Data from: Germination fitness of two temperate epiphytic ferns shifts under increasing temperatures and forest fragmentation

Ferns are an important component of ecosystems around the world. Studies of the impacts that global changes may have on ferns are scarce, yet emerging studies indicate that some species may be particularly sensitive to climate change. The lack of research in this subject is much more aggravated in the case of epiphytes, and especially those that live under temperate climates. A mathematical model was developed for two temperate epiphytic ferns in order to predict potential impacts on spore germination kinetics, in response to different scenarios of global change, coming from increasing temperature and forest fragmentation. Our results show that an increasing temperature will have a negative impact over the populations of these temperate epiphytic ferns. Under unfragmented forests the germination percentage was comparatively less influenced than in fragmented patches. This study highlight that, in the long term, populations of the studied epiphytic temperate ferns may decline due to climate change. Overall, epiphytic fern communities will suffer changes in diversity, richness and dominance. Our study draws attention to the role of ferns in epiphytic communities of temperate forests, emphasizing the importance of considering these plants in any conservation strategy. Derived from our results, it seems that it would be more practical to focus attention to forest conservation. From a methodological point of view, the model we propose could be easily used to dynamically monitor the status of ecosystems, allowing the quick prediction of possible future scenarios, which is a crucial issue in biodiversity conservation decision-making

Effects of diet-induced obesity and aerobic training on ErbBs receptor expression

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Germination fitness of two temperate epiphytic ferns shifts under increasing temperatures and forest fragmentation

<div><p>Ferns are an important component of ecosystems around the world. Studies of the impacts that global changes may have on ferns are scarce, yet emerging studies indicate that some species may be particularly sensitive to climate change. The lack of research in this subject is much more aggravated in the case of epiphytes, and especially those that live under temperate climates. A mathematical model was developed for two temperate epiphytic ferns in order to predict potential impacts on spore germination kinetics, in response to different scenarios of global change, coming from increasing temperature and forest fragmentation. Our results show that an increasing temperature will have a negative impact over the populations of these temperate epiphytic ferns. Under unfragmented forests the germination percentage was comparatively less influenced than in fragmented patches. This study highlight that, in the long term, populations of the studied epiphytic temperate ferns may decline due to climate change. Overall, epiphytic fern communities will suffer changes in diversity, richness and dominance. Our study draws attention to the role of ferns in epiphytic communities of temperate forests, emphasizing the importance of considering these plants in any conservation strategy, specifically forest conservation. From a methodological point of view, the model we propose could be easily used to dynamically monitor the status of ecosystems, allowing the quick prediction of possible future scenarios, which is a crucial issue in biodiversity conservation decision-making.</p></div

Screening for in-vivo regional contractile defaults to predict the delayed Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity in Juvenile Rat

Anthracyclines are key chemotherapeutic agents used in various adult and pediatric cancers, however, their clinical use is limited due to possible congestive heart failure (HF) caused by acute and irreversible cardiotoxicity. Currently, there is no method to predict the future development of the HF in these patients. In order to identify early biomarkers to predict anthracycline cardiotoxicity in long-term survivors of childhood cancer, this longitudinal study aimed to analyze early and late in-vivo regional myocardial anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, related to in-vitro cardiac myocytes dysfunction, in a juvenile rat model. Methods: Young male Wistar rats (4 weeks-old) were treated with different cumulative doses of doxorubicin (7.5, 10 or 12.5 mg/kg) or NaCl (0.9%) once a week for 6 weeks by intravenous injection. Cardiac function was evaluated in-vivo by conventional (left ventricular ejection fraction, LVEF) and regional two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography over the 4 months after the last injection. The animals were assigned to preserved (pEF) or reduced EF (rEF) groups at the end of the protocol and were compared to controls. Results: We observed a preferential contractile dysfunction of the base of the heart, further altered in the posterior segment, even in pEF group. The first regional alterations appeared 1 month after chemotherapy. Functional investigation of cardiomyocytes isolated from the LV base 1 month after doxorubicin treatment showed that early in-vivo contractile alterations were associated with both decreased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity and length-dependent activation. Changes in post-translational modifications (phosphorylation; S-glutathionylation) and protein degradation of the cardiac myosin binding protein-C may contribute to these alterations. Conclusion: Our data suggest that screening of the contractile defaults of the base of the heart by regional 2D strain echocardiography is useful to detect subclinical myocardial dysfunction prior to the development of delayed anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy in pediatric onco-cardiology

Fit of germination percentage over time to a logistic curve (points = raw data; lines = fit model).

<p>Each condition was fit separately, black and red points/lines indicate data and fit at 13°C and 17.5°C respectively. a) Data from <i>Asplenium dareoides</i>. b) Data from <i>Asplenium trilobum</i>. P1 indicates results for populations living in the fragmented forest, and P2 for populations living in the unfragmented forest.</p

Relationships of germination parameters with population conditions.

<p>a) Data from <i>A</i>. <i>dareoides</i>. b) Data from <i>A</i>. <i>trilobum</i>. G = maximum germination proportion (showed as percentage), D = delay on germination, P = population conditions (from 0 = fragmented forest to 1 = unfragmented forest), T = temperature. Figures in the white boxes are the sampled actual data for each population-temperature pair.</p

Species tested in this study.

<p>A: <i>Asplenium dareoides</i>; B: <i>Asplenium trilobum</i>. Bar = 12 cm in a, 1.5 cm in b.</p

Predicted germination values (maximum germination in %, and delay in the onset of germinations in days) compared between species and populations, reflecting differences between spores growing under actual temperatures and under the two scenarios of increasing temperatures considered.

<p>Predicted germination values (maximum germination in %, and delay in the onset of germinations in days) compared between species and populations, reflecting differences between spores growing under actual temperatures and under the two scenarios of increasing temperatures considered.</p

Germination curves of <i>A</i>. <i>trilobum</i> versus temperature for populations from the fragmented forest (P1) and populations from the unfragmented forest (P2).

<p>Inset, current temperatures (13°C), and estimations at +2°C and +4.5°C scenarios.</p

Germination curves of <i>A</i>. <i>dareoides</i> versus temperature for populations from the fragmented forest (P1) and populations from the unfragmented forest (P2).

<p>Inset, current temperatures (13°C), and estimations at +2°C and +4.5°C scenarios.</p