Vivipary in the cactus family: A reply to Ortega-Baes’ et al. evaluation of 25 species from northwestern Argentina

This is a reply to Ortega-Baes’ et al. (2010) survey of 25 Argentinean species of cacti evaluated for vivipary. We argue that the sample size and geographic area of the species investigated is insufficient to totally exclude the putative commonness of this condition in the Cactaceae. We indicate possible reasons why they did not find viviparous fruits in their survey. Failure to detect vivipary in cacti of NW Argentina may be correlated with limited taxonomic sampling and geographic region in addition to intrinsic and extrinsic plant factors, including different stages of fruit and seed development and genetic, ecological, and edaphic aspects, which, individually or in concert, control precocious germination. We uphold that viviparity is putatively frequent in this family and list 16 new cases for a total of 53 viviparous cacti, which make up ca. 4% incidence of viviparism in the Cactaceae, a substantially higher percentage than most angiosperm families exhibiting this condition. The Cactaceae ranks fourth in frequency of viviparity after the aquatic families of mangroves and seagrasses. We suggest the re-evaluation of cactus vivipary, primarily as a reproductive adaptation to changing environments and physiological stress with a secondary role as a reproductive strategy with limited offspring dispersal/survival and fitness advantages.     

Authors' reply to a comment on 'An objective method for smoothing palaeomagnetic data'

Summary. King & Rees (1979), in commenting on our paper (Clark & Thompson 1978), have raised a number of subjects beyond the main theme of our paper. We described a statistical method of smoothing noisy data and illustrated its application using a set of previously published palaeomagnetic declination data. King & Rees acknowledge our success in achieving the main aim of our paper, namely the construction of objective confidence limits for the smooth curve presumed to underlie the data. However, they seem to question the value of our general technique of data-analysis when used to estimate past variations in the geomagnetic field. As they interpose in their comments on our statistical analyses references to 'techniques of sedimentary analysis', 'inclination errors', 'mode of acquisition of remanence' and 'stability tests', we take the opportunity to discuss these additional topics as well as those relating to our original paper.     

On the British Siluro-Devonian palaeomagnetic field problem: reply to comments by T. H. Torsvik et al.

We appreciate this opportunity to clarify our position on a few central issues of this debate. By our rejection of a number of Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic data from Scotland (Storetvedt et al. 1990), Torsvik et al. accuse us of disregarding all classical field tests. We have never disregarded any classical field test, but would argue that such tests have sometimes been misapplied. Also, we obviously have not rejected all earlier British 'Siluro-Devonian'data, including Scottish results (e.g. table 3, Storetvedt et al. 1990).     

Integration of reflection seismic and sediment grain-size data from Lake Khubsugul (Northern Mongolia): a reply to Prokopenko and Kendall

Prokopenko and Kendall (J Paleolimnol doi:, 2008) criticise the work presented in Fedotov et al. (J Paleolimnol 39:335–348, 2008), and instead propose an alternative interpretation for the grain-size evolution recorded in the KDP-01 core, retrieved from the central part of Lake Khubsugul. Their interpretation is based (i) on a seismic-stratigraphic re-interpretation of sparker seismic profile khub012 (which they copied from Fedotov et al. (EOS Trans 87:246–250, 2006)), (ii) on the presupposition that changes in lake level are the dominant control on facies distribution in Lake Khubsugul, and (iii) on the invalidation of our age-depth model. In this reply to their comment, we demonstrate that they interpreted seismic artefacts and geometries caused by changes in profile orientation as true stratigraphic features and that the lake-level reconstruction they derive from this interpretation is therefore incorrect. We also demonstrate that their grain-size predictions, which they consider to be predominantly driven by changes in lake level, are inconsistent with the measured sulphate concentration, which is a demonstrated proxy of lake level in Lake Khubsugul, and with the measured grain-size record. Finally, we point out that even if there would be a problem with the age-depth model, this problem would not affect the part of the sedimentary sequence discussed in Fedotov et al. (J Paleolimnol 39:335–348, 2008).     

A NEW RECEPTOR MODEL:A DIRECT TRILINEAR DECOMPOSITION FOLLOWED BY A MATRIX RECONSTRUCTION

In many cases,monitoring data for ambient airborne particles can be organized in the form of a three-way data table with one way for chemical species,one for sampling periods and one for sites.A directtrilinear decomposition followed by a matrix reconstruction(DTDMR)is developed to analyze such adata table as a whole.The three-way data set is composed into three two-way matrices by a direct trilineardecomposition(DTD).The column vectors of each of the matrices are called‘source profiles’,‘emissionpatterns’and‘site coefficients’respectively.Particulate sources are identified by examining both theirsource profiles and emission patterns.After the sources have been identified,emission patterns and sitecoefficients are used to produce a three-way matrix that gives estimates of mass contributions of sourcesto the samples collected at every site in every period.By simulation study,not only has the method beenverified,but a good indicator has been found that shows the number of factors(i.e.sources)in thesystem.Unlike other receptor models,DTDMR does not require source profile data and does not involvetrial-and-error procedures.Since DTDMR identifies sources based on variations in two dimensions,it hasa higher potential to distinguish two sources that have similar chemical compositions.The DTDMRmodel has provided excellent results with simulated data and has been applied in a real world three-waydata set.