Shuichi Noshiro

Bio: Shuichi Noshiro is an academic researcher from Meiji University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Castanea crenata & Tracheid. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 42 publications receiving 1707 citations. Previous affiliations of Shuichi Noshiro include Tohoku University.

IAWA list of microscopic features for softwood identification

Abstract: Pieter Baas – Leiden, The Netherlands Nadezhda Blokhina – Vladivostok, Russia Tomoyuki Fujii – Ibaraki, Japan Peter Gasson – Kew, UK Dietger Grosser – Munich, Germany Immo Heinz – Munich, Germany Jugo Ilic – South Clayton, Australia Jiang Xiaomei – Beijing, China Regis Miller – Madison, WI, USA Lee Ann Newsom – University Park, PA, USA Shuichi Noshiro – Ibaraki, Japan Hans Georg Richter – Hamburg, Germany Mitsuo Suzuki – Sendai, Japan Teresa Terrazas – Montecillo, Mexico Elisabeth Wheeler – Raleigh, NC, USA Alex Wiedenhoeft – Madison, WI, USA

Latitudinal trends in wood anatomy within species and genera: case study in Cornus S.L. (Cornaceae).

Abstract: Latitudinal trends in wood anatomical characters in three Asiatic species of Cornus sensu lato (s.l.) were studied and compared with those for the whole genus based on an extensive sampling covering the specific distribution ranges and the generic data from a previous study. We studied 124 specimens of C. controversa growing between 31.58 and 45.38 N, 54 of C. kousa between 24.48 and 40.58 N, and 64 of C. macrophylla between 27.88 and 41.08 N. Characters studied were vessel element length, fiber length, vessel frequency, tangential vessel diameter, and vessel grouping index. At the species level no latitudinal trends were detected throughout the distribution ranges of the species. Neither tree size, altitude, nor climatic factors had a significant correlation with wood anatomical characters. In contrast, at the genus level, latitudinal trends were significant not just for the whole genus, but for both New and Old World species groups. At the genus level, latitude and three climatic factors all had a significant correlation with wood anatomical characters, but correlation coefficients with latitude were markedly high. The difference in latitudinal trends between the genus and species levels may be due to the radiation of Cornus along paleoclimatic gradients in the early Tertiary. The systematic wood anatomy of Cornaceae and allies (Noshiro and Baas, 1998) showed the existence of clear latitudinal trends in three genera with a wide geographical distribution: Cornus s.l., Garrya, and Alangium excluding sect. Constigma. Vessel element length and fiber length of these three genera and tangential vessel diameter of Cornus s.l. showed a nearly linear decrease with increasing latitude with values at ;408 about half those of equatorial values. When Cornus species were roughly divided into large trees, medium-sized trees, small trees, and shrubs, latitudinal trends for vessel element length were apparent within each size group. Latitudinal trends in several wood anatomical characters seem to be a general phenomenon for woody dicotyledonous genera with a wide geographical distribution. The trends have been detected in Ilex (Baas, 1973), Symplocos (van den Oever, Baas, and Zandee, 1981) and 17 smaller genera of 14 families (van der Graaff and Baas, 1974). These studies only described correlations between latitude and wood anatomical characters and discussed the trends in terms of the tropical to the arctic climatic gradient. None has tried statistical comparison of wood anatomical variation with more precise climatic data. At the species level, variation in wood structure has been studied more in relation to altitude than to latitude. Latitudinal and altitudinal trends in wood structure at the species level are either not detected, present but not pronounced, or obvious. Van der Graaff and Baas (1974) found no altitudinal trends in six species nor latitudinal ones in one species. Sastrapradja and Lamoureux (1969) did not find any altitudinal trends in 1

Lack of latitudinal trends in wood anatomy of Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae), a species with a worldwide distribution.

Abstract: Latitudinal or altitudinal variation in several anatomical characters of wood is common for woody dicotyledonous genera with a wide distribution, but whether such variation exists at the species level is disputed. Latitudinal and altitudinal trends in wood anatomy of Dodonaea viscosa were studied, using 102 samples collected between 41.2degrees S and 33.3degrees N latitude and 7-2750 in altitude. We studied variation in four quantitative features: vessel element length, fiber length, vessel frequency, and tangential vessel diameter. Ontogenetic trends were minimal with a slight decrease or increase in the innermost stem and were negligible among the studied specimens. Throughout the distributional range of the species, no latitudinal trends were detected in either the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, Altitudinal trends were also nonexistent, except for two features in specimens from China and Japan. Absence of latitudinal or altitudinal trends in this widely distributed species suggests that in some species the species-level variation in wood anatomy is not controlled by ecological gradients.

Ecological wood anatomy of NepaleseRhododendron (Ericaceae). 2. Intraspecific variation

Abstract: The intraspecific relationship of selected wood anatomical characters with stem diameter, plant height, and altitude was investigated in four NepaleseRhododendron species:R. anthopogon, R. lepidotum, R. campanulatum, andR. arboreum, i.e., two shrubs, one subtree, and one tree. We studied 23 to 27 specimens for each species.R. anthopogon grew from 3,380 to 4,950 m,R. lepidotum from 2,060 to 4,720 m,R. campanulatum from 2,790 to 4,140 m, andR. arboreum from 1,430 to 3,460 m. Multiple regression analysis and actual distribution of character values show that the wood anatomical characters having a significant correlation with non-anatomical factors differ between species. The number of significant characters are two inR. anthopogon andR. campanulatum, five inR. lepidotum, and nine inR. arboreum and tends to be small in species having smaller altitudinal ranges. Average pore area, most strongly correlated with non-anatomical factors in interspecific variation, is significantly correlated only inR. lepidotum andR. arboreum. The general trends in intraspecific variation among four NepaleseRhododendron species differ from the trends found in interspecific variation within the genus and are characteristic of each species.

Ecological wood anatomy ofAlnus nepalensis (Betulaceae) in East Nepal

Abstract: Wood anatomical characters ofAlnus nepalensis growing in East Nepal are evaluated against three non-anatomical factors: tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), and altitude. Samples were taken from the outermost part of the trunk of five canopy trees at 11 localities between 790 and 2,740 m above sea level. Tree height ranged from 10 to 28 m, and DBH ranged from 15 to 80 cm. Altitude and tree height are correlated with all the vessel characters studied. Among wood anatomical characters, vessel characters measured from cross sections are strongly correlated with one another, and are also correlated with vessel element and fiber-tracheid length. Multiple regression analysis using non-anatomical factors as independent variables resulted in significant correlation at 1% level in all pore characters, vessel element length, perforation plate bar number, and fibertracheid length. Regression coefficients of significant regressions are usually largest for altitude. For wood structure ofAlnus nepalensis in East Nepal, 23 to 42% of the variation is affected by non-anatomical factors. The large contribution of altitude is considered to be an indirect measure of the effect of temperature.

Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

Abstract: The time of arrival of people in Australia is an unresolved question. It is relevant to debates about when modern humans first dispersed out of Africa and when their descendants incorporated genetic material from Neanderthals, Denisovans and possibly other hominins. Humans have also been implicated in the extinction of Australia’s megafauna. Here we report the results of new excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia. Artefacts in primary depositional context are concentrated in three dense bands, with the stratigraphic integrity of the deposit demonstrated by artefact refits and by optical dating and other analyses of the sediments. Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, with a distinctive stone tool assemblage including grinding stones, ground ochres, reflective additives and ground-edge hatchet heads. This evidence sets a new minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia, the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, and the subsequent interactions of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans. Optical dating of sediments containing stone artefacts newly excavated at Madjedbebe, Australia, indicate that human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, thereby setting a new minimum age for the arrival of people in Australia. When did humans first colonize Australia? The date of the initial landing on the continent that is now associated with cold lager and 'Waltzing Matilda' has been highly controversial. Dates from a site called Madjedbebe in northern Australia had put the presence of modern humans in Australia at between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago, but these results have since been hotly contested. Here, the results from a comprehensive program of dating of new excavations at the site confirm that people first arrived there around 65,000 years ago. The results show that humans reached Australia well before the extinction of the Australian megafauna and the disappearance of Homo floresiensis in neighbouring Indonesia.

Universal scaling in tree and vascular plant allometry: toward a general quantitative theory linking plant form and function from cells to ecosystems.

Abstract: A general theory of allometric scaling that predicts how the proportions of vascular plants and the characteristics of plant communities change or scale with plant size is outlined. The theory rests, in part, on the assumptions of (1) minimal energy dissipation in the transport of fluid through space-filling, fractal-like, branching vascular networks; and (2) the absence of scaling with plant size in the anatomical and physiological attributes of leaves and xylem. The theory shows how the scaling of metabolism with plant size is central to the scaling of whole-plant form and function. It is shown how allometric constraints influence plant populations and, potentially, processes in plant evolution. Rapidly accumulating evidence in support of the general allometric model is reviewed and new evidence is presented. Current work supports the notion that scaling of how plants utilize space and resources is central to the development of a general synthetic and quantitative theory of plant form, function, ecology and diversity.

Character States, Morphological Variation, and Phylogenetic Analysis: A Review

Abstract: The step in cladistic analysis that has received least attention is delimitation of char- acter states, there usually being little justification for their delimitation. It is generally assumed that states of cladistic characters are discrete, even when variation is quantitative. I show here that a majority of the character states of obviously quantitative characters used in lower-level cladistic studies in botany over the last generation are ambiguous even when ingroup variation alone is analyzed. Consideration of variation in the outgroup may compromize either the states recognized in the ingroup and/or the polarity that they are subsequently assigned. Furthermore, many so- called qualitative characters are based on a quantitative phenomenological base filtered through the reified semantic discontinuities of botanical terminology; such characters face the problems of their more obviously quantitative relatives. Methods for delimiting states within quantitative char- acters are examined. Some produce gaps in the variation by redefining the character, scoring the intermediates in a distinctive fashion, performing phylogenetic analyses within the terminal taxa, or changing the hierarchical level at which the variation is evaluated. Others produce states by manipulation of the statistical properties of the variation of the ensemble of taxa being studied. These latter methods often allow greater resolution of the phylogeny, but at the cost of lowering the significance of the most parsimonious tree. The underlying assumptions of the two sets of methods are briefly analyzed. Problems manifest in the division of continuous variation into char- acter states suggest a reappraisal of the early steps of cladistic analysis; in practice, character states often seem to be delimited in conjunction with developing ideas of the phylogeny, rather than in a step prior to a phylogenetic analysis. It is recommended that character states be delimited by carefully analyzed discontinuities (not necessarily absolute gaps) in the variation, attention having been paid to variation in the outgroup, and that "morphological" characters in general are assumed to be quantitative unless demonstrated otherwise. Explicit justification for the delimitation of char- acter states should be given as a matter of course in all phylogenetic studies.

Eastern Asian endemic seed plant genera and their paleogeographic history throughout the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract: We review the fossil history of seed plant genera that are now endemic to eastern Asia. Although the majority of eastern Asian endemic genera have no known fossil record at all, 54 genera, or about 9%, are reliably known from the fossil record. Most of these are woody (with two exceptions), and most are today either broadly East Asian, or more specifically confined to Sino-Japanese subcategory rather than being endemic to the Sino-Himalayan area. Of the “eastern Asian endemic” genera so far known from the fossil record, the majority formerly occurred in Europe and/or North America, indicating that eastern Asia served as a late Tertiary or Quaternary refugium for taxa. Hence, many of these genera may have originated in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere and expanded their ranges across continents and former sea barriers when tectonic and climatic conditions allowed, leading to their arrival in eastern Asia. Although clear evidence for paleoendemism is provided by the gymnosperms Amentotaxus, Cathaya, Cephalotaxus, Cunninghamia, Cryptomeria, Glyptostrobus, Ginkgo, Keteleeria, Metasequoia, Nothotsuga, Pseudolarix, Sciadopitys, and Taiwania, and the angiosperms Cercidiphyllum, Choerospondias, Corylopsis, Craigia, Cyclocarya, Davidia, Dipelta, Decaisnea, Diplopanax, Dipteronia, Emmenopterys, Eucommia, Euscaphis, Hemiptelea, Hovenia, Koelreuteria, Paulownia, Phellodendron, Platycarya, Pteroceltis, Rehderodendron, Sargentodoxa, Schizophragma, Sinomenium, Tapiscia, Tetracentron, Toricellia, Trapella, and Trochodendron, we cannot rule out the possibility that neoendemism plays an important role especially for herbaceous taxa in the present-day flora of Asia, particularly in the Sino-Himalayan region. In addition to reviewing paleobotanical occurrences from the literature, we document newly recognized fossil occurrences that expand the geographic and stratigraphic ranges previously known for Dipelta, Pteroceltis, and Toricellia.

The dalbergioid legumes (Fabaceae): delimitation of a pantropical monophyletic clade

Abstract: A monophyletic pantropical group of papilionoid legumes, here referred to as the ‘‘dalbergioid’’ legumes, is circumscribed to include all genera previously referred to the tribes Aeschynomeneae and Adesmieae, the subtribe Bryinae of the Desmodieae, and tribe Dalbergieae except Andira, Hymenolobium, Vatairea,and Vataireopsis. This previously undetected group was discovered with phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences from the chloroplast trnK (including matK) and trnL introns, and the nuclear ribosomal 5.8S and flanking internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2. All dalbergioids belong to one of three well-supported subclades, the Adesmia, Dalbergia, and Pterocarpus clades. The dalbergioid clade and its three main subclades are cryptic in the sense that they are genetically distinct but poorly, if at all, distinguished by nonmolecular data. Traditionally important taxonomic characters, such as arborescent habit, free stamens, and lomented pods, do not provide support for the major clades identified by the molecular analysis. Short shoots, glandular-based trichomes, bilabiate calyces, and aeschynomenoid root nodules, in contrast, are better indicators of relationship at this hierarchical level. The discovery of the dalbergioid clade prompted a re-analysis of root nodule structure and the subsequent finding that the aeschynomenoid root nodule is synapomorphic for the dalbergioids.