Miles Joseph Berkeley’s Hypocrea

As this chapter is published, 122 years have elapsed since De Bary (12), at the age of 22, published his epochal paper in Berlin, in which he refuted the age-old theory that fungi parasitic on plants were not distinct organisms, but resulted from tissue breakdown of what we now call the host plant due to adverse environment or malnutrition. Good evidence of this modern viewpoint had already been presented in France by Prevost (45), who published results of his study of wheat bunt in 1 807. His views were ignored by Re (46) in Italy in 1817, and by Unger (69) in Austria in 1 833. Berkeley (6) in England had inclined to the same point of view as De Bary in writing on potato late blight in 1848. Tulasne (68) in France in 1 853 was also in accord in his description of the powdery mildew fungus on grape .. Final proofs of our modern point of view came slowly but steadily during the next few decades. Midway in this 1 22-year period, I began my graduate studies in plant pathology in 1 91 4 under Professor L. R. Jones at the University of Wisconsin. He laid much stress in his lectures upon the importance of the historical background of modern plant pathology, as did Professor H. H. Whetzel at Cornell University. In fact, we had a semester seminar on the subject nearly every other year. I mention this for the benefit of beginners in this science who may take time to read this chapter, since it may appear to them to place too much emphasis on old stuff. Six years after De Bary's paper, a former United States Congressman from Illinois spoke before the Wisconsin Agricultural Society at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin State Fair. He put together some very profound facts in these two sentences: Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two where there was but one is both a profit and a pleasure. And not grass alone, but soils, seeds and seasons; hedges, ditches and fences; draining, droughts and irrigations; plowing, hoeing and harrowing; reaping, mowing and threshing; . . . saving crops, pests of crops; diseases of crops, and what will prevent or cure them; .. . the thousands of things of which these are specimens, each a world of study within itself.

Naughty Peat: A case study in plant pathology, with emphasis on Koch's Postulates and disease etiology

Variation in Results of Three Biology‐Focused Search Engines: A Case Study Using North American Tree Species

Summary1. The long‐term history ofQuercusin southern Scandinavia has received little attention despite its important role in modern conservation. In this study the 4000‐year dynamics ofQuercus, its habitat and other important taxa were analysed with pollen data from 25 small hollows and 6 regional sites across southern Scandinavia. The aim was to provide a context for understanding the species’ current status and managing its future dynamics.2. The results indicate thatQuercusis much less abundant today than at any time during the previous 4000 years and corroborate the rapid decline reported in 18th‐ and 19th‐century historical records. Modern pollen percentages are 45–60% of 17th‐century values and only 20–35% of the maximum values reached in the 3rd century.3. A strong positive correlation exists between the abundance ofQuercusand the abundance ofTilia, CorylusandAlnus, which also experienced a steady decline across the region in the last two millennia. Climate change is the broad‐scale driver of the observed dynamics, but human activity introduced considerable variation in the regional and temporal details of these changes. In the hemiboreal northern part of the study area the decline ofQuercusappears to be controlled largely by competition with other tree species (especiallyPinusandPicea), mediated by harvesting. In the temperate south partQuercusforests decreased through deforestation for agriculture.4. Multivariate analyses indicate that although substantial phytogeographical variation has existed through past millennia the regional vegetation is more homogeneous today than in earlier periods.5. Synthesis. The long‐term decline and recent rapid reductions inQuercuspopulations throughout southern Scandinavia are striking and indisputable. From the perspective of both the populations ofQuercusand its associated species of insects and epiphytes, the recent rate of decline is extremely rapid. Given the former abundance, longevity and capacity for persistence ofQuercus, current populations ofQuercusand its associated species appear to represent biological legacies in the midst of protracted decline. Based on these results, a reasonable conservation goal is to restore the abundance and distribution ofQuercusto levels that preceded the drastic decline in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Introduction. The relevance of the study of genetic pathologies is due to the growing prevalence in most countries, disability and mortality of persons, high costs of support and treatment. The modern classifications include various forms of porphyria and hemophilia. The study of pathologies in historical persons, when it is possible to collect information from different sources regarding members of a large family over a long period of time, is of interest for understanding the mechanisms of the development of the disease at the present time. Aim is to analyze the genetic characteristics of variegated porphyria and hemophilia B in a large family. Materials and methods. Data from current guidelines and clinical protocols, scientific literature and genetic databases (OMIM) on various forms of porphyria and hemophilia are analyzed. Information about 1362 people from the British royal family in 18–20th centuries was collected from open sources and scientific literature. A pedigree of 10 generations, 27 nuclear families with persons with variegated porphyria and hemophilia B has been compiled. Genealogical, segregation, linkage, statistical analysis was performed. The results were used to study reproductive traits. Results. Genealogical analysis showed a family accumulation of porphyria – its prevalence among relatives in a large family was 1,8 %, which is three orders of magnitude higher than among the population of different countries. It was established that there is no statistically significant difference in the sex ratio among patients with the specified pathologies. Data from genealogical and segregation analysis and a penetration rate of 92 % suggest an autosomal dominant type inheritance with incomplete penetrance of disease which is consistent with the literature. The independent nature of inheritance of variegated porphyria and hemophilia B was established. It was found that in persons with porphyria reproductive traits are 3,3–4,1 times differ than the reproductive traits of persons with porphyria and hemophilia at the same time. A statistically significant difference was established between the analyzed traits of patients with porphyria, who at the same time are carriers of the mutation that causes hemophilia, and the indicators of healthy individuals.

Ecological theory predicts that kelp forests structured by trophic cascades should experience recovery and persistence of their foundation species when herbivores become rare. Yet, climate change may be altering the outcomes of top-down forcing in kelp forests, especially those located in regions that have rapidly warmed in recent decades, such as the Gulf of Maine. Here, using data collected annually from 30+ sites spanning >350 km of coastline, we explored the dynamics of Maine's kelp forests in the ~20 years after a fishery-induced elimination of sea urchin herbivores. Although forests (Saccharina latissima and Laminaria digitata) had broadly returned to Maine in the late 20th century, we found that forests in northeast Maine have since experienced slow but significant declines in kelp, and forest persistence in the northeast was juxtaposed by a rapid, widespread collapse in the southwest. Forests collapsed in the southwest apparently because ocean warming has-directly and indirectly-made this area inhospitable to kelp. Indeed, when modeling drivers of change using causal techniques from econometrics, we discovered that unusually high summer seawater temperatures the year prior, unusually high spring seawater temperatures, and high sea urchin densities each negatively impacted kelp abundance. Furthermore, the relative power and absolute impact of these drivers varied geographically. Our findings reveal that ocean warming is redefining the outcomes of top-down forcing in this system, whereby herbivore removal no longer predictably leads to a sustained dominance of foundational kelps but instead has led to a waning dominance (northeast) or the rise of a novel phase state defined by "turf" algae (southwest). Such findings indicate that limiting climate change and managing for low herbivore abundances will be essential for preventing further loss of the vast forests that still exist in northeast Maine. They also more broadly highlight that climate change is "rewriting the rules" of nature, and thus that ecological theory and practice must be revised to account for shifting species and processes.

Rethinking the Ph.D. dissertation in botany: Widening the circle.

Abstract. We present a tribute to Georg Friedrich Karl Hartung (1821–1891), a less-known, non-academic German geologist, on his 200th birthday anniversary. Influenced by eminent 19th century scientific personalities, such as Oswald Heer, Charles Lyell, and Alexander von Humboldt, he performed pioneer geological observations and sampling in the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands volcanic archipelagos. Later in his life, he travelled to the USA and explored the Scandinavian countries. His scientific endeavours were published in several books and papers, many of them co-authored by academic German geologists and palaeontologists. His works on Macaronesia are deemed as classics, and many have been enriched by his detailed geological illustrations.

Luigi Galvani and animal electricity: two centuries after the foundation of electrophysiology

Recent reports from Jamaica tell of an increase in the incidence of coconut lethal yellowing disease and raise the spectre of the epidemic of forty years ago. Is this just another coincidence in a series that seem to link the disease with Jamaica? The future threat is to susceptible coconut varieties in Caribbean islands from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Latin American countries from Nicaragua to Brazil. Will the disease progress in domino fashion from country to country or will it jump some countries to reach others? To answer this, consider the possibility that the disease originated outside the Caribbean and if it did, how did it first reach Jamaica? Coconut lethal yellowing is a phytoplasma disease and, in the absence of any contrary evidence, plant pathologists believe that phytoplasma diseases are NOT carried from place to place by seeds. Rather, they ARE transmitted from plant to plant by insect vectors. So the first coconuts, taken to Jamaica in the 16th century would not have carried the disease. Since the palms became widespread through the island over the following three centuries (Harries 1980), it is unlikely that the disease was already present during that time. The same can be said everywhere else in Latin American and the Caribbean where all coconuts share a similar history of introduction and healthy establishment (Harries 2001). So it is unfortunate that some popular and scientific accounts of coconut lethal yellowing disease imply that “it originated in Jamaica” or that “it reached continental USA and Mexico from Jamaica”. The same disease occurs in Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic), the Bahamas (reputedly) and the Cayman Islands, as well as in Cuba. Cuba, by its greater size and proximity to the continent, might seem a more likely focus for the disease. What these accounts are indirectly acknowledging is that it was the publicity generated by a successful Research and Development program during the 1960s and 70s (Gowdie & Romney 1976) that has held Jamaica in the lethal yellowing spotlight. The disease has spread throughout Jamaica and Cuba, to a lesser extent in Haiti (but, exceptionally, not at all in Dominican Republic (Harries et al. 2001)), the Gulf Coast states of USA and Mexico and the Caribbean coast from Mexico to Honduras (Harries 2001). Before the disease inexorably moves to other Latin American countries, from Nicaragua to Brazil, and Caribbean islands, from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Tobago, there may be more to be learned from Jamaica where, even now, disease activity seems to be reintensifying.

The subspecies rank has been widely applied by taxonomists to capture infraspecific variation within the Linnaean classification system. Many subspecies described throughout the 20th century were recognised largely based on perceived variation in single morphological characters yet have since been found not to correspond to separately evolving population lineages, thus requiring synonymy or elevation to full species under lineage-based views of species. These modern lineage-based taxonomic resolutions have resulted from a combination of new molecular genetic techniques, improved geographical sampling of specimens, and more sophisticated analyses of morphological variation (e.g., statistical assessments rather than solely univariate descriptive ones). Here, we revisit the current taxonomic arrangement of species-level and subspecific taxa in the Lerista microtis (Gray) group, which is distributed along a narrow ~2000 km strip on the southern coast of Australia. From specimens of the L. microtis group, an additional species (Lerista arenicola) and two additional subspecies (L. m. intermedia and L. m. schwaneri) were described. We collected data on mensural, meristic, and colour pattern characters to explore morpho-spatial relationships among these taxa. Although our morphological analyses revealed some distinctiveness among specimens from locations assigned to each taxon, this variation is continuous along Australia's southern coastline, assuming the form of a geographic cline rather than discrete forms. For many characters, however, spatial patterns were inconsistent with the original descriptions, particularly of the subspecies. Moreover, analysis of genome wide restriction-associated DNA loci revealed multiple instances of paraphyly among taxa, with phylogenetic clustering of specimens assigned to distinct species and subspecies. These emerging patterns provide no support for L. arenicola as a species evolving separately from L. microtis. Additionally, our findings challenge the presumed distinctiveness and coherence of the three subspecies of L. microtis. We thus synonymise L. arenicola and the L. microtis subspecies with L. microtis and provide a redescription of a single yet morphologically variable species-an arrangement that best reflects evolutionary history and the continuous nature of morphological variation across space.

The present assessment was undertaken to develop an understanding of the occurrence and status of peer review with biological science-oriented journals in the first few decades of the 20th century. This research was centered around whether peer review would have been a realistic expectation/demand for that era for experimentally oriented biologists. The analysis indicates that the peer review process in 17 major biologically oriented journals from the United States was created principally in the early decades of the 20th century. These journals included those relating to both botanical (e.g., plant physiology, plant pathology) and zoological (e.g., biochemistry, physiology, immunology, genetics) research domains. These findings represent the first integrative evaluation of experimentally oriented biological journals concerning their historical peer-review activities. The information is based on summarized articles in the journals concerning their peer-review process, similar assessments provided by related professional societies that published the journals, as well as the preserved papers of some journal editors, which included actual peer-review documents of that era. This assessment indicates that formal peer review was commonly practiced amongst many of the leading biologically oriented US-based journals during that era. These are useful in evaluating the publication strategy of Hermann J. Muller as it relates to the avoidance of peer review regarding his novel claim to have induced gene mutations via exposure to X-rays.

Seeing red: a modified RUBY reporter assay for visualizing inplanta protein-protein interactions.

Four parental genotypes from a Center of Germplasm Netherland (CGN) i.e.1 (PI 23235), 2 (PI 17171), 3 (PI 23096) and 4 (PI 17150) and their six F 1 hybrids in a diallel cross system without reciprocals were used to estimate combining ability (general and specific) and heterosis percentage relative to both mid and better parents and potence ratios for some characters in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).The experiment was conducted at Kaha Research Farm, Kaliobia Governorate under unheated plastic house during two successive seasons 2015-2016.Survey was conducted at Kaliobia Governorate during 2015 and 2016 and the pathological studies were carried out at the Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research center, Giza Governorate.The studies showed that Fusarium oxysporum f.sp capsici (isolate 3) was the highest in frequency and the level of pathogenicity .The susceptibility of 10 genotypes to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.capsici (isolate 3) indicated that two F 1 crosses 2 × 4 and 3 × 4 were resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.capsici (isolate 3).The correlation analysis revealed that the disease severity on roots was significantly correlated with four traits; weight/plant (kg), number of fruits /plant, number of days to 50% flower anthesis and fruit length (cm).In contrast, vascular discoloration was significantly correlated with three traits; weight/plant (kg), number of fruits /plant, and fruit length (cm).The 10 genotypes (4 parents and 6 hybrids) were evaluated for yield ;yield components and fusarium wilt resistance to determine the combining ability and heterosis effects.The obtained results reflected that the mean squares for both general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) were significant for all studied traits except SCA in fruit shape index and fruit flesh thickness, suggesting the presence of both additive and non-additive gene effects in the inheritance of the various studied characters.Estimates of SCA effects showed that the F 1 crosses 2 × 4 and 2 × 3 reflect the highest value in most studied traits; i.e. total yield as weight and number, fruit length and low disease severity of roots and shoots.Hybrid vigour was documented for total yield, as well as, most fruit characters and disease severity.In some crosses, high rate of parent heterosis and potence ratio values were attained for these traits supporting the over dominance hypothesis.

Radicipes is an octocoral genus composed of whip-like chrysogorgiids. Representatives of this group, also called ‘pigtails’, occur in almost all continental margins around the globe. Since its description in the 19th century, no comprehensive revision of this genus has been made. Thus, we present herein a revision of Radicipes, with descriptions of previously known species and one new species, Radicipes stonei. Type specimens from several museums were examined and seven species are considered valid. A distribution map of the genus and illustrations for all species are provided and a brief discussion is given on the possibility of additional undescribed species.