Search results for "CLASSIFICATION"

Evidence from mtDNA RFLP analysis for the introduction of Fundulus heteroclitus to southwestern Spain

1996

Restriction analysis of mitochondrial DNA confirmed the taxonomic status of a southwestern Iberian Peninsula population of Fundulus heteroclitus and its probable origin in North America.

Ancient mitochondrial DNA analyses of Iberian sturgeons

2009

Summary Today’s European sturgeons are relics of erstwhile widely distributed populations, diminished mainly by overfishing and habitat changes over the centuries. While extinct European populations in the Baltic and North seas have been identified as Acipenser oxyrhinchus or A. sturio, a clear species determination on the Iberian Peninsula is still lacking. Plans to conserve existing populations and to re-introduce extinct wild populations in European rivers will benefit from information of historic population/genotype composition. In this study, we used techniques involving ancient DNA as well as morphological comparisons based on bony scutes to identify twelve samples from five archaeolo…

Allocation patterns in modes of reproduction in two facultatively sexual cryptic rotifer species

2015

Many zooplankters rely on diapausing stages to survive unsuitable conditions in time-varying habitats. In facultativesexualrotifers, reproductive effortallocatedtothe sexuallyproduced diapausingeggs isat the expenseofthe subitaneousparthenogenetic eggs, generatingatrade-offbetweencurrentand future population growth.Thetimingand the amountof sex (the sexual pattern) affect diapausing-egg production. This switch to sex is complex because the reproductivemode is separated in distinct females: asexual (female-producing), unfertilized sexual (male-producing) and fertilizedsexual (diapause-egg-producing). We studied sexual patterns and life-history variation of these females in two crypticspecies…

Native and subunit molecular mass and quarternary structure of the hemoglobin from the primitive branchiopod crustacean Triops cancriformis

2006

Many branchiopod crustaceans are endowed with extracellular, high-molecular-weight hemoglobins whose exact structural characteristics have remained a matter of conjecture. By using a broad spectrum of techniques, we provide precise and coherent information on the hemoglobin of one of the phylogenetically ‘oldest’ extant branchiopods, the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis. The hemoglobin dissociated under reducing conditions into two subunits, designated TcHbA and TcHbB, with masses of 35 775 ± 4 and 36 055 ± 4 Da, respectively, determined by ESI-MS. Nonreducing conditions showed only two disulfide-bridged dimers, a homodimer of TcHbA, designated D1 (71 548 ± 5 Da), and the heterodimer D2 (…

2014

Pandemic and seasonal influenza viruses cause considerable morbidity and mortality in the general human population. Protection from severe disease may result from vaccines that activate antigen-presenting DC for effective stimulation of influenza-specific memory T cells. Special attention is paid to vaccine-induced CD8+ T-cell responses, because they are mainly directed against conserved internal influenza proteins thereby presumably mediating cross-protection against circulating seasonal as well as emerging pandemic virus strains. Our study showed that influenza whole virus vaccines of major seasonal A and B strains activated DC more efficiently than those of pandemic swine-origin H1N1 and…

REPLICATED ORIGIN OF FEMALE-BIASED ADULT SEX RATIO IN INTRODUCED POPULATIONS OF THE TRINIDADIAN GUPPY (POECILIA RETICULATA)

2014

There are many theoretical and empirical studies explaining variation in offspring sex ratio but relatively few that explain variation in adult sex ratio. Adult sex ratios are important because biased sex ratios can be a driver of sexual selection and will reduce effective population size, affecting population persistence and shapes how populations respond to natural selection. Previous work on guppies (Poecilia reticulata) gives mixed results, usually showing a female-biased adult sex ratio. However, a detailed analysis showed that this bias varied dramatically throughout a year and with no consistent sex bias. We used a mark-recapture approach to examine the origin and consistency of fema…

Influence of the storage conditions on some physicochemical and mycological parameters of honey

1994

The authors studied the changes in yeast and mould counts, pH, free and lactone acidity, colour and sugar composition undergone by honeys with water contents of 169, 188 and 220 g kg-1 on storage at refrigeration temperature (4–7°C), room temperature and 28°C for two years. Of the solid culture media assayed, honey agar and osmophilic medium fostered yeast growth while malt-extract agar and yeast-extract-malt-extract agar allowed for better development of filamentous fungi. The yeasts isolated belonged to the genera Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces and Zygosaccharomyces, while filamentous moulds were of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Alternaria. The honeys studied under…

Effects of defoliation on male and female reproductive traits of a perennial orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata

2000

1The effects of defoliation on male reproductive traits of plants have received little attention. We conducted two field experiments with Dactylorhiza maculata (L.) Soo to examine the effects of defoliation on both male and female reproductive traits. We removed 0, 50 or 100% of leaves prior to flowering. The quality of pollen was tested by transferring pollen from the differently treated plants to untreated plants of the same population. 2The non-defoliated plants did not differ from the defoliated plants in mass of pollinia. No differences were found in the weight of seed capsules or in the proportion of embryonic seeds raised by flowers receiving pollen from differently treated pollen do…

Reproductive success ofDactylorhiza incarnatassp.incarnata(Orchidaceae): the effects of population size and plant visibility

2007

Reproduction of plants pollinated solely by flower-visiting animals depends on the ability of the population and each of its flowering member to attract pollinators. Factors affecting the pollination of nectarless species differ somewhat from those affecting the pollination of rewarding species due to the avoidance behaviour of pollinators after visiting empty flowers. We studied a non-mimic food-deceptive orchid, Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp. incarnata, in 16 populations in central Finland to examine if population properties and plant size affected reproductive success of plants. We found that the number of flowering plants increased total pollinia removal and seed production of the populati…

Allozyme variation in populations of scallops, Pecten jacobaeus (L.) and P. maximus (L.) (Bivalvia: Pectinidae), across the Almeria–Oran front

2002

Abstract The scallops Pecten jacobaeus and P. maximus have been traditionally considered as different species which shared a common ancestor some 5 Ma ago. This view has been challenged by recent reports of genetic distances based on allozymes and mitochondrial DNA which are incompatible with such a long period of isolation and are more typical of conspecific populations. To explain the slight allozyme differentiation opposed to a clear morphological distinctiveness, two main hypotheses have been proposed. One hypothesis views interpopulation allozyme differentiation as an outcome of simple population genetic processes such isolation by distance. The other considers that the intertaxa alloz…