Distribution update, male genitalia, natural history, and conservation of the stump-tailed porcupine Coendou rufescens in South America

The stump-tailed porcupine, Coendou rufescens, is a widely distributed but scarcely documented species inhabiting the Andean region of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and an isolated population in Bolivia. Despite the wide distribution different aspects on its biology and ecology are still unknown. We present an update to the distribution of C. rufescens, and recent observations on the anatomy, natural history, and conservation in Colombia. For this, we described the male genitalia and present data on reproductive periods, plants used and consumed, and threats. The distribution of C. rufescens comprises 12 ecoregions in an area of 376,225 km2 for the northern group (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) and 393 km2 for the southern group (Bolivia). The highest elevational record is in Ecuador (4387 m), being the porcupine inhabiting at highest elevations. The anatomy of the glans is similar to that observed in Coendou quichua and constitutes the second species of Coendou with available information on glans morphology. C. rufescens consumes fruits and leaves of potato cider (Sechium edule: Cucurbitaceae) and woody shrub (Bejaria: Ericacea), and usually perches even in exotic species such as pines. Finally, common treats for the species in Colombia are related to hunting pressures, predation by domestic dogs, and roadkills.

Taxonomic revision of the Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis) complex based on vocalizations reveals three species

Background The Savanna Nightjar (Caprimulgus affinis) is a widespread, polytypic species which was previously treated as two or three species. It is currently treated as a single species based on superficial similarity of their songs but no detailed comparisons of the songs in this complex have been made. Methods A total of 15 acoustic variables were measured for the songs of 86 individuals representing 8 of the 10 subspecies in the complex. Results Three major groups can be distinguished based on univariate and multivariate analyses: a northern group consisting of the subspecies C. a. monticolus, C. a. amoyensis and C. a. stictomus; a southern group consisting of C. a. affinis, C. a. kasuidori, C. a. timorensis and C. a. propinquus; and a third group in the Philippines consisting of C. a. griseatus. Conclusions It is here argued that these groups are best treated as species, and that Franklin’s Nightjar (C. monticolus) and Kayumanggi Nightjar (C. griseatus) are reinstated as separate species.

Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of Lateolabrax maculatus from Chinese coastal waters using polymorphic microsatellite markers

In order to provide valuable guidelines for the conservation of germplasm of Lateolabrax maculatus, the genetic diversity and population structure analysis were evaluated for eight geographic populations along coastal regions of China, using 11 microsatellite DNA markers. The genetic parameters obtained showed that, eight populations can be clustered into two groups, the Northern group and the Southern group, concordant with their geographical positions. The UPGMA tree constructed according to the Nei’s genetic distance along with the structure analysis and discriminant analysis of principal component also supported this result. This might be explained by the geographic separation and the divergent environmental conditions among the populations. It's worth noting that, QD (Qingdao) population from northern area was assigned to the Southern group and showed a close genetic relationship and similar genetic constitution with the southern populations. We speculated that large scales of anthropogenic transportation of wild fries from QD populations to the southern aquaculture areas in history should be the primary cause. The populations from GY (Ganyu), RD (Rudong) and BH (Binhai) had higher genetic diversity and showed limited genetic exchange with other populations, indicating better conservation of the natural resources in these regions. All populations were indicated to have experienced bottleneck events in history.

Population Genomics Provides Insights into the Population Structure and Climate-driven Adaptation of Collichthys Lucidus

Background: Understanding the genetic structure and local adaptive evolutionary mechanisms of marine organisms is crucial for the conservation and management of biological resources. Collichthys lucidus is an ideal candidate for investigating population differentiation and local adaptation under heterogeneous environmental pressure. Results: To elucidate the fine-scale genetic structure and local thermal adaptation of C. lucidus, we performed restriction site-associated DNA tag sequencing (RAD-seq) of 177 individuals from 8 populations, and a total of 184,708 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. All the results revealed significant population structure with high support for two distinct genetic clusters, namely, the northern group (populations DL, TJ, LYG, NT, ZS, and WZ) and southern group (populations XM and ZH). The genetic diversity of the southern group was evidently lower than that of the northern group, which indicated that the southern group was possibly under climate-driven natural selection. In addition, a total of 314 SNPs were found to be significantly associated with temperature variation. Annotations of temperature-related SNPs suggested that genes involved in material (protein, lipid, and carbohydrate) metabolism and immune responses were critical for adaptation to spatially heterogeneous temperatures in natural C. lucidus populations. Conclusion: In the context of anthropogenic activities and environmental change, the results of the present population genomic work could make important contributions to the understanding of genetic differentiation and adaptation to changing environments.

Distribution patterns and biogeography of Sargassum (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) along the coast of Vietnam

Sargassum species form large beds that play an important role in coastal ecosystems. The beds are abundant and Sargassum is often used as food and in Asian medicine in Vietnam. As a base for future use and conservation, we surveyed 14 species of Sargassum at eight locations during April-May of 2018 and 2019. Sargassum species from Vietnam were divisible into northern and southern groups; the northern group comprised Sargassum graminifolium, Sargassum herklotsii, and Sargassum cotoense, which occur in the North and North Central zones. The southern group comprised Sargassum bicorne, Sargassum feldmannii, Sargassum ilicifolium, Sargassum swartzii, and two endemic species, Sargassum phamhoangii and Sargassum quinhonense, which occur in the Central to South West zones. Three species, Sargassum aquifolium, Sargassum oligocystum, and Sargassum polycystum, were widespread along the long coast of Vietnam. This is the first report on distribution patterns of Sargassum species along the long coast of Vietnam. Our study provides baseline data for evaluating ecological disturbance and risks of Sargassum-associated ecosystems.

Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Acanthochiton rubrolineatus (Polyplacophora) Based on Mitochondrial and Nuclear Gene Markers

Acanthochiton rubrolineatus (Cryptoplacidae, Neoloricata, Polyplacophora) has a narrow distribution range along the seacoasts of China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. We collected 238 samples from eight localities along the Chinese coast, and analyzed the genetic diversity and population structure with COI, 16S-rRNA and 28S-rRNA gene sequences. All analyses based on combined sequences of COI and 16S-rRNA suggested that there was evident genetic differentiation between the northern populations (YT, WH, DL, QD, LYG) and southern populations (ZS, YH, XM) of A. rubrolineatus. The haplotype distribution pattern and genetic diversity based on 28S-rRNA sequences also supported the genetic divergence between the two groups. Both groups had experienced population expansion after the ice age of Pleistocene, and an additional population bottleneck had happened in the southern group in recent history, which led to low genetic diversity of mitochondrial DNA and abnormally high diversity of nuclear DNA in this group. Our results suggested that the protection on A. rubrolineatus is necessary, and the northern and southern group should be protected separately.

The influence of tropical and subtropical air masses on the chemical composition of the tropospheric aerosol of Western Siberia based on the results of systematic aircraft sounding in 1997-2017

Almost monthly sensing of the troposphere from 500 to 7000 m above Karakansky bor (Novosibirsk Province) are conducted since 1997 up to now by using of the aircraft-laboratory "Optik" based on Antonov-30 or Tupolev-134. Aerosol sampling on to Petryanov filters AFA-CP-20 for subsequent laboratory quantitative analysis of the content of inorganic ions and the next elements in the aerosol composition: Al, Ba, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn, Ti, V, Be, Cd, Si, Co, Cr, Sr, Zn, Zr was performed for each flight. For the region of the study of tropospheric aerosol, the chemical composition of the aerosol was classified for the main air masses during the period of airborne sounding from September 1997 to June 2017 - continental arctic, continental moderate, and combined into one “southern” group of the continental tropical and subtropical air masses. Explicit "southern" origin, along with silicon, have chromium, manganese, silver and bicarbonate-anion. To the same group, the ions of chlorine and sodium are attracted, which probably were transported together with salt particles originating from Central Asian deserts.

On Tán/Tán Distinction in Modern Xiang Dialects and the Reconstruction in Proto Xiang

According to Qièyùn, Tán (覃) and Tán (談) are two distinct rhymes, i.e. double rhyme, in Xián Shè Grade I. From the historical Chinese phonology perspective, the Northern people who spoke the Northern dialect started merging Tán / Tán distinction at early Tang Dynasty but, relatively, the Southern people retained it. In other words, Tán / Tán distinction is an important phonological feature to divide the early Chinese dialects into Northern group and Southern group. Recent researches shows that Tán / Tán distinction still obtain in modern Chinese dialects, such as Wú, Mĭn and Gàn dialects. However, the question ‘if Tán / Tán distinction obtains in modern Xiang dialect’ is under debate until now. This article would like to examine 12 modern Xiang dialects and explore the phenomena and phonological contrast in Xiang dialects. Furthermore, this article also tried to reconstruction the proto forms for Tán / Tán rhymes. This article not only focused on the phonological contrast provided by Qièyùn framework but also noticed the colloquial lexicons, which retained the early distinction. The main conclusions are as follows:1.From the viewpoint of phonological contrast, only one kind of Xiang dialect subcategories, i.e. Lóu-Shào Piàn, obtains Tán / Tán distinction. The distinction has been dropped in Cháng Yì Piàn and Xù Pŭ Piàn.2.From the viewpoint of colloquial lexicon, there are still four lexicons with Tán / Tán distinction. Those lexicons are distributed in modern Xiang dialects more or less. 3. From the viewpoint of historical linguistics, the Tán (覃) rhyme after velar initials could be reconstructed as *-oN and *-oʔ and the Tán (談) rhyme as *ɑN and *ɑʔ after the same initial environment. It shows that Tán / Tán distinction is partially remained in Xiang dialects. The main vowel *-o in *oN and *-oɁ finals tends to vowel breaking and so the reflections of *oN and *oʔ in modern Xiang dialects include -uẽ, -uɛ̃, -ua and -ue etc.