Spatial patterns of insect herbivory within a forest landscape:the role of soil type and forest stratum

Background:Insect herbivory has profound impacts on ecosystem processes and services.Although many efforts have been made to recognize the main drivers of insect herbivory at different scales,the results are inconsistent.One likely reason is that studies have insufficiently captured the spatially heterogeneous factors such as soil type and forest stratum within the stand that may significantly affect insect herbivory.In particular,there is a lack of studies that address the detailed spatial patterns of insect herbivory which are influenced by these factors.Methods:We measured the detailed spatial patterns of insect herbivory on cork oak(Quercus variabilis Bl.)in response to soil type(gravel soil and loam)and forest stratum(the upper,lower,and sapling stratum),and correlated these patterns with a set of influencing factors(litter coverage,coverage of shrubs and herbs,soil nutrients,soil moisture,and leaf traits)in a forest landscape.Results:Generally,insect herbivory was spatially heterogeneous within stands.Herbivory was significantly lower in gravel soil areas than in loam soil areas and the highest herbivory occurred in the lower stratum.However,there were also 41 individual plots in which the highest herbivory occurred in the upper stratum and 29 plots in which the highest herbivory occurred in the sapling stratum.There were significant differences in soil nutrient and water status between soil types,but no significant differences in leaf traits.The effects of forest stratum on leaf traits were also inconsistent with those on insect herbivory.Conclusions:Leaf traits may not be the main factors influencing insect herbivory in the field.Soil type may have major effects on herbivory patterns by influencing litter coverage while higher coverage of shrubs and herbs may reduce herbivory in the sapling stratum.These findings may advance our understanding of tree-herbivore interactions in real-world situations and have important implications for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems.

Clay nanosheet-mediated delivery of recombinant plasmids expressing artificial miRNAs via leaf spray to prevent infection by plant DNA viruses

Whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses are economically important plant pathogens that cause severe problems in many crop plants,such as tomato,papaya,cotton,and tobacco.Tomato yellow leaf curl virus(TYLCV)is a typical monopartite begomovirus that has been extensively studied,but methods that can efficiently control begomoviruses are still scarce.In this study,we combined artificial microRNA(amiRNA)-mediated silencing technology and clay nanosheetmediated delivery by spraying and developed a method for efficiently preventing TYLCV infection in tomato plants.We designed three amiRNAs that target different regions of TYLCV to silence virus-produced transcripts.Three plant expression vectors expressing pre-amiRNAs were constructed,and recombinant plasmid DNAs(pDNAs)were loaded onto nontoxic and degradable layered double hydroxide(LDH)clay nanosheets.LDH nanosheets containing multiple pDNAs were sprayed onto plant leaves.We found that the designed amiRNAs were significantly accumulated in leaves 7 days after spraying,while the pDNAs were sustainably detected for 35 days after the spray,suggesting that the LDH nanosheets released pDNAs in a sustained manner,protected pDNAs from degradation and efficiently delivered pDNAs into plant cells.Importantly,when the LDH nanosheets coated with pDNAs were sprayed onto plants infected by TYLCV,both the disease severity and TYLCV viral concentration in sprayed plants were significantly decreased during the 35 days,while the levels of H_(2)O_(2) were significantly increased in those plants.Taken together,these results indicate that LDH nanosheets loaded with pDNAs expressing amiRNAs can be a sustainable and promising tool for begomovirus control.

Karyotyping and identifying all of the chromosomes of allopolyploid Brassica juncea using multicolor FISH

Chromosome identification and karyotype using fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)provides a technical platform for genome and cytogenetic studies. Brassica juncea(brown mustard, 2n = 4× = 36; genome AABB) is an allopolyploid species that originated from a spontaneous hybridization of Brassica rapa and Brassica nigra and contains many valuable traits. In this study, a multicolor FISH procedure allowing the identification of all 18 chromosomal pairs was developed by two-step hybridizations with probes on the same metaphase chromosomes. The distribution patterns and chromosomal localizations of six repeat sequences(satellite repeat p Br STR, 5S r DNA, 45 S r DNA, B genome-specific repeat p BNBH35, and centromeric satellite repeats Cent Br1 and Cent Br2) on B. juncea chromosomes were characterized.Comparative karyotype analyses showed that the genome is relatively stable in comparison with its diploid progenitor species and revealed intraspecific karyotypic diversity among three accessions of B. juncea. This study provides valuable information about the genome evolution of B. juncea and a toolkit that will be helpful for chromosome identification.