Exploring the Impact of Fermentation Time and Climate on Quality of Cocoa Bean-Derived Chocolate: Sensorial Profile and Volatilome Analysis.

The market for fine-flavor cocoa provides significant benefits to farmers. However, identifying the sensory qualities of chocolate under specific environmental conditions and measuring how its chemical compounds may be affected by climate differences and postharvesting practices remain a challenge. This study investigates how fermentation time and agroclimatic conditions in Colombia's fine cocoa-producing region of Arauca influence the sensory profile and volatile compound composition (volatilome) of chocolate derived from cocoa beans.

Assessing the cadmium content of cacao crops in Arauca, Colombia.

The district of Arauca is the second-largest producer of cacao in Colombia. However, despite its quality, it faces issues for export due to levels of cadmium (Cd) higher than the regulatory thresholds. A central question is how it may impact agricultural performance in the presence of Cd in cacao and chocolates.

Cacao ( L.) climate zones and its associated agrobiodiversity in Arauca, Colombia.

Background: Cacao ( L) is one of the most relevant crops in terms of economy and social rural development in Colombia. Cacao is also an important crop due to its potential to replace illicit crops and it is related to less deforestation and preserves the biodiversity. There are several cacao districts in Colombia, one of these being Arauca.

Unveiling evolutionary cradles and museums of flowering plants in a neotropical biodiversity hotspot.

Colombia, renowned as an important centre of global biodiversity, continues to harbour undiscovered evolutionary hotspots of flowering plants. The altitude-dependent hypothesis suggests that richness patterns are determined by altitude and probably influenced by climate variables. This study employs null models based on a species-level phylogeny of Colombia's flowering plants and their geographical distributions to identify evolutionary hotspots.

Integrating new variables into a framework to support cacao denomination of origin: a case study in Southwest Colombia.

Background: Cocoa quality plays a pivotal role in establishing denominations of origin, with genotypes, geography, climate and soil conditions being key variables. However, these factors have not been comprehensively explored in defining cacao denominations of origin. The present study addresses this gap by laying the foundation for cacao denomination of origin, focusing on the Buenaventura region on Colombia's Pacific coast.

Changes of distribution over the past two centuries in the northern Andes.

The genus is important for humanity due to its ethnobotanical properties, and in particular its ability to prevent and treat malaria. However, there have been historical changes of distribution in the tropical Andes that remain undocumented. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, several explorers recorded precise localities in present-day Colombia and Ecuador, countries which harbour about half of the species of the genus, including .

Diversity and Conservation Gap Analysis of the Solanaceae of Southern South America.

There is a need to make substantial advances in the taxonomic, systematic, and distribution knowledge of plants, and find better ways of transmission of this information to society to surpass the general pattern described as "plant blindness." The diversity of the plant family Solanaceae reaches its peak in South America; however, many of its species are threatened due to the expansion of the human footprint. Here, we examine the diversity patterns of the family in southern South America (Argentina and Chile) by means of species richness (SR), weighted endemism (WE), and corrected weighted endemism (CWE).

Phylogenetic diversity and conservation of crop wild relatives in Colombia.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are an important agricultural resource as they contain genetic traits not found in cultivated species due to localized adaptation to unique environmental and climatic conditions. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) measures the evolutionary relationship of species using the tree of life. Our knowledge of CWR PD in neotropical regions is in its infancy.

Assessing biodiversity and endemism using phylogenetic methods across multiple taxonomic groups.

Identifying geographical areas with the greatest representation of the tree of life is an important goal for the management and conservation of biodiversity. While there are methods available for using a single phylogenetic tree to assess spatial patterns of biodiversity, there has been limited exploration of how separate phylogenies from multiple taxonomic groups can be used jointly to map diversity and endemism. Here, we demonstrate how to apply different phylogenetic approaches to assess biodiversity across multiple taxonomic groups.

Phylodiversity to inform conservation policy: An Australian example.

Phylodiversity measures summarise the phylogenetic diversity patterns of groups of organisms. By using branches of the tree of life, rather than its tips (e.g.

Continental scale patterns and predictors of fern richness and phylogenetic diversity.

Because ferns have a wide range of habitat preferences and are widely distributed, they are an ideal group for understanding how diversity is distributed. Here we examine fern diversity on a broad-scale using standard and corrected richness measures as well as phylogenetic indices; in addition we determine the environmental predictors of each diversity metric. Using the combined records of Australian herbaria, a dataset of over 60,000 records was obtained for 89 genera to infer richness.

Phylogenetic measures of biodiversity and neo- and paleo-endemism in Australian Acacia.

Understanding spatial patterns of biodiversity is critical for conservation planning, particularly given rapid habitat loss and human-induced climatic change. Diversity and endemism are typically assessed by comparing species ranges across regions. However, investigation of patterns of species diversity alone misses out on the full richness of patterns that can be inferred using a phylogenetic approach.

Quantifying phytogeographical regions of Australia using geospatial turnover in species composition.

The largest digitized dataset of land plant distributions in Australia assembled to date (750,741 georeferenced herbarium records; 6,043 species) was used to partition the Australian continent into phytogeographical regions. We used a set of six widely distributed vascular plant groups and three non-vascular plant groups which together occur in a variety of landscapes/habitats across Australia. Phytogeographical regions were identified using quantitative analyses of species turnover, the rate of change in species composition between sites, calculated as Simpson's beta.