Plant diversity, herbivory and resistance of a plant community to invasion in Mediterranean annual communities.

Several components of the diversity of plant communities, such as species richness, species composition, number of functional groups and functional composition, have been shown to directly affect the performance of exotic species. Exotics can also be affected by herbivores of the native plant community. However, these two possible mechanisms limiting invasion have never been investigated together. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between plant diversity, herbivory and performance of two annual exotics, Conyza bonariensis and C. canadensis, in Mediterranean annual communities. We wanted to test whether herbivory of these exotics was influenced either by species richness, functional-group richness or functional-group composition. We also studied the relationship between herbivory on the exotic species and their performance. Herbivory increased with increasing species and functional-group richness for both Conyza species. These patterns are interpreted as reflecting a greater number of available herbivore niches in a richer, more complex, plant community. The identities of functional groups also affected Conyza herbivory, which decreased in the presence of Asteraceae or Fabaceae and increased in the presence of Poaceae. Increasing herbivory had consequences for vegetative and demographic parameters of both invasive species: survival, final biomass and net fecundity decreased with increasing herbivory, leading to a loss of reproductive capacity. We conclude that communities characterised by a high number of grass species instead of Asteraceae or Fabaceae may be more resistant to invasion by the two Conyza species, in part due to predation by native herbivores.

Co-infection with Arsenophonus nasoniae and Orientia tsutsugamushi in a traveler.

Here we report a case of co-infection with Orientia tsutsugamushi, the causative agent of scrub typhus, and Arsenophonus nasoniae in a woman with a rash and an eschar who returned from a trip to Southeast Asia. A. nasoniae was previously considered to be a secondary insect and tick endosymbiont of unknown pathogenicity in humans. We amplified both O. tsutsugamushi and A. nasoniae DNA from a skin eschar with qPCR, and a seroconversion for O. tsutsugamushi and A. nasoniae was observed with immunofluorescence assays and western blotting for this patient. And we used 2-D western blotting with an A. nasoniae antigen and polyclonal mouse anti-A. nasoniae antibodies produced in our laboratory to detect the specific antigenic A. nasoniae proteins.

Do metal-rich plants deter herbivores? A field test of the defence hypothesis.

Some plant species growing on metalliferous soils are able to accumulate heavy metals in their shoots up to very high concentrations, but the selective advantage of this behaviour is still unknown. The most popular hypothesis, that metals protect plants against herbivores, has been tested several times in laboratory conditions, with contradictory results. We carried out the first large-scale test of the defence hypothesis in eight natural populations of the model Zn hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens J. and C. Presl (Brassicaceae). In two climatic regions (temperate, Belgium-Luxembourg, and Mediterranean, southern France), we worked in metalliferous and in normal, uncontaminated environments, with plants spanning a wide range of Zn concentrations. We also examined the importance of glucosinolates (main secondary metabolites of Brassicaceae) as antiherbivore defences. When exposed to natural herbivore populations, T. caerulescens suffered lower herbivory pressures in metal-enriched soils than in normal soils, both in Belgium-Luxembourg and in southern France. The trapping of gastropods shows an overall lower population density in metalliferous compared to normal environments, which suggests that herbivory pressure from gastropods is lower on metalliferous soils. In addition, foliar concentration of glucosinolates was constitutively lower in all populations from metal-enriched soils, suggesting that these have evolved towards lower investment in organic defences in response to lower herbivory pressure. The Zn concentration of plants had a protective role only for Belgian metallicolous plants when transplanted in normal soils of Luxembourg. These results do not support the hypothesis that Zn plays a key role in the protection of T. caerulescens against enemies. In contrast, glucosinolates appear to be directly involved in the defence of this hyperaccumulator against herbivores.