Background Comprehensive biotic surveys, or 'all taxon biodiversity inventories' (ATBI), have traditionally been limited in scale or scope due to the complications surrounding specimen sorting and species identification. To circumvent these issues, several ATBI projects have successfully integrated DNA barcoding into their identification procedures and witnessed acceleration in their surveys and subsequent increase in project scope and scale. The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario partnered with the rare Charitable Research Reserve and delegates of the 6th International Barcode of Life Conference to complete its own rapid, barcode-assisted ATBI of an established land trust in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. New information The existing species inventory for the rare Charitable Research Reserve was rapidly expanded by integrating a DNA barcoding workflow with two surveying strategies - a comprehensive sampling scheme over four months, followed by a one-day bioblitz involving international taxonomic experts. The two surveys resulted in 25,287 and 3,502 specimens barcoded, respectively, as well as 127 human observations. This barcoded material, all vouchered at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario collection, covers 14 phyla, 29 classes, 117 orders, and 531 families of animals, plants, fungi, and lichens. Overall, the ATBI documented 1,102 new species records for the nature reserve, expanding the existing long-term inventory by 49%. In addition, 2,793 distinct Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) were assigned to genus or higher level taxonomy, and represent additional species that will be added once their taxonomy is resolved. For the 3,502 specimens, the collection, sequence analysis, taxonomic assignment, data release and manuscript submission by 100+ co-authors all occurred in less than one week. This demonstrates the speed at which barcode-assisted inventories can be completed and the utility that barcoding provides in minimizing and guiding valuable taxonomic specialist time. The final product is more than a comprehensive biotic inventory - it is also a rich dataset of fine-scale occurrence and sequence data, all archived and cross-linked in the major biodiversity data repositories. This model of rapid generation and dissemination of essential biodiversity data could be followed to conduct regional assessments of biodiversity status and change, and potentially be employed for evaluating progress towards the Aichi Targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Background In 1948, Professor Józef Gajek initiated a detailed census of the wild edible plants used in Poland. The questionnaires were collected by correspondents of the Polish Folklore Society in 95 localities throughout Poland. A major part of these archival materials, including a substantial collection of herbarium specimens, had not undergone thorough analysis prior to this study, which presents a quantitative analysis of this archival set of data. Methods Herbarium specimens were identified and a database was created. Results Ninety-eight taxa identified to genus or species level, including 71 botanical species, identified using herbarium specimens, were found. On average only 11 edible plant species per locality were listed, the longest list included 39 species. No correlation between latitude and the number of edible species was found, whereas there was small but significant correlation with the longitude. Fruits were the most frequently collected part of plants. Most plants were primarily collected by women and children. Children both helped parents to collect wild fruits and also ate many species raw, which were not consumed by adults, but had often been eaten in the past. Eighteen of the taxa had not been reported in a recent comprehensive review of edible plants of Poland. Stratiotes aloides, used as a famine vegetable in the Łódź region, has never been reported as edible in any ethnobotanical literature. Conclusion The results undermine the conclusions of a recent comprehensive review of edible plants of Poland, which stated that many more wild edible plants have been collected in the Carpathians than in lowland Poland. However such results were shown to be caused by the substantially larger number of ethnographic studies undertaken in the Carpathians. In fact, large numbers of edible plant species were collected in the mid-20th century in a few regions, particularly along the eastern border, in the Carpathians and in communities originating from the expanded Soviet Union, which had been resettled to the north-west of Poland in 1945.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Innate sensory biases could play an important role in helping naïve animals to find food. As inexperienced bees are known to have strong innate colour biases we investigated whether bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) colonies with stronger biases for the most rewarding flower colour (violet) foraged more successfully in their local flora. To test the adaptive significance of variation in innate colour bias, we compared the performance of colour-naïve bees, from nine bumblebee colonies raised from local wild-caught queens, in a laboratory colour bias paradigm using violet (bee UV-blue) and blue (bee blue) artificial flowers. The foraging performance of the same colonies was assessed under field conditions. Colonies with a stronger innate bias for violet over blue flowers in the laboratory harvested more nectar per unit time under field conditions. In fact, the colony with the strongest bias for violet (over blue) brought in 41% more nectar than the colony with the least strong bias. As violet flowers in the local area produce more nectar than blue flowers (the next most rewarding flower colour), these data are consistent with the hypothesis that local variation in flower traits could drive selection for innate colour biases.

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Although the impacts of exotic plant invasions on community structure and ecosystem processes are well appreciated, the pathways or mechanisms that underlie these impacts are poorly understood. Better exploration of these processes is essential to understanding why exotic plants impact only certain systems, and why only some invaders have large impacts. Here, we review over 150 studies to evaluate the mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions on plant and animal community structure, nutrient cycling, hydrology and fire regimes. We find that, while numerous studies have examined the impacts of invasions on plant diversity and composition, less than 5% test whether these effects arise through competition, allelopathy, alteration of ecosystem variables or other processes. Nonetheless, competition was often hypothesized, and nearly all studies competing native and alien plants against each other found strong competitive effects of exotic species. In contrast to studies of the impacts on plant community structure and higher trophic levels, research examining impacts on nitrogen cycling, hydrology and fire regimes is generally highly mechanistic, often motivated by specific invader traits. We encourage future studies that link impacts on community structure to ecosystem processes, and relate the controls over invasibility to the controls over impact.

Makaleyi görüntüle

In a series of dawn-to-dusk studies, we examined the nature and accessibility of nectar rewards for pollinating insects by monitoring insect visits and the secretion rate and standing crop of nectar in the British native plant species Salvia pratensis , Stachys palustris , S. officinalis , Lythrum salicaria , Linaria vulgaris , the non-native Calendula officinalis , Petunia × hybrida , Salvia splendens , and the possibly introduced Saponaria officinalis . We also compared single with double variants of Lotus corniculatus , Saponaria officinalis , Petunia × hybrida and Calendula officinalis . All the British species studied are nectar-rich and are recommended for pollinator-friendly gardens. They showed maximal secretion rates of about 10-90 μg sugar per flower h -1 , and most had mean standing crops of about 5-60 μg sugar per flower. In all British species studied, the corolla was deep enough for the relatively long-tongued bumblebee Bombus pascuorum , but the shallower flowers of Lythrum salicaria were also much visited by shorter-tongued bees and hoverflies, as well as by butterflies. The exotic Salvia splendens , presumably coevolved with hummingbirds in the Neotropics, has such deep flowers that British bees cannot reach the nectar except by crawling down the corolla. With a secretion rate approaching 300 μg sugar per flower h -1 and little depletion by insects, S. splendens accumulated high standing crops of nectar. S. splendens , and single and double flowers of the two probably moth-pollinated species Petunia × hybrida and Saponaria officinalis , received few daytime visits despite abundant nectar but Calendula was well visited by hoverflies and bees. We compared single and double variants of Lotus corniculatus , Petunia × hybrida and Calendula officinalis , and also Saponaria officinalis , the last being probably introduced in Britain (Stace, 1997 New flora of the British Isles. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). In Petunia , Saponaria and Lotus , double flowers secreted little or no nectar. In Calendula , where doubling involved a change in the proportion of disc and ray florets rather than modification of individual flower structure, double and single capitula had similar standing crops of nectar. Except in Calendula , exotic or double flowers were little exploited by insect visitors. In the exotics, this was probably due to the absence or scarcity of coevolved pollinators, coupled, in double flowers, with the absence of nectar.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Elsewhere

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Woi.10

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Turkey

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Turkey

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Elsewhere

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Woi.1

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Turkey

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Elsewhere

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Woi.10

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Turkey

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Turkey

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Steinmetz

Kaynak: James A. Duke

Ülke: Europe

Taxon: Stachys palustris

Referans: Uphof

Kaynak: James A. Duke