Harald Meimberg

BOKU University | boku · Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research

Grape phylloxera is one of the most dangerous insect pests for worldwide viticulture. The leaf- and root-galling phylloxerid has been managed by grafting European grapevines onto American rootstock hybrids. Recent reports pinpoint the appearance of host-adapted biotypes, but information about the biomolecular characteristics underlying grape phyllo...

1. Osmia cornuta is a generalist regarding its habitat requirements and is used for pollination in orchards. The species collects pollen from different plant taxa, but pollen richness and pollen quantity in a nest may be affected by land use and landscape structures. 2. The availability of pollen resources for O. cornuta was studied across differen...

Background Especially on islands closer to the mainland, such as the Canary Islands, different lineages that originated by multiple colonization events could have merged by hybridization, which then could have promoted radiation events (Herben et al., J Ecol 93: 572–575, 2005; Saunders and Gibson, J Ecol 93: 649–652, 2005; Caujapé-Castells, Jesters...

Tinamous have male-only parental care. For their mating system, simultaneous polygyny and sequential polyandry is proposed as an optimal model and is confirmed in all species according to the existing literature, except in the Ornate Tinamou. For the Ornate Tinamou a monogamous mating system is reported. However, this knowledge is based only on few...

The white-eye birds of the genus Zosterops have been recognized for their high speciation rates in the past, but the relationships of the East African populations are not yet fully resolved. We sequenced and annotated mitogenomes of four populations currently assigned to three East African white-eye species, Zosterops senegalensis, Z. abyssinicus a...

Tinamous (Tinamidae) represent one of the most ancient living avian lineages but their life history traits are relatively unstudied. Here we identified microsatellite loci for two sympatric tinamou species, the Ornate Tinamou (Nothoprocta ornata) and the Darwin´s Nothura (Nothura darwinii) from low coverage Illumina sequencing of genomic DNA. The e...

Classical Sanger sequencing is still frequently used to generate sequence data for phylogenetic and phylogeographic inference. In this contribution we present a novel approach to genotype whole mitogenomic haplotypes using Illumina MiSeq reads from indexed amplicons. Our new approach reduces preparation time by multiplexing loci within a single or...

Geological history of oceanic islands can have a profound effect on the evolutionary history of insular flora, especially in complex islands such as Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Tenerife results from the secondary connection of three paleo-islands by a central volcano, and other geological events that further shaped it. This geological history h...

Gene flow may influence the formation of species range limits, yet little is known about the patterns of gene flow with respect to environmental gradients or proximity to range limits. With rapid environmental change it is especially important to understand patterns of gene flow to inform conservation efforts. Here we investigate the species range...

Following the publication of New species and new combinations in Micromeria (Lamiaceae) from the Canary Islands and Madeira (Puppo & Meimberg 2015), two necessary corrections were brought to our attention.

Based on recent molecular evidence, one new species and one new subspecies of Micromeria are described for the Canary Islands: M. pedro-luisii and M. hierrensis subsp. incana. Six new combinations are proposed: M. canariensis, M. canariensis subsp. meridialis, M. gomerensis, M. rupestris, M. herpyllomorpha subsp. palmensis, and M. hierrensis. Three...

Micromeria presents eight species in Tenerife, and from these, three are endangered or critically endangered. In this paper we use a 454 run from M. hyssopifolia to develop and characterize 16 new microsatellite markers and test them using 19 individuals from two populations of this species. The number of alleles per locus varied from 2 to 10 and o...

Knowledge about natural history in tinamous is still scarce and microsatellite markers are a helpful tool to elucidate genetic aspects of mating systems and population structures in this familiy. In the present study 54 novel microsatellite loci were isolated in two sympatric tinamou species, 30 in the Ornate Tinamou (Nothoprocta ornata) and 24 in...

Cultivars are selected for advantageous traits, which may enable them to have a greater competitive effect (CE), particularly under high nutrient conditions. Sites with high nutrient availability may favor the development of dominant grasses rather than subordinate species, especially in nutrient-limited systems, such as calcareous grasslands. The...

Here we reconstruct the evolutionary history of Micromeria in the Canary Islands using eight nuclear markers. Our results show two centers of diversification for Micromeria, one in the eastern islands Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, the other in the western islands, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro. Suggested directions of inter-island colonization are...

Habitat fragmentation can have a profound effect on the genetic diversity of forest species. These effects are especially interesting when forests previously fragmented by agriculture start to reconnect due to land abandonment. In this study, we investigate the genetic structure and diversity patterns of Juniperus oxycedrus populations from the Sab...

The use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques to identify microsatellite markers has replaced more time intensive methods such as molecular cloning. The main advantage of NGS over traditional methods of identifying microsatellite markers is the generation of many more sequences with less effort. It is possible to design primers from unenri...

AimUsing phylogenetic and morphometric approaches, our study aims to understand the diversification process of the two groups of Micromeria species in Tenerife: the species restricted to the palaeoislands, and the species widely distributed in the younger part of the island.LocationTenerife, Canary Islands.Methods We calculated a calibrated phyloge...

Ancistrocladus (Ancistrocladaceae) is an Old World genus of woody lianas, occurring in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. Its species produce a number of structurally unique naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids with promising activities against the pathogens of tropical infectious diseases and against HIV. Species identification for phytochemical and ph...

Species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 are blood parasites most commonly found in snakes but some have been described from all tetrapod groups and a wide variety of hematophagous invertebrates. Previous studies have suggested possible associations between Hepatozoon spp. found in predators and prey. Particularly, some saurophagous snakes from North Afr...

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##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Geneious v. 6.0.6 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Background/Question/Methods Polyploidization may result in changes e.g. in morphological or physiological plant traits within short time periods. Thus, it may be one mechanism favoring a species to become invasive outside its native range. Polyploids are supposed to have a broader ecological tolerance, e.g. an increased cold tolerance, and thus co...

Background/Question/Methods Theoretical models have suggested that gene flow coupled with selection are critical determinants of species’ range limits. To evaluate these models, population size, genetic diversity, and contemporary gene flow were examined along three transects spanning the entire warm-to-cold elevational range of the annual plant,...

The use of single copy nuclear markers is of increasing importance in plant phylogenetics. The generally higher level of variability compared to chloroplast DNA and the ability to use incongruence in a multilocus analysis to determine reticulation patterns makes these kinds of sequence based markers especially useful for species level investigation...

This study presents the results of the identifi-cation and quantification of 12 isoflavones (prunetin, irilone, pseudobaptigenin, glycitein, daidzin, genistin, daidzein, pratensein, puerarin, biochanin A, formononetin and genistein) in 23 species of Trifolium (an MSPD method and analyzed with HPLC coupled with a diode-array detector. The evaluation...

The Azorean endemic gymnosperm Juniperus brevifolia (Seub.) Antoine is a top priority species for conservation in Macaronesia, based on its ecological significance in natural plant communities. To evaluate genetic variability and differentiation among J. brevifolia populations from the Azorean archipelago, we studied 15 ISSR and 15 RAPD markers in...

Pritchardia (loulu palm) is the seventh largest flowering plant genus in the Hawaiian archipelago, and many species are of high conservation concern. The island radiation has produced many cryptic species complexes across fine ecological gradients. Microsatellite primers were optimized to investigate genetic diversity of Pritchardia martii (Gaudich...

Multiple introductions can play a prominent role in explaining the success of biological invasions. One often cited mechanism is that multiple introductions of invasive species prevent genetic bottlenecks by parallel introductions of several distinct genotypes that, in turn, provide heritable variation necessary for local adaptation. Here, we show...

High-impact biological invasions often involve establishment and spread in disturbed, high-resource patches followed by establishment and spread in biotically or abiotically stressful areas. Evolutionary change may be required for the second phase of invasion (establishment and spread in stressful areas) to occur. When species have low genetic dive...

Although the subfamily Nepetoideae (Lamiaceae) is considered to be monophyletic, relationships between tribes, subtribes and genera within the subfamily are poorly understood as complex and possibly homoplasious morphological characters make taxa difficult to delimit. DNA sequence data from three regions (chloroplast: trnK intron; trnL-F; nuclear:...

Representatives of the genus Ancistrocladus, woody lianas of tropical Africa and Asia, contain pharmaceutically interesting alkaloids and have been the subjects of intensive phytochemical investigations. In Southeast Asia, Ancistrocladus tectorius, previously regarded as the only species of the genus from this region, is extremely polymorphic with...

Polyploidy has been ubiquitous in plant evolution and is thought to be an important engine of biodiversity that facilitates speciation, adaptation, and range expansion. Polyploid species can exhibit higher ecological tolerance than their progenitor species. For allotetraploid species, this higher tolerance is often attributed to the existence of he...

Chloroplast DNA sequences and recently established morphological characters were used to confirm the widespread invasion of California's vernal pools by European low mannagrass. Morphological similarities between low mannagrass and western mannagrass have led to different taxonomic treatments, depending on the geographical extent of a particular fl...

Since the early evolution of land plants from primitive green algae, phenylpropanoid compounds have played an important role. In the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, 4-coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL; EC 6.2.1.12) has a pivotal role at the divergence point from general phenylpropanoid metabolism to several major branch pathways. Although higher plant 4C...

Nepenthaceae are an exceptional family with regard to carnivory and the uniformity of characters. This makes it difficult to resolve phylogenetic relationships due to convergent evolution of morphological features. Using comparative sequencing of the chloroplast trnK intron, the monophyly of this complex family and hypotheses of infrageneric relati...

The Resedaceae, containing 6 genera and ca. 85 species, are widely distributed in the Old World, with a major center of species diversity in the Mediterranean basin. Phylogenetic analyses of ITS and plastid trnL-trnF sequences of 66 species from all genera of the Resedaceae reveal (1) monophyly of the family, in congruence with preliminary phylogen...

Plants of the carnivorous genus Nepenthes efficiently trap insects in leaf pitchers, mostly employing epicuticular wax crystals on the pitcher walls to make them slippery for the prey. In the present study, the compositions and micromorphologies of the wax crystals of five Nepenthes species and hybrids were analysed in order to test whether the che...

The Canary Islands have been a focus for phylogeographic studies on the colonization and diversification of endemic angiosperm taxa. Based on phylogeographic patterns, both inter island colonization and adaptive radiation seem to be the driving forces for speciation in most taxa. Here, we investigated the diversification of Micromeria on the Canary...

Nepenthaceae, the pitcher plants of the Old World tropics show a remarkable diversity in SE Asia, especially on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. This region is considered as a secondary center of diversity. Sequence analysis of the cpDNA TRNK intron supports this hypothesis showing the species of the Malay Archipelago as neighbour group to the is...

Recent phylogenetic analyses based on single gene and combined data sets have substantially increased our knowledge of the phylogeny of Caryophyllales s.l., indicating that additional carnivorous families are related to this alliance. In earlier contributions towards a reassessment of inter- and infrafamilial relationships slowly evolving genes had...

Micromeria has recently been revealed polyphyletic by molecular analyses, with members of sect. Pseudomelissa placed in close relationship to Clinopodium vulgare. Morphological data suport transferring the section to Clinopodium. A list of names under Clinopodium (including 15 new combinations) is provided for the taxa hitherto included in Micromer...

Although exotic species cause tremendous economic and ecological loss, we know relatively little about the post-introduction evolutionary dynamics of the invasive species themselves. Barbed goatgrass, Aegilops triuncialis L., is a cleistogamous annual grass with a native range throughout the Mediterranean Basin and Asia and introduced to California...

During phylogenetic analysis of the Nepenthaceae cpDNA trnK intron, it became apparent that a second non-functional copy of the locus was present in most of the investigated taxa. The translocation event was older than the radiation of all recent Nepenthaceae, and the translocated pseudogenized copy was conserved in nearly all members of the plant...