Color in nature mediates numerous among and within species interactions, and anthropogenic impacts have long had major influences on the color evolution of wild animals. An under-explored area is commercial harvesting, which in animals can exert a strong selection pressure on various traits, sometimes greater even than natural selection or other human activities. Natural populations of plants that are used by humans have likely also suffered strong pressure from harvesting, yet the potential for evolutionary change induced by humans has received surprisingly little attention. Here, we show that the leaf coloration of a herb used in traditional Chinese medicine (Fritillaria delavayi) varies among populations, with leaves matching their local backgrounds most closely. The degree of background matching correlates with estimates of harvest pressure, with plants being more cryptic in heavily collected populations. In a human search experiment, the time it took participants to find plants was greatly influenced by target concealment. These results point to humans as driving the evolution of camouflage in populations of this species through commercial harvesting, changing the phenotype of wild plants in an unexpected and dramatic way.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.078 | DOI Listing |
Front Chem
January 2025
Information Science Academy, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, Beijing, China.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have attracted great attention due to the simple manufacturing process, low cost, and diverse forms of energy harvesting. However, the energy collected by individual TENG is relatively limited, making it necessary to develop new method to enhance the energy harvesting capability of TENG. Here, we design a hybridized TENG that integrates a droplet-driven TENG and a wind-driven TENG, which exhibits excellent electrical performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFN Biotechnol
January 2025
CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Marine algae are considered promising resources both at present and in the near future. Their availability, together with their molecular structure and properties, increases their applicability in various sectors: food and feed, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and bioenergy. However, the "bio" qualification does not always imply a lower impact compared to fossil-based process schemes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiol Spectr
January 2025
Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
The goal of this study was to characterize the microbial profile of two different fresh pork cuts, bootjack (BJ) trim and tenderloin (TL), through a 16S rRNA sequencing workflow developed specifically for investigating low-biomass fresh meat within a commercial production schedule. Additionally, this study aimed to determine a baseline prevalence and enumeration profile across these two fresh pork cuts. Results showed that microbiome diversity was different between the BJ and TL, and also differed significantly by processing date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Chem
January 2025
Nanophotonics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.
An interesting approach of including an upconverter in the MoS counter electrode can yield broadband light harvesting Pt-free DSSC assembly. Here different upconverter (UC) nanoparticles (Yb, Er incorporated NaYF, YF, CeO & YO) were synthesized and loaded in MoS thin film by hydrothermal method. The inclusion of UCs in MoS films exposed without any secondary formation of upconverters and the uniform deposition of the films are confirmed through XRD and FESEM analysis respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2025
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China.
Tea is an important economic product in China, and tea picking is a key agricultural activity. As the practice of tea picking in China gradually shifts towards intelligent and mechanized methods, artificial intelligence recognition technology has become a crucial tool, showing great potential in recognizing large-scale tea picking operations and various picking behaviors. Constructing a comprehensive database is essential for these advancements.
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