A Global Review of Ligustrum Lucidum (OLEACEAE) Invasion.

Ligustrum lucidum is a highly invasive East Asian tree that successfully colonizes several subtropical and temperate areas around the world. Its invasion capacity results from a widespread human use mostly in urban and periurban settings, very abundant fruit and seed production, small bird-dispersed fruits, high germination rates, resprouting capacity, fast growth rates, low herbivory levels and tolerance to a wide range of light, temperature and soil. All these traits contribute to its ability to rapidly increase in abundance, alter biodiversity, landscape ecology and limit its management. This paper reviews the current knowledge on L. lucidum with particular focus on its uses, distribution, invasiveness, ecological and economic impacts and control measures. Most relevant aspect of the review highlight the negative ecological impacts of L. lucidum, its potential to continue expanding its range of distribution and the need of further studies on the eco-physiology of the species, economic impact and social perception of its invasion and early warning systems.

Elevation and latitude drives structure and tree species composition in Andean forests: Results from a large-scale plot network.

Our knowledge about the structure and function of Andean forests at regional scales remains limited. Current initiatives to study forests over continental or global scales still have important geographical gaps, particularly in regions such as the tropical and subtropical Andes. In this study, we assessed patterns of structure and tree species diversity along ~ 4000 km of latitude and ~ 4000 m of elevation range in Andean forests. We used the Andean Forest Network (Red de Bosques Andinos, https://redbosques.condesan.org/) database which, at present, includes 491 forest plots (totaling 156.3 ha, ranging from 0.01 to 6 ha) representing a total of 86,964 identified tree stems ≥ 10 cm diameter at breast height belonging to 2341 identified species, 584 genera and 133 botanical families. Tree stem density and basal area increases with elevation while species richness decreases. Stem density and species richness both decrease with latitude. Subtropical forests have distinct tree species composition compared to those in the tropical region. In addition, floristic similarity of subtropical plots is between 13 to 16% while similarity between tropical forest plots is between 3% to 9%. Overall, plots ~ 0.5-ha or larger may be preferred for describing patterns at regional scales in order to avoid plot size effects. We highlight the need to promote collaboration and capacity building among researchers in the Andean region (i.e., South-South cooperation) in order to generate and synthesize information at regional scale.

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest.

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events.

Plantas medicinales utilizadas por la comunidad indígena de Quilmes (Tucumán, Argentina) / Medicinal plants used by the indigenous community of Quilmes (Tucumán, Argentina)

We report an investigation about plants with therapeutical uses in indigenous communities of Quilmes, northwestern Argentina. We identified 84 species with medicinal uses, 64.3 percent of which were native. Curation usually takes place inside the domestic units, and plants are collected in their own orchards and gardens or in the circundant scrublands. These plants are employed for the curation of diverse diseases and symptons, and are prepared and administered in numerous ways, being common to recur to local curers. We observed continuity and similarity with species uses of other creole communities in northwestern argentina and the whole country.

Se presenta una investigación sobre las plantas empleadas en la terapéutica popular en poblaciones pertenecientes a la comunidad indígena de Quilmes, ubicada en el noroeste de la provincia de Tucumán, Argentina. Se identificaron 84 especies vegetales usadas como medicinales, de las cuales un 64.3 por ciento son nativas. La curación se realiza generalmente dentro de la unidad doméstica y con plantas que crecen en la vegetación que la rodea, llamada “monte”, algunas se obtienen en sus huertas y jardines, y en ocasiones se recurre a curanderos o a médicos campesinos. Las plantas son empleadas en la curación de enfermedades y síntomas variados, en diversas formas de preparación y administración. Se observó continuidad y similitud en el uso de las especies con el de otras comunidades criollas del Noroeste argentino y del país.

A novel density functional study of the ground state properties of a localized trinuclear copper(II,II,III) mixed-valence system.

Herein we report the analysis of a mixed-valence localized trinuclear copper(II,II,III) cluster by density functional theory. We focused on two peculiar aspects of this system. First we investigated the triplet ground state potential energy surface on a model system. To this end we computed, on the [E multiply sign in circle e] adiabatic potential energy surface, the potential energy profile along the e mode and constructed ab initio the full potential energy surface (the so called Mexican hat), by a fitting procedure. Next, we analyzed the magnetooptical properties of the minimum energy structures. In particular, we applied the single determinant method to compute the full manifold of states arising from the highest occupied molecular orbitals (magnetic orbitals). This procedure yielded results in agreement with previous calculations and with the available experimental data when using a model closer to the X-ray structure or when directly dealing with the complete structure of the system.