Aims. We present the first results of a polarimetric survey of main-belt asteroids at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito (Casleo), San Juan, Argentina. The aims of this survey are to increase the database of asteroid polarimetry, to estimate diversity in polarimetric properties of asteroids that belong to different taxonomic classes, and to search for objects that exhibit anomalous polarimetric p...

In a recent paper Warwick & Clarke (1995: Mar Ecol Prog Ser 129:301-305) introduced 2 new measures of community diversity, A and A' These measures dlffer from more conventional d~ver sity indices by incorporating the taxonomic relatedness of species into their calculation. In this paper we compare temporal trends in A and A' with more conventional diversity measures for the demersal fish commun...

The genus Astragalus L. (Fabaceae) is reviewed from both phyloenetic and taxonomic points of view. As the largest genus of flowering plants it has attracted many researchers, but much work remains to be done. A short taxonomic history with special focus on infrageneric classification of the genus, a list of phylogenetic studies including the applied markers and sampling strategies as well a...

* Soil fungi play a major role in ecological and biogeochemical processes in forests. Little is known, however, about the structure and richness of different fungal communities and the distribution of functional ecological groups (pathogens, saprobes and symbionts). * Here, we assessed the fungal diversity in six different forest soils using tag-encoded 454 pyrosequencing of the nuclear ribosom...

The current systematics of the genus Rhodococcus is unclear, partly because many members were originally included before the application of a polyphasic taxonomic approach, central to which is the acquisition of 16S rRNA sequence data. This has resulted in the reclassification and description of many new species. Hence, the literature is replete with new species names that have not been brought...

Soil faunal communities are often phylogenetically diverse and the accurate assessment of the taxonomic structure of these communities is both time-consuming and requires a high level of taxonomic expertise. Here we describe a DNA sequence-based methodology for characterizing soil microand mesofaunal communities that is similar to the molecular approaches commonly used to survey soil microbial ...

The paper is focused on classes of lexical units which arise as a result of derivational processes – word formation and semantic transfers, acting either in isolation or together, on the basis of common semantic foundations that bind targets and sources of derivation. The lexical items which constitute the classes under study vary in their denotative characteristics and due to their categ...

The Northwest Forest Plan in the Pacific Northwest, United States includes directives for survey and site protection of hundreds of rare species across many taxonomic classes. To help direct survey activities, prioritize sites, and stand conditions for conservation of these species, I developed Bayesian belief network (BBN) models of habitat relationships and multiple stressors predicting prese...

The reliability of any survey of biodiversity through geologic time depends on the rigor and consistency by which taxa are recognized and samples are identified. The main goal of the Neogene Marine Biota of Tropical America (‘NMITA’) project is to create an online biotic database (http://nmita.geology.uiowa.edu) containing images and synoptic taxonomic information that are essential to collecti...