The Art of Sorting: Using Venn Diagrams to Learn Science Process Skills

In this article, the author describes activities that have been proven to teach young learners to sort and classify objects that contain more than one attribute. The activities require that students employ the use of sorting hoops and attribute blocks to create Venn diagrams, the assembly of which requires practice. The author also describes crosscurricular uses of these learning tools.     

A morphological,caryological and morphometrical analysis of Teucrium euganeum Vis. and its allies

The aim of the present study is to clarify the taxonomic position of Teucrium euganeum Vis. vis à vis T.siculum (Rafin.) Guss. and T.scorodonia L. The study is based on an analysis of macro- and micro-morphological characters, type, and distribution of trichomes in different parts of the plant, chromosome counts, and a statistical analysis of such morphometric data. The results of the study allow one to consider the populations of the Euganean Hills (Padua, north-eastern Italy) as a sub-species of T.siculum, and, therefore, a new combination is proposed: Teucrium siculum (Rafin.) Guss. subsp. euganeum (Vis.) Tornadore, comb. et stat.nov.     

Landscape structure influences tree density patterns in fragmented woodlands in semi‐arid eastern Australia

Landscape and local‐scale influences are important drivers of plant community structure. However, their relative contribution and the degree to which they interact remain unclear. We quantified the extent to which landscape structure, within‐patch habitat and their confounding effects determine post‐clearing tree densities and composition in agricultural landscapes in eastern subtropical Australia. Landscape structure (incorporating habitat fragmentation and loss) and within‐patch (site) features were quantified for 60 remnant patches of Eucalyptus populnea (Myrtaceae) woodland. Tree density and species for three ecological maturity classes (regeneration, early maturity, late maturity) and local site features were assessed in one 100 × 10 m plot per patch. All but one landscape characteristic was determined within a 1.3‐km radius of plots; Euclidean nearest neighbour distance was measured inside a 5‐km radius. Variation in tree density and composition for each maturity class was partitioned into independent landscape, independent site and joint effects of landscape and site features using redundancy analysis. Independent site effects explained more variation in regeneration density and composition than pure landscape effects; significant predictors were the proportion of early and late maturity trees at a site, rainfall and the associated interaction. Conversely, landscape structure explained greater variation in early and late maturity tree density and composition than site predictors. Area of remnant native vegetation within a landscape and patch characteristics (area, shape, edge contrast) were significant predictors of early maturity tree density. However, 31% of the explained variation in early mature tree differences represented confounding influences of landscape and local variables. We suggest that within‐patch characteristics are important in influencing semi‐arid woodland tree regeneration. However, independent and confounding effects of landscape structure resulting from previous vegetation clearing may have exerted a greater historical influence on older cohorts and should be accounted for when examining woodland dynamics across a broader range of environments.     

Ecosystem changes associated with grazing in subhumid South American grasslands

Question: What are the changes in vegetation structure, soil attributes and mesofauna associated with grazing in mesic grasslands? Location: Southern Campos of the Río de la Plata grasslands, in south‐central Uruguay. Methods: We surveyed seven continuously grazed and ungrazed paired plots. Plant and litter cover were recorded on three 5‐m interception lines placed parallel to the fence in each plot. We extracted soil fauna from a 10 cm deep composite sample and analysed the oribatids. Soil attributes included bulk density, water content, organic carbon (in particulate and mineral associated organic matter) and nitrogen content and root biomass at different depths. Changes in floristic, Plant Functional Types and mesofauna composition were analysed by Non‐metric Multidimensional Scaling. Results: Species number was lower in ungrazed than in grazed plots. Of 105 species in grazed plots only three were exotics. Shrub and litter cover were significantly higher inside the exclosures, while the cover of Cyperaceae‐Juncaceae was lower. Grazing treatments differed significantly in plant and oribatid species composition. Grazing exclusion significantly reduced soil bulk density and increased soil water content. Carbon content in particulate organic matter was lower in the upper soil of ungrazed sites, but deeper in the profile, grazing exclosures had 8% more carbon in the mineral associated organic matter. Conclusions Our results generally agree with previous studies but deviate from the results of previous analyses in (1) the increase of shrub cover in ungrazed sites; (2) the redistribution of the soil organic carbon in the profile and (3) the low invasibility of the prairies regardless of grazing regime.     

Evaluation of synthetic sex pheromone for monitoring and management of raspberry crown borer Pennisetia marginata (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

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Morphometric analysis of B2cAMP-induced reverse transformation in synchronized CHO cells

Summary Synchronized transformed and reverse-transformed (by 10⁻³ M B₂cAMP) CHO-K1 cells, growing adherent to plastic, are characterized by means of geometric and densitometric parameters at the level of both the entire cell and of the nuclei at various time intervals after selective mitotic detachment. Transformed and reverse-transformed cells triple-stained with Feulgen, Napthol Yellow S, and periodic acid-Schiff appeared very similar in terms of integrated optical density (IOD), related to either polysaccharides, protein, or DNA amount. On the other hand, a shift from a polygonal to a spindle-shaped morphology is accompanied by a significant decrease in both form factor and average optical density (AOD) of intact cell and nuclei, which are the most conspicuous measured changes caused by B₂cAMP, in addition to a lengthening of the cell cycle duration. In both control and treated cells, important and parallel cell-cycle-dependent modulations of geometric and densitometric parameters are also observed, for both the cytoplasmic (i.e., cell morphometry) and DNA space (i.e., nuclear morphometry). Specifically, the modulation in nuclear morphometry during G1, S, G2, andM phases confirms previous findings on synchronized HeLa cells. The optical density threshold-dependence of geometric parameters shows that, while becoming fusiform, the cytoplasm of reverse-transformed cells had a particularly low optical density precisely in the polar area. Utilization of such an approach in the development of anobjective morphological classification of all cell lines grown as monolayers “in vitro” is also discussed.     

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沂源人牙冠的几何形态学研究

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