2021 August - 63 articles
The extensive range of sand deserts, gravel deserts, and recent human activities have shaped habitat fragmentation of relict and endangered plants in arid northwestern China. Prunus mongolica is a relict and endangered shrub that is mainly distribute...
In metazoans, Hox genes are key drivers of morphogenesis. In chordates, they play important roles in patterning the antero-posterior (A-P) axis. A crucial aspect of their role in axial patterning is their collinear expression, a process thought to be...
Two new tardigrade species from a moss sample collected in Canada, one representing Macrobiotus hufelandi complex and the second one belonging to the genus Bryodelphax, are described. Integrative analysis was undertaken based on morphological and mor...
Anthropogenic marine eutrophication has been recognized as one of the major threats to aquatic ecosystem health. In recent years, eutrophication phenomena, prompted by global warming and population increase, have stimulated the proliferation of poten...
Paleoecological data can be used to inform nature conservation practice. Dream Lake (DL) is the best-preserved peat bog in the Tatun Volcanic Group of northern Taiwan. We analyzed continuous pollen and charcoal data from a well-dated sediment core fr...
Since the early 1900s, researchers have attempted to unravel the origin and evolution of tetrapod limb muscles using a combination of comparative anatomy, phylogeny, and development. The methods for reconstructing soft tissues in extinct animals have...
Australia has a very diverse pea-flowered legume flora with 1715 native and naturalised species currently recognised. Tribe Mirbelieae s.l. includes 44% of Australia’s peas in 24 genera with 756 recognised species. However, several genera within the...
The Towakkalak System located in the Maros karst of South Sulawesi is currently the richest of Southeast Asia in obligate subterranean species. It comprises several caves and shafts that give access to the subterranean Towakkalak river as well as man...
Rotifers are the most diverse group in freshwater zooplankton and play an important role in food webs and ecosystems. DNA barcoding has become a useful approach to investigate species diversity at local and regional scales, but its application is sti...
Catenas are undulating hillslopes on a granite geology characterised by different soil types that create an environmental gradient from crest to bottom. The main aim was to determine mammal species (>mongoose) present on one catenal slope and its...
The Goliath beetle (Goliathus goliatus) is one of the largest and most commercially valuable (for collection exports) beetle species worldwide, and occurs in West and Central Africa, with polymorphic populations being found in Benin, Eastern Nigeria,...
To understand the environmental factors affecting the spatiotemporal distribution of copepods, sampling was conducted seasonally in a small mesotidal inlet and estuary located in Doam Bay of southwestern Korea. The study area was divided seasonally i...
The transformation of paired fins into tetrapod limbs is one of the most intensively scrutinized events in animal evolution. Early anatomical and embryological datasets identified distinctive morphological regions within the appendage and posed hypot...
The potential distribution of tropical fish species in Eastern Europe—Gambusia holbrooki (introduced for biological control) and Poecilia reticulata (aquarium species, found in waste waters of big cities)—tend to be of particular interest in terms of...
A key aspect in the conservation of endangered populations is understanding patterns of genetic variation and structure, which can provide managers with critical information to support evidence-based status assessments and management strategies. This...
In spite of the worldwide largest proportional loss of mires, Europe is a continent with important mire diversity. This article analyses the condition and protection status of European mire ecosystems. The overview is based on the system of European...
Genetic rescue can reduce the extinction risk of inbred populations, but it has the poorly understood risk of ‘genetic swamping’—the replacement of the distinctive variation of the target population. We applied population viability analysis (PVA) to...
The alpine belt hosts the treeless vegetation above the high elevation climatic treeline. The way alpine plants manage to thrive in a climate that prevents tree growth is through small stature, apt seasonal development, and ‘managing’ the microclimat...
Following similar studies of cell wall constituents in the placenta of Phaeoceros and Marchantia, we conducted immunogold labeling TEM studies of Physcomitrium patens to determine the composition of cell wall polymers in transfer cells on both sides...
Saline water is widely distributed in the arid environment and sometimes represents the only source of irrigation water to restore and reconstruct vegetation. However, the effects of saline water on the bacterial diversity and fertility level of aeol...
Dittrichia viscosa (L.) Greuter is a shrub native to the Mediterranean, however, declared as a very invasive species in Australia and North America. Environmental (climatic) and socio-economic (land abandonment) changes can trigger different adaptive...
Quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs) are synthesized by the genus Lupinus as a defense against herbivores. Synthesis of QAs in lupins is species- and organ-specific. Knowledge about their biosynthesis and their corresponding pathways are still fragmentary,...
The Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve is internationally renowned for its spectacular karst landscape. It covers a large area with hundreds of limestone islands and various ecosystems including caves, tropical forests, and mangroves. However, previous surveys...
Biodiversity follows distinct and observable patterns. Where two systems meet, biodiversity is often increased, due to overlapping occurrence ranges and the presence of specialized species that can tolerate the dynamic conditions of the transition zo...
The Mammoth Cave System in the Interior Low Plateau karst region in central Kentucky, USA is a global hotspot of cave-limited biodiversity, particularly terrestrial species. We searched the literature, museum accessions, and database records to compi...
Considering the rapid growth of tourism in recent years and the acknowledgement that exposure to solar UV radiation may cause skin cancer, sunscreens have been widely used by beachgoers in recent decades. UV filters contained in sunscreens, however,...
Understanding intraspecific genetic variation is one of the principal requirements for the evaluation of tree species capacity to cope with intensive climatic changes, as well as designing long-term conservation programs. Herein, we evaluated the gen...
There is arguably no other North American species that better illustrates the complexities of the human-wildlife interface than the coyote. In this study, a melanistic coyote in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia was exhibiting unusually bold behaviors th...
Starting four decades ago, studies have examined the ecology and evolutionary dynamics of populations and species using short mitochondrial DNA fragments and stable isotopes. Through technological and analytical advances, the methods and biomolecules...
Achieving multi-million-hectare commitments from countries around the world to restore degraded lands in resilient and sustainable ways requires, among other things, huge volumes of tree planting material. Seed systems encompassing all forest reprodu...
Coastal fishes are not only valuable elements of marine biodiversity, but they also play an important ecological role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems: food resource, transfer of nutrients, predators. Therefore, data on the compositions of fi...
Soil nematodes are important contributors to soil biodiversity. Nonetheless, the distribution patterns and environmental drivers of soil nematode communities are poorly understood, especially at the large scale, where multiple environmental variables...
Four sensory systems (vestibular, lateral line, electroreception, auditory) are unique and project exclusively to the brainstem of vertebrates. All sensory neurons depend on a common set of genes (Eya1, Sox2, Neurog1, Neurod1) that project to a dorsa...
The consequent deforestation of urban sprawl is one of the causes of the decline of wild bee communities. In this context, urban green areas (UGA) may play an important role and constitute refuge areas for bees. This study analyzed the influence of U...
There is a lack of studies on the root-associated bacterial microbiome of cassava plants. The identification and characterization of rhizobacteria can contribute to understanding the adaptation of the agriculturally important crop plants to abiotic s...
Seagrass meadows are known to be rich in fauna, with complex food webs that provide trophic subsidy to species and habitats way beyond the extent of their distribution. Birds are an often-overlooked part of marine ecosystems; not only are they crucia...
Healthy longevity is associated with many factors, however, the potential correlation between longevity and microbiota remains elusive. To address this, we explored environmental microbiota from one of the world’s longevity townships in China. We use...
Mollusks are the macroinvertebrates most commonly introduced into fresh water. In invaded reservoirs, alien mollusks form a large biomass due to their large size. Climate change, water level regulation, and anthropogenic impacts on the environment le...
The continuous increase in urbanization has been perceived as a major threat for biodiversity, particularly within tropical regions. Urban areas, however, may still provide opportunities for conservation. In this study focused on Macao (China), one o...
Prunus lusitanica L. is a paleotropical relic species with an Ibero-Maghrebian distribution, which is presently considered as an endangered species, recognized by the Natura 2000 Network (92/43/EEC) as a priority habitat for conservation in Europe. T...
Russian sheep breeds traditionally raised in specific environments are valuable parts of sociocultural heritage and economic component of the regions. However, the import of commercial breeds negatively influences the population sizes of local sheep...
Animal colouration is a phenotypic trait that can provide important information on species ecology and adaptation. Describing animal colours can be very challenging, and digital images may help in this difficult task. Obtaining an image with colours...
The study investigates feeding habits of thermophilic species and species with subtropical affinity in the fishing catch in the Bay of Medulin (northeastern Adriatic Sea), and contributes to the knowledge about their presence in recently extended dis...
Located in the core zone of Mulun National Nature Reserve in northern Guangxi, the limestone cave Ganxiao Dong harbours the richest cave fauna currently known in China. In total, 26 species of cave invertebrates have been recognized so far, in spite...
Evidence so far shows that most alien species (AS) have negative impacts on native biodiversity and are changing biodiversity in almost all environments. Here, we study eight rocky shores at four sites containing reefs with invaded communities and ot...
Domesticated Cucurbita has been remarked as one of the plant genera with the highest diversity in color, shape and fruit dimensions. Their economic and cultural values are related to the consumption of the mature or immature fruits, seeds, flowers, a...
The comparative molecular genetic study of museum and modern representatives of cattle breeds can help to elucidate the origin and maintenance of historical genetic components in modern populations. We generated the consensus genotypes for 11 microsa...
Bermuda is an Eocene age volcanic island in the western North Atlantic, entirely capped by Pleistocene eolian limestone. The oldest and most highly karstified limestone is a 2 km2 outcrop of the Walsingham Formation containing most of the island’s 15...
We examined the reproductive strategy of two Amazonian quillworts (Isoëtes cangae and Isoëtes serracarajensis), endemic and threatened species of canga ecosystems. Sexual propagation was examined by in vitro fertilization assays, while asexual propag...
It is increasingly important to study animal behaviors as these are the first responses organisms mount against environmental changes. Rattlesnakes, in particular, are threatened by habitat loss and human activity, and require costly tracking by rese...
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