155 research outputs found

    Studies on virus diseases of the grapevine in California

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    The principal symptoms that characterize the virus diseases of grapevines found in vineyards of California are described. The diseases are: PIERCE's disease, fanleaf, yellow mosaic, vein banding, leafroll, yellow vein, asteroid mosaic, and corky bark. It is the first report of the graft transmission of corky bark and an unidentified virus that produces fleck in Vitis ruprestris var. St. George.All of the grape viruses can be transmitted by one or more grafting methods, but chip-bud grafting has proved to be simple and effective. The soilborne viruses that cause fanleaf, yellow mosaic, and vein banding all mechanically sap-transmit to, and produce very similar, mostly indistinguishable symptoms in different herbaceous hosts. The GYVV (grape yellow vein virus) will also sap-transmit to several different herbs, yet the symptoms differ from those induced by the soil-borne viruses.Xiphinema index transmitted the GFV (grape fanleaf virus) from roots of sap-inoculated Chenopodium amaranticolor to roots of V. rupestris var. St. George. Evidence shows that X. index will also transmit the GYMV (grape yellow mosaic virus) from vine to vine. Evidence indicates that fanleaf, yellow mosaic, and vein banding are distinct diseases with definite and consistent symptoms, although apparently caused by strains of the same virus.Results of these tests to control the soil-borne grape viruses by injection of chemicals into the soil show that carbon bisulfide and methyl bromide are the most effective, though none of the chemicals used give complete control

    Effects of body size on estimation of mammalian area requirements.

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    Accurately quantifying species' area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area-based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated. Based on the previous work, we hypothesized the magnitude of underestimation varies with body mass, a relationship that could have serious conservation implications. To evaluate this hypothesis for terrestrial mammals, we estimated home-range areas with global positioning system (GPS) locations from 757 individuals across 61 globally distributed mammalian species with body masses ranging from 0.4 to 4000 kg. We then applied blockcross validation to quantify bias in empirical home range estimates. Area requirements of mammals 1, meaning the scaling of the relationship changedsubstantially at the upper end of the mass spectrum

    Cryogenically preserved RBCs support gametocytogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro and gametogenesis in mosquitoes

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    Background: The malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) has identified human-to-mosquito transmission of Plasmodium falciparum as a major target for eradication. The cornerstone for identifying and evaluating transmission in the laboratory is standard membrane feeding assays (SMFAs) where mature gametocytes of P. falciparum generated in vitro are offered to mosquitoes as part of a blood-meal. However, propagation of "infectious" gametocytes requires 10-12 days with considerable physico-chemical demands imposed on host RBCs and thus, "fresh" RBCs that are ≤ 1-week old post-collection are generally recommended. However, in addition to the costs, physico-chemical characteristics unique to RBC donors may confound reproducibility and interpretation of SMFAs. Cryogenic storage of RBCs ("cryo-preserved RBCs") is accepted by European and US FDAs as an alternative to refrigeration (4 °C) for preserving RBC "quality" and while cryo-preserved RBCs have been used for in vitro cultures of other Plasmodia and the asexual stages of P. falciparum, none of the studies required RBCs to support parasite development for > 4 days. Results: Using the standard laboratory strain, P. falciparum NF54, 11 SMFAs were performed with RBCs from four separate donors to demonstrate that RBCs cryo-preserved in the gaseous phase of liquid nitrogen (- 196 °C) supported gametocytogenesis in vitro and subsequent gametogenesis in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes. Overall levels of sporogony in the mosquito, as measured by oocyst and sporozoite prevalence, as well as oocyst burden, from each of the four donors thawed after varying intervals of cryopreservation (1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks) were comparable to using ≤ 1-week old refrigerated RBCs. Lastly, the potential for cryo-preserved RBCs to serve as a suitable alternative substrate is demonstrated for a Cambodian isolate of P. falciparum across two independent SMFAs. Conclusions: Basic guidelines are presented for integrating cryo-preserved RBCs into an existing laboratory/insectary framework for P. falciparum SMFAs with significant potential for reducing running costs while achieving greater reliability. Lastly, scenarios are discussed where cryo-preserved RBCs may be especially useful in enhancing the understanding and/or providing novel insights into the patterns and processes underlying human-to-mosquito transmission

    Moving in the anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

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    Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission

    Giants on the landscape: modelling the abundance of megaherbivorous dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic, western USA)

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    Effects of body size on estimation of mammalian area requirements

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    Accurately quantifying species’ area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area‐based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home‐range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated. Based on previous work, we hypothesized the magnitude of underestimation varies with body mass, a relationship that could have serious conservation implications. To evaluate this hypothesis for terrestrial mammals, we estimated home‐range areas with GPS locations from 757 individuals across 61 globally distributed mammalian species with body masses ranging from 0.4 to 4,000 kg. We then applied block cross‐validation to quantify bias in empirical home‐range estimates. Area requirements of mammals 1, meaning the scaling of the relationship changed substantially at the upper end of the mass spectrum
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