Species richness of herbivores on exotic host plants increases with time since introduction of the host

Aim Species richness of insect herbivores feeding on exotic plants increases with abundance as well as range size of the host in the area of introduction. The formation of these herbivore assemblages requires a certain amount of time, and the richness of insect faunas should also increase with the length of time an exotic plant has been present in the introduced range. Location Central Europe. Methods We analysed the variation in species richness of leaf‐chewing Lepidoptera larvae and sap‐sucking Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) associated with 103 exotic woody plant species in Germany in relation to time since introduction, range size, growth form (trees versus shrubs), biogeographical origin (distance from Central Europe) and taxonomic isolation of the host plant (presence or absence of a native congener in the introduced area). Results Using simple correlation analyses we found for Lepidoptera and Auchenorrhyncha that species richness increased with time since introduction of the host plant. For the Lepidoptera the increase of species richness with time since introduction remained significant even after removing the effects of all other independent variables. Main conclusions Our results provide some evidence that assemblages of insects on exotic plants do not reach saturation within a time scale of few hundred years. This contrasts with previous findings for crop plants.     

Imaging effector functions of human cytotoxic CD4+ T cells specific for Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein

Malaria vaccines, comprised of irradiated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites or a synthetic peptide containing T and B cell epitopes of the circumsporozoite protein (CSP), elicit multifunctional cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic CD4⁺ T cells in immunised volunteers. Both lytic and non-lytic CD4⁺T cell clones recognised a series of overlapping epitopes within a ‘universal’ T cell epitope EYLNKIQNSLSTEWSPCSVT of CSP (NF54 isolate) that was presented in the context of multiple DR molecules. Lytic activity directly correlated with T cell receptor (TCR) functional avidity as measured by stimulation indices and recognition of naturally occurring variant peptides. CD4⁺ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity was contact-dependent and did not require de novo synthesis of cytotoxic mediators, suggesting a granule-mediated mechanism. Live cell imaging of the interaction of effector and target cells demonstrated that CD4⁺ cytotoxic T cells recognise target cells with their leading edge, reorient their cytotoxic granules towards the zone of contact, and form a stable immunological synapse. CTL attacks induced chromatin condensation, nuclear fragmentation and formation of apoptotic bodies in target cells. Together, these findings suggest that CD4⁺ CTLs trigger target cell apoptosis via classical perforin/granzyme-mediated cytotoxicity, similar to CD8⁺ CTLs, and these multifunctional sporozoite- and peptide-induced CD4⁺ T cells have the potential to play a direct role as effector cells in targeting the exoerythrocytic forms within the liver.     

How species traits and affinity to urban land use control large-scale species frequency

Aim Although urban areas only occupy c. 2.8% of the earth's land surface, urbanization threatens biodiversity as areas of high human population density often coincide with high biodiversity. Therefore, nature conservation should concentrate on both remote areas and densely populated regions. Protecting rare plant species in rural and urban areas can contribute to the protection of biodiversity. We therefore need to understand why species are rare. Studies on causes of rarity often concentrate on either plant traits or extrinsic threats (such as habitat fragmentation or nitrogen enrichment). However, there are only a few studies that combine traits and extrinsic threats, although such analyses might clarify causes of rarity. We assessed how the affinity of vascular plant species to urban land use (‘urbanity’) interacts with plant traits in determining species frequency. Location Germany, resolution c. 12 km × 11 km. Methods Species with a low frequency may be rare because they occur in rare habitats or because of other reasons, although their habitat is frequent. Therefore, we calculated the frequency of species corrected for habitat frequency, i.e. relative species frequency. We explained relative species frequency by the interactions of species traits and species affinity to urban land use using generalized linear models. Simultaneous autoregressive error models controlled for phylogenetic relationships of species. Results Relative species frequency depends on species affinity to urban land use, independent of the different interactions between traits and urbanity used as predictors. The higher the urbanity the higher is species frequency. Urbanity interacts with species preferences towards temperature and soil acidity. Moreover, dispersal, nitrogen preferences and origin explain relative species frequency, amongst others. Main conclusions Many rare species, especially those preferring cool or acidic habitats might already have disappeared from urban areas. Analyses that combine species traits and environmental effects can explain the causes of rarity and help to derive better conservation strategies.     

The Iberian Peninsula as a potential source for the plant species pool in Germany under projected climate change

The application of niche-based modelling techniques to plant species has not been explored for the majority of taxa in Europe, primarily due to the lack of adequate distributional data. However, it is of crucial importance for conservation adaptation decisions to assess and quantify the likely pool of species capable of colonising a particular region under altered future climate conditions. We here present a novel method that combines the species pool concept and information about shifts in analogous multidimensional climate space. This allows us to identify regions in Europe with a current climate which is similar to that projected for future time periods in Germany. We compared the extent and spatial location of climatically analogous European regions for three projected greenhouse gas emission scenarios in Germany for the time period 2071–2080 (+2.4°C, +3.3°C, +4.5°C average increase in mean annual temperature) to those of the recent past in Europe (1961–90). Across all three scenarios, European land areas which are characterised by climatic conditions analogue to those found in Germany decreased from 14% in 1961–1990 to ca. 10% in 2071–2080. All scenarios show disappearing current climate types in Germany, which can mainly be explained with a general northwards shift of climatically analogous regions. We estimated the size of the potential species pool of these analogous regions using floristic inventory data for the Iberian Peninsula as 2,354 plant species. The identified species pool in Germany indicates a change towards warmth and drought adapted southern species. About one-third of the species from the Iberian analogous regions are currently already present in Germany. Depending on the scenario used, 1,372 (+2.4°C average change of mean annual temperature), 1,399 (+3.3°C) and 1,444 (+4.5°C) species currently not found in Germany, occur in Iberian regions which are climatically analogous to German 2071–80 climate types. We believe that our study presents a useful approach to illustrate and quantify the potential size and spatial distribution of a pool of species potentially colonising new areas under changing climatic conditions.     

The application of a 3D-QSAR (autoMEP/PLS) approach as an efficient pharmacodynamic-driven filtering method for small-sized virtual library: application to a lead optimization of a human A3 adenosine receptor antagonist

We have recently reported that the combination of molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) surface properties (autocorrelation vectors) with the conventional partial least squares (PLS) analysis can be used to produce a robust ligand-based 3D structure-activity relationship (autoMEP/PLS) for the prediction of the human A3 receptor antagonist activities. Here, we present the application of the 3D-QSAR (autoMEP/PLS) approach as an efficient and alternative pharmacodynamic filtering method for small-sized virtual library. For this purpose, a small-sized combinatorial library (841 compounds) was derived from the scaffold of the known human A3 antagonist pyrazolo-triazolo-pyrimidines. The most interesting analogues were further prioritized for synthesis and pharmacological characterization. Remarkably, we have found that all the newly synthetized compounds are correctly predicted as potent human A3 antagonists. In particular, two of them are correctly predicted as sub-nanomolar inhibitors of the human A3 receptor.