The enigmatic species Gastropacha protracta Herrich-Schäffer, [1856] identified as senior synonym of the Neotropical Prorifrons hoppi Draudt, 1927 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)

Glacier fluctuations in extratropical South America during the past 1000 years

The alkaloids are one of the most represented family of natural occurring biological active compounds. Amaryllidaceae are also very well known for their beautiful flower and are thus used as ornamental plants in historic and public gardens. The Amaryllidacea alkaloids constitute an important group that is subdivided into different subfamilies with different carbon skeletons. They are well known from ancient times for their long application in folk medicine, and in particular, Narcissus poeticus L. was known to Hippocrates of Cos (ca. B.C. 460-370), who treated uterine tumors with a formulate prepared from narcissus oil. To date, more than 600 alkaloids of 15 chemical groups exhibiting various biological activities have been isolated from the Amaryllidaceae plants. This plant genus is diffused in regions of Southern Africa, Andean South America and the Mediterranean basin. Thus, this review describes the chemical and biological activity of the alkaloids collected in these regions in the last two decades as weel those of isocarbostyls isolated from Amaryllidaceae in the same regions and same period.

Tortella fragilis is reported for the first time for South America. Tortellafragilis (Hook. & Wils.) Limpr. has been considered as a species confined exclusively to the northern hemisphere (Saito 1975; Steere 1978). Recent collections from New Zealand (Fife 1984; Vitt 1974) and South Africa (Magill 1981), as well as a revision of the collections reported by Greene et al. (1970) from the Antarctic (orginally described as Sarconeurum tortelloides S. W. Greene), however, have revealed that the species actually has a bipolar range with a disjunct occurrence in Hawaii (Zander & Hoe 1979). It is thus not surprising that the species was found also in southern South America (see below). Similarly, Greene (1975) reported the occurrence of S. glaciale (C. Miill.) Card., a species with a much wider distribution in the Antarctic than T. fragilis, in southern South America and some subantarctic islands. The latter species has been found in the Andes of South America and probably the same is also true for T. fragilis, although this has not yet been documented. The specimens found in Tierra del Fuego were collected on bare soil and schistose gravel from sea level to 610 m. Similar habitats are readily available also in more northern parts of the mountains. In all Fuegian localities the species was fairly sparse. Tortella tortuosa (Hedw.) Limpr. has been collected in more northern parts of South America (Churchill 1989; Matteri 1985; Seki 1974). Zander and Hoe (1979) present a small scale culture study of the Hawaiian material of T.fragilis (distinguished as var. tortelloides (S. W. Greene) Zander & Hoe) and discuss the possibility that T. tortuosa and T. fragilis var. tortelloides are possibly only partially differentiated genetically. This view is further discussed by Eckel (1991), who recognizes the variety as a distinct species as originally presented by Robinson (1972). This is due to the extensive studies by Zander of the Arctic material showing that T. fragilis and T. tortelloides do not intergrade. Eckel (1991) discusses the possibility that var. tortelloides originated as an ecological modification of T. tortuosa. The plants collected in Tierra del Fuego, however, show intermediate characters between T. fragilis and T. tortelloides as given by Zander and Hoe (1979). Stems are up to 25 mm high, leaves with less propaguloid apices are over 4 mm long, apical margins of leaves are essentially straight, laminal cells generally have a diameter of 9-11 Am, marginal cells are differentiated, reaching ca. 1/2-/ of the total le f length or they are weakly differentiated in small patches, and adaxial quadrate cells cover ca. 1/2-/4 of the distal part of the costa either totally or partially, being confined to the region adjacent to the costa except at the extreme apex. The specimens reported from New Zealand were assigned to the northern T. fragilis var. fragilis by Fife (1984). Accordingly, the Fuegian specimens are also tentatively assigned to T. fragilis. However, the identity of the southern hemisphere specimens remains doubtful until a thorough study of the whole genus

To remove atmospheric pressure loading (ATML) effect from GNSS coordinate time series, surface pressure (SP) models are required to predict the displacements. In this paper, we modeled the 3D ATML surface displacements using the latest MERRA-2 SP grids, together with four other products (NCEP-R-1, NCEP-R-2, ERA-Interim and MERRA) for 596 globally distributed GNSS stations, and compared them with ITRF2014 residual time series. The five sets of ATML displacements are highly consistent with each other, particularly for those stations far away from coasts, of which the lowest correlations in the Up component for all the four models w.r.t MERRA-2 become larger than 0.91. ERA-Interim-derived ATML displacement performs best in reducing scatter of the GNSS height for 90.3% of the stations (89.3% for NCEP-R-1, 89.1% for NCEP-R-2, 86.4% for MERRA and 85.1% for MERRA-2). We think that this may be possibly due to the 4D variational data assimilation method applied. Considering inland stations only, more than 96% exhibit WRMS reduction in the Up direction for all five models, with an average improvement of 3–4% compared with the original ITRF2014 residual time series before ATML correction. Most stations (> 67%) also exhibit horizontal WRMS reductions based on the five models, but of small magnitudes, with most improvements (> 76%) less than 5%. In particular, most stations in South America, South Africa, Oceania and the Southern Oceans show larger WRMS reductions with MERRA-2, while all other four SP datasets lead to larger WRMS reduction for the Up component than MERRA-2 in Europe. Through comparison of the daily pressure variation from the five SP models, we conclude that the bigger model differences in the SP-induced surface displacements and their impacts on the ITRF2014 residuals for coastal/island stations are mainly due to the IB correction based on the different land–sea masks. A unique high spatial resolution land–sea mask should be applied in the future, so that model differences would come from only SP grids. Further research is also required to compare the ATML effect in ice-covered and high mountainous regions, for example the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in China, the Andes in South America, etc., where larger pressure differences between models tend to occur.

Patterns of trauma across Andean South America: New discoveries and advances in interpretation

A sample of 106 wild forms and 99 landraces of common bean (Thaseolus vulgaris) from Middle America and the Andean region of South America were screened for variability in phaseolin seed protein using one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS/PAGE) and two-dimensional isoelectric focusing SDS/PAGE. The Middle American wild forms exhibited phaseolin patterns similar to the ‘S’ pattern described previously in cultivated forms, as well as a wide variety of additional banding patterns—‘M’ (Middle America) types—not encountered among common bean cultivars. The Andean wild forms showed only the ‘T’ phaseolin pattern, also described previously among cultivated forms. Landraces from Middle America showed ‘S’ or ‘S’-like patterns with the exception of 2 lines with ‘T’ phaseolin. In Andean South America, a majority of landraces had the ‘T’ phaseolin. Additional types represented in that region were (in decreasing order of frequency) the ‘S’ and ‘C’ types (already described among cultivated forms) as well as the ‘H’ (Huevo de huanchaco) and ‘A’ (Ayacucho), (new patterns previously undescribed among wild and cultivated beans). In each region—Middle America and Andean South America—the seeds of landraces with ‘T’ phaseolin were significantly larger than those of landraces with ‘S’ phaseolin. No significant differences in seed size were observed among landraces with ‘T,’ ‘C,’ ‘H,’ and ‘A’ phaseolin types of the Andean region. Our data favor 2 primary areas of domestication, one in Middle America leading to small-seeded cultivars with ‘S’ phaseolin patterns and the other in the Andes giving rise to large-seeded cultivars with ‘T’ (and possibly ‘C,’ ‘H,’ and ‘A’) phaseolin patterns.

Latin America constitutes a large and geographically diverse region of the New World. Physiographically, it is characterized by high precipitous mountain ranges – the Sierras Madres in Central America and the Andes in South America – with narrow Pacific coastal plains. Broad, well-drained, low-lying basins are found on the eastern slopes of the mountains that run into the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. There are extensive high, arid plains, such as the altiplano of Mexico and South America and the punas of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. There are also a number of tropical islands (both humid and arid, depending on prevailing winds and mountains) that extend north from South America, forming an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea that terminates in the Bahamas. A number of large islands – notably Cuba and Hispaniola – form the northwestern arm of this island chain. One distinctive feature of Latin America is that it has a very long north–south axis, with little of the east–west continental area unbroken by the north–south trending mountain ranges. This north–south spine crosscuts latitudes, making it difficult for animals and plants to migrate naturally east to west. Typically, similar climates lie along a common latitude. But in Latin America, the same latitude is dissected by altitudinal gradients that result in incredibly diverse ecosystems with diverse cultures adapting to the patchwork of environmental regimes. Some more extensive and large-scale political systems have taken advantage of the juxtaposition of different environmental and climatic regimes to integrate them into complex economies. In other situations, this extreme dissection resulted in isolated economic systems with political systems unable to expand beyond the boundaries of local economies.

The HadRM3P regional model from the UK Hadley Centre has been used to assess the moisture flux and the low‐level jet (LLJ) east of the Andes in South America over two time periods: the first can be understood as the current climate and covers the period from 1980 to 1989; the second covers the period from 2080 to 2089 under a future global warming climate as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 high‐emission scenario. The results are analyzed considering the vertically integrated moisture transport in the lower atmosphere and the moisture flux between the two core areas of South America—the Amazon Basin and the La Plata River Basin. In order to analyze the moisture transport east of the Andes, composites of South American LLJs were built based on the wind speed and vertical wind shear following the modified Bonner criteria 1 used to define LLJs. Integrations along the lateral boundaries of the two basins show that there could be a more intense moisture transport from tropical regions available to feed the mesoscale convective systems in the subtropical La Plata Basin in the IPCC A2 scenario, as compared to the present. This is because of the intense flow to the south associated with a faster LLJ bringing more moisture from the Amazon Basin southwards. It was also observed that the presence of the LLJ affects moisture convergence in the Amazon Basin in the current climate as well as in the warmer climate. In the future high‐emission scenario A2, a more intense LLJ in a global warming climate suggests increased moisture transport from north to south east of the Andes as compared to the present. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society

1986 saw the publication of a prognostic map for discovering giant oil and gas fields in the Andes in South America based on the recent block structure of the Earth’s crust. The model assumes that petroleum moves to the traps through permeable channels created at the intersection of deep faults. The technology of creation that the prognostic maps use involves (1) maps of morphostructural zoning, which outline the morphostructural knots (intersections of faults), and (2) a pattern recognition program that identifies knot-containing giant oil/gas fields. It was forecasted that, in the Andes of South America 11 knots, which had not been developed at that time, contain giant oil or gas fields. These 11 sites covered only 15% of the total area of all the Andes basins. Since then, six giant oil/gas fields have been discovered in the Andes region: Cano-Limon, Cusiana, Capiagua, and Volcanera (Llanos basin, Colombia), Camisea (Ukayali basin, Peru), and Incahuasi (Chaco basin, Bolivia). All these discoveries were made in places shown on the 1986 prognostic map as promising areas.

In ways both simple and complex, the California gold rush forever changed America. An event unique in our national experience, the gold rush created a new, culturally diverse social order on the Pacific Coast, linked by politics, laws, and bonds of sentiment to the United States. California gold mining inspired large-scale migration, stimulated economic growth, attracted investors, and subsidized hundreds of auxiliary businesses that served the mines and the miners. With rapid improvements in mining technology, the gold rush became the catalyst for the development of a wealth-producing, ecologically calamitous, socially divisive economy of extraction that, pushed by engineering expertise gained in California, spread rapidly to the Rocky Mountain West, British Columbia, Australia, New Zealand, the Andes of South America, and South Africa. In addition, Malcolm Rohrbough wants us to understand, the rush to California was a critical episode in American social history. It changed the lives of tens of thousands of men who left home in 1849, vowing (in the slang of the day) to see the elephant and find their fortune in a distant, littleknown land not yet fully Americanized. Equally important, the gold rush had a profound impact on those who remained home. The absence of these men, and additional thousands who followed them over a period of years, Rohrbough writes, reshaped families and communities across the American nation. To substantiate this point, he has combed the relevant primary sources in print and hundreds of manuscript collections, mainly diaries and personal correspondence, in more than a dozen states, and he has organized the resulting data in a form that is elegantly accessible. Without sacrificing scholarship, his writing is lucid, devoid of jargon, graceful. Rohrbough's first two chapters establish the setting. His account briefly describes California's social geography at the beginning of the gold rush era,

The peanut, Arachis hypogaea L., has its origin in the Andes of South America and was part of the native diet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries throughout the Caribbean area (Hammons 1982). Its route of introduction to the New World seems to trace through South Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and finally to the North American colonies. Although the peanut is commonly known and used in the diet, the understanding of its reproduction has a long history of confusion in the literature because of the uncommon relationship between aerially borne flowers and subterranean fruits. The relationship between the flower and fruit was not fully clarified until 1950 (Gregory et al. 1973). Gregory et al. (1973) also point out that misinformation may still be found in the literature on this subject as late as 1969.

W. Hardy Eshbaugh: 2007 Distinguished Economic Botanist It is indeed an honor to introduce this year’s Society for Economic Botany’s Distinguished Economic Botanist, Dr. W. Hardy Eshbaugh. His life has already spanned four careers, any one of which would have distinguished any ordinary mortal. He has not only been an outstanding researcher, but he has been a superlative teacher, organizer, administrator, and conservation leader as well. I will touch briefly on some of the highlights of each of these professional directions. Hardy’s research career has focused on investigations of the origin and evolution of Capsicum (chili peppers) and the flora and biogeography of the Bahamas. His published works include two books, over 100 research articles, and more than 20 book reviews. His chili pepper research has taken him to many parts of Central America, the Amazon, and Andean South America. In addition to his New World field studies, he has conducted research in East Africa and South Africa and has participated in several international meetings on the botany of sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the most powerful cultural influences in the past 500 years in South America has been the legacy of the Inca Empire. Many of the management techniques, business ideologies, and organizational systems that thrive today in South America, particularly in the Andean region that stretches from Colombia to Chile, have strong undertones of the prevalent indigenous values that dominated during the reign of the Incas. In this paper core managerial principles of the Incas are identified and explored based on an examination of the guiding organizational ideology that led this civilization to its zenith of greatness just prior to the arrival of Europeans to the Americas. The state of these values in organizational thinking today in Andean South America is assessed, examined, and discussed. Implications for the relevance of Inca principles to foreign firms, thus those not based in Andean South America, are also discussed and future research directions are identified.

The potato was introduced to Europe from the Andes of South America in the 16th century, and today it is grown worldwide; it is a nutritious staple food eaten by millions and underpins food security in many countries. Unknowingly, potato virus Y (PVY) was also introduced through trade in infected potato tubers, and it has become the most important viral pathogen of potato. Phylogenetic analysis has revealed the spread and emergence of strains of PVY, including strains causing economically important diseases in tobacco, tomato and pepper, and that the virus continues to evolve with the relatively recent emergence of new damaging recombinant strains. High-throughput, next-generation sequencing platforms provide powerful tools for detection, identification and surveillance of new PVY strains. Aphid vectors of PVY are expected to increase in incidence and abundance in a warmer climate, which will increase the risk of virus spread. Wider deployment of crop cultivars carrying virus resistance will be an important means of defence against infection. New cutting-edge biotechnological tools such as CRISPR and SIGS offer a means for rapid engineering of resistance in established cultivars. We conclude that in future, human activities and ingenuity should be brought to bear to control PVY and the emergence of new strains in key crops by increased focus on host resistance and factors driving virus evolution and spread.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Projects Supporting On-Farm Conservation of Native Crops: Evidence From the High Andes of South America