Eco-evolution from deep time to contemporary dynamics: The role of timescales and rate modulators

Eco-evolutionary dynamics, or eco-evolution for short, are often thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid heritable phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. We argue that this focus on contemporary dynamics is too narrow: Eco-evolution should be extended, first, beyond pure demography to include all environmental dimensions and, second, to include slow eco-evolution which unfolds over thousands or millions of years. This extension allows us to conceptualise biological systems as occupying a two-dimensional time space along axes that capture the speed of ecology and evolution. Using Hutchinson's analogy: Time is the ‘theatre’ in which ecology and evolution are two interacting ‘players’. Eco-evolutionary systems are therefore dynamic: We identify modulators of ecological and evolutionary rates, like temperature or sensitivity to mutation, which can change the speed of ecology and evolution, and hence impact eco-evolution. Environmental change may synchronise the speed of ecology and evolution via these rate modulators, increasing the occurrence of eco-evolution and emergent system behaviours. This represents substantial challenges for prediction, especially in the context of global change. Our perspective attempts to integrate ecology and evolution across disciplines, from gene-regulatory networks to geomorphology and across timescales, from today to deep time.     

Stein and Moore Award address. The molten globule intermediate of apomyoglobin and the process of protein folding.

The molten globule model for the beginning of the folding process, which originated with Kuwajima's studies of alpha-lactalbumin (Kuwajima, K., 1989, Proteins Struct. Funct. Genet. 6, 87-103, and references therein), states that, for those proteins that exhibit equilibrium molten globule intermediates, the molten globule is a major kinetic intermediate near the start of the folding pathway. Pulsed hydrogen-deuterium exchange measurements confirm this model for apomyoglobin (Jennings, P.A. & Wright, P.E., in prep.). The energetics of the acid-induced unfolding transition, which have been determined by fitting a minimal three-state model (N<-->I<-->U; N = native, I = molten globule intermediate, U = unfolded) show that I is more stable than U at neutral pH (Barrick, D. & Baldwin, R.L., 1993, Biochemistry 32, in press), which provides an explanation for why I is formed from U at the start of folding. Hydrogen exchange rates measured by two-dimensional NMR for individual peptide NH protons, taken together with the CD spectrum of I, indicate that moderately stable helices are present in I at the locations of the A, G, and H helices of native myoglobin (Hughson, F.M., Wright, P.E., & Baldwin, R.L., 1990, Science 249, 1544-1548). Directed mutagnesis experiments indicate that the interactions between the A, G, and H helices in I are loose (Hughson, F.M., Barrick, D., & Baldwin, R.L., 1991, Biochemistry 30, 4113-4118), which can explain why I is formed rapidly from U at the start of folding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

荒漠草原生态恢复与重建：人工植被推动下水分介导的系统响应、生态阈值与互馈作用

荒漠草原(生态区)横贯我国西北地区东部,生态地位十分重要。近二十年来,通过封育禁牧、退耕还林(草),植被覆盖显著改善,但是生态系统质量和稳定性依然不高。由于长期将荒漠草原单纯视作草原的一部分,对其生态系统过渡性、脆弱性和复杂性本质特征认识不足,造成了荒漠草原生态学研究与区域生态建设实践之间不同程度的脱节。在分析荒漠草原生态区未来在我国生态安全格局中突出的但是被一定程度上忽视的地位的基础上,进一步归纳了荒漠草原生态系统的一般特征,指出了生态恢复与重建研究中存在的主要问题。进而以人工植被引入荒漠草原生态工程为案例,分析了人工植被驱动荒漠草原生态恢复与重建的过程与机制,归纳了“植被-水文-土壤”互馈作用驱动生态系统层级响应模式,并展望了今后的发展趋势与研究方向。     

生态工程中食物链组合的环分析

本文研究了一个用于治理水体生态系统富营养化的生态工程,应用环分析方法对工程中的食物链的组合进行了分析。在这里,贝类被用于清除过量的藻类;种植水生植物改变营养的流转途径并且放养食植性鱼类,通过捕捞鱼和贝,使水体中的有机物和无机盐沿着从藻类到贝类和从水生植物到食植性鱼类两条途径由水体生态系统中输出,应用环分析的手段,可以调整生态工程中食物链的组合结构,使整个生态工程具有某种特定的功能。     

大球盖菇的生物学基础、活性成分及其应用

大球盖菇是联合国粮农组织向发展中国家推荐栽培的食用菌之一,对农作物秸秆及林木枝条、落叶等有较强的降解能力。通过人工种植可培养营养丰富、美味可口的大球盖菇子实体产品,其菌渣还能够改善土壤环境,在生态农林产业及循环经济等方面具有重要作用。本文从大球盖菇的生物学基础、子实体营养、生物活性成分及其在农林生态和环境修复应用等角度进行综述,为大球盖菇的进一步开发利用及其相关产业发展提供参考。     

Using ecological networks to answer questions in global biogeography and ecology

Ecological networks have classically been studied at site and landscape scales, yet recent efforts have been made to collate these data into global repositories. This offers an opportunity to integrate and upscale knowledge about ecological interactions from local to global scales to gain enhanced insights from the mechanistic information provided by these data. By drawing on existing research investigating patterns in ecological interactions at continental to global scales, we show how data on ecological networks, collected at appropriate scales, can be used to generate an improved understanding of many aspects of ecology and biogeography—for example, species distribution modelling, restoration ecology and conservation. We argue that by understanding the patterns in the structure and function of ecological networks across scales, it is possible to enhance our understanding of the natural world.     

生态梯度轴(EGA)用于林木生态遗传的研究——CA方法估算EGA(CA_1)和EGA(r~2)

应用典型相关的原理和技术,将多元地理坐标和生态因子降维成1元,研究提出2个生态梯度轴(EGA);EGA(CA_1)和EGA(r~2)。通过白榆20个种源的2个EGA估算,它们与6个环境因子平均相关系数为0.8551和0.8804,复相关系数0.9998和0.9985,很好地综合了诸环境因子在对群体7个性状分析结果,EGA能很好描述梯度变异,证明了白榆种群属于连续变异模式。     

Genome-wide RAD sequencing data suggest predominant role of vicariance in Sino-Japanese disjunction of the monotypic genus Conandron (Gesneriaceae)

Disjunct distribution is a key issue in biogeography and ecology, but it is often difficult to determine the relative roles of dispersal vs. vicariance in disjunctions. We studied the phylogeographic pattern of the monotypic Conandron ramondioides (Gesneriaceae), which shows Sino-Japanese disjunctions, with ddRAD sequencing based on a comprehensive sampling of 11 populations from mainland China, Taiwan Island, and Japan. We found a very high degree of genetic differentiation among these three regions, with very limited gene flow and a clear Isolation by Distance pattern. Mainland China and Japan clades diverged first from a widespread ancestral population in the middle Miocene, followed by a later divergence between mainland China and Taiwan Island clades in the early Pliocene. Three current groups have survived in various glacial refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, and experienced contraction and/or bottlenecks since their divergence during Quaternary glacial cycles, with strong niche divergence between mainland China + Japan and Taiwan Island ranges. Thus, we verified a predominant role of vicariance in the current disjunction of the monotypic genus Conandron. The sharp phylogenetic separation, ecological niche divergence among these three groups, and the great number of private alleles in all populations sampled indicated a considerable time of independent evolution, and suggests the need for a taxonomic survey to detect potentially overlooked taxa.