An official website of the United States government
Acer(Sapindaceae) is a major genus of broadleaf trees dominating deciduous forests in the Northern Hemisphere, with Asia exhibiting the highest species diversity. Many economically importantAcerspecies are cultivated for ornamental or timber purposes.Acerpowdery mildew, caused by fungi in the tribeCystotheceae, poses significant global economic and ecological threats. The pathogenicity spectrum remains unclear due to taxonomic uncertainties in its primary causal genera,SawadaeaandTakamatsuella. This study presents a comprehensive phylogenetic-taxonomic analysis of the two genera across East Asia, Europe, and North America. Using 75 ITS and 58 28S rDNA newly obtained sequences, we resolved 12Sawadaeaspecies and oneTakamatsuellaspecies into nine monophyletic clades, revealing marked cryptic diversity (three new species:S. acerina,S. aceris-arguti,S. taii) and two paraphyletic groups (S. bifida/S. negundinis). Taxonomic revisions include:S. bicornissplit into twoformae(f. bicornisandf. polyphaga f. nov.) with distinct host preferences;S. tulasnei(sensu stricto) restricted to Europe/North America, invalidating previous Asian records;S. nankinensisandS. koelreuteriaeform two basal lineages. Phylogenetic positioning confirmedTakamatsuellaas a distinct genus sister toSawadaea, supported by an ITS1 26 bp deletion. Host specificity analysis revealed narrow host ranges (primarilyAcer) with two evolutionary host expansions toKoelreuteria,Aesculus, andLiquidambar. This study also newly describes the asexual morphs of four species (S. aesculi,S. bifida,S. bomiensisandS. kovaliana) and establishes a molecular framework for disease management through clarified phylogeny and taxonomy. Our findings provide critical insights into fungal evolution, host-pathogen interactions, and strategies for mitigating powdery mildew impacts in forest ecosystems.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on May 13, 2026
Two new genera of grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Melanoplinae) from Baja California, Mexico, with a regional key to the genera of Melanoplinae
Baja California, a 1,300 km long peninsula, exhibits considerable ecological diversity, encompassing coastal chaparral, coniferous forests, low desert scrub, and tropical deciduous forests. The region’s ecological complexity reflects its biogeographic history, marked by separation from mainland Mexico 5.5 million years ago. Survey efforts have documented an impressive 4,000 plants, and insect efforts have targeted bees, weevils, ants, and blow flies. Grasshoppers, in contrast, remain underexplored. The present study expands on expeditions from the 1970s to 2010s that focused on the peninsula’s Orthoptera. Two new genera are established—BajatettixandOzmacris—and a key to the genera of the Melanoplinae of the peninsula is provided. This study highlights the importance of understanding Baja California’s grasshopper diversity to support conservation initiatives and future ecological studies.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10596229
- Editor(s):
- Gu, Jun-Jie
- Publisher / Repository:
- Pensoft
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ZooKeys
- Volume:
- 1238
- ISSN:
- 1313-2989
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 75 to 97
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Kelp forests are globally important and highly productive ecosystems, yet their persistence and protection in the face of climate change and human activity are poorly known. Here, we present a 35-year time series of high-resolution satellite imagery that maps the distribution and persistence of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forests along ten degrees of latitude in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. We find that although 7.7% of giant kelp is protected by marine reserves, when accounting for persistence only 4% of kelp is present and protected. Protection of giant kelp decreases southerly from 20.9% in Central California, USA, to less than 1% in Baja California, Mexico, which likely exacerbates kelp vulnerability to marine heatwaves in Baja California. We suggest that a two-fold increase in the area of kelp protected by marine reserves is needed to fully protect persistent kelp forests and that conservation of climate-refugia in Baja California should be a priority.more » « less
-
Pérez-Matus, Alejandro (Ed.)Giant kelp and bull kelp forests are increasingly at risk from marine heatwave events, herbivore outbreaks, and the loss or alterations in the behavior of key herbivore predators. The dynamic floating canopy of these kelps is well-suited to study via satellite imagery, which provides high temporal and spatial resolution data of floating kelp canopy across the western United States and Mexico. However, the size and complexity of the satellite image dataset has made ecological analysis difficult for scientists and managers. To increase accessibility of this rich dataset, we created Kelpwatch, a web-based visualization and analysis tool. This tool allows researchers and managers to quantify kelp forest change in response to disturbances, assess historical trends, and allow for effective and actionable kelp forest management. Here, we demonstrate how Kelpwatch can be used to analyze long-term trends in kelp canopy across regions, quantify spatial variability in the response to and recovery from the 2014 to 2016 marine heatwave events, and provide a local analysis of kelp canopy status around the Monterey Peninsula, California. We found that 18.6% of regional sites displayed a significant trend in kelp canopy area over the past 38 years and that there was a latitudinal response to heatwave events for each kelp species. The recovery from heatwave events was more variable across space, with some local areas like Bahía Tortugas in Baja California Sur showing high recovery while kelp canopies around the Monterey Peninsula continued a slow decline and patchy recovery compared to the rest of the Central California region. Kelpwatch provides near real time spatial data and analysis support and makes complex earth observation data actionable for scientists and managers, which can help identify areas for research, monitoring, and management efforts.more » « less
-
Rodents are the largest and most diverse group of mammals. Covering a wide range of structural and functional adaptations, rodents successfully occupy virtually every terrestrial habitat, and they are often found in close association with humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Although a significant amount of research has focused on rodents’ prominence as known reservoirs of zoonotic viruses, there has been less emphasis on the viral ecology of rodents in general. Here, we utilized a viral metagenomics approach to investigate polyomaviruses in wild rodents from the Baja California peninsula, Mexico, using fecal samples. We identified a novel polyomavirus in fecal samples from two rodent species, a spiny pocket mouse (Chaetodipus spinatus) and a Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans). These two polyomaviruses represent a new species in the genus Betapolyomavirus. Sequences of this polyomavirus cluster phylogenetically with those of other rodent polyomaviruses and two other non-rodent polyomaviruses (WU and KI) that have been identified in the human respiratory tract. Through our continued work on seven species of rodents, we endeavor to explore the viral diversity associated with wild rodents on the Baja California peninsula and expand on current knowledge of rodent viral ecology and evolution.more » « less
-
Abstract Biological soil crusts represent a rich habitat for diverse and complex eukaryotic microbial communities. A unique but extremely common habitat is the urban sidewalk and its cracks that collect detritus. While these habitats are ubiquitous across the globe, little to no work has been conducted to characterize protists found there. Amoeboid protists are major predators of bacteria and other microbial eukaryotes in these microhabitats and therefore play a substantial ecological role. From sidewalk crack soil crusts, we have isolated three naked amoebae with finely tapered subpseudopodia, and a simple life cycle consisting of a trophic amoeba and a cyst stage. Using a holistic approach including light, electron, and fluorescence microscopy as well as phylogenetics using the ribosomal small subunit rRNA gene and phylogenomics using 230 nuclear genes, we find that these amoeboid organisms fail to match any previously described eukaryote genus. However, we determined the amoebae belong to the amoebozoan lineage Variosea based on phylogenetics. The molecular analyses place our isolates in two novel genera forming a grade at the base of the variosean group Protosteliida. These three novel varioseans among two novel genera and species are herein named “Kanabo kenzan” and “Parakanabo toge.”more » « less
