Abstract: Drought is predicted to increase in the future due to climate change, bringing with it myriad impacts on ecosystems. Plants respond to drier soils by reducing stomatal conductance in order to conserve water and avoid hydraulic damage. Despite the importance of plant drought responses for the global carbon cycle and local and regional climate feedbacks, land surface models are unable to capture observed plant responses to soil moisture stress. We assessed the impact of soil moisture stress on simulated gross primary productivity (GPP) and latent energy flux (LE) in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) vn4.9 on seasonal and annual timescales and evaluated 10 different representations of soil moisture stress in the model. For the default configuration, GPP was more realistic in temperate biome sites than in the tropics or high-latitude (cold-region) sites, while LE was best simulated in temperate and high-latitude (cold) sites. Errors that were not due to soil moisture stress, possibly linked to phenology, contributed to model biases for GPP in tropical savanna and deciduous forest sites. We found that three alternative approaches to calculating soil moisture stress produced more realistic results than the default parameterization for most biomes and climates. All of these involved increasing the number of soil layers from 4 to 14 and the soil depth from 3.0 to 10.8 m. In addition, we found improvements when soil matric potential replaced volumetric water content in the stress equation (the “soil14psi” experiments), when the critical threshold value for inducing soil moisture stress was reduced (“soil14p0”), and when plants were able to access soil moisture in deeper soil layers (“soil14_dr*2”). For LE, the biases were highest in the default configuration in temperate mixed forests, with overestimation occurring during most of the year. At these sites, reducing soil moisture stress (with the new parameterizations mentioned above) increased LE and increased model biases but improved the simulated seasonal cycle and brought the monthly variance closer to the measured variance of LE. Further evaluation of the reason for the high bias in LE at many of the sites would enable improvements in both carbon and energy fluxes with new parameterizations for soil moisture stress. Increasing the soil depth and plant access to deep soil moisture improved many aspects of the simulations, and we recommend these settings in future work using JULES or as a general way to improve land surface carbon and water fluxes in other models. In addition, using soil matric potential presents the opportunity to include plant functional type-specific parameters to further improve modeled fluxes.

Abstract: Aims: We determined the chemical composition and investigated the antifungal activity of Otacanthus azureus (Linden) Ronse essential oil (EO) against a range of dermatophytes alone or in combination with azole antifungals. Methods and Results: Aerial parts of the plant were steam-distilled and the obtained oil was analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and 1H-NMR. It was shown to be largely composed of sesquiterpenes, with the main component being β-copaen-4-α-ol. Using broth microdilution techniques, this oil was found to have remarkable in vitro antifungal activities. Minimum inhibitory concentrations as low as 4 μg ml-1 were recorded. The analysis of the combined effect of the O. azureus EO with azoles using chequerboard assays revealed a synergism between the EO and ketoconazole, fluconazole or itraconazole against Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Notably, the O. azureus essential oil showed low cytotoxicity to VERO cells. Conclusions: The O. azureus essential oil alone or in combination with azoles is a promising antifungal agent in the treatment for human dermatomycoses caused by filamentous fungi. Significance and Impact of the Study: There is much interest in the study of essential oils for the discovery of new antimicrobial drugs. This study has highlighted the antidermatophytic activity of the O. azureus EO. © 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Abstract: Mycoheterotrophic orchids have adapted to shaded forest understory by shifting to achlorophylly and receiving carbon from their mycorrhizal fungi. In temperate forests, they associate in a highly specific way with fungi forming ectomycorrhizas on nearby trees, and exploiting tree photosynthates. However, many rainforests lack ectomycorrhizal fungi, and there is evidence that some tropical Asiatic species associate with saprotrophic fungi. To investigate this in different geographic and phylogenetic contexts, we identified the mycorrhizal fungi supporting two tropical mycoheterotrophic orchids from Mascarene (Indian Ocean) and Caribbean islands. We tested their possible carbon sources by measuring natural nitrogen (15N) and carbon (13C) abundances. Saprotrophic basidiomycetes were found: Gastrodia similis associates with a wood-decaying Resinicium (Hymenochaetales); Wullschlaegelia aphylla associates with both litter-decaying Gymnopus and Mycena species, whose rhizomorphs link orchid roots to leaf litter. The 15N and 13C abundances make plausible food chains from dead wood to G. similis and from dead leaves to W. aphylla. We propose that temperature and moisture in rainforests, but not in most temperate forests, may favour sufficient saprotrophic activity to support development of mycoheterotrophs. By enlarging the spectrum of mycorrhizal fungi and the level of specificity in mycoheterotrophic orchids, this study provides new insights on orchid and mycorrhizal biology in the tropics. © 2009 New Phytologist.

Abstract: The influence of temperature on transverse mechanical properties of 10 tropical species in green condition was studied in radial compression (0 to 99 degreesC), transverse shear with longitudinal-radial shearing plane and rupture of the longitudinal-tangential plane (20 to 80 degreesC). Basic density ranged from 0.21 to 0.91 g cm(-3). Load-displacement curves were characterised by initial rigidity, yield stress, yield strain and strain energy at 20% strain level. The relation between each criterion and basic density was expressed by a power law. The dependency on temperature evidenced a sharp glassy transition, except for the fracture energy only slightly influenced by temperature. An empirical model allowed evaluating a transition temperature between 51 and 69 degreesC, depending on the species and the criterion, which was attributed to lignin. Detailed analysis of the apparent modulus in radial compression suggested that complex relaxation phenomena occur around 10 degreesC and that the rubbery state is not fully reached at 80 degreesC.

Abstract: Seasonal variations in environmental conditions influence the functioning of the whole ecosystem of tropical rain forests, but as yet little is known about how such variations directly influence the leaf gas exchange and transpiration of individual canopy tree species. We examined the influence of seasonal variations in relative extractable water in the upper soil layers on predawn leaf water potential, saturated net photosynthesis, leaf dark respiration, stomatal conductance, and tree transpiration of 13 tropical rain forest canopy trees (eight species) over 2 yr in French Guiana. The canopies were accessed by climbing ropes attached to the trees and to a tower. Our results indicate that a small proportion of the studied trees were unaffected by soil water depletion during seasonal dry periods, probably thanks to efficient deep root systems. The trees showing decreased tree water status (i.e., predawn leaf water potential) displayed a wide range of leaf gas exchange responses. Some trees strongly regulated photosynthesis and transpiration when relative extractable water decreased drastically. In contrast, other trees showed little variation, thus indicating good adaptation to soil drought conditions. These results have important applications to modeling approaches: indeed, precise evaluation and grouping of these response patterns are required before any tree-based functional models can efficiently describe the response of tropical rain forest ecosystems to future changes in environmental conditions. © 2012 by The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.