Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenging the tragedy of the commons in root competition: confounding effects of neighbour presence and substrate volume

1 It has been claimed that, compared with plants grown without competition, plants competing for a common pool of soil‐based resources overproduce roots at the expense of reproduction (known as the tragedy of the commons). However, experiments on this phenomenon have manipulated not only the presence/absence of neighbours, but also substrate volume. Restricted substrate volume can itself affect plant growth, possibly through chemical self‐inhibition of root growth. We conducted an experiment with oats (Avena sativa) to examine whether the experimental design used in previous studies on the tragedy of the commons in root competition might have confounded the effects of detection of neighbours and substrate volume. 2 Six treatments combined two factors, namely the presence or absence of activated carbon, and either the presence of a plastic or a mesh partition, or the absence of a partition, between two plants in a pot. Activated carbon was used to adsorb root exudates and reduce their potential effects on root growth. In a seventh treatment, plants were grown alone in pots with half the substrate volume replaced by gravel, to fragment the distribution of available resources. 3 We observed no tragedy of the commons in a comparison of the performance of plants grown with and without partitions; plants performed equally well in the presence and absence of root competition. 4 In the treatment with gravel, plants displayed reduced tillering and shoot growth per unit root mass, and an earlier switch to reproduction. 5 Pot partitioning was associated with inhibition of root growth that was mediated by root exudates. When activated carbon was present, plants in partitioned pots performed better than plants growing with a root competitor. 6 We conclude that two processes could determine plant growth in the experimental design used in studies of the tragedy of the commons: (i) greater root self‐inhibition in the more limited space of partitioned pots, and (ii) inefficient root placement in larger substrate volumes in unpartitioned pots that are shared with roots of a competitor. These findings provide a new challenge for experimental designs attempting to demonstrate the role of self/non‐self discrimination in root competition.
Activation and inhibition of G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir3) channels by G protein βγ subunits

G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels can be activated or inhibited by different classes of receptors, suggesting a role for G proteins in determining signaling specificity. Because G protein βγ subunits containing either β1 or β2 with multiple Gγ subunits activate GIRK channels, we hypothesized that specificity might be imparted by β3, β4, or β5 subunits. We used a transfection assay in cell lines expressing GIRK channels to examine effects of dimers containing these Gβ subunits. Inwardly rectifying K+ currents were increased in cells expressing β3 or β4, with either γ2 or γ11. Purified, recombinant β3γ2 and β4γ2 bound directly to glutathione-S-transferase fusion proteins containing N- or C-terminal cytoplasmic domains of GIRK1 and GIRK4, indicating that β3 and β4, like β1, form dimers that bind to and activate GIRK channels. By contrast, β5-containing dimers inhibited GIRK channel currents. This inhibitory effect was obtained with either β5γ2 or β5γ11, was observed with either GIRK1,4 or GIRK1,2 channels, and was evident in the context of either basal or agonist-induced currents, both of which were mediated by endogenous Gβγ subunits. In cotransfection assays, β5γ2 suppressed β1γ2-activated GIRK currents in a dose-dependent manner consistent with competitive inhibition. Moreover, we found that β5γ2 could bind to the same GIRK channel cytoplasmic domains as other, activating Gβγ subunits. Thus, β5-containing dimers inhibit Gβγ-stimulated GIRK channels, perhaps by directly binding to the channels. This suggests that β5-containing dimers could act as competitive antagonists of other Gβγ dimers on GIRK channels.
Different ways that secondary schools orient to lifelong learning

This article describes and discusses research into lifelong learning in secondary schools that was undertaken at the Australian Council for Educational Research. The project explored ways of helping secondary school students develop an intrinsic interest in learning, in the belief that such an approach will encourage young people to keep learning throughout their lives. Skills and values that help young people to develop characteristics of lifelong learners are outlined. The article suggests that development of these characteristics may be impeded by the strong influence of competitive end-of-school assessment in many schools, and the difficulty of changing the practices and attitudes of some of the people who play a significant role in a young person's education: parents and teachers.
Induction of a bZIP Type Transcription Factor and Amino Acid Catabolism-Related Genes in Soybean Seedling in Response to Starvation Stress

To address roles of bZIP transcription factors on regulation of amino acid catabolism under autophagy-induced plant cells, we examined the effect of nutrient starvation on the expression of low energy stress-related transcription factor homologs, GmbZIP53A and GmbZIP53B, and amino acid catabolism-related genes in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. ). Sucrose starvation treatment significantly enhanced the expressions of GmbZIP53A, but not GmbZIP53B asparagine synthase (GmASN1), proline dehydrogenase1 (GmProDH), and branched chain amino acid transaminase 3 (GmBCAT3). GmbZIP53-related immunoreactive signals were upregulated under severe starvation with sucrose starvation and protease inhibitors, while 3% sucrose and sucrose starvation had no or marginal effects on the signal. Profiles of induction of GmASN1, GmProDH and GmBCAT3 under various nutrient conditions were consistent with the profiles of GmbZIP53 protein levels but not with those of GmbZIP mRNA levels. These results indicate that GmbZIP53 proteins levels are regulated by posttranslational mechanism in response to severe starvation stress and that the increased protein of GmbZIP53 under severe starvation accelerates transcriptional induction of GmASN1, GmProDH, and GmBCAT3. Furthermore, it is conceivable that decrease of branched chain amino acid level by the BCAT-mediated degradation eventually enhances autophagy under severe starvation.
Call for Papers

The Open Journal of Cloud Computing (OJCC), an open access, peer-reviewed online journal, publishes original and creative research results on Cloud Computing and PostCloud Computing. OJCC distributes its articles under the open access model. All articles of OJCC are fully open access and online available to readers free of charge. OJCC aims to provide a forum for sharing and exchanging ideas, experiences and research results among scientists and practitioners of (Post-)Cloud technologies. OJCC publishes regular research papers, short communications, reviews and visionary papers in all aspects of Cloud Computing and PostCloud Computing. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. Accepted manuscripts are published online immediately.
Terrestrial Orchids: From Seed to Mycotrophic Plant.

This book contains a detailed survey of the biology of terrestrial orchids, from seed dispersal to establishment and life of the adult plant, based on comparisons of field and culture experiments. The survey, which consists of 13 chapters, can be divided into three main components, each covering about 120 pages. Firstly, chapters 1-6 address the abiotic and biotic factors controlling the dispersal, development, survival and germination of seeds. Secondly, chapters 7-12 deal with seedling and plant growth and development, often in the context of seasonal phenology in natural habitats. Finally, chapter 13 is a systematic presentation of the life history, endophytes and propagation of a range of orchid genera. Thereafter, appendices of nutrient substrates used in propagation and of plant names are followed by an extensive reference list and, ultimately, a useful index.
Seasonality of eelgrass biomass across gradients in temperature and latitude

Eelgrass Zostera marina L. meadows are major structural and trophic components of coastal ecosystems. The role of eelgrass in ecosystem functioning depends on biomass and production of the meadows, which can fluctuate greatly during an annual cycle and be major temporal drivers of changes in the coastal zone. We analysed magnitude and seasonality of eelgrass aboveground biomass, shoot density and production across temperature and latitude gradients over the majority of the species’ distributional range, and investigated to what extent temperature and/or light drive differences in these values. Eelgrass phenology (timing of peak biomass, start and end of the growing season) showed strong effects of temperature and latitude, indicating that seasonality was considerably advanced in warm areas at low latitudes compared to cold areas at high latitudes. Magnitude of peak aboveground biomass, length of the growing season, mean annual shoot density and aboveground production did not change significantly with either temperature or latitude, indicating that these parameters were controlled mainly by other factors. Annual variation in aboveground biomass and shoot density was significantly smaller in areas with low summer temperature, indicating that while warm-water populations may show substantial temporal variation in biomass, cold-water meadows are less dynamic. These findings were supported by cold-water populations having a larger mean annual biomass and a greater investment in belowground parts. In all significant regressions, temperature was a better predictor of population dynamics than latitude. This indicates that eelgrass phenology might advance considerably in response to global warming, and suggests that the distributional range of this species might be moving northwards. Given the key role of eelgrass in coastal ecosystems, these climateinduced changes might entail substantial impacts on waterbirds, fish, invertebrates and other organisms exploiting these meadows.
The Ecological Regulation of Species Diversity

A model is proposed to account for the level of diversity supported by any ecological community. If we begin with a hypothetical increase in the stability of the physical environment, the following consequences ensue. With greater environmental stability less energy is required for regulatory activities, that is, those which counter the challenges offered by the environment. Therefore, more energy is allocated for net productivity, that is, growth and reproduction. With increased net productivity, larger populations are supported. Larger populations provide more opportunities for the formation of interspecific associations; they also maintain greater genetic variety. Animals in more productive communities are more sedentary so that the species tends to be broken into many semi-isolated populations. As a result, speciation is favored with the interspecies associations providing the new adaptive opportunities. Plants which are pollinated by animals would be in the same situation. The new species tend to be more' specialized and to have, initially, smaller populations. These events are shown in Steps 1 to 5 in figure 1. in the early stages of the evolution of a community, positive feedback mechanisms would operate, ever-increasing the rate of speciation. The evolution of large heterotrophs (animals) would increase the rate of cycling of mineral nutrients, which would augment the net productivity. As more complex food webs developed with the increase in the number of species, community stability would increase, augmenting the stability of the physical environment. The clothing of the earth's surface with larger plants would tend to damp the fluctuations in climate, also increasing stability (Step 6). In the later stages, the tendency toward overspecialization and smaller populations would decrease community stability and provide a negative feedback control on the whole process (Steps 7 and 8). Even under very stable conditions, productivity may be limited directly by the short supply of various factors such as light, water, heat, etc. Population size may also be limited directly by a restriction in the area of suitable habitat or by a larger body size. Any such limitations would result in a lower diversity of species. This model applies only to equilibrium conditions. In certain situations, such as during the short favorable periods in the arctic or desert, diversity may be temporarily increased; care must be exercised in comparing this to the diversity maintained all the year in the wet tropics. We feel that, although some niches are determined by physical variations in the environment, most of the dimensions of the niche are a result of interaction between organisms. For this reason, it is impossible to predict the number of niches (and therefore species) from environmental complexity alone. We also discard the idea that rigorousness per se limits diversity. Lastly, the hypothesis that the tropics are closer to equilibrium while the temperate zone is in a "successional" state of development of diversity is not accepted, for theoretical reasons and for lack of evidence.
Introduction

The idea that intelligence can characterize the behavior of systems that are not biological may seem a topic of fiction rather than physics. How could a selfrepairing 1958 Plymouth hunt down its enemies if not through the imagination of Stephen King (1983)? But since life itself must have come from inorganic sources, presumably emerging from thermodynamic processes, directed behavior by physical systems may not be so far-fetched. And once one has embraced a non-computational/non-algorithmic approach to perception, as ecological psychologists have, the possibility of a physical grounding for perception, action, and cognition—a physical intelligence—is intriguing if not inevitable. In this first special issue on physical intelligence, four articles present notions relevant to how intelligence from first principles might be characterized. Experimental psychologists Turvey and Carello (this issue) outline two-dozen guidelines for seeking physical intelligence. Many of these are gleaned from long-standing tenets of ecological psychology that the authors claim support the inevitability of physical intelligence. Others are extracted from modern thermodynamics. Together, they provide thermodynamic reasons for perceivingacting cycles (Swenson & Turvey, 1991; Turvey & Shaw, 1995) that provide the essence of the conceptual underpinnings of physical intelligence. Kondepudi (this issue), a physical chemist, provides an overview of modern thermodynamics as it relates to pursuing intelligence from first principles. His central concern is dissipative structures, maintained by entropy production, that he claims are pivotal to arguments for non-algorithmic intelligence. Along the way, he exploits
Does trait conservatism guarantee that indicators of phylogenetic community structure will reveal niche‐based assembly processes along stress gradients?

Question Is the strength of phylogenetic trait conservatism in the species pool reflected in the ability of α- and β-scale phylogenetic diversity indicators to detect niche-based assembly processes along stress gradients? Methods We used a simple community assembly model to explore the power of indicators of phylogenetic community structure to detect assembly processes. The model assumes that with declining stress the influence of niche complementarity on species fitness increases, while that of environmental filtering decreases. We separately incorporated two trait-independent stochastic processes – mass and priority effects – in simulating species occurrences and abundances along a hypothetical stress gradient. We measured power for α- and β-scale indices of phylogenetic diversity (PD) as the proportion of simulations yielding a significant correlation between these indices and the community position along the stress gradient. For α-scale indices, we ran simulations where species richness was constant along the gradient, or either increased, decreased or varied randomly with declining stress. We used four models of trait evolution, differing in the degree of phylogenetic trait conservatism, to examine how variation in the influence of phylogeny on trait variation impacted the power of PD indices. Results None of the PD indices gave high power to detect assembly processes for either the mass effects or priority effects model, even when trait variation was strongly conserved. Those measures of α PD that gave moderate power in the priority-effects model with strong trait conservatism were greatly affected by variation in species richness. Consequently, none of the indices examined met the necessary selection criteria. Additional analyses revealed that trait conservatism at the species pool level was poorly maintained at the meta-community scale, with phylogenetically-determined species composition having only moderate power to detect functionally-determined species turnover. This lack of a strong phylogenetic signal in trait variation at the meta-community scale is the most likely explanation for the poor ability of PD indices to detect assembly processes in our study. Conclusion Phylogenetic diversity indices seem to have limited ability to detect trait-based assembly processes along ecological gradients, even when trait conservatism at the species pool level is strong. Consequently, PD is unlikely to provide a means of avoiding the tough decisions around which traits are most relevant for assembly processes. Rather, our findings emphasize the need to collect relevant functional trait data to understand the mechanisms controlling community assembly.
PREFERTILIZATION EVENTS IN OVULES OF PSEUDOTSUGA : OVULAR SECRETION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON POLLEN TUBES

A natural ovular secretion from the megagametophyte, essential to sexual reproduction, was examined in Pseudotsuga. This secretion began soon after egg formation or about 1 week before fertilization. Secreted fluid filled the micropylar canal. Morphological study showed that the fluid affected (i) dissolution of intine materials; (ii) pollen distortion that may relate to prezygotic selection; and, (iii) induction of pollen tubes. The origin of the secreted fluid is interpreted from an experiment using homogenates. Elongated pollen supplied with a homogenate of the megagametophyte shows immediate movement of starch grains and body cell. Some pollen formed pollen tubes. Homogenates of the nucellus or the integument elicited little or no response. If ovules are dissected before the natural secretion and kept in high relative humidity, the micropylar canal becomes filled with fluid. This fluid is an artifact resulting from dissection, but is also capable of inducing pollen tubes. Keywords: megagametophyte, ov.
Population Dynamics of a Reintroduced Population of Captive-Raised Gibbons (Hylobates lar) on Phuket, Thailand

Abstract: Confiscated and donated white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) originating from the local wildlife trade have been rescued by the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) and rehabilitated on Phuket since 1992. Here we present some results of this long-term gibbon reintroduction project. Following unsuccessful early release attempts beginning in 1993, GRP has experimented with reintroduction methods and developed a protocol that has succeeded in re-establishing a small independent breeding population in a 22-km2 forest fragment on Phuket. Eight breeding families of gibbons were released into the Khao Phra Thaew non-hunting area between October 2002 and November 2012 using a soft-release reintroduction method in which the gibbons were provisioned with fresh food in the trees for at least one year, or as long as they needed it. The adult pair in the first gibbon family that was reintroduced there has remained together for 10 years post-release, they have maintained the original pair-bond and raised three wild-born offspring. The reintroduced population has seen eleven infants born in the wild, including a second-generation gibbon born to the first wild-born female. Female interbirth intervals and ages at first reproduction in the reintroduced population are comparable with those in wild populations. Of the seven adult females originally released, two remain with their original mates and two remain in the wild paired with different mates. By the end of 2012, three of the six wild groups were not nuclear families, indicating a flexibility of group composition seen in well-studied wild populations.
Supporting the development of more inclusive practices using the index for inclusion

Inclusion is a central issue for educational psychologists (EPs) today, yet they have often been portrayed as gatekeepers to special provision. One approach for EPs to promote more inclusive practices in schools is through the Index for Inclusion as a vehicle for consultation. This paper reports a study of EPs acting as “critical friends” to schools during the pilot project to develop the Index for Inclusion in 1999. The role of critical friend was investigated through interviewing EPs and others. Key themes were identified reflecting significant aspects of EPs’ experiences that may be helpful to colleagues interested in developing this approach.
The effect of sample duration on the quantification of stream drift

SUMMARY 1. We performed computer simulations and a field experiment to determine the effect that sample duration and, thus, sample volume had on estimates of drift density and sample variance. 2. In computer simulations, when the spatial arrangement of individuals in the water column approximated a random and a contagious-random distribution, estimated mean drift density was not significantly affected by sample duration, but sample variance decreased curvilinearly as sample duration increased. 3. Similar results were obtained in field experiments in habitats of high and low water velocity. 4. Our findings from an Albertan stream indicate that the relationship between sample variance (i.e. coefficient of variation) and duration of drift samples is curvilinear. This relationship affected the number of samples required to achieve a specific level of precision (i.e. a standard error within 10% of the mean). For estimates in low and high current velocities, sample variation was halved by increasing the duration of sample collections from 10 to 20 min. The increased precision obtained with samples of 20 min duration reduced the amount of drift material that needed to be processed by approximately 50% compared with an equivalent 10% level of precision for samples of 10 min duration. This reduction in the number of samples required to obtain a given level of precision has important consequences to the cost of processing drift samples. 5. Thus to optimize studies of stream invertebrate drift, both in terms of sample precision and processing effort, researchers must consider the effect that sample volume has on the variance of drift density estimates. Because researchers generally use drift nets with similar-sized apertures (>300cm2), the problem for specific field applications becomes one of optimizing sample duration relative to variance estimates for drift density.