Nutrient versus seed bank depletion approaches to controlling exotic annuals in threatened Box Gum woodlands

Seed dispersal of desert annuals.

We quantified seed dispersal in a guild of Sonoran Desert winter desert annuals at a protected natural field site in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Seed production was suppressed under shrub canopies, in the open areas between shrubs, or both by applying an herbicide prior to seed set in large, randomly assigned removal plots (10-30 m diameter). Seedlings were censused along transects crossing the repro...

Thinking out of the box--new approaches to controlling GVHD.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major limitation of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Despite major advances in the understanding of GVHD pathogenesis, standard GVHD prophylaxis regimens continue to be based on the combination of a calcineurin inhibitor with an antimetabolite, while first line treatments still rely on high-dose corticosteroids. Further, no sec...

Exotic MEMORIES , diverse approaches

Kew Millennium Seed Bank Appeal

Few first-rate biologists start their careers with only one ‘A-level’ (High School qualification) and a job in a copper wire factory. Fewer still go on to command a research budget of £250 million a year. But then Mike Dexter, who takes over this summer as director of the UK’s Wellcome Trust, the world’s biggest medical research charity, has always done things his own way. Dexter joins the Trus...

Seed bank dynamics in five Panamanian forests

Many tropical pioneer species depend on the presence of highseeddensities inthesoil forsuccessful recruitment following canopy disturbance (Cheke et al. 1979, Dalling & Hubbell 2002, Guevara Sada & Gómez Pompa 1972, Whitmore 1983). However determinants of variation in the composition and abundance of soil seed banks remain poorly understood. Seed bank densities can be affected by rates of seed ...