The Southern Africa Millennium Ecosystem Assessment developed an index for quantifying the state of biodiversity. The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) operates at the species level, and is based on changes in species abundance, rather than changes in richness brought about by extinction. The BII uses spatial data on species richness and land use activities per ecosystem type to weight estima...

This study was conducted to assess the post thaw quality of Kundhi buffalo semen diluted in tris based diluents. After collection the ejaculates were pooled and checked for color, volume, pH, mass activity, progressive linear motility% (PLM), and intactness of cell membrane. The semen qualifying these tests was divided into four aliquots A, B, C and D, diluted with tris based diluents; the last...

The Three Gorges Dam features two water-level fluctuation zones (WLFZs): the preupland drawdown zone (PU-DZ) and the preriparian drawdown zone (PR-DZ). To investigate the vegetation potential of Roegneria nutans in WLFZs, we compared the submergence tolerance and germination dynamics in the natural riparian zone (NRZ), PU-DZ and PR-DZ. We found that the NRZ seeds maintained an 81.3% intactness ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to determine the status of acrosome intactness in different infertile conditions among men who have attended the Mediwave Fertility Research Center, Mysore, South India. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 70 infertile and 20 control subjects were employed in the study. Infertile subjects were classified into different conditions according ...

Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary ("safe limit"). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness--the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems--beyond its recently proposed ...

Despite increasing empirical data to the contrary, it continues to be claimed that mor-phosyntax and face processing skills of people with Williams syndrome are intact. This purported intactness, which coexists with mental retardation, is used to bolster claims about innately specified, independently functioning modules, as if the atypically developing brain were simply a normal brain with part...