New insight into the evolution of aquaporins from flowering plants and vertebrates: Orthologous identification and functional transfer is possible

Raging wildfires have devastated vast areas of California and Australia in recent years, and predictions are that we will see more of the same in coming years as a result of climate change. But this is nothing new. Since the dawn of life on land, large-scale fires have played their part in shaping life on Earth. Andrew C. Scott tells the whole story of fire's impact on our planet's atmosphere, climate, vegetation, ecology, and the evolution of plant and animal life. It has caused mass extinctions, and it has propelled the spread of flowering plants. The exciting evidence we can now draw on has been preserved in fossilized charcoal, found in rocks hundreds of millions of years old, from all over the world. These reveal incredibly fine details of prehistoric plants, and tell us about climates from deep in earth's history. They also give us insight into how early hominids and humans tamed fire and used it. Looking at the impact of wildfires in our own time, Scott also looks forward to how we might better manage them in future, as climate change has an increasing effect on our world.

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Geometrid caterpillar in Eocene Baltic amber (Lepidoptera, Geometridae)

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-53734-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thilo C. Fischer ◽

Artur Michalski ◽

Axel Hausmann

Keyword(s):

Molecular Clock ◽

Flowering Plants ◽

Baltic Amber ◽

Calibration Point ◽

Informal Group ◽

Sufficient Detail ◽

The Family ◽

New Finding ◽

Specialized Form ◽

Insight Into

AbstractLepidoptera have little fossilization potential due to the presence of delicate structures and hence are exceptional findings, even in ambers that allow their preservation in sufficient detail for interpretation. From Eocene Baltic amber, the volumetrically largest known deposit of amber, there has been no reliable report of any member of the Macrolepidoptera (informal group of higher moths and all butterflies). Any such lepidopteran fossil would provide insight into evolutionary processes during the Eocene, long after flowering plants had completed their initial radiation. Here, we report on a first geometrid caterpillar from Baltic amber which is described as the oldest evidence for the subfamily Ennominae (tribe Boarmiini) and as one of the oldest records of the currently mega-diverse family. The new finding provides an important calibration point for molecular clock analyses within the family Geometridae and predates the basal divergence of Boarmiini from 32–38 to 44 Mya. It also predates the occurrence of this highly specialized form of caterpillar locomotion that allows for rapid movement.

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Mistletoe: Its Role in Horticulture and Human Life

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.2.3.324 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 324-330 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Laura K. Paine ◽

Helen C. Harrison

Keyword(s):

Woody Plants ◽

Higher Plants ◽

Human Life ◽

Flowering Plants ◽

Independent Function ◽

Woody Ornamentals ◽

A Minor ◽

Evolutionary Role ◽

Insight Into

Parasitic flowering plants represent a unique ecological adaptation, having evolved away from independent function and toward an increasing dependence on other higher plants for survival. Mistletoe, a common evergreen parasite of woody plants, has played a significant role in human culture for centuries. Throughout history, mistletoe species were nurtured and revered as medicinal herbs and religious symbols. But the role of mistletoe has changed. Its importance in western culture has dwindled to a minor, though enduring, association with the Christmas holiday. In contrast, its significance as a parasite of tree crops and woody ornamentals has increased in recent years. Mistletoe species are studied in efforts to control their pathogenic effects and to gain insight into the evolutionary role played by this family of parasitic flowering plants. The unique characteristics of mistletoe that challenge horticultural researchers have contributed to its enduring role in human life.

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Calibration problems in hydrogen luminosities

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900053626 ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 322-330

Author(s):

A. Beer

Keyword(s):

Galactic Structure ◽

B Stars ◽

Insight Into

The investigations which I should like to summarize in this paper concern recent photo-electric luminosity determinations of O and B stars. Their final aim has been the derivation of new stellar distances, and some insight into certain patterns of galactic structure.

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Stochasting modeling of planetary ring systems

International Astronomical Union Colloquium ◽

10.1017/s025292110010154x ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 75 ◽

pp. 461-469 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robert W. Hart

Keyword(s):

Maximum Entropy ◽

Ring System ◽

The Sun ◽

Ultimate State ◽

Interparticle Interactions ◽

Ring Systems ◽

First Order ◽

Planetary Ring ◽

Insight Into

ABSTRACTThis paper models maximum entropy configurations of idealized gravitational ring systems. Such configurations are of interest because systems generally evolve toward an ultimate state of maximum randomness. For simplicity, attention is confined to ultimate states for which interparticle interactions are no longer of first order importance. The planets, in their orbits about the sun, are one example of such a ring system. The extent to which the present approximation yields insight into ring systems such as Saturn's is explored briefly.

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Skeletal elements of crinoid echinoderms: High-resolution structural and microanalytical results

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100074768 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 194-195

Author(s):

D. F. Blake ◽

L. F. Allard ◽

D. R. Peacor

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Marine Invertebrates ◽

Sea Urchins ◽

Structural Features ◽

Sea Stars ◽

High Resolution Tem ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.

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Structure and function of neural networks in the retina

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100102213 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Peter Sterling

Keyword(s):

Ganglion Cells ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Synaptic Connections ◽

Visual Axis ◽

One Dimensional ◽

Cat Retina ◽

Ultrathin Sections ◽

And Function ◽

Insight Into

The synaptic connections in cat retina that link photoreceptors to ganglion cells have been analyzed quantitatively. Our approach has been to prepare serial, ultrathin sections and photograph en montage at low magnification (˜2000X) in the electron microscope. Six series, 100-300 sections long, have been prepared over the last decade. They derive from different cats but always from the same region of retina, about one degree from the center of the visual axis. The material has been analyzed by reconstructing adjacent neurons in each array and then identifying systematically the synaptic connections between arrays. Most reconstructions were done manually by tracing the outlines of processes in successive sections onto acetate sheets aligned on a cartoonist's jig. The tracings were then digitized, stacked by computer, and printed with the hidden lines removed. The results have provided rather than the usual one-dimensional account of pathways, a three-dimensional account of circuits. From this has emerged insight into the functional architecture.

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Radiation Damage Studies with the HVEM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100096655 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 680-681

Author(s):

J. J. Laidler ◽

B. Mastel

Keyword(s):

Radiation Damage ◽

Stainless Steels ◽

Volume Expansion ◽

Austenitic Stainless Steels ◽

Test Facility ◽

Fast Breeder Reactors ◽

Breeder Reactors ◽

Under Construction ◽

Development Laboratory ◽

Insight Into

One of the major materials problems encountered in the development of fast breeder reactors for commercial power generation is the phenomenon of swelling in core structural components and fuel cladding. This volume expansion, which is due to the retention of lattice vacancies by agglomeration into large polyhedral clusters (voids), may amount to ten percent or greater at goal fluences in some austenitic stainless steels. From a design standpoint, this is an undesirable situation, and it is necessary to obtain experimental confirmation that such excessive volume expansion will not occur in materials selected for core applications in the Fast Flux Test Facility, the prototypic LMFBR now under construction at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL). The HEDL JEM-1000 1 MeV electron microscope is being used to provide an insight into trends of radiation damage accumulation in stainless steels, since it is possible to produce atom displacements at an accelerated rate with 1 MeV electrons, while the specimen is under continuous observation.

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