Individual‐resource network between Xylocopa bees and plant resources: generalist species, specialist individuals?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thayane Nogueira Araújo ◽  
Luís Paulo Pires ◽  
Desirée Ayume Lopes Meireles ◽  
Solange Cristina Augusto
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurel R. Yohe ◽  
Leith B. Leiser-Miller ◽  
Zofia A. Kaliszewska ◽  
Paul Donat ◽  
Sharlene E. Santana ◽  
...  

AbstractMammalian olfactory receptors (ORs) are a diverse family of genes encoding proteins that directly interact with environmental chemical cues. ORs evolve via gene duplication in a birth-death fashion, neofunctionalizing and pseudogenizing over time. Olfaction is a primary sense used for food detection in plant-visiting bats, but the relationship between dietary specialization and OR repertoires is unclear. Within neotropical Leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae), many lineages are plant specialists, and some have a distinct OR repertoire compared to insectivorous species. Yet, whether specialization on particular plant genera is associated with the evolution of more specialized OR repertoires has never been tested. Using targeted sequence capture, we sequenced the OR repertoires of three sympatric species of short-tailed leaf-nosed bats (Carollia), which vary in their degree of specialization on the fruits of Piper plants. We characterized orthologous versus duplicated receptors among Carollia species, and identified orthologous receptors and associated paralogs to explore the diversity and redundancy of the receptor gene repertoire. The most dedicated Piper specialist, Carollia castanea, had lower OR diversity compared to the two more generalist species (sowelli, perspicillata), but we discovered a few unique sets of ORs within C. castanea with exceptional redundancy of similar gene duplicates. These unique receptors potentially enable C. castanea to detect Piper fruit odorants to an extent that the other species cannot. C. perspicillata, the species with the most generalist diet, had a larger diversity of functional receptors, suggesting the ability to detect a wider range of odorant molecules. The variation among ORs may be a factor in the coexistence of these sympatric species, facilitating the exploitation of different plant resources. Our study sheds light on how gene duplication plays a role in dietary adaptations and underlies patterns of ecological interactions between bats and plants.Impact Statement—though it asks for 3-4 sentencesThe sense of smell is essential to how many animals detect food, yet few studies have demonstrated how dietary evolution has shaped olfactory receptor genes, which encode proteins that bind to environmental scent cues, including food odorants. We compared the evolutionary history of olfactory receptor repertoires in three co-occurring neotropical bat species along a spectrum of dietary specialization on the fruits of Piper plants. We found the more generalist species possessed a more diverse olfactory receptor profile, potentially reflecting an ability to detect more diverse arrays of fruit scent compounds, while the specialist had a narrower profile that demonstrated more redundancy. By introducing creative approaches to measure diversity in large gene families and connecting diet specialization and molecular diversity, this study makes an unprecedented contribution to evolutionary biology.


2020 ◽  
pp. 78-98
Author(s):  
T. V. Kotova

Proceedings of the International conference (ИнтерКарто. ИнтерГИС, Russia) devoted to geographical information systems for sustainable development of territories have been published annually since 1994. The articles discuss theoretical and methodological aspects of geoinformation support for environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable de­velop­ment, issues of geoinformatics, cartography, remote sensing of the Earth, problems of environmental sustainability and environmental impact assessment. Over a quarter of a century, the conference proceedings got more than 125 articles related to the use of geoinformation technologies to the study and mapping of vegetation. The review of proceedings gives the concrete examples how to solve problems of vegetation mapping using GIS, it is focused on publications providing some examples of GIS appli­cation to the vegetation studies. The review is organized into thematic sections according the field of application of Geoinformatics: 1.Vegetation, 2. Dynamics, state and ecological functions of vegetation, 3. Biodiversity and its assessment, 4. Plant resources, 5. Monitoring of vegetation. The Vegetation section contains publications on vegetation studies and mapping performed for some regions of Russia — the North of the Far East, the Republic of Sakha (Yaku­tia), the Tyva Republic, Central Siberia, and others. More than half of the articles are devoted to vegetation dynamics, state and ecological functions of vegetation at different hierarchical levels. Some papers present the results of the studies based on new types of information sources (photographs) and visualization methods (animation). The use of geoinformation technologies to study biological diversity was included in the agenda of five conference sessions and later reflected in more than ten publications. They cover the development and creation of GIS, the use of geoinformation technologies for the analysis, assessment and mapping of biodiversity, for its monitoring and conservation. Quite a large number of articles are devoted to the study of forest resources. GIS technologies were used to solve problems of forest management, cartometric analysis of forested areas, determination of taxation indicators, systematization of forest conditions, etc. Examples of geoinformation versatile research for medicinal plant resources are given to assess their quality, resources and productivity in the region, to identify growing areas, including ones to be protected. Most of the published materials concerning to vegetation monitoring mainly relate to forests and forest management.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Rita Ale ◽  
Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti ◽  
Keshav Shrestha

Ethnobotanical knowledge, associated with plant resources was studied in Siluwa village development committee, Palpa district. Rapid rural appraisal tool was used to obtain information of indigenous people. This study revealed that Magar community has a vast knowledge of using plant resources. Local people are using plants for medicinal, wild fruit, food, religious and other various domestic purposes. The ethnobotanical knowledge is gradually decreasing in the younger generations.  Key words: Indigenous knowledge; use of plants; Magar community. Journal of Natural History Museum Vol. 24, 2009 Page: 58-71


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 812-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preet Amol Singh ◽  
Sapna D. Desai ◽  
Jasbir Singh

As per WHO reports, about three-quarters (65-80%) of the world’s population seek plants or plant-derived natural products for various diseases. The slow discovery of new synthetic molecules and rising resistance in microbes against existing ones has triggered an alarm for speeding up the development process for new molecules. Traditional system(s) of medicine and plant resources has been foresighted again by researchers to circumvent the situation. This review represents various plant genera which, either as a whole plant or their parts, have been reported possessing antimicrobial properties during the last decade. Before 2007, literature is already well cited in various books and reviews.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1922
Author(s):  
Ramila Mammadova ◽  
Immacolata Fiume ◽  
Ramesh Bokka ◽  
Veronika Kralj-Iglič ◽  
Darja Božič ◽  
...  

Plant-derived nanovesicles (NVs) have attracted interest due to their anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antioxidative properties and their efficient uptake by human intestinal epithelial cells. Previously we showed that tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit is one of the interesting plant resources from which NVs can be obtained at a high yield. In the course of the isolation of NVs from different batches of tomatoes, using the established differential ultracentrifugation or size-exclusion chromatography methods, we occasionally observed the co-isolation of viral particles. Density gradient ultracentrifugation (gUC), using sucrose or iodixanol gradient materials, turned out to be efficient in the separation of NVs from the viral particles. We applied cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the morphological assessment and LC–MS/MS-based proteomics for the protein identification of the gradient fractions. Cryo-TEM showed that a low-density gUC fraction was enriched in membrane-enclosed NVs, while the high-density fractions were rich in rod-shaped objects. Mass spectrometry–based proteomic analysis identified capsid proteins of tomato brown rugose fruit virus, tomato mosaic virus and tomato mottle mosaic virus. In another batch of tomatoes, we isolated tomato spotted wilt virus, potato virus Y and southern tomato virus in the vesicle sample. Our results show the frequent co-isolation of plant viruses with NVs and the utility of the combination of cryo-TEM, SEM and proteomics in the detection of possible viral contamination.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Gill ◽  
Todd J. Braje ◽  
Kevin Smith ◽  
Jon M. Erlandson

There is growing evidence for human use of geophytes long before the advent of agriculture. Rich in carbohydrates, geophytes were important in many coastal areas where protein-rich marine foods are abundant. On California's Channel Islands, scholars have long questioned how maritime peoples sustained themselves for millennia with limited plant resources. Recent research demonstrates that geophytes were heavily used on the islands for 10,000 years, and here we describe geophyte and other archaeobotanical remains from an approximately 11,500-year-old site on Santa Rosa Island. Currently the earliest evidence for geophyte consumption in North America, our data extend geophyte use on the Channel Islands by roughly 1,500 years and document a diverse and balanced economy for early Paleocoastal peoples. Experimental return rates for a key island geophyte support archaeological evidence that the corms of blue dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus) were a high-ranked staple resource throughout the Holocene.


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 3346-3353
Author(s):  
Iman Khaldari ◽  
Mohammad Reza Naghavi ◽  
Elaheh Motamedi

Among the conventional methods in synthesizing nanoparticles, the methods that use biological resources, as reducing and stabilizing agents, can be considered eco-friendly methods.


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