bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Kazan Square Demonstration and the Conflict Between Russian Workers and Intelligenty
Authors: McKinsey Pamela Sears
Published: April 2006

The Kazan Square demonstration of December 6, 1876 was one of a number of attempts by revolutionary intelligenty to forge an alliance with the common people. Two striking features of this demonstration have often been noted. First, participants in the demonstration included not only members of the radical intelligentsia but also urban workers, an unusual feature for the first socialist street demonstration in Russia. Second, fewer workers took part than the radical intelligentsia had hoped, given their active propagandizing among factory workers. Some critics have found fault with the “abstract” nature of the propaganda, to use Georgii Plekhanov's later term. He and others blamed the limited worker participation on the failure of the populists to express concretely the real, immediate interests of the workers. Plekhanov later wrote that the workers of St. Petersburg could only have been drawn to the demonstration because it was a “new spectacle, not seen before.” The workers had no tangible reason for active participation in it. “For this reason they did not go to it.”
The Posadnichestvo of Pskov: Some Aspects of Urban Administration in Medieval Russia
Authors: Langer Lawrence N.
Published: April 2006

To the Memory of Arcadius Kahan, 1920–1982

Ever since the publication of V. L. Ianin's study of the Novgorodian mayors (posadniki) in 1962, the commonplace image of republican Novgorod with its political institutions grounded in the sovereignty of the veche—the “democratic” assembly of the city's free male population—has undergone considerable change. It is now generally conceded that Novgorod was essentially a boyar oligarchy, but controversy still surrounds Ianin's contention that the veche from its inception was primarily composed of boyars and other wealthy landowners, who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were known as the well-to-do (zhit'i liudi). Most scholars are willing to accept the view that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the veche was dominated by a boyar oligarchy, but some, including Knud Rasmussen, Henrik Birnbaum, and Jörg Leuschner, believe that the composition of the veche in the twelfth century was more complex and that Novgorodian “democracy” was more evident, at least until the late thirteenth century, when the boyars working through the Council of Lords (Sovet gospod—first recorded in 1291) usurped the “rights” of the populace. Following the work of Klaus Zernack, Leuschner believes the veche was composed of all the free males including those from the subordinate towns (prigorody) outside Novgorod. But in the last two centuries of the republic's existence, certainly following the reforms of 1416 and 1417, Novgorod changed, in Birnbaum's words, “from a quasi-democratic form of government based on the veche to a purely oligarchic rule determined exclusively by the feudal lords.“ Having admitted that representation in the veche became limited to some forty “feudal” clans, Birnbaum accepts the contention of Carsten Goehrke that Pskov, the political and legal institutions of which are thought to have approximated those of Novgorod, retained its genuinely democratic veche throughout the fifteenth century. Thus Pskov is brought to the front lines to debunk the “extreme views” of Ianin, characterized by Goehrke as increasingly dogmatic and speculative, and is now caught in the controversy surrounding Novgorod.
Excess Collectivization Deaths 1929–1933: New Demographic Evidence
Authors: Rosefielde Steven
Published: April 2006

Although many Western scholars believe that 5 million Soviet peasants died as a result of forced collectivization, this inference is not firmly supported by official prewar census statistics. Official statistics suggest that there may have been as many as 9.2 million excess deaths between 1927 and 1939, a figure more than ample to cover hypothesized collectivization fatalities, but Frank Lorimer has argued that half of this discrepancy may be explained by a 27 percent underestimation of the mortality rate in the census of 1926. The possibility that standard Western estimates substantially exaggerate estimated collectivization fatalities therefore cannot be dismissed, even before allowance is made for victims of the famine of 1933-1934, Gulag forced labor, and the terror.

The plausibility of the hypothesis that collectivization claimed millions of lives is diminished further by Gosplan's estimate of the Soviet population in 1933, 165.7 million, a figure consistent with demographic trends of the late 1920s. Assuming that Gosplan had access to the relevant data when this estimate was made in 1937, it appears to follow that all excess deaths calculated from the census of 1939 occurred after rather than before 1933.
The Military Factor in East German Soviet Policy
Authors: Herspring Dale R.
Published: April 2006

The Soviet military appears to be losing its privileged position within the Soviet national security apparatus. As long as Gorbachev continues to have the upper hand in Moscow, the Kremlin's generals will be in for hard times. Assuming this trend continues, it could have the unexpected effect of enhancing the role of the German Democratic Republic's military contribution to the Warsaw Pact. In turn the East German political leadership's long-term goal of using the military factor to influence Soviet behavior has advanced. The more reliable and more modern its armed forces, the greater the likelihood the East Germans will be able to translate this advantage into leverage—even if it is very limited—in dealing with the Soviets in other areas.
Breaking the Circle of the Self: Domestication, Alienation and the Question of Discourse Type in Rozanov's Late Writings
Authors: Hutchings Stephen C.
Published: April 2006

It is often the mark of a writer's sophistication and innovative powers that certain of his/her key works present difficulties in the area of genre. Pushkin's Evgenii Onegin, Dostoevskii's Diary of a Writer, Tolstoi's War and Peace and Belyi's Kotik Letaev serve as instructive examples from Russian literature. To this list one could certainly add the late writings of Vasilii Rozanov. The genre of Rozanov's trilogy Solitaria, Fallen Leaves and Apocalypse of Our Times is notoriously resistant to definition and generates a host of competing alternatives. Should they be treated as collections of fable-like anecdotes, as autobiographies, confessions, fictions or as something that combines elements from all of these genres? Each answer has validity.
Konstantin Vaginov and the Death of Nikolai Gumilev
Authors: Anemone Anthony
Published: April 2006

In his “Poetic Responses to the Death of Gumilev,” Ivan Martynov has chronicled the repercussions of Gumilev's execution by the Cheka in August 1921 in the poetry of his contemporaries. Martynov recalls those poets who remained faithful to Gumilev and marked his death with memorable poems as well as the opportunists who publicly and loudly praised his executioners. Among those who betrayed Gumilev for selfish reasons, Martynov cites such former close friends as Elizaveta Polonskaia, Mikhail Zenkevich, Larisa Reisner, and Sergei Gorodetskii. Their cynicism and cowardice were, however, more than offset by the loyalty and resourcefulness of, among others, Anna Akhmatova, Georgii Adamovich, Nikolai Otsup, Ida Nappel'baum and Irina Odoevtseva. Despite the very real danger, these poets refused to renounce Gumilev in public. Because the Soviet censor would allow no overt references to Gumilev, much less poems in commemoration of his death, his friends were able to refer to him only obliquely in the months following his execution.
Medieval Popular Humor in Russian Eighteenth Century Lubki
Authors: Ecklund Farrell Dianne
Published: April 2006

Russian lubki, or popular prints, of the eighteenth century reveal clearly an archaic premodern humor. Since 1945 much seventeenth century and early eighteenth century urban popular literature, which before existed only in manuscript books, collections of stories, and plays, has been published and has revealed a native tradition of popular humor in Russian print.' The appearance in popular prints of various characters and activities from the popular festive culture, scenes from popular theatricals, parodies of sundry rites and proceedings, and so forth attest to the fact that this culture of popular humor was thriving in the early eighteenth century.
Pseudo-revolution in Poetic Language: Julia Kristeva and the Russian Avant-garde
Authors: Cavanagh Clare
Published: April 2006

It is important to stress that these peculiar pseudo-revolutions, imported from Russia and carried out under the protection of the army and the police, were full of authentic revolutionary psychology and their adherents experienced them with grand pathos, enthusiasm, and eschatological faith in an absolutely new world. Poets found themselves on the proscenium for the last time. They thought they were playing their customary part in the glorious European drama and had no inkling that the theatre manager had changed the program at the last minute and substituted a trivial farce.

–Milan Kundera, Life Is Elsewhere (1969)

In the preface to her 1980 collection Desire in Language, Julia Kristeva acknowledged her ongoing debt to the pioneering linguistic theories of Roman Jakobson, a scholar who, in her phrase, "reached one of the high points of language learning in this century by never losing sight of Russian futurism's scorching odyssey through a revolution that ended up strangling it." Kristeva's statement takes us in two directions at once, both of which I will explore in this essay: it draws attention to Jakobson's sustaining roots in the avant-garde experimentation in poetic language that flourished in Russia in the early part of this century; and it tacitly underscores Kristeva's own ties to Russian avantgarde theory and practice. For Jakobson, Kristeva has suggested, the brief, febrile period of artistic experimentation that Marjorie Perloff has called "the futurist moment" continued to inform his writing in vital ways long after its unnatural death at the hands of the Soviet state. Certainly Jakobson, like Kristeva, is preoccupied throughout his work— from his exploration of Khlebnikov's "transsense" in "Recent Russian Poetry" to his 1980 study of Holderlin's schizophrenia—with the relationship between abnormal or "trans-normal" language and poetic language that lay at the heart of formalist theory and futurist practice in early twentieth century Russia.
Political Testament of Lenin and Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP
Authors: Lih Lars T.
Published: April 2006

Lenin's last writings have given rise to a surprising range of interpretations. Despite this diversity, consensus holds that in these articles Lenin was striking new ground, extending his critique of war communism, and deepening his conception of the New Economic Policy. Another widely held view is that Nikolai Bukharin, inspired by the last articles, went further down the path opened by Lenin. Few agree about the content of Lenin's new direction, although one may note the following coincidence: Lenin is always seen as rejecting whatever the author in question does not like about original Bolshevism.
The Population Ecology of Corporations in the Russian Empire, 1700–1914
Authors: Owen Thomas C.
Published: April 2006

In investigations of the evolution of the corporation in Europe, North America, and the Far East, historians have illuminated variations in the structure of large enterprises in different times and places and investigated responses to legal environments. In tsarist Russia as well, the development of corporations on the national, regional, and sectoral levels was influenced by legal and economic institutions. Data on Russian corporations, however, have been inadequate for the complex statistical tests applied to the European and North American economies. This article offers a preliminary overview of trends in Russian corporate development from 1700 to 1914 in light of a new database and the recently articulated theory of organizational ecology. Although the theory provides stimulating approaches to the history of Russian corporations, it also appears unduly specific in some respects to the history of western Europe and the United States.
Suicide as Literary Fact in the 1920s
Authors: Nesbet Anne
Published: April 2006

In the search for meaning which its conclusion provokes, a life, inevitably, is scrutinized for patterns, symbols, and general themes; it is read, in short, as a text. Suicide becomes a bloody signature on the bottom of a ragged page, the final and incontrovertible assertion of authorial control over one’s own life. At the same time, however, the suicide relinquishes all future control over everything, including future interpretations of his or her life-as-text. As a Pyrrhic means of giving the planned, narrative structure of a text to life, suicide functions as an uncanny fulcrum between “meaningful” life and “meaningless” death; hence its fascination. The supreme instance of human will triumphing over cruel nature’s whims is also the moment of greatest surrender to death’s lack of meaning. Witnesses and analysts rush in to provide interpretation and theory.
Dostoevskii in Siberia: Remembering the Past
Authors: Murav Harriet
Published: April 2006

In “Muzhik Marei,” which appeared in the February issue of Dnevnik pisatelia for 1876, Fedor Dostoevskii “remembers” an experience from his time in Siberia. During Easter week the drunken carousing of his fellow convicts (which, he writes, “tormented me nearly to the point of illness” “do bolezni isterzalo menia”) had driven him out of the barracks into the yard. There he met the Polish prisoner, Miretskii, who said, “Je hais ces brigands” (22:46). These words drive Dostoevskii right back to the place from which, as he says, only fifteen minutes before, he had fled “kak bezumnyi.”
“I Named Her Ariadna…”: The Demeter-Persephone Myth in Tsvetaeva's Poems for Her Daughter
Authors: Weeks Laura D.
Published: April 2006

Early in March 1914 Marina Tsvetaeva wrote to her new acquaintance Vasilii Rozanov

Several features of this passage stamp it as characteristically Tsvetaevan: the emotional excess, the hero worship of her husband, the preoccupation with familial blood lines. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the quasi-mythical quality with which she imbues the figures of husband and child. Whereas Tsvetaeva's powers as a maker of myths are commonly acknowledged, the extent to which her mythmaking shaped her most intimate relationships has yet to be explored. In the case of her daughter, the mythic relationship assumed the dimensions of a Greek tragedy.
Soviet and Russian Relations with Foreign Corporations: The Case of Gold and Diamonds
Authors: Kempton Daniel R. , Levine Richard M.
Published: April 2006

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia and the other successor states lost much of their collective strategic significance for the international community. Russia's role as a new member of the nuclear club is potentially destabilizing but does not present the overriding nuclear threat once posed by the USSR. Although Russia is attempting to reestablish its traditional roles in Eurasia, the Balkans and eastern Europe, its political importance has generally decreased commensurate with the collapse of the Soviet military machine; Russia is important economically only insofar as it is a powerful magnet for western aid and investment. While this perception of gradual marginalization, apparently shared by western diplomats, academics and journalists, may be largely accurate, it is incomplete. It overlooks Russia's potential role as a source of natural resources.
Voltaire's Public and the Idea of Eastern Europe: Toward a Literary Sociology of Continental Division
Authors: Wolff Larry
Published: April 2006

The public sphere, according to Habermas, is “in principle inclusive,“ so much so that “however exclusive the public might be in any given instance, it could never close itself off entirely and become consolidated as a clique; for it always understood and found itself immersed within a more inclusive public of all private people.” Further, Habermas specifies that “the public sphere of civil society stood or fell with the principle of universal access,” that any absolute exclusions made it “not a public sphere at all“—for the public sphere “anticipated in principle that all human beings belong to it.“’ The theoretical tension between principles of inclusion and exclusion thus has been essential to the delineation of the public sphere—in its eighteenth-century historical origins and in its twentieth-century academic formulation—and that tension structured the dual aspect of the public sphere, conceived as a phenomenon of social structure and cultural representation.
How A Russian Maupassant Was Made in Odessa and Yasnaya Polyana: Isaak Babel' and the Tolstoy Legacy
Authors: Zholkovsky Alexander
Published: April 2006

The sage of Yasnaya Polyana haunted Babel'‘s imagination as a paragon of professional greatness: "What Tolstoy knows and may do–may we do that? You read Tolstoy and it seems: one more…page and you'll finally understand the secret of life…After you know what Tolstoy thinks of death, there is no reason to know what a Fedor Sologub thinks on this issue." In an early story ("Inspiration," 1917) the young narrator says to his friend, a would-be literary genius: "Well, Leo Tolstoy [Lev Nikolaevich], when you write your autobiography, remember me" (1966: 32). Living at one time near a stud farm in Molodenovo, Babel' cultivated the acquaintance of an aged local horseman.
Commissars in Red Cassocks: Former Priests in the League of the Militant Godless
Authors: Peris Daniel
Published: April 2006

When the bolsheviks took power in November 1917, they openly proclaimed their commitment to a secularized Russia. This meant, above all, combatting both the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution and popular Orthodox beliefs and practices.
The Theater as Will and Representation: Artist and Audience in Russian Modernist Theater, 1904-1909
Authors: Moeller-Sally Betsy F.
Published: April 2006

There is for us an inexplicable rapture when we feel ourselves a crowd, a unified crowd, moved by a single feeling. Let us leave it to the researches of scholars to ascertain from what elements of our distant prehistoric past this phenomenon is composed. Let us leave it to them to determine whether it sprang from half-bestial orgies or from half-divine cults. One thing is indubitable: a shock runs through us when we feel ourselves fused in a single passion with others, with a multitude of other people, when we feel ourselves one grandiose whole, a unified mass.

—Georg Fuchs, The Revolution of the Theater
The 1999 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice
Authors: Bekker Peter H.F.
Published: April 2006

This Note summarizes the judicial work of the International Court of Justice during 1999, using the updated General List, pleadings filed, Orders andjudgments/Advisory Opinions issued,and hearings held at the Peace Palace in The Hague to describe the Court's current record.
Evolutionary significance of isopreneemission from mosses
Authors: Hanson David T. , Swanson Sarah , Graham Linda E. , Sharkey Thomas D.
Published: April 2006

Isoprene emission has been documented and characterized from species in all major groups of vascular plants. We report in our survey that isoprene emission is much more common in mosses and ferns than later divergent land plants but is absent in liverworts and hornworts. The light and temperature responses of isoprene emission fromSphagnum capillifolium(Ehrh.) Hedw. are similar to those of other land plants. Isoprene increases thermotolerance ofS. capillifoliumto the same extent seen in higher plants as measured by chlorophyll fluorescence.Sphagnumspecies in a northern Wisconsin bog experienced large temperature fluctuations similar to those reported in tree canopies. Since isoprene has been shown to help plants cope with large, rapid temperature fluctuations, we hypothesize the thermal and correlated dessication stress experienced by early land plants provided the selective pressure for the evolution of light‐dependent isoprene emission in the ancestors of modern mosses. As plants radiated into different habitats, this capacity was lost multiple times in favor of other thermal protective mechanisms.
The effects of population size limitation on fecundity in mosaic populations of the clonal macrophyte Scirpus maritimus (Cyperaceae)
Authors: Charpentier Anne , Grillas Patrick , Thompson John D.
Published: April 2006

The clonal macrophyte Scirpus maritimus (Cyperaceae) propagates locally by rhizomes and reproduces sexually by achenes. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether in size‐limited habitats in patchy and discrete marshes in two Mediterranean wetlands in southern France natural populations may suffer from a reduced maternal fecundity due to a deficit in outcross pollen. We first verified that S. maritimus suffers from a reduced fecundity when self‐pollinated. At a site in the Camargue, mean fecundity (mean number of achenes per centimetre of spikelet) measured in 1995 and 1996 in seven and nine populations, respectively (surface area from 50 to 4500 m2) increased significantly with population surface area in 1995 but not in 1996. In the second wetland at Roquehaute, which is composed of small ponds, fecundity was very low in all 12 local populations studied in 1996 (1.1 achenes per spikelet, SD = 1.2) and was not correlated with the population surface area (from 10 to 400 m2). We performed a pollen supplementation experiment in five local populations at Roquehaute to determine whether this low fecundity may be due to a pollen limitation. A significant increase in fecundity after among‐pond pollinations compared to within‐pond pollinations indicated that local populations suffer from a deficit in outcross pollen, since each pond appears to contain one or a few number of clones (or incompatibility types). In S. maritimus, clonal spread may have a cost in terms of reduced fecundity in small habitats because each habitat is colonized by very few clones.
Carbon and nitrogen allocation to male and female reproduction in Rocky Mountain Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, Pinaceae)
Authors: McDowell Susan C. L. , McDowell Nate G. , Marshall John D. , Hultine Kevin
Published: April 2006

We measured carbon (respiration, photosynthesis, and production) and nitrogen allocation to male and female cones of Rocky Mountain Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) to quantify gender‐specific: (1) resource allocation to reproduction, and (2) contribution to carbon costs of reproduction via photosynthesis. We also measured foliar photosynthesis and nitrogen concentration ([N]) near and far from female cones to examine the relationship between reproduction and foliar physiology. Over one growing season, male cones required only 8% of all carbon allocated to reproduction, with females consuming the remaining 92%. Female cones, however, had maximum instantaneous refixation rates of 54%, which, integrated over the season, offset 6% of their total carbon requirements, while male cones were completely dependent on vegetative tissues for carbon. Male cones received 22% of all nitrogen allocated to reproduction and female cones received the remaining 78%. Foliage near female cones had elevated photosynthesis during the early stages of cone development and consistently lower [N] than foliage far from cones. Although female cones may photosynthesize, the annual sum of carbon fixed by reproductive structures is minor in comparison to the total carbon allocated to production and respiration.
Nuclear ribosomal DNA phylogeny and its implications for evolutionary trends in Mexican Bursera (Burseraceae)
Authors: Becerra Judith X. , Venable D. Lawrence
Published: April 2006

The genus Bursera (Burseraceae) is one of the most diversified and abundant groups of plants of the tropical dry forests of Mexico. In order to provide a basis for better understanding of its evolutionary biology, we reconstructed a phylogeny of 57 species and varieties using the nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS2) of 18S–26S and the 5.8S coding region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. We used four species of the allied genera Commiphora and Boswellia and one species of Spondias (Anacardiaceae) as outgroups. Our results support the views that Bursera is monophyletic and more closely related to Commiphora than to Boswellia. The division of Bursera into sections Bullockia and Bursera is also strongly supported by our phylogeny. Several other subclades also had high bootstrap values, especially within section Bursera. We use the phylogeny as a basis for discussing evolutionary tendencies in bark, leaves, breeding systems, and fruits.
Does anthocyanin affect outcrossing rates in Datura Stramonium (Solanaceae)?
Authors: Stone Judy L.
Published: April 2006

In this paper, I investigate whether the presence or absence of anthocyanin is neutral with respect to reproduction in Datura stramonium. The observations concern the portion of the life cycle spanning pollination to germination. Pollinators do not appear to distinguish between floral morphs, as revealed by nonbiased distribution of fluorescent powder used as a pollen analogue. Pollen‐tube growth is also equal for the two morphs. Seed germination is affected by the presence of anthocyanin, but apparently only by the genotype of the mother at the anthocyanin locus, and not by the genotype of the embryo itself. In addition, there was an interaction between maternal morph and the maternal source population, with seeds from high‐elevation anthocyanin‐producing mothers germinating most rapidly and seeds from low‐elevation anthocyanin‐producing mothers germinating most slowly in a common garden at low elevation. However, because germination of anthocyanin‐producing and anthocyaninless progeny proceed equally quickly, the anthocyanin marker provides unbiased estimates of outcrossing rates. The results overall support the use of anthocyanin as a neutral marker, with the alternate phenotypes unlikely to be differentially impacted by the processes of pollination, pollen‐tube growth, and germination. Fluctuating selection on conditions for dormancy release may be partially responsible for the maintenance of the anthocyanin polymorphism in Datura stramonium.
Relationship between leaf nitrogen and photosynthetic rate for three NAD‐ME and three NADP‐ME C4 grasses
Authors: Taub Daniel R. , Lerdau Manuel T.
Published: April 2006

Theoretical considerations have suggested that there may be differences in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) among plants that use different biochemical variants of C4 photosynthesis. To test this hypothesis we examined the leaf nitrogen content and photosynthetic rates of six grass species (three of C4 subtype NAD‐ME and three of C4 subtype NADP‐ME) grown over a wide range of nitrogen supply. While there were significant differences among the species in various traits, there were no consistent differences between the C4 subtypes in either leaf nitrogen content at a given level of nitrogen supply or in the leaf nitrogen‐photosynthesis relationship. We suggest that species‐level variation in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency among C4 species is large enough to mask any differences that may be due to C4 subtype.
Differential siring success of Pgi genotypes in Clarkia Unguiculata (Onagraceae)
Authors: Travers Steven E. , Holtsford Timothy P.
Published: April 2006

Competition among pollen grains for the fertilization of ovules can play an important role in determining the male and female reproductive success of flowering plants. To examine the influence of pollen‐donor genotype on male reproductive success, hand‐pollinations were conducted on Clarkia unguiculata and the siring success of pollen‐donor plants was compared between donors homozygous for different allelomorphs of the allozyme PGI (phosphoglucoisomerase). Donors homozygous for the B allele sired more seeds than C‐allele donors. Single‐donor crosses indicated that C‐donor‐sired seeds are aborted more often than are B‐donor‐sired seeds, suggesting that the B‐allele donor's advantage in mixed pollinations was a result of differential abortion. A negative relationship between pollen load and the siring success of B‐allele donors implies that pollen from B‐allele donors has reduced performance relative to C‐allele donors when pollen loads are high. These data demonstrate consistent differences in siring success between individuals homozygous for different alleles at a single locus and suggest that variation at the Pgi locus may be maintained by a post‐pollination trade‐off.
RAPD variation among and within small and large populations of the rare clonal plantRanunculus reptans(Ranunculaceae)
Authors: Fischer Markus , Husi René , Prati Daniel , Peintinger Markus , van Kleunen Mark , Schmid Bernhard
Published: April 2006

In the pre‐alpine region of Europe numbers and sizes of populations of the clonal lake shore plantRanunculus reptanshave declined because of the regulation of lake water levels. We investigated genetic variation among and within 17 populations of different size (cover 1–10 000 m2) inR. reptanswith RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) profiles. We sampled 127 rosettes in 14 populations at Lake Constance and three populations at or near Lake Como. There was significant genetic variation between plants from the two lake regions (5.9%, analysis of molecular variance [AMOVA],P< 0.001), among populations within lake regions (20.4%,P< 0.001), and within populations (73.7%,P< 0.001). Under the assumptions of Wright's island model the variation among populations corresponds to a gene flow ofNem= 0.70. Within the 14 Lake Constance populations we detected significant genetic variation among subpopulations separated by only a few metres (4.0% of the within‐population variation;P< 0.05). Molecular variance was 24% smaller in small populations covering <100 m2area than in larger ones (P< 0.03), indicating that samples from large populations were genetically more variable than samples representing comparable areas of smaller populations. We conclude that gene flow among populations is very limited and that genetic drift has caused reduced genetic variability of smaller populations. Conservation of genetic variability inR. reptansrequires persistence of large and also of small populations (because of population differentiation), and it could be enhanced by increasing the size of small populations (to counter genetic drift).
Fire and resprouting in Mediterranean ecosystems: insights from an external biogeographical region, the mexical shrubland
Authors: Lloret Francisco , Verdu´ Miguel , Flores‐Herna´ndez Noe , Valiente‐Banuet Alfonso
Published: April 2006

We investigated modes of regeneration of dominant species of the mexical vegetation after fire. The mexical shrubland shows a remarkable structural, morphological, and floristic similarity to Mediterranean‐type vegetation and is considered a relict of the Madro‐Tertiary Geoflora under a non‐Mediterranean climate. This vegetation provides an ideal scenario to test the role of fire in Mediterranean ecosystems because historical fire occurrence is absent and the species assembly is constituted mostly by Madro‐Tertiary elements and Neotropical species (some of them, endemic species from Mexico). The existence of congeneric species of the California chaparral allows us to determine the regeneration ability of these communities after fire in relation to resprouting and seeding strategies, which are widespread modes reported in the Mediterranean‐type vegetation. By the experimental application of fire in the two biogeographical groups of species, we tested the hypothesis that low resprouting ability of California congeneric species (Madro‐Tertiary species) after fire would indicate that fire has played an important selective force in the resprouting habit. A low resprouting ability in the Neotropical group of species would suggest that fire has molded the set of species dominating fire‐prone environments.

Our results indicated that resprouting is a widespread trait in the mexical species characterized by the presence of lignotubers and burls. Resprouting can be considered an ancient trait, probably linked to losses of aboveground biomass, that became a pre‐adaptation in Mediterranean fire‐prone communities. The Neotropical group of species showed less ability to regenerate after fire, and small plants were more likely to die after disturbance in this group than in the Madro‐Tertiary group. The resprouting feature and the seeder strategy of other species after a fire in the mexical shrubland are similar to Mediterranean‐type ecosystems, emphasizing their common origin and the relevance of phylogenetic and biogeographical studies to explain current patterns of vegetation.
Microtubule organization in germinated pollen of the conifer Picea abies (Norway spruce, Pinaceae)
Authors: Lazzaro Mark D.
Published: April 2006

The organization of microtubules in germinated pollen of the conifer Picea abies (Norway spruce, Pinaceae) was examined using primarily confocal microscopy. Pollination in conifers differs from angiosperms in the number of mitotic divisions between the microspore and the sperm and in the growth rate of the pollen tube. These differences may be orchestrated by the cytoskeleton, and this study finds that there are important functional differences in microtubule organization within conifer pollen compared to the angiosperm model systems. Pollen from P. abies contains two degenerated prothallial cells, a body cell, a stalk cell, and a vegetative cell. The body cell produces the sperm. In the vegetative cell, microtubules form a continuous network from within the pollen grain, out through the aperture, and down the length of the tube to the elongating tip. Within the grain, this network extends from the pollen grain wall to the body and stalk cell complex. Microtubules within the body and stalk cells form a densely packed array that enmeshes amyloplasts and the nucleus. Microtubule bundles can be traced between the body and stalk cells from the cytoplasm of the body cell to the adjoining cell wall and into the cytoplasm of the stalk cell. Body and stalk cells are connected by plasmodesmata. The organization of microtubules and the presence of plasmodesmata suggest that microtubules form a path for intercellular communication by projecting from the cytoplasm to interconnecting plasmodesmata. Microtubules in the elongating tube form a net axial array that ensheathes the vegetative nucleus. Microtubules are enriched at the elongating tip, where they form an array beneath the plasma membrane that is perpendicular to the direction of tube growth. This enriched region extends back 20 μm from the tip. There is an abrupt transition from a net perpendicular to a net axial organization at the edge of the enriched region. In medial sections, microtubules are present in the core of the elongating tip. The organization of microtubules in the tip differs from that seen in angiosperm pollen tubes.
Low outcrossing rates and shift in pollinators in New Zealand pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa;Myrtaceae)
Authors: Schmidt‐Adam Gabriele , Young Andrew G. , Murray Brian G.
Published: April 2006

New Zealand pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), a member of the Myrtaceae, is a large, mass‐flowering tree endemic to northern New Zealand coastlines. Mainland populations have been reduced to fragmented stands, and the original suite of bird pollinators has been largely replaced by introduced species. The native pollinator fauna on several offshore islands is largely intact and includes three species of the New Zealand honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and native, solitary bees. We estimated multilocus outcrossing rates for three mainland and two island populations and found that they were among the lowest in the Myrtaceae (tm= 0.22–0.53). The shift in pollinators had no measurable effect on the mating system. Mass‐flowering facilitates geitonogamous selfing, and inbreeding depression in seedling height was detectable at 6 mo of growth.Fs[Wright's (1965)Fixation Index] was consistently higher thanFmin all populations, indicating that selection may eliminate selfed offspring from populations prior to achieving reproductive maturity. Results suggest that increased selfing in mainland populations due to pollinator changes is not responsible for current patterns of poor regeneration of this species.
A phylogenetic analysis of Rhamnaceae using rbcL and trnL‐F plastid DNA sequences
Authors: Richardson James E. , Fay Michael F. , Cronk Quentin C. B. , Bowman Diane , Chase Mark W.
Published: April 2006

Previous tribal classifications of Rhamnaceae have been based on fruit characters, resulting in the delimitation of large and otherwise heterogeneous groups. We evaluated the most recent classification with DNA sequences of two regions of the plastid genome, rbcL and trnL‐F, from 42 genera of Rhamnaceae and representatives of the related families Elaeagnaceae, Barbeyaceae, Dirachmaceae, Urticaceae, Ulmaceae, Moraceae, and Rosaceae. The trnL‐F trees have higher consistency and retention indices than the rbcL trees, and patterns of change in rbcL and trnL‐F are compared. The closest relatives of Rhamnaceae are Dirachmaceae and Barbeyaceae, followed by the urticalean families. The plastid trees support the monophyly of the family and provide the basis for a new tribal classification. Three strongly supported clades are identified, but morphological characters could not be found to underpin a formal taxonomic description of these three clades as subfamilies. We therefore only recognize groups that are also defined by morphological characters. The biogeography of Rhamnaceae is discussed with reference to the molecular trees.
Effect of pollen load size and source (self, outcross) on seed and fruit production in highbush blueberry cv. ‘Bluecrop’ (VACCINIUM CORYMBOSUM; Ericaceae)
Authors: Dogterom Margriet H. , Winston Mark L. , Mukai Amy
Published: April 2006

Reproductive fitness of a plant is ultimately determined by both number and quality of seed offspring. This is determined by sexual selection of pollen microspores and ovules during pollination and fertilization. These processes may include pollen competition and seed abortion, which reduce the number of microspores and ovules available for final seed production. Thus, even an excess of pollen microspores to ovules does not result in fertile seeds equal to ovule number. We investigated pollen requirements of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum cultivar ‘Bluecrop’) for maximal seed production and how fertile seed number translates into fruit quality, since fruit quality would ultimately determine the dispersal of its offspring. We demonstrate that individual blueberry flowers with a mean of 106 ovules reach their maximum fruit set and mass and minimum time to ripen when 125 outcross pollen tetrads pollinate a flower, compared to 10 or 25. Three hundred tetrads resulted in the increase of fertile seeds, but did not result in a further increase of fruit mass or fruit set, or decrease in time to ripen. We also examined the effect of pure and mixed loads of self and outcross pollen (25 and 125 tetrads), and found no differences in fertile seed number, fruit mass, or percentage fruit set when pollen loads were either 25 self or outcross pollen tetrads, although number of days to ripen was significantly shorter by 8 d with 25 outcross tetrads. When the pollen load of 125 tetrads consisted of self or a 50:50 mixture of self and outcross pollen, fruit mass, days to ripen, and percentage fruit set were not different from loads of 125 outcross pollen. In addition, a pollen load of 25 outcross tetrads resulted in fertile seed number and fruit quality in between that of 25 self, and 125 self, 125 mixed, or 125 outcross tetrads. Large, small, and flat seed types were identified, and only large seeds (length = 1.7 mm) were fertile. These results improve our understanding of pollen load size and source requirements of a crop plant and the limits to pollen transfer when translated to fruit growth.
Limits to adaptive plasticity: temperature and photoperiod influence shade‐avoidance responses
Authors: Weinig Cynthia
Published: April 2006

In plants, the ratio of red to far‐red wavelengths (R:FR) reliably indicates neighbor proximity and influences stem elongation. Enhanced elongation increases light interception and fitness under crowded conditions. However, many environmental factors vary simultaneously such that responses to R:FR may be affected by abiotic conditions or maternal environmental conditions. This study examines the effects of temperature, photoperiod, and maternal environment on stem‐elongation responses to R:FR. Four populations of Abutilon theophrasti (two from disturbed, weedy areas and two from cornfields) were used in factorial common‐garden experiments of temperature × R:FR × population and photoperiod × R:FR × population. Seedling growth of greenhouse‐ and field‐derived seed was compared to evaluate maternal effects. Maternal environment did not alter seedling elongation. Higher temperatures resulted in both a twofold increase in average elongation and increased responsiveness to R:FR. Significant three‐way interactions in both experiments demonstrate that population responses to R:FR differ depending on temperature and photoperiod conditions. These results indicate that elongation responses to R:FR are more variable than previously realized. The observed variability in elongation also suggests that the outcome of competitive interactions in the natural environment will depend on ambient temperature, photoperiod length, and population origin.
Differential effects of four abiotic factors on the germination of salt marsh annuals
Authors: Noe Gregory B. , Zedler Joy B.
Published: April 2006

Interspecific differences in responsiveness to temperature, photoperiod, soil salinity, and soil moisture confirm the hypothesis that abiotic factors differentially affect the germination of salt marsh plants. In growth chamber experiments, four of eight annual species responded to small differences in temperature or photoperiod. Increasing soil salinity decreased the final proportion of seeds germinating and slowed germination for each of the seven species tested. Higher soil moisture increased the proportion germinating of five species and germination speed of all seven species. Salinity and moisture interacted to affect the proportion germinating of five species and germination speed of all seven species. Although the abiotic factor with the largest effect on germination varied among species, more species responded to, and the magnitudes of the responses were larger for, soil salinity than for the other abiotic factors. These germination tests partially explained interspecific differences in the timing of germination in the field. Patterns of Hutchinsia procumbens, Lythrum hyssopifolium, Parapholis incurva, and possibly Lasthenia glabrata ssp. coulteri germination in response to a nonseasonal rainfall could be explained by their response to salinity, temperature, or photoperiod. Fine‐scale differences in the timing of establishment within the typical germination window and spatial distributions along salinity and moisture gradients were not explained.
Variation of breeding system, floral rewards, and reproductive success in clonal Calystegia species (Convolvulaceae)
Authors: Ushimaru Atushi , Kikuzawa Kihachiro
Published: April 2006

The reproductive biology of four Japanese Calystegia species (Convolvulaceae) was studied to examine the effects of clonality and population structure on reproductive success. Calystegia soldanella, C. hederacea, and C. japonica are self‐incompatible, while C. sepium is self‐compatible but needs pollinator services for self‐pollination. The showy, bisexual flowers of Calystegia offer pollen and nectar that attract many kinds of insects such as bees and syrphid flies. Clones of C. soldanella often formed mats just above the high tide line on beaches and produced a great number of seeds. Calystegia hederacea and C. japonica were distributed as patches of separate clones and often failed to transfer pollen grains among clones. Fruit and seed sets in C. hederacea and C. japonica were not limited by pollinators but by the number of compatible pollen grains. Although C. sepium clones were also distributed in patches, high and stable fecundity was achieved by self‐compatibility and pollinator attraction. We suggest that self‐compatibility in C. sepium has evolved under fertilization limitation caused by geitonogamy or facilitated selfing.
High root concentration and uneven ectomycorrhizal diversity near Sarcodes sanguinea (Ericaceae): a cheater that stimulates its victims?
Authors: Bidartondo Martin I. , Kretzer Annette M. , Pine Elizabeth M. , Bruns Thomas D.
Published: April 2006

Sarcodes sanguinea is a nonphotosynthetic mycoheterotrophic plant that obtains all of its fixed carbon from neighboring trees through a shared ectomycorrhizal fungus. We studied the spatial structuring of this tripartite symbiosis in a forest where Sarcodes is abundant, and its only fungal and photosynthetic plant associates are Rhizopogon ellenae and Abies magnifica, respectively. We found disproportionately high concentrations of Abies roots adjacent to Sarcodes roots compared to the surrounding soil. Rhizopogon ellenae colonizes the vast majority of those Abies roots (86–98%), and its abundance tends to decrease with increasing distance from Sarcodes plants. At 500 cm from Sarcodes plants we did not detect R. ellenae, and the ectomycorrhizal community instead was dominated by members of the Russulaceae and Thelephoraceae, which are commonly dominant in other California pinaceous forests. The highly clumped distribution of Abies–R. ellenae ectomycorrhizas indicates that Sarcodes plants either establish within pre‐existing clumps, or they stimulate clump formation. Several lines of evidence favor the latter interpretation, suggesting an unexpected mutualistic aspect to the symbiosis. However, the mechanism involved remains unknown.
Post‐fire recolonization of dominant epiphytic lichen species on Quercus hypoleucoides (Fagaceae)
Authors: Romagni Joanne G. , Gries Corinna
Published: April 2006

Following a forest fire (27 500 ha) in 1994, post‐fire recolonization of Quercus hypoeleucoides by epiphytic lichens was documented as changes in lichen cover, number of small thalli, specific factors that affected reestablishment of lichens, and modes of dispersal. Three sites in the Chiricahua Mountains (Arizona, USA) were chosen according to the severity of fire damage—unburned, moderately burned, and severely burned. From 1994 through 1997, the amount of dead lichen cover significantly increased at the moderately burned site. For the same time period, the amount of live lichen cover significantly increased at the severely burned site. Numbers of new thalli increased significantly at the severely burned site each year but only in the last year (1996–1997) for the moderately burned site. Bark texture and proximity to trees with lichens were among the most important physical factors for recolonization. The most important means of dispersal for Flavopunctelia praesignis was fragmentation. For Punctelia hypoleucites, the primary means of dispersal was spores. Increases in live lichen cover and numbers of new thalli occur faster in severely burned areas probably due to the loss of lichens on tree trunks, which provides space and a lack of competition.