Chemical and antimicrobial profiling of propolis from different regions within Libya.

Extracts from twelve samples of propolis collected from different regions of Libya were tested for their activity against Trypanosoma brucei, Leishmania donovani, Plasmodium falciparum, Crithidia fasciculata and Mycobacterium marinum and the cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested against mammalian cells. All the extracts were active to some degree against all of the protozoa and the mycobacterium, exhibiting a range of EC50 values between 1.65 and 53.6 μg/ml. The toxicity against mammalian cell lines was only moderate; the most active extract against the protozoan species, P2, displayed an IC50 value of 53.2 μg/ml. The extracts were profiled by using liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. The data sets were extracted using m/z Mine and the accurate masses of the features extracted were searched against the Dictionary of Natural Products (DNP). A principal component analysis (PCA) model was constructed which, in combination with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), divided the samples into five groups. The outlying groups had different sets of dominant compounds in the extracts, which could be characterised by their elemental composition. Orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) analysis was used to link the activity of each extract against the different micro-organisms to particular components in the extracts

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Community structure and functional diversity of polypores (Basidiomycota) in the Atlantic Forest of Santa Catarina State, Brazil

Ecological studies have suggested that different groups of polypore species, acting as parasites and/or saprophytes, degrade different types of woody substrates. These functional groups have different decay capabilities and hence different roles in ecosystems. The aim of this study was to describe the community (species composition and their functionality inferred on the basis of substrate preference) of wood-decaying polypores in the Atlantic Forest of Parque Nacional da Serra do Itajaí, in Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The polypore specimens and data on the substrates were sampled in two plots (100×50 m). Among 152 specimens collected, 58 species were identified. Three main dominant groups were identified. The first group comprised three dominant species, the second group five subordinate species and the third 50 rare species. The species were ordered using cluster correspondence analysis based on relative frequency of the species in the different types of substrates and the mean size of the substrate where basidiomes were found. Five functional groups were recognized: two of them were formed by Phylloporia species (P. spathulata on living roots in the ground and P. chrysita on living trunk); and three others consisted of different species of different genera, each of them characterized by the presence of one dominant, few subordinate and several rare species

Phellinus piptadeniae (Hymenochaetales: Hymenochaetaceae): taxonomy and host range of a species with disjunct distribution in South American seasonally dry forests

Phellinus piptadeniae (Hymenochaetaceae, Hymenochaetales) is traditionally characterized by having applanate to ungulate basidiome with the pilear surface concentrically sulcate, radially cracked in old specimens, and a notorious sinuous black line in the cross section of the context. The species has been recorded in different Brazilian biomes, often associated with legume hosts and seasonally dry vegetation. It occurs highly specifically associated with Piptadenia gonoacantha in semideciduous forest of the Atlantic Forest domain at the type locality in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. In the Caatinga dry woodlands, northeastern Brazil, Phellinus piptadeniae occurs as host-recurrent of different Piptadenia species. During a recent polypore survey in different remnants of southeastern Atlantic Forest, specimens with the same morphology of the type were collected and the same host (P. gonoacantha) was confirmed. Morphologically similar specimens newly collected in seasonally dry tropical forests of northwestern Peru were also recorded on legume hosts (Libidibia glabrata and Pithecellobium excelsum). In this paper we discuss the morphological variation, host range, and distribution of Phellinus piptadeniae in the context of the historical biogeography of the neotropical Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF) biome. Some putative taxonomic implications that should be further investigated in a molecular phylogenetic framework are also addressed.Fil: Salvador Montoya, Carlos Alberto. Universidade Federal Da Santa Catarina; Brasil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Robledo, Gerardo Lucio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Cardoso, Domingos. Universidade Federal Da Bahia; BrasilFil: Borba Silva, Marco A.. Universidade Federal Da Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Fernandes, Mariana. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Drechsler Santos, Elisandro. Universidade Federal Da Santa Catarina; Brasi

Tropicoporus drechsleri (Hymenochaetales, basidiomycota), a new species in the “inonotus linteus” complex from northern Argentina

Morphological revision and phylogenetic analyses, based on nrITS and nrLSU, of specimens previously considered to be member of the “Inonotus linteus” species complex from in South America reveal a new species of Tropicoporus, here named T. drechsleri. It is a parasitic polypore restricted to the seasonally dry tropical forests of subtropical South America. Illustrations, taxonomic analyses and a discussion are presented, and a key to the Tropicoporus species in the Neotropics is provided.Fil: Salvador Montoya, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentina. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Rezende, Diogo Henrique Costa. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana; Brasil. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Ferreira Lopes, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Borba Silva, Marco A.. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Popoff, Orlando Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentin