A special issue of the journal Botany is set to showcase to the world the multipronged-approach that Canadian researchers are bringing to the study of pollination biology. The journal's July issue features seven articles from NSERC-CANPOLIN researchers, examining topics that range from the effect of flower structure on pollinator activity to the impacts of recent climate change on pollinator ranges. The issue also includes two review papers, one exploring pollen limitation and pollinator diversity, and the other assessing the value of network biology studies in pollinator conservation.

"Pollination biology is a somewhat unique field of study, because there are so many different ways to approach the interactions between plants and pollinators," says Jana Vamosi of the University of Calgary and guest editor of the special issue. "It can be studied at the level of a single plant or pollinator species, or at a community level, where the entire complex web of plant and pollinator interactions are considered. At the landscape level, pollination takes place against a backdrop of wide-ranging and sometimes extreme environments, which adds further to the complexity of interactions."

The special issue presents findings from studies conducted in a variety of ecosystems, including agricultural, forest and alpine. Many of these studies have revealed important information about the pollination biology and/or evolution of several Canadian plant species, while a study that took place in Quebec is one of the first to examine the impact of agricultural monocultures on pollinator nutrition and reproduction. At the macro-scale, a country-wide study of 81 butterfly species looks at how the ranges of these relatively mobile pollinators are keeping pace with latitudinal shifts in climatic gradients.

Nine CANPOLIN ecologists collaborated on a review examining pollinator biodiversity and its role in pollen limitation, a scenario in which a plant's reproduction is limited because not enough pollen is transferred. Although traditional wisdom predicts that there will be less pollen limitation when pollinator diversity is high, the group found that this link is actually somewhat weak. The authors encourage other researchers investigating the phenomenon of pollen limitation to measure pollinator diversity more explicitly, so that it is easier to identify what makes a plant-pollinator relationship stable.

A second review makes the case that pollinator network analyses are an important tool for understanding pollination systems at the community level. Rather than traditional measurements that focus simply on what species are present, pollinator networks provide information on what each flower visitor is actually doing. "Network analyses are considered by many to be the next frontier in pollinator biology" says Elizabeth Elle of Simon Fraser, senior author of the review and co-leader of CANPOLIN's Ecosystems Working Group with Vamosi. "They provide a functional understanding of pollination systems as opposed to just an inventory. As such, they are likely to become an essential part of developing conservation strategies for pollinators."

The idea for the special issue took hold during a pollination symposium at last year's Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution annual meeting in Banff, AB, an event that was co-organized by Elle and fellow CANPOLIN member Risa Sargent of University of Ottawa. The symposium brought together researchers from four different working groups in CANPOLIN (Taxonomy, Plant reproduction, Ecology and Prediction) to explore pollinator biodiversity and pollination services in Canada. "The symposium was a great success and generated quite a lot of interest. With the help of NRC Research Press, we have been able to capture many of the ideas presented and make them available to the wider research community through this special issue," says Vamosi.

More information: For a full overview of the July 2012 issue see the introductory article by Vamosi et al: "Pollination biology research in Canada: perspectives on a mutualism at different scales" (Botany, 90(7): v-vi, doi: 10.1139/b2012-051).

The full issue is now available online http://www.nrcresearchpre toc/cjb/90/7

Journal reference: Botany

Provided by Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

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Special issue of Botany showcases CANPOLIN research

SPANISH FORT, Alabama -- The 2012 Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program received 79 applications this year from high school juniors and seniors and chose only 15 participants, one of whom was Spanish Fort High School graduate Katie Dankovic.

The 18-year-old was a senior at SFHS when she was persuaded by her consumer science teacher to submit an application for the internship and scholarship opportunity sponsored by the American Fisheries Society. Dankovic was selected, received a $3,000 scholarship and spent an eight-week internship being mentored by biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Daphne location.

The Hutton program is open to all 11th- and 12th-grade high school students regardless of their race or gender; however, the programs goal is to stimulate interest in careers in fisheries science and management among groups underrepresented in the fisheries professions, so women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Each student chosen for the program receives a scholarship and is matched with a professional mentor for a summer-long hands-on experience.

Dankovics mentors, Andy Ford and Jennifer Pritchett, said they have seen Dankovic progress throughout the weeks.

Shes communicating better, her confidence is growing and shes catching on quick, said Pritchett, a fish and wildlife biologist.

As a first-time mentor, Pritchett feels as though the opportunity benefits both herself and Dankovic.

Im trying to help pay it forward. I hope I can enhance someone elses career and my leadership skills also, said Pritchett.

Ford, who has been a mentor for three years, agrees that the experience as a mentor is rewarding.

I enjoy getting out there and helping. I think weve all had someone in some point of our career that stepped up and helped, said Ford, a fishery biologist. Its enjoyable for me to see young people coming out of school and excited about the field already.

The 2012 program, which was established in 2000, includes minority students in nearly half its positions and about two-thirds are female, a spokesman said. This year, the Hutton Scholars are working with their mentors in 13 states.

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American Fisheries Society mentoring program gives students a career head start

Conventional biology expects the process of mammalian cell division, mitosis, to occur by the equal partition of a mother cell into two daughter cells. Bioengineers at UCLA Engineering have developed a platform that mechanically confines cells, simulating the in vivo three-dimensional environments in which they divide. Upon confinement they have discovered that cancer cells can divide a large percentage of the time into three or more daughter cells instead.

It's well known in conventional biology that during the process of mammalian cell division, or mitosis, a mother cell divides equally into two daughter cells. But when it comes to cancer, say UCLA researchers, mother cells may be far more prolific.

Bioengineers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science developed a platform to mechanically confine cells, simulating the in vivo three-dimensional environments in which they divide, and found that, upon confinement, cancer cells often split into three or more daughter cells.

"We hope that this platform will allow us to better understand how the 3-D mechanical environment may play a role in the progression of a benign tumor into a malignant tumor that kills," said Dino Di Carlo, an associate professor of bioengineering at UCLA and principal investigator on the research.

The biological process of mitosis is tightly regulated by specific biochemical checkpoints to ensure that each daughter cell receives an equal set of sub-cellular materials, such as chromosomes or organelles, to create new cells properly.

However, when these checkpoints are miscued, the mistakes can have detrimental consequences. One key component is chromosomal count: When a new cell acquires extra chromosomes or loses chromosomes known as aneuploidy the regulation of important biological processes can be disrupted, a key characteristic of many invasive cancers. A cell that divides into more than two daughter cells undergoes a complex choreography of chromosomal motion that can result in aneuploidy.

By investigating the contributing factors that lead to mismanagement during the process of chromosome segregation, scientists may better understand the progression of cancer, said the researchers, whose findings were recently published online in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

For the study, the UCLA team created a microfluidic platform to mechanically confine cancer cells to study the effects of 3-D microenvironments on mitosis events. The platform allowed for high-resolution, single-cell microscopic observations as the cells grew and divided. This platform, the researchers said, enabled them to better mimic the in vivo conditions of a tumor's space-constrained growth in 3-D environments in contrast to traditionally used culture flasks.

Surprisingly, the team observed that such confinement resulted in the abnormal division of a single cancer cell into three or four daughter cells at a much higher rate than typical. And a few times, they observed a single cell splitting into five daughter cells during a single division event, likely leading to aneuploid daughter cells.

"Even though cancer can arise from a set of precise mutations, the majority of malignant tumors possess aneuploid cells, and the reason for this is still an open question," said Di Carlo, who is also a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. "Our new microfluidic platform offers a more reliable way for researchers to study how the unique tumor environment may contribute to aneuploidy."

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Bioengineers discover single cancer cell can produce up to five daughter cells