Eucalyptus globulus bark as a source of polyphenolic compounds with biological activity

Eucalyptus globulus bark, one of the main by-products of the pulp and paper industry in Southern Europe, is a potential source of valuable chemicals. In this work, chemical composition of E. globulus bark was studied with detail, including its carbohydrate composition. Response surface methodology (RSM) modeling and optimization was developed for the selective extraction of polyphenolic material from E. globulus bark. The RSM method was based on the Box-Behnken design, aiming to obtain the optimal combination of extraction conditions considering the parameters ethanol percentage in the extraction medium, temperature and time. Conditions for maximum of polyphenols in the extract are 52% ethanol, extraction temperature of 82.5°C and extraction time of 264 min. The polyphenolic compounds - quantified as gallic acid equivalents - in the extract produced at the optimal conditions was 32%, corresponding to about 2% of bark weight, with a carbohydrate co-extraction of about 1.6% of bark carbohydrate content. Some of the extracts revealed low values of IC50 against human breast cancer cells, indicative of high biological activity. This work has demonstrated the potential of E. globulus bark as a source of polyphenolic compounds with anti-proliferative activity and gives a positive contribution to the increase in products portfolio diversification in pulp industry and biorefineries

Integrating biodiversity, remote sensing, and auxiliary information for the study of ecosystem functioning and conservation at large spatial scales

Assessing patterns and processes of plant functional, taxonomic, genetic, and structural biodiversity at large scales is essential across many disciplines, including ecosystem management, agriculture, ecosystem risk and service assessment, conservation science, and forestry. In situ data housed in databases necessary to perform such assessments over large parts of the world are growing steadily. Integrating these in situ data with remote sensing (RS) products helps not only to improve data completeness and quality but also to account for limitations and uncertainties associated with each data product. Here, we outline how auxiliary environmental and socioeconomic data might be integrated with biodiversity and RS data to expand our knowledge about ecosystem functioning and inform the conservation of biodiversity. We discuss concepts, data, and methods necessary to assess plant species and ecosystem properties across scales of space and time and provide a critical discussion of outstanding issues