Motivation
Assessing biodiversity status and trends in plant communities is critical for understanding, quantifying and predicting the effects of global change on ecosystems. Vegetation plots record ...the occurrence or abundance of all plant species co‐occurring within delimited local areas. This allows species absences to be inferred, information seldom provided by existing global plant datasets. Although many vegetation plots have been recorded, most are not available to the global research community. A recent initiative, called ‘sPlot’, compiled the first global vegetation plot database, and continues to grow and curate it. The sPlot database, however, is extremely unbalanced spatially and environmentally, and is not open‐access. Here, we address both these issues by (a) resampling the vegetation plots using several environmental variables as sampling strata and (b) securing permission from data holders of 105 local‐to‐regional datasets to openly release data. We thus present sPlotOpen, the largest open‐access dataset of vegetation plots ever released. sPlotOpen can be used to explore global diversity at the plant community level, as ground truth data in remote sensing applications, or as a baseline for biodiversity monitoring.
Main types of variable contained
Vegetation plots (n = 95,104) recording cover or abundance of naturally co‐occurring vascular plant species within delimited areas. sPlotOpen contains three partially overlapping resampled datasets (c. 50,000 plots each), to be used as replicates in global analyses. Besides geographical location, date, plot size, biome, elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation type, naturalness, coverage of various vegetation layers, and source dataset, plot‐level data also include community‐weighted means and variances of 18 plant functional traits from the TRY Plant Trait Database.
Spatial location and grain
Global, 0.01–40,000 m².
Time period and grain
1888–2015, recording dates.
Major taxa and level of measurement
42,677 vascular plant taxa, plot‐level records.
Software format
Three main matrices (.csv), relationally linked.
Ghrelin is involved in the regulation of growth in vertebrates through controlling different functions, such as feed intake, metabolism, intestinal activity or growth hormone (Gh) secretion. The aim ...of this work was to identify the sequences of
and Ghrelin receptors (
), and to study their responses to different nutritional conditions in gilthead sea bream (
) juveniles. The structure and phylogeny of
was analyzed, and a tissue screening was performed. The effects of 21 days of fasting and 2, 5, 24 h, and 7 days of refeeding on plasma levels of Ghrelin, Gh and Igf-1, and the gene expression of
and members of the Gh/Igf-1 system were determined in key tissues.
and the receptors are well conserved, being expressed mainly in stomach, and in the pituitary and brain, respectively. Twenty-one days of fasting resulted in a decrease in growth while Ghrelin plasma levels were elevated to decrease at 5 h post-prandial when pituitary
expression was minimum. Gh in plasma increased during fasting and slowly felt upon refeeding, while plasma Igf-1 showed an inverse profile. Pituitary
expression augmented during fasting reaching maximum levels at 1 day post-feeding while liver
expression and that of its splice variants decreased to lowest levels. Liver Gh receptors expression was down-regulated during fasting and recovered after refeeding. This study demonstrates the important role of Ghrelin during fasting, its acute down-regulation in the post-prandial stage and its interaction with pituitary Ghsrs and Gh/Igf-1 axis.
The feasibility of scheduling deficit irrigation using maximum daily trunk shrinkage (MDS) was evaluated during two consecutive seasons in a citrus orchard planted with mature ‘Clementina de Nules’ ...trees, in Valencia, Spain. Results showed that MDS in well irrigated trees varied largely according to the environmental conditions (higher correlation was obtained with global radiation), and therefore, the absolute values of MDS cannot be employed as the only variable to schedule irrigation. To avoid the effects of the climatic conditions we scheduled deficit irrigation using the MDS ratio, which is the MDS of any treatment related to the MDS of a control, well irrigated, treatment located in the same plot. We explored the feasibility of scheduling irrigation based on the MDS ratio in a deficit irrigated treatment, where water was applied as necessary, from July until mid October, in order to maintain the MDS values at 125% of that of the control treatment. Despite the large variability observed in the MDS measurements in both years no significant reduction in yield and fruit weight was observed in the deficit irrigated treatment compared with the control, allowing seasonal water saving between 18 and 12%.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has a very high heritability (0.8), suggesting that about 80% of phenotypic variance is due to genetic factors. We used the integration of statistical ...and functional approaches to discover a novel gene that contributes to ADHD. For our statistical approach, we started with a linkage study based on large multigenerational families in a population isolate, followed by fine mapping of targeted regions using a family-based design. Family- and population-based association studies in five samples from disparate regions of the world were used for replication. Brain imaging studies were performed to evaluate gene function. The linkage study discovered a genome region harbored in the Latrophilin 3 gene (LPHN3). In the world-wide samples (total n=6360, with 2627 ADHD cases and 2531 controls) statistical association of LPHN3 and ADHD was confirmed. Functional studies revealed that LPHN3 variants are expressed in key brain regions related to attention and activity, affect metabolism in neural circuits implicated in ADHD, and are associated with response to stimulant medication. Linkage and replicated association of ADHD with a novel non-candidate gene (LPHN3) provide new insights into the genetics, neurobiology, and treatment of ADHD.
The equine embryo possesses a capsule that is considered essential for its survival. We assessed viability after breaching the capsule of early (Day 6) and expanded (Day 7 and 8) equine blastocysts ...by micromanipulation. The capsule was penetrated using a Piezo drill, and trophoblast biopsy samples were obtained for genetic analysis. Pregnancy rates for Day-6 embryos, which had intact zonae pellucidae at the time of recovery, were 3/3 for those biopsied immediately after recovery and 2/3 for those biopsied after being shipped overnight under warm (~28 °C) conditions. The pregnancy rates for encapsulated Day-7 expanded blastocysts were 5/6 for those biopsied immediately and 5/6 for those biopsied after being shipped overnight warm. Two of four encapsulated Day-8 blastocysts, 790 and 1350 μm in diameter, established normal pregnancies after biopsy. Nine mares were allowed to maintain pregnancy, and they gave birth to nine normal foals. Biopsied cells from eight embryos that produced foals were subjected to whole-genome amplification. Sex was successfully determined from amplified DNA in 8/8 embryos. Identification of disease-causing mutations matched in the analyses of 6/6 samples for the sodium channel, voltage-gated, type IV, alpha subunit (SCN4A) gene and in 6/7 samples for the peptidylprolyl isomerase B (PPIB) gene, in embryo-foal pairs. Thus, the capsule of the equine embryo can be breached without impairing viability. Further work is needed to determine whether this breach is transient or permanent. These findings are relevant to the understanding of equine embryo development and to the establishment of methods for micromanipulation and embryo cryopreservation in this species.
In the Higher School of Agronomic and Forestry Engineering of the University of Cordoba, a collective project conceived as an 'ecosystem to support and accompany entrepreneurs' has been proposed. The ...approach aims to spread and consolidate the entrepreneurial spirit and to respond to the demands of possible stakeholders involved in the whole process of training, as well as the subsequent integration of graduates into the labour market. Putting into practice this initiative, which involves multiple actors, is a complex and difficult task. For this reason, prior to its implementation, the authors considered it necessary to listen to main stakeholders' opinions and evaluate their degree of commitment and the requirements they consider important for the viability and sustainability of the initiative. This paper focuses on the faculty's opinions, gathered by means of a survey conducted with the entire faculty (N = 128, response rate = 45%) and semi-structured interviews held with 20 members of the School board. The results suggest that there is a general consensus on the suitability of this collective project and that there is a core of teachers willing to get involved. Evidently, guidelines need to be produced to facilitate taking on such tasks. However, the main drawbacks are related with the conflict between formal requirements of professor professional profile and the steps needed to establish the ecosystem.
Endometriosis is a heritable hormone-dependent gynecological disorder, associated with severe pelvic pain and reduced fertility; however, its molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here we ...perform a meta-analysis of 11 genome-wide association case-control data sets, totalling 17,045 endometriosis cases and 191,596 controls. In addition to replicating previously reported loci, we identify five novel loci significantly associated with endometriosis risk (P<5 × 10
), implicating genes involved in sex steroid hormone pathways (FN1, CCDC170, ESR1, SYNE1 and FSHB). Conditional analysis identified five secondary association signals, including two at the ESR1 locus, resulting in 19 independent single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) robustly associated with endometriosis, which together explain up to 5.19% of variance in endometriosis. These results highlight novel variants in or near specific genes with important roles in sex steroid hormone signalling and function, and offer unique opportunities for more targeted functional research efforts.
The HAWC Collaboration released the 2HWC catalogue of TeV sources, in which 19 show no association with any known high-energy (HE; E ≳ 10 GeV) or very-high-energy (VHE; E ≳ 300 GeV) sources. This ...catalogue motivated follow-up studies by both the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) and Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope) observatories with the aim of investigating gamma-ray emission over a broad energy band. In this paper, we report the results from the first joint work between High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC), MAGIC, and Fermi-LAT on three unassociated HAWC sources: 2HWC J2006+341, 2HWC J1907+084*, and 2HWC J1852+013*. Although no significant detection was found in the HE and VHE regimes, this investigation shows that a minimum 1° extension (at 95 per cent confidence level) and harder spectrum in the GeV than the one extrapolated from HAWC results are required in the case of 2HWC J1852+013*, whilst a simply minimum extension of 0.16° (at 95 per cent confidence level) can already explain the scenario proposed by HAWC for the remaining sources. Moreover, the hypothesis that these sources are pulsar wind nebulae is also investigated in detail.
Effective cryopreservation of expanded equine blastocysts (> 300 μm in diameter) has been difficult, perhaps due to the volume of blastocoele fluid or the presence of the equine embryonic capsule. ...Recently, we reported normal viability of equine embryos after trophoblast biopsy, which resulted in blastocyst collapse. The present study addressed the effect of biopsy and resultant breach of the capsule and blastocyst collapse on survival of expanded equine blastocysts after vitrification. First, non-biopsied, small embryos (< 300 μm) were vitrified in fine-diameter microloader pipette tips using dimethylsulfoxide-containing medium (DM) or ethylene glycol-containing medium (EG). A third group was vitrified with EG, but was warmed using sucrose (EG/s). Embryos in the DM and EG/s treatments grew in culture after vitrification, and established pregnancies after transfer (3 of 12 and 3 of 6, respectively). Expanded blastocysts 300–730 μm in diameter were then biopsied and vitrified; rates of normal pregnancy (detection of embryonic heartbeat) after warming and transfer were 2 of 16 (13%) and 6 of 13 (46%) for DM and EG/s treatments, respectively (P = 0.05). Within the EG/s treatment, it appeared that greater loss of blastocoele fluid after biopsy was associated with higher survival. Therefore, an altered (“Central”) biopsy technique was used to aspirate blastocoele fluid, followed by vitrification in EG/s. Pregnancy rates were 1 of 8 (13%) for embryos cultured after warming and 4 of 7 (57%) for embryos transferred immediately after warming (P = 0.1). Finally, expanded blastocysts 407 to 565 μm in diameter were biopsied from the periphery, and blastocoele fluid was removed with gentle suction. After vitrification with EG/s, this resulted in a rate of normal pregnancy of 5 of 7 (71%). These findings demonstrated that blastocoele collapse and vitrification in fine-diameter pipettes allowed successful cryopreservation of expanded equine blastocysts.
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