In the first ever systematic genetic survey, we have used rigorous decontamination followed by mitochondrial 12S RNA sequencing to identify the species origin of 30 hair samples attributed to anomalous primates. Two Himalayan samples, one from Ladakh, India, the other from Bhutan, had their closest genetic affinity with a Palaeolithic polar bear, Ursus maritimus. Otherwise the hairs were from a...

A number of novel bacteria including members of rarely cultivated phyla, Acidobacteria and Verrucomicrobia, were successfully isolated from the roots of two emergent plants, Iris pseudacorus and Scirpus juncoides, by a simple culturing method. A total of 47.1% (66 strains) for I. pseudacorus and 42.1% (59 strains) for S. juncoides of all isolates (140 strains from each sample) were phylogenetic...

Stands of Scirpus olneyi, a native saltmarsh sedge with C3 photosynthesis, had been exposed to normal ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations (Ca) in their native habitat since 1987. The objective of this investigation was to characterize the acclimation of photosynthesis of Scirpus olneyi stems, the photosynthesizing organs of this species, to long-term elevated Ca treatment in rel...

Seeds of four colonizing species which occur together in a recently revegetated sedge meadow were tested for germination after storage under three different conditions. Seeds were tested at an alternating temperature regime of 21° C dark, and 32° C light. Three species, Bidens frondosa, B. coronata, and Scirpus cyperinus germinated most successfully when stored under moist-cool conditions. Germ...

Coastal vegetated ecosystems such as saltmarshes and seagrasses are important sinks of organic carbon (OC) total nitrogen (TN), with large global local variability, driven by the confluence many physical ecological factors. Here we show that sedimentary OC TN stocks intertidal saltmarsh (Sporobolus maritimus) seagrass (Zostera noltei) habitats increased between two- fourfold along a decreasing ...