South Africa’s Centre for Invasion Biology: An Experiment in Invasion Science for Society

AbstractMicrobiome engineering is increasingly being employed as a solution to challenges in health, agriculture, and climate. Often manipulation involves inoculation of new microbes designed to improve function into a preexisting microbial community. Despite, increased efforts in microbiome engineering inoculants frequently fail to establish and/or confer long-lasting modifications on ecosystem function. We posit that one underlying cause of these shortfalls is the failure to consider barriers to organism establishment. This is a key challenge and focus of macroecology research, specifically invasion biology and restoration ecology. We adopt a framework from invasion biology that summarizes establishment barriers in three categories: (1) propagule pressure, (2) environmental filtering, and (3) biotic interactions factors. We suggest that biotic interactions is the most neglected factor in microbiome engineering research, and we recommend a number of actions to accelerate engineering solutions.

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Invázna ekológia

Biológia, ekológia, chémia ◽

10.31262/1338-1024/2021/25/4/1-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Pavol Eliáš

Keyword(s):

Introduced Species ◽

20Th Century ◽

Science Policy ◽

21St Century ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Invasion Biology ◽

Current Development ◽

New Science ◽

Invasion Species ◽

In The Beginning

Invasion ecology was established as a science of invasion of animals and plants in the beginning of the second half of the 20th century by English ecologist Charles Sutherland Elton (1900-1991). Rapid development of the field of ecology is evident since the end of last century and following decades of 21st century. The paper deals with current development, diversity of concepts and hypotheses, including critiques of invasion terminology, invasion species concepts, introduced species as bad species and xenophobe appeared related to aliens as invaders. Invasion biology was an attempt to integrate alien animals and plants research into one science. In last decade new science of invasions is developed, characterised by multi- and interdisicplinarity, supported by social and economy sciences. To facilitate generalisations, and to improve the link between science, policy, and management, numerous frameworks have been developed in an attempt to unify different concepts and definitions.

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Fishing for Targets of Alien Metabolites: A Novel Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor (PPAR) Agonist from a Marine Pest

Marine Drugs ◽

10.3390/md16110431 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. 431 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Rosa Vitale ◽

Enrico D'Aniello ◽

Stefania Gorbi ◽

Andrea Martella ◽

Cristoforo Silvestri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Native Species ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Invasion Biology ◽

In Vitro Assays ◽

Bioactive Metabolites ◽

Peroxisome Proliferator ◽

Invasive Pests

Although the chemical warfare between invasive and native species has become a central problem in invasion biology, the molecular mechanisms by which bioactive metabolites from invasive pests influence local communities remain poorly characterized. This study demonstrates that the alkaloid caulerpin (CAU)—a bioactive component of the green alga Caulerpa cylindracea that has invaded the entire Mediterranean basin—is an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs). Our interdisciplinary study started with the in silico prediction of the ligand-protein interaction, which was then validated by in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro assays. On the basis of these results, we candidate CAU as a causal factor of the metabolic and behavioural disorders observed in Diplodus sargus, a native edible fish of high ecological and commercial relevance, feeding on C. cylindracea. Moreover, given the considerable interest in PPAR activators for the treatment of relevant human diseases, our findings are also discussed in terms of a possible nutraceutical/pharmacological valorisation of the invasive algal biomasses, supporting an innovative strategy for conserving biodiversity as an alternative to unrealistic campaigns for the eradication of invasive pests.

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Critical Issues in Invasion Biology for Conservation Science

Conservation Biology ◽

10.1007/978-1-4615-6051-7_11 ◽

1998 ◽

pp. 283-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ingrid M. Parker ◽

Sarah H. Reichard

Keyword(s):

Invasion Biology ◽

Conservation Science ◽

Critical Issues

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Microbial’s Effects on Invasive Grass’ Response to Water and Nutrient Stress

10.21203/rs.3.rs-117418/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Bo Zhang ◽

Yingdan Yuan ◽

Karolina M. Pajerowska-Mukhtar ◽

Michelle Afkhami ◽

Alan Hastings ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Interactive Effect ◽

Invasion Biology ◽

Imperata Cylindrica ◽

Invasion Success ◽

Nutrient Concentrations ◽

Sequencing Analysis ◽

Drought Treatment ◽

Plant Microbe Interaction ◽

Invasion Mechanisms

Abstract Background Soil microbiomes play important roles in invasion biology, yet it is often treated as a ‘black box’ in modeling or large-scale field studies. Hence, investigating the change of association between invasive vegetation and soil microbes under changing environmental conditions, and exploring the genetic functions of associated microbiomes will provide a deeper understanding of invasion mechanisms. We performed a microcosm experiment with cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica (L.) P. Beauv.), which is one of the 100 worst invasive plants in the world. We combined rigorous sequencing analysis, including 16S rRNA, ITS, and shotgun metagenome sequencing, for the first time, to investigate the interactive effect of change in soil water and nutrient concentrations on microbiomes diversity, composition and genetic functions under invasion. Results We found that experimental drought has a stronger effect on the bacterial community than the fungal community. We discovered an enrichment of microbial groups, including Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi under drought treatment, could likely contribute to invasion success. Further, we showed a striking trend of induction of cell wall, membrane and desiccation-related genes in drought treatment and a marked downregulation in regular treatment, which could create a more hydrated microenvironment, facilitating biofilm formation and better protection from desiccation.Conclusions Our work contributes to highlighting the associated microbial communities may have a potential long-term impact on increasing cogongrass drought resistance, ultimately, future invasion might be severe due to the plant-microbe interaction. These findings are important because current modeling practice, lacking comprehensive consideration of the plant-microbe interaction, could lead to a significant underestimate of predictions of future invasion patterns.

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Alien woody plants are more versatile than native, but both share similar therapeutic redundancy in South Africa

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0260390 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. e0260390

Author(s):

Kowiyou Yessoufou ◽

Annie Estelle Ambani ◽

Hosam O. Elansary ◽

Orou G. Gaoue

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Native Species ◽

Native Plants ◽

Invasion Biology ◽

Alien Plants ◽

Parasitic Infections ◽

Alien Plant Species ◽

Secondary Chemistry ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Medicinal Flora

Understanding why alien plant species are incorporated into the medicinal flora in several local communities is central to invasion biology and ethnobiology. Theories suggest that alien plants are incorporated in local pharmacopoeias because they are more versatile or contribute unique secondary chemistry which make them less therapeutically redundant, or simply because they are locally more abundant than native species. However, a lack of a comprehensive test of these hypotheses limits our understanding of the dynamics of plants knowledge, use and potential implications for invasion. Here, we tested the predictions of several of these hypotheses using a unique dataset on the woody medicinal flora of southern Africa. We found that the size of a plant family predicts the number of medicinal plants in that family, a support for the non-random hypothesis of medicinal plant selection. However, we found no support for the diversification hypothesis: i) both alien and native plants were used in the treatment of similar diseases; ii) significantly more native species than alien contribute to disease treatments particularly of parasitic infections and obstetric-gynecological diseases, and iii) alien and native species share similar therapeutic redundancy. However, we found support for the versatility hypothesis, i.e., alien plants were more versatile than natives. These findings imply that, although alien plant species are not therapeutically unique, they do provide more uses than native plants (versatility), thus suggesting that they may not have been introduced primarily for therapeutic reasons. We call for similar studies to be carried out on alien herbaceous plants for a broader understanding of the integration of alien plants into the pharmacopoeias of the receiving communities.

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The imbalance of nature: revisiting a Darwinian framework for invasion biology

Global Ecology and Biogeography ◽

10.1111/geb.12221 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (11) ◽

pp. 1157-1166 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

Jason D. Fridley ◽

Dov F. Sax

Keyword(s):

Invasion Biology

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