Superiority, competition, and opportunism in the evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs

The rise and diversification of the dinosaurs in the Late Triassic, from 230 to 200 million years ago, is a classic example of an evolutionary radiation with supposed competitive replacement. A comparison of evolutionary rates and morphological disparity of basal dinosaurs and their chief "competitors," the crurotarsan archosaurs, shows that dinosaurs exhibited lower disparity and an indistinguishable rate of character evolution. The radiation of Triassic archosaurs as a whole is characterized by declining evolutionary rates and increasing disparity, suggesting a decoupling of character evolution from body plan variety. The results strongly suggest that historical contingency, rather than prolonged competition or general "superiority," was the primary factor in the rise of dinosaurs.     

Sex chromosomes in lizards

Karyotypes of many species of the genus Sceloporus support the generalization that there are no morphologically recognizable sex chromosomes in lizards; however, there is a marked sexual dimorphism in the karyotypes of Sceloporus jarrovi and Sceloporus poinsetti. During meiosis in males, whose diploid number of chromosomes is 31, preferential segregation of chromosomes from a trivalent results in heterogamety.     

Green blood pigment in lizards

Three species of arboreal scincid lizards from the southwest Pacific have a green blood pigment which is evident in the whole blood plasma, muscles, and bones.     

Contingency and determinism in replicated adaptive radiations of island lizards

The vagaries of history lead to the prediction that repeated instances of evolutionary diversification will lead to disparate outcomes even if starting conditions are similar. We tested this proposition by examining the evolutionary radiation of Anolis lizards on the four islands of the Greater Antilles. Morphometric analyses indicate that the same set of habitat specialists, termed ecomorphs, occurs on all four islands. Although these similar assemblages could result from a single evolutionary origin of each ecomorph, followed by dispersal or vicariance, phylogenetic analysis indicates that the ecomorphs originated independently on each island. Thus, adaptive radiation in similar environments can overcome historical contingencies to produce strikingly similar evolutionary outcomes.     

Behavioral thermoregulation in lizards: importance of associated costs

The Puerto Rican lizard Anolis cristatellus behaviorally regulates body temperature in an open habitat but passively tolerates lower and more variable temperatures in an adjacent forest where basking sites are few and distant. Thermoregulation may be adaptive only when costs resulting from associated losses of time and energy are low.     

Convergent and alternative designs in the digital adhesive pads of scincid lizards

Prasinohaema virens, an arboreal scincid lizard, differs from its closest relatives in that it exhibits subdigital adhesive setae resembling those of anoles in shape and those of geckos in some aspects of size. The other scincid species in this genus as well as those in a presumed ancestral genus exhibit pad scales with surface folds and ruffles but no setae; at least one of these species uses an adhesive grip similar to that of anoles and geckos. Thus, there appear to be two strikingly different epidermal specializations for adhesive grip within this small radiation.     

Contribution of gular pumping to lung ventilation in monitor lizards

A controversial hypothesis has proposed that lizards are subject to a speed-dependent axial constraint that prevents effective lung ventilation during moderate- and high-speed locomotion. This hypothesis has been challenged by results demonstrating that monitor lizards (genus Varanus) experience no axial constraint. Evidence presented here shows that, during locomotion, varanids use a positive pressure gular pump to assist lung ventilation. Disabling the gular pump reveals that the axial constraint is present in varanids but it is masked by gular pumping under normal conditions. These findings support the prediction that the axial constraint may be found in other tetrapods that breathe by costal aspiration and locomote with a lateral undulatory gait.     

基于信息熵的芜湖市土地利用结构时空变化分析

以芜湖市土地利用结构作为研究对象,运用信息熵理论对区域土地利用结构的时间变化规律和空间分异特征进行研究,并对影响其信息熵变化的因素进行分析。结果表明:芜湖市土地利用结构信息熵时间上呈现增长的态势,土地利用结构均衡度均较高;空间分异上呈现市辖区熵值普遍高于下辖县,下辖县的农用地单一优势度较高导致熵值偏低;通过相关性分析,得出土地利用结构是影响熵值增长的直接因素,人口经济发展状况、城镇化水平以及产业结构与信息熵的上升有着十分密切的关系。     

一株新型鹅星状病毒鉴定及遗传演化分析

近几年,我国主要养鹅地区暴发了一种以关节腔和内脏器官尿酸盐沉积为特征的高度致死的关节型和内脏型痛风,给我国养鹅业造成了巨大的经济损失.多项研究结果表明,引起此次雏鹅痛风的病原是一种新型鹅星状病毒（Goose Astrovirus,GoAstV）.为了解GoAstV在广东地区的流行情况及其遗传变异,本研究对广东地区雏鹅群开展GoAstV流行病学调查,结果表明,GoAstV在广东地区雏鹅群中广泛流行,其阳性率为40%.对GoAstV/Guangdong/DBN-1/2019（GoAstV-DBN）进行全基因组测序和遗传演化分析,结果显示GoAstV-DBN与AHAU2/2018同源性最高.与参考毒株相比广东地区GoAstV未发生明显变异,但GoAstV-DBN Cap蛋白发生了Y36V和L540Q两个氨基酸突变.本研究可为广东地区GoAstV的防控和疫苗毒株的筛选提供理论依据.     

Environmental and evolutionary stability in bivalve mollusks

There is no relationship between environmental stability [as indicated by infaunal (stable) versus epifaunal (unstable) habits] and the generic duration of extinct marine bivalve mollusks when the effects of cosmopolitanism (which is associated with long generic durations) and other paleontological "noise" are excluded. This is contrary to the "depauperate gene pool" hypothesis of extinctions.     

Lactate dehydrogenase isozymes in parthenogenetic teiid lizards (Cnemidophorus)

Heterozygosity occurs at the lactate dehydrogenase b-locus in two diploid parthenogenetic species of Cnemidophorus. Each such species produces two different B subunits, one of which is also found in two sexual species and in two triploid parthenogenetic species; the other occurs also in a third sexual species. Interspecific hybridization between sexual species carrying different b-alleles and producing different B subunits may be responsible for the heterozygosity at the lactate dehydrogenase b-locus in diploid parthenogenetic Cnemidophours.     

Water transport in the cloaca of lizards: active or passive?

The withdrawal of water from the lizard cloaca can be a passive process resulting from the colloidal osmotic pressure of the plasma proteins. The forces necessary to withdraw water from lizard urine, the forces prevailing within the cloaca in vivo, and the counterbalancing of these forces by a protein solution placed in the cloaca all are in accord with this hypothesis.     

Gene dosage at the lactate dehydrogenase b locus in triploid and diploid teiid lizards

Triploid parthenogenetic lizards which are heterozygous at the lactate dehydrogenase b locus show approximately two doses of the b allele and approximately one dose of the b' allele. This finding agrees with the triploid karyotype composed of two haploid complements of chromosomes indistinguishable from those of species carrying the b allele and one complement indistinguishable from that of the species which carries the b' allele. Densitometry of electrophoretic patterns of lactate dehydrogenase from heart muscle and from kidney indicates approximately equal expression of each of the b alleles in the triploid lizards. Heterozygouis diploid lizards from the same parthenogenetic species, in agreement with their karyotype, show equal doses of b and b' alleles.     

多倍体在植物进化中的意义

几乎所有的开花作物都为多倍体植物,其基因组至少经历1次以上的全基因组加倍事件.随着测序技术的不断革新,人们对作物的基因组以及基因组的演化历史有了全新认识.分析了全基因组加倍在物种进化中的意义:多倍化改变基因组结构,丰富物种的遗传多样性,改变重复基因表达模式,增强物种的适应性,并展望多倍化在作物遗传育种中的应用.     

Multiple evolutionary origins of magnetotaxis in bacteria

Magnetosomes are intracellular, iron-rich, membrane-enclosed magnetic particles that allow magnetotactic bacteria to orient in the earth's geomagnetic field as they swim. The magnetosomes of most magnetotactic bacteria contain iron oxide particles, but some magnetotactic species contain iron sulfide particles instead. Phylogenetic analyses of small subunit ribosomal RNA sequences showed that all known magnetotactic bacteria of the iron oxide type are associated with the a subgroup of the Proteobacteria in the domain Bacteria. In contrast, uncultured magnetotactic bacteria of the iron sulfide type are specifically related to the dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria within the delta subdivision of the Proteobacteria. These findings indicate a polyphyletic origin for magnetotactic bacteria and suggest that magnetotaxis based on iron oxides and iron sulfides evolved independently.