Abstract Characterizing genetic diversity and structure of populations is essential for the effective conservation threatened species. Orchis patens sensu lato a narrowly distributed tetraploid species with disjunct distribution (i.e., Northern Italy, North Africa Canary Islands), which facing severe decline. In this study, we evaluated levels population structuring using 12 new nuclear microsa...

The balance between mutualistic and antagonistic plant-animal interactions and their spatial variation results in a highly dynamic mosaic of reproductive success within plant populations. Yet, the ecological drivers of this small-scale heterogeneity of interaction patterns and their outcomes remain virtually unexplored. We analyzed spatial structure in the frequency and intensity of interaction...

Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain the functional relationship between seed mass and seedling performance: the reserve effect (larger seeds retain a larger proportion of reserves after germinating), the metabolic effect (seedlings from larger seeds have slower relative growth rates), and the seedling-size effect (larger seeds produce larger seedlings). We tested these hypotheses by ...

1. Plant – animal interactions, and in particular the processes of seed predation and dispersal, are crucial for tree regeneration and forest dynamics. A novel and striking case of interaction between a dung beetle ( Thorectes lusitanicus ) and two Quercus species ( Q. suber and Q. canariensis ) in forests of southern Spain is presented here. 2. During the autumn, T. lusitanicus beetles (endemi...

15 The endemic pine, Pinus canariensis, forms one of the main forest ecosystems in the 16 Canary Islands. In this archipelago, pine forest is a mosaic of natural stands (remnants 17 of past forest overexploitation) and artificial stands planted from the 1940’s. The 18 genetic makeup of the artificially regenerated forest is of some concern. The use of 19 reproductive material with uncontrolled ...

INTRODUCTION Palm syrup is a typical product from the Canary Islands, traditionally produced from the sap of the tropical palm tree Phoenix canariensis. Its high caloric content has led to its increasing use as a health food supplement for athletes, children and elderly. Furthermore, demand for this natural syrup is continuously increasing due also to its medicinal uses in homeopathic medicine....

Abstract A molecular phylogenetic study of Bystropogon L'Her. (Lamiaceae) is presented. We performed a cladistic analysis of nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS), of the nuclear ribosomal DNA, and of the trnL gene and trnL-trnF intergenic spacer of the chloroplast DNA. Bystropogon odoratissimus is the only species endemic to the Canary Islands that occurs in the three ...

A new spirurid nematode, Protospirura canariensis n. sp., a parasite of the black rat Rattus rattus Linnaeus, 1758 (Rodentia: Muridae), in El Hierro Island (Canary Archipelago, Spain), was described by means light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The most discriminating characteristics between species remaining genus were observed to be following: (a) number tooth-like outgrowths su...

Gas exchange is governed by the combined action of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, and the transport of these gasses by diffusion. The diffusion component is formally neglected and implicitly incorporated in respiration and fermentation parameters of the current Michealis-Menten-based respiration models. The aim was to extend existing modelling approaches by including a diffus...