Saturday, December 10, 2022

Symbiotic CO2 sequestration

Bioengineered microbial community working together to store carbon

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WILEY

Photosynthesis is a valuable natural system for sequestering carbon dioxide. However, simply forming biomass does not fully exploit this system. A Chinese team of researchers, whose study is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, has now genetically engineered a microbial community which could serve as a living carbon sink. In this community, carbon dioxide is first converted into sugar by photosynthesis, then the sugar is converted into useful chemicals.

Various bacterial strains are used in biotechnology to produce specific chemicals. For example, some genetically modified strains produce lactic acid, which in turn is used to produce the biodegradable plastic, polylactic acid (PLA). Other strains are used to enrich precursors for biofuels or pharmaceuticals. However, because the bacteria require energy and nutrients, bacterial production of chemicals is often inefficient.

In contrast, phototrophic organisms naturally produce sugar from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. In a symbiotic community, therefore, chemical-producing bacteria could theoretically use this sugar as food, thus making them a potential carbon sink and simultaneously producing useful chemicals. However, many photoautotrophic organisms produce sucrose as their stored sugar, the exact sugar which bioengineered bacteria struggle to consume and utilize.

With this in mind, the research group of Jun Ni at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai (China) carried out a systematic search for candidate bacterial strains that could be bioengineered but which could also grow naturally on sucrose. They found what they were looking for in a marine bacterium known as Vibrio natriegens: “Luckily, V. natriegens naturally harbors the complete sucrose transport and metabolism pathway,” reveal the authors. In addition, V. natriegens can be genetically manipulated and tolerates salt stress. This is important because salt stimulates photosynthetic cyanobacteria to produce sucrose, thereby creating mutually reinforcing processes.

The research team then used this knowledge to produce an integrated modular system for CO2 sequestration from V. natriegens and the known cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. They improved sugar production in the cyanobacteria using genetic engineering, as well as adding genes to V. natriegens, which increased sugar uptake and conversion into chemicals. In an unexpectedly efficient process, the team observed that the cyanobacteria may package up the nutrients in vesicles which were then excreted. The marine bacteria were then readily able to ingest these vesicles.

The team produced four variants of V. natriegens in order to produce either lactic acid, butanediol for biofuel synthesis, or coumarin and melanin as precursors for chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The bacteria, in symbiosis with the cyanobacteria, produced the chemicals with a negative carbon balance. “This system could absorb more than 20 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of product,” the team report. The authors consider their results to be proof that symbiotic microbial communities can be used as effective carbon sinks.

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About the Author

Jun Ni is a Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, and Zhangjiang Institute for Advanced Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. His group’s research interests focus on light-driven synthetic biology, carbon-negative biomanufacturing, biocatalysis, and synthetic microbial community.

21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY

Recycled gold from SIM cards could help make drugs more sustainable


Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

SIM cards and elements 

IMAGE: SIM CARDS AND THE ELEMENTS THAT CAN BE EXTRACTED view more 

CREDIT: JAMES WILTON-ELY

Researchers have used gold extracted from electronic waste as catalysts for reactions that could be applied to making medicines.

Re-using gold from electronic waste prevents it from being lost to landfill, and using this reclaimed gold for drug manufacture reduces the need to mine new materials. Current catalysts are often made of rare metals, which are extracted using expensive, energy-intensive and damaging mining processes.

The method for extracting gold was developed by researchers at the University of Cagliari in Italy and the process for using the recovered gold was developed by researchers at Imperial College London. The study is published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is typically sent to landfill, as separating and extracting the components requires a lot of energy and harsh chemicals, undermining its economic viability. However, WEEE contains a wealth of metals that could be used in a range of new products.

Finding ways to recover and use these metals in a low-cost, low-energy and non-toxic way is therefore crucial for making our use of electronic goods more sustainable.

Lead researcher Professor James Wilton-Ely, from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, said: “It is shocking that most of our electronic waste goes to landfill and this is the opposite of what we should be doing to curate our precious elemental resources. Our approach aims to reduce the waste already within our communities and make it a valuable resource for new catalysts, thereby also reducing our dependence on environmentally damaging mining practices.”

“We are currently paying to get rid of electronic waste, but processes like ours can help reframe this ‘waste’ as a resource. Even SIM cards, which we routinely discard, have a value and can be used to reduce reliance on mining and this approach has the potential to improve the sustainability of processes such as drug manufacture.”

Professors Angela Serpe and Paola Deplano, from the University of Cagliari, developed a low-cost way to extract gold and other valued metals from electronic waste such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), SIM cards and printer cartridges under mild conditions. This patented process involves selective steps for the sustainable leaching and recovery of base metals like nickel, then copper, silver and, finally, gold, using green and safe reagents.

However, the gold produced from this process is part of a molecular compound and so cannot be re-used again for electronics without investing a lot more energy to obtain the gold metal. Seeking a use for this compound of recovered gold, the team of Professor Wilton-Ely and his colleague, Professor Chris Braddock, investigated whether it could be applied as a catalyst in the manufacture of useful compounds, including pharmaceutical intermediates.

Catalysts are used to increase the rate of a chemical reaction while remaining unchanged and are used in most processes to produce materials. The team tested the gold compound in a number of reactions commonly used in pharmaceutical manufacture, for example for making anti-inflammatory and pain-relief drugs.

The steps involved in recovering gold from SIM cards

They found that the gold compound performed as well, or better, than the currently used catalysts, and is also reusable, further improving its sustainability.

The researchers suggest that making it economically viable to recover gold from electronic waste could create spin-off uses for other components recovered in the process. For example, in the process, copper and nickel are also separated out, as is the plastic itself, with all these components potentially being used in new products.

Sean McCarthy, the PhD student leading the research in the lab at Imperial, said: “By weight, a computer contains far more precious metals than mined ore, providing a concentrated source of these metals in an ‘urban mine’.”

Professor Serpe said: “Research like ours aims to contribute to the cost-effective and sustainable recovery of metals by building a bridge between the supply of precious metals from scrap and industrial demand, bypassing the use of virgin raw materials.”

The teams are working to extend this approach to the recovery and re-use of the palladium content of end-of-life automotive catalytic converters. This is particularly pressing as palladium is widely used in catalysis and is even more expensive than gold.

Mental health support for farmers needs radical overhaul, say researchers


Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Mental health services in rural areas need urgent attention to ensure the needs of farmers are properly met, according to researchers.

Farmers facing worsening mental health problems are experiencing what researchers call a strained ‘landscape of support’ in rural areas.

An ESRC-funded study published today in Sociologia Ruralis indicates how the Covid-19 pandemic led to increased levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings among the UK’s farming population. It raises concerns around what the research team calls ‘landscapes of support’, with civil society organisations fighting to support farmers alongside primary mental healthcare services which are sometimes inaccessible and inadequately suited to rural communities.

The research team conducted two surveys answered by more than 200 farmers and 93 support providers across the UK, and in addition carried out in-depth interviews with 22 supporters of mental health in farming across Great Britain.

Farmers are essential workers, but some have been shown to suffer with poor mental health as a result of being relatively isolated physically, socially, and culturally.  At the time the pandemic hit the UK, farmers were already facing substantial uncertainty around transitions away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

By interviewing and surveying supporters of farming mental health, including chaplains, charities, auction mart staff and primary healthcare, the research found that mental health services are strained in rural communities and provide uneven coverage across the country. Some healthcare settings can be inaccessible and lack an understanding of farming, whilst informal spaces of social support are being eroded due to the loss of rural community. Mental health charities are struggling with funding and with the trauma of helping farmers through difficult times.

Academics are now calling on policymakers to take urgent action to help rural-proof primary mental healthcare services and better support civil society organisations which widen the safety net for farmers. 

The research project was led by Cranfield University’s David Rose, Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Systems.

He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated issues with farmers’ mental health that we already knew existed. For example, primary mental healthcare provision in parts of the UK is based on urban delivery models that do not suit rural communities. This leaves civil society organisations fighting to fill the support gap, but these organisations face their own struggles.

“This issue needs urgent attention to ensure farmers get the support they need and help civil society organisations to flourish. We want devolved governments to urgently address this and ensure support is in place for future shocks.”

Dr Caroline Nye, Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, said: “Recognition that mental health issues exist in rural communities in the UK is, by itself, not enough. Our research demonstrates that those who have been working hard on a professional level to support our farmers over the last few years face multiple challenges. Attention therefore needs to be focussed on ensuring that these bodies are supported in being both adaptable and sustainable over the long-term, for the benefit of the communities whom they serve."

Hannah Rees, a dairy farmer from Pembrokeshire in Wales, aged 26, said: “It’s great that more is being done to support those in agriculture, but I do still feel there is a long way to go.

“It’s important to reduce the stigma attached to mental health. Also, I think we need to stop taking a blanket approach that counselling is the only way to help people. Discussion groups and zoom meetings are other fantastic ways of providing support and countering loneliness.

“I believe we should see the introduction of mental health first aid training for those working in agriculture.”

Stephanie Berkeley, of the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “I welcome the findings of this study and agree that urgent action is needed to support the ongoing mental health of our farmers.  They work long hours every day, through global pandemics and uncertain times, to put food on our plates - but this dedication comes at a price.

“We need immediate action at government level to improve the primary mental healthcare provision for those living and working in rural communities and we need to take the pressure off the rural support groups and charities who have been relied on to provide support for those in crisis situations.” 

Co-authors on the paper were: Dr Faye Shortland (formerly University of Reading), Dr Caroline Nye (Exeter), Professor Matt Lobley (Exeter), Dr Ruth Little (formerly University of Sheffield), Dr Jilly Hall (SPSN), Dr Paul Hurley (formerly University of Reading), and Professor David Rose (Cranfield University, formerly University of Reading).

The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of UKRI’s rapid response to COVID-19.

Flavian Obiero, a farmer from East Sussex, said: "As a Kenyan-born, black man in British agriculture, my mental health is in good nick. Despite the usual perception of prejudice from under-exposed people in the countryside, my experience in the industry has been largely positive. That said, we are still a long way off from any significant change in peoples' mentality to personnel diversity in the industry."

Eveey Hunter, an arable farmer from Hertfordshire, said: “As wonderful as our industry is, it can be a very lonely and isolating place for some. There are a lot of stressful factors which determine success or failure in businesses, most of which are out of our control – global markets, huge inflation of input costs and of course the weather. There is also unfortunately a stigma attached to talking about feelings, mainly with men, which is something that needs to be addressed.”

Kate Miles, from the DPJ Foundation, a mental health charity that supports the agricultural community in Wales, said: “Over the last two years, we have seen an increase in demand for our service. We know that farmers value speaking with someone who understands the pressure that they face, and this understanding is vital in mental health services.  We see pockets of good work taking place across the country, including in rural areas. However, this needs to be consistent no matter where you are geographically.”

Trudy Herniman, an advisor for Cornish Mutual, which offers insurance to farms, businesses and people living and working in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset, said: “The issues raised for farmers and those working in agriculture following the Covid-19 pandemic are still very much there and now even more exacerbated.

“Coming out of the pandemic we had the war between Ukraine and Russia, everyone feeling the effect on fuel and input cost rises. But farmers then experienced volatility in the weather as storms damaged buildings and electricity supplies.

“Farmers find it hard to ask for help and when they are distressed find it difficult to overcome the barriers by not being able to get a doctor’s appointment. Using my mental health first aid training, myself, and others from Farmerados (a welfare charity) go to markets and shows and bring tea and cake and a safe space to talk. We offer support or a listening ear. It is crucial in helping to reduce the anxiety and stress experienced by farmers and those in the farming community.”

New study highlights urgent need to safeguard deep reefs - one of the largest and least protected ecosystems


Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Recommendations for COP15 on deep reef conservation. (c) Nekton 2022. 

IMAGE: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COP15 ON DEEP REEF CONSERVATION. (C) NEKTON 2022. view more 

CREDIT: CAN BE USED WITH CREDIT NEKTON 2022.

Scientists call for urgent conservation of deep reefs, one of the planet’s largest and least protected ecosystems

As world leaders, government negotiators, scientists and conservationists gather at the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15, to agree to halt and reverse nature loss, an international team of marine scientists and conservationists have made an impassioned plea for the urgent conservation of deep reefs.

Their calls are based on a new study, recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, led by scientists from Nekton, the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and the University of Oxford. This confirms for the first time that deep reef habitats, notably in the WIO, are largely unprotected despite being under threat from a multitude of stressors, including overfishing, pollution, climate change and, in the near future, seabed mining.

Their calls follow COP27 in Egypt, where many scientists, politicians and campaigners concluded that the 1.5C climate goal died, signing the death warrant on the vast majority of shallow reefs.

Deep reefs (found below 30 m) provide essential ecosystem services for climate change resilience, ocean health, and food security whilst also acting as a refugia for organisms threatened in shallow water, including commercially important species. Despite this, deep reefs are barely protected, even though they have a larger geographic footprint than their shallower counterparts. Furthermore, the scarcity of fish in shallow waters combined with modern deep sea fishing technologies is resulting in deep reefs being increasingly exploited by coastal communities who need fish for their food security.

“We strongly encourage deep reefs to be included in conservation and sustainable management action to complement global targets, notably 30% protection of the global ocean by 2030” said the study’s lead author, Dr Paris Stefanoudis, a marine biologist at the University of Oxford’s Department of Biology and a Research Scientist at Nekton. “Deep reefs are critical to a healthy marine ecosystem and face similar threats from overfishing, pollution and climate change faced by the much-imperilled shallow reef system.”

Covering over 8% of the global ocean, the Western Indian Ocean is one of the least known, least protected, and most threatened marine regions of our planet. Shallow and deep coral reefs of the WIO are marine biodiversity hotspots with high numbers of species that are found nowhere else on Earth. They are essential to the region’s 100 million people living within 100km of the coastline, including over three million people who are directly dependent on artisanal fishing for their livelihoods. The population is projected to double over the next 30 years, driving greater stressors on the ocean’s biological capacity to support lives and livelihoods.

The scientific team has co-developed a new framework for conserving deep reefs including practical recommendations and specific actions for regional policy-makers, conservationists and scientists. This has been published in the journal Conservation Letters.

The researchers urge policy makers to use the COP15 summit to agree to the following:

  1. Highly protect 30% of ecosystems by 2030 (‘30 by 30’), and include deep reefs in this target.
  2. Conserve deep reef ecosystems and their resources by specifically including them in fishery regulations, marine protected areas, and marine spatial planning.
  3. Extend current management efforts on shallow reefs to include deep reefs as these ecosystems are often connected.
  4. Invest in foundational, fundamental, and applied research on deep reef biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and provided services.
  5. Develop national, international, transnational cross-stakeholder collaborations to survey and conserve deep reefs in national and international (High Seas) waters

“To halt and reverse nature loss, the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15 must prioritise the conservation of unique ecosystems such as deep reefs, one of the least protected ecosystems on Earth” stated co-author Professor Lucy Woodall, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Oxford, Nekton Principal Scientist, “We hope our recommendations and actions will be useful for decision makers in the WIO, be applied within the new Western Indian Ocean regional policy and provide the springboard for deep reefs to become protected across the global ocean”, continued Professor Woodall.

Co-author Melita Samoilys, CORDIO East Africa explains: “Our framework was jointly developed with a range of stakeholders from academia, research, management and government, and provides a list of actions across three themes: capacity, information collection, and information sharing. Given the scale of the issue, we have also identified which parties – such as funding agencies, government, Institutions or the research community - are needed to work together to realise those actions”.

“To ensure a prosperous and resilient Western Indian Ocean, it is essential that deep reefs are no longer ignored by scientists and policy makers, and they must be specifically considered in conservation and management strategies”, shared co-author Athur Tuda, Executive Director of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, WIOMSA.

A video summary of the findings and proposals is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz1Tm2wo2JU&t=2s 

Notes for Editors

The Publication

‘Stakeholder-derived recommendations and actions to support deep-reef conservation in the Western Indian Ocean’ published in Conservation Letters, co-authored by 18 scientists representing 18 different organisations including from South Africa, Tanzania, Seychelles, Kenya, Mozambique, UK and USA. https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/conl.12924

Video, photographic and infographic content: https://nektonmission.org/about/press-news

WIO Conservation Framework: The UNEP’s Nairobi Convention provides the regional framework for governments, civil society and the private sector to strengthen the health and resilience of the Indian Ocean. At the Nairobi Convention’s COP10 in November 2021, the WIO nations unanimously agreed to co-create an ambitious new regional ocean strategy and accompanying policies to support sustainable ocean development underpinned by science-based management. ‘The Western Indian Ocean – Resilience & Prosperity Initiative’ (WIO-RPI), as it’s known includes establishing a just, equitably designed and managed connected network of ecologically and culturally representative protected areas in national and international waters, complementing global targets. Nekton and University of Oxford scientists are the technical partners supporting the implementation of the WIO-RPI.

Deep Reefs: Deep reefs include mesophotic (30-150 m), rariphotic (150-300 m), and cold-water coral reefs (>300 m) and have a great geographic

Contact               

Nekton: Nekton works to accelerate the scientific exploration and conservation of the ocean for people and the planet. Nekton is an independent, not-for-profit research institute and is a UK registered charity. www.nektonmission.org

University of Oxford: Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the seventh year running, and ​number 2 in the QS World Rankings 2022. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer. Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions. Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 200 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past three years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.

 

Genetic barriers, a warming ocean, and the uncertain future for an important forage fish

'It's all temperature driven, and the implications for this, in light of climate change, are huge'

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

In the vast oceans, one would assume their inhabitants can travel far and wide and, as a result, populations of a species would mix freely. But this doesn’t appear to be the case for a vital forage fish called the sand lance.

Sand lance are small schooling fish impressively rich in lipids, which makes them a fantastic and significant food source for at least 70 different species ranging from whales and sharks to seabirds, says UConn Associate Professor of Marine Sciences Hannes Baumann.

The Northern sand lance can be found from the waters off New Jersey all the way north to Greenland. Researchers, including Baumann and Ph.D. student Lucas Jones, were interested to see if sand lance constitute a massive, homogenous population, or whether there are genetically distinct groups. Their findings are published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science.

Baumann explains these are important questions to answer when considering conservation and sustainable management of the species, especially since the regions where sand lance live are warming faster than many areas of the planet due to climate change.

Sampling fish from such a broad range is no small task, but two years ago, Baumann and Jones began reaching out to other researchers to see if they had tissue samples to spare. Baumann credits the work to the international group of colleagues who contributed samples including co-authors from Canada and Greenland, and who helped sequence and analyze the data including co-authors from Cornell University.

In all, Baumann, Jones, and the team were able to sequence and analyze nearly 300 samples from a variety of locations across the sand lance’s range using a technique called low-coverage whole genome sequencing. They also sequenced the first reference genome for sand lance.

In a nutshell, Baumann says they found an area on the Scotian Shelf, off the coast of Nova Scotia, where a genetic break occurs. The researchers distinguished two distinct groups, one north and one south of the divide, with parts of the genome differing quite dramatically – namely on chromosomes 21 and 24. Without obvious physical barriers like a mountain range separating the groups, Baumann says it’s logical to ask how these differences are possible.

“That is the scientific conundrum,” says Baumann, and the answer, it appears, lies in the currents.

“When fish from the north reproduce and drift south, they are genetically less adapted to warmer southern waters, even if it’s five or six degrees warmer in the winter, they are just not surviving,” Baumann says. “These populations may be linked by the ocean currents, but the realized connectivity is basically zero.”

This finding is a first for the sand lance, but it has been shown in other species such as lobsters, cod, and scallops, and this research adds further evidence to an apparent temperature divide at the Scotian Shelf, and helps demonstrate that temperature is an important factor in survival.

“Example after example shows that the ocean is not as homogeneous a place as expected, and there are all kinds of things that prevent that constant mixing,”Baumann says. “We found another striking example of that.”

When researchers find adaptation in an environment where mixing is continuous, like in the ocean, Baumann says, the question is how it is possible that groups stay different, even though they are constantly encountering other genotypes. That is where powerful genomic methods, like the ones used in this paper, come in handy.

“Parts of the genome in many species have what we call a ‘genetic inversion,’ which means that the genes on the chromosome from one parent have a certain order and the genes on the same chromosome that come from the other parent that code for the same thing, and they’re the same area, but they’re flipped,” Baumann says.

These inversions mean recombination cannot occur; therefore, the genes are passed down through the generations and play an important role in adaptation.

“We discovered on chromosomes 21 and 24 there are whole regions that are completely different and that is like the trademark signature of what we call an inversion because there’s no recombination going on.”

Baumann says that knowing there are genetic and ecological barriers on the Scotian Shelf is important, because with climate change, this barrier may move north and while that may be good news for southern fish, it’s bad news for the fish currently there.

The researchers were also a little relieved in finding two clusters, because had there been many smaller clusters, it could make management and conservation more challenging, especially considering scenarios like the construction of offshore wind parks. Areas potentially well situated for wind turbines can also be habitats for sand lance, and construction disrupts habitats. If there were many, smaller population clusters, a single construction project could pose the risk of completely wiping out a cluster, whereas with more widely dispersed populations, though the local population may be temporarily disturbed, it will not be long before they are able to re-establish after construction is completed.

Baumann plans to focus further research on studying the genetic basis of the thermal divide.

“We want to make sure that this fish is productive and resilient, despite climate change, so we should make sure these areas where they are occurring are protected,” Bauman says. “These decisions should include experts to ensure if there’s an area that is very critical to sand lance, that any disturbance is temporary.”

It isn’t an unsolvable conflict, but it is something that we need to do, says Baumann, who also notes that it is possible that sand lance north of the thermal divide are already suffering more from warming because the region is warming faster.

“It could be that these two clusters have different vulnerabilities to climate change,” he says. “We don’t know that yet but that’s something that should be pursued.”

UConn researcher aims to uncover plant invasions in the tropics

A UConn researcher is leading an international team filling important knowledge gaps in the fight against invasive plants in Central America

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

Invasive species of plants have a knack for settling in new settings and making big changes to an ecosystem, even leading to extinctions of native species.

Assistant Research Professor in UConn’s Institute of the Environment Julissa Rojas-Sandoval explains that invasive plants are non-native species that have been introduced into new areas generally as a result of human activities, and that they are actively spreading, causing harm to the environment, the economy, and human health.  Invasive plants may have significant long-term implications for the conservation of native biodiversity, but to combat the problem, we need to know which plants are invasive, where they’re from, and how they got there.

Rojas-Sandoval leads an international collaboration including researchers from all Central American countries, working together to compile the most comprehensive databases of invasive plant species in Central America. The collaboration is called FINCA: Flora Introduced and Naturalized in Central America, and their first paper was published this week in Biological Invasions.

The collaboration arose to meet a need, says Rojas-Sandoval. “While we have a good understanding of the processes and mechanisms of plant invasions in temperate regions, there is a huge gap in our knowledge about biological invasions in the tropics, and this lack of information is limiting our ability to respond to invasive plants.”

Remediation and the impact on the conservation of biodiversity is an important focus, but invasive plants also threaten the social and economic impact aspects of the region. Rojas-Sandoval points out that for places like her native Costa Rica, which relies on eco-tourism and agriculture, the impacts of not dealing with the invasive species could be significant.

It has been suggested that the huge diversity of plants in tropical regions may provide resistance to invasions, meaning that these ecosystems could be less threatened by invasive species because of the competition between so many different plants, but Rojas-Sandoval has studied this topic for the last 15 years and says the problem is greater than is widely understood.

“Across the tropics, the acceleration in the rates of introduction of non-native plants, as well as increments in the rates of habitat loss and forest degradation, are transforming tropical forests and making them more susceptible and less resistant to invasions,” she says.

Rojas-Sandoval explains that, as the juncture between North and South America, Central America is a regional hotspot of biodiversity, home to about 7% of the world’s plant and animal species. The region is also very vulnerable to climate change, she says:

“Climate models predict more extreme events for Central America, more and stronger hurricanes, droughts, and other impacts related to climate change. But we don’t know how climate change is already impacting both native and invasive plant species across this region. That information is necessary to be able to start doing something.”

Rojas-Sandoval and co-author Eduardo Chacón-Madrigal from the University of Costa Rica seized the opportunity and decided to start collecting and compiling any available information to make a comprehensive checklist necessary to address the challenges posed by invasive plants.

They also reached out to other researchers from across Central America to see if they would be interested in collaborating and the timing was fortunate, says Rojas-Sandoval.

“Due to COVID, people were stuck at home and, despite the many difficulties, we all had extra time to collaborate revising lists of species and providing crucial information for the project,” she says.

The team gathered data from herbarium collections in Central America and from collections around the world as well as references from existing botanical surveys, lists of alien species, and other literature.

“We compiled all this information into a list and then sent it to the experts in different countries so they could evaluate it. Then we did a second verification process because we wanted to be completely sure that we were dealing with species that were 100% alien to the region and to validate the occurrence and classification performed by the experts.

“We were able to identify that species from all over the world have been introduced to different countries in Central America, and more than 60% of them have been introduced for ornamental purposes. It is good that we can identify those species, so we know where to focus for later studies.”

The team also determined that invasive plants have made their way into all the major habitats in Central America, and the trend is steadily increasing. This information can now be used to generate specific recommendations for the governments or for the local authorities, to use their resources in the best ways possible to have an impact in controlling the invasive species, says Rojas-Sandoval, adding that the best remedy is prevention – alerting people to the issues before the plants even arrive.

For invasive plants that have already been established, it will take education, persistence, and resources to deal with the problem. However, another important aspect of the problem is that developing countries often don’t have the additional resources needed to fully address the situation.

“The local authorities and people in Central America and other regions in the tropics are already dealing with so many issues, including poverty, climate change, pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources that it is even more important to optimize the use of any resources available to mitigate the impact of invasive species,” she says. “This is more bad news for many people dealing with so many problems, and it is crucial to increase awareness and support for the issue of biological invasions in the tropics.

“The sooner we start doing something, the better the results will be.”

 

The FINCA collaboration also includes: Eduardo Chacón-Madrigal (Universidad de Costa Rica), Lilian Ferrufino-Acosta (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras), Rodolfo Flores (Los Naturalistas, Panama), Omar López (Universidad de Panamá & Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute), AnaLu MacVean (York College), Indiana Coronado (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua), Pablo Galán and Dagoberto Rodríguez (Herbario Jardín Botánico La Laguna, El Salvador), and Yader Ruiz (Universidad de El Salvador).