Search

The flowers of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. have been used as a homologous variety in China, whose quality seriously relies on the compositions during the flowering period. Unfortunately, studies on the variations of volatile compounds during the flowering season are rarely reported. Herein, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomic methodology was proposed for the comprehensive analysis of volatile compounds in E. angustifolia flowers to classify various flowering stages. Samples from four flowering stages were collected, including the initial bloom stage, pre-full bloom stage (70–80% of flowers), full bloom stage, and ending of the bloom stage. Simultaneous distillation extraction was used for the extraction of volatile compounds in the flowers, which was then analyzed by a newly developed chemometric data analysis tool, autoGCMSDataAnal. An advantage of the developed methodology is that compounds can be accurately screened and identified. Finally, 59 compounds that showed significant difference among four flowering stages were screened and 31 compounds were identified. Sample clustering results from principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis suggested that flowers from the pre-full bloom stage and full bloom stage may be more suitable when used as raw materials for industrial products.

Diversity and distribution of flower coloration is a puzzling topic that has been extensively studied, with multiple hypotheses being proposed to account for the functions of coloration, such as pollinator attraction, protection against herbivory, and prevention of damage by ultraviolet light. Recent methodologies have allowed studies to consider the visual system of animals other than humans, helping to answer questions regarding the distribution of flower coloration. A survey of keywords in Web of Science shows floral color to be mainly studied in relation to macroevolutionary traits and biochemistry of pigments, focusing on pollination and anthocyanins, respectively. The present paper reviews mechanisms that determine the color of flowers. First, it is discussed how pigment, visual systems and signaling environments influence flower color; secondly, patterns of convergent evolution of flower color is debated, including evolutionary history, pollinator preference, flower color change, flowering season, and habitat. Third and last, patterns of flower coloration that have been found around the globe are addressed. In short, the aim is to contribute to ongoing research, by underlining mechanisms that lead to global patterns of coloration and indicating perspectives for future study on the topic.

Nuevas observaciones de campo confirman que la ingestión de lombrices de tierra (Oligochaeta) por Anolis sagrei no es un evento tan raro como se creía. De igual modo, las observaciones realizadas en tres inviernos consecutivos (2019, 2020, 2021), durante la temporada de floración de las orquídeas Cattleya lueddemanniana y Guarianthe skinneri, ratifican que la nectarivoría es un hábito regular en Anolis porcatus.

Honey is an important food resource for human. Because Korea is characterized by both of temperate and microthermal climate with four seasons, various seasonal honey plants are available during all seasons. Among them, the false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) accounts for more than 70% of the honey production in Korea. Since 2014, in Korea, the honey production has been generally decreased and sudden drop of the acacia honey production in 2018 and 2020 (19.1% and 12.9% of the average production) caused severe economic losses in the bee farms. The decreased acacia honey production in both years was expected by abnormal climate changes occurred in either before or after the acacia flowering season. The optimal activity time of the honey bee during an acacia flowering season was calculated in the six different regions separated in three parts of Korea from 2018 to 2020. The mean optimal activity time of honey bee was 4.6±1.7, 6.4±0.6 and 3.9±1.0 hours in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Further, we plan to continually collect annual honey production data and climate information and provide it to the bee keepers, thereby reducing the economic damage of bee farms.

In a trial to solve some of the most important problems facing the production and quality of Iris tingitana cv. Wedgewood plant under local conditions in Egypt including the short and late blooming season in spring. Moreover, the study aimed also to solve the problem of the deterioration of bulbs productivity year after year. So, two separate field experiments were conducted throughout two successive seasons (2017/2018 and 2018/2019) at the nursery of Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt. In the first experiment, bulbs of 8-9 cm circumference were treated with different types of storage treatments pre-planting (room temperature, cold storage at 5 °C for 3 and 6 weeks (main factor), besides, some soil additives (sub factor) of kristalon and magnetic iron at 2 g/pot, as a soil dressing and actosol at 5 ml/1 as a soil drench for 6 times throughout the growth cycle at open field conditions. While, in the second experiment, bulblets of 5-6 cm circumference, were treated with the same soil additives, besides the same storage treatments. Results showed that cooling the bulbs for 3 weeks proved its mastery in improving most plant traits comparing with other storage treatments (experiment 1). The registered values indicated the prevalence of storage the bulblets pre-planting at cold storage condition for 3 weeks in giving the utmost highest values of number of bulbs/plot (bulbs yield), followed in the second rank of bulblets stored at room temperature (experiment 2). On other side, the different soil additives were differed in their effects in improving plant traits, where the best treatment was a result of applying kristalon treatment followed in the second category with actosol (experiments 1 and 2). A negligible effect was observed regarding chemical constituents in the two experiments. From the aforementioned results, it could be recommended to use the different types of storage treatments for prolonging the flowering season. Besides, supplying plants with kristalon or actosol in some instances for achieving the hope of obtaining Iris tingitana flowers of high quality throughout a pronounced prolongation of the flowering season and high yields of bulbs resulted from bulblets.

The different parts of Platycodon grandiflorum were collected from a medicinal herb garden to determine five heavy metal(loid)s (Pb, Cd, As, Hg, and Cu) contents at different growth stages. The data showed that the plant accumulated varying amounts of metal(loid)s in the order Cu > Hg > Pb > As > Cd. Five heavy metal(loid) concentrations decreased in the early growth stage and then increased in the flowering season. The contents of heavy metal(loid)s except Hg in the stem were relatively lower than other tissues. The flower of Platycodon grandiflorum can highly accumulate heavy metal(loid)s, especially for Cu in the flowering period. Pb, Cd, and Cu contents in stem generally increased with growth time, while Cd and Cu in root decreased during growth time. The average daily intake doses of five heavy metal(loid)s in the root of Platycodon grandiflorum were all below the safety guideline and the target hazard quotient was less than 1.

A trial was undertaken under South Gujarat conditions to assess the effect of de-blossoming in six mango varieties during regular flowering season on off season fruiting characters. The investigation consisted of four de-blossoming treatments i.e. foliar sprays of NAA @ 400 and 800 ppm, hand-deblossoming and untreated trees which were imposed on six mango varieties i.e. Amrapali, Baramasi, Neelphanso, Neelum, Ratna and Totapuri during 2013-14 and 2014-15. De-blossoming was done at full bloom stage for induction of off season flowering. Results revealed that in the regular season cv. ‘Neelphonso’ recorded significantly the highest Total Soluble Solids while, minimum titrable acidity was recorded by Totapuri. Whereas, reducing sugar was significantly the highest in ‘Amrapali’ and ascorbic acid content was significantly the highest in ‘Neelum’ variety. With regard to off-season fruiting, significantly maximum Total Soluble Solids and minimum acidity was recorded in cultivar ‘Neelphonso’. The maximum reducing sugar was observed in ‘Ratna’ cultivar. Ascorbic acid was significantly the highest in ‘Neelum’ during first year and in ‘Ratna’ during the second year. Hand de-blossoming was found superior over control for Total Soluble Solids content in the varieties selected for this study under South Gujarat conditions. De-blossoming did not exert a significant influence on acidity, reducing sugar and ascorbic acid of the fruits.

Methodological papers advise to collect moss surface samples either at the beginning or at the end of the flowering season. In reality, such collections occur often within the flowering season for purposes of vegetation description or because of accessibility of remote study areas. Here we test whether the season of moss surface sample collection has an influence on pollen spectra. Ten moss/litter samples were collected in different habitats of the natural reserve ‘Spasskaya Gora’ (Perm region, Russia) in July and September from the same locations exactly. The results show that pollen assemblages reflect well the present dominant vegetation of Pinus-Betula-forests and grasslands and demonstrate differences between open and forested areas as well as between abandoned fodder meadows and semi-natural hay meadows in use. Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon tests demonstrate that the dominant pollen taxa Pinus diploxylon-type, Betula and Poaceae as well as the rarefied number of pollen taxa do not differ significantly between seasons, while values of Artemisia are significantly higher in September. A significant decrease in pollen concentration in September indicates the importance of washing-out of pollen by precipitation. PCA results demonstrate the similarity of the pollen spectra between the seasons. Based on our results, we conclude that the season of surface sample collection does not significantly influence the pollen assemblages and appropriate field studies can be carried out in summer during the flowering season. However, we strongly recommend to collect bulk samples of mosses with basal parts and/or litter with surface soils in order to ensure representation of the average pollen signal for the previous years and to dilute local extremes in the pollen deposition. © 2020, © 2020 AASP–The Palynological Society.

Cimicifuga simplex (Ranunculaceae) has three genetically distinct pollination morphs. Here, we report that each of the three pollination morphs of C. simplex differs from the others with regard to sex expression and mating system: morph I consists mostly of ramets with hermaphroditic flowers and ramets with only female flowers, morph II consists of ramets with hermaphroditic flowers and ramets with hermaphroditic and male flowers, and morph III consists mostly of ramets with hermaphroditic flowers. A microsatellite analysis of seed DNA showed that morph III has a high self‐fertilization rate. Flowering season and flower visitor assemblages, which also differ among the three morphs, may influence the evolution and maintenance of the differences in sex expression and mating systems in the morphs.

In tropical grass seed production fields, reducing plant size can increase the solar radiation to the base of the plant canopy and improve the quantity and quality of the seeds produced. This research studied the responses of the production components, the productivity, and the seed quality of U. brizantha cv. MG-5 to different canopy sequential cuttings under cultivation conditions in rain fed systems. Two experiments were carried out (agricultural year 2015/16 (s1) and 2016/17 (s2)) in a randomized block experimental design with four repetitions. The treatments consisted of sequential cut-off, indicating the month of the last cut and the agricultural year: for the 2015/16 agricultural year: Aug - s1, Sep - s1, Oct - s1, Nov - s1, Dec - s1, Jan - s1, and Feb - s1; for the 2016/17 agricultural year: Aug - s2; Set - s2; Nov - s2; Dec - s2; Jan - s2, and Feb - s2. Plant growth biometrics, seed quality variables, and productivity were evaluated. The sequential cut strategy increased the productivity and quality of pure seeds when the final cuts were done between November and December. Cuts performed after December increased the reproductive components. However, in the region in question, rainfall levels compromised seed filling; and therefore productivity and quality since the flowering of these cuttings (January and February) occurs in May. RESUMO: Em campos de produção de sementes de forrageiras tropicais, a redução do porte das plantas pode ser uma estratégia de melhorar os índices de radiação solar no dossel inferior da lavoura, com possíveis consequências positivas para a produtividade e qualidade das sementes produzidas. Neste contexto, foi desenvolvido um trabalho com propósito de estudar as respostas dos componentes de produção, produtividade e qualidade de sementes de U. brizantha cv. MG-5 em razão de cortes sequenciais da parte aérea, em condições de cultivo em sistema de sequeiro. Para tanto foram implantados dois experimentos (ano agrícola 2015/16 - s1 e ano agrícola 2016/17 - s2), em que se adotou o delineamento experimental em blocos casualizados, com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos foram constituídos por cortes sequenciais da parte aérea, sendo que os cortes mensais e a nomenclatura dos respectivos tratamentos indicam o mês do último corte e ano agrícola: Ago - s1; Set - s1; Out - s1; Nov - s1; Dez - s1; Jan - s1 e Fev - s1 para o ano agrícola 2015/16 (s1) e Ago - s2; Set - s2; Nov - s2; Dez - s2; Jan - s2 e, Fev - s2 para o ano agrícola 2016/17 (s2). Foram avaliadas variáveis biométricas de crescimento da planta, e variáveis de qualidade e produtividade de sementes. O manejo de cortes sequenciais incrementa a produtividade e qualidade de sementes puras para cortes finais realizados entre novembro e dezembro. Cortes realizados posteriormente a dezembro aumentam os componentes reprodutivos, entretanto, na região em questão, os índices pluviométricos comprometem o enchimento das sementes e consequentemente a produtividade e qualidade, visto que o florescimento destas épocas de cortes (janeiro e fevereiro) ocorrem em maio.

Molecular phylogenetic studies of Hosta pulchella (Asparagaceae) and its relatives, which are native to Japan, have been conducted and resulted in a highly resolved phylogeny. Specifically, the relationship of H. pulchella to H. alata Hatusima, nom. nud. is investigated. These data include genome-wide SNPs obtained through conducting multiplexed ISSR genotyping by sequencing (MIG-seq). Based on these phylogenetic results, morphological observations, distribution, and differences in flowering periods of H. alata collections sympatric with H. pulchella, we find the two species closely related, but distinct. As such, we formally describe Hosta alatasp. nov. from the Oita Prefecture of Kyushu island, southwestern Japan.

Floral visitation alone has been typically used to characterize plant–pollinator interaction networks even though it ignores differences in the quality of floral visits (e.g. transport of pollen) and thus may overestimate the number and functional importance of pollinating interactions. However, how network structural properties differ between floral visitation and pollen transport networks is not well understood. Furthermore, the strength and frequency of plant–pollinator interactions may vary across fine temporal scales (within a single season) further limiting our predictive understanding of the drivers and consequences of plant–pollinator network structure. Thus, evaluating the structure of pollen transport networks and how they change within a flowering season may help increase our predictive understanding of the ecological consequences of plant–pollinator network structure. Here we compare plant–pollinator network structure using floral visitation and pollen transport data and evaluate within-season variation in pollen transport network structure in a diverse plant–pollinator community. Our results show that pollen transport networks provide a more accurate representation of the diversity of plant–pollinator interactions in a community but that floral visitation and pollen transport networks do not differ in overall network structure. Pollen transport network structure was relatively stable throughout the flowering season despite changes in plant and pollinator species composition. Overall, our study highlights the need to improve our understanding of the drivers of plant–pollinator network structure in order to more fully understand the process that govern the assembly of these interactions in nature., Floral visitation has been used to characterize plant–pollinator interactions even though it ignores differences in the quality of floral visits. Insect pollen loads on the other hand can provide more accurate description of the functional consequences of these interactions but this has been little studied. The strength and frequency of plant–pollinator interactions may also vary within a single season further limiting our understanding of the consequences of plant–pollinator interactions. We compared plant–pollinator structure using floral visitation and pollen transport data and evaluate within-season variation in community structure in a diverse plant–pollinator community. Pollen transport data revealed a larger diversity and up to two times as many plant–pollinator interactions. Pollen transport network structure was stable throughout the flowering season despite changes in plant and pollinator species composition. Our study highlights the need to improve our understanding of community-level plant–pollinator interactions and how they are structured in nature.

Data revealed that Egyptian clover were visited by 22 genus of arthropods belong to 16 families and 7 orders. The identified species were classified to phytophagous, Nectarivore, predatory insects. During both seasons Apis mellifera L. and Megachile sp. were the most abundant pollinators detected at the first week of May till the end of flowering season in mid-June. The highest activity period for A. mellifera was detected at 11:00 am. However, the lowest activity was found at 3:00 pm. and 5:00 pm. in both seasons, respectively, with insignificant difference between them in the first season. Whereas the highest activity period for Megachile sp. was detected at 1:00 pm. and the lowest activity was found at 7:00 am. During both seasons. The free pollination treatment produced the highest mean number of seeds per head followed by the caged with honeybees followed by the caged without honeybees treatment with average (48.15, 43.85 and 13.20 seeds /head) and (51.10, 46.10 and 10.85 seeds /head) during 2017 and 2018 seasons, respectively. The caged plants without honeybees produced the low weight of 1000 seed. Whereas the non-caged treatment produced the highest weights with an average (2.75 and 2.55 g) and (3.50 and 3.90 g) during both seasons, respectively.

Pollination requires a flower to remain open for long enough to allow for the arrival of pollinators. However, maintaining flowers costs energy and resources. Therefore, flower longevity, the length of time a flower remains viable, is critical for the outcome of plant reproduction. Although previous studies showed that the evolution of flower longevity depends on the rates of pollen deposition and removal, whether plants should increase or decrease flower life span when the pollination environment is unpredictable has not been explored. Moreover, the common hypothesis that an unpredictable pollination environment should select for increased flower longevity may be too simplistic since there is no distinction drawn between the effects of spatial and temporal variation. Adopting evolutionary game theory, we investigate the evolution of flower longevity under three types of variation: spatial heterogeneity, daily fluctuations within a flowering season and yearly fluctuations between flowering seasons. We find that spatial heterogeneity often selects for a shorter flower lifespan, while temporal fluctuations of fitness accrual rates at both daily and yearly time scales tends to favour greater longevity, although daily and yearly fluctuations have somewhat different effects. However, the presence of correlation between female and male fitness accrual rates seems to have no effect on flower longevity. Our work suggests that explicit measurements of spatial and temporal variation in both female and male functions may provide a better understanding of the evolution of flower longevity and reproduction.

The little-known Aloe labiaflava (Asphodelaceae subfam. Alooideae), which has for long been regarded as a hybrid between A. davyana and A. longibracteata, is reinstated as an accepted species endemic to a small area in the western Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It differs from both A. davyana and A. longibracteata in several reproductive morphological characters not present in these two species, especially by almost invariably producing only a single inflorescence per flowering season and by having a perianth that is distinctly flared at the mouth, with especially the external, apical ⅓ of the perianth conspicuously yellow.

The present work is the first of two reviews on applied modeling in the field of aerobiology. The aerobiological predictive models for pollen and fungal spores, usually defined as predictive statistical models, will, amongst other objectives, forecast airborne particles' concentration or dynamical behavior of the particles. These models can be classified into Observation Based Models (OBM), Phenological Based Models (PHM), or OTher Models (OTM). The aim of this review is to show, analyze and discuss the different predictive models used in pollen and spore aerobiological studies. The analysis was performed on published electronic scientific articles from 1998 to 2016 related to the type of model, the taxa and the modelled parameters. From a total of 503 studies, 55.5% used OBM (44.8% on pollen and 10.7% on fungal spores), 38.5% PHM (all on pollen) and 6% OTM (5.4% on pollen and 0.6% on fungal spores). OBM have been used with high frequency to forecast concentration. The most frequent model of OBM was linear regression (18.5% out of 503) on pollen and artificial neural networks (4.6%) on fungal spores. In the PHM, the principal use was to characterize the main pollen season (flowering season) based on the model of growth degree days. Finally, OTM have been used to estimate concentrations at unmonitored areas. Olea (14,5%) on pollen and Alternaria (4,8%) on fungal spores were the taxa most frequently modelled. Daily concentration was the most modelled parameter by OBM (25.2%) and season start day by PHM (35.6%). The PHM approaches include greater model diversity and use fewer independent variables than OBM. In addition, PHM show to be easier to apply than OBM; however, the wide range of criteria to define the parameters to use in PHM (e.g.: pollination start day) makes that each model is used with a lesser frequency than other models.

Cajanus cajan (aka pigeon pea) is a terrestrial medicinal plant native to Asian and African countries before being introduced to the American continent. This protein-rich legume species, belonging to the Fabaceae family, has been traditionally used to cure various ailments in many traditional medicines. Recent works have highlighted it as a rich source of a wide array of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds. The major biological activities that are currently reported on are mainly focused on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities which are relevant for the cosmetic field. For example, hydroalcoholic extract from C. cajan has been highlighted as a particularly effective antioxidant in various scavenging assays for both reactive oxygen or nitrogen species. One of its constituents, cyanidin-3-monoglucoside, has been reported to suppress inflammatory cytokine production (e.g., TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in murine RAW264.7 macrophages). The present review provides an overview on the flavonoids and phenolics from C. cajan as well as their biological activities that can be applied for cosmetic applications. In addition, the botanical data including taxonomic description, flowering season, distribution, synonyms and traditional uses are illustrated, so as to provide an overview of pigeon pea’s cosmetic/cosmeceutical potentials.

Mutualistic networks are highly dynamic, characterized by high temporal turnover of species and interactions. Yet, we have a limited understanding of how the internal structure of these networks and the roles species play in them vary through time. We used 6 years of observation data and a novel statistical method (dynamic stochastic block models) to assess how network structure and species' structural position within the network change throughout subseasons of the flowering season and across years in a quantitative plant–pollinator network from a dryland ecosystem in Argentina. Our analyses revealed a core–periphery structure persistent through subseasons and years. Yet, species structural position as core or peripheral was highly dynamic: virtually all species that were at the core in some subseasons were also peripheral in other subseasons, while many other species always remained peripheral. Our results illuminate our understanding of the dynamics of mutualistic networks and have important implications for ecosystem management and conservation. Fil: Miele, Vincent. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia Fil: Ramos Jiliberto, Rodrigo. Universidad Mayor; Chile Fil: Vazquez, Diego P.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina

This study aims to determine community structure and composition of liquid organic fertilizer (POC) against visiting insects in block Refuge and to determine the public perception of the block Refuge and insect’s conservation. Analysis of insects data are obtained from the important of index value, diversity ( index’s Shannon Wienner ). Insect abundance spring that treatment total 298 individuals and control 168 individuals. Insect abundance spring that treatment total 262 individuals and control 116 individuals. Insect diversity during flowering season given treatment was 2,11 andcontrol 1,49. Diversity during fruiting season was similar, given treatment it was 1,87 and control 1,42. Abundance of insect on both seasons with treatments and control had a significance of P=0,004. Similarities between insects on flowering season treatments between fruiting season treatments between organic fertilizers of different seasons 0,94 and control 0,80. Analysis on abiotic factors correlated with insect abundance with R-square value of 15%. Local perception towards refugia blocks was found to be low (46%) and medium (48%). Local perception towards convservation was found to be low (34%) and medium (63%). Local perception is affected by knowledge and non responsive actions towards insect conservation. Key words : Insect, Liquid Organic Fertilizer, Refugia

Many species of Zingiber have great ornamental potential, due to durability and exotic appearance of the inflorescences. Despite its large phenotypic variability, they are scarcely exploited or not yet exploited regarding the ornamental potential. To conserve potential ornamental genotypes, and subsidize breeding program, the Agronomic Institute (IAC) maintain a Germoplasm Collection of Ornamental Zingiberales with promising accessions, including Zingiber. The aim was the morphophenological characterization of ten Zingiber accessions and the indication for landscape purposes. A large variation was observed to the evaluated characters: Clump height (CH); Inflorescence visualization (IV); Clump area (CA); Clump density (CD); Leaf stem Firmness (LSF); Number of leaf stems per clump (NLSC); Number of leaves per stem (NLS); Leaf color (LCol); Evergreen tendency (ET); Flower stem growth (FSG); Flower stem length (FSLe); Flower stem diameter (FSD); Flower stem per clump (FSC); Color sensorial perception (CSP); Flower stem weight (FSW); Inflorescence length (IL); Inflorescence diameter (ID); Bracts aspects (BAs); and Flowering season (FSe). The accessions very suitable and with the best performance to use for landscape purpose were Z. spectabile, IAC Anchieta (Z. spectabile), Z. newmanii.

Phenology is often identified as one of the main structural driving forces of plant – flower visitor networks. Nevertheless, we do not yet have a full understanding of the effects of phenology in basic network build up mechanisms such as ecological modularity. In this study, we aimed to identify the effect of within-season temporal variation of plant and flower visitor activity on the network structural conformation. Thus, we analysed the temporal dynamics of a plant – flower visitor network in two Mediterranean alpine communities during one complete flowering season. In our approach, we built quantitative interaction networks and studied the dynamics through temporal beta diversity of species, interaction changes and modularity analysis. Within-season dissimilarity in the identity of interactions was mainly caused by species replacement through time (species turnover). Temporal replacement of species and interactions clearly impacted modularity, to the extent that species phenology emerged as a strong determinant of modularity in our networks. From an applied perspective, our results highlight the importance of considering the temporal variation of species interactions throughout the flowering season and the requirement of making comprehensive temporal sampling when aiming to build functionally consistent interaction networks.

Talh, Acacia gerrardii Benth. (Talh relevant to the Arabic local name) trees are main nectar source for honey production in the Arabian Peninsula. However, honey originated from nectar of this plant is characterized by relatively high levels of free acidity (FA), which has caused quality concerns with regard to marketing and exportation of Talh honey. This pioneer study investigated the free acidity of Talh honey starting where the honey originates and continuing throughout its processing and preparation. Furthermore, the pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of tested Talh honey made by Apis mellifera L. were monitored. Samples were collected during the flowering season of Talh trees. The FA levels showed a gradual significant increase from Talh tree leaves and flowers (30 ± 0.99; 34 ± 0.92 meq/kg) to bee crop (honey stomach) and unripe honey (43 ± 1.80; 72 ± 1.56 meq/kg) and finally to ripe honey (77 ± 1.28 meq/kg), respectively. For the pH level, the highest value was recorded in the leaves (6.41 ± 0.03), and it decreased as honey production continued, reaching its lowest value in ripe honey (4.91 ± 0.06). Contrarily, the EC increased from 0.98 ± 0.06 mS/cm in the leaves to 1.56 ± 0.08 mS/cm in unripe honey. Seasonal variations in FA, pH, and EC were monitored, and these factors showed significant fluctuations over time during the experimental period. The mean values of FA, pH, and EC in the newly harvested Talh honey were 82 meq/kg, 5.1, and 1.54 mS/cm, respectively. The levels of FA in Talh honey were higher than the range permitted in the international standards for honey quality. FA was significantly positive correlated with relative humidity (RH) and EC, whereas a significant negative correlation was observed between FA and pH. These results confirmed that Talh honey is primitively highly acidic, with low pH and high EC. The high levels of FA in the Talh honey were related to the nature of the origin plant, and were not associated with honey quality. The modification of Talh honey standards based on regional honey characteristics are suggested. Further research on the physicochemical properties of all Acacia spp. honeys that appear to have high FA levels is recommended.

Climate warming potentially changes the flowering seasons of terrestrial plants, and thus species interaction, with consequently substantial impacts on ecosystem structure and function. However, the general response patterns of flowering seasons to warming and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, a meta-analysis of data from 26 experimental studies examining 168 species was conducted to quantify the responses of the flowering seasons of terrestrial plants to experimental warming. The results showed that experimental warming prolonged the flowering season by 2.08% across all species included in this study. In addition, flowering season responses were dependent on plant functional types, with a significant extension in herbaceous species (+2.18%) but no change in woody species. The warming impacts on the flowering season of wind-pollinated (-4.53%) and insect-pollinated species (+4.21%) were opposite. Among herbaceous species, the flowering seasons of forb (+4.47%) and specifically legume species (+15.06%) were positive, whereas grass species (-4.53%) showed negative responses to experimental warming. Moreover, experimental warming effects on the flowering season showed quadratic relationships with the latitude and the mean annual temperature but did not change with the mean annual precipitation. The responses of the flowering season to experimental warming also differed in terms of the warming magnitude. These diverse findings indicate the need for additional experimental warming experiments, especially for underrepresented plant functional groups, to better understand the mechanistic relationships between phenology and temperature under future climate warming scenarios.

Phytophagous insects use a wide range of indicators or associated cues to avoid laying eggs in sites where offspring survival is low. For insects that lay eggs in flowers, these unsuitable sites may be created by the host plant's resource allocation to flowers. In the sequentially flowering host plant, Yucca glauca, late‐opening distal flowers are more likely to be aborted in the presence of already‐initiated basal fruits because they are strong resource sinks. If flowers are aborted, all eggs of the phytophagous insect, Tegeticula yuccasella, within the flower die. We used the phytophagous insect T. yuccasella that lays eggs in and pollinates host plant Y. glauca flowers to test the hypothesis that phytophagous insect females are less likely to invest eggs in host plant flowers if basal fruits are present because they are more likely to be aborted. We also investigated potential predictors of arrival of T. yuccasella at inflorescences at the onset of flowering. These factors may influence a phytophagous insect's decisions to select oviposition sites. We carried out a behavioral experiment using wild‐caught T. yuccasella females on manipulated inflorescences with distal flowers with basal fruits and without fruits. As potential predictors of T. yuccasella arriving at inflorescences, we used floral display size and day of onset of flowering. In support of our hypothesis, our experimental results showed that T. yuccasella was significantly less likely to oviposit in distal flowers on inflorescences with basal fruits. We also found that T. yuccasella arrival was higher at inflorescences with larger floral display size and earlier in the flowering season. These findings uncover a novel indicator of unsuitable oviposition sites—the presence of basal fruits, that phytophagous insects use to make oviposition decisions. Further, our study contributes to the growing body of evidence that shows that females prefer sites that increase the probability of survival of their offspring.

Reynoutria species are medicinal plants that belong to the family Polygonaceae and are widely distributed in eastern Asia, North America and Europe. Although the phylogeny and morphological and anatomical studies of some species in Korea have been previously reported, there are no discriminative anatomical and chemical data available. Therefore, anatomical characterization of the leaf, stem and root, and high performance liquid chromatography&ndash, diode array detector (HPLC&ndash, DAD) analyses were carried out to assess the differences in anatomical and chemical profiles among the Reynoutria plants in Korea, i.e., R. japonica, R. sachalinensis, R. forbesii and R. japonica for. elata. The anatomical evaluation showed discriminative characteristics, such as the shape of the stomata and the stomatal index of the lower leaf surface, the ratio of the adaxial/abaxial height, the size of the vascular bundles and the frequency of druse in the midrib, petiole, and stem, and the pericycle number in the root. For the HPLC analysis, ten compounds corresponding to each major peak were isolated from R. japonica roots and their structures were identified by comprehensive spectroscopic studies. Samples collected before the flowering season showed higher contents of these ten major compounds than those collected after the flowering season. The orthogonal projections to latent structures-discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA) with the inner morphological and HPLC quantification results, clearly discriminated these plants. These results provide anatomical parameters and HPLC profiling that can be used to distinguish the four Reynoutria plants, which supports quality control for their precise identification.

Fruits are the healthiest food with minerals, vitamins, antioxidants etc. Growing fruit trees in home gardens assure fresh and quality fruits. In the present work, cutting the male papaya plant at its base make them to sex reversal and thereby develop into hermaphrodite papaya plant. In the first time of flowering season it produces hermaphrodite flowers but does not produce fruits. All the flowers will drop down, but in second flowering season it develops fruit but they are not bulky, it is elongated. On microscopic studies it is observed that number of ovule development is more in hermaphrodite flowers than in female flower.