Search results for "106"
showing 10 items of 6128 documents
The adaptations to tube-dwelling life of Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae and its eutrophication-tolerant mechanisms
2019
Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a dominant macroinvertebrate species in many eutrophic lakes in subtropical and temperate zones. P. akamusi larvae can migrate deep into the sediment (>30 cm) during summer where is no oxygen. However, to our knowledge, the specific adaptive tactics of its tube-dwelling life (>30 cm) and underlying mechanisms why this species is favored by nutrient-rich lakes remain limited. With the understanding above-mentioned issues, we can provide important information for the development of sensitive biomonitoring. We examined monthly morphological dynamics and physiological adaptations of P. akamusi to anoxic conditions, and environmental relationships…
Cooperative sound design: a protocol analysis
2016
Formal protocol analysis and linkographic representations are well-established approaches in design cognition studies, in the visual domain. We introduce the method and tools in the auditory domain, by analysing a case of collaborative sound design. We show how they can provide relevant qualitative and quantitative information about the efficiency of the creative process.
Parasite avoidance behaviours in aquatic environments
2018
Parasites, including macroparasites, protists, fungi, bacteria and viruses, can impose a heavy burden upon host animals. However, hosts are not without defences. One aspect of host defence, behavioural avoidance, has been studied in the terrestrial realm for over 50 years, but was first reported from the aquatic environment approximately 20 years ago. Evidence has mounted on the importance of parasite avoidance behaviours and it is increasingly apparent that there are core similarities in the function and benefit of this defence mechanism between terrestrial and aquatic systems. However, there are also stark differences driven by the unique biotic and abiotic characteristics of terrestrial …
Comparative transcriptomics of albino and warningly‐coloured caterpillars
2021
Abstract Coloration is perhaps one of the most prominent adaptations for survival and reproduction of many taxa. Coloration is of particular importance for aposematic species, which rely on their coloring and patterning acting as a warning signal to deter predators. Most research has focused on the evolution of warning coloration by natural selection. However, little information is available for color mutants of aposematic species, particularly at the genomic level. Here, I compare the transcriptomes of albino mutant caterpillars of the aposematic wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) to those of their full sibs having their distinctive orange‐black warning coloration. The results showed >29…
Size-related mortality during overwintering in cavity-nesting ant colonies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
2016
The ongoing process of climate change will result in higher temperatures during winter and therefore might increase the survival of overwintering invertebrates. However, the process may also lead to a reduction in snow cover and expose overwintering invertebrates to lower temperatures, which could result in higher mortality. During a field experiment, I investigated the effects of a reduction in snow cover on the survival of the ant Temnothorax crassispinus, which overwinters in nests located on the ground. Ant colonies differed in the survival rate of the workers in the experimental (from which snow cover was removed) and control group. In the control group, the survival rate was unrelated…
How Students Get Going : Triggers for Students’ Learning in Project-Based Education
2018
Repeatedly documented positive student responses to project-based learning during its decades-long tradition in CS attest to the effectiveness of learning by doing. Support for reflective learning nevertheless continues to be a topic worth studying because the intensity of project work together with a high technical orientation among CS students often complicate reflective practice. A critical incident-inspired assignment was added to a project-based course to support reflective practice in spring 2017. In a previous study, the authors analyzed how students approached the assignment and whether they found it supportive for learning. The present study content-analyses the situations that tri…
Red list of threatened vascular plants in Italy
2021
Italy has a rich natural heritage, which is dangerously under pressure. In recent years, there is an increased awareness of the crucial role of plants in ecosystem functioning and in providing ecosystem services. Consequently, an updated Red List of the Italian vascular flora was compiled in this work, at the request of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, with the scientific support of the Italian Botanical Society. The IUCN Red List criteria were applied to 2,430 Italian native vascular plant taxa to assess their current extinction risk and to highlight the major threats affecting the Italian flora. Our results revealed that 54 taxa (2.2% of the assessed taxa) are extinc…
Double copies of blaKPC-3::Tn4401a on an IncX3 plasmid in Klebsiella pneumoniae successful clone ST512 from Italy
2015
ABSTRACT A carbapenem-resistant sequence type 512 (ST512) Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase 3 (KPC-3)-producing K. pneumoniae strain showing a novel variant plasmid content was isolated in Palermo, Italy, in 2014. ST512 is a worldwide successful clone associated with the spread of bla KPC genes located on the IncFIIk pKpQIL plasmid. In our ST512 strain, the bla KPC-3 gene was unusually located on an IncX3 plasmid, whose complete sequence was determined. Two copies of bla KPC-3 ::Tn 4401a caused by intramolecular transposition events were detected in the plasmid.
Comparison of wormlion behavior under man-made and natural shelters: urban wormlions more strongly prefer shaded, fine-sand microhabitats, construct …
2019
Abstract Urban habitats differ from their natural surroundings in various aspects, such as a higher temperature and a distinct species composition. It is therefore not surprising that animal behavior too differs between these habitat types. We studied the foraging and habitat selection behavior of a pit-building predator, a wormlion, originating from either an urban or a more natural site. Wormlions occur in nature under structures that provide shelter from sunlight and rain, such as caves, and are also common in cities, occurring under artificial shelters. Wormlions construct pit-traps to hunt arthropods, and the pits constructed by urban wormlions were larger than those constructed by wor…
Economic and Life Cycle Analysis of Passive and Active Monitoring of Ozone for Forest Protection
2021
At forest sites, phytotoxic tropospheric ozone (O3) can be monitored with continuously operating, active monitors (AM) or passive, cumulative samplers (PM). For the first time, we present evidence that the sustainability of active monitoring is better than that of passive sensors, as the environmental, economic, and social costs are usually lower in the former than in the latter. By using data collected in the field, environmental, social, and economic costs were analyzed. The study considered monitoring sites at three distances from a control station in Italy (30, 400, and 750 km), two forest types (deciduous and Mediterranean evergreen), and three time windows (5, 10, and 20 years of moni…