Promotion by phloroglucinol of micropropagation of Minuartia valentina, an endangered and endemic Spanish plant

Tissue culture techniques for the propagation and conservation of endemic or threatened plants can be used to complement the methods usually applied in ex situ conservation. Thus, Minuartia valentina (Caryophyllaceae), an endangered plant species endemic to the Valencia Community (Eastern Spain), was successfully regenerated through shoot proliferation from wild plants growing in their natural area. Nodal segments, 10~mm long, were cut from rametes of adult material, sterilised and established in vitro. Equally successful shoot multiplication was achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 80 mg l-1 phloroglucinol in combination with either 1 mg l-1 6-benzylaminopurine or 1 mg l-1 kinetin. Excised shoots were rooted in MS medium supplemented with an auxin (indole acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid, or napththalene acetic acid). Shoots rooted well (96–100%) within three weeks in all auxin treatments. However, the use of napththalene acetic acid was discarded because this auxin delayed root differentiation, and induced adventitious root malformation. Rooted plantlets were transferred to pots and 85% of them acclimatized successfully four weeks after transfer to greenhouse conditions, where they exhibited normal morphology and growth.     

Imprints of glacial history and current environment on correlations between endemic plant and invertebrate species richness

Aim We evaluate how closely diversity patterns of endemic species of vascular plants, beetles, butterflies, molluscs and spiders are correlated with each other, and to what extent similar environmental requirements or survival in common glacial refugia and comparable dispersal limitations account for their existing congruence. Location Austria. Methods We calculated pairwise correlations among species numbers of the five taxonomic groups in 1405 cells of a 3′ × 5′ raster (c. 35 km²) using the raw data as well as the residuals of regression models that accounted for: (1) environmental variables, (2) environmental variables and the occurrence of potential refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, or (3) environmental variables, refugia and spatial filters. Results Pairwise cross‐taxonomic group Spearman’s rank correlations in the raw data were significantly positive in most cases, but only moderate (0.3 < ρ < 0.5) to weak (ρ < 0.3) throughout. Correlations were closest between plants and beetles, plants and butterflies, and plants and snails, respectively, whereas the distribution of endemic spiders was largely uncorrelated with those of the other groups. Environmental variables explained only a moderate proportion of the variance in endemic richness patterns, and the response of individual groups to environmental gradients was only partly consistent. The inclusion of refugium locations and the spatial filters increased the goodness of model fit for all five taxonomic groups. Moreover, removing the effects of environmental conditions reduced congruence in endemic richness patterns to a lesser extent than did filtering the influence of refugium locations and spatial autocorrelation, except for spiders, which are probably the least dispersal‐limited of the five groups. Main conclusions The moderate to weak congruence of endemic richness patterns clearly limits the usefulness of a surrogacy approach for designating areas for the protection of regional endemics. On the other hand, our results suggest that dispersal limitations still shape the distributions of many endemic plant, snail, beetle and butterfly species, even at the regional scale; that is, survival in shared refugia and subsequent restricted spread retain a detectable signal in existing correlations. Concentrating conservation efforts on well‐known Pleistocene refugia hence appears to be a reasonable first step towards a strategy for protecting regional endemics of at least the less mobile invertebrate groups.     

Seed Germination Biology of the Narrowly Endemic Species Lesquerella stonensis (Brassicaceae)

Abstract Lesquerella stonensis (Brassicaceae) is an obligate winter annual endemic to a small portion of Rutherford County in the Central Basin of Tennessee, where it grows in disturbed habitats. This species forms a persistent seed bank, and seeds remain viable in the soil for at least 6 years. Seeds are dormant at maturity in May and are dispersed as soon as they ripen. Some of the seeds produced in the current year, as well as some of those in the persistent seed bank, afterripen during late spring and summer; others do not afterripen and thus remain dormant. Seeds require actual or simulated spring/summer temperatures to come out of dormancy. Germination occurs in September and October. Fully afterripened seeds germinate over a wide range of thermoperiods (15/6–35/20°C) and to a much higher percentage in light (14 h photoperiod) than in darkness. The optimum daily thermoperiod for germination was 30/15°C. Nondormant seeds that do not germinate in autumn are induced back into dormancy (secondary dormancy) by low temperatures (e.g., 5°C) during winter, and those that are dormant do not afterripen; thus seeds cannot germinate in spring. These seed dormancy/ germination characteristics of L. stonensis do not differ from those reported for some geographically widespread, weedy species of winter annuals and thus do not help account for the narrow endemism of this species.     

Mammal diversity and environment evolution during the Plio-Pleistocene in East Africa

Human evolution began in East Africa four million years ago, with a transition from an arboreal state to a more terrestrial one. This evolution seems to be correlated with a large environmental change in East Africa around 2.5 m.y. due to a major climatic change leading to drier and cooler conditions. Cenogram analysis (a graphical representation of community structure) can be used to reconstruct the vegetation cover at a regional scale, and to infer the changing climatic conditions. Using cenogram sequences of different sites along the Rift Valley, we were able to determine the regional ecological context in which mammals and hominids have evolved in East Africa during the last 3 million years. Between 3.5 and 2 m.y., during a general climatic change, successive faunas of South Tanzania reflect the progressive opening of their environment. In contrast around Lake Turkana a mosaic of isolated dry and wet habitats were present throughout this period. At this time, the Rift seems to have been spatially structured in several basins isolated from one other, and isolated faunas experienced separate speciation events (particularly with the appearance ofHomo genus). After 2 m.y., the disappearance of the isolating barriers on one hand, and a regional increase in aridity, on the other hand, led to more homogenous faunas arising throughout the region. Replacements of mammal species occurred (especiallyHomo erectus replacingHomo habilis) and several others mammal species, including australopithecines, disappeared during this same period.     

Islands: stability, diversity, conservation

Islands present both a diversity and a stability paradox. They are often highly species-poor but have considerable biological interest in terms of extraordinary endemic genera and taxonomically isolated groups. They appear to be stable, as in some cases these organisms have persisted for many millions of years, and having an oceanic climate, extreme climatic events may be comparatively rare. However, when subject to extrinsic (anthropogenic) disturbance they do not appear to be stable, but often suffer catastrophic ecological change. These apparent paradoxes are resolved when it is realized that all these features are consequences of the same island characteristics: biotic isolation and oceanicity. As a result of these two characteristics, far oceanic islands are quantitatively different from continental systems in the nature of their ecological processes, which appear to give rise to an extreme punctuated equilibrium model of evolutionary change. Endemics may be ancient relict endemics displaying prolonged stasis and persistence, or products of adaptive radiation representing rapid punctuational events. A process-based definition of a relict endemic (palaeoendemic) is one whose founding lineage (i.e. the original continental source taxon) has not left any descendents. A corollary of this definition is that the time of divergence between an endemic and its continental sister-group should predate the colonization of the island by the now endemic lineage. An example is Dicksonia arborescens which has been on St Helena for at least 9 Myrs and no longer occurs in the likely source area of Africa. These relict endemics, frequent on islands, are important as the last remnants of tranches of biodiversity that have vanished elsewhere. Island conservation strategies require an integrated understanding of both sides of the diversity and stability paradox so that both island processes and island organisms can be conserved.     

长萼木通属——木通科一新属

缺瓣牛姆瓜Holboellia apetala Q．Xia,J．Z.Suen et Z．X．Peng在一系列特征上与牛姆瓜属Holboellia植物不同,不应隶属于该属,而代表了一个未被描述过的新属—长萼木通属。新属在茎、叶、果实和花的大部分特征上与木通属Akebia相似,但花萼特征又与野木瓜属Stauntonia接近,其系统位置介于这两个属之间,并偏于前者。     

Selenium status of patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy

The selenium (Se) contents in common cereals in endemic and nonendemic areas in Serbia are very low. Plasma Se levels of both patients and healthy subjects, were also low, reflecting low Se intakes. Patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) had significantly lower (p<0.05) plasma Se levels than healthy individuals, both from regions close to endemic areas, and from Belgrade. Mean plasma Se of BEN patients was slightly but insignificantly higher in samples taken immediately after dialysis than in those taken before, suggesting that very little of the Se present in plasma is dialyzable. Plasma SeGSH-Px activities before and after hemodialysis in both BEN and Nonendemic chronic renal failure (NCRF) patients were not significantly different, but BEN patients had lower enzyme activities than those with NCRF and healthy controls. In BEN patients, a significant correlation between plasma Se and SeGSH-Px activity was found. NCFR patients were with diagnoses: TBC of kidneys, chronic glomerulonephritis, chronic pyelonephritis, and polycystic kidneys.     

Distributional change and conservation on the Andean flank: a palaeoecological perspective

Aim To review the insights that palaeoecology can offer on the threat posed to Andean communities by global climate change. Location The geographical focus is the eastern flank of the tropical Andes, with particular reference to Peru. Method The article presents a synthetic review of the problem. Results Species‐rich communities of the eastern Andean flank are threatened both by development and climate change. If, as predicted, the cloudbase and frost line lifts 600 m elevation this century, there will be a substantial loss of cloud forest habitat. Palaeoecology provides insights on the location and nature of past ecotones, the continuity of niche availability, and estimates for rates and modes of migration. With further warming and drying of lower montane regions, upslope migration of species will be individualistic: a new equilibrium with the altered climate is unlikely to be attained. The zone of agriculture will move upslope faster than the migrating trees and so landscape conversion will negate the ability of some species to respond to the new conditions. Conservation of the lower reaches of modern cloud forest is advocated as a means to limit this foreseeable extinction event. Main Conclusions Climate change will induce changes in plant and animal communities. Human disturbance will invade climatically marginal agricultural lands at the pace of climate change. Rapid migratory response such as that witnessed at the onset of the Holocene may not be evident as climates warm, because Holocene climatic stability has reduced outlying upslope populations that may have served as expansion nuclei. Conservation must aim to maintain plant and animal niches, rather than particular communities of species.     

猕猴桃属十个种的染色体倍性鉴定

猕猴桃属(Actinidia)植物全世界有66种,约有118个种下分类单位(也有新的划分方法将其划分为54种21变种),其中大部分为中国特有。在猕猴桃杂交育种中,不同倍性之间选配不当会出现杂交失败、后代不育等现象,因此倍性鉴定是猕猴桃常规育种亲本选择的前提条件之一。但到目前为止,不少猕猴桃种或亚种的染色体倍性研究并不十分清楚,因而限制了这些资源的进一步开发利用。该研究针对广西植物研究所猕猴桃种质资源圃收集的目前倍性尚不明确的白萼、白花柱果、二色花、临桂、卵圆叶、桃花、宛田、长果、融水和五瓣猕猴桃等10个种类的猕猴桃,使用酸解法制备染色体标本,通过显微镜观察确定其倍性。这10个种类大多为广西特有,其中蕴藏着独特的优良园艺性状,具有很高的生产和开发价值。该研究结果表明这10个种类猕猴桃的染色体倍性均为二倍体(2n=2x=58)。该研究结果进一步丰富了猕猴桃种质资源多样性数据库,为这些猕猴桃资源的合理开发利用奠定了基础。