Abstract The eastern part of the Black Sea and its tributaries are suitable habitats for several sturgeon species, among which Acipenser gueldenstaedtii , A. stellatus nudiventris persicus sturio H. huso well documented. However, different threats have led these species to a dramatic decline, all them currently listed as Critically Endangered some Locally Extinct in that area. We tested 94 wild...

Abstract Migratory organisms can be vectors of parasitic host that then transported along seasonal migratory journeys and spread across continents. Ornithophilic nidicolous ticks (e.g. soft ticks) include species responsible for the transmission pathogens bacteria, thus representing a health problem not only wild are directly parasitized, but also those share same environments or reproductive s...

We incubated eggs of Elaphe taeniura at 22, 24, 27, 30 and 32°C to examine the effects of incubation temperature on hatching success, embryonic use of energy and hatchling morphology. Incubation temperature affected incubation length and most hatchling traits examined in this study. Incubation length increased nonlinearly as temperature decreased, with the mean incubation length being 101.7 d a...

A common dimorphism in life-history tactic in salmonids is the presence of an anadromous pathway involving a migration to sea followed by a freshwater reproduction, along with an entirely freshwater resident tactic. Although common, the genetic and environmental influence on the adoption of a particular life-history tactic has rarely been studied under natural conditions. Here, we used sibship-...

Background and objectives: Betulinic acid (BA), oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) are well-known pentacyclic triterpenoids (PTs), which are produced by plants. They possess a variety of beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antitumor, anti-HIV, antimicrobial, gastroprotective, and antihyperlipidemic activities. In the present study, quantitative determination...