Assessing the Geographic Representativeness of Genebank Collections: the Case of Bolivian Wild Potatoes

Abstract: Genebank collection databases can be used for ecogeographical studies under the assumption that the accessions are a geographically unbiased sample. We evaluated the representativeness of a collection of wild potatoes from Bolivia and defined and assessed four types of bias: species, species-area, hotspot, and infrastructure. Species bias is the sampling of some species more often than others. Species-area bias is a sampling that is disproportionate to the total area in which a species is found. Hotspot bias is the disproportionate sampling of areas with high levels of diversity. Infrastructure bias is the disproportionate sampling of areas near roads and towns. Each of these biases is present in the Bolivian wild potato collection. The infrastructure bias was strong: 60% of all wild potato accessions were collected within 2 km of a road, as opposed to 22%, if collections had been made randomly. This analysis can serve as a guide for future collecting trips. It can also provide baseline information for the application of genebank data in studies based on geographic information systems.     

Cougar Dispersal Patterns, Metapopulation Dynamics, and Conservation

Abstract: We examined cougar (   Puma concolor ) dispersal, emigration, and immigration in the San Andres Mountains, New Mexico, from 1985 to 1995 to quantify the effects of dispersal on the local population and surrounding subpopulations. We captured, tagged, and radio-collared animals to detect the arrival of new immigrants and dispersal characteristics of progeny. We found that cougars in southern New Mexico exhibited a metapopulation structure in which cougar subpopulations were separated by expanses of noncougar habitat and linked by dispersers. Of 43 progeny (n = 20 males , 23 females ) studied after independence, only 13 females exhibited philopatric behavior. Males dispersed significantly farther than females, were more likely to traverse large expanses of noncougar habitat, and were probably most responsible for nuclear gene flow between habitat patches. We estimated that an average of 8.5 progeny (i.e., cougars born in the study area) successfully emigrated from and 4.3 cougars successfully immigrated to the San Andres Mountains each year. Concurrently, an average of 4.1 progeny were recruited into the San Andres cougar population. Protected cougar subpopulations can contribute to metapopulation persistence by supplying immigrants to surrounding subpopulations that are affected by fragmentation or offtake by humans. Cougar population dynamics and dispersal behavior dictate that cougar management and conservation should be considered on a regional scale.     

A survey of antennal responses by five species of coniferophagous bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) to bark volatiles of six species of angiosperm trees

Summary. Using Porapak Q traps, we collected the bark volatiles of six angiosperm trees native to British Columbia: black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray (Salicaceae), trembling aspen, P. tremuloides Michx. (Salicaceae), paper birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh. (Betulaceae), bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum Pursh (Aceraceae), red alder, Alnus rubra Bong. (Betulaceae), and Sitka alder, A. viridis ssp. sinuata (Regel) á. L?ve & D. L?ve (Betulaceae). Utilising coupled gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection analysis, the captured volatiles were assayed for antennal responses in five species of coniferophagous bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), sympatric with most or all of the angiosperm trees: the Douglas-fir beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins, the mountain pine beetle, D. ponderosae Hopkins, the spruce beetle, D. rufipennis (Kirby), the western balsam bark beetle, Dryocoetes confusus Swaine, and the pine engraver, Ips pini (Say). The identities of 25 antennally-active compounds were determined by coupled gas chromatographic-mass spectroscopic analysis, and co-chromatographic comparisons with authentic chemicals. The compounds identified were: hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, 1-hexanol, heptanal, α-pinene, frontalin, benzaldehyde, β-pinene, 2-hydroxycyclohexanone, 3-carene, limonene, β-phellandrene, benzyl alcohol, (E)-ocimene, salicylaldehyde, conophthorin, guaiacol, nonanal, methyl salicylate, 4-allylanisole, decanal, thymol methyl ether, (E)-nerolidol, and dendrolasin. A number of these compounds are known semiochemicals that are active in the behaviour of other organisms, including bark beetles, suggesting a high degree of semiochemical parsimony. Antennally-active compounds ranged from seven in A. viridis to 17 in P. trichocarpa. The fewest number of compounds (9) were detected by I. pini and the largest number (24) were detected by D. pseudotsugae. Six compounds excited the antennae of all five species of bark beetles. The large number of antennally-active compounds detected in common by numerous bark beetles and present in common in numerous nonhost trees supports the hypothesis of olfaction-based recognition and avoidance of nonhost angiosperm trees during the process of host selection by coniferophagous bark beetles. Received 13 December 1999; accepted 14 March 2000     

氯化二丁基锡对小鼠外周血液中睾丸酮和雌二醇含量的影响

用放射免疫法分别测定了DBTCl对妊娠d6雌小鼠和成年雄小鼠外周血液中雌二醇和睾丸酮水平的影响.每天按小鼠体重一次腹腔注射0.025～0.400μg/kgd-1DBTCl,共染毒7d.实验条件为(22±2)℃和光暗=12h12h.结果表明,处理组睾丸酮和雌二醇的含量随处理剂量的增加而增加,当w（DBTCl）≥0.05μg/kg时,二者呈明显的剂量-效应关系.雌二醇含量的增加比睾丸酮更为显著CK雄性小鼠睾丸酮浓度为（2.88±0.72）ng/mL,在0.40μg/kg剂量组达到(9.95±2.5)μg/mL时,约为CK的3.5倍;而CK和0.40ng/kg剂量组妊娠小鼠雌二醇浓度分别为(30.32±5.43)ng/mL和(287.57±51.13)ng/mL,相差约9.5倍.文中还就DBTCl对小鼠血液中激素含量的影响机理进行了初步探讨.图1表2参20     

Specific features of seedage in Norway spruce (Picea abies karst.) in the northern Moscow region

Climatic characteristics of the northern Moscow region and the periodicity of seedage in Norway spruce were analyzed retrospectively. The relationship between the intensity of seedage and weather conditions in the period before seedage was revealed.     

Comparative morphology and cytology of siphons and siphonal sensory organs in selected bivalve molluscs

 The form, anatomy and cytology of the water-passages in siphon-possessing and siphon-lacking species of a selected group of bivalve molluscs from the Red Sea (Callista florida, Circe currogata, C. crocea, Lucinia dentifera, Dosinia histrio, Pitar hebraea, Tridacna maxima, Pteria aegyptica), and from the Mediterranean Sea (Spondylus spinosus, Pinctada radiata, Pinna nobilis, Donax trunculus, D. semistriatus, Mactra stultorum, Tapes decussatus, Petricola lithophaga, Brachidontes pharaonis) were studied by means of light and electron microscopy. In the mytiloids, ostreoids and ptrioids studied, the water-passages are covered by a ciliated epithelium and the few tentacles around their openings are identical to those found on the mantle edges. Contrary to this, in the veneroids studied, the siphons are covered by a microvillar epithelium and their tentacles, especially of the inhalant siphon, reveal characteristic branching. The so-called Type I, Type II and Type III ciliated sensory organs on and within the siphons are similar to those observed in other bivalves, differing from each other in the dimension, number and form of cilia. In the studied mytiloid species only Type I and Type II organs were found. The form and structure of the siphons and the distribution of sensors on them can be used as markers for ecological as well as phylogenetic considerations. Received: 28 January 2000 / Accepted: 28 May 2000