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Palaeofloristic record of Linnaea borealis during the Mid-Holocene in the Friuli Venezia Giulia plain
No full textGlacial relicts represent invaluable biogeographical markers of past climatic oscillations, offering unique insights into the historical dynamics of species distribution and the long-term persistence of biodiversity within refugia. Linnaea borealis, common name Twinflower, is a small suffruticose plant that grows in coniferous and mixed forests at altitudes ranging from 1,200 to 2,100 m a.s.l. This species is considered a relict of the Ice Age, as its current distribution is limited to circumboreal zones of the Northern Hemisphere. In Italy, currently it was observed living only in the mountains in four northern alpine regions (Valle d’Aosta, Piemonte, Lombardia, Trentino–Alto Adige), while fossil pollen records were found in a wetland area in the plain in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The finding in plains (30 m a.s.l.) in strata dated 6,000 years ago, i.e. significantly later than the post-glacial retreat, opens up the question of whether its disappearance did not occur in post-glacial times in the Palù basin, which possibly may have functioned as a refuge area for this species in the lowlands. This study focuses on the first evidence of past presence of this species, previously unrecorded and currently not present, in the Palù basin. Thanks to detailed palynological analyses, pollen grains of L. borealis were identified in Mid-Holocene pollen samples taken from a core drilled in this area. This approach underscores the importance of combining floristic and palynological data to reconstruct the biogeography and ecology of species. In the case of L. borealis, such analyses offer new perspectives on the past presence of this species in areas where it is no longer found today, shedding light on how climate changes during the Holocene may have influenced its distribution
Discoveries of Dothideomycetes (Fungi) associated with pteridophytes in China
No full textPteridophytes are iconic symbols of the Earth’s biodiversity and harbor diverse fungal communities. In this study, an investigation of saprobic fungi associated with pteridophytes in China identified several fascinating taxonomic groups within Dothideomycetes. A polyphasic approach based on morphology, along with multi-gene phylogenetic analysis using combined LSU, RPB2, SSU, and tef1-α sequence data, revealed nine new collections representing five species in Pleosporales and five new collections representing two species in Muyocopronales. Consequently, six new genera (Cyatheomyces, Microlepicola, Neoberkleasmium, Pseudopalawaniella, Synnematospora, and Xenopleopunctum), six new species (Cyatheomyces synnematosus, Microlepicola guizhouensis, Pseudopalawaniella woodwardiae, Synnematospora pronephrii, Xenopleopunctum guizhouense, and X. sporodochiale), and five new combinations, viz., Neoberkleasmium micronesiacum (≡ Berkleasmium micronesiacum), N. nigroapicale (≡ B. nigroapicale), Xenoberkleasmium crinisium (≡ B. crunisia), X. pandani (≡ B. pandani), and X. typhae (≡ B. typhae), are proposed. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis reveals that four species of Xenoberkleasmium form a distinct lineage within Pleosporales, and they are evolving in a newly proposed family, Xenoberkleasmiaceae. Detailed morphological descriptions and a phylogenetic tree revealing the taxonomic placements of these new taxa are provided
Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) of the Nature Reserve of Pantalica (Sicily, Italy)
No full textThe hymenopteran family Ichneumonidae (also known as Darwin wasps) represents one of the largest families of parasitoid insects. However, faunistic research is needed to fill the gaps in the knowledge of the biodiversity of this group in the Mediterranean area and Italy.A faunistic survey on Darwin's wasps of the Nature Reserve of Pantalica (Siracusa, Sicily, Italy) is presented. A total of 81 species of ichneumonids belonging to 19 subfamilies were identified. Of these, 42 species are new records for Sicily and nine species are new records for Italy. The subfamilies Adelognathinae and Oxytorinae are reported for the first time in Sicily.Misetus obscurus Berthoumieu, 1897 stat. rev. (Ichneumoninae, Phaeogenini), originally described as a colour form of M. oculatus Wesmael, 1845, is raised to species level, based on both morphological and molecular data
Review of the Palaearctic species of Diploplectron W. Fox, 1893 (Hymenoptera, Astatidae)
No full textThe Palaearctic species of Diploplectron W. Fox, 1893 are reviewed and a key for species recognition is provided. Diploplectron iranicum sp. nov. from Iran and the hitherto unknown female of Diploplectron pulawskii Kazenas, 1975 are described. A distribution map of all Palaearctic species is given
Activation warm-ups enhance change of direction performance in university athletes
No full textChange-of-direction (COD) ability is a critical component of performance in many team sports, yet practical methods to acutely enhance COD remain underexplored. This study aimed to determine whether adding a brief, targeted warm-up focused on gluteal muscle activation to a general warm-up could acutely improve COD performance in university athletes. Seventeen male athletes participated in a two-day, parallel-group controlled trial. On both days, all participants completed a standardized general warm-up. On the second day, the experimental group performed an additional three-minute targeted warm-up (band squats, band lateral walks, skater hops), while the control group proceeded directly to testing. COD performance was assessed using the Lane Agility Drill before and after intervention. The main result was that only the experimental group, which received targeted activation exercises, showed a significant improvement in COD performance (p < .01), whereas the control group showed no significant change. These findings suggest that a short, muscle-specific warm-up can effectively and immediately enhance COD ability, even without high-intensity or specialized equipment. The study’s limitations include a small, homogeneous sample of male university athletes and the use of a single COD test, which may restrict generalizability. Future research should examine whether similar effects occur across other populations and sports, and with various COD assessments. Practically, the protocol offers a simple, time-efficient approach for coaches and athletes to optimize performance in settings where rapid directional changes are essential. The originality of this study lies in demonstrating that acute performance gains can be achieved through accessible, field-based exercises integrated into existing warm-up routines
Evaluation of antidiabetic potential of Plumbago indica Roots: insights from in vitro, in vivo and in silico studies
No full textDiabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by elevated blood glucose levels due to insufficient insulin production or decreased insulin sensitivity. Despite advances in antidiabetic pharmacotherapy, the limitations and adverse effects of current treatments highlight the need for natural products as alternative therapies. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of the methanol extract (PIME) and ethyl acetate fraction (PIEAF) of roots of Plumbago indica using in vitro, in vivo and in silico models. The in vitro study was done by α-glucosidase and α- amylase inhibition assays. The effect of PIME and PIEAF on serum parameters and histopathological changes was assessed in streptozotocin/nicotinamide-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus in rats. The in vitro studies showed that PIEAF and PIME inhibited α-glucosidase and α- amylase enzymes in a dose dependent manner. In vivo studies indicated that administration of PIME and PIEAF led to the reduction in serum glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, hepatic enzyme levels and significantly improved renal function and oxidative stress markers. Taking Plumbagin as the marker compound in P. indica, the HPLC analysis of PIME was carried out and it showed that the plumbagin content was 0.26%. In silico studies revealed that plumbagin inhibited α-glucosidase activity through optimal orientation and strong molecular affinity. P. indica roots showed strong promising potential as a treatment for diabetes, probably due to its antioxidant properties and higher content of plumbagin than other species of Plumbago
Untangling Attribution in Biodiversity Data Records
No full textThe exactness, fitness-for-purpose (FFP) and reliability of primary biodiversity data can be enhanced by additional data beyond the basic taxon-location-date triad (Hill et al. 2010). Often, the only available data are the labels in legacy specimen collections. The digitization process is most efficient if all available information can be collected at once in a single event of specimen handling, rather than in separate phases. There is, however, a compromise between producing a faster catalogue for immediate use and housekeeping, and an accurate, wider-FFP database where all data have been thoroughly checked.Recognizing potential sources of error at digitization time may help making choices. During a dataset integration procedure, the quality and reliability of the data capture was analyzed. The dataset consisted of transcribed label data of over 58K pinned insects of agriculturally-relevant groups in XXth-century collections at six institutions in Spain, that resulted in almost 6000 collector strings. But collector names could beunidentified;misread;ambiguous,duplicated under variants; ormisplaced or misattributed to/from another entity, e.g. a location.This resulted in a high entropy level where one collector could be databased in multiple ways, artificially inflating the corresponding catalogues. The entropy was much higher in collections where collectors contributed few specimens, which is the case for university-based collections.By using simple indexing and cross-referencing techniques, the roster of names was significantly reduced, but full disambiguation of collectors required mining ancillary sources and consulting with people with long-standing knowledge of the collections. Overall, 42% of collector names were in error, resulting in excess entropy. METHODSSpecimen data were collated from the TETTRIS INC-STEP Project of Spanish pollinators complemented by some agriculturally-relevant groups in six collections deposited at five academic and research institutions in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Pamplona (see Suppl. material 1 for full details). MCNB, MNCN, MUVHN were chiefly historical and created by researchers over long careers, while MZNA-R, MZNA-Z, UCME came mainly from academic coursework activities.Our procedures agreed with the overall strategy of Groom et al. (2022), while devising a specific workflow. Disambiguation and attribution included a number of steps (Suppl. material 1). First, names were normalized to facilitate grouping and sorting (7 steps). Then, ambiguous names were (whenever possible) attributed to actual persons by internal checks (clustering of names, matching localities and dates), consultation with external references (e.g. student lists), or consultation with collection curators (5 steps). Names were finally given a four-level identity qualification resulting from the disambiguation exercise (see Suppl. material 1). For further analyses, “very low” and “low” levels were considered a poor attribution, while “medium” and “full” levels were deemed good attribution.RESULTSThe disambiguation exercise reduced collector names from 5939 to 3473 (a 41.5% decrease). The total entropy, measured as Shannon’s H’, decreased by 8% while Simpson’s dominance D increased by 29%, as expected (merging names created larger collections for some collectors). However, there were differences among collections. The three academic collections had both higher diversity and higher diversity reduction than the historical collections (Fig. 1). Historical collections tended to be much more concentrated (30 specimens per collector, 25% single-specimen collectors) than the academic collections (8 and 61%, respectively).These differences can be tracked to how the collections were formed. Historical collections tended to be well documented and created by researchers spanning longer careers, while academic collections were often linked to works created during coursework. Fig. 2 shows the career spans of collectors. The abrupt end of collection at the turn of the century for academic collections can be linked to the introduction of restrictive legislation in Spain (a mandatory reduction of course loads, and unaffordable permission requirements). Full disambiguation often requires manual, time-consuming verifications against a variety of external sources. Automated disambiguation procedures elevated good identification from an initial 21% to 47% in MZNA-R, but it was not possible to use manual checking against sources for this dataset. In contrast, the similar MZNA-Z collection could be checked against coursework lists, which resulted in a 80% good attribution rate (Fig. 3). Overall, 57% of the collector names across collections had a good attribution.CONCLUSIONDoing disambiguation exercises by people with contemporary knowledge of the collections appears to be critical to avoid losing much information from the collections. Curators have an invaluable knowledge of the collections, could locate relevant documents about them, and are the ones able to reduce collection entropy by at least 32%. Their early retirement would negate a significant way to disambiguate names that left little or no trace in the literature record
Mitigation measures, fishing practices and technologies to reduce interactions between Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) species and drifting longline fisheries (LLD) targeting large pelagics: a global scoping review protocol
No full textObjective: The objective of this scoping review is to map and synthesize evidence on mitigation measures, fishing practices, and technologies to reduce endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species bycatch in drifting longline fisheries targeting large pelagics, summarize key concepts and findings across disciplines, and identify knowledge gaps to inform policy and research at a global scale.Introduction: Drifting longline fisheries targeting large pelagic species continue to pose a significant conservation and management challenge for ETP species. Although various types of mitigation measures, fishing practices, and technologies have been developed and utilized globally to reduce ETP bycatch, the scope and nature of field-tested evidence remain diverse and scattered.Inclusion criteria: Studies about regional measures adopted, and fishing practices and technologies tested in the field aimed at reducing ETP species in drifting longlines (LLD) for large pelagics. Both peer-reviewed and grey literature will be included. Studies published in English, Swedish, Norwegian, Greek, Spanish and Italian language and between the years 1990 and 2024 will be included. Studies related to other types of fishing gear, those that do not mention ETP species, or any type of evidence synthesis will be excluded.Methods: This scoping review will be guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology. Scopus and Web of Science databases will be used and complemented with grey literature sources, i.e. organisational websites and a web-based search engine. A team of four reviewers will conduct the screening and the data extraction processes. EndNote software, Covidence software, Microsoft Excel and Flourish platform will be used for data management, screening, extraction and presentation of the outputs. The results will be presented both graphically and in tabular form
Wetland classification and revitalisation monitoring by using drone data
No full textWetlands are essential ecosystems increasingly threatened by human activities and climate change. This study presents a method for classifying and monitoring wetland habitats in the Čiližská Radvaň protected area (Slovak Republic) using RGB drone imagery and the Natural Numerical Network (NatNet), a mathematically based supervised deep learning approach. The primary aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of NatNet in identifying target habitat types and to assess the impact of ongoing revitalisation efforts. Habitat types were classified using RGB drone imagery and ground-truth training polygons that represented the dominant vegetation communities in Čiližská Radvaň wetland. The NatNet achieved the training classification success rate exceeding 97%, allowing the creation of relevancy maps successfully identifying spatial habitat distribution. Relevancy maps verified in the field reached classification accuracy of 0.88 and F1 score of 0.90 across all habitats together. Results showed observable shifts in habitat extent and structure after one year of restoration, confirming the suitability of the method for detecting ecological changes in wetland environments
