Alongside Clem Tisdell’s prodigious scholarship, colleagues appreciate a quality he displays which characterises both economists and natural scientists. He sees the oddities in things – their incongruities, underside, gaps. Perusing the literature on regional and town planning, then, Professor Tisdell would notice articles with titles like the present one [1] and others suggesting uncertainty o...

Abstract Background Drought is a major problem limiting the growth and development of plants in world especially Tunisia. Halophytes constitute renewable wealth they offer great flexibility with regard to abiotic stresses, are evaluated for their ecological potential food use. Results The proposed work identifies response Atriplex hortensis var. rubra germinal stage reproductive under deficient...

Four new triterpenoid saponins, 3-O-([beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-11alpha-methoxy-23-hydroxylongispinogenin, 3-O-([beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-11alpha-methoxy-23,29-dihydroxylongispinogenin, 3-O-([beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-29-hydroxysaikogenin F and 3-O-([beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-galactopyranosyl)...

Plant hydraulic characteristics were studied in diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid cytotypes of Atriplex canescens (Chenopodiaceae) to investigate the potential physiological basis underlying the intraspecific habitat differentiation among plants of different ploidy levels. Populations of A. canescens from different habitats of the Chihuahuan Desert (New Mexico, USA) were analyzed using flow cyt...

Plant productivity is limited by salinity stress, both in natural and agricultural systems. Identification of salt stress-related genes from halophyte can provide insights into mechanisms of salt stress tolerance in plants. Atriplex canescens is a xero-halophyte that exhibits optimum growth in the presence of 400 mM NaCl. A cDNA library derived from highly salt-treated A. canescens plants was c...

Kheiria Hcini1, David J. Walker2, Elena González3, Nora Frayssinet4, Enrique Correal2 and Sadok Bouzid1 1Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Tunis, 2Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDA), C/Mayor, s/n 30150 La Alberca, Murcia, 3Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UNPSJB – Comodoro Rivadavia, 4Facultad de Agronomía, ...

Increasing salinity led to substantially higher ratios of mesophyll surface area to leaf area (A(mes)/A) for Phaseolus vulgaris and Gossypium hirsutum and a smaller increase for Atriplex patula, a salt-tolerant species. The increase in internal surface for CO(2) absorption did not lead to higher CO(2) uptake rates, since the CO(2) resistance expressed on the basis of mesophyll cell wall area (r...

Monoxia obesula Blake, 1939, a species native to North America, is newly found in Sardinia, Italy. This discovery constitutes the first report of the species from Europe, as well as the first report from outside of the U.S.A. The species is redescribed and illustrated, and errors in the original description are corrected. Host plants are species of Atriplex and Chenopodium occurring in saline h...