Minimal impacts of invasive Scaevola taccada on Scaevola plumieri via pollinator competition in Puerto Rico.

Introduction: Scaevola taccada and Scaevola plumieri co-occur on shorelines of the Caribbean. Scaevola taccada is introduced in this habitat and directly competes with native dune vegetation, including S. plumieri, a species listed as locally endangered and threatened in Caribbean locations. This study addresses whether the invasive S. taccada also impacts the native S. plumieri indirectly by competing for pollinators and represents the first comparative study of insect visitation between these species. Methods: Insect visitation rates were measured at sites where species co-occur and where only the native occurs. Where species cooccur, insect visitors were captured, identified and analyzed for the pollen they carry. Pollen found on open-pollinated flowers was analyzed to assess pollen movement between the two species. We also compared floral nectar from each species by measuring volume, sugar content, and presence and proportions of amine group containing constituents (AGCCs). Results: Our results demonstrate that both species share insect visitors providing the context for possible pollinator competition, yet significant differences in visitation frequency were not found. We found evidence of asymmetrical heterospecific pollen deposition in the native species, suggesting a possible reproductive impact. Insect visitation rates for the native were not significantly different between invaded and uninvaded sites, suggesting that the invasive S. taccada does not limit pollinator visits to S. plumieri. Comparisons of nectar rewards from the invasive and the native reveal similar volumes and sugar concentrations, but significant differences in some amine group containing constituents that may enhance pollinator attraction. Conclusion: Our analysis finds no evidence for pollination competition and therefore S. taccada's main impacts on S. plumieri are through competitive displacement and possibly through reproductive impacts as a consequence of heterospecific pollen deposition.

Hidden neotropical diversity: greater than the sum of its parts.

The diversity of tropical herbivorous insects has been explained as a direct function of plant species diversity. Testing that explanation, we reared 2857 flies from flowers and seeds of 24 species of plants from 34 neotropical sites. Samples yielded 52 morphologically similar species of flies and documented highly conserved patterns of specificity to host taxa and host parts. Widespread species of plants can support 13 species of flies. Within single populations of plants, we typically found one or more fly species specific to female flowers and multiple specialists on male flowers. We suggest that neotropical herbivorous insect diversity is not simply a function of plant taxonomic and architectural diversity, but also reflects the geographic distribution of hosts and the age and area of the neotropics.

Novel expression pattern of cytosolic Gln synthetase in nitrogen-fixing root nodules of the actinorhizal host, Datisca glomerata.

Gln synthetase (GS) is the key enzyme of primary ammonia assimilation in nitrogen-fixing root nodules of legumes and actinorhizal (Frankia-nodulated) plants. In root nodules of Datisca glomerata (Datiscaceae), transcripts hybridizing to a conserved coding region of the abundant nodule isoform, DgGS1-1, are abundant in uninfected nodule cortical tissue, but expression was not detectable in the infected zone or in the nodule meristem. Similarly, the GS holoprotein is immunolocalized exclusively to the uninfected nodule tissue. Phylogenetic analysis of the full-length cDNA of DgGS1-1 indicates affinities with cytosolic GS genes from legumes, the actinorhizal species Alnus glutinosa, and nonnodulating species, Vitis vinifera and Hevea brasilensis. The D. glomerata nodule GS expression pattern is a new variant among reported root nodule symbioses and may reflect an unusual nitrogen transfer pathway from the Frankia nodule microsymbiont to the plant infected tissue, coupled to a distinctive nitrogen cycle in the uninfected cortical tissue. Arg, Gln, and Glu are the major amino acids present in D. glomerata nodules, but Arg was not detected at high levels in leaves or roots. Arg as a major nodule nitrogen storage form is not found in other root nodule types except in the phylogenetically related Coriaria. Catabolism of Arg through the urea cycle could generate free ammonium in the uninfected tissue where GS is expressed.

Phylogenetic position and biogeography of Hillebrandia sandwicensis (Begoniaceae): a rare Hawaiian relict.

The Begoniaceae consist of two genera, Begonia, with approximately 1400 species that are widely distributed in the tropics, and Hillebrandia, with one species that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and the only member of the family native to those islands. To help explain the history of Hillebrandia on the Hawaiian Archipelago, phylogenetic relationships of the Begoniaceae and the Cucurbitales were inferred using sequence data from 18S, rbcL, and ITS, and the minimal age of both Begonia and the Begoniaceae were indirectly estimated. The analyses strongly support the placement of Hillebrandia as the sister group to the rest of the Begoniaceae and indicate that the Hillebrandia lineage is at least 51-65 million years old, an age that predates the current Hawaiian Islands by about 20 million years. Evidence that Hillebrandia sandwicensis has survived on the Hawaiian Archipelago by island hopping from older, now denuded islands to younger, more mountainous islands is presented. Various scenarios for the origin of ancestor to Hillebrandia are considered. The geographic origin of source populations unfortunately remains obscure; however, we suggest a boreotropic or a Malesian-Pacific origin is most likely. Hillebrandia represents the first example in the well-studied Hawaiian flora of a relict genus.