A study was made of airborne pollen counts in Cuenca (east-central Iberian Peninsula, Spain), using data obtained over a 3-year period (2008-2010). This is the first such study carried out in the World Heritage city of Cuenca, situated in the large region of Castilla-La Mancha. Air monitoring was performed using the sampling and analysis procedures recommended by the Spanish Aerobiology Network...

Genomic comparisons provide evidence for ancient genome-wide duplications in a diverse array of animals and plants. We developed a birth-death model to identify evidence for genome duplication in EST data, and applied a mixture model to estimate the age distribution of paralogous pairs identified in EST sets for species representing the basal-most extant flowering plant lineages. We found evide...

We present the results of pollen analysis performed on an ice core recovered from Nevado Sajama, Bolivia, dated to 25 ka BP. Low pollen concentrations from 25 to 15 ka BP are consistent with the scenario of an expanded ice cap surrounded by sparse vegetation and cold conditions on the Altiplano during the Last Glacial Maximum. After 15 ka BP, more pollen is present and percentages show vegetati...

Problem statement: The presence of vegetation increases the soil burden stability along slopes and reduces soil erosion. Its contribution is due to mechanical (reinforcing soil shear resistance) and hydrologic controls on streambank and superficial landslides. This study presented the results carried out from experimental in situ test focused to study the increased shear resistance of soil bloc...

Determination of gene expression is an important tool to study biological processes and relies on the quality of the extracted RNA. Changes in gene expression profiles may be directly related to mutations in regulatory DNA sequences or alterations in DNA cytosine methylation, which is an epigenetic mark. Correlation of gene expression with DNA sequence or epigenetic mark polymorphism is often d...

Phylogenetic reconstruction in the Poaceae began early in this century with proposed evolutionary hypotheses based on assessment of existing knowledge of grasses (e.g., Bew, 1929; Hubbard 1948; Prat, 1960; Stebbins, 1956, 1982; Clayton, 1981; Tsvelev, 1983). Imperical approaches to phylogenetic reconstruction of the Poaceae followed those initial hypotheses, starting with cladistic analyses of ...

The use of bioclimatic indices could be a major step forward in the methodology of pollen forecasting. The basis for this proposal is that simple meteorological parameters do not reflect the global status of the atmosphere, but merely some static measurements. However, pollen dispersal is, above all, a dynamic phenomenon, and this fact should be reflected in the variables we used to explain it....

Two new species of the genus Aegyptobia Sayed and 1 new species of Phytoptipalpus Trägårdh are described from Iran: A. bromi sp. nov. from Bromus tectorum (Poaceae); A. nazarii sp. nov. from Poa bulbosa L. (Poaceae); and P. kurdistaniensis sp. nov. from wild rose bushes, Rosa woodsii (Rosaceae). This is the first record of Phytoptipalpus from Iran. We also redescribe Aegyptobia beglarovi Livsch...

Patients with grass pollen allergy, commonly called pollinosis, often present reactivity to pollen allergens from a number of grass species due to cross-reactivity of IgE antibodies to pollen proteins present in pollen grasses. In this context, Italian rye grass (Lolium multiflorum) pollen of the Poaceae family cultivated in Southern Brazil has been considered a major sensitizing agent in patie...

Patterns of DNA sequence diversity vary widely among genes encoding proteins that protect plants against pathogens and herbivores. Comparative studies may help determine whether these differences are due to the strength of selection acting on different types of defense, in different evolutionary lineages, or both. I analyzed sequence diversity at three chitinases, a well-studied component of de...