Raphael Maier’s Post

A fascinating report in the Guardian reporting that Flowers are “giving up on” pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline. A study in the Journal "New Phytologist" (open source) has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are 10% smaller and produce 20% less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects. Two comments from one of the researchers (1) “Our results show that the ancient interactions linking pansies to their pollinators are disappearing fast,” said lead author Samson Acoca-Pidolle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Montpellier. (2) “We were surprised to find that these plants are evolving so quickly.” “This is a particularly exciting finding as it shows evolution happening in real time,” said Dr Philip Donkersley, from Lancaster University, who was not involved in the study. “The fact that these flowers are changing their strategy in response to decreasing pollinator abundance is quite startling. This research shows a plant undoing thousands of years of evolution in response to a phenomenon that has been around for only 50 years. +++ Although evolution is commonly thought to be slow and incremental, work done at the Burgess Shale, in the Rockies, brought the Cambrian explosion to light, and opened us to the idea that speciation can indeed occur in bursts, with long periods of stability. What we are seeing now is a process in which an apex predator (man) is driving environmental change and toxicity at an astonishing rate. As such many species will become extinct, and many others may appear. Something that has always accelerated the rate of evolution is small population size. Populations are stabilised by a curve of natural characteristics (height, weight, colour, markings) and evolution is naturally buffered by larger population sizes. When breeding populations become smaller – the selection of individuals may well no longer be representative of the ancestral population. When this smaller population is isolated, the distribution of characteristics can appear to "jump" rapidly. I would imagine that humans reducing the number of pollinators through poisoning, has the effect of reducing effective plant population sizes. This might well act as an "accelerator" of the rate of evolution. Fascinating article. #pollenation #pansies #evolution #extinction #insectdecline https://lnkd.in/e4v_xywW

Orchids – a subject of study for some, a floral accessory for many. These evolutionarily headstrong plants maintain intricate balances in their respectful habitats. Orchidaceae is one of the largest and richest families of flowering plants found distributed across the globe. This family consists of 5 subfamilies, 880 genera and more than 25,000 species. About 1331 species of orchids belonging to 186 different genera are reported from India. https://lnkd.in/eeQuUN9g

🤔 How to find useful species for your breeding program? 🌿 Here is how I did it... My goal is to breed hardy passionfruits. Passionfruits are the fruits of the Genus Passiflora. However, there are over 600 species in this genus. How to know which species to choose? I want to find species that combine 2 criteria: edible fruits and frost hardiness. I first looked where are regions in the world where cold weather and Passiflora species occur. I found 4 general world regions. One of them was Argentina. (See my article: https://lnkd.in/eHMf76u5). 𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 👉 Exactly which species are growing in this region? 👉 What's their exact distribution? 👉 How cold does it get where they grow? 👉 Are those species edible (tasty)? 👉 Can I cross them with other species? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗜 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀? 1. I searched on google scholar: "Passiflora Argentina" and I found a document in Spanish called: "Las especies argentinas del género Passiflora"( https://lnkd.in/ewAhrfYM ) That was exactly what I needed! 2. I speak some Spanish but for better understanding, I translated it with deepl.com (the world's best free translator).    The document listed all Passiflora species in Argentina and told me if a species had edible fruits and where it grows naturally. 3. I checked inaturalist.org for additional occurrences and pieces of information. 4. For answering the question if those species are indeed frost hardy, I first read the Wikipedia article on "climate in Argentina" and then looked for a USDA hardiness zones map of Argentina. For additional information, I looked up the climate of some Argentinian cities in the area. 5. To find out if those species can be crossed I looked at the cultivar register of the Passiflora society international. (https://lnkd.in/eNjVxai3) You can find there hundreds of interspecific crosses in the genus Passiflora.         𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁? I could create the map that you can see on the picture from the collected pieces of information. 👉 I found out that Passiflora umbilicata (https://lnkd.in/eRCB_N7t) might be a very interesting species for my endeavor. 👉 There might well be some genotypes of Passiflora caerulea in Argentina that are more cold-hardy than the usual plants that we have in Europe. 😲 Interested in breeding hardy passionfruit? Check out my book: https://lnkd.in/eZkF69vi

"There are only 3 colors, 10 numbers, and 7 notes. What matters is what we do with them." - Ruth Ross A large number of people believe that hidden within them is a natural-born entrepreneur, and all they need is the right time and place to become one. Is that really the case? At Base Connection, when we analyze things, we always go back to the source and build upon it. The word "business," where does it originate from? The source of the modern term "business" is the Old English word "bisignes," which means care, dedication, employment, diligence. It's an interesting realization that the old term "bisignes" is associated with these four concepts, with no mention of greed, suppression, predation, or deception. At what point in the development of our civilization did we stray from the source or get lost in translation? Another source we turn to for inspiration, before every business opportunity, advice, or project we engage in with our clients/partners, is nature. In nature, there are perennial plants like trees that grow for many years, and there are annual plants like wheat, tomatoes, and peppers that only grow for one year. The former live and endure for decades, even centuries, while the latter only last for a single year. Trees grow, as they say in business, at a growth rate of 2-5% per year until they reach full size, but they take a long time to grow. Of course, there are trees that grow at rates of up to 30% per year. And believe it or not, all such trees are classified as "invasive species" in botany. Annual plants yield 100%, 200%, or more, but they only last for one year. When we first come into contact with a potential client, the first two things we determine are: How well they understand the root of the word "business" and how well they understand nature. From that, we immediately know whether they have the material to become an entrepreneur or if they are prone to becoming an invasive species. Once we establish that, and it only takes, believe me, one meeting, the decision for us is easy, and we don't waste time in further endless meetings because we respect and love our planet and do not support invasive species. All of this is what Ruth Ross said in a much simpler and more vivid way. It's important that we share the same mindset... www.baseconnect.eu #business #collaboration #projectplanning #strategy

Flowers are “giving up on” #pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as #insect numbers decline, researchers have said. A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near #Paris are 10% smaller and produce 20% less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects. “Our study shows that pansies are evolving to give up on their pollinators,” said Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “They are evolving towards self-pollination, where each plant reproduces with itself, which works in the short term but may well limit their capacity to adapt to future environmental changes.” Plants produce #nectar for insects, and in return insects transport pollen between plants. This mutually beneficial relationship has formed over millions of years of coevolution. But pansies and pollinators may now be stuck in a vicious cycle: plants are producing less nectar and this means there will be less food available to insects, which will in turn accelerate declines. “Our results show that the ancient interactions linking pansies to their pollinators are disappearing fast,” said lead author Samson Acoca-Pidolle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Montpellier. “We were surprised to find that these plants are evolving so quickly.” Insect declines have been reported by studies across #Europe. One study on #German nature reserves found that from 1989 to 2016 the overall weight of insects caught in traps fell by 75%. Acoca-Pidolle added: “Our results show that the effects of pollinator declines are not easily reversible, because plants have already started to change. #Conservation measures are therefore urgently needed to halt and reverse pollinator declines.” The method used in the study is called “resurrection ecology”. It involved germinating ancestral pansy plants from seeds collected in the 1990s and 2000s, which were being stored in the national #botanical conservatories. The team compared how four populations of field pansies (Viola arvensis) had changed during this period. Other than changes to the flowers, they found no other changes between the populations, such as the leaf size or total size of the plant, according to the paper, published in the journal New Phytologist. If flowers are not likely to attract insects, then a plant is wasting energy making them large and nectar-rich. Previous research has shown the percentage of field pansies relying on self-pollination has increased by 25% over the past 20 years. “This is a particularly exciting finding as it shows evolution happening in real time,” said Dr Philip Donkersley, from #LancasterUniversity, who was not involved in the study.

The Orchid Seedpod A pollinated orchid will produce a seedpod via pollinators like bees and wind or human. A seedpod contains extremely small and dust-like seeds that have enabled orchids to disperse and travel great distances. Therefore, a million seeds can be carried on the wind across continents and oceans; the seeds have helped orchids colonize the world. Therefore, they are also found in even the most extreme tropical environment, dry forests. Some orchids grow in soil or leaf litter. However, millions of years of competition led most of the tropical members of the Orchidaceae into trees where the light was plentiful. This action leaves the moisture- and nutrient-rich forest floor but creates many evolutionary challenges for orchids. Once the orchids overcame obstacles inherent to life in the trees, they evolved quickly into many different genera and species on all the continents except Antarctica. In dry forest environments, water and nutrients are supplied in pulses during unpredictable rain events. There are often extended periods of dryness between storms. Orchids adapted to these dry conditions by obtaining their water and minerals through unusual plant forms and major changes in physiology or life history. Therefore, two general approaches to adaptation and evolution are avoidance and endurance. First, drought avoiders are seasonal growers that restrict most of their vegetative growth to wet periods of the year. Orchids in this group often have thin leaves that do not function as storage reservoirs. The dry season does not support their normal heavy water use. Therefore, the foliage is shed, and the plants lapse into dormancy. Carbohydrates and moisture are held in reserve in fat pseudobulbs, corms, or tubers. When favorable weather returns, new growths emerge from repeating the cycle. Commonly grown drought avoiders are most of the Catasetinae and certain dendrobiums and lycastes. #orchid #orchids #plant #plants #plantfact #plantscience #tissueculture #ornamentalplant #horticulture #botany #Horticulturalpractice #pollination #propagation #micropropagation #seedpod

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi” assesses our current knowledge of plants and fungal diversity, the threats they face and how to protect them. The report warns that many plant and fungal species, 45% of documented flowering plants and half of all analyzed fungi risk extinction (though less than 0.4% of identified fungi have been assessed for extinction to date). The report identified 32 plant diversity darkspots, places where plants are highly endemic but severely under-documented, including Colombia, New Guinea and China South-Central. Report authors argue that priority conservation areas should consider distinctiveness in plants or “phylogenetic diversity” and found that these hotspots of phylogenetic diversity differ from the traditional biodiversity hotspots approach. https://lnkd.in/ddtXh9nx

Not Blueberries, but Boobialla Berries!   Myoporum species are popular in horticulture and also important bush foods or medicinal plants to Aboriginal people in both coastal and inland areas. The Myoporum genus consists of 30 species, most of which are endemic to Australia.   The most often cultivated in horticulture are endemic to Australia: Myoporum parvifolium, M. floribundum and M. bateae. Myoporum parvifolium, Creeping Boobialla, is used as a groundcover that is drought tolerant and fuss-free. What has always struck me about this plant in horticulture is its incredible resistance to drought and salt spray, all while looking unfussed, fresh and green!   Myoporum floribundum, also called Weeping Myoporum, is a shrub that has distinct weeping long and thin leaves with profuse small white flowers along their stem. And M. bateae is a pyramidal shrub up to about 20 ft. with a sweet smell.   Myoporum insulare, also called Common Boobialla or Blueberry Tree, is endemic to Australia, and is used as a fast-growing hedge or windbreak that can handle coastal winds and drought. It produces a purple fruit that has been important bush tucker (food) for Aboriginal populations.   Myoporum montanum is prized by the Aboriginal people of Australia for its medicinal applications, and one scientific investigation analyzed the leaf compounds and found it to have significant antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus epidermidis, E. faecalis, and Moraxella catarrhalis. M. platycarpum, on the other hand, produced a resin that was used for attaching arrowheads and M. sandwichense has been used as a substitute for sandalwood. #MedicinalPlants #Ethnopharm #Ethnobotany #theethnobotanicalexplorer #Australia #myoporum #boobialla #bushtucker #aboriginal Photo by Margaret Donald from Sydney, Australia

Little #bees , big effect. "If bees disappear from the earth, humans will only survive for another 4 years. Without bees, there will be no pollination, there will be no plants, there will be no animals, and there will be no humans." Although there is no clear evidence that this widely circulated statement was attributed to Einstein. Stan said, but bees play a key role in the ecosystem, and their importance is far more important than we imagine: In 1859, Darwin published "On the Origin of Species", in which he discussed the complex ecological relationships among cats, mice, bumblebees (a type of bee), pansies, and red clover. Darwin pointed out: "If the bumblebee disappears, some important plant species will face extinction"; In 1901, the Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911) mentioned in his work "The Life of Bees": "Without the visit of bees, more than 100,000 species of plants would disappear, and even Possibly including our civilization”. Through the huge influence of Matt Link, people once again recognized the critical role of bees to ecology; In 2004, Richard Gibbs, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)-funded "Bee Whole Genome Sequencing" research project, said: "If there are no bees and pollination, the entire ecosystem will collapse." . So, even if Einstein didn't say that, the importance of bees is self-evident. bee: Professional and efficient pollinator Although pollinating insects such as flies, wasps, and beetles are also very important, they go their own way and do not obey human instructions at all. Therefore, bees are the most efficient pollinators. First of all, bees have good pollination specificity, rarely wander around, and are extremely efficient. In most cases, a single bee only pollinates one kind of plant, which is an advantage that most pollinators do not have - they usually choose flowers that are close to each other and have more food and forget that pollination only occurs between plants of the same species. will be effective. Secondly, bees, as professional pollinators, do not cause damage to plants. In contrast, pollinating animals such as butterflies, moths, and beetles are both pollinators and consumers. That is, they often feed on plants while pollinating. Third, bees have professional equipment and abilities. The bee's legs are equipped with pollen brushes, pollen shovels, pollen rakes and pollen baskets specially adapted to collect pollen, as well as mouthparts - beaks - for sucking nectar; some of the hairs on the bee's body are in the shape of forked feathers to facilitate the adhesion of pollen. Finally, some types of bees can be artificially bred on a large scale, traveling north and south according to people's wishes, chasing flowers and grabbing nectar, and transporting them to any plant that needs pollination. #Royaljelly #propolis #honey #beepollen

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discovered 74 new plants and 15 fungi last year. Out of which the top 10 species described as new to science in 2023 are a reminder of the beauty and wonder of the natural world - and a stark warning of the dangers of biodiversity loss and climate change, the researchers say. An orchid which was found at the top of a volcano called as Dendrobium lancilabium.Waigeo is an island of about 3,155 km² in the Raja Ampat archipelago off the coast of the western tip of Indonesian New Guinea. During fieldwork on this island in February 2020, a team from West Papua’s Natural Resources Conservation Centre of the Ministry of Environment & Forestry, Republic of Indonesia ( PapuaBarat) and staff from the Indonesia team of Fauna & Flora International visited its highest mountain, Mount Nok, an 880 m high extinct volcano which resulted in discovery of this orchid. Taxonomy :Dendrobium lancilabium J.J.Sm. sub-sp. Schuit., & Heatubun, subsp. nov. [sect. Calyptrochilus]. Type: Indonesia, Raja Ampat, Waigeo Island, Kampung Waifoi, Gunung Nok, 820 m, 20 February 2020, Yanuar Ishaq Dwi Cahyo & Maurits Kafiar s.n. (holotype MAN; isotype BO). Morphology: •Roots: 0.8–1.1 mm diameter sparsely branching, smooth. •Stems:red-brown, tufted, erect, slender, sparsely branching, 16–19 cm long, 2.5 mm diam., slightly flexuose. •Leaf: Leaf sheaths tubular, smooth, dull dark purple, blackish punctate when dry.Leaves patent, not spreading in one plane with the stem, soon deciduous, mid-green, narrowly lanceolate oblong. Anther almost square in outline, 2.3 mm wide; apex truncate. Pollinia narrowly oblong in outline, those of a pair slightly unequal, the longest 1.6 mm, the shortest 1.4 mm long. Fruit not seen. •Distribution :Indonesia, Papua Barat Province, Raja Ampat: Waigeo Island. Endemic. The typical subspecies (sub- sp. lancilabium) is found in most of the mountain ranges of the Vogelkop and Wandammen Peninsulas of western New Guinea •Phenology:Flowering observed in February. •Etymology:Named in honour of Hj. Wury Estu Handayani Ma’ruf Amin, wife of the Vice President of Indonesia, H.E. Ma’ruf Amin, for her contribution to stimulate and support conservation, preservation and sustainable utilization of local flora, orchids in particular, and development in general in West Papua province. •Habitat and ecology:Epiphyte on trees 8–12 m above the ground in moss/ mist forest, at 820 m altitude.