We conducted a mitochondrial phylogeographic study of the endemic dry forest rodent Eliurus carletoni (Rodentia: Nesomyinae) in an ecological transition zone of northern Madagascar (Loky-Manambato) and 2 surrounding regions (Ankarana and Analamerana). The main goal was to assess the evolutionary consequences on this taxon of the complex landscape features and Quaternary ecological vicissitudes....

Xiaowan Hydropower station’s dam located in south west of China is the second highest arch dam in the world (h = 292 m), its foundation is based on brittle rocks of biotite granite gneiss and amphibolites plagioclase gneiss. A largescale excavation around the foundation of the dam was conducted, near to 90 meters horizontal depth excavation and 130 meters vertical depth excavation, so the found...

In order for growth cones to turn, microtubules from the central domain must preferentially invade the peripheral domain in the direction of the turn. Recent studies suggest that kinesin-5 (also called Eg5 or kif11) suppresses the invasion of microtubules into the peripheral domain on the side of the growth cone opposite the direction of turning. In theory, kinesin-5 could elicit these effects ...

We explore local existence and properties of classical weak solutions to the initial-boundary value problem of a one-dimensional quasilinear equation of elastodynamics with non-convex stored-energy function, a model of phase transitions in elastic bars proposed by Ericksen [19]. The instantaneous formation of microstructures of local weak solutions is observed for all smooth initial data with i...

Adaptive physiological changes were investigated in seven populations of Sitka (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) x interior spruce (P. glauca (Moench) Voss x P. engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) spanning the Nass-Skeena transition zone in British Columbia, Canada. Each population was represented by an Si rDNA index that was calculated from the relative optical densities on a gel autoradiogram of fiv...

Hydrogen incorporation in silicon layers prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition using silane dilution by hydrogen has been studied by infrared spectroscopy ~IR! and elastic recoil detection analysis ~ERDA!. The large range of silane dilution investigated can be divided into an amorphous and a microcrystalline zone. These two zones are separated by a narrow transition zone at a di...

The mechanisms that underpin the varied spatial genetic structures exhibited by free-living marine microorganisms remain controversial, with most studies emphasizing a high dispersal capability that should redistribute genetic diversity in contrast to most macroorganisms whose populations often retain a genetic signature of demographic response to historic climate fluctuations. We quantified th...

In this paper, an Urban Light Index (ULI) is constructed to facilitate analysis and quantitative evaluation of the process of urbanization and expansion rate by using DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data during the years from 1992 to 2010. A unit circle urbanization evaluation model is established to perform a comprehensive analysis of the urbanization process of 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeas...

Gulf of Mexico versus Atlantic populations of several coastal species in the southeastern United States are known to differ sharply in genetic composition, but most transitional zones have not previously been examined in detail. Here we employ molecular markers from mitochondrial and nuclear loci to characterize cytonuclear genetic associations at meso- and microgeographic scales along an easte...

Abiotic filtering is a major driver of gradients in the structure and functioning of ecosystems from the tropics to the poles. It is thus likely that environmental filtering is an important assembly process at the transition of biogeographical zones where many species occur at their range limits. Shifts in species abundances and association patterns along environmental gradients can be indicati...