Plant Habitat Research Articles

GENETIC CHARACTERISTICS OF F2 POPULATIONS OBTAINED THROUGH DOUBLE AND THREE-WAY CROSSES IN CAYENNE PEPPERS

The enhancement in cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) productivity is intently needed due to the ever-increasing demand, considered a vital vegetable commodity with complete nutrition and high economic value in Indonesia. Conventional plant breeding is one of the strategies to produce superior cultivars with increased yield. Thus, the latest research aimed to identify genetic diversity and gene inheritance patterns for selecting high-yielding F2 populations of cayenne pepper made through double and three-way crosses. The said research employed an augmented design combined with a randomized complete block design as an environmental design. The research factors consisted of non-repeating cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) lines with a limited number of seeds originating from 10 parental populations. The resulting 100 and 52 F22 individual populations, obtained from double and three-way crosses, respectively, were evaluated in comparison with four control cultivars, i.e., Bara, Dewata, Ungara, and Katokkon. The non-repeated rows, divided into five blocks, included the control cultivars planted repeatedly in each block. The results indicated that almost all traits have high genetic diversity and heritability and have potential use as selection criteria. The traits plant habitus (0.135), stem diameter (0.202), number of productive branches (0.359), and fruit weight (0.171) have a direct utmost influence on yield compared with other traits; thus, these promising traits can serve as selection criteria along with yield.

Identifikasi Jenis Kupu-kupu (Lepidoptera) di Taman Wisata Alam Baning Kabupaten Sintang

Baning Nature Park is located on the Ana River, Sintang District, Sintang District, West Kalimantan Province, is an ex-situ conservation area of ​​dry lowland plants with various collections of plant habitus, both from trees, shrubs, herbs, lianas, and others. other. The existence of butterflies in a habitat has a role as pollinating insects which have a very important position in maintaining the balance of nature. Butterflies aside from being natural pollinating agents, can be used as an indicator in testing environmental quality, by observing the state of their habitat. This study aims to find out what types of butterflies are found in the Baning Nature Park and their ecological roles. This research is a type of exploratory research. Data collection was carried out using a belt transect, by circling the Baning Nature Park. Catching butterflies is done using sweeping technique. Observations made at the Baning Nature Park found 15 species in 4 different families. These species namely; Arhopala centaurus, Leptosia nina, Appias olferna, Eurema blanda, Catopsilia pomona, Eurema hecabe, Junonia hedonia, Junonia atlites, Junonia iphita, Hypolimnas bolina, Phaedyma columella, Elymnias hypermnestra, Tanaecia trigerta, Papilio memnon, and Papilio polytes. The ecological role of the butterfly is as a pollinating organism. Nectar-producing plants in Baning Nature Park which are frequently visited by butterflies, namely, the species Psydrax dicoccos and Ixora sp.

LED Lighting to Produce High-Quality Ornamental Plants.

The flexibility of LED technology, in terms of energy efficiency, robustness, compactness, long lifetime, and low heat emission, as well as its applications as a sole source or supplemental lighting system, offers interesting potential, giving the ornamental industry an edge over traditional production practices. Light is a fundamental environmental factor that provides energy for plants through photosynthesis, but it also acts as a signal and coordinates multifaceted plant-growth and development processes. With manipulations of light quality affecting specific plant traits such as flowering, plant architecture, and pigmentation, the focus has been placed on the ability to precisely manage the light growing environment, proving to be an effective tool to produce tailored plants according to market request. Applying lighting technology grants growers several productive advantages, such as planned production (early flowering, continuous production, and predictable yield), improved plant habitus (rooting and height), regulated leaf and flower color, and overall improved quality attributes of commodities. Potential LED benefits to the floriculture industry are not limited to the aesthetic and economic value of the product obtained; LED technology also represents a solid, sustainable option for reducing agrochemical (plant-growth regulators and pesticides) and energy inputs (power energy).

Study Of Medicine Plants Ethnobotany In Banceuy Indigenous People Subang Regency, West Java

The Kampung adat Banceuy society is one of the indigenous communities of the archipelago that still practice local wisdom insight, such as plants, for medicinal purposes. This study aims to inventory the diversity of medicinal plants used by the people of Kampung adat Banceuy. The research method was done by direct observation and depth interviews with key informants and respondents. The results show that society has used 48 species (28 families) of medicinal plants for generations. The sources of plants are obtained from around settlements that grow wildly or from their garden. The leaf is the most used plant organ. Herbs are the most common plant habitus used. Medicinal plants were used directly or by processing traditionally first. Medicinal plants are planted independently to maintain availability and indirectly for conservation. This society's inventory of medicinal plants expects to be beneficial information for further conservation and development efforts. This study also presented data on plants used by the indigenous people of Banceuy for various needs.

Mechanical structures of sidewalk plants: Anatomical evaluation

The mechanical structure of plant tissues has recently attracted a lot of attention. The present study aims to evaluate the importance of collenchymatous and sclerenchymatous tissues in supporting plant species in their harsh environments like road and street plant habitats. Dicots and monocots are classified into different models according to the types of supporting mechanisms. Mass cell percentage and soil analysis are used in this investigation. The tissues are distributed with different percentage masses and arrangements to overcome various severe conditions. Statistical analyses enhance the role of these tissues and clarify their significant values. The gear support mechanism is claimed to be the perfect mechanical method used.

Микрорельеф поверхности листьев дикорастущей айвы Cydonia oblonga Mill. (Rosaceae) лесных фитоценозов предгорий Дагестана

Cryo-scanning electron microscopy was used to study the micromorphology of the leaf surface of the wild-growing Cydonia oblonga Mill. (Rosaceae). The only habitat of wild-growing quince in Russia is the southern part of Dagestan. Mountain forest phytocenoses of Dagestan provide unique grounds for studying the adaptive potential of plants, since growing conditions change not only according to the change of seasons, but also directly depend on the altitude above sea level. The adaxial (upper) and abaxial (lower) surfaces of the studied samples have a number of micromorphological and microstructural features. The epidermis on the adaxial and abaxial sides differed not only in structural organization, but also in the specifics of surface micromorphology. The most striking feature of the micromorphology of the adaxial and abaxial sides of the leaf blade surface is cuticular folding in the form of microstrands on the main cells of the epidermis, as well as radial striations, peristomatic rings, and protrusions in the stomata region. Regardless of the habitat of fruit plants, their leaves were hypostomatous with anomocytic stomata of two types (primary and secondary), differing in qualitative and quantitative indicators. The primary stomata had a more prominent cuticular pattern and were also larger than the smaller secondary stomata. It should be noted that the presence of several types of cuticular folding, as well as stomatal polymorphism, are common features of other studied species of the subfamily Pyrinae, early Maloideae (Rosaceae). According to the data obtained, the identified features of cuticular folding are stable within the species and can be used as additional taxonomic characters.

Vegetation change in acidic dry grasslands in Moravia (Czech Republic) over three decades: Slow decrease in habitat quality after grazing cessation

AbstractAimsShallow soils on acidic bedrock in dry areas of Central Europe support dry grasslands and heathlands that were formerly used as extensive pastures. These habitats are of high conservation value, but their abandonment in the 20th century triggered slow natural succession that poses a threat to specialized plant species. We asked how this vegetation and its plant diversity have changed over the past three decades and whether protected areas have positively affected habitat quality.LocationSouthwestern and central Moravia, Czech Republic.MethodsIn 2018–2019, we resurveyed 94 vegetation plots first sampled in 1986–1991 at 47 acidic dry grassland and heathland sites. We compared the number of all vascular plant species, Red List species and alien species per plot using parametric and non‐parametric tests, life‐form spectra using the chi‐square test, species composition using detrended correspondence analysis, and indicator values using a permutation test. We also compared these changes between sites within and outside protected areas.ResultsVegetation changes over the past three decades have been relatively small. However, we detected a decrease in total species richness, the number of Red List species and the number of characteristic species of dry grasslands. Neophytes were infrequent, while archaeophytes increased slightly. The competitive tall grass Arrhenatherum elatius, annual species and young woody plants increased in abundance or newly established at many sites. Indicator values did not change except for a slight increase in nutrient values. These negative trends occurred both within and outside protected areas but were more pronounced outside.ConclusionsFormerly grazed acidic dry grasslands and heathlands in Moravia are slowly losing habitat specialists, including threatened plant species, and are increasingly dominated by Arrhenatherum elatius. Conservation management, especially cutting in protected areas, slows down the negative trends of decline in plant diversity and habitat quality but is insufficient to halt these processes completely.

A Study of Human Influence on Forest Association Structure in Eastern Part of Manas Biosphere Reserve

Forests are biologically diverse natural systems that contain some of the world's most diverse biological areas. They provide a diverse range of habitats for plants, animals, and microbes. Forests are essential for environmental, land, and economic sustainability. They are the most important resource for humanity's survival. "Forest is a remarkable creature of boundless generosity and benevolence that makes no demand for its nourishment and gives protection to all beings, even supplying shade to the axe-man who destroys it," says Bhagawan Gautam Buddha. Forests, the earth's "Green Lungs," serve as energy and nutrient reservoirs, while also enriching soil by providing much-needed organic matter and increasing its water holding capacity. Forests offer man with food, fodder, medicine, fibre, lumber, and a variety of non-wood items, as well as shade and protection, as one of the most important components of the ecosystem. The forest serves as a natural habitat for biodiversity and a storehouse of genetic diversity. Forest conservation is an excellent method of carbon sequestration. If global warming is compared to a worldwide fever, forests not only serve as a potential cure, but their loss also adds to the spread of the disease (Schone and Netto, 2005). Deforestation and forest degradation account for 24% of all anthropogenic carbon emissions and 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2000).

Multi-scale spatiotemporal wetland loss and its critical influencing factors in China determined using innovative grid-based GWR

Wetlands serve as a critical habitat for many plants and animals. However, with urban expansion and other processes, the wetlands in China are lost at an alarming rate in recent decades. This study quantifies the pace of wetland loss in the past two decades and investigates the hidden mechanisms of wetland loss via a proposed innovative grid-based geographically weighted regression computing unified device architecture (Grid-GWR-CUDA) method. Also assessed in this study is the relative importance of four natural factors (precipitation, digital elevation model (DEM), slope, evaporation), and four human related factors (distance to city, distance to roads, population, and gross domestic product (GDP)) in wetland loss at both the national and regional levels. The importance of some critical factors is compared across different regions. The results indicated that GDP, population size and DEM are the three most significant factors impacting on the rate of wetland loss at the national level. They are still the most influential factors for most regions at the sub-national level while precipitation is an important factor only in the eastern regions. Therefore, the main causes of wetland loss in China are attributed to human socioeconomic activities. Compared with the traditional geographically weighted regression (GWR) method, the proposed Grid-GWR-CUDA method is innovative enough to handle large data volumes efficiently while retaining all data samples at a fine (e.g., 30 m) spatial resolution because the computational efficiency is significantly improved via graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration. It improves the accuracy of regression by several folds over traditional ordinary least square and GWR. It has the potential to predict future wetland loss if supplied with the latest land cover data.

К оценке декоративности видов Spiraea при интродукции (Республика Коми)

The article presents the results of the study of plant species of Spiraea L. when cultivated in the Botanical Garden of the Institute of Biology. The studied taxa of nine Spiraea species are represented by plants of the generative period aged 10-40 years or more. Observations of the objects were carried out in 2013-2020. The description of the habitus and morphological features of plants: shoots, leaves, inflorescences and flowers are given. The average terms and duration of flowering of introduced plants are established. The comparative assessment of the decorative qualities of species samples was carried out using three different methods. The studied plants are characterized by a long flowering period – up to 50 days. A wide variety of decorative qualities allows us to attribute most of them to the group of highly decorative species. The most decorative species include plants Spiraea chamaedryfolia, S. media and S. trilobata. Plants of nine studied Spiraea species can be recommended for landscaping of the northern region. Keywords: SPIRAEA L., SPECIES, INTRODUCTION, SHRUBS, FLOWERING, DECORATIVE QUALITIES

Plant Cell Cultures: Biofactories for the Production of Bioactive Compounds

Plants have long been exploited as a sustainable source of food, flavors, agrochemicals, colors, therapeutic proteins, bioactive compounds, and stem cell production. However, plant habitats are being briskly lost due to scores of environmental factors and human disturbances. This necessitates finding a viable alternative technology for the continuous production of compounds that are utilized in food and healthcare. The high-value natural products and bioactive compounds are often challenging to synthesize chemically since they accumulate in meager quantities. The isolation and purification of bioactive compounds from plants is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and involves cumbersome extraction procedures. This demands alternative options, and the plant cell culture system offers easy downstream procedures. Retention of the metabolic cues of natural plants, scale-up facility, use as stem cells in the cosmetics industry, and metabolic engineering (especially the rebuilding of the pathways in microbes) are some of the advantages for the synthesis and accumulation of the targeted metabolites and creation of high yielding cell factories. In this article, we discuss plant cell suspension cultures for the in vitro manipulation and production of plant bioactive compounds. Further, we discuss the new advances in the application of plant cells in the cosmetics and food industry and bioprinting.

Soil Contamination with Metals in Mountainous: A Case Study of Jaworzyna Krynicka in the Beskidy Mountains (Poland).

The paper presents the content of six metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the soils of the southern slope of Jaworzyna Krynicka in Poland. Soil samples were collected in polygons, starting from an altitude of 500 m above sea level and ending at an altitude of 1100 m above sea level. Ten soil samples were collected in each polygon. The polygons were set at every 100 m of absolute altitude. The selected research area is an important natural area. The fertile mountain beech forests located there are the most important forest communities in the mountain areas of Poland. They are valuable habitats for plants and animals (especially for large predatory mammals). Every year, numerous tourists and health resort patients visit this place. The results of the research showed that soil contamination in the study area is not high, in particular for altitudes of 500 and 900 m above sea level. At these altitudes, the contents of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were similar to the concentrations of these metals in uncontaminated soils. The tests carried out showed very low cadmium content for all absolute altitudes. Zinc, the concentrations of which exceeded natural values, showed the highest content in the tested soils. All the metals tested showed a common tendency of increases in their content in the soils of Jaworzyna Krynicka up to 800 m above sea level. From an altitude of 900 m above sea level, the content of these metals decreased, except for Pb. Only Pb concentrations in Jaworzyna Krynicka soils also increased with the increasing altitude. The research significance of this work is that it is important for assessing the ecological balance in the selected area.

Characterization of the USDA Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima germplasm collections.

The Cucurbita genus is home to a number of economically and culturally important species. We present the analysis of genotype data generated through genotyping-by-sequencing of the USDA germplasm collections of Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima. These collections include a mixture of wild, landrace, and cultivated specimens from all over the world. Roughly 1,500 - 32,000 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were called in each of the collections, which ranged in size from 314 to 829 accessions. Genomic analyses were conducted to characterize the diversity in each of the species. Analysis revealed extensive structure corresponding to a combination of geographical origin and morphotype/market class. Genome-wide associate studies (GWAS) were conducted using both historical and contemporary data. Signals were observed for several traits, but the strongest was for the bush (Bu) gene in C. pepo. Analysis of genomic heritability, together with population structure and GWAS results, was used to demonstrate a close alignment of seed size in C. pepo, maturity in C. moschata, and plant habit in C. maxima with genetic subgroups. These data represent a large, valuable collection of sequenced Cucurbita that can be used to direct the maintenance of genetic diversity, for developing breeding resources, and to help prioritize whole-genome re-sequencing.

Driving effects of land use and landscape pattern on different spontaneous plant life forms along urban river corridors in a fast-growing city

River corridors are critical in connecting fragmented greenspace and providing habitats for plants and animals. There is a paucity of information on the detailed influence of land use and landscape patterns on the richness and diversity of distinct life forms of urban spontaneous vegetation. This study aimed to identify the variables that dramatically affect spontaneous plants and then disentangle how to manage such a variety of land types to maximize the biodiversity-supporting function of urban river corridors. The total species richness was remarkably influenced by the amount of commercial, industrial, and waterbody area and the landscape complexity of water, green space, and unused land. In addition, the spontaneous plant assemblages of different life forms significantly differed in their responses to land use and landscape variables. Vines were more sensitive to urban sites, i.e., strongly negatively affected by residential and commercial areas but positively supported by green space and cropland. Multivariate regression trees indicated that the total plant assemblages were clustered most remarkably by the total industrial area, and the classified responding variables differed among distinct life forms. The colonizing habitat of spontaneous plants explained a high proportion of the variance and was also closely related to the surrounding land use and landscape pattern. These scale-specific interaction effects ultimately determined the variation in richness among various spontaneous plant assemblages in urban sites. Based on these results, in future city river planning and design, spontaneous vegetation could be protected and promoted by a nature-based solution according to their adaptability and preference for distinct landscape characteristics and habitat features.

APPLICATION OF THE RAPID ASSESSMENT OF THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES TOOL FOR THE WETLAND “PRUT RIVER HEADWATERS” IN THE CARPATHIAN NATIONAL NATURE PARK (UKRAINE)

Wetlands are among the most important ecosystems on Earth. They improve water quality, control floods, regulate global carbon levels, have significant cultural and recreational values, and provide habitat for plants and animals uniquely adapted to living in wet conditions. Wetlands are diverse, hydrologically complex ecosystems, which tend to develop within a hydrological gradient going from terrestrial to mainly aquatic habitats [1]. In 2019, two wetlands of the Carpathian National Nature Park (CNNP), Ukraine, were identified by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance. The Prut River Heeadwaters Wetland is in the focus of this study. It belongs to Prut River basin that is very important transboundary tributaries of the Danube River. The Site acts as a flood regulator, and a freshwater reservoir, providing drinking water to people within the Prut River basin. The wetland is biodiversity hotspot with valuable species, many of them are listed as threatened in the national and global Red Lists, and a great number are endemic to the Eastern Carpathian biogeographic region. Due to the favourable climate and availability of almost undisturbed landscapes, the wetlands are very popular for visitors. In this study key research task is to apply Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services (RAWES) approach to the Prut River Headwaters Wetland in order to provide a qualitative and semi-quantitative assessment of a comprehensive range of wetland ecosystem services. The objective of the RAWES approach is to facilitate an assessment of the plurality of benefits provided by a wetland, which can be considered genuinely rapid, involving limited resources.

Classifying habitat characteristics of wetlands using a self-organizing map

Wetlands are nutrient-rich and biodiverse ecosystems that provide habitats for various animals and plants and protect against flooding. Classification of wetlands provides information to conservation planners and resource managers for ecosystem service determination. Many ecological case studies illuminate the self-organizing map (SOM) as a robust and powerful data classification and visualization tool. In this study, we use the SOM to analyze the habitat characteristics of inland wetlands in South Korea. We surveyed the plants, benthic macroinvertebrates, and bird species inhabiting 530 nationwide wetlands for four years from 2016 to 2019. Nine environmental features, including the proportion of urban area, farmland, grassland, a forest within a 1 km buffer zone, distance from the river and nearest wetland, area, perimeter, and average slope of wetland polygons, were used to train the SOM and examine the habitat characteristics of the surveyed living components. A map size of 10 × 11 pixels was considered for SOM training, and the output data were classified into eight clusters. Based on the occurrence frequency of the surveyed species group, most species were distributed in all clusters, whereas some dominated in specific clusters. We believe that our study contributes significantly to the literature because it highlights the significance of the SOM approach to cluster wetlands with dependent habitats and provides ecological information to build sustainable wetland conservation policies.

Utricularia ochroleuca and U. minor new‐found in nutrient‐poor waters of northern Greece

Nutrient‐poor waters with small Utricularia species have been unknown in most of southern Europe and the Balkans. All the more notable are occurrences of Utricularia ochroleuca and Utricularia minor in north Greece. The records presented in this paper extend the known southeast European distribution boundaries of both species southward, and constitute U. ochroleuca a new species to Greece and southern Europe. U. ochroleuca was found in small peaty pools and seepage sites with base‐poor water within subalpine fens and headwaters, U. minor in very shallow base‐containing waters of spring brooks in upper montane ophiolite environments. The plant species composition of the Utricularia vegetation and its habitats are described. The pertinent vegetation types – Utricularietum ochroleucae and Scorpidio‐Utricularietum, respectively, as well as their higher‐ranking syntaxa – are new to Greece and the Balkans. The vegetation with U. ochroleuca forms part of the Annex I habitat type 3160 of the EU Habitats Directive, which is also new to Greece. Nature conservation status and management conditions of the detected plant communities and habitats with Utricularia in northern Greece are discussed.

Assessment of Chinese suitable habitats of Zanthoxylum nitidum in different climatic conditions by Maxent model, HPLC, and chemometric methods

The suitable habitats of medicinal plants have changed as the result of climate change, which may affect quality of herbal medicine. However, as an important traditional herbal medicine, the Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC. lacks relevant research on coping with climate challenges. In this study, through field and online surveys, occurrence records and samples of Z. nitidum were gathered. The various periods’ suitable habitats of Z. nitidum were predicted by using Maxent and ArcGIS software. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to ascertain the samples’ nitidine chloride (NC) content. Chemometric methods was used to conduct hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) on Z. nitidum samples from different suitable habitats. The results showed that the precipitation and temperature were significant factors in the distribution of Z. nitidum. The suitable habitats of current climate scenarios were predicted to be mainly distributed in south of the Yangtze River. The suitable habitats were predicted to gradually reduce southward under the four future climate scenarios. The contents of NC in suitable habitats were significantly higher than low-suitable habitats. Meanwhile, HCA and PCA showed that the Z. nitidum samples from different suitable habitats were effectively identified and evaluated based on bioactive substances. Overall, the findings of this study are useful references for the identification of suitable areas of Z. nitidum cultivation, as well as suitable habitats identification and quality evaluation of Z. nitidum resources in China.

Vascular flora near the iron fences in South Korea’s demilitarized zone

The demilitarized zone (DMZ), a military buffer zone between South and North Korea, is an ecological treasury free from human interference and a core ecological axis of the Korean Peninsula, making its conservation crucial. However, surveys have been insufficient because of restricted civilian access and ecosystem fragmentation. We aimed to investigate the ecological value of the DMZ and the regional characteristics of plants. A flora survey was conducted along the iron fences in the South Korean DMZ and analyzed by region. We recorded 1,051 vascular plant taxa comprising 121 families, 484 genera, 936 species, 25 subspecies, 81 varieties, and 9 formae. The region requires habitat protection because of the presence of 36 rare and 38 endemic taxa, and 35 floristic target species of Stage IV or higher. Invasive alien plants require further monitoring because 89 invasive taxa were recorded. Changes in military facilities or barren land operations can threaten habitats or create habitat edges. Biological resources, including plants, should be monitored for a multifaceted evaluation of the DMZ ecosystem value. Habitat restoration research and conservation activities should be conducted by establishing an environmental database linking environmental conditions with native plant habitats.

Medicinal Plant Used by Indigenous People Namely Suku Anak Dalam (SAD) in Nyogan Village Jambi Province

Medicinal plants have long been known and used by the people of Indonesia and are still used today because they rarely cause side effects. One community that still uses plants as traditional medicine is the Suku Anak Dalam (Anak Dalam Tribe) (SAD) which lives in Nyogan Village, Mestong District, Jambi. As a result of the land use change in Jambi, where the forest has shifted to oil palm plantations, the forest as a habitat for medicinal plants is also decreasing, and there is even a concern that there will be a loss of germplasm. This research aimed to find out medicinal plants used by SAD in traditional medicine. This research is qualitative research with in-depth interviews and observation to collect data. The results showed that there were about 17 plants used as traditional medicine by SAD in Nyogan Village. Of the 17 plant species, four plant species were classified rare, namely Mampat wood (Cratoxylum arborescens (Vahl.) Blume), Putat wood (Planchonia valida [B.]), Brumbung wood (Adina minutiflora Val; Pertusadina spp), Bulian wood (Eusideroxylon zwageri L.). The parts of the plant that are often used for traditional medicine are bark, leaves, and plant roots, as internal medicine (oral) and external medicine. The results of this research provide an overview of medicinal plants that are still used by SAD so that they can be preserved in the future