Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Parasitoid inoculated Seedling Transplants for Augmentative Biological Control of Silverleaf Whitefly (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

Methods are presented for producing banker plants, transplants that are used for augmentation of Eretmocerus parasitoids for biological control of Bemisia argentifolii in cucurbit crops. Preference tests were conducted with B. argentifolii and its parasitoid Eretmocerus hayati for ten cantaloupe varieties to determine their suitability for use as banker plants. Bemisia argentifolii showed a significant preference for the varieties Copa de Oro and Mission, whereas, E. hayati showed the greatest preference for Copa de Oro, Mission and Primo. The impact of imidacloprid on the development of parasitoid immatures on banker plants was evaluated. Thirteen days after release of E. hayati, banker plants treated with imidacloprid produced equivalent numbers of parasitoids as did control plants. Field trials, incorporating the use of banker plants and imidacloprid, were conducted for two seasons in spring cantaloupes and one season in fall watermelons. Numbers of parasitoid progeny produced per cantaloupe banker plant were approximately 94.6 and 102.1 in two trials during the Spring of 1997 and 1998. Field release rates per acre in cantaloupe were estimated to be 68,946 and 29,970 for the 1997 and 1998 trials, with banker plants incorporated with regular transplants at a ratio of 1:10 and 1:30 respectively. In the watermelon trial, the mean number of parasitoid progeny produced per banker plant was determined to be 94.6, with an estimated 4156 released per acre with a ratio of 1:30 banker to regular transplants. Banker plants were shown to be a reliable method for field delivery of Eretmocerus parasitoids in transplanted and direct seeded cantaloupe or watermelon crops. The methods used to produce parasitoid inoculated banker plants are discussed.
Taxonomic status of the Namibian Violet Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus damarensis as determined by mitochondrial DNA

The Violet Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus damarensis damarensis is considered a threatened subspecies and one of ten bird taxa endemic to Namibia and southwestern Angola. This species is distinguished from the more common and widespread Green Woodhoopoe P. purpureus by a variable plumage trait, resulting in uncertainty as to the distribution and degree of overlap between these taxa. Mitochondrial sequences from the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene show minimal divergence among Namibian woodhoopoes (0.15%, including P. d. damarensis and P. p. angolensis), and low divergence between Namibian birds and South African (1.06%, P. p. purpureus) or Kenyan (2.30%, P. p. marwitzi) Green Woodhoopoes. Sequences from Namibian woodhoopoes are phylogenetically nested within P. purpureus, rendering this species paraphyletic at mitochondrial DNA. Genetic divergences among Violet and Green Woodhoopoes fall within the range of intraspecific values recorded for avian mitochondrial protein coding genes, and are substantially less than most interspecific values. Comparisons with the related Scimitarbill Rhinopomastus cyanomelas suggest that the low divergences among Green and Violet Woodhoopoes are not an artefact of slow evolutionary rates in Phoeniculidae. We suggest that in the absence of evidence for evolutionary independence or a clear phenotypic diagnosis, the Violet Woodhoopoe should be synonymized with the Green Woodhoopoe. It is the status of this taxon that should be considered in formulating priorities for avian conservation in Namibia.
Mineral nutrition and mycorrhizal infection of seedling oak and birch

summary In order to assess the factors influencing the extent and composition of ectomycorrhizal infection, and the consequences for seedling growth, seedlings of oak (Quercus robur L.) and birch (Betula pendula Roth.) were established in both field plots and pots of soil from two forested sites (Thetford Chase and Leith Hill). Seedlings were harvested after one growing season, and analysed for ectomycorrhizal infection. When a single root system of pot-grown oak was analysed in detail seven mycorrhizal types were differentiated. The relative abundance of these types varied depending on whether infection was assessed by counting branched mycorrhizas, or individual mycorrhizal tips. This reflected variation in the pattern of branching of the different mycorrhizal types. Of the 41 mycorrhizal types differentiated in the entire survey of 1800 seedlings, five were consistently recorded as unbranched, and six were found to produce second-order branches. Different mycorrhizal types displayed contrasting patterns of abundance, both with respect to site and host species. For example, 21 types were recorded infecting oak, whereas only 15 were found on birch; only three types were found infecting both oak and birch on both sites. In this survey, seedlings tended to be dominated by between one and three mycorrhizal types. Two types were particularly dominant: those formed by Scleroderma citrinum (Pers.) and Paxillus involutus (Batsch) Fr. , which accounted for up to 61 and 92 % of the mycorrhizas of oak and birch respectively. These fungi were exceptional amongst those encountered in the present analysis, in producing both highly branched mycorrhizas and mycelial strands. The relationship between ectomycorrhizal infection and seedling growth was assessed by correlation. Total seedling dry mass was in general found to be positively correlated with the total number of ectomycorrhizal tips, but poorly correlated with the extent of ectomycorrhizal infection, except where seedling growth had previously been shown to be limited by phosphate availability (i.e. in the case of pot-grown birch on soil from Leith Hill). Seedling dry mass was also in general poorly correlated with number of mycorrhizal types, with two exceptions (i.e. field-grown oak and pot-grown birch on soil from Thetford Chase). These results are discussed in the context of the role of ectomycorrhizal infection during seedling establishment, and implications for the methodologies utilized in assessing mycorrhizal infection are highlighted.
Gully Morphology and Rehabilitation Measures in Different Agroecological Environments of Northwestern Ethiopia

Gully erosion is a serious threat to the society and environment of the study, primarily caused by surface runoff and dramatically accelerated due to rugged topography and human induced factors. Intensive measurements of gully characteristics were undertaken to investigate the morphologies of gully, while aiming for sustainable gully rehabilitation; therefore, a total of 63 gully samples from three different agroecologies were randomly observed. The morphological variability of measured gullies was evaluated and the resulting CVs had been between 0.27 and 0.39 except for gully length, which had highest variability (CV = 1.10). The highest gully length (2,400 m) and highest lower width (6 m) were observed on Dembia district, which might be due to the loose and pulverized condition of the soil. The correlation matrices for many parameters of gully morphology in different districts of Semien Gondar showed several sets of significant relationships. Some of the assessed gullies showed that appropriate physical gully control structures integrated with vegetative measures have resulted in a significant reduction of soil loss and stabilized the gully from further enlargement. There could be various justifications for the success of these structures; however, the most important measures were vegetative management and exclusion of cattle.
To log or not to log? How forestry fits with the goals of First Nations in British Columbia

Commercial forestry has played an important role in the Canadian economy. Yet, First Nations (FNs) communities have not shared equitably in the benefits. Since 2002, the government of British Columbia (BC) has actively sought to address this inequity by increasing the volume of forest harvesting tenures to FNs. The rationale is that rights to harvest will also enhance economic and then social outcomes, as well as address broader legal and political disputes. However, whether these rights can translate into the expected benefits has received little attention. This paper seeks to help address this knowledge gap by interviewing FNs experts and forestry professionals in BC to understand the long-term goals of FNs in forestry, to strategically evaluate how (and if) opportunities from forestry arise, and to identify institutional factors that influence successful participation in forestry. What we found is that forest tenure can promote economic outcomes, but it often comes at the expense of other intrinsic forest values. We conclude that a rights-based approach alone will not achieve the diverse outcomes related to forestry without effective governance by FNs to evaluate and capitalize on the opportunity in ways that are legitimate to the individual community's values. Resume : La foresterie commerciale tient un role important dans l'economie canadienne. Toutefois, les nations autochtones ne tirent pas leur juste part de ces benefices. Depuis 2002, le gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique cherche activement acorriger cette iniquite en augmentant les attributions de recolte atravers des modes de tenure autochtone. On espere ainsi que les droits de recolte vont ameliorer la situation economique et sociale tout en contribuant aregler des litiges plus larges de nature legale et politique. Mais on a peu cherche asavoir si ces droits produisent les resultats escomptes. Cet article vise acombler cette lacune. Nous avons interviewe des experts et des professionnels forestiers autochtones de la Colombie-Britannique afin de comprendre les visees along terme des nations autochtones envers la foresterie. Quand de telles visees existaient, nous avons tente de cerner la maniere dont les initiatives forestieres etaient evaluees et les facteurs institutionnels qui en favorisaient la reussite. Nous estimons que des modes de tenure autoch- tone peuvent induire du developpement economique, mais cela se fait souvent aux depends d'autres valeurs intrinseques ala foret. Nous concluons qu'une approche fondee uniquement sur l'attribution de droits de recolte ne parviendra pas acombler les nombreuses attentes envers la foret sans qu'une reelle gouvernance autochtone puisse evaluer les retombees de ces occasions de developpement et en tirer profit d'une facon qui apparait legitime en regard des valeurs specifiques achaque communaute autochtone. (Traduit par la Redaction) Mots-cles : Premiere Nations, Colombie-Britannique, tenure forestiere, foresterie, gouvernance.
Models of Integrated Photosynthesis of Cells and Leaves

The kinetics of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco) are integrated with the stoichiometry of NADPH consumption and production in a simplified model of C $\_3$ chloroplast photosynthesis. The extension to a leaf is discussed with reference to the gradient of irradiance that is always present within the leaf. The optimal arrangement of photosyntheic capacity is discussed in this context. Attention is then given to the effects of gradients of CO $\_2$ concentration that sometimes occur when stomata close in a heterogeneous fashion.
RNA interference and heterochromatin formation in fission yeast

In Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast), centromeric DNA is packaged in heterochromatin domains that are important for normal centromere function. Heterochromatin acts as a platform to establish tight physical cohesion between sister chromatids which is important for their efficient segregation during anaphase. The assembly of this structure is known to require specific chromatin modifying factors as well as components of the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery. Transcription from the centromeric outer repeats triggers Dcrl to produce siRNAs which are loaded into Agol in the RITS complex. RITS then localizes to centromeric outer repeat DNA and recruits histone H3 lysine 9 methylatiori, thus promoting the formation of heterochromatin. RNAi is also involved in establishing heterochromatin domains at the silent mating type loci and sub-telomeric regions. Fission yeast RNAi was proposed to act in regulating gene expression. It was suggested that RNAi targeted Long Terminal Repeats (LTR5) for heterochromatin silencing and in the process affected the transcription levels of nearby genes. This model was disproven since no evidence was found for RNAi activity against LTR5 or any indication of the presence of heterochromatin overlying these sequences. Expression levels of genes supposedly targeted by this mechanism where not sensitive to loss of RNAi or to heterochromatin instability. There is strong evidence suggesting that RNAi acts co-transcriptionally in order to promote heterochromatin formation. Thus, it is possible that RITS activity is interlinked with transcriptionrelated processes such as cleavage/poly-adenYlation, transcription termination and RNA turnover by the exosome complex. In order to investigate this hypothesis, the integrity of RNAi and heterochromatin was assayed in mutants for factors that are involved in all three pathways. Mutations on dhpl (termination), pfs2 (cleavage and polyadenylation) dis3 and rrp6 (exosome) had negligible effects on RNAi activity and heterochromatin-mediated silencing with only the exosome showing some involvement in the downstream degradation of centromeric transcripts. Conventional RNAi enforces post-transcriptional repression by targeting mRNA molecules for degradation. This is mediated by the endonuclease activity of Argonaute ("slicing"). Although the key residues for this activity are conserved between human Ago2 and S. pombe Agol, the importance of this "slicing" activity to heterochromatin assembly was not clear. Mutations were made in putative catalytic residues on the endogenous agol gene in order to address this question. These mutations severely affect the activity of RNAi in fission yeast and destabilize the heterochromatin structure at centromeres. Consequently, centromere function is affected and chromosome segregation is deficient. Agol localization to the centromeres is impaired in these mutants and cannot nucleate heterochromatin nucleation though siRNA production is not fully abolished. Thus, Agol slicing activity is crucial for sustainable RNAi and its role in heterochromatin integrity.
Identification of blast resistance expression in rice genotypes using molecular markers (RAPD & SCAR)

Rice is the second most important cereal crop of developing countries and the staple food of about 65% of the world’s population. In this endeavor, it is important to identify resistant gene(s) with the help of markers. Once a gene is tagged with a molecular marker, it can be transferred selectively into different genetic backgrounds by marker assisted selection. For this purpose, 48 elite Indian and exotic rice genotypes were evaluated for resistance to blast disease under induced epiphytotic conditions obtained in the field. The disease severity (%) and AUDPC was less than 45% and 1000, respectively, in all the resistant genotypes, while it was around 85% and higher than 2000 in the case of susceptible genotypes, respectively. Substantial variability was present among rice genotypes for resistance to Magnaporthe grisea. Ten random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD) and two sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) primers were used to identify blast resistant genes. Markers OPA-05, OPF-06, OPF-09, OPF-17, OPG-17, OPG-18, OPG-19, OPH-18, OPK-12, P-265-550 and P-286-350 found linked to blast resistance in most of the resistant genotypes could be considered as potent molecular markers in the selection of blast resistant genotypes. Amplification with RAPD and SCAR primers revealed a nonallelic relationship among resistant genotypes and thus, there is a good possibility of obtaining enhanced resistance through gene pyramiding.
Ambient temperature, body condition and sibling rivalry explain feather corticosterone levels in developing black kites

Summary In birds, the steroid hormone corticosterone (CORT) is considered a major mediator in a number of physiological mechanisms and behaviours critical for the regulation of an organism's energy balance. However, the question of whether the way in which circulating plasma CORT is incorporated into feathers actually reflects this regulation, and consequently whether feather CORT (CORT-F) measures allow to make inferences on past levels of energetic demands (also known as the allostatic load), remains unclear. While previous studies have yielded promising results, the technique still wants further study and validation in a wider range of bird species, across life-history stages and under different ecological situations. Here, we tested whether CORT-F levels in a sample of 427 nestling black kites (Milvus migrans) reflected interindividual variation in a number of environmental, social and physiological variables known to elevate allostatic load during development. We found that nestlings exposed to low ambient temperatures exhibited high CORT-F, suggesting that feathers registered the expected rise in circulating CORT levels inducing thermogenesis in response to cold stress. CORT-F was also negatively related to body condition, supporting the notion that allostasis becomes less affordable as energy stores become depleted. Finally, CORT-F also reflected brood hierarchy rank, with subordinate chicks exhibiting the highest levels, followed by first-hatched (dominant) chicks and lastly singleton nestlings. Moreover, CORT-F levels in nestlings from multiple-chick broods (but not in singletons) declined with age, mirroring the dynamics of establishment and stabilization of sibling hierarchies in black kites. Altogether, our results underscore the potential of using CORT-F to infer allostatic load in wild avian populations and their potential power as indicator tools in conservation biology.
Energetic Cost of Subacute Chlorpyrifos Intoxication in the German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae)

Abstract The energetic cost of a sublethal treatment with chlorpyrifos was estimated by use of direct microcalorimetry to measure metabolic heat in susceptible and resistant strains of the German cockroach Blattella germanica L. Moreover, one of the detoxification enzyme systems known to be involved in detoxification of chlorpyrifos, glutathione-S-transferase, was measured. Individual cockroaches were exposed for 20 min on a glass-surfaces treated with 1.14 μg/cm2 of chlorpyrifos. There was no difference in glutathione-S-transferase activity of susceptible or resistant strains after the treatment. The heat production increased in the susceptible strain ≈30 min after exposure and declined again after ≈120 min to the basal level. The energetic cost of the exposure to the insecticide corresponds ≈5 h of normal metabolism. There were no significant differences in heat production after toxic treatment in any of the resistant strains. It was shown that measurement of heat production is a sensitive method to prove toxic reactions after exposure to a low dose of insecticide. The use of microcalorimetry as a promising biomarker technology was shown.
Evaluation of Limiting Factors for Stocked Kokanee and Rainbow Trout in Lake Roosevelt, WA

Hatchery supplementation of kokanee Oncorhynchus nerka and rainbow trout O. mykiss has been the primary mitigation provided by Bonneville Power Administration for loss of anadromous fish to the waters above Grand Coulee Dam (GCD). The hatchery program for rainbow trout has consistently met management goals and provided a substantial contribution to the fishery; however, spawner returns and creel survey results for kokanee have been below management goals. Our objective was to identify factors that limit limnetic fish production in Lake Roosevelt by evaluating abiotic conditions, food limitations, piscivory, and entrainment. Dissolved oxygen concentration was adequate throughout most of the year; however, levels dropped to near 6 mg/L in late July. For kokanee, warm water temperatures during mid-late summer limited their nocturnal distribution to 80-100 m in the lower section of the reservoir. Kokanee spawner length was consistently several centimeters longer than in other Pacific Northwest systems, and the relative weights of rainbow trout and large kokanee were comparable to national averages. Large bodied daphnia (> 1.7 mm) were present in the zooplankton community during all seasons indicating that top down effects were not limiting secondary productivity. Walleye Stizostedion vitreum were the primary piscivore of salmonids in 1998 and 1999. Burbot Lota lota smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieui, and northern pikeminnow Ptychocheilus oregonensis preyed on salmonids to a lesser degree. Age 3 and 4 walleye were responsible for the majority (65%) of the total walleye consumption of salmonids. Bioenergetics modeling indicated that reservoir wide consumption by walleye could account for a 31-39% loss of stocked kokanee but only 6-12% of rainbow trout. Size at release was the primary reason for differential mortality rates due to predation. Entrainment ranged from 2% to 16% of the monthly abundance estimates of limnetic fish, and could account for 30% of total mortality of limnetic fishes, depending on the contribution of littoral zone fishes. Inflow to GCD forebay showed the strongest negative relationship with entrainment whereas reservoir elevation and fish vertical distribution had no direct relationship with entrainment. Our results indicate that kokanee and rainbow trout in Lake Roosevelt were limited by top down impacts including predation and entrainment, whereas bottom up effects and abiotic conditions were not limiting.
Isolation and Characterization of a Membrane-associated Thiosulphate-oxidizing System of Thiobacillus novellus

SUMMARY: A thiosulphate-oxidizing system of Thiobacillus novellus grown on thiosulphate was studied using intact cells, crude cell-free extracts and isolated membrane vesicles. All active preparations oxidized thiosulphate to sulphate, without intermediary accumulation of polythionates, consuming two moles of oxygen for every mole of thiosulphate oxidized. Less active cell-free preparations required reduced glutathione, NADH or sulphite for thiosulphate oxidation. An active membrane-associated thiosulphate-oxidizing system from crude cell-free extracts was isolated by either Sepharose 4B column chromatography or differential centrifugation. The isolated multi-enzyme complex system exhibited high specificity for thiosulphate with an apparent K m value of 0.12 mM. Enzyme activity was optimum at pH 7.5 and 25 °C. The system was sensitive to oxygen, storage at certain temperatures and freezing. Inhibition studies indicated that active sulphydryl groups and an electron transport chain were involved during thiosulphate oxidation. Electron micrographs of active crude extracts and the isolated membrane complex after negative staining showed the presence of spherical structures with a diameter of about 0.1 to 0.4 μm. An ultra-thin section of the membrane complex revealed that the large spherical particles observed in the negatively stained preparations were aggregated structures consisting of smaller vesicles 0.02 to 0.05 μm in diameter.