Filtyp
The recent loss of pollinating insects and out-crossing plants in agricultural landscapes has raised concern for the maintenance of ecosystem services. Wild bees have been shown to benefit from garden habitats in urban and suburban areas. We investigated the effects of distance from garden habitats on wild bees and seed set of a native out-crossing plant Campanula persicifolia, in intensively mana
Results from field experiments using a fluorescence lidar system to monitor movements of insects are reported. Measurements over a river surface were made at distances between 100 and 300 m, detecting, in particular, damselflies entering the 355 nm pulsed laser beam. The lidar system recorded the depolarized elastic backscattering and two broad bands of laser-induced fluorescence, with the separat
The California Floristic Province exhibits one of the richest floras on the planet, with more than 5500 native plant species, approximately 40% of which are endemic. Despite its impressive diversity and the attention it has garnered from ecologists and evolutionary biologists, historical causes of species richness and endemism in California remain poorly understood. Using a phylogenetic analysis o
Whether or not communities of microbial eukaryotes are structured in the same way as bacteria is a general and poorly explored question in ecology. Here, we investigated this question in a set of planktonic lake microbiotas in Eastern Antarctica that represent a natural community ecology experiment. Most of the analysed lakes emerged from the sea during the last 6000 years, giving rise to waterbod
Estimates of relative pollen productivity (RPP) represent key input parameters for model-based quantitative reconstructions of past vegetation cover. In this study, we provide the first RPP estimates for 13 taxa from the forest steppe ecoregion in southeastern Romania (southeastern Europe). We used modern pollen assemblages from 26 points together with vegetation surveys and mapping, covering a 1.
This project is designed as a typical consultancy work for Environmental Engineering students at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), Lund University, Sweden. It gives students a feeling of a possible future work by being a practical training in solving a complex environmental problem involving hydrological and ecological challenges. Additionally, the project work provides training of critical thinki
In this paper we explore the potential of cross-fertilization between research on welfare state reforms and on efforts to green the state in response to ecological challenges. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the conditions for an ecological state to emerge we relate welfare state studies to green political theory, that provide different conceptions of the ecological state and ways to gr
Deep cuts in carbon emissions to avoid dangerous climatic change will require fundamental transformations of the energy and transport systems. This is an enormous challenge for society and the political system. In order to tackle this challenge, we argue that it will be necessary to develop new institutions and institutional practices that address and give priority to long-term climate policy obje
In the context of future climate change, the flush of CO2 emissions from soils after drying-rewetting events could have a strong impact on the terrestrial carbon balance. Mixed forests may be more resistant and resilient to drought events compared to monocultures, and as such may modulate the effects of drought on soil functioning belowground. We investigated the influence of mixed planting and dr
Acquired chromosome abnormalities in tumours often reflect pathogenetic events at the gene level. Multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) with single-copy probes offers extensive possibilities to characterise chromosome breakpoints in relation to the physical map of the human genome. This approach is based on the construction of comprehensive EST- based maps, combinatorial labelling
Animals with color vision use color information in intra- and interspecific communication, which in turn may drive the evolution of conspicuous colored body traits via natural and sexual selection. A recent study found that the transparent wings of small flies and wasps in lower-reflectance light environments display vivid and stable structural color patterns, called "wing interference patterns" (
We tested whether bacterial communities of subarctic heath soil are adapted to elevated temperature after experimental warming by open-top greenhouses for 7 or 17 years. The long-term warming by 1-2 degrees C significantly decreased bacterial community growth, by 28% and 73% after 7 and 17 years, respectively. The decrease was most likely due to decreased availability of labile substrate under war
Behavioural syndromes, that is correlated behaviours, may be a result from adaptive correlational selection, but in a new environmental setting, the trait correlation might act as an evolutionary constraint. However, knowledge about the quantitative genetic basis of behavioural syndromes, and the stability and evolvability of genetic correlations under different ecological conditions, is limited.
We examined the effect of thermal shock on the germination of seeds of three conifers, two introduced (Pseudotsuga menziesii and Pinus ponderosa), and one native to Patagonia (Araucaria araucana). Previous research has suggested increased susceptibility to invasions in burnt areas, and therefore, the effect of simulated fire (heat) on seed germination in these native and introduced species was com
Soils in boreal forests contain large stocks of carbon. Plants are the main source of this carbon through tissue residues and root exudates. A major part of the exudates are allocated to symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi. In return, the plant receives nutrients, in particular nitrogen from the mycorrhizal fungi. To capture the nitrogen, the fungi must at least partly disrupt the recalcitrant organic
Abstract The nutrient and carbon (C) allocation dynamics in mycorrhizal hyphal networks cause variation in costs and benefits for individual plants and fungi and influence the productivity, diversity and C cycling in ecosystems. We manipulated light and phosphorus (P) availability in a pot experiment with Trifolium subterraneum colonised by the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradice
Through physiological integration, clonal plants can support ramets in unfavourable patches, exploit heterogeneously distributed resources and distribute resources that are taken up over large areas. Physiological integration generally increases in adverse conditions, but it is not well known which factors determine the evolution of physiological integration. The aim of this study was to investiga
A thermophilic bacterial strain, Geobacillus sp. ZGt-1, isolated from Zara hot spring in Jordan, was capable of inhibiting the growth of the thermophilic G. stearothermophilus and the mesophilic Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhimurium on a solid cultivation medium. Antibacterial activity was not observed when ZGt-1 was cultivated in a liquid medium; however, immobilization of the cells in aga
Organisms in hot environments will not be able to passively dissipate metabolically generated heat. Instead, they have to revert to evaporative cooling, a process that is energetically expensive and promotes excessive water loss. To alleviate these costs, birds in captivity let their body temperature increase, thereby entering a state of hyperthermia. Here we explore the use of hyperthermia in wil
