Search results for "botany"

Preliminary assessment of terrestrial microalgae isolated from lichens as testing species for environmental monitoring: Lichen phycobionts present hi…

2013

Bioassays constitute a tool for pollution analysis providing a holistic approach and high-quality indication of the toxicity. Microbioassays allow evaluating the toxicity of many samples, implying lower costs and enabling routine monitoring and pollution control. But tests conducted so far are limited to the use of a small number of taxa. Lichens are excellent bioindicators of pollution with great ecological significance. Studies show that the phycobiont is more sensitive to pollutants than the mycobiont. Phycobiont have features such as adaptation to anhydrobiosis and relatively rapid growth in vitro, making them suitable for microbioassays. Our aim is to determine the sensitivity of phyco…

Two Trebouxia algae with different physiological performances are ever-present in lichen thalli of Ramalina farinacea. Coexistence versus Competition?

2010

This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CGL2006-12917-C02-01/02), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CGL2009-13429-C02-01/02), the AECID (PCI_A/024755/09) and the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO 174/2008 GVA). We are grateful to Dr J. Gimeno-Romeu (University of California, Davis, USA) and to Dr P. J. G. de Nova (IREC, Ciudad Real, Spain), who were the first to isolate DNA from Ramalina farinacea thalli in our group. Wendy Ran revised the manuscript in English.

Lifestyle dependent occurrence of airborne fungi

2018

Abstract. Fungi play important roles in the environment, agriculture, and human health. Most fungal species spread by wind-driven dispersal of spores, determining their occurrence and distribution in different environments. The dynamics of airborne fungi and their dependence on lifestyle and environmental conditions, however, are not well characterized. Here, we categorize the fungi detected in coarse and fine aerosol samples from continental boundary layer air using a lifestyle classification scheme that differentiates whether the fungi are (A) primarily associated to herbaceous or woody plants and (B), whether they are saprophytic, plant pathogenic, or surface inhabitants. Herbaceous fung…

Bacterial Ectosymbionts which Confer Motility: Mixotricha paradoxa from the Intestine of the Australian Termite Mastotermes darwiniensis

2005

New and less known Orthoptera (Insecta) from the island of Socotra (Yemen)

2009

A list of nine species of Orthoptera collected on Socotra is reported. Three of them were previously unrecorded on the island (Trigonidium cicindeloides, Paratettix subpustulatus and Acrotylus insubricus) and one (Ochrilidia socotrae n.sp.) was undescribed. Further systematic notes on Glomeremus pileatus, G. mediopictus, Pyrgomorpha conica tereticornis, Acrotylus incarnatus and Sphingonotus insularis are included. The East African Acrotylus meruensis, previously considered synonym of A. incarnatus, is proposed as a valid species, distinct from the latter.

The response of Trissolcus basalis to footprint contact kairomones from Nezara viridula females is mediated by leaf epicuticular waxes.

2009

Chemical footprints left behind by true bugs are perceived as contact kairomones by scelionid egg parasitoids. Female wasps encountering a contaminated artificial substrate display a characteristic arrestment posture, holding the body motionless and antennating the surface. In the system Nezara viridula (L.) and its egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston), previous studies have shown that the kairomone mediating such behavior is part of N. viridula's cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) and furthermore that the wasp's ability to discriminate host male and female footprints is mainly based on the presence/absence of nonadecane (nC(19)). In this study, the effect of epicuticular waxes of leaves…

Alkaloids Isolated from Somatic Hybrid Cell Cultures of the Species CombinationRauwolfia serpentinaxrhazya stricta

1995

Abstract The phytochemical analyses of a somatic hybrid cell suspension culture of the genus and species combination Rauwolfia serpentina x Rhazya stricta revealed a number of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids. The alkaloids were identified as tubotaiwine, an isomeric mixture of vallesiachotamine, stemmadenine and vomilenine and were all produced in small amounts < 2mg/litre cell suspension. The hybrid cells showed a greater diversity of alkaloid biosynthesis when compared with the parental cultures.

Antioxidant activity and chemical composition of three Tunisian Cistus: Cistus monspeliensis Cistus villosus and Cistus libanotis

2015

The chemical composition of three rockrose Cistus species, Cistus monspeliensis, Cistus libanotis and Cistus villosus, collected in Tunisia, was studied by HPTLC, focusing on the terpenes and phenols constituents. Diterpenes of Cistus are important as the main constituents of the leaf sticky aromatic resin, known as labdanum, which are highly appreciated in perfumery. Polyphenols in the methanolic extracts of each species were identified, quantified as total and as flavonoids and tannins, and tested for antioxidant activity. Diterpenes were evident in C. libanotis and C. monspeliensis, whereas they were practically absent in C. villosus; C. libanotis had higher phenolic amount, whereas anti…

Pythium stipitatumsp. nov. isolated from soil and plant debris taken in France, Tunisia, Turkey, and India

2009

Pythium stipitatum is a slow-growing oomycete and has been isolated from soil samples and plant materials from France, Tunisia, Turkey and India. Its morphological characteristics are reminiscent of those of Pythium ramificatum, discovered in Algeria by the corresponding author. Unfortunately, the Algerian isolate was not deposited in any culture collection and ultimately got lost. Those were the days when molecular description of fungi was not a fashion; hence, no molecular characteristics of the Algerian isolates were deposited to the GenBank. Moreover, its coralloid antheridial branches made it an easy prey to be considered as synonymous to Pythium minus. Because there are no living stra…

Taxonomic notes and distribution of taxa of Orobanche gr. minor (Orobanchaceae) from Tunisia

2015

AbstractNew records for the flora of Tunisia and, in part, for North Africa of taxa of Orobanche sect. Orobanche subsect. Minores (Beck) Teryokhin, are reported. These records come from field research carried out between 2010 and 2014 in the Kroumiria region in northwestern Tunisia and herbarium studies. Infraspecific taxa and chorological data about the identified taxa (Orobanche amethystea Thuill., Orobanche canescens C. Presl, Orobanche hederae Duby, Orobanche litorea Guss., Orobanche minor Sm. and Orobanche pubescens d’Urv.) are reported. Literature data on host and distribution are also revised. Orobanche litorea is new to North Africa, and O. canescens has been confirmed for North Afr…