Diversified land conversion deepens understanding of impacts of rapid rubber plantation expansion on plant diversity in the tropics.

Understanding the status and changes of plant diversity in rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations is essential for sustainable plantation management in the context of rapid rubber expansion in the tropics, but remains very limited at the continental scale. In this study, we investigated plant diversity from 10-meter quadrats in 240 different rubber plantations in the six countries of the Great Mekong Subregion (GMS)-where nearly half of the world's rubber plantations are located-and analyzed the influence of original land cover types and stand age on plant diversity using Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery since the late 1980s. The results indicate that the average plant species richness of rubber plantations is 28.

A reinterpretation of the gap fraction of tree crowns from the perspectives of computer graphics and porous media theory.

The gap fraction (GF) of vegetative canopies is an important property related to the contained bulk of reproductive elements and woody facets within the tree crown volume. This work was developed from the perspectives of porous media theory and computer graphics techniques, considering the vegetative elements in the canopy as a solid matrix and treating the gaps between them as pores to guide volume-based GF calculations. Woody components and individual leaves were extracted from terrestrial laser scanning data.

Individual Tree Crown Segmentation and Crown Width Extraction From a Heightmap Derived From Aerial Laser Scanning Data Using a Deep Learning Framework.

Deriving individual tree crown (ITC) information from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data is of great significance to forest resource assessment and smart management. After proof-of-concept studies, advanced deep learning methods have been shown to have high efficiency and accuracy in remote sensing data analysis and geoscience problem solving. This study proposes a novel concept for synergetic use of the YOLO-v4 deep learning network based on heightmaps directly generated from airborne LiDAR data for ITC segmentation and a computer graphics algorithm for refinement of the segmentation results involving overlapping tree crowns.

Karyotype characterization of in vivo- and in vitro-derived porcine parthenogenetic cell lines.

Mammalian haploid cell lines provide useful tools for both genetic studies and transgenic animal production. To derive porcine haploid cells, three sets of experiments were conducted. First, genomes of blastomeres from 8-cell to 16-cell porcine parthenogenetically activated (PA) embryos were examined by chromosome spread analysis.

Establishment of bovine trophoblast stem-like cells from in vitro-produced blastocyst-stage embryos using two inhibitors.

The trophoblast (TR) is the first to differentiate during mammalian embryogenesis and play a pivotal role in the development of the placenta. We used a dual inhibitor system (PD0325901 and CHIR99021) with mixed feeders to successfully obtain bovine trophoblast stem-like (bTS) cells, which were similar in phenotype to mouse trophoblast stem cells (TSCs). The bTS cells that were generated using this system continually proliferated, displayed a normal diploid karyotype, and had no signs of altered morphology or differentiation even after 150 passages.

Herpes-like virus infection causing mortality of cultured abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta in Taiwan.

A herpes-like virus is demonstrated for the first time to be associated with high mortality rates in maricultured abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta in Taiwan. Histopathology of moribund abalone indicated that the nerve system was the primary target tissue. The lesions were characterised by tissue necrosis accompanied with infiltration of haemocytes.