Global environmental changes affect not only the aboveground but also the belowground components of ecosystems. The effects of seasonal drought and air warming on the genus level richness of Collembola, and on the abundance and biomass of the community of Collembola and mites were studied in an acidic and a calcareous forest soil in a model oak-ecosystem experiment (the Querco experiment) at th...

Okinawan Awamori is produced by fermenting steamed indica rice with black mold, yeast, and water. Awamori-pressed lees is a by-product of the Awamori production process. Tofu lees is a by-product of the Tofu production process. This research consisted of two experiments conducted to elucidate whether or not dried Awamori-pressed lees and Tofu lees can be used as a mixed feed ingredient for rais...

This study examined eight hundred ninety six marine fishes belonging to nine different fish species; Synodus saurus; Merluccius merluccius; Trachurus mediterraneus; Serranus cabrilla; Mullus surmuletus; Diplodus annularis; Spicara maena; Siganus rirulatus and Liza ramada. The fishes were bought from fish markets at five different sites on Libyan coast, from January to December 2013, for study t...

This report describes a series of free-flight tests designed to investigate various methods of body shaping to achieve low drag at transonic and supersonic speeds. In all, ten configurations were flown; three had unwaisted bodies, five were designed by area-rule methods and two were designed to achieve a specified pressure distribution in the wing-body junction. All the models had identical val...

The escape response to fluid mechanical signals was examined in 6 protists, 4 ciliates and 2 dinoflagellates. When exposed to a siphon flow, 3 species of ciliates, Balanion comatum, Strobilidium sp., and Mesodinium pulex, responded with escape jumps. The threshold deformation rates required to elicit an escape ranged between 1.8 and 3 s–1. Escape speeds varied between 100 to 150 body length s–1...

We present new VLA observations at 1.4 GHz confirming the presence of a radio halo at the centre of the cluster A3562, in the core of the Shapley Concentration. We also report a detailed multifrequency radio study of the head tail galaxy J1333–3141, which is completely embedded in the halo emission. The radio halo has an irregular shape, and a largest linear size of ∼ 620 kpc, which is among th...

Intraspecific variation in morphometry of pine wood nematodes Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and B. mucronatus in relation to geographical locations in South Korea was investigated using morphometric characters (body length, a, b and c ratio, stylet length, and spicule length for a male nematode and V (%) value for a female nematode). B. xylophilus was isolated from Pinus thunbergii in Jinju (1998)...

The biology of cashew stem and root borers Plocaederus ferrugenius L. and P.obesus Gahan (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) was studied on cashew bark under laboratory conditions. In case of Plocaederus ferrugenius L the mean grub period was recorded 163.10 ± 20.55 and 168.37± 30.32 days, mean pupal period was 144.33 ± 29.57 and 145.16 ± 29.10 days for males and females, respectively. The total develop...

In ectothermic species, females often produce larger eggs in colder environments. Models based on energetic constraints suggest that this pattern is an adaptation to compensate for the slower growth of offspring in the cold. Yet, females in cold environments also tend to be larger than females in warm environments. Consequently, thermal clines in egg size could be caused by pelvic constraints, ...

Rotylenchus castilloi n. sp., a new bisexual species is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The new species is characterised by having a hemispherical, continuous lip region with an irregular corncob-like appearance under SEM, very long stylet (62-68 µm), vulva located at 49.7-62.2% of body length from anterior end, with a protruding double epiptyg...