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Chen S, Yu G, Long F, Zheng J, Wang Z, Ji X, Guo Q, Wang Z. Growth Stage-Dependent Variation in Soil Quality and Microbial Diversity of Ancient Gleditsia sinensis. Mol Biotechnol 2024:10.1007/s12033-024-01097-7. [PMID: 38833086 DOI: 10.1007/s12033-024-01097-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
The environment monitoring of forest is vital for the ecosystem sustainable management, especially soil quality. Ancient Gleditsia sinensis is one of the most distributed ancient trees in Shaanxi. Comprehensive soil evaluate is important for the ancient tree protection. In this study, we selected the most distributed ancient tree Gleditsia sinensis and immature tree to compare the effect of growth stage to soil quality and soil bacteria. Most ancient tree soil nutrients were in good condition compared with immature tree. The bacterial community were composed with Proteobacteria (27.55%), Acidobacteriota (16.82%), Actinobacteriota (15.77%), Gemmatimonadota (6.82%), Crenarchaeota (4.61%), Bacteroidota (4.41%), Firmicutes (4.32%), Chloroflexi (4.28%), Planctomycetota (3.24%) and Verrucomicrobiota (3.04%). The level 2 ancient tree (300-400 years old) was different in bacterial community diversity. SOC and STN were important to level 2 (300-400 years old Gleditsia sinensis), and other levels were opposite. Our results suggested that the ancient tree management should not be lumped together.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sihui Chen
- Department of Ecological Environmental Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Ge Yu
- Department of Ecological Environmental Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Fenglai Long
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian Zheng
- Xi'an HuYi District Forest Resources Management Center, Xi'an, 710300, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Zeyuan Wang
- Department of Ecological Environmental Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaolian Ji
- Department of Ecological Environmental Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiuping Guo
- Zhouzhi County Agricultural Product Quality Safety Inspection and Monitoring Center, Xi'an, 710400, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhousuo Wang
- Department of Ecological Environmental Engineering, Yangling Vocational and Technical College, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
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Lenton TM, Scheffer M. Spread of the cycles: a feedback perspective on the Anthropocene. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220254. [PMID: 37952624 PMCID: PMC10645129 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
What propelled the human 'revolutions' that started the Anthropocene? and what could speed humanity out of trouble? Here, we focus on the role of reinforcing feedback cycles, often comprised of diverse, unrelated elements (e.g. fire, grass, humans), in propelling abrupt and/or irreversible, revolutionary changes. We suggest that differential 'spread of the cycles' has been critical to the past human revolutions of fire use, agriculture, rise of complex states and industrialization. For each revolution, we review and map out proposed reinforcing feedback cycles, and describe how new systems built on previous ones, propelling us into the Anthropocene. We argue that to escape a bleak Anthropocene will require abruptly shifting from existing unsustainable 'vicious cycles', to alternative sustainable 'virtuous cycles' that can outspread and outpersist them. This will need to be complemented by a revolutionary cultural shift from maximizing growth to maximizing persistence (sustainability). To achieve that we suggest that non-human elements need to be brought back into the feedback cycles underlying human cultures and associated measures of progress. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Wageningen University, Wageningen NL-6700 AA, The Netherlands
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Arthur R, Nicholson A. Does Gaia Play Dice? Simple Models of Non-Darwinian Selection. ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 23:1238-1244. [PMID: 37962839 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2023.0036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we introduce some simple models, based on rolling dice, to explore mechanisms proposed to explain planetary habitability. The idea is to study these selection mechanisms in an analytically tractable setting, isolating their consequences from other details which can confound or obscure their effect in more realistic models. We find that the observable of interest, the face value shown on the die, "improves" over time in all models. For two of the more popular ideas, Selection by Survival and Sequential Selection, this is down to sampling effects. A modified version of Sequential Selection, Sequential Selection with Memory, implies a statistical tendency for systems to improve over time. We discuss the implications of this and its relationship to the ideas of the "Inhabitance Paradox" and the "Gaian bottleneck."
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Affiliation(s)
- Rudy Arthur
- Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Arwen Nicholson
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
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Arthur R, Nicholson A. Selection principles for Gaia. J Theor Biol 2022; 533:110940. [PMID: 34710434 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The Gaia hypothesis considers the life-environment coupled system as a single entity that acts to regulate and maintain habitable conditions on Earth. In this paper we discuss three mechanisms which could potentially lead to Gaia: Selection by Survival, Sequential Selection and Entropic Hierarchy. We use the Tangled Nature Model of co-evolution as a common framework for investigating all three, using an extended version of the standard model to elaborate on Gaia as an example of an entropic hierarchy. This idea, which combines sequential selection together with a reservoir of diversity that acts as a 'memory', implies a tendency towards growth and increasing resilience of the Gaian system over time. We then discuss how Gaian memory could be realised in practice via the microbial seed bank, climate refugia and lateral gene transfer and conclude by discussing testable implications of an entropic hierarchy for the study of Earth history and the search for life in the universe. This paper adds to the existing taxonomy of Gaia hypotheses to suggest an "Entropic Gaia" where we argue that increasing biomass, complexity and enhanced habitability over time is a statistically likely feature of a co-evolving system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rudy Arthur
- Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4RN, UK.
| | - Arwen Nicholson
- Department of Physics, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QL, UK
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The Origin(s) of Cell(s): Pre-Darwinian Evolution from FUCAs to LUCA : To Carl Woese (1928-2012), for his Conceptual Breakthrough of Cellular Evolution. J Mol Evol 2021; 89:427-447. [PMID: 34173011 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-021-10014-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The coming of the Last Universal Cellular Ancestor (LUCA) was the singular watershed event in the making of the biotic world. If the coming of LUCA marked the crossing of the "Darwinian Threshold", then pre-LUCA evolution must have been Pre-Darwinian and at least partly non-Darwinian. But how did Pre-Darwinian evolution before LUCA actually operate? I broaden our understanding of the central mechanism of biological evolution (i.e., variation-selection-inheritance) and then extend this broadened understanding to its natural starting point: the origin(s) of the First Universal Cellular Ancestors (FUCAs) before LUCA. My hypothesis centers upon vesicles' making-and-remaking as variation and competition as selection. More specifically, I argue that vesicles' acquisition and merger, via breaking-and-repacking, proto-endocytosis, proto-endosymbiosis, and other similar processes had been a central force of both variation and selection in the pre-Darwinian epoch. These new perspectives shed important new light upon the origin of FUCAs and their subsequent evolution into LUCA.
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Lenton TM, Kohler TA, Marquet PA, Boyle RA, Crucifix M, Wilkinson DM, Scheffer M. Survival of the Systems. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:333-344. [PMID: 33414020 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Since Darwin, individuals and more recently genes, have been the focus of evolutionary thinking. The idea that selection operates on nonreproducing, higher-level systems including ecosystems or societies, has met with scepticism. But research emphasising that natural selection can be based solely on differential persistence invites reconsideration of their evolution. Self-perpetuating feedback cycles involving biotic as well as abiotic components are critical to determining persistence. Evolution of autocatalytic networks of molecules is well studied, but the principles hold for any 'self-perpetuating' system. Ecosystem examples include coral reefs, rainforests, and savannahs. Societal examples include agricultural systems, dominant belief systems, and economies. Persistence-based selection of feedbacks can help us understand how ecological and societal systems survive or fail in a changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy M Lenton
- Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK.
| | - Timothy A Kohler
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, USA; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA; Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
| | - Pablo A Marquet
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA; Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile; Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Centro de Cambio Global UC, Laboratorio Internacional de Cambio Global (LINCGlobal), Santiago, Chile
| | - Richard A Boyle
- Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
| | - Michel Crucifix
- Université Catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - David M Wilkinson
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7DL, UK; Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, 6700AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Nicholson AE, Wilkinson DM, Williams HTP, Lenton TM. Alternative mechanisms for Gaia. J Theor Biol 2018; 457:249-257. [PMID: 30149011 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.08.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2018] [Revised: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 08/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A long-standing objection to the Gaia hypothesis has been a perceived lack of plausible mechanisms by which life on Earth could come to regulate its abiotic environment. A null hypothesis is survival by pure chance, by which any appearance of regulation on Earth is illusory and the persistence of life simply reflects the weak anthropic principle - it must have occurred for intelligent observers to ask the question. Recent work has proposed that persistence alone increases the chance that a biosphere will acquire further persistence-enhancing properties. Here we use a simple quantitative model to show that such 'selection by survival alone' can indeed increase the probability that a biosphere will persist in the future, relative to a baseline of pure chance. Adding environmental feedback to this model shows either an increased or decreased survival probability depending on the initial conditions. Feedback can hinder early life becoming established if initial conditions are poor, but feedback can also prevent systems from diverging too far from optimum environmental conditions and thus increase survival rates. The outstanding question remains the relative importance of each mechanism for the historical and continued persistence of life on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arwen E Nicholson
- Earth System Science, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK.
| | - David M Wilkinson
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Joseph Banks Laboratories, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK
| | - Hywel T P Williams
- Earth System Science, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK
| | - Timothy M Lenton
- Earth System Science, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK
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Toman J, Flegr J. A Virtue Made of Necessity: Is the Increasing Hierarchical Complexity of Sexual Clades an Inevitable Outcome of Their Declining (Macro)evolutionary Potential? Evol Biol 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-018-9462-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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9
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Flegr J, Ponížil P. On the importance of being stable: evolutionarily frozen species can win in fluctuating environments. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jaroslav Flegr
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Ponížil
- Department of Physics and Materials Engineering, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Vavrečkova, Czech Republic
- Center of Polymer Systems, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic
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10
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Selection for Gaia across Multiple Scales. Trends Ecol Evol 2018; 33:633-645. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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11
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Toman J, Flegr J. General environmental heterogeneity as the explanation of sexuality? Comparative study shows that ancient asexual taxa are associated with both biotically and abiotically homogeneous environments. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:973-991. [PMID: 29375771 PMCID: PMC5773305 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2017] [Revised: 11/13/2017] [Accepted: 11/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological theories of sexual reproduction assume that sexuality is advantageous in certain conditions, for example, in biotically or abiotically more heterogeneous environments. Such theories thus could be tested by comparative studies. However, the published results of these studies are rather unconvincing. Here, we present the results of a new comparative study based exclusively on the ancient asexual clades. The association with biotically or abiotically homogeneous environments in these asexual clades was compared with the same association in their sister, or closely related, sexual clades. Using the conservative definition of ancient asexuals (i.e., age >1 million years), we found eight pairs of taxa of sexual and asexual species, six differing in the heterogeneity of their inhabited environment on the basis of available data. The difference between the environmental type associated with the sexual and asexual species was then compared in an exact binomial test. The results showed that the majority of ancient asexual clades tend to be associated with biotically, abiotically, or both biotically and abiotically more homogeneous environments than their sexual controls. In the exploratory part of the study, we found that the ancient asexuals often have durable resting stages, enabling life in subjectively homogeneous environments, live in the absence of intense biotic interactions, and are very often sedentary, inhabiting benthos, and soil. The consequences of these findings for the ecological theories of sexual reproduction are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Toman
- Faculty of ScienceLaboratory of Evolutionary BiologyDepartment of Philosophy and History of SciencesCharles UniversityPragueCzech Republic
| | - Jaroslav Flegr
- Faculty of ScienceLaboratory of Evolutionary BiologyDepartment of Philosophy and History of SciencesCharles UniversityPragueCzech Republic
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