Mobilization of plant genetic resources from the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic

Background. The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic is one of the floristically unique territories in the Russian Federation. Its vegetation, especially in the mountainous and foothill areas, is very rich due to, inter alia, the extremely complex and diverse relief. Over 50% of the entire Caucasian flora is present in the republic, representing all main groups of plant formations, except subtropical and tropical ones. It seems relevant to search for and collect crop wild relatives as well as landraces of vegetables and cucurbits cultivated for a long time in the surveyed territory and adapted to local environmental conditions in order to add new genetic resources of these crops to the VIR collection.Methods. The expedition route included explorations of the foothill and highland areas of Kabardino-Balkaria, and familiarization with the seed assortment available at the markets and agricultural stores in Nalchik and Prokhladny. The target areas were surveyed from August 18 through 26, 2019, by one- or two-day trips starting from Nalchik. The length of the itinerary was about 600 km.Results. The collecting mission examined local farms and homesteads, explored the mountains, and collected 256 local and commercial cultivars of vegetable and cucurbit crops, 69 seed and vegetative samples of vegetable crop wild relatives, plus a number of fodder plant samples. Russian and foreign breeding companies whose cultivars are popular in Kabar dino-Balkaria were identified

Генетическое разнообразие и биохимическая ценность корнеплодных овощных растений семейства капустные (Brassicaceae Burnett)

Root crops of the Cabbage family (radish, turnip, garden radish, Russian turnip) are valuable root vegetable crops widely cultivated in the world. Radish and garden radish belong to botanical species Raphanus sativus L., turnips belong to species Brassica rapa L. subsp. rapa, and Russian turnip to Brassica napobrassica L. The root crops are valuable for high concentration of vitamins B1, B2, B6, PP, C, essential amino acids and essential and mustard oils. The world collection of root plants of Cabbage family is represented by more than 2500 samples of garden radish and radish from 75 countries; 604 samples of turnip from 32 countries, 251 samples of rutabaga from 26 countries. The researchers from Russian Institute of Genetic Plant Resources named after N.I.Vavilov are involved in collecting, preserving and investigating genetic resources of root crops. The collection is being completed by expeditionary surveys, references from breeding institutions in Russia, extracts from foreign genetic banks and commercial acquisitions. The authors focus on the fact that cultivation of root crops in the Asian part of Russia requires varieties of garden radish, radish, turnips and Russian turnip not only with high yield potential, but also well adapted to local conditions, high nutritional value and high concentration of biologically active matters. Breeding of these crops should be aimed at improving their biological and consumer properties. The properties are seen as tasty varieties, ones with nutritional value that are able to keep juiciness of the pulp for a long time and resistant to biotic and abiotic environmental factors.Корнеплодные культуры семейства Капустные (редька, репа, редис, брюква) являются ценными корнеплодными овощными культурами, широко возделываемыми во всем мире. Редька и редис относятся к ботаническому виду Raphanus sativus L., репа – к виду Brassica rapa L. subsp. rapa, брюква – к виду Brassica napobrassica L. Корнеплоды этих культур ценятся за высокое содержание витаминов В1, В2, В6, РР, С, незаменимых аминокислот, эфирных и горчичных масел. Мировая коллекция ВИР корнеплодных растений семейства Капустные представлена более чем 2500 образцами редиса и редьки из 75 стран мира, 604 образцами репы из 32 стран, 251 образцом брюквы из 26 стран. В настоящее время в ВИР им. Н. И. Вавилова продолжается работа по сбору, сохранению и изучению генетических ресурсов корнеплодных растений. Коллекция продолжает пополняться за счет экспедиционных обследований, поступлений из селекционных учреждений России, выписки из зарубежных генетических банков и коммерческого приобретения. Для возделывания корнеплодных культур в азиатской части России нужны сорта редиса, редьки, репы и брюквы не только с высоким потенциалом урожайности, но и хорошо приспособленные к местным условиям, имеющие высокую питательную ценность и повышенное содержание биологически активных веществ. Селекционная работа с этими культурами должна быть направлена на улучшение их биологических и потребительских качеств, таких как создание сортов с хорошим вкусом и пищевой ценностью, способных длительное время сохранять сочность мякоти, устойчивых к биотическим и абиотическим факторам среды

Timeless standards for species delimitation

published_or_final_versio

Global patterns in endemicity and vulnerability of soil fungi

Fungi are highly diverse organisms, which provide multiple ecosystem services. However, compared with charismatic animals and plants, the distribution patterns and conservation needs of fungi have been little explored. Here, we examined endemicity patterns, global change vulnerability and conservation priority areas for functional groups of soil fungi based on six global surveys using a high-resolution, long-read metabarcoding approach. We found that the endemicity of all fungi and most functional groups peaks in tropical habitats, including Amazonia, Yucatan, West-Central Africa, Sri Lanka, and New Caledonia, with a negligible island effect compared with plants and animals. We also found that fungi are predominantly vulnerable to drought, heat and land-cover change, particularly in dry tropical regions with high human population density. Fungal conservation areas of highest priority include herbaceous wetlands, tropical forests, and woodlands. We stress that more attention should be focused on the conservation of fungi, especially root symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi in tropical regions as well as unicellular early-diverging groups and macrofungi in general. Given the low overlap between the endemicity of fungi and macroorganisms, but high conservation needs in both groups, detailed analyses on distribution and conservation requirements are warranted for other microorganisms and soil organisms

Trajectories of Early Adolescent Loneliness: Implications for Physical Health and Sleep

The current study examines the relationship between prolonged loneliness, physical health, and sleep among young adolescents (10–13 years; N = 1214; 53% girls). Loneliness was measured at 10, 12 and 13 years of age along with parent-reported health and sleep outcomes. Using growth mixture modelling, 6 distinct trajectories were identified: ‘low increasing to high loneliness’ (n = 23, 2%), ‘high reducing loneliness’ (n = 28, 3%), ‘medium stable loneliness’ (n = 60, 5%), ‘medium reducing loneliness’ (n = 185, 15%), ‘low increasing to medium loneliness’ (n = 165, 14%), and ‘low stable loneliness’ (n = 743, 61%). Further analyses found non-significant differences between the loneliness trajectories and parent-report health and sleep outcomes including visits to health professionals, perceived general health, and sleep quality. The current study offers an important contribution to the literature on loneliness and health. Results show that the relationship may not be evident in early adolescence when parent reports of children’s health are used. The current study highlights the importance of informant choice when reporting health. The implications of the findings for future empirical work are discussed

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016