You're using an outdated browser. Please upgrade to a modern browser for the best experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Impacts of Exotic Pests on Forest Ecosystems
Pests (e.g., insects, pathogens) affect forest communities through complex interactions with plants, other animals, and the environment. While the effects of exotic (non-native) pests on trees received broad attention and were extensively studied, fewer studies addressed the ecosystem-level consequences of these effects. Related studies so far mostly only targeted a very few dominant pests (e.g., hemlock woolly adelgid—HWA, beech bark disease—BBD, and spongy moth—SM) and were limited to aspects of the complex situation such as (1) pests’ direct physical disturbance to forest ecosystems, (2) altered geochemical elements of soils, water, and air (e.g., excretion), and (3) feedback effects from the alteration of ecosystems on plants, native insects, and present and future pest invasions. New studies also show that, in general, planted forests appear to be more prone to exotic pest invasions and thus suffer greater impacts than natural forests. Integrated studies are critically needed in the future to address (1) direct/indirect interactions of pests with ecosystem elements, (2) both short- and long-term effects, and (3) feedback effects. The implications of the new findings and corresponding management strategies are discussed.
  • 843
  • 11 May 2023
Topic Review
Zoo Animal Welfare Assessment
Zoological institutions, such as zoos and aquariums, have made animal welfare a top priority, as it is not only a moral obligation but also crucial for fulfilling their roles in education and conservation. Thus, there is a need for science-based tools to assess and monitor animal welfare in these settings.
  • 842
  • 27 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Urban Wildlife Conservation and Communication under COVID-19
Most ecosystems are increasingly being degraded and reduced by human activities at the local and global scales. In contrast, urban environments are expanding as increasing portions of humanity move into cities.  The relevance of urban wildlife consumption and the trade between urban and rural areas and among cities have received growing attention in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 808
  • 16 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Host–Parasitoid Phenology under Climate Change
Climate change raises a serious threat to global entomofauna—the foundation of many ecosystems—by threatening species preservation and the ecosystem services they provide.
  • 795
  • 05 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Opportunities for Biodiversity Conservation via Urban Ecosystem Regeneration
Conservation traditionally focuses on at-risk species and relatively intact ecosystems. As the human population and our global impact have risen, many more species and ecosystems are at risk and fewer intact ecosystems remain, with urbanization being a major contributing factor. Cities and their inhabitants are here to stay, and the prevalence of urbanization, often in the vicinity of areas of high conservation value, requires reconsideration of the conservation value of urban ecosystems and urban green spaces.
  • 783
  • 05 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Metaverse Applications in Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics and genomics are driving a healthcare revolution, particularly in the domain of drug discovery for anticancer peptides (ACPs). The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed healthcare, enabling personalized and immersive patient care experiences. These advanced technologies, coupled with the power of bioinformatics and genomic data, facilitate groundbreaking developments. The precise prediction of ACPs from complex biological sequences remains an ongoing challenge in the genomic area. 
  • 708
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Financing Open-Source Organic Plant Breeding
Organic seed is vital for organic agriculture. However, lack of financial resources constrains organic plant breeding. Using an open-source approach that recognises seed as a common good offers new funding strategies.
  • 698
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Enhancing Biocultural Diversity of Wild Urban Woodland
In the vortex of the environmental and ecological crises, it is clear that the cosmopolitan way of living is facing uncertainty with no easing in sight. Looking beyond the horizon at what the aftermath will yield, it is quite clear that the meaning of urbanity has to be transformed; the urban life has to support social and ecological well-being, and the city has to intertwine more closely with nature. Therefore, wild urban woodlands (WUWs), often morphologically exclusive, culturally contradictory, and biologically heterogeneous, are recognized together with the other informal wilderness of the city as catalyzers of a newly constructed identity and the first line of defense when the question of the socio-ecological resilience of the city is raised. 
  • 681
  • 27 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Southern African Gekkonids Diversity
South Africa is recognised for its high reptile diversity and endemism, specifically among lizards. Phylogenetic diversity, endemism, and richness can have clear implications or raise important questions in a range of fields, and most urgently in conservation. Among squamate reptiles, these indices are very commonly associated with high temperatures and topographic heterogeneity. Indeed, mountainous biogeography has been a critical driver in the radiation of the family Gekkonidae within the subregion.
  • 681
  • 27 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Mycorrhizal Symbioses in South America Grasslands and Pastures
The vast majority of natural ecosystems and agroecosystems are made up of high percentages of plants that form mycorrhizal symbioses. Grasslands in a good state of conservation present a high abundance and diversity of Glomeromycota species) capable of contributing to great ecological and environmental values due to their multiple attributes and functional traits. Grassland ecosystems, where many late successional native plant species are highly dependent on symbiotic interactions with AMF, are especially influenced by AM fungal associations. 
  • 654
  • 26 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Fungi in Freshwaters
Deprivation of protection for aquatic hyphomycetes is disturbing because they are key players in freshwater ecosystems across the globe. The knowledge of biodiversity of aquatic hyphomycetes and freshwater ecosystems were enriched. 
  • 652
  • 21 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Salinity-Dependent Species Richness of Bacillariophyta in Hypersaline Environments
Hypersaline habitats are among the most polyextreme habitats on Earth, but they contain a rather large diatom species diversity. The diatom species’ richness was described on three scales: 1. a separate lake in Crimea; 2. all hypersaline waters in Crimea; and 3. the world totality as a whole. In total, 51 species were found in Lake Chersonesskoye during sampling from 2004 to 2018. In ten Crimean hypersaline lakes, 91 species were noted in total. All diatom species found in the studied hypersaline water bodies of the world belong to 458 species, which is 2.7% of the total number of known species of Bacillariophyta. In all three scales, the similarity of the species’ composition between water bodies as well as studied periods was not found. Most of all the identified species were found only in one of the studied water bodies, and only 59 species (13% of the total list) were found in more than three water bodies.
  • 611
  • 21 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Blood Reference Values: Welfare Markers in Erinaceus europaeus
Understanding the blood reference values in healthy western European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is crucial, particularly given their expanding range into human habitats where they face contaminants and potential disease agents. As bioindicators of environmental pollution and carriers of zoonotic agents, hedgehogs play a vital role in One Health studies. Their health status serves as an indicator of the well-being of wildlife populations but also directly impacts broader wildlife conservation efforts and human health.
  • 611
  • 08 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Guzmania monostachia in Florida Rests with Humans
Land use changes by humans have eliminated more than half of the wetlands in Florida over the last 200 years, and additional losses are anticipated as a consequence of climate change and ongoing development activities that will accommodate a rapidly growing human population. Both spell danger for the biodiversity and ecosystem services in Florida, and data are needed to inform conservation priorities and actions concerning threatened or endangered wetland species.
  • 575
  • 20 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Reproductive Biotechnology-Mediated Rescue of Threatened Polish Livestock Breeds
This entry was to provide biological, biotechnological and agricultural insights into the research aimed at the generating the bioreservoirs of cryopreserved somatic and stem cell lines and cryopreserved or lyophilized germplasm-based resources of selected livestock species, with the particular scientific emphasis on the pivotal role of the National Research Institute of Animal Production (NRIAP) in Poland in this aspect. To increase implementation in agricultural biotechnology, biomedicine, and pharmacological industry, the extensive efforts are required to be undertaken to improve the overall effectiveness of the investigations focused on the creation of the bioreservoirs comprised of somatic/stem cell lines and germplasm-carrying bioresources suitable for modern assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs).
  • 553
  • 07 Aug 2023
Topic Review
The Reason Breeding Companies Established Genebanks
Among the most important users of plant genetic resources, conserved predominantly in public genebanks around the world, are public and private plant breeders. Through their breeding efforts, they contribute significantly to global, regional, and local food and nutrition security. Plant breeders need genetic diversity to be able to develop competitive new varieties that are adapted to the changing environmental conditions and suit the needs of consumers. To ensure continued and timely access to the genetic resources that contain the required characteristics and traits, plant breeders established working collections with breeding materials and germplasm for the crops they were breeding. However, with the changing and increasingly more restrictive access conditions, triggered by new global legal instruments like the Convention on Biological Diversity/Nagoya Protocol and the International Treaty, plant breeders started to establish their own genebanks, to ensure continued and non-bureaucratic access.
  • 482
  • 28 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Caspase-Linked Programmed Cell Death in Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer (PCa) is a complex disease and the cause of one of the highest cancer-related mortalities in men worldwide. Annually, more than 1.2 million new cases are diagnosed globally, accounting for 7% of newly diagnosed cancers in men. Programmed cell death (PCD) plays an essential role in removing infected, functionally dispensable, or potentially neoplastic cells. Apoptosis is the canonical form of PCD with no inflammatory responses elicited, and the close relationship between apoptosis and PCa has been well studied. Necroptosis and pyroptosis are two lytic forms of PCD that result in the release of intracellular contents, which induce inflammatory responses.
  • 476
  • 18 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Marine Microorganisms Using Co-Culture Strategy
The isolation and identification of an increasing number of secondary metabolites featuring unique skeletons and possessing diverse bioactivities sourced from marine microorganisms have garnered the interest of numerous natural product chemists. There has been a growing emphasis on how to cultivate microorganisms to enhance the chemical diversity of metabolites and avoid the rediscovery of known ones. Given the significance of secondary metabolites as a means of communication among microorganisms, microbial co-culture has been introduced. By mimicking the growth patterns of microbial communities in their natural habitats, the co-culture strategy is anticipated to stimulate biosynthetic gene clusters that remain dormant under traditional laboratory culture conditions, thereby inducing the production of novel secondary metabolites.
  • 407
  • 12 Sep 2023
  • Page
  • of
  • 4
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Academic Video Service
Feedback