Biologia futura最新文献

The biodiversity conservation needs recent high-quality data and efficient methods for prioritizing species and sites for conservation. Here we prioritized Orthoptera habitats of the Aggtelek National Park, based on revised and actualized distribution data of 69 Orthoptera species living at 98 sites. The simple ranking and complementary areas methods were used with species richness (S), rarity weighted species richness (SR), and number of rare species (SQ). Additionally, the Grasshopper Conservation Indexes (GCI" and GCIn") combining European and local rarity and dispersal capacity of the species were also tested. Contrary to simple ranking the complementary areas method represented the whole fauna and significant part of the species-site data records. All the used indices performed similar except the standardized GCIn" which is highly affected by the differences in study intensity of sites. High-priority areas of the Aggtelek National Park were designated in the plateau above Jósvafő and Aggtelek villages and in the small, isolated hill near Jósvafő (Szőlő-hegy) covered with remained mosaic of former vineyards, orchards and hayfields. The combined use of the efficient indices provides additional ranking that allows the best selection of hotspots to support efficient use of limited resources in nature conservation.

In this study, 25 plant species growing in different habitats in Erzincan province were studied with gypsum (Ebenus macrophylla, Gypsophila lepidioides, Linum flavum, Onobrychis nitida, Paracaryum stenolophum, Psephellus recepii, Tanacetum heterotomum, Verbascum alyssifolium), limestone (Alkanna megacarpa, Alyssum sibiricum, Anthemis sp., Astragalus sp., Chrysophthalmum montanum, Ebenus laguroides, Genista aucheri, Pelargonium endlicherianum, Stachys sparsipilosa), or serpentine (Artedia squamata, Consolida olopetala, Convolvulus pseudoscammania, Erysimum pulchellum, Fumana aciphylla, Gladiolus halophilus, Hypericum thymbrifolium, Salvia indica). Within the scope of the study, element concentrations were determined in plants with different flower colors (yellow, purple-blue-pink, white) and in the soils where they grow. Our goal was to assess whether there were differences in mineral element concentrations within plants from these different areas and whether those differences (if they existed) led to changes in plant morphology, specifically flower coloration. The flowers, leaves and root parts of the collected plants and the soils of the habitats where they grow were pre-treated in the laboratory. Mineral element concentrations in the prepared samples were determined by ICP-MS. Plant and soil data obtained were statistically evaluated, and the differences between the habitats were determined. It was observed that there were differences in terms of mineral elements in the generative and vegetative parts of the plant and these differences impacted flower color; these coloration differences in plants from other areas might be used to indicate the presence of potentially important minerals.

Behavioural variations associated with breeding-termed reproductive strategies-are some of the striking behaviours that have occupied naturalists for 1000s of years. How an animal seeks, competes for and/or chooses a mate? Do they breed with a single partner, or do they change partners between breeding events? How and when do they look after their young? Behavioural biologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have investigated these questions using quantitative methods since 1970s. In Debrecen, with the support and mentoring of Prof Zoltán Varga, we are investigating the causes and implications of reproductive strategies since 1988. This article reviews some of the core ideas in reproductive strategies research and explains the influence of Prof Varga on the development of these ideas. My main thesis here is that both integrative thinking and adopting a multi-pronged research approach using an explicit phylogenetic framework-both of these have been spearheaded by Prof Varga throughout his lifetime-can reveal novel aspects of reproductive strategies. Importantly, some of these academic insights have direct implications for preserving species and their habitats in the wild, and thus benefit biodiversity conservation.

Despite broad interest and recent experimentation, there is no single ecological model accounting for the adaptive significance of the diversity of avian eggshell colouration. The often blue-green eggs of Turdus thrushes are a charismatic example of this, having long captured cultural and scientific attention. Although the biology and evolutionary history of "true" thrushes is well understood, little is known about correlated evolution between shifts in habitat and eggshell pigmentation, and how these shifts map with Turdus biogeography. We applied phylogenetic comparative methods to assess the evolutionary timing of divergence and variation of life history traits and eggshell colouration and maculation presence in the genus. We found that eggshell colour diversified independently on several occasions in the past 11 million years, with much of the variation occurring within the last 4 million years. The majority of Turdus species lay blue-green eggs and also tend to be sedentary and forest-dwelling. Diet generalist species and species which have transitioned to a forest habitat are more likely to lay white eggs (10% of studied species). In turn, lineages in any habitat were more likely to transition to blue-green eggs. We found that variation in egg colour is increased in some clades, of which two lineages radiated in South America and the East Palearctic, in the past 2-4 million years. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that white eggs are more conspicuous to predators in open environments and that multiple, non-mutually exclusive constraints operate on the adaptive function of avian eggshell colour.

Regular reviews of long-term research and conservation programs are useful sources of information for future directions in science and for the assessment of current conservation status of taxa. In this paper, we compiled all available data from the last 10 years related to Hungarian blind mole rat populations and assessed this information according to the following main themes: systematics, distribution and threats, and conservation actions. Based on the most recent information, national and global risk assessments are provided for the three species of Nannospalax (N. montanosyrmiensis, N. hungaricus and N. syrmiensis), currently accepted as part of the Hungarian fauna.

Tuber melanosporum is one of the most economically important truffle species. Besides harvesting from its natural habitats, this truffle can also be extensively grown through artificial cultivation. However, the natural habitat of T. melanosporum has drastically declined, and the demand for the truffle in society is rapidly increasing. Therefore, enhancing production in truffle orchards by seeking new places for the establishment and regularly monitoring its adaptability might be an effective method for ensuring the sustainable productivity of the species. As a truffle science, recent information is important to further success in the growth of this truffle species. This study reports mycorrhization level and ascocarp production in two truffle plantations in Hungary. The estimated mycorrhization levels of the host plants were 43.36% in Biatorbágy and 42.93% in Jászszentandrás plantations. In March 2020, the 6-year-old and 18-year-old T. melanosporum plantations yielded around 100 g and 980 g of ascocarps, respectively. In general, adaptation of mycorrhizal seedlings in Hungary may become more effective as present management practices improve.

Metabarcoding is now a widely used method for biodiversity studies. Taxonomic assignment of environmental sequences is one of the key steps of metabarcoding. Assignments based on lowest common ancestor (LCA) method generally rely on fixed arbitrary thresholds, and this is generally not well adapted for assignment of taxonomically diverse groups with variable coverage in reference databases. The mkLTG is a LCA-based method that uses a series of percentage of identity thresholds starting from stringent parameters and decreasing it if necessary. All parameters can be set separately for each percentage of identity threshold, which makes this tool adaptable for different databases, genetic markers and diverse taxonomic groups. The optimization step was included using the COI marker and a comprehensive, non-redundant database. The mkLTG tool is a command-line application with few dependencies that runs in all operating systems, therefore, it is easy to include into complex pipelines. All scripts are freely available including the benchmarking at https://github.com/meglecz/mkLTG .

The aim of this study was to analyse the level and structure of genetic and morphometric variation in the East-Central European populations of Phengaris (Maculinea) nausithous. On the basis of the life cycle of the species, we expected a low level of variation within the populations coupled with a relatively high level of differentiation among them. We also assumed that the differentiation among the populations has a regional pattern. In order to confirm these assumptions, we collected population samples from two regions within the Carpathian Basin (western Transdanubia and Transylvania) and from a region east of the Carpathian Mountains (Bukovina). The level of enzyme polymorphism and the amount of morphometric variation were investigated in the sampled populations. As the western (Transdanubia) and the eastern populations (Transylvania plus Bukovina) were suggested to belong to different subspecies (Rákosy et al. in Nota Lepidopterol 33:31-37, 2010), our working hypothesis was that these two groups of populations belong to different evolutionary significant units (ESUs). The results of all genetic analyses (PCA, Bayesian-clustering analysis and especially the UPGMA dendrogram) confirmed our assumption. The level of differentiation was higher between the western and eastern populations resulting in two monophyletic lineages of Phengaris (Maculinea) nausithous in East-Central Europe. This result suggests that these lineages can be considered as two different ESUs.

It is well described that exposure to nature reduces physiological stress, and connectedness to nature can have a moderating effect. However, few studies have so far examined the construction of the connection with nature in relation to physiological processes. In this systematic review, we collected studies that used a physiological measure and included a scale to measure connectedness to nature. Our aim was to assess the role of nature relatedness at the level of physiological processes and to summarize the results published so far. Our review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. A literature search was conducted in 3 different databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar). As keywords, we used all the different questionnaires that measure connectedness to nature, combined with terms related to physiological measures. After final screening, 28 articles met the inclusion criteria for the review. The studies were very diverse in terms of purpose, intervention and methods, so narrative synthesis was conducted without measures of effect. We found evidence for a mediating effect of nature connectedness on the associations between nature exposure and cognitive function, brain activity, blood pressure, cortisol level and mental health. Studies investigating nature relatedness as state-like characteristics have shown that exposure to nature increases the level of connection to nature. Eye-tracking studies have confirmed that this measurement method can be used to investigate nature relatedness at a physiological level, which could be a useful complement to self-report questionnaires in future studies.

The detailed description of behaviour of the interacting parties is becoming more and more important in human-robot interaction (HRI), especially in social robotics (SR). With the rise in the number of publications, there is a substantial need for the objective and comprehensive description of implemented robot behaviours to ensure comparability and reproducibility of the studies. Ethograms and the meticulous analysis of behaviour was introduced long ago in animal behaviour research (cf. ethology). The adoption of this method in SR and HRI can ensure the desired clarity over robot behaviours, while also providing added benefits during robot development, behaviour modelling and analysis of HRI experiments. We provide an overview of the possible uses and advantages of ethograms in HRI, and propose a general framework for describing behaviour which can be adapted to the requirements of specific studies.