Synergy between nature reserves and agri-environmental schemes in enhancing ditch bank target species plant diversity

The issue of what conservation strategies to apply in agricultural landscape for the most effective protection of biodiversity has been debated for some years. The creation and maintenance of nature reserves is often hampered by both ecological and economic factors, while the ecological effectiveness of agri-environment schemes (AES) is still being queried. Our study examined how the spatial pattern of nature reserves and AES affects the diversity of 25 target species of conservation interest in ditch banks and how this information might be used to develop a strategy resulting in synergy between protected areas and enhanced matrix quality. We studied target species plant diversity on 92 ditch banks under AES and on 102 banks not under such a regime; all of them running parallel to nature reserves. We compared the results with those obtained from a previous study which focused on ditch banks running transverse. On non-AES ditch banks running parallel to nature reserves, there was a significant decline in species richness with increasing distance from the nature reserve while this was not the case for AES ditch banks. The effect of AES differed between the two directions, with a significant effect beyond 200 m in the parallel direction and within 200 m in the transverse direction. Our results indicate that synergy between nature reserves and AES can enhance plant diversity and, since the AES effect was different in different direction due to wind direction and nitrogen input to adjacent fields, location of AES should be chosen carefully.     

Plant population studies and their relevance to nature conservation

Populations of several species of rare flowering plants have been monitored within permanent quadrats established on Widdybank and Cronkley Fells within the Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve. Data on mortality, longevity, production of flowers, fruits and seeds and on natality have enabled the life strategies of the species to be determined. The paper discusses the relationships between the effective reproduction of the plants, the communities in which they occur and the way in which the present management regime influences the survival of the populations. In addition, the relevance of information on the life strategy to the consideration of the conservation of individual species is discussed in relation to the establishment of gene banks and to recent protective legislation.     

To what extent are threatened European plant species conserved in seed banks?

The number of ex situ conservation facilities has grown dramatically in recent years, and they have become increasingly integrated under national and regional conservation initiatives. However, little information is available about the extent to which plant species are appropriately represented in ex situ collections. This paper assesses whether seed/spore collections stored in European seed banks cover or not, and to what extent, the species currently threatened with extinction in the wild. Although a substantial amount of the European flora (ca. 70%) is currently stored in seed banks, we highlight the relatively poor representation of threatened species: only 27% of the taxa listed on the European threatened plant list and 44% of the taxa listed in Annex II of the EU Habitat Directive are stored in European seed banks. Some taxonomical groups most at risk, e.g. Pteridophytes and Orchidaceae, are also under-represented in European seed banks. By examining the number of accessions per species and the number of seeds per accession, this study also gave some insight on how well species are conserved, considering that these two variables are surrogates for genetic diversity. We have highlighted that at least two thirds of the threatened species stored in European seed banks likely suffer from too low genetic diversity in the collections. These analyses were essential to identify those collections and additionally the standards needed to maximize the usefulness of future collections.     

Moderate impacts of plant invasion and management regimes in coastal hind dune seed banks

Plant invaders may directly or indirectly affect ecosystem resilience through their impact on soil seed banks. The invaders, and the application of control measures, change seed bank dynamics by altering the number of seeds entering and leaving the seed bank. We tested the impact of bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata), on the seed bank. We examined seed banks in heavily-invaded, sparsely-invaded and managed dunes, where bitou bush biomass had been controlled. While management of bitou bush may have reduced the density of bitou bush seeds in the soil, it did not reduce the richness of other weed species. Native tree species richness was significantly higher in seed banks of sparsely-invaded than either heavily-invaded or managed sites, perhaps indicating a permanent shift in community structure following invasion. However, remaining indices of native seed bank diversity were similar across all invasion categories, indicating that seed banks of many native species were unaffected by both invasion and management. While examination of seed banks is informative in assessing past and potential community dynamics, low similarity between the standing vegetation and seed bank at all sites indicated that many hind dune species had other storage or regeneration modes and seed banks cannot be relied upon for comprehensive dune restoration.     

AFLP analysis of genetic diversity in leafy kale (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica oleracea</Emphasis> L. convar. <Emphasis Type="Italic">acephala</Emphasis> (DC.) Alef.) landraces,cultivars and wild populations in Europe

AFLP markers were used to characterize diversity and asses the genetic structure among 17 accessions of kale landraces, cultivars and wild populations from Europe. The range of average gene diversity in accessions was 0.11–0.27. Several landraces showed higher levels of diversity than the wild populations and one cultivar had the lowest diversity measures. The landraces that were most genetically diverse were from areas where kales are known to be extensively grown, suggesting in situ conservation in these areas as a supplement to storage of seeds in gene banks. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that 62% of the total variation was found within accessions. For most accessions, genetic distance was not related to geographic distance. Similarities among accessions were probably not caused by recent gene flow since they were widely separated geographically; more likely the relationship among them is due to seed dispersal through human interactions. Our results indicate that a kale population found in a natural habitat in Denmark was probably not truly wild but most likely an escape from a cultivated Danish kale that had subsequently become naturalized.     

干旱草原星毛委陵菜群落种子库与植被功能群结构的关系

以石羊河上游星毛委陵菜(Potentilla aclaulis)群落为研究对象,采取现场植物测定与土壤采样分析相结合的方法,对地上植被、种子库功能群结构组成及相互关系进行分析,探讨了植被演替过程中功能群的响应和群落稳定性的维持机理.结果表明:(1)不同植被梯度下多年生禾草和多年生杂草在植被群落中占据优势地位,优势度比例变化较小,而一、二年生杂草及豆科植物地位不突出,优势度比例较小.(2) 土壤种子库中,水平方向上,在植被梯度下多年生杂草优势度所占比例较高,变幅较小;多年生禾草、豆科植物则表现出由低到高再降低的变化过程,而一、二年生杂草的变化规律与之相反.垂直方向上,0-5 cm与0-15 cm层在植被梯度下,不同功能群优势度比例大小呈显著正相关,5-10 cm与10-15 cm层变化规律不明显.(3) 种子库具有比植被丰富的物种,系统稳定性较高,针对于扰,群落表现出明显的生存策略.     

Restoration of plant diversity on ditch banks: Seed and site limitation in response to agri-environment schemes

Recently it has become clear that seed limitation is probably a much more important factor in plant recovery than has often been recognized. However, in practice, restoration measures that are focussed on decreasing site limitation may actually increase seed limitation. We tried to determine whether the effects of restoration measures affect site or seed limitation or both. An experiment was set up on ditch banks in the Netherlands which applied agri-environment schemes (AES). To investigate whether nature reserves (seed source) can improve species diversity on the surroundings and to what extent AES is improving this function, we studied the plant diversity (presence of individual species and species richness) of ditch bank vegetations in relation to increasing distance from nature reserves. The presence or absence and species richness of 25 target plants were assessed in 26 ditch banks with AES and 36 non-AES at 15 plots each differing in distance to a nature reserve. Data were analyzed using a Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model (HGLM) with species richness and presence of individual species as response variables and distance to nature reserve and application of AES as factors, controlling for possible confounding factors. Results were interpreted as the effects of AES on seed and site limitation of the species. The results showed that plant diversity decreased significantly with distance from source populations. There were considerable differences in species diversity between AES and non-AES ditch banks, with the former showing greater plant diversity especially in the first 200 m from nature reserves. Presences of all individual species decreased with distance to nature reserve, but the strength of this relationship and the AES effects differed among species. AES ditch banks had lower site limitations for most plant species, but did not have lower seed limitation.     

Identification and quantification of glucosinolates in sprouts derived from seeds of wild Eruca sativa L. (salad rocket) and Diplotaxis tenuifolia L. (wild rocket) from diverse geographical locations

The Brassicaceae rocket species Eruca sativa L. (salad rocket) and Diplotaxis tenuifolia L. (wild rocket) are consumed throughout the world in salads, predominantly the leaves but also the flowers and more recently the sprouts (seedlings). Ontogenic profiling of glucosinolates and flavonoids in plants derived from commercial seed of these species has previously been done, but no studies have been conducted to determine how geographical origin affects glucosinolate composition in rocket species. Seeds from wild E. sativa L. and D. tenuifolia L. from diverse regions of the world were obtained from gene banks and grown under controlled conditions. Sprouts were harvested when they would normally be harvested for consumption, and glucosinolates were extracted and profiled in these accessions. All of the sprouts from Italian E. sativa L. had consistently high total glucosinolate content, with only a few exceptions, and also the highest percentage contents of 4-mercaptobutylglucosinolate. In contrast, sprouts produced from Central and Eastern European seeds had a much higher percentage of 4-methylthiobutylglucosinolate. With a single exception, Tunisia, all sprouts produced from North African seeds had very high 4-methylthiobutylglucosinolate contents. The single sample from China had a high total glucosinolate content and glucosinolate profile that was very similar to the accessions from Uzbekistan and Pakistan. All of the D. tenuifolia L. sprouts had consistently high total glucosinolate contents, and a high percentage of this was 4-mercaptobutylglucosinolate. This glucosinolate variation in levels and profiles of the rockets can be used for genetic studies, selected breeding, and human intervention studies.     

Distribution, species composition and management implications of seed banks in southern New England coastal plain ponds

Buried seeds that germinate during periods of low water or water level drawdown can play important roles in shaping plant community composition, community dynamics and species richness in ecosystems with fluctuating water levels. Northeastern US coastal plain ponds have fluctuating water levels and contain a characteristic shoreline flora that contains many rare plants. The objectives of this study were to: (1) test whether geographically distant ponds in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard had distinct seed banks, (2) determine if hydrologic status as permanent and ephemeral ponds led to differences in seed banks, and (3) examine seed diversity and seed abundance across gradients of shoreline elevations and sediment characteristics. Viable seeds of 45 plant species were identified from nine ponds. Native species dominated pond-shore seed banks and made up 89-100% of all species. There was high overlap in seed bank composition across hydrological classes and geographic regions. One hydrological class captured 73-76% of total species and one geographical region captured 69-78% of the total species recovered from the entire suite of seed bank samples. Seeds were relatively evenly distributed along the shorelines of ephemeral ponds but seed diversity and abundance were lower at low elevations in permanent ponds. Results suggest that strategies to protect pond shorelines to capture maximum diversity of coastal plain pond plants contained in pond sediment seed banks should be implemented across pond hydrologic classes and across a wide geographic area. Shoreline seed distributions indicate that ground-water withdrawals or climate changes that lower pond water levels in permanent ponds will reduce the diversity and abundance of plants recovered from seed banks by shifting water levels to a shoreline zone of high sediment organic matter where seed densities are lower. This effect will be much less in ephemeral ponds where seed diversity and abundance on pond bottoms was high.     

子午岭天然柴松林土壤种子库

采取子午岭天然柴松林地3个坡位与1个对照区共4个大样地54个小样方的土壤样品,通过室内种子萌发和地上植被调查相结合的方法对其种子库进行研究,以揭示其土壤种子库特征及与地上植被的关系。结果显示：1）土壤种子密度平均为1 496.7粒/m^2,最小为1 240.0粒/m^2,最大为1 785.0粒/m^2,荒山对照区为510.0粒/m^2;2）种子库的垂直分布格局显示,近90%的种子储存于枯枝落叶层和0-7.5 cm土层中;3）研究中共统计到植物种32种,分属于20科,其中多年生草本和常绿灌木种子比例最高,分别占种子库种子总数的48.3%和41.9%;4）不同坡位的物种丰富度指数介于2.523-3.082之间,而物种多样性指数介于1.458-1.781之间,其中中坡物种丰富度指数最大而多样性指数最小,上坡多样性指数和均匀度指数都最大;5）各坡位地上植被主要建群植物种中,除白颖苔草、大披针苔草、胡枝子、唐松草在对应坡位的土壤种子库中出现且分别占该坡位种子库的19.7%、2.1%和0.8%、1.7%和3.1%0、.4%外,其他建群种如榛子、子、地榆等在种子库中均未出现,种子库不能很好地反映地上植被组成,部分未出现物种与其自身萌发性质有关;6）土壤种子库中柴松种子所占比例约为0.6%（地上植被调查发现）,柴松林下有更新幼苗,约5-7粒/m^2,说明种子库具有潜在萌发能力,森林具备一定的自我更新能力。     

汶川地震不同次生地质灾害类型区土壤种子库特征

为了解地震后次生地质灾害土壤种子库特征及其植被恢复特点,在四川省北川县采用野外取样和在当地自然环境下萌发相结合的办法,研究了5种不同灾害类型(包括滑坡、崩塌、泥石流、落石及堰塞湖)土壤种子库大小、物种组成及其与地上植被之间的关系。研究结果表明,不同灾害类型土壤种子库密度介于30133.33±6776.03~93383.33±26499.81粒/m2方差分析显示,只有落石损毁类型种子库密度与其它几种灾害类型差异显著,各灾害类型土壤种子库种子密度在0-5cm和5-10cm土层之间无明显分层区别。土壤种子库中一年生和多年生草本所占比例为90.48%,灌木所占比例为9.52%,没有观察到乔木种。各土壤种子库之间Sorensen相似性指数较高,为0.529~0.714土壤种子库与相应样地地上植物之间相似性不高,相关性也不密切,其相似性指数介于0.167~0.292。建议灾害损毁地植被恢复以自然恢复为主,若采取简易的水土保持措施和适量客土措施,将会促进种子的萌发和植被的更新种子库中缺乏乔木种,快速乔木化需要人工输入种子雨。     

Peroxidase gene-based estimation of genetic relationships and population structure among Citrus spp. and their relatives

Many stress-related interactions such as pathogen infection, insect tolerance, salt tolerance, auxin degradation, cell wall lignification, tissue suberization, and plant senescence involve various isoforms of peroxidases. Peroxidase gene polymorphism (POGP) markers have been used to estimate diversity, relationships and population structure among 80 Citrus and their relatives in Aurantioideae by using unweighted pair group method arithmetic average (UPGMA) and bayesian substructuring analysis. Fourteen primers produced a total of 148 fragments and 147 of them were polymorphic. The UPGMA analysis demonstrated that the accessions had a similarity range from 0.27 to 0.98 and were distinguished. The results of this study were mostly consistent with previous reports of different marker systems, but few different findings were also detected. The subtribe Clauseninae (tribe Clauseneae) did not clearly separate from the subtribes of the tribe Citreae. Substructuring analysis indicated that there were six subpopulations among the accessions studied. This study revealed that the POGP markers can be utilized to estimate genetic diversity, relationships and population structure in Citrus and related species in the Aurantioideae subfamily.     

The unappreciated ecology of landrace populations: Conservation consequences of soil seed banks in Cassava

Failure to take into account the ecological complexity of landrace populations of crop plants limits our ability to conserve their genetic resources in situ. Soil seed banks are a central feature of the ecology of landrace populations of cassava; their existence has consequences for conservation. Seedlings recruited from seed banks are incorporated by farmers into their stocks of clones of this vegetatively propagated crop, transforming pure clonality into a mixed clonal/sexual reproductive system. Soil seed banks, and farmers’ responses to them, play an important role in maintaining diversity in populations of cassava landraces. In a study combining genetic and ethnobiological approaches, we showed the following: (i) Recruitment from soil seed banks increased diversity of populations at the local scale. At the level of a field, the presence of plants issued from seeds resulted in significantly greater diversity of genotypes and phenotypes than if only individuals planted by farmers had been present. (ii) Farmers’ use of seed banks has enabled indirect ‘exchange’ of locally adapted cassava germplasm between cultural groups, without requiring that groups actually encountered one another and engaged in social exchange of cultivars. (iii) Farmers have responded to catastrophic crop failure by using seed banks to regenerate stocks of clones. This use of seed banks should enable cassava populations to respond to disasters by an increase of genetic diversity, rather than by a narrowing of the genetic base, often feared in such situations.     

Genetic diversity and origin of cultivated potatoes based on plastid microsatellite polymorphism

The origin of cultivated potatoes has remaining questions. In this study, 237 accessions of all cultivated species and 155 accessions of wild species closely related to cultivated potatoes, including their putative ancestors, were analyzed using 15 plastid microsatellites (SSRs) to investigate genetic diversity and their relationships with the wild species. We here used polymorphic plastid SSRs we developed from potato plastid genome sequences as well as already known plastid SSR markers. All 15 loci were polymorphic and identified a total of 127 haplotypes. Dramatic decreases in levels of genetic diversity were revealed in landraces in comparison with wild ancestor species. The plastid SSR results showed a decrease in haplotype number and diversity from Peru to both north and south. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two distinct groups. One of them, group A, contained the majority of accessions of cultivated species of the Solanum tuberosum Andigenum group including all accessions of cultivated diploid and triploid cytotypes of this group (S. chaucha, S. phureja, and S. stenotomum by a former taxonomic system) and most of tetraploid accessions of the S. tuberosum Andigenum group (S. tuberosum subsp. andigenum), and the majority of accessions of wild ancestors from the northern members of the S. brevicaule complex. Another group B comprised most of the wild species accessions and almost exclusively hybrid cultivated species which have introgressed plastid genomes from the other wild gene pools. Lack of clustering of traditional cultivated species (as used above) support a revised group classification of S. tuberosum.     

基于PCR的SSR标记分离方法综述

SSR分子标记是目前应用最广泛的第二代共显性分子遗传标记。SSR标记具有物种特异性,要应用该方法需要提前开发相应物种的特异SSR标记,而获得微卫星标记的经典方法是通过构建基因组片段文库和特殊标记SSR探针杂交法获取,这些方法经济成本相对较高且耗时耗力。近年来,该领域的研究中积累了很多研究成果和技术改进,发展起来几种基于PCR简便易操作且节约成本的SSR标记分离方法,例如基于RAPD的微卫星分离方法、基于ISSR抑制PCR扩增法、序列标签微卫星分析法、选择性扩增微卫星分析法以及荧光ISSR-PCR分离微卫星和微卫星扩增文库法等。本文主要对这些方法逐一进行综述,旨在为各个物种SSR标记的开发提供参考。     

Evaluation of genetic identity and variation of local apple cultivars (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Malus</Emphasis> × <Emphasis Type="Italic">domestica</Emphasis> Borkh.) from Spain using microsatellite markers

A collection of 114 local cultivars of Malus × domestica Borkh. from the Northwest of Spain and a group of 26 non-native commercial cultivars, were studied in order to determine the level of genetic differentiation between them, to know the population genetic structure of the three main production regions in North Spain, and to detect possible duplications, misidentifications, and intrusions of foreign cultivars into the present day Spanish apple gene pools. Ten primer pairs of microsatellite loci were selected from previous studies on apple. Allelic frequencies were used to estimate the average expected heterozygosity (Hexp) and F-statistics. A Principal Component Analysis and a Cluster Analysis were conducted in order to determine the relationships among cultivars. Considering all populations (Spanish and commercial cultivars) we found 119 alleles with the 10 microsatellites; 10 out of 119 were rare (with frequencies lower than 0.01). Spanish cultivars can be used as references for those alleles for further studies since they are available in Germplasm banks. Triploid cultivars were quite frequent, 39 out of 140, with the highest number occurring in Galicia (29 cultivars). North Spain presented a high variability for apple according to heterozygosity levels. Microsatellites have provided useful information about the singularity of Spanish apple cultivars, revealed six groups of synonymies and five introgressions of commercial cultivars.     

Genetic diversity of Bolivian wild potato germplasm: changes during ex situ conservation management and comparisons with resampled in situ populations

Potato wild relatives are important sources of novel variation for the genetic improvement of the cultivated potato. Consequently, many natural populations have been sampled and were deposited as accessions in gene banks around the world. Here we investigate to what extent the genetic variation of Bolivian wild potato species is maintained under gene bank conditions and how this diversity relates to that of current in situ populations. For this purpose, materials from seven potato species were screened for microsatellite variation. Genetic changes between different generations of ex situ germplasm were not observed for Solanum leptophyes and S. megistacrolobum, but were detected for S. neocardenasii and S. okadae, while each of the species S. acaule, S. avilesii and S. berthaultii showed stability in some cases and genetic change in others. The observed changes were ascribed to genetic drift and contamination resulting from human error during regeneration. Re-collected populations of six of the studied species showed highly significant genetic differences with the ex situ accessions that, apart from changes during ex situ maintenance, are most likely to be attributed to sampling effects during collecting and in situ genetic changes over time. The implications of the results for ex situ and in situ conservation strategies of wild potato species are discussed.     

Soil seed banks in the Arasbaran Protected Area of Iran and their significance for conservation management

The Arasbaran Protected Area is an important but little studied nature reserve in NW Iran. In the past habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity have been threatened by over-exploitation; in the future depopulation may lead to partial abandonment. The soil seed bank was examined to see whether there are sufficient species represented as persistent seeds to reconstitute the vegetation in the event of habitat deterioration. There were differences between seed banks from different soils and vegetation types but essentially all soil seed banks contained few species and low densities of seed. Moreover, the species in the seed bank were unrepresentative of the vegetation. During future periods of changing land use it will be important to maintain the existing vegetation. There are however indications of successful recent conservation management. Annuals are abundant in the woodland seed bank but absent from the vegetation. The forest is recovering from the disturbance of collecting fire-wood.     

The use of a new portable erosion measuring device for assessing the erodibility of the surface layers of flood embankments

When a river overtops its flood banks, water running down the landward side of the bank can rapidly erode the soil surface and scour the bank, sometimes leading to breaches and collapse. A covering of living vegetation, particularly grass, can reduce this risk of water erosion. As part of a project to assess the effectiveness of different management regimes on bank vegetation cover, direct measurements were required of the erodibility of the soil surface. A portable erosion measurement device (EMD) was developed by LAB Coastal with the support of the Environment Agency. This could direct water flowing at known velocities across areas of the flood banks, and it was used to test directly the erosion resistance of vegetated grass banks at three sites. The EMD gave a direct measure of the erodibility of a small sample of flood bank. While measurements of soil strength and assessments of vegetation cover were useful, they did not always correctly characterize the stability of the bank surface as measured directly by the EMD. The EMD and its use are described and the results obtained are discussed. The results indicate that flood banks need to be mown at least once a year to make them less vulnerable to erosion.