Search results for "arthropods"
showing 10 items of 49 documents
Jumping on the Edge—First Evidence for a 2 × 6-meric Hemocyanin in Springtails
2019
Hemocyanins are respiratory dioxygen carrier proteins found in many arthropods including ancient terrestrial species such as spiders and scorpions as well as marine horseshoe crabs. As hemocyanins are highly conserved in this lineage, it is possible to observe an evolutionary descent through its subunits and their overall structure. Unfortunately, little is known about the structure and function of hexapod hemocyanins. Using recent springtail taxa (Collembola) as models for basal hexapods, and the help of electron microscopy, light scattering, SDS PAGE, and Western blot, we could demonstrate for the first time the presence of 2 × 6-meric hemocyanins in the hemolymph of hexapods. The quatern…
Assessing environmental conditions of Antarctic footpaths to support management decisions.
2016
Thousands of tourists visit certain Antarctic sites each year, generating a wide variety of environmental impacts. Scientific knowledge of human activities and their impacts can help in the effective design of management measures and impact mitigation. We present a case study from Barrientos Island in which a management measure was originally put in place with the goal of minimizing environmental impacts but resulted in new undesired impacts. Two alternative footpaths used by tourist groups were compared. Both affected extensive moss carpets that cover the middle part of the island and that are very vulnerable to trampling. The first path has been used by tourists and scientists since over …
Exploiting chemical ecology to manage hyperparasitoids in biological control of arthropod pests
2020
Abstract Insect hyperparasitoids are fourth trophic level organisms that commonly occur in terrestrial food webs, yet they are relatively understudied. These top‐carnivores can disrupt biological pest control by suppressing the populations of their parasitoid hosts, leading to pest outbreaks, especially in confined environments such as greenhouses where augmentative biological control is used. There is no effective eco‐friendly strategy that can be used to control hyperparasitoids. Recent advances in the chemical ecology of hyperparasitoid foraging behavior have opened opportunities for manipulating these top‐carnivores in such a way that biological pest control becomes more efficient. We p…
A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland
2022
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the…
Importance of meteorological variables for aeroplankton dispersal in an urban environment
2016
Passive wind dispersal is one of the major mechanisms through which organisms disperse and colonize new areas. The detailed comprehension of which factors affect this process may help to preserve its efficiency for years to come. This is especially important in the current context of climate change, which may seriously alter weather regimes that drive dispersal, and is crucial in urban contexts, where biodiversity is dramatically threatened by pollution and fragmentation of natural patches. Despite its interest, the analysis of factors affecting aeroplankton dispersal in urban environments is rare in literature. We sampled aeroplankton community uninterruptedly every 4 hours from 17th May t…
The Influence of Solar Power Plants on Microclimatic Conditions and the Biotic Community in Chilean Desert Environments
2016
The renewable energy sector is growing at a rapid pace in northern Chile and the solar energy potential is one of the best worldwide. Therefore, many types of solar power plant facilities are being built to take advantage of this renewable energy resource. Solar energy is considered a clean source of energy, but there are potential environmental effects of solar technology, such as landscape fragmentation, extinction of local biota, microclimate changes, among others. To be able to minimize environmental impacts of solar power plants, it is important to know what kind of environmental conditions solar power plants create. This study provides information about abiotic and biotic conditions i…
Functional responses of multitaxa communities to disturbance and stress gradients in a restored floodplain
2015
Trait-based approaches can reveal the mechanisms through which disturbances or stress impact communities, allowing comparisons of the role of different mechanisms in shaping communities among taxonomic groups. Such information can lead to higher comparability, transferability and predictability of the outcome of restoration projects. However, multitaxa trait-based approaches were rarely used in the context of ecosystem restoration. We investigated the responses to environmental gradients of seven taxa (vascular plants, staphylinid and carabid beetles, spiders, isopods, diplopods and earthworms) in a restored floodplain using a species traits approach. We assessed the impact of flood disturb…
Diversity, evolution, and function of myriapod hemocyanins.
2018
Background Hemocyanin transports O2 in the hemolymph of many arthropod species. Such respiratory proteins have long been considered unnecessary in Myriapoda. As a result, the presence of hemocyanin in Myriapoda has long been overlooked. We analyzed transcriptome and genome sequences from all major myriapod taxa – Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Symphyla, and Pauropoda – with the aim of identifying hemocyanin-like proteins. Results We investigated the genomes and transcriptomes of 56 myriapod species and identified 46 novel full-length hemocyanin subunit sequences in 20 species of Chilopoda, Diplopoda, and Symphyla, but not Pauropoda. We found in Cleidogona sp. (Diplopoda, Chordeumatida) a hemocyanin-…
Transcriptomic data from panarthropods shed new light on the evolution of insulator binding proteins in insects : Insect insulator proteins.
2016
Background Body plan development in multi-cellular organisms is largely determined by homeotic genes. Expression of homeotic genes, in turn, is partially regulated by insulator binding proteins (IBPs). While only a few enhancer blocking IBPs have been identified in vertebrates, the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster harbors at least twelve different enhancer blocking IBPs. We screened recently compiled insect transcriptomes from the 1KITE project and genomic and transcriptomic data from public databases, aiming to trace the origin of IBPs in insects and other arthropods. Results Our study shows that the last common ancestor of insects (Hexapoda) already possessed a substantial number …
ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Solinviviridae
2019
Solinviviridae is a family of picorna/calici-like viruses with non-segmented, linear, positive-sense RNA genomes of approximately 10-11 kb. Unusually, their capsid proteins are encoded towards the 3'-end of the genome where they can be expressed both from a subgenomic RNA and as an extension of the replication (picorna-like helicase-protease-polymerase) polyprotein. Members of two species within the family infect ants, but related unclassified virus sequences derive from a large variety of insects and other arthropods. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the Solinviviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/solinviviridae.