Animal and vegetal materials of mouse oocytes segregate at first zygotic cleavage: a simple mechanism that makes the 2-cell blastomeres differ reciprocally from the start.

Recent advances in embryology have shown that the sister blastomeres of 2-cell mouse and human embryos differ reciprocally in potency. An open question is whether the blastomeres became different as opposed to originating as different. Here we wanted to test two conflicting models: one proposing that each blastomere contains both animal and vegetal materials in balanced proportions because the plane of first cleavage runs close to the animal-vegetal axis of the fertilized oocyte; and the other model proposing that each blastomere contains variable proportions of animal and vegetal materials because the plane of the first cleavage can vary depending on the topology of fertilization.

When enough is enough: Optimising monitoring effort for large-scale wolf population size estimation in the Italian Alps.

The ongoing expansion of wolf () populations in Europe has led to a growing demand for up-to-date abundance estimates. Non-invasive genetic sampling (NGS) is now widely used to monitor wolves, as it allows individual identification and abundance estimation without physically capturing individuals. However, NGS is resource-intensive, partly due to the elusive behaviour and wide distribution of wolves, as well as the cost of DNA analyses.

Carbon dioxide fluxes in Alpine grasslands at the Nivolet Plain, Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy 2017-2023.

We introduce a georeferenced dataset of Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Ecosystem Respiration (ER) and meteo-climatic variables (air and soil temperature, air relative humidity, soil volumetric water content, pressure, and solar irradiance) collected at the Nivolet Plain in Gran Paradiso National Park (GPNP), western Italian Alps, from 2017 to 2023. NEE and ER are derived by measuring the temporal variation of CO concentration obtained by the enclosed chamber method. We used a customised portable non-steady-state dynamic flux chamber, paired with an InfraRed Gas Analyser (IRGA) and a portable weather station, measuring CO fluxes at a number of points (around 20 per site and per day) within five different sites during the snow-free season (June to October).