Eugène Poilane

Scleria is a pantropical genus of annual and perennial herbs and the sixth largest genus in the Cyperaceae family with around 261 species. In this study, we produced preliminary extinction risk assessments for the ~30% of Scleria species that do not yet have a global Red List assessment and followed the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE2) and Ecologically Distinct and Globally Endangered (EoDGE) protocols to identify evolutionary and ecologically unique Scleria species at greatest risk of extinction and hotspots of rare and endangered species. Our results indicate that 38 of the 78 Scleria species not yet included in the Red List, and 26% of species in the genus, are potentially threatened with extinction. The risk of extinction is not equally distributed across the phylogeny, and the Afrotropics and the Neotropics accumulate most threatened species. Eleven ecoregions mostly from four African (Madagascar, D.R. Congo, Zambia and Tanzania) and two South American (Brazil, Venezuela) countries accumulate almost half of Scleria species and stand out in terms of their sum of EDGE2 scores. Phylogenetic and functional distinctiveness metrics were largely uncorrelated, and the EcoDGE metric mostly points towards South American countries as reservoirs of ecologically distinctive and endangered species: Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Guyana and Dominican Republic. Recent methodological advances in the identification of species at-risk of extinction and the novel EDGE2 framework emerge as powerful tools to identify conservation priorities.

Prunus persica (peach), a well-known fruit species belonging to the family Rosaceae, has a long history of human consumption. Its hard and easily preserved fruitstones (endocarps) have often been found at archaeological sites in many parts of the world. However, there are several species within Prunus subg. Prunus sect. Persica with similar stone morphologies. In order to correctly identify the stones of P. persica and related taxa, we first sampled, described and analysed the stone morphological characteristics of all five species in sect. Persica , together with the related taxa P . armeniaca , P . mume and P . salicina . Then detailed fruitstone descriptions and measurements were made together with an illustrated key to the various species, to enable the identification of peaches at species level and to explore and understand the processes of domestication, cultivation and distribution of P. persica and its allies.

Past climate change is one of the important factors influencing primate speciation. Populations of various species could have risen or declined in response to these climatic fluctuations. Northeast India harbors a rich diversity of primates, where such fluctuations can be implicated. Recent advances in climate modeling as well as genomic data analysis has paved the way for understanding how species accumulate at a particular geographic region. We utilized these methods to explore the primate diversity in this unique region in relation to past climate change. To ascertain the population level changes, we inferred the demographic history of nine species of primates found in Northeast India and compared it with species distribution models of Pliocene and Pleistocene period. Through this study, we are able to provide a detailed picture of how past climatic changes have resulted in the present species diversity and this mixture of species have either originated in the region or have dispersed from mainland Southeast Asia. We observe that effective population size has decreased for all the species, but distributions are different for all the four genera: Macaca, Trachypithecus, Hoolock and Nycticebus. It also gives an idea about how each species is affected differently by climate change, and why it should be given emphasis in framing species‐wise conservation models for future climate change.

Without appropriate and ongoing management interventions, weeds will continue to economically and environmentally disadvantage agricultural and natural ecosystems. For these management strategies to have long‐term sustained success, they need to carefully consider the biological aspects of the targeted weed. These strategies will also need to consider potential adaptations evolved by the targeted weed in response to a range of selection pressures imposed by anthropogenetic factors, climate change, changing environmental conditions, and inappropriate or unsuccessful management regimes. One group of weeds that has been observed to readily adapt to a wide range of conditions and has shown considerable challenges in their management is invasive grasses. Adding to these challenges is that several invasive grasses have also developed resistance to a range of herbicide modes of action, which, to date, has been one of the most commonly used methods of control. To address these challenges, this review explores the biology and ecology of the globally invasive annuals Echinochloa crus‐galli (Barnyard grass) and Panicum capillare (Witchgrass), and the perennial Sorghum halepense (Johnson grass) to identify (i) the most suitable management options for their control and (ii) potential research gaps that may assist in the future management direction of these species. Based on the findings of this review, it is clear that an integrated management approach that targets different aspects of the plant's biology, in combination with early detection and treatment and ongoing surveillance, is necessary for the long‐term control of these species. Although a combination of methods appears promising, further investigation still is required to evaluate their efficiency and long‐term success in a changing environment, all of which are further discussed within this review.

Understanding the drivers of species richness patterns is a major goal of ecology and evolutionary biology, and the drivers vary across regions and taxa. Here, we assessed the influence of environmental factors and evolutionary history on the pattern of species richness in the genus Sorbus (110 species). We mapped the global species richness pattern of Sorbus at a spatial resolution of 200 × 200 km, using 10,652 specimen records. We used stepwise regression to assess the relationship between 23 environmental predictors and species richness and estimated the diversification rate of Sorbus based on chloroplast genome data. The effects of environmental factors were explained by adjusted R2, and evolutionary factors were inferred based on differences in diversification rates. We found that the species richness of Sorbus was highest in the Hengduan Mountains (HDM), which is probably the center of diversity. Among the selected environmental predictors, the integrated model including all environmental predictors had the largest explanatory power for species richness. The determinants of species richness show regional differences. On the global and continental scale, energy and water availability become the main driving factors. In contrast, climate seasonality is the primary factor in the HDM. The diversification rate results showed no significant differences between HDM and non-HDM, suggesting that evolutionary history may have limited impact on the pattern of Sorbus species richness. We conclude that environmental factors play an important role in shaping the global pattern of Sorbus species richness, while diversification rates have a lesser impact.

Salurnis marginella causes agricultural and forest damage in various Asian environments. However, considering the environmental adaptability of pests and the active international trade, it may invade other regions in the future. As the damage to local communities caused by pests becomes difficult to control after invasion, it is essential to establish measures to minimize losses through pre-emptive monitoring and identification of high-risk areas, which can be achieved through model-based predictions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential distribution of S. marginella by developing multiple species distribution modeling (SDM) algorithms. Specifically, we developed the CLIMEX model and three machine learning-based models (MaxEnt, random forest, and multi-layer perceptron), integrated them to conservatively assess pest occurrence under current and future climates, and overlaid the host distribution with climatically suitable areas of S. marginella to identify high-risk areas vulnerable to the spread and invasion of the pest. The developed model, demonstrating a true skill statistic >0.8, predicted the potential continuous distribution of the species across the southeastern United States, South America, and Central Africa. This distribution currently covers approximately 9.53% of the global land area; however, the model predicted this distribution would decrease to 6.85%. Possible areas of spread were identified in Asia and the southwestern United States, considering the host distribution. This study provides data for the proactive monitoring of pests by identifying areas where S. marginella can spread.

Cold tolerance strategies in plants vary from structural to biochemical permitting many plants to survive and grow on sites that experience freezing conditions intermittently. Although tree ferns occur predominantly across the tropics, they also occur in temperate zones and occasionally in areas that experience sub‐zero temperatures, and how these large ferns survive freezing conditions is unknown. Many temperate tree fern taxa are marcescent – retaining whorls of dead fronds encircling the upper trunk – or develop short or prostrate trunks, possibly to insulate against frost damage to their trunks and growing crowns. We asked the following questions: 1) do global growth patterns and traits of tree ferns respond to freezing conditions associated with latitude and elevation, 2) do growth patterns of tree ferns in New Zealand vary along a temperature‐related gradient, and 3) do marcescent tree fern skirts insulate the growing crown from sub‐zero temperatures? To establish what morphological adaptations permitted the Cyatheales to occur in biomes that experience intermittent sub‐zero temperatures and frost, we 1) reviewed the global distributions of these structural and morphological traits within the tree ferns (Cyatheales); 2) assessed the patterns of tree fern marcescence, and other traits potentially associated with cold tolerance (no trunk, prostrate, short‐trunked) of nine taxa of the Cyatheales along environmental gradients across New Zealand; and 3) conducted a field experiment to assess the thermal insulation properties of tree fern marcescent skirts. We identified significant trends among growth forms, marcescence, and environmental gradients consistent with our hypothesis that these are adaptations to tolerate cold. Our field experiments provide quantitative evidence that marcescent skirts have a strong insulating effect on tree fern trunks. The Cyatheales have evolved several strategies to protect the pith cores of their trunks from extreme cold temperatures in temperate forests allowing them to capture niche space in environments beyond the tropics.

The phased uplift of the Tibetan Plateau since the Cenozoic strongly changed the Asian topography and greatly impacted not only the regional but also the global climate. Being sensitive to past climate changes, fossil plants are proven pivotal bio-indicators that can infer the paleoclimate and paleoelevation of different Tibetan Plateau parts. However, the timing and mechanisms of the uplift in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau remain debated due to limited evidence from plant fossils and inconsistent results. In this investigation, Pueraria leaflet and pod fossils collected from the Miocene Upper Youshashan Formation of the Wulan Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, are reported. The leaflet fossils are assigned as a new species: Pueraria qinghaiensis Zhen-Dong Cao et San-Ping Xie sp. nov., while P. montana is recognized as its nearest living relative; the pod fossils are assigned as Pueraria sp. The leaflet margins of P. qinghaiensis and other fossils found in the same layer indicate that Pueraria from the Wulan Basin likely lived in open habitats and sprawled at the waterside. Moreover, the climate of the basin apparently was warm and humid in the Middle Miocene, and the elevation was about 723–2398 m based on the ecological niche of Pueraria. The occurrence of these new Pueraria fossils from the Wulan Basin supports the view that the elevation of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau did not attain its present elevation during the Middle Miocene. Subsequently, the plateau's uplift caused a series of environmental transformations, including increased elevation, reduced temperature and precipitation, and the intensification of Asian monsoons, which altogether led to the regional disappearance of the Pueraria population in the Wulan Basin.

Some plant lineages remain within the same biome over time (biome conservatism), whereas others seem to adapt more easily to new biomes. The c. 398 species (14 genera) of subfamily Cercidoideae (Leguminosae or Fabaceae) are found in many biomes around the world, particularly in the tropical regions of South America, Asia and Africa, and display a variety of growth forms (small trees, shrubs, lianas and herbaceous perennials). Species distribution maps derived from cleaned occurrence records were compiled and compared with existing biome maps and with the literature to assign species to biomes. Rainforest (144 species), succulent (44 species), savanna (36 species), and temperate (10 species) biomes were found to be important in describing the global distribution of Cercidoideae, with many species occurring in more than one biome. Two phylogenetically isolated species-poor temperate ( Cercis ) and succulent ( Adenolobus ) biome lineages are sister to two broadly distributed species-rich tropical clades. Ancestral state reconstructions on a time-calibrated phylogeny suggest biome shifts occurred throughout the evolutionary history of the subfamily, with shifts between the succulent and rainforest biomes, from the rainforest to savanna, from the succulent to savanna biome, and one early occurring shift into (or from) the temperate biome. Of the 26 inferred shifts in biome, three are closely associated with a shift from the ancestral tree/shrub growth form to a liana or herbaceous perennial habit. Only three of the 13 inferred transcontinental dispersal events are associated with biome shifts. Overall, we find that biome shifts tend to occur within the same continent and that dispersals to new continents tend to occur within the same biome, but that nonetheless the biome-conserved and biogeographically structured Cercidoideae have been able to adapt to different environments through time.

Herbarium specimens provide an important and central resource for biodiversity research. Making these records digitally available to end-users represents numerous challenges, in particular, transcribing metadata associated with specimen labels. In this study, we used the citizen science initiative ‘Les Herbonautes’ and the Récolnat network to transcribe specific data from all herbarium specimen labels stored at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris of the large tropical plant family Annonaceae. We compared this database with publicly available global biodiversity repository data and expert checklists. We investigated spatial and taxonomic advances in data availability at the global and country scales. A total of 20 738 specimens were transcribed over the course of more than two years contributing to and significantly extending the previously available specimen and species data for Annonaceae worldwide. We show that several regions, mainly in Africa and South East Asia not covered by online global datasets, are uniquely available in the P herbarium, probably linked to past history of the museum’s botanical exploration. While acknowledging the challenges faced during the transcription of historic specimens by citizen scientists, this study highlights the positive impact of adding records to global datasets both in space and time. This is illustrative for researchers, collection managers, policy makers as well as funders. These datasets will be valuable for numerous future studies in biodiversity research, including ecology, evolution, conservation and climate change science.