Search results for "ef"
showing 10 items of 32085 documents
Volatile-mediated foraging behaviour of three parasitoid species under conditions of dual insect herbivore attack
2016
Infochemicals play an important role in structuring intra-and interspecific interactions. Many parasitoid wasp species rely on herbivory or oviposition-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs/OIPVs) to locate their herbivorous hosts, and must cope with variation in the volatile blends due to factors such as plant/host species, herbivore density or attack by several herbivores. However, little is known about how dual herbivory or changes in herbivore density affect multiple parasitoid species, each attacking a different herbivore, in the same system. In a natural system, we investigated the effect of dual attack on the ability of three parasitoid species to differentiate between volatiles induced by …
Towards European Dimensions of City Resilience
2016
International audience; Disaster resilience is becoming more important and raises the highest concerns worldwide, including in Europe. Cities have a vital role for resilience because a majority of the population resides in the cities. Despite the recognition of the importance of city resilience, there is no strong consensus what city resilience is and its dimensions, and how the resilience concept should be transferred into management practice in the cities. In this paper, we conduct a survey of EU sectorial approaches in terms of EU-funded projects related to climate change and critical infrastructure, where urban or city resilience are in focus. The goal is to obtain an overview of how th…
Technology generation to dissemination: lessons learned from the tef improvement project
2018
Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world w…
Characterization of recruitment through tandem running in an Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum
2017
Tandem running is a primitive recruitment method employed by many ant genera. This study characterizes this behaviour during the recruitment of colony mates to a new nest in an Indian antDiacamma indicum. Tandem leaders who have knowledge of the new nest lead a single follower at a time, to the destination by maintaining physical contact. In order to characterize tandem running, we captured and analysed 621 invitations, 217 paths and 226 termination events. Remarkably, not a single colony member was lost. While invitations were stereotypic in behaviour, termination was not. Analysis of speed revealed that the average transport speed was 4.2 cm s−1. Coupled adult-brood transport was slower t…
Allelopathy and the role of allelochemicals in plant defence
2017
International audience; Allelopathy is described as the interference to plant growth resulting from chemical interactions among plants and other organisms mediated through release of plant-produced bioactive secondary metabolites referred to as allelochemicals. A number of mechanisms have been studied for the release of allelochemicals from various plant tissues including volatilization or leaching from aerial parts, exudation from roots and decomposition of plant residues in soil. Despite differences in biological activity and mode of action, related compounds commonly share similar biosynthetic pathways while some classes of metabolites can be produced using diverse biosynthetic pathways.…
Phylogeography, evolutionary history and effects of glaciations in a species (Zootoca vivipara) inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions
2018
[Aim]: During glaciations, the distribution of temperate species inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere generally contracts into southern refugia; and in boreo‐alpine species of the Northern Hemisphere, expansion from Northern refugia is the general rule. Little is known about the drivers explaining vast distributions of species inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions (major biogeographic regions defined by the European Environmental Agency). Here we investigate the fine‐scale phylogeography and evolutionary history of the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), the terrestrial reptile with the world's widest and highest latitudinal distribution, that inhabits multiple biogeographic region…
Medicinal mushrooms: Valuable biological resources of high exploitation potential
2017
Higher Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes mushrooms possess various immunological and anticancer properties. They also offer important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiallergic, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, antidiabetic, digestive, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and hypotensive activities. This minireview summarizes the perspectives, recent advances, and major challenges of medicinal mushrooms with reference to their nutraceutical properties and dietary value, the production of mushroom biomass …
The transcriptomics of an experimentally evolved plant-virus interaction
2015
[EN] Models of plant-virus interaction assume that the ability of a virus to infect a host genotype depends on the matching between virulence and resistance genes. Recently, we evolved tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV) lineages on different ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana, and found that some ecotypes selected for specialist viruses whereas others selected for generalists. Here we sought to evaluate the transcriptomic basis of such relationships. We have characterized the transcriptomic responses of five ecotypes infected with the ancestral and evolved viruses. Genes and functional categories differentially expressed by plants infected with local TEV isolates were identified, showing heterogene…
Mycorrhizal symbiosis primes the accumulation of antiherbivore compounds and enhances herbivore mortality in tomato
2021
Abstract Plant association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can increase their ability to overcome multiple stresses, but their impact on plant interactions with herbivorous insects is controversial. Here we show higher mortality of the leaf-chewer Spodoptera exigua when fed on tomato plants colonized by the AMF Funneliformis mosseae, evidencing mycorrhiza-induced resistance. In search of the underlying mechanisms, an untargeted metabolomic analysis through ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was performed. The results showed that mycorrhizal symbiosis had a very limited impact on the leaf metabolome in the absence of stress, but significantly m…
Multiple mechanisms of cryptic female choice act on intraspecific male variation in Drosophila simulans
2016
Postcopulatory sexual selection can arise when females mate with multiple males and is usually mediated by an interaction between the sexes. Cryptic female choice (CFC) is one form of postcopulatory sexual selection that occurs when female morphology, physiology, or behavior generates a bias in fertilization success. However, its importance in nonrandom reproductive success is poorly resolved due to challenges distinguishing the roles of females and males in generating patterns of fertilization bias. Nevertheless, two CFC mechanisms have recently been documented and characterized in Drosophila simulans within the context of gametic isolation in competitive hybrid matings with Drosophila mau…