The raw material for evolution is variation. Consequently, identifying the factors that generate, maintain, and erode phenotypic and genetic variation in ecologically important traits within and among populations is important. Although persistent directional or stabilizing selection can deplete variation, spatial variation in conflicting directional selection can enhance variation. Here, we pre...

Novel dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), coupled with high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) has been applied for the extraction and determination of cyproheptadine (CPH), an antihistamine, in human urine samples. In this method, 0.6 mL of acetonitrile (disperser solvent) containing 30 μL of carbon tetrachloride (extraction solvent) was ...

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for the extraction and determination of 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in mineral water samples. In this procedure, the suitable combination of extraction solvent (500 µL chloroform) and disperser solvent (1000 µL acetone) were quickly injected into the water sample (...

From a plant's perspective, the difference between a seed predator and a seed disperser should be straightforward: attract animals that will disperse seeds and defend seeds from potential predators. Unlike pulp-eating frugivores, seed predators regularly encounter diverse plant protective mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to examine feeding constraints, morphological adaptations, and the...

Frugivorous birds generally exhibit an unequal contribution to dispersal effectiveness of plant species as a function of their habitat adaptation and body size. In our study, we compared the effectiveness of multiple bird species that contribute to the dispersal of the endangered relic Chinese yew, Taxus chinensis. Seven bird species dispersed T. chinensis seeds, with Picus canus, Turdus hortul...

Aim To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in distribution of most common tree dispersal modes Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory hydrochory). We examined if proportional abundance these could be explained by availability agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time ...

the dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (dllme) method for determination of pb +2 and cd +2 ions in the environmental water samples was combined with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (icp-aes). ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (apdc), chloroform and ethanol were used as chelating agent, extraction solvent and disperser solvent, respectively. some effective parame...

The global decline of mutualists such as pollinators and seed dispersers may cause negative direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity. Mutualistic network models used to understand the stability of mutualistic systems indicate that species with low partner diversity are most vulnerable to coextinction following mutualism disruption. However, existing models have not considered how species var...