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Scaling up from greenhouse resistance to fitness in the field for a host of an emerging forest disease.

ABSTRACT: Forest systems are increasingly threatened by emergent, exotic diseases, yet management strategies for forest trees may be hindered by long generation times and scant background knowledge. We tested whether nursery disease resistance and growth traits have predictive value for the conservation of Notholithocarpus densiflorus, the host most susceptible to sudden oak death. We established three experimental populations to assess nursery growth and resistance to Phytophthora ramorum, and correlations between nursery-derived breeding values with seedling survival in a field disease trial. Estimates of nursery traits' heritability were low to moderate, with lowest estimates for resistance traits. Within the field trial, survival likelihood was increased in larger seedlings and decreased with the development of disease symptoms. The seed-parent family wide likelihood of survival was likewise correlated with family predictors for size and resistance to disease in 2nd year laboratory assays, though not resistance in 1st year leaf assays. We identified traits and seedling families with increased survivorship in planted tanoaks, and a framework to further identify seed parents favored for restoration. The additive genetic variation and seedling disease dynamics we describe hold promise to refine current disease models and expand the understanding of evolutionary dynamics of emergent infectious diseases in highly susceptible hosts.

SUBMITTER: Hayden KJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3779097 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The intake of Cd-enriched food is the main Cd pathway for the nonsmoking population. In some cases, Cd bioaccumulates in edible plant parts which comprise risk to consumers, because of Cd is a harmful heavy metal that can cause potent environmental and health hazards. For instance, Cd enrichment of cacao seeds have led to Cd enrichment of cacao-based products. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Cd bioaccumulation in cacao seeds occurs in different regions with diverse edaphoclimatic conditions, which makes it difficult to select soil remediation alternatives. Limited resources require that potential amendments must be carefully investigated through laboratory and/or greenhouse conditions before scaling up to field experiments. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of four biochars: coffee-, quinoa-, and inoculated- and palm-biochar, derived from three feedstocks: coffee husk, quinoa straw, and oil palm residues, respectively. Biochars were applied in two rates (1 and 2% w/w) in two soils, one moderately acidic and one slightly alkaline (Cd-spiked and non-spiked). CCN-51 cacao plants were used for the greenhouse experiment. After 130 days, biometric parameters, the bioavailability of Cd in the soil, and the concentration of Cd and mineral nutrients in the plants were measured. Quinoa biochar at the 2% significantly decreased (P < 0.01), by ∼71%, bioavailable Cd in moderately acidic and slightly alkaline soils, and leaf-Cd by ∼48%. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, and effective cation exchange capacity were significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with bioavailable soil and leaf-Cd. Biochar characteristics, such as ash contents, basic cations content, and surface functional groups could be used as indicators for the selection of biochars to reduce Cd uptake by cacao. Additionally, application of quinoa derived biochar provided P and K, which could increase productivity to offset mitigation costs. Overall, incorporation of quinoa biochar at 2% rate is effective for lowering bioavailable Cd in different soil types which reduces leaf-Cd in cacao plants.

Project description:Background and aimsStereochemical variation is widely known to influence the bioactivity of compounds in the context of pharmacology and pesticide science, but our understanding of its importance in mediating plant-herbivore interactions is limited, particularly in field settings. Similarly, sesquiterpene lactones are a broadly distributed class of putative defensive compounds, but little is known about their activities in the field.MethodsNatural variation in sesquiterpene lactones of the common cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium (Asteraceae), was used in conjunction with a series of common garden experiments to examine relationships between stereochemical variation, herbivore damage and plant fitness.Key resultsThe stereochemistry of sesquiterpene lactone ring junctions helped to explain variation in plant herbivore resistance. Plants producing cis-fused sesquiterpene lactones experienced significantly higher damage than plants producing trans-fused sesquiterpene lactones. Experiments manipulating herbivore damage above and below ambient levels found that herbivore damage was negatively correlated with plant fitness. This pattern translated into significant fitness differences between chemotypes under ambient levels of herbivore attack, but not when attack was experimentally reduced via pesticide.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this work represents only the second study to examine sesquiterpene lactones as defensive compounds in the field, the first to document herbivore-mediated natural selection on sesquiterpene lactone variation and the first to investigate the ecological significance of the stereochemistry of the lactone ring junction. The results indicate that subtle differences in stereochemistry may be a major determinant of the protective role of secondary metabolites and thus of plant fitness. As stereochemical variation is widespread in many groups of secondary metabolites, these findings suggest the possibility of dynamic evolutionary histories within the Asteraceae and other plant families showing extensive stereochemical variation.

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Scaling up from greenhouse resistance to fitness in the field for a host of an emerging forest disease.

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