Plant wax biomarkers in human evolutionary studies

FG Sagittae is one of the most important key objects of post-AGB stellar evolutionary studies. As a consequence of a final helium shell flash, this unique variable has shown real evolutionary changes on human time scales during this century. The observational history was reviewed in comparison with predictions from evolutionary models. The central star of the old planetary nebula (Hel-5) evolved from left to right in the HR diagram, going in just hundred years from the hot region of exciting sources of planetary nebulae to the cool red supergiant domain just before our eyes becoming a newly-born post-AGB star. The effective temperature of the star was around 50,000 K at the beginning of this century, and the last estimates in the late 1980s give 5,000-6,500 K. Recent spectroscopic observations obtained by Ingemar Lundström show definite changes in the nebular line intensities. This fact undoubtedly rules out the possibility that, instead of FG Sge, a hidden hot object would be the true central star of the nebula. Consequently, the observed evolutionary changes are connected with the evolution of a single star.

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Moss mimesis par excellence: integrating previous and new data on the life history and larval ecomorphology of long-bodied craneflies (Diptera: Cylindrotomidae: Cylindrotominae)

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society ◽

10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa177 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yume Imada

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Host Plants ◽

Original Data ◽

Evolutionary Significance ◽

Lateral Side ◽

Apparent Absence ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Larval Stages ◽

Evolutionary Studies ◽

Functional Explanations

Abstract Different physical structures play a central role in animal camouflage. However, in evolutionary studies of mimicry, the ecological and evolutionary significance of such structures has been poorly investigated. Larvae of long-bodied craneflies, Cylindrotominae, are all obligate herbivores and resemble plants. They are distinctively characterized by possessing numerous elongated cuticular lobes on the integument. A comprehensive overview of the biology and morphology of cylindrotomids, particularly their larval stages, is laid out, providing original data on nine species. To explore the ecological background of moss resemblance, host-plants of most examined species are clarified, revealing that terrestrial moss-feeding species tend to use specific groups of mosses, either belonging to Bryales or Hypnales. However, the evolution of cryptic forms remains paradoxical, due to the apparent absence of visual predators. Based on histological examinations, extensive internal musculatures within the cuticular lobes on the lateral side are discovered, shedding new light on their function in locomotion. Traditional functional explanations for these lobes, particularly as devices for respiration, locomotion and attachment, are challenged. This study promotes our understanding of the ecomorphology of mimicry devices, which is an angle often dismissed in evolutionary studies of mimicry.

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Identifying plant wax inputs in lake sediments using machine learning

Organic Geochemistry ◽

10.1016/j.orggeochem.2021.104222 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 104222

Author(s):

Mark D. Peaple ◽

Jessica E. Tierney ◽

David McGee ◽

Tim K. Lowenstein ◽

Tripti Bhattacharya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Lake Sediments ◽

Plant Wax

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Correction to: Assessment of Polygala paniculata (Polygalaceae) characteristics for evolutionary studies of legume–rhizobia symbiosis

Journal of Plant Research ◽

10.1007/s10265-021-01295-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yuji Tokumoto ◽

Kayo Hashimoto ◽

Takashi Soyano ◽

Seishiro Aoki ◽

Wataru Iwasaki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Studies

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01295-3

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Developmental perspectives on personality: implications for ecological and evolutionary studies of individual differences

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2010.0218 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 365 (1560) ◽

pp. 4029-4041 ◽

Cited By ~ 166

Author(s):

Judy A. Stamps ◽

Ton G. G. Groothuis

Keyword(s):

Developmental Plasticity ◽

Niche Construction ◽

Prior Experience ◽

Life Stage ◽

Animal Personality ◽

Temporal Consistency ◽

Developmental Processes ◽

Wide Range ◽

Evolutionary Studies ◽

Research Programmes

Developmental processes can have major impacts on the correlations in behaviour across contexts (contextual generality) and across time (temporal consistency) that are the hallmarks of animal personality. Personality can and does change: at any given age or life stage it is contingent upon a wide range of experiential factors that occurred earlier in life, from prior to conception through adulthood. We show how developmental reaction norms that describe the effects of prior experience on a given behaviour can be used to determine whether the effects of a given experience at a given age will affect contextual generality at a later age, and to illustrate how variation within individuals in developmental plasticity leads to variation in contextual generality across individuals as a function of experience. We also show why niche-picking and niche-construction, behavioural processes which allow individuals to affect their own developmental environment, can affect the contextual generality and the temporal consistency of personality. We conclude by discussing how an appreciation of developmental processes can alert behavioural ecologists studying animal personality to critical, untested assumptions that underlie their own research programmes, and outline situations in which a developmental perspective can improve studies of the functional significance and evolution of animal personality.

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Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1419133112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (18) ◽

pp. 5607-5612 ◽

Cited By ~ 72

Author(s):

Peter M. J. Douglas ◽

Mark Pagani ◽

Marcello A. Canuto ◽

Mark Brenner ◽

David A. Hodell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Isotope ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Classic Period ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

Agricultural Adaptation ◽

Terminal Classic ◽

Paleoclimate Records ◽

Early Classic Period ◽

Plant Wax ◽

Terminal Classic Period

Paleoclimate records indicate a series of severe droughts was associated with societal collapse of the Classic Maya during the Terminal Classic period (∼800–950 C.E.). Evidence for drought largely derives from the drier, less populated northern Maya Lowlands but does not explain more pronounced and earlier societal disruption in the relatively humid southern Maya Lowlands. Here we apply hydrogen and carbon isotope compositions of plant wax lipids in two lake sediment cores to assess changes in water availability and land use in both the northern and southern Maya lowlands. We show that relatively more intense drying occurred in the southern lowlands than in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Classic period, consistent with earlier and more persistent societal decline in the south. Our results also indicate a period of substantial drying in the southern Maya Lowlands from ∼200 C.E. to 500 C.E., during the Terminal Preclassic and Early Classic periods. Plant wax carbon isotope records indicate a decline in C4 plants in both lake catchments during the Early Classic period, interpreted to reflect a shift from extensive agriculture to intensive, water-conservative maize cultivation that was motivated by a drying climate. Our results imply that agricultural adaptations developed in response to earlier droughts were initially successful, but failed under the more severe droughts of the Terminal Classic period.

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Characterization of expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat markers for 17 Linum species

Botany ◽

10.1139/b10-019 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 88 (5) ◽

pp. 537-543 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Yong-Bi Fu ◽

Gregory W. Peterson

Keyword(s):

Simple Sequence Repeat ◽

Expressed Sequence Tag ◽

Sequence Repeat ◽

Simple Sequence Repeat Markers ◽

Linum Usitatissimum L ◽

Evolutionary Studies ◽

Expressed Sequence ◽

Simple Sequence ◽

Cultivated Flax

One major challenge in genetic and evolutionary studies of wild flax species is the lack of informative molecular markers. A set of 100 informative expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) primer pairs developed in cultivated flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.) were characterized on 35 Linum accessions representing 17 Linum species for their transferability to other Linum species. Ninety-nine primer pairs displayed scorable polymorphisms across 35 Linum samples and generated 627 bands likely from 121 loci. About 50% of the detected bands occurred only in three or fewer samples. A total of 393 bands, likely from 116 loci, were detected by 97 primer pairs in Linum bienne Mill. samples, but only up to 60 bands, likely from up to 39 loci, were revealed by 6 to 37 primer pairs in the samples of the other 15 Linum species. The L. bienne samples displayed 23.7% more EST-SSR variation than the L. usitatissimum samples. These characterized EST-SSR markers should be useful for future genetic diversity and evolutionary studies of Linum species, particularly for the progenitor of cultivated flax.

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