The Maluku Channel is a major opening of the eastern Indonesian Seas to the western Pacific Ocean, the upper-ocean currents of which have rarely been observed historically. During December 2012–November 2016, long time series of the upper Maluku Channel transport are measured successfully for the first time using subsurface oceanic moorings. The measurements show significant intraseasonal-to-interannual variability of over 14 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) in the upper 300 m or so, with a mean transport of 1.04–1.31 Sv northward and a significant southward interannual change of over 3.5 Sv in the spring of 2014. Coincident with the interannual transport change is the Mindanao Current, choked at the entrance of the Indonesian Seas, which is significantly different from its climatological retroflection in fall–winter. A high-resolution numerical simulation suggests that the variations of the Maluku Channel currents are associated with the shifting of the Mindanao Current retroflection. It is suggested that the shifting of the Mindanao Current outside the Sulawesi Sea in the spring of 2014 elevates the sea level at the entrance of the Indonesian Seas, which drives the anomalous transport through the Maluku Channel. The results suggest the importance of the western boundary current nonlinearity in driving the transport variability of the Indonesian Throughflow.
The fern genus Tectaria (Tectariaceae) Cav. is morphologically diverse and difficult in terms of recognizing species and species groups. To infer the systematic positions of some species and identity‐unknown collections with special morphological characters, we undertook phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of five plastid regions (atpB, ndhF + ndhF‐trnL, rbcL, rps16‐matK + matK, and trnL‐F). Three analysis methods (maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference) were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Tectaria. The most surprising result is that T. menyanthidis (C. Presl) Copel., T. ternata (Baker) Copel., and T. variabilis Tardieu & Ching are revealed to represent a distinct lineage from Tectaria, which should be called Polydictyum C. Presl, and is supported as sister to Pteridrys C. Chr. & Ching. Other accessions of Tectaria are well resolved into four major clades, which is consistent with the results of previous studies. Of the four clades, Clade II (T. subtriphylla (Hook. & Arn.) Copel. group) is unpredictable, with morphologically very diverse species clustered there, and is supposed to be a minor evolutionary line within Tectaria in the Old World. In addition, the position of the climbing genus Arthropteris J. Sm. and the utility of molecular data in recognizing species of Tectaria are briefly discussed. As a conclusion, we formally reinstate the genus Polydictyum by providing diagnostic characters, key to species, nomenclature, and information of detailed distribution and habitat for the currently known three species.
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