Wild caught ornamental fish: a perspective from the UK ornamental aquatic industry on the sustainability of aquatic organisms and livelihoods

The ornamental aquatic industry involves the global commercial trade of live aquatic organisms such as fish, invertebrates and plants. It comprises a range of businesses including collectors, breeders, exporters, importers and retailers. Together, these form a supply chain through which aquatic organisms pass from their point of origin to the end point e.g., domestic aquaria and ponds. On a worldwide basis, the legal and legitimate ornamental aquatic trade is subject to regulation and monitoring throughout the majority of its supply chain. Approximately 90% of ornamental freshwater fish species traded are captive-bred, but, due to their complex breeding cycles, 90–95% of ornamental marine fish species are wild-caught. The ornamental aquatic industry and consumers therefore have a responsibility to ensure that wild-caught species are sourced sustainably, legally and to good welfare standards. Such good practice should be considered a necessity for the longevity, not only of the ornamental aquatic industry, but of the livelihoods which depend on it and the future of ecosystems dependent on such communities.     

Ornamental fish: a potential source of pathogenic and multidrug-resistant motile Aeromonas spp.

Aeromonas spp. are ubiquitous bacteria that cause diseases in fish and other aquatic animals. They are the natural inhabitants of different aquatic environments, such as freshwater, brackishwater and marinewater. Extrinsic stressors, such as crowding, unhygienic handling, poor water quality, polluted feeding and inadequate nutrition, can predispose fish to Aeromonas infection. In ornamental fish, motile Aeromonas spp. are known as aetiological agents of motile aeromonad infections, which cause significant mortality in fish and economic loss in the ornamental fish industry. The existence of different virulence factors leads to the virulence potential of motile Aeromonas spp. There are several antimicrobials used to treat bacterial infections in ornamental fish. However, the extensive use of antimicrobials in the ornamental fish industry causes multidrug resistance. This article reviewed a multitude of virulence factors that are related to the ornamental fish-borne Aeromonas pathogenicity and the antimicrobial resistance determinants related to the multidrug resistance phenotypes of motile Aeromonas spp. in ornamental fish.     

基于花青素代谢培育蓝色花卉的研究进展

花色是植物吸引昆虫传播花粉的主要因素,对于植物在自然界的生存必不可少,也是观赏植物最重要的性状之一。在蓬勃发展的花卉产业中,色彩各异花卉的培育,可以弥补自然花色的匮乏,但是令人垂涎的蓝色花比较难培育。花色的多样性主要是由花青素及其衍生物的种类和含量等因素决定的,飞燕草色素的合成是形成蓝色花的关键因素,许多植物体内缺少合成飞燕草色素的结构基因。近年来,利用基因工程技术培育蓝色花的研究也时有报道。文中以常见的观赏植物为例,基于花青素代谢调控,从影响飞燕草色素合成的关键因素和不同分子改良途径培育蓝色花等几个方面对植物花朵呈色的机制进行了综述,并展示不同分子育种策略可能在其他领域的应用,为其他植物或经济作物的色泽改良如彩色棉蓝色纤维的培育等提供参考和技术支持。     

香港观赏植物资源及园林应用调查

采用实地调查和资料搜集的方法,对香港的公园和主要街道展开植物资源调查和编目,共记载香港观赏植物约70科260种,分析其观赏特性和园林应用,探讨观赏植物园林应用的不足之处,提出香港地区植物资源合理利用和保护的建议,为香港园林建设中的植物景观改良和建设提供参考。     

Genetic engineering and sustainable production of ornamentals: current status and future directions

Through the last decades, environmentally and health-friendly production methods and conscientious use of resources have become crucial for reaching the goal of a more sustainable plant production. Protection of the environment requires careful consumption of limited resources and reduction of chemicals applied during production of ornamental plants. Numerous chemicals used in modern plant production have negative impacts on human health and are hazardous to the environment. In Europe, several compounds have lost their approval and further legal restrictions can be expected. This review presents the more recent progress of genetic engineering in ornamental breeding, delivers an overview of the biological background of the used technologies and critically evaluates the usefulness of the strategies to obtain improved ornamental plants. First, genetic engineering is addressed as alternative to growth retardants, comprising recombinant DNA approaches targeting relevant hormone pathways, e.g. the gibberellic acid (GA) pathway. A reduced content of active GAs causes compact growth and can be facilitated by either decreased anabolism, increased catabolism or altered perception. Moreover, compactness can be accomplished by using a natural transformation approach without recombinant DNA technology. Secondly, metabolic engineering approaches targeting elements of the ethylene signal transduction pathway are summarized as a possible alternative to avoid the use of chemical ethylene inhibitors. In conclusion, molecular breeding approaches are dealt with in a way allowing a critical biological assessment and enabling the scientific community and public to put genetic engineering of ornamental plants into a perspective regarding their usefulness in plant breeding.     

广州地区夏季观赏植物资源及园林应用调查研究

为了解广州地区夏季观赏植物资源及园林应用情况,采用实地调查和资料收集的方法,开展了广州地区公园、园林苗圃、高校、城市街道、城市绿地和华南植物园等夏季观赏植物资源的调查和编目,记载了广州地区夏季观赏植物约81科289种,分析和讨论了观赏特性及园林应用,提出了广州地区夏季观赏植物资源合理开发与保护的建议和意见,为更好地发掘广州夏季观赏植物资源和促进夏季观赏植物的园林建设提供依据。     

Stress and welfare in ornamental fishes: what can be learned from aquaculture?

The ornamental fish trade is estimated to handle up to 1·5 billion fishes. Transportation and handling of fishes imposes a range of stressors that can result in mortality at rates of up to 73%. These rates vary hugely, however, and can be as low as 2%, because they are generally estimated rather than based on experimental work. Given the numbers of ornamental fishes traded, any of the estimated mortality rates potentially incur significant financial losses and serious welfare issues. Industry bodies, such as the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA), have established standards and codes of best practice for handling fishes, but little scientific research has been conducted to understand the links between stress, health and welfare in ornamental species. In aquaculture, many of the same stressors occur as those in the ornamental trade, including poor water quality, handling, transportation, confinement, poor social and physical environment and disease and in this sector directed research and some resulting interventions have resulted in improved welfare standards. This review considers the concept of welfare in fishes and evaluates reported rates of mortality in the ornamental trade. It assesses how the stress response can be quantified and used as a welfare indicator in fishes. It then analyses whether lessons from aquaculture can be usefully applied to the ornamental fish industry to improve welfare. Finally, this analysis is used to suggest how future research might be directed to help improve welfare in the ornamental trade.     

月季的组织培养和基因转化研究进展

分子生物学技术在花卉产业中展示了巨大的、潜在的应用前景。月季是世界性的重要观赏花卉 ,其生物技术研究一直是国际的热点。综述了多年来月季的组织培养和基因转化的研究进展     

广东榕属观赏植物资源及其开发利用

本文报道广东省榕属植物概况,介绍30种观赏价值较高的榕属植物的分布、观赏特性及园林用途,并提出保护和开发利用建议。     

Tissue culture of ornamental pot plant: a critical review on present scenario and future prospects

Recent modern techniques of propagation have been developed which could help growers to meet the demand of the horticultural industry in the next century. An overview on the in vitro propagation via thin cell layer, meristem culture, regeneration via organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis is presented. Available methods for the transfer of genes could significantly simplify the breeding procedures and overcome some of the agronomic and environmental problems, which other wise would not be achievable through conventional propagation methods. The development and remarkable achievements with biotechnology in ornamental pot plants made during the three decades have been reviewed. The usefulness of the pot plants in commercial industry as well as propagation techniques, screening for various useful characteristics and selection of somaclonal variation is also discussed.     

福建梅花山观赏蕨类植物资源及其开发利用

对闽西梅花山国家级自然保护区的观赏蕨类植物资源进行调查,发现具有观赏价值的野生蕨类植物29科48属68种。对该区各种观赏蕨按观赏用途分为园林绿化、盆景配置、切花配叶和盆栽观赏等4个别类,并对其种类组成、垂直分布、水平分布与生态分布、优势资源以及利用途径进行分析,同时提出开发利用建议。     

ABC转运蛋白在植物花器官生长发育中的研究进展

ABC转运蛋白(ATP binding cassette transporter) 是目前发现的最大的蛋白家族之一,其广泛存在于真核生物与原核生物之中,近年来在植物研究领域正受到越来越多的关注。ABC转运蛋白的转运底物种类较为多样,该家族成员几乎作用于植物生长发育的各个阶段,并对植物花器官产生较大的影响。该文对ABC转运蛋白的基本特征及亚家族分类情况进行了总结,重点对近年来国内外有关ABC转运蛋白家族在植物花药和花序轴等花器官生长发育,以及花瓣形态、花色、花香等观赏性状方面的调控功能等方面的研究进展进行了综述,并对ABC转运蛋白在改良植物花色、花香等观赏性状方面的应用潜力进行展望,以期为植物观赏性状的改良提供一定的参考。     

三角梅属植物的生物学研究进展

三角梅属(Bougainvil lea)属于紫茉莉科(Nyctaginaceae), 有14个种。该文综述了三角梅属植物的生物学特性, 展望了该属植物在增进人类健康、丰富精神生活以及保护环境等方面的应用前景。三角梅属植物因其苞片的形态色彩以及植株形态的变化而具有独特的观赏价值。三角梅属植物不仅作为花卉备受关注, 近年来, 有关三角梅其它应用价值的研究使人们对其有了新的认识。从三角梅叶片中分离得到具有类胰岛素功能的松醇(D-pini tol )对替代胰岛素治疗糖尿病以及减轻胰岛素疗法带来的副作用具有重要意义。研究还表明, 三角梅叶片和根中至少含有2种抗病毒蛋白——BAPI和 Bouganin, 它们对于多种植物病毒具有不同程度的抑制作用。这些研究结果对于开发低毒高效的生物农药具有十分积极的意义。三角梅还是研究甜菜色素代谢的重要模式植物之一, 其甜菜色素的种类和含量之丰富为开发安全的天然食用色素开辟了广阔的前景。这些相关研究展示了三角梅作为资源植物的多元价值, 为进一步开发三角梅的观赏、医药、生物农药价值和作为天然食用色素以及发挥环境修复作用提供了充分的科学依据。     

Antibiotic-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from diseased freshwater goldfish

Archives of Microbiology - Goldfish farming gained more attention among the ornamental fishes in aquaculture industry. The occurrence of bacterial infections and further antimicrobial treatment...     

Microbial diversity and potential pathogens in ornamental fish aquarium water

Ornamental fishes are among the most popular and fastest growing categories of pets in the United States (U.S.). The global scope and scale of the ornamental fish trade and growing popularity of pet fish in the U.S. are strong indicators of the myriad economic and social benefits the pet industry provides. Relatively little is known about the microbial communities associated with these ornamental fishes or the aquarium water in which they are transported and housed. Using conventional molecular approaches and next generation high-throughput amplicon sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA gene hypervariable regions, we characterized the bacterial community of aquarium water containing common goldfish (Carassius auratus) and Chinese algae eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) purchased from seven pet/aquarium shops in Rhode Island and identified the presence of potential pathogens. Our survey identified a total of 30 phyla, the most common being Proteobacteria (52%), Bacteroidetes (18%) and Planctomycetes (6%), with the top four phyla representing >80% of all sequences. Sequences from our water samples were most closely related to eleven bacterial species that have the potential to cause disease in fishes, humans and other species: Coxiella burnetii, Flavobacterium columnare, Legionella birminghamensis, L. pneumophila, Vibrio cholerae, V. mimicus. V. vulnificus, Aeromonas schubertii, A. veronii, A. hydrophila and Plesiomonas shigelloides. Our results, combined with evidence from the literature, suggest aquarium tank water harboring ornamental fish are an understudied source for novel microbial communities and pathogens that pose potential risks to the pet industry, fishes in trade, humans and other species.     

三角梅属植物的生物学研究进展

三角梅属（Bougainvillea）属于紫茉莉科（Nyctaginaceae）,有14个种。该文综述了三角梅属植物的生物学特性,展望了该属植物在增进人类健康、丰富精神生活以及保护环境等方面的应用前景。三角梅属植物因其苞片的形态色彩以及植株形态的变化而具有独特的观赏价值。三角梅属植物不仅作为花卉备受关注,近年来,有关三角梅其它应用价值的研究使人们对其有了新的认识。从三角梅叶片中分离得到具有类胰岛素功能的松醇（D-pinitol）对替代胰岛素治疗糖尿病以及减轻胰岛素疗法带来的副作用具有重要意义。研究还表明,三角梅叶片和根中至少含有2种抗病毒蛋白——BAPI和Bouganin,它们对于多种植物病毒具有不同程度的抑制作用。这些研究结果对于开发低毒高效的生物农药具有十分积极的意义。三角梅还是研究甜菜色素代谢的重要模式植物之一,其甜菜色素的种类和含量之丰富为开发安全的天然食用色素开辟了广阔的前景。这些相关研究展示了三角梅作为资源植物的多元价值,为进一步开发三角梅的观赏、医药、生物农药价值和作为天然食用色素以及发挥环境修复作用提供了充分的科学依据。     

Genetic modification; the development of transgenic ornamental plant varieties

Plant transformation technology (hereafter abbreviated to GM, or genetic modification) has been used to develop many varieties of crop plants, but only a few varieties of ornamental plants. This disparity in the rate and extent of commercialisation, which has been noted for more than a decade, is not because there are no useful traits that can be engineered into ornamentals, is not due to market potential and is not due to a lack of research and development activity. The GM ornamental varieties which have been released commercially have been accepted in the marketplace. In this article, progress in the development of transgenic ornamentals is reviewed and traits useful to both consumers and producers are identified. In considering possible factors limiting the release of genetically modified ornamental products it is concluded that the most significant barrier to market is the difficulty of managing, and the high cost of obtaining, regulatory approval.     

Protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) of Dendrobium Sabin Blue: a novel source for in vitro production of dendrobine and anthocyanin

In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant - Dendrobium hybrids have been cultivated as commercially important ornamental plants in the floriculture industry. However, the potential of...     

The importance of the marine ornamental reef fish trade in the wider Caribbean

The marine ornamental fish trade began in the 1930s in Sri Lanka, spread to Hawaii and the Philippines in the 1950s, and expanded to a multi-million dollar industry in the 1970s with fisheries established throughout the tropical Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Currently, 45 countries supply global markets an estimated 14-30 million fish annually, with an import value of US$28-44 million. The largest suppliers are Indonesia and the Philippines, followed by Brazil, Maldives, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Hawaii. In the tropical Western Atlantic, 16 countries have export fisheries, including the U.S. (Florida and Puerto Rico). The U.S. is the world's largest buyer, followed by the European Union and Japan. The global trade consists of over 1400 species of reef fishes, of which only about 25 are captive bred on a commercial scale. Damselfish, anemonefish, and angelfish constitute over 50% of the global volume; butterflyfish, wrasses, blennies, gobies, triggerfish, filcfish, hawkfishes, groupers and basselets account for 31% of the trade, and the remaining 16% is represented by 33 families. The most important fishes from the Caribbean are angelfish (six species), seahorses (two species), royal gramma, jawfish, queen triggerfish, redlip blenny, puddingwife, bluehead wrasse, and blue chromis. The Caribbean currently supplies a small percentage of the global trade in marine ornamental species, but ornamental fisheries in this region represent important emerging industries. It is critical that effective ornamental fishery management plans and regulations are developed and enforced, and fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data are collected and utilized in decision making processes to ensure sustainable ornamental fisheries throughout the region.     

蓝盆花研究进展

蓝盆花Scabiosa comosa作为重要的野生花卉和传统的蒙药材,具有较高的观赏和药用价值,对其研究主要集中在药理学和生理学两方面,关于其他研究的报道较少。文中从生物学特性、药理学、生理学、繁殖技术、胚胎学及细胞学等方面进行综述,为其进一步研究和开发利用提供参考。