Zooplantlab, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, I-20126, Milano, Italy.
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, via Irnerio 42, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 23;7(1):13799. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14183-5.
The most anthropized regions of the world are characterized by an impressive abundance of invasive plants, which alter local biodiversity and ecosystem services. An alternative strategy to manage these species could be based on the exploitation of their fruits in a framework of bioprospecting to obtain high-added value compounds or phytocomplexes that are useful for humans. Here we tested this hypothesis on three invasive plants (Lonicera japonica Thunb., Phytolacca americana L., and Prunus serotina Ehrh.) in the Po plain (northern Italy) which bear fruits that are highly consumed by frugivorous birds and therefore dispersed over large distances. Our biochemical analyses revealed that unripe fruit shows high antioxidant properties due to the presence of several classes of polyphenols, which have a high benchmark value on the market. Fruit collection for phytochemical extraction could really prevent seed dispersal mediated by frugivorous animals and produce economic gains to support local management actions.
世界上人类活动最频繁的地区的特点是拥有大量的入侵植物，这些植物改变了当地的生物多样性和生态系统服务。管理这些物种的一种替代策略可以基于在生物勘探框架内利用它们的果实来获得高附加值的化合物或植物复合物，这些化合物或植物复合物对人类有用。在这里，我们在意大利北部的波河平原上测试了这一假设，对三种入侵植物（忍冬、美洲商陆和欧洲李）进行了测试，这些植物的果实被食果鸟类高度消耗，因此被传播到很远的距离。我们的生化分析表明，未成熟的果实由于含有几类多酚类物质而具有很高的抗氧化特性，这些多酚类物质在市场上具有很高的基准值。进行植物化学提取的果实收集真的可以防止食果动物介导的种子传播，并产生经济收益来支持当地的管理行动。
