factors influencing the precision of species richness estimation in japanese vascular plants

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Functional traits and environmental characteristics drive the degree of competitive intransitivity in European saltmarsh plant communities

Competitive intransitivity, the existence of loops in competitive hierarchies, is one mechanism that can promote the local coexistence of competitors and maintain high local species diversity, although its prevalence and importance remain largely unknown. A full understanding of local community assembly needs knowledge of how transitive and intransitive competitive interactions are linked to species functional traits and the strength of biotic and abiotic filters. We apply a recently developed statistical tool to quantitative data on central European inland saltmarsh plant communities to infer causal relationships between soil characteristics, species occurrences and functional traits, and we estimated coefficients of competition. We found a predominance of intransitive competitive hierarchies. The proportion of such hierarchies was positively correlated with local species richness and compositional variability. Average soil characteristics were not correlated with competitive intransitivity, whereas high soil pH and the high variability in local pH and soil salinity decreased the overall impact of competition on community composition. In pairwise comparisons of species, dissimilarity in morphology, resource demand and reproductive phenology was significantly negatively correlated with differences in competitive performance, while higher environmental dissimilarity was particularly linked to intermediate degrees of competitive superiority. Our results suggest that habitat filtering for similar traits might intensify competitive interactions, but might also give rise to intransitive competitive loops that subsequently promote species coexistence and permit species’ functional equivalence. Intransitive competition appears to increase local diversity and small scale-species turnover. The observed local differences in competitive structures suggest frequent competitive plasticity and context-dependent competitive interactions. Finally, our results support the view that local abundance distributions can be used to infer the strength and outcome of competitive interactions. Synthesis. Our results confirm that intransitive competitive interactions might be a strong force structuring local plant communities. Intransitivity needs to be considered when studying plant community assembly and species co-existence

Role of KIT-Positive Interstitial Cells of Cajal in the Urinary Bladder and Possible Therapeutic Target for Overactive Bladder

In the gastrointestinal tract, interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) act as pacemaker cells to generate slow wave activity. Interstitial cells that resemble ICCs in the gastrointestinal tract have been identified by their morphological characteristics in the bladder. KIT is used as an identification marker of ICCs. ICCs in the bladder may be involved in signal transmission between smooth muscle bundles, from efferent nerves to smooth muscles, and from the urothelium to afferent nerves. Recent research has suggested that not only the disturbance of spontaneous contractility caused by altered detrusor ICC signal transduction between nerves and smooth muscle cells but also the disturbance of signal transduction between urothelial cells and sensory nerves via suburothelial ICC may induce overactive bladder (OAB). Recent reports have suggested that KIT is not only a detection marker of these cells, but also may play a crucial role in the control of bladder function. Research into the effect of a c-kit receptor inhibitor, imatinib mesylate, on bladder function implies that KIT-positive ICCs may be therapeutic target cells to reduce bladder overactivity and that the blockage of c-kit receptor may offer a new therapeutic strategy for OAB treatment, although further study will be needed

Spatial conservation prioritization for the East Asian islands : A balanced representation of multitaxon biogeography in a protected area network

Aim On the basis of multitaxon biogeographical processes related to region-specific geohistory and palaeoclimate, we identified a balanced and area-effective protected area network (PAN) expansion in the East Asian islands, a global biodiversity hotspot. Location Japanese archipelago, Ryukyu archipelago and Izu-Bonin oceanic islands. Methods We modelled the distributions of 6,325 species (amphibians, birds, freshwater fish, mammals, plants and reptiles) using 4,389,489 occurrence data points. We then applied the Zonation software for spatial conservation prioritization. First, we identified environmental drivers underpinning taxon-specific biodiversity patterns. Second, we analysed each taxon individually to understand baseline priority patterns. Third, we combined all taxa into an inclusive analysis to identify the most important PAN expansions. Results Biodiversity patterns were well explained by geographical factors (climate, habitat stability, isolation and area), but their explanatory power differed between the taxa. There was remarkably little overlap between priority areas for the individual higher taxa. The inclusive prioritization analysis across all taxa identified priority regions, in particular in southern subtropical and mountainous areas. Expanding the PAN up to 17% would cover most of the ranges for rare and/or restricted-range species. On average, approximately 30% of the ranges of all species could be covered by the 17% expansion identified here. Main conclusions Our analyses identified top candidates for the expansion of Japan's protected area network. Taxon-specific prioritization was informative for understanding the conservation priority patterns of different taxa associated with unique biogeographical processes. For the basis of PAN expansion, we recommend multi-taxon prioritization as an area-efficient compromise that reflects taxon-specific priority patterns. Spatial prioritization across multiple taxa provides a promising start for the development of conservation plans with the aim of long-term persistence of biodiversity on the East Asian islands.Peer reviewe

Analysis of sweating efficiency and its effects on the heat strain alleviation of clothed subjects

Sweating efficiency (SE) is essential for evaluating heat strain. The dripping of sweat off the skin surface of a nude subject occurs locally at an area where the secreted sweat exceeds the local evaporative capacity. However, in clothed subjects, “dripping” sweat is absorbed by clothing. In the present paper, the cooling efficiency of the sweating of a clothed subject is analyzed in relation to SE. First, typical patterns for the regional distribution of the sweat rate (SR) and the capacity of evaporation (CE) of a nude subject were introduced, and the dripping sweat rate was derived as a surplus of the SR over the CE; an equation of SE was derived from combinations of the two typical SR patterns and the uniform CE pattern. Then, the values of SE were calculated numerically, and the results were found to be approximately equal to those obtained experimentally by Alber–Wallerström & Holmér and theoretically from the equation of 1 − 0.5wsw2 used in ISO7933. Based on these results, the SE was improved by arranging the distribution of the CE by controlling air velocities over the body surface. Further, the improved SE was found to contribute to the heat strain alleviation of clothed subjects