Predicting local adaptation in fragmented plant populations: Implications for restoration genetics

Understanding patterns and correlates of local adaptation in heterogeneous landscapes can provide important information in the selection of appropriate seed sources for restoration. We assessed the extent of local adaptation of fitness components in 12 population pairs of the perennial herb Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides (Asteraceae) and examined whether spatial scale (0.7-600 km), environmental distance, quantitative (QST) and neutral (FST) genetic differentiation, and size of the local and foreign populations could predict patterns of adaptive differentiation. Local adaptation varied among populations and fitness components. Including all population pairs, local adaptation was observed for seedling survival, but not for biomass, while foreign genotype advantage was observed for reproduction (number of inflorescences). Among population pairs, local adaptation increased with QST and local population size for biomass. QST was associated with environmental distance, suggesting ecological selection for phenotypic divergence. However, low FST and variation in population structure in small populations demonstrates the interaction of gene flow and drift in constraining local adaptation in R. leptorrhynchoides. Our study indicates that for species in heterogeneous landscapes, collecting seed from large populations from similar environments to candidate sites is likely to provide the most appropriate seed sources for restoration

Acetyl Distribution in Acetylated Whole Wood and Reactivity of Isolated Wood Cell-Wall Components to Acetic Anhydride

Lignin, holocellulose, cellulose, and hemicelluloses were isolated from pine wood and reacted with acetic anhydride. The order of reactivity was found to be lignin < hemicellulose

‘Eastern African paradox’ rainfall decline due to shorter not less intense long rains

An observed decline in the Eastern African Long Rains from the 1980s to late 2000s appears contrary to the projected increase under future climate change. This “Eastern African climate paradox” confounds use of climate projections for adaptation planning across Eastern Africa. Here we show the decline corresponds to a later onset and earlier cessation of the long rains, with a similar seasonal maximum in area-averaged daily rainfall. Previous studies have explored the role of remote teleconnections, but those mechanisms do not sufficiently explain the decline or the newly identified change in seasonality. Using a large ensemble of observations, reanalyses and atmospheric simulations, we propose a regional mechanism that explains both the observed decline and the recent partial recovery. A decrease in surface pressure over Arabia and warmer north Arabian Sea is associated with enhanced southerlies and an earlier cessation of the long rains. This is supported by a similar signal in surface pressure in many atmosphere-only models giving lower May rainfall and an earlier cessation. Anomalously warm seas south of Eastern Africa delay the northward movement of the tropical rain-band, giving a later onset. These results are key in understanding the paradox. It is now a priority to establish the balance of mechanisms that have led to these trends, which are partially captured in atmosphere-only simulations

Protocol for Monitoring Fish Communities in Small Streams in the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network, Version 2.0

Executive Summary Fish communities are an important component of aquatic systems and are good bioindicators of ecosystem health. Land use changes in the Midwest have caused sedimentation, erosion, and nutrient loading that degrades and fragments habitat and impairs water quality. Because most small wadeable streams in the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN) have a relatively small area of their watersheds located within park boundaries, these streams are at risk of degradation due to adjacent land use practices and other anthropogenic disturbances. Shifts in the physical and chemical properties of aquatic systems have a dramatic effect on the biotic community. The federally endangered Topeka shiner (Notropis topeka) and other native fishes have declined in population size due to habitat degradation and fragmentation in Midwest streams. By protecting portions of streams on publicly owned lands, national parks may offer refuges for threatened or endangered species and species of conservation concern, as well as other native species. This protocol describes the background, history, justification, methodology, data analysis and data management for long-term fish community monitoring of wadeable streams within nine HTLN parks: Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO), George Washington Carver National Monument (GWCA), Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (HEHO), Homestead National Monument of America (HOME), Hot Springs National Park (HOSP), Pea Ridge National Military Park (PERI), Pipestone National Monument (PIPE), Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR), and Wilson\u27s Creek National Battlefield (WICR). The objectives of this protocol are to determine the status and long-term trends in fish richness, diversity, abundance, and community composition in small wadeable streams within these nine parks and correlate the long-term community data to overall water quality and habitat condition (DeBacker et al. 2005)

Unexplored Character Diversity in Onychophora (Velvet Worms): A Comparative Study of Three Peripatid Species

Low character variation among onychophoran species has been an obstacle for taxonomic and phylogenetic studies in the past, however we have identified a number of new and informative characters using morphological, molecular, and chromosomal techniques. Our analyses involved a detailed examination of Epiperipatus biolleyi from Costa Rica, Eoperipatus sp. from Thailand, and a new onychophoran species and genus from Costa Rica, Principapillatus hitoyensisgen. et sp. nov.. Scanning electron microscopy on embryos and specimens of varying age revealed novel morphological characters and character states, including the distribution of different receptor types along the antennae, the arrangement and form of papillae on the head, body and legs, the presence and shape of interpedal structures and fields of modified scales on the ventral body surface, the arrangement of lips around the mouth, the number, position and structure of crural tubercles and anal gland openings, and the presence and shape of embryonic foot projections. Karyotypic analyses revealed differences in the number and size of chromosomes among the species studied. The results of our phylogenetic analyses using mitochondrial COI and 12S rRNA gene sequences are in line with morphological and karyotype data. However, our data show a large number of unexplored, albeit informative, characters in the Peripatidae. We suggest that analysing these characters in additional species would help unravel species diversity and phylogeny in the Onychophora, and that inconsistencies among most diagnostic features used for the peripatid genera in the literature could be addressed by identifying a suite of characters common to all peripatids.This study was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientı´fico e Tecnolo´gico (CNPq: 290029/2010-4) and by a SYNTHESYS grant (financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action - FP7 Integrating Activities Programme: http://www.synthesys.info/) to ISO. GM is a Research Group Leader supported by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG: Ma 4147/3-1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Future changes in seasonality in Eastern Africa from regional simulations with explicit and parametrised convection

The Eastern Africa precipitation seasonal cycle is of significant societal importance, and yet the current generation of coupled global climate models fails to correctly capture this seasonality. The use of convective parametrisation schemes is a known source of precipitation bias in such models. Recently, a high-resolution regional model was used to produce the first pan-African climate change simulation that explicitly models convection. Here, this is compared with a corresponding parametrised-convection simulation, to explore the effect of the parametrisation on representation of Eastern Africa precipitation seasonality. Both models capture current seasonality, although an overestimate in September-October in the parametrised simulation leads to an early bias in the onset of the boreal autumn short rains, associated with higher convective instability and near-surface moist static energy. This bias is removed in the explicit model. Under future climate change both models show the short rains getting later and wetter. For the boreal spring long rains, the explicit convection simulation shows the onset advancing but the parametrised simulation shows little change. Over Uganda and western Kenya both simulations show rainfall increases in the January-February dry season, and large increases in boreal summer and autumn rainfall, particularly in the explicit convection model, changing the shape of the seasonal cycle, with potential for pronounced socio-economic impacts. Interannual variability is similar in both models. Results imply that parameterisation of convection may be a source of uncertainty for projections of changes in seasonal timing from global models, and that potentially impactful changes in seasonality should be highlighted to users

Comment on Rojas-Bracho and Colleagues (2019): Unsubstantiated Claims Can Lead to Tragic Conservation Outcomes

The vaquita’s decline is a tragic story indeed. However, the lack of action to prevent the extinction of this species is not due to unsubstantiated claims and scientific uncertainty

Vaquita Face Extinction from Bycatch. Comment on Manjarrez-Bringas, N. et al., Lessons for Sustainable Development: Marine Mammal Conservation Policies and Its Social and Economic Effects.

We are among the scientists who have documented the environmental and ecological changes to the Upper Gulf of California following the reduction in the Colorado River’s flow. We object to any suggestion that our research supports Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusion that the decline in the Colorado River’s flow is the reason for the decline in the population of the endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus). Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusions are incongruent with their own data, their logic is untenable, their analyses fail to consider current illegal fishing practices, and their recommendations are unjustified and misdirected. Vaquita face extinction because of bycatch, not because of the lack of river flow