Sericostachys scandens is a monocarpic and heliophilous liana, native in tropical African forests. In the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) (East of DR Congo), it has been expanding very strongly for a decade, and is currently considered as having negative impacts on biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we test if S. scandens differs from three co-occurring, native, non spreading lianas (Gouania longispicata, Tacazzea apiculata and Adenia bequaertii) for functional traits which might influence plant expansion. For leaf traits (SLA, dry matter content, nitrogen concentration), S. scandens did not show extreme values compared to those of the three other lianas. In contrast, S. scandens had much higher biomass allocation to sexual reproduction. It also differs from the three other lianas for its reproductive strategy that combines both vegetative propagation and sexual reproduction, and propagule dispersal by wind. Moreover, S. scandens has larger leaves and a greater number of lateral branches per unit stem length. It is argued that the particular combination of functional traits exhibited by S. scandens may in part explain its propensity to behave as an opportunistic weed in the disturbed areas in the montane forests of Kahuzi-Biega.
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Summary Domestic cats were derived from the Near Eastern wildcat (Felis lybica), after which they dispersed with people into Europe. As they did so, it is possible that they interbred with the indigenous population of European wildcats (Felis silvestris). Gene flow between incoming domestic animals and closely related indigenous wild species has been previously demonstrated in other taxa, including pigs, sheep, goats, bees, chickens, and cattle. In the case of cats, a lack of nuclear, genome-wide data, particularly from Near Eastern wildcats, has made it difficult to either detect or quantify this possibility. To address these issues, we generated 75 ancient mitochondrial genomes, 14 ancient nuclear genomes, and 31 modern nuclear genomes from European and Near Eastern wildcats. Our results demonstrate that despite cohabitating for at least 2,000 years on the European mainland and in Britain, most modern domestic cats possessed less than 10% of their ancestry from European wildcats, and ancient European wildcats possessed little to no ancestry from domestic cats. The antiquity and strength of this reproductive isolation between introduced domestic cats and local wildcats was likely the result of behavioral and ecological differences. Intriguingly, this long-lasting reproductive isolation is currently being eroded in parts of the species’ distribution as a result of anthropogenic activities.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
