Relationship between water quality and phytoplankton distribution of aquaculture areas in a tropical lagoon.

Aquaculture activities can affect water quality and phytoplankton composition. Our study estimated phytoplankton density and composition relating to aquaculture-impacted environmental factors. We analyzed water quality and phytoplankton at 35 sites in a tropical brackish lagoon, including inside aquaculture ponds (integrated farming of fish, shrimp, and crab), at wastewater discharge points, within 300 m of these points, and farther out in the lagoon.

The educational community and its knowledge and perceptions of native and invasive alien species.

Environmental education seeks to foster an appreciation for nature and the impact of humans on it while introducing citizens to scientific thinking. Biological invasions affect different aspects of life on earth and mandate urgent management actions. Education and public awareness are strongly recommended for successful prevention and management of invasive alien species (IAS).

Isotropic and anisotropic processes influence fine-scale spatial genetic structure of a keystone tropical plant.

Limited seed or pollen dispersal enhances spatial genetic relatedness between individuals (fine-scale spatial genetic structure, FSGS), which usually decreases as a function of physical distance. However, such isotropic pattern of FSGS may not always occur when spatially asymmetric processes, for instance, wind direction during dispersal, are considered in wind-pollinated and -dispersed plants. This study assessed the pattern of FSGS in the keystone tropical wetland plant (papyrus) as a function of these isotropic and anisotropic processes.

Clonal growth strategy, diversity and structure: A spatiotemporal response to sedimentation in tropical Cyperus papyrus swamps.

Land degradation and soil erosion in the upper catchments of tropical lakes fringed by papyrus vegetation can result in a sediment load gradient from land to lakeward. Understanding the dynamics of clonal modules (ramets and genets) and growth strategies of plants on such a gradient in both space and time is critical for exploring a species adaptation and processes regulating population structure and differentiation. We assessed the spatial and temporal dynamics in clonal growth, diversity, and structure of an emergent macrophyte, Cyperus papyrus (papyrus), in response to two contrasting sedimentation regimes by combining morphological traits and genotype data using 20 microsatellite markers.

Fluorescent dye particles as pollen analogues for measuring pollen dispersal in an insect-pollinated forest herb.

In flowering plants, pollen dispersal is often the major contributing component to gene flow, hence a key parameter in conservation genetics and population biology. A cost-effective method to assess pollen dispersal consists of monitoring the dispersal of fluorescent dyes used as pollen analogues. However, few comparisons between dye dispersal and realized pollen dispersal have been performed to validate the method.