A nature-based approach for managing the invasive weed species Gutenbergia cordifolia for sustainable rangeland management

Abstract

BackgroundThe invasive weed species Gutenbergia cordifolia has been observed to suppress native plants and to dominate more than half of the entire crater floor (250 km2) in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). As this species has been found to be toxic to ruminants it might strongly impact animal populations in this ecologically diverse ecosystem. Hence, a nature-based approach is urgently needed to manage its spread. We tested two Desmodium spp extracts applied to G. cordifolia and assessed the latter’s germination rate, height, fresh weight and leaf total chlorophyll content after 30 days in both laboratory and screen house experiments.ResultsSeedling germination rate was halved by Desmodium uncinatum leaf extract (DuL), particularly under higher concentrations (≥75 %) rather than lower concentrations (≤62.5 %). Likewise, in both laboratory and screen house experiments, germination rate under DuL treatments declined with increasing concentrations. Seedling height, fresh weight and leaf total chlorophyll content (Chl) were also most strongly affected by DuL treatments rather than D. uncinatum root extract, Desmodium intortum leaf extract or D. intortum root extract treatments. Generally, seedlings treated with higher DuL concentrations were half as tall, had one-third the weight and half the leaf Chl content compared to those treated with lower concentrations.ConclusionOur study shows a novel technique that can be applied where G. cordifolia may be driving native flora and fauna to local extinction. Our data further suggest that this innovative approach is both ecologically safe and effective and that D. uncinatum can be sustainably used to manage invasive plants, and thus, to improve rangeland productivity.

Clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of C-reactive protein/albumin ratio in patients with solid tumors: an updated systemic review and meta-analysis

“…A total of 10203 patients diagnosed with various cancers, including laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) [ 22 ], ovarian cancer (OC) [ 23 ], renal cell carcinoma (RCC) [ 24 ], non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [ 25 ], pancreatic cancer (PC) [ 26 – 29 ], colorectal cancer (CRC) [ 30 – 33 ], nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) [ 21 , 34 – 36 ], gastric cancer (GC) [ 37 , 42 ], oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) [ 38 ], hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [ 39 , 43 ], esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) [ 40 , 41 ], small cell lung cancer (SCLC) [ 44 ], were included. These studies originated from China [ 21 – 24 , 27 , 28 , 33 – 36 , 39 – 42 , 44 ], Japan [ 26 , 30 – 32 , 37 , 43 ], and Korea [ 25 , 29 , 38 ], respectively. Twenty-three articles reported the outcomes of overall survival (OS) [ 21 – 31 , 33 – 44 ], and 6 studies presented disease free survival (DFS) as survival endpoint [ 22 , 24 , 26 , 32 , 34 , 37 ].…”

“…Seventeen studies included cancer patients with all disease stages (Stage I–IV or limited-extensive stage) [ 22 – 26 , 28 – 31 , 34 – 36 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 43 , 44 ], three studies recruited patients with Stage I–III [ 37 , 40 , 42 ], and four studies reported advanced stages (III, IV, or III-IV) [ 21 , 27 , 32 , 33 ]. The primary treatments were extremely various among these 24 included studies, including surgery [ 22 – 24 , 26 , 31 , 37 – 43 ], chemotherapy (CT) [ 21 , 25 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 44 ], and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) [ 34 – 36 ]. The hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of these 24 studies were all directly extracted from the outcomes of multivariate analysis.…”

Bio-herbicide potential of naturalised Desmodium uncinatum crude leaf extract against the invasive plant species Parthenium hysterophorus

“…Biological invasions occur when species are introduced into new habitats (Qasem and Foy 2001;Hejda et al 2009;Ngondya et al 2016b;Ellison and Cock 2017;Pratt et al 2017). Species introduction threatens biological conservation, ecosystems services, species diversity and food security (Ellison and Cock 2017;Pratt et al 2017;Witt et al, 2018;Bajwa et al 2019).…”

“…Synthetic herbicides are often broad-spectrum and would thus have deleterious non-target effects on native, threatened or ecologically valuable plant species (Ngondya et al 2016b;Ellison and Cock 2017). They can have lethal or sub-lethal impacts on beneficial invertebrates such as insect natural enemies, pollinators (Balbuena et al 2015), and decomposers, as well as soil macrobes and microbes, which play a vital role in nutrient cycling (Frimpong et al 2018).…”

“…Also, persistent application of herbicides may change soil and water physical-chemical properties (Qasem and Foy 2001;Yu et al 2018). Because of this, their application is not recommended in natural and semi-natural habitats such as pastures, protected areas and wetlands (Ngondya et al 2016b;Ellison and Cock 2017). Previous studies have shown that bio-herbicide potential of native or naturalised plants can be used to suppress germination, growth and development of invasive species (Zhao et al 2008;Ngondya et al 2016a, b; Ming Chen and Lin Peng 2018).…”