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Background Vernacular plant names reflect cultural perceptions, historical interactions, and practical uses. The names of Cyclamen persicum and Leontice leontopetalum exhibit complex historical transformations across the Middle East. Methods We examined linguistic and historical sources alongside botanical, ethnobotanical, and phytochemical data to trace the origins, meanings, and diffusion of the vernacular names of these two species. Results Comparative analysis revealed overlapping semantic fields related to washing textiles and incense use, which contributed to the convergence of vernacular names in different languages and regions. Historical and philological evidence supports the identification of the Mishnaic ‘Kippat ha-Yarden ’ (‘Jordan Dome’) with Leontice leontopetalum , as hypothesized by Immanuel Löw. Conclusions Integrating linguistic, historical, botanical, and ethnobotanical data provides new insights into the evolution of vernacular plant nomenclature and contributes to the identification of problematic plant names in ancient sources.

Background Understanding the factors underlying dialectal variation across culturally and environmentally heterogeneous territories remains a major challenge in geolinguistic and ethnobiological research. The province of Almería (southeastern Spain) has often been described as a linguistic transition zone within the Hispanic domain, where features of eastern Andalusian and Murcian converge as a consequence of its historical trajectory and geographical position. However, quantitative assessments of this characterization remain limited. Methods This study examined whether similarities in vernacular bird names and named bird species reveal geographically structured dialectal differentiation within Almería and whether the resulting spatial patterns could be interpreted in relation to socio-cultural or geo-environmental variation. Vernacular ornithonyms constituted the empirical basis of the analyses. Quantitative approaches were applied to a comprehensive dataset of popular denominations recorded across the seven comarcas under an exploratory framework informed by previous dialectological, ethnobiological and territorial evidence. Results The distribution of vernacular names revealed a spatial differentiation between southwestern and northeastern comarca groupings, broadly consistent with previously described dialectal affinities associated with neighbouring Granada and Murcia and their dominant varieties, eastern Andalusian and Murcian. This pattern may partly reflect the influence of the Filabres Mountains as a structuring feature affecting interaction and cultural diffusion. In parallel, named bird species revealed a distinct coastal–inland differentiation among comarcas, interpreted primarily in relation to habitat heterogeneity, biodiversity structure and geographic isolation. Coastal areas tended to show higher richness of named species, whereas inland areas exhibited greater linguistic diversity per species, likely associated with ecological heterogeneity, historical connectivity, territorial interaction and processes of cultural transmission and local ecological knowledge. Conclusion Although causal inference is not possible, the results suggest that dialectal variation may be associated with interacting socio-cultural processes linked to cultural transmission and territorial interaction together with geo-environmental factors related to habitat heterogeneity, biodiversity and geographic isolation. These findings highlight the usefulness of vernacular nomenclature for examining relationships between linguistic variation, territorial interaction, cultural transmission and environmental context. However, the two spatial patterns identified are likely shaped by interacting ecological, socio-cultural and territorial processes whose relative contributions cannot be fully disentangled and therefore warrant further investigation.

Aedes aegypti bears the common name “the yellow fever mosquito,” although, today, it is of more concern as the major vector of dengue, chikungunya, and, most recently, Zika viruses. In the present article, we review recent work on the population genetics of this mosquito in efforts to reconstruct its recent (approximately 600 years) history and relate these findings to epidemiological records of occurrences of diseases transmitted by this species. The two sources of information are remarkably congruent. Ae. aegypti was introduced to the New World 400–550 years ago from its ancestral home in West Africa via European slave trade. Ships from the New World returning to their European ports of origin introduced the species to the Mediterranean region around 1800, where it became established until about 1950. The Suez Canal opened in 1869 and Ae. aegypti was introduced into Asia by the 1870s, then on to Australia (1887) and the South Pacific (1904).

Knowledge of biodiversity is unevenly distributed across the Tree of Life. In the long run, such disparity in awareness unbalances our understanding of life on Earth, influencing policy decisions and the allocation of research and conservation funding. We investigated how humans accumulate knowledge of biodiversity by searching for consistent relationships between scientific (number of publications) and societal (number of views in Wikipedia) interest, and species-level morphological, ecological, and sociocultural factors. Across a random selection of 3019 species spanning 29 Phyla/Divisions, we show that sociocultural factors are the most important correlates of scientific and societal interest in biodiversity, including the fact that a species is useful or harmful to humans, has a common name, and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Furthermore, large-bodied, broadly distributed, and taxonomically unique species receive more scientific and societal attention, whereas colorfulness and phylogenetic proximity to humans correlate exclusively with societal attention. These results highlight a favoritism toward limited branches of the Tree of Life, and that scientific and societal priorities in biodiversity research broadly align. This suggests that we may be missing out on key species in our research and conservation agenda simply because they are not on our cultural radar.

Although self-medication in non-human animals is often difficult to document systematically due to the difficulty of predicting its occurrence, there is widespread evidence of such behaviors as whole leaf swallowing, bitter pith chewing, and fur rubbing in African great apes, orangutans, white handed gibbons, and several other species of monkeys in Africa, Central and South America and Madagascar. To the best of our knowledge, there is only one report of active wound treatment in non-human animals, namely in chimpanzees. We observed a male Sumatran orangutan ( Pongo abelii ) who sustained a facial wound. Three days after the injury he selectively ripped off leaves of a liana with the common name Akar Kuning ( Fibraurea tinctoria ), chewed on them, and then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto the facial wound. As a last step, he fully covered the wound with the chewed leaves. Found in tropical forests of Southeast Asia, this and related liana species are known for their analgesic, antipyretic, and diuretic effects and are used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases, such as dysentery, diabetes, and malaria. Previous analyses of plant chemical compounds show the presence of furanoditerpenoids and protoberberine alkaloids, which are known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, and other biological activities of relevance to wound healing. This possibly innovative behavior presents the first systematically documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species know to contain biologically active substances by a wild animal and provides new insights into the origins of human wound care.

Viruses of four families of arthropod-specific, large dsDNA viruses (the nuclear arthropod large DNA viruses, or NALDVs) possess homologs of genes encoding conserved components involved in the baculovirus primary infection mechanism. The presence of such homologs encoding per os infectivity factors (pif genes), along with their absence from other viruses and the occurrence of other shared characteristics, suggests a common origin for the viruses of these families. Therefore, the class Naldaviricetes was recently established, accommodating these four families. In addition, within this class, the ICTV approved the creation of the order Lefavirales for three of these families, whose members carry homologs of the baculovirus genes that code for components of the viral RNA polymerase, which is responsible for late gene expression. We further established a system for the binomial naming of all virus species in the order Lefavirales, in accordance with a decision by the ICTV in 2019 to move towards a standardized nomenclature for all virus species. The binomial species names for members of the order Lefavirales consist of the name of the genus to which the species belongs (e.g., Alphabaculovirus), followed by a single epithet that refers to the host species from which the virus was originally isolated. The common names of viruses and the abbreviations thereof will not change, as the format of virus names lies outside the remit of the ICTV.

Siderophore-positive bacteria present in the rhizosphere and in bulk soil assist plants by either inhibiting phytopathogen proliferation or increasing plant growth. The bacterial diversity of the Shisham forest ecosystem in the Tarai region of the Western Himalayas was studied and used for siderophore production, taking into account the large-scale dieback and wilt-induced mortality in Dalbergia sissoo (common name: shisham) plantation forests and the importance of soil microbes in tree health. In addition , Pseudomonas, Burkholderia , and Streptomyces were prominent siderophore-positive bacteria in Shisham forests. Pseudomonas species are known for their remarkable siderophore-producing ability. Bacterial siderophores inhibit pathogen growth by rapidly lowering the number of ferric ions in the rhizosphere. The Pseudomonas monteilii strain MN759447 was isolated from a D. sissoo plantation forest at the Agroforestry Research Centre, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand (28°58′N 79°25′E/28.97°N 79.41°E). It produces a significant number of siderophore units (80.36% in total). A two-stage optimization of growth factors was attempted in the strain MN759447 for better siderophore recovery. In the first-stage single-factor experiment, among the five variables studied, only pH, NH 4 NO 3 concentration, and Fe concentration affected siderophore synthesis. In the second stage, an optimization of pH, NH 4 NO 3 concentration, and Fe concentration for improved growth and enhanced siderophore production was carried out using a Box–Behnken design with response surface methodology. By using LC-MS, two derivatives of pseudomonine, salicylic acid, and kynurenic acid were detected as siderophores in the purified XAD-2 methanol extract of the P. monteilii strain MN759447. In addition to siderophore production, the P. monteilii strain MN759447 also exhibited a broad range of antagonistic activity against Aspergillus calidoustus (65%), Fusarium oxysporum (41.66%), Talaromyces pinophilus (65%), and Talaromyces verruculosus (65.1%) that are linked to sissoo mortality. To our knowledge, this is the first report on siderophore-producing bacteria isolated, identified, and characterized from the D. sissoo Roxb. forest habitat. This strain can also be developed as a commercial product.

Genomics-based, longitudinal comparisons between ex situ and in situ agrobiodiversity conservation strategies can contribute to a better understanding of their underlying effects. However, landrace designations, ambiguous common names, and gaps in sampling information complicate the identification of matching ex situ and in situ seed lots. Here we report a 50-year longitudinal comparison of the genetic diversity of a set of 13 accessions from the state of Morelos, Mexico, conserved ex situ since 1967 and retrieved in situ from the same donor families in 2017. We interviewed farmer families who donated in situ landraces to understand their germplasm selection criteria. Samples were genotyped by sequencing, producing 74,739 SNPs. Comparing the two sample groups, we show that ex situ and in situ genome-wide diversity was similar. In situ samples had 3.1% fewer SNPs and lower pairwise genetic distances (Fst 0.008–0.113) than ex situ samples (Fst 0.031–0.128), but displayed the same heterozygosity. Despite genome-wide similarities across samples, we could identify several loci under selection when comparing in situ and ex situ seed lots, suggesting ongoing evolution in farmer fields. Eight loci in chromosomes 3, 5, 6, and 10 showed evidence of selection in situ that could be related with farmers’ selection criteria surveyed with focus groups and interviews at the sampling site in 2017, including wider kernels and larger ear size. Our results have implications for ex situ collection resampling strategies and the in situ conservation of threatened landraces.

Background: The increased sales of natural products (NPs) in the United States (US) and growing safety concerns highlight the need for NP pharmacovigilance to identify adverse events related to NP use and potential NP-drug interactions.1-11 Ambiguity in the names of NPs mentioned in adverse event reports in spontaneous reporting systems is a major challenge in NP pharmacovigilance research.[2] We have utilized a combination of a rule-based fuzzy string-matching algorithm and a neural network to reduce this ambiguity and increase the capture of NP terms in reports in the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).[3] Objective: To increase the capture of NP reports for improved NP pharmacovigilance signal detection in FAERS. Methods: We used a rule-based Gestalt pattern-matching[4] (GPM) approach and Siamese neural network[5] (SM) to identify the potential spelling variations and novel names for 70 NPs of interest from 389,386 FAERS reports with unmapped drug names. The identified terms were further refined through manual review and annotation by pharmacists. The novel and unique NP names identified from the FAERS reports were used to broaden the capture of relevant NP reports during quarterly data collection.1-61 Results: After annotation and adjudication, GPM and SM identified 595 and 504 unique NP terms, respectively. It is worth noting that a good portion of the terms did not overlap between the approaches (Non-overlapping: GPM 347, SM 248). Combining these results, we identified a total of 686 novel NP terms in the unmapped FAERS reports. The inclusion of the novel identified terms in the vocabulary yielded 3,486 additional reports that mentioned NPs and were not previously extracted from the database. A comparison is shown in Table 1. Discussion: The combination of the above-mentioned approaches led to an increase in the capture of relevant reports. These additional reports will lead to better NP pharmacovigilance signal detection from FAERs. A limitation of this work is that for practical reasons the manual evaluation was performed over 70 natural products of interest, considering 140 terms split between the 70 Latin Binomial and 70 common names. Another limitation we came across while evaluating the results is that we observed that no emphasis was assigned to either semantic or spelling similarity. Therefore, future work should consider when to prioritize semantic similarity and when to prioritize spelling similarity.

This paper presents a list of some medicinal plants distributed in the East Anatolia region. The list was prepared during an ethnobotanical survey of the region from 1995 to 2002. East Anatolia has a rich flora due to its variable climate and its many ecological zones. This diversity in flora provides a rich source of medicinal plants that has been long utilized by Anatolian cultures; and hence, accounts for the remarkable accumulation of medicinal folk knowledge for the region. This paper provides information about 71 useful plants grown in the region, 20 of which are reported for the first time. In addition to the scientific names, vernacular names and medicinal uses are given for each plant.