1_Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is one of the economically more important trees in the north of Portugal. Spiders, as generalist predators, are potential controlling agents of pests, yet the composition of the community of spiders associated with this crop is only poorly known. The objective of this study was to determine the spider communities in the canopies of chestnut trees subject to three different soil management practices in northeastern Portugal. Three chestnut groves each subject to a different agricultural practice (grazed, tilled or untilled) were studied in 2008 and 2009. The Araneae communities were sampled by beating the branches and the individuals collected were identified to family and species when possible. To investigate the structure of the spider community in each grove the abundance and family richness of spiders were calculated and compared between managements. In total, 4172 spiders were collected and, in both years, the three most abundant families were Araneidae, Philodromidae and Linyphiidae. In 2008, there was a greater abundance of spiders in the grazed, followed by the tilled and untilled groves, but no significant differences among groves. However, in 2009 there was a greater abundance of spiders in the tilled grove, followed by grazed and untilled groves and the differences between the untilled and the other two groves were significant. Araniella, Oxyopes and Anyphaena were the most abundant genera in the three groves. This study showed that soil management may influence the diversity of spiders, but the effects were weak and not consistent between years., 2_The reduction or absence of a suitable habitat for spiders under the trees in the tilled treatment might have resulted in the spiders migrating up into the canopy. However, based on the weak effects on spider abundance recorded and its potentially adverse effects on soils, tillage is not recommended for managing the incidence of pests in chestnut groves., Jacinto Benhadi-Marin ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
In this study we evaluate how variations in taxonomic composition and physical structure of macrophyte stands affect plant-dwelling chironomid assemblages in highly variable macrophyte assemblages in two densely vegetated backwaters. By using multivariate explanatory techniques we found that similar vegetation composition did not unequivocally relate to similar chironomid assemblages, moreover the diversity of macrophyte stands did not correlate with the taxonomic diversity of chironomid assemblages in the backwaters investigated. Taxonomic composition and structural characteristics of the vegetation had little influence on the taxonomic or functional (i.e. feeding groups) composition of chironomid assemblages inhabiting them. Similarly, there are only weak relationships between the distribution of certain chironomid species or functional feeding groups and the environmental variables investigated. In general, the structure of the vegetation was more closely associated with the distribution of dominant chironomid taxa than compositional variables (i.e. density of specific macrophyte taxa). In summary, the structure of aquatic vegetation (i.e. position, size of a stand of vegetation, total plant density) and characteristics of the environment where it develops may be more important in shaping plant-dwelling chironomid assemblages than the taxonomic composition of the vegetation., Mónika Tóth ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Species assembly in ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities in local microhabitats was studied in a forest. The following questions were addressed: are there important filters that sort the species in the assemblages? If so, what is the specific nature of these filters? In order to address these questions rarefaction analysis was used to determine whether ground beetle species are distributed non-randomly. Next, the nature of filters was determined by analyzing (1) the community matrix and searching for the consequences of competitive exclusion and (2) species-environmental relations. Rarefaction analysis revealed that the species composition is filtered: species richness was less than expected and there were fewer than expected congeneric species coexisting at high beetle population densities. However, community matrix and body size analyses did not detect significant competition among the beetle species and the matrix was significantly nested. Species-environmental analyses indicated that the ground beetle assembly was strongly linked to ground vegetation. It is concluded that spatial distribution of ground beetles across local communities in this forest habitat is determined more by local environmental conditions than competition, and ground beetles do not interact strongly among themselves so that competitive effects do not play an important role in their distribution except at high beetle population densities. and Sonomi Shibuya, Kohei Kubota, Masahiko Ohsawa, Zaal Kikvidze.
The population structures of different species of Calliphoridae flies are highly diverse at different locations. We investigated populations of the Eastern European L. sericata using chaetotaxy and eight microsatellite loci. Our results strongly indicate that a panmictic population of L. sericata exists in the area studied, possibly with a high rate of intra-population gene flow. Analysis of chaetotaxy also supports the panmictic population hypothesis., Anna V. Diakova, Dmitry M. Schepetov, Nadezhda Y. Oyun, Anatole I. Shatalkin, Tatiana V. Galinskaya., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and seropositivity against Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). We selected 94 patients with schizophrenia and investigated the seropositivity rate for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies by ELISA. Clinical parameters of schizophrenic patients such as illness type and status, clinical course, awareness of the illness and need for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were compared with their serological status. Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 43 (46%) of schizophrenic patients. Chronic patients had a rate of 34 (72%) seropositivity, whereas 9 (22%) of the patients with partial remission showed evidence of latent toxoplasmosis. Of continuous patients, 35 (81%) were found to be seropositive and this rate was significantly more than in the other groups. The rate of latent toxoplasmosis was detected significantly higher in patients who lack awareness of schizophrenia (36, i.e. 72%) than the patients who were aware of their illnesses (7, i.e. 16%). Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 38 (70%) of ECT performed patients while this percentage was 13% in the ones who had never been treated with ECT. This difference was also statistically significant. We showed that Toxoplasma-infected subjects had 15× higher probability of having continuous course of disease than Toxoplasma-free subjects. Our results put forth the possibility of latent toxoplasmosis to have a negative impact on the course of schizophrenia and treatment response of schizophrenic patients., Tuncay Çelik, Şükrü Kartalci, Özgür Aytaş, Gülay Aral Akarsu, Harika Gözükara, Süheyla Ünal., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The ascarid nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) may infect humans resulting in toxocariasis. A prior study associated species of Toxocara Stiles, 1905 with cognitive deficits in children. To determine if a similar association between toxocariasis and cognition exists in adults, we analysed a large dataset from the United States' Center for Disease Control's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We used linear-regression and multivariate models to examine the association between toxocariasis as assessed by the presence of anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies and three measures of cognitive function - simple reaction time (SRT), symbol-digit substitution (SDS) and serial-digit learning (SDL) in 4 279 adults aged 21 to 59 years. Toxocara seroprevalence did not vary with age or blood-lead concentration but did vary with gender, ethnicity, educational attainment and poverty-to-income ratio. Controlling for gender, age, blood-lead concentration, educational attainment, ethnic background and the poverty-to-income ratio, we found that toxocariasis predicted worse performance on the SDS but not on the SRT or the SDL. Moreover, there were significant interactions between toxocariasis and age, gender and educational attainment. In conclusion, toxocariasis appears to be associated with decreased cognitive function. Interactions between toxocariasis and gender, age and educational attainment further suggest that certain groups may be more susceptible than others to the cognitive dysfunction associated with toxocariasis in adults., Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Andrew Berrett, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Moths are frequently used as indicators of biodiversity or habitat quality. Light traps are the most effective and widely used method for gathering data on moth communities. Knowing the distance from which moths are drawn to a light trap is therefore essential for the ecological interpretation of such data. Two community-wide mark-release-recapture experiments were carried out in forest habitats in central Europe in order to investigate whether the percentage of marked moths recaptured at weak artificial light sources (2 × 15 W UV-light tubes) is dependent on the distance they were released from the light source. Altogether 2,331 moths belonging to 167 species were caught at light traps and released at distances of 2–100 m. Of these moths 313 returned to the light trap within 5 min of release. Percentage recapture was generally low (gross rate 13.4%) and strongly decreased with increase in the distance at which they were released. Percentage recapture was not significantly affected by ambient temperature or the sex of the moths. Only for the Geometroidea was the percentage recaptured slightly greater for the larger species. We found no significant differences between moth super-families with regard to the distance dependence of their attraction to light. Our data confirm that the radius of attraction of low powered light traps for moths is very small often even below 10 m. Thus, moths are good indicators of habitat quality and fragmentation as they are rarely attracted from distant habitats to such light traps., Christine Truxa, Konrad Fiedler., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is an attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis vaccine. We performed a series of co-infection experiments with BCG-Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi Landau, 1965 AS using C57BL/6 mice to analyse whether BCG can affect the development of protective immunity to infection with Plasmodium spp. and the mechanism of this protection. We divided mice into four groups: BCG-inoculation 4 weeks prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection (B-4w-Pc); simultaneous BCG-inoculation and P. c. chabaudi AS infection (Pc+B); BCG-inoculation 3 days post P. c. chabaudi AS (Pc-3-B) infection; and mono-P. c. chabaudi AS infection as control (Pc). The parasitemia level in the B-4w-Pc group was noticeably higher than control group at 6-19 days post infection (dpi). Compared with the control group, the proportion of CD4+CD69+ T cells was significantly reduced 5, 8 and 12 dpi, but the proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs was significantly increased in the B-4w-Pc group on 5 and 8 dpi. The B-4w-Pc group also demonstrated reduced levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α on 5 and 8 dpi and significantly elevated level of IL-10 on 12 dpi. There were significantly fewer mDCs (CD11c+CD11b+) and pDCs (CD11c+B220+) in the B-4w-Pc group than the control group at all the time points post infection and the expression of MHC II was noticeably reduced on day 8 pi. Our findings confirmed that BCG inoculation prior to Plasmodium infection resulted in excessive activation and proliferation of Tregs and upregulation of anti-inflammatory mediators, which inhibited establishment of a Th1-dominant immune response during the early stages of Plasmodium infection by inhibiting dendritive cells response. BCG inoculation prior to P. c. chabaudi AS infection may contribute to overgrowth of parasites as well as mortality in mice., Dong-Hua Cao, Ji-Chun Wang, Jun Liu, Yun-Ting Du, Li-Wang Cui, Ya-Ming Cao., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Insights can be gained by analysing the feeding decisions of animals in terms of nutrient demands at a species or community level. Using carbohydrate and protein food baits, resource use and food preferences of Formica (Serviformica) lemani were determined at nine locations situated at different altitudes (1875 to 2400 m a.s.l.) in the alpine grassland belt above the tree line in Austria and northern Italy. F. lemani is the most common species of ant in this habitat. Sucrose baits placed around ant colonies were visited by significantly (3.9 times) more workers than protein baits. This indicates that sources of sugar (carbohydrate) are in short supply in the alpine zone, whereas availability of prey items appears to be less constraining. Overall, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of visits to baits from low (31.9% baits attracting ants at least once) to high altitudes (16.7%). Foraging ants never visited 51.5% of the baits exposed for periods of 75 min. This indicates that with increasing altitude competition for food among ant colonies becomes less intense in alpine grassland ant communities., Elia Guariento, Jan Martini, Konrad Fiedler., and Obsahuje bibliografii