Rapid development of a restored oyster reef facilitates habitat provision for estuarine fauna

Oyster reef restoration has become a principal strategy for ameliorating the loss of natural Crassostrea virginica populations and increasing habitat provision. In 2014, a large‐scale, high‐relief, 23‐ha subtidal C. virginica reef was restored at the historically productive Half Moon Reef in Matagorda Bay, TX, using concrete and limestone substrates. Encrusting and motile fauna were sampled seasonally until 17 months postrestoration at the restored reef and at adjacent unrestored sites. Restored oysters developed rapidly and were most abundant 3 months postrestoration, with subsequent declines possibly due to interacting effects of larval settlement success on new substrate versus post‐settlement mortality due to competitors and predators. Oyster densities were 2× higher than in a restored oyster population in Chesapeake Bay that was reported to be the largest reestablished metapopulation of native oysters in the world. Resident fauna on the restored reef were 62% more diverse, had 433% greater biomass, and comprised a distinct faunal community compared to unrestored sites. The presence of three‐dimensional habitat was the most important factor determining resident faunal community composition, indicating that substrate limitation is a major hindrance for oyster reef community success in Texas and other parts of the Gulf of Mexico. There were only minor differences in density, biomass, and diversity of associated fauna located adjacent (13 m) versus distant (150 m) to the restored reef. The two substrate types compared had little influence on oyster recruitment or faunal habitat provision. Results support the use of reef restoration as a productive means to rebuild habitat and facilitate faunal enhancement.     

Trait‐based approach confirms the importance of propagule limitation and assembly rules in old‐field restoration

Community assembly theory is suggested as a guiding principle for ecological restoration to help understand the mechanisms that structure biological communities and identify where restoration interventions are needed. We studied three hypotheses related to propagule limitation, stress‐dominance, and limiting similarity concepts in community assembly in a restoration field experiment with a trait‐based null model approach. The experiment aimed to assist the recovery of sand grassland on former arable land in the Kiskunság, Pannonian biogeographic region, Europe. Treatments included initial seeding of five grassland species, carbon amendment, low‐intensity mowing, and combinations in 1 m by 1 m plots in three old fields from 2003 to 2008. The distribution of 10 individual plant traits was compared to the null model and the effect of time and treatments were tested with linear mixed effect models. Initial seeding had the most visible impact on species and trait composition confirming propagule limitation in grassland recovery. Reducing nutrient availability through carbon amendment strengthened trait convergence for length of flowering as expected based on the stress‐dominance hypothesis. Mowing changed trait divergence to convergence for plant height with a strengthening impact with time, supporting our hypothesis of increasing dominance of limiting similarity with time. Our results support the idea that community assembly is simultaneously influenced by propagule limitation and multiple trait‐based processes that act through different traits. The limited impact of manipulating environmental filtering and limiting similarity compared to seeding, however, supports the view that only targeting the dispersal and environmental filters in parallel would improve restoration outcome.     

东北地区6所高校校园种子植物属级相似性分析

校园植物能反映校园植物多样性水平。为了研究东北地区高校校园种子植物属组成的相似性,本研究以沈阳农业大学等6所位于东北地区的高校中的校园种子植物为研究对象,并选取北方极为常见的两个科：菊科（Asteraceae）和蔷薇科（Rosaceae）,研究其属组成的差异性与相似性。结果表明,6所高校校园种子植物属间相似性较高。菊科属的组成在各高校间差异性显著,蔷薇科属的组成在各高校相似性高。校园植物种类的多样性与差异性与校园面积、校园所处位置相关。本研究旨在为东北乃至其他地区高校校园生物多样性的进一步研究和其他高校校园植物调查提供基础。     

Comparative analysis of the dynamics of human postural control during fixation and pursuit of a visual target

The properties of the system maintaining the upright posture were compared in different states of the oculomotor system: during target fixation and horizontal fast and slow pursuit (0.1 and 0.01 Hz), recording the trajectories of the center of pressure in the frontal and the sagittal planes. Methods of nonlinear analysis were applied to assess the similarity in pairwise comparisons. The overall similarity of the frontal plane dynamics proved to be higher than that of the sagittal plane dynamics. However, differences were revealed in fast pursuit versus slow pursuit or fixation in the frontal but not in the sagittal plane. Such differences may reflect the different inertia of the oculomotor and the balance control systems. In general, the results are consistent with the current notions on the two orthogonal subsystems of postural control.     

Sequence similarity-driven proteomics in organisms with unknown genomes by LC-MS/MS and automated de novo sequencing

LC-MS/MS analysis on a linear ion trap LTQ mass spectrometer, combined with data processing, stringent, and sequence-similarity database searching tools, was employed in a layered manner to identify proteins in organisms with unsequenced genomes. Highly specific stringent searches (MASCOT) were applied as a first layer screen to identify either known (i.e. present in a database) proteins, or unknown proteins sharing identical peptides with related database sequences. Once the confidently matched spectra were removed, the remainder was filtered against a nonannotated library of background spectra that cleaned up the dataset from spectra of common protein and chemical contaminants. The rectified spectral dataset was further subjected to rapid batch de novo interpretation by PepNovo software, followed by the MS BLAST sequence-similarity search that used multiple redundant and partially accurate candidate peptide sequences. Importantly, a single dataset was acquired at the uncompromised sensitivity with no need of manual selection of MS/MS spectra for subsequent de novo interpretation. This approach enabled a completely automated identification of novel proteins that were, otherwise, missed by conventional database searches.     

贵州省野生苦苣苔科物种多样性与地理分布（附录）

该研究在建立贵州省野生苦苣苔科植物名录和地理分布数据库的基础上,对其物种多样性及地理分布格局进行研究。通过文献资料结合实地调查,从物种组成、特有性、水平分布、垂直分布和相似性等方面进行分析,并采用筛除算法确定贵州苦苣苔科植物分布的热点地区。结果表明:(1)贵州省苦苣苔科植物共计2族8亚族28属153种(含种下等级),分布在75个县级行政区,有128/45个中国/贵州特有种,垂直分布以900~1300 m海拔段最为丰富。(2)通过计算省级相似性系数,发现贵州与广西的相似程度最高,最后筛选得到10个热点县,共代表了75%的苦苣苔科植物。(3)贵州省为典型的喀斯特高原山地,苦苣苔科植物种类丰富,尤其是广义马铃苣苔属、广义报春苣苔属、广义石山苣苔属和蛛毛苣苔属等,有着较高的物种多样性和区域特有性。该研究可以为贵州省苦苣苔科植物资源保护和持续利用提供理论参考。     

A novel identification approach for discovery of 5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A antagonists: combination of 2D/3D similarity screening,molecular docking and molecular dynamics

5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A antagonists are potential targets for treatment of various cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disorders. In this study, we have developed and performed a unique screening pipeline for filtering ZINC database compounds on the basis of similarities to known antagonists to determine novel small molecule antagonists of 5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A. The screening pipeline is based on 2D similarity, 3D dissimilarity and a combination of 2D/3D similarity. The shortlisted compounds were docked to a 5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A homology-based model, and complexes with low binding energies (287 complexes) were selected for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a lipid bilayer. The MD simulations of the shortlisted compounds in complex with 5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A confirmed the stability of the complexes and revealed novel interaction insights. The receptor residues S239, N343, S242, S159, Y370 and D155 predominantly participate in hydrogen bonding. π–π stacking is observed in F339, F340, F234, W151 and W336, whereas hydrophobic interactions are observed amongst V156, F339, F234, V362, V366, F340, V235, I152 and W151. The known and potential antagonists shortlisted by us have similar overlapping molecular interaction patterns. The 287 potential 5-HydroxyTriptamine 2A antagonists may be experimentally verified.