Steven Paul Sylvester

Fera

Prunus subgenus Cerasus (cherry) is an economically important group that distributed in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. However, shared interspecific morphological traits and variability across taxa of Cerasus are among the impediments to taxonomic efforts to correctly delimit taxa. This is further complicated by a lack of genetic inf...

Species of Osmanthus are economically important ornamental trees, yet information regarding their plastid genomes (plastomes) have rarely been reported, thus hindering taxonomic and evolutionary studies of this small but enigmatic genus. Here, we performed comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses on plastomes of 16 of the 28 currently accepte...

Veld & Flora Dec 2021 vol 107 (4) 36-39_______________________________________________________________ON THE TRAIL OF a breakthrough, you take all the support you are offered! When recruiting extra pairs of hands, age is no impediment - which is how the international team answering our challenge ranged in age from three years old to 68 . . . We ass...

Molecular evolution, including nucleotide substitutions, plays an important role in understanding the dynamics and mechanisms of species evolution. Here, we sequenced whole plastid genomes (plastomes) of Quercus fabri, Quercus semecarpifolia, Quercus engleriana, and Quercus phellos and compared them with 14 other Quercus plastomes to explore their...

Background: The grasses (Poaceae) of the Flora of Southern Africa (FSA) region (i.e. Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa) are relatively well documented, for both native and non-native species. Visiting taxonomic expertise nevertheless reveals new FSA and in-country records, particularly of non-native species. Such records provide...

Two new species, Poa liuliangii and P. kengii, from the Hengduan Mountains (Sichuan province of southwest China) are described and illustrated. Detailed description and comparison tables are also provided. Poa liuliangii is similar to P. incerta and P. orinosa of the Poa versicolor aggregate (in accordance with a monotypic species concept), but dif...

Species delimitation in the Poa taxa of the 'Cucullata complex' from the páramos of northwest South America, morphologically defined by open panicles and webbed calluses, among other characters, has been complicated by their large morphological variability coupled with a lack of available taxonomic treatments. Using multivariate morphometric and ph...

Species delimitation in the Poa taxa of the ‘Cucullata complex’ from the páramos of north-west South America, morphologically defined by open panicles and webbed calluses, among other characters, has been complicated by their large morphological variability coupled with a lack of available taxonomic treatments. Using multivariate morphometric and p...

1. High-elevation Afroalpine ecosystems of the Drakensberg Mountain Centre (DMC) of Lesotho and South Africa, renowned for their high endemism and key ecosystem services, are socio-ecological systems that have seen human activity for millennia. However, their responses to land management practices are understudied. Controversy over their natural st...

Aim Alpine ecosystems differ in area, macroenvironment and biogeographical history across the Earth, but the relationship between these factors and plant species richness is still unexplored. Here, we assess the global patterns of plant species richness in alpine ecosystems and their association with environmental, geographical and historical facto...

Based on a molecular DNA phylogeny of three plastid (rpl32-trnK, rps16 intron, and rps16-trnK) and nuclear ITS regions investigating 32 species of Agrostidinae, we describe two new genera, Agrostula gen. nov. with a single species and Alpagrostis gen. nov. with four species; provide support for five species in a monophyletic Podagrostis; and includ...

Sorbus harrowiana (≡Pyrus harrowiana), previously considered a synonym of Sorbus insignis (≡Pyrus in-signis) in the Flora of China, is reinstated here and shown to be distinct from S. insignis, based on mor-phometric analysis, coupled with herbarium and field investigation. We also present for the first-time full descriptions, distributional record...

Four species of Poa L. are newly reported for sub-Saharan Africa and southern Africa, Poa compressa L., P. iconia Azn., P. infirma Kunth and P. nemoralis L. This is the first report of P. iconia from Africa. Vouchers at PRE of P. bulbosa L. all belong to var. vivipara Koeler, those of P. iconia belong to var. iconia and the one of P. trivialis L. b...

The grass Agrostis meyenii Trin. (Poaceae, Agrostidinae) is newly recorded from Peru and is found in high-Andean puna grasslands of the departments of Ancash, Ayacucho, and Huánuco, marking the northernmost known limit of this species. A revised species description, images, taxonomic notes, and a key are also presented to differentiate A. meyenii f...

We present taxonomic notes on the Festuca caprina complex from southern Africa that includes description and illustration of the new species F. drakensbergensis from the Drakensberg Mountain Centre of Floristic Endemism of South Africa and Lesotho. Festuca drakensbergensis can be differentiated from F. caprina s.l. by forming lax short tufts with e...

The grass genus Poa L. is widespread throughout temperate areas of the Andes, being a common constituent in the highly diverse but threatened high-elevation páramo grasslands of northwest South America. Knowledge of Poa from these páramo areas is very limited, however, with no comprehensive taxonomic treatments available for Colombia, which contain...

We present taxonomic notes, including updated species descriptions and images, for the nine species of Agrostis and one species of Podagrostis found in páramos of Departamento Boyacá, Colombia (A. boyacensis, A. breviculmis, A. capillaris, A. foliata, A. cf. imberbis, A. mertensii, A. perennans s.l., A. stolonifera, A. tolucensis, Podagrostis trich...

Based on morphological study and corroborated by unpublished molecular phylogenetic analyses, five grass species of high-mountain grasslands in Mexico, Central and South America, Agrostis bacillata , A. exserta , A. liebmannii , A. rosei , and A. trichodes , are transferred to Podagrostis and bring the number of species of this genus recognized in...

Osmanthus (Oleaceae) is considered one of the most confusing genera with regards to circumscription and phylogenetic placement of taxa within the subtribe Oleinae of Oleaceae, with controversies mainly focused on the attribution of section Leiolea. In the present study, we analyzed 71 samples that represent the broad taxonomic, biogeographic, and m...

Androdioecy is one of the rarest sexual systems among plants, characterized by males co-occurring with hermaphrodites. Osmanthus delavayi (Oleaceae), an ornamental shrub from southern China, is known to have both male and hermaphrodite individuals, but little is known regarding the breeding system of this species and whether it is functionally andr...

Full text available at: https://rdcu.be/bIqob____Podagrostis colombiana sp. nov. (Poaceae: Poeae: Agrostidinae), is described and illustrated from high-elevation paramo of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. This endemic species constitutes a new genus record for Colombia and is only the second species of Podagrostis to be described from th...

SUPPLEMENTARY KEY (IN SPANISH): CLAVE A LAS ESPECIES DE CALAMAGROSTIS S.L. CONOCIDAS O QUE PROBABLEMENTE OCURRIRÁN EN LOS PÁRAMOS DE NOROESTE SUDAMERICA Y EL SUR DE CENTROAMERICA. Supporting Information to the paper ‘Páramo Calamagrostis s.l. (Poaceae): An updated list and key to the species known or likely to occur in páramos of NW South America a...

Calamagrostis (syn. Deyeuxia), as traditionally circumscribed, is one of the most speciose genera from páramo grasslands of northwest South America and southern Central America and often dominates these high-elevation habitats. However, it remains difficult for researchers to accurately identify the species due to a lack of floristic treatments for...

Excess N deposition from human activities has caused large-scale negative impacts on global ecosystem health and services. However, despite its importance, atmospheric N deposition in Yancheng remains poorly studied. Herein, spatial distributions of atmospheric N deposition and its probable sources were determined using ordinary kriging interpolati...

Most Tibetan people make their living through pastoralism, with livestock grazing being widespread throughout the Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau is also home to the northern hemisphere's highest treelines but the effects of human activities, in particular pastoralism, on these treelines and their influence on the treeline responses to climate...

Magnolia zenii is a critically endangered species known from only 18 trees that survive on Baohua Mountain in Jiangsu province, China. Little information is available regarding its molecular biology, with no genomic study performed on M. zenii until now. We determined the complete plastid genome of M. zenii and identified microsatellites. Whole seq...

Valeriana vilcabambensis Sylvester & Barrie (Valerianaceae), here described and illustrated, is found as a common constituent of the herbaceous layer in humid, high-elevation montane forests of the Cordilleras Urubamba and Vilcabamba, Peru, which are inaccessible to grazing livestock and the spread of human-induced ground fires. The species is uniq...

http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/belize_grass_key/ This key has been created for the 79 genera and species listed in the Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize (Balick et al. 2000) and a few additional species found from a survey done by Bridgewater et al. (2006). No cultivated species have been included and for a list of the 5 species un...

Grasses build and modulate entire ecosystems1. Knowledge of grass species is thus essential to understand the function of grass-dominated ecosystems such as the páramos. Colombia’s páramos are unique, not just for their high diversity and endemism, but also for having evolved without significant grazing2 or fire disturbance3, thus creating an endem...

Abstract We present 4 new and 5 overlooked records of vascular plant species for Peru from high elevation puna grasslands in the Cordilleras Urubamba and Vilcabamba, southern Peru. The new species records are: Lasiocephalus lingulatus (Asteraceae); Cardamine vulgaris (Brassicaceae); Lupinus herzogii, Lupinus soratensis (Fabaceae). Other species rec...

What would current ecosystems be like without the impact of mankind? This question, which is critical for ecosystem management, has long remained unanswered due to a lack of present-day data from truly undisturbed ecosystems. Using mountaineering techniques, we accessed pristine relict ecosystems in the Peruvian Andes to provide this baseline data...

A generic key to 81 genera representing 255 naturally occurring species known from Belize is presented using easily distinguished characters and including illustrations of many of the genera. An up-to-date list of the grasses of Belize is also given.

We provide an updated checklist and key to the 30 Poa species with open panicles from Peru which includes previously circumscribed Dissanthelium and Aphanelytrum species, new taxon records, and three undescribed species. Poa compressa, Poa grisebachii, and Poa leioclada are recorded from Peru for the first time. A number of species are placed in sy...

Supplementary key to the open-panicled species of Poa in Peru

Botanists and plant morphologists have long been fascinated by how certain species can exhibit such reduced morphologies that even their identification to genus- or family-level becomes difficult. Such was the case with Lysipomia mitsyae sp. nov., an exceptionally small plant discovered in the Peruvian Andes which bears lobelioid characteristics bu...

Taxonomic delimitation within the Andean Festuca setifolia complex s. l. has been fraught with difficulty due to the large range of morphoanatomical and epidermal variation among species coupled with varying opinions on what diagnostic characters should be used to distinguish species. We shed light on this through using multivariate analysis (PCA,...

It is an indisputable fact that human activities are affecting properties and development of ecosystems to such a degree that it is, nowadays, almost impossible to get baseline values from undisturbed ecosystems. This baseline data is crucial for settling preconceived ideas of what is ‘natural’, whilst providing information on the extent of human i...

Abstract— Moranopteris inaccessa , here described and illustrated, is a new species from southern Peru. Plants were collected in the Abra Málaga private conservation area from steep ledges accessible only with mountaineering equipment. Moranopteris inaccessa differs from its congeners by the combination of elongate membranaceous laminae that are 1-...

Human activity affects properties and development of ecosystems across the globe to such a degree that it is challenging to get baseline values for undisturbed ecosystems. This is especially true for soils, which are affected by land-use history and hold a legacy of past human interventions. Therefore, it is still largely unknown how soil would hav...

Gentianella viridiflora (Gentianaceae, Gentianeae, Swertiinae), here described and illustrated, is a new species from the Cordillera Vilcabamba, southern Peru. Its yellowish-green corolla distinguishes it from other South American species of the genus that share a similar set of morphological features. The new species is known only from the type lo...

Human activity affects properties and development of ecosystems across the globe to such a degree that it is challenging to get baseline values for undisturbed ecosystems. This is especially true for soils, which are affected by land-use history and hold a legacy of past human interventions. Therefore, it is still largely unknown how soil would hav...

It is an indisputable fact that human activities are affecting properties and development of ecosystems to such a degree that it is, nowadays, almost impossible to get baseline values from undisturbed ecosystems. This baseline data is crucial for settling preconceived ideas of what is ‘natural’, whilst providing information on the extent of human i...

Human activity affects properties and development of ecosystems across the globe, to such a degree that it is nowadays challenging to get baseline values for undisturbed ecosystems. This is especially true for soil development, which is potentially affected by land-use history and holds a legacy of past human interventions. Therefore, it is still l...

Human activities affected ecosystems worldwide to such an extent that there is even discussion that we have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Although numerous studies quantified human impact on varies ecosystem processes and properties, the natural state of many ecosystems and their soils remains unknown. Moreover, human influence...

The highest elevation epiphytic vascular plant flora ever recorded on a worldwide basis is described from the Cordillera Vilcabamba, southern Peruvian Andes. Three species of fern (Melpomene, Polypodium: Polypodiaceae) were recorded from Polylepis pepei forests at elevations above 4,250 m, with Melpomene peruviana reaching almost 4,550 m. A new hig...

We studied tree height in stands of high-Andean Polylepis forests in two cordilleras near Cuzco (Peru) with respect to variations in human impact and climatic conditions, and compared air and soil temperatures between qualitatively defined dry and humid slopes. We studied 46 forest plots of 100 m(2) of five Polylepis species at 3560-4680 m. We meas...

A new species of Bartsia sect. Laxae is described and illustrated from the Cordillera Vilcanota, southern Peru. The species is distinct from all other members of sect. Laxae in being covered with persistent glandular hairs and having a reddish purple corolla. The species is a common element of undisturbed puna vegetation in the Cordillera Vilcanota...

Have millennia of human land use fundamentally altered the vegetation of a large proportion of the high Andean puna biome, with natural vegetation now restricted to inaccessible areas? Can inaccessible ledges be used as surrogates to infer the potential natural vegetation (PNV) in heavily impacted areas of the puna ecosystem of the high Andes? Is t...

National Geographic Magazine- Germany. “Botanik - Aufstieg in eine vergessene Welt” (December 2013 issue)

The grasses are a notoriously difficult family to identify, which are often avoided, and therefore understudied, despite their importance in tropical ecosystems. Conservation assessments and floristic surveys within Belize have been frequently hindered by the inability of surveyors to identify this key plant family. The primary focus of the project...