Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record

Bark anatomy, chemical composition and ethanol-water extract composition of Anadenanthera peregrina and Anadenanthera colubrina

The bark of Anadenanthera peregrina (L.) Speg and Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan were characterized in relation to anatomical and chemical features. The barks were similar and included a thin conducting phloem, a largely dilated and sclerified non-conducting phloem, and a rhyridome with periderms with thin phellem interspersed by cortical tissues. Only small differences between species were observed that cannot be used alone for taxonomic purposes. The summative chemical composition of A. peregrina and A. colubrina was respectively: 8.2% and 7.7% ash; 28.8% and 29.3% extractives; 2.4% and 2.6% suberin; and 18.9% lignin. The monosaccharide composition showed the predominance of glucose (on average 82% of total neutral sugars) and of xylose (9%). The ethanol-water extracts of A. peregrina and A. colubrina barks included a high content of phenolics, respectively: total phenolics 583 and 682 mg GAE/g extract; 148 and 445 mg CE/g extract; tannins 587 and 98 mg CE/g extract. The antioxidant activity was 238 and 269 mg Trolox/g extract. The barks of the Anadenanthera species are a potential source of polar extractives that will represent an important valorization and therefore contribute to improve the overall economic potential and sustainability of A. peregrina and A. colubrinainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Discovery of two new species of Crotalaria (Leguminosae, Crotalarieae) from Western Ghats, India

Two new species of Fabaceae-Papilionoideae are described and illustrated. Crotalaria suffruticosa from Karul Ghat region of Maharashtra is morphologically close to C. albida and C. epunctata. C. multibracteata from Panhala region of Maharashtra resembles C. vestita. C. suffruticosa differs from C. albida and C. epunctata in its habit, leaf, inflorescence, callosity, keel type, stigma, style morphology and number of seeds/pod. To test if the new species differ from their morphologically most similar species, we measured various traits and performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This analysis shows that the new species differs from similar species in gross morphology for several diagnostic traits and showed correlations between the variables or distance among groups and estimated the contribution of each character. Phylogenetic analyses were also conducted based on nuclear (ITS) and plastid (matK) markers. The analyses revealed nucleotide differences between the new species and their close allies attributing to their distinctiveness. A map and key including all species of Crotalaria from Maharashtra state are provided. Conservation status of the two new species have also been assessed.</div