In nut tree orchards in California, irrigation is typically withheld during the harvest period to reduce the likelihood of bark damage during mechanical shaking of the trees. The ensuing water stress, however, may result in premature defoliation and subsequent yield declines. Our objective was to establish and quantify the water ...

The PEACH computer simulation model of reproductive and vegetative growth of peach trees (Grossman and DeJong 1994) was adapted to estimate seasonal nitrogen (N) dynamics in organs of mature peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch cv. O'Henry) trees grown with high and low soil N availability. Seasonal N accumulation patterns of ...

Profiles of nucleotide levels in two varieties of Japanese green teas (cv. Yabukita and Saemidori), a Chinese green tea (Longjing), and two Japanese black teas (cv. Benifuuki and Benihikari) were determined and compared with that of fresh tea leaves. The concentration of 5'-nucleotides in green tea was much higher than ...

The xylem-feeding insect Philaenus spumarius was used to analyse sodium and potassium fluxes in the xylem of intact, transpiring wheat plants. Two cultivars were compared: the salt-excluding (Chinese Spring) and the non-excluding (Langdon). Chinese Spring accumulated much less sodium in its leaves than the salt-sensitive Langdon. After 7 d in ...

This study reports critical changes in the behaviour patterns of lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) inhabiting a continuously changing and deteriorating rain forest fragment in the Western Ghats, India. The study area, a privately owned rain forest patch in a tea/coffee garden called Puthuthotam, has suffered two massive selective logging episodes. ...

We studied the food habits of the coyote (Canis latrans) in a tropical deciduous forest along the Mexican Pacific coast during 1996 and 1997. Small mammals, chiefly the Jaliscan cotton rat (Sigmodon mascotensis), were the main prey items during the dry season. Cultivated fruits, like mango and papaya, were the ...

The cyanogen content of 35 cassava-based foods was determined using the enzyme-dipstick method. The analyses showed presence of residual cyanogens in these products, and they ranged from 2 to 88 mg HCN equivalent/kg. Foodstuff prepared from grated cassava roots exhibited a lower level of cyanogen content (2-31 mg HCN equivalent/kg) ...

Large numbers of the snail Terebralia palustris (Linnaeus) (Potamididae; Gastropoda) are frequently observed feeding in a cluster on a single fallen mangrove leaf, yet none are present on leaves nearby. Consequently, we investigated the food-finding ability of T. palustris in a Kenyan mangrove forest using field experiments. We estimated the ...

Absorption and reflectance spectra of maple (Acer platanoides), cotoneaster (Cotoneaster alaunica), dogwood (Cornus alba) and pelargonium (Pelargonium zonale) leaves with a wide range of pigment content and composition were studied in visible and near-infrared spectra in order to reveal specific anthocyanin (Anth) spectral features in leaves. Comparing absorption spectra of ...

Curcuma longa commonly known as tumeric is traditionally used as a spice in Indian food. A wide range of biological activities e.g. anticancer, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory and free radical scavenging activity of the plant suggests a logical basis for its traditional use in foodstuff. Various phytothreapeutic uses ofCurcuma longa have been ...

We measured responses of leaf respiration to temperature and leaf characteristics in three deciduous tree species (Quercus rubra L., Quercus prinus L. and Acer rubrum L.) at two sites differing in water availability within a single catchment in the Black Rock Forest, New York. The response of respiration to temperature ...

A survey was conducted between 1998-1999 to evaluate the level of aflatoxin B1 (AfB1) contamination in some selected Indonesian food products, mainly peanuts and peanut products for sale in supermarkets or traditional markets in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Quantitative analysis was carried out on 118 samples using the ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) ...

In 1990-2000 selected Polish cereals, cereal products and some different commodities collected in several regions of Poland were analysed for ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxins. The frequency and the level of contamination of Polish cereals and cereal products by ochratoxin A seem to be similar as in most European countries. ...

Little is known about human prehistory in the central African lowland tropical forest due to a paucity of archaeological evidence. Here we report results from our archaeological investigations of a late Holocene site in the northeast Congo Basin, with emphasis on a single skeleton from the rock shelter site of ...

Photosynthetic light acclimation of leaves can result from (i) changes in mass-based leaf nitrogen concentration, Nm, (ii) changes in leaf mass:area ratio, Ma, and (iii) partitioning of total leaf nitrogen among different pools of the photosynthetic machinery. We studied variations in Nm and Ma within the crowns of two peach ...

In Australia, tree planting has been widely promoted to alleviate dryland salinity and one proposed planting configuration is that of strategically placed interception belts. We conducted an experiment to determine the effect of tree position in a belt on transpiration rate. We also assessed how much the effect of tree ...

The D0 Collaboration has measured the inclusive jet cross section in barpp collisions at square root of s = 630 GeV. The results for pseudorapidities (eta)<0.5 are combined with our previous results at square root of s = 1800 GeV to form a ratio of cross sections with smaller uncertainties ...

Climate warming by ca. 0.8 degree C between the late-19th and late-20th century, although with some fluctuations, has forced multispecies elevational tree-limit advance by > 100 m for the principal tree species in the Swedish part of the Scandinavian mountain range. Predominantly, these processes imply growth in height of old-established ...

Mouse sperm has proven to be more difficult to cryopreserve than sperm of other mammalian species. Published reports show that only three cryoprotectant agents (CPAs), alone or combined, have been studied: glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), as permeating agents, and raffinose, as a nonpermeating agent. To date, the most consistent ...

The delta13C and SD values of newly emerging to senescing tree leaves produced during a rainy season were obtained in dry seasonal and moist forest in Panamá. Newly emerging leaves had less negative delta13C values than older leaves yet instantaneous pi/pa was never lowest in the youngest leaves. Furthermore, isotopic ...

The high planting densities needed to grow edible biomass in sustainable space life support systems will create problems for planophile crops that form closed, self-shading canopies. The use of traditional overhead-lighting configurations will reduce the penetration of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) into such canopies and will result in substantial shading ...

Methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MBCD), which leads to the stimulation of cholesterol efflux from the cell membrane, was examined for its ability to increase the cryosurvival of spermatozoa from Göttingen miniature pigs. The intactness of the acrosome and various motion parameters of spermatozoa after freezing and thawing were used to monitor cryosurvival. Spermatozoa ...

Impacts of elevated atmospheric O3 and/or CO2 on three clones of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) were studied to determine, whether or not elevated CO2 ameliorates O3-induced damage to leaf cells. The plants were exposed for 3 years at the Aspen FACE exposure site in Wisconsin ...

A half-dozen black feral goats looked up Robert Cabin emerged from the stand of trees. Wild and wary, they had been scrounging for food in thr rough lava field on the Kona slope of the island of Hawaii.

At least 32 Amerindian groups in the Amazon basin use terrestrial invertebrates as food. Leaf- and litter-consuming invertebrates provide the more important, underestimated food sources for many Amerindian groups. Further, litter-consuming earthworms are also an important food resource for the Ye'Kuana (also known as Makiritare) in the Alto Orinoco (Amazonas, ...

Cassava storage roots are an important staple food throughout the lowland humid tropics. However, cassava suffers from a poorly understood storage disorder, known as postharvest physiological deterioration (PPD), which constrains its exploitation. In an attempt to broaden the understanding of PPD, nine different cassava cultivars were analyzed for specific compounds ...

The pattern of peltate glandular trichome initiation and ontogeny on expanding peppermint (Mentha x piperita) leaves was defined by surveying the populations of peltate glands in each of seven developmental stages within sampling areas of leaf apical, mid-, and basal zones for both abaxial and adaxial surfaces. It was shown ...

Changes in light or water availability can result in synchronous leaf production, concentrating food availability for herbivores of young leaves to only a few months. To determine the importance of food availability on herbivory, leaf phenology and leaf damage were studied in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico. ...

Bird functions in a forest-canopy food web were evaluated by a large-scale field experiment using 'canopy' enclosures. By controlling the presence of two bird species, great tits (Parus major; foliage gleaner) and nuthatches (Sitta europaea; trunk gleaner), in the enclosures, their effect on predatory insects (ants), herbivorous insects (Lepidoptera larvae) ...

Researchers recognize that society needs accurate and comprehensive estimates of the economic value of rain forests to assess conservation and management options. Valuation of forests can help us to decide whether to implement policies that reconcile the value different groups attach to forests. Here we have measured the value of ...

An ethnopharmacobotanical survey of the medicinal plants and food medicines of the northern part of Lucca Province, north-west Tuscany, central Italy, was carried out. The geographical isolation of this area has permitted the survival of a rich folk phytotherapy involving medicinal herbs and also vegetable resources used by locals as ...

Death of a worker occurred after ingestion of unknown amounts of Nicotiana glauca G leaves. The leaves were cooked after having been mistakenly considered to be spices of a type which grow in Thailand. After ingestion, two Thai workers collapsed, one with asystolia. Resuscitation efforts were successful only for one ...

The coexistence of hurricanes, coral reefs, and rainforests in the Caribbean demonstrates that highly structured ecosystems with great diversity can flourish in spite of recurring exposure to intense destructive energy. Coral reefs develop in response to wave energy and resist hurricanes largely by virtue of their structural strength. Limited fetch ...

In this study apple, blackberry and cucumber crops were exposed to elevated levels of benzene under controlled conditions. Benzene was retained in fruits of all crops, but only accumulated in leaves of blackberries and apples. The retention by cucumber fruits is suggested to result from the longer pathway for the ...

Seedlings of rice (Oryza saliva L.) and Arabidopsis (A. thaliana L.) were cultivated for 68.5 hr in the RICE experiment on board during Space Shuttle STS 95 mission, and changes in their growth and morphology were analyzed. Microgravity in space stimulated elongation growth of both rice coleoptiles and Arabidopsis hypocotyls ...

A reorientation of the sperm head so that it is perpendicular to the sperm tail (i.e., T-shape or thumbtack) is considered an indicator of sperm capacitation in the Australian marsupial the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). This study describes a method of oviduct epithelial cell monolayer and sperm coculture in the ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding with food and water containing chlorocholinechloride (CCC) on the fertility of male mice in a two-generation study. For this purpose the number of testicular spermatozoa and the relative proportion of primary and secondary spermatocytes involved in spermatogenesis were ...

During the transition to flowing the FPF1 gene is expressed in the peripheral zone of apical meristems and in floral meristems of Arabidopsis. Constitutive expression of FPF1 causes early flowering in Arabidopsis under both long-day and short-day conditions and leads to a shortened juvenile phase as measured by the trichome ...

The tubulin-containing axoneme and manchette develop consecutively during mammalian spermiogenesis. The nature of their molecular components and developmental sequence are not completely known. The azh/azh (for abnormal sperm headshape) mouse mutant is an ideal model for analyzing tubulin isotypes and microtubule-associated proteins of the manchette and axoneme in light of ...

Twelve new derivatives of bisamides [piriferinol (5), edulimide (7)], lignans [lariciresinol acetat (10)], triterpenes [4-bis-norcycloartane-type triterpenes (11a, 12a+b, 13a+b)], cyclopenta[b]benzofurans [pannellin (15), pannellin 1-O-acetate (16), 3'-methoxypannellin (17)], and an aromatic butyrolactone [aglalactone (18)] were isolated and identified from lipophilic leaf, stem, and root extracts of Aglaia spp. elaeagnoidea, edulis, grandis, ...

Clear-cut logging of boreal riparian forests in northwestern Ontario, Canada shifted the composition of allochthonous leaf litter from largely coniferous to largely deciduous broadleaf. Because of rapid regrowth after tree harvesting, long-term changes in the composition rather than in the amount of allochthonous litterfall has been suggested as being the ...

The development and occurrence of anorexia, the voluntary reduction in food intake during parasitic infections in animals, is somewhat paradoxical and contrary to conventional wisdom and expectation. We take the view that its occurrence is an evolved, costly behavioural adaptation which serves a function. Five such functional and general hypotheses ...

Mangrove releases the nutrient as litter to the nearshore. Litter is an important source of organic detritus, which supports detrital marine food webs. The importance of mangrove in timber production, nursery and hatchery for fish, crustacea and molluscs and coastal protection from erosion is well appreciated. Mangrove is also important ...

Incubation of greening barley leaves with cesium chloride (CsCl) results in photodynamic leaf lesions within 24 h due to an inactivation of uroporphyrinogen III decarboxylase, an enzyme of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis, and transient accumulation of uroporphyrin (ogen). To examine the mechanism of porphyrinogenesis, time kinetics of the accumulating tetrapyrrole intermediates uroporphyrin ...

Leaf colour, size and toughness were investigated in five plant species important in the diet of Macaca fascicularis in Singapore. Leaf colour and size were examined as potential visual cues for food selection, whereas toughness mirrored fibre content, the inverse of food quality. As leaves matured, they changed colour and ...

A new type of tool use, leaf cushion, by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou, Guinea, was found. We report two cases: one is indirect evidence; the other is direct observation of a chimpanzee who used the tool. Both cases indicate that chimpanzees used a set of leaves as ...

Population surveys of Sulawesi crested black macaques (Macaca nigra) were conducted on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Bacan in 1992-1994 to assess the status of natural populations and determine habitat and anthropogenic factors affecting their population densities. We surveyed five sites for primates, including undisturbed and disturbed habitats. Data ...

A potato explant consisting of a leaf, its axillary bud, and a small segment of stem will develop a tuber in 10-14 days when grown on earth. The tubers develop from the axillary buds and accumulate starch derived from sugars produced through photosynthesis and/or mobilized from leaf tissue. Potato explants ...

Two species of herbivorous land crabs from Christmas Island, Cardisoma hirtipes and Gecarcoidea natalis, overlap in both diet and distribution. This study compared the dietary preferences and digestive capabilities of these two species on a diet of leaf litter to establish the digestive strategies each adopts and the likely degree ...

Fire and insects are natural disturbance agents in many forest ecosystems, often interacting to affect succession, nutrient cycling, and forest species composition. We review literature pertaining to effects of fire-insect interactions on ecological succession, use of prescribed fire for insect pest control, and effects of fire on insect diversity from ...