Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00690-x.Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular cluster populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

State of the world’s plants and fungi 2020

Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi project provides assessments of our current knowledge of the diversity of plants and fungi on Earth, the global threats that they face, and the policies to safeguard them. Produced in conjunction with an international scientific symposium, Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi sets an important international standard from which we can annually track trends in the global status of plant and fungal diversity

Sustainable wild collection of medicinal and aromatic plants: development of an international standard

Between 50,000 and 70,000 plant species are known to be used in traditional and modern medicine systems throughout the world. Uncounted additional species are used in the growing cosmetics and botanicals industries. The great majority of these materials is provided by collection from wild resources. Notwithstanding growing interest in cultivation, wild collection is likely to continue as the principal source for most species of medicinal and aromatic plants, in most parts of the world, based on biological, economic and social factors. Building on successes in the development of sustainable harvest and resource stewardship standards in other sectors such as timber, non-wood forest products, organic agriculture and marine aquarium fish, an initiative has recently been launched to develop an international standard and criteria for good practice in the sustainable wild collection of medicinal and aromatic plants. This paper summarizes the current status of work to develop this standard, supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz – BfN), WWF Germany and TRAFFIC Europe-Germany), IUCN Canada and the Medicinal Plant Specialist Grou

Inhibition of human pathogenic fungi by members of Zingiberaceae used by the Kenyah (Indonesian Borneo)

Extracts from 11 plant species belonging to the Zingiberaceae were tested for antifungal activity using disc diffusion bioassays. Extracts from several members, especially Alpinia galanga, Curcuma zedoaria and Zingiber purpureum, were found to have pronounced inhibitory activities against a wide variety of human pathogenic fungi, including strains resistant to the common antifungals amphotericin B and ketoconazole. As members of the Zingiberaceae are generally regarded as safe for human consumption, these species are excellent candidates for development as novel therapeutics