Naturally
As part of the NATURALLY project (IP-2020-02-6899), Lucija Burić, a first-year student of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, did an internship.
During May, Lucija used spectrophotometric methods to determine the antioxidant capacity of flowers of invasive alien plant species R. pseudoacacia, A. altissima, S. canadensis and H. tuberosus.
Lucija did her internship in the laboratory of the Istrian Polytechnic, in the Center for Materials Research of the Istrian County – METRIS.
During the Fourth Croatian Microscopy Congress (May 18-20, 2022) in Poreč, the Exhibition “Od sitnozora do modernog mikroskopa” was held.
The exhibition was created by the Croatian Microscopic Society and the authors are Dr. Danijela Poljuha, Mirela Uzelac, PhD student and Dr. Vida Strasser.
The concept of the exhibition included six sections in which the development of microscopy in Croatia was chronologically and thematically discussed, through stories about microscopes and people, told through photography and the written word.
You can see the whole exhibition on the link.
As part of the 4th Croatian Microscopy Congress held in Poreč from 18 to 20 May 2022 the educational dimension of the NATURALLY project was presented.
At the congress is Mirela Uzelac, PhD student, presented a poster entitled “A new approach to teaching about invasive species using a pocket paper microscope Foldscope”.
The poster presents a method of educating young people about invasive plant species using the Foldscope paper microscope.
The poster is available at the link.
Invasive species are known to be harmful to biodiversity and some to human health, but did you know that invasive species also destroy cultural heritage?
This was one of the topics at the 7th Congress of UNESCO Unitwin, which took place this year on 16 and 17 May in Portorož. As part of the NATURALLY project, Dr. Barbara Sladonja gave a lecture on the risks that invasive species pose to valuable cultural heritage.
An example is the species, Tree of Heaven, which has been observed in large populations at several valuable cultural sites in Istria. Its impact on archaeological sites is mainly mechanical in the form of destruction of the building by strong roots. Furthermore, it produces secondary metabolites that cause chemical contamination of the soil. Tree of Heaven is a very adaptable species and spreads quickly and its seeds can spread and establish a population at high altitudes and in unusual places.
Read more about invasive species at the web pages of the Invasive Species Centre.
In addition to scientific research, the Naturally project pays great attention to the education of children and young people. With the aim of educating young people about foreign invasive plant species as well as about microscopy, a workshop was held on May 5, 2022 for students of Poreč Elementary School. The workshop was led by PhD student Mirela Uzelac, and she taught the students the basics of microscopy with the help of the Foldscope portable microscope.
Students had the opportunity to assemble their own portable microscope, learn the basics of preparing microscopic preparations, and look at fresh preparations of leaves of Tree of Heaven (A. altissima) and acacia (R. pseudoacacia).
Project leader, Ph.D. Danijela Poljuha gave a plenary lecture on the topic of invasive alien species as a food source and phytopharmaceuticals.
The first preliminary results of the analysis of antioxidant capacity of extracts of four invasive plant species and the results obtained by RP-HPLC profiling were presented at the lecture.
Also, H. tuberosus and R. pseudoacacia species were presented as a valuable source of raw materials that can be used in the diet.
The good news are coming from the NATURALLY team!
We published a paper entitled LC – DAD – MS Phenolic Characterization of Six Invasive Plant Species in Croatia and Determination of Their Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Activity in the scientific journal Plants.
This study provides the first LC-MS phytochemical review of six invasive alien plant species in Istria County (Croatia): Ailanthus altissima, Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Conyza canadensis, Dittrichia viscosa, Erigeron annuus and Xanthium strumarium.
This activity involved Danijela Poljuha, project leader and project associates Barbara Sladonja, Ivana Šola, Jacobus N Eloff, Maja Mikulič Petkovšek and PhD student Mirela Uzelac.
Read the whole paper at the link.
On Thursday, January 27, 2022, a virtual Interim meeting of the project “Nature as an ALLY: Alien invasive plants as phytopharmaceuticals – NATURALLY” was held.
The project team members from the METRIS Materials Research Center, Biotechnical Faculty from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism participated in the meeting. The meeting aimed to present the project activities so far and the first results and to agree on further steps and phases of the project implementation.
In the beginning, project leader, Danijela Poljuha from the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism briefly presented the activities carried out (employment of doctoral and postdoctoral students, procurement of equipment and consumables and performed analysis and training). TAfterwards, the foreseen activities in the project (planned analyzes, training, procurement plan for chemicals) were announced. The project’s first results, which were presented at two symposia during 2021, were also presented here. At the end of the meeting, the following goals of the project were highlighted, and the organization of work was agreed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year 2022 wish you Daniela, Mirela, Daniela, Ida and Barbara!
See you next year!
We conducted a Preliminary Environmental Risk Assessment of for plants A. altissima, R. pseudoacacia, H. tuberosus and S. canadensis. The assessment was carried out according to the EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) method described in OEPP PM5 / 6 2012. This activity involved Danijela Poljuha, project leader, Barbara Sladonja, project associate, Ida Linić, postdoctoral student and doctoral student Mirela Uzelac. The assessment resulted with indication for detailed analysis for the risk of invasiveness.
