scholarly journals The role of flowering plant species in the survival of blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) along the lower Orange River, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Myburgh ◽  
H. Bezuidenhout ◽  
E.M. Neville

This study is an investigation of the role that plants play in the survival of adult blackflies by providing shelter and carbohydrate food. A detailed phenological study of the 29 most abundant plant species in the Augrabies Falls National Park showed that throughout the year the percentage of plant species flowering was remarkably constant. It is therefore unlikely that the availability of carbohydrates would limit adult Simulium survival at any time of the year. Blackflies were recorded feeding on the flowers of Pappea capensis. Acacia karroo, A. mellifera, Tamarix usneoides, Ziziphus mucronata, Scholia afra and Sisyndite spartea. An additional survey showed that another 64 plant species flowered throughout the year, and these can be regarded as potential carbohydrate sources. Blackflies were observed sheltering in dense shrubs and trees that provide protection against predation and harsh environmental conditions. This study suggests that vegetated drainage lines are the means by which adult blackflies survive dispersal away from the river. It is concluded that carbohydrate scarcity cannot be considered a limiting factor to adult blackfly survival along the lower Orange River.

Koedoe ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
B.L. Penzhorn

Additions to the check list of flowering plants of the Mountain Zebra National Park. Thirteen additional flowering plant species are reported from the Mountain Zebra National Park, increasing the total reported to 371 species.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
BK Basnet

Rara National Park is the smallest national park of the country. It is rich in floral and faunal diversity. Rara is one of the sacred lakes and is listed as a Ramsar site. The aim of the study was to compile the representative flora of Rara lake and to present status of available vegetation. The research used both primary and secondary sources of data. Field visit was conducted in June, 2010 during which more than 300 plant specimens were collected. The secondary data were collected from Rara and adjoining area like Gamgadi. These data were thoroughly analyzed to understand the composition of vegetation. The study revealed the existence of about 224 flowering plant species in the area, under 173 genera and 67 families. Compositae was found to be the largest family (21 species and 17 genera) followed by Rosaceae (19 species and 10 genera). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/banko.v21i1.9063 Banko Janakari, Vol. 21, No. 1 2011; 41-47


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jered M Wendte ◽  
Yinwen Zhang ◽  
Lexiang Ji ◽  
Xiuling Shi ◽  
Rashmi R Hazarika ◽  
...  

In many plant species, a subset of transcribed genes are characterized by strictly CG-context DNA methylation, referred to as gene body methylation (gbM). The mechanisms that establish gbM are unclear, yet flowering plant species naturally without gbM lack the DNA methyltransferase, CMT3, which maintains CHG (H = A, C, or T) and not CG methylation at constitutive heterochromatin. Here, we identify the mechanistic basis for gbM establishment by expressing CMT3 in a species naturally lacking CMT3. CMT3 expression reconstituted gbM through a progression of de novo CHG methylation on expressed genes, followed by the accumulation of CG methylation that could be inherited even following loss of the CMT3 transgene. Thus, gbM likely originates from the simultaneous targeting of loci by pathways that promote euchromatin and heterochromatin, which primes genes for the formation of stably inherited epimutations in the form of CG DNA methylation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 587-597
Author(s):  
Raúl Badillo‐Montaño ◽  
Armando Aguirre ◽  
Miguel A. Munguía‐Rosas

Koedoe ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Ackerman

In September 1965, at the signing ceremony of a National Park Bill, United States President Johnson remarked: "We are living in the Century of Change. But if future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than with sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as God really made it, not just as it looked when we got through with it." In the same spirit, forestry in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) shares the responsibility of conserving and restoring as far as possible the environment in which we and succeeding generations must live.


2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (2a) ◽  
pp. 463-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Antonini ◽  
R. G. Costa ◽  
R. P. Martins

Species of plants used by Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier for pollen and nectar gathering in an urban forest fragment were recorded in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Melipona quadrifasciata visited 22 out of 103 flowering plant species. The plant species belonged mainly to Myrtaceae, Asteraceae, and Convolvulaceae (64% of the visits). Melipona quadrifasciata tended to collect pollen or nectar each time, except for Myrtaceae species, from which both pollen and nectar were collected. Bee abundance at flowers did not significantly correlate to food availability (expressed by flowering plant richness). We found a relatively high similarity (50%) between plant species used by M. quadrifasciata, which was also found in studies carried out in São Paulo State. However, low similarity (17%) was found between the results of this study and those of another done in Bahia State, Brazil.


2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 655-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn R. Moncrieff ◽  
Laurence M. Kruger ◽  
Jeremy J. Midgley

Abstract:One manner in which elephants utilize trees is by removing their bark. This type of utilization is concentrated on the largest trees in the landscape. The role of bark removal in increasing the vulnerability of large trees to fire and the mechanism through which fire damage is mediated were investigated in Kruger National Park, South Africa, by experimentally removing bark and burning Acacia nigrescens stems with diameters ranging between 30 and 68 mm. Also, field surveys were conducted subsequent to natural fires in order to investigate mortality patterns of large trees with dbh greater than 15 cm with bark removed by elephants. An increasing probability of mortality was associated with increasing amounts of bark removal but only if trees were burned. When trees had bark removed but were not burnt, simulating damage only to cambium and phloem, none of the 12 treated stems died in the 4-mo period over which the experiment ran. Moreover, low levels of cambium damage were detected in large burned stems. This suggests that bark removal increases fire-induced xylem damage and that this damage contributes towards stem mortality. In a survey of 437 large trees, bark removal by elephants was frequent on large stems (44%) and larger trees have greater amounts of bark removed. Post-fire mortality of large trees was significantly associated with increasing bark removal and stem diameter. These results indicate that bark removal by elephants increases the vulnerability of stems to fire, resulting in mortality of large stems otherwise protected from fire.


Nature ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 281 (5733) ◽  
pp. 670-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nickolas M. Waser ◽  
Leslie A. Real

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