Ecological similarities and differences among littoral species of Ceriodaphnia
The occurrence of six littoral species of Ceriodaphnia (C. affinis, C. laticaudata, C. megops,C. reticulata, C. rotunda and C. setosa)living at the same time and locality is described.Basic population characteristics were studied in allspecies coexisting in the field, except for C. setosa, which was too scarce. Abundances,proportions of gamogenetic individuals, mean bodylengths and clutch sizes were compared among species.Dissolved oxygen, temperature, chlorophyll-a and totalseston volume were measured and related to populationchanges. C. laticaudata and C. rotundawere closely similar to each other in many featuresand showed significant differences to other species.C. reticulata and C. megops seem to besimilar in some features, while C. affinis wasecologically different.
Ceriodaphnia (Cladocera: Daphniidae) in China: lineage diversity, phylogeography and possible interspecific hybridization.
The distribution and species/lineage diversity of freshwater invertebrate zooplankton remains understudied in China. Here, we explored the species/lineage diversity and phylogeography of Ceriodaphnia species across China. The taxonomy of this genus is under-explored. Seven morphospecies of Ceriodaphnia (C. cornuta, C. laticaudata, C. megops, C. pulchella, C. quadrangula, C. rotunda and C. spinata) were identified across 45 of 422 water bodies examined. Rather little morphological variation was observed within any single morphospecies regardless of country of origin. Nevertheless, we recognized that some or all of these morphospecies might represent species complexes. To investigate this, phylogenetic relationships within and among these morphospecies were investigated based on mitochondrial (partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene) and nuclear (partial 28S rRNA gene) markers. The mitochondrial marker placed these populations in nine lineages corresponding to the morphospecies: C. laticaudata and C. pulchella were each represented by two lineages, suggesting that both are species complexes. The remaining five morphospecies were each represented by a single mtDNA lineage. Three of the nine mitochondrial lineages (belonging to C. pulchella, C. rotunda and C. megops) are newly reported and exhibited a restricted distribution within China. The nuclear-DNA phylogeny also recognized seven Ceriodaphnia taxa within China. We detected occasional mito-nuclear discordances in Ceriodaphnia taxa across China, suggesting interspecific introgression and hybridization. Our study contributes to an understanding of the species/lineage diversity of Ceriodaphnia, a genus with understudied taxonomy.
How to do a p-descent on an elliptic curve
In this paper, we describe an algorithm that reduces the computation of the (full) p-Selmer group of an elliptic curve E over a number field to standard number field computations such as determining the (p-torsion of) the S-class group and a basis of the S-units modulo pth powers for a suitable set S of primes. In particular, we give a result reducing this set S of 'bad primes' to a very small set, which in many cases only contains the primes above p. As of today, this provides a feasible algorithm for performing a full 3-descent on an elliptic curve over Q, but the range of our algorithm will certainly be enlarged by future improvements in computational algebraic number theory. When the Galois module structure of E[p] is favorable, simplifications are possible and p-descents for larger p are accessible even today. To demonstrate how the method works, several worked examples are included.