81 research outputs found
Continental drift and climate change drive instability in insect assemblages
Global change has already had observable effects on ecosystems worldwide, and the accelerated rate of global change is predicted in the future. However, the impacts of global change on the stability of biodiversity have not been systematically studied in terms of both large spatial (continental drift) and temporal (from the last inter-glacial period to the next century) scales. Therefore, we analyzed the current geographical distribution pattern of Plecoptera, a thermally sensitive insect group, and evaluated its stability when coping with global change across both space and time throughout the Mediterranean regionâone of the first 25 global biodiversity hotspots. Regional biodiversity of Plecoptera reflected the geography in both the historical movements of continents and the current environmental conditions in the western Mediterranean region. The similarity of Plecoptera assemblages between areas in this region indicated that the uplift of new land and continental drift were the primary determinants of the stability of regional biodiversity. Our results revealed that climate change caused the biodiversity of Plecoptera to slowly diminish in the past and will cause remarkably accelerated biodiversity loss in the future. These findings support the theory that climate change has had its greatest impact on biodiversity over a long temporal scale.This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant provided by the Korean government (MEST) (No. 2010-0027360)
New data on the presence of hemocyanin in Plecoptera: Recomposing a puzzle
20 pĂĄginas, 4 tablas, 5 figuras.The specific role of hemocyanin in Plecoptera (stoneflies) is still not completely understood,
since none of the hypotheses advanced have proven fully convincing. Previous data show that
mRNA hemocyanin sequences are not present in all Plecoptera, and that hemocyanin does not
seem to be uniformly distributed within the order. All species possess hexamerins, which are
multifunction proteins that probably originated from hemocyanin. In order to obtain an
increasingly detailed picture on the presence and distribution of hemocyanin across the order, this
study presents new data regarding nymphs and adults of selected Plecoptera species. Results
confirm that the hemocyanin expression differs among nymphs in the studied stonefly species.
Even though previous studies have found hemocyanin in adults of two stonefly species it was not
detected in the present study, even in species where nymphs show hemocyanin, suggesting that
the physiological need of this protein can change during life cycle. The phylogenetic pattern
obtained using hemocyanin sequences matches the accepted scheme of traditional phylogeny
based on morphology, anatomy, and biology. It is remarkable to note that the hemocyanin
conserved region acts like a phylogenetic molecular marker within Plecoptera.This research was supported by the
Autonomous Organism of National Parks of
"Medio Ambiente" Ministry (MARM),
MAYSTONS projects (10/2007), and by the
Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation
(MICIIN), GRACCIE project (CSD2007-
00067).Peer reviewe
La voce del fiume - gli insetti raccontano la qualitĂ delle acque.
Museo di Zoologia - UniversitĂ degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza
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