Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decrease of Large-Bodied Dispersers Limits Recruitment of Large-Seeded Trees But Benefits Small-Seeded Trees

Although it is well accepted that large-bodied predators exhibit higher seed handling ability than those with small body size, little is known about the ecological consequence of decrease of dispersers with large body size on the recruitment of large- or small-seeded trees. In this study, seed removal, seed dispersal, and seedling recruitment were investigated in two stands with different rodent composition (Apodemus peninsulae, Clethrionomys rufocanus, Tamias sibiricus, and Sciurus vulgaris) in temperate forests, northeast China. Our aim was to assess the ecological effect of loss of large-bodied rodents on seed removal and seedling establishment of five sympatric tree species (Pinus koraiensis, Quercus mongolica, Corylus mandshurica, C. heterophylla, and Juglans mandshurica). In the primary stand, where S. vulgaris with large body size are present, larger seeds or those with thicker seed hulls (seed coats) were more likely to be dispersed and cached, but smaller seeds and those with thinner hulls were m.
WEAK VS. STRONG INVADERS OF NATURAL PLANT COMMUNITIES: ASSESSING INVASIBILITY AND IMPACT

In response to the profound threat of exotic species to natural systems, much attention has been focused on the biotic resistance hypothesis, which predicts that diverse communities should better resist invasions. While studies of natural communities generally refute this hypothesis, reporting positive relationships between native species diversity and invasibility, some local-scale studies have instead obtained negative relationships. Most treatments of the topic have failed to recognize that all exotic invaders do not behave alike: while “weak” invaders become minor components of communities, “strong” invaders become community dominants at the expense of native species. At the same time, the specific impacts of strong invaders on communities are poorly documented yet critical to understanding implications of diversity loss. With these shortfalls in mind, we examined local-scale relationships between native and exotic plant taxa in bunchgrass communities of western Montana, USA. We found that measures of.
Intraspecific Variation in Sapling Mortality and Growth Predicts Geographic Variation in Forest Composition

With a view toward understanding variation in species composition among different forest communities, I examined species-specific growth and mortality of juvenile trees (2.3-78 mm diameter at 10 cm above the ground) at three contrasting sites. Two sites differing in soil mineralogy and elevation (schist/gneiss uplands vs. calcareous bedrock valley) were situated in northwestern Connecticut, USA. To examine variation over a more extensive geographic scale, I located the third site in central-western Michigan, USA. Among the three sites, the deciduous species (American beech, white ash, and sugar maple) showed little intraspecific variation in models of relative radial growth rate as a function of light availability. Strikingly, a substantial component of the variation in radial growth at the Michigan site could be explained by sapling growth models originally cal- ibrated for the Connecticut sites. In contrast to the deciduous species, the evergreen species (white pine and eastern hemlock) exhibited significant intraspecific differences in growth models between the two Connecticut sites. Intraspecific variation in growth models among sites was characterized by significantly different estimates of growth at low light. This result suggests that light and other resources can be simultaneously limiting, and challenges the application of Liebig's law of the min- imum to tree sapling growth. For the deciduous species, mortality processes exhibited more variation among the sites than did growth. I found significant site differences in mortality as a function of recent growth for both sugar maple and white ash on the calcareous soils in comparison to the schist/gneiss soils in Connecticut. In general, the mortality functions at the Michigan and the upland Connecticut site were similar, and both differed from the Connecticut calcareous site. Community dynamics at each of the three sites were simulated with a model of forest dynamics called SORTIE, which incorporated observed differences in sapling mortality and growth functions among the sites. Using SORTIE, among-site differences in only juvenile survivorship and growth were sufficient to predict dominant species in the adult canopy, demonstrating the critical importance of sapling stages to community dynamics. If a species performs differently at a particular site, its interactions with other species at the site will also change, potentially contributing to further differences in community species composition. Changes in species' performance in response to different site con- ditions and the species' subsequent interactions are critical to understanding differences among the dynamics and compositions of these forest communities.
Effects of Established Perennial Grasses on Introduction of Native Forbs in California

Prairie restoration is not complete without the establishment of both grasses and forbs. However, if desirable forbs and grasses are seeded simultaneously, control of broadleaf weeds is problematic. If possible, a two‐step process of introducing forbs after establishing grasses would allow use of broadleaf‐specific herbicides at the critical early stages of grass growth. We conducted experiments to investigate methods for introducing forbs into previously restored native perennial grasslands on rural roadsides in the Sacramento Valley of California. In one experiment, we studied the effects of background vegetation (established perennial grasses or tilled ground) on seven native forb species planted from seed. In a second experiment, we evaluated the effects of background vegetation (existing perennial grasses or tilled ground) and container size (36 ml or 105 ml) with excavation technique (excavation by core removal [core] or by creating an impression [dibble]) on the growth of transplants of the native perennial forbs Asclepias fascicularis and Sisyrinchium bellum. The presence of established perennial grasses reduced the growth of seeded forbs, but did not affect transplants, indicating the vulnerability of seedling forbs to interference. When compared to control plots that had been tilled in the autumn, weed canopy cover was significantly lower in the presence of perennial grasses if seeded with forbs, but not in the presence of perennial grasses alone. Both transplanted species grew better in the large container/core treatment than the small container/dibble treatment; however, existing grasses eliminated these positive effects. Asclepias fascicularis performed better when grown in large containers than in small containers, but its growth was not affected by excavation method; S. bellum performed better when planted with the core method than the dibble method of excavation, but container size made no difference. We attribute differences in the responses of the species to interactions between phenological differences and expansive clay soils that naturally de‐compact upon drying.
Soil Nitrate Profiles and the Risk of Nitrate Leaching in Sweet Cherry Orchards Subjected to Different Management Schemes

When nitrogen is applied to sweet cherry orchards, losses can take place. The authors determined the soil nitrate distribution in fertilized sweet cherry orchards in Southern Patagonia (Argentina). The treatments were irrigation (drip vs. furrow), soil cover (bare soil vs. grass sward), and fertilization (N vs. NPK). Soil samples were taken in the row and the alley to a depth of 120 cm and nitrates were determined. Soil cover was significant and the irrigation system and fertilization were less important. The grass sward in the alleys is an important factor for sustainable sweet cherry orchard management, because it reduces the risk of nitrate leaching.
Fatores de risco relacionados à ocorrência do timpanismo espumoso em bovinos criados na região do agreste meridional do estado de Pernambuco, Brasil

With the aim of analyzing the effects of risk factors such as feed, raising system, season, lactation period, gender and animal age on the occurrence of foamy bloat in bovines, a retrospective study was carried out on 60 clinical cases of the illness in bovines treated at the Bovine Clinic of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Garanhuns Campus (Brazil), between January 1989 to December 2007. Epidemiologically, data on risk factors obtained from medical charts were related to the occurrence of foamy bloat. Among the 60 animals affected, 54 (90%) received diets with a high content of concentrates; palm was one of the ingredients in the diet of 41 animals. The raising system was semi-intensive to intensive for 48 (80%) animals. The majority of animals affected were females (57/60), 44 (84.08%) of which were in the lactation phase. A greater occurrence of cases of foamy bloat (62%) was recorded in summer. The ruminal fluid in these animals had a pH value that oscillated between 7 and 8, was of a foamy consistency and had a negative effect on the microbiota. The interrelation of risk factors such as diet rich in concentrate, intensive to semi-intensive production system, summer (dry season), the first and second lactation period, associated to the interaction of factors inherent to the individual animal and ruminal microbiota are important to the etiopathology of foamy bloat in the southern-central semi-arid region of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. KEYWORDS: digestive disorder; epidemiology; ruminants.
‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ association with leaf yellows and witches’ broom symptoms of Brachycome species in India

During a survey in flower nurseries at IARI campus, New Delhi carried out in 2012–13, Brachycome species plants grown in pots and flower beds showed leaf yellows (LY) and witches’ broom (WB) symptoms. Samples were collected from these plants and analyzed for phytoplasma presence through PCR assays. DNA from four symptomatic plants was extracted and produced amplicons of 1.2 kb in nested PCR assays. Symptomless plants did not produce amplicons. The sequencing and BLASTn analysis revealed 99% identity with strains related to ‘Candidatus P. asteris’. Phylogenetic analysis further confirmed the clustering of Brachycome phytoplasma with ‘Ca. P. asteris’ strains. This is the first report of 16SrI group phytoplasma association with Brachycome LY and WB disease in the world.
Assessing the relative fire proneness of different forest types in Portugal

Abstract We have assessed the fire proneness of the main forest types in Portugal classified according to the main species, using three different approaches: the use of resource selection ratios applied to burned patches, the proportion of randomly located plots that were burned and the proportion of burned National Forest Inventory plots. The results allowed ranking fire proneness according to the following decreasing order: maritime pine forests, eucalyptus forests, unspecified broadleaf forests, unspecified conifer forests, cork oak forests, chestnut forests, holm oak forests and stone pine forests. In order to understand the obtained results we have assessed the structure of the different forest types using the percent cover of seven vegetation layers (C1–C7), a Tree Dominance Index, a Height Index and a Cover Index (IC). Structural variables and stand composition were used to predict fire probability according to binary logistic modelling. Only four structural variables and stand composition provided significant results, the latter being the most important variable for explaining fire probability. These models were used to predict fire probability for different stand types as a function of IC.
Increasing Intensity of Pasture Use with Dairy Cattle: An Economic Analysis

Intensive grazing is a fast growing dairy production system in the USA, New Zealand, and Ireland. The key concept underlying intensive grazing systems is the substitution of cow-harvest for machinery harvest of forages. Study objectives were: (i) to determine whether randomly selected, representative dairy farms using intensive grazing were profitable, (ii) to determine whether grazing was more or less profitable than other crop enterprises, and (iii) to identify factors statistically associated with increasing intensity of grazing. Data were collected on 53 farms in a prominent dairy region of Pennsylvania in 1993. Results indicated that moderate intensive grazing achieved a $129/acre return to operator management and labor, compared with $20 and $58 returns for all hay and corn silage enterprises, respectively. Dairy enterprise returns averaged about $317/cow. Debt per cow was substantially higher for farmers increasing grazing intensity. Pasture acres per cow, high debt-to-assets, and negative cash flows were statistically associated with increasing intensity of pasture use. Thus, this study suggests that farm financial constraints of high debt and poor cash flows provide an important motivation to increase grazing intensity. A major drawback of intensive grazing is the likelihood of achieving slightly lower milk production than with confinement feeding. The primary economic benefit of intensive grazing was the reduction of costs associated with the production of pasture forage vs. production of other crops.
The evolution of the reptilian hindfoot and the homology of the hooked fifth metatarsal

The homology of the fifth metatarsal in turtles and in diapsid reptiles is reassessed in the light of new phylogenetic studies. The two nearest outgroups to turtles — pareiasaurs and procolophonoids — both lack a fifth distal tarsal but retain a normal fifth metatarsal. The fifth distal tarsal was therefore lost at the base of the clade that contains turtles. Thus, the hooked fifth metatarsal in turtles must consist entirely of a modified fifth metatarsal: it does not include contributions from the fifth distal tarsal, as commonly supposed. In diapsids, loss of the fifth distal tarsal appears to have occurred at the base of crown‐clade diapsids, hooking of the fifth metatarsal subsequently occurring within lepidosauromorphs, and in archosauromorphs. If so, the hooked fifth metatarsal in archosauromorphs, and some lepidosauromorphs, consists entirely of a modified fifth metatarsal. In both turtles and diapsids, integration of the elements distal to the mesotarsal joint precedes evolution of the hooked fifth metatarsal, supporting the view that the latter element evolved to perform a lever function (analogous to the “heel bone” of mammals).
Race composition of Blumeria graminis (DC) Speer f. sp. tritici in the south of Ukraine and effectiveness of Pm-genes in 2004–2013

The virulence frequency of 750 wheat powdery mildew isolates of wheat genotypes, carrying 23 Pm-genes and gene combinations, was studied over ten consecutive years from 2004 to 2013. Seventy-eight previously known and 39 new pathotypes were identified during this period. The results indicate that the majority of Pm-genes have high level of virulence. Sixty to ninety percent of the isolates were virulent to Pm6, Pm8, Pm8+11, Pm2+4b+8, Pm3g, Pm10+15, Pm10+14+15. The virulence frequency was variable for Pm1a, Pm2, Pm3a, Pm3b, Pm3c, Pm5, Pm7 genes and reached high level in certain years. The virulence frequency to genes Pm20, Pm37, Pm4a+ and to gene combination with Pm3c+5a+35 and breeding lines CN240/06, CN98/06 and CN158/06 ranged from 1 to 8%. Bread wheat lines CN240/06, CN98/06 and CN158/06, derived from interspecific crosses, proved to be highly resistant to powdery mildew.
Regulation in Lolium temulentum of the Metabolism of Gibberellin A20 and Gibberellin A1 by 16,17-Dihydro GA5 and by the Growth Retardant, LAB 198 999

The ring D-modified gibberellin [GA], 16,17-dihydro GA5, can retard stem growth in Lolium temulentum L. while promoting flowering (Evans et al., 1994, Planta193, 107–114). Using [1,2,3-3 H]GA20 to study the final biosynthetic step to GA1 (a known effector of shoot elongation in higher plants), it was shown that C-3b-hydroxylation of GA20 to GA1 is blocked by 16,17-dihydro GA5 but is little affected by GA5. Another late-stage biosynthetic inhibitor, the acylcyclohexanedione, LAB 198 999, also blocked GA1 formation. Furthermore, endogenous levels of GA20 built up after application of 16,17-dihydro GA5. Consequently, growth retardation by 16,17-dihydro GA5 and LAB 198 999 is likely to be the result of their inhibition of GA20 3b-hydroxylation to GA1. Another fate for GA20 in Lolium is its C-2b-hydroxylation to growth-inactive GA29. This conversion was also inhibited by 16,17-dihydro GA5 but less so by LAB 198 999. The analogous step involving 2b-hydroxylation of GA1 to GA8 appeared to be insensitive to either growth retardant. When [3H]GA20 was injected into the cavity within the young intact sheathing leaves, there was an appreciable metabolism of this GA20 to GA1 and thence to GA8 (ca 10% and 30% respectively within 5 h). For excised shoot tips, however, [3H]GA20 was converted rapidly and virtually completely to GA29 in 3–5 h. Interestingly, with these excised shoot tips, GA3 and GA5 as well as 16,17-dihydro GA5 when applied via the agar strongly inhibited 2b-hydroxylation of GA20 to GA29. In contrast, while 16,17-dihydro GA5 blocked GA20 metabolism to GA29 in intact sheath/stem tissue, this conversion was not inhibited by GA5. These differences in structural specificity for GAs which inhibit 2b-hydroxylation as opposed to 3b-hydroxylation are in accordance with these two Ring-A hydroxylation steps being catalysed by different enzymes. Finally, the differences in GA20 metabolism between intact versus excised tissue raise the possibility that tissue wounding with excision enhanced the activity of the GA20 2b-hydroxylase(s).
Comparison of Angler and Cormorant Harvest of Walleye and Yellow Perch in Oneida Lake, New York

Abstract Since at least the beginning of the last century, sport anglers and commercial fishers have often held cormorants responsible for declining catches. The recovery of double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus populations throughout the Great Lakes region since the late 1970s has rekindled efforts to assess their impact on sport fish populations. In this paper we compare the species and age composition of fish consumed by double-crested cormorants (diet study) and harvested by anglers (creel survey) with abundance estimates of walleyes Stizostedion vitreum and yellow perch Perca flavescens (mark-recapture and catch per unit effort). The numbers of walleyes consumed by cormorants were similar to those harvested by anglers; however, cormorants consumed only subadults, whereas anglers harvested only age-4 and older adults. Cormorants and anglers combined harvested 7% of age 1-3 walleyes and 14% of the adult walleye population. Cormorant consumption of adult yellow perch was similar to angler harve.
Genetic Variability in the Ocellated Lizard Timon tangitanus in Morocco

The ocellated lizards in the Timon lepidus/tangitanus/pater complex include the largest lacertids living in continental Europe and North Africa. Long considered a single species (T. pater), the division of the North African ocellated lizards into two species, T. pater in Tunisia and Algeria, and T. tangitanus in Morocco, is now accepted. In this study we investigated the patterns of genetic diversity in T. tangitanus and T. pater across North Africa. We analysed 12s rRNA and 16s r RNA mtDNA fragments of 26 new samples plus 19 sequences from previous studies, using parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Our results confirm the two North African species as well-defined entities. Within T. tangitanus from Morocco, three genetically divergent lineages with geographic congruence were uncovered; one in the north, another widely spread across Central Morocco and one in the High Atlas and farther south. A high level of divergence among the Moroccan lineages suggests the split occurred just after the divergence between T. tangitanus and T. pater. Similar patterns have been found in other species, although more studies are needed to understand the biogeographical events shaping the complex diversity in this region.
A review of the genus Isaurus Gray, 1828 (Zoanthidea), including new records from Fiji

The brachycnemic zoanthid genus Isaurus is characterized and its synonymy reviewed. Two species were found on exposed intertidal reefs in Fiji. One is identified as I. tuberculatus Gray, here revealed as almost cosmopolitan within and just outside the tropics and considered to include the nominal Caribbean species I. duchassaingi (Andres), the East African I. spongiosus (Andres), the Australian I. asymmetricus Haddon and Shackleton, and the Hawaiian I. elongatus Verrill. Though generally characteristic of reef-top environments, some details are given of a sublittoral habitat and specimens from northeast Australia. The second reef species is described as I. maculatus sp. nov. I. cliftoni (Gray) is the third species recognized although the holotype cannot be traced. Subsequent records of this species are clarified. The three species are described and two illustrated.
Discovery of bioactive lipids and lipid pathways in cell death and disease

Apoptosis is an intricately regulated cellular process required for the health and homeostasis of living systems [1]. The mitochondrial apoptotic pathway depends on the BCL-2 family of proand anti-apoptotic members whose interactions regulate cell fate [1]. BAX and BAK are key pro-apoptotic proteins required for mitochondrial permeabilization during apoptosis [1]. While the mitochondrial death program relies heavily on its protein components, evidences support equally crucial roles for lipids and lipid metabolism in promoting or hindering apoptosis at the mitochondria [2-4]. To gain insight into the interplay between lipids and BCL-2 proteins we used a liquid chromatography (LC)–mass spectrometry (MS)-based comparative lipidomics approach to uncover lipid changes in the absence of BAX and/or BAK. Our analysis revealed novel functions for BAX and BAK in inflammation and ceramide metabolism. In response to inflammatory stimuli, prostaglandins are synthesized from arachidonic acid by cyclooxygenase (COX), the target of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [5, 6]; different prostaglandins exhibit a wide range of functions including vasodilation, fever generation and bone reabsorption [6]. Absence of BAX and/or BAK led to prostaglandin downregulation, arachidonic acid accumulation, and reduced expression of the inducible cyclooxygenase isoform COX-2. Bax –/– fibroblasts displayed blunted COX-2 response to the inflammatory agent bacterial lipopolysaccharide through altered kinetics of NFκB and MAPK