Trees and shrubs belonging to the Betula L. genus present highly confusing interspecific relationships. The complex evolutionary history of birches may be due to several factors: interspecific gene flow, the independent occurrence of both polyploidy and dwarf forms in different lineages, incidents of major speciation events within a very short time period and different selection pressures in the distant populations of widespread species. We assessed phylogenetic relationships between the uncommon dark-barked B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica with patterned wood texture and widespread birch tree species: white-barked B. pendula and B. pubescens as well as dark-barked B. nigra and B. dahurica, using the internal transcribed spacer ITS1 and ITS2 regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA, nuclear ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase) gene sequences and AFLPs (amplified fragment length polymorphisms). In the phylogenetic trees based on the ITS and ADH gene sequences, B. pendula var. carelica and B. obscura clustered with B. pendula, but were distinct from B. pubescens, B. nigra and B. dahurica. In turn, both clustering and multivariate ordination methods using the AFLPs revealed clear distinctness of B. obscura from the remaining species. Betula pendula var. carelica grouped with B. pendula and B. pubescens individuals in both AFLP analyses. Values of the leaf morphology indices of B. obscura and B. pendula var. carelica were within the range of B. pendula variation. All genetic and morphological analyses confirmed the intraspecific status of B. pendula var. carelica. We also suggest that B. obscura represent intraspecific variation of B. pendula, although discrepancies between nuclear sequences and AFLP results were noted.

During last decades, several researches and scientific studies were conducted on the « Opuntia ficus indica » a wild edible plant which the fruit is commonly known as prickly pear, promoting its nutritional value, due to a rich composition in polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and amino acids. The current work intends to highlight uses of hole plant parts in different fields such as medical field including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiulcer, dietetic, anticancer and antidiabetic activities. Opuntia ficus indica is also wildly used in the culinary field as jam and food coloring; in the agronomic and ecological field as regenerator of exhausted soils; as supplement in fodder use, and in dermacosmetics and parapharmaceutical industry in shampoo and anti-wrinkle skin creams.

However, the use of this plant remains very limited. Consequently, this work is a global revue came to open the way for other more targeted investigations, particularly in Biotechnology.

The present study contributes to the promotion of a tree widely cultivated in the Mediterranean area, especially in our country Algeria; the carob tree "Ceratonia siliqua L."; by a bibliographic review which lists the chemical, nutritional, biochemical, biological, and biotechnological properties of carob and its by-products expressed by the evaluation of their activities: antioxidant, anticancer, anti-hyper-lipidemic, anti-diabetic, anti-reflux, anti- diarrheal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer and enzymatic, noted in the literature for few years.

The presence of the main primary and secondary metabolites: polyphenols, fibers and sugars; give these products very interesting properties and benefits for human health by making it dietetic product and a raw material of choice in food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, in this perspective we developed in our laboratory a Ceratonia siliqua L. fruit aqueous extract based vegetal milk as a functional food for chronicle diseases related to digestive disorder: diabetes, and lactose intolerance.

It is widely known that trees are one of the most important natural elements characterizing the urban landscape. They play a crucial role as providers of ecosystem services, which enhance human well-being directly and indirectly. A relevant feature considering that more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Here trees and human works generally depict a complex system of historical, cultural and natural values. However, urban changes can modify historic landscapes by causing the loss of cultural and environmental values. This is particularly true in those territories where man has been present since very ancient times, such as the metropolitan areas of the Mediterranean basin.

In this study, we assessed native people’s perception of trees in the urban landscape of the Bay of Naples (Italy) with the main goals of: i) to highlight the tree species historically characteristic of the urban landscape; ii) to evaluate the quantitative changes and the related causes that have affected trees in the last twenty years. To this aims we conducted a totally anonymous online survey using the Google Forms application. The questionnaire, in addition to some personal data, included 114 questions on tree characteristics. We have selected 50 tree native and exotic species and to facilitate their identification for a wider audience, we have provided a photographic documentation for each tree. Participants (botanists, agronomists, etc.) were asked to state their opinions according to rating scales. On the basis of the questionnaires received so far, Pinus pinea L. (Pinaceae) showed the highest scores as a species historically characterizing the study area, but also in strong reduction. The results of this study will support decision making in the urban landscape planning in the Bay of Naples. Furthermore, the proposed survey method can be tested and applied to other urban areas of the world.

Humans and wildlife have co-existed in urban environments for as long as human settlements have existed. The expanding needs of the growing human population lead to transforming urban areas at unprecedented rates. An existential conflict emerges between humans and wildlife due to overlap of lands and demand from both sides. Understanding the linkages between human and animal interactions is nowadays of critical importance. The lack of implementation of urban residents’ attitudes toward urban wildlife by local governments can lead to poor integration of conservation measures. The aim of the study was to evaluate the perception of urban citizens, concerning their knowledge about the presence of wild animals in the city, conflict situations and opinions on the mitigation strategies of human-wildlife co-existence. We performed a questionnaire survey conducted in 2020 in Krakow, the second-largest city in Poland. Out of the total collected 888 surveys, the opinions of the respondents were equally divided among positive and negative approach towards residing with wildlife in the city. The most common nuisance wild animals in the city were identified by the respondents were wild boar (Sus scrofa), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), northern, white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus) and stone marten (Martes foina). The problems caused by these animals included mainly destruction or damage to properties, anxiety and road collisions. Most residents (64.75%) were unaware of any institution that can help with dealing with a conflicted wild animal, although the majority (80.97%) agreed that there is a need for such information campaigns. The study provides further evidence of the benefits of perception study research and its influence on the management of such conflicts.

There has been considerable urban development in the Darwin region over the last twenty years; as for most fauna in Australia since colonisation, the potential effects to the bird assemblage were expected to be disastrous. To provide a broad overview of changes, bird survey data from 1998 and 2018 were extracted from the Birds Australia ‘New Atlas of Australian Birds’ database. A total of 164 species were categorised into primary food source feeding guilds and levels of food specialisation. This was integrated into ArcGIS along with land use change mapping from 1998 and 2018 to investigate its impact on bird assemblages. There was no significant change in overall species numbers when all sites were analysed. However, when sites were separated into those with increased urbanisation or decreased greenspace, several sites showed a significant change in the number of species. For the majority of species, analysis of primary food types found no difference in the proportion of species within the assemblages between 1998 and 2018, regardless of the level of urbanisation or greenspace; the exception being those species that primarily feed on insects where the difference was just significant. An analysis using bird community data sorted into levels of food specialisation also found no difference between 1998 and 2018 despite habitat changes. These findings suggest that although there has been considerable urban development in the Darwin region, bird communities are remaining relatively stable.

Graptophyllum pictum (L.) Griff is one of the medicinal plants in Indonesia that has been proved to have antioxidant, antidiabetic, and analgesic properties. However, there is no report about the relationship of its genetic diversity with accession and ethnic aspects. Thus, we carried out polymorphism studies and clusterization of 34 samples G. pictum that were collected from 10 ethnics in Western Indonesia. The research purpose was to determine the polymorphism and kinship relations between ethnic groups and accessions of G. pictum in Western Indonesia. DNA was isolated using the GeneJET Plant Genomic DNA purification mini kit. Sequence Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) was used as a molecular marker in PCR amplification. We analyzed the data using NTSYS and PopGene 1.3 softwares. We found 8 combinations of selected primers with polymorphic percentage average of 72.23% and 45 loci. The ethnicity that has the highest polymorphic percentage is Kutai (East Kalimantan) of 55.56%. The diversity between population and accession is moderate with Dissimilarity Index (DI) not more than 0.69. Ribun ethnic in West Kalimantan is the oldest ancestry ethnic that has locus marker at 24th and 41st position. In conclusion, we found that G. pictum in Western Indonesia is divided into 4 clusters.

In many countries molluscs are one of the main products of aquaculture. Microalgae are the most trophically valuable part of suspended organic matter in terms of filter feeders nutrition. The aim of this work is to investigate the nutritional spectrum of cultivated mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis at the Sevastopol sea-farm (Black Sea). To reach this goal the samples of sea water (1.5 litres) were thickened by reverse filtration to identify quantitative and qualitative compound of microalgae in native and concentrated sample. Molluscs were divided to different size groups. Their stomachs were prosected after sampling immediately and aliquot 0.02 µl was analyzed. Quantitative and qualitative compound of microalgae in water and stomachs was defined using light microscopy. This paper provides results of comparative analysis of quantitative and qualitative microalgae compound at the Sevastopol sea-farm water and stomachs of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis cultivating at this farm. It is showed that species composition and amount of phytoplankton in water is typical for Crimean coastal waters. The similarity in microalgae compound between water samples and mussel stomachs reached maximum in Febriary (72%) and did not exceed 42% at the spring and autumn. Diatoms (27 species) and Dinophyta (11 species) occurred in the mussel food bolus frequently. Food spectrum of bivalves is quite wide but selectivity in filter feeders consumption is confirmed too.

Old trees with large girth are important habitats in various ecosystems, and function as cultural legacies as well. Our aims were to measure the greatest (considering girth) trees of Hungary, and compile their main data (including their health status and accessibility). We measured altogether 2000 trees in the area of 531 Hungarian settlements, belonging to 29 native and 43 non-native species. 1550 specimens belong to native species, while 450 are adventive. The most frequent among the greatest tree species is beech (Fagus sylvatica; 400 specimens) and the oak genus (Quercus spp.; 427 specimens). Most of them stand in a park or forest (not as a solitary tree), and live in the Northern Hungarian Mountain Range, while there is a low number of veteran trees in the Great Hungarian Plain. In terms of health status, at least three-quarters of the measured trees are in fair condition. From the registration in the nation-wide online database till our measurement (i.e., between 2000 and 2018) 121 great trees died, mostly due to natural causes (dehydration, storm damage). This number proves that any kind of documentation is important. More than half of the trees are easily accessible, while only about 9% is very difficult to reach. There is only a very limited case when a great tree receives legal protection at the local or national level even on its own or the habitat where it stands.

A rapid spreading of cosmopolite breeds leads to decrease of population sizes of Russian local sheep that consequently might result in their biodiversity loss. Estimation of the runs of homozygosity (ROH) in local sheep genomes is an informative tool to address their current genetic state. In this work, we aimed to address the distribution of the ROH and to estimate genome inbreeding in Russian local sheep breeds based on SNP-genotyping. Medium-density SNP-genotypes of twenty-three local sheep breeds (n = 332) were obtained in our previous study. We used a consecutive runs method implemented in the R package “detectRUNS” to calculate ROH which were estimated for each animal and then categorized in the ROH length classes (1–2 Mb, 2–4 Mb, 4–8 Mb, 8–16 Mb, >16 Mb). The frequency of short ROH segments (≤2 Mb) were the highest in all studied breeds (63.15–93.10%). The longest segments (>16 Mb) were the least frequent and were missing in four breeds. The genomic coefficients based on ROH estimation varied from medium (0.114) to low (0.035). Thus, we found that Russian local sheep breeds are characterized by a low level of genomic inbreeding.