Pollination efficiency and the evolution of sex allocation - diminishing returns matter.

Immobility of flowering plants requires them to engage pollen vectors to outcross, introducing considerable inefficiency in the conversion of pollen production into sired seeds. Whether inefficiencies influence the evolution of the relative resource allocation to female and male functions has been debated for more than 40 years. Whereas early models suggested no effect, negative interspecific relations of mean pollen production and pollen : ovule ratios to the proportion of removed pollen that is exported to stigmas (pollen-transfer efficiency) indicate otherwise.

FlowerMate: Multidimensional reciprocity and inaccuracy indices for style-polymorphic plant populations.

Premise: Heterostyly in plants promotes pollen transfer between floral morphs, because female and male sex organs are located at roughly reciprocal heights within the flowers of each morph. Reciprocity indices, which assess the one-dimensional variation in the height of sex organs, are used to define the phenotypic structure of heterostyly in plant populations and to make inferences about selection. Other reciprocal stylar polymorphisms (e.

The Ubuntu Way: Ensuring Ethical AI Integration in Health Research.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in health research has grown rapidly, particularly in African nations, which have also been developing data protection laws and AI strategies. However, the ethical frameworks governing AI use in health research are often based on Western philosophies, focusing on individualism, and may not fully address the unique challenges and cultural contexts of African communities. This paper advocates for the incorporation of African philosophies, specifically into AI health research ethics frameworks to better align with African values and contexts.

Family Associations in a Breeding Colony of Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture () in the Lowveld of South Africa.

Numbers of Critically Endangered Hooded Vultures ( Temminck 1823) are declining across their distribution. The range-edge population in South Africa is one of the smallest populations with only 100-200 mature individuals. In South Africa, Hooded Vultures nest solitarily in loose colonies (mean distance between nests 0.

Analyzing childhood (0-59 months) malnutrition determinants in five West African Countries of Gabon, Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, and Nigeria using survey logistic regression-insights from DHS data.

Background: Malnutrition is one of the most critical health challenges confronting public health agencies in developing nations. This study aimed to determine the scope and underlying factors contributing to malnutrition in West African countries, specifically Gabon, Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, and Nigeria.

Method: For this secondary data analysis, this study drew upon the demographic and health surveys (DHS) conducted within these West African nations.

Resource dilution effect rather than resource concentration hypothesis explains the patterns of pre-dispersal seed predation of an African cycad along an elevational gradient in South Africa.

The genus is entirely endemic to Africa, and like most cycad species, the genus is at risk of extinction. One of the threats jeopardising the future of the genus is reproduction failure, a failure that is still poorly understood. Our objective was to investigate what predisposes species to seed damages through predation, a potential cause of reproduction failure.

Karrikinolide1 (KAR), a Bioactive Compound from Smoke, Improves the Germination of Morphologically Dormant L. Seeds by Reducing Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) Levels.

Smoke-water (SW) and Karrikinolide1 (KAR) release dormancy and improve seed germination in many plant species. Therefore, we tested SW (1:2500 /) and KAR (10 M) to break the morphological dormancy of celery cultivar ( L.).

Pollen transfer efficiency in depends on type of pollinator.

Pollen transfer efficiency (PTE; the proportion of pollen removed from flowers that reaches conspecific stigmas) is expected to vary with the type of pollinator and flower morphology, and to influence male siring success. Many species in the genus are pollinated by bees (which consume pollen and should thus lower PTE) but during its radiation in the Cape, several independent shifts to both sunbird and long-proboscid fly (LP fly) pollinators, which do not consume pollen have taken place. Improvements in PTE could be one of the factors driving these pollinator shifts.

Renewable hemicellulose-based materials for value-added applications.

The importance of renewable resources and environmentally friendly materials has grown globally in recent time. Hemicellulose is renewable lignocellulosic materials that have been the subject of substantial valorisation research. Due to its distinctive benefits, including its wide availability, low cost, renewability, biodegradability, simplicity of chemical modification, etc.

Lactating mothers' perceptions and sensory acceptability of a provitamin A carotenoid-iron-rich composite dish prepared from iron-biofortified common bean and orange-fleshed sweet potato in rural western Uganda.

Uganda's lactating mothers are vulnerable to deficiencies of vitamin A and iron because they consume plant-based conventional foods such as white-fleshed sweet potato (WFSP) and non-iron biofortified common bean (NIBCB) that are low in provitamin A (PVA) and iron, respectively. A PVA carotenoid-iron-rich dish was prepared from a combination of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and iron-biofortified common bean (IBCB). This study evaluated the perceptions and sensory acceptability of OFSP+IBCB (test food) against WFSP+NIBCB (control food) among lactating mothers in rural Uganda.

Success in restoring native plant communities on kimberlite mining dumps in the Afro-alpine Drakensberg region of Lesotho.

Rehabilitation strategies for degraded mine dumps have generally seen limited success due to different complications associated with mining biophysical disturbance. In this study, we tested a combination of two methods to expedite revegetation of kimberlite tailings at Letseng Diamond Mine (i.e.

Anti-inflammatory effects of the plant family Amaryllidaceae.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Members of the plant family Amaryllidaceae are widely recorded in traditional systems of medicine. Their usage for inflammatory conditions is most prominent, with substantive evidence emerging from several locations around the world.

Aim Of The Study: This survey was undertaken to identify such plant taxa, highlight the countries from which they originate and afford details of the ailments against which they are utilized.

The critical role of coastal protected areas in buffering impacts of extreme climatic conditions on bird diversity and their ecosystem services' provisioning in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

In this study, we documented the diversity of bird species in the Eastern Cape coastal nature reserves (i.e., Hluleka, Dwesa, Silaka and Mkhambati nature reserves), and determined the potential role of each bird species in habitat maintenance using two functional traits (i.

Safety and immunogenicity of inactivated Rift Valley Fever Smithburn viral vaccine in sheep.

Background: The live-attenuated Rift Valley Fever Smithburn (SB) vaccine is one of the oldest products widely used in ruminants for control of RVF infections. Vaccinations with RVF Smithburn result in residual pathogenic effect and is limited for use in non-pregnant animals. Commercially available RVFV inactivated vaccines are considered safer options to control the disease.

The economy of pollen dispersal in flowering plants.

Mating success of flowering plants depends strongly on the efficiencies of pollen removal from flowers and its subsequent dispersal to conspecific stigmas. We characterized the economy of pollen dispersal in flowering plants by analysing pollen fates and their correlates for 228 species. The mean percentage of pollen removed from flowers (removal efficiency) varied almost twofold according to the type of pollen-dispersal unit, from less than 45% for orchids and milkweeds with solid pollinia, to greater than 80% for species with granular monads or sectile (segmented) pollinia.

Production of recombinant lumpy skin disease virus A27L and L1R proteins for application in diagnostics and vaccine development.

Vaccination using live attenuated vaccines (LAVs) is considered the most effective method for control of lumpy skin disease (LSD). However, this method is limited by safety concerns, with reports of adverse reactions following vaccination. This study evaluates A27L and L1R which are essential proteins for virus attachment and membrane fusion as recombinant sub-unit vaccines against LSD.

Avian species functional diversity and habitat use: The role of forest structural attributes and tree diversity in the Midlands Mistbelt Forests of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Forest transformation has major impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Identifying the influence of forest habitat structure and composition on avian functional communities is important for conserving and managing forest systems. This study investigated the effect of forest structure and composition characteristics on bird species community structure, habitat use and functional diversity in 14 Mistbelt Forest patches of the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Solving nomenclatural problems of genus-group names of the cuckoo-wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae): objectively invalid and unavailable names, new type-species designations, new names, a new genus and new synonymies.

Information is provided for 143 objectively invalid or unavailable genus-group names used in Chrysididae; 34 are objectively invalid, of which 18 are junior homonyms (five of these are also currently junior subjective synonyms), 18 are junior objective synonyms (two of these are also junior homonyms) of which seven are unjustified emendations, and two are unnecessary replacement names. The remaining 109 names are unavailable; 96 are incorrect subsequent spellings, most of them were originally lapsus calami or misprints, one is hereby deemed to be an incorrect original spelling, eight are nomina nuda, three were originally published as junior synonyms and never adopted before 1961 as valid names of any taxa, and one is a vernacular name previously considered as valid. Gender, type species, taxonomic history and status are given for each name except for incorrect subsequent spellings and unjustified emendations.

Determining the critical recruitment needs for the declining population of subsp. (Mill.) P.S. Green in Free State, South Africa.

subsp (Mill.) P.S.

Long-term subtropical grassland plots take a long time to change: Replacement is more important than richness differences for beta diversity.

We studied β diversity of grasses in a subtropical grassland over 60 years in South Africa. We examined the effects of burning and mowing on 132 large plots. We sought to determine the effects of burning and mowing, and mowing frequency, on the replacement of species and the species richness.

Beyond pollen:ovule ratios: Evolutionary consequences of pollinator dependence and pollination efficiency for pollen and ovule production in angiosperms.

Premise: The relative per-flower production of ovules and pollen varies broadly with angiosperm mating systems, with outcrossing types commonly producing more pollen grains per ovule than selfing types. The evolutionary causes of this variation are contentious, especially the relevance of pollination risk. Resolution of this debate may have been hampered by its focus on pollen:ovule (P:O) ratios rather than on the evolution of pollen and ovule numbers per se.