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African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.

ecotone --- fire --- forest core --- habitat preference --- Ngel Nyaki --- niche partitioning --- savannah --- species sorting --- torus translation --- vegetation --- aridification in NW Africa --- Macaronesian islands --- distribution patterns --- West African Monsoon (WAM) --- vascular flora --- African potato --- conservation --- commercialization --- cultivation --- Hypoxidaceae --- medicinal plant --- unsustainable harvesting --- wild harvesting --- woodland --- miombo --- savanna --- diversity --- disturbance --- Baikiaea --- biogeographic vicariance --- extinction --- phylogenomics --- gene shopping --- gene capture --- molecular dating --- Africa --- biome --- RADseq --- Monechma --- Justicia --- phylogeny --- plant diversity --- Bia Tano Forest Reserve --- gap --- regeneration --- species composition --- species diversity --- wildfires --- MODIS burnt area product --- WWF ecoregions --- land cover --- Miombo woodlands --- biodiversity conservation --- sub-Saharan Africa --- flora --- tropical biodiversity

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Several species of Dinophysis produce one or two groups of lipophilic toxins: okadaic acid (OA) and its derivatives; or the dinophysistoxins (DTXs) (also known as diarrhetic shellfish poisons or DSP toxins) and pectenotoxins (PTXs). DSP toxins are potent inhibitors of protein phosphatases, causing gastrointestinal intoxication in consumers of contaminated seafood. Forty years after the identification of Dinophysis as the causative agent of DSP in Japan, contamination of filter feeding shellfish exposed to Dinophysis blooms is recognized as a problem worldwide. DSP events affect public health and cause considerable losses to the shellfish industry. Costly monitoring programs are implemented in regions with relevant shellfish production to prevent these socioeconomic impacts. Harvest closures are enforced whenever toxin levels exceed regulatory limits (RLs). Dinophysis species are kleptoplastidic dinoflagellates; they feed on ciliates (Mesodinium genus) that have previously acquired plastids from cryptophycean (genera Teleaulax, Plagioselmis, and Geminigera) nanoflagellates. The interactions of Dinophysis with different prey regulate their growth and toxin production. When Dinophysis cells are ingested by shellfish, their toxins are partially biotransformed and bioaccumulated, rendering the shellfish unsuitable for human consumption. DSP toxins may also affect shellfish metabolism. This book covers diverse aspects of the abovementioned topics—from the laboratory culture of Dinophysis and the kinetics of uptake, transformation, and depuration of DSP toxins in shellfish to Dinophysis population dynamics, the monitoring and regulation of DSP toxins, and their impact on the shellfish industry in some of the aquaculture regions that are traditionally most affected, namely, northeastern Japan, western Europe, southern Chile, and New Zealand.

WitOMI analysis --- n/a --- DST accumulation --- mussel --- dinophysistoxins --- depuration --- human health --- pectenotoxins (PTXs) --- cryptophytes --- Mesodinium --- dinophysis --- compartmentalization --- resistance --- Japanese scallop --- surf clam --- HAB monitoring --- toxins --- organic matter --- OMI analysis --- PTXs --- time-series --- Diarrhetic shellfish toxins --- predator-prey preferences --- immunity --- okadaic acid --- physical–biological interactions --- defense --- digestion --- Dinophysis --- harmful algal blooms --- pectenotoxin --- El Niño Southern Oscillation --- lysate --- suspended particulate matter (SPM) --- D. caudata --- mixotrophic cultures --- Mytilus galloprovincialis --- bivalves --- diarrhetic shellfish poisoning --- biotransformation --- Mesodinium cf. rubrum --- RNA-Seq --- DST esterification --- Mesodinium rubrum --- statistical analysis --- seasonality --- mass culture conditions --- D. acuminata-complex --- Argopecten purpuratus --- harmful algal bloom --- pipis (Plebidonax deltoides) --- DTX-2 --- Reloncaví Fjord --- pectenotoxins --- deep sequencing --- climatic anomaly --- Brazil --- qPCR --- high throughput sequencing --- DSP --- accumulation --- LC/MS/MS --- Protoceratium reticulatum --- shellfish toxicity --- transcriptomic response --- New Zealand --- blooms --- trophic transfer --- metabolism --- bacterial community --- kinetics --- marine biotoxins --- diarrhetic shellfish toxins --- bivalve shellfish --- Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins (DST) --- diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DST) --- Scotland --- Dinophysis acuminata --- DSP toxins --- toxin accumulation --- Southern Annual Mode --- Diarrheic Shellfish Poisoning --- Dinophysis toxins --- OA --- marine toxins --- toxin vectors --- wild harvest --- Dinophysis acuta --- Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) --- Argopecten irradians --- dinophysistoxin --- Port Underwood --- aquaculture --- niche partitioning --- Dinoflagellates. --- Dinoflagellata --- Dinoflagellida --- Dinophyceae --- Dinophyta --- Pyrrophycophyta --- Pyrrophyta --- Phytoflagellates --- physical-biological interactions --- El Niño Southern Oscillation --- Reloncaví Fjord