João Loureiro

University of Coimbra | UC · Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet

Natural hybridization and polyploidy are currently recognized as drivers of biodiversity despite early sceptical views about their importance. The Mediterranean region is a biodiversity hotspot where geological and climatic events have created numerous opportunities for speciation through hybridization and polyploidy. Still, our knowledge on the fr...

A critical aspect for obtaining accurate, reliable, and high‐resolution estimates of nuclear DNA content is the release of nuclei from the cytoplasm in sufficient amounts, while maintaining their integrity throughout the analysis, protecting their DNA from degradation by endonucleases, and enabling stoichiometric DNA staining. In embryophytes, the...

Polyploidy plays a significant role in the evolution and diversification of flowering plants. In several polyploid complexes, high morphological variability and plasticity coupled with cytogenetic diversity make it difficult to disentangle their evolutionary history. The main goal of this study was to gain insights into the role of whole genome dup...

Background and aims: Polyploidy is an important contributor to sympatric speciation and assortative mating is a key mechanism driving cytotype interactions at contact zones. While strong reproductive barriers can mediate the coexistence of different cytotypes in sympatry, positive frequency-dependent mating disadvantage ultimately drives the trans...

Polyploidization is a widespread mechanism of evolutionary divergence in flowering plants. Ecological divergence of polyploid lineages has been proposed as a key process shaping the distribution of cytotypes in nature (niche shift hypothesis); however, evidence for the role of niche separation in replicated diploid-polyploid species pairs is still...

Video abstracts are audiovisual representations of a scientific abstract that a researcher can use to complement an article. As a science communication tool, they stand as a novel and exciting way to present scientific discoveries, explore new formats, and reach new audiences. In this practice insight, we share the experience of creating a video ab...

Pollinator dependence (PD) of a crop is a key estimate for assessing nature’s contribution to agriculture. However, currently available global compilations of crops PD are outdated and neglect variability between accessions (variety/cultivar) and information on pollen deposition limitation. Here we provide an updated list of PD values for 116 polli...

Polyploidy has important ecological effects, including ploidy-mediated effects on morphology, breeding system and ecological tolerances. However, there is still little comprehensive research available to test its adaptive significance and its role in driving distributional patterns. This work aimed to assess the contribution of genome duplications...

Calendula is one of the most taxonomically complex genera within the Asteraceae family due to hybridization, polyploidization events, and production of a highly variable morphology of the achenes. Considering the complexity of Calendula, this study was conducted to extend the understanding of the relationships between SW Mediterranean taxa, and ass...

The presence of the invasive species Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), was first confirmed in Portugal in late 2018. In this note, an update to the known distribution in the Portuguese territories, including the first record in the Madeiran Archipelago, is presented. In Portugal, the BM...

Recent contributions with reviews at the national scale and occasional discoveries set the number of mainland Por-tuguese bee species at 720. However, regional edaphoclimatic singularities and sampling effort differences suggest there is an urgent need to expand sampling efforts to largely unexplored regions. Beira Baixa (central part of the Portug...

Premise The relationships between reproductive investment, phenotype and fitness have been broadly studied in cross-pollinated plants in contrast to selfing species, which are considered less interesting in this area because they are supposed to be a dead-end in any evolutionary pathway. Still, selfing plants are unique systems to study these quest...

Bees are a diverse group with more than 1000 species known from the Iberian Peninsula. They have increasingly received special attention due to their important role as pollinators and providers of ecosystem services. In addition, various rapid human-induced environmental changes are leading to the decline of some of its populations. However, we kno...

In theory, any plant tissue providing intact nuclei in sufficient quantity is suitable for nuclear DNA content estimation using flow cytometry (FCM). While this certainly opens a wide variety of possible applications of FCM, especially when compared to classical karyological techniques restricted to tissues with active cell division, tissue selecti...

Flow cytometry (FCM) is currently the most widely‐used method to establish nuclear DNA content in plants. Since simple, 1‐3‐parameter, flow cytometers, which are sufficient for most plant applications, are commercially available at a reasonable price, the number of laboratories equipped with these instruments, and consequently new FCM users, has gr...

Tuberaria lignosa (Cistaceae family) has excellent properties as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiproliferative/ anti-tumoural. This work aimed to establish a routine micropropagation protocol of T. lignosa to supply high-quality plants for the pharmaceutical industry. Apical shoot cuttings (0.5 cm long) were grown on basal...

1. Intensification of agricultural landscapes to fulfil increased global food demands has dramatically impacted biodiversity and ecosystem services. Several pollinator groups, which are vital for the maintenance of pollinator-dependent crops, have been severely affected by this intensification process. Management tools, such as the implementation o...

The repeated, rapid and often pronounced patterns of evolutionary divergence observed in insular plants, or the ‘plant island syndrome’, include changes in leaf phenotypes, growth, as well as the acquisition of a perennial lifestyle. Here, we sequence and describe the genome of the critically endangered, Galápagos-endemic species Scalesia atractylo...

Background and Aims Hybridization is a common and important force in plant evolution. One of its outcomes is introgression - the transfer of small genomic regions from one taxon to another by hybridization and repeated backcrossing. This process is believed to be common in glacial refugia, where range expansions and contractions can lead to cycles...

Festuca indigesta subsp. indigesta (Poaceae) is endemic to the southeast of Spain, and until recently, it was considered that its range of distribution was restricted to the siliceous core of Sierra Nevada. However, it has been recently extended in the territory to others calcareous mountains. This study investigates the cytogenetic variability thr...

Insects are a functionally diverse group, with economically relevant roles on key ecosystem services, such as pollination. The current trend of biodiversity loss and consequent degradation of ecosystem services delivered by insects is leading to additional pressure on modern agriculture, particularly in crops that depend on insects for pollination....

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop y...

Oceanic archipelagos comprise multiple disparate environments over small geographic areas and are isolated from other biotas. These conditions have led to some of the most spectacular adaptive radiations, which have been key to our understanding of evolution, and offer a unique chance to characterise the genomic basis underlying rapid and pronounce...

Habitat loss is currently a major threat to biodiversity, affecting species interactions, such as plant–pollinator interactions. This is particularly important in self-incompatible plants relying on pollinators to reproduce and sustain their populations. Here, we evaluated how habitat loss affects the pollination system, plant individual–pollinator...

Despite the key role of pollination in the production of many crops, this is still one of the least understood factors in the orchard context. Pollen limitation, and impacts on crop production, is influenced by several potentially interacting factors such as crop or crop variety degree of dependence on cross pollination and on pollinators, diversit...

Background and Aims Hybridization is a common and important force in plant evolution. One of its outcomes is introgression - the transfer of small genomic regions from one taxon to another by hybridization and repeated backcrossing. This process is believed to be common in glacial refugia, where range expansions and contractions can lead to cycles...

Because naturalized and invasive plant species have disproportionately smaller genome sizes compared to all angiosperms, genome size has been proposed as a general predictor of invasiveness. The family Cactaceae includes some of the most important invasive species worldwide, and it is one of the plant families with lowest number of genome size esti...

Inadequate quantity and quality of pollen reaching the stigmas decreases the sexual reproductive output of plants, compromising yield. Still, the current extent of pollen limitation affecting yield (i.e., pollination deficits) is poorly quantified. This study is aimed at quantifying pollination deficits in kiwifruit orchards, a dioecious plant with...

Genome size (GS) displays a broad variation across land plants. Although it is considered to be influenced by selection pressures depending on different environmental conditions and life-history strategies, the underlying drivers of GS variation across lineages remain elusive. Latitude gradients of GS tend to show contrasting patterns among differe...

Polyploidy has played an important evolutionary role in the genus Festuca (Poaceae), and several ploidy levels (ranging from 2n = 2x = 14 to 2n = 12x = 84) have been detected to date. This study aimed to estimate the genome size and ploidy level of two subspecies belonging to the F. yvesii polyploid complex by flow cytometry and chromosome counting...

Genome size variation is of crucial biological importance, however variation in genome sizes within a single individual/organism is rarely reported except for some species groups such as algae where polygenomy, endopolyploidy and mixopolyploidy have previously been reported. The red algal genus Porphyra forms part of very profitable marine food pro...

Genome size information is sparse across fungi, with information being available for less than 2000 species. So far, most records have been obtained using static, microscope‐based cytometry methods or derived from genome sequencing projects. Flow cytometry is now considered the state‐of‐the‐art method for obtaining genome size measurements, and app...

In recent years, the use of videos by the scientific community has evolved continuously. Researchers, communicators, and other players are using audiovisual media to reinvent their stories, to deconstruct complex phenomena and to increase the outreach and impact of their scientific publications. An example of this trend is the video abstract: an au...

The Balkan Peninsula is recognized as one of the hotspots of biodiversity in Europe. This area has shown since the Last Glacial Maximum appropriate conditions for species diversification and hybridization, which has led to the existence of numerous taxonomically unresolved entities. Here, we focus on the Western Balkans and explore the genetic stru...

Pollen grains are the male gametophytes in a seed‐plant life cycle. Their small, particulate nature and crucial role in the plant reproduction have made them an attractive object of study using flow cytometry (FCM), with a wide range of applications existing in the literature. While methodological considerations for many of these overlap with those...

Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitne...

Following publication of the original article [1], it has been brought to the authors' attention that in their paper (Rodrigues et al. 2016) they reported the genome size based on 2C values (diploid genome) when it is more common to present it as 1C value.

O GO PoliMax tem como objetivo específico incrementar o valor nutricional e comercial dos frutos (pêra ‘Rocha’, maçãs ‘Fuji’ e ‘Reineta’ e cerejas ‘Folfer’) através de uma polinização entomófila eficiente, originando produtos agrícolas diferenciados que promovam a Fruticultura, nacional e internacionalmente. A polinização é indiscutivelmente um fat...

The presence of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), in mainland Portugal is confirmed. The European and Iberian distribution of the species is summarized. A possible approach to deal with this problematic pest in the country is briefly discussed.

In this article we are reporting a very unusual result in a plant we call “Pleasant Progress” (Figure 1). “Pleasant Progress” is the result of a hand cross between the diploid hybrid seed parent, (cumberlandense X viscosum) (Towe) (Figure 2), with the tetraploid species pollen parent, R. colemanii. (Figure 3) What is surprising is that “Pleasant Pr...

Polyploidy plays a significant role in the evolution and diversification of flowering plants. In several polyploid complexes, high morphological variability and plasticity coupled with cytogenetic diversity make it difficult to disentangle their evolutionary history. The main goal of this study was to gain insights into the role of whole genome dup...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00315.].

The reproductive systems of invasive species play a key role in determining their geographical distributions. Oxalis pes-caprae is a clonal, polyploid, heterostylous, plant native to South Africa, but now invasive in all major Mediterranean climatic regions. Here, we extend earlier surveys in the Western Mediterranean basin of floral morph ratios,...

Background and aims – The evolutionary history of Amazonia’s hyperabundant tropical tree species, also known as “hyperdominant” species, remains poorly investigated. We assessed whether the hyperdominant Eschweilera coriacea (DC.) S.A.Mori (Lecythidaceae) represents a single genetically cohesive species, and how its genetic constitution relates to...

Premise Newly formed polyploids face significant obstacles to persistence and population establishment because of fitness costs of intercytotype mating. Selfing provides the opportunity to escape mate limitation, enabling production of new individuals and increasing the likelihood of fixation of new polyploid lineages. Still, association between se...

Limonium mucronatum (L.f.) Chaz. (Plumbaginaceae), a strict endemic of Morocco, has a restricted range in the littoral zone between Rabat and Tan Tan (Draa valley). This coastal region at the junction of Mediterranean, Canary and Saharan influences is of considerable biogeographical interest. However, little information exists on L. mucronatum comm...

Background and aims: The distribution of cytotypes and its potential correlation with environmental variables represent a cornerstone to understanding the origin and maintenance of polyploid lineages. Although many studies have addressed this question in single species at a regional scale, only a few have attempted to decipher this enigma in group...

A central challenge in plant ecology is to define the major axes of plant functional variation with direct consequences for fitness. Central to the three main components of plant fitness (growth, survival, and reproduction) is the rate of metabolic conversion of CO2 into carbon that can be allocated to various structures and functions. Here we (1)...

A polinização é um processo natural imprescindível a uma produção frutícola de qualidade. O GO PoliMax enquadra-se neste contexto e tem como objectivo promover e aumentar a polinização entomófila (insectos domésticos e silvestres) pretendendo incrementar valor nutricional e, consequentemente, comercial dos frutos, favorecendo o reconhecimento da fi...

A utilização de meios audiovisuais tem surgido como uma ferramenta com elevado potencial no campo da comunicação de ciência, uma vez que permite revolucionar os procedimentos científicos, aumentar a capacidade de descoberta e oferecer novas oportunidades na educação. Todavia, estes recursos são ainda vistos como um suplemento e não como parte integ...

Jatropha curcas L. is a second-generation energy crop, which produces approximately 40% oil in its seeds, which can be transformed into biodiesel. In vitro culture is a valuable tool for the multiplication and conservation of elite plant varieties. In J. curcas, there are several reports on the micropropagation of the species, but with low reproduc...

The nothospecies Kalanchoe ×gunniae Gideon F.Sm & Figueiredo (Crassulaceae), a hybrid between Kalanchoe paniculata Harv. and Kalanchoe sexangularis N.E.Br., is described from Pretoria, South Africa.

Premise of research. Interspecific hybridization was hypothesized to explain the remarkable floral phenotype variation found in overlapping areas of distribution for several Anacyclus species. We aimed to investigate genome size in natural populations of three diploid Anacyclus species with special emphasis in their contact areas to explore pattern...

Polyploids often have divergent geographical ranges compared to their diploid progenitors, but the causes of such differentiation are poorly understood. The geographical ranges of cytotypes within polyploid complexes may be caused by multiple factors, including historical events, interactions among cytotypes and divergent environmental tolerances,...

Rapid evolutionary change often plays an important role in determining the success of plant invasions. Oxalis pes-caprae, a geophyte native to South Africa, has become a persistent invasive weed in several areas of the world, being particularly widespread in regions with a Mediterranean climate. The objective of this study was to look for the exist...

The genus Limonium (sea lavenders) is characterized by various taxonomically challenging complexes with great karyological diversity, and chromosomes ranging in size from diminutive to large. In this biosystematic study, our goal was to investigate cytogenetic features of twelve sexual and asexual taxa in a particular part of their distribution ran...

Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.) is an ornamental plant widely used in gardens. Daylily rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis, has disseminated through all continents only in the 21th century, except in Europe, where it has been considered a quarantine disease by the European Plant Protection Organisation. In Portugal, since November 2015,...

The Southwest region of Europe has extensive areas of insect pollinated oilseed crops, with sunflower having high economic value. However, pollination services have been severely reduced by habitat destruction and global pollinator decline. Recent evidence has shown that such ecosystem service can be eventually mitigated by the implementation of na...

Pollination is an important biodiversity-dependent service supporting food provisioning and affecting directly the yield and quality of over 75% of crops worldwide. Actinidia deliciosa is a dioecious species and therefore efficient pollination, i.e., pollen transfer between male and female plants, is a key feature in fruit production. Moreover, kiw...

Limonium vulgare and related species form a complex group, but until now cytological and genetic studies have been based on single species and specific geographical areas. We investigated genome size, karyological and genetic diversity in samples from Western Mediterranean and evaluated the phylogenetic relationships among the species of this compl...

Polyploidization has been traditionally considered a phenomenon that mediates ecological differentiation; however, the adaptive value of genome duplications has been seldom explored. Natural or synthetic polyploids offer unique opportunities to experimentally quantify the immediate consequences of genome duplications in plant traits that may be inv...