More stories

  • in

    Dual functionality of the amyloid protein TasA in Bacillus physiology and fitness on the phylloplane

    Bacterial strains and culture conditions The bacterial strains used in this study are listed in Supplementary Table 2. Bacterial cultures were grown at 37 °C from frozen stocks on Luria-Bertani (LB: 1% tryptone (Oxoid), 0.5% yeast extract (Oxoid) and 0.5% NaCl) plates. Isolated bacteria were inoculated in the appropriate medium. The biotrophic fungus Podosphaera xanthii was grown […] More

  • in

    Cable bacteria reduce methane emissions from rice-vegetated soils

    1. Pfeffer, C. et al. Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances. Nature 491, 218 (2012). 2. Nielsen, L. P., Risgaard-Petersen, N., Fossing, H., Christensen, P. B. & Sayama, M. Electric currents couple spatially separated biogeochemical processes in marine sediment. Nature 463, 1071–1074 (2010). 3. Marzocchi, U. et al. Electric coupling between distant nitrate reduction […] More

  • in

    Bioefficacy of Rhynocoris longifrons (Stål) (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) against multiple cotton pests under screen house and field conditions

    Hiding behaviour of the predator under screen house The hiding behaviour of R. longifrons revealed that the percentage of predator adults hiding under pebbles was higher at 6 a.m. (F = 42.53; df = 3; P < 0.000) and 10.30 a.m. (F = 8.60; df = 3; P < 0.05) than other hiding places (Fig. 1). As day light increased, the predator moved under […] More

  • in

    A. Kamath et al. reply

    1. Monk, J. D., Giglio, E., Kamath, A., Lambert, M. R. & McDonough, C. E. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3, 1622–1631 (2019). Article Google Scholar 2. Dickins, T. E. & Rahman, Q. Ancestral primacy of same-sex sexual behaviour does not explain its stable prevalence in modern populations Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1187-5 (2020). 3. Clive, J., Flintham, […] More

  • in

    New freshwater mussel taxa discoveries clarify biogeographic division of Southeast Asia

    New Unionidae genera and species from Southeast Asia Our multi-locus phylogenies were constructed using BEAST v2.6.1, MrBayes v3.2.6 and IQ-TREE v1.6.11 based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), small ribosomal RNA (16 S rRNA), and the nuclear large ribosomal RNA (28 S rRNA) gene fragments. These analyses returned well-resolved consensus phylogenies having a similar […] More

  • in

    Host-microbiota interaction helps to explain the bottom-up effects of climate change on a small rodent species

    Bottom-up effects of precipitation manipulation on Brandt’s voles To confirm the bottom-up effects of precipitation on small mammal, we monitored the vole population and plant community in a rainfall simulation experiment. We first assessed whether the plant community differed between rainfall treatment and control. In enclosures, the plant community structure mainly comprised of species such […] More

  • in

    Human access impacts biodiversity of microscopic animals in sandy beaches

    Sampling design The Asinara National Park (http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.asinara/Eindex.php), located at the island of Asinara in the North-Western tip of Sardinia, Italy, covers a Marine Protected Area of about 110 km2. Before a National Park was established in 1997, the island hosted a hospital in the nineteenth century and then a prisoner camp and a maximum-security prison from […] More

  • in

    Heavy reliance on plants for Romanian cave bears evidenced by amino acid nitrogen isotope analysis

    1. Bocherens, H. et al. The last of its kind? Radiocarbon, ancient DNA and stable isotope evidence from a late cave bear (Ursus spelaeus ROSENMÜLLER, 1794) from Rochedane (France). Quat. Int. 339–340, 179–188 (2014). Article Google Scholar 2. Baca, M. et al. Retreat and extinction of the Late Pleistocene cave bear (Ursus spelaeus sensu lato). […] More