scholarly journals The first epiphytic macrolichen and its implication to the interacting with Mesozoic forest ecosystem

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuxia Yang ◽  
Yanyan Wang ◽  
Robert Lücking ◽  
Thorsten Lumbsch ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Epiphytic Lichens ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
New Family ◽  
New Finding ◽  
Fossil Records

Abstract Lichens are well known as pioneer organisms or stress-tolerant extremophiles playing a core role in the early formation of terrestrial ecosystems, of which epiphytic lichens make a distinct contribution to the water-cycle and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystem. But due to the scarcity of relevant fossil records, the evolutionary history of epiphytic lichens is poorly documented. Herein, based on the new material of Daohugouthallus ciliiferus, we demonstrated that the hitherto oldest macrolichen inhabited a gymnosperm branch, representing the first unambiguous Jurassic epiphytic lichen. Combing the fossil and extant macrolichen representatives, we performed the geometric morphometric analysis and comprehensive comparison to infer the systematic status of this rare Jurassic macrolichen. The results declared that D. ciliiferus cannot be assigned to any known macrolichen lineages for its elder age and particular habits, and therefore a new family, Daohugouthallaceae was proposed. This work updated the current knowledge to the historical evolution of epiphytic lichens, implying the macrolichens may have diversified much earlier than the generally accepted K–Pg boundary. In addition, our new finding also provided direct evidence for tracing the continuing joint development of epiphytic lichens and forest ecosystem since the Jurassic of 165 Mya.

scholarly journals New insights into the earlier evolutionary history of epiphytic macrolichens

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuxia Yang ◽  
Yanyan Wang ◽  
Robert Lucking ◽  
H. Thorsten Lumbsch ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Morphometric Analysis ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Molecular Dating ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
New Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material ◽  
Geometric Morphometric Analysis

Lichens are well known as pioneer organisms colonizing bare surfaces such as rocks and therefore have been hypothesized to play a role in the early formation of terrestrial ecosystems. Given the rarity of fossil evidence, our understanding of the evolutionary history of lichen-forming fungi is primarily based on molecular dating approaches. These studies suggest extant clades of macrolichens diversified after the K-Pg boundary. Here we corroborate the mid-Mesozoic fossil Daohugouthallus ciliiferus as an epiphytic macrolichen that predates the K-Pg boundary by 100 Mys. Based on new material and geometric morphometric analysis, we demonstrate that the Jurassic fossil is morphologically most similar to Parmeliaceae, but cannot be placed in Parmeliaceae or other similar family-level clades forming macrolichens as these evolved much later. Consequently, a new family, Daohugouthallaceae, is proposed here to accommodate this fossil, which reveals macrolichens may have been diverse long before the Cenozoic diversification of extant lineages.

Discovery of coprolites in an Early Permian fern mesophyll

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
WEI-MING ZHOU ◽  
MING-LI WAN ◽  
JOSEF PŠENIČKA ◽  
JUN WANG
Keyword(s):  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Functional Feeding Groups ◽  
Early Permian ◽  
Plant Organs ◽  
Feeding Groups ◽  
Fossil Records

Plants and arthropods interact with each other and constitute an important part of the modern terrestrial ecosystem (Schoonhoven et al., 2005). Historically, fossil records of plant-arthropod interactions have been well documented in Paleozoic terrestrial ecosystems, which were evidenced by large coprolites containing various plant fragments (e.g., Salter et al., 2012), small larvae and coprolites remained in plant organs (e.g., Feng et al., 2017), and diverse functional feeding groups discovered on plant stems, rachises, roots, leaves and fertile organs (e.g., Liu et al., 2020).

scholarly journals Impact of Fraxinus excelsior dieback on biota of ash-associated lichen epiphytes at the landscape and community level

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Łubek ◽  
Martin Kukwa ◽  
Patryk Czortek ◽  
Bogdan Jaroszewicz
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Fraxinus Excelsior ◽  
Epiphytic Lichens ◽  
Ash Dieback ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
Alternative Hosts ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Lichen Biota

Abstract The landscape-scale extinction of a tree species may have a negative impact on diversity of associated epiphytic species. We used ordination and hierarchical clustering methods to assess landscape and the community level effects of reduction in the abundance of European ash Fraxinus excelsior, caused by ash dieback, on the associated epiphytic lichen biota in Białowieża Forest (Poland)—the best preserved forest complex in Central Europe. At the landscape level ash decline impact on the biota of ash-associated epiphytic lichens was weak, due to the high diversity of tree species, which may serve as potential alternative hosts. At this level, oak and hornbeam are the most important alternative hosts, assuring the maintenance of ash-associated epiphytic lichens. Lime, alder, and hazel appeared to be less important but still may serve as substitute phorophytes to approximately 2/3 of the ash-associated lichen biota. About 90% of epiphytic biota are likely to survive on the landscape scale. However, at the community level of alder-ash floodplain forest, where ash was dominant, about 50% of ash-associated epiphytic lichen species are threatened by ash dieback. Our results highlight the importance of a spatial scale in conservation biology. Protection of large forest areas with rich diversity of phorophyte trees increases chances of survival of the associated epiphytic organisms.

Systematics of Paraleucopis Malloch with proposal of Paraleucopidae, a new family of acalyptrate Diptera

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4668 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-328
Author(s):  
TERRY A. WHEELER ◽  
BRADLEY J. SINCLAIR
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Group Relationships ◽  
Northwestern Mexico

Paraleucopidae Wheeler fam. nov. is proposed for the previously unplaced New World genera Paraleucopis Malloch, Mallochianamyia Santos-Neto and Schizostomyia Malloch and undescribed Australian species. A key to genera of Paraleucopidae is provided. Paraleucopis is revised and includes nine species: P. auripes Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Andalgala, Argentina); P. bispinosa Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Socos, Coquimbo, Chile); P. boharti Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Andalgala, Argentina); P. boydensis Steyskal (type locality: nr. Palm Desert, California, USA); P. corvina Malloch (type species of genus; type locality: New Mexico, USA); P. mexicana Steyskal (type locality: Kino Bay, Mexico); P. nigra Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Portal, Arizona, USA); P. paraboydensis Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Willis Palms Oasis, California, USA); P. saguaro Wheeler & Sinclair sp. nov. (type locality: Usery Mtn Park, Arizona, USA). A key to the species of Paraleucopis is provided. The distribution of Paraleucopis is disjunct, with six species in the western United States and northwestern Mexico and three species in northern Chile and northern Argentina.                The sister group and superfamilial assignment of the Paraleucopidae cannot be established based on current knowledge although the family has affinities to some families of the Asteioinea sensu J.F. McAlpine. A well-supported hypothesis on the relationships of the families of the Acalyptratae will be required before the sister group relationships of Paraleucopidae can be determined. 

ANALYSIS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF EPIPHYTIC LICHENS ON QUERCUS PUBESCENS ALONG AN ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN A MEDITERRANEAN AREA (TUSCANY, CENTRAL ITALY)

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Loppi ◽  
Stergios Arg. Pirintsos ◽  
Vincenzo De Dominicis
Keyword(s):  
Altitudinal Gradient ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Multivariate Techniques ◽  
Epiphytic Lichens ◽  
Climatic Parameters ◽  
Quercus Pubescens ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
The Core ◽  
Satellite Species

The distribution of epiphytic lichens on Quercus pubescens in Tuscany, central Italy, was studied by means of multivariate techniques along an altitudinal gradient from 0 to 900 m. Great differences in community structure were found and the altitude of 500 m was identified as an ecotone. Epiphytic lichen vegetation on trees below the ecotone varied significantly in relation to bark pH. Climatic parameters (temperature and rainfall) were probably related to altitude. Dust was probably responsible for the rise in bark pH. The distribution of lichen species in the sampling belts fitted the core-satellite hypothesis. The use of core and satellite species as biomonitors of air pollution and bioindicators of environmental conditions is discussed.

Ecohydrology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeriy Ivanov ◽  
Simone Fatichi ◽  
Edoardo Daly
Keyword(s):  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Water Flux ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Atmospheric Sciences ◽  
Abiotic Environment ◽  
Vegetation Control ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field

Ecohydrology is a cross-disciplinary field that emerged in the early 2000s as a result of recognition of the need to better understand complex, multifaceted interactions occurring in terrestrial ecosystems and their connection to the water cycle. In this article, ecohydrology is viewed as the science that studies how water in all its forms links living organisms and their abiotic environment to define their function, interactions, structure, and distribution. As a highly interdisciplinary field, ecohydrology draws from hydrology, ecology, atmospheric sciences, plant ecophysiology, biophysics, hydrodynamics, soil science, geomorphology, biogeochemistry, agronomy, and even landscape architecture. Basic science questions and land and water resource management issues are addressed in the field. A range of temporal scales, from minutes (such as in stomatal response to a changing environment) to millennia (such as that characteristic of landscape evolution period), is relevant to studies in ecohydrology. Likewise, spatial extent of analysis covers a spectrum ranging from ~10–6 m (e.g., concerned with leaf stomatal cavities or soil pores), to regional scales at ~106 m. As other sciences, ecohydrologic research relies on theoretical analysis, observation-based inference and experimentation, and computational approaches. The latter are becoming powerful, permitting experimentation and tests of mathematical descriptions of relevant processes and mechanisms. As evidenced by the publication record, one the main scopes of ecohydrology has been to understand how water available to ecosystems is used by vegetation and impacts the water cycle through the process of evapotranspiration. This review draws from this literature thus having a prevailing emphasis on vegetation control of water fluxes (i.e., transpiration) and the bilateral interactions between vegetation and abiotic environment. This perspective is justified by the key role of transpiration in the water cycle: it is the largest water flux from vegetated land to the atmosphere. The field of ecohydrology has analyzed different climatic regions and areas. Arid and semiarid ecosystems, where water is the major limiting factor of ecosystem functioning, are viewed as one of the key foci in ecohydrologic studies, largely driving the establishment of the field. The role that transpiration has on rainfall via water recirculation and the potential effects of deforestation are the emphasis of tropical ecohydrology. The large changes in the hydrologic budget associated with urbanization are addressed in urban ecohydrologic studies. One may expect that future focus will be on understanding of the transformation of terrestrial ecosystems, as we know them, due to ongoing and anticipated changes in the hydrologic cycle.

scholarly journals Ancient species offers contemporary therapeutics: an update on shark VNAR single domain antibody sequences, phage libraries and potential clinical applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hejiao English ◽  
Jessica Hong ◽  
Mitchell Ho
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Single Domain ◽  
Sequencing Analysis ◽  
Single Domain Antibody ◽  
Preclinical Development ◽  
Drug Candidates ◽  
New Family ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Analysis ◽  
Phage Libraries ◽  
Generation Sequencing

ABSTRACT The antigen binding variable domain (VNAR) of the shark immunoglobulin new antigen receptor (IgNAR) evolved approximately 500 million years ago and it is one of the smallest antibody fragments in the animal kingdom with sizes of 12–15 kDa. This review discusses the current knowledge of the shark VNAR single domain sequences and ongoing development of shark VNARs as research tools as well as potential therapeutics, in particular highlighting the recent next-generation sequencing analysis of 1.2 million shark VNAR sequences and construction of a large phage displayed shark VNAR library from six naïve adult nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum). The large phage-displayed VNAR single domain library covers all the four known VNAR types (Types I–IV) and many previously unknown types. Ongoing preclinical development will help define the utility of shark VNAR single domains as a potentially new family of drug candidates for treating cancer and other human diseases.

Factors controlling epiphytic lichen biomass during postfire succession in black spruce boreal forests

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 2168-2179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Boudreault ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Darwyn Coxson
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Tree Age ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Epiphytic Lichens ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
Structure Tree ◽  
Species Groups

Alectorioid lichens are the dominant group of epiphytic lichens in boreal forests. Epiphytic lichen richness and abundance generally increase with stand age and within-stand heterogeneity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the importance of time elapsed since the last fire, stand structure, tree size, tree age, and branch height for epiphytic lichen biomass of the boreal forest of western Quebec. We sampled 12 sites belonging to four forest age classes (from 50 to >200 years). We assessed epiphytic lichen biomass of three species groups ( Bryoria , Evernia , and Usnea ) on 12 trees in each site. Our results showed that biomass of Bryoria and Usnea was higher in intermediate stages (between 101 and 200 years) compared with younger (50–100 years) and older (>200 years) stages. Biomass of the three species groups was greater on larger diameter trees (>16 cm) compared with smaller ones (<16 cm). These results indicate that the protection of postfire stands aged between 101 and 200 year should be prioritized to maintain the functional role of epiphytic lichens in managed landscapes.

scholarly journals WATCH: Current Knowledge of the Terrestrial Global Water Cycle

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Harding ◽  
Martin Best ◽  
Eleanor Blyth ◽  
Stefan Hagemann ◽  
Pavel Kabat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Global Water Cycle ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Surface Models ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Global Water

Abstract Water-related impacts are among the most important consequences of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Changes in the global water cycle will also impact the carbon and nutrient cycles and vegetation patterns. There is already some evidence of increasing severity of floods and droughts and increasing water scarcity linked to increasing greenhouse gases. So far, however, the most important impacts on water resources are the direct interventions by humans, such as dams, water extractions, and river channel modifications. The Water and Global Change (WATCH) project is a major international initiative to bring together climate and water scientists to better understand the current and future water cycle. This paper summarizes the underlying motivation for the WATCH project and the major results from a series of papers published or soon to be published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology WATCH special collection. At its core is the Water Model Intercomparison Project (WaterMIP), which brings together a wide range of global hydrological and land surface models run with consistent driving data. It is clear that we still have considerable uncertainties in the future climate drivers and in how the river systems will respond to these changes. There is a grand challenge to the hydrological and climate communities to both reduce these uncertainties and communicate them to a wider society.

Response of Evernia prunastri to urban environmental conditions in Central Europe after the decrease of air pollution

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna LACKOVIČOVÁ ◽  
Anna GUTTOVÁ ◽  
Martin BAČKOR ◽  
Peter PIŠÚT ◽  
Ivan PIŠÚT
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Photosynthetic Pigments ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Epiphytic Lichens ◽  
Evernia Prunastri ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
Lichen Diversity ◽  
Positive Correlations

AbstractThe epiphytic lichen Evernia prunastri is sensitive to air pollution and reacted by total retreat to the worsening of air quality during the peak of SO2 pollution in Central Europe (1950s–1990). Since 1990, after a significant decrease in air pollution, epiphytic lichens recolonized previously polluted areas, including E. prunastri. We investigated the physiological status of E. prunastri, transplanted for six months in 34 sites in the urban area of Bratislava (Slovakia) under current conditions. The content of chlorophylls, cortical and medullar secondary metabolites and soluble proteins were explored. We then examined the relationship of these parameters with the environmental quality status, reflected by the diversity of epiphytic lichens. The results showed that the physiological status of E. prunastri did not change significantly after exposure. Positive correlations were found between lichen diversity in the sampling sites and physiological parameters (photosynthetic pigments and phaeophytinization quotient) in the transplants. Transplants from sampling sites with a greater proportion of nitrophilous lichens displayed a decrease in photosynthetic pigments. Sites where E. prunastri naturally occurred had a lower proportion of nitrophilous species in comparison to sites where E. prunastri was not present. This suggests that the indicator species E. prunastri may also recolonize sites with low eutrophication in urban environments under decreased air pollution, and the information on its presence can help to assess the pressure caused by nitrogen excess.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document