Search results for "DEP"
showing 10 items of 10555 documents
Does catchment geodiversity foster stream biodiversity?
2019
Abstract Context One approach to maintain the resilience of biotic communities is to protect the variability of abiotic characteristics of Earth’s surface, i.e. geodiversity. In terrestrial environments, the relationship between geodiversity and biodiversity is well recognized. In streams, the abiotic properties of upstream catchments influence stream communities, but the relationships between catchment geodiversity and aquatic biodiversity have not been previously tested. Objectives The aim was to compare the effects of local environmental and catchment variables on stream biodiversity. We specifically explored the usefulness of catchment geodiversity in explaining the species richness on …
Captive breeding of Margaritifera auricularia (Spengler, 1793) and its conservation importance
2019
Margaritifera auricularia is one of the most endangered freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionida) in the world. Since 2013, the abundance of this species in the Ebro River basin (Spain) has sharply declined, driving the species to the verge of regional extinction. Therefore, any management measures that might facilitate the recovery of this species would be essential for its conservation. During 2014–2016, captive breeding of M. auricularia allowed the production of >106 juveniles, out of which 95% were released into the natural environment, and 5% were grown in the laboratory under controlled conditions. The aim of this experimental work was to establish the best culture conditions for the s…
Energetic costs of size and sexual signalling in a wolf spider
1998
A prerequisite for honest handicaps is that there are significant condition–dependent costs in the expression of sexual traits. In the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata (Ohlert), sexual signalling (drumming) is costly in terms of increased mortality. Here we investigated whether this mortality may be caused by increased energy expenditure. During sexual signalling, metabolic rate was 22 times higher than at rest and four times higher than when males were actively moving. Metabolic rate per unit mass was positively related to absolute body mass during sexual signalling but not during other activities. This positive relationship is novel to any studies of metabolic rates. Indeed, it seems…
Involvement of putative glutamate receptors in plant defence signaling and NO production
2011
International audience; Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) are non-selective cation channels permeable to calcium, present in animals and plants. In mammals, glutamate is a well-known neurotransmitter and recently has been recognized as an immunomodulator. As animals and plants share common mechanisms that govern innate immunity with calcium playing a key role in plant defence activation, we have checked the involvement of putative iGluRs in plant defence signaling. Using tobacco cells, we first provide evidence supporting the activity of iGluRs as calcium channels and their involvement in NO production as reported in animals. Thereafter, iGluRs were shown to be activated in response t…
Is legal protection sufficient to ensure plant conservation? The Italian Red List of policy species as a case study
2015
AbstractThe conservation of species listed in the Bern Convention and European Directive 1992/43/EEC (so-called policy species) is mandatory for European Union (EU) countries. We assessed the conservation status of Italian policy species, based on the IUCN categories and criteria, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing protection measures at the national level. Among the 203 vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens evaluated, 41.9% are categorized as threatened, and one is already extinct, indicating that the protection measures for policy species are inadequate. Our results for the Italian policy species are consistent with those of an assessment at the EU level. Conservation priorities …
Molecular and morphological data suggest weak phylogeographic structure in the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus torvicornis (Branchiopoda, Anostraca)
2017
Inland aquatic organisms almost ubiquitously display a pattern of marked provincialism characterized by substantial population differentiation and genealogical discontinuities. This is the result of strong priority effects and local adaptation following dispersal and colonization of new habitats. We present a case that defies this biogeographic paradigm. We have investigated the phylogeography of the fairy shrimp Streptocephalus torvicornis across its circum-Mediterranean and Eurasian distribution. Based on three independent datasets, namely sequence variation at 12S and 16S rRNA, cyst morphology and male second antenna characters, we discern a pattern of extensive genetic and morphological…
Risk of inbreeding : problem of mate choice and fitness effects?
2016
Mating with close kin may cause inbreeding depression with negative consequences to offspring and local populations. There exist mechanisms like kin-recognition or sex-specific dispersal to avoid mating with kin. In fluctuating population densities, like in many small mammals, both very low and very high densities provide conditions for inbreeding, if kin males are prone to stay in their natal area. Females are choosy and male dominance is thought to be the key feature when selecting mating partners. The aim of this study was to test the possible discrepancy in mate choice and negative fitness effects of inbreeding in two experiments, one in the laboratory and one in field enclosures. We as…
The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2
2020
The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60% from 4826 to…
Temporal turnover of the soil microbiome composition is guild-specific.
2021
Although spatial and temporal variation are both important components structuring microbial communities, the exact quantification of temporal turnover rates of fungi and bacteria has not been performed to date. In this study, we utilised repeated resampling of bacterial and fungal communities at specific locations across multiple years to describe their patterns and rates of temporal turnover. Our results show that microbial communities undergo temporal change at a rate of 0.010-0.025 per year (in units of Sorensen similarity), and the change in soil is slightly faster in fungi than in bacteria, with bacterial communities changing more rapidly in litter than soil. Importantly, temporal deve…
Integrated signaling network involving calcium, nitric oxide, active oxygen species but not mitogen-activated protein kinases in BcPG1-elicited grape…
2006
We have already reported the identification of the endopolygalacturonase 1 (BcPG1) from Botrytis cinerea as a potent elicitor of defense responses in grapevine, independently of its enzymatic activity. The aim of the present study is the analysis of the signaling pathways triggered by BcPG1 in grapevine cells. Our data indicate that BcPG1 induces a Ca2+ entry from the apoplasm, which triggers a phosphorylation-dependent nitric oxide (NO) production via an enzyme probably related to a NO synthase. Then NO is involved in i) cytosolic calcium homeostasis, by activating Ca2+ release from internal stores and regulating Ca2+ fluxes across the plasma membrane, ii) plasma membrane potential variat…