Severely nitrogen deficient pole-stage Corsican pine growing on coastal send dunes were treated over three years with ammonium sulphate, at rates totalling to 0, 252, 504, 1007 and 1510 kg of nitrogen per ha. Over this period the net primary production by the trees rose from 23,000 kg per ha in the untreated plots to a maximum of 47,000 kg per ha in those plots given 1007 kg fertilizer nitrogen per ha. In all treatments root tissues accounted for about 20% and crown tissues for more than 50% of the net primary production, whereas the proportion directed to the stem increased with treatment from 15% to 30%. Nutrient uptake was assessed as the increased quantity accumulated within the trees plus the quantity released through both litter-fall and recreation. Relative to the untreated controls the fastest growing trees showed marked increases in mean annual uptake per ha of nitrogen (16 to 143 kg), phosphorus (4 to 9 kg) and potassium (19 to 57 kg), whereas the mean annual uptake of sodium decreased (45 to 33 kg) and that of both calcium and magnesium remained virtually unchanged ( about 38 and 10 kg respectively). Retention of fertilizer nitrogen occurred in both the tree crop and the soil organic layers but the mineral soil showed no detectable increase in nitrogen content with treatment. The recovery of fertilizer nitrogen in the ecosystem after three years represented, with increasing treatment rate, 100%, 75%, 55% and 45% of the quantity applied over this period.

No description available.

The Bahaman archipelago contains large expanses of pine forests, where the endemic Caribbean pine Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis is the dominant species. This pine forest ecosystem is rich in species and also a valuable resource for the local economy. Small areas of old-growth forest still remain in the Turks and Caicos islands (TCI) and in some of the islands in the Bahamas; despite on-going severe infestation by pine tortoise scale insect Toumeyella parvicornis and high pine mortality in the former and intensive past commercial logging activities in the latter. For the first time integrated research on the genetics, morphology, ecology and biogeography of this variety was carried out throughout its whole distribution range. Past and present forest areas were mapped using historical physical maps and modern satellite imagery, showing forest loss due to urbanisation, pests and storm surges and expansions resulting mainly from dry-season human induced fires. Population genetic analysis using plastid and nuclear microsatellites revealed high ancient gene flow and recent genetic distance between populations of the Bahamas and the TCI; in addition to genetic structure within regions. Morphological differences were also observed and discussed. The variety showed high individual genetic and morphological variance and high plasticity. Despite the observation of good forest regeneration in normal circumstances, stochastic events did cause severe reductions in forest area and effective population size. A predominantly random and outcrossing breeding system was also inferred from the data, despite detection of some inbreeding in the smaller populations. Suggestions for the future conservation and management of the species included fire management and the creation or extension of in-situ conservation areas and ex-situ collections.

No description available.

Seven sheathing mycorrhizas of nursery grown P. sitchensis were characterised using the consistent intrinsic morphological features of each mycorrhizal association, primarily sheath morphology and hyphal ornamentation. These features were observed by means of light microscopy together with transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The fungal symbiont of each mycorrhiza was isolated and then used to synthesise mycorrhizas aseptically. The morphology of the synthesised mycorrhizas was shown to be greatly influenced by the growth medium, thus care must be taken in extrapolating from results obtained in such experiments. Additional proof of the mycorrhizal nature of a fungal isolate was obtained by comparing the hyphal ornamentation of the isolate with that of the original mycorrhizal fungus. Four of the sheathing mycorrhizas were formed by basidiomycete fungi of which two have been identified as Thelephora terrestris (Ehrh.) Fr. and Laccaria laccata (Scop, ex Fr.) Cooke, two by isolates of the "E-strain" group of fungi and one by a dark sterile isolate. The majority of the sheathing mycorrhizas of P. sitchensis seedlings and transplants in the nursery studied were formed by "E-strain" fungi. Mycorrhizas formed by the other fungi were sporadically distributed. Replacement of the "E-strain" fungi by other mycorrhizal fungi from short roots was frequently observed. Under infertile conditions the mycorrhizal fungi were shown to have a differential effect upon the growth of P. sitchensis. The "E-strain" fungi were less effective than some of the other mycorrhizal fungi. Thus the majority of transplants leaving the nursery studied do so equipped with sheathing mycorrhizas which are unsuitable for infertile afforestation sites.

No description available.

In recent years there has been a great revival of interest among plant physiologists throughout the world in problems associated with growth and development in plants. Most of this recent work has been carried out with annual species since it is generally considered more convenient to work with such plants. For this reason our knowledge of the physiology of growth in woody species falls short of that for herbaceous plants. There can be no doubt, of course, that many of the results obtained from the study of herbaceous plants hold also for woody species. For example, evidence will be brought forward below to support the view that the mechanism of photoperiodism is the same for both woody and herbaceous species. Similarly, it has been shown (Czaja, 1934) that auxin is present in the growing shoots of certain woody species, just as in herbaceous plants. Nevertheless, there are many features of growth peculiar to woody species and not found in typical herbaceous plants. For example, growth of the shoot in herbs is normally terminated by flower formation, whereas in most woody species the annual cycle of growth in a high proportion of the growing points is ultimately terminated not by a flower bud, but by a vegetative resting bud. Investigation of features of growth Great Britain are (1) temperature; (2) light intensity;(3) length of day. The probable importance of temperature and light intensity in affecting the annual cycle of growth in woody species has long been recognized, and in the past these, together with rainfall, have generally been considered to be the over-riding factors. The discovery, however, that such processes as the duration of extension growth and time of leaf-fall in woody species may be affected by length of day under experimental conditions (Garner ana Allard, 1923) raises the question as to how far this factor is important in affecting the annual rhythm of growth in nature. Very little definite information on this subject is available at present, and it was therefore decided to carry out an intensive study of the annual cycle of several growth processes in a single species, with special reference to the role of photoperiodic effects in the annual cycle of growth. For this purpose the species, Pinus sylvestris L, appeared to have several advantages, viz.: (1) Various other species of the genus Pinus were already known to show marked photoperiodic effects (Bogdanov, 1931, Kramer, 1936, Jester and Kramer, 1939), ana there were grounds for expecting that P. sylvestris would also prove to be 'photoperiodic' (Sylven, 1942).(2) It is a species which is indigenous to Great Britain (at least in the North, and is naturalised in southern England).Hence observations with respect to the annual cycle of growth under natural climatic conditions could be regarded as 'normal' for this species. An intensive study of the annual cycle of growth, in the light of more recent advances in the physiology of development, does not appear to have been made previously for a woody species, although it has been done for various herbaceous plants, including the onion (e.g. Heath, 1940) and certain cereals (e.g. Purvis and Gregory, 1937).Before the experimental work is described, a brief account of the normal cycle of growth in Pinus sylvestris will be given, since a knowledge of this is essential before an attempt is made to discover the factors which determine it.

Julien J. Nicolas. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-248). / Supported by the Advanced Telecommunications Research Program.

The remnants of the Caledonian Pine Forest represent the north western boundary of the Eurasian Pinus sylvestris (L.) distribution. Remnant populations occupy a diverse range of environments within Scotland, subject to a steep rainfall gradient, and previous investigations have found evidence of local adaptation. Additionally, studies of biochemical and molecular markers have indicated that Scotland’s native pinewoods originated from more than one glacial refugium. Whole-genome-shotgun (WGS) sequencing was employed for the discovery of mitochondrial (mt) variants that may provide further insight into the origins of P. sylvestris populations both in Scotland and mainland Europe. DNA extractions were performed on megagametophyte tissue from Scottish, Finnish, and Spanish populations. Three members of the closely related P. mugo species complex were also sequenced. Using similarity-based approach, 160kbp of putative mitochondrial sequence was recovered by comparison of de novo assembled contigs with the mtgenome of the gymnosperm Cycas taitungensis. In total, 16 novel variants were identified among samples, which may be used in future phylogeographic studies. A study of needle characters was performed for eight native populations of P. sylvestris in an outdoor provenance/progeny trial of 192 saplings. A negative correlation was detected between longitude and the number of stomatal rows present on needle surfaces. It was posited that this may be an adaptive response to lower water availability in eastern pinewoods, possibly in conjunction with increasing altitude. The west coast of Scotland is one of the wettest regions in Europe: western pinewoods may receive in excess of 3,000mm of rainfall in a year, compared with an average of 800mm eastern sites. To determine whether native pinewoods are differentially adapted to waterlogging, a glasshouse based provenance/progeny trial of 432 saplings from nine native populations was undertaken, in which 50% were subject to a long-term waterlogging treatment, and the remainder used as a control. Two studies were then conducted. In the first, responses to the treatment were assessed in terms of phenological and growth traits. Bud flush was delayed in response to waterlogging, and growth was impeded relative to the control. Although population differences were observed, treatment × population interactions were not detected. In the second study physiological traits known to be sensitive to plant stress and water balance were measured at intervals throughout the experiment. Prior to the commencement of the treatment needle δ13C was found to exhibit interpopulation differentiation, and was positively correlated with longitude. This seems likely to represent differential selection for water use efficiency between eastern and western pinewoods. Photochemical efficiency and stomatal conductance were found to be reduced by waterlogging, and needle δ13C was increased. After generalising populations into ‘high’ and ‘low’ rainfall groups (monthly averages of 214.9mm and 72.8mm, respectively), high rainfall populations were observed to maintain consistently higher photochemical efficiency under waterlogging the low rainfall populations. In addition, the low rainfall group exhibited greater variability in response to flooding (in terms of phenotypic and additive genetic variance) which may be indicative of a lack of past selection pressure.

Investigative powers of Congress is the Congress to obtain the required information, the tool found the truth. Due to the need for legislative decision-making rational, and rational legislative decision-making need to use the logic of scientific method, to take an objective view of the decision for seeking truth from facts, there is no investigative powers, Congress is that the lack of information, difficult to discover the truth of a disadvantage, unable to make the right decisions , will not be able to carry out its terms of reference on the role of function. Compared to democracy in the world's major countries of the development of the investigative power of Congress, the Legislative Yuan may exercise certain power of investigation in 2004 until the beginning by the J.Y. Interpretation No.585 to explain the right of access to the survey. Representative democracies, the United Kingdom is one of the first use of the investigative power of Congress, the United States Department of the investigative power of Congress to develop the most complete system, also the most frequent use of the country, a democratic country by the major development of the investigative power of Congress, know that the investigative power of Congress to essential for Congress to support legislative power, Congress is also an important weapon supervision. However, the exercise of legislative power on behalf of the people in our country of the Legislative Yuan in the future can indeed play with investigative powers to supervise the executive, legislative and other auxiliary functions, there is the establishment of a sound depends on the right of Congress to investigate the mode of operation. In this paper, since the right of Congress to investigate the meaning and nature of the legal basis of the investigative power of Congress to explore the principle behind the system and principles. At the same time by the Democratic National Congress representative survey Overview of the implementation of the right to introduce a system to explore the rights of the Legislative Yuan to investigate the nature and the status quo, the existing access to the Legislative Yuan of the operation of the right to study the document, which on my development of the investigative power of Congress to amend the law. In this study, data collection through literature, the light of our constitutional system with a foreign legal system, and finally developed the following recommendations: 1.The Legislative Yuan investigative power system should be the rule of law, and clearly defined the scope of the exercise of investigative powers, to avoid violation of other constitutional organs of the terms of reference. 2. The introduction of a small number of right( Minderheitsenquete) - in order to learn from the German system. 3. In addition to the exercise of law in the Legislative Yuan to develop terms of reference "of the exercise of investigative powers," a chapter, the new legislation is still to be a peremptory norm of "public hearing", "testimony" of the relevant provisions. 4. Addition of "contempt of Congress" of norms. 5. Be added to a breach of confidentiality provided for the punishment. 6. The Legislative Yuan investigative powers should be fine with more force. 7. Should be determined by the local councils the right to access provisions.