Supplementation of Acacia dealbata versus Acacia mearnsii leaf-meal has potential to maintain growth performance of lambs grazing low-quality communal rangelands in South Africa.

Supplementing livestock grazing communal rangelands with leaf-meals from Acacia trees, which are currently considered as problematic invasive alien plants globally, may be a sustainable way of exploiting their desirable nutritional and anthelmintic properties. The current study evaluated worm burdens and growth performance of lambs grazing low-quality communal rangelands supplemented with leaf-meals prepared from the invasive alien plant species; Acacia mearnsii or A. dealbata. Forty, three-month-old ewe lambs weighing an average of 18.9 ± 0.60 kg were randomly allocated to four supplementary diets: (1) rangeland hay only (control), (2) commercial protein supplement plus rangeland hay, (3) A. mearnsii leaf-meal plus rangeland hay and (4) A. dealbata leaf-meal plus rangeland hay. All the supplementary diets were formulated to meet the lambs' minimum maintenance requirements for protein. All the lambs were grazed on communal rangelands daily from 0800 to 1400 after which they were penned to allow them access to their respective supplementary diets until 08:00 the following morning. The respective supplementary diets were offered at the rate of 400 g ewe- 1 day- 1 for 60 days. Lambs fed the commercial protein supplement had the highest dry matter intake followed by those fed the Acacia leaf-meals and the control diet, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). Relative to the other supplementary diets, lambs fed the commercial protein supplement and A. dealbata leaf-meal had higher (P ≤ 0.05) final body weight and average daily gains. Dietary supplementation did not affect lamb faecal worm egg counts over the study period (P > 0.05). There was no association between supplementary diets and lamb FAMACHA© scores (P > 0.05). It was concluded that supplementation of Acacia dealbata versus Acacia mearnsii has the potential to emulate commercial protein in maintaining growth performance of lambs grazing communal rangelands in the dry season.

Fire and herbivory drive fungal and bacterial communities through distinct above- and belowground mechanisms.

Fire and herbivory are important natural disturbances in grassy biomes. Both drivers are likely to influence belowground microbial communities but no studies have unravelled the long-term impact of both fire and herbivory on bacterial and fungal communities. We hypothesized that soil bacterial communities change through disturbance-induced shifts in soil properties (e.g. pH, nutrients) while soil fungal communities change through vegetation modification (biomass and species composition). To test these ideas, we characterised soil physico-chemical properties (pH, acidity, C, N, P and exchangeable cations content, texture, bulk density, moisture), plant species richness and biomass, microbial biomass and bacterial and fungal community composition and diversity (using 16S and ITS rRNA amplicon sequencing, respectively) in six long-term (18 to 70 years) ecological research sites in South African savanna and grassland ecosystems. We found that fire and herbivory regimes profoundly modified soil physico-chemical properties, plant species richness and standing biomass. In all sites, an increase in woody biomass (ranging from 12 to 50%) was observed when natural disturbances were excluded. The intensity and direction of changes in soil properties were highly dependent on the topo-pedo-climatic context. Overall, fire and herbivory shaped bacterial and fungal communities through distinct driving forces: edaphic properties (including Mg, pH, Ca) for bacteria, and vegetation (herbaceous biomass and woody cover) for fungi. Fire and herbivory explained on average 7.5 and 9.8% of the fungal community variability, respectively, compared to 6.0 and 5.6% for bacteria. The relatively small changes in microbial communities due to natural disturbance is in stark contrast to dramatic vegetation and edaphic changes and suggests that soil microbial communities, having evolved with disturbance, are resistant to change. This represents both a buffer to short-term anthropogenic-induced changes and a restoration challenge in the face of long-term changes.

Drivers of woody plant encroachment over Africa.

While global deforestation induced by human land use has been quantified, the drivers and extent of simultaneous woody plant encroachment (WPE) into open areas are only regionally known. WPE has important consequences for ecosystem functioning, global carbon balances and human economies. Here we report, using high-resolution satellite imagery, that woody vegetation cover over sub-Saharan Africa increased by 8% over the past three decades and that a diversity of drivers, other than CO2, were able to explain 78% of the spatial variation in this trend. A decline in burned area along with warmer, wetter climates drove WPE, although this has been mitigated in areas with high population growth rates, and high and low extremes of herbivory, specifically browsers. These results confirm global greening trends, thereby bringing into question widely held theories about declining terrestrial carbon balances and desert expansion. Importantly, while global drivers such as climate and CO2 may enhance the risk of WPE, managing fire and herbivory at the local scale provides tools to mitigate continental WPE.

Uptake and metabolism of prostaglandins by isolated perfused lung: species comparisons and the role of plasma protein binding.

We have investigated the uptake and subsequent metabolism of the prostaglandins (PGs) PGE1, PGA1, and PGB1 by rat, guinea pig and rabbit isolated perfused lungs (IPL). Significant species differences were not observed in the uptake or metabolism of any PG on passage through the IPL. However, differences in the uptake of PGA1 and PGB1 and in the metabolism of PGA1 were observed with a given species when the composition of the perfusion medium was varied. The IPL removed minimal amounts (less than 20% of the supply rate) of PGA1, and PGB1 from the circulation when the perfusate contained 4.5% bovine serum albumin (BSA). In the absence of BSA, however, both PGA1 and PGB1 were substantially removed from circulation (approximately 53% of the supply rate) and PGA1 was also metabolized. The composition of the perfusate had no effect on the uptake and metabolism of PGE1 which was always taken up and metabolized to a greater extent than was PGA1 and PGB1. Thus, the apparent species differences previously reported for the pulmonary biotransformation of PGA can result from differences in the perfusion medium used. Our data suggest that both plasma protein binding and a transport system play important roles in determining the selectively of the uptake of PGs by the lung.

Structural requirements for, and the effects of chemicals on, the rat pulmonary inactivation of prostaglandins.

We have investigated the removal of prostaglandins (PGs) from the pulmonary circulation using the isolated perfused rat lung in order to determine which parts of the PG molecule were essential for transport into the pulmonary tissue. From these studies we propse that three functional groups of the PG molecule are necessary for transport into the lung tissue: the carboxylic acid group at carbon 1, hydroxyl group at carbon 15, and an oxygen group at carbon 11. The geometrical relationship between these groups is important for transport since reduction of the 13, 14-double bond reduced transport, and changing the C-15 hydroxyl from an S to R configuration abolished transport. Various chemicals, drugs, and PG antagonists were tested for their ability to inhibit the transport system resposible for PG removal from the circulation. Diphloretin phosphate and polyphloretin phosphate were effective inhibitors, whereas dexamethasone, bromocresol green N-ethyl maleimide and imipramine were moderately effective inhibitors. The PG antagonist, SC-19220, 7-oxo-13-prostynoic acid, and hydrocortisone were ineffective.