Search

Research on Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer diet has focused on the consumption of animals. Evidence for the use of plant foods is comparatively limited but is rapidly expanding. The authors present an analysis of carbonised macro-remains of processed plants from Franchthi Cave in the Aegean Basin and Shanidar Cave in the north-west Zagros Mountains. Microscopic examination of the charred food remains reveals the use of pounded pulses as a common ingredient in cooked plant foods. The results are discussed in the context of the regional archaeobotanical literature, leading the authors to argue that plants with bitter and astringent tastes were key ingredients of Palaeolithic cuisines in South-west Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Keywords: South-west Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Palaeolithic diet, prehistoric food preparation, huntergatherers, archaeobotany, Introduction The dietary choices and food preparation technologies of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers are the subject of much debate. Palaeolithic peoples have been portrayed, for example, as specialist hunters focusing on large [...]

The objective of this paper was to estimate the effect of either missing or dominated plants (those that developed poorly) in experiments evaluating progenies or clones of Eucalyptus. Additionally, it was to investigate whether the use of the area available per plant is a suitable strategy to mitigate the effect of missing plants. Lastly, it was to evaluate whether missing or dominated plants in the experiments affected the association between plant performance in a progeny trial (PT) and their respective clones in a clonal trial (CT). Five 5-year-old PTs and four 3-year-old CTs were used. The recorded trait was diameter at breast height (DBH). The area available per plant was used to carry out the adjustment, taking into consideration the absence of neighboring plants as well as dominated plants. It was found that with the level of missing plants below 20% in experiments, the adjustment using the area available per plant did not improve the efficiency of the selection of either PTs or CTs. The strategy of considering not only missing plants but also dominated plants is not beneficial for the adjustment. Key words: Eucalyptus breeding, biometry, quantitative genetics, stand correction, statistical analysis. Resume : Cet article a pour objectif d'estimer l'effet des plants manquants ou domines (ceux qui se developpent mal) dans les experiences qui evaluent les descendants ou les clones d'eucalyptus. De plus, l'utilisation de la surface disponible par plant a ete etudiee afin de determiner s'il s'agit d'une strategie appropriee pour attenuer l'effet des plants manquants. Enfin, l'effet des plants manquants ou domines dans les experiences portant sur le lien entre la performance des plants dans un test sur descendance (TD) et celle de leurs clones respectifs dans un test clonal (TC) a ete evalue. Cinq TD a l'age de 5 ans et quatre TC a l'age de 3 ans ont ete utilises. Le caractere qui a ete mesure est le diametre a hauteur de poitrine (DHP). La surface disponible par plant a ete utilisee pour effectuer la correction, en tenant compte de l'absence de plants avoisinants et de plants domines. Les resultats montrent qu'avec une proportion de plants manquants inferieure a 20 % dans les experiences, la correction basee sur la surface disponible par plant n'ameliore pas l'efficacite de la selection des TD ni celle des TC. La strategie qui consiste a tenir compte non seulement des plants manquants mais aussi des plants domines n'est pas utile pour la correction. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : amelioration de l'eucalyptus, biometrie, genetique quantitative, correction du peuplement, analyse statistique., Introduction The genetic improvement of Eucalyptus in Brazil has been very efficient, especially when it comes to the volume of timber. However, the stage of evaluation of progenies and clones [...]

It was the early 1990s when Anil Netravali began his career at the College of Human Ecology as a fiber scientist. At the time, carbon, glass, and Kevlar composites were [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.05.001 Byline: Benjamin Sames (a)(b)(c), Richard L. Cifelli (c), Michael E. Schudack (b) Keywords: Cordilleran foreland basin; nonmarine Early Cretaceous; Ostracoda; biostratigraphy; chronostratigraphy; early Mammalia Abstract: The timespan represented by the hiatus between nonmarine Upper Jurassic (Early Berriasian?) and unconformably overlying Lower Cretaceous deposits throughout the North American Western Interior foreland basin has been under discussion for the entire 20th century and remains controversial to date. Ongoing research in revision of Early Cretaceous nonmarine ostracods of some respective North American formations leads to a breakthrough concerning the verification of their biostratigraphic utility as well as their subsequent application. These ostracods are not as endemic as hitherto believed and can be used for supraregional and regional correlation, as well as improvement of the age determination of North American units. New results strongly suggest a maximum age of Late Berriasian to Valanginian ([approximately equal to]142-138Ma) for the lower part of the Lakota (Black Hills area, South Dakota) and Cedar Mountain (Utah) formations. A pre-Aptian maximum age for the Lakota Formation is supported by early mammals. These biostratigraphic results affect the correlatable formations as well, and therefore have broad implications on basin-related geologic and paleontologic topics that are overviewed and discussed herein. The central issue hampering an integrated synthesis of the foreland basin is its yet imprecise chronostratigraphic framework and documentation. Temporal relationships between the gologic processes of the basin and their control factors are still insufficiently calibrated or controversial. Detailed ongoing revision of North American Early Cretaceous nonmarine ostracods demonstrates their applicability, utility, and further potential as tool for improvement of the chronostratigraphy of the Western Interior foreland basin at both small and large scales. These ostracods also foster understanding of animal (e.g. early mammals and dinosaurs) and plant (angiosperms) evolution on the North American continent and show promise of providing age determinations for single-sample horizons in the near future. Author Affiliation: (a) Universitat Wien, Institut fur Palaontologie, Geozentrum, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Wien, Austria (b) Freie Universitat Berlin, Institut fur Geologische Wissenschaften, Fachrichtung Palaontologie, Malteserstr. 74-100, 12249 Berlin, Germany (c) Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73072, USA Article History: Received 31 August 2009; Accepted 11 May 2010