Two species of brush-tailed mice, genus Calomyscus, are known from eastern Iran: Calomyscus hotsoni has been reported from southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran, and C. elburzensis ranges through northeastern and central Iran. Based on molecular studies of two mitochondrial genes, all the specimens from eastern Iran examined herein belong to either of these two species. Furthermore, our data expand the northern distribution limits of C. hotsoni to just south of Birjand and the southern limits of C. elburzensis to east of Birjand. Morphometric analyses conducted on three geographic groups of C. hotsoni within Iran, contained specimens from Birjand (group 1), Zahedan and Khash (group 2) and Saravan (as group 3) revealed a north-to-south cline of decreasing body and cranial size, such that the most significant differences were between the northern and southern most groups. Karyological studies also showed differences in autosomal arms between the two geographical groups in Iran. Although the phylogenetic analyses separated these two groups into distinct clades, along with a third clade containing most of the C. hotsoni from Pakistan. The morphometric and molecular partitioning of geographic populations of C. hotsoni were not concordant. We consider the north and south groups of C. hotsoni as distinct Evolutionary Significant Units. There is evidence of introgression between the two forms across a broad geographic area presented by individuals of group 2 resulting in a clinal pattern of variation.
Small-scale soil disturbance, such as animal mounds created by subterraneous ecosystem engineers are important microhabitats for species of conservation concern. There are many studies on the effects of ecosystem engineers on plant species diversity and soil properties, but the influence of such organisms on other taxa, such as insects, are rarely analyzed. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time the role of molehills produced by the European Mole (Talpa europaea) (Linnaeus, 1758) as a larval habitat for a threatened butterfly species within central European calcareous grasslands. We selected the grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) (Linnaeus, 1758) as a study species as previous studies revealed that it prefers warm and open microhabitats for oviposition. Our study clearly showed that host plants occurring on or in the close vicinity of molehills were regularly occupied by immature stages of P. malvae. Occupied host plants at these disturbed sites were characterized by a more open vegetation structure with a higher proportion of bare ground or stones and a lower cover of the herb layer compared with available host plants (control samples). Among molehills those were preferred that had the highest cover of host plants, especially Agrimonia eupatoria. Molehills are important larval habitats for P. malvae in calcareous grasslands on deeper soils. At these sites succession occurs rapidly and the amount of bare ground is usually low, even when they are managed. In contrast to other known breeding sites in calcareous grasslands, molehills with a high cover of host plants provide ideal conditions for the successful larval development of P. malvae: (i) sufficient food during the larval period and (ii) warm microclimatic conditions., Merle Streitberger, Thomas Fartmann., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Pochopení signálních drah využívaných rostlinami pro přechod z fáze růstu do fáze kvetení a reprodukce je jedním z přínosů biologie na prahu 21. století. Byly nalezeny dva základní klíče – gen CONSTANS, který propojuje řízení květní indukce s vnitřními hodinami, a gen FT, jehož produkt se ukázal být dlouho hledaným florigenem. Ač jsou naše znalosti dosud kusé, lze říci, že tyto dva geny jsou osou složité regulační sítě. Ta je dále tvořena jemným předivem mnoha interakcí, které rostlinám umožňují vykvést v ten nejpříhodnější čas. and Understanding of the signal paths used by plants to transfer from the growing phase to the flowering and reproduction phase is one of the greatest contributions made by science at the beginning of the 21st century. Two basic keys have been found – the CONSTANS gene, which combines the regulation of flowering induction with an internal clock, and the FT gene, the product of which turned out to be the long-sought florigene. These two genes seem to be the axis of a complicated regulation network.