Search results for "effect"
showing 10 items of 9072 documents
Hierarchy of factors impacting grape berry mass: separation of direct and indirect effects on major berry metabolites
2018
Final berry mass, a major quality factor in wine production, is determined by the integrated effect of biotic and abiotic factors that can also influence berry composition. Under field conditions, interactions between these factors complicate study of the variability of berry mass and composition. Depending on the observation scale, the hierarchy of the impact degree of these factors can vary. The present work examines the simultaneous effects of the major factors influencing berry mass and composition to create a hierarchy by impact degree. A second objective was to separate the possible direct effects of factors on berry composition from an indirect effect mediated through their impact on…
Weak effects of geolocators on small birds: A meta-analysis controlled for phylogeny and publication bias
2020
Abstract Currently, the deployment of tracking devices is one of the most frequently used approaches to study movement ecology of birds. Recent miniaturization of light‐level geolocators enabled studying small bird species whose migratory patterns were widely unknown. However, geolocators may reduce vital rates in tagged birds and may bias obtained movement data. There is a need for a thorough assessment of the potential tag effects on small birds, as previous meta‐analyses did not evaluate unpublished data and impact of multiple life‐history traits, focused mainly on large species and the number of published studies tagging small birds has increased substantially. We quantitatively reviewe…
Sexing birds using discriminant function analysis: a critical appraisal.
2011
9 pages; International audience; Discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on morphological measurements is a quick, inexpensive, and efficient method for sex determination in field studies on cryptically monomorphic bird species. However, behind the apparent standardization and relative simplicity of DFA lie subtle differences and pitfalls that have been neglected in some studies. Most of these concerns directly affect assessment of the discriminant performance, a parameter of crucial importance in practice because it provides a measure of the quality of an equation that may be used in later field studies. Using results from 141 published studies and simulations based on a large data set …
The beneficial rhizosphere : a necessary strategy for microplant production
2000
Society's expectation that plant production systems will become more compatible with the environment requires the development of an agriculture with low chemical inputs. With microplants, this can be achieved successfully by the introduction of beneficial microorganisms, particularly those developing in the rhizosphere. Inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi has provided a wide range of examples of the usefulness of this technology. Recent results indicate that this application could be improved by combining mycorrhizal inoculation with other soil microbes with complementary beneficial effects. It is proposed that multimicrobial biotization is a valuable development for microplant technology.
Improving scientific rigour in conservation evaluations and a plea deal for transparency on potential biases
2020
Abstract The delivery of rigorous and unbiased evidence on the effects of interventions lay at the heart of the scientific method. Here we examine scientific papers evaluating agri‐environment schemes, the principal instrument to mitigate farmland biodiversity declines worldwide. Despite previous warnings about rudimentary study designs in this field, we found that the majority of studies published between 2008 and 2017 still lack robust study designs to strictly evaluate intervention effects. Potential sources of bias that arise from the correlative nature are rarely mentioned, and results are still promoted by using a causal language. This lack of robust study designs likely results from …
In utero behavioral imprinting to predation risk in pups of the bank vole
2020
Abstract In the predator–prey arms race, survival-enhancing adaptive behaviors are essential. Prey can perceive predator presence directly from visual, auditory, or chemical cues. Non-lethal encounters with a predator may trigger prey to produce special body odors, alarm pheromones, informing conspecifics about predation risks. Recent studies suggest that parental exposure to predation risk during reproduction affects offspring behavior cross-generationally. We compared behaviors of bank vole (Myodes glareolus) pups produced by parents exposed to one of three treatments: predator scent from the least weasel (Mustela nivalis nivalis); scent from weasel-exposed voles, i.e., alarm pheromones;…
Topical bioassay of Oberon® on Drosophila melanogaster pupae: delayed effects on ovarian proteins, cuticular hydrocarbons and sexual behaviour
2021
International audience; Spiromesifen (Oberon? 240 SC; concentrated solution; Bayer CropScience, Germany) a pesticide derived from spirocyclic tetronic acids, acts mainly though blocking lipid biosynthesis via acetyl-CoA carboxylase. However, its mode of action requires further analyses. This study aims to evaluate the sublethal effects of spiromesifen on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The treatment was carried out by topical application on newly moulted pupae using two concentrations (LD10 = 21.45 and LD25 = 39.53 ?g a.i./pupa). Our results showed that the developmental duration of larvae and pupae were not significantly affected by treatment. However, spiromesifen caused delayed ef…
Cadmium-induced oxidative damage and protective action of fractioned red beet (Beta vulgaris) root juice in chickens
2018
Article Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most dangerous environmental bioaccumulative pollutants that affects many organs in humans and animals. Present investigation was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of fractioned red beetroot juice on Cd - induced oxidative stress in chickens. The named red beetroot juice fraction (BJF) was received by juice ultrafiltration. Per oral administration of BJF for 10 days followed by dietar y Cd exposure (50 mg kg - 1 of diet) was evaluated in the in vivo experiments in chickens. The prominent increase of Cd concentration in blood plasma, liver and kidney provoked the rise of oxidative processes activity in organs. BJF treatment attenuated the Cd - ind…
Causes of mortality in depleted populations of Atlantic cod estimated from multi-event modelling of mark–recapture and recovery data
2017
Knowledge on mortality causes is key for an effective management of animal populations and can help to restore depleted fish stocks. Here we investigated the mortality dynamics of coastal Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in Skagerrak, southern Norway, by analyzing local mark–recapture and recovery data collected from 2005 to 2013 (N = 9360 fish, mean length = 41 cm, range = 16–93 cm). By applying multi-event models to the data, we could link field observations to multiple “dead states” and estimate the proportion of deaths associated with different fishing gears while controlling for unobserved mortality and detection errors. Deaths due to hand lines and fixed gear types were dominant compared …
The cost-effectiveness of using raptor nest sites to identify areas with high species richness of other taxa
2016
Abstract Given the limited resources available for conservation, it is important that the areas to preserve are selected in a cost effective manner. However, the cost effectiveness of the surrogate species strategy (the use of information on one or more species to identify areas of value for other species for which there is no, or more limited, available information) has seldom been evaluated. In this study, we investigate the opportunity cost of setting aside breeding sites of two forest raptor species (the surrogate species) by evaluating their individual and combined contribution to preserve diversity of polypores (wood-decaying fungi) and birds against the contributions of previously es…