Euarchontan affinity of Paleocene Afro-European adapisoriculid mammals and their origin in the late Cretaceous Deccan Traps of India

The controversial family Adapisoriculidae, a group of shrew-sized Paleocene mammals, had proposed relationships with insectivores, marsupials and more recently to plesiadapiforms. Adapisoriculid remains are numerous in the early Paleocene locality of Hainin, Belgium, and allow us a test of these different phylogenetic hypotheses. Here, we identify the first tarsal bones of adapisoriculid mammals. The highly specialised bones indicate an arboreal mode of life with euarchontan affinity. Moreover, the tarsal bones are morphologically very close to those of the late Cretaceous Deccanolestes from the Deccan intertrappean beds of India, and also share several characters with the Paleocene plesiadapiforms and the extant cynocephalid dermopterans. The adapisoriculid affinities of Deccanolestes are also confirmed by tooth morphology, indicating that Deccanolestes is a primitive member of this family. These phylogenetic affinities suggest a paleobiogeographic scenario for the family with dispersal either via East Africa or across the Tethys area.     

Stromatolitic origin for desert laminar limecrusts

The Science of Nature -     

Model consideration for the origin of life

In an attempt to understand the origin of living systems we encounter the following problems: How can we conceive the origin of the first self-reproducing forms, and by means of what stimuli could a constant increase in the complexity of such forms commence? How can a translation apparatus for genetic information develop? One cannot that such an apparatus for the synthesis of enzymes can function alone without the interference of enzymes themselves, which, however, could only become available after the construction of the apparatus itself. What stimulus mechanism is conceivable that leads to the division of the genetic apparatus into a replication system, and an enzyme-synthesis system?The main problem therefore, is not the search for basic theoretical concepts. It is not a question which can be answered by means of specific experiments. One should rather explore the principal possibilities of how molecules combine to produce more and more complicated functional units. We look for the fundamental structural changes in the organizational systems and the driving forces initiating these developments. Questions concerning the detailed chemical realization are of secondary importance. In trying to solve the puzzle of how the genetic apparatus is gradually built up as complex aggregates of molecules, we consider a consistent causal chain of simple and transparent physicochemical model steps.     

Cellular arsenic transport pathways in mammals

Natural contamination of drinking water with arsenic results in the exposure of millions of people world-wide to unacceptable levels of this metalloid. This is a serious global health problem because arsenic is a Group 1 (proven) human carcinogen and chronic exposure is known to cause skin, lung, and bladder tumors. Furthermore, arsenic exposure can result in a myriad of other adverse health effects including diseases of the cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, reproductive, and endocrine systems. In addition to chronic environmental exposure to arsenic, arsenic trioxide is approved for the clinical treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia, and is in clinical trials for other hematological malignancies as well as solid tumors. Considerable inter-individual variability in susceptibility to arsenic-induced disease and toxicity exists, and the reasons for such differences are incompletely understood. Transport pathways that influence the cellular uptake and export of arsenic contribute to regulating its cellular, tissue, and ultimately body levels. In the current review, membrane proteins (including phosphate transporters, aquaglyceroporin channels, solute carrier proteins, and ATP-binding cassette transporters) shown experimentally to contribute to the passage of inorganic, methylated, and/or glutathionylated arsenic species across cellular membranes are discussed. Furthermore, what is known about arsenic transporters in organs involved in absorption, istribution, and metabolism and how transport pathways contribute to arsenic elimination are described.     

Fueling Asian modernization

During upcoming industrialization, the human population of Asia will exert a strong influence on both the Pacific Rim environment and the total earth system. We review energy-use trajectories both likely and possible on the continent, taking the historical market penetration series as a framework. Today, the People's Republic of China is coal rich, but as its economy grows in the short term, fuel substitution from solid fossils will occur. Major automakers will exploit new niches in the Orient, adding petroleum to the mix of fuels and producing photochemical smog on the regional scale. Demand is rising in coastal cities for cleaner fuels such as natural gas, but they must be imported. Nuclear industries in India and China are small and expanding only slowly. The Tibetan plateau confers exceptional hydroelectric potential but peripheral concerns plague the big dams. Solar and hydrogen are decades from implementation even in Europe. Fossil resources are largely remote from the Asian consumer class. The disconnect feeds back into the design of new transportation networks. Since for the moment development lags, the option exists to view Asia as a crucible for the techniques of cogeneration, sequestration and pollutant recapture.     

Ant-gardens of tropical Asian rainforests

Ant-garden (AG) associations are systems of epiphytic plants and arboricolous (i.e., tree-living) ants, in which the ants build fragile carton nests containing organic material. They collect and incorporate seeds or fruits of epiphytes that then germinate and grow on the nest [sensu Corbara et al. (1999) 38:73–89]. The plant roots stabilize the nest carton. AGs have been well-known in the neotropics for more than 100 years. In contrast, reports on similar associations in the paleotropics are scarce so far. After discovering a first common AG system on giant bamboo [Kaufmann et al. (2001) 48:125–133], we started a large-scale survey for AGs in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Java, and southern Thailand. A great variety of AG systems (altogether including 18 ant species and 51 plant species) was discovered and is described in the present paper. The high number of species participating in AG associations was reflected by a great variability in the specific appearances of the nest gardens. Frequently, further groups of organisms (e.g., hemipteran trophobionts, fungi) were also involved. Preference patterns of particular ant and epiphyte species for each other and for particular phorophytes (carrier trees) were detected. We integrate domatia-producing, so-called ant-house epiphytes in our study and compare their phases of establishment, as well as other characteristics, to “classical” AGs, coming to the conclusion that they should be regarded only as a special type of AG epiphyte and not as a separate ecological category.Electronic Supplementary Materials  Supplementary material is available for this article at     

东亚古环境科学数据库

东亚古环境科学数据库依托于中国科学院地球环境研究所,是在原有古气候与古环境专题数据库基础上建立起来的国家地球系统科学数据共享平台的重要分支,在多个国家大型项目的支撑下,立足于中国大陆古环境研究领域,辐射东亚,通过集成、整合、引进等方式汇集国内外古环境研究领域科技数据资源,并进行规范化加工处理,分类存储,形成一个可提供快速共享服务的网络体系。数据库以黄土高原、青藏高原和内陆干旱区为重点,兼顾东亚其他地理单元,通过对现有古气候、古环境及相关实时观测资料的搜集、整理、数字化、集成、模拟以及二次挖掘,以正在进行的相关国家科研项目为基础,建成以中国大陆为中心的东亚区域的多源原始环境数据,古环境记录数字标本与代用指标,古气候与环境数值模拟结果等古环境科学数据集成与共享平台。     

Enigmatic ungulate-like mammals from the Eocene of Central Asia

A new mammal family, Olseniidae, is proposed based on a complete foot skeleton of cf. Olsenia sp. from the Eocene Toru Ajgyr locality in Kyrgyzstan and an astragalus of Olsenia mira from the Eocene Shara Murun locality in northern China. The new form cf. Olsenia sp. is an early ungulate that combines characteristics of mesonychids, perissodactyls and artiodactyls: tetradactyl and paraxonic foot, terminal phalanges claw-like but not fissured, astragalus with shallow proximal caput and without distal trochlea. This unique character set fills a gap in the fossil record and gives insights into the ungulate phylogeny, which is still not completely understood.     

Portrait of an Asian stalk-eyed fly

Diopsid flies have eyes set on stalks which are in some cases so long that the distance between the eyes exceeds the body length. These conspicuous structures have given rise to much speculation about their adaptive value, but there are very few actual observations by which to judge these hypotheses.Cyrtodiopsis whitei Curran lives in the tropical rainforest of Malaysia. We describe a number of aspects of its morphology and biology, some functional properties of the eye, and the ritualized fights between males, by which harems are acquired. The evolutionary significance of the eyestalks is discussed: they represent structures subjected to a double selection pressure; they are an adaptation by which a sensory system is better matched to the special problems encountered in a densely structured habitat (in that the field of view is extended and the ability to estimate distance and size and to identify objects at a large distance is improved), also they act as key stimulus for species recognition and as releaser for intraspecific behaviour.     

Comparative psychoacoustics: Perspectives of peripheral sound analysis in mammals

Psychophysical data on hearing in mammals are summarized. The data are then correlated to the anatomy and physiology of the ear. Common mechanisms of sound transfer and analysis in the acoustic system, with stress on the auditory periphery, are discussed.     

亚洲氮循环案例研究

以IPCC(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)方法为基础,用IAP-N-1.0氯循环模型分析1961～2030年时间序列、亚洲各国家和地区的氮收支情况.农作物数据来源于联合国粮农组织(FAO)数据库.各参数及排放因子以亚洲国家检测出的数据为主,缺省值采用IPCC的默认值.本文主要讨论了活性氮产生及其不同的迁移和转化途径,以及环境对氮的富集作用和主要驱动因子.亚洲地区活性氮含量从1961年约14.4 Tg N/a迅速地增加到2000年约67.7 TgN/a,预计到2030年可能达105.3Tg N/a.人类对食物和能源需求的增长,以及缺乏提高氮肥利用率、降低矿物燃料燃烧释放NOx的有效措施,使得由人类活动产生的大部分活性氮在环境中累积.解决这一问题还有待于用先进的生物技术,研制出新型高效氮源来代替目前的合成氮.     

A new phylogeny for basal Trechnotheria and Cladotheria and affinities of South American endemic Late Cretaceous mammals

The endemic South American mammals Meridiolestida, considered previously as dryolestoid cladotherians, are found to be non-cladotherian trechnotherians related to spalacotheriid symmetrodontans based on a parsimony analysis of 137 morphological characters among 44 taxa. Spalacotheriidae is the sister taxon to Meridiolestida, and the latter clade is derived from a primitive spalacolestine that migrated to South America from North America at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous. Meridiolestida survived until the early Paleocene (Peligrotherium) and early Miocene (Necrolestes) in South America, and their extinction is probably linked to the increasing competition with metatherian and eutherian tribosphenic mammals. The clade Meridiolestida plus Spalacotheriidae is the sister taxon to Cladotheria and forms a new clade Alethinotheria. Alethinotheria and its sister taxon Zhangheotheria, new clade (Zhangheotheriidae plus basal taxa), comprise Trechnotheria. Cladotheria is divided into Zatheria (plus stem taxa, including Amphitherium) and Dryolestida, including Dryolestidae and a paraphyletic array of basal dryolestidans (formerly classified as “Paurodontidae”). The South American Vincelestes and Groebertherium are basal dryolestidans.     

东亚古环境科学数据库简介

东亚古环境科学数据库是国家地球系统科学数据共享平台的重要分支,立足于解决我国科研、教育以及国防经济社会发展决策建设等对古气候、古环境以及大陆环境变化观测方面的数据需求,进行古环境数据的整合、集成、模拟、资料再分析以及二次挖掘。本文主要介绍了东亚古环境科学数据库的搭建背景、主要功能、数据内容、应用范围及未来规划。     

Greenhouse gas emission factors for land use and land-use change in Southeast Asian peatlands

Tropical peat swamp forests, which are predominantly located in Southeast Asia (SEA) and play a prominent role as a global carbon store, are being intensively degraded and converted to agricultural lands and tree plantations. For national inventories, updated estimates of peat emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from land use (LU) and land-use change in the tropics are required. In this context, we reviewed the scientific literature and calculated emission factors of peat net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) in seven representative LU categories for SEA i.e. intact peat swamp forest, degraded forest (logged, drained and affected by fire), mixed croplands and shrublands, rice fields, oil palm, Acacia crassicarpa and sago palm plantations. Peat net CO₂ uptake from or emissions to the atmosphere were assessed using a mass balance approach. The balance included main peat C inputs through litterfall and root mortality and outputs via organic matter mineralization and dissolved organic carbon. Peat net CO₂ loss rate from degraded forest, croplands and shrublands, rice fields, oil palm, A. crassicarpa and sago palm plantations amounted to 19.4?±?9.4, 41.0?±?6.7, 25.6?±?11.5, 29.9?±?10.6, 71.8?±?12.7 and 5.2?±?5.1 Mg CO₂ ha^?1 y^?1, respectively. Total peat GHG losses amounted to 20.9?±?9.4, 43.8?±?6.8, 36.1?±?12.9, 30.4?±?10.6, 72?±?12.8 and 8.6?±?5.3 Mg CO₂-equivalent ha^?1 y^?1 in the same LU categories, respectively. A single land-clearing fire would result in additional emissions of 493.6?±?156.0 Mg CO₂-equivalent ha^?1.     

广州亚运会水环境质量保障监测系统的建立与应用

广州亚运会对水环境质量保障提出较高的要求,水环境监测是水环境质量保障的重要一环,本文在全面分析了广州亚运会所面临的水环境质量压力和水环境监测所遇到难度,从监测环节和保障环节介绍了广州亚运水环境质量保障监测系统的建立思路、组成和特点,并对其应用效果进行了分析。