Sex influence on recombination frequency in Secale cereale L.

The variation in recombination frequency (rf) is important to plant breeders since their major objective is to obtain favorable recombinants of linked genes. One source of variation in rf is sex. Sex differences for recombination frequencies were studied in four of the seven chromosomes of Secale cereale L. cv Ailés using isozyme and storage protein loci and were determined on the basis of reciprocal crosses between heterozygous plants of cv. Ailés and homozygous plants of the inbred line Riodeva. The differences were found to be strongly segmentspecific. In some cases the level of crossing-over in male and female meiosis was about the same (between Pgm1 and Ndh1 loci on chromosome arm 4RS). However, for most of the chromosome segments in 1R, 3RL and 6RL the male rf was significantly higher than the female rf. Different hypotheses about the mechanisms of plant sex differences for recombination are discussed.     

Electromyographic correlates of the transition from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism in treadmill running

This study analysed the changes in electromyographic (EMG) activity of the vastus lateralis, biceps femoris and gastrocnemius muscles during incremental treadmill running. The changes in EMG were related to the lactate and ventilatory thresholds. Ten trained subjects participated in the study. Minute ventilation, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide expired and the fraction of oxygen in the expired gas were recorded continuously. Venous blood samples were collected at each exercise intensity and analysed for lactate concentration. The EMG were recorded at the end of each exercise intensity using surface electrodes. The EMG were quantified through integration (iEMG) and by calculating the mean power frequency (MPF). The iEMG measurements were characterized by a breakpoint in the vastus lateralis and/or gastrocnemius muscles in eight of the subjects tested. However, the results indicated that blood lactate concentrations had already begun to increase in a nonlinear fashion before the iEMG breakpoint had been surpassed. Consequently, the occurence of the lactate threshold cannot be attributed solely to the change in motor unit recruitment or rate coding patterns demonstrated by the iEMG breakpoint. The ventilatory threshold was shown to be a far more reliable and convenient noninvasive predictor of the lactate threshold in comparison with EMG techniques. In conclusion, the EMG measurements used in this study (i.e. iEMG and MPF) were not considered to be viable noninvasive determinants of the aerobic-anaerobic transition phase in treadmill running.     

Directional mutation pressure,mutator mutations,and dynamics of molecular evolution

Using a general form of the directional mutation theory, this paper analyzes the effect of mutations in mutator genes on the G + C content of DNA, the frequency of substitution mutations, and evolutionary changes (cumulative mutations) under various degrees of selective constraints. Directional mutation theory predicts that when the mutational bias between A/T and G/C nucleotide pairs is equilibrated with the base composition of a neutral set of DNA nucleotides, the mutation frequency per gene will be much lower than the frequency immediately after the mutator mutation takes place. This prediction explains the wide variation of the DNA G + C content among unicellular organisms and possibly also the wide intragenomic heterogeneity of third codon positions for the genes of multicellular eukaryotes. The present analyses lead to several predictions that are not consistent with a number of the frequently held assumptions in the field of molecular evolution, including belief in a constant rate of evolution, symmetric branching of phylogenetic trees, the generality of higher mutation frequency for neutral sets of nucleotides, the notion that mutator mutations are generally deleterious because of their high mutation rates, and teleological explanations of DNA base composition. Presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop onGenome Organization and Evolution, Spetsai, Greece, 16–22 September 1992     

Two-phase species–time relationships in North American land birds

The species–time relationship (STR) is a macroecological pattern describing the increase in the observed species richness with the length of time censused. Understanding STRs is important for understanding the ecological processes underlying temporal turnover and species richness. However, accurate characterization of the STR has been hampered by the influence of sampling. I analysed STRs for 521 breeding bird survey communities. I used a model of sampling effects to demonstrate that the increase in richness was not due exclusively to sampling. I estimated the time scale at which ecological processes became dominant over sampling effects using a two‐phase model combining a sampling phase and either a power function or logarithmic ecological phase. These two‐phase models performed significantly better than sampling alone and better than simple power and logarithmic functions. Most community dynamics were dominated by ecological processes over scales <5 years. This technique provides an example of a rigorous, quantitative approach to separating sampling from ecological processes.     

Marginality: scale determined processes and the conservation of the British butterfly fauna

Marginality describes the impact that environmental and landscape factors have in decreasing the probability of population survival and persistence. It may be imposed by extreme conditions or resource scarcity. Typically, it affects populations at the range edge but can also affect populations within the core of ranges, and produces a number of symptoms: characteristically demographic, but also morphological, physiological, biochemical and genetic. In this paper, the causes and effects of marginality on British butterflies are compared in edge and centre of range populations. Issues of temporal and spatial scales are examined, as is the relevance of marginality to the conservation of single and multiple species populations. The recognition of marginality questions the appropriateness of many so-called spatially realistic models of populations and highlights areas of research which have hitherto been ignored. Projected changes in land use and climate have implications for marginality in core and peripheral populations; in view of this, current scales of mapping are found to be unsuitable for monitoring fragmentation and the increasing marginalization of butterfly species in the British landscape.     

Stomatal responses to increased CO2: implications from the plant to the global scale

Increased atmospheric CO₂ often but not always leads to large decreases in leaf conductance. Decreased leaf conductance has important implications for a number of components of CO₂ responses, from the plant to the global scale. All of the factors that are sensitive to a change in soil moisture, either amount or timing, may be affected by increased CO₂. The list of potentially sensitive processes includes soil evaporation, run-off, decomposition, and physiological adjustments of plants, as well as factors such as canopy development and the composition of the plant and microbial communities. Experimental evidence concerning ecosystem-scale consequences of the effects of CO₂ on water use is only beginning to accumulate, but the initial indication is that, in water-limited areas, the effects of CO₂-induced changes in leaf conductance are comparable in importance to those of CO,₂-induced changes in photosynthesis. Above the leaf scale, a number of processes interact to modulate the response of canopy or regional evapotran-spiration to increased CO₂. While some components of these processes tend to amplify the sensitivity of evapo-transpiration to altered leaf conductance, the most likely overall pattern is one in which the responses of canopy and regional evapotranspiration are substantially smaller than the responses of canopy conductance. The effects of increased CO₂ on canopy evapotranspiration are likely to be smallest in aerodynamically smooth canopies with high leaf conductances. Under these circumstances, which are largely restricted to agriculture, decreases in evapotranspiration may be only one-fourth as large as decreases in canopy conductance. Decreased canopy conductances over large regions may lead to altered climate, including increased temperature and decreased precipitation. The simulation experiments to date predict small effects globally, but these could be important regionally, especially in combination with radiative (greenhouse) effects of increased CO₂.     

Geographical and latitudinal variation in growth patterns and adult body size of Swedish moose (Alces alces)

We examined the geographical pattern in growth and adult body size among 14 populations of Swedish moose (Alces alces) using data from 4,294 moose (1.5 years old) killed during the hunting season in 1989–1992. In both sexes, adult body mass was significantly positively correlated with latitude. Moose in northern populations had a 15–20% larger adult body mass than moose in the south. Juvenile body mass was correlated with neither latitude nor adult body mass. Thus, variation in time (years) and rate of body growth after the juvenile stage were responsible for most of the variation in adult body mass among populations. Moose in northern populations grew for approximately 2 more years of life than southern moose. In contrast to adult body mass, skeletal size (measured as jawbone length) was not correlated with latitude, suggesting that variation in adult body mass was primarily due to differences in fat reserves. Discrimination between population characteristics, such as moose density, climate, and the amount of browse available to moose, showed climatic harshness to be the most important variable explaining geographical variation in body mass among populations. The results support the notion that in mammals body size increases with latitude in accordance with Bergmann's rule. We conclude that (1) variation in patterns of growth after the juvenile stage is the main cause of the latitudinal trend in adult body size in moose, and (2) climatic conditions are a more important factor than population density and availability of food in explaining geographical variation in growth patterns and adult body mass between populations of Swedish moose.     

Recolonization of estuarine organisms: effects of microcosm size and pesticides

Two six-week laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of pesticides and microcosm size on benthic estuarine macroinvertebrate recolonization. Sediments fortified with the pesticides (fenvalerate: controls, 5 (low) and 50 μg g⁻¹ wet sediment (high); endosulfan: controls, 1 (low) and 10 μg g⁻¹ wet sediment (high)) were fine-grained, organically rich (approximately 3.5% organic carbon and 22% dry weight) material. Relative dominance of the four most abundant taxa in both experiments was consistent among treatments with few exceptions. The amphipod,Corophium acherusicum, dominated abundance in both experiments. In the fenvalerate experiment, large trays (400 cm²) contained significantly (p<0.05) more total number of taxa (TNT) than small microcosms (144 cm²) but tray size was not significantly related to total number of organisms (TNO). When size was adjusted to a common unit area, small trays contained significantly more TNO than large containers. Adjusted abundance of small trays was 2.5 times that of large containers; a ratio close to that of microcosm sizes (i.e., 2.8). This result suggests that larval supply may have been inadequate to ‘aturate’ the available sediment in large containers. Fenvalerate significantly reduced abundance in the high treatment compared to both controls and low treatment but low treatment was not significantly different from controls. The amphipod,Corophium acherusicum, accounted for most of the decrease in abundance in response to fenvalerate. The holothruroid,Leptosynpta sp. and the polychaete,Mediomastus ambiseta, increased in abundance significantly with increased concentration of fenvalerate. Combined effects of actual microcosm size and concentration of endosulfan were not significant for TNO or TNT. As in the fenvalerate experiment, adjusted abundance of small microcosms was 2.6 times that of large trays which approximated the ratio of unit area between microcosm sizes. Abundance of a few taxa responded significantly to adjusted and unadjusted unit area. Abundance of the tunicate,Molgula manhattensis, increased significantly with increased concentration of endosulfan. Abundance was affected by sample location (e.g., interiorvs exterior cores) within microcosms. Abundance adjusted to unit area resulted in significantly greater TNO in externalvs internal cores. This has importance for sequential sub-sampling of microcosms to determine temporal dynamics. Statistically significant effects were measured in benthic community structure associated with microcosm size; however, the magnitude was relatively small. There appears to be no major biological reason to select one microcosm size over the other for screening for contaminant effects. Where feasible, the small trays provide savings in sample preparation and analysis, allow more replicates where laboratory space is limiting and generate less chemical waste. These benefits may be off-set by less ‘artifacts’ associated with edge effects of larger microcosms and the need for a larger mass of sediment to accommodate additional analytical requirements (e.g., thin vertical surficial samples to refine contaminant exposure at the sediment/water interface).