Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitrogen fertilization effects on Myzus persicae aphid dynamics on peach: vegetative growth allocation or chemical defence?

Plant nitrogen (N) fertilization is a common cropping practice that is expected to serve as a pest management tool. Its effects on the dynamics of the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were examined on young peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch (Rosaceae)] trees grown under five N treatments, ranging from N shortage to supra‐optimal supply for growth. Aphid population increased over time at the three intermediate N levels. It remained stable at the lowest N level and decreased at the highest N level. Four weeks after the start of infestation, the number of aphids displayed a parabolic response to N level. The relationships between N status and parameters of plant vegetative growth (stem diameter) or biomass allocation (lateral‐total leaf area and root‐shoot ratio) were consistent with responses proposed by models of adaptive plasticity in resource allocation patterns. However, the variation in plant growth predicted aphid population dynamics only partially. Whereas aphid number was positively correlated with plant N status and vegetative growth up to the intermediate N level, it was negatively correlated with plant N status above this level, but not with vegetative growth. The concentrations of primary and secondary (plant defence‐related) metabolites in the plant shoots were modified by N treatments: amino acids (main nutritional resource of aphids) and prunasin increased, whereas chlorogenic acid decreased with increasing N availability. Constitutive changes in plant chemistry in response to N fertilization could not directly explain the reduced aphid performance for the highest N level. Nevertheless, the indirect effect of N on the induction of plant defence compounds by aphid feeding warrants further investigation. The study focuses on the feasibility of handling N fertilization to control M. persicae in orchards, but findings may also be relevant for our understanding of the physiological relationships between the host’s nutritional status and the requirements of the insect.
Flight costs, flight range and the stopover ecology of migrating birds

1. Flight range equations are a central component in the analysis of avian migration strategies. These equations relate the distance that can be covered to the fuel load that the birds carry. Models of stopover decisions deal with the question of how birds should react to variations in fuel deposition rates. Time-minimization models generally predict an increasing relationship between departure fuel load and fuel deposition rate. 2. We show that quantitative details of predictions derived from optimality models depend critically on the flight range equation that is used. We use two classes of flight range equations: one class is based on theoretical assumptions of aerodynamics; the other is based on empirical measurements of metabolism during flight. 3. Most empirically derived equations can be written as Y(x) = c[1-(1 + x) -ζ ], where 0 < ζ < 1, and c is a constant that includes morphological traits and lean body mass. 4. Patterns of site use and departure loads in environments with discrete stopover sites depend in significant ways on flight costs. 5. Flight range estimates that are based on empirically derived, multivariate equations are sensitive to errors in the estimates of exponents of the equations. Varying some exponents within their confidence limits can alter flight ranges by an order of magnitude.
Management of permanent set-aside on arable land in Sweden

1. Set-aside fields have been an important element of the European agricultural landscape since the introduction of the set-aside scheme by the European Community. However, countries in the European Community differ in their rules for managing set-aside owing to different priorities. 2. In Sweden, a major goal is to reduce the total use of agricultural pesticides, consequently their use is prohibited in set-aside. The options for weed control are therefore cutting and/or the use of a cover crop. 3. In this study, we describe the course of succession following the abandonment of farmland managed in different ways. The floristic composition was followed over a 10-year period. Temporal trends in community development are described. 4. The experiment began in 1975 on farmland at six localities, distributed from southern to northern Sweden. The management treatments involving the application of fertilizers and cutting were applied to plots sown with a cover crop and to plots in which the succession started from bare ground. 5. We found that competitive interactions between species largely determined the successional course in our study. The competitive success of species was related to the management practices applied but there were also interactions between management and site conditions. 6. We propose that natural succession can be recommended on poor sites in combination with cutting, mainly to prevent the invasion of woody species. On fertile sites a cover crop should be used to suppress perennial weeds, and cutting is recommended mainly to increase species diversity.
Retrieving the paleoclimatic signal from the deeper part of the EPICA Dome C ice core

Abstract. An important share of paleoclimatic information is buried within the lowermost layers of deep ice cores. Because improving our records further back in time is one of the main challenges in the near future, it is essential to judge how deep these records remain unaltered, since the proximity of the bedrock is likely to interfere both with the recorded temporal sequence and the ice properties. In this paper, we present a multiparametric study (δD-δ18Oice, δ18Oatm, total air content, CO2, CH4, N2O, dust, high-resolution chemistry, ice texture) of the bottom 60 m of the EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) Dome C ice core from central Antarctica. These bottom layers were subdivided into two distinct facies: the lower 12 m showing visible solid inclusions (basal dispersed ice facies) and the upper 48 m, which we will refer to as the "basal clean ice facies". Some of the data are consistent with a pristine paleoclimatic signal, others show clear anomalies. It is demonstrated that neither large-scale bottom refreezing of subglacial water, nor mixing (be it internal or with a local basal end term from a previous/initial ice sheet configuration) can explain the observed bottom-ice properties. We focus on the high-resolution chemical profiles and on the available remote sensing data on the subglacial topography of the site to propose a mechanism by which relative stretching of the bottom-ice sheet layers is made possible, due to the progressively confining effect of subglacial valley sides. This stress field change, combined with bottom-ice temperature close to the pressure melting point, induces accelerated migration recrystallization, which results in spatial chemical sorting of the impurities, depending on their state (dissolved vs. solid) and if they are involved or not in salt formation. This chemical sorting effect is responsible for the progressive build-up of the visible solid aggregates that therefore mainly originate "from within", and not from incorporation processes of debris from the ice sheet's substrate. We further discuss how the proposed mechanism is compatible with the other ice properties described. We conclude that the paleoclimatic signal is only marginally affected in terms of global ice properties at the bottom of EPICA Dome C, but that the timescale was considerably distorted by mechanical stretching of MIS20 due to the increasing influence of the subglacial topography, a process that might have started well above the bottom ice. A clear paleoclimatic signal can therefore not be inferred from the deeper part of the EPICA Dome C ice core. Our work suggests that the existence of a flat monotonic ice–bedrock interface, extending for several times the ice thickness, would be a crucial factor in choosing a future "oldest ice" drilling location in Antarctica.
On-farm characterization and present status of North Bengal Grey (NBG) cattle in Bangladesh

Summary North Bengal Grey (NBG) cattle are an important indigenous cattle genetic resource found mainly in the northern part of Bangladesh. The study was undertaken at Bogra Sadar, Shibgonj and Kahalu Upazila (sub-district) in the Bogra district. The physical and morphological characteristics, and the productive and reproductive performances of NBG cattle were studied. The coat colour of these animals is deep grey to white. The coat colour of the neck region in adult bulls was found to be generally ashy with a range of shades. The body is small, compact and less fleshy. Ear length and ear width were 18.0±0.17 and
Armillaria species in Newfoundland.

Crosses with standard testers were used to identify 96 haploid Armillaria isolates from 34 collections made in Newfoundland. Isoenzyme patterns were also used to identify 36 diploid and 3 haploid Armillaria isolates from 39 other collections. Diagnostic electromorphs at Rf 0.70 for esterases, Rf 0.32 for succinate dehydrogenase, and Rf 0.31 for 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase permitted positive identification of Armillaria ostoyae (Romagn.) Herink for all isolates tested by electrophoresis, and the method worked with haploid and diploid isolates. Crosses of the 96 haploid isolates collected on hardwoods and conifers were all positive for A. ostoyae, except for eight isolates. These eight isolates from three collections made on or near an American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana Marsh.) in a St. John's city park, where numerous exotic tree species are present, were found to be Armillaria sinapina Berube & Dessureault. These isolated collections in an area of limited natural hardwood presence may be the res.
Dominant-height and site-index equations for ponderosa pine in east-central Arizona

A dominant-height equation for ponderosa pine (Pinusponderosa Laws.) was constructed utilizing a parameter prediction method and a model by J.E. King. The site-index equation was obtained by inverting the dominant-height equation. A method was examined for indirectly obtaining parameter prediction equations. It proved superior to two direct parameter prediction approaches. Other site-quality variables, such as habitat type groups and elevation, were included in the dominant-height and site-index equations and were successful in refining predictive capability.
Morphometric study for identification of the Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera: Tephritidae) using wing image analysis.

The Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera: Tephritidae) used in this study included B. dorsalis, B. arecae, B. propinqua, B. pyrifoliae, B. verbascifoliae, and three new species complexes are species E, species K and species P. Bactrocera tau was used as an out-group. A total of 424 adults, which emerged from pupae collected from natural populations in Thailand, were prepared for wing measurements. Morphometric analysis was performed on measurements of wing vein characters. Wing images were captured in digital format and taken through digital image processing to calculate the Euclidean distance between wing vein junctions. Discriminant and cluster analyses were used for dichotomy of classification processes. All 424 wing specimens were classified to species in terms of the percentage of "grouped" cases which yielded about 89.6% accurate identification compared with the formal description of these species. After clustering, the percentage of "grouped"cases yielded 100.0%, 98.9%, 98.1%, 95.2% and 84.6% accurate identification between the B. dorsalis complex and B. tau; B. arecae and Species E; B. dorsalis and B. verbascifoliae; B. propinqua and B. pyrifoliae; and species K and species P, respectively. This method of numerical taxonomy may be useful for practical identification of other groups of agricultural pests. Key words: Bactrocera dorsalis complex/wing image processing/morphometric/discriminant and cluster analyses.
Increased Antigen Presentation Efficiency by Coupling Antigens to MHC Class I Trafficking Signals1

Genetic modification of vaccines by linking the Ag to lysosomal or endosomal targeting signals has been used to route Ags into MHC class II processing compartments for improvement of CD4+ T cell responses. We report in this study that combining an N-terminal leader peptide with an MHC class I trafficking signal (MITD) attached to the C terminus of the Ag strongly improves the presentation of MHC class I and class II epitopes in human and murine dendritic cells (DCs). Such chimeric fusion proteins display a maturation state-dependent subcellular distribution pattern in immature and mature DCs, mimicking the dynamic trafficking properties of MHC molecules. T cell response analysis in vitro and in mice immunized with DCs transfected with Ag-encoding RNA showed that MITD fusion proteins have a profoundly higher stimulatory capacity than wild-type controls. This results in efficient expansion of Ag-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells and improved effector functions. We used CMVpp65 and NY-ESO-1 Ags to study preformed immune responses in CMV-seropositive individuals and cancer patients. We show that linking these Ags to the MITD trafficking signal allows simultaneous, polyepitopic expansion of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, resulting in distinct CD8+ T cell specificities and a surprisingly broad and variable Ag-specific CD4+ repertoire in different individuals.
New tank design for larval culture of Japanese spiny lobster, Panulirus japonicus

Abstract Middle‐stage phyllosoma of Panulirus japonicus (mean body length 11.5 mm) were cultured using 40‐litre elliptical tanks with concave bottoms (85 cm long × 60 cm wide × 15 cm deep) in a flow‐through system (24–25°C). The phyllosoma were fed with Artemia and mussel go‐nad. Survival rates to the puerulus stage were 54 ± 1%, 51 ± 0%, and 37 ± 9% at densities of 40, 60, and 90 phyllosoma/tank, respectively. The densities did not significantly affect the growth of phyllosoma. Major causes of phyllosoma mortality included moulting complications, bacterial disease, and cannibalism. The survival rates were significantly higher than in our previous studies, indicating that the new elliptical tank design may be suitable for mass culturing of phyllosoma. The survival of puerulus to the first juvenile stage was 83 ± 7% and did not differ between densities during phyllosoma rearing.
Simulation of growth and development of diverse legume species in APSIM

This paper describes the physiological basis and validation of a generic legume model as it applies to 4 species: chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek), peanut (Arachis hypogaeaL.), and lucerne (Medicago sativa L.). For each species, the key physiological parameters were derived from the literature and our own experimentation. The model was tested on an independent set of experiments, predominantly from the tropics and subtropics of Australia, varying in cultivar, sowing date, water regime (irrigated or dryland), row spacing, and plant population density. The model is an attempt to simulate crop growth and development with satisfactory comprehensiveness, without the necessity of defining a large number of parameters. A generic approach was adopted in recognition of the common underlying physiology and simulation approaches for many legume species. Simulation of grain yield explained 77, 81, and 70% of the variance (RMSD = 31, 98, and 46 g/m2) for mungbean (n = 40, observed mean = 123 g/m2), peanut (n = 30, 421 g/m2), and chickpea (n = 31, 196 g/m2), respectively. Biomass at maturity was simulated less accurately, explaining 64, 76, and 71% of the variance (RMSD = 134, 236, and 125 g/m2) for mungbean, peanut, and chickpea, respectively. RMSD for biomass in lucerne (n = 24) was 85 g/m2 with an R2 of 0.55. Simulation accuracy is similar to that achieved by single-crop models and suggests that the generic approach offers promise for simulating diverse legume species without loss of accuracy or physiological rigour.
Genetic Characteristics of Progeny of the Hybrids Between a Glufosinate Resistant Transgenic Rice and Weedy Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Experiments were conducted for four consecutive yeary (2004~2007) in the greenhouse of Experiment and Practice Sation, Kyungpook National University to determine genetic characteristics of the hybrids in the succeeding generations. F₁ hybrids were obtained by crossing weedy rice with the glufosinate-ammonium resistant lines harboring ABC-promoter and ubiquitin promoter transegenic lines, respectively. F₁ hybrid obtained from crossing between weedy rice and ABC-promoter transgenic rice found to have greater chances of genetic integration because of its higher rate of spikelet fertility. The response to the recommended dose of glufosinate-ammonium at 30 DAS (days after seeding) in F₂ followed Mendelian pattern of segregation. This indicated that herbicide-resistant trait acquired from transgenic lines introgressed in the progeny generations. The days to heading and maturity in F₁ was delayed by as much as 30 days than the both parents. However, heading/flowering of F₂ was found highly variable, with approximately one fourth of the tillers maturing earlier like that of weedy rice parent. In this study, segregation to glufosinate response, heading dates, and shattering of seeds in F₁, F₂ and F₃ were acquired from weedy parent.
The impact of indigenous ungulate herbivory over five years (2004–2008) on the vegetation of the Little Karoo, South Africa

This study investigated the impact of rainfall and herbivory by indigenous herbivores over five years (2004–2008) on the vegetation of the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve (SWR), a 54 000 ha privately owned conservation area in the Little Karoo. Changes in floristic composition, species richness, aerial plant cover and grazing capacity were determined using drop-point surveys in fenced and open (i.e. grazed) plots in four dominant vegetation types. Annual and seasonal rainfall totals, herbivore stocking rate and herbivore utilisation patterns were also measured. Ordination analyses showed that fenced plots did not develop a fundamentally different successional trajectory from open plots over time. There were also no significant differences in species richness, plant cover and grazing capacity between fenced and open plots in all vegetation types. This lack of indigenous herbivore impact is ascribed to the relatively low stocking rates that were maintained on SWR during most of the study period. Species richness, plant cover and grazing capacity also did not differ significantly between years in all vegetation types except for the highly disturbed Old Land sites. The existing monitoring programme provides a useful tool for assessing the impact of indigenous herbivores and should be supported at local and provincial levels.
The Effects of Variable Settlement and Early Competition on Patterns of Kelp Recruitment

Recruitment from newly settled propagules is an important process in the population dynamics of many species, especially those living in highly disturbed areas and subjected to frequent local extinctions. For many primitive plants such as kelps (large brown algae in the order Laminariales), the process of recruitment (i.e., the first appearance of macroscopic individuals) is quite complex and requires the successful completion of an alternate microscopic free-living sexual stage. To experimentally investigate the conse- quences of variable spore settlement and early (i.e., prerecruit) competition on the recruit- ment patterns of the sympatric sublittoral kelps Macrocystis pyrifera and Pterygophora californica, I seeded bare rock substrates with known densities of spores of the two algae in both single- and mixed-species assemblages. Results from 12 field experiments done over 3 yr indicated that for both kelps, a minimum density of at least 1 spore/mm2 was needed for successful recruitment. This minimum density was probably determined in part by the maximum distance that could separate male and female gametophytes while still allowing fertilization to occur. Although greater spore density often resulted in higher numbers of sporophyte recruits, strong density-dependent mortality still occurred whenever there was recruitment. The requirement for spores to settle at relatively high densities (i.e., > 1 spore/mm2), coupled with the drastic difference in size between spores (0.01 mm) and early recruits (20 mm), insures that density-dependent mortality will occur at early stages in these algae. "Safe sites" for the recruitment of kelp were highly variable in time; recruitment of both kelps varied significantly among experiments and was negatively correlated with the natural recruitment of ephemeral species of filamentous brown algae. Differences in post- settlement mortality between Macrocystis and Pterygophora often caused patterns of spo- rophyte recruitment to vary from those of initial spore settlement. In monospecific treat- ments, the recruitment rates of the two kelps usually differed in the same experiment, indicating they responded differently to the same environmental conditions. In mixed- species treatments, interspecific competition between microscopic prerecruit stages also caused species-specific differences in early mortality. Pterygophora spore settlement gen- erally inhibited the recruitment of Macrocystis at both high (750-1500 spores/mm2) and low (10-20 spores/mm2) densities. Competition between the two kelps was asymmetrical; Macrocystis settlement had no effect on Pterygophora recruitment. Thus, changing envi- ronmental conditions and competition among early microscopic stages modified the ways in which spore settlement influenced sporophyte recruitment. The effects of these factors on kelp recruitment were interactive, and their relative importance will undoubtedly vary with species, location, and time.
LIPIDS IN BLUE‐GREEN ALGAL MATS (MODERN STROMATOLITES) FROM ANTARCTIC OASIS LAKES1

Lipids comprising the stenols, stanols, polar lipid fatty acids, alkanes and alkenes of blue‐green algal‐(diatomaceous)‐microbial mats and cores (modern cold water stromatolites) collected from three Antarctic lakes were identified and compared with those of other algae. The major stenols were: (cholesta‐5, 22‐dien‐3β‐ol, cholest‐5‐en‐3β‐ol, 24‐methylcholesta‐5, 22‐dien‐3β‐ol, 24‐methyl‐cholest‐5‐en‐3β‐ol, 24‐ethylcholesta‐5, 22‐dien‐3β‐ol, and 24‐ethylcholest‐5‐en‐3β‐ol). The presence of C28 Δ3, 22 stenols, as well as other C28 stenols, was suggestive of diatom input. C29 stenols may have originated from blue‐grern algae. However, the high concentrations of stenols present and the lack of Δ7 stenols was atypical for known stenol components of several blue‐green algal species previously reported. The occurrence of these stenols and other lipid markers strongls implicate diatoms as well as blue‐green algae as important biogenetic sources of lipids and has established the potential for studies of lipid diagenesis in these unique cold, freshwater stromatolites.