The presence of moderate salt can increase tolerance of Elaeagnus angustifolia seedlings to waterlogging stress.

High salinity and waterlogging are two stress factors that often occur simultaneously in nature, particularly during the rainy season in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) of China. An attractive approach to improve the saline-alkali soil produced by waterlogging and high salt is to use plants for wetland ecosystem restoration. In this work, we examined the ecological adaptability of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. under combined waterlogging and salt stress, to evaluate the potential of this species for introduction to the YRD. We monitored the effects of salt plus waterlogging co-stress on the anatomy, physiology, and enzymatic systems in E. angustifolia seedlings. Salt alone and waterlogging alone inhibited the growth of the seedlings, while salt plus waterlogging co-stress reduced this growth inhibition. Furthermore, E. angustifolia seedlings resisted the salt plus waterlogging co-stress by increasing porosity, accumulating more inorganic ions and organic solutes, and increasing antioxidant enzyme activities to maintain high photosynthetic rates and membrane stability and thus avoid damage. These findings support the inclusion of E. angustifolia in the ecological restoration of the YRD.

Growth performance, organ-level ionic relations and organic osmoregulation of Elaeagnus angustifolia in response to salt stress.

Elaeagnus angustifolia is one of the most extensively afforested tree species in environment-harsh regions of northern China. Despite its exceptional tolerance to saline soil, the intrinsic adaptive physiology has not been revealed. In this study, we investigated the growth, organ-level ionic relations and organic osmoregulation of the seedlings hydroponically treated with 0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl for 30 days. We found that the growth characteristics and the whole-plant dry weight were not obviously stunted, but instead, were even slightly stimulated by the treatment of 100 mM NaCl. In contrast, these traits were significantly inhibited by 200 mM NaCl treatment. Interestingly, as compared with the control (0 mM NaCl), both 100 and 200 mM NaCl treatments had a promotional effect on root growth as evidenced by 26.3% and 2.4% increases in root dry weight, respectively. Roots had the highest Na+ and Cl- concentrations and obviously served as the sink for the net increased Na+ and Cl-, while, stems might maintain the capacity of effective Na+ constraint, resulting in reduced Na+ transport to the leaves. K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations in three plant organs of NaCl-treated seedlings presented a substantial decline, eventually leading to an enormously drop of K+/Na+ ratio. As the salt concentration increased, proline and soluble protein contents continuously exhibited a prominent and a relatively tardy accumulation, respectively, whereas soluble sugar firstly fell to a significant level and then regained to a level that is close to that of the control. Taken together, our results provided quantitative measures that revealed some robust adaptive physiological mechanisms underpinning E. angustifolia's moderately high salt tolerance, and those mechanisms comprise scalable capacity for root Na+ and Cl- storage, effectively constrained transportation of Na+ from stems to leaves, root compensatory growth, as well as an immediate and prominent leaf proline accumulation.

Micromonospora is a normal occupant of actinorhizal nodules.

Actinorhizal plants have been found in eight genera belonging to three orders (Fagales, Rosales and Cucurbitales). These all bear root nodules inhabited by bacteria identified as the nitrogen-fixing actinobacterium Frankia. These nodules all have a peripheral cortex with enlarged cells filled with Frankia hyphae and vesicles. Isolation in pure culture has been notoriously difficult, due in a large part to the growth of fast-growing contaminants where, it was later found, Frankia was slow-growing. Many of these contaminants, which were later found to be Micromonospora, were obtained from Casuarina and Coriaria. Our study was aimed at determining if Micromonospora were also present in other actinorhizal plants. Nodules from Alnus glutinosa, Alnus viridis, Coriaria myrtifolia, Elaeagnus x ebbingei, Hippophae rhamnoides, Myrica gale and Morella pensylvanica were tested and were all found to contain Micromonospora isolates. These were found to belong to mainly three species: Micromonospora lupini, Micromonospora coriariae and Micromonospora saelicesensis. Micromonospora isolates were found to inhibit some Frankia strains and to be innocuous to other strains.

Indigenous actinorhizal plants of Australia.

Indigenous species of actinorhizal plants of Casuarinaceae, Elaeagnaceae and Rhamnaceae are found in specific regions of Australia. Most of these plants belong to Casuarinaceae, the dominant actinorhizal family in Australia. Many of them have significant environmental and economical value. The other two families with their indigenous actinorhizal plants have only a minor presence in Australia. Most Australian actinorhizal plants have their native range only in Australia, whereas two of these plants are also found indigenously elsewhere. The nitrogen-fixing ability of these plants varies between species. This ability needs to be investigated in some of these plants. Casuarinas form a distinctive but declining part of the Australian landscape. Their potential has rarely been applied in forestry in Australia despite their well-known uses, which are being judiciously exploited elsewhere. To remedy this oversight, a programme has been proposed for increasing and improving casuarinas that would aid in greening more regions of Australia, increasing the soil fertility and the area of wild life habitat (including endangered species). Whether these improved clones would be productive with local strains of Frankia or they need an external inoculum of Frankia should be determined and the influence of mycorrhizal fungi on these clones also should be investigated.

An invasive riparian tree reduces stream ecosystem efficiency via a recalcitrant organic matter subsidy.

A disturbance, such as species invasion, can alter the exchange of materials and organisms between ecosystems, with potential consequences for the function of both ecosystems. Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) is an exotic tree invading riparian corridors in the western United States, and may alter stream organic matter budgets by increasing allochthonous litter and by reducing light via shading, in turn decreasing in-stream primary production. We used a before-after invasion comparison spanning 35 years to show that Russian olive invasion increased allochthonous litter nearly 25-fold to an invaded vs. a control reach of a stream, and we found that this litter decayed more slowly than native willow. Despite a mean 50% increase in canopy cover by Russian olive and associated shading, there were no significant changes in gross primary production. Benthic organic matter storage increased fourfold after Russian olive invasion compared to pre-invasion conditions, but there were no associated changes in stream ecosystem respiration or organic matter export. Thus, estimated stream ecosystem efficiency (ratio of ecosystem respiration to organic matter input) decreased 14%. These findings show that invasions of nonnative plant species in terrestrial habitats can alter resource fluxes to streams with consequences for whole-ecosystem functions.

[Root activity and photosynthetic characteristics of Elaeagnus oxycarpa seedlings under drought stress].

Taking one-year old Elaeagnus oxycarpa seedlings as test matenals, this paper studied their root activity and leaf cell membrane permeability, relative water content, photosynthetic pigment contents, and photosynthetic parameters at different soil relative moisture contents under natural drought condition. When the soil relative moisture content decreased from 70% (CK) to 40%, the E. oxycarpa seedlings root activity and net photosynthetic rate increased gradually and reached their maximum (1178 microg x g(-1) x h(-1) and 21.9 micromol x m(-2) x s(-1), respectively), photosynthetic pigment contents increased stably, transpiration rate and water use efficiency did not show any significant difference, and cell membrane permeability kept at a low level. When the soil relative moisture content decreased from 40% to 20%, the leaf relative water content was still higher than 50% , cell membrane permeability maintained at a low level, root activity and photosynthetic pigment contents remained high, and other photosynthesis parameters decreased slowly. When the soil relative moisture content decreased from 10% to 5%, the cell membrane permeability increased acutely, but the leaf relative water content, total chlorophyll content, all photosynthesis parameters, and root activity had a significant decrease. The water use efficiency reached the peak when the soil relative moisture content was 10%. To sum up, the optimal soil relative moisture content for E. oxycarpa seedlings should be 40% -50% , and the permanent wilting coefficient of the seedlings was 4.3% (soil relative moisture content).

[Effects of NaCl stress on Hippophae rhamnoides and Shepherdia argentea seedlings growth and photosynthetic characteristics].

With two-year old seedlings of Hippophea rhamnoides and Shepherdia argentea as test materials, this paper studied their growth and photosynthetic characteristics under the stress of different concentration (0, 200, 400 and 600 mmol x L(-1)) NaCl. The results showed that the biomass and total leaf area per plant of H. rhamnoides and S. argentea seedlings decreased significantly with increasing NaCl concentration. Comparing with the control, the root/shoot ratio of H. rhamnoides and S. argentea seedlings under NaCl stress increased obviously, while the leaf mass per area (LMA) decreased slightly. When the NaCl concentration increased and the stress time prolonged, the net photosynthetic rate (P(n)), transpiration rate (T(r)), and stomatal conductance (G(s)) of H. rhamnoides and S. argentea seedlings declined markedly, the intercellular CO2 concentration (C(i)) increased after an initial decrease, whereas the water use efficiency (WUE) and stomatal limiting value (L(s)) decreased after an initial increase. The dynamic changes of G(s), C(i) and L(s) indicated that the decline of P(n) was mainly caused by the stomatal limitation in a short-term stress, and by non-stomatal limitation in a long-term stress. The poorer the salt tolerance of tree species and the higher the NaCl concentration, the earlier the transition from stomatal limitation to non-stomatal limitation would occur. As for H. rhamnoides, its morphological symptoms of salt injury appeared on the 10th day, and all of its seedlings were died on the 22th day under 600 mmol NaCl x L(-1) stress. In contrast, S. argentea could tolerate 600 mmol NaCl x L(-1) stress for above 30 days, illustrating that S. argentea, as an introduced tree species, had higher salt tolerance than H. rhamnoides, and could be planted widely in saline regions of China.

Isolation of Elaeagnus-compatible Frankia from soils collected in Tunisia.

The occurrence and diversity of Frankia nodulating Elaeagnus angustifolia in Tunisia were evaluated in 30 soils from different regions by a Frankia-capturing assay. Despite the absence of actinorhizal plants in 24 of the 30 soils, nodules were captured from all the samples. Eight pure strains were isolated from single colonies grown in agar medium. On the basis of 16S rRNA and GlnII sequences, seven strains were clustered with Frankia, colonizing Elaeagnaceae and Rhamnaceae in two different phylogenetic groups while one strain described a new lineage in the Frankia assemblage, indicating that Frankia strains genetically diverse from previously known Elaeagnus-infective strains are present in tunisian soils. Genomic fingerprinting determined by rep-PCR, and tDNA-PCR-SSCP, confirmed the wide genetic diversity of the strains.

Anti-ulcerogenic activity of some plants used as folk remedy in Turkey.

Five herbal remedies used as gastroprotective crude drugs in Turkey were assessed for anti-ulcerogenic activity using the EtOH-induced ulcerogenesis model in rat. The crude drugs investigated comprises fruits of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. (Elaeagnaceae), fresh fruits of Hibiscus esculentus L. (Malvaceae), fresh roots of Papaver rhoeas L. (Papaveraceae), leaves of Phlomis grandiflora H.S. Thomson (Lamiaceae) and fresh fruits of Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae). Extracts were prepared according to the traditional indications of use. Under our experimental conditions, all extracts exhibited statistically significant gastroprotective effect with better results for Phlomis grandiflora and Rosa canina (100%). At the concentration under study, both crude drugs were more effective than the reference compound misoprostol at 0.4 mg/kg. Even the weakest anti-ulcerogenic effect observed for Papaver rhoeas roots was found statistically potent (95.6%). Histopathological studies confirmed the results of the in vivo test.