower in spring of 2004 (February and March), but DA concentrations per cell at several sampling stations during 2004 exceeded previously reported maxima for natural populations of Pseudo-nitzschia (mean = 24 pg DA cell⁻¹, range = 0–117 pg DA cell⁻¹). Pseudo-nitzschia australis dominated the Pseudo-nitzschia assemblage in spring 2004. Overall, DA-poisoning was implicated in >1400 mammal stranding incidents within the SCB during 2003 and 2004. Ancillary physical and chemical data obtained during our regional surveys in 2004 revealed that Pseudo-nitzschia abundances, particulate DA and cellular DA concentrations were inversely correlated with concentrations of silicic acid, nitrogen and phosphate, and to specific nutrient ratios. Particulate DA was detected in sediment traps deployed at 550 and 800 m depth during spring of 2004 (0.29–7.6 μg DA (g sediment dry weight)⁻¹). The highest DA concentration in the traps was measured within 1 week of dramatic decreases in the abundances of Pseudo-nitzschia in surface waters. To our knowledge these are the deepest sediment trap collections from which DA has been detected. Sinking of the spring Pseudo-nitzschia bloom may constitute a potentially important link between DA production in surface waters and benthic communities in the coastal ocean near Los Angeles. Our study indicates that toxic blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia are a recurring phenomenon along one of the most densely populated coastal stretches of the SCB and that the severity and magnitude of these events can be comparable to or greater than these events in other geographical regions affected by domoic acid.