CactusWorld 2016 Vol. 34 (3) Aloe is a large genus of over 500 species (Carter et al, 2011) and even today that number continues to increase. Of these, a very small number of species, perhaps no more than 20, are unusual in having hairy flowers. These are concentrated in southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa. In respect of Saudi Arabia, for example, Collenette (1999) records 22 species of Aloe...

Freshwater mussels (Order Unionida) are highly threatened. Interspecific competition for food sources with invasive alien species is considered to be one of the factors responsible their decline because successful invaders expected have wider trophic niches and more flexible feeding strategies than native counterparts. In this study, carbon (?13C: 13C/12C) nitrogen (?15N: 15N/14N) stable isotop...

Though Ukraine is one of the countries with insufficient water supply, northern region central Polissia has a dense river network. The region’s major rivers – Teteriv, Sluch, Ubort, and Uzh have undergone significant anthropogenic change. Water pollution adversely affected their fauna, including Unionidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia). This study monitored these changes, was conducted in two stages. A t...

Predatory, non-native fauna can influence biodiversity and trophic dynamics in invaded ecosystems. Signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) are a highly successful invader, which have altered freshwater benthic communities, including bivalve populations. Bivalves keystone group global decline, partly due to invasion by alien species. However, little is known about the predatory impacts of inv...