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showing 10 items of 7386 documents
Bot gummosis of lemon (Citrus × limon) caused by neofusicoccum parvum
2021
Neofusicoccum parvum, in the family Botryosphaeriaceae, was identified as the causal agent of bot gummosis of lemon (Citrus × limon) trees, in the two major lemon-producing regions in Italy. Gummy cankers on trunk and scaffold branches of mature trees were the most typical disease symptoms. Neofusicoccum parvum was the sole fungus constantly and consistently isolated from the canker bark of symptomatic lemon trees. It was identified on the basis of morphological characters and the phylogenetic analysis of three loci, i.e., the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) as well as the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1) and β-tubulin (TUB2) genes. The pathogenicity o…
Influence of Diet, Sex, and Viral Infections on the Gut Microbiota Composition of Spodoptera exigua Caterpillars
2020
The gut microbiota plays essential roles in processes related with metabolism, physiology, and immunity in all organisms, including insects. In the present work, we performed a broad analysis of the Spodoptera exigua gut microbiota, a major agricultural pest. We analyzed the influence of multiple parameters such as diet, geographic location, sex, or viral infections on S. exigua caterpillar gut microbiota composition. Our study revealed a high variability in bacterial composition among individuals, and a major influence of environmental bacteria (including those acquired through diet) on the gut microbiota composition, supporting previous studies that claim resident microbiota are lacking i…
The way wear goes: phytolith-based wear on the dentine–enamel system in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)
2019
The effect of phytoliths on tooth wear and function has been contested in studies of animal–plant interactions. For herbivores whose occlusal chewing surface consists of enamel ridges and dentine tissue, the phytoliths might particularly erode the softer dentine, exposing the enamel ridges to different occlusal forces and thus contributing to enamel wear. To test this hypothesis, we fed guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus; n = 36 in six groups) for threeweeks exclusively on dry or fresh forage of low(lucerne), moderate (fresh timothy grass) or very high (bamboo leaves) silica content representing corresponding levels of phytoliths. We quantified the effect of these treatments with measuremen…
The flight feather moult pattern of the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)
2015
Moult is an extremely time-consuming and energy-demanding task for large birds. In addition, there is a trade-off between the time devoted to moulting and that invested in other activities such as breeding and/or territory exploration. Moreover, it takes a long time to grow a long feather in large birds, and large birds that need to fly while moulting cannot tolerate large gaps in the wing, but only one or two simultaneously growing feathers. As a consequence, large birds take several years to complete a full moult cycle, and they resume the moult process during suboptimal conditions. A clear example of this pattern is the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), which needs 2-3 years for chang…
The effect of abrasive pretreatment on the drying kinetics and phenolic compounds in goji berries ( Lycium barbarum L.)
2020
The paper investigated the effect of a physical surface abrasion of goji berries on drying kinetics and the evolution of phenolic compounds at 323, 333, and 343 K. A diffusion model was developed to describe the drying process. The effective diffusion coefficient estimated by the model ranged from 7.5 × 10–9 to 4.2 × 10–8 m2/s for cylinder and 2.0 × 10–9 to 1.15 × 10–8 m2/s for sphere for untreated samples (UTR). Higher values were found for treated samples (TR) (from 2.50 × 10–8 to 1.20 × 10–7 m2/s for cylinder and 8.0 × 10–9 to 2.70 × 10–8 m2/s for sphere). For the UTR samples, the values of activation energy were found to be 79.5 and 80.8 kJ/mol, respectively, in the cylinder and sphere …
Towards understanding isotope variability in elephant ivory to establish isotopic profiling and source-area determination
2016
Abstract We present here new isotopic data (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 18 O, δ 2 H, and δ 34 S) from pulverised ivory powder, measured by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry from an unprecedented large dataset of 507 ivory samples, derived from twenty-eight African and six Asian elephant range states. The aim of this study is to assess the accuracy of isotopic fingerprinting and to evaluate its forensic potential and limitations to predict the provenance of ivory of unknown origin. We constructed a nominal assignment framework for the African reference samples, consisting of 208 different sites and applied the weighted k -Nearest Neighbor Classifier with reference site as classifier and …
Melanism is related to behavioural lateralization in nestling barn owls.
2017
5 pages; International audience; Behavioural laterality is a commonly observed phenomenon in many species suggesting there might be an advantage of using dominantly one side over the other for certain tasks. Indeed, lateralized individuals were often shown to be more successful in cognitive tasks compared to non-lateralized conspecifics. However, stressed individuals are also often, but not always, more strongly lateralized. Because barn owl (Tyto alba) females displaying larger black spots on the tip of their ventral feathers produce offspring that are more resistant to a variety of environmental stressful factors, we examined whether laterality is associated with melanin-based coloration.…
Fish assemblages cope with ocean acidification in a shallow volcanic CO2 vent benefiting from an adjacent recovery area
2020
Shallow CO2 vents are used to test ecological hypotheses about the effects of ocean acidification (OA). Here, we studied fish assemblages associated with Cymodocea nodosa meadows exposed to high pCO2/low pH conditions at a natural CO2 vent in the Mediterranean Sea. Using underwater visual census, we assessed fish community structure and biodiversity in a low pH site (close to the CO2 vent), a close control site and a far control site, hypothesising a decline in biodiversity and a homogenization of fish assemblages under OA conditions. Our findings revealed that fish diversity did not show a unique spatial pattern, or even significant relationships with pH, but correlated with seagrass leaf …
Use of biochar as peat substitute for growing substrates of Euphorbia × lomi potted plants
2016
Biochar from conifers wood was used in soilless culture as growing substrate alternative to peat for ornamental crops. Potted plants of Euphorbia × lomi Rauh cv. ‘Ilaria’ were grown with different mixtures (v:v) of brown peat and biochar in order to evaluate main physical and chemical characteristics of this biomaterial as well as its effect on plant growth, ornamental characteristics and nutrients uptake. Biochar addition to peat increased pH, EC and K content of the growing substrates, as well as air content and bulk density. Biochar content of substrates significantly affected plant growth and biomass partitioning: higher number of shoots and leaves, leaf area and leaf dry weight were re…
Vegetation of feather grass steppes in the western Pamir Alai Mountains (Tajikistan, Middle Asia)
2016
Aims: To propose the first syntaxonomical scheme for the graminoid steppe vegetation of the montane and alpine zones in the Pamir-Alai Mts. in Tajikistan with some remarks on its environmental gradients. Location: Tajikistan. Methods: A total of 155 relevés were sampled in 2015 using the seven-degree cover-abundance scale of Braun-Blanquet and subsequently 148 of these relevés were selected and classified by the modified TWINSPAN method using the four step interval scale with cutoff levels of 0%, 5%, 10% and 25% and total inertia as a measure of cluster heterogeneity. Diagnostic species were identified using the phi coefficient as a fidelity measure. The detrended correspondance analysis wa…