Effects of alligator weed invasion on wetlands in protected areas: A case study of Lishui Jiulong National Wetland Park.

Wetlands are one of the ecosystems most easily and severely invaded by alien species. Biological invasions can have significant impacts on local plant communities and ecosystem functioning. While numerous studies have assessed the impacts of biological invasions on wetlands, relatively few have been conducted in protected areas such as national wetland parks. We conducted a field survey to investigate the effects of the invasive herb Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed) on the productivity and structure of plant communities and soil microbial communities in the Lishui Jiulong National Wetland Park in Zhejiang, China. We also examined the potential influence of the distance to the river edge on the impact of the alligator weed invasion. The alligator weed invasion significantly altered the plant community structure. It reduced the coverage of co-occurring plant species, including native (-31.2 %), invasive (-70.1 %), and non-invasive alien plants (-58.4 %). However, it increased species richness by 50 %, Pielou's evenness by 20 %, and Simpson's diversity index by 29.1 % for the overall plant community. Furthermore, within the community not invaded by alligator weed, increasing the distance to the river edge decreased the number of native plants by 57.0 % and the aboveground biomass of other invasive plants by 78.6 %. Contrary to expectations, no effects of the alligator weed invasion were observed on soil fungal and bacterial communities. Therefore, the impacts of the alligator weed invasion varied with spatial context and plant category, emphasizing the need to consider multiple scales and environmental factors when assessing the effects of invasive species on plant biodiversity. These insights enhance our understanding of plant invasions in wetlands and can guide the development of effective management strategies for these important ecosystems.

Comprehensive analysis on the expression profile and prognostic values of Synaptotagmins (SYTs) family members and their methylation levels in gastric cancer.

Synaptotagmins (SYTs), constitute a family of 17 membrane-trafficking protein, palying crucial roles in the development and progression of human cancers. However, only very few studies have investigated the expression profile and prognostic values of SYTs family members in gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, we comprehensively evaluated the expression, methylation, prognosis and immune significance of SYTs family members through bioinformatics analysis from the online databases in GC. The expressions of SYT4, SYT9, and SYT14 were up-regulated, and negatively associated with their methylation levels in GC. Both the over-expression of SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 and their hypomethylation levels contributed to an unsatisfactory overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in GC. Moreover, the low expressions of several methylation cg sites (cg02795029, cg07581146, cg15149095, cg19922137, cg25371503, cg26158959, cg02269161, cg03226737, cg08185661, cg16437728, cg22723056 and cg24678137) were significantly correlated with an unfavorable OS and PFS in GC. Furthermore, the expression of SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 played a pivotal role in immune cells infiltration in GC. Collectively, our current finding suggested that SYT4, SYT9 and SYT14 might be potent prognostic indictors and promising immunotherapeutic targets for GC patients.