Search results for "Education"
showing 10 items of 26766 documents
Hieracium pollinense (Asteraceae), an endemic species to the Pollino National Park (Southern Italy) rediscovered
2017
Abstract The presence of Hieracium pollinense Zahn in Italy is confirmed here after 132 years since its first description based on a single collection made in 1877 in the Mt. Pollino. It is a calcicolous species, so far represented by one population, belongs to the H. sect. Villosa. In line with the IUCN criteria its conservation status assessment is “endangered”.
The first confirmed population of the globally endangered Pilularia minuta (Marsileaceae) in Sicily
2016
Based on a recent collection made by the authors, the presence of the endangered Pilularia minuta Durieu in Sicily (Italy) is confirmed. Critical review of relevant literature and herbarium specimens suggests that the only previous report for the island, made in 1887, can, fairly confidently, be considered to be the result of a misidentification. There is an urgent need to protect the wetland at Anguillara (near Calatafimi), where the species was found.
The dual role of rivers in facilitating or hindering movements of the false heath fritillary butterfly
2015
Background Species movement responses to landscape structures have been studied using a variety of methods, but movement research is still in need of simple methods that help predicting and comparing movements across structurally different landscapes. We demonstrate how habitat-specific movement models can be used to disentangle causes of differentiated movement patterns in structurally different landscapes and to predict movement patterns in altered and artificial landscapes. In our case study, we studied the role of riparian landscapes to the persistence of the endangered false heath fritillary butterfly (Melitaea diamina) in its newly discovered coastal distribution region in Finland. We…
Spatial Context of Breeding Ponds and Forest Management Affect the Distribution and Population Dynamics of the Great Crested Newt
2016
Intensive forest management and landscape degradation are threats to amphibian populations. We modelled and compared the extinction and colonization dynamics of the great crested newt in four different spatial contexts that describe landscape change from past to present and future forest landscapes in eastern Finland. In future landscape scenarios, we explored the effects of two forest use intensities with different logging rotation times. The introduction of fish into breeding ponds has been the main cause of local extinctions of the great crested newt. In the future, intensifying land-use and shorter logging rotation will decrease the connectivity between ponds the most. In conservation p…
Population asynchrony alone does not explain stability in species‐rich soil animal assemblages: The stabilizing role of forest age on oribatid mite c…
2020
The importance of microbial and plant communities in the control of the diversity and structure of soil animal communities has been clarified over the last decade. Previous research focused on abiotic factors, niche separation and spatial patterns. Significant gaps still exist in our knowledge of the factors that control the stability of these communities over time. We analysed a 9-year dataset from the national Long-term Ecological Research Network of Latvia. We focused on 117 oribatid species from three Scots pine forests of different age (40, 65 and150 years) and structure. For each forest type, 100 samples were collected each year, providing very high replication and long time series fo…
Latitudinal clines in the timing and temperature‐sensitivity of photoperiodic reproductive diapause in Drosophila montana
2020
Reproductive diapause is a primary mechanism used by arthropods to synchronize their life cycle with seasonal changes in temperate regions. Our study species, Drosophila montana, represents the northern insect species where flies enter reproductive diapause under short day conditions and where the precise timing of diapause is crucial for both survival and offspring production. We have studied clinal variation in the critical day length for female diapause induction (CDL) and their overall susceptibility to enter diapause (diapause incidence), as well as the temperature sensitivity of these traits. The study was performed using multiple strains from four latitudinal clines of the species – …
Conservation implications of change in antipredator behavior in fragmented habitat: Boreal rodent, the bank vole, as an experimental model
2015
Abstract Habitat fragmentation is known to cause population declines but the mechanisms leading to the decline are not fully understood. Fragmentation is likely to lead to changes in predation risk, which may cause behavioral responses with possible population level consequences. It has recently been shown that the awareness of predator presence, resulting in a fear response, strongly affects behavior and physiology of the prey individuals. Costs arising from fear may be as important for the prey population size as the direct killing of prey. We tested how predation risk in the form of scent of a specialist predator, the least weasel (Mustela nivalis nivalis), affects bank vole (Myodes glar…
Genetic analysis of organoleptic quality in fresh market tomato. 1. Mapping QTLs for physical and chemical traits
2001
Improving organoleptic quality is an important but complex goal for fresh market tomato breeders. A total of 26 traits involved in organoleptic quality variation were evaluated, in order to understand the genetic control of this characteristic. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was developed from an intraspecific cross between a cherry tomato line with a good overall aroma intensity and an inbred line with a common taste but with bigger fruits. Physical traits included fruit weight, diameter, color (L,a,b), firmness and elasticity. Chemical traits were dry matter weight, titratable acidity, pH, and the contents of soluble solids, sugars, lycopene, carotene and 12 aroma volatiles. R…
Do peahens not prefer peacocks with more elaborate trains?
2008
Ever since Darwin (1871), the peacock’s train has been cited as the icon of an extravagant conspicuous secondary sexual trait that has evolved through female mate choice. However, Takahashi et al. (2008) recently challenged this idea. They monitored female mate choice during 7 years in a feral peafowl, Pavo cristatus, population in Japan and found no correlation between male mating success and three morphological train traits. They concluded that ‘combined with previous results, our findings indicate that the peacock’s train is not currently the universal target of female choice’ and proposed ‘that the peacock’s train is an obsolete signal for which female preference has already been lost o…
New national and regional bryophyte records, 44
2015
Syntrichia norvegica is a circumpolar arctic- montane species (Smith, 2004), rare at lower altitudes and in southern Europe (Frey et al., 2006). It is known from several south-eastern European countries (Sabovljevic et al., 2008) and now it is recorded for the first time in Croatia. Regarding its conservation status, S. norvegica is red listed in Great Britain (EN), Czech Republic (CR), Slovakia (VU), Bulgaria (NT), Hungary (DD), Romania (VU) and Estonia (VU) (Hodgetts, 2014). It was found in the northern Velebit Mountains, in an area with the most outstanding and extreme karst relief, with steep slopes, perpendicular rocks, screes and deep dolines. The locality is situated in the Pinus mug…