Aims Rhizobia are essential for nitrogen fixation in legumes. The current method for enumerating rhizobia in soil by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method is costly and time consuming. This paper describes the development of a qPCR test to quantify Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae (Rlv) in soil. Methods TaqMan probe and primers were developed . Specificity of qPCR was confirmed against Rlv and non-target rhizobia and compare...

Understanding biodiversity in offshore benthic ecosystems is crucial as anthropogenic pressures like offshore wind development increasingly alter marine environments. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), widely used for marine mammal research, offers a promising yet underexplored tool for assessing broader faunal communities. Here, we investigate whether PAM data, collected initially for marine mammal monitoring, can reveal spat...

The Bering Land Bridge connecting North America and Eurasia was periodically exposed and inundated by oscillating sea levels during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. This land connection allowed the intermittent dispersal of animals, including humans, between Western Beringia (far northeast Asia) and Eastern Beringia (northwest North America), changing the faunal community composition of both continents. The Pleistocene glacial...

Purpose The effects of endophytic actinobacterial strains, Microbispora sp. CP56, Actinomadura sp. CP84B, Streptomyces spp. CP200B and CP21A, on the chickpea- Mesorhizobium symbiosis, were investigated in planta , with the aim of revealing the underlying mechanisms of action. Methods The actinobacterial endophytes were co-inoculated with Mesorhizobium ciceri onto chickpea seedlings to study the effect on plant growth parameter...

Delineation of population structure (i.e. stocks) is crucial to successfully manage exploited species and to address conservation concerns for threatened species. Fish migration and associated movements are key mechanisms through which discrete populations mix and are thus important determinants of population structure. Detailed information on fish migration and movements is becoming more accessible through advances in telemet...

Oceanic islands have been a test ground for evolutionary theory, but here, we focus on the possibilities for evolutionary study created by offshore islands. These can be colonized through various means and by a wide range of species, including those with low dispersal capabilities. We use morphology, modern and ancient sequences of cytochrome b ( cytb ) and microsatellite genotypes to examine colonization history and evolution...

Lions were the most widespread carnivores in the late Pleistocene, ranging from southern Africa to the southern USA, but little is known about the evolutionary relationships among these Pleistocene populations or the dynamics that led to their extinction. Using ancient DNA techniques, we obtained mitochondrial sequences from 52 individuals sampled across the present and former range of lions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed thr...