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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Scat Dna As A Non-Invasive Method For Estimating The Abundance Of The Vulnerable Mala (Lagorchestes Hirsutus), Shannon Treloar, Cheryl Lohr, Anna J. Hopkins, Kym Ottewell, Shelley Mcarthur, Robert A. Davis
Scat Dna As A Non-Invasive Method For Estimating The Abundance Of The Vulnerable Mala (Lagorchestes Hirsutus), Shannon Treloar, Cheryl Lohr, Anna J. Hopkins, Kym Ottewell, Shelley Mcarthur, Robert A. Davis
Research outputs 2022 to 2026
Context: Population-monitoring programs often use direct (e.g. live capture or spotlighting) or indirect (e.g. scats sightings) observations to estimate population abundance. Such methods, however, are often inadequate for rare, elusive, or cryptic species due to the difficulty in achieving sufficient encounters or detection rates. The mala (Lagorchestes hirsutus), a small native Australian macropod, listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, is difficult to capture, susceptible to capture myopathy, and not easily sighted in their dense habitat; consequently, the population size cannot always be estimated. The use of molecular markers to identify individual genotypes from non-invasively collected samples is increasingly being used …
Microscale Pollen Release And Dispersal Patterns In Flowering Grass Populations, Carl A. Frisk, Godfrey P. Apangu, Geoffrey M. Petch, Simon Creer, Mary Hanson, Beverley Adams-Groom, Carsten A. Skjøth
Microscale Pollen Release And Dispersal Patterns In Flowering Grass Populations, Carl A. Frisk, Godfrey P. Apangu, Geoffrey M. Petch, Simon Creer, Mary Hanson, Beverley Adams-Groom, Carsten A. Skjøth
Research outputs 2022 to 2026
Characterizing pollen release and dispersion processes is fundamental for knowledge advancement in ecological, agricultural and public health disciplines. Understanding pollen dispersion from grass communities is especially relevant due to their high species-specific allergenicity and heterogeneously distributed source areas. Here, we aimed to address questions concerning fine level heterogeneity in grass pollen release and dispersion processes, with a focus on characterizing the taxonomic composition of airborne grass pollen over the grass flowering season using eDNA and molecular ecology methods. High resolution grass pollen concentrations were compared between three microscale sites ( < 300 m apart) in a rural area in Worcestershire, UK. The grass pollen was modelled with local meteorology in a MANOVA (Multivariate ANOVA) approach to investigate factors relevant to pollen release and dispersion. Simultaneously, airborne pollen was sequenced using Illumina MySeq for metabarcoding, analysed against a reference database with all UK grasses using the R packages DADA2 and phyloseq to calculate Shannon's Diversity Index ( -diversity). The flowering phenology of a local Festuca rubra population was observed. We found that grass pollen concentrations varied on a microscale level, likely attributed to local topography and the dispersion distance of pollen from flowering grasses in local source areas. Six genera (Agrostis, Alopecurus, Arrhenatherum, Holcus, Lolium and Poa) dominated the pollen season, comprising on average 77 % of the relative abundance of grass species reads. Temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, turbulence and wind speeds were found to be relevant for grass pollen release and dispersion processes. An isolated flowering Festuca rubra population contributed almost 40 % of the relative pollen abundance adjacent to the nearby sampler, but only contributed 1 % to samplers situated 300 m away. This suggests that most emitted grass pollen has limited dispersion distance and our results show substantial variation in airborne grass species composition over short geographical scales.
Using Qpcr And Microscopy To Assess The Impact Of Harvesting And Weather Conditions On The Relationship Between Alternaria Alternata And Alternaria Spp. Spores In Rural And Urban Atmospheres, Godfrey Philliam Apangu, Carl Alexander Frisk, Beverley Adams-Groom, Geoffrey M. Petch, Mary Hanson, Carsten Ambelas Skjøth
Using Qpcr And Microscopy To Assess The Impact Of Harvesting And Weather Conditions On The Relationship Between Alternaria Alternata And Alternaria Spp. Spores In Rural And Urban Atmospheres, Godfrey Philliam Apangu, Carl Alexander Frisk, Beverley Adams-Groom, Geoffrey M. Petch, Mary Hanson, Carsten Ambelas Skjøth
Research outputs 2022 to 2026
Alternaria is a plant pathogen and human allergen. Alternaria alternata is one of the most abundant fungal spores in the air. The purpose of this study was to examine whether Alternaria spp. spore concentrations can be used to predict the abundance and spatio-temporal pattern of A. alternata spores in the air. This was investigated by testing the hypothesis that A. alternata dominates airborne Alternaria spp. spores and varies spatio-temporally. Secondarily, we aimed at investigating the relationship between airborne Alternaria spp. spores and the DNA profile of A. alternata spores between two proximate (~ 7 km apart) sites. These were examined …