An ever increasing demand for new lead compounds in the pharmaceutical industry has led scientists to search for natural bioactive products.Based on this extensive research,marine invertebrates now represent a rich so...An ever increasing demand for new lead compounds in the pharmaceutical industry has led scientists to search for natural bioactive products.Based on this extensive research,marine invertebrates now represent a rich source of novel substances with significant antineoplastic activities.As the current approach of synthesizing new and chemically modifying old drugs seems to have slowed down,and the identification of new anticancer drugs is not too promising,a new approach is clearly needed.The objective of this review is to present up-to-date data on these newer compounds.Based on the data summarized in this short review,it is clear that marine invertebrates represent an extremely important source of compounds with potential anti-cancer effects.Considering that we tested only a tiny number of Porifera and Coelenterata,the best is yet to come.展开更多
Species range expansions are crucial for understanding niche formation and the interaction with the environment.Here,we studied the bumblebee Bombus haematurus Kriechbaumer,1870,a species historically distributed from...Species range expansions are crucial for understanding niche formation and the interaction with the environment.Here,we studied the bumblebee Bombus haematurus Kriechbaumer,1870,a species historically distributed from northern Serbia through northern Iran which has very recently started expanding northwestward into Central Europe without human-mediated dispersal(i.e.,it is a natural spread).After updating the global distribution of this species,we investigated if niche shifts took place during this range expansion between newly colonized and historical areas.In addition,we have explored which climatic factors may have favored the natural range expansion of the species.Our results indicated that Bombus haematurus has colonized large territories in 7 European countries outside the historical area in the period from the 1980s to 2018,a natural expansion over an area that equals 20%of the historical distribution.In addition,this bumblebee performs generalism in flower visitation and it occurs in different habitats,although a preference for forested areas clearly emerges.The land-use associated with the species in the colonized areas is similar to the historical distribution,indicating that no major niche shifts occurred during the spread.Furthermore,in recently colonized localities,the range expansion was associated with warming temperatures during the winter and also during both queen overwintering and emergence phases.These findings document a case of natural range expansion due to environmental change rather than due to niche shifts,and specifically they suggest that warmer winters could be linked to the process of natural colonization of new areas.展开更多
文摘An ever increasing demand for new lead compounds in the pharmaceutical industry has led scientists to search for natural bioactive products.Based on this extensive research,marine invertebrates now represent a rich source of novel substances with significant antineoplastic activities.As the current approach of synthesizing new and chemically modifying old drugs seems to have slowed down,and the identification of new anticancer drugs is not too promising,a new approach is clearly needed.The objective of this review is to present up-to-date data on these newer compounds.Based on the data summarized in this short review,it is clear that marine invertebrates represent an extremely important source of compounds with potential anti-cancer effects.Considering that we tested only a tiny number of Porifera and Coelenterata,the best is yet to come.
基金We warmly thank Irene Konovalova,Danilo Bevk,Paul Williams,Fred-erique Bakker,Maurizio Cornalba,Jakub Straka,and the participants at the ABIM一Alpine Bombus International Meeting for data sharing and/or for the fruitflil discus sions discus sions on Bombus haematurus.The contribution of AC was partly supported through the Project of Ministry of Education,Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia(#III43001).
文摘Species range expansions are crucial for understanding niche formation and the interaction with the environment.Here,we studied the bumblebee Bombus haematurus Kriechbaumer,1870,a species historically distributed from northern Serbia through northern Iran which has very recently started expanding northwestward into Central Europe without human-mediated dispersal(i.e.,it is a natural spread).After updating the global distribution of this species,we investigated if niche shifts took place during this range expansion between newly colonized and historical areas.In addition,we have explored which climatic factors may have favored the natural range expansion of the species.Our results indicated that Bombus haematurus has colonized large territories in 7 European countries outside the historical area in the period from the 1980s to 2018,a natural expansion over an area that equals 20%of the historical distribution.In addition,this bumblebee performs generalism in flower visitation and it occurs in different habitats,although a preference for forested areas clearly emerges.The land-use associated with the species in the colonized areas is similar to the historical distribution,indicating that no major niche shifts occurred during the spread.Furthermore,in recently colonized localities,the range expansion was associated with warming temperatures during the winter and also during both queen overwintering and emergence phases.These findings document a case of natural range expansion due to environmental change rather than due to niche shifts,and specifically they suggest that warmer winters could be linked to the process of natural colonization of new areas.
