Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests.

The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted-modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth-survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.

Homogentisic acid autoxidation and oxygen radical generation: implications for the etiology of alkaptonuric arthritis.

The metabolic disorder, alkaptonuria, is distinguished by elevated serum levels of 2,5-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (homogentisic acid), pigmentation of cartilage and connective tissue and, ultimately, the development of inflammatory arthritis. Oxygen radical generation during homogentisic acid autoxidation was characterized in vitro to assess the likelihood that oxygen radicals act as molecular agents of alkaptonuric arthritis in vivo. For homogentisic acid autoxidized at physiological pH and above, yielding superoxide (O2-)2 and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the homogentisic acid autoxidation rate was oxygen dependent, proportional to homogentisic acid concentration, temperature dependent and pH dependent. Formation of the oxidized product, benzoquinoneacetic acid was inhibited by the reducing agents, NADH, reduced glutathione, and ascorbic acid and accelerated by SOD and manganese-pyrophosphate. Manganese stimulated autoxidation was suppressed by diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). Homogentisic acid autoxidation stimulated a rapid cooxidation of ascorbic acid at pH 7.45. Hydrogen peroxide was among the products of cooxidation. The combination of homogentisic acid and Fe3+-EDTA stimulated hydroxyl radical (OH.) formation estimated by salicylate hydroxylation. Ferric iron was required for the reaction and Fe3+-EDTA was a better catalyst than either free Fe3+ or Fe3+-DTPA. SOD accelerated OH. production by homogentisic acid as did H2O2, and catalase reversed much of the stimulation by SOD. Catalase alone, and the hydroxyl radical scavengers, thiourea and sodium formate, suppressed salicylate hydroxylation. Homogentisic acid and Fe3+-EDTA also stimulated the degradation of hyaluronic acid, the chief viscous element of synovial fluid. Hyaluronic acid depolymerization was time dependent and proportional to the homogentisic acid concentration up to 100 microM. The level of degradation observed was comparable to that obtained with ascorbic acid at equivalent concentrations. The hydroxyl radical was an active intermediate in depolymerization. Thus, catalase and the hydroxyl radical scavengers, thiourea and dimethyl sulfoxide, almost completely suppressed the depolymerization reaction. The ability of homogentisic acid to generate O2-, H2O2 and OH. through autoxidation and the degradation of hyaluronic acid by homogentisic acid-mediated by OH. production suggests that oxygen radicals play a significant role in the etiology of alkaptonuric arthritis.