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An Exception to the Rule? Could Photobiont Identity Be a Better Predictor of Lichen Phenotype than Mycobiont Identity?
No full textWith rare exceptions, the shape and appearance of lichen thalli are determined by thefungal partner; thus, mycobiont identity is normally used for lichen identification. However, it hasrepeatedly been shown in recent decades that phenotypic data often does not correspond with fungalgene evolution. Here, we report such a case in a three-species complex of red-fruited Cladonia lichens,two of which clearly differ morphologically, chemically, ecologically and in distribution range. Weanalysed 64 specimens of C. bellidiflora, C. polydactyla and C. umbricola, mainly collected in Europe,using five variable mycobiont-specific and two photobiont-specific molecular markers. All mycobiontmarkers exhibited very low variability and failed to separate the species. In comparison, photobiontidentity corresponded better with lichen phenotype and separated esorediate C. bellidiflora from thetwo sorediate taxa. These results can be interpreted either as an unusual case of lichen photomorphsor as an example of recent speciation, in which phenotypic differentiation precedes the separation ofthe molecular markers. We hypothesise that association with different photobionts, which is probablyrelated to habitat differentiation, may have triggered speciation in the mycobiont species. Norway grand - Institutional cooperatio
Octocorals (Alcyonacea and Pennatulacea) from Paleogene deep-water strata in western Washington State, USA
No full textThe fossil record of octocorals from Cenozoic marine strata of western North America is quite limited, and they have not been reported previously from rocks in Washington State, USA. Two late Oligocene specimens from the upper part of the Lincoln Creek Formation in western Washington, referred to Radicipes? sp., are the first fossil record of the family Chrysogorgiidae. The family Isididae is represented by an internode and two holdfasts identified as Isidella sp. collected from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, along with specimens questionably identified as Lepidisis sp., possibly the first fossil record for this genus. Together, these are the first confirmed fossils of the Alcyonacea from north of California in western North America. The axes of sea pens from several late Eocene or early Oligocene localities in the Lincoln Creek Formation in the central part of western Washington, and the Pysht and Makah formations on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, are the first fossil record for the Pennatulacea from western North America; all are tentatively referred to the genus ‘Graphularia’. Large axes from the Lincoln Creek Formation and Makah Formation are referred to ‘Graphularia’ (?) aff. sasai, because they are similar to the species known only from late Eocene and early Oligocene rocks in Japan
Akustisk tumlarövervakning i Kattegatt : Del 1. Sammanställning av data från 2019–2022
No full textSwedish National Monitoring program on harbour porpoise
Archives of short-term fluid flow dynamics and possible influence of human activities at methane seeps: Evidence from high-resolution element geochemistry of chemosynthetic bivalve shells
No full textThe natural dynamics of fluid flow at methane seeps and increasingly human activities influence the biogeochemistry of the microenvironment and further determine the activity of the chemosynthetic communities within these ecosystems. However, ways to reconstruct short-term fluid flow dynamics and to decipher the influence of scientific exploration at seeps are limited. In this study, we present high-resolution trace elements/Ca ratios (Li/Ca, Mg/Ca, Ti/Ca, Mn/Ca, Co/Ca, Cu/Ca, Zn/Ca, Sr/Ca, Zr/Ca, Mo/Ca, Ba/Ca, Th/Ca and U/Ca ratios) from the shells of two species of chemosymbiotic bivalves (the thiotrophic vesicomyid clam Archivesica marissinica and the methanotrophic mussel Gigantidas haimaensis) from the Haima cold seeps of the South China Sea. We found that the complex distribution patterns of some trace elements (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Mo/Ca and U/Ca ratios) in G. haimaensis are largely controlled by mineral composition or age. The observation of Co/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios in both species indicate strong physiological and environmental control on the incorporation of trace elements during the biomineralization process. Besides, the distribution patterns of other trace elements provide information that can be used to discuss open issues such as the loss of trace elements after death of the bivalves, and the possible influence of human activities such as sediment disturbance. Overall, this study emphasizes the potential for using high-resolution element geochemistry of seep bivalve shells to reveal the physiological and environmental factors that control the growth of bivalves, and to elucidate the potential history of fluid discharge at cold seeps.This study was partially sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants: 41730528, 42106059, 42225603), Shanghai Sailing Program (Grant: 21YF1416800), special funding for the development of science and technology of Shanghai Ocean University and startup foundation for young teachers of Shanghai Ocean University.</p
Nickel- and Fe3+-rich oxy-dravite from the Artana Mn prospect, Apuan Alps (Tuscany, Italy)
No full textEarly Pleistocene large mammals from Maka’amitalu, Hadar, lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia
No full textThe Early Pleistocene was a critical time period in the evolution of eastern African mammal faunas, but fossil assemblages sampling this interval are poorly known from Ethiopia’s Afar Depression. Field work by the Hadar Research Project in the Busidima Formation exposures (~2.7–0.8 Ma) of Hadar in the lower Awash Valley, resulted in the recovery of an early Homo maxilla (A.L. 666-1) with associated stone tools and fauna from the Maka’amitalu basin in the 1990s. These assemblages are dated to ~2.35 Ma by the Bouroukie Tuff 3 (BKT-3). Continued work by the Hadar Research Project over the last two decades has greatly expanded the faunal collection. Here, we provide a comprehensive account of the Maka’amitalu large mammals (Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Primates, and Proboscidea) and discuss their paleoecological and biochronological significance. The size of the Maka’amitalu assemblage is small compared to those from the Hadar Formation (3.45–2.95 Ma) and Ledi-Geraru (2.8–2.6 Ma) but includes at least 20 taxa. Bovids, suids, and Theropithecus are common in terms of both species richness and abundance, whereas carnivorans, equids, and megaherbivores are rare. While the taxonomic composition of the Maka’amitalu fauna indicates significant species turnover from the Hadar Formation and Ledi-Geraru deposits, turnover seems to have occurred at a constant rate through time as taxonomic dissimilarity between adjacent fossil assemblages is strongly predicted by their age difference. A similar pattern characterizes functional ecological turnover, with only subtle changes in dietary proportions, body size proportions, and bovid abundances across the composite lower Awash sequence. Biochronological comparisons with other sites in eastern Africa suggest that the taxa recovered from the Maka’amitalu are broadly consistent with the reported age of the BKT-3 tuff. Considering the age of BKT-3 and biochronology, a range of 2.4–1.9 Ma is most likely for the faunal assemblage.Research funding for the Hadar Research Project was provided by the Institute of Human Origins and the National Science Foundation. Ignacio A Lazagabaster was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation. Faysal Bibi was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) project number 282995372 (BI 1879/1-1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.</p
Ferri-taramite, a new member of the amphibole supergroup, from the Jakobsberg Mn–Fe deposit, Värmland, Sweden
No full textFerri-taramite (IMA CNMNC 2021-046), ideally ANaB(CaNa)C(Mg3Fe)T(Si6Al2)O22W(OH)2, occurs in skarn from the Jakobsberg manganese mine, Värmland, Sweden. Associated minerals are celsian, phlogopite, aegirine-augite, andradite, hancockite, melanotekite, microcline (var. hyalophane), calcite, baryte, prehnite, macedonite and oxyplumboroméite. Conditions of formation, close to peak metamorphism (at circa 650∘C and 0.4 GPa), include silica undersaturation, a slightly peralkaline character and relatively high oxygen fugacities. Ferri-taramite forms poikiloblastic crystals up to 5 mm and is dark brownish black with a yellowish grey streak. The amphibole is brittle with an uneven to splintery fracture. Cleavage parallel to {110} is good. Hardness (Mohs) is ∼ 6, and Dcalc=3.227(5) g cm−3. Holotype ferri-taramite has the experimental unit formula A(Na0.79K0.16Pb0.01)Σ0.96B(Ca1.26Na0.72Mn0.02)Σ2C(Mg2.66Mn2+0.58Fe2+0.16Zn0.02Fe3+1.26 Al0.26Ti0.06)Σ5T(Al1.86Si6.14)Σ8O22W(OH)2, based on chemical analyses (EDS, laser-ablation ICP-MS) and spectroscopic (Mössbauer, infrared) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The mineral is optically biaxial (–), with α=1.670(5), β=1.680(5) and γ=1.685(5) in white light and 2Vmeas=70(10)∘ and 2Vcalc=70.2∘. Ferri-taramite is distinctly pleochroic in transmitted light, with X pale yellow, Y dark brown, Z yellowish brown and absorption Y>Z>X. The eight strongest reflections in the X-ray powder pattern (d values (in Å), Irel, hkl) are 8.44, 60, 110; 3.392, 25, 131; 3.281, 39, 240; 3.140, 100, 310; 2.816, 45, 330; 2.7104, 38, 151; 1.3654, 26, 461; and 1.4451, 33, -661. Refined unit-cell parameters from single-crystal diffraction data are a=9.89596(13), b=18.015(2), c=5.32164(7) Å, β=105.003(13)∘ and V=916.38(2) Å3 for Z=2. Refinement of the crystal structure yielded R=2.26 % for 2722 reflections with Io>2σ(I). The Mn2+ and Fe2+ ions show preference for the M1 and M3 octahedrally coordinated sites, whereas Fe3+ is strongly ordered at M2. The A-group cations, K and Na, are split over two subsites, A(m) and A(2), respectively
Nurse logs: A common seedling strategy in the Permian Cathaysian flora
No full textNurse logs are common in modern forests from boreal to temperate and tropical ecosystems. However, the evolution of the nurse-log strategy remains elusive because of their rare occurrence in the fossil record. We report seven coniferous nurse logs from lowermost to uppermost Permian strata of northern China that have been colonized by conifer and sphenophyllalean roots. These roots are associated with two types of arthropod coprolites and fungal remains. Our study provides the first glimpse into plant—plant facilitative relationships between late Paleozoic gymnosperms and sphenopsids. Detritivorous arthropods and fungi appear to have been crucial for the utilization of nurse logs in Permian forests. The phylogenetically distant roots demonstrate that nurse-log interaction wasa sophisticated seedling strategy in late Paleozoic humid tropical forests, and this approach may have been adopted and developed by a succession of plant groups leading to its wide representation in modern forest ecosystems.This study was supported jointly by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB26000000), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (2019QZKK0706), the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department (2019FJ010), and the Key Research Program of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS-201905). S.M. is funded by a grant from the Swedish Research Council (VR grant number 2018-04527).</p
Calcitic shells in the aragonite sea of the earliest Cambrian
No full textThe initial acquisition of calcium carbonate polymorphs (aragonite and calcite) at the onset of skeletal biomineralization by disparate metazoans across the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is thought to be directly influenced by Earth's seawater chemistry. It has been presumed that animal clades that first acquired mineralized skeletons during the so-called “aragonite sea” of the latest Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian (Terreneuvian) possessed aragonite or high-Mg calcite skeletons, while clades that arose in the subsequent “calcite sea” of Cambrian Series 2 acquired low-Mg calcite skeletons. Here, contrary to previous expectations, we document shells of one of the earliest helcionelloid molluscs from the basal Cambrian of southwestern Mongolia that are composed entirely of low-Mg calcite and formed during the Terreneuvian aragonite sea. The extraordinarily well-preserved Postacanthella shells have a simple prismatic microstructure identical to that of their modern low-Mg calcite molluscan relatives. High-resolution scanning electron microscope observations show that calcitic crystallites were originally encased within an intra- and interprismatic organic matrix scaffold preserved by aggregates of apatite during early diagenesis. This indicates that not all molluscan taxa during the early Cambrian produced aragonitic shells, weakening the direct link between carbonate skeletal mineralogy and ambient seawater chemistry during the early evolution of the phylum. Rather, our study suggests that skeletal mineralogy in Postacanthella was biologically controlled, possibly exerted by the associated prismatic organic matrix. The presence of calcite or aragonite mineralogy in different early Cambrian molluscan taxa indicates that the construction of calcium carbonate polymorphs at the time when skeletons first emerged may have been species dependent
The late Early Pleistocene flora of Oriolo, Faenza (Italy): assembly of the modern forest biome
No full textThe late Early Pleistocene was the last time of equable climate in northern Central Italy, reflected in its large mammal fauna and numerous palynological records. Reliably dated leaf fossils from this time are rare, but provide crucial information onlocal and regional vegetation, biogeographic relationships, and species turnover coinciding with the assembly of modern forest biomes. Here we investigated a rich assemblage of leaf and fruit impressions (63 fossil-taxa) from the Oriolo quarry, Faenza (Ravenna), dated to the latest Calabrian, preserved in transgressive coastal deposits. The fossil assemblage represents riparian vegetation and xeric alluvial habitats in the lowlands and forest vegetation above the alluvial plain. Forest-building trees were deciduous, but comprised several taxa characteristic of open scrubland or forest edges. The composition of the flora reflects a dynamic process of assembling modern forest biomes in western Eurasia. While most taxa correspond to modern submediterranean and temperatewoody species, some others represent late occurrences of taxa today confined to refugia outside Italy (Parrotia, Gleditsia, Pterocarya), and a few are Miocene/Pliocene relics indicating final floristic links with East Asia (Japan) and/or North America (Tsuga cf.chiarugii, Carya cf. minor) and Pleistocene endemism in Italy (Berberis auriolensis, Acer aemilianum)