Search results for "Alis"
showing 10 items of 12786 documents
Demosponge EST sequencing reveals a complex genetic toolkit of the simplest metazoans.
2010
Sponges (Porifera) are among the simplest living and the earliest branching metazoans. They hold a pivotal role for studying genome evolution of the entire metazoan branch, both as an outgroup to Eumetazoa and as the closest branching phylum to the common ancestor of all multicellular animals (Urmetazoa). In order to assess the transcription inventory of sponges, we sequenced expressed sequence tag libraries of two demosponge species, Suberites domuncula and Lubomirskia baicalensis, and systematically analyzed the assembled sponge transcripts against their homologs from complete proteomes of six well-characterized metazoans--Nematostella vectensis, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanog…
Root fungal endophytes: identity, phylogeny and roles in plant tolerance to metal stress.
2021
International audience; Metal trace elements accumulate in soils mainly because of anthropic activities, leading living organisms to develop strategies to handle metal toxicity. Plants often associate with root endophytic fungi, including nonmycorrhizal fungi, and some of these organisms are associated with metal tolerance. The lack of synthetic analyses of plant-endophyte-metal tripartite systems and the scant consideration for taxonomy led to this review aiming (1) to inventory non-mycorrhizal root fungal endophytes described with respect to their taxonomic diversity and (2) to determine the mutualistic roles of these plant-fungus associations under metal stress. More than 1500 species in…
Preconditioning of the generalist herbivoreTrialeurodes vaporariorumto greenhouse monocultures and its subsequent performance on wild polycultures
2016
Generalist herbivores can face many challenges when choosing their host plant. This can be particularly difficult if their choice and performance are affected by host experience. Greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is an invasive generalist herbivore, which has established in year-round greenhouses at northern latitudes where it cannot overwinter outdoors. It mainly uses crops such as cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and ornamentals as host plants. However, every summer the insect escapes greenhouses and is exposed to natural vegetation. We evaluated the performance of T. vaporariorum on diverse vegetation outside…
Performance of secondary parasitoids on chemically defended and undefended hosts
2012
Defensive chemicals produced by plants can travel up the food chain by being sequestered by herbivores, and then in turn being sequestered by their parasitoids. Insect species with wide host ranges are predicted to perform poorly in the face of specific chemical defence. However, a species at a high trophic level is expected to have a wide host range. This creates a conflict for hyperparasitoids, many of which depend on specialized hosts. We studied the performance of two hyperparasitoids, Lysibia nana and Gelis agilis, both of which have wide host ranges, on two host species, one chemically defended and the other not. We predicted that both hyperparasitoids would perform better using the u…
Oviposition Cues for a Specialist Butterfly–Plant Chemistry and Size
2008
The oviposition choice of an insect herbivore is based on a complex set of stimuli and responses. In this study, we examined the effect of plant secondary chemistry (the iridoid glycosides aucubin and catalpol) and aspects of size of the plant Plantago lanceolata, on the oviposition behavior of the specialist butterfly Melitaea cinxia. Iridoid glycosides are known to deter feeding or decrease the growth rate of generalist insect herbivores, but can act as oviposition cues and feeding stimulants for specialized herbivores. In a previous observational study of M. cinxia in the field, oviposition was associated with high levels of aucubin. However, this association could have been the cause (b…
Effects of irrigation, peat-alternative substrate and plant Habitus on the morphological and production characteristics of Sicilian rosemary (Rosmari…
2020
Irrigation and growing substrate are considered as essential cultivation practices in order to obtain good productive and qualitative performance of potted rosemary plants. In pot growing, the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the substrate must be stable over time in order to allow regular plant growth. However, the effects of cultivation techniques on the characteristics of potted rosemary are little known. Peat is traditionally used as the organic growing medium
Responses of small mammal communities to environment and agriculture in a rural mosaic landscape
2018
Intensification of agriculture is an increasing threat for biodiversity. Central Romania still preserves a traditional rural landscape with a matrix of small plots of crops and large surfaces covered by grasslands and forests, but its biodiversity is very poorly studied. Small mammals are key components of agrarian and semi-natural ecosystems but rodents are also viewed as major pests. Knowledge of the driving factors of small mammal communities in agricultural landscapes may enable taking management measures that pursue both conservation and economic goals. Here we evaluate the response of small mammals to environmental variables, including vegetation characteristics, land use and geograph…
Cyclical and stochastic thermal variability affects survival and growth in brook trout
2019
Directional changes in temperature have well-documented effects on ectotherms, yet few studies have explored how increased thermal variability (a concomitant of climate change) might affect individual fitness. Using a common-garden experimental protocol, we investigated how bidirectional temperature change can affect survival and growth of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and whether the survival and growth responses differ between two populations, using four thermal-variability treatments (mean: 10 °C; range: 7–13 °C): (i) constancy; (ii) cyclical fluctuations every two days; (iii) low stochasticity (random changes every 2 days); (iv) high stochasticity (random changes daily). Recently …
Reciprocal extrapolation of species distribution models between two islands – Specialists perform better than generalists and geological data reduces…
2020
Abstract This study aims to test the extrapolation effects of species distribution models (SDM) using three groups of predictor variables: climate, relief and geology (bedrock type). We highlight potential ecological differences for selected taxa, regarding both generalists and specialists in terms of edaphic conditions. We used distributional data of 12 woody species shared by two large Mediterranean islands (Crete and Sicily) to calibrate Maxent models of their potential distribution. We trained models with data from Crete and extrapolated to Sicily and vice versa. We tested ten proxies for the three variable groups and compared AUC values as a measure of model performance. Extrapolation …
Innovative alternative technologies to extract carotenoids from microalgae and seaweeds
2016
Marine microalgae and seaweeds (microalgae) represent a sustainable source of various bioactive natural carotenoids, including β-carotene, lutein, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin and fucoxanthin. Recently, the large-scale production of carotenoids from algal sources has gained significant interest with respect to commercial and industrial applications for health, nutrition, and cosmetic applications. Although conventional processing technologies, based on solvent extraction, offer a simple approach to isolating carotenoids, they suffer several, inherent limitations, including low efficiency (extraction yield), selectivity (purity), high solvent consumption, and long treatment times, w…