Amborella trichopoda is strongly supported as the single living species of the sister lineage to all other extant flowering plants, providing a unique reference for inferring the genome content and structure of the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of living angiosperms. Sequencing the Amborella genome, we identified an ancient genome duplication predating angiosperm diversification, without evidence of subsequent, lineage-specific genome duplications. Comparisons between Amborella and other angiosperms facilitated reconstruction of the ancestral angiosperm gene content and gene order in the MRCA of core eudicots. We identify new gene families, gene duplications, and floral protein-protein interactions that first appeared in the ancestral angiosperm. Transposable elements in Amborella are ancient and highly divergent, with no recent transposon radiations. Population genomic analysis across Amborella's native range in New Caledonia reveals a recent genetic bottleneck and geographic structure with conservation implications.

Phytomining technology employs hyperaccumulator plants to take up metal in harvestable plant biomass. Harvesting, drying and incineration of the biomass generates a high-grade bio-ore. We propose that "agromining" (a variant of phytomining) could provide local communities with an alternative type of agriculture on degraded lands; farming not for food crops, but for metals such as nickel (Ni). However, two decades after its inception and numerous successful experiments, commercial phytomining has not yet become a reality. To build the case for the minerals industry, a large-scale demonstration is needed to identify operational risks and provide "real-life" evidence for profitability.

The carpel is the female reproductive organ specific to flowering plants. We aim to define the genes that controlled carpel development in the common ancestor of this group as a step toward determining the molecular events that were responsible for the evolution of the carpel. CRABS CLAW (CRC) and TOUSLED (TSL) control important aspects of carpel development in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. The basal angiosperm species Amborella trichopoda and Cabomba aquatica very likely represent the two most early diverging groups of flowering plants. We have identified putative orthologues of CRC and TSL from A. trichopoda and C. aquatica, respectively. We demonstrate the expression patterns of these genes in carpels to be very highly conserved, both spatially and temporally, with those of their Arabidopsis orthologues. We argue that CRC and TSL in Arabidopsis are likely to have conserved their respective roles in carpel development since the common ancestor of the living flowering plants. We conclude that a divergent role shown for the CRC orthologue in rice, DROOPING LEAF, most probably arose specifically in the monocot lineage. We show that, in addition to its expression in carpels, the TSL orthologue of C. aquatica is expressed in tissues that contribute to buoyancy and argue that its role in these tissues may have arisen later than its role in carpel development.Amborella ͉ Cabomba ͉ ANITA ͉ gynoecium ͉ flower T he carpel is the female reproductive organ specific to the angiosperms, or flowering plants. In most species, the carpel is differentiated into stigma, style, and ovary tissues and may occur as a separate structure, or fused with other carpels in a syncarpic pistil. The carpel protects the ovules within its ovary and provides a location for pollen tube guidance and pollen incompatibility mechanisms. After fertilization, the ovary develops into a fruit that protects the seeds and may participate in their dissemination. For these reasons, the carpel was probably a major factor in the success of the angiosperms, which diversified from an unknown, presumably gymnosperm-like ancestor to form in excess of 300,000 species alive today.To understand the molecular evolution events that led to the first carpels, we must first know what genes and mechanisms of carpel development were present in the earliest flowering plants. This information may be obtained by comparing the presence and functions of orthologous genes that control carpel development in present-day species whose evolutionary lineages diverged very early in flowering plant evolution. The two prerequisites of such an analysis are a robust molecular phylogeny of the flowering plants and an understanding of some of the genetic mechanisms of carpel development in model species.The concordant results of five independent molecular phylogenetic studies, incorporating very widespread taxonomic sampling, have provided a more robust hypothesis for the evolutionary relationships between the major groups of seed plants than has ever before existed, as reviewed by...

New Caledonia is a global biodiversity hotspot facing extreme environmental degradation. Given the urgent need for conservation prioritisation, we have made a first-pass quantitative assessment of the distribution of Narrow Endemic Species (NES) in the flora to identify species and sites that are potentially important for conservation action. We assessed the distributional status of all angiosperm and gymnosperm species using data from taxonomic descriptions and herbarium samples. We characterised species as being NES if they occurred in 3 or fewer locations. In total, 635 of the 2930 assessed species were classed as NES, of which only 150 have been subjected to the IUCN conservation assessment. As the distributional patterns of un-assessed species from one or two locations correspond well with assessed species which have been classified as Critically Endangered or Endangered respectively, we suggest that our distributional data can be used to prioritise species for IUCN assessment. We also used the distributional data to produce a map of “Hotspots of Plant Narrow Endemism” (HPNE). Combined, we used these data to evaluate the coincidence of NES with mining activities (a major source of threat on New Caledonia) and also areas of conservation protection. This is to identify species and locations in most urgent need of further conservation assessment and subsequent action. Finally, we grouped the NES based on the environments they occurred in and modelled the habitat distribution of these groups with a Maximum Entropy Species Distribution Model (MaxEnt). The NES were separable into three different groups based primarily on geological differences. The distribution of the habitat types for each group coincide partially with the HPNE described above and also indicates some areas which have high habitat suitability but few recorded NES. Some of these areas may represent under-sampled hotspots of narrow endemism and are priorities for further field work.

New Caledonia is a widely recognised marine and terrestrial biodiversity hot spot. However, this unique environment is under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Major threats are related to land cover change and include fire, urban sprawling and mining. Resulting habitat loss and fragmentation end up in serious erosion of the local biodiversity. Mining is of particular concern due to its economic significance for the island. Open cast mines were exploited there since 1873, and scraping out soil to access ores wipes out flora. Resulting perturbations on water flows and dramatic soil erosion lead to metal-rich sediment transport downstream into rivers and the lagoon. Conflicting environmental and economic aspects of mining are discussed in this paper. However, mining practices are also improving, and where impacts are inescapable ecological restoration is now considered. Past and ongoing experiences in the restoration of New Caledonian terrestrial ecosystems are presented and discussed here. Economic use of the local floristic diversity could also promote conservation and restoration, while providing alternative incomes. In this regard, Ecocatalysis, an innovative approach to make use of metal hyperaccumulating plants, is of particular interest.

Relationships between the trace-elements (TE) content of plants and associated soil have been widely investigated especially to understand the ecology of TE hyperaccumulating species to develop applications using TE phytoextraction. Many studies have focused on the possibility of quantifying the soil TE fraction available to plants, and used bioconcentration (BC) as a measure of the plants ability to absorb TE. However, BC only offers a static view of the dynamic phenomenon of TE accumulation. Accumulation kinetics are required to fully account for TE distributions in plants. They are also crucial to design applications where maximum TE concentrations in plant leaves are needed. This paper provides a review of studies of BC (i.e. soil-plant relationships) and leaf-age in relation to TE hyperaccumulation. The paper focuses of Ni and Mn accumulators and hyperaccumulators from New Caledonia who were previously overlooked until recent Ecocatalysis applications emerged for such species. Updated data on Mn hyperaccumulators and accumulators from New Caledonia are also presented and advocate further investigation of the hyperaccumulation of this element. Results show that leaf-age should be considered in the design of sample collection and allowed the reclassification of Grevillea meisneri known previously as a Mn accumulator to a Mn hyperaccumulator.

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New Caledonia is a global biodiversity hotspot known for its metal hyperaccumulator plants. X-ray fluorescence technology (XRF) has enabled non-destructive and quantitative determination of elemental concentrations in herbarium specimens from the ultramafic flora of the island. Specimens belonging to six major hyperaccumulator families (Cunoniaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Salicaceae, Sapotaceae, Oncothecaceae and Violaceae) and one to four specimens per species of the remaining ultramafic taxa in the herbarium were measured. XRF scanning included a total of c. 11 200 specimens from 35 orders, 96 families, 281 genera and 1484 species (1620 taxa) and covered 88.5% of the ultramafic flora. The study revealed the existence of 99 nickel hyperaccumulator taxa (65 known previously), 74 manganese hyperaccumulator taxa (11 known previously), eight cobalt hyperaccumulator taxa (two known previously) and four zinc hyperaccumulator taxa (none known previously). These results offer new insights into the phylogenetic diversity of hyperaccumulators in New Caledonia. The greatest diversity of nickel hyperaccumulators occur in a few major clades (Malphigiales and Oxalidales) and families (Phyllanthaceae, Salicaceae, Cunoniaceae). In contrast, manganese hyperaccumulation is phylogenetically scattered in the New Caledonian flora.