Prey organisms often use multiple sensory cues to gain reliable information about imminent predation threat. In this study we test if a freshwater fish increases the reliance on supplementary cues when the reliability of the primary cue is reduced. Fish commonly use vision to evaluate predation threat, but may also use chemical cues from predators or injured conspecifics. Environmental changes,...

Increasing population leads to intensification of water shortage problems in arid regions. Agriculture sector is the main user of water in Iran. Bushehr province with an arid and semiarid climate is located in the south of Iran. Improvement of water productivity (WP), the value or benefit derived from the use of water, is essential in the agriculture sector for achieving food security and susta...

In a national online survey, 1,020 participants reported their perceptions of water use for household activities. When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve water in their lives, or what other Americans could do, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing teeth) rather than efficiency improvements ...

Intrinsic water use efficiency (Wi), the ratio of net CO2 assimilation (A) over stomatal conductance to water vapour (gs), is a complex trait used to assess plant performance. Improving Wi could lead in theory to higher productivity or reduced water usage by the plant, but the physiological traits for improvement and their combined effects on Wi have not been clearly identified. Under fluctuati...

Early embryonic mortality can be monitored using various techniques and probably the most accurate one is ultrasonography (USG). Since the widespread implementation of transrectal USG for reproductive research in cattle (Griffin and Ginther, 1992), several studies have reported rates of embryonic mortality during early gestation under field conditions. Vasconcelos et al. (1997) characterized em...

Understanding factors driving the ecology of N cycling microbial communities is of central importance for sustainable land use. In this study we report changes of abundance of denitrifiers, nitrifiers and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms (based on qPCR data for selected functional genes) in response to different land use intensity levels and the consequences for potential turnover rates. We inves...

Vulnerability of soil separates to detachment by water is described as soil erodibility by Universal Soil Loss Equation which can be affected by land use change. In this study it was attempted to quantify the changes of Universal Soil Loss Equation K-factor and its soil driving factors in three land uses including rangeland, rainfed farming, and orchards in Babolrood watershed, northern Iran. S...