The QFASA model uses several sources of data, each of which requires careful consideration by the researcher (Iverson et al. 2004). We evaluated the sensitivity of QFASA diet estimates to the following model inputs: prey species included (prey library), fatty acid (FA) subsets, and calibration coefficients (CC). We did this by repeatedly estimating diets for all seals (harp seals Pagophilus gro...

A new species of Tilletia, T. rostrariae Vánky & Ershad on Rostraria cristata is described and illustrated from Iran. It is compared with T. salzmannii, on the closely related Koeleria, and with the polyphagous T. bromi.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, temperatures in Europe are increasing at more than twice global average. And 2022, mercury rocketed as a summer-long heatwave engulfed continent – hitting an all-time high Pinhão, Portugal, of 47°C triggering wildfires rivers ran dry and European maize harvest crashed. ‘The Mediterranean Basin… [has] experienced 1.5°C increase mean annual surf...

T he U.S. pistachio industry, which is located almost exclusively in Califor-nia, has experienced phenomenal growth over the past thirty years. The value of U.S. production of pistachios grew from nearly zero in 1976 to $333 million by 2002. The U.S. share of the rapidly growing global pistachio industry has also increased. Outside California, the main pistachio growing region is the Middle Eas...

Mitochondrial genomes have been useful for inferring animal phylogeny across a wide range of clades, however they are still poorly sampled in some animal taxa, limiting our knowledge of mtDNA evolution. For example, despite being one of the most diverse animal phyla, only 5 complete annelid mitochrondial genomes have been published. To address this paucity of information, we obtained complete m...

Based on sequence data from ITS rDNA, cox1 and cox2, six Peronospora species are recognised as phylogenetically distinct on various Papaver species. The host ranges of the four already described species P. arborescens, P. argemones, P. cristata and P. meconopsidis are clarified. Based on sequence data and morphology, two new species, P. apula and P. somniferi, are described from Papaver apulum ...

The phylogenetic relationships of thirteen Diabrotica (representing virgifera and fucata species groups) and two outgroup Acalymma beetle species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) were inferred from the phylogenetic analysis of a combined data set of 1323 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and the entire second internal transcribed spacer region (ITS-2) of nuclear ribo...

Metabolic and body temperature (Tb) responses of star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata) exposed to air temperatures ranging from 0 to 33 degrees C were investigated. The thermoneutral zone of this semi-aquatic mole extended from 24.5 to 33 degrees C, over which its basal rate of metabolism averaged 2.25 ml O2 g-1 h-1 (45.16 J g-1 h-1). This rate of metabolism is higher than predicted for terrest...

Reptiles can be on the diet of some bird species, and glass lizard Ophiodes fragilis seems to no exception. Although predation events are not easily recorded, in this work we document a new record by C. cristata upon O. fragilis. The event occurred November 2017 municipality Viçosa, state Minas Gerais, Brazil, helps fill gap trophic relationships between its predators.