Search results for "OA"
showing 10 items of 22575 documents
Effects of gellan-based coating application on litchi fruit quality traits
2018
The use of gellan-based coating formulation on litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn. ‘Wai Chee’) fruit was investigated in order to determine its ability to improve color conservation and to maintain the overall quality. Fruits were treated with gellanbased coating (0.5% w/v) and glycerol (3% w/v) after dipping in ascorbic acid (1.5% w/v) and then stored at 5°C and 90% relative humidity for 15 days. Changes in peel color, soluble solid content, tritatable acidity, weight loss, antioxidant activity and phenolic content, were measured. Formulations containing gellan-based coating exhibited slightly improved water barrier properties and showed their active role in maintaining color characteristics an…
The "Tracked Roaming Transect" and distance sampling methods increase the efficiency of underwater visual censuses.
2018
Underwater visual census (UVC) is the most common approach for estimating diversity, abundance and size of reef fishes in shallow and clear waters. Abundance estimation through UVC is particularly problematic in species occurring at low densities and/or highly aggregated because of their high variability at both spatial and temporal scales. The statistical power of experiments involving UVC techniques may be increased by augmenting the number of replicates or the area surveyed. In this work we present and test the efficiency of an UVC method based on diver towed GPS, the Tracked Roaming Transect (TRT), designed to maximize transect length (and thus the surveyed area) with respect to diving …
Hydrology Affects Environmental and Spatial Structuring of Microalgal Metacommunities in Tropical Pacific Coast Wetlands
2016
The alternating climate between wet and dry periods has important effects on the hydrology and therefore on niche-based processes of water bodies in tropical areas. Additionally, assemblages of microorganism can show spatial patterns, in the form of a distance decay relationship due to their size or life form. We aimed to test spatial and environmental effects, modulated by a seasonal flooding climatic pattern, on the distribution of microalgae in 30 wetlands of a tropical dry forest region: the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Three surveys were conducted corresponding to the beginning, the highest peak, and the end of the hydrological year during the wet season, and species abun…
Co-inertia multivariate approach for the evaluation of anthropogenic impact on two commercial fish along Tyrrhenian coasts
2019
Abstract Aliphatic hydrocarbon levels were determined by the GC/MS technique in fish livers of Engraulis encrasicolus (Ee) and Trachurus trachurus (Tt), collected from a particular area of the Mediterranean Sea, called GSA 10, which is located exactly in Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania coast and North Sicily coast. The aim was to evaluate their potential use as specific bioindicators towards this class of contaminants. Both Tt and Ee are considered to be pollution monitoring bioindicators, due to their dominance in marine communities and economic fishing interest. Ee showed a higher tendency to bioaccumulate TAHs, due to the lower quantity of fatty acids in liver tissues with respect to Tt.…
Is maternal thyroid hormone deposition subject to a trade-off between self and egg because of iodine?
2021
ABSTRACT Maternal hormones constitute a key signalling pathway for mothers to shape offspring phenotype and fitness. Thyroid hormones (THs; triiodothyronine, T3; and thyroxine, T4) are metabolic hormones known to play crucial roles in embryonic development and survival in all vertebrates. During early developmental stages, embryos exclusively rely on exposure to maternal THs, and maternal hypothyroidism can cause severe embryonic maldevelopment. The TH molecule includes iodine, an element that cannot be synthesised by the organism. Therefore, TH production may become costly when environmental iodine availability is low. This may yield a trade-off for breeding females between allocating the …
Thallus Growth Stage and Geographic Origin Shape Microalgal Diversity in Ramalina farinacea Lichen Holobionts
2021
Lichen symbioses are microecosystems hosting many other living organisms besides the two major lichen symbionts (i.e., lichenized fungi [the mycobiont] and green microalgae or cyanobacteria [the photobiont]). Recent investigations evidenced that other fungi, non-photosynthetic bacteria, and microalgae co-inhabit within the lichen thalli, but their diversity and their roles are still underinvestigated. Here we present an ad hoc stratified sampling design and in-depth Illumina paired-end metabarcoding approach to explore microalgal diversity in lichen thalli of the model species Ramalina farinacea from different ecologies. Lichen thalli were surveyed according to three different sizes, and di…
The flourishing diversity of models in theoretical morphology: from current practices to future macroevolutionary and bioenvironmental challenges.
2008
17 pages; International audience; For decades, theoretical morphological studies of different groups of organisms have been successfully pursued in biological, paleontological, and computational contexts, often with distinct modeling approaches and research questions. A regular influx of new perspectives and varied expertise has contributed to the emergence of a veritable multidisciplinary outlook for theoretical morphology. The broadening of this discipline is reflected in a substantial increase in the number of models, leading to a bewildering diversity that has yet to be scrutinized. In this work, we tackle this issue in a synthetic fashion, with a quantitativemeta-analysis that allows a…
A Systematic Literature Review of Historic Garden Management and Its Economic Aspects
2020
Historic gardens are important parts of humanity’s built heritage within the designed landscape, providing many environmental, economic and socio-cultural benefits. Management is a key part of their conservation, perhaps the most difficult because it is costly, must be continual, and requires a skilled workforce. This systematic review looks at the literature addressing historic garden management, with special attention regarding the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. Academic studies on this subject come from many different disciplines, making it both stimulating and fragmented. It is now time to consolidate these interdisciplinary efforts into a clear vision, in…
Carbon isotope composition of plant photosynthetic tissues reflects a Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) continuum in the majority of CAM lineages
2021
Abstract The stable carbon isotope composition of plant tissues, commonly expressed as δ13C, holds a wealth of information about photosynthetic pathway, water relations and stress physiology. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a derived form of photosynthesis that allows plants to fix carbon at a higher water-use efficiency compared to the ancestral C3 photosynthesis. While the central carbon-fixing enzyme of C3 plants, Rubisco, strongly discriminates against the heavy 13C isotope, CAM is characterized by a dual use of Rubisco and the much less discriminating PEP carboxylase as carbon-fixing enzymes, causing the δ13C values of CAM plant tissues to be generally less negative than those fo…
Impact of Freshwater Inflow From the Volturno River on Coastal Circulation
2020
The coastal area located in front of the Volturno river's estuary (Gulf of Gaeta, central-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea) has been synoptically sampled during seven surveys, between June 2012 and October 2014. The vertical profiles of temperature and salinity have been acquired on a high resolution nearly-regular grid, in order to describe the spatial and temporal variability of the water masses characteristics. Moreover, to provide a first assessment of the steady circulation at small scale, the three-dimensional velocity field associated to each survey has been obtained through the full momentum equations of the Princeton Ocean Model. The data analysis has shown the entire water column characteri…