We characterized the relationship between the genetic diversity of indigenous soybean-nodulating bradyrhizobia from weakly acidic soils in Japan and their geographical distribution in an ecological study of indigenous soybean rhizobia. We isolated bradyrhizobia from three kinds of Rj-genotype soybeans. Their genetic diversity and community structure were analyzed by PCR-RFLP analysis of the 16S...

The analysis of ecological diversity on a given study region constitutes a key topic in environmental studies. The quantitative aspects of ecological diversity are usually detected by means of the diversity indexes, which are ad hoc functions of the species abundance. Obviously, species abundance is unknown in practice. Hence, in order to obtain inference on diversity indexes, species abundance...

Explaining the relation between structure and dynamic of food webs remains one of the most daunting challenges in ecological theory. The trophic structure is a fundamental property of ecological communities that relates their diversity to productivity and stability. Understanding the generic properties of food webs requires insight in the way these networks are assembled. Although ecological co...

Differences in genetic susceptibility to hazardous chemicals affect individuals of both human and nonhuman populations. In both cases, differences in response to chemicals or general ill health result as a function of these differences in genetic susceptibility. However, ecological systems are a compilation of hundreds or even thousands of different species, resulting in structural and function...

The latitudinal diversity gradient has been considered a consequence of a shift in the impact of abiotic and biotic factors that limit species distributions from the poles to the equator, thus influencing species richness variation. It has also been considered the outcome of evolutionary processes that vary over geographical space. We used six South American mammal groups to test the associatio...

Rates of phenotypic evolution have changed throughout the history of life, producing variation in levels of morphological, functional, and ecological diversity among groups. Testing for the presence of these rate shifts is a key component of evaluating hypotheses about what causes them. In this paper, general predictions regarding changes in phenotypic diversity as a function of evolutionary hi...

Background Determinants of health or health production function in health economics literature constitute noticeable issues in health promotion. This study aimed at estimating a health production function for East Mediterranean Region (EMR) based on the Grossman theoretical model.   Methods This ecological study was performed using the econometric methods. The panel data model was used in order...

Human ecology has been broadly defined as the interdis-ciplinary study of the complex and varied systems of interaction between humans and their environment (Editors, Human Ecology 1972). In Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Karim-Aly Kassam provides a meaningful conceptual framework of human ecology integrating biological and cultural diversity with specific reference to th...