Cyperaceae (sedges) are the third largest monocot family and of considerable economic ecological importance. Sedges represent an ideal model to study evolutionary biology due their species richness, global distribution, large discrepancies in lineage diversity, broad range preferences, adaptations including multiple origins C4 photosynthesis holocentric chromosomes. Goetghebeur?s seminal work o...

Current consensus holds that the 3-million-year-old hominid Australopithecus africanus subsisted on fruits and leaves, much as the modern chimpanzee does. Stable carbon isotope analysis of A. africanus from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa, demonstrates that this early hominid ate not only fruits and leaves but also large quantities of carbon-13-enriched foods such as grasses and sedges or a...

Two new species of aquatic hyphomycetes in the genus Tricladium are described from streams in Alaska, USA. Both species were isolated from submerged decaying sedges. Tricladium kelleri has blackish colonies and typical tricladioid conidia formed on sympodial conidiogenous cells. Tricladium alaskense has conidia with fine elements and 0-4 lateral branches; conidia are formed on sympodial conidio...

The process of rice domestication occurred in the Lower Yangtze region of Zhejiang, China, between 6900 and 6600 years ago. Archaeobotanical evidence from the site of Tianluoshan shows that the proportion of nonshattering domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) spikelet bases increased over this period from 27% to 39%. Over the same period, rice remains increased from 8% to 24% of all plant remains, w...

Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers are formed by selective amplification of DNA fragments from digested total genomic DNA. The technique is popular because it is a relatively inexpensive way to produce large numbers of reproducible genetic markers. In this paper, we describe a Bayesian approach to modeling AFLP marker evolution by nucleotide substitution and an MCMC approach ...

Consumers desire low-input turfgrasses that have tolerance to both shade and drought stresses. Several sedges ( Carex sp.) nimblewill Muhlenbergia schreberi ) are native plants prevalent in dry woodland ecosystems Oklahoma, USA, may potential as alternatives conventional species shaded turfgrass systems. To evaluate selected for this purpose, a multilocation field trial was conducted Stillwater...