Two Bee-Pollinated Plant Species Show Higher Seed Production when Grown in Gardens Compared to Arable Farmland

Background

Insect pollinator abundance, in particular that of bees, has been shown to be high where there is a super-abundance of floral resources; for example in association with mass-flowering crops and also in gardens where flowering plants are often densely planted. Since land management affects pollinator numbers, it is also likely to affect the resultant pollination of plants growing in these habitats. We hypothesised that the seed or fruit set of two plant species, typically pollinated by bumblebees and/or honeybees might respond in one of two ways: 1) pollination success could be reduced when growing in a floriferous environment, via competition for pollinators, or 2) pollination success could be enhanced because of increased pollinator abundance in the vicinity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We compared the pollination success of experimental plants of Glechoma hederacea L. and Lotus corniculatus L. growing in gardens and arable farmland. On the farms, the plants were placed either next to a mass-flowering crop (oilseed rape, Brassica napus L. or field beans, Vicia faba L.) or next to a cereal crop (wheat, Triticum spp.). Seed set of G. hederacea and fruit set of L. corniculatus were significantly higher in gardens compared to arable farmland. There was no significant difference in pollination success of G. hederacea when grown next to different crops, but for L. corniculatus, fruit set was higher in the plants growing next to oilseed rape when the crop was in flower.

Conclusions/Significance

The results show that pollination services can limit fruit set of wild plants in arable farmland, but there is some evidence that the presence of a flowering crop can facilitate their pollination (depending on species and season). We have also demonstrated that gardens are not only beneficial to pollinators, but also to the process of pollination.     

High Prevalence,Coinfection Rate,and Genetic Diversity of Retroviruses in Wild Red Colobus Monkeys (Piliocolobus badius badius) in Ta? National Park,C?te d'Ivoire

Simian retroviruses are precursors of all human retroviral pathogens. However, little is known about the prevalence and coinfection rates or the genetic diversity of major retroviruses—simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), simian T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (STLV-1), and simian foamy virus (SFV)—in wild populations of nonhuman primates. Such information would contribute to the understanding of the natural history of retroviruses in various host species. Here, we estimate these parameters for wild West African red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus badius badius) in the Taï National Park, Côte d''Ivoire. We collected samples from a total of 54 red colobus monkeys; samples consisted of blood and/or internal organs from 22 monkeys and additionally muscle and other tissue samples from another 32 monkeys. PCR analyses revealed a high prevalence of SIV, STLV-1, and SFV in this population, with rates of 82%, 50%, and 86%, respectively. Forty-five percent of the monkeys were coinfected with all three viruses while another 32% were coinfected with SIV in combination with either STLV or SFV. As expected, phylogenetic analyses showed a host-specific pattern for SIV and SFV strains. In contrast, STLV-1 strains appeared to be distributed in genetically distinct and distant clades, which are unique to the Taï forest and include strains previously described from wild chimpanzees in the same area. The high prevalence of all three retroviral infections in P. b. badius represents a source of infection to chimpanzees and possibly to humans, who hunt them.Lentiviruses and deltaretroviruses that infect African nonhuman primates have received considerable attention as they are the precursors of all pathogenic human retroviruses: human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1/HIV-2) and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). These human infections are the results of past zoonotic transfers of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and simian T-cell lymphotropic viruses type 1 (STLV-1) from wild monkeys and apes into local human populations, presumably through primate hunting and handling of primate bushmeat (13, 19, 43, 46, 55, 58, 59). Via the same route, zoonotic transmission of simian foamy virus (SFV), a spumaretrovirus whose exact pathogenicity in human hosts is still unknown, has also been shown (64). The increasing contact between humans and wild primates implies that further zoonotic transmission of retroviruses is likely to happen (42, 63). Studying the occurrence and circulation of simian retroviruses such as SIV, STLV-1, and SFV in wild primate populations enables us to better understand retrovirus evolution in primates and also provides tools for monitoring possible future retroviral zoonotic events.Systematic studies of SIV, STLV-1, and SFV in wild primates are relatively rare. Many use bushmeat samples, which can vary in their quality and are prone to cross-contamination from butchering and storage with other carcasses. Confiscated primates are also not representative of the situation in the wild since the animals are caught at a young age when the occurrence of different retroviruses may be extremely low (24). The technical possibilities for the detection of various pathogens in noninvasive samples such as urine and feces have greatly improved and are frequently used; however, in general, the sensitivity of detection methods is higher when blood and tissue samples are used (25, 32, 47). Such samples can be collected if fresh carcasses are found, or they can be collected by anesthetizing live primates for sampling purpose, animal translocation, or medical intervention, such as snare removal. The practical and ethical issues of each of the sampling methods have been discussed elsewhere (12, 14).Red colobus monkeys [Procolobus (Piliocolobus)] are interesting subjects for retroviral infection studies for a number of reasons. First, they are widely distributed (yet in a fragmented manner) from East to West Africa, which suggests that red colobus species and subspecies, or more likely ancestor(s) of these, could have been key hosts in transmitting retroviruses across tropical Africa (4, 54). Second, as they are herbivore primates, the hunting of other primates can be excluded as a route of infection. Finally, these monkeys are frequently hunted by humans and chimpanzees and represent a possibly large reservoir for retroviruses and other pathogens that ought to be investigated further (2, 45).Very little information is available about the prevalence and coinfection of SIV, STLV-1, and SFV in wild red colobus monkeys across Africa. In other colobine monkeys only SIV has been documented: in olive colobus (Procolobus verus) in Côte d''Ivoire and in black and white colobus (Colobus guereza) in Cameroon (7, 8). Based on fecal samples from habituated adult individuals, the prevalence of SIV in West African red colobus monkeys (SIVwrc; local subspecies, Piliocolobus badius badius) has been estimated to a minimum of 26% in the Taï National Park, Côte d''Ivoire, but the authors recognized the low sensitivity of viral RNA detection in fecal samples (34). Another study conducted on the same population revealed that 5 out of 10 blood samples were SIV positive (7). These results highlight that the most reliable prevalence data are based on analyses of blood/tissue samples although such sampling is not always feasible for reasons discussed above. Published prevalence information concerning STLV-1 and SFV in wild red colobus monkeys (STLV-1wrc and SFVwrc) in the same area is restricted to results obtained from analyses of a limited number of blood and necropsy samples collected as a part of studies whose focus was on cross-species transmission of these two viruses to chimpanzees (27, 28). However, these samples indicated a high prevalence of STLV-1wrc and SFVwrc in the red colobus monkey population (56% and 90%, respectively). A recent study from Uganda, East Africa, estimated the prevalence of SIV, STLV-1, and SFV in another red colobus species (Piliocolobus rufomitratus tephrosceles) to be 22.6%, 6.4%, and 97%, respectively (15). The study was performed using blood samples collected from anesthetized wild red colobus monkeys living in their natural habitat, which allowed reliable assessment of the prevalence and genetic diversity of these three retroviruses.The preliminary data from the Taï National Park indicate that there might be great variation in the prevalence of retroviruses across the African continent, even in closely related species of wild primates. Here, we aimed at generating reliable prevalence and coinfection data for SIVwrc, STLV-1wrc, and SFVwrc based on the analysis of blood and tissue samples from wild Western red colobus monkeys. We expected that this would allow for proper comparison of retroviral prevalence in the allied species P. b. badius and P. r. tephrosceles.