Biologia futura最新文献

Heavy metals (HMs) toxicity has become one of the major global issues and poses a serious threat to the environment in recent years. HM pollution in agricultural soil is caused by metal mining, smelting, volcanic activity, industrial discharges, and excessive use of phosphate fertilizers. HMs above a threshold level adversely affect the cellular metabolism of plants by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS), which attack cellular proteins. There are different mechanisms (physiological and morphological) adopted by plants to survive in the era of abiotic stress. Various osmoprotectants or compatible solutes, including amino acids, sugar, and betaines, enable the plants to counteract the HM stress. Glycine betaine (GB) is an effective osmolyte against HM stress among compatible solutes. GB has been shown to improve plant growth, photosynthesis, uptake of nutrients, and minimize oxidative stress in plants under HM stress. Additionally, GB increases the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as CAT (catalase), SOD (superoxide dismutase), and POD (peroxidase), which are effective in scavenging unwarranted ROS. Since not all species of plants can naturally produce or accumulate GB in response to stress, various approaches have been explored for introducing them. Plant hormones like salicylic acid, ABA (abscisic acid), and JA (jasmonic acid) co-ordinately stimulate the accumulation of GB inside the cell under HM stress. Apart from the exogenous application, the introduction of GB pathway genes in GB deficient species via genetic engineering also seems to be efficient in mediating HM stress. This review complied the beneficial effects of GB in mitigating HM stress and its role as a plant growth regulator. Additionally, the review explores the potential for engineering GB biosynthesis in plants as a strategy to bolster their resilience to HMs.

Invasive alien species can affect plant taxonomic and functional diversity. Multiple invasive alien species can co-invade the same plant community. However, the effects of such co-invasion on plant taxonomic and functional diversity are currently unclear. Our study aimed to estimate the effects of co-invasion by three Asteraceae invasive alien species (i.e., Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist, Conyza sumatrensis (S.F. Blake) Pruski and G. Sancho, and Solidago canadensis L.) on plant taxonomic and functional diversity in herbaceous ruderal communities in southern Jiangsu, China. The effects of these three invasive alien species under seven invasion combinations (including invasion by one invasive alien species, co-invasion by two invasive alien species, and co-invasion by these three invasive alien species) on plant taxonomic and functional diversity were investigated in a comparative field study of herbaceous ruderal communities. Niche differentiation mediated the functional divergence between these three invasive alien species and natives under all invasion combinations. These three invasive alien species significantly increased plant taxonomic diversity (especially plant diversity and richness) and plant functional diversity (especially Rao's quadratic entropies) under all invasion combinations. The relative abundance of invasive alien species was significantly positively associated with plant functional diversity (especially community-weighted mean trait values and Rao's quadratic entropy). The number of invasive alien species was significantly positively associated with plant taxonomic diversity (especially plant diversity and richness) and plant functional diversity (especially Rao's quadratic entropies). Thus, co-invasion by these three invasive alien species may synergistically increase plant taxonomic diversity (especially plant diversity and richness) and functional diversity (especially Rao's quadratic entropies).

Dolphins in the wild cooperate to find food, gain and maintain access to mating partners, look after their young ones, or for the sheer joy of play. Under human care, environmental enrichments provide mental and physical stimulation and opportunities for the dolphins to practice their natural abilities. In this review, I focus on a set of enrichment devices we designed for cooperative problem-solving. They allowed the dolphins to utilize and improve their cognitive skills, leading to improved socialization within the group. While the devices provided appropriate challenges to the dolphins, they also allowed the investigation of the impact of demographic and social factors on the cooperative actions. We found that age and relatedness had no impact on cooperation; in turn, cooperation increased with group size. In addition, during the use of these cognitive enrichments, partner preference and intersexual differences were revealed in cooperative actions. The novel multi-partner devices were not only used by dolphin pairs but also by dolphin trios and quartets, providing evidence for group-level cooperation. In addition, a novel food-sharing device was used prosocially by dolphin pairs. Finally, the introduction of these cognitive enrichments leads to measurable short- and long-term welfare improvement. Thus, the use of these cognitive enrichments paired with systematic data collection bridged science with welfare. Future studies will investigate intersexual differences in independent groups, the emergence and function of cooperative interactions, and the socio-dynamics using cognitive enrichments.

The grey maize weevil, Tanymecus dilaticollis, is a polyphagous species, which is among the most important pests of maize in Southeastern Europe. The efficacy of commercial products with two species of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, was investigated against adults of the grey maize weevil under laboratory conditions. Nemastar®, containing S. carpocapsae was more effective on T. dilaticollis adults than Nematop® containing H. bacteriophora, when applied uniformly to the surface of the soil, on Petri dishes containing T. dilaticollis adults. Results showed that S. carpocapsae rates of 83-333 infective juveniles/adult caused > 94% mortality in T. dilaticollis adults, whereas H. bacteriophora caused 27-61%, adult mortality, after exposure of insects to the commercial products of EPNs for 15 days. The infection rates of EPNs increased with concentration applied and ranged from 70-83% and 19-64% for Nemastar® and Nematop®, respectively. Subsequent field and semi-field tests were conducted with Nemastar® (application rate of 50 million S. carpocapsae per 100 m²) in maize crops with biological (mycoinsecticide Naturalis®, biofungicides and fertilizers) and chemical seed treatment (Gaucho® FS 600; active ingredient: imidacloprid) in Knezha, Bulgaria. Nematodes were found only in the dead specimens, in open plots and cages sprayed with the commercial nematode product. Nematode sprayings contributed for higher maize yields in the open maize plots in the fields with different seed treatments. We suggest that the use of powder formulation of S. carpocapsae in combination with biologically treated maize seeds can contribute to minimize the use of chemical insecticides against the grey maize weevil. The results obtained can be used as a base to further tests to ascertain the efficacy of EPNs products before they can be recommended for use in the integrated approach to T. dilaticollis management.

The taxonomic and metabolic diversity of prokaryotes and their adaptability to extreme environmental parameters have allowed extremophiles to find their optimal living conditions under extreme conditions for one or more environmental parameters. Natural habitats abundant in extremophilic microorganisms are relatively rare in Hungary. Nevertheless, alkaliphiles and halophiles can flourish in shallow alkaline lakes (soda pans) and saline (solonetz) soils, where extreme weather conditions favor the development of unique bacterial communities. In addition, the hot springs and thermal wells that supply spas and thermal baths and provide water for energy use are suitable colonization sites for thermophiles and hyperthermophiles. Polyextremophiles, adapted to multiple extreme circumstances, can be found in the aphotic, nutrient-poor and radioactive hypogenic caves of the Buda Thermal Karst, among others. The present article reviews the organization, taxonomic composition, and potential role of different extremophilic bacterial communities in local biogeochemical cycles, based on the most recent studies on extremophiles in Hungary.

A 2-year field experiment was performed to test lithium chloride, LiCl, application in a normal beekeeping management system. The effect of LiCl on bee larval mortality, beehive weight (honey production) and Varroa mite mortality were tested. Spectrometric quantification of Li on honey and the larval body were made to test the effectiveness of the presence of LiCl. Li was detected in bee larval bodies and in honey over 2 years, from 2018 to 2019. According to the results, no effect of LiCl on mite mortality or bee larval mortality was detected in the first year of application. By assessing the weight variation of beehives, only one LiCl-treated hive showed a significantly higher weight, whereas no other differences were detected between treatments and control. The same trend seen in 2018 was repeated in 2019, while a total bee larval mortality was observed after the first LiCl application, and still no differences in Varroa mite mortality were observed. According to these results, it was concluded that LiCl has no effect on Varroa mite mortality during normal beekeeping practice; furthermore, the recommended amount of treatment (25 mM) had a lethal effect (i.e., total mortality) on larvae following repeated applications.

Nowadays, the use of algae is prevalent for both industrial and agricultural purposes. The determination of chlorophyll (Chl) content is a commonly used method for estimating the phytoplankton abundance in different water bodies or biomass density of algal cultures. The aim of the present work is to optimise the efficiency of the Chl extraction from the green alga Tetradesmus obliquus using methanol as extracting solvent. The extraction efficiency was estimated by measuring the Chl a concentration of the extracts using fluorescence spectroscopy. To increase the extraction yield, glass fibre filters with algal cells on top were treated with 10% (v/v) formalin prior to the extraction. We found that this pretreatment significantly enhanced the extraction yield of Chl without its chemical decomposition. We also found that the optimal cell concentration for Chl determination ranged from 1.44 × 10⁴ to 3.60 × 10⁵ cells/mL and the extraction efficiency was lower when the cell density of the culture was out of this range. These results highlight the importance of the optimization of the pigment extraction for the studied algal species.

The outflow of the natural thermal Lake of Hévíz is habitat of several fish species, with conservation relevance. In the past few years, numerous thermophile (tropically originated) fishes were reported in this waterbody, from which two species Parachromis managuensis (Günther, 1867), Vieja melanurus (Günther, 1862) characterized with strong, self-sustaining population. The aim of our research was to provide basic population data and to study their individual growth. The standard length of jaguar cichlid ranged from 37 to 283 mm (mean SL = 110.21 ± 65.4 mm), the redhead cichlid standard length varied between 30 and 203 mm (mean SL = 93.91 ± 40.0 mm). Slightly positive allometry (b > 3) was found in the case of both species. The von Bertalanffy Growth Function can be described as the following L_t = 343.6[1 - e^{-0.196(t+0.973)}] in jaguar cichlid and L_t = 298.9[1 - e^{-0.113(t+0.997)}] in the case of redhead cichlid. The Bertalanffy growth equations show slow growth for both species. Fulton's condition factor (K) values varied between 1.376 and 2.11 (mean K = 1.701 ± 0.17) in the case of jaguar cichlid, and between 1.391 and 3.033 (mean K = 2.237 ± 0.24) for redhead cichlid. These baseline population biology data from the first known self-sustaining, temperate-zone populations of two tropical cichlids provide information e.g., for future ecological risk assessments or comparative growth analyzes.

R-loops, composed of DNA-RNA hybrids and displaced single-stranded DNA, are known to pose a severe threat to genome integrity. Therefore, extensive research has focused on identifying regulatory proteins involved in controlling R-loop levels. These proteins play critical roles in preventing R-loop accumulation and associated genome instability. Herein I summarize recent knowledge on R-loop regulators affecting R-loop homeostasis, involving a wide array of R-loop screening methods that have enabled their characterization, from forward genetic and siRNA-based screens to proximity labeling and machine learning. These approaches not only deepen our understanding on R-loop formation processes, but also hold promise to find new targets in R-loop dysregulation associated with human pathologies.

According to the Multiple Arousal Theory, electrodermal activity (EDA) is not uniform across the body. However, the psychological meaning of a left or right-sided EDA dominance is still not clear. We explored EDA lateral asymmetry as a psychophysiological marker of optimistic and pessimistic attributional style regarding success and failure in a darts competition. Bilateral EDA pattern of 230 throws of a competing pair was measured by Obimon EDA including accelerometer measurements of movements. First, we confirmed that lateral asymmetry can be measured reliably based on EDA data from both wrists. Second, we assessed attributional styles related to lateral asymmetry based on 80 individual throws. We recorded participants' expectations regarding their upcoming performance, and their attribution of success and failure based on Seligman's definition as optimist (internal cause attributed to success, or external cause ascribed to failure) or pessimist. The ratio of optimist and pessimist attributions was significantly different for throws with right or left-sided EDA dominance (p = 0.001). Optimistic attribution characterized 84% of right dominant, while pessimist 63% of left-dominant EDA during throws. We replicated these findings on 50 throws from 10 more individuals (p = 0.034). All individuals were right-handed. We conclude that wrist EDA can be reliably measured during physical movements, such as in a darts game. Lateral EDA asymmetry is a consistent psychophysiological marker of the attitude toward success and failure in a competitive setting, suggesting that lateral asymmetry of emotional arousal may serve as a novel psychophysiological biomarker for attribution style. Results underlie the psychophysiological relevance of bilateral arousal assessment and provide evidence-based verification for the Multiple Arousal Theory.