The potential of focussed beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) as a tool to monitor changes in biomass concentration was investigated in a number of biological systems. The measurement technique was applied to two morphologically dissimilar plant cell suspension cultures, Morinda citrifolia and Centaurea calcitrapa, to a filamentous bacteria, Streptomyces natalensis, to high density cultures of ...

Stampfli A. 1992. Effects of mowing and removing litter on reproductive shoot modules of some plant species in abandoned meadows on Monte San Giorgio. Bot. Helv. 102: 85-92. Reproductive shoot modules have been counted in a permanent plot experiment on Monte San Giorgio (Southern Switzerland) since 1988. The 8 species presented here, including the dominant grass (Molinia arundinacea) and seven ...

Stampfli A. 1992. Effects of mowing and removing litter on reproductive shoot modules of some plant species in abandoned meadows on Monte San Giorgio. Bot. Helv. 102: 85-92. Reproductive shoot modules have been counted in a permanent plot experiment on Monte San Giorgio (Southern Switzerland) since 1988. The 8 species presented here, including the dominant grass (Molinia arundinacea) and seven ...

A well known anti-cancer lignan arctiin has not been studied for its antibacterial activity based on our literature search. In the present work, the antibacterial and general toxicity of the arctiin from the seeds of Centaurea sclerolepis is studied. Arctiin did not show any significant antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria when compared with the positive ...

The Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, is among the most devastating termite pests. Natural products derived from plant extracts were tested in a discovery programme for effective, environmentally friendly termite control agents. Among the natural products tested, vulgarone B (isolated from Artemisia douglasiana Besser), apiol (isolated from Ligusticum hultenii (Fern...

Interest to natural medicines is increased for the sake of fewer side effects, microbial resistence and more compatibility to the human body. Centaurea depressa (commonly known "cornflower") belongs to compositeae family, which comprises more than 74 species in Iran. It has been claimed that it can be used in many cases, such as infections, cough, constipation, dermatitis, fever, jaundice, pain...

Climate warming may drive invasions by exotic plants, thereby raising concerns over the risks of invasive plants. However, little is known about how climate warming influences the growth and competitive ability of exotic plants from their home and introduced ranges. We conducted a common garden experiment with an invasive plant Centaurea maculosa and a native plant Poa pratensis, in which a mix...

1. Evaluating variation, or ‘conditionality’, in plant interactions is crucial to understanding their ecological importance and predicting where theymight be at play.Much is known about conditionality for competition, facilitation and herbivory, but not for allelopathy, which likely contributes to the equivocal nature of reports on this topic.Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed) is an invasive...