Distance and discrete geographic barriers play a role in isolating populations, as seed and pollen dispersal become limited. Nearby populations without any geographic barrier between them may also suffer from ecological isolation driven by habitat heterogeneity, which may promote divergence by local adaptation and drift. Likewise, elevation gradients may influence the genetic structure and dive...

Three species of Pseudodactylogyrus Gusev, 1965 (Monogenea: Pseudodactylogyridae) were collected from the gills of Anguilla reinhardtii Steindachner and A. australis Richardson from several localities in Australia and eels imported to Japan from Australia. Pseudodactylogyrus gusevi sp. n. from A. reinhardtii (type host) and A. australis in Queensland, Australia is most similar to P. bini (Kikuc...

Translocation of 13C and 15N was investigated at the spatial scales of within-shoot (i.e. the seagrass clonal unit including leaves and associated vertical rhizome) and among-shoots in a mixed meadow of Posidonia sinuosa and P. australis. Incubation with 13C and 15N was conducted in either the oldest leaf of a shoot (i.e. within-shoot scale) or in the first shoot on the 4th or 5th branch of the...

Background and aims We review evidence for hybridization of Phragmites australis in North America and the implications for the persistence of native P. australis ssp. americanus populations in North America. We also highlight the need for an updated classification system, which takes P. australis intraspecific variation and hybridization into account. Methodology We reviewed available published...

The effect of plant invasion on the microorganisms of soil sediments is very important for estuary ecology. The community structures of methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) as a function of Spartina alterniflora invasion in Phragmites australis-vegetated sediments of the Dongtan wetland in the Yangtze River estuary, China, were investigated using 454 pyrosequencing and quantitative r...

In order to determine the contribution of aquatic macrophyte communities on nutrition to sustain the high primary productivity of an estuary aquatic community, we analyzed the process of phosphorus release from sediments in aquatic macrophyte community in the estuary of the Chikugogawa River, South-Western Japan. Vertical profile of 4 PO  concentration and redox potential (Eh) of pore water in...

A central goal of ecology is to understand the mechanisms behind variation in the abundance of species. Food web theory predicts higher biomass for animals at lower trophic levels. However, some high trophic level species may reach great abundance via highly efficient foraging behaviors. We evaluated ecological and behavioral traits of the giant tropical ant Dinoponera australis related to thes...

The aboveground growth, physiological and biochemical parameters of two clones of the cosmopolitan wetland grass Phragmites australis, grown at four treatment combinations of temperature and CO2, were investigated to elucidate whether their climate response differed due to inherent differences in their ecological adaptation. The two phylogeographically distinct P. australis clones (DK clone, Eu...

The New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi, whose foot is commonly infected by the digenean trematode Curtuteria australis (Echinostomatidae), is often found heavily infected and unable to burrow on the sediment surface of tidal flats. This has been interpreted as a Curtuteria-manipulation with the purpose of increasing the transmission of the parasite to shorebirds acting as final hosts. U...