The genus Fritillaria has attracted great attention because of its medicinal and ornamental values.At least three reasons, including the accurate discrimination between various Fritillaria species, protection and sustainable development of rare Fritillaria resources as well as understanding of relationship of some perplexing species, have prompted phylogenetic analyses and development of molecular markers for Fritillaria species.Here we determined the complete chloroplast (CP) genomes for F. unibracteata, F. przewalskii, F. delavayi, and F. sinica through Illumina sequencing, followed by de novo assembly.The lengths of the genomes ranged from 151,076 in F. unibracteata to 152,043 in F.przewalskii.Those CP genomes displayed a typical quadripartite structure, all including a pair of inverted repeats (26,078 to 26,355 bp) separated by the large single-copy (81,383 to 81,804 bp) and small single-copy (17,537 to 17,569 bp) regions.Fritillaria przewalskii, F. delavayi, and F. sinica equivalently encoded 133 unique genes consisting of 38 transfer RNA genes, 8 ribosomal RNA genes, and 87 protein coding genes, whereas F. unibracteata contained 132 unique genes due to absence of the rps16 gene.Subsequently, comparative analysis of the complete CP genomes revealed that ycf1, trnL, trnF, ndhD, trnN-trnR, trnE-trnT, trnN, psbM-trnD, atpI, and rps19 to be useful molecular markers in taxonomic studies owning to their interspecies variations.Based on the comprehensive CP genome data collected from 53 species in Fritillaria and Lilium genera, a phylogenomic study was carried out with three Cardiocrinum species and five Amana species as outgroups.The results of the phylogenetic analysis showed that Fritillaria was a sister to Lilium, and the interspecies relationships within subgenus Fritillaria were well resolved.Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on the CP genome was proved to be a promising method in selecting potential novel medicinal resources to substitute current medicinal species that are on the verge of extinction.
Abstract eDNA sampling is a more affordable, quick, and consistent method to understand the aquatic ecosystem, especially the ocean, with freely associated DNA in water suitable for estimating diversity, composition, and behaviour. Furthermore, it helps to propose management plans to use sustainable ocean resources. The world's mangroves are currently under threat, and they also provide habitat for International Union Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-listed threatened species (e.g., Dugong, Bengal Tiger, etc.). These species are inextricably linked to the mangrove ecosystem, forming a sustenance chain that can be disrupted if lost. On the other hand, the more reliable methods to monitor threatened species are not clearly established and mostly depend on the non-standardized method, which requires practical and taxonomic expertise and limits the data-driven conservation acts. The implementation of eDNA in ocean data collection and monitoring of endangered species is still in a progressive stage and the studies on the eDNA of threatened species from mangrove ecosystems are few. Environmental DNA surveys have also mapped the distribution of endangered European eel ( Anguilla anguilla ) during spring and documented threatened sharks and rays across eastern Indonesia. As a hallmark, UNESCO recently launched a project to understand the richness of biodiversity. The main objective is to monitor fishes, including the IUCN red-listed species, through eDNA collected across the selected marine World Heritage sites. The recent observations ensure that eDNA might be used to monitor the IUCN-designated threatened taxa found in the tropical mangrove ecosystem. The outcomes of this eDNA technique are crucial for providing information regarding conservation priorities.
Species detection using environmental DNA (eDNA) is a biomonitoring tool that can be widely applied to mangrove restoration and management. Compared to traditional surveys that are taxa-specific and time-consuming, eDNA metabarcoding offers a rapid, non-invasive and cost-efficient method for monitoring mangrove biodiversity and characterising the spatio-temporal distribution of multiple taxa simultaneously. General guidelines for eDNA metabarcoding are well-established for aquatic systems, but habitat-specific guidelines are still lacking. Mangrove habitats, as priority ecosystems for restoration in Southeast Asia, present unique prospects and challenges in these regards. Environmental DNA metabarcoding can be used to (1) track functional recovery in ecological restoration, (2) prioritise conservation areas, (3) provide early warning for threats, (4) monitor threatened taxa, (5) monitor response to climate change, and (6) support community-based restoration. However, these potential applications have yet been realized in Southeast Asia due to (1) technical challenges, (2) lack of standardised methods, (3) spatio-temporal difficulties in defining community, (4) data limitations, and (5) lack of funding, infrastructure and technical capacity. Successful implementation of eDNA metabarcoding in mangrove restoration activities would encourage the development of data-driven coastal management and equitable conservation programs. Eventually, this would promote Southeast Asia’s shared regional interests in food security, coastal defence and biodiversity conservation.
Abstract Sacred groves are forest patches managed and preserved by local communities to support their cultural and religious practices. Though often poorly documented, these forests provide refuge for threatened species and act as crucial nodes of biodiversity in an increasingly human-dominated landscape. Understanding the floristic and ecological characteristics of sacred groves, especially as compared to formally protected forests, is therefore key to their effective governance and incorporation into existing protected area network. In this study, we compared the tree diversity and forest structure of sacred groves and protected forests in Bali, Indonesia. We assessed the species richness, species diversity, basal area (or abundance) and community composition of trees from three ontogenetic stages (adults, saplings, and seedlings). Specifically, we focused our analysis on Dipterocarpus hasseltii , an endangered canopy tree species of local cultural significance. Sacred groves generally had similar levels of tree species richness, species diversity and demographic structure as protected forests at every ontogenetic stage, but differed significantly in community composition. Adult trees in sacred groves had a significantly higher basal area than that of protected forests. The population demography of D. hasseltii was similar in sacred groves and protected forests. We provide novel evidence that sacred groves that are managed to preserve a single tree species (i.e. D. hasseltii ) could positively impact the conservation of other species, providing a similar conservation value as protected forests in terms of tree diversity and forest structure. Ultimately, our study supports the efficacy of social forestry and highlights its importance in biodiversity conservation.
Applying information from a series of case studies of university technology start-ups, we found that in Singapore the enterprise framework adds value in fundraising, reputation enhancement, business development and linkages with industry and government. In Swedish counterparts the entrepreneurs sought direct assistance without an embedded enterprise framework. This study reveals preliminary insights into the entrepreneurial university model that is moving gradually towards a mixed system of market forces and government incentives.
Photosynthetic heat tolerance (PHT ) is a key predictor of plant response to climate change. Mangroves are an ecologically and economically important coastal plant community comprised of trees growing at their physiological limits. Mangroves are currently impacted by global warming, yet the PHT of mangrove trees is poorly understood. In this study, we provide the first assessment of PHT in 13 Asian mangrove species, based on the critical temperature that causes the initial damage (TCrit ) and the temperature that causes 50% damage (T50 ) to photosystem II. We tested the hypotheses that the PHT in mangroves is: (i) correlated with climatic niche and leaf traits, and (ii) higher than in plants from other tropical ecosystems. Our results demonstrated correlations between PHT and multiple key climate variables, the palisade to spongy mesophyll ratio and the leaf area. The two most heat-sensitive species were Kandelia obovata and Avicennia marina. Our study also revealed that mangrove trees show high heat tolerance compared to plants from other tropical ecosystems. The high PHT of mangroves thus demonstrated a conservative evolutionary strategy in heat tolerance, and highlights the need for integrative and comparative studies on thermoregulatory traits and climatic niche in order to understand the physiological response of mangrove trees to climate change-driven heatwaves and rising global temperatures.
Summary Differences in demographic and environmental niches facilitate plant species coexistence in tropical forests. However, the adaptations that enable species to achieve higher demographic rates (e.g. growth or survival) or occupy unique environmental niches (e.g. waterlogged conditions) remain poorly understood. Anatomical traits may better predict plant environmental and demographic strategies because they are direct measurements of structures involved in these adaptations. We collected 18 leaf and twig traits from 29 tree species in a tropical freshwater swamp forest in Singapore. We estimated demographic parameters of the 29 species from growth and survival models, and degree of association toward swamp habitats. We examined pairwise trait–trait, trait–demography and trait–environment links while controlling for phylogeny. Leaf and twig anatomical traits were better predictors of all demographic parameters than other commonly measured leaf and wood traits. Plants with wider vessels had faster growth rates but lower survival rates. Leaf and spongy mesophyll thickness predicted swamp association. These findings demonstrate the utility of anatomical traits as indicators of plant hydraulic strategies and their links to growth–mortality trade‐offs and waterlogging stress tolerance that underlie species coexistence mechanisms in tropical forest trees.
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