Concepts of Cardiac Development in Retrospect

Recent research, enabled by powerful molecular techniques, has revolutionized our concepts of cardiac development. It was firmly established that the early heart tube gives rise to the left ventricle only, and that the remainder of the myocardium is recruited from surrounding mesoderm during subsequent development. Also, the cardiac chambers were shown not to be derived from the entire looping heart tube, but only from the myocardium at its outer curvatures. Intriguingly, many years ago, classic experimental embryological studies reached very similar conclusions. However, with the current scientific emphasis on molecular mechanisms, old morphological insights became underexposed. Since cardiac development occurs in an architecturally complex and dynamic fashion, molecular insights can only fully be exploited when placed in a proper morphological context. In this communication we present excerpts of important embryological studies of the pioneers of experimental cardiac embryology of the previous century, to relate insights from the past to current observations

Fine-Scale Phylogeographic Structure of Borrelia lusitaniae Revealed by Multilocus Sequence Typing

Borrelia lusitaniae is an Old World species of the Lyme borreliosis (LB) group of tick-borne spirochetes and prevails mainly in countries around the Mediterranean Basin. Lizards of the family Lacertidae have been identified as reservoir hosts of B. lusitaniae. These reptiles are highly structured geographically, indicating limited migration. In order to examine whether host geographic structure shapes the evolution and epidemiology of B. lusitaniae, we analyzed the phylogeographic population structure of this tick-borne bacterium using a recently developed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme based on chromosomal housekeeping genes. A total of 2,099 questing nymphal and adult Ixodes ricinus ticks were collected in two climatically different regions of Portugal, being ∼130 km apart. All ticks were screened for spirochetes by direct PCR. Attempts to isolate strains yielded 16 cultures of B. lusitaniae in total. Uncontaminated cultures as well as infected ticks were included in this study. The results using MLST show that the regional B. lusitaniae populations constitute genetically distinct populations. In contrast, no clear phylogeographic signals were detected in sequences of the commonly used molecular markers ospA and ospC. The pronounced population structure of B. lusitaniae over a short geographic distance as captured by MLST of the housekeeping genes suggests that the migration rates of B. lusitaniae are rather low, most likely because the distribution of mediterranean lizard populations is highly parapatric. The study underlines the importance of vertebrate hosts in the geographic spread of tick-borne microparasites

Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research

Wood-soil interactions in soil bioengineering slope stabilization works

In this work we propose the use of soil quality indicators with the aim of assessing the environmental impact of soil bioengineering works. This study was carried out in central Italy where soil bioengineering slope stabilization works were established using chestnut wood. In particular the goal of this study was to determine the occurrence of a wood-effect, that is changes of soil properties due to the presence of decomposing logs in two sites characterized by different time span since works setting up. The presence of the logs did not affect soil physico-chemical properties. Conversely, soil biochemical properties such as soil microbial biomass, basal and cumulative respiration activities as well as microbial indexes, were influenced by the presence of the logs confirming the role of these bioindicators as early predictors of changes occurring in soil. Although a general positive trend was observed for the biochemical properties at both sites with respect to the control soils, significant differences were recorded mainly at the site where works were established six years before soil sampling. Soil bioengineering slope stabilization works establish a positive feed-back which ultimately can benefit plants; in fact the increase in microbial mineralization activity can enhance nutrient cycling and thus promote adequate growth conditions for the plant cuttings used in the wooden-work

Soil carbon accumulation in a Populus spp. plantation supplied with high atmospheric CO2 and nitrogen fertilization

This work was carried out in the experimental area POPFACE (Tuscania, Viterbo), where a poplar short rotation forest (SRF) was treated with 550 ppm of atmospheric CO2 for six years. The experimental plots (Control and FACE) were divided in two halves, one of which was treated with nitrogen fertilization. The general aim of this research was to quantify the impact of the two rotation cycles, the CO2 enrichment and the nitrogen fertilization on: i) soil organic matter fractions more relevant for microbial metabolism; ii) microbial C mineralization activity and iii) the ecosystem capacity to store C in the soil. On soil samples collected from 2000 to 2004, the soil Organic C (TOC), the total extractable C (TEC) and several labile C fractions (MBC, WSC, ExC) were analysed. The microbial mineralization activity was also analysed. In comparison with the previous culture crop, the plantation increased the organic C storage in soil by about 23% in the second rotation cycle. Under elevated CO2, the increase of above- and belowground productivity supported a greater accumulation of labile C in soil, favouring a microbial C immobilization process. Fertilization treatment induced short-term changes in the soil C content, without overall modifications in the second rotation cycle