Józef Mitka

Exploitation of wild plants by the early Neolithic hunter–gatherers of the Western Desert, Egypt: Nabta Playa as a case-study

The role of plants in the subsistence economy of pre-agricultural societies of the eastern Sahara is poorly known because vegetal remains, except for wood charcoal, are seldom found in archaeological sites. Site E-75-6 at Nabta Playa, with rich assemblages of charred seeds and fruits, is exceptional. Around 8000 b.p. the inhabitants of this site collected a wide spectrum of wild food plants. Wild sorghum was of special interest and its occasional cultivation cannot be excluded.

Chromosome numbers in Aconitum sect. Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) from the Carpathians

Abstract Chromosome numbers for two studied taxa of sec. Aconitum from the Eastern/Southern Carpathians: A. bucoviniense Zapał. (2n = 32) and A. ×nanum (Baumg.) Simonk. (2n = 32) are given for the first time. The chromosome numbers of A. firmum Rchb. subsp. firmum (2n =32), subsp. maninense (Skalický) Starmühl. (2n = 32), subsp. moravicum (2n = 32) and subsp. fissurae Nyar. (2n = 32) are confirmed. In the case of the latest subspecies the number of the chromosomes are stated for the first time for the Carpathians. The geographical distribution and the hybridogenous origin of this particular taxa is discussed.

Multiple cryptic refugia of forest grass Bromus benekenii in Europe as revealed by ISSR fingerprinting and species distribution modelling

Despite not having been fully recognized, the cryptic northern refugia of temperate forest vegetation in Central and Western Europe are one of the most important in the Holocene history of the vegetation on the subcontinent. We have studied a forest grass Bromus benekenii in 39 populations in Central, Western and Southern Europe with the use of PCR-ISSR fingerprinting. The indices of genetic population diversity, multivariate, and Bayesian analyses, supplemented with species distribution modelling have enabled at least three putative cryptic northern refugial areas to be recognized: in Western Europe—the Central and Rhenish Massifs, in Central Europe—the Bohemia–Moravia region and in the Eastern/Western Carpathians. Central Poland is the regional genetic melting-pot where several migratory routes might have met. Southern Poland had a different postglacial history and was under the influence of an Eastern/Western Carpathian cryptic refugium. More forest species should be checked in a west–east gradient in Europe to corroborate the hypothesis on the Western European glacial refugia.

Relationships between ecosystems and plant assemblages as responses to environmental conditions in the Lower Jurassic of Hungary and Romania

Abstract Two Early Jurassic localities, the Mecsek Mts in Hungary and Anina in Romania, are similarly significant and both floras are of autochthonous/paraautochthonous origin. In the Early Jurassic the Hungarian locality was a delta plain; the Romanian locality was an intramontane depression filled predominantly by a braided river system. The floristic composition of the two localities (52 genera, 120 species), although superficially similar (25 common genera), differs at species level (only 9 common species) as well as in the proportions of taxa in major plant groups. These differences can be explained by differences in environmental conditions resulting from palaeogeographic and topographic factors. Based on previous and recent studies, alpha diversity as well as statistically (DCA, PCA) differentiated ecogroups are compared and discussed. For common species, the GLM method was used to classify them to particular environmental response types. Their environmental requirements in both ecosystems are evaluated. Some of the shared species showed different preferences at the localities, explainable by their broad ecological tolerance.

Genetic Variability of the Populations of Zwackhia viridis (Ach.) Poetsch & Schied (Lecanographaceae, Lichenized Ascomycetes) in the Eastern Poland: Geographic Versus Habitat Distance

ABSTRACT: Zwackhia viridis is a crustose lichen being found in forests throughout Poland. It belongs to rare species being labelled primeval forest lichens which are associated with large forest complexes. The eastern populations of Z. viridis were examined using RAPD technique in order to check whether geographic distance affects genetic diversity of the populations under study. The analysis of seven populations of that species showed large intraspecific diversity. The greatest genetic similarity occurred between populations from the north-eastern area of the country, about 300 km away from each other. In dendrograms, only these populations have simple matching distance greater than 50%.

The molecular marker-based comparison of Azotobacter spp. populations isolated from industrial soils of Cracow-Nowa Huta steelworks (southern Poland) and the adjacent agricultural soils

The occurrence of Azotobacter spp., which has beneficial effects on plant development, is related to various soil properties, such as pH and fertility. This study evaluated the prevalence of Azotobacter spp. in industrial (H) and agricultural soils (P) in Nowa Huta, Cracow and determined the phenotypic and genetic diversity of these bacteria. The examined bacteria were present in 40% of H and in 50% of P soils. Taxonomic identification of the bacterial isolates indicated the presence of three species—A. salinestris, A. chroococcum and A. vinelandii. The genetic diversity, determined using two fingerprinting methods—Random Analysis of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Rep-PCR (BOX) revealed high level of population diversity. In AMOVA analysis most of diversity was attributed to within-population variation (76–85%), and only 3.78–6.18% was associated with among-group H and P variation. Global test of differences revealed distinct population structure within bacterial strains isolated from H and P areas only for BOX markers (Fst = 0.05732, P = 0.00275). Phenetic analyses: UPGMA and DCA better discriminated H and P groups based on RAPD data. Both BOX and RAPD methods provided an insight into the genetic complexity of Azotobacter spp. variation in soils of different land-use types.

Genetic Variation of Aconitum sect. Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) at a Macrogeographical Scale in the Carpathians

ABSTRACT The tetraploid (2n = 32) Aconitum sect. Aconitum in the Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians and Apušeni Mts. is represented by high-mountain A. bucovinese, A. firmum subsp. fissurae and their putative taxonomic hybrid A. ×nanum. The aim of the paper was to reveal which delimiting system: taxonomic vs. geographic-population better explains genetic variability (ISSR — Inter Simple Sequence Repeats) of the Aconitum individuals in the Eastern/Southern Carpathians. Twenty nine plants sampled in five populations within entire range of taxa distribution were assigned to genetic groups according to a Bayesian STRUCTURE analysis, neighbour-net classification (NN), and nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination (NMDS). Three taxa were distributed in four (NN, NMDS) or two (STRUCTURE) genetic groups, and the partitioning of genetic variation with analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed the highest percentage of variation attributed to the four ISSR genetic groups (22.6%), then to the two STRUCTURE groups (18.9%) and three taxa (15.6%, all P < 0.001), and finally to the three geographic regions (6.5%, P = 0.013). Genetic groups harbored specimens from distant regions: A. f. subsp. fissurae had similar genetic profiles in the Southern Carpathians and Apušeni Mts. (100% support), and some specimens of A. bucovinense had genetic links with A. f. subsp. fissurae. The hybrid species A. ×nanum was genetically specific. We concluded that (i) genetic links between nowadays distantly located populations could have originated in the effect of ancient contacts and hybridization, (ii) probably in the Carpathians two ancient genetic centers of the A. sect. Aconitum existed and (iii) high genetic specificity of the hybrid species A. ×nanum deserves further studies.