The Role of Fungal Symbioses in the Adaptation of Plants to High Stress Environments

All plants studied in natural ecosystemsare symbiotic with fungi that either resideentirely (endophytes) or partially(mycorrhizae) within plants. Thesesymbioses appear to adapt to biotic andabiotic stresses and may be responsible forthe survival of both plant hosts and fungalsymbionts in high stress habitats. Here wedescribe the role of symbiotic fungi inplant stress tolerance and present astrategy based on adaptive symbiosis topotentially mitigate the impacts of globalchange on plant communities.     

Climate Change Daaptational Deficiencies in Developing Countries: the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

Adaptation is nowrecognized as an inevitable component ofthe overall climate change responsestrategy. For a developing region likesub-Saharan Africa with low greenhouse gasemissions and high vulnerability to theimpacts of climate change, the importanceof adaptation in climate change policy iseven more fundamental. This paper examined alook at the adaptational preparedness ofthe sub-Saharan African region to climatechange. Clearly evident in theenvironmental strategy and developmentfocus of these countries is lack ofrecognition of the need to adapt, poorincentive to adapt and low capacity toadapt to climate change. This furtherexacerbates their vulnerability and hasimplications for the global climate changeresponse strategy. Unfortunately, fewattempts have been made to understand thestructural reasons underlying the pervasivepattern of adaptational unpreparedness inthe region, neither has there been acomprehensive and systematic analysis ofhow to remedy this problem. This paper is acontribution in this regard. It alsohighlights the factors to whichinternational community need to payattention, if it truly wishes to make itsefforts at adaptation more global inscope.     

Impact of Climate Change on Possible Scenarios for Egyptian Agriculture in the Future

If no timely measures are taken to adapt Egyptian agriculture to possible climate warming, the effects may be negative and serious. Egypt appears to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its dependence on the Nile River as the primary water source, its large traditional agricultural base, and its long coastline, already undergoing both intensifying development and erosion. A simulation study characterized potential yield and water use efficiency decreases on two reference crops in the main agricultural regions with possible future climatic variation, even when the beneficial effects of increased CO₂ were taken into account. On-farm adaptation techniques which imply no additional cost to the agricultural system, did not compensate for the yield losses with the warmer climate or improve the crop water-use efficiency. Economic adjustments such as the improvement of the overall water-use efficiency of the agricultural system, soil drainage and conservation, land management, and crop alternatives are essential. If appropriate measures are taken, negative effects of climate change in agricultural production and other major resource sectors (water and land) may be lessened. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

松嫩平原西部盐碱地区10种植物叶片结构特征及其生态适应性

采用石蜡制片法通过对松嫩平原西部盐碱地区生活型不同且具有一定生态价值、经济价值和推广应用价值的10种优势植物的显微结构特征进行研究,并结合其生存的环境,探讨它们对松嫩平原西部盐碱地区的生态适应特性,为松嫩平原西部盐碱地区生态重建植物种类的选择提供一定的依据。结果表明:不同植物叶片之间具有明显的差异,并且植物叶片的形态解剖结构明显表现出与其生态环境相适应的特征。它们的叶片在结构上均表现出典型的旱生特点:上表皮细胞较厚且排列紧密,上下表皮都具有发达的角质层。羊草(Leymuschinensis)、芦苇(phragmitescommunis)和碱茅(Puccinellatenuiflora)在两条平行叶脉之间的上表皮内,分布着数列泡状细胞,干旱时极易失水而引起叶片向腹面卷曲;碱蓬(SnaedaglaucaBuuge)和马莲(IrisensataThunb)的叶出现了明显的肉质化,这都是对干旱盐碱环境的适应性反应。     

Effects of lindane on the photosynthetic apparatus of the cyanobacterium<Emphasis Type="Italic">anabaena</Emphasis>

INTENTION, GOAL, SCOPE, BACKGROUND: Cyanobacteria have the natural ability to degrade moderate amounts of organic pollutants. However, when pollutant concentration exceeds the level of tolerance, bleaching of the cells and death occur within 24 hours. Under stress conditions, cyanobacterial response includes the short-term adaptation of the photosynthetic apparatus to light quality, named state transitions. Moreover, prolonged stresses produce changes in the functional organization of phycobilisomes and in the core-complexes of both photosystems, which can result in large changes in the PS II fluorescence yield. The localization of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase (FNR) at the ends of some peripheral rods of the cyanobacterial phycobilisomes, makes this protein a useful marker to check phycobilisome integrity. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this work is to improve the knowledge of the mechanism of action of a very potent pesticide, lindane (gamma-hexaclorociclohexane), in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp., which can be considered a potential candidate for bioremediation of pesticides. We have studied the effect of lindane on the photosynthetic apparatus of Anabaena using fluorescence induction studies. As ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase plays a key role in the response to oxidative stress in several systems, changes in synthesis, degradation and activity of FNR were analyzed. Immunolocalization of this enzyme was used as a marker of phycobilisome integrity. The knowledge of the changes caused by lindane in the photosynthetic apparatus is essential for rational further design of genetically-modified cyanobacteria with improved biorremediation abilities. METHODS: Polyphasic chlorophyll a fluorescence rise measurements (OJIP) have been used to evaluate the vitality and stress adaptation of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7119 in the presence of increasing concentrations of lindane. Effects of the pesticide on the ultrastructure have been investigated by electron microscopy, and FNR has been used as a marker of phycobilisome integrity. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Cultures of Anabaena sp. treated with moderate amounts of lindane showed a decrease in growth rate followed by a recovery after 72 hours of pesticide treatment. Concentrations of lindane below 5 ppm increased the photosynthetic performance and activity of the cells. Higher amounts of pesticide caused a decrease in these activities which seems to be due to a non-competitive inhibition of PS II. Active PS II units are converted into non-QA reducing, so called heat sink centers. Specific activity and amount of FNR in lindane-treated cells were similar to the values measured in control cultures. Release of FNR from the thylakoid after 48 hours of exposure to 5 ppm of lindane towards the cytoplasm was detected by immunogold labeling and electron microscopy. CONCLUSIONS: From these results, we conclude that the photosynthetic performance and activity of the cells are slightly increased in the presence of lindane up to 5 ppm. Moreover, in those conditions, lindane did not produce significant changes in the synthesis, degradation or activity of FNR. The high capability of Anabaena to tolerate lindane makes this cyanobacterium a good candidate for phytoremediation of polluted areas. RECOMMENDATION AND OUTLOOK: The results of this study show that cultures of Anabaena PCC 7119 tolerate lindane up to 5 ppm, without significant changes in the photosynthetic vitality index of the cells. However, a slight increase in phycobiliprotein synthesis is observed, which is related to total protein content. This change might be due to degradation of proteins less stable than phycobiliproteins. An identification of the proteins with altered expression pattern in the presence of the pesticide remains the subject of further work and will provide valuable information for the preparation of strains which are highly tolerant to lindane.     

不同放牧强度下星毛委陵菜(Potentilla acaulis)种群小尺度空间格局

利用R ip ley’s K函数以及蒙特卡罗(Monte Carlo)随机模拟方法,定量分析了4种放牧强度———无牧、轻牧(1.33只羊/hm2)、中牧(4.00只羊/hm2)、重牧(6.67只羊/hm2)下星毛委陵菜(Potentilla acaulis)种群的小尺度空间格局及其随尺度的变化规律;研究了放牧对星毛委陵菜种群空间格局的影响;并以放牧条件下星毛委陵菜的生活史特征、生态适应对策以及群落内植物种间的相互作用为基础,探讨产生和维持这些格局的机理.研究表明:(1)放牧对星毛委陵菜种群空间格局有显著影响,同一放牧强度下星毛委陵菜种群在不同尺度上的空间格局存在显著差异.(2)无牧条件下,星毛委陵菜种群在0~96 cm尺度上表现为集聚分布,在96~100 cm尺度为随机分布;轻牧条件下,星毛委陵菜种群在0~92 cm尺度上表现为集聚分布,在92~100 cm尺度为随机分布;中牧条件下,星毛委陵菜种群在0~72cm尺度上表现为集聚分布,在72~100 cm尺度为随机分布;重牧条件下,星毛委陵菜在20~22 cm尺度上表现为集聚分布,在15~17 cm、23~28 cm和46~50 cm尺度为均匀分布,在0~15 cm、17~20 cm、22~23 cm、28~46 cm和50~100 cm上为随机分布.(3)同一放牧强度下,随着尺度的增大,星毛委陵菜种群由集聚分布趋向于随机分布;且转变为随机分布时的尺度随着放牧强度的增大而逐渐缩小.这与星毛委陵菜生物学特性和种群对放牧压力的生态适应对策密切相关.(4)在0~100 cm尺度上,星毛委陵菜种群的集聚强度随着放牧强度的增大而逐渐减小,即:无牧>轻牧>中牧>重牧.(5)放牧活动改变了决定群落结构的有关过程的相对重要性.这些研究结果将为在放牧活动干扰下草原群落的演替提供理论依据.图2参24     

Local adaptation and sexual selection: a reciprocal transfer experiment with the grasshopper Chorthippus biguttulus

Immigration into locally adapted populations has been suggested, among other potential causes, to maintain genetic variance in fitness necessary for good-genes models. Using a reciprocal transplant experiment we examined whether females prefer native to transferred males in the grasshopper Chorthippus biguttulus. On average, native and transferred males did not differ in their attractiveness, measured as female response rate to playbacks of male acoustic courtship signals. In line with this result, we found no significant effect of transfer on body size, condition, fluctuating asymmetry or song traits. However, the reciprocal transplant experiment showed that environmental conditions did influence body condition and maximum loudness of the calling song, but that the genetic origin of male grasshoppers had no significant effect on any of the analysed traits.Communicated by L. Simmons     

Climate adaptation management and institutional erosion: insights from a major Canadian port

This paper performs an institutional analysis of the adaptation to climate change by ports, through a case study of the port of Vancouver, Canada. While previous literature has demonstrated the value of informal institutions for filling gaps left by formal institutions, the role of failed informal institutions has received less attention. Our analysis reveals how, in the case of an unprecedented challenge like climate adaptation, relying on informal institutions with less agency can actually erode the strength of existing institutions in a form of negative institutional plasticity. In this case, emerging polycentric governance was unsuccessful, unable to construct clearly demarcated responsibilities due to impedance by the path dependence of the current federalist system. The latter works well for traditional infrastructure investments with a closed pool of stakeholders, but not for ports where multiple scales of embeddedness, both horizontally and vertically, produce a collective action problem with no mechanism for resolution.     

Adaptive Management and Climate Change Adaptation: Two Mutually Beneficial Areas of Practice

Adaptive management (AM) is a rigorous approach to implementing, monitoring, and evaluating actions, so as to learn and adjust those actions. Existing AM projects are at risk from climate change, and current AM guidance does not provide adequate methods to deal with this risk. Climate change adaptation (CCA) is an approach to plan and implement actions to reduce risks from climate variability and climate change, and to exploit beneficial opportunities. AM projects could be made more resilient to extreme climate events by applying the principles and procedures of CCA. To test this idea, we analyze the effects of extreme climatic events on five existing AM projects focused on ecosystem restoration and species recovery, in the Russian, Trinity, Okanagan, Platte, and Missouri River Basins. We examine these five case studies together to generate insights on how integrating CCA principles and practices into their design and implementation could improve their sustainability, despite significant technical and institutional challenges, particularly at larger scales. Although climate change brings substantial risks to AM projects, it may also provide opportunities, including creating new habitats, increasing the ability to quickly test flow‐habitat hypotheses, stimulating improvements in watershed management and water conservation, expanding the use of real‐time tools for flow management, and catalyzing creative application of CCA principles and procedures.     

Reassessment of the Use of Fire as a Management Tool in Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America

Prescribed burning is increasingly being used in the deciduous forests of eastern North America. Recent work suggests that historical fire frequency has been overestimated east of the prairie–woodland transition zone, and its introduction could potentially reduce forest herb and shrub diversity. Fire‐history recreations derived from sedimentary charcoal, tree fire scars, and estimates of Native American burning suggest point‐return times ranging from 5–10 years to centuries and millennia. Actual return times were probably longer because such records suffer from selective sampling, small sample sizes, and a probable publication bias toward frequent fire. Archeological evidence shows the environmental effect of fire could be severe in the immediate neighborhood of a Native American village. Population density appears to have been low through most of the Holocene, however, and villages were strongly clustered at a regional scale. Thus, it appears that the majority of forests of the eastern United States were little affected by burning before European settlement. Use of prescribed burning assumes that most forest species are tolerant of fire and that burning will have only a minimal effect on diversity. However, common adaptations such as serotiny, epicormic sprouting, resprouting from rhizomes, and smoke‐cued germination are unknown across most of the deciduous region. Experimental studies of burning show vegetation responses similar to other forms of disturbance that remove stems and litter and do not necessarily imply adaptation to fire. The general lack of adaptation could potentially cause a reduction in diversity if burning were introduced. These observations suggest a need for a fine‐grained examination of fire history with systematic sampling in which all subregions, landscape positions, and community types are represented. Responses to burning need to be examined in noncommercial and nonwoody species in rigorous manipulative experiments. Until such information is available, it seems prudent to limit the use of prescribed burning east of the prairie–woodland transition zone. Reevaluación del Uso de Fuego como Herramienta de Manejo en Bosques Deciduos de América del Norte