Millions of hectares of tropical forests have been converted to agricultural land and abandoned, so it is important that we understand the process of forest recovery and comprehend how pathways are modified by different types of disturbance in different geographic regions. In a 4-year case study, we quantified the pattern of forest recovery following clearing and 3 years of cultivation of a moi...

Hamilton and Brown suggested that bright autumn coloration in trees is an energetically expensive and therefore honest (handicap) signal of defensive commitment against insects. If this is so, one should expect that the intensity of the proposed signal should depend strongly on tree health. However, to the best of our knowledge, the link between vigour and autumn colour has never been tested. W...

A new species of a strikingly coloured xanthid crab of the genus Neoliomera Odhner, 1925, is described from coral reefs in Guam, Taiwan, and the Hawaiian Islands. The new species is allied to N. pubescens (H. Milne Edwards, 1834), and N. demani Forest & Guinot, 1961, but differs in the form of the carapace armature, frontal margin, structure of the chela, proportions of the ambulatory merus and...

Eleven new triterpene saponins, ilexpublesnins C–M (1–11), along with ten known analogues were isolated from the roots of Ilex pubescens. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2DNMR experiments. Compounds 1, 2, 10, and 11 contain a 24-aldehyde, which is rare for triterpene saponins from Ilex. These compounds were evaluated in vitro f...

Five new triterpene saponins, Ilexpublesnins N-R (1-5), along with seven known analogs were isolated from the root of Ilex pubescens. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments. Ilexpublesnin N (1) possessed a rare 20-hydroxyursolic acid scaffold from natural resource. These compounds were evaluated in vitro for their c...