The long-tailed goral (Nemorhaedus caudatus) is a rare montane ungulate species with a patchy distribution. In the Sikhote-Alin Reserve, gorals occupy the northern part of their range, concentrated primarily in a small coastal area (6.4 km2) in Abrek Urochishe. Our pilot study tested the feasibility of individual photo-identification of gorals and population size estimation using the capture–…
During four months in the winter period of 2002–2003, a census of four species of hoofed animals (red deer, sika deer, roe deer, and musk deer) was conducted in the study areas of the Sikhote-Alin Reserve and the surrounding area, including the territory of the planned Reserve Tavayza. The census was conducted on a monthly basis at two sites in the pine and broadleaved forest (nature Reserve …
Bacillus subtilis SPB1 is known to produce a highly effective biosurfactant that belongs to the class of lipopeptides. This biosurfactant has shown relevant properties that could be efficiently applied in various domains. However, high production and purification costs limit the use of B. subtilis SPB1 in high-volume applications. The present work aimed to promote an economical production of th…
The marking activity of brown bears was studied in the Kronotsky Reserve (eastern shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula) between 2002 and 2005. The goal of this investigation was to document communication mechanisms within the species. We recorded descriptions of bears rubbing and marking trees, as well as individual marking behaviour of bears in the Valley of the Geysers. We recorded 203 marked tre…
The present paper elaborates on the status of both harbor and spotted (largha) seal populations on the Komandorsky Islands. Local populations of these seals have doubled since the 1980s. The total population of harbor and spotted seals at both Bering and Medny Islands is now estimated to be 4000–4300 animals. Various methods of counting have been applied. A methodological approach to counting…
The results of a study of structural and metabolic changes in CBA mice with hepatocellular carcinoma caused by lithium carbonate nano-sized particles are presented. Light microscopy, electron microscopy and other biochemicalmethodswere used to showthat injection of lithiumcarbonate nano-sized particles to the periphery of the tumour results in enhanced destructive processes within the tumour. T…
A better understanding of which biological and anthropogenic parameters are strong predictors of suitable habitats for tigers will help address conservation planning in those areas, which is crucial for maintaining connectivity and preventing further population fragmentation. The aim of this study was to develop a spatial model based on a number of environmental and anthropogenic variables as w…
New data on the distribution of the endemic Asian rodents zokors (Myospalax sp.) in Eastern Russia (Transbaikalia and Khanka Plain) based on new taxonomic, genetic and morphological research are presented in this article. Both karyotype and mtDNA markers and morphological characteristics (craniometry) were used for species identification. The following four distinct species inhabit this region:…
In this study, we examined the response forest dynamics (since 1982) on Sokhondo Mountain (2500 m a.s.l.) under climate change in Transbaikalia (southeast of Lake Baikal, Russia) over the last 60 years, using geobotanical and climate long-term monitoring as important tools to assess the effect of climate change on forest dynamics. We found that changes in ecosystems along an altitudinal gradien…
Since 2010, a comprehensive program of studying musk deer has been conducted in the Sikhote-Alin region. This musk deer study program has employed the methods of radio telemetry, visual observation, life activity traces survey and photo-video traps. New data on the use of space by musk deer, as well as their daily activity, nutrition, labeling and distribution activities, have been obtained. Th…
This study shows application experience of pulsar satellite radio beacons (Russian production) in studying brown bear ecology. During 2011–2013 three brown bears were equippedwith satellite collars fitted with a radio beacon in the Primorsky region and the Kostroma region. The animals were tracked using satellite technology and telemetry. We obtained data on brown bear space use and daily and…
This article is aimed at identifying the cause of rock eating by wild herbivores in the territory of the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve in the Caucasus Mountains. The research focused on the mineralogical and geochemical features of the rocks eaten and the geological conditions of their formation. This report includes a comparative analysis of the mineral and chemical compositions of the con…
The Olekminsky Natural Reserve is composed of four types of lake land, six types of river land and two types of wetlands. The wetlands can be classified into four types of spatial complexes. The main types of forest habitats may be incorporated into six types of land. Forest complex functional forms in the reserve are characterized by four types. In accordance with the predominance of land type…
Phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies are the major problems that decrease crop productivity under rice-wheat cropping system. Field experiments were conducted to investigate impacts of P (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg/hm2) and Zn levels (0, 5, 10 and 15 kg/hm2) on dry matter (DM) accumulation and partitioning, and harvest index of three rice genotypes ‘fine (Bamati-385) vs. coarse (F-Malakand and…
The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, is a destructive insect pest of rice throughout Asia. Different from brown-eye color wild type, BPH also has red-eye color mutation phenotype. As a visible genetic marker, the red-eye mutant in BPH is a valuable material. To reveal the eye color mutation mechanism, a karmoisin homologue gene (named as Nlka) was cloned from BPH. And karmoisin is a…
Nine genotypes were evaluated under greenhouse conditions for antixenosis and tolerance against brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens Stål). In antixenosis studies, proportion of insects settled on a test genotype in relation to the susceptible control TN1 was recorded, with significantly lower proportion of nymphs (55.22%–59.18%), adult males (60.33%–60.75%), and adult females (80.56…
In vitro androgenesis is an important component of plant biotechnology when the pollen grains are forced to switch from their normal pollen developmental pathway towards an embryogenic route. Haploid and doubled haploid produced through androgenesis have long been recognized as a valuable tool in plant breeding as it can shorten the breeding cycle, fix agronomic characters in homozygous state a…
Eighteen isolates of Rhizoctonia solani collected from infected rice plants in four different locations of Bangladesh were studied by using morphological characters and molecular markers. Anastomosis study with a reference isolate confirmed that all the isolates belonged to R. solani. Significant variation was observed in sclerotial size, shape and distribution. Un-weighted pair group method wi…
Exogenous application of spermidine (Spd) has been reported to modulate physiological processes and alleviate salt-induced damage to growth and productivity of several plants including rice. Employing a proteomic approach, we aimed at identifying rice leaf and grain proteins differentially expressing under salt stress, and in response to Spd prior to NaCl treatment. A total of 9 and 20 differen…
The accumulation of pigments affects the color of rice hulls while only limited information is known about its underlying mechanisms. In the present study, a rice brown hull 6 (bh6) mutant was isolated from an ethane methyl sulfonate (EMS)-induced IR64 mutant bank. Brown pigments started to accumulate in bh6 rice hulls after heading and reached a higher level in mature seeds. Some major agronom…
It was on a placid canoe trip at a Gordon Conference in 2002 that Lee Segel told me that he was writing a new book in mathematical biology. In the prime of his health and at the peak of his mathematical career, Lee asked me to agree to act as shepherd to this book “in case” anything happened to prevent his completion of the project. The request was purely “academic” at that time, an…
This book provides pedagogically informed guidance and researchbased suggestions for practice. It is not necessarily a text to read ‘in one go’ as it is divided into three parts. The idea is that those completely new to using Second Life for teaching begin with Part 1, but those wanting to develop their teaching begin with Part 2. For the experienced and the boundary crossers, Parts 2 or 3 …
Supramolecular chemistry – the branch of chemistry associated with the formation of complex multimolecular entities from relatively simple molecular components – has been a major research theme over the past four decades. Researchers were provided with a unifying vision of the field following the award of the 1987 Nobel Prize in chemistry to three of its pioneers: Jean-Marie Lehn, Donal…
To develop and characterize introgression lines for leaf and neck blast resistance, 326 introgression lines were developed using various accessions of six different AA genome wild species in the genetic background of elite Indian varieties like PR114 and Pusa 44 and were screened for blast resistance. Stringent phenotyping coupled with genotyping using gene based markers led to the identificati…
Despite significant yield advantage over inbred rice, the adoption rate of hybrid rice in India is very low due to the high seed cost and poor quality of the produce. To alleviate the problem, we initiated a doubled haploid (DH) breeding approach to develop new lines from two elite indica rice hybrids (CRHR5 and CRHR7) through rapid fixation of homozygosity in the recombinants. In vitro culture…
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of proline and glutamine on in vitro callus induction and subsequent regeneration and to develop a reproducible and highly efficient plant regeneration protocol in four rice genotypes, viz. Pawana, Jaya, Indrayani and Ambemohar. Considerable variation in response to plant growth regulators and amino acid supplements used was observed in all the f…
To dissect the genetic basis of low phosphorus tolerance (LPT), 114 BC2F4 introgression lines (ILs) were developed from Shuhui 527 and Minghui 86 (recurrent parents), and Yetuozai (donor parent). The progenies were tested for 11 quantitative traits under three treatments including normal fertilization in normal soil (as control), normal fertilization in barren soil and low phosphorus stress in …
Tillering is an important agronomic trait which has a direct impact on plant type and grain yield. Strigolactones are a class of important phytohormones regulating rice tillering. ATMAX1 is an important gene involved in strigolactone biosynthesis through encoding the protein P450 in Arabidopsis. Based on sequence BLASTp, we identified five homologous genes of ATMAX1 in rice, i.e., OsMAX1a, OsMA…
An attempt was made to determine the qualitative changes in basmati rice (Pusa Basmati 1121,PB1121) during soaking at 40 °C to 80 °C. Soaking temperature had significant effect (α = 0.01) on chemical composition, glycemic index and starch characteristics of rice. Starch content, apparent amylose content, crude protein content and crude fat content in un-soaked rice were found to be 73.24%,27…
Narrow genetic background is a key limiting factor in breeding stable high-yielding rice. The introduction and utilization of international rice core germplasm is an important way to increase the genetic diversity of domestic rice varieties. We conducted a genome-wide association study on 5 panicle traits of 315 rice accessions introduced from the international rice micro-core germplasm bank. B…
We identified the rice floral organ development mutant, termed as open hull and male sterile 1 (ohms1), from the progeny of the indica restorer line Zhonghui 8015 treated with 60Co γ-ray irradiation. The ohms1 mutant exhibited an open hull and lemma- and palea-like structure conversion between the anthers and stigma, which resulted in the ohms1 mutant spikelet showing ‘tridentate lemma’. T…
To investigate the effect of low light (LL, 50% natural light) during grain filling (GF) stage on rice transamination, amino acid (AA) accumulation, nutritional value, and cooking quality in three different rice genotypes, transaminase activities and AA levels in grains during GF stage and the traits that significantly affected rice quality (physical appearance, cooking quality, and nutritional…
Weedy rice exerts a severe impact on rice production by competing for sunlight, water and nutrients. This study assayed the population structure, genetic diversity and origin of Northeast Asia weedy rice by using 48 simple sequence repeat markers. The results showed that weedy rice in Northeast Asia had a high genetic diversity, with Shannon’s diversity index (I) of 0.748 and the heterozygosi…
Epicuticular wax forms the outermost protective barrier of the aerial surfaces of land plants,working in concert with other components of the plant cuticle to prevent uncontrolled loss of water and to provide protection against an array of external environmental stress. In this study, chemically-mutagenized populations of rice (Oryza sativa L.) derived from approximately 4 750 M2 families were …
The major storage substance in rice endosperm is starch, which accounts for 80% of dry matter weight. In this study, rice mutant flo7, selected from the progeny of Nipponbare’s tissue culture, displayed floury and opaque endosperm. Compared with its corresponding wild type (WT) Nipponbare, the mutant flo7 produced longer, narrower, thinner and lighter grains. The levels of glucose, fructose a…
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important food crop and requires larger amount of water throughout its life cycle as compared to other crops. Hence, water related stress cause severe threat to rice production. Drought is a major challenge limiting rice production. It affects rice at morphological (reduced germination,plant height, plant biomass, number of tillers, various root and leaf traits), ph…
Hydroponic cultures were conducted to compare the aluminum (Al) tolerance among different rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties, including indica, japonica and their hybrids. The results showed that the root growth of rice plant was inhibited in different degrees among Al treated varieties. The Al tolerance observed through relative root elongation indicated that five japonica varieties including Lo…
Abstract: Aim: This study aimed to explore the perceived influences on food and meal choices of Queensland paramedicsduring shift work. Methods: A qualitative study using individual semi-structured telephone interviews was conducted on a purposivesample of 15 paramedics working on a rotating shift roster in Queensland. Interviews explored the perceived influences on their food choices while w…
Abstract: For some 60 years now, various measures have been introduced to bring Europeans together as citizens, based on the idea that increased cross-border encounters would create familiarity, generate a sense of community, facilitate economic activities and ultimately bring about a shared identity, however fragile at first. Town twinning and numerous exchange and mobility programmes of many…
Abstract: A method for characterization of butter cookie quality by assessing the surface browning and water content using multispectral images is presented. Based on evaluations of the browning of butter cookies, cookies were manually divided into groups. From this categorization, reference values were calculated for a statistical prediction model correlating multispectral images with a brown…
The use of improved high yielding crop varieties is an important avenue for reducing hunger and food insecurity in developing countries. Using cross-sectional data obtained from a survey conducted during 2013 crop season, we performed a probit model (plot-level analysis) to determine the probability of adopting new improved rice varieties (NIRVs) by smallholder farmers particularly from two mai…
Abstract: France was modestly hit by the financial crisis compared with its neighbours but the recovery has been particularly slow. The shock to the public finances was nonetheless significant, and came on top of an already weak pre-crisis fiscal position. Part of this shock is expected to be permanent and the French government has so far mostly used increases in taxation to bring borrowing un…
Paw San Hmwe (PSM) rice has been cultivated in many areas of Myanmar for a long time. Strong aroma, good taste and its elongation during cooking are the key characteristics of PSM rice. Thirty-one PSM accessions were genotypically characterized, and their physical grain and cooking quality traits were studied. We used specific gene markers associated with aroma, apparent amylose content (AAC) a…
Submergence tolerant high yielding rice variety was developed using BR11 as a recipient parent applying foreground, phenotypic and background selection approaches. Recombinant selection was found essential to minimize linkage drag by BC2F2 generation. Without recombinant selection, the introgression size in the backcross recombinant lines (BRLs) was approximately 15 Mb on the carrier chromosome…
Well-being is a goal pursued by many consumer resistance movements. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the rhetorical appeals and techniques utilized by the Resisting the Green Dragon (RGD) movement that employs the value of social well-being to oppose environmentalism. We integrate prominent consumer resistance discourses and religiously charged nationalisetic mythical narra…
1000-grain weight (TGW) is one of the three component traits of the grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa L). This study was conducted to validate and fine-map qTGW1.1, a minor QTL for TGW which was previously located in a 3.7-Mb region on the long arm of rice chromosome 1. Five sets of near isogenic lines (NILs) were developed from two BC2F4 populations of the indica rice cross Zhenshan 973/Milyan…
Genetic diversity of 299 inbred indica rice varieties, including 33 introduced varieties, applied in Guangdong Province of China were assessed using 20 ILP (intron length polymorphism) and 34 SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers. Totally, 154 loci were screened for the 299 varieties, with the average number of alleles (Na), rare alleles (Nr), and polymorphism information content (PIC) scored at…
Honey is a natural sweet substance produced by honey bees, from the nectars of plant flowers and honey dew. The present study aimed to evaluate physicochemical characteristics and quality of honey from different origins. Melissopalynological analysis of honey samples showed a wide variability, with samples from different honey sources being collected from different geographical origins. The col…
Breeding activities in Lebanon have attributed limited interest to barley and landraces have not been exploited before. In this study, 50 Lebanese barley landraces were experimented rainfed in Northern Bekaa in comparison with two checks, Assi and Rihane-3. Two field trials were conducted, the first at 1000 m a.s.l. and 171.6 mm precipitations, and the second at 648 m a.s.l. and 119.4 mm. Out o…
Strategies of regulated irrigation and fertilization are one of the most practical ways in saving irrigation water and N-fertilizer of farmland in arid and semi-arid regions. A field experiments were conducted in the two winter seasons of 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 on clay soil to investigate the effect of 3, 4 and 5 irrigation events and their interaction with two N-fertilization levels using amm…