Search results for "MAIS"
showing 10 items of 966 documents
What are the effects of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management on boreal forest biodiversity in Fennoscandia and European Russia? : A systematic…
2019
Abstract Background Biodiversity is vital for human well-being, but is threatened by human actions world-wide. In the boreal zone, harvesting and management of forests on an industrial scale is the most important factor driving habitat change and degradation. Over time different forest management regimes have been implemented but their impact on biodiversity at different spatial and temporal scales has not been systematically reviewed although non-systematic reviews on the topic exist. The aim of this article is to describe a protocol for a systematic review to synthesise and compare the impacts of two different forest management systems on biodiversity at different spatial and temporal sca…
The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe
2019
Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with the proportions of crop and non-crop habitats, and species’ dietary, dispersal and overwintering traits led to contrasting responses to landscape variables. O…
Landscape structure influences browsing on a keystone tree species in conservation areas
2020
Aspen is a keystone species in boreal forests. The future of aspen in many conservation areas is threatened by ungulate browsing. Our aim was to study the effect of browsing on aspen regeneration and population structure in conservation areas in Central Finland, and the effect of surrounding landscape structure on browsing. Aspen density varied greatly among and within conservation areas. In about half of the conservation areas, middle-sized aspens were scarce or missing, which indicates heavy browsing in the recent past. In addition, the number of dead, large aspens in advanced decay stages were rare. Browsing pressure varied greatly among the areas, but on average, a bit more than half of…
Inbreeding reveals mode of past selection on male reproductive characters in Drosophila melanogaster
2013
Directional dominance is a prerequisite of inbreeding depression. Directionality arises when selection drives alleles that increase fitness to fixation and eliminates dominant deleterious alleles, while deleterious recessives are hidden from it and maintained at low frequencies. Traits under directional selection (i.e., fitness traits) are expected to show directional dominance and therefore an increased susceptibility to inbreeding depression. In contrast, traits under stabilizing selection or weakly linked to fitness are predicted to exhibit little-to-no inbreeding depression. Here, we quantify the extent of inbreeding depression in a range of male reproductive characters and then infer t…
Systematic targeting of management actions as a tool to enhance conservation of traditional rural biotopes
2017
Traditional rural biotopes (TRBs), which are biologically and culturally valuable habitats maintained by low-intensity grazing and mowing, are a core element of biodiversity in Europe. During the last decades, TRBs have faced severe habitat loss and fragmentation due to agricultural modernization. Despite their well-known critical state, their conservation remains inadequate, thus raising a need to advance TRB conservation via spatial land-use planning. In this study we analyze a national GIS database on TRBs in order to examine how the current TRB network can be complemented in terms of conservation value based on known ecological characteristics. Given different target scenarios for the a…
The Importance of Engaging Local People in Landscape Management – Experiences from an EU Project
2018
“Bull by the Horns” -project initiated landscape management and promoted biodiversity associated with diminishing High Nature Value farmland habitats in Finland. A specific focus was on grazed semi-natural grasslands and wood-pastures which are collectively referred to as traditional rural biotopes (TRBs). Collaboration among project workers, non-farming landowners, and cattle owners reintroduced grazing to abandoned pastures, and management was financed through agri-environmental payments. Using adaptive co-management principles, the project enabled collective definition of integrated site-specific management objectives. A better understanding of contemporary challenges and opportunities t…
Experimental Introgression To Evaluate the Impact of Sex Specific Traits on Drosophila melanogaster Incipient Speciation
2019
AbstractSex specific traits are involved in speciation but it is difficult to determine whether their variation initiates or reinforces sexual isolation. In some insects, speciation depends of the rapid change of expression in desaturase genes coding for sex pheromones. Two closely related desaturase genes are involved in Drosophila melanogaster pheromonal communication: desat1 affects both the production and the reception of sex pheromones while desat2 is involved in their production in flies of Zimbabwe populations. There is a strong asymmetric sexual isolation between Zimbabwe populations and all other “Cosmopolitan” populations: Zimbabwe females rarely copulate with Cosmopolitan males w…
An updated overview of the marine alien and cryptogenic species from the Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area (Italy)
2016
An updated overview of the marine alien and cryptogenic species recorded in the Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), based on relevant publications, grey literature and unpublished data, is presented and discussed. Altogether, 17 species (14 aliens and 3 cryptogenic) belonging to five taxa are present in the area: Rhodophyta (Antithamnionella elegans, Asparagopsis armata, Asparagopsis taxiformis, Bonnemaisonia hamifera, Botryocladia madagascariensis, Ceramium strobiliforme, Laurencia caduciramulosa, Lophocladia lallemandii, Neosiphonia harveyi, Womersleyella setacea), Chlorophyta (Caulerpa cylindracea and Caulerpa taxifolia), Mollusca (Aplysia dactylomela), Arthropod…
Modelling landscape constraints on farmland bird species range shifts under climate change
2018
Several studies estimating the effects of global environmental change on biodiversity are focused on climate change. Yet, non-climatic factors such as changes in land cover can also be of paramount importance. This may be particularly important for habitat specialists associated with human-dominated landscapes, where land cover and climate changes may be largely decoupled. Here, we tested this idea by modelling the influence of climate, landscape composition and pattern, on the predicted future (2021–2050) distributions of 21 farmland bird species in the Iberian Peninsula, using boosted regression trees and 10-km resolution presence/absence data. We also evaluated whether habitat specialist…
Biosynthesis of heme O in intraerythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum and potential inhibitors of this pathway
2019
A number of antimalarial drugs interfere with the electron transport chain and heme-related reactions; however, the biosynthesis of heme derivatives in Plasmodium parasites has not been fully elucidated. Here, we characterized the steps that lead to the farnesylation of heme. After the identification of a gene encoding heme O synthase, we identified heme O synthesis in blood stage parasites through the incorporation of radioactive precursors. The presence of heme O synthesis in intraerythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Inabenfide and uniconazole–P appeared to interfere in heme synthesis, accordingly, parasite growth was also affected by the additi…