Assessing the potential impacts of alternative landscape designs on amphibian population dynamics

An individual-based, spatially explicit population model was used to predict the consequences of future land-use alternatives for populations of four amphibian species in two central Iowa (midwest USA) agricultural watersheds. The model included both breeding and upland habitat and incorporated effects of climatic variation and demographic stochasticity. Data requirements of the model include life history characteristics, dispersal behavior, habitat affinities, as well as land use and landcover in geographic information systems databases. Future scenarios were ranked according to change in breeder abundance, saturation, and distribution, compared to baseline conditions. Sensitivity of simulation results to changes in model parameters was also examined. Simulated results suggest that while all four species modeled are likely to persist under present and future scenario conditions, two may be more at risk from future landscape change. Although the study species are all widespread generalists regarded as having a low conservation priority, they depend on wetlands and ponds, increasingly endangered habitats in agricultural landscapes. Broader conservation strategies in the region would ensure that these currently common organisms do not become the endangered species of the future.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effects of Latent Infection of Stock Plants and Abundance of Thrips on the Occurrence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tomato spotted wilt virus </Emphasis>in Chrysanthemum Fields

DAS-ELISA proved to be reliable enough to detect a latent infection by Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in asymptomatic stock plants of chrysanthemum. A high density of Frankliniella occidentalis, the predominant vector, in the presence of latently infected stock plants resulted in a high incidence of disease in the chrysanthemum production field. The incidence of disease was low when the vector thrips were not abundant in spite of the presence of latently infected stock plants. These results suggest that an infestation of the vector thrips causes severe secondary spread of TSWV originating from latently infected stock plants in chrysanthemum production fields. Received 27 July 2001/ Accepted in revised form 27 November 2001     

Detection of the Defoliating Pathotype of Verticillium dahliae in Infected Olive Plants by Nested PCR

Spread of Verticillium wilt into newly established olive orchards in Andalucía, southern Spain, has caused concern in the olive industry in the region. This spread may result from use of Verticillium dahliae-infected planting material, which can extend distribution of the highly virulent, defoliating (D) pathotype of V. dahliae to new areas. In this study, a molecular diagnostic method for the early in planta detection of D V. dahliae was developed, aimed especially at nursery-produced olive plants. For this purpose, new primers for nested PCR were designed by sequencing a 992-bp RAPD marker of the D pathotype. The use of the specific primers and different nested-PCR protocols allowed the detection of V. dahliae pathotype D DNA in infected root and stem tissues of young olive plants. Detection of the pathogen was effective from the very earliest moments following inoculation of olive plants with a V. dahliae pathotype D conidia suspension as well as in inoculated, though symptomless, plants.     

Gene Flow Analysis of Phytophthora porri Reveals a New Species: Phytophthora brassicae Sp. Nov.

Isozyme analysis and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS-1 and ITS-2) and the 5.8S subunit of the ribosomal DNA gene repeat were used to examine whether isolates of Phytophthora porri from Allium and Brassica represent a single homogeneous species. Twenty-six strains of P. porri, 16 strains isolated from the genus Allium, and 10 strains isolated from the genus Brassica, were analyzed using malate dehydrogenase (MDH), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), represented altogether by four putative loci (Mdh-2, Idh-1, Idh-2, and Ldh-2). Isozyme analysis revealed that strains isolated from Allium contained five private alleles at three isozyme loci (Ldh-2 ⁸³, Ldh-2 ¹⁰⁴, Idh-1 ¹⁰⁸, Idh-1 ¹¹², and Idh-2 ⁹⁸), whereas six different alleles were observed at four isozyme loci (Ldh-2 ⁸⁵, Ldh-2 ¹⁰⁰, Ldh-2 ¹¹⁴, Idh-1 ¹⁰⁰, Idh-2 ¹⁰⁰, and Mdh-2 ¹¹¹) in strains obtained from Brassica. The heterozygosity at the Ldh-2 locus, differing in allele composition, however, between strains from Allium and Brassica, was present in all strains, indicating that it is probably fixed. Sequence analysis of the ITS regions and the 5.8S subunit showed consistent differences between isolates from Allium and isolates from Brassica. Based on isozyme data, ITS sequence analysis and formerly published differences in restriction enzyme patterns of mitochondrial DNA, morphology and pathogenicity, it was concluded that the isolates of P. porri Foister did not represent a homogeneous species. Isolates from Brassica constitute a distinct species which is described here as P. brassicae sp. nov. It was inferred from isozyme patterns, which were in no case intermediate between the two species, that P. porri and P. brassicae do not hybridize and are reproductively isolated by barriers to gene flow.     

Spatio-temporal modelling of broad scale heterogeneity in soil moisture content: a basis for an ecologically meaningful classification of soil landscapes

We describe the classification of landscapes characterised bymineral soil using a model that calculates soil moisture availability on amonthly basis. Scotland is used as a case study area. The model uses potentialsoil moisture deficit, estimated using broad scale (40 × 40 km)climate patterns, in conjunction with meteorological station measurements toobtain finer scale values of climatic soil moisture deficit. Point estimates ofsoil available water are obtained for soil characteristics using appropriatepedotransfer functions, and geostatistical techniques are used to upscale theresults and interpolate to a 1-km grid. Known heterogeneityin soil physical characteristics is used to provide local corrections to thepotential soil moisture deficit, estimated using the climatic variables above.Temporal profiles of monthly water content are modelled for each1-km location and classified into six classes usingunsupervised cluster analysis. The spatial distribution of these classesreflects regional variations in the availability of moisture and energy, onwhich finer-grained topographic patterns are superimposed. In the case study,the broad scale spatial heterogeneity of heathlands and grasslands on mineralsoils in Scotland is shown to be strongly related to the soil moistureclassification. The results can be used in studies investigating the patternsofdistribution of communities at the landscape and regional scale.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Landscape ecology: a framework for integrating pattern and process in river corridors

Investigations of European floodplain rivers demonstrate how landscape ecology can provide an effective framework to integrate pattern and process in river corridors, to examine environmental dynamics and interactive pathways between landscape elements, and to develop viable strategies for river conservation. The highly complex and dynamic nature of intact river corridors is particularly amenable to a landscape ecology perspective. Analysis of spatial patterns has provided considerable insight into environmental heterogeneity across river corridors and is an essential prelude to examining dynamic interactions. For example, data from aerial photographs, digitized maps and year-round field measurements in a glacial flood plain, enabled us to distinguish six channel types, based on the correspondence between connectivity and physicochemical attributes. Spatial data were also used to analyze longitudinal changes in landscape elements along the course of a morphologically-intact riverine corridor, providing insight into the structural complexity that must have characterized many Alpine rivers in the pristine state. Landscape indices were employed to investigate seasonal dynamics in a glacial flood plain of the Swiss Alps which exhibits a predictable expansion/contraction cycle, with corresponding shifts in flow paths (surface and subsurface) and water sources (snowmelt, englacial, subglacial, alluvial aquifer, hillslope aquifer). Surface connectivity exhibited an unexpected biphasic relationship with total channel length, whereas riverscape diversity progressively increased along the entire range of channel length. Reconstituting the functional integrity that characterizes intact river corridors should perhaps be the major goal of river conservation initiatives. Although understanding functional processes at the landscape scale is essential in this regard, few data are available. In the Alluvial Zone National Park on the Austrian Danube, three phases of hydrological connectivity were identified (disconnection, seepage connection and surface connection) that corresponded to the predominance of three functional processes (biotic interactions, primary production and particulate transport) within the river corridor.     

Variation in the response of melon genotypes to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. melonis race 1 determined by inoculation tests and molecular markers

Screening of genotypes of melon ( Cucumis melo ) for resistance to wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. melonis is often characterized by wide variability in their responses to inoculation, even under carefully controlled conditions. The variability at the seedling stage of 17 genotypes susceptible to race 1 was examined in growth-chamber experiments. Disease incidence varied from 0 to 100% in a genotype-dependent manner. Using four combinations of light (60 and 90  µ E m⁻² s⁻¹) and temperatures of (27 and 31°C), only light intensity showed a statistically significant effect. Marker-assisted selection for fusarium resistance breeding using cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) and sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers were compared using a single set of genotypes that included 24 melon accessions and breeding lines whose genotype regarding the Fom-2 gene was well characterized. The practical value of the markers for discriminating a range of genotypes and clarifying the scoring of phenotypes was also tested using a segregating breeding population which showed codominant SCAR markers to be useful in marker-assisted selection.     

Comparison of Crinipellis perniciosa isolates from Brazil by ERIC repetitive element sequence-based PCR genomic fingerprinting

Fifty isolates of Crinipellis perniciosa originating from Theobroma cacao , Heteropterys acutifolia and Solanum lycocarpum , from six states within Brazil, were characterized through ERIC-PCR, representing the first application of this method for molecular characterization within C. perniciosa . Phenetic analysis of banding patterns revealed a separation of isolates on the basis of host of origin, with T. cacao -derived isolates showing only a 0·2 similarity level to a cluster comprising the isolates from H. acutifolia and S. lycocarpum . Considerable intraspecific variability was observed within C. perniciosa isolates from T. cacao , with distinct groups observed correlating with geographical origin. Given that a number of isolates from T. cacao from the Amazon region grouped with isolates from Bahia state, this work discusses the possibility that current C. perniciosa populations pathogenic on T. cacao in Bahia originated from the Amazon region, rather than from alternative host plants.