Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pseudomonas fluorescens mediated systemic resistance in black pepper ( Piper nigrum L.) is driven through an elevated synthesis of defence enzymes

Efficient strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens identified were evaluated for their efficacy in inducing defence enzymes in black pepper. Increased levels of Peroxidase (PO), Catalase, Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL) and Poly Phenol Oxidase (PPO) were induced in leaves apart from the roots of treated plants indicating the systemic protection offered to black pepper by the strains exploring the prevention of even foliar infection by the pathogen, Phytophthora capsici. The increase in production of defence enzymes upon challenge were higher in the non-bacterized plants compared to the bacterized plants, indicating the lesser requirement of defence enzymes in the bacterized plants upon encounter with the pathogen. Also found was a relatively higher quantity of lignification (30 – 100% over control) in the bacterized roots compared to the plants untreated which resulted in significant root rot suppression.
A Graphical Model of Keystone Predators in Food Webs: Trophic Regulation of Abundance, Incidence, and Diversity Patterns in Communities

I analyze a model of species interactions involving species that compete for a single resource and share a common "keystone predator" to study the "bottom-up" effects of productivity (potential carrying capacity of the resource) and the "top-down" effects of factors that affect the death rate of the predator on diversity, abundance, and distribution patterns in the resulting assemblages. The model predicts that coexistence of such species will occur at intermediate productivity (and at intermediate death rates on the top predator) and that superior resource exploiters will dominate at low productivity (and high predator death rates), whereas predator-resistant forms will dominate at high productivity (and low predator death rates). In this model, predator and resource densities are "buffered" against variation in productivity, but the densities of species at the intermediate trophic level are not. Given a large "pool" of potential such species, the model predicts a replacement series involving multiple pairs of species ranging from good resource exploiters to predator-resistant forms as productivity increases or predator death rates decrease. In such a case, coexistence is most likely among the more similar forms, but abundances of similar species are predicted to be negatively correlated. Furthermore, the overall density of organisms at all trophic levels is correlated with variation in productivity. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity modifies these predictions by allowing more than two species to coexist in the presence of a single resource and a single predator and by permitting positive covariation in the abundances of coexisting competitors as well. These models show the critical role of species compositional turnover in determining food web responses to bottom-up and top-down regulation by productivity and variation in predator death rates. The models also predict unimodal diversity versus productivity curves that depend in part on the degree of prey specificity by the top predator.
Energy efficient inactivation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae via controlled hydrodynamic cavitation

We investigate hydrodynamic cavitation to inactivate commonly employed Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains in an aqueous solution using different reactors and hydraulic circuit selected to demonstrate the process feasibility on the industrial scale. The target to achieve an useful lethality of the yeast at lower temperature when compared with standard thermal and even with other cavitation processes was achieved, with 90% yeast strains lethality at lower temperature (6.3–9.5°C), and about 20% lower energy input. A separate model simulating the combined thermal and cavitational effects on yeast lethality allows to accommodate the data into a comprehensive framework providing a tool to design further targeted experiments and to predict results when changing the process parameters.
INCIDENCE OF THE COD PARASITE LERNAEOCERA BRANCHIALIS L. IN THE NEW ENGLAND AREA, AND ITS POSSIBLE USE AS AN INDICATOR OF COD POPULATIONS

A total of 4,519 cod, Cadzbs morhua L. , from the coastal and offshore regions of New England wcrc examined during June to Dcccmbcr 1957 for the parasitic copepod, Lernneocera branchink L. Infestation dccreascd from north to south and inshore to offshore. The effect of infestation on the length-weight relationship of cod was examined and found non-significant. An examination of infestation selectivity by fish size also showed no significant differences. From the differential infestation rates, it is shown that four general groups of cod can bc distinguished: those of the northern Gulf of Maine heavily infcstcd, the moderately infested central and southern Gulf cod, the lightly infested Gcorgcs Bank population, and the southern New England group which is fret of infestation. This supports previous unpublished tag return data, and indicates the usefulness of Lernneocera for distinguishing various groups of
Estimating uncertainty in fish stock assessment and forecasting

A variety of tools are available to quantify uncertainty in age-structured fish stock assessments and in management forecasts. These tools are based on particular choices for the underlying population dynamics model, the aspects of the assessment considered uncertain, and the approach for assessing uncertainty (Bayes, frequentist or likelihood). The current state of the art is advancing rapidly as a consequence of the availability of increased computational power, but there remains little consistency in the choices made for assessments and forecasts. This can be explained by several factors including the specifics of the species under consideration, the purpose for which the analysis is conducted and the institutional framework within which the methods are developed and used, including the availability and customary usage of software tools. Little testing of either the methods or their assumptions has yet been done. Thus, it is not possible to argue either that the methods perform well or perform poorly or that any particular conditioning choices are more appropriate in general terms than others. Despite much recent progress, fisheries science has yet to identify a means for identifying appropriate conditioning choices such that the probability distributions which are calculated for management purposes do adequately represent the probabilities of eventual real outcomes. Therefore, we conclude that increased focus should be placed on testing and carefully examining the choices made when conducting these analyses, and that more attention must be given to examining the sensitivity to alternative assumptions and model structures. Provision of advice concerning uncertainty in stock assessments should include consideration of such sensitivities, and should use model-averaging methods, decision tables or management procedure simulations in cases where advice is strongly sensitive to model assumptions.
Effects of dietary protein to energy ratios on growth and body composition of juvenile Chinese sucker, Myxocyprinus asiaticus.

A growth experiment was conducted to investigate effect of dietary protein to energy ratios on growth and body composition of juvenile Myxocyprinus asiaticus (initial mean weight: 10.04 ± 0.53 g, mean ± SD). Nine practical diets were formulated to contain three protein levels (340, 390 and 440 g kg−1), each with three lipid levels (60, 100 and 140 g kg−1), in order to produce a range of P/E ratios (from 22.4 to 32.8 mg protein kJ−1). Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of 20 fish in 400-L indoors flow-through circular fibre glass tanks provided with sand-filtered aerated freshwater. The results showed that the growth was significantly affected by dietary P/E ratio (P 0.05). Based on these observations, 440 g kg−1 protein with lipid from 100 to 140 g kg−1 (P/E ratio of 29.22 to 31.43 mg protein kJ−1) seemed to meet minimum requirement for optimal growth and feed utilization, and lipid could cause protein-sparing effect in diets for juvenile Chinese sucker.
Phylogenetic systematics of the genus Platydoris (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Doridoidea) with descriptions of six new species

Dorgan, K. M. , Valdés, Á. & Gosliner, T. M. (2002). Phylogenetic systematics of the genus Platydoris (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Doridoidea) with descriptions of six new species. — Zoologica Scripta, 31, 271–319.
Fragment growth of rooted and rootless submerged aquatic macrophytes: effects of burial modes and decapitation of shoot apex

Some aquatic plant species are fragmented by mechanical forces in their environment. Since these fragments can take root in the sediment and establish new populations, they are important for the establishment success of some aquatic macrophytes. We hypothesized that burial and decapitation of shoot apical meristems would restrict the upward growth of buried fragments. We compared a rooted species (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) with a rootless species (Ceratophyllum demersum L.) in terms of growth of apical and decapitated allofragments buried in sediment in four different modes: buried completely, upper-half buried, lower-half buried, and unburied (floating in the water column). In M. spicatum burial or decapitation of the apex restricted the upward growth of fragments. The greatest growth of apical fragments was in the lower-half buried treatment and the least growth in the upper-half buried treatment. However, completely buried apical fragments did not show decreased growth compared with those in the lower-half buried treatment. All fragments of C. demersum showed vigorous growth (many branches and nodes and high values for biomass and relative growth rate) regardless of the fragment type or burial mode. Our results suggest that the effects of sediment burial are negligible for early regrowth of C. demersum after disturbance by high water flow. However, the pattern of burial in the sediment may adversely affect early regrowth of M. spicatum, especially for fragments without apical tips.
Determination of polyphenols, tocopherols, and antioxidant capacity in virgin argan oil (Argania spinosa, Skeels)

This study establishes data on polyphenols, tocopherols, and antioxidant capacity (AC) of virgin argan oil. A total of 22 samples from Morocco were analyzed. Total polyphenol content ranged between 6.07 and 152.04 mg GAE/kg. Total tocopherols varied between 427.0 and 654.0 mg/kg, being γ-tocopherol the major fraction (84.68%); α-, β-, and δ-tocopherols represent 7.75, 0.33, and 7.29%, respectively. No influence of oil extraction method on total tocopherols was observed. The AC of argan virgin oils determined by the ABTS method in n-hexane oils dilution ranged between 14.16 and 28.02 mmol Trolox/kg, and by the ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP methods in methanolic oil extracts between 2.31-14.15, 0.19-0.87, and 0.62-2.32 mmol Trolox/kg, respectively. A high correlation was found between ABTS and DPPH methods applied to a methanolic oil extract. Virgin argan oil presents a higher polyphenol and tocopherol content, and total AC than other edible vegetable oils.
The effect of the year of wheat variety release on productivity and stability of performance on two organic and two non-organic farms

SUMMARY Nineteen wheat cultivars, released from 1934 to 2000, were grown at two organic and two non-organic sites in each of 3 years (2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07). Assessments included grain yield, grain protein concentration, protein yield, disease incidence and green leaf area (GLA). The superiority of each cultivar (the sum of the squares of the differences between its mean in each environment and the mean of the best cultivar there, divided by twice the number of environments; CS) was calculated for yield, grain protein concentration and protein yield, and ranked in each environment. The yield and grain protein concentration CS were more closely correlated with cultivar release date at the non-organic sites than at organic sites. This difference may be attributed to higher yield levels with larger differences among cultivars at the non-organic sites, rather than to improved stability (i.e. similar ranks) across sites. The significant difference in the correlation of protein yield CS and cultivar age between organic and non-organic sites would support evidence that the ability to take up mineral nitrogen (N) compared to soil N has been a component of the selection conditions of more modern cultivars (released after 1989). This is supported by assessment of GLA, where more modern cultivars in the non-organic systems had greater late-season GLA, a trend that was not identified in organic conditions. This effect could explain the poor correlation between age and protein yield CS in organic compared to non-organic conditions where modern cultivars are selected to benefit from later nitrogen (N) availability which includes the spring nitrogen applications tailored to coincide with peak crop demand. Under organic management, N release is largely based on the breakdown of fertility-building crops incorporated (ploughed-in) in the previous autumn. The release of nutrients from these residues is dependent on the soil conditions, which includes temperature and microbial populations, in addition to the potential leaching effect of high winter rainfall in the UK. In organic cereal crops, early resource capture is a major advantage for maximizing the utilization of nutrients from residue breakdown. It is concluded that selection of cultivars under conditions of high agrochemical inputs selects for cultivars that yield well under maximal conditions in terms of nutrient availability and pest, disease and weed control. The selection conditions for breeding have a tendency to select cultivars which perform relatively better in non-organic compared to organic systems.
Produção de forragem e valor nutritivo do capim-elefante, irrigado durante a época seca

The objective of this work was to evaluate irrigation strategies on elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum) pasture, during the dry season, upon dry matter yield, plant height, ground cover, and forage quality. The experiment was conducted in the county of Coronel Pacheco, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from June/2004 to January/2007. The treatments evaluated were: treatments with irrigation starting on Jul. 15, Aug. 1st, Aug. 15, Sept. 1st, Sept. 15, and Oct. 1st fertilized with 300 kg ha-1 of N per year, and two control treatments (without irrigation) fertilized with 300 and 200 kg ha-1 of N per year. Two harvest methods were used: hand plucking maintaining a forage stubble height of 80-100 cm and cutting at 10 cm above the soil surface. Both dry matter yield and plant height increased with the earliness of irrigation onset. Pastures with irrigation onset in July and August were ready for grazing four to six weeks earlier than those without irrigation. Dry matter yield obtained by cutting was double that obtained by hand plucking. Crude protein content and in vitro dry matter digestibility were higher with hand plucking than by cutting, but neutral detergent fiber contents were similar.
Populations of predatory and pest mites in first‐level and second‐level commercial apple orchard blocks in Massachusetts

Abstract: Populations of predatory and phytophagous mites were sampled weekly throughout the growing season in first‐ and second‐level integrated pest management (IPM) blocks in 12 commercial apple orchards in Massachusetts in 1993. In first‐level blocks, insecticides were used throughout the growing season. In second‐level blocks, no insecticides were sprayed after early June. Among the 12 orchards, 92% contained Amblyseius fallacis, 8% contained Typhlodromus pyri and 50% contained Zetzellia mali as predaceous species, while 100% contained Panonychus ulmi and 58% contained Tetranychus urticae as pest species. When averaged over the entire season, populations of predaceous A. fallacis and Z. mali and populations of pest P. ulmi were numerically, but not statistically, greater in second‐level blocks than in first‐level blocks. The opposite was true for T. urticae. Initial time of appearance of each species was about the same in both types of blocks. Panonychus ulmi peaked in mid‐July, much earlier than A. fallacis, the most frequently observed predaceous mite. Populations of the latter peaked in September at relatively low densities, too late in the growing season for this species to provide, by itself, timely biological control of pest mites. Winter mortality from cold temperatures and spring/summer mortality from the use of fungicides are suspected to be the principal agents responsible for the slow build‐up of A. fallacis. Zetzellia mali was present in early spring and increased slowly until reaching peak levels in autumn. Absence of pre‐bloom oil and other acaricide sprays in a small portion of each second‐level block did not facilitate build‐up of predaceous mites, but did result in rapid build‐up of P. ulmi.
Antiestrogenic activity of lead

Lead is a widely spread environmental pollutant known to affect both male and female reproductive systems in humans and experimental animals. The present study investigated the effect of an acute exposure to lead (75 mg lead per gram of body weight) 1 or 24 h before hormone treatment on different parameters of estrogen stimulation in the rat uterus. Lead pretreatment enhanced some parameters of estrogen stimulation and inhibited other estrogenic responses, and the remaining parameters were unaltered. The interaction with responses to estrogen was different depending on whether lead pretreatment was 1 or 24 h before hormone stimulation. The estrogenic responses mostly affected were uterine eosinophilia, endometrial edema, uterine luminal epithelial hypertrophy, and mitosis in various-but not all-uterine cell types. In some cell types, estrogen-induced mitotic response developed earlier under the effect of lead exposure. Results revealed an interaction with the different mechanisms of estrogen action in the uterus at various levels, that some cell types are more sensitive to lead than others, and that the effect of exposure changed with time after lead pretreatment. The relevance of the results are discussed in relation to lead-induced infertility, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity; possible mechanisms of action are proposed.
Coagulation of homogenized milk particles by rennet

Summary The action of rennet on homogenized milk was studied using turbidimetric and light scattering techniques, and compared with results obtained previously for skim milk. The time required for the onset of coagulation was shorter for homogenized milk than for skim milk. The rate of coagulation of fully renneted particles increased with increasing temperature, and with increasing Ca2+ concentration, but was only slightly influenced by changes in ionic strength. The von Smoluchowski rate constant for the coagulation reaction was two orders of magnitude smaller for homogenized milk than for skim milk. Results suggest that coagulation of homogenized milk is controlled in general by the same factors as skim milk, and that the reaction may be inhibited owing to a reduction in the amount of casein available for mutual interaction, rather than to disruption of the micelles on homogenization.
Spatial Distribution Pattern of Trees in Relation to Soil Edaphic Status in Tropical Rain Forest in West Sumatra, Indonesia II. Distribution of Non-Accumulating Trees.

Concentrations of 15 mineral elements - S, K, Al, Ca, Mg, Cl, Si, Na, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, P, Sr, and Zn - appearing in 457 bark samples of trees in a 1 ha observation plot in West Sumatra, Indonesia, were analyzed. Based on the analytical results, an elemental non-accumulating tree was defined for each element as a tree with its concentration of the element in question within the bottom 5% (in this case 23 trees) of the 457 samples, irrespective of tree species. The relationships between the spatial distribution of the non-accumulating trees and the soil edaphic status at two depths (0-5 cm and 5-15 cm) were studied. The non-accumulating trees of K, Al, Ca, Na, B, Cu, Mn, Sr and Zn tended to be distributed in areas where the concentration of those extractable elements in the soil was low. This indicates that a positive association between the soil edaphic status and the nutritional characteristics of the tree bark existed, as demonstrated by the distribution pattern of these non-accumulating trees. On the other hand, the distribution of the non-accumulating trees of S, Mg, Si, Fe and P was rather independent of the soil edaphic status of those elements, suggesting that the distribution of these non-accumulating trees was affected more by genetic factors or by environmental factors other than the soil edaphic status of those elements. The relationship between the elemental concentrations in the bark and in the soil was also studied. A significant positive correlation was observed for K, Mg, Na and Sr, and a significant negative correlation was observed for B, Mn and P among the 457 trees, suggesting that those elemental concentrations in the bark were strongly related to the soil edaphic status. The non-accumulating trees of K, Na and Sr were distributed in the areas with the low and narrow elemental concentration range in soil, suggesting that the low edaphic levels seemed to strongly contribute to the low concentration level in the bark. However, in terms of the other accumulating trees and non-accumulating trees, the concentration levels in the bark were considered to be regulated not only by the soil edaphic status, but also by the tree genetic characteristics.
Consequences of realistic patterns of biodiversity loss: an experimental test from the intertidal zone

Studies of the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function (BDEF) have largely found positive, saturating relationships. However, these studies have been criticised for generating species loss randomly when real extinctions are strongly biased toward rare species. We investigated BDEF relationships in the mollusc fauna of an intertidal rock platform at Griffiths Point, San Remo, south-east Victoria, Australia. Field surveys found that areas with the lowest function (mollusc biomass) were associated with lowest diversity. Excluding individual species from experimental enclosures affected function differentially depending on species’ initial abundance. Rectangular enclosures were attached to the rock platform enabling molluscs to be enclosed while allowing sea water to flow through. Removal of the most abundant species had a positive effect on mollusc biomass, suggesting an inhibition of the other species in the community. In the absence of the most common species, the less abundant species were more productive in combination than when present singly. Taken collectively, these results provide evidence for a relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function which is a product of both diversity per se and species identity.