Factors underlying apparent floral sexual dimorphism were examined in six species of andromonoecious Solanum section Lasiocarpa (Solanaceae). Both multivariate and univariate analyses show that hermaphroditic flowers are significantly larger than staminate flowers for all features measured. Thus, flowers could be characterized as sexually size dimorphic. However, when size variation due to flow...

The green algae and land plants form a monophyletic lineage (the chlorophytes) that contains both protistan and higher taxa (Graham, 1996). An important issue regarding the evolution of this green lineage that still remains in question is the identity of the green algal (i.e. flagellate) ancestor of land plants. Modern molecular phylogenetic data provide the framework for reconstructing this ev...

Collembola, Diplura, and Protura are basal orders of Hexapoda that are associated primarily with leaf litter and other decaying vegetative materials. These three clades historically have been considered monophyletic orders of insects, but some systematists recently have ranked them as classes independent of the class Insecta [1]. Collembola are unique in having a projecting furcula on the abdom...

Although DNA barcoding has become a useful tool for species identification and biodiversity surveys in plant sciences, there remains little consensus concerning appropriate sampling strategies and the treatment of indels. To address these two issues, we sampled 39 populations for nine Taxus species across their entire ranges, with two to three individuals per population randomly sampled. We seq...

Understanding why dispersal is sex-biased in many taxa is still a major concern in evolutionary ecology. Dispersal tends to be male-biased in mammals and female-biased in birds, but counter-examples exist and little is known about sex bias in other taxa. Obtaining accurate measures of dispersal in the field remains a problem. Here we describe and compare several methods for detecting sex-biased...

The green algae represent a large group of morphologically diverse photosynthetic eukaryotes that occupy virtually every photic habitat on the planet. The extracellular coverings of green algae including cell walls are also diverse. A recent surge of research in green algal cell walls fueled by new emerging technologies has revealed new and critical insight concerning these coverings. For examp...

The green algae and land plants form a monophyletic lineage (the chlorophytes) that contains both protistan and higher taxa (Graham, 1996). An important issue regarding the evolution of this green lineage that still remains in question is the identity of the green algal (i.e. flagellate) ancestor of land plants. Modern molecular phylogenetic data provide the framework for reconstructing this ev...

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/105, concerning sustainable fisheries in the marine ecosystem, calls for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME) from destructive fishing practices. Subsequently, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) produced guidelines for identification of VME indicator species/taxa to assist in the implementation of the resolution, but rec...

In this paper, the new taxa Lepidium ferganense (Brassicaceae) was recorded for the flora of Iran for the first time. This taxon belongs to Irano-Turanian region. It was compared with the closest taxa in the present study. In addition, a morphological description, several Illustrations, and a distribution map were presented.