Long-term multidisciplinary research has significantly advanced our understanding of the Krkonoše Mts. arctic-alpine tundra. Three tundra zones (cryo-eolian, cryo-vegetated and niveo-glaciated) are recognized and can be found on the highest summits, etchplains of the western and eastern parts of the mountains and in glacial cirques on both sides of the state border. The arcticalpine tundra of the Krkonoše Mts. is one of the major centres of geobiodiversity in the context of Central European mountains. and Jan Štursa.
Flowers of dicotyledonous plants host communities of arthropod species. We studied the community associated with dandelion (Taraxacum section Ruderalia), a complex of apomictic micro-species abundant in central Europe. Identification of microspecies in the field was impracticable. These plants produce an abundance of flowers that host arthropod communities that are not yet fully documented. We investigated species occurrence, its diurnal and seasonal variation and some of the factors that determine the abundance of the dominant species. Insect and spiders were collected from 2010 to 2012 at a locality in Prague. Whole capitula were harvested at weekly intervals and resident arthropods were identified. Diurnal variation in insect presence and the effect of pollen and microclimate on some of the species were also examined. The insect community (> 200 species) consisted mainly of species of Hymenoptera (86 spp.), Coleoptera (56 spp.), Diptera (46 spp.) and Heteroptera (23 spp.). The most abundant were Thysanoptera (2 spp.). Pollen eaters/collectors and nectar feeders dominated over predators and occasional visitors. From April to mid-August, the insect community was dominated by Coleoptera, and later by Diptera and Hymenoptera. Except for Meligethes spp. and species breeding in the capitula, the insects occupied flowers during the daytime when the flowers were open (10-12 h in spring and only 2-4 h in late summer). The presence of Meligethes spp. in particular flowers was associated with the presence of pollen; the occurrence of Byturus ochraceus with pollen and flower temperature. Although pollination is not necessary, dandelion plants produce both nectar and pollen. The community of arthropods that visit dandelion flowers is rich despite their being ephemeral.The composition of local faunas of flower visitors, presence of floral rewards and flower microclimate are important factors determining the composition of the flower community., Alois Honěk, Zdenka Martinková, Jiří Skuhrovec, Miroslav Barták, Jan Bezděk, Petr Bogusch, Jiří Hadrava, Jiří Hájek, Petr Janšta, Josef Jelínek, Jan Kirschner, Vítězslav Kubáň, Stano Pekár, Pavel Průdek, Pavel Štys, Jan Šumpich., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Low temperature has a negative impact on plant cells and results in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In order to study the role of ascorbate under chilling stress, the response of an ascorbate-deficient Arabidopsis thaliana mutant vtc2-1 to low temperature (2°C) was investigated. After chilling stress, vtc2-1 mutants exhibited oxidative damage. An increase in the H2O2 generation and the production of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and a decrease in chlorophyll content, the maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) and oxidizable P700 were also noted. The ratio of ascorbate/dehydroascorbate and reduced glutathione/oxidzed glutathione in the vtc2-1 mutants were reduced, compared with the wild type (WT) plants. The activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and soluble antioxidants were lower in the vtc2-1 mutants than those in WT plants. These results suggested that the ascorbate-deficient mutant vtc2-1 was more sensitive to chilling treatment than WT plants. The low temperature-induced oxidative stress was the major cause of the decrease of PSII and PSI function in the vtc2-1 mutants. Ascorbate plays a critical role of defense without which the rest of the ROS defense network is unable to react effectively., L. Y. Wang ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Tento článek přibližuje čtenáři svět prvních portugalských mořeplavců a jejich setkání s exotickou faunou Asie v 16. století. Důraz klade především na nosorožce a slona, ale neopomíjí ani další živočichy a věnuje se i původu některých drahocenných orientálních látek živočišného původu, pro Evropany dlouho neznámému. Text bohatě využívá citací z pramenů., This article presents the world of the first Portuguese navigators and their encounters with exotic Asian fauna in the 16th century. It primarily highlights the rhinoceros and elephants, but does not omit other animals. It also focuses on the sources of some valuable oriental substances of animal origin, which was unknown to Europeans for a long time., and Karel Staněk.
Light trapping is the most widely used tool for determining the diversity of nocturnal Lepidoptera, but UV LEDs have yet to be used as light sources for the large-scale monitoring of Lepidoptera. We assessed the efficiency of this novel light source for sampling moths using a Heath type moth equipped with a strip of 150 high brightness UV LEDs (emission peak 398 nm, ~ 15 W) powered by a 12 V battery. We compared the number of individuals, the number of species and the Geometridae / Noctuidae ratio recorded for the samples collected using UV LED traps with those collected in two monitoring programs carried out in the same geographic region using two different light sources: a 200 W incandescent lamp (Rothamsted trap) and a 160 W mercury vapour lamp (manual catch). The total catch consisted of 61,120 individuals belonging to 699 species. The species richness rarefaction curves revealed that the Rothamsted trap collected fewer species and individuals than UV LED traps. Furthermore, the median numbers of species and individuals caught by UV LED traps fell within the range of those caught by mercury vapour lamp traps. In addition, the community composition recorded using incandescent lamps and UV LEDs was similar. The data obtained using UV LED traps, in absolute terms and in comparison with the other light sources and different sampling methods, clearly reveal that this light source is suitable for sampling macro-moth communities. For field work UV LEDs have many advantages, as they are resistant to mechanical damage, easily protected from heavy rain and energy efficient., Marco Infusino, Gunnar Brehm, Carlo Di Marco, Stefano Scalercio., and Obsahuje bibliografii
a1_This study evaluated the relationship between photosynthetic carbon accumulation and symbiotic nitrogen nutrition in young fully expanded leaves of 30 nodulated cowpea genotypes grown in the field at Manga, Ghana, in 2005 and 2006. Estimates of fixed-N in photosynthetic leaves revealed greater symbiotic N in genotypes with higher photosynthetic rates and increased leaf transpiration rate/efficiency. There was also greater C accumulation in genotypes with higher symbiotic N and/or total N. Additionally, genotypes with high contents of C per unit of leaf total N exhibited greater C per unit of leaf N-fixed. The C/N and C/Rubisco-N ratios were generally similar in their magnitude when compared to the C/N-fixed ratio due possibly to the fact that Rubisco accounts for a high proportion of photosynthetic leaf N, irrespective of whether the enzyme was formed from soil N or symbiotic N. Cowpea genotypes that relied heavily on soil N for their N nutrition exhibited much higher C/N-fixed ratios, while conversely those that depended more on symbiosis for meeting their N demands showed markedly lower C/N-fixed values. For example, genotypes Omondaw, Bensogla, IT93K-2045-29, and Sanzie, which respectively derived 83.9, 83.1, 82.9, and 76.3% N from fixation, recorded lower C/N-fixed ratios of 10.7, 12.2, 12.1, and 13.0 mg mg-1 in that order in 2005. In contrast, genotypes Botswana White, IT94D-437-1, TVu1509, and Apagbaala, which obtained 14.8, 15.0, 26.4, and 26.0% of their N nutrition from fixation, showed high C/N-fixed values of 84.0, 69.0, 35.2, and 40.6 mg.mg-1, respectively, in 2005., a2_This clearly indicates that genotypes that obtained less N from symbiosis and more N from soil revealed very high C/N-fixed values, an argument that was reinforced by the negative correlations obtained between the three C/N ratios (i.e. C/N, C/Rubisco-N, and C/N-fixed) and leaf N concentration, percentage nitrogen derived from fixation, total N content, amount of N-fixed, and Rubisco N. These data suggest a direct link between photosynthetic C accumulation and symbiotic N assimilation in leaves of nodulated cowpea, and where genotypes derived a large proportion of their N from fixation, photosynthetic C yield substantially increased., A. K. Belane, F. D. Dakora., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Previous evidence has demonstrated that vertical leaves of Styrax camporum, a woody shrub from the Brazilian savanna, have a higher net photosynthetic rate (PN) compared with horizontal leaves, and that it is detected only if gas exchange is measured with light interception by both leaf surfaces. In the present study, leaf temperature (T leaf), gas exchange and chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence with light interception on adaxial and also on abaxial surfaces of vertical and horizontal mature fully-expanded leaves subjected to water deficit (WD) were measured. Similar
gas-exchange and fluorescence values were found when the leaves were measured with light interception on the respective surfaces of horizontal and vertical leaves. WD reduced N values measured with light interception on leaf surfaces of both leaf types, but the effective quantum yield of PSII (ΦPSII) and the apparent electron transport rate (ETR) were reduced only when the leaves were measured with light interception on the adaxial surface. WD did not decrease the maximum quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm) or increase T leaf, even at the peak of WD stress. Vertical leaf orientation in S. camporum is not related to leaf heat avoidance. In addition, the similar P N values and the lack of higher values of ΦPSII and ETR in vertical compared with horizontal leaves measured with light interception by each of the leaf surfaces suggests that the vertical leaf position is not related to photoprotection in this species, even when subjected to drought conditions. The exclusion of this photoprotective role could raise the alternative hypothesis that diverse leaf angles sustain whole plant light interception efficiency increased in this species., A. M. Feistler, G. Habermann., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of silicon in alleviating cadmium stress in maize plants grown in a nutrient solution and to evaluate the potential of the spectral emission parameters and the ratio of red fluorescence (Fr) to far-red fluorescence (Ffr) in assessing the beneficial effects of Si. An experiment was carried out using a nutrient solution with a toxic dose of Cd and six doses of Si; biomass, Cd, Si, and photosynthetic pigments of the plants were measured. Chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence analysis demonstrated that Si alleviated Cd toxicity in plants. Chl fluorescence measurements were sensitive in detecting such effects even when significant changes in biomass production and concentrations of photosynthetic pigments were not observed. The spectral emission and the Fr/Ffr ratio were sensitive to the effects of Si. Silicon caused a reduction in the translocation of Cd to the shoots of maize plants., A. J. Silva, C. W. A. Nascimento, A. S. Gouveia-Neto., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Based on the examination and quantitative comparison of the approaches used to assess the energy partitioning in photosystem II, the unified method was proposed to calculate the contribution of the components of nonphotochemical quenching. and D. Kornyeyev, C. R. Guadagno, N. D’Ambrosio.