A catalog of bird specimens associated with Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and potential type material in the natural history collection in Wiesbaden

Bird specimens collected by 19^th century explorer and ornithologist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied form one of the foundation collections of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. However, parts of his collection remained in Germany and came to the Museum Wiesbaden. Since Wied described numerous new species without designating types, some of these specimens might be type material. Here we present a catalog of the 30 Wiesbaden specimens associated with him and discuss their potential type status. We conclude that 17 individuals in 11 species are potential type specimens that should be considered in future taxonomic work.     

Pollen-based biome reconstruction for southern Europe and Africa 18,000 yr bp

Pollen data from 18,000 ¹⁴C yr bp were compiled in order to reconstruct biome distributions at the last glacial maximum in southern Europe and Africa. Biome reconstructions were made using the objective biomization method applied to pollen counts using a complete list of dryland taxa wherever possible. Consistent and major differences from present‐day biomes are shown. Forest and xerophytic woods/scrub were replaced by steppe, both in the Mediterranean region and in southern Africa, except in south‐western Cape Province where fynbos (xerophytic scrub) persisted. Sites in the tropical highlands, characterized today by evergreen forest, were dominated by steppe and/or xerophytic vegetation (cf. today’s Ericaceous belt and Afroalpine grassland) at the last glacial maximum. Available data from the tropical lowlands are sparse but suggest that the modern tropical rain forest was largely replaced by tropical seasonal forest while the modern seasonal or dry forests were encroached on by savanna or steppe. Montane forest elements descended to lower elevations than today.     

Contributions to the sociology and chorology of contrasting plant communities in the southern part of the ‘Wienerwald’ (Austria)

Five plant communities contrasting in successional status and human impact from the southern part of the ‘Wienerwald’ (Austria) are analyzed using vegetation relevés, spectra of area types and a newly proposed disjunction quotient. A climax community (Asperulo-Fagetum), a subclimax community (Querco-Carpinetum s.l.), an anthropogenous substitute community (Mesobromion) and two natural, non-climax permanent communities (Euphorbio saxatilis-Pinetum nigrae and Fumano-Stipetum eriocaulis) are recognized. The disjunction quotient is defined as the number of partial (discontinous) areas divided by the size of the total area of distribution of a species. In particular, the average disjunction quotients of the species in the first two communities reflect relatively table environments only slightly influenced by man, with many ancient, stable taxa. These communities are characterized by species with well-delimited, stable distribution areas. The species in the Mesobromion community have very low average disjunction quotients as its component species are widely and continuously distributed and are often promoted by man. In contrast to these communities, the species linked to the natural permanent, non-climax communities of extreme habitats, have high distribution quotients i.e. small, disconinuous areas; this illustrates the relic character of these plant communities and of the eastern edge of the Alps is a whole. Using the highly variable disjunction quotient of all species and communities examined, the concepts of climax and permanent communities (of different origin) are discussed with regard to European conditions.     

Bayesian Nonparametric Modeling for Comparison of Single-Neuron Firing Intensities

Summary .  We propose a fully inferential model-based approach to the problem of comparing the firing patterns of a neuron recorded under two distinct experimental conditions. The methodology is based on nonhomogeneous Poisson process models for the firing times of each condition with flexible nonparametric mixture prior models for the corresponding intensity functions. We demonstrate posterior inferences from a global analysis, which may be used to compare the two conditions over the entire experimental time window, as well as from a pointwise analysis at selected time points to detect local deviations of firing patterns from one condition to another. We apply our method on two neurons recorded from the primary motor cortex area of a monkey's brain while performing a sequence of reaching tasks.     

Large Alterations in Ganglioside and Neutral Glycosphingolipid Patterns in Brains from Cases with Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis/Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Lipidosis

Lipid composition was studied on cerebral tissue from nine children who had died of a progressive encephalopathy called the infantile form of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL) or polyunsaturated fatty acid lipidosis (PFAL). In the terminal stage of the disease, the concentrations of all lipid classes were found to be significantly reduced in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex and white matter. The concentration of gangliosides of the cerebral cortex was 15% and that of cerebrosides (galactosylceramide) in white matter 0.2-5% of the normal values for the children's ages. The reduction of gangliosides mainly affected those of the gangliotetraose series, particularly GD1a. The fatty acids of the linolenic acid series were strongly reduced in ethanolamine and serine phosphoglycerides. A very large increase up to 100-fold of oligoglycosphingolipids of the globo series and two fucose-containing lipids of the neolacto series was found in the forebrain of the three advanced cases examined. The brain tissue also contained very high concentrations of mono-, di-, and trisialogangliosides of the lacto and neolacto series, gangliosides with type 1 chain dominating. The structures of the gangliosides were tentatively identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and monoclonal antibodies with carefully determined epitope specificity. The gangliosides and neutral glycosphingolipids had very similar fatty acid composition, consisting of about 40% stearic acid and 40% C24-acids.     

Constancy of ascending projections in the metamorphosing brain of the meal-beetle Tenebrio molitor L. (Insecta: Coleoptera)

Summary The fate of ascending projections of thoracic interneurons in the metamorphosing brain of Tenebrio molitor is described. Persistent brain neurons were identified and their fate is described during metamorphosis. The projection sites of ascending elements are invariable throughout metamorphosis both in quantitative and in qualitative terms. Some of these ascending neurons are serotonin-immunoreactive and this set of neurons maintains a constant projection site within the metamorphosing brain. The alterations in the projection sites of these and other ascending neurons in the ventral nerve cord were analysed experimentally. The central projection sites of these persistent ascending neurons are not important for the maintenance of their nerve cord projections throughout metamorphosis. Experimental deletion of ascending neurons which project into the suboesophageal ganglion varies the shape of persistent central neurons.     

A stochastic model for the membrane potential of a stimulated neuron

We present a simple model describing the transition between the prefiring, firing and postfiring phases of a single neuron in a large neural net. Using typical values for the physiological parameters that enter the model, we find average interspike times that are close to those reported in experimental measurements.     

Distribution of Thiamine, Thiamine Phosphates, and Thiamine Metabolizing Enzymes in Neuronal and Glial Cell Enriched Fractions of Rat Brain

The distribution of thiamine, thiamine phosphoesters, and the thiamine pyrophosphate synthetizing [thiamine-pyrophosphokinase (TPKase)] as well as hydrolyzing [thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase) and thiamine monophosphatase (TMPase)] enzymes was determined in neuronal and glial enriched fractions prepared from rat brain. Nucleoside diphosphatases [inosine diphosphatase (IDPase) and uridine diphosphatase (UDPase)] and nucleoside monophosphatases [uridine monophosphatase (UMPase) and inosine monophosphatase (IMPase)] were also determined. Thiamine and thiamine mono- and pyrophosphate were present in neuronal enriched fractions at concentrations 2.8, 3.6, and 4.6 times higher than in glial fractions. TMPase was found only in glial enriched fractions, whereas the levels of TPKase, UMPase, IMPase, IDPase, UDPase, and TPPase were 2.0-, 2.2-, 1.3-, 2.8-, 3.7-, and 20.8-fold higher in neuronal than in glial fractions.