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Attempts have often been made to isolate and characterise monofloral pollens to correlate nutritional with botanical properties. Nevertheless, pollen harvested in a particular area that can have a high biodiversity could have healthier properties. In addition, the analysis of the pollen’s botanical composition can be important for characterising the typical flora of a specific geographical area. On this basis, various pollens collected in different locations of the Marche region (Italy) and in different harvesting periods were analyzed for botanical composition and antioxidant (total phenolic content, ABTS, DPPH and ORAC tests), granulometry and colour (CIE L*a*b*) properties to evaluate the biodiversity of pollen sources within a particular geographical area and to correlate this to the nutraceutical characteristics. Antioxidant activity results showed values generally higher than those of monofloral pollens harvested in the same areas but manually separated according to colour, shape and size. This suggests that even the floral species present in low percentages may have an influence on the nutraceutical properties of these products. The multivariate statistical elaboration of the obtained results permitted the separation of samples containing a prevalent botanical species and the grouping of all the samples into separate clusters corresponding to different areas of Marche.

Natural plant protection products (known as biopesticides), derived from natural materials (plants, bacterial strains, and certain minerals) that can be used to control pests, are an alternative to plant protection chemicals (known as pesticides) due to certain advantages: less toxic to humans and the environment, no release/leaching of harmful residues, and usually much specific to the target pests. This review focuses on the systematization of information highlighting the main advantages related to the natural plant protection products used, the extractive methods of obtaining them, their physical-chemical analysis methodology, the specific constituents responsible for their pesticide effects, the mechanisms of action, and methods for direct application on vegetable crops or on seeds stored in warehouses, in order to eliminate the adverse effects occurred in the case of plant protection chemicals use. Special attention has been accorded to natural plant protection products from the spontaneous flora of Moldova (Romania’s macroeconomic region NE), which can be considered a resource of valuable secondary metabolites, especially in the form of vegetable essential oils, with biological effects and biopesticide routes of action. All presented information concludes that biopesticides can successfully replace the chemical plant protection products on small farms and especially in silos (seeds and cereals).

The composition of the ethanolic extract from the aerial parts of Crocus alatavicus Regel & Semen from southern Kazakhstan spontaneous flora was analyzed together with the determination of its antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anticancer activity. The phytochemical profile analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-QTOF-MS) revealed the presence of multiple kaempferol derivatives. High-performance reverse-phase liquid chromatography combined with a photodiode-array detection (RP-HPLC/PDA) found that kaempferol 3-O-dihexoside and kaempferol 3-O-acyltetrahexoside accounted for 70.5% of the kaempferol derivatives. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the extract for all the tested reference microorganisms were high, reaching 10 mg/mL for yeasts and 20 mg/mL for bacteria. In contrast, antiviral activity was observed at 2 mg/mL, resulting in the inhibition of the HSV-1-induced cytopathic effect and the reduction in virus infectious titer by 1.96 log, as well as the viral load by 0.85 log. Among the tested prostate cancer cell lines, significant cytotoxic activity of the extract was noted only on the LNCaP cell line, with an IC50 value of 1.95 mg/mL. The LNCaP cell line treated with 2 mg/mL of the extract showed a noticeably reduced number of spindle-shaped cells with longer cellular projections, a significant increase in the peak corresponding to the population of apoptotic cells in the sub-G1 phase and a decreased intracellular glutathione (GSH) level, suggesting the prooxidative properties of the extract. The obtained data provide novel information about the flavonoids present in the aerial part of C. alatavicus and suggest its potential application as a source of the compounds active against HSV-1 and metastatic, androgen-sensitive prostate cancer.

Weeds have always been considered an insidious enemy, capable of reducing crop production. Conversely, the agroecological vision attributes a key role to the spontaneous flora in promoting plant diversity and belowground interactions, which may improve the ecological performance of agroecosystems. We summarized the literature on the weeds’ arbuscular–mycorrhizae (AM) interaction and we analyzed evidence on the: (i) AM suppressive/selective effect on weed communities; (ii) effect of weeds on AM colonization, and (iii) positive role of AM-supporting weeds on forming shared mycorrhizal hyphal connections in agroecosystems. While some authors conceptualized AM as a weed control tool, others underlined their selective effect on weed communities. Recent studies suggest that AM-host weeds can participate in the development of a common mycorrhizal mycelial network (MMN) among different plants species. Nevertheless, direct evidence of the actual exchange of nutrients and C between coexisting plants through MMN in agroecosystems is missing. Although the effect of agricultural practices on plant community-AM interactions are complex, more conservative farming management seems to foster AM populations. Future studies should focus on: (i) field studies, (ii) weed communities and their traits, rather than on the most abundant species, and (iii) the use of advanced analytical techniques, able to monitor MMN development and functionality.

Vacant lots, unused lands covered by spontaneous vegetation, are widespread in urban landscapes. Although they are of less conservation value than natural ecosystems, they can provide important ecological services, such as maintaining air quality and mental health, and offering recreational space. Nevertheless, the effects of urbanization on the plant species richness and beta diversity of such lots remain poorly understood. We evaluated how plant species richness and beta diversity differ in vacant herbaceous lots 1) between two urban areas (Montréal and Québec, Canada) characterized by contrasting urbanization intensity, and 2) along a rural-urban gradient within both landscapes. We inventoried 69 vacant lots in Montréal and 62 in Québec distributed along three local levels of urbanization (established using NDVI values in a 500 m buffer zone around each lot). We found a lower beta diversity for plant communities in vacant lots in the most urbanized landscape (Montréal) compared to the least urbanized one (Québec), but no effect of local level of urbanization intensity in either of the landscapes. Montréal was richer than Québec in regard to non-native species, while native richness was similar between the two landscapes. Non-native richness was higher than that of natives at each local level of urbanization intensity, and the highest at moderate urbanization intensity. Finally, non-native species were functionally more homogenous than natives both within and between landscapes. Overall, our results suggest that biotic homogenization occurr only in very urbanized landscapes and that this homogenization results from non-native species invasion without local native extirpation.

The effect of five methods of in-row weed management on the species composition and diversity of summer weed communities in a plum orchard was evaluated. Different methods of orchard floor management (OFM) were implemented for seven consecutive years from 2009 to 2015. Festuca rubra L. ssp. rubra–rhizomatous perennial grass was sown as a cover crop in the alleys of the orchard, in the tree planting year. In the seventh year of OFM implementation, the treatments were ranked according to the decreasing value of the Shannon–Wiener floristic diversity index as follows: tillage, post-emergence herbicides spraying, mowing, mulch, and weedy control. The highest value of Simpson dominance index was found in the control treatment. In plots with such treatments as control, mowing, tillage, and mulch, the dominant species was F. rubra. This meant that the rhizomatous cover crop from the alleys penetrated and affected the in-row flora. Vegetation of mulched plots was characterized by low value of density and soil cover. The obtained results indicated that the flora developing in the control, sprayed with post-emergence herbicides, tilled and mowed plots had greater potential to provide ecosystem services, than the flora of mulched plots.

A number of selected cornelian cherry wild genotypes were investigated regarding antioxidant capacity, total phenols, total flavonoids and colour component. The total phenolic, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity of methanol extract of cornelian cherry fruits were determined using Folin-Ciocalteu, colorimetric and DPPH methods, respectively. Total phenolic content ranged from 163.69 (S1) to 359.28 (H2) mg GAE 100 g-1 FW. Genotypes H2 and H3 had the highest total phenolic content (359.28 and 343.50 mg GAE 100 g-1 FW, respectively), total flavonoids (54.26 and 64.48 mg QE 100 g-1 FW, respectively) and antioxidant capacity (2.39 and 2.71 mmolTrolox100g-1 FW, respectively). Significant differences of yellow/blue color component (b*), red/ green (a*) color component, values of lightness (L*) and chroma (C) were obtained for extracts from fruits. The present study shows the potential of certain cornelian cherry genotypes as valuable source of natural antioxidants and gene stock for breeding programs.

In recent years, the number of cases of heavy metal contamination has increased worldwide, leading to reports on environmental pollution and human health problems. Phytoremediation can be potentially used to remove heavy metal from contaminated sites. This study determined heavy metal concentrations in the biomass of plant species growing on a multi-metal-contaminated site. Seven plant species and associated rhizospheric soil were collected and analyzed for heavy metal concentrations. While plant Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb, As, and Ba concentrations ranged from 8.8 to 21.1, 56.4 to 514.3, 0.24 to 2.14, 1.56 to 2.76, 67.8 to 188.2, 0.06 to 1.21, and 0.05 to 0.62 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, none of the plants was identified as hyperaccumulators. Those in the rhizospheric soil ranged from 10.5 to 49.1, 86.2 to 590.9, 0.32 to 2.0, 3.6 to 8.2, 19.1 to 232.5, 2.0 to 35.6, and 85.8 to 170.3 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. However, Zn, Cd, Pb, and As concentrations in the soil outside the rhizosphere zone were 499.0, 2.0, 631.0, and 48.0 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. Senecio brasiliensis was most effective in translocating Cu, Cd, and Ba. The most effective plant for translocating Zn and Pb was Baccharis trimera and, for element As, Dicranopteris nervosa and Hyptis brevipes. Heavy metal and metalloid levels in spontaneous plants greatly exceeded the upper limits for terrestrial plants growing in uncontaminated soil, demonstrating the higher uptake of heavy metal from soil by these plants. It is concluded that naturally occurring species have a potential for phytoremediation programs.

In cities, trees planted along streets could play an important ecological role for spontaneous plants growing at their bases. For example, these trees could represent corridors by potentially connecting large green spaces (e.g., parks, gardens), which allow species to move within the urban matrix. We considered sets of urban trees in 15 streets in Paris, France, as metapopulations for 15 plant species. Our objective was to determine the factors influencing the dynamics of colonization and extinction of populations based on the distance of the streets to green spaces and biological traits of each species. Plant species in 1,324 tree bases of the Bercy District of Paris were surveyed annually from 2009 to 2015. For each species and each street, we used SPOMSIM software to identify the best‐fit metapopulation model between four models with different colonization and extinction functions: propagule rain model (PRM) and Levins’ model with or without rescue effect. Results demonstrated that species more often conformed to the PRM in streets near green spaces, which suggested that green spaces could act as sources for the populations in those streets. Species with seeds with long‐term persistence more often conformed to the PRM, indicating that a soil seed bank helps species invade entire streets. Finally, a higher percentage of species with a short height conformed to models with a rescue effect, which indicated that those small species resisted the effects of weeding by the city technical services better than taller species. Synthesis and applications. This study showed how biological traits of species and geography of the district determine the dynamics of plants in the streets, and these results may provide important information for biodiversity management in cities. In the objective of understanding the dynamics of plant species in fragmented landscapes, our paper is a fine description of the factors influencing the colonization and extinction dynamics of metapopulation of the most common 15 wild plant species that grow at the bases of alignment trees in the streets of a very urbanized district of Paris (France). This study showed how the biological traits of species, the geography of the district, and the weeding practices determine the dynamics of the plants in the streets.

The village of Ulieş belongs to Râciu Commune. It is located in the south-eastern part of the Transylvanian Plain (N46°41’30” E24°23’56”) in a hilly region crossed by wide valleys. It is situated at 24 km distance from Tîrgu Mureș, in the contact area of Mădăraş Hills and Comlod Hills, on the middle stream of the Comlod River (or Lechința) and its tributaries. The paper aims were the study of the flora from the surroundings of Ulieş Village, the investigation of possible medicinal use of the encountered plants species, and the preservation of plant diversity from the area. Fieldworks were conducted in 2014-2017. A total of 415 vascular plant taxa belonging to 76 families were identified. From these, 185 species are medicinal plants with certain content of active principles. Plants containing tannins (13.51%) were in higher percentage followed by those with essential oils (12.97%), saponins (10.81%), alkaloids (8.10%), flavonoids (7.56%), coumarins (7.02%), mucilages (5.94%), iridoids (5.40%), phenolic glycosides (3.78%), anthraquinone derivatives and cardiotonic glycosides (3.24), organic acids, vitamins and provitamins (3.78%), bitter principles (2.70), bitter-aromatic principles (2.16%), etc.