Native plants for greening Mediterranean agroecosystems

Management in Semiarid Mediterranean Agroecosystems

Use of native plants for the remediation of abandoned mine sites in Mediterranean semiarid environments.

Abandoned tailing dumps from mining industry represent important sources of metal contamination in the surrounding environments. This study evaluates the potential of two Mediterranean native plants, Pistacia lentiscus and Phragmites australis, for phytoremediation of two Sardinian contaminated mine sites. A 6 months study has been conducted at greenhouse-controlled conditions with the aim of i...

Native-Invasive Plants vs. Halophytes in Mediterranean Salt Marshes: Stress Tolerance Mechanisms in Two Related Species

Dittrichia viscosa is a Mediterranean ruderal species that over the last decades has expanded into new habitats, including coastal salt marshes, ecosystems that are per se fragile and threatened by human activities. To assess the potential risk that this native-invasive species represents for the genuine salt marsh vegetation, we compared its distribution with that of Inula crithmoides, a taxon...

Poisonous native range plants

Plant poisoning is a common problem throughout North America, causing significant economic losses not only through death loss, but through the costs associated with reproductive loss, poor growth rates, herbicides, etc. Through good pasture management, recognizing toxic plants, and by understanding the effects of toxins on animals, plant poisoning can be largely avoided. Plants contain a variet...

Protochlorophyllide reduction: a key step in the greening of plants.

The reduction of Protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) is a major regulatory step in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll (Chl) in oxygenic phototrophs. Two different enzymes catalyze this reduction: a light-dependent enzyme (LPOR), which is unique as a consequences of its direct utilization of light for catalysis; and a light-independent Pchlide reductase (DPOR). Since the reduction of Pchlide in angiosper...