Hasil untuk "Ecology"

Andrea Petrone, Paulo Borges, Fernando Pereira et al.

The Azores Archipelago is known for its important natural heritage, yet its ecosystems face a “green tsunami” in the form of numerous exotic and invasive species. This influx has wrought serious biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystem services, representing one of the greatest threats to conservation across the islands. Originating from accelerated global trade and travel, these invasions impact human activities, public health and economic sectors alike. The PRIBES project intends to contribute to "The Regional Strategy for the Management of Terrestrial and Freshwater Exotic and Invasive Species in the Azores" (PRIBES-LIFE-IP- Estratégia regional para o controlo e prevenção de espécies exóticas invasoras - no âmbito do projeto LIFE IP AZORES NATURA, LIFE17 IPE/PT/000010). Recently, a plan was delivered to the Azorean government that proposes as key strategy: an unified Azores Invasive Species Task Force, a central coordination unit and island‐level focal points defined clear leadership roles for agencies and stakeholders (Axis 1), while stringent pre‐export controls, quarantine measures and risk analyses blocked new arrivals (Axis 2); parallel early‐detection teams and citizen‐science networks screened ports, airports and nurseries and triggered rapid eradication protocols (Axis 3), guided by a tiered framework of eradication, containment, control and mitigation chosen on feasibility and cost–benefit grounds (Axis 4). Simultaneously, national and international partnerships with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) ISSG (Invasive Species Specialist Group), CABI (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International) and other island regions fostered data exchange (Axis 5), targeted scientific research investigated invasion pathways and management efficacy (Axis 6) and a central observatory consolidated occurrence records and risk assessments (Axis 7). Meanwhile, outreach campaigns, industry training and school programmes rallied public awareness (Axis 8). The AZORES BIOPORTAL (ABP) is a regional e-infrastructure dedicated to the mobilisation, curation and dissemination of biodiversity data from the Azores. It provides centralised data repository for researchers, policy-makers and educators; validated species checklists, including endemic, native and introduced species; integration with national and international biodiversity networks, including PORBIOTA, GBIF and LifeWatch ERIC; and tools for data visualisation and access, supporting conservation, ecological research and environmental management. ABP follows the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and supports open science. Mapping the occurrence of both native (endemic and non endemic) and exotic species is of key importance for the PRIBES project and the ABP intiative.A total of 243 vascular plant taxa were recorded across São Jorge Island, encompassing 89 families. These records correspond to 4,524 individual plant occurrences, including repeated observations of the same species across different sites. As each photographic observation is tied to unique geographic coordinates, all recorded specimens represent new spatial records for the Island’s flora. Amongst the taxa, 53 are considered endemic to the Azores, 131 are introduced, 58 are native and one species (Dracaena draco (L.) L.) is of indeterminate status. These correspond to 1,773 individual occurrences of endemic taxa, 1779 introduced, 970 native and one with indeterminate status. At the family level, 31 families include endemic taxa, 63 include introduced taxa, 34 include native taxa and one family contains a taxon of indeterminate status.The inventory includes several noteworthy Azorean endemics, spanning both ferns and flowering plants. Amongst the ferns, notable records include Crisped Buckler Fern Dryopteris crispifolia Rasbach, Reichst. & Vida, Azorean Buckler Fern Dryopteris azorica (Christ) Alston and Azorean Rockcap Fern Polypodium macaronesicum subsp. azoricum (Vasc.) Rumsey, Carine & Robba. Iconic flowering species and woody endemics recorded during the survey comprise Azorean Cherry Prunus lusitanica subsp. azorica (Mouill.) Franco, Azorean Buckthorn Frangula azorica Grubov, Azorean Eyebright Euphrasia grandiflora Hochst. ex Seub., Azorean Greater-hawkbit Leontodon filii (Hochst. ex Seub.) Paiva & Ormonde and Narrow-lipped Butterfly Orchid Platanthera micrantha (Hochst. ex Seub.) Schltr. Additional endemic taxa include Azorean Dock Rumex azoricus Rech.f., Azorean Holly Ilex azorica Gand., Azorean Umbrella Milkwort Tolpis azorica (Nutt.) P. Silva and the hemiparasitic Azorean Dwarf Mistletoe Arceuthobium azoricum Wiens & Hawksw. Other significant native species recorded include the ferns Wilson's Filmy-fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii Hook., Killarney Fern Vandenboschia speciosa (Willd.) G.Kunkel and Scaly Tongue-fern Elaphoglossum hirtum (Sw.) C.Chr., Cretan Thyme Thymus caespititius Brot., Many-stalked Spike-rush Eleocharis multicaulis (Sm.) Desv. and the more common native Firetree Morella faya (Aiton) Wilbur.Amongst the most problematic surveyed exotic invasive plant species are the Ginger Lily Hedychium gardnerianum Sheppard ex Ker-Gawl., Knotweed Persicaria capitata (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross, Bigleaf Hydrangea Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser., Crofton Weed Ageratina adenophora (Spreng.) R.M.King & H.Rob., Australian Cheesewood Pittosporum undulatum Vent. and the Wandering Jew Tradescantia fluminensis Vell., as well as the American Pokeweed Phytolacca americana L.

Yongchun Huang, Jie Zhang, Pengxiang Zhao et al.

Objective: To investigate the pharmacological action and mechanism of cholic acid derivatives in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) based on the regulation of gene expression. Methods: Genome-wide gene expression profiles of Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) cells treated with or without 4 cholic acid derivatives were detected by gene chip technology. Similarities in upregulated and downregulated genes were analyzed using the Connectivity Map (CMap) database. The affinity between cholic acid derivatives and the potential target was confirmed by molecular docking. The cholic acid derivative-regulated pathway enrichment analysis was performed by the STRING database, and the potential pathway was confirmed by in vitro experiments on MD Anderson-Metastatic Breast-231 (MDA-MB-231) cells. Results: Compared with the reference genome in the CMap database, the gene expression profiles of cholic acid derivatives were similar to those of antipsychotic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-infective drugs. Among them, 4 derivatives were associated with antianxiety drugs, and molecular docking results showed that these compounds may act by binding to the ligand-binding site of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. Moreover, the cytoskeletal pathway is one of the pathways enriched in the derivatives. Of them, ursodeoxycholic acid showed significant inhibitory activity on the cytoskeleton formation of MDA-MB-231 cells. Conclusion: The gene expression detection method, combined with CMap and pathway enrichment analysis, could be used to study the mechanism of the active ingredients of TCM. In addition, our research showed that cholic acid derivatives have a potential affinity for membrane receptors, where they can exert anxiolytic activity by modulating opioid receptor, GABA receptor, and dopamine receptor. Moreover, ursodeoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acid inhibit cytoskeleton formation, probably by acting on membrane proteins to activate the corresponding cytoskeletal pathways.

Straupaite Samanta

Ecological friendliness and ecological consumption are closely linked to an ecological awareness. Ecological consumption is often seen as ethical, sustainable, and responsible consumption, which is linked to environmental preservation, consumer awareness and responsibility, and consumption reduction. A similar view is expressed by various authors, who link green consumption to consumer behavioral factors, i.e., the consumer’s willingness to purchase and consume green products, the ecological benefits of green consumption and ecological concerns. There is a tendency in the scientific literature that there is no consensus on the relationship between attitudes and behavior, and that ecologically aware consumers’ positive attitudes towards ecology may not always be attributable to their intention to purchase or their purchasing behavior. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the attitudes of the ecologically aware are shaped by personal and functional factors, while the attitudes of ecologically aware older adolescents have an impact on purchase intention, which may have a direct influence on consumption behavior.

Pauline Karega, Pauline Karega, David K. Mwaura et al.

We have applied the sensitize-train-hack-community model to build awareness of and capacity in bioinformatics in Kenya. Open science is the practice of science openly and collaboratively, with tools, techniques, and data freely shared to facilitate reuse and collaboration. Open science is not a mandatory curriculum course in schools, whereas bioinformatics is relatively new in some African regions. Open science tools can significantly enhance bioinformatics, leading to increased reproducibility. However, open science and bioinformatics skills, especially blended, are still lacking among students and researchers in resource-constrained regions. We note the need to be aware of the power of open science among the bioinformatics community and a clear strategy to learn bioinformatics and open science skills for use in research. Using the OpenScienceKE framework—Sensitize, Train, Hack, Collaborate/Community—the BOSS (Bioinformatics and Open Science Skills) virtual events built awareness and empowered researchers with the skills and tools in open science and bioinformatics. Sensitization was achieved through a symposium, training through a workshop and train-the-trainer program, hack through mini-projects, community through conferences, and continuous meet-ups. In this paper, we discuss how we applied the framework during the BOSS events and highlight lessons learnt in planning and executing the events and their impact on the outcome of each phase. We evaluate the impact of the events through anonymous surveys. We show that sensitizing and empowering researchers with the skills works best when the participants apply the skills to real-world problems: project-based learning. Furthermore, we have demonstrated how to implement virtual events in resource-constrained settings by providing Internet and equipment support to participants, thus improving accessibility and diversity.

Wei He, Wei He, Jinghui Fang et al.

Bioturbation of infauna plays an important role in the biogeochemical processing of sediments. Infaunal animals build burrows and enlarge the sediment-water interface by their activities and so bioturbation is closely related with burrow structure and animal behavior in the sediment. The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of Perinereis aibuhitensis burrow structures with the factors of months and animal sizes (0-1g, 1-2g, 2-3g, 3-4g, and >4g), which would also provide useful knowledge of infauna behavioral ecology. The dimension and complexity of the burrows of P. aibuhitensis were measured by dissecting sediments. The results showed that there were three burrow shapes of P. aibuhitensis, i.e., I, Y and U shapes. Overall, the order of abundance of each of the three burrow shapes were I > Y > U. Larger P. aibuhitensis are inclined to build Y- and U-shaped burrows in June and August. There were significant differences in the tunnel diameter, burrow depth and burrow length separately between different polychaete size classes (P< 0.001). In February and August, the burrow depths and burrow lengths of P. aibuhitensis individuals with body weights of 1-2 g and 2-3 g were significantly greater than in other months (P< 0.001). P. aibuhitensis individuals of 1-2 g and 3-4 g body weight had significantly more burrow openings and branches in August than in February (P< 0.001). Within the same month, the burrow HEindex increased with increasing polychaete size, and when the sizes were 1-2 g, 2-3 g and 3-4 g, the complexity in August was higher than that in other months. This study suggests that I-shaped burrow dominants the burrow architecture of P. aibuhitensis. The polychaete with large size has a higher HEindex (burrow complexity) indicating a strong bioturbation ability. Y-shaped burrows are more conducive to the survival of P. aibuhitensis in hot weather. In order to adapt to environmental stresses outside, P. aibuhitensis usually builds deeper burrows.

Sean M. Murphy, Richard A. Beausoleil, Haley Stewart et al.

Range-wide status assessments of wildlife are critical to effective species conservation and management. Reliability of these assessments is contingent on having accurate and precise demographic estimates for local populations, but for large carnivores, such estimates are often biased, imprecise, or unavailable. Despite being the most widely distributed large carnivore in the Americas, little is known about the range-wide population status of the puma (Puma concolor). Population density is frequently the primary demographic metric used in puma conservation and management decision-making and policy; therefore, we conducted a comprehensive, range-wide, systematic review of capture-recapture and mark-resight model-based puma density estimates published through 2021 and used Bayesian multilevel models to investigate potential sources of bias and variation. Model-based puma density estimates have been produced in just 8 countries (42% of countries with puma populations) for study areas that cumulatively represent < 1% of extant puma range. Most estimates applied to small study areas (median = 265 km2), protected areas (70%), and represented high quality habitats, such as forests and mixed savannas (89%). Nonspatial models likely overestimated puma density by an average of 63%, and inclusion of dependent individuals (e.g., kittens) in detection histories resulted in density estimates that were, on average, ~33% higher than estimates for independent individuals only, highlighting the need for standardization. After correcting for those potential biases, range-wide mean and median densities were 1.81 and 1.63 independent pumas/100 km2 (95% CI = 1.62, 2.02), respectively, with a 95th percentile of 3.64 independent pumas/100 km2. Although puma densities did not differ between North and South America, between protected and unprotected areas, or among human disturbance severities, support existed for puma density varying at the landscape-scale as a function of multiple geographical, environmental, and climatic characteristics (e.g., biome, precipitation, vegetation quality, and elevation). However, most puma density estimates were imprecise (90% had CV > 0.20) and likely positively biased, primarily because of small study area sizes and issues associated with some sampling and analytical methods; for example, we observed a potential 31–33% overestimation of puma density when spatially unstructured genetic sampling was used. Consequently, the quality of many existing model-based puma density estimates may be inadequate for reliable conservation or management decision-making, and the current number and geographical extent of puma density estimates are likely insufficient to inform useful continental or range-wide status assessments for the species.

Changzhu Jin, Miyeon Kim, Soojin Jang et al.

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is commonly utilized to monitor cetacean species’ distribution, abundance, and behavior. The demand for automated methods to detect and extract cetacean vocalizations from acoustic data has increased in the last few decades. Automatic whistle extraction of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (IPBD) and other whistle-producing delphinids habitating in the coastal areas represents a challenging problem due to the high ambient noise, including ship noise snapping shrimp at the same habitat. The acoustic signal containing snapping shrimp sound was usually excluded during the development of the detection method. A robust tool of bioacoustics for snapping shrimp sound is still lacking. This study trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) designed for semantic segmentation, initially developed for autonomous driving, to extract the whistle contour from spectrogram at a pixel level. A total of 1600 datasets was annotated for training and testing. As a result, the semantic segmentation classified the whistle with an overall mean Precision of 0.96, Accuracy of 0.89, and F-score of 0.86. In particular, the semantic segmentation extracted the whistle even if associated with a rich snapping shrimp sound, which the conventional method is incapable of. The advancement of metrics presented in this paper will enable long-term assessment of the IPBD population and individual or group tracking.

Chris J. Thorogood, Siti‐Munirah Mat Yunoh

Anusha Telagathoti, Maraike Probst, Iuliia Khomenko et al.

In ecology, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have a high bioactive and signaling potential. VOCs are not only metabolic products, but are also relevant in microbial cross talk and plant interaction. Here, we report the first large-scale VOC study of 13 different species of <i>Mortierella sensu lato (s.</i><i>l.</i>) isolated from a range of different alpine environments. Proton Transfer Reaction–Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (PTR–ToF–MS) was applied for a rapid, high-throughput and non-invasive VOC fingerprinting of 72 <i>Mortierella s.</i><i>l.</i> isolates growing under standardized conditions. Overall, we detected 139 mass peaks in the headspaces of all 13 <i>Mortierella s.</i><i>l.</i> species studied here. Thus, <i>Mortierella</i><i>s.</i><i>l.</i> species generally produce a high number of different VOCs. <i>Mortierella</i> species could clearly be discriminated based on their volatilomes, even if only high-concentration mass peaks were considered. The volatilomes were partially phylogenetically conserved. There were no VOCs produced by only one species, but the relative concentrations of VOCs differed between species. From a univariate perspective, we detected mass peaks with distinctively high concentrations in single species. Here, we provide initial evidence that VOCs may provide a competitive advantage and modulate <i>Mortierella s.</i><i>l.</i> species distribution on a global scale.

Adrian C. Newton

Progress is being made in assessing the conservation status of ecosystems, notably through initiatives such as the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) and the NatureServe Conservation Status Assessment (NCS). Both of these approaches consider conservation status in terms of the risk of ecosystem collapse. However, the scientific understanding of ecosystem collapse is still at a relatively early stage. Consequently, concerns have been raised regarding the scientific basis of ecosystem conservation assessments focusing on collapse risk. Here I explore how these concerns might potentially be addressed by considering how the concept is defined, and by briefly reviewing the theoretical basis of ecosystem collapse. I then examine the implications of recent research results for the design of ecosystem collapse risk assessments, and the challenges identified in those assessments conducted to date. Recommendations are made regarding how collapse risk assessments might be strengthened based on current scientific understanding, and how this understanding could be improved by further research. In addition, I examine the potential implications for conservation policy and practice if the scientific basis of collapse risk assessments is not strengthened in this way.

О. І. Рябуха

Структурі ендокринної захворюваності притаманне значне поширення тиреоїдної патології. Недостатня ефективність препаратів неорганічного йоду висуває завдання пошуку нових засобів лікування і профілактики йододефіцитних станів. Ураховуючи прогресуюче постаріння населення економічно розвинених країн, метою дослідження було в умовах дефіциту йоду в раціоні вивчити вплив органічного йоду на особливості поглинання і елімінації радіоактивного йоду із щитоподібних залоз щурів різного віку. Дослідження проведено на нелінійних білих щурах-самцях двох серій досліджень, які впродовж 60 днів перебували на йододефіцитному їзокалорійному крохмально-казеїновому харчовому раціоні: перша серія − дві групи старих щурів вагою 0,400−0,450 кг, друга серія − дві групи статево незрілих щурів вагою 0,060−0,090 кг. У кожній групі було по 5 щурів. Тваринам експериментальних груп кожної серії 10% казеїну в раціоні було замінено на органічний йод, який надходив із йодобілковим препаратом із червоної чорноморської водорості філофори ребристої (Phyllophora nervosa). Функціональний стан щитоподібних залоз вивчали препаратом “Na131І 131 I Injection”. Дозиметрію проводили з використанням газорозрядного лічильника Гейгера-Мюллера СТС-6. Радіоіндикація щитоподібних залоз відбувалася після підшкірного вводення 0,1 мл розчину 131I у такі часові інтервали: 0,5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 48, 72 і 96 годин від моменту введення 131I. Результати дослідження представляли у відсотках від дози введеного радіойоду з поправками на показники природного фону та радіоактивного розпаду препарату. Установлено, що в умовах дефіциту йоду щитоподібні залози старих щурів мають вищі показники поглинання радіойоду і меншу швидкість його виведення, ніж залози статево незрілих щурів, що свідчить про їхній менший йодний резерв і більшу схильність до йододефіцитної патології. Приймання органічного йоду незалежно від віку щурів супроводжується зниженням рівня накопичення радіойоду та прискоренням його виведення із щитоподібних залоз, що вказує на зменшення функціонального напруження, проте залози старих щурів поглинають більше йоду і виводять його повільніше, що свідчить про меншу ефективність коригування дефіциту йоду при збільшенні віку. Знижену функціональну активність щитоподібних залоз старих щурів перспективно використовувати як чутливий маркер змін при поглибленому вивченні тиреотропних та тиреодизрапторних ефектів.

Ricardo Díaz-Delgado, Gábor Ónodi, György Kröel-Dulay et al.

Although many climate research experiments are providing valuable data, long-term measurements are not always affordable. In the last decades, several facilities have secured long-term experiments, but few studies have incorporated spatial and scale effects. Most of them have been implemented in experimental agricultural fields but none for ecological studies. Scale effects can be assessed using remote sensing images from space or airborne platforms. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are contributing to an increased spatial resolution, as well as becoming the intermediate scale between ground measurements and satellite/airborne image data. In this paper we assess the applicability of UAV-borne multispectral images to provide complementary experimental data collected at point scale (field sampling) in a long-term rain manipulation experiment located at the Kiskun Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) site named ExDRain to assess the effects on grassland vegetation. Two multispectral sensors were compared at different scales, the Parrot Sequoia camera on board a UAV and the portable Cropscan spectroradiometer. The NDVI values were used to assess the effect of plastic roofs and a proportional reduction effect was found for Sequoia-derived NDVI values. Acceptable and significant positive relationships were found between both sensors at different scales, being stronger at Cropscan measurement scale. Differences found at plot scale might be due to heterogeneous responses to treatments. Spatial variability analysis pointed out a more homogeneous response for plots submitted to severe and moderate drought. More investigation is needed to address the possible effect of species abundance on NDVI at plot scale contributing to a more consistent representation of ground measurements. The feasibility of carrying out systematic UAV flights coincident or close to ground campaigns will certainly reveal the consistency of the observed spatial patterns in the long run.

N. T. R. J. M. Jonkman, E. D. Kooijman, K. Kalbitz et al.

<p>In Kisumu up to 60&thinsp;% of the inhabitants practice some form of urban agriculture, with just under 50&thinsp;% of the workers being female. On average, women spend more hours a day in the gardens than men. Therefore women's knowledge is pivotal for effective agricultural management. To enhance and better use women's knowledge, gender-related sociocultural obstacles linked to land ownership, investment, and farm inputs have to be taken into account. We aimed to determine how the agricultural knowledge and motivations of female farmers working in the Nyalenda urban gardens in Kisumu (Kenya) influence the soil nutrient status as reflected by the total soil C and N; available soil N and P; and exchangeable soil Na, K, Mg, and Ca. Two prevailing practices were compared to determine how the agricultural management practice influences soil nutrient content: (1) applying manure only and (2) applying manure while intercropping with cowpeas. Interviews and focus group discussions were held to explore the agricultural knowledge and motivations of the women working in Nyalenda. Soil analysis showed that the soil in Nyalenda was rich in nutrients overall but that the intercropped fields contained significantly lower total soil nutrients than fields where only manure was applied. While theoretically intercropping with a legume such as cowpeas should increase soil N content, due to socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, intercropping was applied in a way that did not increase soil nutrient contents; rather it diversified revenue. The knowledge of the female farmers was found to be limited to practical and sensory knowledge. This shows that when aiming to improve soil nutrient status and agricultural yields through agricultural training, socioeconomic conditions, cultural context, and gendered knowledge differentiation have to be acknowledged.</p>

Hung-Chi Yang, Cheng-Yu Hung, Yi-Yun Pan et al.

Metabolomic is an emerging field of system biology. Lipidomic, a branch of metabolomic, aims to characterize lipophilic metabolites in biological systems. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a genetically tractable and versatile animal model for novel discovery of lipid metabolism. In addition, C. elegans embryo is simple and homogeneous. Here, we demonstrate detailed procedures of C. elegans culture, embryo isolation, lipid extraction and metabolomic data analysis.

Sander Meijerink, Dave Huitema

One of the prescriptions for adaptive comanagement of social-ecological systems is to follow a bioregional approach. In water resources management, experience has been gained with a bioregional approach by the foundation of river basin organizations (RBOs). Here, we summarize the results of a research project involving 27 colleagues who have undertaken an analysis of the global discussion on RBOs and the foundation of RBOs in Canada, USA, Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, South Africa, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Thailand, and Australia. Drawing on Ostrom's institutional analysis and development framework, we first present a fine-grained analysis of the institutional architecture of these RBOs, which enables us to distinguish between autonomous, coordinating, partnership, and agency type RBOs. Second, we unravel the main controversies over this architecture by focusing on the key actors involved in either promoting or hindering RBO formation, globally and at the national level. Third, we summarize how the performance of RBOs can be evaluated in terms of coordination, accountability, legitimacy, and environmental effectiveness. Finally, we discuss the relationship between institutional design and performance. The main findings are: (1) the foundation of RBOs is not a neutral process but rather a highly political one, (2) the foundation of RBOs creates complex accountability relationships, and (3) institutional interplay, the capacity to generate financial resources, and a minimum degree of institutional stability are crucial to the successes of RBOs in realizing coordination and environmental effectiveness.

Dilson Batista Ferreira, Ricardo de Sousa Moretti

Este trabalho visa demonstrar a importância da luz natural para a eficiência das edificações escolares através de simulações computacionais de estratégias captação de luz natural. Visa demonstrar em rápido exercício o desperdício, econômico e energético e apresentar propostas para reduzir o consumo da energia elétrica em uma escola pública. Pretende demonstrar como a luz natural poderá aumentar a eficiência das tarefas visuais exercidas nestes espaços, utilizando-se de elementos arquitetônicos utilizados na região tropical brasileira. Esta potencialidade climática tem sido pouco explorada principalmente, em regiões tropicais quentes - úmidas, como é o caso da cidade de Maceió–AL, foco deste trabalho.

Stajić Ljubomir

Today, it is clear that environmental accidents and processes represent, not only potential but also real causes of crises on which states must be aware of. The formation of the ecological crisis is growing exponentially, along with their consequences. The problem with the environmental crisisis lies not in the fact that they exist, but how we treat them. Exploring the causes of the crisis requires an interdisciplinary approach. At the micro level, this approach focuses on the role of individuals. At the middle level of research, focus is on organizational factors and processes that may play important role in causing the crisis. Macro level of approach lists possible causes that seem to make the crisis more or less inevitable and unavoidable features of the modern world. The crisis is also characterized by negative effects (perturbations, deregulation, conflict, confused action, intense stress, which leads to reckless actions) and positive effects (mobilization, solidarity, cooperation, improved adaptation to the environment, experiential learning). Furthermore, ecological crisis represents an emergency situation whose beginning and duration are not predetermined. Anti-crisis measures have failed mainly because of the numerous factors influencing on one hand, on a complexity of the crisis and, on the other hand, because of its continuously changing factors throughout the duration of the crisis. Managing ecological crisis occurs, therefore, as a permanently professional inventive and complicated process which aims to prevent the escalation of the crisis, as well as the elimination of the expected and actual negative consequences of the crisis. Mismanagement of such crisis drains system resources, interferes with its function and organization, impacts on the financial opportunities while achieving positive goals. Extreme mismanagement can lead to the entropy of the system itself. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate basic facts of managing crises process due to environmental accidents in order to either prevent or reduce the consequences they carry with them.

K. Jonavičienė, B. Studer, T. Asp et al.

In order to characterize the response of selected grasses to water stress, relative water content (RWC) in leaves and quantum efficiency of photosystem 2 (Fv/Fm) were measured in Phleum pratense L., P. bertolonii DC. and P. phleoides H. Karst. during 6 d of water stress. The results indicated differential responses to water stress among the three Phleum species with higher water deficit sensitivity of P. pratense and P. bertolonii than that of P. phleoides. The cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) technique was applied to identify differentially expressed genes responding to water stress in P. pratense. Cloned and sequenced differentially expressed fragments (DEFs) were used for primer design in order to identify orthologous genes in Lolium perenne L. Twelve genes orthologous to P. pratense DEFs were mapped in the L. perenne mapping population VrnA based on a high resolution melting curve analysis (HRM). This study provides genomic information about 29 differentially expressed genes after water stress in P. pratense and reports on the identification and mapping of twelve orthologs in L. perenne.

B. Vykhor, B. Prots

The character and dynamics of distribution of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed (Heracleum sos­nowskyi Manden.) in the Transcarpathia (Ukraine) were estimated. The species populations penetrated into 20% of total number of mapping squares of studied area. The dynamics tendency can be divided into two invasion stages – initial (1973–1999) and exponential (2000 – till today). The distribution analysis according to floristic divisions and plant belts is presented. The ecological and elevation preferences of the species were characterized. Most frequently H. sosnowskyi occurs within limits of 150–399 м a.s.l. in belts of lowland and lower mountain oak forests. The Transcarpathian Lowland floristic region is the most invaded area, while Gorgany and Chornogora are the at least invaded. The impact of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed on the environment was assessed. The species belongs to a group of invasive species with high impact on the environment, and high distribution potential. It is very hard to control, and the control needs high resources and efforts. The management methods to suppress the invasion of the species are discussed.