Anthropogenic stress and natural selection: variability in radish biomass accumulation increases with increasing SO2 dose

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Coleman ◽  
Harold A. Mooney ◽  
William E. Winner

Although there is a strong relationship between genetically based variability of a given character and the potential for natural selection to act on that character, most studies of the effects of environmental factors on plants examine the mean responses of plants in a population and not the variability among plants in the population. Yet variability in the response among individuals to an environmental stress could foretell changes in a population that might not be evident from examination of mean responses. Here we report an analysis of data from several experiments on radish plants showing a significant relationship between the coefficient of variation for biomass production by radish plants and the concentration of SO2 at which these plants were fumigated. Increased variability as a result of SO2 exposure may have been due to genotypic differences in SO2 resistance among plants, suggesting a route by which the rapid selection of SO2 resistant plant populations may occur in habitats characterized by severe SO2 stress. Increased variability may have also been due to the effect of SO2 on processes controlling phenotypic plasticity of radish growth. Since SO2 affected variability without necessarily affecting mean plant growth, these results also show that examination of variability in the responses of plants to stresses may be equally or more biologically meaningful than sole examination of mean responses. Furthermore, these results show that care must be taken when constructing parametrically derived dose–response models for predicting the effect of SO2 on plants. If it is common for SO2 to increase the amount of variation in plant populations, then parametric statistical functions would be an inappropriate tool for predicting the effect of SO2 on plants.

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1142-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl W. Mize ◽  
Richard C. Schultz

Many researchers set up an experiment, make measurements, do an analysis of variance, calculate the mean response for each treatment, and then try to decide if the treatment means are significantly different and why. Duncan's multiple-range test is frequently used to test the difference among treatment means. It is, however, only one of a number of techniques that can be used to examine treatment means. Some researchers are unaware of the different techniques and that the interpretation of the results of an experiment can be strongly influenced by the technique used. In fact, using an inappropriate technique can lead to making incorrect recommendations and to completely missing major treatment effects. Selection of the appropriate technique to use for a particular experiment depends upon the nature of the treatments and the objectives of the research. This paper discusses four techniques (ranking treatment means, multiple comparison procedures, fitting response models, and using contrasts to make planned comparisons) that can be used to examine treatment means and presents examples of each one.


1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rychlak

2004 ◽  
Vol 155 (5) ◽  
pp. 142-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Defila

The record-breaking heatwave of 2003 also had an impact on the vegetation in Switzerland. To examine its influences seven phenological late spring and summer phases were evaluated together with six phases in the autumn from a selection of stations. 30% of the 122 chosen phenological time series in late spring and summer phases set a new record (earliest arrival). The proportion of very early arrivals is very high and the mean deviation from the norm is between 10 and 20 days. The situation was less extreme in autumn, where 20% of the 103 time series chosen set a new record. The majority of the phenological arrivals were found in the class «normal» but the class«very early» is still well represented. The mean precocity lies between five and twenty days. As far as the leaf shedding of the beech is concerned, there was even a slight delay of around six days. The evaluation serves to show that the heatwave of 2003 strongly influenced the phenological events of summer and spring.


REVISTA FIMCA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-31
Author(s):  
Darlan Darlan Sanches Barbosa Alves ◽  
Victor Mouzinho Spinelli ◽  
Marcos Santana Moraes ◽  
Carolina Augusto De Souza ◽  
Rodrigo da Silva Ribeiro ◽  
...  

Introdução: O estado de Rondônia se destaca como tradicional produtor de café, sendo o segundo maior produtor brasileiro de C. canephora. No melhoramento genético de C. canephora, a seleção de plantas de elevada peneira média está associada à bebida de qualidade superior. Objetivos: O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a variabilidade genética de clones de C. canephora para o tamanho dos grãos, mensurado a partir da avaliação da peneira média (PM). Materiais e Métodos: Para isso, foi conduzido ao longo de dois anos agrícolas experimento no campo experimental da Embrapa no município de Ouro Preto do Oeste-RO, para a avaliação da peneira média de 130 genótipos (clones) com características das variedades botânicas Conilon, Robusta e híbridos intervarietais. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi de blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições de quatro plantas por parcela. Resultados: Não houve resultados significativos para a interação clones X anos, indicando uma maior consistência no comportamento das plantas ao longo do tempo. Porém foram observadas diferenças significativas para o tamanho dos grãos entre os genótipos avaliados, possibilitando selecionar genótipos superiores. Conclusão: Os genótipos agruparam-se em cinco classes de acordo com o teste de média, subsidiando a caracterização de um gradiente de variabilidade da característica avaliada ABSTRACTIntroduction: Coffea canephora accounts for approximately 35% of the world's coffee production. The state of Rondônia stands out as a traditional coffee producer, being the second largest Brazilian producer of C. canephora. In the classical genetic improvement of C. anephora, the selection of plants of high average sieve is associated with a drink of superior quality. Objectives: The objective of this udy was to evaluate the genetic variability of Coffea canephora clones for the agronomic medium sieve (PM). Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Embrapa, municipality of OuroPreto do Oeste-RO, located at coordinates 10º44'53 "S and 62º12'57". One hundred thirty genotypes (clones) of botanical characteristics Conilon, Robusta and intervarietal hybrids were evaluated in the agricultural years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. The experimental design was a randomized block design with four blocks and four plants per plot, spacing 3.5 x 1.5 meters between plants. Results: Significant difference was found for the grain size. According to the F test, at 5% probability, the genotypes were grouped into five classes according to the mean test. Conclusion: The results obtained subsidized the characterization of a variability gradient of the evaluated trait.


Genetics ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-589
Author(s):  
Martin L Tracey ◽  
Francisco J Ayala

ABSTRACT Recent studies of genetically controlled enzyme variation lead to an estimation that at least 30 to 60% of the structural genes are polymorphic in natural populations of many vertebrate and invertebrate species. Some authors have argued that a substantial proportion of these polymorphisms cannot be maintained by natural selection because this would result in an unbearable genetic load. If many polymorphisms are maintained by heterotic natural selection, individuals with much greater than average proportion of homozygous loci should have very low fitness. We have measured in Drosophila melanogaster the fitness of flies homozygous for a complete chromosome relative to normal wild flies. A total of 37 chromosomes from a natural population have been tested using 92 experimental populations. The mean fitness of homozygous flies is 0.12 for second chromosomes, and 0.13 for third chromosomes. These estimates are compatible with the hypothesis that many (more than one thousand) loci are maintained by heterotic selection in natural populations of D. melanogaster.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Yun Lin ◽  
Hui-Ying Huang ◽  
Xue-Yan Liang ◽  
Dong-De Xie ◽  
Jiang-Tao Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (TRAP) is a transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role during the invasion of Plasmodium falciparum into liver cells. As a potential malaria vaccine candidate, the genetic diversity and natural selection of PfTRAP was assessed and the global PfTRAP polymorphism pattern was described. Methods 153 blood spot samples from Bioko malaria patients were collected during 2016–2018 and the target TRAP gene was amplified. Together with the sequences from database, nucleotide diversity and natural selection analysis, and the structural prediction were preformed using bioinformatical tools. Results A total of 119 Bioko PfTRAP sequences were amplified successfully. On Bioko Island, PfTRAP shows its high degree of genetic diversity and heterogeneity, with π value for 0.01046 and Hd for 0.99. The value of dN–dS (6.2231, p < 0.05) hinted at natural selection of PfTRAP on Bioko Island. Globally, the African PfTRAPs showed more diverse than the Asian ones, and significant genetic differentiation was discovered by the fixation index between African and Asian countries (Fst > 0.15, p < 0.05). 667 Asian isolates clustered in 136 haplotypes and 739 African isolates clustered in 528 haplotypes by network analysis. The mutations I116T, L221I, Y128F, G228V and P299S were predicted as probably damaging by PolyPhen online service, while mutations L49V, R285G, R285S, P299S and K421N would lead to a significant increase of free energy difference (ΔΔG > 1) indicated a destabilization of protein structure. Conclusions Evidences in the present investigation supported that PfTRAP gene from Bioko Island and other malaria endemic countries is highly polymorphic (especially at T cell epitopes), which provided the genetic information background for developing an PfTRAP-based universal effective vaccine. Moreover, some mutations have been shown to be detrimental to the protein structure or function and deserve further study and continuous monitoring.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 454-461
Author(s):  
Piotr Sęk

AbstractLaser surface texturing is currently the most developed technique for producing fully reproducible microcavities on the surfaces of machine elements. From the point of view of texture technology, an important aspect is the proper selection of process parameters to obtain texture elements with desirable and repetitive geometries and physicochemical properties. Surface texturing improves mottling and fretting resistance and is also used wherever the adhesion properties of surface layers (printing techniques, bonding materials, biological and chemical activity, coatings, etc.) are important. The article shows the possibility of applying statistical functions to the selection of appropriate machining parameters to obtain microgeometry useful in the application of textured surfaces [1].


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