Aline J. Ramalho, Daniela C. Zappi, Gisele L. Nunes, Mauricio T. C. Watanabe, Santelmo Vasconcelos, Mariana C. Dias, Rodolfo Jaffé, Xavier Prous, Tereza C. Giannini, Guilherme Oliveira, Ana M. Giulietti
Abstract
Plants living above and around caves represent an important, albeit poorly studied, resource within cave ecosystems. The presence of plant material (root-like structures or rhizothemes, saplings, seeds, and seedlings) correlates positively with the biodiversity of the cave dwelling animals as shown for iron-ore caves in Carajás, Pará, Brazil. Plant material collected in caves has proven to be difficult to identify by traditional botanical methods, thus this research aims to provide a qualitative insight into the taxonomy and morphology of rhizothemes and other plant fragments found in the caves. The identification process used a combination of different molecular markers (ITS2, rbcL, and trnH-psbA) followed by a comparison of the sequences obtained against publicly available databases. The rhizothemes were submitted to micromorphological analysis to ascertain their putative root or stem origin and to compare their anatomy with known patterns found in the plant families or genera recovered through molecular matches. All studied samples were Angiosperms, mostly belonging to subclass Rosideae, within four orders: Malpighiales (Euphorbiaceae, Hypericaceae), Sapindales (Anacardiaceae and Sapindaceae), Myrtales (Myrtaceae), Fabales (Fabaceae), and only two belonging to subclass Asteridae, order Gentianales (Apocynaceae). Some of the samples were matched to generic level, with ITS2 being the best marker to identify the fragments because it shows high degree of sequence variation even at specific level and result reliability. All rhizothemes turned out to be roots, and correspondence was found between the existing literature and the individual anatomical patterns for the families and genera retrieved. DNA barcode has proved to be a useful tool to identify plant fragments found in this challenging environment. However, the existence of well curated, authoritatively named collections with ample biological information has proven to be essential to achieve a reliable identification.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 August 2018.
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#12,910,385
of 23,096,849 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Plant Science
#5,265
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Outputs of similar age
#154,502
of 329,806 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Plant Science
#154
of 480 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,096,849 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 20,719 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 329,806 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 480 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.
