Mountain forests in National park Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic) were affected by bark beetle attack and windthrows in 2004-2008, followed by an extensive tree dieback. We evaluated changes in the biochemistry of the uppermost soil horizons with the emphasis on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in a near-natural spruce (Picea abies) mountain forest after the forest dieback, and compared it ...

Hydraulic impairment due to xylem embolism and carbon starvation are the two proposed mechanisms explaining drought-induced forest dieback and tree death. Here, we evaluate the relative role played by these two mechanisms in the long-term by quantifying wood-anatomical traits (tracheid size and area of parenchyma rays) and estimating the intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) from carbon isotopi...

Background Currently, antimalarial drug resistance poses a serious challenge. This stresses the need for newer antimalarial compounds. Carica papaya is used traditionally and showed in vitro antimalarial activity. This study attempted to evaluate in vivo antimalarial activity of C. papaya in mice. Methods In vivo antimalarial activity of solvent fractions of the plant was carried out against ...

Hyperlipidemia plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the main cause of death in the world. In this study, the lipid-lowering effect of Carica papaya leaf in rats fed with a high cholesterol diet was evaluated. Daily doses of C. papaya extract 0, 31, 62 or 125 mg/kg body weight were orally administered in 300 μl polyethylene glycol to hypercholesterolemic rats; it was al...

Carica papaya (papaya) seed germinate readily fresh from the fruit, but desiccation induces a dormant state. Dormancy can be released by exposure of the hydrated seed to a pulse of elevated temperature, typical of that encountered in its tropical habitat. Carica papaya is one of only a few species known to germinate in response to heat shock (HS) and we know little of the mechanisms that contro...

BACKGROUND Ripening affects the quality and nutritional contents of fleshy fruits and is a crucial process of fruit development. Although several studies have suggested that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2s or UBC enzymes) are involved in the regulation of fruit ripening, little is known about the function of E2s in papaya (Carica papaya). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In the present study,...

This paper reviews and discusses the literature pertaining to a proposed ecological study of a catastrophic dying of native Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) forest which occurred on windward East Maui in the Hawaiian Islands during the first decade of this century. This dieback event was documented by several workers, most notably H.L. Lyon, and became known as the Maui Forest Trouble. The geology, cli...

MicroRNAs are implicated in the response to biotic stresses. Papaya meleira virus (PMeV) is the causal agent of sticky disease, a commercially important pathology in papaya for which there are currently no resistant varieties. PMeV has a number of unusual features, such as residence in the laticifers of infected plants, and the response of the papaya to PMeV infection is not well understood. Th...

An important element in developing a management strategy for a new pest is the study of its seasonal dynamics and within-plant distribution. Here, we studied the mite Calacarus flagelliseta Fletchmann, De Moraes & Barbosa on papaya, Papaya carica L. (Caricaceae), in Hawaii to quantify 1) patterns of seasonal abundance, 2) its distribution across different vertical strata of the papaya canopy, a...

The papaya plant Carica papaya (family: Caricaceae), locally known as Papita, is cultivated commonly in different parts of Sindh-Pakistan specially in Karachi. It was reported hermaphrodite. Recently it has been reported to be an important plant, due to having X and Y chromosomes. As it has been already reported that the papaya sex chromosomes have virtually all of the features that the human s...