Interaction of causative agents of sapronoses with the land plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon

Background. A significant role in the ecology of the sapronotic pathogens Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes and in the epidemiology of the infections they cause is played by land plants used for food. These microorganisms are often found on plant substrates, they multiply on various vegetable and root crops. In this regard, it is relevant to study the viability and biological activity of Y. pseudotuberculosis and L. monocytogenes in contact with various land plants, including those that are not eaten, but are used in medicine.Aim. Study of the interaction of sapronotic pathogens Y. pseudotuberculosis and L. monocytogenes with callus cultures of the land plant Lithospermum erythrorhizon Siebold et Zucc.Materials and methods. The studies included strains of Y. pseudotuberculosis 512 serotype 1b, pYV+, 82MD+ and L. monocytogenes NCTC (4b) 10527 from the Collection of Somov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, and cell culture from the roots of red-root gromwell Lithospermum erythrorhizon line VC-39 (from the Collection of FSC of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity FEB RAS).Before the study, Y. pseudotuberculosis and L . monocytogenes were cultured 18–20 hours on nutrient agar pH 7.1–7.2. A working dilution of microorganisms was prepared (106 micobial cells per 1 ml) and applied at a dose of 100 μl to the surface of plant calli. Material samples were taken in dynamics after 3 and 14 days and prepared for scanning electron microscopy.Results. Y. pseudotuberculosis and L. monocytogenes formed biofilms on the surface of plant cells within 3 days after the start of the experiment. It was noted that Y. pseudotuberculosis destroyed the components of the plant cell membrane.Conclusion. New data obtained during the study expand the understanding of environments and forms of habitation, as well as the potential for pathogenicity of sapronotic pathogens in the environment.

An updated checklist to the biodiversity data of ladybeetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Azores Archipelago (Portugal)

A recently-published review from 2021 presents a comprehensive checklist of ladybeetles of Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira Archipelagos. Until then, the available information was very scattered and based on a single revision dating back to 1986, a few international catalogues and databases, individual records and studies on communities of agroecosystems. However, no information was available on faunal composition across the Azorean islands and their habitats, using standardised inventories. Here, we present data about the biodiversity of ladybeetles and their distribution and abundance in five Islands of the Azores (Faial, Graciosa, Pico, São Jorge and São Miguel). Surveys included herbaceous and arboreal habitats from native to anthropogenic-managed habitats: ruderal road vegetation, vegetable garden, mixed forest of endemic and non-native host plants, coastal prairies, coastal mixed vegetation, cornfields and urban areas. We aimed to contribute to the ongoing effort to document the terrestrial biodiversity of Portugal, including the Archipelago of the Azores, within the research project AZORESBIOPORTAL–PORBIOTA (ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072). In this study, a total of 1,487 specimens of Coccinellidae belonging to 19 species are reported for several habitats. The listed species are from one single sub-familiy (Coccinellinae) and six tribes; Chilocorini (one species), Coccidulini (three species), Coccinellini (six species), Noviini (one species), Scymnini (seven species), Stethorini (one species). The number of species collected per island differed; Faial (10 species), Graciosa (four species), Pico (seven species), São Jorge (seven species) and São Miguel (12 species). For six species, new island records are given. Currently, the number of species known to occur in the Azores are 32, including two doubtful records. The majority of species are Scymnini, being Scymnus (Scymnus) interruptus (Goeze, 1777) and Scymnus (Scymnus) nubilus Mulsant, 1850, the most abundant species (relative abundance 71.1%). This database will be the baseline of a long-term monitoring project allowing assessment of the impact of ongoing global changes in the distribution and abundance of ladybeetles.

Тематическое исследование всемирного наследия Центральной Азии Primary tabs

The World Heritage thematic study for Central Asia has been produced as a contribution to supporting the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Central Asia. It provides a response to a Decision of the World Heritage Committee in order to identify outstanding areas with potential for future nomination to the World Heritage List with primary focus on criteria (ix) and (x) at the regional scale. The approach applied in this study, focusing on criteria (ix) and (x), follows that from the 2013 study on terrestrial biodiversity and the World Heritage List. Criteria (ix) and (x) are clearly the primary ones for recognition of extant biodiversity values, and they have been applied to a wide range of biodiversity features, including ecosystems, species, and ecological and/or biological processes. Although this study is an initial assessment, most areas and sites recommended here have appeared repeatedly as being of particular interest for biodiversity conservation during the work process, whether through literature analysis or in discussions with experts and specialists. The recommendations reflect the current level of knowledge that should be strengthened in the future, to ensure that the identified areas and sites are well supported with the necessary data and empirical evidence to address the requirements of the Operational Guidelines.

Effectiveness assessment of using riverine water eDNA to simultaneously monitor the riverine and riparian biodiversity information

Both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity information can be detected in riverine water environmental DNA (eDNA). However, the effectiveness of using riverine water eDNA to simultaneously monitor the riverine and terrestrial biodiversity information remains unidentified. Here, we proposed that the monitoring effectiveness could be approximated by the transportation effectiveness of land-to-river and upstream-to-downstream biodiversity information flows and described by three new indicators. Subsequently, we conducted a case study in a watershed on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. The results demonstrated that there was higher monitoring effectiveness on summer or autumn rainy days than in other seasons and weather conditions. The monitoring of the bacterial biodiversity information was more efficient than the monitoring of the eukaryotic biodiversity information. On summer rainy days, 43–76% of species information in riparian sites could be detected in adjacent riverine water eDNA samples, 92–99% of species information in riverine sites could be detected in a 1-km downstream eDNA sample, and half of dead bioinformation (the bioinformation labeling the biological material that lacked life activity and fertility) could be monitored 4–6 km downstream for eukaryotes and 13–19 km downstream for bacteria. The current study provided reference method and data for future monitoring projects design and for future monitoring results evaluation.

Crisis del Capitalismo Global o, Fin du Globe?

En este ensayo he intentado contribuir al fecundo debate sobre la crisis del capitalismo global. La tesis desarrollada se fundamenta en una sucesión de acontecimientos históricos, convergentes y orgánicamente dependientes. La crisis del capitalismo keynesiano de la Segunda Posguerra confluyó –y contribuyó a profundizar– con la crisis del desarrollismo en América Latina y en el continente africano. El auge de la contrarrevolución neoliberal liderada por Thatcher-Reagan, junto a sus discípulos europeos de la Tercera Vía, convergió con el derrumbamiento del Imperio Soviético y el extraordinario ascenso de la China posmaoísta. Durante la era de Deng Xiaoping iniciada en 1978, en el país asiático se desarrolló un capitalismo de Estado que dos décadas después, bajo un control políticamente comunista, se había transformado en un régimen socialista con características chinas y afinidades neoliberales. Las consecuencias de este nuevo orden mundial se analizan en la segunda parte del ensayo como problemas centrales del siglo XXI: la desigualdad existencial global de una ciudadanía sometida por la lógica del capital ficticio a una implacable servidumbre por deudas; la erosión de la política pública; la explotación laboral expresada simultáneamente en las economías posindustriales y en el Sur global a través de la destrucción no tan creativa de las cadenas de valor y otras formas vinculadas a la expansión de la gig economy y al tecnoutopismo del silicio; así como la alteración antropogénica de la biodiversidad terrestre sin precedentes en el registro histórico. In this essay I have tried to contribute to the fruitful debate on the crisis of global capitalism. The thesis developed is based on a succession of historical, convergent and organically dependent events. The crisis of Keynesian capitalism of the second postwar period converged –and contributed to deepen– with the crisis of developmentalism in Latin America and on the African continent. The rise of the neoliberal counterrevolution led by Thatcher-Reagan, along with her European Third Way disciples, converged with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the extraordinary rise of post-Maoist China. During the Deng Xiaoping era, which began in 1978, a state capitalism developed in the Asian country that two decades later, under politically communist control, had been transformed into a socialist regime with Chinese characteristics and neoliberal affinities. The consequences of this new world order are analyzed in the second part of the essay as central problems of the 21th century: the global existential inequality of a citizenry subjected by the logic of fictitious capital to implacable debt bondage; the erosion of public policy; labor exploitation expressed simultaneously in post-industrial economies and in the global South through the not so creative destruction of value chains and other forms linked to the expansion of the gig economy and silicon techno-utopianism; as well as the anthropogenic alteration, without historical precedent, of terrestrial biodiversity.

A spatial fingerprint of land-water linkage of biodiversity uncovered by remote sensing and environmental DNA

Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are tightly connected via spatial flows of organisms and resources. Such land-water linkages integrate biodiversity across ecosystems and suggest a spatial association of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. However, knowledge about this spatial extent is limited. By combining satellite remote sensing (RS) and environmental DNA (eDNA) extraction from river water across a 740-km2 mountainous catchment, we identify a characteristic spatial land-water fingerprint. Specifically, we find a spatial association of riverine eDNA diversity with RS spectral diversity of terrestrial ecosystems upstream, peaking at a 400 m distance yet still detectable up to a 3.3 km radius. Our findings testify that biodiversity patterns in rivers can be linked to the functional diversity of surrounding terrestrial ecosystems and provide a dominant scale at which these linkages are strongest. Such spatially explicit information is necessary for a functional understanding of land-water linkages and provides a reference scale for adequate conservation and landscape management decisions.

What evidence exists on the possible effects of urban forms on terrestrial biodiversity in western cities? A systematic map protocol

Background As urban areas expand, scientists now agree that the city is an important space for biodiversity conservation. Yet, still relatively little is known about how urban forms could have a differential impact on terrestrial species and ecosystems. If some reviews have been conducted to examine the link between biodiversity and urban characteristics at an infra-city scale, none have explored the relationship between urban organization and biodiversity and tried to assess the capacity of various urban forms to maintain and possibly favour flora and fauna in the city. The resulting map will present the state of knowledge regarding possible relationships between urban forms and its features on the establishment and settlement of terrestrial and temperate biodiversity at infra-city scale in western cities. Methods The systematic map will follow the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) Guidelines. We will collect the relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature in French and English language. The scientific literature will be retrieved with the use of a search string in two publication databases, one environmental and one social science database (Web Of Science Core Collection, and Cairn.info). We will also perform supplementary searches (search engines, call for literature, search for relevant reviews). All references will be screened for relevance using a three-stage process, according to a predefined set of eligibility criteria. Our study will concentrate on urban areas at the infra-city scale in cities of the temperate biogeographical zone. The subject population will include terrestrial species and ecosystems, except for archaea and bacteria. The exposure will consider all types of urban forms described by any urban descriptors or measures including heterogeneity, fragmentation, housing density, organisation of urban matrix, urban fabric) and all types of urban features (e.g. size, age of the buildings, materials, urban artefacts). All relevant outcomes will be considered (e.g. species richness, abundance, behaviour). We will provide an open-access database of the studies included in the map. Our results will also be presented narratively, together with tables and graphs summarising the key information coded from the retained articles (e.g. study characteristics, types and areas of research that has been undertaken, types of exposure, population concerned, etc.).

Summer activity patterns for a moss and lichen in the maritime Antarctic with respect to altitude

There is considerable scientific interest as to how terrestrial biodiversity in Antarctica might respond, or be expected to respond, to climate change. The two species of vascular plant confined to the Antarctic Peninsula have shown clear gains in density and range extension. However, little information exists for the dominant components of the flora, lichens and bryophytes. One approach has been to look at change in biodiversity using altitude as a proxy for temperature change and previous results for Livingston Island suggested that temperature was the controlling factor. We have extended this study at the same site by using chlorophyll fluorometers to monitor activity and microclimate of the lichen, Usnea aurantiaco-atra, and the moss, Hymenoloma crispulum. We confirmed the same lapse rate in temperature but show that changes in water relations with altitude is probably the main driver. There were differences in water source with U. aurantiaco-atra benefitting from water droplet harvesting and the species performed substantially better at the summit. In contrast, activity duration, chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic modelling all show desiccation to have a large negative impact on the species at the lowest site. We conclude that water relations are the main drivers of biodiversity change along the altitudinal gradient with nutrients, not measured here, as another possible contributor.