Is vegetation in equilibrium with climate? How to interpret late-Quaternary pollen data

Current methods for estimating past climatic patterns from pollen data require that the vegetation be in dynamic equilibrium with the climate. Because climate varies continuously on all time scales, judgement about equilibrium conditions must be made separately for each frequency band (i.e. time scale) of climatic change. For equilibrium conditions to exist between vegetation and climatic changes at a particular time scale, the climatic response time of the vegetation must be small compared to the time scale of climatic variation to which it is responding. The time required for vegetation to respond completely to climatic forcing at a time scale of 10⁴ yr is still unknown, but records of the vegetational response to climatic events of 500-to 1000-yr duration provide evidence for relatively short response times. Independent estimates for the possible patterns and timing of late-Quaternary climate changes suggest that much of the vegetational evidence previously interpreted as resulting from disequilibrium conditions can instead be interpreted as resulting from the individualistic response of plant taxa to the different regional patterns of temperature and precipitation change. The differences among taxa in their response to climate can lead a) to rates and direction of plant-population movements that differ among taxa and b) to fossil assemblages that differ from any modern assemblage. An example of late-Holocene vegetational change in southern Quebec illustrates how separate changes in summer and winter climates may explain the simultaneous expansion of spruce (Picea) populations southward and beech (Fagus) populations northward.     

Vegetation responses to past climatic variation

Vegetation responses to climatic change can be studied retrospectively by utilizing the Quaternary fossil record. There has been controversy over the extent to which major changes in vegetation patterns at the continental scale lag behind the climatic changes that drive them, and to what extent vegetation can ever be said to be in equilibrium with climate. The equilibrium question has no single answer. The predominant mode of vegetation response to climatic change depends on the space and time frame and resolution of the data set in which the response is observed.Vegetation (as observed on particular space and time scales) can be in dynamic equilibrium with climate if its response time is sufficiently fast in relation to the rate of climatic change to which it is observed to be responding. Several processes can be involved in the response: successional, migrational, edaphic, and evolutionary. Successional response times can be deduced from forest succession models. The other processes are less well understood and different ideas exist concerning their rates. According to one hypothesis, migrational lags caused delays of thousands of years in the postglacial dynamics of forest composition. The alternative hypothesis explains these changes as dynamic equilibrium responses to changes in climatic seasonality and climatic anomaly patterns. Neither hypothesis need be universally true; gradient analysis and forest succession models are among the techniques that can be used in inferential tests of these hypotheses for particular space-time regions.Dynamic equilibrium may often be a reasonable approximation for the responses of the broadest continental-scale forest patterns to orbitally induced climatic changes. But as spatial and temporal frames of observation are diminished and resolution increased, biotic processes must eventually come to dominate. At sufficiently fine scales the main observable phenomena are successional responses to natural disturbance events. The late-Quaternary record of vegetation change allows a choice of observation scales and thus provides a continuum of possibilities for study, ranging from long-term dynamic bioclimatology to more conventional vegetation dynamics.I thank Margaret Davis, Honor Prentice, Jim Ritchie, Al Solomon, Geoff Spaulding and Tom Webb for their reviews of earlier drafts. Research supported by a US Department of Energy, Carbon Dioxide Research Division, grant to Brown University and a Swedish Natural Science Research Council grant to the project SlsSimulation of Natural Forest Dynamics.I thank Margaret Davis, Honor Prentice, Jim Ritchie, Al Solomon, Geoff Spaulding and Tom Webb for their reviews of earlier drafts. Research supported by a US Department of Energy, Carbon Dioxide Research Division, grant to Brown University and a Swedish Natural Science Research Council grant to the project SlsSimulation of Natural Forest Dynamics.     

Lens cell-to-cel channel protein: II. Conformational change in the presence of calmodulin

Summary Lens fibers are coupled by communicating junctions, clusters of cell-to-cell channels composed of a 28-kD intrinsic membrane protein (MIP26). Evidence suggests that these and other cell-to-cell channels may close as a result of protein conformational change induced by activated calmodulin. To test the validity of this hypothesis, we have measured the intrinsic fluorescence emission and far-ultraviolet circular dichroism of the isolated components MIP26, calmodulin, and the MIP26-calmodulin complex, both in the absence and presence of Ca⁺⁺, an uncoupling agent. MIP26 shows no change in either, fluorescence emission (primarily tryptophan and a measure of aromatic constitutivity) or in its circular dichroism spectrum. Calmodulin exhibits a 32% increase in fluorescence emission intensity with constant emission wavelength, entirely tyrosine, and a 44% increase in -helicity, changes previously described. The MIP26-calmodulin complex, on the other hand, displays fluorescence emission and circular dichroism spectra which are slightly different from the sum of the two single components, but shows marked differences in both spectra upon Ca⁺⁺ addition. This indicates a change in conformation in one or both of the two components. Spectral changes include a 5-nm blue-shift, a 50% increase in tyrosine fluorescene emission, a 25% decrease in tryptophan fluorescence emission, and a 5% increase in the -helicity of the complex. These changes also occur about an isosbestic point and are fully reversible. These data provide additional evidence that activated calmodulin may modulate gating of cell-to-cell channels by affecting channel protein.     

The effect of Cd2+ on photosynthetic reactions of mesophyll protoplasts

Photosynthetic CO₂-fixation of mesophyll protoplasts of lambs lettuce [Valerianella locusta (L.) Betcke] was inhibited by short time exposure to Cd⁺. Inhibition was due to uptake of the metal ion into the protoplasts and increased with increasing Cd²⁺ concentrations and the time of preincubation. A 10 min pretreatment at 2 mM Cd²⁺ reduced CO₂-fixation by 40–60%. Inhibition of photosynthesis was independent of the light intensity to which the protoplasts were exposed. Measurement of the lightinduced electrochromic pigment absorption change at 518nm and chlorophyll fluorescence studies revealed that primary photochemical reactions associated with the thylakoid membranes were not affected by the metal ion. Also, light activation of the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39) was not inhibited by Cd²⁺. Under rate-limiting CO₂ concentrations, inhibition of CO₂-fixation was smaller than at V_max of CO₂ reduction indicating that the carboxylation reaction of the Calvin cycle is not susceptible to Cd²⁺. Cd²⁺ treatment of protoplasts significantly extended the lagphase of CO₂-supported O₂-evolution and partly inhibited light activation of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.13) and the ribulose-5-phosphate kinase (EC 2.7.1.19). Measurement of relative concentrations of [¹⁴C]-labeled Calvin cycle intermediates showed that Cd²⁺ caused a decrease in the 3-phosphoglycerate/triose phosphate ratio and an increase in the triose phosphate/ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate ratio. It is concluded that in protoplasts Cd²⁺ affects photosynthesis mainly at the level of dark reactions and that the site of inhibition may be localized in the regenerative phase of the Calvin cycle.     

Utilization of carbon and nitrogen sources and acid/alkali production by cowpea rhizobia

Summary Sixteen slow-growing strains of rhizobia (15 cowpea rhizobia and oneR. japonicum) were examined to determine the effects of carbon and nitrogen sources on acid/alkali production in culture media. We found that the pH changes of the medium were more influenced by nitrogen sources than carbon sources (with the exception of ribose). When ammonium sulphate was used as a nitrogen source, all the cowpea rhizobia strains produced acid. When yeast-extract was used as a nitrogen source, however, a heterogenous pattern for acid/alkali production was found. The majority of the strains produced alkali from nitrate, glutamate and urea irrespective of carbon sources and acid from ribose irrespective of nitrogen sources.     

Differences in hair density of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata fuscata) with locality and age

The hair density of free-ranging Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata fuscata) living in three different areas was investigated. The Japanese monkeys had thicker hair than other macaques. The hair density in the Japanese monkeys varied with locality: the northern monkeys had thicker hair than the southern ones. The density did not vary markedly with age up to 3 years of age, but then decreased gradually up to adult age (≧7 years old). The remarkable growth of the trunk suggested that the total number of hairs increased with age, especially during the period as a juvenile.     

元江干热河谷山地五百年来植被变迁探讨

元江河谷是云南省最干热地区之一,在海拔800—900米以下的山地上广泛分布着稀树灌草丛。根据《元江府志》(1714年编纂)、《元江州志》(1826年编纂)、《元江志稿》(1922年编篡)及对现存植被的考察,本文探讨了元江干热河谷山地五百年来植被的变迁。 元江县森林复盖率的减少与人口的增加有密切关系,十七世纪中期以前,森林复盖率在75％以上,十八、十九世纪时为70％左右,1958年为61.5％,1975年为27.3％,至1982年则为19.3％。研究表明,在十九世纪以前,这个地区分布的主要植被是热带季雨林,甚而热带季节雨林,以后热带稀树灌草丛则迅速发展。植被的历史变化与土壤流失密切相关。植物群落的演变是由以乔木树种为优势演变为以灌木种类为优势,再演变为以多年生草木植物为优势,而最后则成为裸地。本文也讨论了这个地区植被恢复的方法。     

Functional groups and quaternary structure of chicken liver xanthine dehydrogenase

Xanthine dehydrogenase from chicken liver is a dimeric enzyme, each hemimolecule containing one FAD and two Fe/S groups. Determination of sulfhydryl groups with 5,5-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) andp-hydroxymercuribenzoic acid (PMB) showed a variable number of sulfhydryl groups depending onpH, ionic strength, and nature of the reaction medium and buffer. The number of disulfide bonds was determined with DTNB and reducing conditions. Amino groups were determined with 2,4,6,-trinitrobencensulfonic acid (TNBS). At constant temperature andpH the reaction of DTNB and TNBS with native xanthine dehydrogenase showed an exponential dependence on time. From the obtained parameters the number of available sulfhydryl and amino groups at infinite concentration of enzyme and the rate constant of the equation were determined. The absorption spectrum of the enzyme changed with time when a chaotropic agent (1 M sodium nitrate) was added to the medium. This difference was detected by measuring the absorbance in the range 450–550 nm. The absorption spectrum (between 350 and 600 nm) also changed when a denaturating agent (sodium dodecyl sulfate) was added. This modification increased with time and depended on the medium.     

颈动脉窦内压的变化速率对反射性降压效应的影响

在成年狗身上制备右侧孤离颈动脉窦,借助灌流装置用饱和氧的任氏液对其进行灌流。灌流压为搏动性的。通过改变每搏泵出量、灌流管道的阻力和弹性来调节灌流压及其变化速率。用多导生理记录仪同步记录股动脉血压、窦内灌流压及其变化速率。本文主要观察窦内压的变化速率对降压反射的影响。在8只狗身上共进行了93次实验。结果表明,在窦内压相同的情况下,灌流压的上升速率愈快,降压效应愈明显,而其下降速率则无显著作用。已有资料证明搏动性窦内压所引起的降压效应较非搏动性压力更为明显。由此可见,狗的颈动脉窦压力感受器不仅对搏动性压力而且对其上升的变化速率也很敏感。     

Nonrandomness of point mutation as reflected in nucleotide substitutions in pseudogenes and its evolutionary implications

Summary We have obtained a revised estimate of the pattern of point mutation by considering more pseudogene sequences. Compared with our previous estimate, it agrees better with expectations based on the double-strand structure of DNA. The revised pattern, like the previous one, indicates that mutation occurs nonrandomly among the four nucleotides. In particular, the proportion of transitional mutations (59%) is almost twice as high as the value (33%) expected under random mutation. The same high proportion of transitions is observed in synonymous substitutions in genes. The proportion of transitional changes observed among electrophoretic variants of human hemoglobin is about the same as that predicted by the revised pattern of mutation. We also show that nonrandom mutation increases, by about 15%, the proportion of synonymous mutations due to single-nucleotide changes in the codon table, and increases, from 10% to 50%, the rate of synonymous mutation in the seven genes studied. However, nonrandom mutation reduces (by about 10%) the proportion of polar changes among nonsynonymous mutations in a gene. As far as single-nucleotide changes (in the codon table) are concerned, nonrandom mutation only slightly favors relatively conservative amino acid interchanges, and has virtually no effect on the proportions of radical changes and nonsense mutations.