Estimated evolutionary tempo of East Asian gobionid fishes (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from mitochondrial DNA sequence data

The rapid development of molecular phylogenetic analysis has provided a new path to investigate the tempo of evolution.In this work,a rather complete molecular phylogeny of the East Asian gobionid fishes was constructed based on mtDNA cytochrome b gene sequences.Molecular clock analysis was then applied to investigate the speciation tempo of this group.The phylogenetic analysis revealed four major groups that were in agreement with previous studies.Lineage numbers plotted over time indicate that gobionid li...     

Climate and environment reconstruction during the Medieval Warm Period in Lop Nur of Xinjiang,China

We made multi-proxy analysis of ^14C, grain size, microfossils, plant seeds, and geochemical elements on samples from a profile in the central West Lake of Lop Nur. The grain size suggests relatively stable sedimentary environment around the Medieval Warm Period （MWP） with weak storm effect, which is followed by frequent strong storm events. Abundant microfossils and plant seeds in this stage indicate a warm and humid fresh to brackish lake environment. C, N, and stable elements are high in content in the sediments while Rb/Sr, Ba/Sr, and Ti/Sr are in a steady low level. In addition, plenty of red willows lived here prior to about 700 a B.P., indicating a favorable environmental condition. The results indicate that the environment in Lop Nur and its west bank turned to be favorable at about 2200 a B.P., where the Loulan Culture began to thrive. Then the climate and environment came to be in the good condition in the Tang and Song Dynasties, when the storm effect became weaker, rainfall increased and the salty lake water turned to be brackish to fresh lake water. Hence, limnic biomass increased with higher species diversity.