The ornamental pet trade is often considered a key culprit for conservation problems such as the introduction of invasive species (including infectious diseases) and overharvesting of rare species. Here, we present the first assessment of the biodiversity of freshwater molluscs in the ornamental pet trade in Singapore, one of the most important global hubs of the ornamental aquarium trade, and ...

Since 1993, various public and private institutions have supported the development of a freshwater ornamental industry in Hawai‘i which, based on current success, must be intensive and utilize the latest in culture technologies to remain competitive. Feeding and palatability trials using commercial feeds suggests that very little is understood about the nutritional requirements of the 1500 spec...

Genetic model organisms have revolutionized science, and today, with the rapid advances in technology, there is significant potential to launch many more plant species towards model status. However, these new model organisms will have to be carefully selected. Here, we argue that Hemerocallis (daylily) satisfies multiple criteria for selection and deserves serious consideration as a subject of ...

Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle) are famous ornamental plants with large pyramidal racemes, long flower duration, and diverse colors. However, little is known about the genetic structure and diversity of germplasm in Lagerstroemia. We genotyped 81 L. indica cultivars, five other species of Lagerstroemia, and 10 interspecific hybrids using 30 simple sequence repeat markers; 275 alleles were gen...

The alkaloid content in industrial opium poppies (Papaver somniferum L.) has been studied by numerous authors, but not in ornamental cultivars.The aim of the study was to investigate the content of morphine, codeine, and papaverine in P. somniferum cultivars by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). The studied poppy capsules were either grown from the...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY We developed microsatellites from Fothergilla ×intermedia to establish loci capable of distinguishing species and cultivars, and to assess genetic diversity for use by ornamental breeders and to transfer within Hamamelidaceae. METHODS AND RESULTS We sequenced a small insert genomic library enriched for microsatellites to develop 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci. The num...

The major markets for ornamental fish are the Far East, the United States of America and the European Union (EU). Although the Far East is the principal source of both supply and demand for ornamental species, there is considerable movement of fish between these three areas. The author makes a detailed appraisal of the sources of supply and the destination for imports into EU Member States. Som...

This article presents mathematical tools for computer-generated ornamental patterns, with a particular attention payed to Islamic patterns. The article shows how, starting from a photo or a sketch of an ornamental figure, the designer analyzes its structure and produces the analytical representation of the pattern. This analytical representation in turn is used to produce a drawing which is int...

This paper used an electronic survey conducted in Texas to study the main factors affecting the frequency of purchase, measured in transactions per month, for ornamental plants. While we found several differences in demographic characteristics of respondents, the two major factors impacting the frequency of buying for ornamental plants were the purpose of the purchase (self use vs. gifts) and s...