A substantial eastern disjunction of Douglas’ Knotweed (Polygonum douglasii Greene, Polygonaceae) in New Brunswick, Canada

We report an isolated population of the native annual Douglas’ Knotweed (Polygonum douglasii Greene) from a dry, south-facing outcrop of conglomerate and sandstone at Big Bluff, near Sussex Corner, New Brunswick, Canada, consisting of about 2500 plants in 2018 and 2022. This occurrence is disjunct by ~450 km from the eastern limit of the known range of Douglas’ Knotweed in southwestern Maine, USA. The nearest known occurrence in Canada is in southern Quebec, ~660 km from Big Bluff. Several lines of evidence indicate that the population in New Brunswick is native. New state records for Wisconsin and Alaska found in online data sources are also verified

First documented occurrences of Cladonia krogiana and C. rangiformis in north America

Funding Information: We thank Scott LaGreca for providing a photograph of the specimen of C. rangiformis at BM that was reportedly collected on Bermuda; Bruce Allen and the late Ronald Pursell for allowing us to cite their collections of Homalothecium sericeum from Newfoundland; Zdeněk Palice for enabling us to compare his collection of C. krogiana from the Czech Republic with material from Canada and Norway; Nathalie Djan-Chékar (Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador) for co-organizing the 2007 Tuckerman Workshop; and Irwin Brodo, James Lendemer, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on the manuscript. Permission to collect lichens in Fundy National Park and New River Beach Provincial Park (NRBPP) was approved by Renee Wissink (Parks Canada) and Martin MacMullin (NB Department of Tourism, Heritage, and Culture). Fieldwork in NRBPP and follow-up studies were supported in part by the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund and the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved.– Cladonia krogiana, previously known only from Norway and the Czech Republic, is reported here for North America from two localities near the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada. It occurs there on open, rocky banks of clear, free-flowing rivers, habitats similar to those in which it has been found in Norway. We also document the occurrence of C. rangiformis in North America, based on collections from two localities on the southwest coast of Conception Bay, on the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It is possibly an accidental, but naturalized, introduction in this area, where European settlement began in the early 1600s. A molecular phylogenetic analysis confirmed the identity of one of the Newfoundland specimens. The IGS rDNA haplotype to which it belongs is the same as the most widely distributed haplotype of C. rangiformis in Europe and Macaronesia. Previous reports of C. rangiformis for continental North America are based on misidentifications. A 19th century collection reportedly made on the island of Bermuda, while correctly identified, is of uncertain provenance.Peer reviewe

Saxicolous lichens on a Nova Scotian coastal barren

Publisher's Version/PDFSaxicolous lichens of a coastal barren were surveyed in Nova Scotia, Canada. Forty-three species were found, including Rhizocarpon suomiense, new to North America, and five other species new to the province. The response of saxicolous lichens to the maritime influence was assessed along transects perpendicular to the shoreline, as well as on three faces of the boulders: facing towards the coast, upwards, and away from the coast. Boulder face did not significantly affect lichen species richness; however, cover significantly increased from front to top to back faces. Lichen species richness and cover increased significantly with increasing distance from the shoreline. The ecology of selected species with respect to the maritime gradient is discussed

Hybrid silicon nanostructures with conductive ligands and their microscopic conductivities

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) functionalized with conjugated molecules promise a potential pathway to generate a new category of thermoelectric materials. While the thermoelectric performance of materials based on phenyl-acetylene capped SiNPs has been proven, their low conductivity is still a problem for their general application. A muon study of phenyl-acetylene capped SiNPs has been recently carried out using the HiFi spectrometer at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, measuring the ALC spectra as a function of temperature. The results show a reduction in the measured line width of the resonance above room temperature, suggesting an activated behaviour for this system. This study shows that the muon study could be a powerful method to investigate microscopic conductivity of hybrid thermoelectric materials

An investigation of a genomewide supported psychosis variant in ZNF804A and white matter integrity in the human brain

ZNF804A, a genomewide supported susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has been associated with task-independent functional connectivity between the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Several lines of evidence have converged on the hypothesis that this effect may be mediated by structural connectivity. We tested this hypothesis using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging in three samples: one German sample of 50 healthy individuals, one Scottish sample of 83 healthy individuals and one Scottish sample of 84 unaffected relatives of bipolar patients. Voxel-based analysis and tract-based spatial statistics did not detect any fractional anisotropy (FA) differences between minor allele carriers and individuals homozygous for the major allele at rs1344706. Similarly, region-of-interest analyses and quantitative tractography of the genu of the corpus callosum revealed no significant FA differences between the genotype groups. Examination of effect sizes and confidence intervals indicated that this negative finding is very unlikely to be due to a lack of statistical power. In summary, despite using various analysis techniques in three different samples, our results were strikingly and consistently negative. These data therefore suggest that it is unlikely that the effects of genetic variation at rs1344706 on functional connectivity are mediated by structural integrity differences in large, long-range white matter fiber connections

Lichens in four Newfoundland provincial parks: new provincial records

Fieldwork in J. T. Cheeseman, Sandbanks, Jipujijkuei Kuespem, and Fitzgerald’s Pond Provincial Parks, Newfoundland, has yielded 133 lichen taxa, of which 15 species are new to the province: Anisomeridium biforme, Athallia holocarpa, Caloplaca borealis, Cetrelia olivetorum, Cladonia cf. rappii, Gyalolechia xanthostigmoidea, Lecanora straminea, Lecidea brunneofusca, Micarea globulosella, Micarea prasina (s.l.), Miriquidica pycnocarpa, Pertusaria consocians, Toensbergia leucococca, Usnea fragilescens var. mollis, and Usnea silesiaca

Reducing health inequalities: the use of Health Impact Assessment on Rural Areas

Health is greatly influenced by social, economic and political determinants. Accordingly, decisions influencing people's health do not concern only health services or 'health policies', but decisions in many different policy areas have their influence on these health determinants. Health Impact assessment (HIA) is a predictive tool to support decisions in policy-making. The ultimate goal of this framework is to maximize health gains and, as far as possible, to reduce health inequalities. HIA presents a commitment to ensure that the rural dimension is routinely considered as part of the making and implementing of policy. The aim of this paper is to review the use of HIA on rural areas. Conclusions: HIA shows its great potential to contribute to local authority decision making. The use of HIA was identified in 2 key areas: strategic planning (sustainable development, EU Common Agricultural Policy, Federal Farm Bill, land-use planning work); and in specific smaller scale projects (rural health service redesign proposal, accessing healthy food, transport, health care disparities, etc.)