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Australian researchers find over 1,000 species of wildlife in suburban home and backyard

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University of Queensland researchers Matt Holden, Andrew Rogers, Russell Yong and colleagues took on the challenge of identifying species around their home in Brisbane, Australia. paper in a diary ecology.

rogers other. They discovered his 1,150 unique species of animals, plants and fungi around his inner Brisbane home. Image credit: Penny.

Dr Holden, Dr Rogers and Dr Yong conducted a census in shared homes and their backyards during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, collecting 1,150 endemic species of animals, plants and fungi over 12 months. discovered.

“We asked a number of ecologists and conservation scientists how many species they expected to find in this environment, and they predicted only 200 species.” Dr. Holden said.

“But after 60 days of research, we had already discovered 777 species.”

“It shows that suburban homes and apartments can contain much more biodiversity than previously imagined, especially when it comes to insects.”

The idea for species number came when Dr. Rogers went to vacuum the cobwebs in his room and wondered how many spiders there were on the premises.

“The three of us immediately came up with a plan to scour our homes and backyards looking for other creatures living with us,” Dr Holden said.

The survey revealed a rich biodiversity, including 436 species of moths and butterflies, 56 species of spiders, 8 species of reptiles, and 56 species of birds.

Bird species included yellow-brown black-breasted kingfishers, common kingfishers, green honeycreepers, rainbow parakeets, spotted doves and Brisbane’s favorite, the Australian white ibis.

“Blue-bellied skinks hibernated under the garage, and at night we had green-bellied bees and teddy bear bees sleeping in the hedge under the front window,” Dr Holden said.

Researchers were also surprised to discover three species not previously recorded in Australia’s major biodiversity databases. Living Australia Atlas — Mosquitoes, sandflies, invasive flatworms, Platypus ManokwariIt is responsible for the decline in populations of native snails around the world.

“The house was a complex ecosystem of interacting species – we encountered a moth Countless scat lacerations“The caterpillars spend their entire lives feeding in green mouse feces before emerging as adults,” Dr Holden said.

“Palyrgis conqueror This is another type of moth whose caterpillars live inside spider webs and eat spider feces to survive. ”

“All urban housing has the potential to host similar biodiversity.”

“It depends on how people take care of their homes and gardens. By keeping low-maintenance trees and shrubs, keeping well-maintained lawns and eliminating pesticides, you can increase the number of critters found. will increase significantly.”

“You don’t need to travel to connect with Australia’s biodiversity; you just need to look out into your own backyard.”

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Andrew M. Rogers other. 2023. Home of a Thousand Species: The Untapped Potential of Comprehensive Biodiversity Surveys of Urban Properties. ecology, published online on December 1, 2023. doi: 10.1002/ecy.4225

Source: www.sci.news

Researchers find natural method to enhance the meat-like qualities of plant-based meat

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Recent research has revealed that fermenting alliums such as onions with fungi can naturally mimic the flavor of meat, offering a promising solution for enhancing plant-based meat substitutes without the use of synthetic additives. measures are provided.

Plant-based alternatives like tempeh and bean burgers offer protein-rich options for those looking to cut back on meat. However, it is difficult to imitate the taste and aroma of meat, and many companies use artificial additives for this purpose. Recent research in ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry revealed a promising solution. Onions, chives, and leeks can produce natural compounds that resemble meat flavors when fermented with typical fungi.

An innovative approach to natural meat flavoring

When food manufacturers want their plant-based meat alternatives to taste more like meat, they often add precursor ingredients found in the meat that transform into flavorants during cooking. Alternatively, flavors are first prepared by heating flavor precursors or other chemical manipulations and then added to the product.

Because these flavors are created through a synthetic process, many countries do not allow food manufacturers to label them as “natural.” To utilize plant-based “natural” meat flavors, flavor chemicals must be physically extracted from plants or produced biochemically using enzymes, bacteria, and fungi. So YanYan Zhang and colleagues wanted to see if they could produce the same chemicals from vegetables and spices using fungi, which are known for producing meat-like tastes and smells from synthetic ingredients.

Allium releases the aroma of meat

The team fermented different fungi seed After experimenting with different foods, I found that meaty aromas only come from foods in the allium family, such as onions and leeks. The sample with the strongest aroma was one in which the fungus Polyporus umbellatus was used to ferment onions for 18 hours, producing a fatty and meaty aroma similar to liverwurst.

The researchers used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze onion ferments to identify flavor and odor chemicals, many of which are known to be responsible for various flavors in meat. discovered a chemical substance. One of the chemicals they identified was bis(2-methyl-3-furyl) disulfide, a strong odorant found in meat and savory foods.

The researchers say the high sulfur content of alliums contributes to their ability to produce meat-flavoring compounds, and these compounds often also contain sulfur. These onion ferments could one day be used as a natural flavoring agent in a variety of plant-based meat substitutes, the researchers say.

Reference: “Sensoproteomic discovery of taste-modulating peptides and taste re-engineering of soy sauce” Manon Jünger, Verena Karolin Mittermeier-Kleßinger, Anastasia Farrenkopf, Andreas Dunkel, Timo Stark, Sonja Fröhlich, Veronika Somoza, Corinna Dawid, and Thomas Hofmann, 2022 May 20th Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01688

The authors acknowledge funding from Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung.

Source: scitechdaily.com