Lichens are a key component of forest biodiversity. However, a comprehensive study analyzing lichen species richness in relation to several management types, extending over different regions and forest stages and including information on site conditions is missing for temperate European forests. In three German regions (Schwäbische Alb, Hainich-Dün, Schorfheide-Chorin), the so-called Biodiversi...

E FFECTIVE POSTHARVEST DISINFESTATION of export fruits from the Western Cape province of South Africa would help to reduce rejections due to the presence of insects. However, there is normally only a limited opportunity between controlling the insects and damaging the produce. A widely used agent in disinfestation procedures, methyl bromide, was scheduled to be withdrawn in many countries in 20...

American chestnut trees once dominated vast areas of deciduous forest in eastern North America, but the exotic chestnut blight almost eliminated the species from the region. Introduction of blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids will probably start in the next decade after many years of tree breeding. What were the historic effects of chestnut on forest soils, and what changes may follow re...

The echolocation calls of the noctule bat Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774) were recorded at night, from June to August 1991, using a QMC S200 bat detector, in 5 habitats (river, forest-meadow ecotone, village, coniferous forest, deciduous forest) of the Białowieża Primeval Forest (eastern Poland). Two main kinds of signals were identified: search calls and feeding buzzes. Acoustic activity was...

Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth have been identified as a new post-natal stem cell population with multipotential differentiation capabilities, including regeneration of mineralized tissues in vivo. To examine the efficacy of utilizing these stem cells in regenerating orofacial bone defects, we isolated stem cells from miniature pig deciduous teeth and engrafted the critical-si...

Maintaining deciduous teeth in function until their natural exfoliation is absolutely necessary. Vital pulp therapy (VPT) is a way of saving deciduous teeth. The most important factors in success of VPT are the early diagnosis of pulp and periradicular status, preservation of the pulp vitality and proper vascularization of the pulp. Development of new biomaterials with suitable biocompatibility...

Over the last two and half decades, strong evidence showed that the terrestrial ecosystems are acting as a net sink for atmospheric carbon. However the spatial and temporal patterns of variation in the sink are not well known. In this study, we examined latitudinal patterns of interannual variability (IAV) in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 based on 163 site-years of eddy covariance data, f...

Objectives: The objectives of this study were two-fold: (1) to determine (by surfometry) loss of deciduous and permanent enamel and dentine following consumption of a single low pH orange drink for 15 days; and (2) to determine (by surfometry) loss of deciduous and permanent enamel and dentine following consumption of the product 2 versus 4 times per day for 15 days. Methods: Sixteen healthy vo...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Deciduous trees have a seasonal carbon dioxide exchange pattern that is attributed to changes in leaf biochemical properties. However, it is not known if the pattern in leaf biochemical properties - maximum Rubisco carboxylation (V(cmax)) and electron transport (J(max)) - differ between species. This study explored whether a general pattern of changes in V(cmax), J(max), and...

Fire is a primary driver of boreal forest dynamics. Intensifying fire regimes due to climate change may cause a shift in boreal forest composition toward reduced dominance of conifers and greater abundance of deciduous hardwoods, with potential biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks to regional and global climate. This shift has already been observed in some North American boreal forests and ...