Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY OF TWO JAPANESE FRESHWATER CRABS GEOTHELPHUSA EXIGUA AND G. DEHAANI (DECAPODA, BRACHYURA, POTAMIDAE)

Abstract The Japanese freshwater crab Geothelphusa exigua Suzuki and Tsuda, 1994, is sympatric with Geothelphusa dehaani (White, 1874) in riverine habitats in Ohsumi Peninsula, Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Kyushu, Japan. We examined a number of biological characteristics of both crabs in two rivers in Ohsumi Peninsula to elucidate the factors maintaining their sympatric distribution. Results showed few biological differences between the two species, except for maximum body sizes and habitat preference. Geothelphusa exigua is smaller than G. dehaani in the maximum body size and lives mainly in water (aquatic), whereas G. dehaani may live both in water and on land (amphibious).
Fungi in Summer Diets of Northern Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) within Managed Forests of Western Alberta, Canada

Many forms of hypogeous fungi rely on small mammals to consume and disperse their spores. It is well documented in the Pacific Northwest that northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) rely on hypogeous fungi as a food resource. However, in more northern forests the taxonomic constituents of flying squirrel diets are relatively poorly documented. Using live-capture to obtain fecal samples, I examined dietary fungal diversity from the feces of 44 northern flying squirrels inhabiting variable-aged managed forest stands during late summer in the foothills of west-central Alberta, Canada. Fungal material was found in all specimens, and was identified to order, family, or genera via microscopic spore morphological classification. Twenty-six spore morphologies were found; 1 was identified to order, 4 to family, 13 to genus, and 8 remained unidentified. The most frequently consumed fungi were of the hypogeous form of the genera Cortinarius, Gastroboletus, and Hysterangium. Insect material also figured prominently. In contrast to epigeous-dominated winter diets of flying squirrels found elsewhere in Alberta, here, hypogeous species formed almost one-half of those identified. There is evidently notable consistency in species richness of fungi in flying squirrel diets continent-wide but in more northern forests, diets may shift from epigeous species during winter months to hypogeous species in summer.
An experimental test of the link between foraging, habitat selection and thermoregulation in black rat snakes Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta

Summary 1 Most physiological processes are temperature-dependent. Thus, for ectotherms, behavioural control of body temperatures directly affects their physiology. Ectotherms thermoregulate by adjusting habitat use and therefore thermoregulation is probably the single most important proximate factor influencing habitat use of terrestrial reptiles, at least in temperate climates. 2 Snakes have been shown to raise their body temperature following feeding in a laboratory thermal gradient, presumably to enhance digestion. This experiment was exported to the field to explore the link between feeding, habitat selection and thermoregulation in free-ranging snakes. 3 Experimental feeding was conducted in the laboratory and in the field on black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) that had temperature-sensitive radio-transmitters surgically implanted. 4 Snakes had higher mean body temperatures following feeding than prior to feeding in a laboratory thermal gradient. 5 Some, but not all evidence, indicated that black rat snakes increased their mean body temperature following feeding in the field. Indices of thermoregulation indicated that the snakes thermoregulated more carefully and more effectively after they had eaten. 6 Forest edges provided the best opportunities for thermoregulation in the study area. Black rat snakes were less likely to move following feeding when fed in edges than when fed in the forest and were more likely to be found in edges following feeding, whether they had been fed in the forest or in an edge. 7 Results of this study and one previous study suggest that thermoregulatory behaviour of snakes following feeding in the laboratory is a reliable predictor of their behaviour in the field. A review of 13 studies of the thermoregulatory behaviour of snakes following feeding in the laboratory revealed that not all species behave similarly. However, the quality and number of studies currently available is not adequate for testing hypotheses about which species should change thermoregulatory behaviour in response to eating and which should not.
Characterizing the Mn(II) oxidizing enzyme from the marine bacillus sp. PL-12 spore

In addition to chemical and physical forces, many global geochemical cycles, such as the redox cycling of manganese, are driven by bacteria. Bacterial Mn(II) oxidation and subsequent Mn(IV) mineral formation is widespread and diverse. Direct enzymatic Mn oxidation presents rare Mn chemistry in that the Mn is the substrate of the reaction instead of the catalytic cofactor. Until recently, however, there has been no protein available to investigate. The heterologously purified Mn oxidase (Mnx) from marine Bacillus sp. PL-12 is made up of the multicopper oxidase (MCO) MnxG, and two small proteins of unknown function MnxE and MnxF. Mnx binds Cu and oxidizes both Mn(II) and Mn(III), generating Mn(IV) oxide minerals that resemble those found on the Bacillus spore surface. Here we present direct spectroscopic evidence to verify the presence of the canonical MCO Cu types and the existence of at least six extra Cu binding to the complex. Additionally, we describe the kinetics of the oxidation by Mnx of Mn(II) and the more typical MCO substrates Fe(II), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) and 2, 6-dimethoxyphenol (2,6-DMP). The oxidation of Fe(II), DMP, and ABTS (pH 4.5) follow Michaelis-Menten kinetics whereas Mn and ABTS (pH 8) follow allosteric sigmoidal trends. Putting the metal content and kinetic analyses together with the oligomeric nature of the Mnx complex allows us to hypothesize about the nature of the mechanism of this unique two-step reaction.
Genetic variability for antioxidants and horticultural traits in cabbage

Significant differences for antioxidant content and horticultural traits among 36 diverse cabbage genotypes revealed the presence of sufficient variability which could be exploited for developing nutritionally and antioxidant rich cultivars. The phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were high for carotenoids, stalk length, head compactness, gross plant weight, net head weight, dry matter, core length, plant height and equatorial diameter, and low for days to 50% maturity, number of non-wrapper leaves, frame spread and ascorbic acid. the expressions of all the studied traits except ascorbic acid, harvest index and head compactness were less influenced by environment, as evident from meagre differences between respective PCV and GCV. Moderate to high heritability was evident for all the traits and was accompanied with high genetic advance for carotenoids (138.25%), dry matter (62.74%), plant height (49.76%), gross plant weight (65.35%), net head weight (64.71%), stalk length (81.82%), core length (57.72%) and head compactness (76.0%) which show the presence of additive gene action. On the other hand, low genetic advance observed for ascorbic acid, number of non-wrapper leaves, head shape index, days to 50% maturity and harvest index reflected the predominance of non-additive gene action.
Staphylococcus felis, a New Species from Clinical Specimens from Cats

A new species, Staphylococcus felis, was isolated from clinical specimens from cats and is described on the basis of a study of 39 strains. The newly described species is phenotypically similar to strains of Staphylococcus simulans, but has low levels of deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid homology (>10%) with S. simulans JCM 2424T and related staphylococci. S. felis strains were coagulase negative and susceptible to novobiocin and bacitracin. A simple scheme for the differentiation of S. felis from related staphylococci is presented. The type strain is strain GD521 (= ATCC 49168 = JCM 7469).
Isolation of chitinase gene induced during infection of Vicia faba by Botrytis fabae

The moderately resistant (Giza 716) and the susceptible (Giza 429) faba bean cultivars were used to identify some pathogenesis related proteins (PRs) associated with infection by chocolate spot disease. One isolate of Botrytis fabae purified from a plant sample taken from Nubaria location (Behera governorate, Egypt) was used in the artificial infection experiment. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were carried out on all protein banding patterns of the healthy and the infected faba bean leaves harvested at 8, 24 and 48 hr after inoculation. Data revealed that a 26 kDa protein band was more intensive 8, 24 and 48 hr after inoculation in cultivar Giza 716,. In addition, a 29 kDa protein band appeared after 24 and 48 hr. Furthermore, in cultivar Giza 429, 54 kDa protein bands appeared after 8, 24 and 48 hr post inoculation and 28 and 20 kDa appeared after 24 hr post inoculation.Reverse-Transcription (RT-PCR) showed that chitinase gene is expressed at very early stages in infected faba bean leaves. DNA fragment at molecular weight 900 bp appeared at 8, 24 and 48 hr after inoculation and disappeared in the healthy plants. The amplified products were cloned into pGEM-T Easy vector. Four clones named (PNAM1, PNAM2, PNAM3 and PNAM4) were selected for validation. The recombinant plasmids PNAM1, PNAM2 were verified for the presence of the Chitinase gene coding sequences by using both specific and universal primers in PCR. BNAM1-Chit-EG gene sequence showed 58.15% similarity when aligned with other Chitinase genes published in the gene bank.
Gut clearance rate constant, temperature and initial gut contents: a review

The influence of temperature (7) and initial gut contents on estimates of copepod gut clearance rate constant (GCRC) is reviewed from literature data. Previous results on the relationship between temperature and GCRC are confirmed, and the inclusion of initial gut contents did not increase the significance of the model. Nevertheless, a significant difference was found between the experiments performed with pre-fed animals and animals from the environment. A high percentage of variability remains unexplained, but part of this is likely to be due to experimental error and differ- ences in the methods used. Since the first articles on the measurement of gut fluorescence (Nemoto, 1968; Mackas and Bohrer, 1976), this method has been widely used to assess ingestion of phytoplankton by copepods. The estimation of ingestion by the gut fluor- escence method requires the measurement of two factors: the gut fluorescence and the gut clearance rate constant (GCRC) (for a complete review of the method and problems, see Morales and Harris, 1990; Morales et al, 1990; Paster- nak, 1994). Although gut fluorescence is relatively easy to measure, GCRC requires a higher number of samples to be analyzed and attempts have been made to establish general rules for the estimation of GCRC. Dam and Peterson (1988) found that GCRC was strongly related to temperature and proposed an equation describing this relationship. Subsequently this equation has been generally accepted and employed. Nevertheless, some other studies have shown that food concentration also has an important influence on GCRC (Dagg and Walser, 1987; Pasternak, 1994) and that the relationship with temperature disappears when food is strongly limited (Irigoien et al., 1996). In addition, some results and simu- lation models show an apparent relationship between initial gut fluorescence and GCRC (Baars and Oosterhuis, 1984; Head, 1986; Irigoien, 1994; Tseytlin, 1994; Perissinotto and Pakhomov, 1996), whereas this relationship has not been reported in other studies (e.g. Batchelder, 1986; Wang and Conover, 1986; Head et al, 1988). This article presents an extensive review of the literature in order to assess the influence of temperature and the initial gut fluorescence on GCRC, and to deter- mine differences in the temperature-GCRC relationship between field and laboratory measurements. Data were collected from articles (Table I) reporting experiments which followed the standard procedure of placing animals in filtered sea water and removing samples for gut fluorescence measurements at different time steps. A first dataset was prepared with data from articles where GCRC, temperature and the initial gut fluorescence were available. Gut fluorescence was standardized by dividing it by the dry weight of the animal (ng Chi equivalent
Characterization and Pathogen Challenge of Pseudomonas Species from Oreochromis niloticus in Egypt.

Fish diseases caused by Pseudomonas species are responsible for considerable economic losses in the commercial aquaculture of Oreochromis niloticus in Egypt. The present study was undertaken in order to draw up the characterization of pseudomonas species isolated from different localities in Egypt. The prevalence of Pseudomonas spp. isolated were 30 % from naturally infected Oreochromis niloticus, with highest prevalence of P. fluorescence (60%). All isolates were characterized by proteolytic, lipolytic activities and lecithinases production. Using16S-23S PCR ribotyping, the P. fluorescens isolates were divided for 4 biotypes. Fish challenge results showed that all P. fluorescens were pathogenic, while the P. anguilliseptica isolates were
A calendar for tree pollen in London

Abstract Data from a pollen monitoring network in Islington, North London, are used to construct tree pollen calendars for the tree seasons 1987 to 1989 inclusive. Annual variations in the pollen abundance and length of flowering season are investigated for individual species in relation to meteorological factors and the inherent biological rhythms of trees. Results indicate clear relationships between seasonal variations in pollen abundance and the weather, both in the prevailing season and also in the preceeding year during the time of pollen formation. Annual variations evident in the pollen records for Betula and Quercus support the theory of inherent biennial cycles for these species. Patterns for other trees do not show clear trends within the period sampled. Insufficient information is available to determine the concentration thresholds of allergic response for most tree pollens, but evidence from Finland is used to identify the timing and duration of periods which exceed the response thresholds fo.
Effect of Time and Level of Pruning on Vegetative Growth, Flowering, Yield, and Quality of Guava

Poor quality fruit production in the rainy season and failure to manipulate production periods are common problems for guava production in India and Nepal. As a possible management to overcome these problems, a field experiment was conducted to understand the effect of time and level of pruning on growth, flowering, yield, and quality of guava. An experiment was laid out with split-pot design allocating three pruning times (mid-April, early May, and mid-May) and four pruning levels (0-, 10-, 20-, and 30-cm tip removal) with three replications in each treatment. Increased level of pruning in early May increased the leaf number and area both in rainy and winter seasons. Similarly, an increased level of pruning and delayed pruning increased the fruit size and fruit weight in both seasons. In the winter season, fruit yield per tree was increased by plants pruned in early May. Total soluble sugar (%) of fruits increased with the increased level of pruning in both seasons irrespective of timing of pruning, but fruit acidity was not affected by both treatments. In conclusion, pruning plants at a 20 cm pruning level in early May was the most effective management to reduce yield in the rainy season and to enhance yield and quality in the winter season.
Pathogenic interactions between Trichoderma species and Agaricus bisporus

green mould occurred in Ireland in 1985-86 and resulted in losses estimated at 3-4 million pounds to the mushroom industries in the UK and Ireland (Fletcher, 1990). Green mould epidemics also have been reported in Asia, Australia Canada, European countries, South America and the USA. An understanding of the various factors involved in the interaction between
FACTORS AFFECTING REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS IN DEONI AND HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN X DEONI HALFBREDS (F1)

The data of 961 lactation records each of Deoni and Holstein Friesian × Deoni (HF × D) halfbreds spread over a period of 21 years were analysed to assess the influence of farm, season and period of calving on Service Period (SP) and Inter-calving Period (ICP). The least squares means (LSM) for SP and ICP in Deoni and HF × D half-bred cows were 254.40 ± 5.13 and 533.64 ± 5.21 days and 151.23 ± 4.91 and 433.12 ± 5.39 days, respectively. The farm showed highly significant (P<0.01) influence on SP in Deoni, while farm and period have highly significant (P<0.01) influence on SP in HF × D halfbreds. However, effect of season was not significant on SP in Deoni and HF × D halfbreds. Farm showed highly significant (P<0.01) effect on ICP in Deoni as well as HF × D halfbreds. The influence of period of calving was significant (P<0.05) in Deoni cattle and highly significant (P<0.01) in HF×D halfbreds. rhe effect of season of calving was non-significant on ICP in Deoni as well as HF × D halfbreds.
Below‐ground plant species richness: new insights from DNA‐based methods

Summary 1.Ideas about mechanisms controlling plant species richness are founded on empirical studies of above-ground vegetation. In many ecosystems, however, the majority of vegetation (e.g. 50–90% in temperate grasslands) occurs below-ground as roots, rhizomes and shoot bases. Whether the richness patterns described for above-ground vegetation also hold for the large below-ground component is still unknown. 2.Here, we provide a concise overview how the use of DNA-based techniques might alter our perception of richness patterns in plant communities. We focus mainly on temperate grasslands, but new patterns should also arise in other community types (except epiphyte-rich ecosystems). 3.We hypothesise that DNA-based measurements of below-ground plant richness will reveal that richness is greater below- than above-ground because many perennial plants persist below-ground even in the temporary absence of above-ground shoots, and because the roots and rhizomes of plant individuals occupy larger areas than do shoots. Consequently, the species–area relationship may show steeper slopes for below-ground than above-ground richness. Further, above-ground richness may not be a constant proportion of below-ground richness, so the ratio of below/above-ground richness may vary along environmental gradients of productivity, disturbance and heterogeneity. 4.We also hypothesize that the often-observed decrease in above-ground richness with increasing productivity may not occur for below-ground richness, partly for the reasons noted above, and partly because of differences between above- and below-ground resources. Light is supplied largely in one dimension and does not persist in the environment for later uptake, whereas nutrients and water are supplied in three dimensions and can persist in the soil. Together, these differences should allow more niche differentiation and greater species richness below-ground. 5.Current DNA-based methods that allow measurement of below-ground richness in the field are likely to reveal patterns different from those well-documented for above-ground richness and may also produce new insights about plant community structure and function.
Microwave enhanced advanced oxidation process for sewage sludge treatment: The effects of ozone addition

Microwave enhanced advanced oxidation processes (MWAOP), with combinations of oxidants, were studied for sewage sludge treatment. Various operating conditions, using a computer statistical software design, were selected to determine the importance of factors affecting solids destruction and nutrients release from sewage sludge. For phosphate solubilization, the most significant factors, in the order from most to least, are heating temperature, ozone dosage, and a combined effect of temperature and hydrogen peroxide. For ammonia release, these are hydrogen peroxide dosage, a combined effect of hydrogen peroxide and temperature, and then temperature and ozone. For the destruction of sludge particles, the most significant factors are hydrogen peroxide and temperature. The best solubilization result was obtained with additions of 2% hydrogen peroxide by weight, 5.09 mg/mL of ozone, and microwave heating at 120 °C. About 95%, 32%, and 78% of TP, TKN, and COD were released into the solution, respectively. Resul.
High level production of extracellular β-galactosidase from Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 12759 in submerged fermentation

Alpha amylase (E.C. 3.2.1.1) of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 12759 was shown to produce extracellular α-amylase in submerged fermentation.Various nutrients belonging to three categories, carbon, nitrogen and amino acid sources, were investigated in terms of their effect on the production of extracellular α-amylase by Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 12759. Amongst carbon sources sugars, arabinose, sucrose, corn flour and corn starch supported maximum amylase production. Casein, sodium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, ammonium chloride, and ammonium nitrate where the best organic sources and inorganic sources respectively. Among the amino acid sources tested, L-cysteine, L-tryptophane, Lvaline, L-phenylalanine, L-methionine and L-lysine were favored the production respectively. FeSO4, ZnSO4 and CuSO4 inhibited α-amylase production. Maximum α-amylase production (1074.8±35.0 U/mg) was obtained in a medium containing 0.01% L-cysteine in 72 h at 37 o C.
Amphibian Distributions within Three Types of Isolated Wetlands in Southwest Georgia

ABSTRACT Conservation of isolated wetlands is critical for maintaining regional biodiversity within the southeastern U.S. However, relatively little is known about the ecological communities of these wetland systems, particularly within the karst wetlands of the southeastern Coastal Plain. In southwestern Georgia seasonal isolated wetlands include marshes, cypress savannas and cypress/gum swamps, which have fundamental differences in vegetation and soils, hydrology, water chemistry and invertebrate abundance and diversity. We examined the relationship between wetland type and the distribution of amphibians in 28 relatively undisturbed, seasonally flooded isolated wetlands in southwestern Georgia, USA. We sampled wetlands for amphibians in the winter, spring and summer using aquatic traps, dipnetting, PVC pipe refugia and automated frog call recording devices (frogloggers). Mean amphibian species richness among study wetlands was 12.7 ± 0.5 species (range 7–18). Both species richness and composition varied among wetland types, with different wetland types supporting different amphibian assemblages. Our results highlight the importance of wetland diversity in promoting regional amphibian diversity.