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opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

Biogeographic differences in plant-soil biota relationships contribute to the invasion exotic range expansion of Verbascum thapsus

<ol> <li>Exotic plant species can evolve adaptations to environmental conditions in the exotic range. Furthermore, soil biota can foster exotic spread in the absence of negative soil pathogen-plant interactions or because of increased positive soil biota-plant feedbacks in the exotic range. Little is known, however, about the evolutionary dimension of plant-soil biota interactions when comparing native and introduced ranges.</li> <li>To assess the role of soil microbes for rapid evolution in plant invasion, we subjected Verbascum thapsus, a species native to Europe, to a reciprocal transplant experiment with soil and seed material originating from Germany (native) and New Zealand (exotic). Soil samples were treated with biocides to distinguish between effects of soil fungi and bacteria. Seedlings from each of five native and exotic populations were transplanted into soil biota communities originating from all populations and subjected to treatments of soil biota reduction: application of (i) fungicide, (ii) biocide, (iii) a combination of the two and (iv) control. </li> <li>For most of the investigated traits, native populations showed higher performance than exotic populations; there was no effect of soil biota origin. However, plants developed longer leaves and larger rosettes when treated with their respective home soil communities, indicating that native and exotic plant populations differed in their interaction with soil biota origin. The absence of fungi and bacteria resulted in a higher specific root length, suggesting that V. thapsus may compensate the absence of mutualistic microbes by increasing its root-soil surface contact. </li> <li>Synthesis. Introduced plants can evolve adaptations to soil biota in their new distribution range. This demonstrates the importance of biogeographic differences in plant-soil biota relationships and suggests that future studies addressing evolutionary divergence should account for differential effects of soil biota from the home and exotic range on native and exotic populations of successful plant invaders. </li> </ol>

opencc-by-4.0Sep 2021View details →

Supplementary Dataset for Trenner et al. 2022: Evolution and Functions of Plant U-box proteins (PUBs): From protein quality control to signalling

This record contains additional information and a supplementary dataset of sequence alignment files and phylograms that support the publication: Trenner J, Monaghan J, Saeed B, Quint M, Shabek N, Trujillo M. 2022. Evolution and Functions of Plant U-box proteins (PUBs): From protein quality control to signalling. (submitted to Annual Review of Plant Biology) Included files: Additional information.pdf This file contains Supplementary Methods and References. Supp_Fig1_Ubox_full_protein_maximum_likelihood_phylogram_linear.pdf A multiple protein sequence alignment by MAFFT of 1121 U-box protein sequences from 21 species and four outgroup sequences containing a RING finger domain (A. thaliana RBX1, A. thaliana RMA1, S. cerevisiae RAD18, Homo sapiens TRAF6 ) was used to infer a phylogenetic tree by maximum likelihood with IQ-TREE. The implemented ultrafast bootstrap approximation, set to 2000 bootstrap samples, was used for branch support. The consensus tree was annotated using iTOL.   Supp_Fig2_Ubox_domain_maximum_likelihood_phylogram_linear.pdf In order to analyse specifically the evolution of the U-box domain, the U-box domain of the final 1121 U-box protein sequences as well as the RING finger domain of the four outgroup sequences were isolated and aligned by MAFFT. The U-box domain alignment was then used to infer a phylogenetic tree by maximum likelihood with IQ-TREE. The implemented ultrafast bootstrap approximation, set to 2000 bootstrap samples, was used for branch support. The consensus tree was annotated using iTOL. This tree was used to interpret the evolutionary history of U-box proteins in the main text.   MAFFT_alignment _1121seqs_Ubox_full_protein_plus_4seqs_RING_outgroup.fasta Multiple protein sequences alignment by MAFFT of 1121 U-box full length protein sequences and four RING finger protein sequences, FASTA formatted.   MAFFT_alignment _1121seqs_Ubox_domain_plus_4seqs_RING_outgroup.fasta Multiple protein sequences alignment by MAFFT of U-box domain sequences of 1121 U-box protein and four RING finger domain sequences of outgroup sequences, FASTA formatted.   Ubox_protein_sequences_information.xlsx Spreadsheet with sequence ID information and source databases.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

How hydrological connectivity regulates the plant recovery process in salt marshes

1. Designing effective restoration strategies is a priority in recovering salt marsh plants. As a main driver underpinning the success of plant recovery process, hydrological connectivity can regulate life history process-based restoration strategies, but the relations are not clear. 2. Plant recovering needs to go through a whole life history process, from seed to adult. Common restoration strategies are seed addition (SA) or seedling transplantation (ST), which start from seed germination and seedling growth stage. Besides these two strategies, another strategy starting from seed retention stage, microtopographic adjustment (MA), were designed to study the relationship with hydrological connectivity. And a framework was construct to assess a gradient of hydrological connectivity between marsh plain and sea and conducted several field experiments to test their relationships. 3. The composite measurement of hydrological connectivity with five geomorphic variables can well represent the variation of environmental factors. Soil moisture, inundation frequency and sediment deposition were positive correlated, while soil salinity and hardness were negative correlated with hydrological connectivity. 4. The success of different restoration strategies varied with hydrological connectivity. MA showed a monotone decreasing trend, while SA and ST showed unimodal trend with the increasing of hydrological connectivity. The important is, each strategy occupies a non-overlapping optimum range along hydrological connectivity gradient, they are low hydrological connectivity for MA (0 – 0.28), middle hydrological connectivity for SA (0.28 – 0.55) and high hydrological connectivity for ST (0.55 – 1). 5. Synthesis and applications. Our findings expand the quantification of the hydrological environment beyond elevation or distance or other single index to include a range of elements of hydrological connectivity, and illustrate the underlying mechanisms of hydrological connectivity regulating restoration strategies based on different life stages. The results not only provide a reliable framework to assess hydrological connectivity, but also the guidance to select optimum restoration strategy under different hydrological connectivities, or to regulate the hydrological connectivity variables (topography on marsh plain and morphology of tidal creeks) to relief stresses. These findings will benefit ecological restoration and coastal management a lot.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Dispersal syndromes are poorly associated with climatic niche differences in the Azorean seed plants

Aim: Environmental niche tracking is linked to the species ability to disperse. While well investigated on large spatial scales, dispersal constraints also influence small-scale processes and may explain the difference between the potential and the realized niche of species at small-scales. Here we test whether niche size and niche fill differ systematically according to dispersal syndrome within isolated oceanic islands. We expect species with higher dispersal abilities (anemochorous or endozoochorous) will have a higher niche fill, despite of their environmental niche size. Location: Azores archipelago Taxon: Native seed plants Methods: We combined a georeferenced database of the species distribution within the archipelago (Azorean Biodiversity Portal/GBIF) with an expert-based dispersal syndrome categorization and a high-resolution climatic grid (CIELO model). Using four climatic variables (Annual Mean Temperature, Mean Diurnal Range, Annual Precipitation, Precipitation Seasonality), we calculated a 4-dimensional hypervolume to estimate the niche size of each species. Niche fill was quantified as the suitable climatic space of the island that was occupied by the focal species. Results: Endozoochorous species display higher niche fill compared to epizoochorous and hydrochorous species, and larger niches than anemochorous and epizoochorous. Differences among the remaining groups are not significant neither for niche fill nor for niche size. Main Conclusions: Although endozoochorous species track their niche more efficiently at small-scales than other dispersal syndromes, the differences between dispersal syndromes are not consistent. The ability of a species to track its niche at small-scales is not tightly related to its dispersal syndrome. Although intuitively appealing, dispersal syndrome classifications might not be the most appropriate tools for understanding dispersal processes at small-scales.

opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

Eighty-four per cent of all Amazonian arboreal plant individuals are useful to humans

Plants have been used in Amazonian forests for millennia and some of these plants are disproportionally abundant (hyperdominant). At local scales, people generally use the most abundant plants, which may be abundant as the result of management of indigenous peoples and local communities. However, it is unknown whether plant use is also associated with abundance at larger scales. We used the population sizes of 4,454 arboreal species (trees and palms) estimated from 1946 forest plots and compiled information about uses from 29 Amazonian ethnobotany books and articles published between 1926 and 2013 to investigate the relationship between species usefulness and their population sizes, and how this relationship is influenced by the degree of domestication of arboreal species across Amazonia. We found that half of the arboreal species (2,253) are useful to humans, which represents 84% of the estimated individuals in Amazonian forests. Useful species have mean populations sizes six times larger than non-useful species, and their abundance is related with the probability of usefulness. Incipiently domesticated species are the most abundant. Population size was weakly related to specific uses, but strongly related with the multiplicity of uses. This study highlights the enormous usefulness of Amazonian arboreal species for local peoples. Our findings support the hypothesis that the most abundant plant species have a greater chance to be useful at both local and larger scales, and suggest that although people use the most abundant plants, indigenous people and local communities have contributed to plant abundance through long-term management.

Data from: Predator performance and fitness Is dictated by herbivore prey type plus indirect effects of their host plant

Animals, including herbivores and predators, use diet-mixing to balance their macro- and micronutrient intake. Recent work demonstrated that lady beetles fed only pea aphids from fava beans had reduced fitness caused by a deficiency of dietary sterols. However, beetles redressed this deficit by eating fava bean leaves. In the current study we used Coccinella septempunctata as a model to test the hypotheses that pea aphids are a poor sterol resource independent of their host plant, and that fava beans produce low quality prey regardless of aphid species. Additionally, we tested the reproductive rescue capacity of alfalfa and barley foliage compared to fava, and profiled the sterols of phloem exudates, foliage, and aphids reared on these different hosts. Beetle fecundity and egg viability was significantly better when provided pea aphids reared on alfalfa (compared to fava beans) and green peach aphids reared on fava plants. Alfalfa and barley leaves were not consumed by beetles and did not support beetle reproduction. The sterol profile of aphids largely reflected their host plant phloem. However, green peach aphids from fava acquired 125-times more sterol than pea aphids from fava. Our findings show how the sterol content of different host-plants can affect the third trophic level. Our results suggest that 1) prey quality varies depending on prey species, even when they occur on the same plant, 2) plant species can mediate prey quality, 3) host plant-mediated effects on prey quality partially drive omnivory, and 4) diet-mixing benefits growth and reproduction by redressing micronutrient deficits.

Towards an understanding of the latitudinal patterns in thermal tolerance and vulnerability of woody plants under climate warming

Predicting spatial patterns in thermal tolerance and vulnerability of species under climate warming remains a challenge. Current knowledge is mainly from experiment-based thermal physiology of limited numbers of ectotherms, yet large-scale evaluations on plants remain elusive. Here, using distribution maps with spatial resolutions of 20×20 km for 5628 woody species in China, we propose a novel approach, i.e. thermal distribution curves, to describe species' realized thermal niches, and then estimate their thermal tolerance and warming risks under projected climate warming in 2050s and 2070s. We find that species' vulnerability and potential local extinction risks within grid cells decrease with latitude and increase with aridity due to narrow thermal tolerance of species located at low latitudes and arid regions. Over 90% of species could still tolerate future warming in most areas, indicating relatively optimistic expectation of potential local extinctions. Our study presents a new framework to quantify climate warming impacts on a large number of species without sufficient physiological information, and provides fundamental references for conservation planning under climate change.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2021View details →

DiaMOS Plant Dataset: A Dataset for Diagnosis and Monitoring Plant Disease

DiaMOS Plant, is a dataset for diagnosis and monitoring plant disease, collected in the field, consisting of 3505 images, depicting 4 leaf diseases with 4 level of severity and 4 fruit stages.   Cite as: Fenu, G.; Malloci, F.M. DiaMOS Plant: A Dataset for Diagnosis and Monitoring Plant Disease. Agronomy 2021, 11, 2107. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112107

Alternative developmental and transcriptomic responses to host plant water limitation in a butterfly metapopulation

The dataset is from a study examining the effects of host plant water stress on the developmental and transcriptomic responses of its specialist Lepidopteran herbivore. The study combines host plant metabolic profiling with development assays and full-transcriptome sequencing of herbivore larvae. First, we profiled metabolic differences between well-watered and water-limited ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR). Second, we tested how performance of developing Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) larvae was affected by host plant water limitation experienced at different larval developmental stages. Third, we examined larval gene regulatory responses to water limited host plants by sequencing full transcriptomes of 77 female larvae (RNA seq). Finally, to examine intrapopulation variation in the responses of the larvae, we compared the phenotypic and transcriptomic responses across full-sib families originating from different parts of the metapopulation. In this dataset, we provide data for the P. lanceolata metabolite responses to water limitation and developmental responses of the M. cinxia larvae to feeding on water limited P. lanceolata. The transcriptomic data are available from NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus, with the accession number GSE159376.

A geographic mosaic of coevolution between Eurosta solidaginis (Fitch) and its host plant tall goldenrod Solidago altissima (L.)

A geographic mosaic of coevolution has produced local reciprocal adaptation in tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima (L.), and the goldenrod ball gall fly, Eurosta solidaginis (Fitch 1855). The fly is selected to induce gall diameters that minimize mortality from natural enemies, and the plant is selected to limit gall growth that reduces plant fitness. We conducted a double reciprocal transplant experiment where S. altissima and E. solidaginis from three sites were grown in gardens at each site to partition the gall morphology variation into fly genotype, plant genotype, and the environment components. The host plant gall diameter induced by each E. solidaginis population was adapted to inhibit local natural enemies from ovipositing on or consuming enclosed larvae. Reciprocally, increasing the gall size induced by the local fly population increased the resistance of the local plant host population to gall growth. Differences among sites in natural enemies produced a mosaic of hotspots of coevolutionary arms races between flies selecting for greater gall diameter and plants for smaller diameters, and coldspots where there is no selection on plant or fly for a change in gall diameter. In contrast, the geographic variations of gall length and gall shape were not due to coevolutionary interactions.

Evolutionary divergence of potential drought adaptations between two subspecies of an annual plant: Are trait combinations facilitated, independent, or constrained?

Premise: Whether drought-adaptation mechanisms tend to evolve together, evolve independently, and/or evolve constrained by genetic architecture is incompletely resolved, particularly for water relations traits besides gas exchange. We addressed this issue in two subspecies of Clarkia xantiana (Onagraceae), California winter annuals that separated approximately 65,000 years ago and are adapted, partly by differences in flowering time, to native ranges differing in precipitation. Methods: In these subspecies and in recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between them we scored traits related to drought adaptation (timing of seed germination and of flowering; succulence; pressure-volume curve parameters) in common environments. Results: The subspecies native to more arid environments (parviflora) exhibited slower seed germination in saturated conditions, earlier flowering, and greater succulence, likely indicating superior drought avoidance, drought escape, and dehydration resistance via water storage, respectively. The other subspecies (xantiana) had lower osmotic potential at full turgor and lower water potential at turgor loss, implying superior dehydration tolerance. Genetic correlations among RILs suggest facilitated evolution of some trait combinations and independence of others. Where genetic correlations exist, subspecies differences fell along them, with the exception of differences in succulence and turgor loss point. In that case, subspecies difference overcame genetic correlations, possibly reflecting strong selection and/or antagonistic genetic correlations with other traits. Conclusions: Clarkia xantiana subspecies' differ in multiple mechanisms of drought adaptation. Genetic architecture generally does not seem to have constrained the evolution of these mechanisms, and it may have facilitated the evolution of some of trait combinations.

Global patterns of rainfall partitioning by invasive woody plants

Aim: Invasive species have the potential to alter hydrological processes by changing the local water balance. However, general patterns of how rainfall is partitioned into interception, throughfall and stemflow for invasive species worldwide have been seldom explored. We (a) describe the percentage of interception, throughfall and stemflow for the invasive woody plant species; (b) analyse the influence of morphological attributes (i.e., life-form, bark roughness, leaf type, leaf phenology and leaf area index) of invasive species on rainfall partitioning; and (c) compare the rainfall partitioning fluxes for co-occurring invasive and native species, testing whether these fluxes variation depends on water availability of the study location. Location: Global. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Plants. Methods: We compiled data of 100 studies that assessed rainfall partitioning by invasive species (N=67) and registered their morphological attributes. By means of a meta-analysis we compared the rainfall partitioning by native and invasive species (N=47 comparisons) and assessed how their fluxes were affected by water availability. Results: Interception, throughfall and stemflow ranged from 1.6 - 59.5%, 39.1 - 92.7% and 0.1 - 31.6% of total rainfall, respectively. The bark roughness and leaf type were the most important attributes driving rainfall partitioning fluxes. While rough-barked species constrain rainfall inputs by promoting higher losses due to interception, smooth-barked species with broadleaves enhance the amount of rainwater reaching the soil by maximizing stemflow. For pair-wise comparisons, invasive species have higher stemflow values than native species for both drylands and humid areas, and higher throughfall in drylands, but less in humid areas. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that specific morphological attributes of invasive species determine higher localized water inputs, which may represent an ecohydrological advantage, particularly in water-limited ecosystems. These insights also suggest that the ecological role of stemflow, throughfall and interception should be considered in future plant invasions research.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2021View details →

Data from: Spatiotemporal variation in the role of floral traits in shaping tropical plant-pollinator interactions

Supplementary datasets for Klomberg et al. 2021 Spatiotemporal variation in the role of floral traits in shaping tropical plant-pollinator interactions. Ecology Letters. All related information can be found in the cited paper. When using the dataset for anything, cite the Klomberg et al. paper. For additional information, refer to the paper or write to robert.tropek@gmail.com

Large wild herbivores slow down the rapid decline of plant diversity in a tropical forest biodiversity hotspot

1. The UN declaration of the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 emphasizes the need for effective measures to restore ecosystems and safeguard biodiversity. Large herbivores regulate many ecosystem processes and functions, yet their potential as a nature-based solution to buffer against long-term temporal declines in biodiversity associated to global change and restore diversity in secondary forests remains unknown. 2. By means of an exclusion experiment, we tested experimentally the buffering effects of large wild herbivores to avert against long-term biodiversity collapse in old-growth and secondary tropical forests in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil where sapling abundance and species richness declined circa 20% over the course of 10 years. The experiment comprised 50 large herbivore exclosure-open control plot pairs (25 at the old-growth forest and 25 at the secondary forest), where 2m2 were monitored in every plot during a 10-year period. 3. Large herbivores were able to decelerate diversity declines and compositional change in the species-rich old-growth forest, but only decelerated compositional change in the secondary forest. In contrast, declines in species richness and abundance were unaffected by large herbivores on either forest. 4. The buffering effects of large herbivores were strongly non-linear and contingent on the initial level of diversity at the patch scale: highly diverse communities suffered the strongest collapse in the absence of large herbivores. Thus, larger buffering effects of large herbivores on the old growth forest are the logical consequence of large herbivores buffering the many high diversity plant communities found in this forest. Conversely, as the secondary forest held fewer high diversity patches, buffering effects on the secondary forest were weak. 5. Synthesis and applications: Our study indicates that large herbivores have moderate yet critical effects on slowing down community change and diversity loss of highly diverse plant communities, thus suggesting that the conservation of (and potentially trophic rewilding with) large herbivores is a fundamental nature-based solution for averting the global collapse of the strongholds of biodiversity. Its buffering effects on biodiversity loss operate at very small spatial scales, are likely contingent on successional stage, and most effective in old-growth or high diversity secondary forests.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2021View details →

Dataset on vascular plants, Rhopalocera and Orthoptera of 35 industrial water-abstraction sites in France, including landscape and local variables

Site : Site name X : X coordinate Y : Y coordinate Richness : Species richness taking into account individuals identified to the genus and species levels (based on data from the Vigie-Flore protocol for Flora (www.vigie-flore.fr), the STERF protocol for Rhopalocera (Manil and Henry, 2007) and the protocol of Lacoeuilhe et al. (2020) for Orthoptera) Richness2 : Species richness taking into account only the individuals identified to the species level Shannon_Diversity : Shannon index Abondance : For Flora, abundance is the total number of quadrats in which each species is present, and for Rhopalocera and Orthoptera, abundance is the total number of individuals CWM_dispersal : Community weighted mean (Garnier et al., 2004) for dispersal : <ul> <li>For Flora, maximum seed-releasing height as a proxy for dispersal</li> <li>For Rhopalocera and Orthoptera, 3 classes of dispersal (1-Low dispersal, 2-Medium dispersal, 3-High dispersal)</li> </ul> CWM_specialisation : Community weighted mean (Garnier et al., 2004) for specialisation : <ul> <li>For Flora, Index θwb calculated using species co-occurrence data (Mobaied et al., 2015)</li> <li>For Rhopalocera, 4 classes of specialisation based on the optimal habitat of the caterpillar (1-Generalist species whose caterpillars grow in many types of habitat ; 2-Moderately generalist species whose caterpillars grow mainly in the associated habitat ; 3-Specialist species whose caterpillars grow mainly in the associated habitat ; 4-Specialist species with a very localised distribution)</li> <li>For Orthoptera, 2 classes of specialisation based on moisture preferences (0-Generalist species (mesophilic), 1-Specialist species (xerothermic and hygrophilic))</li> </ul> CWM_dep_pol : Percentage of times “insects” appears as a pollen vector for a given species across various databases (Martin, 2018) dPC_Flora_150m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Flora with dispersal distances of 150m dPC_Flora_500m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Flora with dispersal distances of 500m dPC_Rhopalocera_100m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Rhopalocera with dispersal distances of 100m dPC_Rhopalocera_300m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Rhopalocera with dispersal distances of 300m dPC_Orthoptera_100m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Orthoptera with dispersal distances of 100m dPC_ Orthoptera _300m : Delta Probability of Connectivty (Saura & Pascual-Hortal, 2007) calculated for Orthoptera with dispersal distances of 300m IFT_Herbicides_100m : Average Treatment Frequency Indice for herbicides within a radius of 100m IFT_Herbicides_300m : Average Treatment Frequency Indice for herbicides within a radius of 300m Soil : Qualitative variable, divided into 2 categories: clay vs. sandy soil Humidity : Semi-quantitative variable based on site habitat vegetation, divided into 3 categories: 1 (xerophilous), 2 (mesoxerophilous), 3 (meso-hygrophylous) Floral_dispo : Average cover of flowering plants over the 4 visits on the site (%) Low_herbaceous_cover : Low herbaceous cover (<20 cm) on the site (%) Hight_herbaceous_cover : High herbaceous cover (>40 cm) on the site (%)

Data for: Soil microbes alter competition between native and invasive plants

Invasive plants can alter soil microbial communities and generate positive plant-soil feedbacks that facilitate their performance, but the magnitude and direction of feedbacks may change with novel conditions under climate change. We assessed how potential soil legacy effects of plant invasion and simulated drought influenced plant performance and competition in the longleaf pine ecosystem. We collected soil from a four-year factorial invasion (cogongrass, Imperata cylindrica) by drought (simulated with rainout shelters) field experiment and used it as live or sterilized soil inoculum in a greenhouse experiment that included two native foundation species, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and wiregrass (Aristida stricta), and cogongrass, grown individually or in competition. There was no evidence of biotic soil legacy effects of invasion or drought for any plant species, but microbes played a significant role in competition. When plants were grown alone, the invader had 12% greater biomass in live soil than sterile soil but both native species had 25% less biomass in live soil. When grown in competition, these effects were reversed for cogongrass (37% smaller in live soil) and pine (17% larger in live soil). In competition, the three species grown in sterile soil produced similar amounts of biomass, whereas live soil created a competitive hierarchy where pine was more competitive than wiregrass and cogongrass. Synthesis: These results emphasize the importance of soil biota in native plant restoration because, although the invader was highly successful when grown alone, plant-microbe interactions influenced the outcome of competition between native and invasive species by promoting native longleaf pine. There was little evidence that invasive cogongrass inhibited native plants via biotic soil legacies, instead, results suggested that plant-soil interactions can be highly resilient to global change such that the biotic legacy of invasion and drought may not promote or inhibit invasion.

Misinformation, internet honey trading, and beekeepers drive a plant invasion

Biological invasions are a major human induced global change that is threatening global biodiversity by homogenizing the world's fauna and flora. Species spread because humans have moved species across geographic boundaries and have changed ecological factors that structure ecosystems, such as nitrogen deposition, disturbance, etc. Many biological invasions are caused accidentally, as a byproduct of human travel and commerce driven product shipping. However, humans also have spread many species intentionally because of perceived benefits. Of interest is the role of the recent exponential growth in information exchange via internet social media in driving biological invasions. To date, this has not been examined. Here we show that for one such invasive species, goldenrod, social networks spread misleading and incomplete information that is enhancing the spread of goldenrod invasions into new environments. We show that the notion of goldenrod honey as a "superfood" with unsupported healing properties is driving a demand that leads beekeepers to produce goldenrod honey. Social networks provide a forum for such information exchange and this is leading to further spread of goldenrod in many countries where goldenrod is not native, such as Poland. However, this informal social information exchange ignores laws that focus on preventing the further spread of invasive species and the strong negative effects that goldenrod has on native ecosystems, including floral resources that negatively impact honeybee performance. Thus, scientifically unsupported information on "superfoods" such as goldenrod honey that is disseminated through social internet networks has real world consequences such as increased goldenrod invasions into novel geographical regions which decreases native biodiversity.

Heterospecific pollen deposition is positively associated with reproductive success in a diverse hummingbird-pollinated plant community

Heterospecific pollen deposition (HPD) is ubiquitous across plant communities, especially for generalized species which use a diversity of pollinators, and may have negative effects on plant reproduction. However, it is unclear whether temporal changes in the co-flowering community result in changes in HPD patterns. Moreover, community-level studies are required to understand which factors influence HPD and how the reproduction of different species is affected. We investigated the temporal variation of HPD, its relationship with level of specialization on pollinators and floral phenotypic specialization, and its association with reproductive success (pollen limitation and fruit set) in 31 hummingbird-pollinated plant species in a tropical Campo Rupestre. We found seasonality in HPD, with species flowering in the dry season having greater diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas and a higher frequency of stigmas containing heterospecific pollen, compared to the rainy season. Stigmas of ecologically generalized species had more heterospecific pollen, while the relationship for ecologically specialized species depended on floral phenotype. Surprisingly, and in contrast to theory, we found a positive relationship between HPD and reproductive success. Our results indicate benefits of generalization and facilitation, in which sharing pollinators brings greater reproductive success via increased conspecific pollen deposition, even if it incurs more HPD. We demonstrated how assessing HPD at a community-level can contribute to understanding the ecological causes and functional consequences of pollinator sharing.

openother-pdNov 2023View details →

PUDL Raw EIA Form 923 -- Power Plant Operations Report

The EIA Form 923 collects detailed monthly and annual electric power data on electricity generation, fuel consumption, fossil fuel stocks, and receipts at the power plant and prime mover level. Archived from <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia923">https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia923</a> This archive contains raw input data for the Public Utility Data Liberation (PUDL) software developed by <a href="https://catalyst.coop">Catalyst Cooperative</a>. It is organized into <a href="https://specs.frictionlessdata.io/data-package/">Frictionless Data Packages</a>. For additional information about this data and PUDL, see the following resources: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/catalyst-cooperative/pudl">The PUDL Repository on GitHub</a></li> <li><a href="https://catalystcoop-pudl.readthedocs.io">PUDL Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="https://zenodo.org/communities/catalyst-cooperative/">Other Catalyst Cooperative data archives</a></li> </ul>