Ornamental fish ponds requires continuous control of water quality such as salt content (salinity), hardness (Ca, Mg), and ionic contents particularly nitrate and ammonium. Conductivity is considered as a parameter correlates with these parameters and sensitive to environmental conditions such as temperature. Therefore, a conductivity detector can be employed for control of water quality in aqu...

A total of 74 phenotypically identified presumptive motile Aeromonas isolates recovered from septicaemic freshwater ornamental fish in Sri Lanka were genetically characterized by sequencing of rpoD and gyrB genes. rpoD/gyrB phylogeny confirmed only 53 isolates as Aeromonas, among which A. veronii was the predominant species (79.2%), followed by A. hydrophila (7.5%), A. caviae (5.7%), A. jandaei...

Sexual selection is thought to be opposed by natural selection such that ornamental traits express a balance between these two antagonistic influences. Phenotypic variation among populations may indicate local shifts in this balance, or that different stable 'solutions' are possible, but testing these alternatives presents a major challenge. In the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a small freshwate...

A colored phenotype is an important feature of ornamental fish. In mammals, microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) was found to regulate the development of melanocytes. In this study, the mitfa cDNA was first cloned from the Japanese ornamental (Koi) carp (Cyprinus carpio L.), an important ornamental freshwater fish. The full-length cDNA of the mitfa gene contains 1634 bp, coding...

Effect of several soil fumigants on plant-parasitic nematodes, weeds, and snapdragon ( Antirrhinum majus L.) production were evaluated in a commercial site in southeast Florida in 2002-03. Treatments consisted of methyl bromide (98%) + chloropicrin (2%), metam sodium, metam sodium + chloropicrin, and a nontreated control. All fumigant treatments reduced (P < 0.05) weed populations compared to t...

BACKGROUND Relatively little has been researched or published on the importance of peri-urban domestic gardens as part of a household livelihood strategy in South Africa. Due to lack of comprehensive data on peri-urban domestic gardens, their potential value as luxury green space, provision of food, income and ecosystem services to the fast growing urban population in South Africa is not clearl...

Genetic analysis of avian mating systems has revealed that more than 70% of monogamous species show incidence of offspring parentage that does not match the social partner. Extra-pair parentage (EPP) has been linked to a variety of factors, including size and symmetry of ornamental traits, coloration, resource availability, and local conspecific density. We examined how ornamental plumage trait...

Carotenoid pigments can directly enhance the immune responses of vertebrates, and they are used by many animals to create ornamental color displays. It has been hypothesized that these two functions of carotenoid pigments are linked: animals must trade off use of carotenoid pigments for immune function versus ornamental display. We tested two key predictions of this hypothesis with captive Amer...

One of the most important parameters to develop and manage urban areas is appropriate selection of land surface to develop green spaces in these areas. In this study, in order to identify the most appropriate sites and areas cultivated for ornamental species in Jiroft, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images due to extract the most important effective climatic and adaphic parameters...