Diverse pollination systems of the twin-spurred orchid genus Satyrium in African grasslands

The large terrestrial orchid genus Satyrium underwent evolutionary radiations in the Cape floral region and the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa. These radiations were accompanied by tremendous diversification of the unusual twin-spurred flowers that characterize the genus, but pollination data required to interpret these patterns of floral evolution have been lacking for grassland species in the genus. Here we document pollinators, nectar properties, and levels of pollination success for 11 grassland Satyrium species in southern and south-central Africa. Pollinators of these species include bees, beetles, butterflies, hawkmoths, noctuid moths, long-proboscid flies, and sunbirds. Most species appear to be specialized for pollination by one functional pollinator group. Long-proboscid fly pollination systems are reported for the first time in Satyrium (in S. macrophyllum and a high-altitude form of S. neglectum). Floral morphology, especially spur length and rostellum structure, differs markedly among plants with different pollinators, while nectar volume, concentration, and sugar composition are fairly uniform across species. Most taxa exhibited high levels of pollination success (>50% of flowers pollinated), a trend that can be attributed to the presence of nectar in the twin spurs

Primary School Pupils:Unequal GMC Developmental Pathways in a Single School Year

Gross motor coordination (GMC) is essential for the development of specific motor skills and long-term participation in physical activities and sports. Group analysis reveals that, on average, children develop these skills gradually; however, how individuals develop GMC is less clear. The main aim of this study is to increase the understanding of developmental patterns within one school year, and whether children’s grade, gender, or baseline GMC proficiency are associated with these developmental patterns. In total, 2594 Dutch children aged 6–12 years performed the modified Körper Koordinations Test für Kinder (KTK3+) twice in one school year (autumn and spring). The KTK3+ includes four subtests: walking backwards, moving sideways, jumping sideways, and eye-hand coordination (EHC) test. On average, children developed significantly on all subtests (p < 0.001). At baseline, children in higher grades scored significantly higher than children in lower grades, and children in grades 5 and 6 (age 9 and 10 years) showed most development (raw scores on average, p < 0.001). Boys outperformed girls on EHC across all grades, whereas girls outperformed boys on walking backwards. Nevertheless, both boys and girls developed similarly. Children with lower scores at baseline developed more quickly across all grades. Noteworthy is that 12.1–24% (depending on the test item) of the children scored lower in the spring than in the autumn tests. On average, children develop their GMC; however, we report large differences in their individual trajectories and note that a substantial number did not show a positive GMC development. Further research should examine GMC development with more possible influencing factors as well as over a longer time span to better understand differences in children’s GMC development. This may result in more individualized programs in PE lessons, enabling children to optimally develop their GMC, and better use of GMC assessment tools to monitor children’s development

Three-dimensional geometric morphometrics for studying floral shape variation

Variation in floral shape is of major interest to evolutionary and pollination biologists, plant systematists and developmental geneticists. Quantifying this variation has been difficult due to the three-dimensional (3D) complexity of angiosperm flowers. By combining 3D geometric representations of flowers obtained by micro-computed tomography scanning with geometric morphometric methods, well established in zoology and anthropology, floral shape variation can be analyzed quantitatively, allowing for powerful interpretation and visualization of the resulting patterns of variation

Landmark detection in 2D bioimages for geometric morphometrics: a multi-resolution tree-based approach

The detection of anatomical landmarks in bioimages is a necessary but tedious step for geometric morphometrics studies in many research domains. We propose variants of a multi-resolution tree-based approach to speed-up the detection of landmarks in bioimages. We extensively evaluate our method variants on three different datasets (cephalometric, zebrafish, and drosophila images). We identify the key method parameters (notably the multi-resolution) and report results with respect to human ground truths and existing methods. Our method achieves recognition performances competitive with current existing approaches while being generic and fast. The algorithms are integrated in the open-source Cytomine software and we provide parameter configuration guidelines so that they can be easily exploited by end-users. Finally, datasets are readily available through a Cytomine server to foster future research

Is Mandevilla (Apocynaceae, Mesechiteae) monophyletic? Evidence from five plastid DNA loci and morphology

In order to test the monophyly of Mandevilla Lindl., the largest genus in tribe Mesechiteea (Apocynaceae, Apocynoideae). and its affinities to other genera, in the tribe. maximum parsimony analysis was conducted on a data set comprising DNA sequence, from five plastid loci (rp/16. rps16, and trnK introns: trnS(GEE)-trnG(LPC) intergenic spacer; and matK gene), as well as morphological data for 65 taxa of Mesechiteae (48, Mandevilla) and nine taxa from other tribes of the subfamily. Mandevilla, as circumscribed by Pichon, was found to be monophyletic. whereas Woodson's circumscription proved to be polyphyletic. Thus defined, Mandevilla form, it strongly supported clade that call be divided into six clades of species groups. Most of the infrageneric taxa of Mandevilla proposed by Woodson and Pichon are polyphyletic. Many of the diagnostic characters previously used to define taxonomic groups are shown to have arisen multiple times, rendering them unsuitable lot classificatory purposes. The similar growth form and tubular flowers of Macrosiphonia Mull. Arg. and Telosiphonia (Woodson) Henr, two geographically disjunct segregates, represent the most extreme case of parallel evolution within Mandevilla, with their striking similarities most likely correlated to colonization of open. dry habitats and pollination by hawkmoths.93456559

Climate, Land, Energy and Water systems interactions – From key concepts to model implementation with OSeMOSYS

The Climate, Land, Energy and Water systems (CLEWs) approach guides the development of integrated assessments. The approach includes an analytical component that can be performed using simple accounting methods, soft-linking tools, incorporating cross-systems considerations in sectoral models, or using one modelling tool to represent CLEW systems. This paper describes how a CLEWs quantitative analysis can be performed using one single modelling tool, the Open Source Energy Modelling System (OSeMOSYS). Although OSeMOSYS was primarily developed for energy systems analysis, the tool’s functionality and flexibility allow for its application to CLEWs. A step-by-step explanation of how climate, land, energy, and water systems can be represented with OSeMOSYS, complemented with the interpretation of sets, parameters, and variables in the OSeMOSYS code, is provided. A hypothetical case serves as the basis for developing a modelling exercise that exemplifies the building of a CLEWs model in OSeMOSYS. System-centred scenario analysis is performed with the integrated model example to illustrate its application. The analysis of results shows how integrated insights can be derived from the quantitative exercise in the form of conflicts, trade-offs, opportunities, and synergies. In addition to the modelling exercise, using the OSeMOSYS-CLEWs example in teaching, training and open science is explored to support knowledge transfer and advancement in the field

Three new species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from Myanmar

Three new species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from Myanmar are here described: I. decurva Ruchis. & S. B. Janssens, I. hartnolliae Hook. f. ex Ruchis. & Suksathan, and I. oblongata Ruchis. & Van der Niet. The 5-lobed short fusiform fruit of all three species suggests that they are members of subgen. Impatiens sect. Uniflorae Hook. f. & Thomson. For I. decurva and I. oblongata, subgenus membership was corroborated by phylogenetic analyses of a combined dataset of nuclear ITS and plastid atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer DNA sequences. This was not possible for I. hartnolliae, which is only known from a single herbarium specimen.Plant science

Diverse pollination systems of the twin-spurred orchid genus Satyrium in African grasslands

The large terrestrial orchid genus Satyrium underwent evolutionary radiations in the Cape floral region and the grasslands of southern and eastern Africa. These radiations were accompanied by tremendous diversification of the unusual twin-spurred flowers that characterize the genus, but pollination data required to interpret these patterns of floral evolution have been lacking for grassland species in the genus. Here we document pollinators, nectar properties, and levels of pollination success for 11 grassland Satyrium species in southern and south-central Africa. Pollinators of these species include bees, beetles, butterflies, hawkmoths, noctuid moths, long-proboscid flies, and sunbirds. Most species appear to be specialized for pollination by one functional pollinator group. Long-proboscid fly pollination systems are reported for the first time in Satyrium (in S. macrophyllum and a high-altitude form of S. neglectum). Floral morphology, especially spur length and rostellum structure, differs markedly among plants with different pollinators, while nectar volume, concentration, and sugar composition are fairly uniform across species. Most taxa exhibited high levels of pollination success (>50% of flowers pollinated), a trend that can be attributed to the presence of nectar in the twin spurs

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record