Continuous rice (Oryza sativa L.) cropping in Latin America and the Caribbean has resulted in serious weed problems and herbicide overuse. Competitive rice cultivars could help reduce herbicide dependence. A study was conducted during 1994 and 1995 at Palmira, Colombia, to (i) assess the competitiveness of semidwarf irrigated rice plant types adapted to Latin America and the Caribbean's direct‐seeding systems, (ii) identify plant traits responsible for such competitiveness, and (iii) detect adverse effects of competitiveness on rice yield potential. Pregerminated seed of 10 and 14 semidwarf rice cultivars was sown on drained puddled soil in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Cultivars were grown weed‐free or with junglerice [Echinochloa colona (L.) Link] (40 viable seeds m−2, broadcast immediately after seeding rice), and were intermittently irrigated to keep the soil near saturation. Rice and junglerice biomass, leaf area index, tiller number, and height were recorded at 20, 40, 60, 90, and 120 days after emergence (DAE). Rice cultivars differed in their competitiveness against junglerice. Average yield losses ranged from 27 to 62% under saturating junglerice infestations of up to 5.9 Mg DM ha−1. Leaf area index, tiller number, and canopy light interception recorded in competition, and not much before 40 DAE, correlated positively with rice competitiveness. Competitive semidwarf cultivars can substantially reduce the number of herbicide applications in systems where suboptimal water control does not allow weed suppression by flooding. Breeding to enhance rice competitiveness appears as a valid objective, since competitive and also highly productive cultivars were identified in this study.

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S 1 is the most important locus acting as a reproductive barrier between Oryza sativa and O. glaberrima. It is a complex locus, with factors that may affect male and female fertility separately. Recently, the component causing the allelic elimination of pollen was fine mapped. However, the position and nature of the component causing female sterility remains unknown. To fine map the factor of the S 1 locus affecting female fertility, we developed a mapping approach based on the evaluation of the degree of female transmission ratio distortion (fTRD) of markers. Through implementing this methodology in four O. sativa 3 O. glaberrima crosses, the female component of the S 1 locus was mapped into a 27.8-kb (O. sativa) and 50.3-kb (O. glaberrima) region included within the interval bearing the male component of the locus. Moreover, evidence of additional factors interacting with S 1 was also found. In light of the available data, a model where incompatibilities in epistatic interactions between S 1 and the additional factors are the cause of the female sterility barrier between O. sativa and O. glaberrima was developed to explain the female sterility and the TRD mediated by S 1 . According to our model, the recombination ratio and allelic combinations between these factors would determine the final allelic frequencies observed for a given cross.

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J. 2005. Gallery forest types and their environmental correlates in a Colombian savanna landscape. Á/ Ecography 28: 236 Á/252.Savanna regions may contain significant areas of forest, usually in riparian environments. We described forest composition and quantified environmental variables for 80 plots in the watershed of the Yucao River (2550 km 2 ), a tributary to the Meta River (Orinoco basin) in the eastern plains of Colombia. The total sampled area of 3.2 ha contained 147 tree species (110 genera and 45 families) with diameter at breast height /5 cm. The families represented by most species were Leguminosae (15 species), Arecaceae (11 species), Rubiaceae (9), Chrysobalanaceae (7), Euphorbiaceae (7), Melastomataceae (7) and Myrtaceae (7). Although most of the tree species have wide distribution ranges in humid neotropical forests, and few are endemic to the region, comparison with other neotropical forests suggests that the combination of taxa is characteristic for neotropical gallery forests. Cluster analysis allowed the definition of five forest types. They show important differences in a number of environmental variables, especially those related to inundation regimes and soil properties. Canonical correspondence analysis indicates good correlation of the first ordination axis with the size of the stream with which the forest is associated, the height to which the water rises during floods and variables related to soil fertility. The second ordination axis differentiates between soils with high or low water content in the dry season, high or low organic matter content and low or high bulk density. The results demonstrate the role of spatial variability and interactions of floodplain morphology, hydrological regime, and soil properties in structuring this important riparian community. E. J. Veneklaas