Alkali stress is an important agricultural problem that affects plant metabolism, specifically root physiology. In this study, using two rice cultivars differing in alkali resistance, we investigated the physiological and molecular responses of rice plants to alkali stress. Compared to the alkali-sensitive cultivar (SC), the alkali-tolerant cultivar (TC) maintained higher photosynthesis and root system activity under alkali stress. Correspondingly, the Na+ content in its shoots was much lower, and the contents of mineral ions (e.g., K+, NO3-, and H2PO4-) in its roots was higher than those of the SC. These data showed that the metabolic regulation of roots might play a central role in rice alkali tolerance. Gene expression differences between the cultivars were much greater in roots than in shoots. In roots, 46.5% (20 of 43) of selected genes indicated over fivefold expression differences between cultivars under alkali stress. The TC had higher root system activity that might protect shoots from Na+ injury and maintain normal metabolic processes. During adaptation of TC to alkali stress, OsSOS1 (salt overly sensitive protein 1) may mediate Na+ exclusion from shoots or roots. Under alkali stress, SC could accumulate Na+ up to toxic concentrations due to relatively low expression of OsSOS1 in shoots. It possibly harmed chloroplasts and influenced photorespiration processes, thus reducing NH4+ production from photorespiration. Under alkali stress, TC was able to maintain normal nitrogen metabolism, which might be important for resisting alkali stress., H. Wang, X. Lin, S. Cao, Z. Wu., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Acid rain causes damages to forest ecosystems. Here, we reported that acid rain could promote plant growth. From 2006 to 2009, one-year-old Elaeocarpus glabripetalus seedlings were sprayed with simulated acid rain (AR) (pH 2.5, 4.0, and 5.6). The maximum quantum yield efficiency of PSII and the actual photochemical quantum efficiency of PSII increased with rising AR acidity, which facilitated chlorophyll fluorescence and plant growth, as shown by a declining minimal fluorescence yield of dark-adapted state with little damage to the PSII reaction center. After the second experimental year, the plant height and ground diameter were greater at pH 2.5 than those found at pH 4.0 and 5.6. This showed the positive effects of AR on the seedling growth and photosynthesis of E. glabripetalus, revealing that this species exhibited a stronger resistance to acid deposition than some other tree species. This implies that E. glabripetalus is an acid-tolerant species., M.H. Liu, L.T. Yi, S.Q. Yu, F. Yu, X.M. Yin., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Autorka referuje o mezinárodním kolokviu věnovaném čínsko-sovětským vztahům ve studené válce, které ve dnech 23. a 24. září 2016 uspořádal v Berlíně americký historik Austin Jersild s podporou Berlínského centra pro studium studené války (Berlin Center for Cold War Studies). Kolokvium se zabývalo zejména globálními konsekvencemi čínsko-sovětských vztahů a jeho účastníci se snažili vyzdvihnout nové metody a přístupy k výzkumu studené války, přesáhnout tradičně nejvíce akcentované téma sovětsko-amerického soupeření a zohlednit celý systém mezinárodních vztahů. Autorka ve vzájemné souvislosti stručně seznamuje s obsahem přednesených referátů a diskusí., This is a report on the international colloquium on Sino-Soviet relations during the Cold War, which was held in Berlin, on 23 and 24 September 2016. It was organized by the American historian Austin Jersild with the support of the Berlin Center for Cold War Studies. The colloquium discussed in particular the global consequences of Sino-Soviet relations, and its participants sought to highlight new methods and approaches to researching the Cold War, to go beyond the most frequently covered topics of Soviet-American revalry, and to take into account the whole system of international relations. The report concisely discusses the contents of the papers presented there and the discussions that followed, pointing out the links between them., Daniela Kolenovská., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The nominal genus Tasactes Faust, 1894, consisting of two originally included nominal species from Myanmar, is rediscovered for the first time since being erected. Adult weevils herein assigned to the taxonomically re-defined Tasactes were abundant in forest floor litter at five localities in China (Yunnan and Sichuan), plus one specimen is available from Shaanxi and three from Nepal. Phylogenetic analysis of a 2,275 bp matrix concatenated from one mitochondrial (COI) and two nuclear markers (ITS2 and 28S) revealed that the monophyletic Tasactes consists of eight evolutionary significant terminal clades, either allopatric (three) or sympatric (two on Cang Shan in Yunnan and three on Mount Emei in Sichuan). The genus Tasactes is nested within the monophyletic Stromboscerini, while the tribe is sister to monophyletic Dryophthorus. The two morphological diagnostic characters of Tasactes, which are unique within the tribe, are the transversely truncated antennal club and conically projecting velvety apex of the club. So defined, Tasactes renders the genus Orthosinus paraphyletic. Considering the taxonomic neglect and uncertainties surrounding nominal Stromboscerini, all herein reported members of this tribe, including the Tasactes, are not assigned to Linnaean species. This paper illustrates the "clogging taxonomy" phenomenon, in which obscure historical names render taxonomic assignment of newly sampled specimens precarious. All the data used herein (localities, sequences, specimen images) are available online in public datasets dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-TASACT1 and dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-TASACT2., Vasily V. Grebennikov., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The invasion of Spartina alterniflora along the coasts of China has allowed this C4 grass to outcompete often much of the native, salt marsh vegetation, such as Phragmites australis (C3 grass), in the Yangtze Estuary. In this study, native grass, P. australis, and
non-native grass, S. alterniflora, were grown in fresh and saline water (moderate salinity of 15‰ and high salinity of 30‰) to compare the effects of salinity on photosynthetic and biochemical parameters in combination with measurement temperatures. The C4 grass, S. alterniflora, showed a greater CO2 assimilation rate than P. australis, across the tested temperatures. The net photosynthetic rate declined significantly with increasing salinity as a result of inhibited stomatal conductance together with a greater decrease in the maximum rate of electron transport (Jmax). In P. australis, salt treatments shifted the optimum temperatures for the maximum rate of carboxylation by Rubisco (Vcmax) and J max to lower temperatures. S. alterniflora showed a greater salt tolerance to moderate stress than that of the native grass, with lower sensitivity of V cmax, Jmax, and the maximum rate of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylation. Both moderate and high stress decreased significantly stomatal conductance of S. alterniflora; high salinity reduced significantly photosynthetic efficiency and Jmax. Our findings indicated that the combination of stomatal conductance, enzyme activity, and electron transport affected the photosynthetic performance of the plants in response to salt treatments. The success of S. alterniflora could be probably attributed to its C4 photosynthetic pathway and the tolerance to moderate salinity. In this study, a modified parameterization of the photosynthetic model was suggested to support a more reasonable simulation of photosynthesis under salt stress., Z.-M. Ge, L.-Q. Zhang, L. Yuan, C. Zhang., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The short war waged in the autumn of 1962 between India and China for disputed territory in High Himalayas had a long-term devasting effect on the relations between the two Asian powers. The present first part of a study recapitulating the genesis of the dispute and subsequent road to military confrontation maps the origins of the problem in the colonial period of Indian history, with particular focus on changes in British cdecision making in the evolving international context. The one-sided furthering of territorial claims in the absence of a strong and determined adversary led, paradoxically, to parallel exdistence of several alternative frontier lines with no fixed and clearly demarcated border in existence along the extended Indo-Tibetan boundary. The second instalment will follow the developments in the dramatically changed conditions after the emergence in the 1950s of India and China as two strong independent nations., Jaroslav Strnad., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The new power configuration that emerged in the regions of South and East Asia in the wake of World War II and the following decolonization process introduced new players to the game of international politics; the roles played by them were orten inherited from the actors of the previous era. it was the general framework of the bipolar world system and the Cold War that represented a new element in traditional rivalries, and which had the capacity to exacerbate problems that had previously lain dormant. The genesis and escalation of the India-china border dispute, interconnected with the status of Tibet, which was viewed by China as part of her own territory and contemplated by India as a semi-independent buffer state, serves as a classic example. On the Indian side, the problem was further aggravated by the inability of the government to coordinate and fully control the activities of its iontelligence. The article follows the gradual development of the ambiguous approach of Indian foreign policy toward its northern neighbour and the silent Indian acquiescence of the involvement of the United States in the Tibetan issue up to the first bloody border clashes in 1959., Jaroslav Strnad., and Obsahuje bibliografii
V rámci tejto štúdie som sa pokúsil poukázať rozličné ponímanie termínu autorita v európskej a čínskej filozofickej tradícii. Pri týchto skúmaniach som vychádzal z teoretických východísk súčasných predstaviteľov kritickej teórie (frankfurtskej školy), u ktorých je prítomná snaha zakomponovať do svojich úvah o sociálnych procesoch fenomén globalizácie. Jedným z najvýznamnejších štátov súčasnosti je Čínska ľudová republika, ktorá výrazným spôsobom ovplyvňuje svetové dianie. V rámci štúdie som sa pokúsil poukázať na relevantnosť sinologických štúdii, nielen z hľadiska súčasnosti, ale aj z historicko filozofických dôvodov, keďže každá jedna ľudská civilizácia zahŕňa vlastné, aj keď často značne modifikované, ontologické dedičstvo, ktoré, hoci pochádza z obdobia formovania hlavných svetových náboženstiev a prvých filozofických škôl, dodnes ovplyvňuje myslenie a správanie jednotlivcov v rámci týchto civilizácií., In this study I have attempted to show the different perceptions of the term authority in the European philosophical tradition and in the Chinese philosophical tradition. In these investigations I am guided by the viewpoints of contemporary representatives of critical theory (the Frankfurt School) who attempt to incorporate the phenomenon of globalisation into their considerations of social processes. One of the most important states today is the Chinese People’s Republic which has a marked influence on world events. This study attempts to demonstrate the relevance of Sinological studies, not only from the point of view of contemporary times, but also from the historico-philosophical point of view. This is because each human civilisation has its own, albeit often highly-modified, ontological heritage emerging from the period of the formation of the main world religions and the first philosophical schools, and which influences the thought and behaviour of individuals in these civilisations up to today., and Ľubomír Dunaj.
The article traces the role and image of the wood and the tree in the culture of Ancient China as emerging from the transmitted literature of the Warring States period. Although this topic has already been touched upon in some previous studies, such as Mark Elvin's The Retreat of the Elephants, no comprehensive description based on at least nearly exhaustive systematization of respective data available to us in primary sources has been presented yet, especially for trees. In this paper, virtually all recorded modes of approaching the phenomena by the learned men of the Warring States are summarized and supplied with extensive reference to ancient texts. Apart from other issues, it clearly demonstrates that the skeptical stance to ancient Chinese love for nature and to the ecological ethos of traditional Chinese culture is highly justified., Lukáš Zádrapa., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Two species of Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882 were found in yellow catfish Tachysurus fulvidraco (Richardson). A species of Myxobolus infecting the gills was morphologically identified as Myxobolus voremkhai (Akhmerov, 1960) and it was characterised here with additional morphological and molecular data. The other species of Myxobolus infecting the host's skin did not conform to any known myxosporean species. It is characterised by the presence of round, black or milky white plasmodia with black spots. Myxospores are pyriform in frontal view and lemon-shaped in lateral view, measuring 12.9-16.2 μm (14.6 ± 0.7 μm) in length, 8.1-10.8 μm (9.4 ± 0.5 μm) in width, and 6.1-8.1 μm (7.0 ± 0.4 μm) in thickness. Two ampullaceous polar capsules are slightly unequal in size, larger polar capsule 7.2-9.5 μm (7.9 ± 0.4 μm) long by 3.0-3.9 μm (3.5 ± 0.2 μm) wide, smaller capsule 6.9-8.0 μm (7.4 ± 0.3 μm) long by 2.9-3.9 μm (3.4 ± 0.2 μm) wide. Polar filaments are coiled with seven to nine turns. Histologically, the plasmodia develop in the stratum spongiosum of skin dermis, resulting in epithelial cell shedding and immunological cell infiltration. Given the morphological and molecular differences between this species and other species of Myxobolus, we proposed the name of Myxobolus pseudowulii sp. n. for this parasite from the skin of yellow catfish. Interestingly, some spores of the new species possess Henneguya-like caudal appendages. Phylogenetically, M. pseudowulii sp. n. and M. voremkhai infecting yellow catfish group together in one clade with other parasites of Siluriformes, indicating that parasites clustering according to the fish host order may be an important factor affecting the evolution of species within the Myxobolus clade., Bo Zhang, Yanhua Zhai, Yang Liu, Zemao Gu., and Obsahuje bibliografii