Eggshell colouration is thought to function as a female-specific secondary sexual trait. While tests of this idea are rapidly accumulating in cavity-nesting birds, some fundamental underlying assumptions remain rarely investigated: namely, can males see eggshell coloration and perceive colour differences between the eggs of different females? We tested these two key assumptions in a natural pop...

ABSTRACT In many locations around the world, shell radiocarbon dates underpin archaeological research. The dating of brings chronological relationship between sample and target event (e.g., hunting food preparation) into congruence, while shells are valuable geochemical proxies for understanding past climate dynamics environments. However, this information can be lost as shell, composites biopo...

How do birds tell the colours of their own and foreign eggs apart? We demonstrate that perceptual modelling of avian visual discrimination can predict behavioural rejection responses to foreign eggs in the nest of wild birds. We use a photoreceptor noise-limited colour opponent model of visual perception to evaluate its accuracy as a predictor of behavioural rates of experimental egg discrimina...

Evolutionary hypotheses regarding the function of eggshell phenotypes, from solar protection through mimicry, have implicitly assumed that eggshell appearance remains static throughout the laying and incubation periods. However, recent research demonstrates that egg coloration changes over relatively short, biologically relevant timescales. Here, we provide the first evidence that such changes ...

herpetosiphon giganteus is a filamentous gliding bacterium. gliding motility is the movement of the cells over surfaces without the aid of flagella. the mechanism responsible for bacterial gliding motility has not been known and there are only a few data on herpetosiphon giganteus. the aim of this study was to observe the ultrastructure and negative staining of isolated strains of herpetosiphon...

topical application with 100, 200 and 300 ng/ml phytohormone salicyclic acid on commercial traits was analysed in bivoltine csr2, csr4 and csr2xcsr4 crossbreed races of the silkworm, bombyx mori l. the results showed that there was significant increase in larval weight female cocoon weight, male cocoon shell weight, and hatching percentage with 100 and 200 ng/ml, silkgland weight, female cocoon...

background and objective: tuberculosis is still a major health problem, involving about 1/3 of the world´s population. diagnosis is difficult when we only use ziehl-neelson staining. many cases may be missed. a more rapid and sensitive diagnostic method is necessary. pcr may be helpful. the aim of this study was to compare pcr, zieh-neelsen staining and histopathologic findings in diagnosis of ...

Core-shell magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are promising candidates in the development of new treatment methods against infections, including those caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. In this study, the bactericidal activity of human antibacterial peptide cathelicidin LL-37, synthetic ceragenins CSA-13 and CSA-131, and classical antibiotics vancomycin and colistin, against methicillin-resis...