Search results for "Unity"
showing 10 items of 3852 documents
Effects of the temporal scale of observation on the analysis of aquatic invertebrate metacommunities
2020
The development of metacommunity theory has boosted the implementation of numerous empirical tests with field data, mostly focused on the role of spatial and environmental gradients on metacommunity organization. These studies showed an important dependence of the results on the observational scale considered, i.e., spatial grain, sampling spacing, and extent. However, few works deal with time per se as a component explaining metacommunity structure, even when data from periodic sampling are available. We suggest adding time explicitly to metacommunity analysis, but taking into account that the temporal scale of observation could affect the estimation of the relative influence of environmen…
Responses of marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) after infection with the pathogen Vibrio splendidus
2019
International audience; Bivalve molluscs possess effective cellular and humoral defence mechanisms against bacterial infection. Although the immune responses of mussels to challenge with pathogenic vibrios have been largely investigated, the effects at the site of injection at the tissue level have not been so far evaluated. To this aim, mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis were herein in vivo challenged with Vibrio splendidus to assess the responses induced in hemolymph and posterior adductor muscle (PAM), being the site of bacterial infection. The number of living intra-hemocyte bacteria increased after the first hour post-injection (p.i.), suggesting the occurrence of an intense phagocytosi…
Opportunity costs resulting from scramble competition within the choosy sex severely impair mate choosiness.
2016
12 pages; International audience; Studies on mate choice mainly focus on the evolution of signals that would maximize the probability of finding a good-quality partner. Most models of sexual selection rely on the implicit assumption that individuals can freely compare and spot the best mates in a heterogeneous population. Comparatively few studies have investigated the consequences of the mate-sampling process. Several sampling strategies have been studied from theoretical or experimental perspectives. They belong to two families of decision rules: best-of-n strategies (individuals sample n partners before choosing the best one within this pool) or threshold strategies (individuals sequenti…
Propagule pressure increase and phylogenetic diversity decrease community’s susceptibility to invasion
2017
Background Invasions pose a large threat to native species, but the question of why some species are more invasive, and some communities more prone to invasions than others, is far from solved. Using 10 different three-species bacterial communities, we tested experimentally if the phylogenetic relationships between an invader and a resident community and the propagule pressure affect invasion probability. Results We found that greater diversity in phylogenetic distances between the members of resident community and the invader lowered invasion success, and higher propagule pressure increased invasion success whereas phylogenetic distance had no clear effect. In the later stages of invasion,…
Extended winters entail long-term costs for insect offspring reared in an overwinter burrow
2018
International audience; Winter imposes an ecological challenge to animals living in colder climates, especially if these adverse conditions coincide with reproduction and offspring rearing. To overcome this challenge, some insects burrow in the soil to protect adults, larvae, or eggs from negative effects of winter. However, whether this protection is effective against any long-term consequences of changes in winter duration is unclear. Here, we investigated the long-term effects of winter length variation on eggs of the European earwig Forficula auricularia. In this insect, females construct and maintain a burrow between late autumn and spring, in which they provide extensive forms of care…
Proteomic insights into the immune response of the Colorado potato beetle larvae challenged with Bacillus thuringiensis.
2019
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins constitute effective, environmentally safe biopesticides. Nevertheless, insects' tolerance to Bt is influenced by environmental factors affecting immunity. To understand larval immune response in the devastating coleopteran insect pest Colorado potato beetle (CPB), we undertook a proteomic analysis of hemolymph of non-treated control larvae and larvae consuming non-lethal doses of spore-crystal mixtures containing the coleopteran-active Cry3Aa toxin. Results revealed lower amount of proteins involved in insect growth and higher amount of immune response-related proteins in challenged insects, sustaining the larval weight loss observed. Additionally, we fou…
The priming fingerprint on the plant transcriptome investigated through meta-analysis of RNA-Seq data
2020
Plants may enter into a state of alert that allows them to deploy defensive measures in a more effective way upon stress occurrence. This phenomenon is termed defense priming, and it is started in plants with a still enigmatic priming phase in which complex molecular and physiological changes occur. During the priming phase the plant transcriptome is deeply affected, but it remains largely unclear the extent of the transcriptional changes that contribute to prime the plant. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis of publicly available RNA-Seq data obtained during different priming conditions and in different plant species in order to investigate the existence of a transcriptional "primi…
Exposure to environmental radionuclides is associated with altered metabolic and immunity pathways in a wild rodent
2019
Wildlife inhabiting environments contaminated by radionuclides face putative detrimental effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, with biomarkers such as an increase in DNA damage and/or oxidative stress commonly associated with radiation exposure. To examine the effects of exposure to radiation on gene expression in wildlife, we conducted a de novo RNA sequencing study of liver and spleen tissues from a rodent, the bank vole Myodes glareolus. Bank voles were collected from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), where animals were exposed to elevated levels of radionuclides, and from uncontaminated areas near Kyiv, Ukraine. Counter to expectations, we did not observe a strong DNA damage resp…
Molecular Responses to Small Regulating Molecules against Huanglongbing Disease
2016
Huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening) is the most devastating disease of citrus worldwide. No cure is yet available for this disease and infected trees generally decline after several months. Disease management depends on early detection of symptoms and chemical control of insect vectors. In this work, different combinations of organic compounds were tested for the ability to modulate citrus molecular responses to HLB disease beneficially. Three small-molecule regulating compounds were tested: 1) L-arginine, 2) 6-benzyl-adenine combined with gibberellins, and 3) sucrose combined with atrazine. Each treatment contained K-phite mineral solution and was tested at two different concentrations. T…
Influence of salt of different origin on the microbiological characteristics, histamine generation and volatile profile of salted anchovies (Engrauli…
2018
Abstract The effect of six salts of different geographical areas on the quality of salted anchovies was evaluated. The crude salts were chemically characterized by determination of inorganic and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Salted anchovies, corresponding to six experimental trials, were subjected to microbiological, chemical (including histamine content) and sensory analysis during the entire period of ripening (150 days). The salts were characterized by marked differences in terms of major cations and trace element amounts. Among the 27 VOCs detected, octadecane was the most abundant compound and the main differences of the salts were registered for alkanes and alcohols. During matu…