Fungus-growing (attine) ants and their fungal symbionts passed through several evolutionary transitions during their 50 million year old evolutionary history. The basal attine lineages often shifted between two main cultivar clades, whereas the derived higher-attine lineages maintained an association with a monophyletic clade of specialized symbionts. In conjunction with the transition to speci...

It has only recently been discovered that the likely origin of some of the world's most important fruit crops, such as apples, apricots and walnuts, lie in a small region of forests in central Asia. The region is home to more than 300 wild fruit and nut species but this unique genetic resource is under major threat, according to a new report which estimated that 90 per cent of this woodland has...

for the financial support for the work und their generous trust. Miss Buechl provided additional administrative support and moral support during the studies in Germany. Esta obra de esfuerzo y trabajo conjunto esta dedicada a mi querida familia. SUMMARY South Mexico belongs to the Mesoamerican tropical region. The typical production systems are characterized on the one side by high diversity ho...

Insect fungus gardens consist of a community of interacting microorganisms that can have either beneficial or detrimental effects to the farmers. In contrast to fungus-farming ants and termites, the fungal communities of ambrosia beetles and the effects of particular fungal species on the farmers are largely unknown. Here, we used a laboratory rearing technique for studying the filamentous fung...

UNLABELLED Garden soils were investigated as reservoirs and potential sources of pathogenic Legionella bacteria. Legionella bacteria were detected in 22 of 177 garden soil samples (12%) by amoebal coculture. Of these 22 Legionella-positive soil samples, seven contained Legionella pneumophila Several other species were found, including the pathogenic Legionella longbeachae (4 gardens) and Legion...

Rain gardens have been recommended as a best management practice to treat stormwater runoff. However, no published field performance data existed on pollutant removal capabilities. Replicated rain gardens were constructed in Haddam, CT, to capture shingled-roof runoff. The gardens were sized to store the first 2.54 cm (1 inch) of runoff. Influent, overflow and percolate flow were measured using...

BACKGROUND Plants used for medicinal purposes are very common feature in Bapedi traditional healer's home-gardens, but information about their diversity and application is not available. MATERIALS AND METHODS To investigate medicinal plants found in Bapedi healer's home-gardens, 51 traditional health practitioners were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire in 17 municipalities of ...

This article describes results from an investigation of the health impacts of community gardening, using Toronto, Ontario as a case study. According to community members and local service organizations, these gardens have a number of positive health benefits. However, few studies have explicitly focused on the health impacts of community gardens, and many of those did not ask community gardener...

OBJECTIVE To determine the status of gardens in California schools. DESIGN A self-administered Internet and mailed survey was sent to all California principals (N = 9805). PARTICIPANTS 4194 California school principals. VARIABLES MEASURED School garden practices, attitudes associated with the use of gardens in schools, and perceptions of barriers to having and using school gardens in acad...

Home gardens are defined as less complex agroforests which look like and function as natural forest ecosystems but are integrated into agricultural management systems located around houses. Investigations were carried out in 187 households. The aim of the study was to identify the different types of banana home gardens existing in the periurban zone of Ngaoundere town. The results showed that t...