Molecular phylogenetics of Linaceae with complete generic sampling and data from two plastid genes

The phylogeny of Linaceae is examined, with sampling from the 13 commonly recognized genera of the family and sequence data from the plastid genes matK and rbcL. Representatives of 24 additional families of the order Malpighiales are included in the analyses, with members of Celastrales, Fabales, Fagales, Oxalidales and Rosales used as outgroups. Linaceae and both subfamilies, the temperate Linoideae and the tropical Hugonioideae, are found to be monophyletic in likelihood‐ and parsimony‐based analyses, although the monophyly of Hugonioideae is not well supported. Average divergence time estimates using rbcL indicate that the subfamilies diverged from each other during the Palaeocene, approximately 60 million years ago. No sister group to Linaceae is consistently identified in these analyses, and relationships among families of Malpighiales are not well resolved. In accord with previous estimates of Linoideae phylogeny, Linum is shown to be nonmonophyletic, with several segregate genera nested within it, but the relationships of the south‐east Asian genera, Anisadenia, Reinwardtia and Tirpitzia, remain uncertain. In Hugonioideae, Indorouchera and Philbornea are found to be closely related to members of Hugonia section Durandea. Relationships of the neotropical genera Hebepetalum and Roucheria to the palaeotropical hugonioids are not consistently resolved. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 165 , 64–83.     

Phylogenetic relationships and speciation patterns in an African savanna dwelling bird genus (Myrmecocichla)

Phylogenetic relationships among eight of nine Myrmecocichla chat species were inferred from DNA data. Bayesian posterior probabilities and maximum‐likelihood bootstrap percentages strongly supported most branches in the phylogeny. Based on these results, Myrmecocichla, as currently defined, is not monophyletic. The results indicated that Myrmecocichla albifrons is part of a Cercomela + Oenanthe clade, whereas Oenanthe monticola is shown to be a Myrmecocichla. In addition, Myrmecocichla arnotti is shown to be polyphyletic. Phylogenetic analyses support three Southern versus Eastern or Northern speciation events. The dating of these speciation events suggests that they correspond to periods when the Afrotropical forests were expanded to coastal Kenya, 3–5 Mya. This forest expansion thus served as a vicariant driver of speciation in the genus, a result consistent with speciation patterns in other arid‐adapted African bird genera. Our haplotype analysis within one of the most widespread and habitat diverse Myrmecocichla species (formicivora, a southern African endemic) showed little genetic variation. Along with speciation patterns shown for Myrmecocichla and other avian genera, this lack of standing variation would appear to support large, inter‐regional drivers of speciation as having the largest effect on the diversification of arid‐adapted Africa bird species, which is in stark contrast to other vertebrate lineages whose genetic structure often shows strong intra‐regional effects. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 106 , 180–190.     

The biogeography of the austral, subalpine genus Ourisia (Plantaginaceae) based on molecular phylogenetic evidence: South American origin and dispersal to New Zealand and Tasmania

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of 26 of the 28 species of Ourisia , including eight of ten subspecies and two purported natural hybrids, are presented and used to examine the biogeography of the genus, which is distributed in subalpine to alpine habitats of South America, New Zealand and Tasmania. Gondwanan vicariance, often cited as the cause of this classic austral biogeographical pattern, was rejected by parametric bootstrapping of our combined dataset. Alternatively, various lines of evidence are presented in favour of a South American origin of Ourisia and subsequent dispersal to Australasia. Specifically, the genus likely arose in the Andes of central Chile and spread to southern Chile and Argentina, to the north-central Andes, and finally to Tasmania and New Zealand. The ancestor of the New Zealand species probably first arrived on the South Island, where the New Zealand species of Ourisia are most diverse, and migrated to the North and Stewart Islands. Because the Tasmanian and New Zealand species are sister to one another, the direction of dispersal between these two areas is equivocal. These results agree with other molecular phylogenetic studies that show that past dispersal between southern hemisphere continents has played an important role in the evolutionary history of many high-elevation austral plants. Our data also show that within South America, many of the geographical barriers (with the exception of the Atacama Desert) that have played a role in the evolution of other plant groups have not affected Ourisia species. Within New Zealand, the phylogeny and biogeography of species of Ourisia coincide with the geological history of the country and patterns of other alpine plants. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 87 , 479–513.     

A relationship between leaf structure and growth potential in apple

The number of palisade mesophyll cells per unit area leaf lamina was related to the growth potential of apple rootstocks covering a wide range of vigour. The number of these cells per unit leaf surface depends on cell diameter, the number of layers of palisade, and the amount of intercellular airspace. In composite, grafted trees rootstock influence was observed on the leaf structure of scions of low, or intermediate, growth potential.     

The Influence of certain simple Nitrogenous Compounds on Growth and Sporulation of Chaetomium globosum

Chaetomium globosum grows vigorously on media containing, assource of nitrogen, ammonium pyruvate, lactate, succinate ortartrate, or urea. Most common amino-acids, except lysine, permitgrowth to varying degrees. The carbon of those compounds whichsustain growth is also utilized by C. globosum, but usuallyonly when glucose is also available. Sporulation is vigorouson media containing ammonium pyruvate or lactate, -alanine oraspartic acid; less so on other amino-acids, and very weak onammonium tartrate. Vigour of fruiting was apparently connectedwith the presence of organic phosphates in the media, and itis suggested that the favourable influence of pyruvate, lactate,and -alanine is due to their ready transformation into 3-phosphoglycericacid; this transformation has been demonstrated for -alanineby the use of the ¹⁴C-labelled compound.     

The Measurement and Prediction of Organ Growth in a Uniculm Barley

Measurements of leaf areas, net rates of photosynthesis, patternsof assimilate translocation, and of some aspects of respirationwere made at leaf-increment intervals during the expansion ofleaves 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 on the single axis of a uniculm barley(Kindred Uniculm 97) grown in controlled environments. Thesedata were used as the primary inputs in a computer programmedeveloped to simulate the carbon metabolism and consequent weightchanges of the organs in the single-axis barley plant. The totalweight of plant tissue increased threefold between the expansionof the fifth and ninth leaves; during this period the simulationmodel generally predicted the daily growth increments to within10 per cent of the observed values. The predictions of dailygrowth increments in new leaf, stem, and root were less accurate.The simulation indicated that the proportion of photosyntheticproducts incorporated in new growth at the meristems declinedfrom some 54 per cent of the assimilate at the fifth leaf stageto 42–3 per cent at the ninth leaf stage. This declinein the efficiency of conversion of photosynthetic products appearedto be the result of an increase in maintenance respiration,which in turn stemmed from an approximately linear increasein total tissue weight; the proportion of photosynthetic productslost in the respiration associated with synthetic processesremained approximately constant throughout the growth period.