This paper explores the significance of ecosystem functions in maintaining the health and balance of ecological systems, particularly in the context of planning, managing, and maintaining trees in ...landscape settings. It emphasises the multifaceted relationship between humans and trees, encompassing cultural, ecological, economic, and emotional connections, and underscores the value of traditional ecological knowledge alongside empirical science. By combining these two ways of knowing, along with social science insights into human health and well-being, future landscapes can be crafted to be sustainable, diverse, and functional. As urbanisation continues to shape landscapes globally, urban planners face the challenge of managing rapidly changing environments. Urban forestry and arboriculture have emerged to address these challenges, aiming to enhance environmental quality and human well-being. The concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has gained traction, recognising the importance of integrating natural systems into urban planning to address environmental challenges while preserving functional ecosystems. This paper advocates for an enhanced understanding of tree and human ecology to navigate the complex relations between trees, people, and their environments. It calls for interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and education to inform policy, assess environmental impacts, and widen approaches to ecosystem management. By monitoring ecosystem health and collaborating across disciplines, arboriculturists and urban foresters can shape resilient practices for tree conservation and sustainable urban development. In conclusion, integrating tree ecology into urban planning and management practices is essential for ensuring the health, resilience, and sustainability of tree populations and the ecosystems they inhabit. By embracing a holistic understanding of trees and their environments, professionals can contribute to shaping future landscapes that support both human well-being and biodiversity.
Sharks and rays are a relevant component of Fiji's small-scale fishery. However, existing data are skewed towards sharks, leaving fishery activities for rays less understood. To document ...species-specific catch numbers, sex, and age-classes of captured rays, the Suva fish market on Fiji’s main island Viti Levu was surveyed for one year from January 2022 to January 2023. Among the 192 individual rays recorded in Suva, five species were visually identified: maskray (Neotrygon sp.), spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus ocellatus), pink whipray (Pateobatis fai), Oceania fantail ray (Taeniura lessoni), and porcupine ray (Urogymnus asperrimus). DNA barcoding did not provide unequivocal species confirmation. The maskray and spotted eagle ray were the most captured and traded species. To further characterize the fishery and to capture the relevance of rays to food security, 84 fishers and market vendors were interviewed in coastal communities and at local fish markets. The interviews revealed that 70.4% of the interviewees caught rays, of which 60% reported to spear them. Rays were considered a moderately important resource but were particularly relevant to food security as substitute for bony fish. Given the life histories and global declines of many ray species, explicitly considering rays in management arrangements for coastal fisheries and enhancing compliance and enforcement of existing regulations, is vital to safeguard Fiji's coastal ray populations. Overall, these findings provide baseline information for monitoring Fiji’s small-scale ray fishery.
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•Emory oak acorns are a vital food source for Western Apache Tribal Nations.•USFS FIA data were analyzed to inform management and restoration of Emory oak.•Land management ...designations did not influence oak performance.•Environmental factors and disturbance were predictors of occurrence and growth.•Restoration aimed at increasing water availability and reducing fire risk is needed.
Emory oak acorns are a critically important commodity for Western Apache Tribal Nations, both as a food source and also for cultural and ceremonial uses. The Apache people historically inhabited much of Emory oak's range, but these lands are now divided among many entities, with the majority of trees occurring off-reservation in public domains. Based on observations of diminished acorn production and seedling recruitment, Apache Elders called for restoration and improved management of Emory oaks on public lands to ensure the long-term availability of acorns for Western Apache Tribes. Ecological information is critical to effectively design restoration efforts and successfully manage Emory oak, but little is known about Emory oak’s current ecological status on the landscape. Here, we use Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data to examine factors that influence Emory oak distribution, abundance, and demography, and relate findings to observations made by Tribal Elders. We found that Emory oak distribution was constrained by metrics related to water availability. Drought and fire occurred frequently in Emory oak habitats, highlighting the likely importance of these disturbance events in determining oak population dynamics. Emory oak growth was predicted by environmental variables related to water availability, like physiographic class and elevation, and population characteristics, like stand age and size, but not by land ownership classifications. Interestingly, no environmental variables explained patterns of seedling recruitment and mortality perhaps owing to the stochastic nature of these events and the coarse temporal scale of FIA data in AZ. Drier, warmer conditions projected by climate models was shown to reduce future suitable Emory oak habitat, particularly in central AZ. Restoration efforts should focus on increasing water availability for Emory oaks and reducing the likelihood of high intensity fires. This could be accomplished, in part, by thinning competing vegetation at Emory oaks stands and restoring historical fire regimes. Given projections that suggest drier regional climatic patterns, strategic seed augmentation aimed at enhancing population resilience through selection of drought-adapted genotypes may also be warranted. Data were insufficient to confirm Apache Elders’ observations of diminished acorn production and seedling recruitment, highlighting the need for comprehensive demographic analyses of Emory oaks in the Southwest.
Wiryono, Sriwahyuni, Winanda GA, Saprinurdin, Nurliana S. 2019. The diversity of useful plants and botanical knowledge of the Rejang Tribe in Kepahiang District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. ...Biodiversitas 20: 3599-3607. The rural people derive multiple benefits from the highly diverse plants in their traditional gardens and the nearby natural forests. However, the conversion of natural forests and traditional gardens into monoculture plantations in many areas has reduced the plant diversity, which in turn has also reduced the botanical knowledge, especially among the younger generation. This study was conducted to know: (i) the diversity of plant species used by the people of Rejang tribe in Kota Agung Village, Kepahiang District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia, (ii) the correlation between age and botanical knowledge, and (iii) the effect of gender on the botanical knowledge. Data were collected through interviews with five key informants and 68 villagers, and the data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using t-test and regression analyses. The results showed that the Rejang people in Kota Agung Village used 130 plant species for 12 different purposes. The three top use categories were food, medicine, and ornament. The botanical knowledge was positively correlated with age, and women had better botanical knowledge than men, presumably due to the longer time they spend in taking care of the homegardens. This study confirms the worldwide trend that there is a decline in botanical knowledge among young people.
The angiopoietin (Ang) growth factors and the endothelial Tie receptors regulate blood and lymphatic vessel development, and vascular permeability, inflammation, angiogenic remodeling and tumor ...vascularization in adult tissues. The angiopoietins activate the Tie receptors in unique in trans complexes at endothelial cell–cell and cell–matrix contacts. In addition, integrins have been implicated in the regulation of Ang–Tie signaling. Recent interest has focused on the function of angiopoietin-2 and its inhibition in the tumor vasculature and also in other pathological conditions associated with endothelial dysfunction. Here we review the current understanding of the signaling functions of the Ang–Tie pathway and its potential for future development of targeted vascular therapeutics.
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•The angiopoietins and Tie receptors form an endothelial-specific signaling system.•The Ang–Tie signaling system regulates blood and lymphatic vessel development.•Ang1 stabilizes the matured blood vasculature and limits responses to injuries.•Increased levels of Ang2 promote tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, and inflammation.•Effective means to control Ang2 in inflammation and cancer should have clinical value.
The traditional use of native wild food plants (NWFP) may represent a valuable supplementary food source for the present and future generations. In Sicily, the use of wild plants in the human diet ...dates back to very ancient times and still plays an important role in some rural communities. Moreover, in this regard, the natural and cultural inheritance of this island is wealthy and diversified for several reasons. First, Sicily hosts a rich vascular flora, with 3,000 native and 350 endemic plants. Second, due to its central position in the Mediterranean, the island has acted as a veritable melting pot for the ethnobotanical knowledge of the rural communities of the entire basin. We reviewed all the available literature and, starting from such omnicomprehensive checklist, partially improved thanks to the data issuing from recent field investigations, we critically revised the whole species list, basing our review on field data issuing from interviews and on our expert knowledge. As a result, we provide a substantially updated list of 292 NWFP growing on the island. Further 34 species, reported as NWFP on previous papers were discarded because they are not native to Sicily, while 45 species were listed separately because their identity, occurrence and local use as food is doubtful and needs to be further investigated. Moreover, we tried to shed light on the ecology (growth form and preferential habitat) of the Sicilian NWFP, with special focus on crop wild relatives (CWR). Our preliminary ecological analyses point out that a high percentage of these plants are linked with the so-called 'cultural' landscapes, patchy semi-natural environments rich in ecotones, leading to the conclusion that the maintenance of century-old agro-pastoral practices may represent an effective way to preserve the local heritage of edible plants. Our study allowed to identify as much as 102 taxa of agronomic interest which could be tested as novel crops in order to face ongoing global changes and to comply with sustainable agriculture policies. Among them, 39 taxa show promising traits in terms of tolerance to one or more environmental stress factors, while 55 more are considered CWR and/or can be easily cultivated and/or show high productivity/yield potential.
This paper examines the role of Inuit traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in adaptation to climate change in the Canadian Arctic. It focuses on Inuit relationships with the Arctic environment, ...including hunting knowledge and land skills, and examines their roles in adaptation to biophysical changes that affect subsistence hunting. In several instances, TEK underpins competency in subsistence and adaptations to changing conditions, which inculdes flexibility with regard to seasonal cycles of hunting and resource use, hazard avoidance through detailed knowledge of the environment and understanding of ecosystem processes, and emergency preparedness, e.g., knowing what supplies to take when traveling and how to respond in emergency situations. Despite the documented importance of TEK in adaptation and in maintaining a level of competency in subsistence, the relationships between TEK and adaptation to climate change are not well defined in the scholarly literature. This paper aims to conceptualize the relationships between TEK and adaptation to climate change by drawing on case study research with Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. TEK is considered an element of adaptive capacity (or resilience) that is expressed as adaptation if TEK is drawn upon to adapt to changing conditions. This capacity depends on the development, accumulation, and transmission of TEK within and among generations. Cet article se penche sur le rôle des connaissances écologiques traditionnelles (CET) inuites en matière d'adaptation au changement climatique dans l'Arctique canadien. Il porte plus précisément sur les relations des Inuits avec l'environnement de l'Arctique, notamment en ce qui a trait à leurs connaissances de la chasse et à leurs pratiques ancestrales, puis il examine leur rôle en matière d'adaptation aux changements biophysiques qui exercent une influence sur la chasse de subsistance. Dans plusieurs cas, les CET servent de fondement aux aptitudes de survie et à l'adaptation aux conditions changeantes, ce qui implique de la souplesse vis-à-vis des cycles saisonniers de chasse et d'utilisation des ressources, l'évitement des dangers grâce à une connaissance approfondie de l'environnement et à la compréhension de la dynamique des écosystèmes et l'état de préparation en cas d'urgence, à savoir les vivres et le matériel dont ils doivent se doter lorsqu'ils sont en déplacement et la façon de réagir en situation d'urgence. Malgré l'importance documentée des CET sur l'adaptation et le maintien d'un niveau de compétence en vue de la subsistance, les liens entre les CET et l'adaptation au changement climatique ne sont pas bien définis dans les écrits érudits. Cet article cherche à conceptualiser les liens entre les CET et l'adaptation au changement climatique en s'appuyant sur une recherche d'étude de cas avec les Inuits de l'Arctique canadien. Les CET sont considérées comme un élément de la capacité adaptative (ou de la résilience) exprimée sous forme d'adaptation pourvu qu'elles soient employées pour favoriser l'adaptation aux conditions changeantes. Cette capacité dépend du développement, de l'accumulation et de la transmission des CET au sein des générations et entre elles.
Wiryono, Wanandi Y, Ilahi AK, Deselina, Senoaji G, Siswahyono. 2019. The local knowledge of the plant names and uses by Semende tribe people in Kaur District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. ...Biodiversitas 20: 754-761. Local botanical knowledge is essential for the survival of local communities, but there is a global trend of the loss of local botanical knowledge among young generation, which causes serious concern among ethnobotanists. The objectives of this study were: (i) to document the diversity of plant species locally utilized by the people of Semende tribe in Bengkulu, Indonesia, (ii) to know the correlation between botanical knowledge and age of those people, and (iii) to test whether their knowledge was affected by gender. Data were gathered through field observations and interviews with key informants and general respondents consisting of males and females, ranging from 16 to 60 years old. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using regression analysis and t-test. The results showed that 106 species of plants were utilized by the people of Semende tribe for 14 types of uses. The knowledge of plant species and uses was positively correlated with age, implying that the young generation lost local botanical knowledge. Men had better botanical knowledge than women. Interaction with plants was presumably the determining factor affecting botanical knowledge. Young people spent less time in gardens than the elders, and so did the women than the men. Conversely, young people spent more time enjoying electronic entertainment than the elders, and so did the women than the men. Deliberate efforts must be done to maintain botanical knowledge among young people.
A quick, simple, and high‐yield nucleic acid isolation process is crucial for high‐quality DNA analysis. The ability of the MicroGEM PDQeX phytoGEM system and Omega Bio‐tek E.Z.N.A.® Plant DS Mini ...kit to extract PCR‐ready DNA was evaluated by extracting the forensically relevant “legal high” plant species: Ipomoea purpurea, Artemisia absinthium, Mitragyna speciosa, Datura stramonium, and Papaver somniferum. The plant material was pulverized, processed using the manufacturer’s plant protocol for the PDQeX Nucleic Acid Extraction or the manufacturer’s protocol for the Omega extraction, quantified using the Invitrogen Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer, and analyzed for amplifiability by PCR using a Qiagen Rotor‐Gene Q instrument and published assays. The DNA amplicons for the legal high species produced high‐resolution melt curves concordant with the melts observed when DNA was isolated using the Qiagen DNeasy Plant Mini Kit in previous studies.
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