Hemiepiphytic Ficus species (Hs) possess traits of more conservative water use compared with non-hemiepiphytic Ficus species (NHs) even during their terrestrial growth phase, which may result in significant differences in photosynthetic light use between these two growth forms. Stem hydraulic conductivity, leaf gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence were compared in adult trees of five Hs an...

The persistence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine sediments may be influenced by benthic invertebrate bioturbation. Through processes such as deposit-feeding and enhancement of microbial metabolic activity PAHs may be remobilized from the sediment compartment, and either transferred to organisms at higher trophic levels or to the overlying water column, both processes inevita...

Occurrence of inter-species hybrids in natural populations might be evidence of gene flow between species. In the present study we found evidence of gene flow between two sympatric, genetically related scale insect species--the citrus mealybug Planococcus citri (Risso) and the vine mealybug Planococcus ficus (Signoret). These species can be distinguished by morphological, behavioral, and molecu...

The mutualistic interaction between Ficus and their pollinating agaonid wasps constitutes an extreme example of plant-insect co-diversification. Most Ficus species are locally associated with a single specific agaonid wasp species. Specificity is ensured by each fig species emitting a distinctive attractive scent. However, cases of widespread coexistence of two agaonid wasp species on the same ...

The dissipation of energy as heat is essential for photosynthetic organisms to protect themselves against excess light. We compared Photosystem II florescence changes (non-photochemical quenching, NPQ) in the brown alga Macrocystis pyrifera with that of Ficus sp., a higher plant to examine if the mechanism of heat dissipation (energy-dependent quenching, qE) differs between these evolutionary d...

The antioxidant activity and the chemical composition of methanol extracts from peel and pulp belonging to two species of Tunisian prickly pears Opuntia ficus indica (spiny and thornless forms) and Opuntia stricta has been studied. The antioxidant capacity was measured by DPPH radical scavenging activity. The Total Phenolic Compound (TPC) and the total flavonoid content were determined by the F...

Isorhamnetin glycosides are representative compounds of Opuntia ficus-indica that possess different biological activities. There is slight information about the changes in bioaccessibility induced by the glycosylation pattern of flavonoids, particularly for isorhamnetin. In this study, the bioaccessibility and permeability of isorhamnetin glycosides extracted from O. ficus-indica were contraste...

Fig wasps and fig trees are mutually dependent, with each of the 800 or so species of fig trees (Ficus, Moraceae) typically pollinated by a single species of fig wasp (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae). Molecular evidence suggests that the relationship existed over 65 Ma, during the Cretaceous. Here, we record the discovery of the oldest known fossil fig wasps, from England, dated at 34 Ma. They possess ...

The results of analysis of soil and tree leaves samples collected from heavy traffic affected area of Agra city show that average concentration of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Mn and Zn ranged from 0.953.42, 3.2811.26, 2.18-4.05, 3.04-8.10, 0.91-1.42 and 2.83-5.94 ppm , respectively in soil samples. The maximum concentration of Ni (2.68ppm) and Co (4.82 ppm) was observed in the leaves of Ficus religiosa and...

A total of 75 isolates belonging to five different species of Trichoderma viz., T. asperellum, T. harzianum, T. longibrachiatum, T. pseudokoningii and T. virens were screened for the production of silver nanoparticles. Although all the isolates produced nanoparticles, T. virens VN-11 could produce maximum nanoparticles as evident from the UV-Vis study. The highest Plasmon band was observed at 4...