Climate change is leading to phase shifts in coral reefs worldwide. In many biogeographic regions, octocorals are now becoming the most abundant benthic components, due their environmental resilience and ability rapidly colonize reef surfaces. Regeneration abilities asexual reproduction highly important for this probably contribute successful spread of certain octocorals, including invasive spe...

Hunteria umbellata (K. Schum.) Hallier f. (family: Apocynaceae) is reputed for the folkloric management of labour, pain and swellings, stomach ulcers, diabetes, obesity, and anaemia, with no scientific report of its toxicity and reversibility profile. The present study was, therefore, aimed at investigating the in vivo toxicity and reversibility profile of the aqueous seed extract of Hunteria u...

We test whether physiological integration enhances the short-term fitness of the clonal herb Hydrocotyle peduncularis (Apiaceae, R. Brown ex A. Richards) subjected to spatial variation in water availability. Our measures of fitness and costs and benefits are based on the relative growth rate of fragmented genets. Physiological integration over a gradient in soil moisture resulted in a highly si...

Nutrients may affect the invasiveness of alien plants and the invasibility of native plant communities. We performed a greenhouse experiment to investigate the interactive effect of invasion by a clonal herb Hydrocotyle vulgaris and nutrient enrichment on biomass and evenness of native plant communities. We established three types of plant communities (H. vulgaris alone, native plant communitie...

Objective. To investigate the potential effect of Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides Lam. (H. sibthorpioides) extracts against in vitro dengue viral replication. Methods. The cytotoxicity of H. sibthorpioides was evaluated using a cell viability assay. Cells were pre- and posttreated with water and methanol extracts of H. sibthorpioides, and the viral inhibitory effect was investigated by observing the...

Some introduced clonal plants spread mainly by vegetative (clonal) propagules due to the absence of sexual reproduction in the introduced range. Propagule pressure (i.e. total number of propagules) may affect the establishment and thus invasion success of introduced clonal plants, and such effects may also depend on habitat conditions. A greenhouse experiment with an introduced plant, Hydrocoty...