Silvia Castro

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

Context: The agricultural intensification due to global increased food demand has harmed pollinator communities worldwide. However, some of the economically most important oilseed crops, such as the sunflower, depend on pollinators to produce seeds. While self-fertile varieties have undergone genetic selection to guarantee productivity , the pollin...

Insect-mediated pollination is crucial for global production of multiple pollinator-dependent crops, including high-value crops like sweet and sour cherry. In the face of increasing agricultural demand and continued pollinator decline, it is essential to identify targeted management strategies to safeguard pollination services. Hence, we performed...

La Reunión Anual de ECOFLOR se realizó por primera vez fuera de las fronteras de España

Human-induced changes in global biogeochemical cycles, particularly in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows, significantly impact plant growth and nutritional composition, thereby affecting ecosystem dynamics. However, research on effects of increased nutrient availability often focuses on primary producers community level effects, overlooking int...

Crop pollinator dependence (PD) values are key when assessing a pollinator's contribution to agriculture, guiding management plans and policies for sustainable crop production. However, the available global compilations of crops PD are outdated and neglect variability between related crops and accessions (variety/cultivar), as well as pollen limita...

Premise The western North American fern genus Pentagramma (Pteridaceae) is characterized by complex patterns of ploidy variation, an understanding of which is critical to comprehending both the evolutionary processes within the genus and its current diversity. Methods We undertook a cytogeographic study across the range of the genus, using a combi...

Bees are important actors in terrestrial ecosystems and are recognised for their prominent role as pollinators. In the Iberian Peninsula, approximately 1,100 bee species are known, with nearly 100 of these species being endemic to the Peninsula. A reference collection of DNA barcodes, based on morphologically identified bee specimens, representing...

Honey bee colonies have great societal and economic importance. The main challenge that beekeepers face is keeping bee colonies healthy under ever-changing environmental conditions. In the past two decades, beekeepers that manage colonies of Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) have become increasingly concerned by the presence of parasites and path...

Pollination is a crucial ecosystem service for maintaining plant communities and food production. 75% of the main crops depend on or benefit from pollination services provided by animal pollinators. However, when these services are insufficient and/or inefficient, crops experience pollen limitation with, often, lower associated yield, which may tra...

Honey bees play an important role in agricultural landscapes by providing pollination services. Throughout the season, colonies increase their population and collect resources from the available flowering plants. Besides internal mechanisms, such as the amount of brood or the availability of bees to perform foraging flights, colonies are also influ...

The evolution of mating systems in plants is central for understanding the rise of their diversity on Earth. The transition towards self-fertilization is a well-known example of convergent evolution although the opposite direction is expected to be forbidden according to evolutionary theories. We suggest that the ploidy level could promote changes...

Long term survival of plant populations relies on successful reproductive cycle to obtain generation turnover. Focusing on plant species of conservation concern, we brought together a group of plant conservationists from different countries to assess whether the already available information on plant reproductive biology and autecology is adequate...

Pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems globally, ensuring the seed production of most flowering plants. They are threatened by global changes and knowledge of their distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement efficient conservation actions, but this knowledge is still fragmented and/or difficult to access. As a...

Background: Mating system is one of the major determinants of intra- and interspecific genetic structure, but may vary within and between plant populations. Our study model included all known populations of Moehringia tommasinii (Caryophyllaceae), a narrow endemic plant inhabiting rock crevices in the northwestern Adriatic, and some populations of...

The present taxonomic status of Schenkia elegans, endemism recently described in the Iberian Peninsula, and its relationship with the sympatric and the nearest morphological species Schenkia spicata and Exaculum pusillum is revaluated. Different kinds of evidence based on plant morphology, ploidy estimation by flow cytometry, karyotype characterisa...

An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial...

Polyploidy is a pervasive phenomenon in nature and has significantly contributed to the adaptive evolution of plants. The conditions necessary for the spread of neopoly-ploids in populations of the diploid progenitor are limited; however, the superior competitive ability of neopolyploids may promote its establishment. Here, we assess the contributi...

In recent years, the knowledge of the Portuguese bee fauna has gained significant updates, proving there is considerable potential to clarify and discover new bee species at the regional and national scales. Pollination ecology studies can produce new relevant records with expanded study areas and periods of the year compared to historical national...

Flow cytometry has emerged as a uniquely flexible, accurate, and widely applicable technology for the analysis of plant cells. One of its most important applications centers on the measurement of nuclear DNA contents. This chapter describes the essential features of this measurement, outlining the overall methods and strategies, but going on to pro...

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 qu...

RESUMO Os insetos são um grupo funcionalmente diverso, com papéis economicamente relevantes nos principais serviços do ecossistema, tais como a polinização. A tendência atual de perda de biodiversidade e consequente degradação dos serviços dos ecossistemas prestados pelos insetos está a criar uma pressão adicional na agricultura moderna, principalm...

Pollination is a key ecosystem service that is, however, under threat due to multiple environmental pressures, such as climate change, compromising crop production. The main goal of this study was to investigate how extreme events due to climate change affect flower traits and plant-pollinator interactions, and how this impacts fruit production, us...

Introduction The high frequency of polyploidy in the evolutionary history of many plant groups occurring in the Mediterranean region is likely a consequence of its dynamic paleogeographic and climatic history. Polyploids frequently have distinct characteristics that allow them to overcome the minority cytotype exclusion. Such traits may enable poly...

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...

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...

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 of a...

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...

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...

As part of the MUST-B project, a research project on field data collection for honey bee colony model evaluation was carried out in 2018-2020. In a preparatory phase (2018), methods for monitoring of honey bee colonies were tested, field operators trained, and experimental colonies established. The main field experiment was conducted in 2019-2020,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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: 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...

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...

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,...