Search results for "ICO"
showing 10 items of 30544 documents
Early developmental conditions affect stress response in juvenile but not in adult house sparrows (Passer domesticus).
2009
6 pages; International audience; The short- and long-term consequences of developmental conditions on fitness have received growing attention because the environmental conditions during early life may influence growth, condition at independence, recruitment, reproductive success or survival. We tested here, in a natural house sparrow population, if early conditions during nestling stage affected the stress response of the birds (i) shortly after fledging and (ii) next year, during their first breeding. We experimentally manipulated brood size to mimic different rearing conditions, creating reduced (-2 chicks) and enlarged broods (+2 chicks), while in a third group brood size was not manipul…
To Swim or Not to Swim: Potential Transmission of Balaenophilus manatorum (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) in Marine Turtles
2017
Species of Balaenophilus are the only harpacticoid copepods that exhibit a widespread, obligate association with vertebrates, i.e., B. unisetus with whales and B. manatorum with marine turtles and manatees. In the western Mediterranean, juveniles of the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta are the only available hosts for B. manatorum, which has been found occurring at high prevalence (>80%) on them. A key question is how these epibionts are transmitted from host to host. We investigated this issue based on experiments with live specimens of B. manatorum that were cultured with turtle skin. Specimens were obtained from head-started hatchlings of C. caretta from the western Mediterranean. …
DNA-Based Identification of Larvae Offers Insights into the Elusive Lifestyles of Native Olive Seed Wasps in South Africa
2020
Wild and cultivated olives in the Western Cape of South Africa are direct or indirect hosts to a high diversity of Braconidae and Chalcidoidea wasps. Olive-associated Braconidae are known to parasitise the larvae of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), and probably also Bactrocera biguttula (Bezzi). The lifestyle of olive-associated Chalcidoidea is not fully understood, and may include phytophagous, parasitoid and hyperparasitoid species. Some chalcids could represent olive seed wasps (OSW), a generic term that designates the seed feeders responsible for losses in commercial olive production. In order to obtain direct DNA-based evidence for the lifestyle of four putative OSW – Eupelmus spermophilus Si…
Development of picoplankton during natural and enhanced mixing under late-winter ice
2014
We studied the development of autotrophic picophytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterioplankton during the tran- sition from winter ice cover to open water under natural and manipulated mixing conditions in eutrophic Lake Vesijarvi. During the melting of the snow and ice cover, a convection layer developed which eventually met the che- mocline at the interface between the oxic and anoxic water masses. However, in the years with mechanically enhanced mixing, the whole water column remained well oxygenated and the deepening of penetrative convection was facilitated. Stochastic variations in weather, primarily the thickness of the snow cover, likely determined the timing of picophytoplankton gr…
The alien vascular flora of Linosa (Pelagie Islands, Strait of Sicily): update and management proposals
2017
This paper provides an up-to-date overview of the naturalized alien plants of Linosa (Pelagie Archipelago, Sicily), which includes 83 taxa and accounts for 29 % of the total island's flora. Among these plants, 6 are invasive, 49 are naturalized and 28 are casual. With respect to previous available data, our field investigations resulted in the addition of 31 new xenophytes (21 casual and 10 fully naturalized). One of these species is new to the whole European territory (Kleinia anteuphorbia), 6 of them are new to Sicily and 11 are recorded for the first time on circum-Sicilian islets. For each alien plant, we indicate the habitat where the naturalization has been observed by using the codes…
Activation of MAPK homologues by elicitors in tobacco cells
1998
Elicitors of plant defence reactions (such as cryptogein, an elicitin produced by Phytophthora cryptogea, or oligogalacturonides (OGs)), induced in tobacco cell suspensions (Nicotiana tabacum var Xanthi) a rapid and transient activation of two protein kinases (PKs) with apparent molecular masses of 50 and 46 kDa, respectively. These PKs activated and phosphorylated at tyrosine residues, phosphorylated myelin basic protein (MBP) at serine/threonine residues. Both are recognized by anti-MAPK antibodies. The two MBP kinases possessed the same kinetics of activation, and their activation depended, to the same extent, on different exogenously applied compounds (staurosporine, lanthanum, EGTA). W…
Selection for Robustness in Mutagenized RNA Viruses
2007
Mutational robustness is defined as the constancy of a phenotype in the face of deleterious mutations. Whether robustness can be directly favored by natural selection remains controversial. Theory and in silico experiments predict that, at high mutation rates, slow-replicating genotypes can potentially outcompete faster counterparts if they benefit from a higher robustness. Here, we experimentally validate this hypothesis, dubbed the ‘‘survival of the flattest,’’ using two populations of the vesicular stomatitis RNA virus. Characterization of fitness distributions and genetic variability indicated that one population showed a higher replication rate, whereas the other was more robust to mut…
Combined influence of bud load and bud position along the cane on vegetative and reproductive parameters of grape cv. Grillo
2019
Cultivar Grillo vines are characterized by problems with flower biology (the fertility of basal buds) and fructification (millerandage). In this study, to manage the variability in bunch weight with winter pruning and to program others canopy management practices (i.e. early defoliation), three different treatments of bud load were set up by leaving the cane with 3, 6 or 10 buds. The effects of bud load and cane length were studies regarding bud fertility, shoot leaf area, and the number of flowers and berries, as well as the relationship between leaf area and percentage of fruit set, leaf area/flower and percentage of fruit set, and the number of hens and chicks berries. Shoots in the dist…
Integrative effects of vine water relations and grape ripeness level of vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz/Richter 99. II. grape composition and wine quali…
2016
Regulation of grapevine water status is a common practice to manipulate grape composition and wine quality. In this investigation the effect of plant water status (two field water capacity-based irrigation levels, 75% and 100%, applied at single and combined vine developmental stages) and ripeness level (harvesting at different soluble solid levels) on grape composition and wine quality of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz/ Richter 99 was determined. Integrative effects of vine water relations and grape ripeness level, specifically in a Mediterranean high winter rainfall area, have not yet been investigated systematically. Source:sink mechanisms and dynamics and compositional and physical change…
Defoliation of two-wire vertical trellis: effect on grape quality
2017
ABSTRACTBasal leaves were removed from Cabernet Sauvignon vines trained to a two-wire vertical trellis at fruit set and at veraison. Leaf removal did not modify total soluble solids and titratable acidity at harvest. Defoliation at fruit set of lower cordon recovered the grape anthocyanin composition gap between upper and lower cordons and that produced a positive effect on anthocyanin synthesis. Hence, control of the upper cordon and defoliation of fruit set of the lower cordon treatments showed comparable values of anthocyanins. Defoliation at veraison did not produce any appreciable effect. This study shows that skin anthocyanin composition in a two-wire vertical trellis can be modified …