Native medicinal plants contribute essential health benefits to populations globally, constituting a major natural resource that human societies rely on. Being an integral part of terrestrial biodiversity, medicinal plants are detrimentally affected by ongoing climate and land‐use change, yet comprehensive studies on the risk that extinction will pose to medicinal biodiversity are lacking. Responding to ongoing scientific calls for conserving medicinal biodiversity, this study provides an integrated assessment of the impacts of environmental change on ironwort (Sideritis), a group of closely related endemic plants of great cultural significance as local medicinal resources in the Balkan Mountains. Mountain habitats harbour unique biodiversity and provide vital resources for human well‐being, including natural medicinal resources, yet they are amongst the environments most impacted by global change. While there is ample evidence of recent rapid climate and land‐use change on mountain ecosystems, the impacts of these processes on the habitats of culturally important medicinal plants are still poorly understood. Here, we assess the potential loss of mountain habitats for medicinal plant resources over the past four decades using the culturally important ironwort, a group of endemic medicinal plants of the Balkan Mountains extensively used by local human populations and the pharmaceutical industry for treating cough and cold and gastrointestinal disorders. We used information collected from major European natural history museums to guide extensive field campaigns across 15 separate mountain ranges. We integrate field data with thousands of satellite images, station‐validated climate reanalysis data and habitat suitability modelling. We finally used machine learning to assess the relative roles of climate and vegetation rates of change in driving rates of habitat suitability change. We show that rising temperatures and ‘mountain greening’ erode the habitats of ironwort at alarming rates. About 50% of the total habitat area across all considered mountain ranges shows a significant decline in habitat suitability. These past trends will most likely continue in the future and could lead to widespread local extinction of the species and other medicinal plants that share similar ecological preferences, threatening their future contributions to societal well‐being.
{"title":"Mountain greening and rising temperatures erode habitats of ironwort (Sideritis), an important natural medicinal resource","authors":"S. Theodoridis, T. Hickler, Marco Thines","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10497","url":null,"abstract":"Native medicinal plants contribute essential health benefits to populations globally, constituting a major natural resource that human societies rely on. Being an integral part of terrestrial biodiversity, medicinal plants are detrimentally affected by ongoing climate and land‐use change, yet comprehensive studies on the risk that extinction will pose to medicinal biodiversity are lacking. Responding to ongoing scientific calls for conserving medicinal biodiversity, this study provides an integrated assessment of the impacts of environmental change on ironwort (Sideritis), a group of closely related endemic plants of great cultural significance as local medicinal resources in the Balkan Mountains.\u0000Mountain habitats harbour unique biodiversity and provide vital resources for human well‐being, including natural medicinal resources, yet they are amongst the environments most impacted by global change. While there is ample evidence of recent rapid climate and land‐use change on mountain ecosystems, the impacts of these processes on the habitats of culturally important medicinal plants are still poorly understood. Here, we assess the potential loss of mountain habitats for medicinal plant resources over the past four decades using the culturally important ironwort, a group of endemic medicinal plants of the Balkan Mountains extensively used by local human populations and the pharmaceutical industry for treating cough and cold and gastrointestinal disorders.\u0000We used information collected from major European natural history museums to guide extensive field campaigns across 15 separate mountain ranges. We integrate field data with thousands of satellite images, station‐validated climate reanalysis data and habitat suitability modelling. We finally used machine learning to assess the relative roles of climate and vegetation rates of change in driving rates of habitat suitability change.\u0000We show that rising temperatures and ‘mountain greening’ erode the habitats of ironwort at alarming rates. About 50% of the total habitat area across all considered mountain ranges shows a significant decline in habitat suitability.\u0000These past trends will most likely continue in the future and could lead to widespread local extinction of the species and other medicinal plants that share similar ecological preferences, threatening their future contributions to societal well‐being.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"943 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140446245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sabine Tourneur, J. Combier, Serge Plaza, Stéphane Muños, P. Delavault
The root parasitic plant Orobanche cumana (sunflower broomrape) is one of the major pests of sunflower crops. Despite intense efforts to develop effective agricultural practices and breeding programs, selective control of broomrapes is still rare and ineffective in terms of sustainability. It is thus essential to develop new specific control methods against those pests. miRNA‐encoded peptides (miPEPs) are a new class of peptides regulating the expression of miRNAs and their corresponding target genes. This study demonstrates that certain miPEPs strongly inhibit the germination of broomrape seeds by regulating their miR gene, making them good candidates for use as biocontrol agents against this pathogen. Root parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae family are a constant and growing threat to agriculture worldwide. Among them, the parasitic weed Orobanche cumana, the sunflower broomrape, causes significant losses to sunflower production in European‐Asian and North African countries. Despite the use of several conventional control methods against this pathogen, none has proved effective or durable, underlining the need to develop innovative strategies. miRNA‐encoded peptides (miPEPs) are regulatory peptides stimulating the expression of their own primary transcript of miRNA, and plant watering with those molecules leads to down‐regulating specifically miRNA target genes and altering plant physiology. Through seed germination assays and qRT‐PCR analysis, we investigated the impact of exogenous treatments of synthetic miPEPs on broomrape seed germination. First, we report that the conserved miRNA repertoire of O. cumana consists of 39 members. Thirty‐nine miPEPs were designed, synthetized, and assayed, 11 of which strongly inhibited O. cumana seed germination. Interestingly, miPEP319a showed the strongest inhibiting effect while miPEP319b did not. Three out of the four corresponding miR319 target genes showed upregulation after treatment with a germination stimulant, which was impaired by treatment with miPEP319a. This downregulation of expression is associated with an increase in the expression of the corresponding pri‐miR319a. We reveal thus that the use of miPEPs can increase our knowledge of key molecular mechanisms underlying a complex parasite interaction and should provide a new phytosanitary method to control broomrape parasitism with highly specific and biodegradable natural substances.
{"title":"microRNA‐encoded peptides inhibit seed germination of the root parasitic plant Orobanche cumana","authors":"Sabine Tourneur, J. Combier, Serge Plaza, Stéphane Muños, P. Delavault","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10501","url":null,"abstract":"The root parasitic plant Orobanche cumana (sunflower broomrape) is one of the major pests of sunflower crops. Despite intense efforts to develop effective agricultural practices and breeding programs, selective control of broomrapes is still rare and ineffective in terms of sustainability. It is thus essential to develop new specific control methods against those pests. miRNA‐encoded peptides (miPEPs) are a new class of peptides regulating the expression of miRNAs and their corresponding target genes. This study demonstrates that certain miPEPs strongly inhibit the germination of broomrape seeds by regulating their miR gene, making them good candidates for use as biocontrol agents against this pathogen.\u0000Root parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae family are a constant and growing threat to agriculture worldwide. Among them, the parasitic weed Orobanche cumana, the sunflower broomrape, causes significant losses to sunflower production in European‐Asian and North African countries. Despite the use of several conventional control methods against this pathogen, none has proved effective or durable, underlining the need to develop innovative strategies. miRNA‐encoded peptides (miPEPs) are regulatory peptides stimulating the expression of their own primary transcript of miRNA, and plant watering with those molecules leads to down‐regulating specifically miRNA target genes and altering plant physiology.\u0000Through seed germination assays and qRT‐PCR analysis, we investigated the impact of exogenous treatments of synthetic miPEPs on broomrape seed germination.\u0000First, we report that the conserved miRNA repertoire of O. cumana consists of 39 members. Thirty‐nine miPEPs were designed, synthetized, and assayed, 11 of which strongly inhibited O. cumana seed germination. Interestingly, miPEP319a showed the strongest inhibiting effect while miPEP319b did not. Three out of the four corresponding miR319 target genes showed upregulation after treatment with a germination stimulant, which was impaired by treatment with miPEP319a. This downregulation of expression is associated with an increase in the expression of the corresponding pri‐miR319a.\u0000We reveal thus that the use of miPEPs can increase our knowledge of key molecular mechanisms underlying a complex parasite interaction and should provide a new phytosanitary method to control broomrape parasitism with highly specific and biodegradable natural substances.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"29 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140450551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Suetsugu, Hiroki Nishigaki, Satoshi Kakishima, M. Sueyoshi, Shinji Sugiura
The research explores the complex interaction between flowering plants and their pollinators, specifically focusing on the genus Arisaema. Unlike most plants, Arisaema has a distinctive trait in which killing pollinators can be beneficial. Traditionally, this interaction has been viewed as highly antagonistic because it appears to favor the plants at the expense of the pollinators. However, new evidence reveals that a pollinator uses the lethal floral trap of Arisaema thunbergii as a nursery. Remarkably, some individuals probably even escape from the trap after laying eggs. This finding challenges the prevailing notion that deceptive pollination is the sole outcome in Arisaema, a genus known for its intricate lethal pollination mechanisms. While many flowering plants engage in mutualistic relationships with their pollinators, flower‐insect interactions are not always mutually beneficial. Some plants exploit their pollinators by deceptively promising rewards without delivering them. Among such plants, the genus Arisaema (Araceae) is notable for its antagonistic behavior towards pollinators, as female plants invariably entrap them with lethal effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that the succulent appendix of some Arisaema species, such as Arisaema thunbergii, may serve as a food source for pollinator larvae, leading to the possibility of nursery pollination. To investigate this, we retrieved adult insect corpses trapped within the spathes of A. thunbergii. Subsequently, we incubated the spathes after collecting the corpses to determine if conspecific insects emerged from them. We present novel evidence that one of the main pollinating fungus gnats, Leia ishitanii, uses the lethal floral trap of A. thunbergii inflorescences as a nursery. Astonishingly, some L. ishitanii individuals may even succeed in escaping from the female spathe after depositing their eggs. These findings challenge the conventional understanding that deceptive pollination is the norm within the genus Arisaema. The interaction between A. thunbergii and L. ishitanii, in which a significant portion of female adults die inside but still reproduction seems successful, suggests an intermediate stage between brood‐site deception and nursery pollination mutualism.
这项研究探索了开花植物与其传粉昆虫之间复杂的相互作用，特别是重点研究了 Arisaema 属植物。与大多数植物不同，旱金莲有一个独特的特性，即杀死传粉昆虫可能是有益的。传统上，这种相互作用被认为是高度对立的，因为它似乎有利于植物而牺牲了传粉昆虫。然而，新的证据显示，一种授粉昆虫将蒿属植物的致命花诱捕器用作苗圃。值得注意的是，一些个体甚至可能在产卵后从陷阱中逃脱。虽然许多开花植物与其授粉昆虫之间存在互利关系，但花与昆虫之间的相互作用并不总是互利的。一些植物通过欺骗性地承诺回报而不提供回报来剥削传粉昆虫。在这类植物中，天南星科（Araceae）的天南星属（Arisaema）因其对传粉昆虫的拮抗行为而引人注目，因为雌性植物总是以致命的方式诱捕传粉昆虫。在这里，我们测试了一种假设，即一些天南星属植物（如天南星属（Arisaema thunbergii））的肉质盲肠可能成为传粉昆虫幼虫的食物来源，从而导致苗圃授粉的可能性。为了研究这一点，我们取回了被困在A. thunbergii叶囊内的成虫尸体。我们提出了新的证据，证明一种主要的授粉真菌蚋 Leia ishitanii 将 A. thunbergii 花序的致命花诱捕器用作苗圃。令人吃惊的是，一些 L. ishitanii 甚至能在产卵后成功地从雌花佛焰苞中逃脱。这些发现挑战了人们的传统认识，即欺骗性授粉是 Arisaema 属的常态。A.thunbergii和L. ishitanii之间的相互作用（其中相当一部分雌性成虫死在里面，但繁殖似乎仍然成功）表明，这是介于育雏地欺骗和苗圃授粉互作之间的一个中间阶段。
{"title":"Back from the dead: A fungus gnat pollinator turns Arisaema lethal trap into nursery","authors":"K. Suetsugu, Hiroki Nishigaki, Satoshi Kakishima, M. Sueyoshi, Shinji Sugiura","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10494","url":null,"abstract":"The research explores the complex interaction between flowering plants and their pollinators, specifically focusing on the genus Arisaema. Unlike most plants, Arisaema has a distinctive trait in which killing pollinators can be beneficial. Traditionally, this interaction has been viewed as highly antagonistic because it appears to favor the plants at the expense of the pollinators. However, new evidence reveals that a pollinator uses the lethal floral trap of Arisaema thunbergii as a nursery. Remarkably, some individuals probably even escape from the trap after laying eggs. This finding challenges the prevailing notion that deceptive pollination is the sole outcome in Arisaema, a genus known for its intricate lethal pollination mechanisms.\u0000While many flowering plants engage in mutualistic relationships with their pollinators, flower‐insect interactions are not always mutually beneficial. Some plants exploit their pollinators by deceptively promising rewards without delivering them. Among such plants, the genus Arisaema (Araceae) is notable for its antagonistic behavior towards pollinators, as female plants invariably entrap them with lethal effects.\u0000Here we tested the hypothesis that the succulent appendix of some Arisaema species, such as Arisaema thunbergii, may serve as a food source for pollinator larvae, leading to the possibility of nursery pollination. To investigate this, we retrieved adult insect corpses trapped within the spathes of A. thunbergii. Subsequently, we incubated the spathes after collecting the corpses to determine if conspecific insects emerged from them.\u0000We present novel evidence that one of the main pollinating fungus gnats, Leia ishitanii, uses the lethal floral trap of A. thunbergii inflorescences as a nursery. Astonishingly, some L. ishitanii individuals may even succeed in escaping from the female spathe after depositing their eggs.\u0000These findings challenge the conventional understanding that deceptive pollination is the norm within the genus Arisaema. The interaction between A. thunbergii and L. ishitanii, in which a significant portion of female adults die inside but still reproduction seems successful, suggests an intermediate stage between brood‐site deception and nursery pollination mutualism.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"24 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140450451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nagnouma Condé, George Burton, Maimouna Touré, Benedetta Gori, M. Cheek, S. Magassouba, P. Wilkin, C. Couch, Philippa Ryan
Global yam production is centred on West Africa, but there are significant knowledge gaps about farm‐level diversity across much of the region, and especially in Guinea. Although yam production is increasing in Guinea, in the longer term, varietal diversity and the sustainability of agri‐systems are at risk. Documentation of local crop diversity is essential as a baseline to understand trajectories of past and future varietal loss. This study utilises interdisciplinary approaches, which are needed to help understand the ways historic crop diversity is created and maintained within indigenous agricultural and food heritage systems, as well as the reasons for its loss over time. Yams are important staple foods in many tropical and sub‐Saharan countries. The ‘yam belt’ extends from Guinea to western central Africa. However, yam cultivation is comparatively little researched or documented in Guinea, and the country is commonly not included within descriptions of key yam growing areas in Africa. Our study utilises ethnobotanic methods and plant specimen collections to fill these gaps in West African yam research. Interviews with over 70 farmers from six villages across the Kankan region of Guinea provide information on yam cultivation and diversity, and changes in living memory over the past 40 years. We present the analyses of ethnobotanical data from Haute‐Guinée on yam cuisine, and commercialisation, and on changes to the range of varieties grown over time. The annual cycle of indigenous yam agri‐systems remains a key part of rural life, food systems and economy. However, interviews revealed dramatic temporal changes over the last 40 years. Although yam production has increased, a narrow range of commercial cultivars is currently displacing the historically‐rooted local diversity. The expansion of yam cultivation is regarded locally as having relied on a shift to more unsustainable and extensive land use, and with herbicides and chemical fertilisers replacing intensive organic soil management. This has implications for research and development in sub‐Saharan agriculture for yams and other important native West African crops in the future.
{"title":"The biocultural heritage and changing role of indigenous yams in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa","authors":"Nagnouma Condé, George Burton, Maimouna Touré, Benedetta Gori, M. Cheek, S. Magassouba, P. Wilkin, C. Couch, Philippa Ryan","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10498","url":null,"abstract":"Global yam production is centred on West Africa, but there are significant knowledge gaps about farm‐level diversity across much of the region, and especially in Guinea. Although yam production is increasing in Guinea, in the longer term, varietal diversity and the sustainability of agri‐systems are at risk. Documentation of local crop diversity is essential as a baseline to understand trajectories of past and future varietal loss. This study utilises interdisciplinary approaches, which are needed to help understand the ways historic crop diversity is created and maintained within indigenous agricultural and food heritage systems, as well as the reasons for its loss over time.\u0000Yams are important staple foods in many tropical and sub‐Saharan countries. The ‘yam belt’ extends from Guinea to western central Africa. However, yam cultivation is comparatively little researched or documented in Guinea, and the country is commonly not included within descriptions of key yam growing areas in Africa.\u0000Our study utilises ethnobotanic methods and plant specimen collections to fill these gaps in West African yam research. Interviews with over 70 farmers from six villages across the Kankan region of Guinea provide information on yam cultivation and diversity, and changes in living memory over the past 40 years. We present the analyses of ethnobotanical data from Haute‐Guinée on yam cuisine, and commercialisation, and on changes to the range of varieties grown over time.\u0000The annual cycle of indigenous yam agri‐systems remains a key part of rural life, food systems and economy. However, interviews revealed dramatic temporal changes over the last 40 years. Although yam production has increased, a narrow range of commercial cultivars is currently displacing the historically‐rooted local diversity.\u0000The expansion of yam cultivation is regarded locally as having relied on a shift to more unsustainable and extensive land use, and with herbicides and chemical fertilisers replacing intensive organic soil management. This has implications for research and development in sub‐Saharan agriculture for yams and other important native West African crops in the future.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"45 21","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139961604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L. Nordlund, R. Unsworth, Sieglind Wallner‐Hahn, Lavenia Ratnarajah, P. Beca‐Carretero, Elmira Boikova, James C. Bull, Rosa M. Chefaoui, C. B. de los Santos, Karine Gagnon, J. Garmendia, F. Gizzi, L. L. Govers, Camilla Gustafsson, Elitsa Hineva, Eduardo Infantes, J. Canning‐Clode, Marlene Jahnke, P. Kleitou, Hilary Kennedy, Stefania Klayn, Tiia Moller, J. Monteiro, Nerea Piñeiro‐Juncal, E. Ponis, V. Papathanasiou, D. Poursanidis, Riccardo Pieraccini, O. Serrano, Ana. I. Sousa, Susanne Schäfer, Francesca Rossi, D. S. Storey, M. M. van Katwijk, Dave Wall, Emma A. Ward, R. Wilkes
Seagrass ecosystems are of fundamental importance to our planet and wellbeing. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, which engineer ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services, for example, blue foods and carbon sequestration. Seagrass ecosystems have largely been degraded across much of their global range. There is now increasing interest in the conservation and restoration of these systems, particularly in the context of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. The collation of 100 questions from experts across Europe could, if answered, improve our ability to conserve and restore these systems by facilitating a fundamental shift in the success of such work.Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries & lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land‐sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity & Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience & Response; Monitoring & Assessment; Conservation & Restoration; Governance, Policy & Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recovery.
{"title":"One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe","authors":"L. Nordlund, R. Unsworth, Sieglind Wallner‐Hahn, Lavenia Ratnarajah, P. Beca‐Carretero, Elmira Boikova, James C. Bull, Rosa M. Chefaoui, C. B. de los Santos, Karine Gagnon, J. Garmendia, F. Gizzi, L. L. Govers, Camilla Gustafsson, Elitsa Hineva, Eduardo Infantes, J. Canning‐Clode, Marlene Jahnke, P. Kleitou, Hilary Kennedy, Stefania Klayn, Tiia Moller, J. Monteiro, Nerea Piñeiro‐Juncal, E. Ponis, V. Papathanasiou, D. Poursanidis, Riccardo Pieraccini, O. Serrano, Ana. I. Sousa, Susanne Schäfer, Francesca Rossi, D. S. Storey, M. M. van Katwijk, Dave Wall, Emma A. Ward, R. Wilkes","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10486","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10486","url":null,"abstract":"Seagrass ecosystems are of fundamental importance to our planet and wellbeing. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, which engineer ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services, for example, blue foods and carbon sequestration. Seagrass ecosystems have largely been degraded across much of their global range. There is now increasing interest in the conservation and restoration of these systems, particularly in the context of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. The collation of 100 questions from experts across Europe could, if answered, improve our ability to conserve and restore these systems by facilitating a fundamental shift in the success of such work.Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries & lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land‐sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity & Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience & Response; Monitoring & Assessment; Conservation & Restoration; Governance, Policy & Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recovery.","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"68 s309","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139794410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L. Nordlund, R. Unsworth, Sieglind Wallner‐Hahn, Lavenia Ratnarajah, P. Beca‐Carretero, Elmira Boikova, James C. Bull, Rosa M. Chefaoui, C. B. de los Santos, Karine Gagnon, J. Garmendia, F. Gizzi, L. L. Govers, Camilla Gustafsson, Elitsa Hineva, Eduardo Infantes, J. Canning‐Clode, Marlene Jahnke, P. Kleitou, Hilary Kennedy, Stefania Klayn, Tiia Moller, J. Monteiro, Nerea Piñeiro‐Juncal, E. Ponis, V. Papathanasiou, D. Poursanidis, Riccardo Pieraccini, O. Serrano, Ana. I. Sousa, Susanne Schäfer, Francesca Rossi, D. S. Storey, M. M. van Katwijk, Dave Wall, Emma A. Ward, R. Wilkes
Seagrass ecosystems are of fundamental importance to our planet and wellbeing. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, which engineer ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services, for example, blue foods and carbon sequestration. Seagrass ecosystems have largely been degraded across much of their global range. There is now increasing interest in the conservation and restoration of these systems, particularly in the context of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. The collation of 100 questions from experts across Europe could, if answered, improve our ability to conserve and restore these systems by facilitating a fundamental shift in the success of such work.Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries & lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land‐sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity & Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience & Response; Monitoring & Assessment; Conservation & Restoration; Governance, Policy & Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recovery.
{"title":"One hundred priority questions for advancing seagrass conservation in Europe","authors":"L. Nordlund, R. Unsworth, Sieglind Wallner‐Hahn, Lavenia Ratnarajah, P. Beca‐Carretero, Elmira Boikova, James C. Bull, Rosa M. Chefaoui, C. B. de los Santos, Karine Gagnon, J. Garmendia, F. Gizzi, L. L. Govers, Camilla Gustafsson, Elitsa Hineva, Eduardo Infantes, J. Canning‐Clode, Marlene Jahnke, P. Kleitou, Hilary Kennedy, Stefania Klayn, Tiia Moller, J. Monteiro, Nerea Piñeiro‐Juncal, E. Ponis, V. Papathanasiou, D. Poursanidis, Riccardo Pieraccini, O. Serrano, Ana. I. Sousa, Susanne Schäfer, Francesca Rossi, D. S. Storey, M. M. van Katwijk, Dave Wall, Emma A. Ward, R. Wilkes","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10486","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10486","url":null,"abstract":"Seagrass ecosystems are of fundamental importance to our planet and wellbeing. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, which engineer ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services, for example, blue foods and carbon sequestration. Seagrass ecosystems have largely been degraded across much of their global range. There is now increasing interest in the conservation and restoration of these systems, particularly in the context of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. The collation of 100 questions from experts across Europe could, if answered, improve our ability to conserve and restore these systems by facilitating a fundamental shift in the success of such work.Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services including biodiversity, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration. In Europe, seagrasses can be found in shallow sheltered waters along coastlines, in estuaries & lagoons, and around islands, but their distribution has declined. Factors such as poor water quality, coastal modification, mechanical damage, overfishing, land‐sea interactions, climate change and disease have reduced the coverage of Europe’s seagrasses necessitating their recovery. Research, monitoring and conservation efforts on seagrass ecosystems in Europe are mostly uncoordinated and biased towards certain species and regions, resulting in inadequate delivery of critical information for their management. Here, we aim to identify the 100 priority questions, that if addressed would strongly advance seagrass monitoring, research and conservation in Europe. Using a Delphi method, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with seagrass experience from across Europe and with diverse seagrass expertise participated in the process that involved the formulation of research questions, a voting process and an online workshop to identify the final list of the 100 questions. The final list of questions covers areas across nine themes: Biodiversity & Ecology; Ecosystem services; Blue carbon; Fishery support; Drivers, Threats, Resilience & Response; Monitoring & Assessment; Conservation & Restoration; Governance, Policy & Management; and Communication. Answering these questions will fill current knowledge gaps and place European seagrass onto a positive trajectory of recovery.","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"5 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139854255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
George Burton, Benedetta Gori, Saidou Camara, Paolo Ceci, Nagnouma Condé, C. Couch, S. Magassouba, M. Vorontsova, T. Ulian, Philippa Ryan
White fonio (Digitaria exilis [Kippist] Stapf) is an understudied millet crop, indigenous to West Africa and cultivated in the region largely through traditional practices. This species is climate‐resilient, fast‐growing, nutritionally rich, and provides livelihoods and food security to rural communities. Through collaboration with smallholder farmers in the Fouta Djallon region, Guinea, this study investigates how the diversity and selection of fonio landraces has changed in living memory. This research provides insight into how climatic and socio‐cultural changes affect the cultivation of fonio varieties and other indigenous crops, and why they should be conserved and further involved in rural development programmes. The millet crop white fonio (D. exilis) isa staple crop feeding thousands of people across West Africa. The Fouta Djallon highlands region of Guinea is a hotspot for its cultivation, with known high genetic diversity. Our study utilises data from ethnobotanic interviews and plant specimen and seed collections, working with farmers from 15 communities in this region with the aim to investigate the diversity of landraces and popularity of fonio within the current agricultural systems, in the present, and changes over the past 50 years. A total of 24 named varieties of fonio were recorded and described, along with other commonly cultivated food crops. This includes two lost varieties now no longer cultivated. We also describe the methods for cultivation, grain processing and food preparation. The priority and popularity of cultivated fonio landraces, and other crops, has changed, due to the consequences of social and environmental change in living memory. The diversity of fonio landraces are maintained as an adaptation to historical climatic changes, and there is an increasing preference towards varieties with a longer growing period and more reliable high yield to the detriment of early season varieties.
{"title":"Landrace diversity and heritage of the indigenous millet crop fonio (Digitaria exilis): Socio‐cultural and climatic drivers of change in the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea","authors":"George Burton, Benedetta Gori, Saidou Camara, Paolo Ceci, Nagnouma Condé, C. Couch, S. Magassouba, M. Vorontsova, T. Ulian, Philippa Ryan","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10490","url":null,"abstract":"White fonio (Digitaria exilis [Kippist] Stapf) is an understudied millet crop, indigenous to West Africa and cultivated in the region largely through traditional practices. This species is climate‐resilient, fast‐growing, nutritionally rich, and provides livelihoods and food security to rural communities. Through collaboration with smallholder farmers in the Fouta Djallon region, Guinea, this study investigates how the diversity and selection of fonio landraces has changed in living memory. This research provides insight into how climatic and socio‐cultural changes affect the cultivation of fonio varieties and other indigenous crops, and why they should be conserved and further involved in rural development programmes.\u0000\u0000The millet crop white fonio (D. exilis) isa staple crop feeding thousands of people across West Africa. The Fouta Djallon highlands region of Guinea is a hotspot for its cultivation, with known high genetic diversity.\u0000Our study utilises data from ethnobotanic interviews and plant specimen and seed collections, working with farmers from 15 communities in this region with the aim to investigate the diversity of landraces and popularity of fonio within the current agricultural systems, in the present, and changes over the past 50 years.\u0000A total of 24 named varieties of fonio were recorded and described, along with other commonly cultivated food crops. This includes two lost varieties now no longer cultivated. We also describe the methods for cultivation, grain processing and food preparation.\u0000The priority and popularity of cultivated fonio landraces, and other crops, has changed, due to the consequences of social and environmental change in living memory. The diversity of fonio landraces are maintained as an adaptation to historical climatic changes, and there is an increasing preference towards varieties with a longer growing period and more reliable high yield to the detriment of early season varieties.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"56 36","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139797947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Palaeoecological investigations are crucial in understanding millennial to centennial land use and land cover change. By analysing the modern pollen rain from four main vegetation types across Madagascar, this research provides baselines for improving the interpretation of pollen records in palaeoecological studies. This study determines the modern pollen‐vegetation relationship in Madagascar and gives a better understanding of the island's landscapes. Despite some spatial limitations, this approach contributes to resolving the debated topic related to the origin of Madagascar's open ecosystems. Knowing the vegetation history prior to and after human settlement would help guide biodiversity management and its associated ecosystem services. Modern pollen rain contributes to calibrating and defining palaeo‐records relative to the current vegetation of diverse landscapes. Quantifying past vegetation change is important to better frame sustainable and resilient management methods of biodiversity considering human needs. In this paper, we aim to assess modern pollen assemblages in different vegetation types in Madagascar and inform how these could contribute to the interpretation of palaeo‐records. We identified modern pollen assemblages from 21 samples across four major vegetation types in Madagascar, including seven (N = 7) newly generated samples from the tropical dry forest in the Northwest region and 14 datasets downloaded from the African Pollen Database website. The downloaded datasets are from core tops representing modern vegetation previously analysed in the tropical dry forests and spiny thickets, the wooded grassland–bushland mosaic and the littoral humid forest. We evaluated the frequency of different taxa in the samples and conducted multivariate analyses to evaluate the similarities and ecological affinities between samples. Pollen rain reflected the main vegetation types across Madagascar and provided information on the current structure and state of the landscape. Regarding the interpretation of pollen records, pollen rain samples revealed that: (i) Open mosaic ecosystems should contain a percentage of at least 40% grass pollen, informing on the origin of the vegetation in older samples and the state of degradation in more recent vegetation reconstructions; and (ii) Anthropogenic vegetation such as plantations are marked by the abundance of pioneer taxa such as Pinus and/or Eucalyptus spp. with a frequency >20%. Our findings improve the interpretations of pollen records and help differentiate past distribution of forest, open and mosaic vegetation, in Madagascar. It will contribute to further research on human practices, land use and into scenarios of conservation planning not only in Madagascar but also across the tropics.
{"title":"Modern pollen rain reveals differences across forests, open and mosaic landscapes in Madagascar","authors":"A. H. Razafimanantsoa, E. Razanatsoa","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10487","url":null,"abstract":"Palaeoecological investigations are crucial in understanding millennial to centennial land use and land cover change. By analysing the modern pollen rain from four main vegetation types across Madagascar, this research provides baselines for improving the interpretation of pollen records in palaeoecological studies. This study determines the modern pollen‐vegetation relationship in Madagascar and gives a better understanding of the island's landscapes. Despite some spatial limitations, this approach contributes to resolving the debated topic related to the origin of Madagascar's open ecosystems. Knowing the vegetation history prior to and after human settlement would help guide biodiversity management and its associated ecosystem services.\u0000Modern pollen rain contributes to calibrating and defining palaeo‐records relative to the current vegetation of diverse landscapes. Quantifying past vegetation change is important to better frame sustainable and resilient management methods of biodiversity considering human needs. In this paper, we aim to assess modern pollen assemblages in different vegetation types in Madagascar and inform how these could contribute to the interpretation of palaeo‐records.\u0000We identified modern pollen assemblages from 21 samples across four major vegetation types in Madagascar, including seven (N = 7) newly generated samples from the tropical dry forest in the Northwest region and 14 datasets downloaded from the African Pollen Database website. The downloaded datasets are from core tops representing modern vegetation previously analysed in the tropical dry forests and spiny thickets, the wooded grassland–bushland mosaic and the littoral humid forest. We evaluated the frequency of different taxa in the samples and conducted multivariate analyses to evaluate the similarities and ecological affinities between samples.\u0000Pollen rain reflected the main vegetation types across Madagascar and provided information on the current structure and state of the landscape. Regarding the interpretation of pollen records, pollen rain samples revealed that: (i) Open mosaic ecosystems should contain a percentage of at least 40% grass pollen, informing on the origin of the vegetation in older samples and the state of degradation in more recent vegetation reconstructions; and (ii) Anthropogenic vegetation such as plantations are marked by the abundance of pioneer taxa such as Pinus and/or Eucalyptus spp. with a frequency >20%.\u0000Our findings improve the interpretations of pollen records and help differentiate past distribution of forest, open and mosaic vegetation, in Madagascar. It will contribute to further research on human practices, land use and into scenarios of conservation planning not only in Madagascar but also across the tropics.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"24 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139796995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
George Burton, Benedetta Gori, Saidou Camara, Paolo Ceci, Nagnouma Condé, C. Couch, S. Magassouba, M. Vorontsova, T. Ulian, Philippa Ryan
White fonio (Digitaria exilis [Kippist] Stapf) is an understudied millet crop, indigenous to West Africa and cultivated in the region largely through traditional practices. This species is climate‐resilient, fast‐growing, nutritionally rich, and provides livelihoods and food security to rural communities. Through collaboration with smallholder farmers in the Fouta Djallon region, Guinea, this study investigates how the diversity and selection of fonio landraces has changed in living memory. This research provides insight into how climatic and socio‐cultural changes affect the cultivation of fonio varieties and other indigenous crops, and why they should be conserved and further involved in rural development programmes. The millet crop white fonio (D. exilis) isa staple crop feeding thousands of people across West Africa. The Fouta Djallon highlands region of Guinea is a hotspot for its cultivation, with known high genetic diversity. Our study utilises data from ethnobotanic interviews and plant specimen and seed collections, working with farmers from 15 communities in this region with the aim to investigate the diversity of landraces and popularity of fonio within the current agricultural systems, in the present, and changes over the past 50 years. A total of 24 named varieties of fonio were recorded and described, along with other commonly cultivated food crops. This includes two lost varieties now no longer cultivated. We also describe the methods for cultivation, grain processing and food preparation. The priority and popularity of cultivated fonio landraces, and other crops, has changed, due to the consequences of social and environmental change in living memory. The diversity of fonio landraces are maintained as an adaptation to historical climatic changes, and there is an increasing preference towards varieties with a longer growing period and more reliable high yield to the detriment of early season varieties.
{"title":"Landrace diversity and heritage of the indigenous millet crop fonio (Digitaria exilis): Socio‐cultural and climatic drivers of change in the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea","authors":"George Burton, Benedetta Gori, Saidou Camara, Paolo Ceci, Nagnouma Condé, C. Couch, S. Magassouba, M. Vorontsova, T. Ulian, Philippa Ryan","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10490","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10490","url":null,"abstract":"White fonio (Digitaria exilis [Kippist] Stapf) is an understudied millet crop, indigenous to West Africa and cultivated in the region largely through traditional practices. This species is climate‐resilient, fast‐growing, nutritionally rich, and provides livelihoods and food security to rural communities. Through collaboration with smallholder farmers in the Fouta Djallon region, Guinea, this study investigates how the diversity and selection of fonio landraces has changed in living memory. This research provides insight into how climatic and socio‐cultural changes affect the cultivation of fonio varieties and other indigenous crops, and why they should be conserved and further involved in rural development programmes.\u0000\u0000The millet crop white fonio (D. exilis) isa staple crop feeding thousands of people across West Africa. The Fouta Djallon highlands region of Guinea is a hotspot for its cultivation, with known high genetic diversity.\u0000Our study utilises data from ethnobotanic interviews and plant specimen and seed collections, working with farmers from 15 communities in this region with the aim to investigate the diversity of landraces and popularity of fonio within the current agricultural systems, in the present, and changes over the past 50 years.\u0000A total of 24 named varieties of fonio were recorded and described, along with other commonly cultivated food crops. This includes two lost varieties now no longer cultivated. We also describe the methods for cultivation, grain processing and food preparation.\u0000The priority and popularity of cultivated fonio landraces, and other crops, has changed, due to the consequences of social and environmental change in living memory. The diversity of fonio landraces are maintained as an adaptation to historical climatic changes, and there is an increasing preference towards varieties with a longer growing period and more reliable high yield to the detriment of early season varieties.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"143 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139857756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Palaeoecological investigations are crucial in understanding millennial to centennial land use and land cover change. By analysing the modern pollen rain from four main vegetation types across Madagascar, this research provides baselines for improving the interpretation of pollen records in palaeoecological studies. This study determines the modern pollen‐vegetation relationship in Madagascar and gives a better understanding of the island's landscapes. Despite some spatial limitations, this approach contributes to resolving the debated topic related to the origin of Madagascar's open ecosystems. Knowing the vegetation history prior to and after human settlement would help guide biodiversity management and its associated ecosystem services. Modern pollen rain contributes to calibrating and defining palaeo‐records relative to the current vegetation of diverse landscapes. Quantifying past vegetation change is important to better frame sustainable and resilient management methods of biodiversity considering human needs. In this paper, we aim to assess modern pollen assemblages in different vegetation types in Madagascar and inform how these could contribute to the interpretation of palaeo‐records. We identified modern pollen assemblages from 21 samples across four major vegetation types in Madagascar, including seven (N = 7) newly generated samples from the tropical dry forest in the Northwest region and 14 datasets downloaded from the African Pollen Database website. The downloaded datasets are from core tops representing modern vegetation previously analysed in the tropical dry forests and spiny thickets, the wooded grassland–bushland mosaic and the littoral humid forest. We evaluated the frequency of different taxa in the samples and conducted multivariate analyses to evaluate the similarities and ecological affinities between samples. Pollen rain reflected the main vegetation types across Madagascar and provided information on the current structure and state of the landscape. Regarding the interpretation of pollen records, pollen rain samples revealed that: (i) Open mosaic ecosystems should contain a percentage of at least 40% grass pollen, informing on the origin of the vegetation in older samples and the state of degradation in more recent vegetation reconstructions; and (ii) Anthropogenic vegetation such as plantations are marked by the abundance of pioneer taxa such as Pinus and/or Eucalyptus spp. with a frequency >20%. Our findings improve the interpretations of pollen records and help differentiate past distribution of forest, open and mosaic vegetation, in Madagascar. It will contribute to further research on human practices, land use and into scenarios of conservation planning not only in Madagascar but also across the tropics.
{"title":"Modern pollen rain reveals differences across forests, open and mosaic landscapes in Madagascar","authors":"A. H. Razafimanantsoa, E. Razanatsoa","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10487","url":null,"abstract":"Palaeoecological investigations are crucial in understanding millennial to centennial land use and land cover change. By analysing the modern pollen rain from four main vegetation types across Madagascar, this research provides baselines for improving the interpretation of pollen records in palaeoecological studies. This study determines the modern pollen‐vegetation relationship in Madagascar and gives a better understanding of the island's landscapes. Despite some spatial limitations, this approach contributes to resolving the debated topic related to the origin of Madagascar's open ecosystems. Knowing the vegetation history prior to and after human settlement would help guide biodiversity management and its associated ecosystem services.\u0000Modern pollen rain contributes to calibrating and defining palaeo‐records relative to the current vegetation of diverse landscapes. Quantifying past vegetation change is important to better frame sustainable and resilient management methods of biodiversity considering human needs. In this paper, we aim to assess modern pollen assemblages in different vegetation types in Madagascar and inform how these could contribute to the interpretation of palaeo‐records.\u0000We identified modern pollen assemblages from 21 samples across four major vegetation types in Madagascar, including seven (N = 7) newly generated samples from the tropical dry forest in the Northwest region and 14 datasets downloaded from the African Pollen Database website. The downloaded datasets are from core tops representing modern vegetation previously analysed in the tropical dry forests and spiny thickets, the wooded grassland–bushland mosaic and the littoral humid forest. We evaluated the frequency of different taxa in the samples and conducted multivariate analyses to evaluate the similarities and ecological affinities between samples.\u0000Pollen rain reflected the main vegetation types across Madagascar and provided information on the current structure and state of the landscape. Regarding the interpretation of pollen records, pollen rain samples revealed that: (i) Open mosaic ecosystems should contain a percentage of at least 40% grass pollen, informing on the origin of the vegetation in older samples and the state of degradation in more recent vegetation reconstructions; and (ii) Anthropogenic vegetation such as plantations are marked by the abundance of pioneer taxa such as Pinus and/or Eucalyptus spp. with a frequency >20%.\u0000Our findings improve the interpretations of pollen records and help differentiate past distribution of forest, open and mosaic vegetation, in Madagascar. It will contribute to further research on human practices, land use and into scenarios of conservation planning not only in Madagascar but also across the tropics.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"50 9-10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139856832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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