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Indolenine-based heptamethine cyanine dye adsorbed on silica gel shows vapochromism to amines or chlorinated solvents, leading to a color change.

International audience; A large part of the soil protist diversity is missed in metabarcoding studies based on 0.25 g of soil environmental DNA (eDNA) and universal primers due to ca. 80% co-amplification of non-target plants, animals and fungi. To overcome this problem, enrichment of the substrate used for eDNA extraction is an easily implemented option but its effect has not yet been tested. In this study, we evaluated the effect of a 150 μm mesh size filtration and sedimentation method to improve the recovery of protist eDNA, while reducing the co-extraction of plant, animal and fungal eDNA, using a set of contrasted forest and alpine soils from La Réunion, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. Total eukaryotic diversity was estimated by V4 18S rRNA metabarcoding and classical amplicon sequence variant calling. A 2- to 3- fold enrichment in shelled protists (Euglyphida, Arcellinida and Chrysophyceae) was observed at the sample level with the proposed method, with, at the same time, a 2-fold depletion of Fungi and a 3- fold depletion of Embryophyceae. Protist alpha diversity was slightly lower in filtered samples due to reduced coverage in Variosea and Sarcomonadea, but significant differences were observed in only one region. Beta diversity varied mostly between regions and habitats, which explained the same proportion of variance in bulk soil and filtered samples. The increased resolution in soil protist diversity estimates provided by the filtration-sedimentation method is a strong argument in favour of including it in the standard protocol for soil protist eDNA metabarcoding studies

Incomplete sampling of species’ geographic distributions has challenged biogeographers for many years to precisely quantify global-scale biodiversity patterns. After correcting for the spatial inequality of sample completeness, we generated a global species diversity map for woody angiosperms (82,974 species, 13,959,780 occurrence records). The estimated diversity demonstrated non-linear latitudinal and longitudinal patterns that were potentially related to region-specific biogeographic factors including current climate, paleoclimate, and topographical factors, while energy availability was the most important predictor at a global level. We identified the areas with potentially high species richness and rarity, but poorly explored, unprotected, and threatened by deforestation: they are distributed mostly at low latitudes across central South America, central Africa, subtropical China, and Indomalayan islands. These priority areas for botanical exploration would help to efficiently fill spatial knowledge gaps for better describing the status of biodiversity and improve the effectiveness of the protected area network for global woody plant conservation.TeaserBias-corrected diversity map based on occurrence records sheds new light on global macroecology and conservation of woody angiosperms.

A large part of the soil protist diversity is missed in metabarcoding studies based on 0.25 g of soil environmental DNA (eDNA) and universal primers due to ca. 80 % co-amplification of non-target plants, animals and fungi. To overcome this problem, enrichment of the substrate used for eDNA extraction is an easyly implemented option but its effect has not yet been tested. In this study, we evaluated the effect of a 150 µm mesh size filtration and sedimentation method to improve the recovery of protist eDNA, while reducing the co-extraction of plant, animal and fungal eDNA, using a set of contrasted forest and alpine soils from La Réunion, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. Biodiversity of the whole eukaryotic community was estimated with V4 18S rRNA metabarcoding and classical amplicon sequence variant calling. A 2-3-fold enrichment in shelled protists (Euglyphida, Arcellinida and Chrysophyceae) was observed at the sample level with the proposed method, with, at the same time, a 2-fold depletion of Fungi and a 3-fold depletion of Embryophyceae. Protist alpha diversity was slightly lower in filtered samples due to reduced coverage in Variosea and Sarcomonadea, but significant differences were observed in only one region. Beta diversity was mostly impacted by region and habitat, and explained the same variance in bulk soil and filtered samples. The increase resolution in the soil protist diversity provided by the filtration-sedimentation method is a strong argument to include it in the standard preparation of any future soil for protist eDNA metabarcoding studies.

Despite being regioisomers, unsymmetrical 1,4-dihydropyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroles 5 and 6 showed significantly different absorption and fluorescence properties due to the difference of the resonance structure between 5 and 6.

The synthesis of luminescent molecular crystalline materials requires a good understanding of the luminescence properties of crystals in which many molecules are densely packed. Previously, we studied the near-infrared (NIR) luminescence of a trivalent ytterbium (Yb(iii)) complex with a Schiff base ligand, tris[2-(5-methylsalicylideneimino)ethyl]amine (H

Herein, introducing multiple fluorine atoms into aromatic rings of trimethine cyanine dyes is proposed as a powerful method for dramatically increasing sensitivity to amines. The highly sensitive ratiometric fluorescence properties previously available only by intramolecular addition can be exploited in reactions with intermolecular amines or other nucleophiles.

A one-step route to a series of perfluoronaphthalene-based donor (D)-acceptor (A)-D fluorescent dyes with various electron-donating groups was developed. The perfluoronaphthalene moiety in the D-A-D dyes served as a good electron-accepting aromatic ring with excellent intramolecular charge transfer properties, as determined by density functional theory calculations and measurements of the fluorescence properties in solution, in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films, and in crystal form. Notably, replacing the naphthalene ring with perfluoronaphthalene in the D-A-D dyes carrying the phenothiazine moiety not only stabilized the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels but also reduced the energy band gap to change the emission color from blue to yellow. Among the four synthesized perfluoronaphthalene D-A-D dyes, those bearing diphenylamino groups afforded the best fluorescence quantum yields in Et

Understanding the mechanisms of biological invasion is fundamental for biodiversity conservation in the Anthropocene. This study focused on a large-scale colonization pattern of exotic seed plants, which include 1094 species characterized by different geographical origins, into the insular flora of Japan. We investigated a nation-wide pattern of species richness and phylogenetic structure (clustering/over-dispersion) of exotic and its recipient native species (4664 species). We tested the invasion hypotheses associated with environmental filtering, biological resistance of recipient assemblages, human disturbance and biogeographical origins of exotics. The exotics originated from the same (Palearctic and Indo-Malay) and adjacent (Nearctic and Oceanic) biogeographical regions were widely distributed across the country under temperate climate condition, whereas tropical exotic plants from remote regions (Afrotropic, Australasian, and Neotropical) colonized mainly the south-western parts of Japan. Exotic species richness and phylogenetic structure, especially those from the same/adjacent regions, were well explained by climatic, edaphic, and topographic factors, supporting the environmental filtering hypothesis. For all the biogeographical origins, exotic richness was positively associated with native richness, opposing the biological resistance hypothesis. Human disturbance was positively associated with exotic richness, while its relationships with the exotics’ phylogenetic structure varied according to their biogeographical origins. These findings indicate that site’s invasibility was determined by the combination of exotic’s biogeographical origins and abiotic/biotic conditions of its recipient native flora. Our results suggest that global warming may accelerate the northward expansion of tropical exotic plants while future land-use changes can promote biological invasion regardless of exotics’ origins.

Thus far, only a few methods for the asymmetric synthesis of erythritols bearing a trifluoromethyl group have been developed, and these methods present serious disadvantages such as the requirement of multiple steps for the preparation of their starting materials, low stereoselectivity, and the use of highly toxic reagents. Herein, we have developed a highly diastereo- and enantioselective organocatalytic method to synthesise erythritols bearing a trifluoromethyl group using (1) a commercially available organocatalyst to produce unstable trifluoroacetaldehyde in situ from its corresponding hemiacetal, followed by the simultaneous asymmetric carbon–carbon bond-forming reaction of the organocatalyst with an in situ-generated chiral enamine derived from 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-5-one to obtain the corresponding aldol product in good yield (65–80%) with high diastereoselectivity (up to 94% de) and excellent enantioselectivity (up to >98% ee), (2) the highly diastereoselective reduction of the ketone moiety in the aldol product (up to 98% de), and (3) the deprotection of the acetal moiety.

Trait-based functional ecology plays a key role for valuing biodiversity, based on the mechanistic link between species assembly and ecosystem-services. To evaluate the vulnerability of valuable biodiversity to human impacts, this study focused on assemblages of tree species with timber provisioning services and investigated the functional response of their utilitarian traits to forest exploitation. We first merged traditional knowledge of timber use, successional niche, and functional traits of tree species across forest biomes in Japan. Using leaf and wood traits of 514 tree species, we quantified macro-scale patterns of functional identity, richness, and divergence for the timber species and entire tree assemblages in Japan. At the 10-km grid cell level, we conducted a species loss simulation that assumed forest exploitation, in which later successional species were step-wisely removed from the potential tree assemblages. The simulation showed that species loss led to shifting functional identity and changes in functional richness and divergence. Such responses of functional structure were geographically associated with region-specific redundancy or complementarity in tree species assemblages. Specifically, the shift of functional identities was prominent in high latitudes with low species loss and low latitude with higher species loss. The utilitarian value of tree species in higher latitude forests was more closely associated with their ecological niche and functional uniqueness, which indicates vulnerability of trait space to species loss. The changes in trait space, which were associated with non-random species loss, were context-dependently influenced by climate conditions and species pool size. Our findings indicate that the insurance effect of biodiversity was a region-specific feature of forest biomes. We conclude that ethnobotany-informed trait ecology can elucidate the valuable biodiversity for human culture and its vulnerability to species loss; this information is essential for sustainable use of biodiversity resources in human society.

Background Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is essential in neurosurgical procedures. In this study, we built and evaluated the performance of a deep neural network in differentiating between the presence and absence of a lateral spread response, which provides critical information during microvascular decompression surgery for the treatment of hemifacial spasm using intraoperatively acquired electromyography images. Methods and findings A total of 3,674 image screenshots of monitoring devices from 50 patients were prepared, preprocessed, and then adopted into training and validation sets. A deep neural network was constructed using current-standard, off-the-shelf tools. The neural network correctly differentiated 50 test images (accuracy, 100%; area under the curve, 0.96) collected from 25 patients whose data were never exposed to the neural network during training or validation. The accuracy of the network was equivalent to that of the neuromonitoring technologists (p = 0.3013) and higher than that of neurosurgeons experienced in hemifacial spasm (p < 0.0001). Heatmaps obtained to highlight the key region of interest achieved a level similar to that of trained human professionals. Provisional clinical application showed that the neural network was preferable as an auxiliary tool. Conclusions A deep neural network trained on a dataset of intraoperatively collected electromyography data could classify the presence and absence of the lateral spread response with equivalent performance to human professionals. Well-designated applications based upon the neural network may provide useful auxiliary tools for surgical teams during operations.

To reframe the imperfect review processes of nation-scale actions on area-based conservation through protected area (PA) networks, we first created novel infrastructure to visualize nation-level biodiversity information in Japan. We then assessed the performance of the existing PA network relative to land exploitation pressure and evaluated conservation effectiveness of PA expansion for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The Zonation algorithm was used to spatially prioritize conservation areas to minimize biodiversity loss and the extinction risk for 8,500 Japanese vascular plant and vertebrate species under constraints of the existing PA network and land use. The spatial pattern of the identified priority areas, which were considered candidate areas for expansion of the current PA network, was influenced by land-use types according to the mask layers of non-PAs, and low-, middle-, and high-ranked PAs. The current PA network reduced the aggregate extinction risk of multiple species by 36.6%. Indeed, the percentage of built-up areas in the existing PAs was in general smaller than that in the areas surrounding PAs. Notably, high-ranked PAs fully restrained built-up pressure (0.037% per 10 years), whereas low-ranked PAs in the national park and wild-life protection areas did not (1.845% per 10 years). Conservation effects were predicted to substantially improve by expansion of high-ranked (legally strict) PAs into remote non-PAs without population/socio-economic activities, or expansion of medium-ranked PAs into agriculture forestry satoyama and urban areas. A 30% land conservation target was predicted to decrease extinction risk by 74.1% when PA expansion was implemented across remote areas, satoyama, and urban areas; moreover, PA connectivity almost doubled compared with the existing PA network. In contrast, a conventional scenario showed that placing national parks in state-owned and non-populated areas would reduce extinction risk by only 4.0%. The conservation prioritization analyses demonstrated an effectiveness of using a comprehensive conservation approach that reconciles land-sparing protection and land-sharing conservation in other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) in satoyama and urban green spaces. Our results revealed that complementary inclusion of various PAs interventions related to their governance and land-use planning plays a critical role in effectively preventing biodiversity loss and makes it more feasible to achieve ambitious conservation targets.

AIM: Understanding the causes and consequences of biological invasions remains a challenge for several disciplines, including biogeography. One major issue in overcoming this challenge is disentangling the confounding mechanisms of species invasiveness and community invasibility. Here, we tackle this issue by applying a novel approach based on the phylogenetic affinities between exotic species and natives in the recipient community to elucidate naturalization and pre‐adaptation processes. LOCATION: Japan. TAXON: Seed plants. METHODS: Geographical co‐occurrence data for 1,094 exotics and 4,869 native species (including 1,676 endemics) were created at the 10‐km grid‐cell and vegetation‐plot levels. For individual exotic species, standardized effect size of phylogenetic species variability (PSVSES) of the recipient native assemblage (i.e. phylogenetic fields) was calculated and its clustering/over‐dispersion was tested, representing exotic invasiveness in relation to invasibility of native recipients. To identify drivers of species invasiveness, the correlation of PSVSES with species attributes, involving phylogenetic distance between each exotic and native species, was explored. RESULTS: Phylogenetic fields (PSVSES) showed significant over‐dispersion (~16% exotics) or clustering (~14% exotics). Interspecific variation of PSVSES among exotics was substantially explained by species ecological attributes. Geographical extent and climatic niche widths were negatively correlated with PSVSES. Preference for human influence was positively correlated with PSVSES at the 10‐km grid‐cell level, but negatively at the vegetation‐plot level. Exotics colonized from the Palearctic and Indo‐Malay regions, which belong to the same biogeographical region as East Asia, tended to have clustered phylogenetic fields. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Environmental filtering and biotic sorting both played a key role in exotic plant colonization, supporting both of Darwin's contradictory hypotheses of naturalization versus pre‐adaptation. Clustered phylogenetic fields indicated that an exotic colonizes its recipient assemblage through abiotic filtering (i.e. pre‐adaptation); at the same time, phylogenetic over‐dispersion was indicative of naturalization for exotics that occupied a biotic niche space among native recipients (i.e. naturalization). Phylogenetic field patterns depended on species’ ecological attributes, including phylogenetic relatedness between exotics and recipient natives, especially reflecting invasibility at the local‐community level.

Herein, we report the Fe(III)-promoted linear intramolecular cascade cyclization of 1,3-diyne and 1,3,5-triyne for the construction of selenophene-fused, quinoline-based heteroacene scaffolds. In one step, 1,3-diyne and 1,3,5-triyne were cyclized via diversified internal nucleophiles by using diorganyl diselenides. The diorganyl diselenide plays dual role, one as a cyclizing agent and second as insertion of one and/or two selenium atom and one R′-Se group in the final product. This is highly important in terms of atom economy. Diversified internal nucleophiles were used to afford quinoline- and acridine-based cores. The synthesized selenophene-fused derivatives showed λmax, Fmax, and Φf values in the range from 370–411 nm, 427–472 nm, and 0.003–0.059, respectively, in dichloromethane solvent.

We have developed a novel aromatic fluorine-induced one-pot synthesis of ring-perfluorinated trimethine cyanine dye without the use of a pyridine by reacting hexafluorobenzoindolenine with 5 equiv of methyl trifluoromethanesulfonate in mixed solvents of dimethylformamide and toluene. The thus-obtained ring-perfluorinated trimethine cyanine dye shows much better fluorescence properties, including intensity, quantum yield, and lifetime, than the nonfluorinated dye, not only in CH2Cl2 solution and the poly(methyl methacrylate) film but also in the powder state. Furthermore, ring-perfluorinated trimethine cyanine dye 2a shows better photostability toward white light-emitting diode irradiation than nonfluorinated dye trimethine cyanine dye 2b.

Aim: The species abundance distribution (SAD) is a fundamental pattern in macroecology. Understanding how SADs vary spatially, and identifying the variables that drive any change, is important from a theoretical perspective because it enables greater understanding of the factors that underpin the relative abundance of species. However, precise knowledge on how the form of SADs varies across large (continental) scales is limited. Here, we use the shape parameter of the gambin distribution to assess how meta-community-scale SAD shape varies spatially as a function of various climatic variables and dataset characteristics. Location: Eastern North America (ENA). Time period: Present day. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: Using an extensive continental-scale dataset of 863,930 individual trees in plots across ENA sampled using a standardized method, we use a spatial regression framework to examine the effect of temperature and precipitation on the form of the SAD. We also assess whether the prevalence of multimodality in the SAD varies spatially across ENA as a function of temperature and precipitation, in addition to other sample characteristics. Results: We found that temperature, precipitation and species richness can explain two-thirds of the variation in tree SAD form across ENA. Temperature had the largest effect on SAD shape, and it was found that increasing temperature resulted in more logseries-like SAD shapes (i.e. SADs with a relatively higher proportion of rarer species). We also found spatial variation in SAD multimodality as a function of temperature and species richness. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that temperature is a key environmental driver governing the form of ENA tree meta-community-scale SADs. This finding has implications for our understanding of local-scale variation in tree abundance and suggests that niche factors and environmental filtering are important in the structuring of ENA tree communities at larger scales. (Less)

Anion exchange of the symmetrical benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dyes from a small hydrophilic perchlorate (ClO4−) anion to a large hydrophobic tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate ((C6F5)4B−) anion resulted in the reduction of the hydrophilic molecular interaction. Consequently, the prepared benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dyes carrying the (C6F5)4B− anion can be purified by column chromatography, even with the use of a less polar solvent, such as dichloromethane, because the Rf values of the symmetrical benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dyes carrying the (C6F5)4B− anion are much greater than that of the dye carrying the ClO4− anion. Significantly, the symmetrical benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dye 5 carrying a cyclopentene ring shows no absorption in the visible light region in CH2Cl2. Among them, the prepared benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dye 5c carrying the (C6F5)4B− anion and 4-methylphenoxy group at the meso-position is most thermostable. Furthermore, the prepared benzo[cd]indolenyl-substituted heptamethine cyanine dye 5c carrying the (C6F5)4B− anion and 4-methylphenoxy group at the meso-position is also photostable, as is the dye carrying the ClO4− anion in dichloromethane under irradiation by a white LED at 25 °C, with the exception of the dye carrying a 4-tolylthio substituent at the meso-position.

Thiophene-fused BODIPY dyes with two diethylaminophenyl groups as strong donors demonstrated near-infrared (NIR) absorption (λmax: 783–812 nm, e: 119 500–145 900) and fluorescence (Fmax: 862–916 nm, Φf: 0.02–0.12) in dichloromethane. When applied to dye-sensitised solar cells, these dyes exhibited a panchromatic incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) response from 400 to 850 nm, with the onset of the IPCE response at ∼950 nm.

The study of species abundance distributions (SADs) needs a precise modeling of their drivers and ecological implications. We introduce the two-parameter Weibull distribution as a versatile tool to fit various kinds of observed SADs and to compare observed and theoretically expected values at the species level. We show that the shape and the scale parameter of this distribution have precise ecological interpretations, the first being a measure of the excess of either rare or common species, and the second as a quantification of the proportion of persistent species in the focal community. Applying the Weibull model to 534 global tree communities we demonstrate that plots of the parameters of the Weibull distribution demark ecologically impossible species abundance distributions. This promises new insight into the ecological constraints on community assembly.

(2R,3aR,8bR)- and (2S,3aS,8bS)-2-Methyl indoline dye tetrabutylammonium carboxylates exhibited the highest conversion efficiency among four regio and stereo isomers. These indoline dyes also showed higher conversion efficiency than DN350.

This chapter discusses organoboron complexes, especially the synthesis and correlation between molecular structure and optical properties. Organoboron complexes are among the most important fluorescent dyes. Boron complexation of the ligand (dye) contributes to the enhancement of the fluorescent properties of the dye through rigidization of the chromophore, which restricts non-radiative processes. Additionally, the optical properties of organoboron complexes, such as absorption and fluorescence maxima, and fluorescence quantum yields are strongly dependent on the ligand type (dye). Therefore, boron complexation of the ligand (dye) is an efficient strategy to synthesize novel fluorescent dyes. In fact, organoboron complexes have been actively developed and applied in various fields, including optoelectronics and biomedicine. Understanding synthetic methods and the correlation between molecular structure and optical properties help us in producing materials with the desired properties. This chapter discusses BODIPY dyes, the most famous fluorescent organoboron complexes, and then outlines the four-coordinate monoboron complexes possessing anionic bidentate ligands (N^N, N^O, O^O, and other types) and multinuclear boron complexes, with a special focus on the results reported by the author.

Thus far, only a few methods for the asymmetric synthesis of erythritols bearing a trifluoromethyl group have been developed, and these methods present serious disadvantages such as the requirement of multiple steps for the preparation of their starting materials, low stereoselectivity, and the use of highly toxic reagents. Herein, we have developed a highly diastereo- and enantioselective organocatalytic method to synthesise erythritols bearing a trifluoromethyl group using (1) a commercially available organocatalyst to produce unstable trifluoroacetaldehyde in situ from its corresponding hemiacetal, followed by the simultaneous asymmetric carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction of the organocatalyst with an in situ-generated chiral enamine derived from 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-5-one to obtain the corresponding aldol product in good yield (65-80%) with high diastereoselectivity (up to 94% de) and excellent enantioselectivity (up to98% ee), (2) the highly diastereoselective reduction of the ketone moiety in the aldol product (up to 98% de), and (3) the deprotection of the acetal moiety.

Human-induced habitat conversion and degradation, along with accelerating climatic change, have resulted in considerable global biodiversity loss. Nevertheless, how local ecological assemblages respond to the interplay between climate and land-use change remains poorly understood. Here, we examined the effects of climate and land-use interactions on butterfly diversity in different ecosystems of southwestern China. Specifically, we investigated variation in the alpha and beta diversities of butterflies in different landscapes along human-modified and climate gradients. We found that increasing land-use intensity not only caused a dramatic decrease in butterfly alpha diversity but also significantly simplified butterfly species composition in tropical rainforest and savanna ecosystems. These findings suggest that habitat modification by agricultural activities increases the importance of deterministic processes and leads to biotic homogenization. The land-use intensity model best explained species richness variation in the tropical rainforest, whereas the climate and land-use intensity interaction model best explained species richness variation in the savanna. These results indicate that climate modulates the effects of land-use intensity on butterfly alpha diversity in the savanna ecosystem. We also found that the response of species composition to climate varied between sites: specifically, species composition was strongly correlated with climatic distance in the tropical rainforest but not in the savanna. Taken together, our long-term butterfly monitoring data reveal that interactions between human-modified habitat change and climate change have shaped butterfly diversity in tropical rainforest and savanna. These findings also have important implications for biodiversity conservation under the current era of rapid human-induced habitat loss and climate change.

An indoline dye attached with a carboxylated indan-1,3-dione moiety linked with a hexylthiophene ring exhibited the highest conversion efficiency among six analogues and D205. This result comes from the bathochromic UV–vis absorption band, suitable energy levels, good stability for redox process, and sufficiently long excited-state lifetime.

There is an increasing potential to incorporate recent advances in our understanding of molecular-genetic pathways of flowering-time regulation to forecast shifts in flowering phenology in response to rising temperature. Recent studies developed models that integrate temperature and photoperiod signals into the network of floral regulatory genes, and predicted the shortening of flowering duration under warming based on the expression dynamics of major flowering-time genes in the perennial herb Arabidopsis halleri subsp. gemmifera. Nevertheless, empirical testing of the model prediction is still lacking. We performed temperature manipulation experiments and common garden experiments to test the model predictions using plants from two distant populations of A. halleri. We also quantified expression levels of two major flowering-time genes and compared the observed and predicted gene expression patterns. Our experiments in the laboratory and the field demonstrated that flowering duration of A. halleri was significantly shortened under warming conditions. Our results also revealed that the end of flowering was more sensitive to the climate warming than the onset of flowering in A. halleri. The observed gene expression dynamics in the warming condition were predicted well by the gene regulatory model. The transplant experiment of plants from Hokkaido, the northernmost island, to the subtropical field site in Okinawa, Japan, showed that plants flowered without significant activation of FLOWERING LOCUS T, a floral integrator crucial for the accelerated flowering in long days. The study suggested that the redundancy of flowering gene regulatory network could be beneficial to the persistence of flowering ability under extreme climatic conditions.

The classical “low latitude–high defense” hypothesis is seldom supported by empirical evidence. In this context, we tested latitudinal patterns in the leaf defense traits of deciduous broadleaved (DB) and evergreen broadleaved (EGB) tree species, which are expected to affect herbivore diversity. We examined the co-occurrence of leaf defense traits (tannin and phenol content, leaf mechanical strength, leaf dry matter content, leaf mass per area, and leaf thickness) in 741 broadleaved tree species and their correlations with species geographical range in East Asian island flora. We discovered contrasting latitudinal defense strategy gradients in DB and EGB tree species. DB species employed chemical defenses (increasing tannin and phenol content) at higher latitudes and physical defenses (softer and thinner leaves) at lower latitudes, whereas EGB tree species exhibited opposite latitudinal defense patterns. The “low latitude high defense” hypothesis included a paradoxical aspect in chemical and physical defense traits across broadleaved tree species. To reconcile paradoxical defense strategies along the latitudinal gradient, we conclude that interactive correlations among leaf traits are controlled by leaf longevity, which differs between DB and EGB tree species.

Competitive intransitivity, the existence of loops in competitive hierarchies, is one mechanism that can promote the local coexistence of competitors and maintain high local species diversity, although its prevalence and importance remain largely unknown. A full understanding of local community assembly needs knowledge of how transitive and intransitive competitive interactions are linked to species functional traits and the strength of biotic and abiotic filters. We apply a recently developed statistical tool to quantitative data on central European inland saltmarsh plant communities to infer causal relationships between soil characteristics, species occurrences and functional traits, and we estimated coefficients of competition. We found a predominance of intransitive competitive hierarchies. The proportion of such hierarchies was positively correlated with local species richness and compositional variability. Average soil characteristics were not correlated with competitive intransitivity, whereas high soil pH and the high variability in local pH and soil salinity decreased the overall impact of competition on community composition. In pairwise comparisons of species, dissimilarity in morphology, resource demand and reproductive phenology was significantly negatively correlated with differences in competitive performance, while higher environmental dissimilarity was particularly linked to intermediate degrees of competitive superiority. Our results suggest that habitat filtering for similar traits might intensify competitive interactions, but might also give rise to intransitive competitive loops that subsequently promote species coexistence and permit species’ functional equivalence. Intransitive competition appears to increase local diversity and small scale‐species turnover. The observed local differences in competitive structures suggest frequent competitive plasticity and context‐dependent competitive interactions. Finally, our results support the view that local abundance distributions can be used to infer the strength and outcome of competitive interactions. Synthesis. Our results confirm that intransitive competitive interactions might be a strong force structuring local plant communities. Intransitivity needs to be considered when studying plant community assembly and species co‐existence.

In this paper, we report the novel synthesis of thieno[2,3-c]acridine and furo[2,3-c]acridine derivatives via an intramolecular iodocyclization reaction. The thieno[2,3-c]acridine derivatives exhibited blue fluorescence in hexane. DFT and time-dependent (TD) DFT studies were carried out. This methodology provided a novel pathway to access thieno[2,3-c]acridine and furo[2,3-c]acridine derivatives via a 6-endo iodocyclization reaction.

To reframe the imperfect review processes of nation-scale actions on area-based conservation through protected area (PA) networks, we first created novel infrastructure to visualize nation-level biodiversity information in Japan. We then assessed the performance of the existing PA network relative to land exploitation pressure and evaluated conservation effectiveness of PA expansion for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The Zonation software was used to spatially prioritize conservation areas to minimize biodiversity loss and the extinction risk for 8077 Japanese vascular plant and vertebrate species under constraints of the existing PA network and land use. The spatial pattern of the identified priority areas, which were considered candidate areas for expansion of the current PA network, was influenced by land-use types according to the mask layers of non-PAs, and low-, middle-, and high-ranked PAs. The current PA network reduced the aggregate extinction risk of multiple species by 36.6%. Indeed, the proportion of built-up areas in the existing PAs was generally smaller than that in the areas surrounding PAs. Notably, high-ranked PAs effectively restricted the built-up pressure (0.04% every 10 years), whereas low-ranked PAs in national park and wild-life protection areas did not (1.8% every 10 years). Conservation effects were predicted to substantially improve by expansion of high-ranked (legally strict) PAs into remote non-PAs without population/socioeconomic activities, or expansion of medium-ranked PAs into satoyama which have traditionally been used for agriculture and forestry, and urban areas. A 30% land conservation target was predicted to decrease extinction risk by 74.1% when PA expansion was implemented across remote areas, satoyama, and urban areas; moreover, PA connectivity almost doubled compared with the existing PA network. In contrast, a conventional scenario showed that placing national parks in state-owned and non-populated areas would reduce extinction risk by only 4.0%. Conservation prioritization analyses demonstrated the effectiveness of using a comprehensive conservation approach that reconciles land-sparing protection and land-sharing conservation in other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) in satoyama and urban green spaces. Our results revealed that complementary inclusion of various PA interventions related to their governance and land-use planning plays a critical role in effectively preventing biodiversity loss and makes it more feasible to achieve ambitious conservation targets.

The performance of a new indoline dye having a carboxylated 1,3-idandione unit linked with a hexythienyl ring showed higher conversion efficiency than the analogous dye without the hexyl group.

The effects of co-adsorbents on the performance of D205 in dye-sensitized solar cells were examined. 4,4,5,5,6,6,6-Heprafluoro-3,3-bis(trifluoromethyl)hexanoic acid exhibited the highest conversion efficiency of 6.2% on TiO2 among ten co-adsorbents. This result comes from improved short-circuit photocurrent owing to prevention of aggregate formation.

For the development of next-generation protein-based biosensor surfaces, it is important to understand how functional proteins, such as fibrinogen (FBG), interact with polar substrate surfaces in order to prepare highly sensitive points of medical care diagnostics. FBG, which is a fibrous protein with an extracellular matrix, has both positively and negatively charged regions on its 3-dimensional surface, which makes interpreting how it effectively binds to polarized surfaces challenging. In this study, single-crystal LiNbO3 (LNO) substrates that have surface charges were used to investigate the adsorption of FBG protruding polar fragments on the positively and negatively charged LNO surfaces. We performed a combination of experiments and multi-scale molecular modeling to understand the binding of FBG in vacuum and water-solvated surfaces of LNO. XPS measurements showed that the FBG adsorption on LNO increased with increment in solution concentration on surfaces independent of charges. Multi-scale molecular modeling employing Quantum Mechanics, Monte Carlo, and Molecular Mechanics addressed the phenomenon of FBG fragment bonding on LNO surfaces. The binding simulation validated the experimental observation using zeta potential measurements which showed presence of solvated medium influenced the adsorption phenomenon due to the negative surface potential.

Fixation of linear alkylamine on the ordered mesoporous silica (MCM-41) is effective on not only in situ generation of gaseous and unstable trifluoroacetaldehyde from its hemiacetal but also successive syn-selective direct aldol reaction with cyclohexanone giving the corresponding syn-aldol product. As results, the aldol product produced from cyclohexanone was obtained in good to excellent yield without the formation of a complex mixture, compared to our previous results with a mixture of catalysts such as organic amine/amorphous silica or organic amine/acetic acid. The obtained syn-selectivity is opposite to the L-proline derivatives-catalyzed anti-selective direct aldol reaction. Not only various aldehydes but also 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, such as 2,4-pentandione and ethyl 3-oxobutanoate, are also participated in the MCM-41-supported N-methylpropylamine direct aldol reaction of CF3CHO hemiacetal, respectively.