Landscape diversification is a key element for the development of sustainable agriculture. This study explores whether the implementation of habitats for pest natural enemies enhances conservation biological control in an adjacent field. In the present study conducted in Gembloux (Belgium) in 2016, the effect of two different habitats (wildflower strips and a forest) and aphid abundance on the ...

Population regulation has been related to differences in the quality among habitats, which mediate differences in vital rates such that in poor habitats reproductive rates are lower than those in high-quality habitats. The spatial distribution of animals in such habitats depends on their preferences and the degree to which individuals have a free choice of a particular habitat. The identified m...

Retention forestry, including the retention of woodland key habitats (WKH) at the forest stand scale, has become an essential management practice in boreal forests. Here, we investigate the spatial distribution of 9470 habitat patches, mapped according to the Complementary Habitat Inventory method (CHI habitats), as potential WKHs in 10 sample areas in Norway. We ask whether there are parts of ...

The data on the occurrence of keratinolytic fungi in sewage, municipal solid waste and waste-contaminated habitats are reviewed. In these habitats, keratinolytic fungi occur with extreme abundance. The factors influencing qualitative and quantitative compositions of the fungi in the habitats are discussed. It is concluded that keratinolytic fungi can be the bioindicators of environmental pollut...

Political and health sector reforms, along with demographic, environmental and socio-economic transformations in the face of global warming, could cause the re-emergence of schistosomiasis in areas where transmission has been successfully interrupted and its emergence in previously non-endemic areas in China. In the present study, we used geographic information systems and remote sensing techni...

The aim of this study was modelling the spatial distribution ofLilium ledebourii (Baker) Boiss. based on ecological characteristics, in order to predict potential habitats for conservation of a rare plant. Knowledge of the spatial distributions of rare and threatened species and the underlying ecological factors plays an important role in regional conservation assessments and development planni...

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent polymicrobial disease worldwide, yet the synergistic pattern of the multiple oral pathogens involved is still poorly characterized. Here, saliva, supragingival and subgingival plaque samples from periodontitis patients and periodontally healthy volunteers were collected and profiled with 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Different oral habitats harbored significa...

A major conservation challenge in mosaic landscapes is to understand how trait-specific responses to habitat edges affect bird communities, including potential cascading effects on bird functions providing ecosystem services to forests, such as pest control. Here, we examined how bird species richness, abundance and community composition varied from interior forest habitats and their edges into...

Arthropod communities dwelling in adjacent habitats are able to impact one another via shared natural enemies. In agricultural landscapes, drastic differences resource availability between crop and non-crop cause variation insect herbivore densities over short distances, potentially driving inter-habitat effects. Moreover, the composition of landscape which embedded likely affects realised atta...