Władysław Szafer Institute of Botany

Landslide fens are characteristic landforms of the Beskid Makowski Mountains area in the Outer Western Carpathians (S Poland) and contain rarely occurring late glacial and Holocene organic-minerogenic sedimentary sequences. Multi-proxy study (radiocarbon dating, loss on ignition, plant macrofossil and pollen analyses) was applied to verify whether the late glacial-early Holocene climatic and paleoenvironmental changes were recorded differently between two sites varying in topographic position within the same mountain massif: the Kotoń landslide fen characterized by the southern exposure and near-ridge position and the Klaklowo landslide fen characterized by the northern exposure and mid-slope position. Results revealed that the responses of biotic and lithological proxies to the climatic phases differs between the Klaklowo and Kotoń landslide fens mostly in relation to the smaller-scale climatic oscillations. The characteristics of the Klaklowo fen catchment, including area, shape, relief, bedrock geology and specific local landforms, could contribute to the much more pronounced signal of the GI-1b/Gerzensee oscillation and Preboreal oscillation at this site than in the Kotoń site. Expansion and/or decline of the dominating vegetation taxa ( Pinus , Betula sect. Albae, Carex , Bryopsida) and changes in minerogenic matter delivery induced by the global-scale climatic reversals: GI-1a‒c /Allerød, GS-1/Younger Dryas and Holocene, occur approximately at the same time in both Klaklowo and Kotoń landslide fens and show no striking dependency on exposure or elevation. An exception is the longer survival of Larix decidua, Pinus sylvestris and Coniferae during the early Holocene at the Klaklowo site, probably facilitated by its northern exposure and diversified landslide relief.

Abstract Climate models require boundary condition information, such as vegetation and soil distributions because they influence the mean state climate, and feedbacks can significantly influence regional climate and climate sensitivity to CO 2 forcing. Information about past distributions comes primarily from the paleobotanical record, which is often supplemented by a vegetation model to fill data gaps. For recent past periods such as the Pliocene, a quantitative suitability assessment of these vegetation model simulations is sufficient. However, the Miocene Climate Optimum spanning 16.9–14.7 Ma was the warmest period on Earth over the last ∼25 million years and models struggle to reproduce those conditions for the range of paleogeographies and CO 2 concentrations tested, particularly at high latitudes. Here we bring together the Miocene modeling and data communities to update previous vegetation reconstructions used for climate modeling with a new regional approach that relaxes the requirement for a single model simulation to be used, blending instead simulations forced by different paleogeographies and CO 2 concentrations. This ensures the simulated vegetation is first, and foremost, consistent with the paleorecord and provides a baseline for future comparisons. The reconstruction shows global increases in forest cover at all latitudes as compared to today and extensive C 3 grasslands across the high northern latitudes. Data gaps at high latitudes are filled with vegetation models forced by higher CO 2 concentrations than were required at lower latitudes consistent with the inability of current models to simulate Miocene high latitude warmth.

Recent phylogenetic studies of the family Hydrodictyaceae (Sphaeropleales, Chlorophyceae) included all but one of the genera, Euastropsis, which was excluded due to a lack of living material. A 2017 discovery of E. richteri in Lake Kocie, Poland, provided an opportunity to study the morphology, ultrastructure, plastome architecture, and phylogenetic placement of this monotypic genus. The overall morphology fit the original description, being two-celled with some variations in size and number of daughter coenobia. The plastome (GenBank accession PQ469705) architecture and gene content of E. richteri are characteristic of Hydrodictyaceae. Phylogenetic analyses placed E. richteri as a sister lineage to morphologically similar Stauridium tetras. These new data add to our understanding of evolutionary trends in the Hydrodictyaceae, whose members exhibit specific colonial morphology varying in size, shape, and complexity.

Postępująca urbanizacja wiąże się z wieloma problemami. Miasta borykają się z efektem miejskiej wyspy ciepła, zaburzeniem stosunków wodnych, zanieczyszczeniami różnego typu, a także niedoborem terenów zielonych o wysokiej jakości biologicznej. Jednym z najbardziej charakterystycznych typów zieleni miejskiej są trawniki. Są one poddawane różnorodnym zabiegom, przede wszystkim koszeniu. Badania pokazują, że zmniejszenie częstotliwości koszenia i przekształcanie miejskich trawników w łąki prowadzi do znacznego wzrostu różnorodności roślin oraz liczby kwitnących kwiatów. Wiąże się to ze wzrostem liczebności i różnorodności bezkręgowców, przede wszystkim owadów, w tym wielu zapylaczy. Częstotliwość koszenia wpływa również na środowisko glebowe, między innymi mikroorganizmy i realizowane przez nie procesy, jednak efekty te są nadal słabo poznane. Ograniczenie intensywności koszenia może wpływać pozytywnie nie tylko na bioróżnorodność miejskich terenów, lecz również na komfort życia mieszkańców poprzez poprawę mikroklimatu, redukcję poziomu zanieczyszczeń oraz zwiększenie estetyki otoczenia.

ABSTRACTAimIn mountain areas, geographical isolation and the history of mountain systems are believed to be among the most important factors that determine population distribution and connectivity. In this study, we address the importance of discontinuity among mountain systems for intraspecific genetic structure by investigating whether the geographical disjunction between the Alps and the Carpathians (and the related habitat gap) is the primary factor that shapes the genetic structure of the high‐mountain plant populations. We compare the large‐scale genetic structure of alpine plants from these two parts of the European Alpine System concerning the location of the main genetic split in the studied species, large‐scale patterns of phylogeographical lineages and potential factors influencing their distribution.LocationThe Alps and the Carpathians.Taxon22 alpine/subalpine vascular plant species.MethodsWe performed Bayesian population structure analysis on genome‐wide genotyping (AFLP) data and reconstructed relationships between individuals and populations using the PCoA and Neighbour Joining. We also performed AMOVA to estimate the contribution of genetic variation among regions. Based on these analyses, we examined the locations of primary and lower‐level phylogeographical breaks.ResultsA clear primary genetic split between the Alps and the Carpathians was observed in three species (14% of studied species). In 17 species (77%) we identified other genetic patterns or, in some cases, we did not observe any geographical pattern (two species, 9%). We found no specific pattern of biological traits that are correlated with the genetic split between the Alps and the Carpathians.ConclusionsThe geographical gap between the Alps and the Carpathians is not a primary factor in shaping the genetic structure of the regional high‐mountain flora as it aligns with a first‐rank phylogeographic break in a minority of species. The genetic division between the Alps and the Carpathians appears mostly at higher K values, showing that the internal complexity of these large mountain systems plays a no less important role. Several patterns of large‐scale distribution of intraspecific lineages were detected, including connections between the Carpathians and the nearest Eastern Alps, and also historical links of the Carpathians with Southern and Western Alps through latitudinally extended genetic groups.

Multicopy nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) genes have been used as markers for fungal identification for three decades. The rDNA sequences in a genome are thought to be homogeneous due to concerted evolution. However, intragenomic variation of rDNA sequences has recently been observed in many fungi, which may make fungal identification and species abundance estimation based on these loci problematic. Ceraceosorus is an enigmatic genus in the smut lineage Ustilaginomycotina for which very limited distribution data exist. Our previous research demonstrated intragenomic variation in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) region of two Ceraceosorus species. In this study, we described the fourth known species of Ceraceosorus, C. americanus, isolated from an asymptomatic rosemary leaf collected in Louisiana, USA. This is the first report of this genus in the Americas. We then selected all four known Ceraceosorus species, plus exemplar smut fungi representing all major lineages of subphylum Ustilaginomycotina, to examine sequence heterogeneity in three regions of the rDNA repeat (partial 18S, ITS, and partial 28S regions). Three methods were used: PCR-cloning-Sanger sequencing, targeted amplicon high-throughput sequencing, and whole-genome shotgun high-throughput sequencing. Our results show that Ceraceosorus is the only sampled fungal genus in Ustilaginomycotina with significant intragenomic variation at the ITS, with up to 25 nucleotide variant sites in the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 region and 2.6% divergence among analyzed ITS haplotypes. We found many conflicting patterns across the three detection methods, with up to 27 conflicting variant sites recorded from a single individual. At least 40% of the conflicting patterns are possibly due to PCR-cloning-sequencing errors, as the corresponding variant sites were not observed in the other detection methods. Based on our data and the literature, we evaluated the characteristics and advantages/disadvantages of each detection method. Finally, a model for how intragenomic variation in the rDNA copies within a genome may arise is presented.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43008-024-00172-7.

Abstract Multicopy nuclear ribosomal (rDNA) genes have been used as markers for fungal identification for three decades. The rDNA sequences in a genome are thought to be homogeneous due to concerted evolution. However, intragenomic variation of rDNA sequences has recently been observed in many fungi, which cause problems in fungal identification and species abundance estimation. Various sequence-based methods have been used to demonstrate rDNA sequence heterogeneity, but there is no technical assessment of the comparability of results from these methods. In this article, we sampled smut fungi representing all major lineages of subphylum Ustilaginomycotina as a system to examine sequence heterogeneity in the rDNA repeats. Three methods were used: PCR-cloning-Sanger sequencing, targeted amplicon high-throughput sequencing, and WGS high-throughput sequencing. Based on our analyses,Ceraceosorusis the only sampled fungal genus in Ustilaginomycotina showing intragenomic variation, with up to 27 nucleotide variant sites in the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 region and 2.6% divergence among analyzed ITS haplotypes. We found many conflicting patterns across the three detection methods, with up to 28 conflicting variant sites in one sample. Surprisingly, at least 40% of these conflicts are due to PCR-cloning-sequencing errors, as the corresponding variant sites were not observed in the other methods. Based on our data and the literature, we evaluated the characteristics and advantages/disadvantages of each detection method. A model for how intragenomic variation may arise in the rDNA region is presented. Finally, we describe the fourth known species ofCeraceosorus,C. americanus, isolated from an asymptomatic rosemary leaf collected in Louisiana, USA. We anticipate that our study will provide a framework for future research in rDNA regions as well as other similar multicopy genes.Author SummaryRibosomal DNA (rDNA) genes are one of the most ancient multicopy genes in cellular organisms. They function as a part of the protein synthesis machinery in a cell. The rDNA sequences have also been used in species identification and microbial community profiling. Despite these utilities, little is known how the rDNA genes have evolved. Biologists initially thought the sequences among rDNA copies are homogeneous, but many recent cases illustrated rDNA sequence heterogeneity. In this article, we utilized the fungal genusCeraceosorustogether with allied smut fungi as a system to study sequence heterogeneity in the rDNA genes using various detection methods. Our system found rDNA sequence homogeneity as a common form, while sequence heterogeneity is taxon-specific. Based on our data and literature review, we explained possible sources for sequence heterogeneity in the rDNA genes. Our study also noticed result discrepancies across variant detection methods. These include artefactual variants from the PCR-cloning-sequencing method, inconsistent detected variants from the independent runs of high-throughput sequencing, and technical errors in bioinformatic analyses. We therefore emphasize the importance of methodological choices which have different pros and cons for studying intragenomic variation of rDNA genes, as well as other multicopy gene families.

Ranges of portable systems to measure leaf gas-exchange parameters are available. They allow real-time measurements of the photosynthesis rate (A), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs), and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci). Photosynthetic CO2 uptake is one of the most frequently studied plant physiological processes. The measurement is precise, simple, and noninvasive to perform in vivo. We describe the use of this method in environmental-controlled plant production systems at different temperatures on the growth and development of common buckwheat.

The lithological and malacological studies covered sediments forming the low terrace of the Rogoźnik Stream in the northwest part of the Podhale Basin. This terrace is characterised by a uniform structure within a significant part of the valley. Three layers of gravel and four layers of sandy and silty muds were found there. A rich and diversified malacofauna was discovered in fine-grained sediments. Its analysis allowed us to characterise environmental conditions during sediment deposition. The age of the individual components of the sedimentary sequence was determined by radiocarbon dating. A distinct change was found in the upper intervals of the sequence, corresponding to the warm phase of the Medieval Climate Optimum. This period is associated with the robust development of agriculture, and processes related to human activities became the main factor shaping the environment, influencing the course of geological processes, and changing the taxonomical and ecological structure of the fauna and flora assemblages found in this area.