Plants with animal-dispersed fruits seem to overcome the barriers that limit their spread into new habitats more easily than other invasive plants and, at the same time, they pose special difficulties for containment, control or eradication. The effects of animals on plant propagules can be very diverse, with positive, neutral or negative consequences for germination and recruitment. Moreover, ...

To analyse the efficacy of video-assisted thoracoscopy (VAT) in patients with spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) and to identify clinical factors associated with outcome after VAT, one hundred and one VATs were performed in 97 patients in this prospective study. Based on thoracoscopic appearance of the visceral pleura three groups were identified, group 1 (n = 23) showing no abnormalities treated wi...

laboratory experiments were performed to determine the effect of various scarification treatments at four temperature regimes on germination of licorice seeds . a randomized complete block design with four replications was used. germination counts were made every day for 2 weeks. at 50c, none of the chemically and mechanically scarified and non scarified seeds germinated. at 15, 25, and 350...

Canna indicaL.roots are used for medicinal purpose. A decoction of the root with fermented rice is used in the treatment of gonorrhea and amenorrhea. The seed of canna is extremely hard, and needs to be "scarified" before sowing. The aim of the present investigation is to determine the hardiness problem of the seed. The seed sample was collected from the IARI, New Delhi in 2008. The wo...

BACKGROUND The species Carpobrotus edulis, native to South Africa, is one of the major plant invaders of Mediterranean coastal ecosystems around the world. Invasion by C. edulis exerts a great impact on coastal habitats. The low number of native species in invaded communities points to the possible existence of mechanisms suppressing their germination. In this study we assessed whether soil fac...