The present study revisited the controversial taxonomic status ofPetaurista yunanensis, P. philippensis, P. hainana, and P. petaurista by using a considerably extended set of morphometrical characters （26 cranial var...The present study revisited the controversial taxonomic status ofPetaurista yunanensis, P. philippensis, P. hainana, and P. petaurista by using a considerably extended set of morphometrical characters （26 cranial variables from 60 adult specimen skulls）. The results revealed no sexual dimorphism in any of the four species but confirmed significant craniometric differences among the four species in both the principal components analysis （PCA） and discriminant function analysis （DFA）, with the greatest distinction observed between P. petaurista and other Petaurista species. Both univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that the morphological differences between P. yunanensis and P. philippensis were less than that between P. philippensis and P. hainana. The morphometric results were concordant in geographic patterns with mtDNA data from previous studies and indicated that P. petaurista, P. hainana, P. philippensis, and P. yunanensis could be recognized as valid species.展开更多
Types and structure of plant communities in the Yellow River Delta were investigated by using detrended canonical correspondence analyses （DCCAs） and a two-way indicator species analysis （TWINSPAN）. The distributi...Types and structure of plant communities in the Yellow River Delta were investigated by using detrended canonical correspondence analyses （DCCAs） and a two-way indicator species analysis （TWINSPAN）. The distribution pattern and influential factors of the plant communities were also analyzed by testing elevation, slope, soil characteristics, longitude and latitude of 134 vegetation samples collected by representative plot sampling methods. Results showed that all the 134 vegetation samples could be divided into seven vegetation groups, separately dominated by Robinia pseucdoacacia, Imperata cylindrical, Miscanthus saccharifleus, Suaeda salsa, Aeluropus sinensis, Phragmites australis and Tamarix chinensis. The vegetation distribution pattern was mainly related to elevation, ground water depth and soil characteristics such as salinity and soluble potassium. Among the factors affecting distribution pattern of the plant communities, the species matrix explained by non-spatial environmental variation accounts for 45.2% of total variation. Spatial variation and spatial-structured environmental variation explain 11.8%, and 2.2%, respectively. Remained 40.8% of undetermined variation is attributed to biological and stochastic factors.展开更多
Grateloupia ramosa Wang & Luan sp. nov.(Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) is newly described from Hainan Province, southern China. The organism has the following morphological features:(1) purplish red, cartilaginous and...Grateloupia ramosa Wang & Luan sp. nov.(Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) is newly described from Hainan Province, southern China. The organism has the following morphological features:(1) purplish red, cartilaginous and lubricous thalli 5–10 cm in height;(2) compressed percurrent axes bearing abundant branches with opposite arrangement;(3) claw-like apices on top, constricted to 2–4 cm at the base;(4) cortex consisting of 3–6 layers of elliptical or anomalous cells and a medulla covered by compact medullary filaments;(5) reproductive structures distributed throughout the thallus, especially centralized at the bottom of the end portion of the branches; and(6) 4-celled Carpogonial branches and 3-celled auxiliary-cell branches, both of the Grateloupia-type. The morphological diff erences were supported by molecular phylogenetics based on ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase( rbc L) gene sequence analysis. There was only a 1 bp divergence between specimens collected from Wenchang and Lingshui of Hainan province. The new species was embedded in the large Grateloupia clade of the Halymeniaceae. The pairwise distances between G. ramosa and other species within Grateloupia ranged from 26 to 105 bp, within pairwise distances of 13–111 bp between species of the large genus Grateloupia in Halymeniaceae. Thus, we propose this new species as G. ramosa Wang & Luan sp. nov.展开更多
Recently, a phylogenetic diversity and community structure analysis as complementary to species-centric approaches in biodiversity studies provides new insights into the processes of community assembly. In this study,...Recently, a phylogenetic diversity and community structure analysis as complementary to species-centric approaches in biodiversity studies provides new insights into the processes of community assembly. In this study, we analyzed species and phylogenetic diversity and community structures for woody and herbaceous plants along two elevational transects on Mt. Baekhwa, South Korea. The species richness and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants showed monotonic declining patterns with increasing elevation along all transects, whereas herbaceous plants showed different patterns, such as no relationship and a reversed unimodal pattern, between the study transects. The main drivers of these patterns were climate and habitat variables for woody and herbaceous plants, respectively. In addition, the phylogenetic community structure primarily showed phylogenetic clustering regulated by deterministic processes, especially environmental filtering, such as climate or habitat factors, along the two transects, although herbaceous plants along a transect depicted phylogenetic randomness as a result of a neutral process. Our findings suggest that deterministic and neutral processes may simultaneously control the community structures along small-scale elevational gradients such as local transects, although the deterministic process may be the predominant type.展开更多
Yam （Dioscorea spp.）, has been aptly described as an orphan crop. It has suffered institutional neglect from time immemorial. Until this study there were no formally released yam varieties in Ghana. The farmer parti...Yam （Dioscorea spp.）, has been aptly described as an orphan crop. It has suffered institutional neglect from time immemorial. Until this study there were no formally released yam varieties in Ghana. The farmer participatory breeding approach was adapted to fast-track the development and release of three new yam varieties in Ghana. This paper uses the breeding process as a case study and conducts a SWOT analysis to provide guidelines for breeding for crops in Low External Input Agriculture. It was faster than conventional breeding in varietal development. Scientific quality of Farmer Participatory Breeding is as good as conventional breeding. Farmer Participatory Breeding is a must for breeding yam in Ghana. Ultimately, three genotypes 2000/001, KUP2000/001 and TDr89/02665 were accepted and released as new varieties ＂CRIKukrupa＂, ＂CRIPona＂ and ＂Mankrong Pona＂ respectively in March 2005. Danger of omission of some promising genotypes in the course of varietal development and danger of opinion group cabalizing the group discussions were identified as potential threats to the approach. Effective research-extension-farmer linkage was identified as extremely vital to the success of the approach. Farmer participatory breeding process was also sustainable and more efficient than conventional breeding in varietal selection in yam breeding.展开更多
The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution, density, community structure and biodiversity characteristics of benthic diatoms, and to analyze whether differences in species composition and abundance exis...The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution, density, community structure and biodiversity characteristics of benthic diatoms, and to analyze whether differences in species composition and abundance exist in different regions of the Niyang River, Tibet. Among the 157 taxa observed in 15 sampling sites in the main river and tributary, most were casual species （〉100）, the relative abundance of the genera Achnantkes and Fragilaria was 67% of the total relative abundance. Acknantkes minutissima was the most important species and dominated the whole river reaches （average relative abundance was 30%）; the average diatom densities were 7.4 x 105 cell/cm2 at all sites, and increased slowly from the upper section to downriver. The significant indicator taxa with higher relative abundance were Achnanthes biasolettiana （18.0%） and Fragilaria arcus （18.2%）, Fragilaria capucina var. vaucheriae （31.2%）, Fragilaria construens var. renter （11.3%） and Cymbella affinis （11.0%） in the upper, tributary and mid-river sections, respectively. Achnanthes minutissima was the most abundant species （56%） in the downriver section. Biodiversity indices showed a gradual decrease from the up- to down-river section, and dominant species were more abundant in the upper and mid-river sections than in the downriver section. A two-way indictor species analysis （TWINSPAN） of diatom composition clearly showed four different groups, namely the upper, mid, lower and tributary sections. Detrended correspondence analysis （DCA） supported the results of TW1NSPAN, and the characteristics of site distribution and species composition in the Niyang River supported the spatial structure of diatom assemblages. This study indicates that bio-assessment programs utilizing benthic diatoms could clearly benefit lotic water with regional stratification.展开更多
In this paper,the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to solve generalized biological populationmodels.The fractional derivatives are described by Caputo's sense.The method introduces a significant improveme...In this paper,the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to solve generalized biological populationmodels.The fractional derivatives are described by Caputo's sense.The method introduces a significant improvementin this field over existing techniques.Results obtained using the scheme presented here agree well with the analyticalsolutions and the numerical results presented in Ref.[6].However,the fundamental solutions of these equations stillexhibit useful scaling properties that make them attractive for applications.展开更多
AIM:To study whether selected bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene phylotypes are capable of disting- uishing irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). METHODS:The faecal microbiota of twenty volunteers with IBS,subdivided into...AIM:To study whether selected bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene phylotypes are capable of disting- uishing irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). METHODS:The faecal microbiota of twenty volunteers with IBS,subdivided into eight diarrhoea-predominant (IBS-D),eight constipation-predominant(IBS-C)and four mixed symptom-subtype(IBS-M)IBS patients,and fifteen control subjects,were analysed at three time-points with a set of fourteen quantitative real-timepolymerase chain reaction assays.All assays targeted 16S rRNA gene phylotypes putatively associated with IBS,based on 16S rRNA gene library sequence analysis. The target phylotypes were affiliated with Actinobac-teria,Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes.Eight of the target phylotypes had less than 95%similarity to cultured bacterial species according to their 16S rRNA gene sequence.The data analyses were made with repeated-measures ANCOVA-type modelling of the data and principle component analysis(PCA)with linear mixed-effects models applied to the principal component scores. RESULTS:Bacterial phylotypes Clostridium cocleatum 88%,Clostridium thermosuccinogenes 85%,Coprobacillus catenaformis 91%,Ruminococcus bromii-like, Ruminococcus torques 91%,and R.torques 93%were detected from all samples analysed.A multivariate analysis of the relative quantities of all 14 bacterial 16S rRNA gene phylotypes suggested that the intestinal microbiota of the IBS-D patients differed from other sample groups.The PCA on the first principal component(PC1),explaining 30.36%of the observed variation in the IBS-D patient group,was significantly altered from all other sample groups(IBS-D vs control, P=0.01;IBS-D vs IBS-M,P=0.00;IBS-D vs IBS-C, P=0.05).Significant differences were also observed in the levels of distinct phylotypes using relative values in proportion to the total amount of bacteria.A phy- lotype with 85%similarity to C.thermosuccinogenes was quantified in significantly different quantities among the IBS-D and control subjects(-4.08±0.90 vs -3.33±1.16,P=0.04)and IBS-D and IBS-M subjects (-4.08±0.90 vs-3.08±1.38,P=0.05).Furthermore,a phylotype with 94%similarity to R.torques was more prevalent in IBS-D patients'intestinal micro- biota than in that of control subjects(-2.43±1.49 vs -4.02±1.63,P=0.01).A phylotype with 93%simi- larity to R.torques was associated with control sam- ples when compared with IBS-M(-2.41±0.53 vs -2.92±0.56,P=0.00).Additionally,a R.bromii-like phylotype was associated with IBS-C patients in com- parison to control subjects(-1.61±1.83 vs-3.69± 2.42,P=0.01).All of the above mentioned phylotype specific alterations were independent of the effect of time. CONCLUSION:Significant phylotype level alterationsin the intestinal microbiotas of IBS patients were observed,further emphasizing the possible contribution of the gastrointestinal microbiota in IBS.展开更多
基金National Natural Science Fund of China (30970332)National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2007CB411600)+1 种基金Natural Science Found of Yunnan Province (2007C099M)Special Subjects Funds of National Natural Science Fund of China (J0930004)
文摘The present study revisited the controversial taxonomic status ofPetaurista yunanensis, P. philippensis, P. hainana, and P. petaurista by using a considerably extended set of morphometrical characters （26 cranial variables from 60 adult specimen skulls）. The results revealed no sexual dimorphism in any of the four species but confirmed significant craniometric differences among the four species in both the principal components analysis （PCA） and discriminant function analysis （DFA）, with the greatest distinction observed between P. petaurista and other Petaurista species. Both univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that the morphological differences between P. yunanensis and P. philippensis were less than that between P. philippensis and P. hainana. The morphometric results were concordant in geographic patterns with mtDNA data from previous studies and indicated that P. petaurista, P. hainana, P. philippensis, and P. yunanensis could be recognized as valid species.
基金Foundation project： This study was financially supported by the Na- tional Natural Science Foundation of China （No. 40771172） and the orientation project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences （No. kzcx2-yw-308）
文摘Types and structure of plant communities in the Yellow River Delta were investigated by using detrended canonical correspondence analyses （DCCAs） and a two-way indicator species analysis （TWINSPAN）. The distribution pattern and influential factors of the plant communities were also analyzed by testing elevation, slope, soil characteristics, longitude and latitude of 134 vegetation samples collected by representative plot sampling methods. Results showed that all the 134 vegetation samples could be divided into seven vegetation groups, separately dominated by Robinia pseucdoacacia, Imperata cylindrical, Miscanthus saccharifleus, Suaeda salsa, Aeluropus sinensis, Phragmites australis and Tamarix chinensis. The vegetation distribution pattern was mainly related to elevation, ground water depth and soil characteristics such as salinity and soluble potassium. Among the factors affecting distribution pattern of the plant communities, the species matrix explained by non-spatial environmental variation accounts for 45.2% of total variation. Spatial variation and spatial-structured environmental variation explain 11.8%, and 2.2%, respectively. Remained 40.8% of undetermined variation is attributed to biological and stochastic factors.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.3087016131270251)
文摘Grateloupia ramosa Wang & Luan sp. nov.(Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) is newly described from Hainan Province, southern China. The organism has the following morphological features:(1) purplish red, cartilaginous and lubricous thalli 5–10 cm in height;(2) compressed percurrent axes bearing abundant branches with opposite arrangement;(3) claw-like apices on top, constricted to 2–4 cm at the base;(4) cortex consisting of 3–6 layers of elliptical or anomalous cells and a medulla covered by compact medullary filaments;(5) reproductive structures distributed throughout the thallus, especially centralized at the bottom of the end portion of the branches; and(6) 4-celled Carpogonial branches and 3-celled auxiliary-cell branches, both of the Grateloupia-type. The morphological diff erences were supported by molecular phylogenetics based on ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase( rbc L) gene sequence analysis. There was only a 1 bp divergence between specimens collected from Wenchang and Lingshui of Hainan province. The new species was embedded in the large Grateloupia clade of the Halymeniaceae. The pairwise distances between G. ramosa and other species within Grateloupia ranged from 26 to 105 bp, within pairwise distances of 13–111 bp between species of the large genus Grateloupia in Halymeniaceae. Thus, we propose this new species as G. ramosa Wang & Luan sp. nov.
基金funded by the Korea Green Promotion Agency, Korea Forest Service
文摘Recently, a phylogenetic diversity and community structure analysis as complementary to species-centric approaches in biodiversity studies provides new insights into the processes of community assembly. In this study, we analyzed species and phylogenetic diversity and community structures for woody and herbaceous plants along two elevational transects on Mt. Baekhwa, South Korea. The species richness and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants showed monotonic declining patterns with increasing elevation along all transects, whereas herbaceous plants showed different patterns, such as no relationship and a reversed unimodal pattern, between the study transects. The main drivers of these patterns were climate and habitat variables for woody and herbaceous plants, respectively. In addition, the phylogenetic community structure primarily showed phylogenetic clustering regulated by deterministic processes, especially environmental filtering, such as climate or habitat factors, along the two transects, although herbaceous plants along a transect depicted phylogenetic randomness as a result of a neutral process. Our findings suggest that deterministic and neutral processes may simultaneously control the community structures along small-scale elevational gradients such as local transects, although the deterministic process may be the predominant type.
文摘Yam （Dioscorea spp.）, has been aptly described as an orphan crop. It has suffered institutional neglect from time immemorial. Until this study there were no formally released yam varieties in Ghana. The farmer participatory breeding approach was adapted to fast-track the development and release of three new yam varieties in Ghana. This paper uses the breeding process as a case study and conducts a SWOT analysis to provide guidelines for breeding for crops in Low External Input Agriculture. It was faster than conventional breeding in varietal development. Scientific quality of Farmer Participatory Breeding is as good as conventional breeding. Farmer Participatory Breeding is a must for breeding yam in Ghana. Ultimately, three genotypes 2000/001, KUP2000/001 and TDr89/02665 were accepted and released as new varieties ＂CRIKukrupa＂, ＂CRIPona＂ and ＂Mankrong Pona＂ respectively in March 2005. Danger of omission of some promising genotypes in the course of varietal development and danger of opinion group cabalizing the group discussions were identified as potential threats to the approach. Effective research-extension-farmer linkage was identified as extremely vital to the success of the approach. Farmer participatory breeding process was also sustainable and more efficient than conventional breeding in varietal selection in yam breeding.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30970550)
文摘The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution, density, community structure and biodiversity characteristics of benthic diatoms, and to analyze whether differences in species composition and abundance exist in different regions of the Niyang River, Tibet. Among the 157 taxa observed in 15 sampling sites in the main river and tributary, most were casual species （〉100）, the relative abundance of the genera Achnantkes and Fragilaria was 67% of the total relative abundance. Acknantkes minutissima was the most important species and dominated the whole river reaches （average relative abundance was 30%）; the average diatom densities were 7.4 x 105 cell/cm2 at all sites, and increased slowly from the upper section to downriver. The significant indicator taxa with higher relative abundance were Achnanthes biasolettiana （18.0%） and Fragilaria arcus （18.2%）, Fragilaria capucina var. vaucheriae （31.2%）, Fragilaria construens var. renter （11.3%） and Cymbella affinis （11.0%） in the upper, tributary and mid-river sections, respectively. Achnanthes minutissima was the most abundant species （56%） in the downriver section. Biodiversity indices showed a gradual decrease from the up- to down-river section, and dominant species were more abundant in the upper and mid-river sections than in the downriver section. A two-way indictor species analysis （TWINSPAN） of diatom composition clearly showed four different groups, namely the upper, mid, lower and tributary sections. Detrended correspondence analysis （DCA） supported the results of TW1NSPAN, and the characteristics of site distribution and species composition in the Niyang River supported the spatial structure of diatom assemblages. This study indicates that bio-assessment programs utilizing benthic diatoms could clearly benefit lotic water with regional stratification.
文摘In this paper,the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to solve generalized biological populationmodels.The fractional derivatives are described by Caputo's sense.The method introduces a significant improvementin this field over existing techniques.Results obtained using the scheme presented here agree well with the analyticalsolutions and the numerical results presented in Ref.[6].However,the fundamental solutions of these equations stillexhibit useful scaling properties that make them attractive for applications.
基金Supported by The Finnish Funding Agency for Technologyand Innovation,Tekes,grants No.945/401/00 and 40160/05the Finnish Graduate School of Applied Biosciences,the Academy of Finland,Grant No.214 157the Centre of Excellence on Microbial Food Safety Research,Academy of Finland
文摘AIM:To study whether selected bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene phylotypes are capable of disting- uishing irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). METHODS:The faecal microbiota of twenty volunteers with IBS,subdivided into eight diarrhoea-predominant (IBS-D),eight constipation-predominant(IBS-C)and four mixed symptom-subtype(IBS-M)IBS patients,and fifteen control subjects,were analysed at three time-points with a set of fourteen quantitative real-timepolymerase chain reaction assays.All assays targeted 16S rRNA gene phylotypes putatively associated with IBS,based on 16S rRNA gene library sequence analysis. The target phylotypes were affiliated with Actinobac-teria,Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes.Eight of the target phylotypes had less than 95%similarity to cultured bacterial species according to their 16S rRNA gene sequence.The data analyses were made with repeated-measures ANCOVA-type modelling of the data and principle component analysis(PCA)with linear mixed-effects models applied to the principal component scores. RESULTS:Bacterial phylotypes Clostridium cocleatum 88%,Clostridium thermosuccinogenes 85%,Coprobacillus catenaformis 91%,Ruminococcus bromii-like, Ruminococcus torques 91%,and R.torques 93%were detected from all samples analysed.A multivariate analysis of the relative quantities of all 14 bacterial 16S rRNA gene phylotypes suggested that the intestinal microbiota of the IBS-D patients differed from other sample groups.The PCA on the first principal component(PC1),explaining 30.36%of the observed variation in the IBS-D patient group,was significantly altered from all other sample groups(IBS-D vs control, P=0.01;IBS-D vs IBS-M,P=0.00;IBS-D vs IBS-C, P=0.05).Significant differences were also observed in the levels of distinct phylotypes using relative values in proportion to the total amount of bacteria.A phy- lotype with 85%similarity to C.thermosuccinogenes was quantified in significantly different quantities among the IBS-D and control subjects(-4.08±0.90 vs -3.33±1.16,P=0.04)and IBS-D and IBS-M subjects (-4.08±0.90 vs-3.08±1.38,P=0.05).Furthermore,a phylotype with 94%similarity to R.torques was more prevalent in IBS-D patients'intestinal micro- biota than in that of control subjects(-2.43±1.49 vs -4.02±1.63,P=0.01).A phylotype with 93%simi- larity to R.torques was associated with control sam- ples when compared with IBS-M(-2.41±0.53 vs -2.92±0.56,P=0.00).Additionally,a R.bromii-like phylotype was associated with IBS-C patients in com- parison to control subjects(-1.61±1.83 vs-3.69± 2.42,P=0.01).All of the above mentioned phylotype specific alterations were independent of the effect of time. CONCLUSION:Significant phylotype level alterationsin the intestinal microbiotas of IBS patients were observed,further emphasizing the possible contribution of the gastrointestinal microbiota in IBS.
