During spring-summer 2003-2004, the avian community was surveyed for hemosporidian parasites in an oak (Quercus spp.) and madrone (Arbutus spp.) woodland bordering grassland and chaparral habitats at a site in northern California, a geographic location and in habitat types not previously sampled for these parasites. Of 324 birds from 46 species (21 families) sampled (including four species not ...

Completely sequenced plastomes provide a valuable source of information about the duplication, loss, and transfer events of chloroplast genes and phylogenetic data for resolving relationships among major groups of plants. Moreover, they can also be useful for exploiting chloroplast genetic engineering technology. Ericales account for approximately six per cent of eudicot diversity with 11,545 s...

Gelatin?based films incorporated with Arbutus unedo fruit extract (AFE) were prepared and characterized. LC?DAD analysis demonstrated that the most abundant phenolic compounds in AFE procyanidin B2 gallic acid. The incorporation of gelatin tested film (TF) caused a remarkable decrease water vapor permeability (5.01 × 10–? g.mm/h.cm².Pa) compared to control (CF). FTIR analyses presented broadeni...

Frugivorous birds in the Mediterranean basin may disperse seeds using two different feeding behaviours: swallowing the fruit whole or pecking pieces of pulp. Swallowing is the common behaviour of frugivorous seed dispersers in the Mediterranean basin (Herrera 1984a) and most of the fleshy-fruited plants in the region rely on this bird feeding behaviour to disperse their seeds (Herrera 1984b, 19...

This study aimed to analyse the phenolic composition of wild fruits of Arbutus unedo (strawberry-tree), Prunus spinosa (blackthorn), Rosa canina and Rosa micrantha (wild roses). Analyses were performed by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS. P spinosa fruits presented the highest concentration in phenolic acids (29.78 mg/100 g dry weight), being 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid the most abundant one, and flavone/ols (57.48...

The vast forests of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, an area outlined by the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, are well known for their rich diversity of macrofungi. The forests are dominated by trees in the Pinaceae with about 20 species in the genera Abies, Larix, Picea, Pinus, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga. All form ectomycorrhizas with fungi in the Basidiomycota, Ascomycot...

We analysed the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal diversity in a Mediterranean old-growth Quercus ilex forest stand from Corsica (France), where Arbutus unedo was the only other ECM host. On a 6400 m2 stand, we investigated whether oak age and host species shaped below-ground ECM diversity. Ectomycorrhizas were collected under Q. ilex individuals of various ages (1 yr seedlings; 3-10 yr saplings; ol...

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been demonstrated to restrain bacterial growth, while maintaining minimal risk in development of bacterial resistance and human cell toxicity that conventional silver compounds exhibit. Several physical and chemical methods have been reported to synthesize AgNPs. However, these methods are expensive and involve heavy chemical reduction agents. An alternative ap...

The plant species Arbutus unedo shows numerous beneficial pharmacological effects (antiseptic, antidiabetic, antidiarrheal, astringent, depurative, antioxidant, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, and anti-inflammatory). For the medicinal use, standardization of extracts is a necessity, as different compounds are responsible for different biological activities. In this paper, we analyze monthly c...