This study provides insight into changes in sea ice conditions and the oceanographic environment over the past 500 kyr through analysis of the diatom record. Based on the relative abundance of 13 diatoms species in piston core MD012414, four types of environmental conditions in the central Okhotsk Sea over the last 330 ka BP have been distinguished: (1) open-ocean alternating with seasonal sea-...

The disease-associated prion protein (PrP(TSE)), the probable etiological agent of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), is resistant to degradation and can persist in the environment. Lichens, mutualistic symbioses containing fungi, algae, bacteria and occasionally cyanobacteria, are ubiquitous in the environment and have evolved unique biological activities allowing their surv...

Toxin II isolated from the sea anemone Anemonia sulcata enhances activation of the action potential sodium ionophore of electrically excitable neuroblastoma cells by veratridine and batrachotoxin. This heterotropic cooperative effect is identical to that observed previously with scorpion toxin but occurs at a 110-fold higher concentration. Depolarization of the neuroblastoma cells inhibits the ...

The effect of different amounts of rainfall on the below-ground plant biomass was studied in three grassland ecosystems. Responses of the lowland (dry Festuca grassland), highland (wet Cirsium grassland), and mountain (Nardus grassland) grasslands were studied during five years (2006-2010). A field experiment based on rainout shelters and gravity irrigation simulated three climate scenarios: ra...

We examined whether the intense root competition in a rough fescue grassland plant community in central Alberta, Canada, was important in structuring plant species diversity or community composition. We measured competition intensity across gradients of species richness, evenness, and community composition, using pairs of naturally occurring plants of 12 species. One plant in each pair was isol...