The severity of smouldering peat fires and damage to the forest soil

Smouldering wildfires propagate slowly through surface and subsurface organic layers of the forest ground and severely affect the soil, producing physical, chemical and biological changes. These effects are caused by the prolonged heating and the large loss of soil mass but are poorly documented in the literature. A series of smouldering experiments with boreal peat have been conducted under laboratory conditions to quantify these effects using small-scale samples. Peat samples of 100 mm by 100 mm in cross section and 50 mm in depth of different moisture were exposed to an external ignition source. Thermocouples placed throughout the sample bed measured the temperature evolution and tracked the peat ignition, intensity and spread of the smouldering front. The results show that moisture content controls peat ignition and that moisture below 125 ± 10% (in dry base) are required. The severity of the smouldering peat on the soil has been quantified in terms of temperature vs. residence time curves and mass loss. The measurements show temperatures in excess of 300 °C for residence times of 1 h leading to sterilization of the soil and mass loss in burnt layers above 90%.     

Toxoplasmosis in two cats with inflammatory intestinal disease

Lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis, a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease, was diagnosed in 2 cats. In 1 cat, recurrence of clinical signs after initiating treatment was attributed to relapse of the inflammatory intestinal disease, but was found to be attributable to relapsing toxoplasmosis secondary to immunosuppressive drug therapy. Treatment with clindamycin resolved the recurrent toxoplasmosis. In the second cat, clinical signs of toxoplasmosis did not develop, but serologic testing yielded evidence of active toxoplasmosis. Treatment with clindamycin caused the titers to decrease. Relapsing toxoplasmosis may be responsible for apparent resistance to treatment in cats for inflammatory intestinal disease being treated with immunosuppressive drugs.     

Development of the population size, contribution of foreign breeds, inbreeding and degree of relationships of the entire Hanoverian scenthound population registered in the stud book of the kennel club Hirschmann e.V

The entire dog population of Hanoveranian Scenthounds registered since the foundation of the kennel club Hirschmann in the year 1894 was analysed for the development of the inbreeding and relationship coefficient and the contribution of Hanoveranian Scenthound population of foreign countries. The analyses were performed using all available pedigree information. In the history, the breeding of the Hanoveranian Scenthound was difficult because of the low number of breeding dogs which was additionally reduced during World War I and II. The mean coefficient of inbreeding of the entire German population was 6.35%. From 1950 to 1990, the mean coefficient of inbreeding increased from 8.3% to 9.7%. In the birth years from 1990 to 2002, the mean coefficient of inbreeding decreased slightly to 9.2%. The rates of inbreeding decreased since 1950. For the last 8 generations the increase of the coefficients of inbreeding per generation was 0.71%. The mean degree of relationship of the entire population was 7.17%, whereby values higher than 75% were found. Gene contributions of 8 other European stud books for the Hanoveranian Scenthound could be found in the German population. Hereby, the Austrian Hanoveranian Scenthounds had the largest impact on the German population with 24.4%. The proportion of genes from the German stud book amounted to 67%.     

Competitive and allelopathic interference between soybean crop and annual wormwood (Artemisia annua L.) under field conditions

Annual wormwood interference on soybean crop growth and yield may result from competition and allelopathy, which are modulated by crop management. Allelochemicals released by annual wormwood (e.g. artemisinin) may affect the crop directly or indirectly through the effect on the nitrogen fixing symbiont, Bradyrhizobium japonicum. The objectives were (i) to quantify the crop response (i.e. biomass production, nodulation and yield) to weed interference and (ii) to determinate the relative change of competition and allelopathy interferences, when a sublethal dose of herbicide is applied. Two split plot field experiments with three replications were used. The experiment involved a factorial combination of five weed–crop density (soybean/annual wormwood, plants m^?2) levels: D1, pure soybean, 40/0 plants m^?2; D2, 40/2 plants m^?2; D3, 40/4 plants m^?2 and D4, 40/8 plants m^?2, and D5, pure annual wormwood, 0/8 plants m^?2, two activated carbon (allelopathy) levels: C?, with activated carbon (reduced allelopathy) and C+, non activated carbon applied (with allelopathy) and two herbicide levels: H?, untreated and H+, treated with a sub-lethal dose of glyphosate. Activated carbon to adsorb allelochemicals (with and without activated carbon) and glyphosate application (with and no herbicide) were assigned to sub-plots. Increasing weed density did not affect crop biomass at flowering, but changed nodule number and soybean yield with a different pattern depending on carbon and herbicide treatment. Relative crop yield decreased with increasing relative weed biomass. This decrease was particularly drastic when allelopathy was reduced by activated carbon and without herbicide application. The maximum yield losses of 33% in 2006 and 17% in 2007 were observed with the highest weed density (8 plants m^?2). In contrast, without carbon (high allelopathy level), soybean yield remained stable within the explored range of annual wormwood biomass, despite the fact that weed biomass at high densities (D4) was high enough to generate competition. The lack of response to increasing weed density could be related to the indirect effect of allelochemicals interacting with soil microorganisms (i.e. B. japonicum) that positively affected the nodulation (e.g. larger nodules in 2006 and increased nodules biomass due to higher number of roots in 2007 at high densities). With herbicide application, soybean yield of both carbon treatments remained stable when biomass of annual wormwood increased. This research provided strong evidence in support of the existence of positive effect of allelopathic and competitive interactions between annual wormwood and soybean crop under field conditions that may be overridden under herbicide application.     

Morphological characterization of the IVIA persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) germplasm collection by multivariate analysis

Diospyros kaki Thunb. originated in Eastern Asia, as evidenced of its culture in China as early as several centuries B.C. In the seventh century, persimmon was introduced to Japan and later, in the fourteenth century to Korea. There is no information about persimmon culture in Europe until the seventeenth century, with the spread over the world occurring in the eighteenth century. The genus Diospyros contains more than 400 species, with levels of ploidy ranging from diploid (2n = 2x = 30) up to nonaploid (2n = 9x = 135). The primary economic crop species is Diospyros kaki Thunb., which is mainly hexaploid (2n = 6x = 90) and includes hundreds of cultivars. Although a relatively recent introduction in Europe, the species has adapted well, and the genetic diversity have been expanded with culture and selection for the past 200 years in the Mediterranean basin. These locally adapted cultivars were evaluated with cultivars from Asian origin in a germplasm collection established at IVIA in Valencia, Spain. In this paper 27 cultivars from the IVIA collection were studied by multivariate analysis, and 37 variables were analyzed using a Principal Components Analysis and cluster analysis following the method UPGMA. Studies on correlations and significance among variables identified the most relevant ones, and thus provided information for a future core collection.     

Inhibition of telomerase in canine cancer cells following telomestatin treatment

Telomere shortening in normal somatic cells has been proposed as a major barrier to unlimited cellular proliferation. Telomerase is an enzyme capable of maintaining telomere length, and thus bypassing this barrier. In human beings, telomerase activity is restricted to cancer cells and cells of stem or germ cell lineages. Dogs represent a potentially useful clinical model for the development of telomerase‐based therapies because telomerase activity is also restricted to cancer cells and stem cells in this species. We examined the ability of telomestatin to inhibit telomerase activity in telomerase‐positive D17 and CMT7 canine cancer cell lines. At a concentration of 2 μM, telomestatin treatment resulted in a decrease in telomerase activity, telomere shortening, growth inhibition and apoptosis in telomerase‐positive cancer cells. These effects were not seen in telomerase‐negative skin fibroblasts or negative controls. These results confirm that telomestatin specifically inhibits telomerase activity in canine cancer cells and strengthens the usefulness of dogs as a model for testing telomerase‐based therapies.