Fungi occupy diverse environments where they are constantly challenged by stressors such as extreme pH, temperature, UV exposure, and nutrient deprivation. Nitrogen is an essential requirement for growth, and the ability to metabolize a wide variety of nitrogen sources enables fungi to colonize different environmental niches and survive nutrient limitations. Favored nitrogen sources, particular...

One challenge in phytoplankton ecology is to measure species-specific physiological responses to changes in environmental conditions. Of particular importance in this regard are harmful algal bloom (HAB) species such as the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense which typically inhabit coastal regions where they are not usually dominant. Within the Gulf of Maine, environmental factors, spec...

Semi-natural calcareous grasslands are of great interest in conservation because of their high species richness, but presently they are threatened by both land abandonment and nitrogen eutrophication. The paper reports on a three-year field experiment conducted in a species-rich Mediterranean grassland to study the effects of nitrogen application coupled with removal of plant litter and artific...

Gas exchange parameters, leaf nitrogen content and specific leaf area (SLA) were measured in situ on 73 C3 and five C4 plant species in Mallorca, west Mediterranean, to test whether species endemic to the Balearic Islands differed from widespread, non-endemic Mediterranean species and crops in their leaf traits and trait inter-relationships. Endemic species differed significantly from widesprea...

Recycling of the nitrogenous waste uric acid (UA) of wood-feeding termites by their gut bacteria is one of the significant aspects of symbiosis for the conservation of nitrogen sources. Diverse anaerobic UA-degrading bacteria comprising 16 species were isolated from the gut of eight termite species, and were assigned to Clostridia, Enterobacteriaceae, and low G+C Gram-positive cocci. UA-degradi...

Oxidative modification of low density lipoprotein (LDL) appears to play an important role in atherogenesis. Although the precise mechanisms of LDL oxidation in vivo are unknown, several lines of evidence implicate myeloperoxidase and reactive nitrogen species, in addition to ceruloplasmin and 15-lipoxygenase. Myeloperoxidase generates a number of reactive species, including hypochlorous acid, c...

Rhizosphere microbial communities are critically important for soil nitrogen cycling and plant productivity. There is evidence that plant species and genotypes select distinct rhizosphere communities, however, knowledge of the drivers and extent of this variation remains limited. We grew 11 annual species and 11 maize (Zea mays subsp. mays) inbred lines in a common garden experiment to assess t...