The loss of large animals due to overhunting and habitat loss potentially affects tropical tree populations and carbon cycling. Trees reliant on large-bodied seed dispersers are thought to be particularly negatively affected by defaunation. But besides seed dispersal, defaunation can also increase or decrease seed predation. It remains unclear how these different defaunation effects on early life stages ultimately affect tree population dynamics. We reviewed the literature on how tropical animal loss affects different plant life stages, and we conducted a meta-analysis of how defaunation affects seed predation. We used this information to parameterize models that altered matrix projection models from a suite of tree species to simulate defaunation-caused changes in seed dispersal and predation. We assessed how applying these defaunation effects affected population growth rates. On average, population-level effects of defaunation were negligible, suggesting that defaunation may not cause the massive reductions in forest carbon storage that have been predicted. In contrast to previous hypotheses, we did not detect an effect of seed size on changes in seed predation rates. The change in seed predation did not differ significantly between exclosure experiments and observational studies, although the results of observational studies were far more variable. Although defaunation surely affects certain tree taxa, species that benefit or are harmed by it and net changes in forest carbon storage cannot currently be predicted based on available data. Further research on how factors such as seed predation vary across tree species and defaunation scenarios is necessary for understanding cascading changes in species composition and diversity.
Toxicity testing of four heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Mn and As) using four species of tropical marine phytoplankton, Chaetoceros calcitrans, Isochrysis galbana, Tetraselmis tetrahele and Tetraselmis sp., was carried out in multiwell plates with test volumes of 2 mL and the results compared to those of standard, large volume, shake-flasks. IC50 values (concentrations of metals estimated to inhibit 50% growth relative to the control) were determined after 96 hours based on automated O.D. readings measured in Elisa microplates by a Multiskan spectrophotometer. Good agreement was achieved between O.D. readings and cell counts indicating that this new method is a simple, economical, practical and rapid technique for toxicity testing, and provides good reproducibility of IC50 values. Results of the toxicity tests indicate that Cu was the most toxic metal (average IC50 values ranging from 0.04 to 0.37 mg L(-1)), followed by Cd (0.06-5.7 mg L(-1)), Mn (7.2-21.4 mg L(-1)) and As (33.9-319.3 mg L(-1)). Test species had different degrees of sensitivity to the metals tested, with I. galbana and C. calcitrans the most sensitive to Cu, Cd and Mn. Based on these findings it is recommended that the existing Malaysian Interim Standards for Marine Water Quality for Cd and Cu be reviewed.
Predicted global climate change has prompted numerous studies of thermal tolerances of marine species. The upper thermal tolerance is unknown for most marine species, but will determine their vulnerability to ocean warming. Gastropods in the family Turbinidae are widely harvested for human consumption. To investigate the responses of turbinid snails to future conditions we determined critical thermal maxima (CTMax) and preferred temperatures of Turbo militaris and Lunella undulata from the tropical-temperate overlap region of northern New South Wales, on the Australian east coast. CTMax were determined at two warming rates: 1°C/30min and 1°C/12h. The number of snails that lost attachment to the tank wall was recorded at each temperature increment. At the faster rate, T. militaris had a significantly higher CTMax (34.0°C) than L. undulata (32.2°C). At the slower rate the mean of both species was lower and there was no significant difference between them (29.4°C for T. militaris and 29.6°C for L. undulata). This is consistent with differences in thermal inertia possibly allowing animals to tolerate short periods at higher temperatures than is possible during longer exposure times, but other mechanisms are not discounted. The thermoregulatory behaviour of the turban snails was determined in a horizontal thermal gradient. Both species actively sought out particular temperatures along the gradient, suggesting that behavioural responses may be important in ameliorating short-term temperature changes. The preferred temperatures of both species were higher at night (24.0°C and 26.0°C) than during the day (22.0°C and 23.9°C). As the snails approached their preferred temperature, net hourly displacement decreased. Preferred temperatures were within the average seasonal seawater temperature range in this region. However, with future predicted water temperature trends, the species could experience increased periods of thermal stress, possibly exceeding CTMax and potentially leading to range contractions.
Tree seedlings in tropical rain forests are subject to both damage from natural enemies and intense interspecific competition. This leads to a trade-off in investment between defense and growth, and it is likely that tree species specialized to particular habitats tailor this balance to correspond with local resource availability. It has also been suggested that differential herbivore impacts among tree species may drive habitat segregation, favoring species adapted to particular resource conditions. In order to test these predictions, a reciprocal transplant experiment in Sabah, Malaysia, was established with seedlings of five species of Dipterocarpaceae. These were specialized to either alluvial (Hopea nervosa, Parashorea tomentella) or sandstone soils (Shorea multiflora, H. beccariana), or were locally absent (S. fallax). A total of 3000 seedlings were planted in paired gap and understory plots in five sites on alluvial and sandstone soils. Half of all seedlings were fertilized. Seedling growth and mortality were recorded in regular samples over 3.5 years, and rates of insect herbivore damage were estimated from censuses of foliar tissue loss on marked mature leaves and available young leaves. Greater herbivory rates on mature leaves had no measurable effects on seedling growth but were associated with a significantly increased likelihood of mortality during the following year. In contrast, new-leaf herbivory rates correlated with neither growth nor mortality. There were no indications of differential impacts of herbivory among the five species, nor between experimental treatments. Herbivory was not shown to influence segregation of species between soil types, although it may contribute toward differential survival among light habitats. Natural rates of damage were substantially lower than have been shown to influence tree seedling growth and mortality in previous manipulative studies.
Accurate estimation of tree biomass is necessary to provide realistic values of the carbon stored in the terrestrial biosphere. A recognized source of errors in tree aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation is introduced when individual tree height values (H) are not directly measured but estimated from diameter at breast height (DBH) using allometric equations. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of 12 alternative DBH : H equations and compare their effects on AGB estimation for three tropical forests that occur in contrasting climatic and altitudinal zones. We found that fitting a three-parameter Weibull function using data collected locally generated the lowest errors and bias in H estimation, and that equations fitted to these data were more accurate than equations with parameters derived from the literature. For computing AGB, the introduced error values differed notably among DBH : H allometric equations, and in most cases showed a clear bias that resulted in either over- or under-estimation of AGB. Fitting the three-parameter Weibull function minimized errors in AGB estimates in our study and we recommend its widespread adoption for carbon stock estimation. We conclude that many previous studies are likely to present biased estimates of AGB due to the method of H estimation.
Plant functional traits regulate ecosystem functions but little is known about how co-occurring gradients of land use and edaphic conditions influence their expression. We test how gradients of logging disturbance and soil properties relate to community-weighted mean traits in logged and old-growth tropical forests in Borneo. We studied 32 physical, chemical and physiological traits from 284 tree species in eight 1 ha plots and measured long-term soil nutrient supplies and plant-available nutrients. Logged plots had greater values for traits that drive carbon capture and growth, whilst old-growth forests had greater values for structural and persistence traits. Although disturbance was the primary driver of trait expression, soil nutrients explained a statistically independent axis of variation linked to leaf size and nutrient concentration. Soil characteristics influenced trait expression via nutrient availability, nutrient pools, and pH. Our finding, that traits have dissimilar responses to land use and soil resource availability, provides robust evidence for the need to consider the abiotic context of logging when predicting plant functional diversity across human-modified tropical forests. The detection of two independent axes was facilitated by the measurement of many more functional traits than have been examined in previous studies.
More than half of all tropical forests are degraded by human impacts, leaving them threatened with conversion to agricultural plantations and risking substantial biodiversity and carbon losses. Restoration could accelerate recovery of aboveground carbon density (ACD), but adoption of restoration is constrained by cost and uncertainties over effectiveness. We report a long-term comparison of ACD recovery rates between naturally regenerating and actively restored logged tropical forests. Restoration enhanced decadal ACD recovery by more than 50%, from 2.9 to 4.4 megagrams per hectare per year. This magnitude of response, coupled with modal values of restoration costs globally, would require higher carbon prices to justify investment in restoration. However, carbon prices required to fulfill the 2016 Paris climate agreement [$40 to $80 (USD) per tonne carbon dioxide equivalent] would provide an economic justification for tropical forest restoration.
The role of conspecific density dependence (CDD) in the maintenance of species richness is a central focus of tropical forest ecology. However, tests of CDD often ignore the integrated effects of CDD over multiple life stages and their long-term impacts on population demography. We combined a 10-year time series of seed production, seedling recruitment and sapling and tree demography of three dominant Southeast Asian tree species that adopt a mast-fruiting phenology. We used these data to construct individual-based models that examine the effects of CDD on population growth rates (λ) across life-history stages. Recruitment was driven by positive CDD for all species, supporting the predator satiation hypothesis, while negative CDD affected seedling and sapling growth of two species, significantly reducing λ. This negative CDD on juvenile growth overshadowed the positive CDD of recruitment, suggesting the cumulative effects of CDD during seedling and sapling development has greater importance than the positive CDD during infrequent masting events. Overall, CDD varied among positive, neutral and negative effects across life-history stages for all species, suggesting that assessments of CDD on transitions between just two stages (e.g. seeds seedlings or juveniles mature trees) probably misrepresent the importance of CDD on population growth and stability.
Current policy is driving renewed impetus to restore forests to return ecological function, protect species, sequester carbon and secure livelihoods. Here we assess the contribution of tree planting to ecosystem restoration in tropical and sub-tropical Asia; we synthesize evidence on mortality and growth of planted trees at 176 sites and assess structural and biodiversity recovery of co-located actively restored and naturally regenerating forest plots. Mean mortality of planted trees was 18% 1 year after planting, increasing to 44% after 5 years. Mortality varied strongly by site and was typically ca 20% higher in open areas than degraded forest, with height at planting positively affecting survival. Size-standardized growth rates were negatively related to species-level wood density in degraded forest and plantations enrichment settings. Based on community-level data from 11 landscapes, active restoration resulted in faster accumulation of tree basal area and structural properties were closer to old-growth reference sites, relative to natural regeneration, but tree species richness did not differ. High variability in outcomes across sites indicates that planting for restoration is potentially rewarding but risky and context-dependent. Restoration projects must prepare for and manage commonly occurring challenges and align with efforts to protect and reconnect remaining forest areas. The abstract of this article is available in Bahasa Indonesia in the electronic supplementary material. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.
Pharyngeal micro-organisms of 131 Australian and Malaysian children and adults were compared by analysis of aerobic culture of throat swab specimens. Enteric Gram-negative bacilli were commonly isolated in small numbers from Malaysian adults whether they had sore throats (28%) or not (36%), but were detected in only 9% of Australian adults without sore throats and in only 12% and 4% of Malaysian children with and without sore throats respectively. In other respects microbiological findings were similar in the different groups of subjects studied. It is concluded that the pharyngeal carriage rate of enteric Gram-negative bacilli may differ substantially between different groups of normal individuals. Our findings also suggest that these micro-organisms do not have a pathogenic role in pharyngitis.
Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that is responsible for causing nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Despite its common presence in soil and aquatic environments, the virulence potential of K. pneumoniae isolates of environmental origin is largely unknown. Hence, in this study, K. pneumoniae isolated from the estuarine waters and sediments of the Matang mangrove estuary were screened for potential virulence characteristics: antibiotic susceptibility, morphotype on Congo red agar, biofilm formation, presence of exopolysaccharide and capsule, possession of virulence genes (fimH, magA, ugE, wabG and rmpA) and their genomic fingerprints. A total of 55 strains of K. pneumoniae were isolated from both human-distributed sites (located along Sangga Besar River) and control sites (located along Selinsing River) where less human activity was observed, indicated that K. pneumoniae is ubiquitous in the environment. However, the detection of potentially virulent strains at the downstream of Kuala Sepetang village has suggested an anthropogenic contamination source. In conclusion, the findings from this study indicate that the Matang mangrove estuary could harbor potentially pathogenic K. pneumoniae with risk to public health. More studies are required to compare the environmental K. pneumoniae strains with the community-acquired K. pneumoniae strains.
N-Acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) serves as signaling molecule for quorum sensing (QS) in Gram-negative bacteria to regulate various physiological activities including pathogenicity. With the aim of isolating freshwater-borne bacteria that can cause outbreak of disease in plants and portrayed QS properties, environmental water sampling was conducted. Here we report the preliminary screening of AHL production using Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Escherichia coli [pSB401] as AHL biosensors. The 16S rDNA gene sequence of isolate M009 showed the highest sequence similarity to Pantoea stewartii S9-116, which is a plant pathogen. The isolated Pantoea sp. was confirmed to produce N-3-oxohexanoyl-L-HSL (3-oxo-C6-HSL) through analysis of high resolution mass tandem mass spectrometry.
Two microbial isolates from a Malaysian shoreline were found to be capable of degrading N-acylhomoserine lactones. Both Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry and 18S rDNA phylogenetic analyses confirmed that these isolates are Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. Quorum quenching activities were detected by a series of bioassays and rapid resolution liquid chromatography analysis. The isolates were able to degrade various quorum sensing molecules namely N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C6-HSL), N-(3-oxo-hexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (3-oxo-C6-HSL) and N-(3-hydroxyhexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (3-hydroxy-C6-HSL). Using a relactonisation assay to verify the quorum quenching mechanism, it is confirmed that Rh. mucilaginosa degrades the quorum sensing molecules via lactonase activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documentation of the fact that Rh. mucilaginosa has activity against a broad range of AHLs namely C6-HSL, 3-oxo-C6-HSL and 3-hydroxy-C6-HSL.
Proteobacteria produce N-acylhomoserine lactones as signaling molecules, which will bind to their cognate receptor and activate quorum sensing-mediated phenotypes in a population-dependent manner. Although quorum sensing signaling molecules can be degraded by bacteria or fungi, there is no reported work on the degradation of such molecules by basidiomycetous yeast. By using a minimal growth medium containing N-3-oxohexanoylhomoserine lactone as the sole source of carbon, a wetland water sample from Malaysia was enriched for microbial strains that can degrade N-acylhomoserine lactones, and consequently, a basidiomycetous yeast strain WW1C was isolated. Morphological phenotype and molecular analyses confirmed that WW1C was a strain of Trichosporon loubieri. We showed that WW1C degraded AHLs with N-acyl side chains ranging from 4 to 10 carbons in length, with or without oxo group substitutions at the C3 position. Re-lactonisation bioassays revealed that WW1C degraded AHLs via a lactonase activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of degradation of N-acyl-homoserine lactones and utilization of N-3-oxohexanoylhomoserine as carbon and nitrogen source for growth by basidiomycetous yeast from tropical wetland water; and the degradation of bacterial quorum sensing molecules by an eukaryotic yeast.
We report the production and degradation of quorum sensing N-acyl-homoserine lactones by bacteria isolated from Malaysian montane forest soil. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these isolates clustered closely to the genera of Arthrobacter, Bacillus and Pseudomonas. Quorum quenching activity was detected in six isolates of these three genera by using a series of bioassays and rapid resolution liquid chromatography analysis. Biosensor screening and high resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed the production of N-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) by Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis (isolate BT9). In addition to degradation of a wide range of N-acyl-homoserine lactones, Arthrobacter and Pseudomonas spp. also degraded p-coumaroyl-homoserine lactone. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documentation of Arthrobacter and Pseudomonas spp. capable of degrading p-coumaroyl-homoserine lactone and the production of C12-HSL by P. frederiksbergensis.
Roseomonas sp. strain B5 was isolated from Malaysian tropical soil that showed N-acylhomoserine lactone degradation. This is the first genome announcement of a member from the genus of Roseomonas and the first report on the quorum-quenching activity of Roseomonas spp.
Influenza seasonality in equatorial countries is little understood. Seasonal and alert influenza thresholds were determined for Malaysia, using laboratory-based data obtained from the Malaysia Influenza Surveillance System and a major teaching hospital, from 2011 to 2016. Influenza was present year-round, with no clear annual seasons. Variable periods of higher transmission occurred inconsistently, in November to December, January to March, July to September, or a combination of these. These coincide with seasons in the nearby southeast Asian countries or winter seasons of the northern and southern hemispheres. Changes in the predominant circulating influenza type were only sometimes associated with increased transmission. The data can provide public health interventions such as vaccines.