Biological and ecological aspects of light pollution

Svjetlosno onečišćenje je pojam koji se koristi kako bi se opisalo negativne posljedice prekomjerne, neadekvatne i nametljive umjetne noćne rasvjete koja u konačnici dovodi do gubitka mraka i noći kao važnog biološkog čimbenika. Razlikujemo „astronomsko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje onemogućuje astronomska opažanja zbog porasta sjaja neba čime se smanjuje kontrast sa objektima opažanja (zvijezde, asteroidi i sl.) te „ekološko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje mijenja ili interferira sa prirodnom noćnom svjetlosti. Preko ovog seminara dan je kratak pregled do sada otkrivenih negativnih posljedica svjetlosnog onečišćenja, sa naglaskom na taksonomske skupine poput morskih kornjača, ptica selica, noćnih leptira i šišmiša, kod kojih su primijećene najteže posljedice. Posebno su obrađene negativne posljedice na biljke, kod kojih je rađeno vrlo malo konkretnih istraživanja, te negativne posljedice na čovjeka, zbog toga što je nedavno otkriven cijeli niz zdravstvenih problema povezanih uz izlaganje svjetlu za vrijeme noći, od kojih je najteži povećan rizik od raka dojke. Iako se na prvi pogled čini kako je posljednjih godina napravljeno puno posla, veći dio ipak ostaje neistražen, a pravi omjer problema počeo se tek nedavno naslućivati.Light pollution is a term used to describe the negative consequences of excessive, scattered and intrusive artificial night light, which ultimately leads to the loss of darkness and the night as an important biological factor. We distinguish “astronomical light pollution” which prevents astronomical observations because of increased night sky brightness that lowers the contrast with the observed objects (stars, asteroids and such), and “ecological light pollution” which alters or interferes with natural light regimes during the night. The aim of this seminar is to give a short review of the negative consequences of light pollution that were discovered so far, with emphasis on taxa such as sea turtles, migrating birds, moths and bats, because they showed the most severe side effects. The negative consequences on plants and humans were described separately, mostly because there was little research on plants, and because the full list of health problems associated with exposure to light during nighttime was just recently discovered, the most severe being the increased risk of breast cancer development. Even though it may seem that a lot of work has been done these previous years, there is a lot that still needs to be researched, and so far we have only gotten a glimpse of the real extent of the problem

Biological and ecological aspects of light pollution

Svjetlosno onečišćenje je pojam koji se koristi kako bi se opisalo negativne posljedice prekomjerne, neadekvatne i nametljive umjetne noćne rasvjete koja u konačnici dovodi do gubitka mraka i noći kao važnog biološkog čimbenika. Razlikujemo „astronomsko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje onemogućuje astronomska opažanja zbog porasta sjaja neba čime se smanjuje kontrast sa objektima opažanja (zvijezde, asteroidi i sl.) te „ekološko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje mijenja ili interferira sa prirodnom noćnom svjetlosti. Preko ovog seminara dan je kratak pregled do sada otkrivenih negativnih posljedica svjetlosnog onečišćenja, sa naglaskom na taksonomske skupine poput morskih kornjača, ptica selica, noćnih leptira i šišmiša, kod kojih su primijećene najteže posljedice. Posebno su obrađene negativne posljedice na biljke, kod kojih je rađeno vrlo malo konkretnih istraživanja, te negativne posljedice na čovjeka, zbog toga što je nedavno otkriven cijeli niz zdravstvenih problema povezanih uz izlaganje svjetlu za vrijeme noći, od kojih je najteži povećan rizik od raka dojke. Iako se na prvi pogled čini kako je posljednjih godina napravljeno puno posla, veći dio ipak ostaje neistražen, a pravi omjer problema počeo se tek nedavno naslućivati.Light pollution is a term used to describe the negative consequences of excessive, scattered and intrusive artificial night light, which ultimately leads to the loss of darkness and the night as an important biological factor. We distinguish “astronomical light pollution” which prevents astronomical observations because of increased night sky brightness that lowers the contrast with the observed objects (stars, asteroids and such), and “ecological light pollution” which alters or interferes with natural light regimes during the night. The aim of this seminar is to give a short review of the negative consequences of light pollution that were discovered so far, with emphasis on taxa such as sea turtles, migrating birds, moths and bats, because they showed the most severe side effects. The negative consequences on plants and humans were described separately, mostly because there was little research on plants, and because the full list of health problems associated with exposure to light during nighttime was just recently discovered, the most severe being the increased risk of breast cancer development. Even though it may seem that a lot of work has been done these previous years, there is a lot that still needs to be researched, and so far we have only gotten a glimpse of the real extent of the problem

Biological and ecological aspects of light pollution

Svjetlosno onečišćenje je pojam koji se koristi kako bi se opisalo negativne posljedice prekomjerne, neadekvatne i nametljive umjetne noćne rasvjete koja u konačnici dovodi do gubitka mraka i noći kao važnog biološkog čimbenika. Razlikujemo „astronomsko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje onemogućuje astronomska opažanja zbog porasta sjaja neba čime se smanjuje kontrast sa objektima opažanja (zvijezde, asteroidi i sl.) te „ekološko svjetlosno onečišćenje“ koje mijenja ili interferira sa prirodnom noćnom svjetlosti. Preko ovog seminara dan je kratak pregled do sada otkrivenih negativnih posljedica svjetlosnog onečišćenja, sa naglaskom na taksonomske skupine poput morskih kornjača, ptica selica, noćnih leptira i šišmiša, kod kojih su primijećene najteže posljedice. Posebno su obrađene negativne posljedice na biljke, kod kojih je rađeno vrlo malo konkretnih istraživanja, te negativne posljedice na čovjeka, zbog toga što je nedavno otkriven cijeli niz zdravstvenih problema povezanih uz izlaganje svjetlu za vrijeme noći, od kojih je najteži povećan rizik od raka dojke. Iako se na prvi pogled čini kako je posljednjih godina napravljeno puno posla, veći dio ipak ostaje neistražen, a pravi omjer problema počeo se tek nedavno naslućivati.Light pollution is a term used to describe the negative consequences of excessive, scattered and intrusive artificial night light, which ultimately leads to the loss of darkness and the night as an important biological factor. We distinguish “astronomical light pollution” which prevents astronomical observations because of increased night sky brightness that lowers the contrast with the observed objects (stars, asteroids and such), and “ecological light pollution” which alters or interferes with natural light regimes during the night. The aim of this seminar is to give a short review of the negative consequences of light pollution that were discovered so far, with emphasis on taxa such as sea turtles, migrating birds, moths and bats, because they showed the most severe side effects. The negative consequences on plants and humans were described separately, mostly because there was little research on plants, and because the full list of health problems associated with exposure to light during nighttime was just recently discovered, the most severe being the increased risk of breast cancer development. Even though it may seem that a lot of work has been done these previous years, there is a lot that still needs to be researched, and so far we have only gotten a glimpse of the real extent of the problem

Bacterial diversity in the South Adriatic Sea during a strong deep winter convection year

The South Adriatic Sea is the deepest part of the Adriatic Sea and represents a key area for both the Adriatic Sea and the deep eastern Mediterranean. It has a role in dense water formation for the eastern Mediterranean deep circulation cell, and it represents an entry point for water masses originating from the Ionian Sea. The biodiversity and seasonality of bacterial picoplankton before, during, and after deep winter convection in the oligotrophic South Adriatic waters were assessed by combining comparative 16S rRNA sequence analysis and catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH). The picoplankton communities reached their maximum abundance in the spring euphotic zone when the maximum value of the chlorophyll a in response to deep winter convection was recorded. The communities were dominated by Bacteria, while Archaea were a minor constituent. A seasonality of bacterial richness and diversity was observed, with minimum values occurring during the winter convection and spring postconvection periods and maximum values occurring under summer stratified conditions. The SAR11 clade was the main constituent of the bacterial communities and reached the maximum abundance in the euphotic zone in spring after the convection episode. Cyanobacteria were the second most abundant group, and their abundance strongly depended on the convection event, when minimal cyanobacterial abundance was observed. In spring and autumn, the euphotic zone was characterized by Bacteroidetes and Gammaproteobacteria. Bacteroidetes clades NS2b, NS4, and NS5 and the gammaproteobacterial SAR86 clade were detected to co-occur with phytoplankton blooms. The SAR324, SAR202, and SAR406 clades were present in the deep layer, exhibiting different seasonal variations in abundance. Overall, our data demonstrate that the abundances of particular bacterial clades and the overall bacterial richness and diversity are greatly impacted by strong winter convection

A Minimally Morphologically Destructive Approach for DNA Retrieval and Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of Pinned Historic Dipteran Vector Species

Abstract: Museum collections contain enormous quantities of insect specimens collected over the past century, covering a period of increased and varied insecticide usage. These historic collections are therefore incredibly valuable as genomic snapshots of organisms before, during, and after exposure to novel selective pressures. However, these samples come with their own challenges compared with present-day collections, as they are fragile and retrievable DNA is low yield and fragmented. In this article, we tested several DNA extraction procedures across pinned historic Diptera specimens from four disease vector genera: Anopheles, Aedes, Culex, and Glossina. We identify an approach that minimizes morphological damage while maximizing DNA retrieval for Illumina library preparation and sequencing that can accommodate the fragmented and low yield nature of historic DNA. We identify several key points in retrieving sufficient DNA while keeping morphological damage to a minimum: an initial rehydration step, a short incubation without agitation in a modified low salt Proteinase K buffer (referred to as “lysis buffer C” throughout), and critical point drying of samples post-extraction to prevent tissue collapse caused by air drying. The suggested method presented here provides a solid foundation for exploring the genomes and morphology of historic Diptera collections.CopyrightThe Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Phylogenetic relationships within the genus Rana (Amphibia, Ranidae) based on a method RFLP and 16S, cytb, ITS2 sequence analysis

Proteini MAB sadrţe dvije funkcionalno bitne interakcijske domene: MATH i BTB. Do sada je pokazano da su oni dio sustava eliminacije proteina koji stanici više nisu potrebni. Neki od istraženih proteina MAB (CeMEL-26, HsSPOP) dio su multiproteinskih kompleksa kulin 3 E3 ligaza i sluţe za prepoznavanje supstrata koje treba razgraditi. Tijekom razvoja pšenice ekspresija gena TaMAB2 prisutna je samo u oplođenoj jajnoj stanici, u zigoti te u dvostaničnom embriju. U ovom radu napravljena je heterologna ekspresija gena TaMAB2 iz pšenice u uročnjaku. Utvrđeno je da transgenične biljke proizvode cjeloviti protein TaMAB2 koji se u stanicama nakuplja. Sam protein TaMAB2 je ubikvitiniran, te vjerojatno stvara homo- i heterodimere. Rast i razvoj transgeničnih biljaka je značajno fenotipski promijenjen u odnosu na biljke divljeg tipa ali im fototropizam i gravitropizam nisu poremećeni. Analizom unutarstanične lokalizacije proteina TaMAB2 u stanicama BY-2 i pokožici luka utvrđeno je nakupljanje velikih agregata oko jezgrine ovojnice i u blizini stanične membrane. Ovi rezultati ukazuju da bi protein TaMAB2 mogao imati bitnu ulogu u eliminaciji proteina i uspostavljanju polarnosti tijekom rane embriogeneze pšenice.Water frogs (genus Rana, subgenus Pelophylax) present an interesting research subject for ecology, physiology and genetics. Rana kl. esculenta hybridogenetic complex, which consists of two parental species (Rana ridibunda and Rana lessonae) and their hybrid species (Rana kl. esculenta), is of special interest. Hybrids often show morphological traits similar to either parent, making them harder to identify on the field. Because of that, more relevance is given to molecular and phylogenetic methods in the identification of water frog species. Identification by morphological traits has shown that in central Croatia both parental populations of R. ridibunda and R. lessonae can inhabit the same location and thus lead to the formation of hybrids. The goal of this project was to determine the phylogenetic relationships of water frog populations from Crna Mlaka based on 16S rRNA, cytochrome b and ITS2sequence analysis, and to examine the efficiency of a simple RFLP method for identifying parental species and hybrids based on the digestion of a conserved ITS2 fragment with three restriction enzymes (KpnI, HaeII and SmaI). Results of this phylogenetic analysis have shown that both parental species R. ridibunda and R. lessonae, and thus potential hybrids, inhabit Crna Mlaka. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytb genes proved to be the best method for species and haplotype identification, while the RFLP method and phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ITS2 regions, which could help differentiate hybrid samples, need further protocol optimization

Genetic variation at the Cyp6m2 putative insecticide resistance locus in Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii

Auteurs : The Anopheles gambiae 1000 Genomes Consortium, (Michael Fontaine)International audienceThe emergence of insecticide resistance is a major threat to malaria control programmes in Africa, with many different factors contributing to insecticide resistance in its vectors, Anopheles mosquitoes. CYP6M2 has previously been recognized as an important candidate in cytochrome P450-mediated detoxification in Anopheles . As it has been implicated in resistance against pyrethroids, organochlorines and carbamates, its broad metabolic activity makes it a potential agent in insecticide cross-resistance. Currently, allelic variation within the Cyp6m2 gene remains unknown. Methods Here, Illumina whole-genome sequence data from Phase 2 of the Anopheles gambiae 1000 Genomes Project (Ag1000G) was used to examine genetic variation in the Cyp6m2 gene across 16 populations in 13 countries comprising Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii mosquitoes . To identify whether these alleles show evidence of selection either through potentially modified enzymatic function or by being linked to variants that change the transcriptional profile of the gene, hierarchical clustering of haplotypes, linkage disequilibrium, median joining networks and extended haplotype homozygosity analyses were performed. Results Fifteen missense biallelic substitutions at high frequency (defined as > 5% frequency in one or more populations) are found, which fall into five distinct haplotype groups that carry the main high frequency variants: A13T, D65A, E328Q, Y347F, I359V and A468S. Despite consistent reports of Cyp6m2 upregulation and metabolic activity in insecticide resistant Anophelines, no evidence of directional selection is found occurring on these variants or on the haplotype clusters in which they are found. Conclusion These results imply that emerging resistance associated with Cyp6m2 is potentially driven by distant regulatory loci such as transcriptional factors rather than by its missense variants, or that other genes are playing a more significant role in conferring metabolic resistance

Direct dating of Neanderthal remains from the site of Vindija Cave and implications for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition

Previous dating of the Vi-207 and Vi-208 Neanderthal remains from Vindija Cave (Croatia) led to the suggestion that Neanderthals survived there as recently as 28,000–29,000 B.P. Subsequent dating yielded older dates, interpreted as ages of at least ∼32,500 B.P. We have redated these same specimens using an approach based on the extraction of the amino acid hydroxyproline, using preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (Prep-HPLC). This method is more efficient in eliminating modern contamination in the bone collagen. The revised dates are older than 40,000 B.P., suggesting the Vindija Neanderthals did not live more recently than others across Europe, and probably predate the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Eastern Europe. We applied zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) to find additional hominin remains. We identified one bone that is Neanderthal, based on its mitochondrial DNA, and dated it directly to 46,200 ± 1,500 B.P. We also attempted to date six early Upper Paleolithic bone points from stratigraphic units G1, Fd/d+G1 and Fd/d, Fd. One bone artifact gave a date of 29,500 ± 400 B.P., while the remainder yielded no collagen. We additionally dated animal bone samples from units G1 and G1–G3. These dates suggest a co-occurrence of early Upper Paleolithic osseous artifacts, particularly split-based points, alongside the remains of Neanderthals is a result of postdepositional mixing, rather than an association between the two groups, although more work is required to show this definitively