Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neotypification of Drawida hattamimizu Hatai, 1930 (Annelida, Oligochaeta, Megadrili, Moniligastridae) as a model linking mtDNA (COI) sequences to an earthworm type, with a response to the ‘Can of Worms’ theory of cryptic species

A neotype is designated for the large and ecologically interesting species of Japanese earthworm, Drawida hattamimizu Hatai, 1930. Its morphological redescription is unambiguously combined with the neotype’s sequence of the Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) locus of the mitochondrial DNA, the fi rst time an earthworm species’ type has been thus profi led. Probably it is an introduced exotic rather than a translocated native, with a patchy distribution that appears only partly defi ned in Japan where it is both a restricted and an endangered listed species. Brief comparison of sympatric Drawida japonica (Michaelsen, 1892) to the type-species Drawida barwelli (Beddard, 1886) – and this latter from Shiga appears as a new record for Japan – allows the diagnosis of Drawida Michaelsen, 1900 to be amended slightly. Th e contentious issue of molecular ‘cryptic species’ is queried in relation to the lack of molecular data from type-specimens, the unique name-bearing references employed in zoological nomenclature. Without such reference, neither eco-taxonomic nor genomic studies of earthworm taxa can progress. In this regard, questions are raised concerning the molecular identities and provisional divergences of cosmopolitan generotypes Allolobophora chlorotica chlorotica (Savigny, 1826), the Aporrectodea caliginosa (Savigny, 1826) species-complex sensu Blakemore (2002), and of ecotoxicological standard test-species icon Eisenia fetida fetida (Savigny, 1826). Resurrection of their respective synonyms is mooted. Resolution of relationships within and between earthworm genera and families without DNA testing of the representative type-species and type-genera is fl agged as another crucial concern. ZooKeys 41: 1–29 (2010) doi: 10.3897/zookeys.41. 374 www.pensoftonline. net/zookeys Copyright R.J. Blakemore et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity research A peer-reviewed open-access journal
Colony ergonomics for a desert‐dwelling bumblebee species (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract. 1 Data on worker traffic, size and concentration of nectar loads, and size and composition of pollen loads were collected for a colony of Bombus pennsylvanicus sonorus Say in the Chihuahuan Desert in Arizona, U.S.A. 2 Foraging activity increased through the morning to a peak level in early afternoon and then declined steadily thereafter. Pollen collection occurred primarily in the morning, whereas nectar was harvested throughout the day. Nectar loads decreased in size but increased in sugar concentration during the day. 3 Following field observations, we excavated the nest and counted the numbers of immatures and adults present and measured the honey and pollen reserves. A total of 150 workers were present, and we estimate that the colony would have produced 174 queens and 192 males. Food reserves appeared small: pollen and honey stored in the nest represented only 18% and 35%, respectively, of the daily input. 4 These results are compared to ergonomic data collected for B.vosnesenskii in the only other similar study.
Geoclimatic Patterns in Specific Gravity and Tracheid Length in Wood of Pitch Pine

Increment cores, 12 mm diameter, were taken from pitch pine throughout its natural range and analyzed for tracheid length, unextracted specific gravity, and extracted specific gravity. Tracheid length and specific gravity increased from north to south along topoclines. However, correlations with climatic variables such as mean annual snowfall, date in the spring when mean temperature reaches 6 °C (43 °F), or daylength on that date, were more closely related to tracheid length and specific gravity than geographic location perse, indicating the existence of ecoclines. It is hypothesized that the geoclimatic patterns are the pleiotrophic result of selection for shorter. growing seasons in northern latitudes. Variance components indicated substantial variation in specific gravity among trees within stands and among areas, but not among stands in areas. For tracheid length, all three sources of variation were significant. Correlations between wood properties were low when calculated among trees within stands.
Gradients in herbivory levels of small mammal communities

Des etudes anterieures effectuees sur les petits mammiferes vivant sur les coupes a blanc en Suede ont montre que la part des especes herbivores augmente a mesure que l'on remonte vers le nord du pays. J'examine si cette tendance se confirme lorsque l'on etudie d'autres biotopes ou lorsque l'on utilise d'autres methodes pour capturer les animaux. Nous avons fait des prelevements sur friches, sur coupes a blanc et en foret. Nous avons compare l'utilisation de pieges-boites sur quadrat et de pieges a ressort. Nous avons capture des musaraignes dans des proportions tres differentes selon la methode utilisee. Des differences regionales subsistent neanmoins quel que soit le piege utilise, et la tendance geographique concernant les herbivores s'avere forte
Digestibilidade ileal verdadeira da proteína em frangos de corte sob dietas com diferentes níveis de proteína bruta

True ileal protein digestibility in broilers fed diets with different crude protein levels. Crude protein apparent ileal digestibility (DIA-PB) and true ileal digestibility (DIV-PB) were determined in 39 day old broilers on four corn-soybean meal diets with 19.8 to 23.5% crude protein content (4 replicates of 8 birds/sex/diet). Diets contained 0.25% chromium oxide and were given in four daily meals. Birds were sacrificed between 2 and 4 hours after the start of the last meal. Endogenous protein loss was obtained as the intercept of the linear regression between the feed intake and the protein collected in the ileum. A linear increase in digestibility with dietary protein level increment was observed. Lower coefficients of variation (CV%) and of regression were observed with DIV-PB (1.8*CP + 36.3; r 2 =0.97; P<0.02; CV%=2.9) than with DIA-PB (3.3*CP + 0.9; r 2 =0.99; P<0.01; CV%=3.7). Studied methodology was efficient to determine true ileal digestibility in broilers. Apparent ileal digestibility overestimated the effect of dietary crude protein level.
Distributional Patterns of Alien Plants in China: The Relative Importance of Phylogenetic History and Functional Attributes

Distribution patterns of alien species in nonnative ranges might be driven by a combination of various mechanisms, including phylogenetic history, competition for resource, environmental filtering, and so on. Both phylogenetic and functional limitations might work synergistically to determine the distribution of alien species. In this report, by utilizing the information of provincial distribution, functional attributes, and phylogeny for 95 alien species of China, the corresponding phylogenetic and functional community structures are evaluated. The results show that introduction pathway, life form, and flowering time of alien plants of China processed significant phylogenetic clustering patterns, while both the origin of distribution and reproduction mode of alien species showed phylogenetic overdispersion patterns, as revealed by NRI/NTI indices. The phylogenetic signal tests using Pagel’s statistic and Blomberg et al.’s statistic further verified the previous patterns, even though there are some inconsistencies. Through partial Mantel test, it is found that compositional patterns of alien plant community were mainly affected by phylogenetic limitation but not functional limitation. Conclusively, phylogeny plays a more important role in structuring provincial distribution of alien plants in China.
Progressive transmission of vector data in a distributed agricultural information system

Abstract Building a distributed agricultural information system (DAIS) is an important task to implement agriculture informatisation. Due to the limitations of network flux and the characters of spatial data, access to huge agricultural geospatial datasets often suffers from slow or unreliable network connections. This limits the development and application of WebGIS in agriculture. To improve the response speed for access to the agricultural geospatial data, this paper introduces a solution for vector data simplification based on the improved Douglas‐Peucker algorithm and a binary line generalisation (BLG) tree. Accordingly, this paper discusses the techniques for progressive transmission of vector data, i.e., the architecture of WebGIS, data organising and coding on the server‐side. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper can not only effectively reduce system response time, but also preserve the topology relation between spatial data, which sequentially improves the performance and quality of DAIS.
Taking the scenic route – the southern Great Escarpment (South Africa) as part of the Cape to Cairo floristic highway

Background: Numerous Cape Floristic Region (CFR) clades are found in the Afromontane region of Africa, causing speculation on the source of their distribution. The southern Escarpment has been postulated as a key link in the movement of Cape species between the CFR and these Afromontane areas. Aims: The strengths of three purported connections (the north-west, Matjiesfontein and south-east) between the CFR and the southern Escarpment are considered, and of the southern Escarpment track itself. Methods: A comprehensive database was compiled from which floristic comparisons and multivariate analyses were undertaken. Palaeo-connectivity was assessed from phylogenetic relationships determined from 19 phylogenies. Results: There is evidence of both palaeo- and current connectivity between the Escarpment and the CFR, most strongly for the SE connection. Current connectivity along the southern Escarpment track is relatively well supported between the eastern Nuweveldberge and Main Drakensberg but not between the Hantam–Roggeveld and Nuweveldberge. Palaeo-connectivity along the southern Escarpment track is well supported by the phylogenies. Conclusions: Climate regime may be a more important factor in floristic connectivity than geomorphological continuity. Historical connectivity along the southern Escarpment track suggests cyclical connectivity, probably in response to glacial–interglacial cycles and associated shifts in rainfall regimes along the southern Escarpment.
Interactions between oligopeptides and oxidised titanium surfaces detected by vibrational spectroscopy

Five alternating polar/hydrophobic oligopeptides derived from EAK 16 (AEAEAKAKAEAEAKAK) were examined in comparison with EAK 16 (peptide 1) both after solubilisation/lyophilisation and deposition on oxidised titanium surfaces. The peptides were synthesised for their possible use as biomimetic materials due to their self-assembling properties and the presence, in one of them, of the arginine-glycine-aspartic (RGD) sequence, an active modulator of cell adhesion. Infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopies were used to investigate the influence of the amino acid substitution on the self-assembling properties of the peptides under both experimental conditions. In the lyophilised peptides, β-sheet was the prevailing conformation (65–69%) as in EAK 16, irrespective of acid substitution (ED, peptide 2), basic substitution (KO, peptide 3), hydrophobic spacer substitution (AAbu, peptide 4 and AY, peptide 5) and RGD insertion (peptide 6). After deposition on oxidised titanium, the main conformation remained β-sheet. The side-chain shortening of the acidic amino acid residue (peptide 2) or the insertion of a rigid and bulky residue such as Y (peptide 5) decreased the self-assembling ability more than the side-chain shortening of the basic amino acid residue (peptide 3) or the insertion of the RGD head (peptide 6). The interaction with the oxidised titanium surface was mainly due to carboxylate groups with a bidentate bridging coordination and C O peptidic groups. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Inadequacy of the Liebig Limiting‐Factor Paradigm for Explaining Varying Crop Yields

Historically, the limiting-factor paradigm has been used to describe how crop yields may be constrained by the individual input resources required by plants. The limiting-factor paradigm proposes that plant growth is constrained only by a single resource whose availability is so low that it solely inbibits greater gowth or growth rates. However, this paradigm ignores the great flexibility of plants to acclimate morphologically and physiologically to changing environmental conditions. In view of the inadequacy of the limiting-factor paradigm, an analysis analogous to that used in economic studies to describe well-managed businesses was developed [. ]
The decline and impending extinction of the South China tiger

The South China tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis is the rarest of the five living tiger subspecies, the most critically threatened and the closest to extinction. No wild South China tigers have been seen by officials for 25 years and one was last brought into captivity 27 years ago. The 19 reserves listed by the Chinese Ministry of Forestry within the presumed range of the tiger are spatially fragmented and most are too small to support viable tiger populations. Over the last 40 years wild populations have declined from thousands to a scattered few. Despite its plight and occasional anecdotal reports of sightings by local people, no intensive field study has been conducted on this tiger subspecies and its habitat. The captive population of about 50 tigers, derived from six wild-caught founders, is genetically impoverished with low reproductive output. Given the size and fragmentation of potential tiger habitat, saving what remains of the captive population may be the only option left to prevent extinction of this tiger subspecies, and even this option is becoming increasingly less probable. This precarious dilemma demands that conservation priorities be re-evaluated and action taken immediately to decide if recovery of the wild population will be possible.
Variation in aboveground and belowground biomass in progeny of selected stands of Pinus sylvestris

Forest biomass studies not only range from estimation of timber standing mass to assessing biogeochemical cycles, but may also reveal genetic variation in growth and biomass allocation. In this study, we investigated differences in biomass accumulation and allometric relationships between tree diameter and biomass of above and belowground components in two populations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) (progeny of clonal seed orchards) differing in stem growth. At a common tree diameter, populations differed in accumulated belowground biomass, but not in total tree or aboveground components' biomass. Populations also differed in the root:shoot ratio and proportional allocation of biomass into stems. However, proportional allocation to stem mass decreased from smaller to larger trees, contrary to branch and foliage, which likely reflected a response to competition in the stand. The allometric equations predicted well the total tree, aboveground, and stem biomass independently of population, but separate equations were required for estimation of belowground biomass for the two populations. These results suggest that total stand and aboveground biomass in young Scots pine stands could be estimated without accounting for genetic component. Comparison of literature data with estimates obtained using our allometric equations indicate that equations were site-specific and should not be generalized to other sites, unless for rough approximation of aboveground biomass. More research is required for a more reliable assessment of genetic effect on allometric relationships for belowground biomass.
Evaluation of Age, Gender, Strain, and Diet on the Cooked Yield and Shear Values of Broiler Breast Fillets

G. H. POOLE, C. E. LYON,’ R. J. BUHR, and L. L. YOUNG USDA-ARS, PPMQ, P. 0. Ear 567, Athens, GA 304045677 Phone: (706) 5463418 FAX: (706) 5 6 3 6 3 3 E-mail: glyon@ars. usda.gov A. ALLEY, J. B. HESS, and S. E BILGILI Depament of Poulhy Science, Auburn University Experiment Station, Auburn University, AL 36849-5416 J. K. NORTHCUTT Depament of Poultry Science, University of Geoqja, Athens, GA 30602-4356
Effect of maternal administration of salbutamol to sows on post-natal growth and carcass characteristics in the progeny

The effects of salbutamol administration to pregnant sows on post-natal growth and carcass characteristics of the progeny were investigated. Salbutamol (4 mg/kg diet) was fed to sows during the first (0 to 38 days, TI), second (39 to 78 days, T2) or third (79 days to term, T3) trimester of pregnancy. At birth, maternal administration of salbutamol had no effect on body weight, dressing percentage or weights of liver, heart, semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscle in proportion to body weight in the progeny. No significant effects of maternal treatment with salbutamol on body weight, dressing percentage, semitendinosus muscle weight in proportion to body weight and loin eye area were observed in the progeny at 21 days. P2 fat depth at 21 days was greater (P < 0-05) in TI than in controls. The percentage of type I fibres in the deep portion of semitendinosus muscle was higher (P < 0.05) in treatment groups as compared with controls: 27.4, 42.8, 36.9 and 36.0% in control, TI, T2 and T3 respectively. At slaughter (90 kg), carcass and meat parameters including length, P2 fat depth, meat colour and drip loss were not affected by maternal administration of salbutamol. However, loin eye areas were larger in T1 than in controls. Larger loin eye areas, coupled with numerically (but not statistically) significant heavier carcasses and lower backfats, resulted in greater estimates of carcass protein mass in TI pigs as compared with controls (P = 0.06).
High levels of intra- and inter-individual polymorphism in the rDNA ITS1 of Caulerpa racemosa (Chlorophyta)

The coenocytic green alga Caulerpa racemosa colonized the Mediterranean some time after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. For most of the past century it has remained confined to the southeastern Mediterranean, but over the past several years the species has been reported in abundance along the western coasts of Italy, Sardinia and the Marseille area of southern France. Whether this constitutes a natural range expansion or a possible new introduction is under discussion. The purpose of this study was to establish the ITS signatures of populations inside and outside the Mediterranean. ITS1 sequences were compared among 78 clones from 21 individuals representing 11 populations of C. racemosa, collected from the Western Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, Panama and Western Australia. Intraindividual polymorphism of ITS1 was found to be as high or higher than inter-individual polymorphism across all samples tested. Polymorphism parsimony analysis, which takes into account intra-individual variation, revealed strong separation between individuals from Panama, Fuerteventura (Canary Is.) and the Mediterranean. In contrast, none of the six Mediterranean populations could be distinguished from one another. In addition, individuals and their clones collected from Perth (Australia) and Gran Canaria were spread throughout the Mediterranean clade. Possible reasons for the lack of homogenization of ITS arrays in C. racemosa under the mechanisms of concerted evolution and implications for phylogeographic interpretation are discussed and compared with Caulerpa taxifolia.
Microbial Changes on Full and Reduced Fat Edam Cheese during Maturation

The objective of this research was to determine the microflora of full fat and reduced fat Edam cheese during maturation. Reduced fat (16% fat) and full fat (28% fat) Edam cheese was stored up to 20 weeks at 6°C after manufacture. The cheeses were analyzed for pH, moisture, total solids, fat and protein content. Reduced fat cheese had higher protein and water content than full fat. We determined total bacteria, lactococci, and lactobacilli counts of reduced and full fat cheese during 5 months of ripening. Results revealed that total bacteria counts were about 1.9×105/g at one day for reduced fat cheese and 8×106/g for full fat cheese. Total counts decreased during maturation in both cheeses. Initial lactococcal counts were about the same in both products.
Influence of soil moisture on infection of ponderosa pine by Verticicladiella wagenerii.

To test the hypothesis that high soil moisture favors When examined after 12 wk, the largest numbers of infected infection of ponderosa pine by Verticicladiella wagenerii, 160 seedlings were observed in the wettest soil treatments with I-yr-old ponderosa pine seedlings were inoculated with V. numbers decreasing significantly (P= 0.05) as soil treatments wagenerii and subjected to two relatively dry and three became drier (12 of 15 to 0 of 20 seedlings infected). relatively wet soil moisture treatments in the greenhouse.
Factors Influencing Reproduction in Captive Vancouver Island Marmots: Implications for Captive Breeding and Reintroduction Programs

Abstract Many factors important to reproduction are difficult to quantify for wild mammals, yet an understanding of them is often critical to species' recovery programs, particularly those involving captive breeding and reintroduction. We examined management variables employed by the Vancouver Island marmot captive breeding program during 1998–2005 to determine how such variables influenced production of young and litter sizes. We then tested the ability of factors that were identified as important to predict production of young in the breeding program in 2006. For previously paired animals, production of young was significantly greater when they had been paired with the same mate for ≥1 year before the breeding season. When these females had been with a mate for <1 year, production of young was more than 2 times greater among 2–4 year olds compared to older age classes. Among previously paired females, 5–7 year olds and those that had produced young previously tended to produce young more often than other categories. Litter size was positively influenced by visual contact between a female and other pairs. For previously paired females, age, the amount of time paired with their mate, and previous production of young accurately predicted 75% of production of young in 2006. We propose that results from our study be combined with genetic considerations to plan future pairings in the breeding program and to assist in the selection of individuals for reintroduction to the wild. Methods reported herein may be applicable to recovery programs for other imperiled mammals.