The mycoflora, levels of afllatoxins and the presence of ochratoxin A and zearalenone in nuts of Cola acuminata and C. nitida were determined immediately after curing and after 3, 6 and 9 months of storage in leaf-lined baskets. Five field fungi and 11 storage fungi were isolated. Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium were the predominant genera. None of the target toxins was detected immediate...

In wildfire science, spotting refers to non-local creation of new fires, due to downwind ignition of brands launched from a primary fire. Spotting is often mentioned as being one of the most difficult problems for wildfire management, because of its unpredictable nature. Since spotting is a stochastic process, it makes sense to talk about a probability distribution for spotting, which we call t...

Background: The composition of the planting beds and its microorganisms has a very important role on the establishment, growth and phytochemical performance of medicinal plants. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different planting beds and inoculation of mycorrhizal fungus on the changes of stevioside, rebaudioside, and morpho-physiological traits of stevia. Meth...

Resistance to conventional fungicides causes the poor disease control of agriculture. Natural products from plants have great potential as novel fungicide sources for controlling pathogenic fungi. In this study antipathogenic activity of the leaf essential oil and its constituents from Calocedrus macrolepis var. formosana Florin were evaluated in vitro against six plant pathogenic fungi. Chemic...

Fungus-growing ants (Attini: Formicidae) engage in an obligate mutualism with fungi they cultivate for food. Although biologists have been fascinated with fungus-growing ants since the resurgence of natural history in the modern era, the early stages of research focused mainly on the foraging behavior of the leaf-cutters (the most derived attine lineage). Indeed, the discovery that the ants act...

Comparison of natural plant and callus extracts of Solanum trilobatum L. was studied against two bacteria and fungi, for their antimicrobial activity using cup diffusion method. Various solvents such as chloroform, petroleum ether and ethanol were used. The leaf and stem segments of the plant were culturedon Murashige and S koog basal medium supplemented with various growth regulators. Maximum ...

Eight species of the genus Cercospora from different localities in Northern provinces of Iran were obtained and examined during spring-autumn 2010. Cercospora acnidae (from Amaranthus chlorostachys var. chlorostachys), C. beticola (from Beta vulgaris), C. iridis (from Iris sp.), C. lactucae-sativae (from Lactuca sativa), C. mercurialis (from Mercurialis annua), C. sorghi (from Sorghum halepense...

Organic carbon is a critical component of aquatic systems, providing energy storage and transfer between organisms. Fungi are a major decomposer group in the aquatic carbon cycle, and are one of few groups thought to be capable of breaking down woody (lignified) tissue. In this work we have used high spatial resolution (synchrotron light source) infrared micro-spectroscopy to study the interact...