Feeding places for shooting wild boar (ie., bait sites) may cause weed infestation in natural habitats. We examined the vegetation and the soil seed banks of three current and three – 1, 8 and 10 years old – abandoned baits, using vegetation survey along transects and seedling emergence methods. In case of vegetation, the density and the number of weeds were significantly higher at current baits. In addition, the abundance of weeds decreased with the time of abandonment, but the number of weeds remained similar. Concerning the seed bank, the species number and the total seed density highly varied, but due to the frequent disturbances, they were lower at current baits. Only the proportion of weed species was significantly lower at abandoned sites, the abundancy of weed seeds was similar, and did not decrease in time. Even, the youngest bait showed the lowest, while the oldest one the highest proportion of weed seeds among the abandoned sites. Generally, long-term persistent seeds dominated, except for the oldest site, indicating the lower level of disturbance. Vegetation regenerates relatively quickly, but the seed banks remain infected for years, which can be a potential source of secondary invasions.

A better understanding on the distribution of highly migratory marine megafauna and the potential exposure of their habitats to anthropogenic activities is essential for ensuring the persistence and the protection of such iconic group of species. Here, we aim to deliver a comprehensive view on the distribution of foraging grounds for charismatic representatives of marine megafauna, loggerheads, Caretta caretta, in the Mediterranean Sea, along with an assessment on their exposure to fisheries. First, we compiled a consolidated database with locations of the adult Mediterranean foraging loggerheads extracted from published satellite tracking data. Next, we applied an ensemble distribution modelling approach so as to develop a map of the foraging grounds across the Mediterranean Sea. Finally, we assessed the exposure of the delineated foraging grounds to the cumulative risk due to different types of fisheries. Our findings revealed that the foraging grounds for adult loggerheads were extended over the 9% of the Mediterranean basin. We identified well-established areas in the central Mediterranean Sea, such as the Northern Adriatic Sea and the Gulf of Gabes in Tunisia, but also highlighted sites, at the western part of the basin, for which the current knowledge was restricted. In addition, we found that the exposure of the foraging grounds to fisheries differed across the Mediterranean Sea, with the Adriatic Sea being subjected to the highest level of risk. The developed approach that combined modeling techniques and risk assessment allowed us to reveal critical sites for sea turtles on which conservation actions should focus.

This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning» in the context of the project “Reinforcement of Postdoctoral Researchers - 2nd Cycle” (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ).

Throughout the temperate zone on the Northern Hemisphere, oaks (Quercus spp.) are among the most important tree species, although their regeneration has become weak recently. Acorns mean the basis of this process, and they can be affected by many factors like seed production, germination and predation. Oaks typically show mast seeding which has crucial and far-reaching multitrophic effect. Generalists like wild boars (Sus scrofa) often respond strongly to these masting events. Acorns are one of the most important components in their diet, therefore they are also usually considered as one of the main obstacles in the oak regeneration. In our research we examined a forest stand from 2016 October to 2019 December. We found that in the first two years Turkey oaks (Quercus cerris) were masting, but later produced almost nothing. While the sessile oaks (Quercus petraea) showed a relatively low, but quite balanced yield throughout our study. In spite of this, the acorn densities of the two species were quite similar during the second acorn rich period (2017 October to 2018 April), which implies a strong seed predator effect. During the successive sapling rich periods (April to November) we found more freshly emerged Turkey oak individuals, although with a relatively low abundance. Rooting of the wild boars disturbed the area more intensively during the first two, masting acorn rich periods. Our results demonstrate a strong connection among these phenomena throughout oak regeneration and help to better understand the whole process.

The genus Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) comprises more than 800 species, mostly native to Australia. Eucalyptus essential oils (EOs) are well-known for their extremely high qualitative and quantitative variation in foliar terpenes (mainly mono- and sesquiterpenes). These EOs have a wide range of uses, from scientific applications, such as the taxonomic characterization of populations based on the chemical profiling of EO chemotypes, to industrial applications, including pharmaceutical, agrochemical, food and fragrances. In this study, we review the available information concerning the chemical variability of EOs from Eucalyptus spp. assayed against nematodes. The most active EOs belonged to E. globulus, E. staigeriana, and E. citriodora. Their chemical composition was mainly dominated by 1,8-cineole, limonene, p-cymene and citronellal in varying proportions. Nematicidal activity of Eucalyptus spp. EOs was reported against animal parasitic nematodes, including gastrointestinal nematodes (e.g., Haemonchus contortus), plant parasitic nematodes, such as root-knot nematodes (e.g., Meloidogyne incognita and M. chitwoodi) or the pinewood nematode Bursapelenchus xylophilus, and the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Correlation between EO qualitative and quantitative composition with its respective activity may provide valuable information on the nematicidal specificity of EOs. This knowledge can be useful for devising environmentally safer pest management techniques for the conservation of ecosystems biodiversity.

Pelusios is an Afrotropical endemic genus of freshwater turtles that have adapted to a variety of habitats, with savannahs and forests being their two main habitat types. Although considered generally carnivorous, these turtles have rarely been subjected to detailed field surveys for determining their quantitative diet. In this paper, by using both literature and original data, we analyse the diet of several Pelusios populations: three P. adansonii populations from South Sudan, one P. nanus from Zambia, seven P. castaneus from Nigeria, Benin and Togo, and four P. niger from Nigeria. All species were omnivorous but with a clear preponderance of the prey items being of animal origin (amphibians, fish, arthropods and anellids). Saturation curves revealed that the diet composition of all the surveyed populations was adequately assessed, and the diversity profiles indicated that all the populations were relatively similar in terms of overall dietary diversity. General Linear Models (GLM) showed a negative effect of vegetation cover on Anura adults consumption by turtles, while showed that the frequencies of Anura tadpoles, fish, reptiles and birds on Pelusios diets increased with the increase of vegetation cover. The GLM model also showed positive effects of individual body size on algae, Bivalvia, reptiles, birds and small mammals consumption by turtles, while underlined that the predation on Arachnida decreased with the increases of turtles body size. All species appeared substantially generalists in terms of their diet composition, although the effects of season (wet versus dry months) were not adequately assessed by our study.

Biodiversity is the number and variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region. It refers to the varieties of plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystems they form. Approximately half of Earth’s terrestrial surface is considered to be in a natural or semi natural condition. It relates to the variability among living organisms on the earth, including the variability within and between the species and that within and between the ecosystems. The degradation of nature is among the most serious issues that the world faces, but current targets and consequent actions amount, at best, to a managed decline. Required now are bold and well-defined goals and a credible set of actions to restore the abundance of nature to levels that enable both people and nature to thrive. Human population density strongly correlates with the risk of emergence for all major classes of emerging infectious disease. The maintenance of biodiversity is hypothesized to reduce pathogen prevalence and consequently human disease risk through the dilution effect. However, assuming microbial diversity correlates with that of all other life forms, there may be increased potential for novel pathogens to emerge from biodiverse regions. Here, we present a theoretical framework that exploits the species–area relationship (SAR) to link habitat biodiversity and fragmentation with the exposure to novel infectious diseases by exploiting ecological theory it is possible to identify high-risk areas for risk mitigation and mitigation measures that may simultaneously reduce risk and conserve biodiversity, a problem that has previously been described as both conceptually and practically challenging.

In the Mediterranean basin, Pinus pinaster (maritime pine) and P. pinea (stone pine) are highly economically important species of pine, namely as a source of raw material for various industries, such as wood, paper, resin, pine nuts (stone pine) and extraction of essential oils (EOs). Recently, these pine species have gained increased attention due to the identification of the pine wilt disease (PWD) for the first time in Europe, in Portugal. Stone pine is considered moderately tolerant to this pathology since there is no reported case in natural conditions. However, maritime pine is a particularly susceptible species and the PWD has caused grave economical losses. Research on these species, particularly on maritime pine, reports a large genetic and phenotypic intra-species variability that ultimately hinders the comparison between different studies. In consequence, this variability must also be present on pine tree chemical profiles. The present work reviews the available bibliography on P. pinaster and P. pinea EO composition and identifies the compounds responsible for the highest variation.

This study compiled the chemical profiling of EOs extracted from the aerial parts of these species, from a total of 25 publications. The EO components that showed the highest variations in relative amounts were limonene, α-pinene, β-pinene, trans-β-caryophyllene and β-myrcene for stone pine, and α-pinene, β-pinene, trans-β-caryophyllene, germacrene D and β-myrcene for maritime pine. Cluster analysis based on the quantitative composition of these compounds allowed to group the samples from each species into six chemically distinct groups. A considerable degree of chemical variability was detected for these species.

Variability on pine volatile metabolome may occur at the cellular and biochemical levels and can bias the results obtained for these species EOs. Research performed in the field or in greenhouse conditions should first ascertain chemical variability on P. pinea or P. pinaster.

This paper is devoted to providing chorological information on genus Sonchus species in Ukraine and to mapping their distribution. We have processed the materials of the herbaria KW, KWHA, KWHU, LW, LWKS, LWS, SOF, MW and also information from on-line resources http://www.ukrbin.com and https://www.inaturalist.org. Also we carried out several expeditions. Maps were constructed using SimpleMappr. The species of the genus Sonchus occur throughout Ukraine. Sonchusasper, S. oleraceus and S. arvensis grow mostly on anthropogenically transformed areas. Sonchuspalustris occurs more often in swamps and wet meadows. Here we also found out that Sonchus species in Ukraine should be classified as aboriginal. Previously, they were considered adventitious for the territory of Ukraine.

The evaluation of phytopharmaceutical, antioxydant and antimicrobial activities still a useful and interesting task, especially for unknown and less used medicinal plants in traditional herbal medicine. These plants represent a new source of active compounds.

Corchorus olitorius Linn (Tiliaceae) is an important edible plant in many Arab countries such as Egypt or Sudan¹, and extreme east of Algeria, it is used for the preparation of a very popular hot soup (called molokhia). In West Algeria, this plant is reported to be used, for the first time, for medicinal purposes.

In the present study, polyphenolic potential and in vitro biological activities of Corchorus olitorius .L are investigated and some preliminary results exhibit an interesting free radical scavenging potential for studied plant proportional to a richness in secondary metabolites .

Green spaces can exist within and in close proximity to urban environments. These areas readily become habitats to mammals, amphibians, reptiles and other native species that may persist in confined areas within cities. Understanding the expanse of the area in which animals live, or their home range patterns, is important to better understand their ecology. In this study we investigated daily movements, seasonal home ranges and overlap of the Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) in a peri-urban area in Budapest, Hungary. We used radio-telemetry to track 5 individual adult snakes within a total area of 125 ha consisting of different microhabitats between 2016 and 2019. Caspian whipsnakes distributed within an area of only 30 ha. We found that they cover on average daily distances of 11 - 39 m during vegetation period and less than 5 m during brumation period. The snakes used home ranges of 6 - 14 ha during vegetation periods and 0.04 - 0.28 ha during brumation periods, being the smallest for the underground localities during the brumation period. The Adaptive Kernel method gave the highest, LoCoH-R the smallest home range values. The percentage of home range overlap was found to be smaller during brumation periods when the snakes were underground than during vegetation periods when the snakes were found both, under and above ground. Caspian whipsnakes in Vöröskővár currently have room for movement but it seems that the patches providing shelter (rocky places, burrows, shrubby areas) can limit their distribution, especially during the brumation period. Increased anthropogenic activities, and disturbances mainly in the wintering hiding areas may result in significant threat to the species.