Search results for "biodiversity"

Using metabarcoding to reveal and quantify plant-pollinator interactions.

2016

AbstractGiven the ongoing decline of both pollinators and plants, it is crucial to implement effective methods to describe complex pollination networks across time and space in a comprehensive and high-throughput way. Here we tested if metabarcoding may circumvent the limits of conventional methodologies in detecting and quantifying plant-pollinator interactions. Metabarcoding experiments on pollen DNA mixtures described a positive relationship between the amounts of DNA from focal species and the number of trnL and ITS1 sequences yielded. The study of pollen loads of insects captured in plant communities revealed that as compared to the observation of visits, metabarcoding revealed 2.5 tim…

Characterization of two groups of Spodoptera exigua Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) C-type lectins and insights into their role in defense against th…

2018

Insect innate immunity relies on numerous soluble and membrane-bound receptors, named pattern recognition proteins (PRPs), which enable the insect to recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns. C-type lectins are among the best-studied PRPs and constitute the most diverse family of animal lectins. Here we have characterized two groups of Spodoptera exigua C-type lectins that differ in their phylogeny, domain architecture, and expression pattern. One group includes C-type lectins with similar characteristics to other lepidopteran lectins, and a second group includes bracoviral-related lectins (bracovirus-like lectins, Se-BLLs) recently acquired by horizontal gene transfer. Subsequently…

Open data and digital morphology

2017

International audience; Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and fossil organisms. However, the initial promise that the widespread application of such methods would facilitate access to the underlying digital data has not been fully achieved. The underlying datasets for many published studies are not readily or freely available, introducing a barrier to verification and reproducibility, and the reuse of data. There is no current agreement or policy on the amount and type of data that should be made available alongside studies that use, and in some cases…

The macroecology of chemical communication in lizards: do climatic factors drive the evolution of signalling glands?

2018

Chemical communication plays a pivotal role in shaping sexual and ecological interactions among animals. In lizards, fundamental mechanisms of sexual selection such as female mate choice have rarely been shown to be influenced by quantitative phenotypic traits (e.g., ornaments), while chemical signals have been found to potentially influence multiple forms of sexual and social interactions, including mate choice and territoriality. Chemical signals in lizards are secreted by glands primarily located on the edge of the cloacae (precloacal glands, PG) and thighs (femoral glands), and whose interspecific and interclade number ranges from 0 to > 100. However, elucidating the factors underlying …

Personality, immune response and reproductive success: an appraisal of the pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis.

2017

11 pages; International audience; The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis is an extended concept of the life-history theory that includes behavioural traits. The studies challenging the POLS hypothesis often focus on the relationships between a single personality trait and a physiological and/or life-history trait. While pathogens represent a major selective pressure, few studies have been interested in testing relationships between behavioural syndrome, and several fitness components including immunity. The aim of this study was to address this question in the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a model species in immunity studies. The personality score was estimated from a multidimensi…

Clarifying the nomenclature of some Euro-Mediterranean quillworts ( Isoetes , Isoetaceae): Indicator species and species of conservation concern

2018

International audience; To stabilize the application of some names in the genus Isoetes in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, we studied herbarium specimens and imaged spores with scanning electron microscopy, with special reference to those taxa in the I. lon‐gissima and I. histrix groups that were described from France, Algeria and Turkey, and are in need of a taxonomic revision. The following names are lectotypified: I. adspersa, I. boryana, I. delalandei, and I. viollaei. Holotypes of I. perralderiana and I. olympica were ascertained. We conclude that I. boryana (listed in the “Bern Convention” and in the European Union “Habitats” Directive) justifies consideration at species rank,…

Parallel bursts of recent and rapid radiation in the Mediterranean and Eritreo-Arabian biodiversity hotspots as revealed byGlobulariaandCampylanthus(…

2018

Molecular Analysis of the Official Algerian Olive Collection Highlighted a Hotspot of Biodiversity in the Central Mediterranean Basin

2020

Genetic diversity and population structure studies of local olive germplasm are important to safeguard biodiversity, for genetic resources management and to improve the knowledge on the distribution and evolution patterns of this species. In the present study Algerian olive germplasm was characterized using 16 nuclear (nuSSR) and six chloroplast (cpSSR) microsatellites. Algerian varieties, collected from the National Olive Germplasm Repository (ITAFV), 10 of which had never been genotyped before, were analyzed. Our results highlighted the presence of an exclusive genetic core represented by 13 cultivars located in a mountainous area in the North-East of Algeria, named Little Kabylie. Compar…

Volatile organic compounds in wild fungi from Mediterranean forest ecosystems

2017

AbstractHead Space-Solid Phase Micro Extraction (HS-SPME) extractions and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis allowed the identification of 72 different compounds isolated from 7 different wild inedible fungi collected in Mediterranean forest ecosystems. The VOCs reported in this study, including a total of 5 esters, 17 alcohols, 14 aldehydes, 9 ketones, 18 terpenes and 9 other compounds, have been never characterized before for Tricholoma ustaloides, Hygrophorus cossus, Russula foetens and Mycena pura.

Sedimentary Ancient DNA (sedaDNA) Reveals Fungal Diversity and Environmental Drivers of Community Changes throughout the Holocene in the Present Bore…

2021

Fungi are ecologically important in several ecosystem processes, yet their community composition, ecophysiological roles, and responses to changing environmental factors in historical sediments are rarely studied. Here we explored ancient fungal DNA from lake Lielais Svētiņu sediment throughout the Holocene (10.5 kyr) using the ITS metabarcoding approach. Our data revealed diverse fungal taxa and smooth community changes during most of the Holocene with rapid changes occurring in the last few millennia. More precisely, plankton parasitic fungi became more diverse from the Late Holocene (2–4 kyr) which could be related to a shift towards a cooler climate. The Latest Holocene (~2 kyr) showed …