We are now beginning to understand the role of intraspecific diversity on fundamental ecological phenomena. There exists a paucity of knowledge, however, regarding how intraspecific, or genetic diversity, may covary with other important factors such as propagule pressure. A combination of theoretical modelling and experimentation was used to explore the way propagule pressure and genetic richne...

Extracts of 13 Brazilian medicinal plants were screened for their antimicrobial activity against bacteria and yeasts. Of these, 10 plant extracts showed varied levels of antibacterial activity. Piper regnellii presented a good activity against Staphylococus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, a moderate activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and a weak activity against Escherichia coli. Punica granatum ...

The effect of traffic on the content of lead and cadmium in grass morphological parts-leaves, shoots, and inflorescences-was studied. The samples were taken on a part of the European route E30 (Siedlce by road). The following plants were tested: Dactylis glomerata, Arrhenatherum elatius, and Alopecurus pratensis. During the flowering of grasses, the plant material was collected at distances of ...

The efficiency of wet explosion applied as modified dilute acid pretreatment at previously identified reference conditions (150°C, 0.3% H(2)SO(4), 15 min) was investigated on lucerne, ryegrass, fescue grass, cocksfoot grass, rye fescue, forage grass, and wheat straw in order to identify their potential as feedstock for cellulosic bioethanol production. After pretreatment, cellulose recovery was...

The objective of this study was to determine the specific methane yields of four grass species (cocksfoot, tall fescue, reed canary grass and timothy) cultivated under boreal conditions as well as how harvesting time and year of cultivation affects the specific methane yields per ha. The specific methane yields of all grasses and all harvests varied from 253 to 394 Nl CH4/kg volatile solids (VS...

The effects of seed source and seed size on germination and field performance were studied in five grasses. Greater seed weights were associated with better germination in Yorkshire fog, cocksfoot and timothy but not significantly so for Chewings fescue and browntop. In cocksfoot, Chewings fescue and timothy, higher seed weights were found in samples collected at altitudes above those generally...

The bacterial endophytic communities of four plants growing abundantly in soils highly contaminated by hydrocarbons were analyzed through culturable and culture-independent means. Given their tolerance to the high levels of petroleum contamination at our study site, we sought evidence that Achillea millefolium, Solidago canadensis, Trifolium aureum, and Dactylis glomerata support high levels of...

The leaves of Mikania laevigata and Mikania glomerata are used in Brazil to treat respiratory affections, being kaurane-type diterpenes and coumarin considered as the bioactive compounds. The present study reports an investigation on the HPLC-DAD profiles and contents of coumarin (1), trans-o-coumaric (2), kaurenoic (3), benzoylgrandifloric (4) and cinnamoylgrandifloric (5) acids in dried leave...

Datisca glomerata is an androdioecious plant species containing male and hermaphroditic individuals. Molecular markers and crossing data suggest that, in both D. glomerata and its dioecious sister species D. cannabina, sex is determined by a single nuclear locus, at which maleness is dominant. Supporting this conclusion, an amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) is heterozygous in males ...