We examined growth and production responses of two dominant stream detritivores (chironomids and Tallaperla spp. stoneflies) at opposite ends of the ‘‘slow-fast’’ life-history continuum and with distinct feeding characteristics (i.e., consumption of fine particulate organic matter vs. leaf litter) to a 2-yr experimental nutrient enrichment of a headwater stream. Enrichment had large positive ef...

Figure 1. Engineered bacteriophages can be assembled into sensitive, specific, and rapid microbial diagnostics. (A) Bacteriophages can be designed to express reporter payloads during specific microbial infection, leading to the production of detectable outputs. (B) Designing synthetic bacteriophages as microbial Synthetic biology is an emerging engineering field focused on designing artificial ...

The organisms of the soil food web, dependent on resources from plants or on amendment from other sources, respond characteristically to enrichment of their environment by organic matter. Primary consumers of the incoming substrate, including bacteria, fungi, plant-feeding nematodes, annelids, and some microarthropods, are entry-level indicators of enrichment. However, the quantification of abu...

Food webs with intraguild predation (IGP) are widespread in natural habitats. Their adaptation and resilience behaviour is principal for understanding restructuring of ecological communities. In spite of the importance of IGP food webs their behaviour even for the simplest 3-species systems has not been fully explored. One fundamental question is how an increase of diversity of the lowest troph...

Food webs usually display an intricate mix of trophic interactions where multiple prey are common. In this context omnivory has been the subject of intensive analysis regarding food web stability and structure. In a three species omnivory setting it is shown that the modeling of prey preference by the top predator may exert a strong influence on the short as well as on the long term dynamics of...

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was developed for detection of salmonella in food. A set of PCR primers was designed to amplify a 199 bp salmonella-specific DNA fragment derived from a repetitive DNA of Salmonella Weltevreden. The assay detected all 52 most prevalent serovars found in contaminated food in Thailand and no cross-reaction was observed with other non-salmonella organisms. ...

Nitrogen (N) enrichment resulting from anthropogenic activities has greatly changed the composition and functioning of soil communities. Nematodes are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of soil organisms, and they occupy key trophic positions in the soil detritus food web. Nematodes have therefore been proposed as useful indicators for shifts in soil ecosystem functioning under N enric...